Japanese Movie Reviews »
Ring (aka Ringu, 1998) Movie Review
Let me preface my review by saying that I saw the sequel to “Ring”, “Ring 2″, before I saw the original. Of course this means a lot of things were lost to me (while...
Read More »Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1998) Movie Review
A movie like Hiroyuki Okiura’s Jin-Roh is why the Japanese are considered the pioneers of animation. Over the last decade or so the shortcomings of American “cartoons” and animation have become painfully obvious when...
Read More »Wild Zero (2000) Movie Review
When he set out to make what would later become a horror film classic, George Romero, through sheer will and the acquaintance of some foresighted investors, managed to frighten up (forgive the pun) somewhere...
Read More »Avalon (2001) Movie Review
Pointless. That’s how I feel after finally finishing a First Person Shooter (FPS) game. It doesn’t matter if the FPS was a good game, a bad game, or if it was too hard, too...
Read More »Gonin (1995) Movie Review
A movie like Gonin astounds and fascinates me. Writer/director Takashi Ishii is obviously a very talented man. There are visuals and camera framing in Gonin that just takes my breath away. The man has...
Read More »Hana-Bi (1997) Movie Review
Detective Nishi (Takeshi Kitano) is having a very bad week. It starts with the death of his 4-year old daughter, which leads to his wife’s hospitalization and discovery that she has terminal cancer, and...
Read More »Violent Cop (1989) Movie Review
Azuma (Takeshi Kitano) is a 20th century cop living in a country still mired in the traditions of the past. Rookie cops kowtow to the veterans at every turn and even the homicidal drug...
Read More »Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) Movie Review
Blood: The Last Vampire is my second Japanimation in as many days. Blood is a cinematic feature that runs just over 45 minutes long. In Japan, this would be akin to a movie-of-the-week, since...
Read More »Ring 2 (1998) Movie Review
Thirty minutes into Ring 2 and my only thoughts were, “The director really shouldn’t have hired a woman with a bum leg to play the female lead.” This thought surfaced because of the female...
Read More »The Hidden Fortress (1958) Movie Review
Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress’ full name is actually The 3 Villains of the Hidden Fortress, and in interviews of the past, George Lucas of Star Wars fame has admitted that there were elements...
Read More »My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Movie Review
As the saying goes, Children do and say the strangest things. I couldn’t tell you if I ever saw a big furry creature that resembles a real-life teddy bear when I was 4 or...
Read More »Yojimbo (1961) Movie Review
After reviewing Akira Kurosawa’s masterful “Seven Samurai” I thought I’d go back and review his other masterpieces. “Yojimbo” is similar to “Samurai” in many respects, but is also vastly different, in that there is...
Read More »Battle Royale (2000) Movie Review
Despite not being very original, “Battle Royale” proves to be something even better — a killer of a movie. Not only are there more than 40+ students sent to an island to be killed...
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