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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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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