What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[keirarts]

Samaritan Zatoichi

Zatoichi is enlisted by local Yakuza to collect a debt. The man who owes it insists his sister Osode is on her way with the money. The other Yakuza provoke a fight and Z ends up killing the man. Soon after, his sister arrives with the money and it emerges that the boss is in no way interested in the money and wants Osode for his woman. Angry at being used and ridden with guilt, Z decides to act as a protector of Osode and this ends up bringing him into conflict with the gang.
This one is surprisingly light hearted, it throws in a couple of darker moments like Z attempting suicide by Yakuza over guilt. Once again it retains the 2:35:1 ratio with some excellent framing and the usual terrific fight choreography.

Zatoichi meets Yojimbo

Megastar Toshiro Mifune reprises his role as the Yojimbo in one of the most outright bleakest entries into the Zatoichi series. Z heads 'home' (he heads home a number of times in different films and they all seem to be different places) to find the happy town beset by misery. Beset by gang warfare between a greedy merchant, his evil ruthless sons and a corrupt official who is skimming off the gold content in coins. Z's old flame is now the town whore and also the Yojimbos woman as he makes money from the constant shifting loyalties. Z also gets involved and like the rest of the town becomes overtaken by gold fever. It all ends with the town tearing itself apart over the gold, leaving a desolate wasteland of death.
Made in 1970 the film feels like a shift towards the more bleak and cynical Japanese cinema of the 70's. The film presents a depiction of the almost toxic effect of greed on a rural community and even Z himself appears somewhat broken by the end. Mifune is excellent as the drunken Yojimbo who befriends Z while knowing he must kill him.

Zatoichi goes to the fire festival

Z heads to another town and manages to piss off the boss of bosses. Another blind Yakuza who decides Ichi must die! On top of this he has a psychopathic master swordsman after his life believing Z has slept with his wife (why he thinks this is never really explained) Z also has to contend with the amorous intentions of a gay pimp who wants Z to make him a man. The film concludes with a spectacular death trap of fire that our hero must escape.
This one is another visually impressive entry into the series and has some genuine humour which is something of a relief given the previous entry.

[keirarts]

Zatoichi meets the one-armed swordsman

A Japanese - Hong Kong co-production that sees the one-armed swordsman head to Japan. He's soon being hunted by the authorities after seeing Samurai cut down an unarmed peasant family. Zatoichi attempts to help the stranger but ultimately due to a betrayal they must face of as enemies.
As one would expect this one is a spectacular action piece that cashes in on the growing popularity of Hong Kong action cinema. The HK style works well in a japanese Chanbara film and the end result is highly entertaining.

Zatoichi at large

Z finds a dying pregnant woman in a field and helps her give birth. Tasked with delivering the child to its father he heads into town to find yet more trouble. Firstly the elder son believes that Z killed his mother and stole the baby, secondly a new and thoroughly evil Yakuza boss is in town and intent on taking over and finally there is a huge bloody bounty on his head. Not a surprise given he's spent the previous 22 films killing an awful lot of people.
Ultimately it all ends in bloodshed but not before running our hero through the mill including a quite nasty torture scene. Its not as bleak as Yojimbo and has some genuinely funny moments including a Samurai battle re-enactment with monkeys in costume!

Zatoichi in desperation

Directed by its star Shintaro Katsu, Zatoichi in desperation comes a close second in the bleak stakes. Here Zatoichi must return a musical instrument to the daughter of a woman who accidentally plunged to her death off a dangerous bridge. Heading into town he discovers that the girl is a whore. The whole town has given itself over to vice, the peasants are poor and starving and the few remaining honest people are eaking out an existence on the beach as fishermen along with the handicapped outcasts. The locals are routinely tormented by the local Yakuza who burn their fishing boats and in one WAAYY out there scene jerk off a mentally handicapped man before savagely beating him for 'squirting' on them. Naturally Z is unimpressed with the state of affairs. Unfortunately he's also developed a destructive relationship with the whore he came to deliver the instrument to and this provides a chink to his armour that the local boss can exploit culminating in a nasty scene where Z's hands are ruined by a harpoon. Z muast ultimately strap his sword to his arm for a final bloody battle.
Zatoichi in desperation is a terrific little film, Katsu directs things well and the fights are great. It has some odd moments that feel a little out of place but its one of the better entries in the series. It's also worth mentioning that the last few of these films include more scenes of arterial spray that would be seen in a lot of 70's action pieces from Japan.

Zatoichi's conspiracy

This final entry in the series see's Z head home to the woman who raised him. On the way he encounters an old friend who has become a prominent merchant. His old friend seems embarrassed by Z and denies any knowledge of the past. Z also befriends a group of young punks who end up following him around. Back home he discovers the harvest has failed and the magistrate is imposing brutal fines on the local community. Z's old friend has come to town to pay off the fine, only for the locals to discover too late that this was all a ruse to gain control over the local quarry after discovering hidden values to the stones mined from it.
Incensed by the corruption, Z goes to war with the magistrate, the Yakuza and his old friend in order to save the village culminating in one of the bloodiest battles of the series.


Well finally done & dusted. Time for more Xmas flicks!

[keirarts]

Christmas evil]

Obsessed with Christmas after seeing his mother getting kinky with Santa, Harry grows up with a santa complex where he spies on his neighbours to see who is naughty or nice leading up to a killing spree when he finally snaps.
Its a great little christmas horror, though I prefer silent night deadly night. Vinegar syndromes blu-ray looks great.

[Cinematic Shocks]

He Never Died (2015)

I really enjoyed this and there's a welcome mini-series continuation in development.

*** out of ****

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

French Dressing (1964)

If the following sentence doesn't make you want to seek out this fine Network dvd then nothing i can say will.

Roy Kinnear and Marisa Mell star in this bawdy British seaside comedy inspired by Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday and directed by Ken Russell.

For this quaint yet bawdy romp is utterly wonderful and something to cherish.

[JoshuaKaitlyn]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

French Dressing (1964)

If the following sentence doesn't make you want to seek out this fine Network dvd then nothing i can say will.

Roy Kinnear and Marisa Mell star in this bawdy British seaside comedy inspired by Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday and directed by Ken Russell.

For this quaint yet bawdy romp is utterly wonderful and something to cherish.

Straight into my to get pile!

[JoshuaKaitlyn]

Squirm (1976) lol that'll teach me to watch this and then have a prawn cocktail starter.

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Cinematic Shocks

He Never Died (2015)

I really enjoyed this and there's a welcome mini-series continuation in development.

*** out of ****

I f****g love he never died up there as one on my favourite films of 2015.

[trebor8273]

tried watching attack of the clones and revenge of the sith but the force awakens has reinforced just how poor these moves are and Lucas seems to know little about the fans and the universe he created. so i ended up watching the original trilogy.

About to watch this which will be my fist time watching it

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[SShaw]

Originally Posted by keirarts

I f****g love he never died up there as one on my favourite films of 2015.

Where is this available from? Its appeared on a number of best of 2015 lists. Unfortunately I didn't manage to see it at Fright Fest or any of the Halloween festivals it played at.