X (1997)

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Posted on February 24, 2007 by Deni

Let’s just get this out of the way first shall we. This is a film about titanic cosmic struggles, colossal psychic powers and the beginning of the end, and it’s violent.

Not as violent as some anime available granted, if you’ve ever had the extremely questionable pleasure of Urotsukidoji, but Digimon the Second Generation it isn’t. So if you’re upset by the sight blood, even of the animated variety, or multi-story buildings collapsing (and after what’s happened in the … (read more)

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Monkey! – Unseen Episodes (1979)

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Posted on February 23, 2007 by Mark Morrison

It’s the Year of the Pig! Chinese New Year is always a jolly time around Heroic Cinema parts, as it’s the one time of the year you can see lion dancing without having to load Once Upon a Time in China 3 into the DVD player. It’s also a time for Lunar New Year comedies, red packets, and tasty treats.

But let’s back up a second and focus on the porcine aspect: I mean, what better way to mark the … (read more)

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The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993)

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Posted on February 18, 2007 by Alison

Apparently, this one was made in a break in the filming of Ashes of Time, with mostly the same cast, and mostly the same characters, but absolutely none of the same seriousness. It’s more wacky than a firkin* of very wacky things, and will make your brain revolve at speed.

There’s no way to adequately describe most of this, except to say that the costumes are lavishly satinned, the performances are lavishly over-the-top, and seeing this will possibly answer … (read more)

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Alive (2002)

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Posted on January 28, 2007 by Deni

After the refreshingly b-grade brilliance of Versus, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wondered just what director Ryuhei Kitamura would do next, and whether he wasn’t merely a flash in the pan filmmaker. Released two years after Versus, Alive, Kitamura’s second feature length film, is a sci-fi thriller based on a seinen (guy’s) manga series by Tsutomu Takahashi, and it proves one thing at least resoundingly, or perhaps two – Kitamura is no one-hit-wonder, and … (read more)

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Munnabhai M.B.B.S. (2003)

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Posted on January 19, 2007 by James

Munnabhai M.B.B.S. starts energetically with a humorous car and foot chase involving an innocent jogger, a goon with a gun and a taxi driver who wants no part of the crime about to be committed. In a way it’s a shame the rest of the movie doesn’t simply build on this set-up, since as it turns out the taxi driver is Munna, a tricky gangster who excels at blindsiding the victims of his extortion racket.

One person Munna has so … (read more)

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Trinity Blood (2006)

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Posted on January 14, 2007 by Deni

The premise seems slightly familiar – a ravaged earth, a powerful invading force; vampires, in this case (although with a name like Trinity Blood, is that really any surprise?) but this series has a slightly unique way of looking at its fairly recognizable story line. For a start, things in the Earth’s indeterminate future look a lot like the archaic past, vaguely somewhere around the late Middle Ages to early Renaissance periods. It’s not exactly a time frame often … (read more)

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Rashomon (1950)

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Posted on January 8, 2007 by James

“I don’t care if it’s a lie, as long as it’s entertaining.” — the commoner in response to the woodcutter and the priest’s accounts of the murder.

So here we have it, a movie featuring a completely unreliable plot that never provides a factual answer to the crucial murder mystery at its core, that pieces together falsehoods, speculations and fabricated accounts one after another, that boldly misdirects viewers right through to its conclusion, and yet has somehow managed to absorb … (read more)

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Samurai 3: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)

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Posted on January 7, 2007 by Justin

Hiroshi Inagaki’s celebrated third Samurai film, Duel at Ganryu Island, brings to a close his series chronicling the life of historical figure Musashi Miyamoto. The first film, Musashi Miyamoto, followed the young villager Takezo as he sought fame and fortune in battle. The second, Duel at Ichijoji Temple, tells the story of his enlightenment and induction into the world of the samurai. In the third film, Musashi is known throughout Japan and sought after as both a … (read more)

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