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The Yakuza, a review by addicted2comics

The Yakuza (1974)
4 out of 5



Former private eye Harry Kilmer knows a lot about  Japan - and gangsters whu keep an iron grip on it's gambling, prostitution and protection rackets He knows there's a right way to approach the brutal underworld. And he knows there's one thing powerful mobsters respect: greater power. Robert Mitchum is Kilmer in this haunting  East-meets-West-head-on thriller powered by a team of heavy Hollywood hitters: writers Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) and Robert Towne (Chinatown) and director Sidney Pollack (The Interpreter). Co-starring Japan's Takakura Ken and veteran character actor Brian Keith. The Yakuza is a modern film noir in which honor and loyalty become issues of life and death. Violence erupts with the speed of a Tokyo-bound bullet train. And the last thing to die is tradition.

Old man action movies! You’ve got to love them. It doesn’t always work when an aging movie star goes for one last thriller or action flick; just look at Clint Eastwood in The Dead Pool, a step too far for Harry Callaghan. With the right script though, it’s gold. Robert Mitchum is way past his prime as Harry in The Yakuza, but he holds it well and Sydney Pollack –not known for action chops- gives him some superb set-pieces with the least amount of effort, while Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) and Robert Towne (Chinatown) deliver a clever screenplay that uses Mitchum’s natural charisma to its best. Just the delivery on one simple line as he sees his long lost love, Eiko (Keiko Kishi), again sums up his whole character: “Hello, darlin’”. Although more straightforward, The Yakuza benefits from the psychological, character-in-purgatory screenplays Schrader and Towne are good at. And Pollack brings it to life, with Mitchum providing old-school charisma you can barely find these days.

Harry has travelled to Japan where he was stationed in the military 20+ years before, at the behest of his friend, George (Brian Keith), who has got himself mixed up with Yakuza. Harry knows a Yakuza (Ken Takakura) who is in debt –or obligation, “giri”- to him. Harry is reluctant when he discovers Ken is no longer Yakuza, and especially when there is a complicated history. Ken is Eiko’s brother and demanded she stay away from Harry all those years before.

The Yakuza plot is a simple one, but adds a great deal of substance by tying it in with honour and obligation, that makes for a brilliant story with a haunting quality, despite its straightforward no-nonsense style. Pollack, as you’d expect, delivers a very solid drama, but the sporadic action is superb, ranging from gunfights to a lengthy sword duel. Bloody and brutal, in that 70s way, which isn’t quite Peckinpah, but it’s close enough to be riveting stuff and the well developed characters make you care for what happens. Look close and you’ll realise that Mitchum at least is being edited kindly, but what editing! There’s one sequence where he is armed with a rifle as he backs up sword wielding Ken, taking on about two dozen Yakuza. That followed where he cleared out a room full of thugs, bellowing his targets name and finally taking him out with Pollack framing him in a 1-2-3 step edit. One word: awesome! I’d take this lean focused brutality any day over anything Michael Bay has done and Pollack isn’t even known for action (although many of his thrillers have decent set-pieces). He just understands character and knows how to position them, even if it’s a Western style gunfight.

This sort of film is dying out with the actors who made them. Mitchum was a hellraiser and combined with being a hell of an actor, he brought a special quality to such movies.

(From Jon's Alphabet Marathon 2010 on July 12th, 2010)

Beast From Haunted Cave, a review by Danae Cassandra

Beast From Haunted Cave
Year of Release: 1959
Directed By: Monte Hellman
Starring: Michael Forest, Sheila Carol, Frank Wolff, Wally Campo, Richard Sinatra
Genre: Horror
Rating: NR

Overview:
Beast from Haunted Cave is a chilling thriller about four gold thieves who unwittingly awaken a bloodthirsty spider-like creature in its lair.  Little do they know that the beast has left its lair to quietly prey upon them from the eerie shadows as they flee for a hideout in the woods.

My Thoughts:
Overall this is a pretty dull film, and though I did really dislike the villain, the hero was so dull I couldn't root for him and his love interest is an equally dull drunken, cynical moll.  The last fifteen minutes or so of the film are the best, but I disliked the ending.  I liked the design of the monster quite a lot, especially considering this film must have had zero budget.  Not nearly as fun as Sting of Death.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 1.75/5

(From B-Movie mini-marathon on March 20th, 2013)

Farscape Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: An energy ball penetrates the hull of Moya and floats through the ship. When Aeryn shoots at it it expands and encapsulates Crichton. Shortly after Crichton and some animal is spat out of the ball. As it turns out the animal is some pre-historic version of Crichton's. And then the ball spills out another Crichton, this time a more advanced version than the regular one. When they finally understand what the ball is, they are forced to return one of the three "genetic samples" or Moya will be destroyed.

My Opinion: A typical "transporter accident" episode, this time not with a "good" and "bad" guy but with three guys that live on a scale from emotional to logical whereas the future guy could easily join the Vulcans. It was OK, but nothing special.

Synopsis: The crew has bought some new food supplies but it might be infested by a parasite. Thus Dargo and Chiana have bought a Vorc that is supposed to kill that parasite. Soon the question arises whether the Vorc is some kind of hoax sold to strangers. But there is actually some larger creature on the ship and it is attacking the crew. Or is the Vorc itself the parasite?

My Opinion: Evertime I watch this episode I had forgotten how the parasite story turns out, the only thing I remember is that the little critter is innocent and dies in the course of his duty. It's a very sad moment when he dies in Aeryn's arms who holds him like a baby. As I said before, it's amazing how real all these puppets on the show feel. Reminds me of "There is ... another ... Sky ... walker".


Synopsis: John awakes in a hospital and is told that it's shortly after he crashed Farscape-1 and blew the experiment. But John is not falling for this again. Still, in the beginning everything is much more realistic than the holo show the Ancients created. But then his shrink is a blue woman that looks suspiciously like Zhaan. Now the question is where is he and what does the person want that keeps him there.

My Opinion: One of these wacky episodes take that place in John's head and where even more weird things happen than in a usual episode. Funny to see this episode one day after Galactica's Six Degrees of Separation with the difference that John ignores Head-Scorpius (or "Harvey") in his head and Baltar ignored a real Six in the real world. What I also find really enjoyable, is when these alien characters are placed in a real-world environment. On Moya it all feels natural but when Dargo and Chiana ride a cabriolet on a highway somehow that looks really strange.

Synopsis: In order to hide from the Peacekeepers, Moya has entered a nebula that strongly reduces sensor range and makes it hard to navigate. Aeryn takes a shuttle to take a look at the other side but when she returns she is 165 cycles older and claims to have lived a long and peaceful life on a planet. Then she returns to her granddaughter. But John won't give up on her and follows her only to get stuck, too. But it's not them who live in the wrong time frame, it's the nebula where time stands still and Moya has to get out of there quickly.

My Opinion: Faster aging (at least from the POV of the viewer). Another common theme throughout science-fiction series. I like this kind of episodes, especially when more than one character is involved, even when it's always undone at the end of the episode. It gives the authors and the characters a chance to undergo a certain developement, to create a relationship that might not be possible under normal circumstances (e.g. when they are both military) or that so far is only an allusion. So yes, that was a good episode.

(From Farscape Marathon on September 3rd, 2009)