DVD Collectors Online

Lawrence of Arabia, a review by Jon

1962
Lawrence of Arabia
5 out of 5





(From Jon's Best Picture Oscar Marathon on February 13th, 2009)

The Tale of Zatoichi / The Tale of Zatoichi Continues , a review by Antares

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) 4/5 - My favorite genre in films is Film Noir, but running neck and neck with it is jidai-geki chanbara films from Japan. A few years ago I started catching a lot of these films on IFC on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, they would start at 9AM and being in the hospitality industry, I'm usually still sleeping at that time. So I've caught most of these films in midstream. One of my favorites of these genre of films are the Zatoichi films. Now that Criterion is streaming free films on Hulu, I've gotten to see the first two films in their entirety. A lot of the character traits of the blind masseur are still to be worked out in the following installments, but the basis of the character is intact. He's a master swordsman who likes to gamble. He calls himself a yakuza, but the moniker doesn't fit. In this first film, we get a Yojimbo style screenplay with Zatoichi in the middle of two rival yakuza clans. It takes a while for Zatoichi to draw his sword, but when he does the action is fast and furious. Subsequent films would get to the action much quicker, as fans wanted to see the prowess of this master swordsman and less of the character development that this film had. What also sets this film apart from it's successors is that Zatoichi is a bit more cynical in this one. Later on, he would come across as comical, and that's why I think the first few outings are the best.

The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962) 3/5 - With the success of the previous film, Daiei Studios knew that they had a profitable alternative to Toho's Yojimbo character and they quickly shot this film to capitalize on it. The hurried nature is well evident in the patchwork screenplay. The story itself is good, but there really isn't anything to sink your teeth into. The fight scenes are frequent and relatively good. But as sequels go, this pales in comparison to Kurosawa's . Even though this entry is rather light, I'm looking forward to the next four films in the series, as they are also freely available on Hulu.

(From Antares' Short Summations on January 10th, 2012)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Gantz: The Complete Series (2004/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia MVM (United Kingdom) Length: 650 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
He thought he was dead.
The last thing Kei remembers is the train running over his body. But now he is in a room filled with strangers, all resurrected by a strange, black sphere known only as the Gantz. Caught in a strange realm between life and death, Kei and the others must undertake brutal missions that the Gantz assigns.
Otherwise, none of them will live long enough to leave the room.


Gantz
1.01 It's the Beginning of a Brand New Day
Writer: Hiroya Oku (Original Material By), Masashi Sogo (Screenwriter)
Director: Ichiroh Itano
Cast: English Vocal Cast), Chris Ayres (Kei Kurono (voice)), Illich Guardiola (Masaru Kato (voice)), Shannon Emerick (Kei Kishimoto (voice)), Chris Patton (Joichiro NIshi (voice)), Paul Sidello (Young Kurono (voice)), Jessica Boone (Young Kato (voice)), Marcy Rae (Old Lady (voice)), Mike Kleinhenz (Suzuki (voice)), Jay Hickman (Inamori (voice)), Rob Mungle (Hatanaka (voice)), John Swasey (Yoshioka (voice)), Russell Freeman (Yamada (voice)), Emily Carter-Essex (Female Teacher (voice)), Mike MacRae (Nozaki (voice)), Monica Rial (Female Student (voice)), Blake Shepherd (Male Student (voice)), Ted Pfister (Salaryman (voice)), George Manley (Debt Collector (voice)), James Faulkner (Bum (voice)), Susan O. Koozin (Housewife (voice)), Jessica Boone (Ko-gal (voice)), Xero Reynolds (Station Attendant (voice)), Victor Carsrud (Station Announcer (voice)), Additional Voices), * Alyssa Anderson ( (voice)), * Jessica Boone ( (voice)), * Victor Carsrud ( (voice)), * Mike MacRae ( (voice)), * Xero Reynolds ( (voice)), * Monica Rial ( (voice)), * Blake Shepherd ( (voice)), * Spike Spencer ( (voice)), * Nikki Thomas ( (voice)), Japanese Vocal Cast), Daisuke Namikawa (Kei Kurono (voice)), Masashi Osato (Masaru Kato (voice)), Hitomi Nabatame (Joichiro Nishi (voice)), Takuro Kitagawa (Book Store Owner (voice)), Mie Sonozaki (Young Kurono (voice)), Mayumi Yamaguchi (Young Kato (voice)), Yasuko Hatori (Old Lady (voice)), Bin Sasaki (Suzuki (voice)), Susumu Chiba (Inamori (voice)), Hajime Iijima (Hatanaka (voice)), Kenichi Morozumi (Yoshioka (voice)), Koichi Nagano (Yamada (voice)), Hikari Yono (Female Teacher (voice)), Takehiro Murozono (Nozaki (voice)), Miharu Iijima (Female Student (voice))

Currently I am reading the manga series as it comes out in the US.
Of course I was interested to see the anime adaption. So far it looks good. I have heard that the first season is great, but the general opinion on the second season is not so good. I am curious to see the rest, so I will probably finish off this set before continuing with this marathon.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 21st, 2011)