Movieline Online

Samurai films don’t behind and end with the work of Akira Kurosawa, although for decades one couldn’t be blamed for thinking so. The logistics were simple: not enough work from Japan was considered “export friendly” enough to crack the language barrier. So the view of samurai as infallible warriors whose code of honor could not be broken stuck around for quite a while. But the films of Eiichi Kudo are here to politely ruin that assumption. Working in the same sandbox as Kurosawa, Kudo’s trilogy – 13 Assassins (1963), The Great Killing (1964) and 11 Samurai (1967) – ditches the romanticism is favor of mud, blood and the shattering suspicion that the whole "code of honor" thing might be a bad joke played on the people expected to die for it. Based on the true events during the Edo era in which a masochist domain lord was assassinated to prevent him from taking power, 13 Assassins follows a band of weary warriors on what amounts to a suicide mission: take out Lord Matsud...

The ‘80s were a glorious time for fantasy films. After Conan the Barbarian and Excalibur proved that sword ‘n sorcery properties needn’t be confined to marathon D&D sessions in the basement, Hollywood proceeded to crank out one medieval mash-up after another. By the time Red Sonja (1985) came around, Dino De Laurentiis, Richard Fleischer and Arnold Schwarzenegger had already brought a second Robert E. Howard adventure to the big screen – the family friendly Conan the Destroyer . And while not a true sequel, Red Sonja offers a sense of continuity and the next best thing to a full-on cast reunion. Torn from her family and trained as a master swordsman, Sonja (Brigitte Nielsen) waits patiently to exact revenge on Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman) and her army of ruthless conquerors. As fate would have it, Gedren comes into possession of a powerful relic that will destroy the world in less than a week. Aided by a displaced prince (Ernie Reyes, Jr), his faithful servant (Paul Smit...

While the floodgates finally opened for classic Japanese cinema not that long ago, contemporary filmmakers don’t seem to have the same cache among collectors. But perhaps 88 Films’ release of Sakuran (2007) and Helter Skelter (2012), both from acclaimed photographer and advertising veteran Mika Ninagawa, will inspire a bit more curiosity. Set in different centuries but dealing with the same pitfalls of beauty and fame, Ninagawa does more than make pretty pictures; she pulls the directorial strings with uncommon skill and righteous neo-feminist fury. In Sakuran , that fury simmers beneath layers of silk and spectacle. Kiyhoha (Anna Tsuchiya) is a courtesan in the famous Edo-era red light district who refuses to be molded into something more manageable, raging against the machine that’s trapped her like a goldfish in a jar. Mixing in contemporary music and a punk rock attitude (think Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette ), the result is less a traditional period drama and more a senso...

The third feature film from director low-budget Texas auteur Bret McCormick, Highway to Hell (1990) is a ride-or-die for fans of regional action epics. Mass murderer Toby Gilmore (Benton Jennings) escapes from prison to continue his random killing spree, grabbing a pretty hostage (Blue Thompson) along the way, dodging pursuit from a cop (Richard Harrison) with a personal grudge. Like most of McCormick’s films, this one lives and dies on enthusiasm rather than resources. And lead actor Benton Jennings has the former in spades! In a performance that veers from chaotic to hilarious, his turn as the gun crazy Gilmore is equal parts Nicolas Cage, Rutger Hauer and Yosemite Sam, throwing a temper tantrum at every inanimate object in sight. He’s like the overly committed lead singer of a punk band, spitting, swearing and sweating through every scene at full volume. And dragging the entire movie along with him. Highway to Hell adds a few production upgrades that make it seem more profess...

Movie gangsters come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and temperaments. There’s enough variety to apply a variation on the open-ended quote from Civil War , “But kind of gangster are you!” I mean, there’s Scorsese gangsters, Guy Ritchie gangsters, Suzuki gangsters even Tarantino gangsters. And while Takashi Miike gangsters probably don’t crack the top ten, they are most decidedly a breed of their own. 2001’s Agitator finds the director’s technique evolving alongside with his yakuza counterparts in a decidedly mature, and, compared to his V-Cinema creations, retrogressively conservative take on Japanese mafiosos. Yoichi (Naoto Takenaka) and Kunihiko (Masaya Kato) are sworn brothers in the Higuchi Gang under the banner of the Yokomizo family. But their loyalties are tested when a pair of high-ranking assassinations sets rival gangs against one-another in a secret plot to wrest control from within and without. Appalled by their leaders’ lack of loyalty – not to mention backbone – Yoic...

Even a creative genius isn’t born in a vacuum. While Sam Raimi’s visual razzle-dazzle in The   Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2  were wildly entertaining, any self-respecting fan of Asian cinema could see the influences written on the cabin walls. That’s not an insult. In fact, it’s an opportunity for fans to branch out into the Hong Kong horror-fantasy genre for more of the same. Take 1987’s Picture of a Nymph , itself a retread of A Chinese Ghost Story , which pits a pair of demon hunters against the only supernatural force they weren’t prepared for: true love. The adopted son of a Taoist monk, Shih Erh, (played by Yuen Biao) strikes up a friendship with a desperate scholar (Lawrence Ng) who falls in love with a wandering ghost (Joey Wang) kidnapped on her wedding day by a local spirit. Unsympathetic to their doomed love affair, Shih’s master wants to send them all back to the hell they came from. But his student takes a stand to prove that love can still survive beyond the ...