Movie Review: Kill Devil (2004) A teenager wakes up on a deserted beach, sometime in autumn. He doesn’t remember who he is or how he got there, but the blanket he was under indicates he wasn’t on that beach by accident. He’s wearing a strange metal wristband with the name “Shougo” on it, so that’s… Continue reading Movie Review: Kill Devil
Tag: movie
Movie Review: Chushingura (The 47 Loyal Ronin)
Movie Review: Chushingura (The 47 Loyal Ronin) (1962) As mentioned in my previous reviews of book and comic book versions, the tale of the forty-seven ronin is one of Japan’s great stories, based on true events. Briefly, in 1701, Lord Kira provokes Lord Asano into breaking the rules of the Shogun’s court, a crime that… Continue reading Movie Review: Chushingura (The 47 Loyal Ronin)
Movie Review: Hammer of the Gods
Movie Review: Hammer of the Gods (2013) It is the 8th Century C.E. and the Viking invaders are struggling with the Saxons in middle England. King Bagsecg was given a slow but fatal wound in the last battle, so it’s time for him to choose a successor. Prince Steinar is a good warrior, but… Continue reading Movie Review: Hammer of the Gods
Movie Review: Viking Saga: The Darkest Day
Movie Review: Viking Saga: The Darkest Day A fairly low-budget film based very loosely on the real-life events surrounding the Book of Kells. Viking raiders have sacked the monastery at Lindesfarne, killing most of the monks. In addition to their usual spoils, the Vikings desire a book. This illuminated copy of the Bible is particularly… Continue reading Movie Review: Viking Saga: The Darkest Day
Movie Review: The Grandmaster (2013)
Movie Review: The Grandmaster (2013) This Chinese-French co-production is a Wong Kar Wai film loosely based on the real life of Ip Man, Bruce Lee’s instructor in the art of Wing Chun style kung fu. As the title indicates, however, the true central character is the Northern Grandmaster, Gong Yutian. As the film begins, Master… Continue reading Movie Review: The Grandmaster (2013)
Movie Review: Hissatsu (Sure Death)
Movie Review: Hissatsu (Sure Death) A group of seemingly ordinary Edo citizens, mostly of the merchant class, are in fact a loose team of assassins. But fear not, they’re good guy assassins who only take money to kill people who really deserve it. Problem! There’s a new assassin in town, who’s exclusively targeting the local… Continue reading Movie Review: Hissatsu (Sure Death)
Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail
Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail This 1940 production stars Errol Flynn as J.E.B. Stuart, Ronald Reagan as George Armstrong Custer, Raymond Massey as John Brown and Olivia de Havilland as Kit Carson Holliday. Stuart and Custer, newly graduated from West Point, are assigned to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. There they battle the rogue abolitionists under… Continue reading Movie Review: Santa Fe Trail
Book Review: City of Nets
Book Review: City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s by Otto Friedrich The book’s title comes from a Bertolt Brecht opera, “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.” Brecht had not yet come to Hollywood at the time, but “like a net set for edible birds” is a plausible description of… Continue reading Book Review: City of Nets
Movie Review: Blue Steel
Movie Review: Blue Steel This is a 1934 Western starring John Wayne, Gabby Hayes and Yakima Canutt. Wayne’s character witnesses a safe robbery by the Polka-Dot Bandit. But Sheriff Hayes witnesses the events just after that, and thinks Wayne is the bandit. While Wayne trails the bandit and Hayes tags along in hopes Wayne will… Continue reading Movie Review: Blue Steel