Reviews

How do I start this? Okay, I'm not into punk music anymore. Since over a decade. Most bands in the movie I listened to when I was in my teens. Well, now you have all these guys from punk bands who turned fathers trying to cope with their new life style and the apparent "contradictions" with their punk present and past. The question for me is: how rebellious had they been in the past?? Or was it all mere show? I don't criticize the family aspect. I believe it is a part of life getting older and having children. My criticism is rather how established these guys get, living the same life anybody lives, engaging material values and so on. The real question remains: if they hated society so much as some pretend: why didn't they try an alternative life style with their family? Starting up communes or ecological projects are what so ever. I don't really see any political awareness with most of the protagonists except: f+?3 this, or f?$§ that. Really, they have become so common and the only difference is probably that they are tattooed and whatsoever while the rest of the family represents the typical suburban family, with the dad being a musician for profession. I acknowledge Ron Reyes since he took a big step and left everything behind and I don't know how much he would still consider his self part of the punk movement.

The movie becomes very repetitive, often the same views and ideas just coming from different mouths: "I'm on tour, can't see my children, have to earn money for them."..blablabla.... Way too long for such little information given.

Anyway. WTF were Blink 182 doing in the movie since they belong to the Post-Punk-MTV-era.....

13 Assassins is a bad ass movie. I would have loved to see this movie in cinema, but unfortunately German audience, cinema and distributors are ignorant, so it was a direct to DVD-release. Story is simple: mid of 19th century. Evil lord who loves torturing people should be assassinated by a group of samurai. Similarity with Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece Seven Samurai is given, but it is a remake of a 1960's movie with the same title. Unusual "normal" for a Takashi Miike movie, he proves in my opinion that he is able to create movies for bigger audiences and not only film lovers with focus on Asian cinema. Although he has left the underground a long time a go. Like I mentioned above, this movie would have deserved a theatrical release. I love chambara movies and have seen many. This is definite a return to the genre, even if Miike makes some mistakes at points, the movie is outstanding. Costume, setting, actors. Everything has been created with extreme love for the detail. A entire village was set up (and then more or less completely destroyed for the movie). The main battle is epic. 40 min non stop action. Miike keeps the violence relatively low for his standards. Two or three decapitations, not really any severed limbs. Could have had more I thought, but then it probably wouldn't have worked for a bigger audience. The actors are superb and suit their roles. I did feel reminded of good old sixties with Mifune and Nakadai. The actors might not possess their status and their charisma, but they are close and Miike is proving that he can handle serious and bigger stuff. The CGI he should have let done by an European or American team, then there wouldn't have been any visual flaws. The blood from the roof....I really would like to know if Miike was inspired by Kitamura's Azumi, in which there is a similar scene towards the end. For people, who don't like dialogs and long introductions: the movie is split in two. A very long build up over half of the movie and the last third the battle. I am reviewing the international version with its 2H 5min runtime. The Japanese is half an hour longer. I am looking forward, once released....and for the next Miike-movies. A director the international critics can't ignore no longer.....

Well, the idea for the movie is really cool..... Handycam.....there are moments which really give you the thrills, e.g. the subway scene. But as such, if it supposed to be a docu-style movie, it doesn't make sense that Hudson has the cam running the whole time. Come on, I want to see you guys climbing over a roof to another and holding on to the cam and filming the whole sequence...If you people think that's realistic...And on the other hand, as soon as action starts the camera is shaking, so you really don't always know what's going on....

And the monster...it's cool. But I would have likes to see it more in details...the shots and the movements plus the shaking handy cam, don't really get across how big and fearsome this creature is... Anyway....check it out...interesting style, but fails along the way.....

I don't understand how this movie could be rated so high ... I'm a great fan of Predator and of Alien, watching those flicks since my childhood days. When I found out about AVP, I thought cool. I watched it and thought: damn. Now really, seeing the trailer of this part I thought again: this looks wicked. Well, I was totally disappointed.

There is hardly no suspense in the movie, the action scenes fail absolutely (the Alien and Predtor nearly black fighting in the night or darkness - its left for you to figure out what happens), stupid dialogues, the worst of worse actors. If you watch Predator 2 it is way more brutal and exciting, even with a little humor. This movie didn't contain anything.... well...wish you guys fun......

I've hardly seen such a bad movie with cheesy effects and not able to understand the plot, except everybody turning into spirals... well, I would recommend everybody who is interested in the story (because it is kind of creepy that everybody is turning into spirals) to read the comics, which were absolutely fascinating..... H.P.Lovecraft meets Acid-nightmares...thats how I would describe it...and the comics have a ending, much more characters and many people getting killed by the spiral......

The spiral......!!!!

all the philosophical aspects are dropped in the movie...the acting wasn't good at all.... I really don't know who wrote the manga, but it is available anywhere, and the translation is really good.. worth checking out!

Well...no story...bad acting...no twist... cheap effects(hey guys, the Chinese girl with half of the face missing is so cheap...you can even see how it was placed on the girl).. Many people were fascinated by the movie...the reasons?? they are sick....(probably the spank the wiener to this movie) I've seen plenty of gruesome horror flicks (Ichi is one of my favorite)...but I like to have a story and not only titts and gore for the sake of it....(if I wanna see titts I rent a movie by Jack the Zipper..by the way: Squealer is more frightening than this)... Yeah..it wasn't even a horror movie..no shocks..no moments of extreme tension....the revenge plot in the end is stupid......

the only thing I thought was amusing was Takashi Miike really playing himself coming out of the Basement of the Mad Butcher Society..if you know Miike and his films and the scenes he himself acts in, this is a parody of himself...nice idea...well the rest...don't even give it a try....

and Tarantino sacrificed his name...a shame...big time........

This movie is a brilliant lesson on Japanese history set in at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate shortly before the Shogunate lost a big battle against the loyalist, who wanted the emperor back on the throne to rule Japan. Really, I had to read a lot of history to get the entire background.

Shintaro Katsu (also known as the original Zatoichi) gives a superb performance as Izo Okada, one of the four Hitokiri(=Human Slayer) of the Bakumatsu. He is a simple samurai who looses all of his wealth. In order to have a good life he becomes a retainer of Takechi Hanpei (played by Tatsuya Nakada = Ryonosuke out of Sword of Doom). Hanpei is a ultra-nationalist politician who lets his band of Hitokiri assassinate a lot of high ranking pro-west politicians in order to achieve his political goals. Izo Okada follows his leader without really questioning what they are doing. As long as he has money to go and drink and spend at his whore. Okada's killings get more and more brutal in the course of the movie and he is proud to have a reputation based on fear wherever he goes.

It is a splendid portrait on the life of a simple samurai who gets caught up in political affairs and is really to naive to realize what is happening. First after being betrayed and tortured and always having talks with Sakamoto ( who is a samurai who rejects violence) does he change his ideas and views on life. But too late....

Watch the movie to see the end of Izo Okada...

Shintaro Katsu and the rest of the staff give a brilliant performance. Each actor reaches up to their role. The sword-fights a very unique and fast...probably faster than several movies nowadays...

Check it out if you have the chance!!!

I was very surprised when I saw this movie for the first time. It contains everything exploitation movies can feature: Sex&Violence (carried out by children!)!! Probably very gross for the most viewers. The story deals with a group of children who are trained to be ninja assassins wearing demon masks and work for the shogun carrying out covert actions. The five kids receive a brutal training in the mountains hidden away from society. Once their training is complete they have to infiltrate a fief and kill the clan leader. It is a more or less simple story, which really reminded me of Kitamura's Azumi. But for the time (1974) it contains gore ,bloodshed and rape, which I thought was very hardcore - watch out for the face-buster-move(even though it is a little trashy). Koike wrote the story and it fits good into line with Lady Snowblood and Lone Wolf. Anyone who enjoyed those movies will have a hell of a time watching this one. If you don't like seeing teenagers being tortured or little children working as killers...stay far....If you are down with ninja/samurai flicks, this one is worth to be checked out!!!!

Well, reading some other viewer's comments and their dislike of this movie I have to say for its defense. If you aren't into Shaw Brother Movies/LoneWolf and Cub/The Bride wore Black etc. don't watch this movie. If you are you will have the fun of your life watching Tarantino mixing up popular heroes (Sonny Chiba as Hattori Hanzo) from Asian movies together with a drama-action movie from the sixties. The film starts not with warner Bros. but with Shaw Brothers, which makes clear where this film is going to take you. Many quotes from different movies, figures are placed into the movie for lovers to recognize. Same as the music: using Kinji Fukasaku's Battles without honor and humanity or the title theme of Lady Snowblood : Love Song of Carnage. The violence is typically Japanese style overdone for the comic factor. You can't really take it serious anymore. Anybody who feels offended took it way to serious. Brilliant movie...I loved it...all actors had pure fun.....

I'm a great reggae and dancehall fan and travelled Jamaica, where I had the chance to watch most movies ever filmed in Jamaica(which aren't too many!)by Jamaicans. Well, if you compare Dancehall Queen, Third World Cop, Rudeboy, Shottas, Rockers - this is the best of them and the best Jamaican movie ever. Based on a true story, a country boy, Ivanhoe, looks for fortune in the city and ends up as the most wanted criminal in Kingston. Jimmy Cliff is superb in his role as a bad boy and the motives for him becoming criminal are presented very clearly throughout the movie. He is a talented artist recording many big songs and doesn't see a dime or a penny for his music, so the struggle to survive ends in violence. Well this probably happens nearly every day in the Caribbean if you look at biographies of Max Romeo for example, who never received money at the time for some big songs(except for becoming a gangster).

Features a Great Soundtrack and a really marvellous Jimmy Cliff!!!!

I must say: out of all modern korean martial arts movies this one is worth checking out. It wasn't as epic as Musa-The Warriors and didn't develop the characters as well, but it had many nice ideas. Simple story: a elite soldier thought dead, returns after years to end the reign of the Japanese in Korea in medieval days. His counterpart was formerly the best friend he had and now he is out to stop him. The fight scenes are all with sword or different weapons and very entertaining to watch. The motives of the figures are discovered first near to the end. You might need to watch it again to get all the connections right. And me personally...I loved the end. I could watch it over and over again. Maybe a little pathetic, but a real freedom fighter story.... People can be killed, but not the ideas they stand for....

Watching a lot of Asian action movies lately I saw the trailer for Death Trance and thought : Wow! Sowrds, motorbikes, guns, bazookas, Breakdance mixed with martial arts. But where was the story. Well, you don't often need a story in Good action flicks, but in this case : it was absolutely senseless. One fight after the other and you don't get why. And for being the ultimate fighter who only seeks destruction I didn't really understand why does Tak leave everybody alive??? The soundtrack really hurts. In movies like Versus and Azumi I felt the heavy rock music entertaining, but here you want to turn the sound off after short time before your ears start to bleed. If you are looking for a modern Japanese action movie go for Azumi, Shinobi, Aragami. But i wouldn't recommend this; except if you are a hardcore trash fan......

Well, I'm a great Toshiro Mifune fan and for that, this is one of the movies you have to watch. This Kurosawa story was remade by Sergio Leone as a Fistful of Dollars and Walter Hill's Last Man Standing. It was one of the first action flicks ever made; and for the first time presented the nameless action hero, who comes to town to set it free. He is always cool, always confident and a master of his skills, loves drinks and takes outs his enemies in a second. The acting of Mifune is superb and his figure inspired Clint Eastwood to stick a cigarette in his jaw just for the coolness factor in the old western movies (Mifune chewed on straw). I don't think Western action cinema and the representation of the main "hero" would have developed in the fashion they did, if Mifune never would have worked together with Kurosawa. Their influence is definitely large.

This movie is entire crap. No style. No good acting. I, living in Germany, had to laugh about the figure of the German Nazi Slasher, who always talks fragments of German, when he is about to finish off his victims. What a piece of garbage.......

I don't really recommend anyone to go out there and watch this movie. Stay with the old slasher films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Helloween. Okay, if you like to see women being ?!§%&$ to death or the killer using a cut off head of a girl to get a blow-job done, then go ahead and you will probably have fun. It wasn't original and I personally need more than just pure gore to enjoy a movie.

The first time I watched this movie I didn't really get the connection between the characters.Probably I was too tired. Second time I watched it was like wow. What an excellent movie if you consider the time it was made in. And I don't mean the story as such, but the acting, camera, cut and ideas around this movie. It is a movie still ahead of its time and the acting of Ryunosuke, the villain is super. The end, when insanity grabs hold of him is visual stunning. Seldom have I seen a movie where madness is shown in such a wonderful style.

And the story: Natural Born Killer meets Akira Kurosawa..let's describe it like that....

Phwe...this movie is really hardcore, although it really has about ten minutes of violence in it. It concentrates on outbreaks of violence in two extreme hardcore scenes. I was very surprised to see the rape scene in a Hollywood movie, mostly because Hollywood doesn't like breaking with tabus. Maybe it was because the director is french and doesn't care about breaking with the rules. Anyway...the first scene takes place exactly halfway through the movie with a family lost in the desert being more less wiped out in about three minutes - the second scene is the son-in-law hunting down the mutants and killing them with an axe, dog and shotgun. I wasn't really shocked by the movie for being a splatter and gore fan, but I most admit it had some tough scenes in it (the rape scene made me shiver). And from all remakes at the time, this one is worth checking out.

This movie is the live action version of Futaro Yamada's Manga Basilisk. Based on a historical event, which took place in the medieval Japan, it mixes fantasy/fiction and facts...I like the Romeo & Juliet Story, which isn't original, but still very romantic. Gennosuke, a Koga-ninja, falls in love with Oboro, a member of the rival Iga-clan. Gennosuke doesn't really care about the wishes of his fellow ninja, who only live to seek battles. He believes in more and the power of love. Of course, Oboro and Gennosuke don't have a chance of loving each other in the environment they live.....

I really enjoyed the fights. Every fighter (five on each side) have their special powers they put into action and these are fantastic to watch. They are like the Japanese ninja-versions of the X-Men. It has a lot of romance and emotions in it, so people looking for an entire action movie won't probably like this one, but don't be afraid and give it a try. If you like Spiderman combined with the five deadly venoms, this is what you probably get. And the CGI effects are beautiful, not as cheap like in many other Japanese movies.

The original story of the Manga was changed, the end isn't quite as dramatic. But I, as a great lover of samurai and fantasy movies thought it very entertaining.