tylerbell.net » Movies

Zatōichi, Blind Swordsman

tbell — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:47:20 +0000

Zatōichi (座頭市) is the long running character who is the archetypical blind Japanese swordsman. 25 films were made showcasing his extraordinary ability from 1962 – 1974, with a 26th added in 1989. In everyone he is played by actor Shintaro Katsu, though a 2003 remake starred Takeshi Kitano.

The iconic Zatōichi wanders the land, protecting the innocent, gambling, playing music, and giving massages. It’s an interesting character that has influenced many works both in Japan and in the West.

Below are the posters and/or DVD covers of the 26 films starring Shintaro Katsu, plus the remake for good measure.

Movies 2008

tbell — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:37:27 +0000

Well, since I am keeping a list of books I read, I decided to keep one of the movies I watch. Again, I’m sure you have little interest, but this is more just something for me. This year has been off to a great start with some amazing movies. Starting with most recent:

Iron Man (2008). One of the best comic movies ever.
Ninth Gate
21
Run Fatboy Run
Ape Genius
Jesus Camp (2006). Scary and sad religious arrogance.
Easy Rider (1969).
Bank Job (2008).
Fido (2006). Hilarious spin on the zombie genre a la the 1950′s.
Khubilai Khan: Fall of the Mongol Hordes (2005).
Russia, Land of the Tsars (2003).
Trekkies (1997). Funny ’cause its true. Rabid Star Trek fans.
Charlie Wilson’s War (2007). True story about events that are deeply connected with today’s political affairs. Really enjoyed it.
Jumper (2008). Didn’t really pay attention but it sucked.
Be Kind Rewind (2008). I’ve been waiting for this one… and good reason ’cause I loved it. Gondry always delivers and Jack Black is comedy gold.
The Darjeeling Limited (2007). Quarky Wes Anderson flick with strong visuals. Love the setting, decent story.
The Golden Compass (2008). Not as bad as I expected. But no. And it beat Transformers and Pirates 3 for best effects Oscar? Hellz no.
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007). Awesome documentary about 2 men: one the long reigning Donkey Kong high score champ and the other a suburban challenger facing the brunt of the “establishment.” Also see my post about it.
Juno (2007). The little indie that could. This movie seems to catch a lot of crap about being undeserving of Oscar nods, but I enjoyed the witty dialogue, though I know 16-year-olds don’t talk like that. Really enjoyed actually.
Barfly (1987). A couchsurfer from France recommended I check out some books by Charles Bukowski, so I thought I’d start with this film adaption since books are expensive to come by in Japan (and Mickey Rourke rocks). I think it was a good recommendation… can’t wait to get some literature.
Shattered/Butterfly on a Wheel (2007). I have to chalk this up to a ‘fail’ for Pierce Brosnan, but just barely.
Into the Wild (2007). This one is best picture material in my mind. One of the few movies I liked better than the book. I think the movie’s solemn depiction of the ‘wild’ and Eddie Vedder’s genius soundtrack are more convincing of the main character’s ideals than maybe any words on a page. That is Christopher McCandless’ rejection of society and the openness of Alaskan wilderness just need to be witnessed, something that even repeating words in your head (ala reading) can’t quite hit.
Meet the Spartans (2008). Spoof movies of popular culture come out every few years. It’s pretty funny too, but I feel dirty saying that.
Rambo (2008). It has a kill count of 236, the most for any Rambo film and it delivers. This time its against Burma.
Across the Universe (2007). Interesting weaving of the Beatles’ song catalog into a narrative story. Song interpretations are really good, though I suppose they are hard to mess up.
He Was A Quiet Man (2007). Christian Slater really surprised me with such a good plot about an unlikely character in the role of a hero.
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007). This was good with a couple solid performances (especially Casey Affleck), but it just felt a bit slow to me.
Eastern Promises (2007). Viggo Mortensen in a Russian mafia flick. The fight scene in the sauna is quite something.
There Will Be Blood (2007). Daniel Day-Lewis for best actor in this one! This one is based on a novel by Upton Sinclair. UPDATE: He got it.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007). Title taken from the Irish toast: “May you have food and raiment, a soft pillow for your head; may you be 40 years in heaven, before the devil knows you’re dead.” Solid story and performances, love the ‘neo noir’ style.
No Country For Old Men (2007). My pick for best picture. Not sure where they found the guy who plays the bad guy, but he was good. I am definitely going to have to look into some of Cormac McCarthy’s books.

The King of Kong

tbell — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:58:08 +0000

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is an excellent documentary for the nerd in you. In one corner is Billy Mitchell, the long established high score champ in Donkey Kong. He is the Mohamed Ali of competitive retro gaming. Rising challenger Steve Wiebe submits a video of himself beating the high score and its on!

A back and forth struggle for Wiebe to be recognized begins. Therein lies spies, corruption, duals, defeat, and glory. The beauty of the film plainly lies in a great story, no fancy techniques or editing here. I won’t ruin the ending because you should watch this one. Here’s a clip:

The nerd radar (naydar?) is off the chart with some of the people in this film. My favorite trick they pull is in how they submit taped scores for official judging. All submissions for world records must be recorded in entirety to make sure no funny business goes down. To better fit the aspect of an arcade machine, they film with the camera on it’s side. When a new tape rolls in, they gather ’round and tip the TV up 90 degrees. Hilarious.

Some of the classic arcades can go for a pretty penny. I know because I once went to an arcade machine auction and bought one. I happily dropped a wad of cash (though not too much) on 1988′s Bad Dudes.

Then disaster struck. One the way home I was in a car accident (my fault) with the machine in tow. Something went amiss and the impact damaged the monitor, though you could here the game playing. I couldn’t convince any company to take a look at it for some reason (like the store that fixes arcade machines, asses) and the huge capacitors on the monitor scared the crap out of me. I was going to use the chassis for my own custom MAME box, but school kept me too busy/never got around to it.

How cool would Bad Dudes have been though?

Yes, you read that correctly. It says:

“The President has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?”

The above is the first screen to the NES version… my arcade version referred to the President as “President Ronnie.” It’s a Double Dragon style fighter where the Pres has been kidnapped by ninjas and you, as Striker or Blade, are the only hope. Made in Japan of course.

It would have been glorious.

2008 Best Animated Shorts

tbell — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:40:06 +0000

Peter & the Wolf (Winner)

Even Pigeons Go to Heaven

Moya lyubov (My Love)

1/3:

2/3:

3/3:

Madame Tutli-Putli

I Met the Walrus (trailer only)

Batman: Gotham Night Preview

tbell — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:17:07 +0000

I was happily surprised to learn of an anime inspired Batman animation film coming out. In the tradition of the great Animatrix, the project is direct-to-DVD and features six short stories that bridge the gap between the two films with Christian Bale doning the mantle of the bat. Check out the video above for a sneak preview.

UPDATE: You can now download the torrent, but if you wish to see more projects like this I’d strongly suggest buying it!

Top Vampire Movies

tbell — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:22:18 +0000

[See post to listen to audio]

In honor of my favorite holiday and arguably movie genre….

The Top 70 Vampire Movies

(as determined by both their IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes scores)

In other vampire news, Lost Boys 2 seems to be a go… but now with only one Corey!! Alas, Haim apparently dropped out. The first one comes in at number 18 on the list.

Also included here is Neil Young’s Vampire Blues for your listening enjoyment. It’s from his 1974 album On the Beach.

Links Galore

tbell — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:31:55 +0000

Here are a few links in three of my (and probably yours too) favorite areas: movies, books, and music. Have some favorites of your own? Leave me a comment!

55 Must See Movies of 2008

Who knew ’08 was gearing up to be so full of blockbusters? There’s the big sequels like Indy 4 and The Dark Knight plus many more you might not have heard about. My favorite is Righteous Kill, bringing De Niro and Pachino together for only the second time ever!