Youth of the Beast

What a treat 2 awesome yakuza flicks in a month! Youth of the Beast is easily the coolest most coherent gangster film I have ever seen come from Japan. Violence and jazz splash across the screen with style years ahead of its time. I want to put a real emphesis on how well the story flowed. Seijun Suzuki's later and more popular Tokyo Drifter was a bit too sporadic, while Takashi Miike's yakuza movies with a few exceptions tend to be strongly influenced by 80's and 90's American action movies thus ending up a bit lite on story. Youth of the Beast on the other hand shares elements of more traditional story telling bristling with all the turbulent energy of the 1960s. There is such an awesome sense of anarchy in Seijun Suzuki's movies that very few Japanese directors have managed to emulate.
Fantastic entertainment
9/10

Survival of the Dead

Most zombie movies are total garbage, as a zombie movie fan I have become accustomed to seeing box covers with things like "ZOMGBBQ ITS LIKE DAWN OF THE DEAD BUT SOOO MUCH BETTER" on them only to find out its worse than a lifetime original. No I do not want to watch druids fighting zombies, no you cant kill a zombie with a nun chuck, and no Survival of the dead, zombies do not ride horses nor can the be killed with a hot dog skewer. For every good thing Survival does it turns around and does something terrible. In the first 10 minutes we are treated to a great scene where people shoot their infected family members then we get gag like head shots, there is an awesome scene with a guy swimming across a shallow lake with zombies on the bottom only to have the tough male bad ass character light a zombie on fire, light his cigarette on the burning corpse then kung fu kicks that said zombie off the side of a boat. Why? No idea and the movie is full of moments like this. Survival never tries to hide the fact that its a western, at no point is it ever subtle but that's OK, it gives the film an energy that Diary of the Dead severely lacked. The acting is that of a typical Romero film, sparks of genius and incompetence but fairly steady when no one is zinging the undead with one liners. Now what really matters in a zombie movie is the gore but I'm afraid to say the man that pioneered shock is nowhere to be found here. There are a couple good face munches and a spinal cord here and there but the zombies feel awkward and non threatening. I am not a fan of this thinking zombie plot he has going on, it worked in Day and has progressively become worse with each film. I will say it again, ZOMBIES DO NOT RIDE HORSES, ZOMBIES DO NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHERE YOU LIVE SO THEY CAN EAT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. Where the hell is my sequel to the remake of Dawn of the Dead?
6.5/10

Dead or Alive

There has been little time for movies lately, Tatsunoko vs Capcom and Megaman 10 have eaten my soul. I made one last run to the Hollywood video and found two Takashi Miike films sitting next to each other in the back as if hidden away waiting just for me. Dead or Alive is far from Miike's best work, its 99 minutes and few things are worth mentioning except the last 5 minutes but holy crap, what a last 5 minutes. This is more than a wtf moment its a carefully constructed scene where Miike continues to top himself slowly pulling the viewer in with one intense act of violence after another until quite literally they blow up the world. Note that until this point there has been a fair amount of shooting, stabbing and punching but nothing too far removed from reality, which is what makes the ending so freaking fantastic. This is for Miike fans only.
7.9/10

2010 Movie Madness

I just got my tax return and the Hollywood video down the street has dropped their prices to $6 a movie and will probably drop them again before they shut down for good. Here are just a few of the goodies I picked up. I have to say 8 1/2 was my favorite of the group, the dream sequences were perfect in blending fantasy and reality. Its one of those perfect lazy day movies where you want something good but not something intense. While watching 8 1/2 I kept getting this Wes Anderson vibe similar to The Life Aquatic very surreal with a touch of dark humor. After that I got into The Chunking Express. I bought this movie not knowing it was by Wong Kar Wai director of 2046 and In the Mood for Love. Its really more of the same lush colors, steamy romances and possibly the best use of California Dreaming in a film ever.
Next up, The seventh seal! . . .For a later day.

I also picked up some religious children's shows on VHS but that too is for another day.

The loving glow of a laptop

Its almost 4am why am I watching a movie about killer hair extensions? This is just silly.

Dodes'Ka-Den

I just finished my 10th Kurosawa film and its true, there is no such thing as a bad Kursosawa movie. His ability to tell a story and to make the audience empathize with his characters has yet to be matched by another director. Does'Ka-Den is in my opinion his best non samurai film and his most human. Shot in 28 days Dodes'Ka-Den is what you would call a directors film, a character driven story blended with psychedelic imagery. I would not recommend this as an introduction to Kurosawa but as another chapter in the history of cinemas greatest film maker.
9/10

Delicatessen

I put off watching this movie for months and I feel like a complete idiot for doing so. Delicatessen is a joyous romp through post apocalyptic France full of cannibalism, obese subterranean french ninjas and snappy musical numbers. I'm not particularly fond of comedies but Delicatessen was a special kind of wonderful. There is so much character and style in every detail that its impossible to resist. As a fun side note I had no idea that it was made in 1991, it holds up incredibly well in terms of humor and quality.
There is an awesome going out of business sale at the Hollywood Video down the street I need to save up my nickels and dimes so I can pick this up along with about 10 other movies from their foreign film section. Go find one in your town I hear they are closing a bunch in California you will be surprised what you find.
9.978/10

Also, clowns.