Lance's Reviews

I will. The only Kurosawa films I've seen are Shichinin no Samurai & Yojimbo. But, since I loved them both, I have high hopes for the one you've recommended. I'll take Mose's lead and Netflix it up as well.

Akahige

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Written By: Masato Ide, Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa & Hideo Oguni

Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Yuzo Kayama, & Reiko Dan

Produced By: Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa, & Tomoyuki Tanaka

Scored By: Masaru Satô

Cinematography By: Asakazu Nakai & Takao Saitô

MPAA Rating: N/A

Release Date + Runtime: 1965 - 185 min.

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My past few reviews have all been of pretty great movies, but this one is the pick of the litter. Akahige is the epitome of a good Kurosawa picture. It has so many characters and such depth that if another director attempted to make this film they would fail, miserably. But Kurosawa didn't fail, he created a movie that flowed almost angelically with perfect character development on his part and another amazing performance from Kurosawa's frequent co-worker Toshirô Mifune.

Akahige follows the young and cocky Dr. Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama) as he is sent to work at an underfunded medical clinic run by the heavily revered Dr. "Red Beard" Niide (Mifune). At first, Yasumoto despises working for the sickened public. He feels he has enough talent to be employed by a rich family, rather than healing commoners. But after a few days studying under the great Red Beard, Yasumoto realizes he was sorely mistaken.

Red Beard shows the young doctor how to truly care for the patients and to value their lives. His teachings are often graphic and they have a remarkable effect on the once naiive Yasumoto. Gradually, he learns to respect Red Beard, the field of medicine and most of all; life itself.

The main story is particularly well done, but what ties it all together are the sub plots created by Kurosawa and co. They show some of the patient's back stories and their struggles through the horrible illnesses bestowed upon them. Without these small interludes, the film might have been hurt by its lengthy runtime. But because of Kurosawa's master story telling, the movie flies by fairly briskly.

This is far and away, the greatest film I've watched in quite awhile. Surely it's the best Kurosawa effort (though I haven't seen the vast majority of his work). I have actually watched it three times now in the span of just four days. So that means nine hours of my life have been dedicated to the appreciation of this classic. They were nine hours well spent. Thank you, Slay, amazing movie.

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Sin City

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Don't you just love it when you walk out of a movie theater and all you can manage to say is: "Wow"? Well, that's the kind of profound effect Sin City had on me. People were leaveing the theater in droves, but I barely noticed them. I was mesmerized by Marv beating the sh*t out of two would-be hitmen, by Dwight teaching Jackie Boy a lesson in the bathroom and by Hartigan removing Junior's weapon...both of them. This is modern noir at its finest ladies and gentlemen.

The film showcases three exciting stories. All of them set in Sin City and all taken straight from the pages of Frank Miller's graphic novels. The first story follows Marv (Mickey Rourke), a lovable ogre whose life is shattered when the only woman to ever "love" him is killed. And he decides the only way to properly avenge her death is by going on a murderous rampage to find her stealthy assassin. "The Hard Goodbye" was always my favorite Miller story and now it is my favorite segment of this film. The drug addicted Marv is quite possibly the greatest character ever to grace a roll of film. It also helps that Mickey Rourke is so damn cool.

Next up is "The Big Fat Kill". The chapter begins with Dwight (Clive Owen) and his new girlfriend Shellie (Brittany Murphy) as they are confronted with the drunken womanizer Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). After a short while, the ever annoying Jackie Boy meets his violent end by way of a savage beating at the hands of the hookers from Oldtown. But when the girls realize the jerk was really a hero cop named Jack Rafferty, it is left up to Dwight to dispose of the evidence.

The third and final segment of the movie entitled "That Yellow Bastard" starts with straight-laced cop John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) hot on the trail of the governor's snotty son and known pedophile Junior Rourk (Nick Stahl). When Hartigan finally does catch up with the Rourk kid, the freak has an eleven year old girl named Nancy (Jessica Alba) with him. This sends Hartigan over the edge and he blows Junior's ear and testicles cleanly off in mad frustration. After hearing of his son's mishap, the governor has Hartgan convicted of Nancy's rape and sends the poor guy to jail for eight miserable years. But when Hartigan is released, he wastes no time in again saving Nancy and exacting his revenge on Junior.

Now, I couldn't write up a proper review on a movie such as this without giving praise to the visual achievments it made. The world of Sin City is beautiful, shot entirely on a green screen much like its pioneer predecessor Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The flick brings new meaning to the words "Faithful Adaptation". It actuallly felt like Miller's graphic novels come to life. I mean, that was really Junior Rourke in all his Yellow, Smelly glory!

Another thing that I mustn't forget to do is retract my previous hatred for Robert Rodriguez. I believe I called him a "non-talented ass clown" in this very thread. But after viewing this movie, I now realize that I am the ass clown, and Rodriguez is a Film God. Spy Kids and Once Upon A Time in Mexico be damned, I love you Robert Rodriguez!

I really don't know what else to say. Some aspects of this movie are simply too great for words. I just hope that the film has restored Frank Miller's faith in Hollywood. Because I want to see more. So much more...

"It's time to prove to your friends that you're worth a damn. Sometimes that means dying. Sometimes that means killing a whole lot of people."

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Nice review, Lance. But why did you delete the one you posted a few hours ago then re-post it?

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TOP 100 | "Don't let the bastards grind you down!"

Thanks for reading! As for the re-posting, I was just editing the review and I accidently deleted it.

I'm really glad that you enjoyed Red Beard as much as you did, Lance, and I enjoyed your review as well. Quite a powerful story, isn't it? Nice review of Sin City too. It's a modern classic if you ask me.

If you're interested, I have another pick for you:

Matewan (1987)

(view the trailer)

Starring: Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Kevin Tighe, Will Oldham, Bob Gunton, Ken Jenkins
Directed by: John Sayles

My Grade: A


John Sayles is on my top three living directors list. If you want to check out some good movies, you cannot go wrong with anything he's ever done. He is the King of independent filmmaking. Matewan is one of his best.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Thanks for reading these And yeah, Sin City is most definitely a modern classic.

As far as Matewan goes...meh. I've seen it and I wasn't really crazy about it. I'd give it a B- at best. For some reason, John Sayles has just never grown on me. The only film of his that I really liked was Eight Men Out. But I do agree with you about Chris Cooper, he's always been one of my favorite actors and I wish he'd get some more high profile roles.

Loved Sin City.

Great review..

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And I was about to introduce you to my sister too. Well, mister, you can forget that!

Okay then...how about...

The Long Goodbye (1973)

(view the trailer)

Starring: Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson, David Arkin, Jim Bouton
Directed by: Robert Altman

My Grade: A+


BTW: Which Sayles movies have you seen, and why rate Matewan so low?

Here's a graded list of the Sayle's movies I've seen:

• Matewan (1987): B-
• Eight Men Out (1989): A-
• City of Hope (1991): B-
• Passion Fish (1993):B-
• Lone Star (1996): B
• Casa de los Babys (2003): C+

Overall Grade: B-


I don't hate the guy's work, but for whatever reason I have a hard time getting into his films. Some of his stuff is so bland that I find myself losing interest in his movies halfway through. And quite often, his dramatic pacing is WAY off. Those were probably my biggest beefs with Matewan: Sluggish pacing and lack of depth in the script

Wow...we see his stuff differently to say the least. Oh well, to each his own. Have you seen The Long Goodbye? Do you like Robert Altman films...he's one of my top three...easy.

Never seen it, but I do like Altman. And Elliot Gould is the coolest cat on the block, so yeah, I'll check it out.

Thanks

YAY!!!

Okay...you can screw my sister after all...remember...with her, no means YES!

Oh yeah, Elliott (2 t's) certainly was one of the coolest cat's to ever walk a cell block.

Huzzah!!

Nothing more, nothing less. Just

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

I adore Pleasantville, its one of my faves, good review Lance, the relationship between Joan Allen and Jeff Daniels makes my heart ache. Its one of the most beautiful films to watch, especially the make-up scene and when her tear removes the grey and Bill wipes it away, its wonderful. Love the whole garden of evil, Adam and Eve thing the story has going on as well. Superb.

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Pumpkins scream in the DEAD of night!

I really enjoyed Pleasantville. Thanks for reading!

Saw the movie enjoyed it very much so good job on the review, but I was confused in the end.

Okay, it's been a while since my last review and I was looking foward to writing one up on Mulholland Drive. But in the middle of the review, I realized I was just rambling on and on about all the plot elements and completely screwing up on trying to explain the plot, so eventually, I just gave up on the mess. Therefore, instead of Lynch's masterpiece, the newest addition to my review archive shall be this intriguing love story:

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I'm really surprised by how much I liked this film. I've never been a big Mike Nichols fan and Jude Law flat-out irritates me. I hadn't even heard of the Patrick Warber play before I went to see this in its theatrical run. But I enjoyed the film so much then, that I wound up renting it a couple of nights ago, and since then, I've watched it an additional two times.

The story centers around four Londonites who are all engaged in on again and off again semi-serious relationships with one another. These so-called relationships soon become chock full of seduction and romance, but seem to lack any form of true love. Because despite the characters' best efforts, I don't think they ever find out what love really means. The clueless band of couples include the young and very American Alice (Natalie Portman), the struggling obituarist Daniel (Jude Law), the conflicted photographer Anna (Julia Roberts), and the dermatologist Larry (Clive Owen).

While watching this, it becomes clear that Warber is a very talented playwright and screenwriter. His dialogue has been criticized for being too raw or rough, but I think it definitely holds true to life. And even if I don't particularly like him, Nichol's skill as a filmmaker cannot be denied. This movie is just another landmark on his already staggeringly impressive resume.

As far as the acting goes, all of the players do a pretty good job, especially Owen as "The ****ing Caveman". They actually make you understand and ultimately pity the troubled lovers they portray, even though they are all obviously deceptive cheaters. But they're pitied, because the audience can grasp that this is what relationships are really like. There is no love anymore, but even if there is, these folks sure as hell didn't have it. And neither do the vast majority of us...

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Good review, Lance. I was also suprised how much I liked it.