You know I watch a fair amount of obscure bullshit that I love but would never expect to have any mass appeal. However every once in a while I come across something that is pretty obscure that I think should be way more popular than it is. Case in point, “The Karate” (or as I saw it he dub version I saw it, “Bronson Lee, Champion”). This is a mid 70s martial arts movie that just screams out for an…
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Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War 1973
Three movies in and I’m honestly blown away that a series knocked out on such a hasty schedule can be such a masterclass of script, acting and direction. Love how each ending is a variation of the same theme but it furthers the idea each time and gives us the sense of what Hirano is feeling.
I also love that the earlier movies show it as more chaotic because our leads are so low on the ladder but as the…
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Ne Zha 2 2025
Opening weekend at theaters in Malaysia and this is playing every 15 minutes and taking up 6.5 out of the 8 screens at the local mall theater. Saw it in a packed room, which is always fun. Lots of giggling and tears in the audience. The dad next to me was enjoying it at least as much as his two kids!
Loved the Hong Kong-style humor and the huge emotion and action. It all gets a little too big for…
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The Dancer and Two Warriors 1955
It’s Shintaro Katsu and Raiza Ichikawa as co-leads, so this movie has that going for it! It’s also filled with DAIEI regulars (including my number one most-watched actor on Letterboxd, Saburo Date with a fair amount of screen time in the early portion). Yasuda is a safe pair of hands behind the camera too so it all looks good. The plot however is a little too simple to elevate things past being an enjoyable and mindless example of 50s chambara.…
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Freelance Samurai 1957
Despite him being my most watched director on Letterboxd (so most watched since I started the app in 2021) this is only my second 1950s Kenji Misumi. He’s got legendary cinematographer Kohei Sugiyama (Gate of Hell, Pages of Madness, Crossroads) along for the ride too, so it looks freaking fantastic!
As for the plot, this is very much a 1950s Saturday matinee-style chambara, filled with convoluted plots (twins separated at birth, illegitimate heirs, conspiracies, etc), heroic heroes, dastardly villains, pure…
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House 1977
Let’s watch a movie by Nobuhiko Obayashi for Japanuary!
I’m also not saying that you need to enjoy psychedelics to enjoy the movie, that’s obviously not true. However, I’m almost certain that if I had seen this in my “acid days” it would be a five star all-timer for me.
As it stands, I was so certain that I was going to love this but it didn’t actually hit me like I expected. Some wonderful and insane imagery and it…
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