Chris’s Summer Catchup — Theatrical films and DVDs

It’s been a while since my last update, so here goes. Kris and I’ve seen quite a few films this summer – far more than we can hope to cover even in a capsule format. In an effort to weigh in on these titles (both theatrical and DVD), I’ll simply provide a one to [...]

Tokyo Gore Police — movie review

Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura
Starring: Eihi Shiina, Itsuji Itao, Shoko Nakahara
Genre: Japan, Horror
This film will be given it’s West Coast Premiere at SF Indie’s Another Hole in the Head 2008, June 22. Click here for showtimes.
Wow. I’m at a loss for words. What can I say about Tokyo Gore Police? Well, first off, I guess [...]

Machine Girl — movie review

Director: Noburo Iguchi
Starring: Minase Yashiro, Asami, Honoka
Genre: Japan, comedy, horror
This film will be screening at SF Indie’s Another Hole in the Head 2008, June 6, 12, and 14. Click here for showtimes.
Former AV director Noburo Iguchi’s latest picture will undoubtably be compared to Yudai Yamaguchi’s Meatball Machine — at least by those attending SF’s [...]

Black Blood Brothers vol. 3 — Baldr Force EXE — Shin Chan season 1 — Hell Girl vol. 4 — anime reviews

Kris and I just got back from a short vacation, and some of the review titles have piled up quite a bit (I just received 4 more titles yesterday). So, in an effort to clean house, here are a few short capsules for Black Blood Brothers vol. 3, Baldr Force EXE, Hell Girl vol. 4, [...]

Vexille (aka: Bekushiru: 2077 Nihon sakoku) — dvd movie review — early!

Director: Fumihiko Sori
Genre: Japan, action, action, sci-fi
Release Date: May 27, 2008
As interested as I was in watching Baldr Force EXE, I was completely ambivalent about Vexille. I’d seen the ads on all the geek sites, but its comparisons to Appleseed weren’t winning me over. You see, to be completely honest, I’m not that big a [...]

Exte: Hair Extensions (aka: Ekusute) — movie review

Director: Sion Sono
Starring: Chiyaki Kuriyama, Ren Osugi, Tsugumi
Genre: Horror, Supernatural
This film will be screening at SF Indie’s Another Hole in the Head 2008, June 5, 10, and 14. Click here for showtimes.
Sion Sono’s latest picture has been covered on so many other sites that I’m afraid this review might be a bit superfluous. As [...]

Bohachi Bushido Code of the Forgotten Eight — dvd review — early!

Director: Teruo Ishii
Starring: Tetsuro Tanba, Yuriko Hishimi
Genre: Japan, action, action
Release Date: May 21, 2008
Now, I’m no stranger to Kazuo Koike or Teruo Ishii. I’ve seen the films (and in cases television series) based off of Koike’s Lone Wolf and Cub, Crying Freeman, Demon Spies, Lady Snowblood (even read the manga), and have seen a bit [...]

Shinobi no Mono 2 - Vengeance dvd review

Director: Satsuo Yamamoto
Starring: Raizo Ichikawa, Shiho Fujimura, Mikiko Tsubouchi, Tomisaburo Wakayama, So Yamamura
Genre: Japan, action, action, educational
Release Date: May 13, 2008
If you read my review of the first Shinobi no Mono, you probably remember I was more than a bit smitten with its tale of clan intrigue and ninja heroics. Shinobi no Mono 2: [...]

Shuffle!, vol. 3 anime review

Episodes: 9-11
Genre: romance, comedy, educational
Release Date: May 6, 2008

And the Shuffle! coverage continues. If you haven’t already, check out my reviews of volumes 1 and 2.
At the end of the last volume I was finding my interest in Shuffle! to be waning. Episodes 5 through 8 were interesting bits of animated relationship education, [...]

Forget The Dark Knight. It’s all about Turkish Batman

I dunno about you, but the latest Batman film’s looking a bit too serious and grounded in the everyday realm for the likes of me. But this Turkish Batman doesn’t look so bad. If anyone knows where to track down the full video, drop me a line.

And, as a bonus, some Turkish Star Wars for [...]

School Rumble vol. 6 — Glass Fleet vol. 5 — Wizards — anime — dvd reviews

I just received another big batch of titles (Shuffle, Black Blood Bros, and more), so I’ll just take care of some of my pending reviews in one fell swoop. I’ll be back with a full review of Glass Fleet vol 6 in the coming weeks. On to the reviews.
School Rumble vol. 6
After seeing the [...]

Black Kiss — AVP: Requiem — Species: The Awakening — Timber Falls — movie reviews

So I’ve seen a few titles over the past month, but just haven’t had any time to review them. So, rather than let them fall to the wayside, here are a few quick capsules. As for regular film/dvd reviews, I’ve just received a flood of titles, including Bohachi and Shinobi no Mono 2: Vengeance. Look [...]

Witchblade, Vol. 6 anime review

Episodes: 21 - 24
Genre: ANIME, action, Animation, Asian, Bad Ass Chicks, Japan, Manga, supernatural,
Release Date: April 29, 2008
(If you haven’t already, please check out my previous reviews of the Witchblade Anime, volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
First off, I made a mistake. Looking at the number of discs [...]

Operation Pussycat movie review

Director: Ryuichi Honda
Starring: Kei Mizutani, Nao Iguchi
Genre: Indie, Bad Ass Chicks, Japan, Action
Let’s start with the positives first. I think, outside of experimental art and music DVDs, Operation Pussycat boasts THE best DVD cover art of the past few years. It’s simple, clean, instantly catches your eye… It just pops. Cult DVD distributors would [...]

Love Psychedelico - This Is Love Psychedelico — music review — early!

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to handle this review in a non-fanboy sort of fashion, and I realized I can’t. I love Love Psychedelico. They’re one of my favorite bands. In fact, they’re one of the few bands that have prompted me to purchase multiple albums in these days of rotten popular music and lossy MP3s. And, keep in mind these are import CDs (Yes, I dig Love Psychedelico that much.) [...]

Sukiyaki Western Django movie review

Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Kaori Moimoi, Hideaki Ito, Yoshino Kimura
Genre: Indie, Bad Ass Chicks, Japan, Action
This film has been covered ad-nauseum on other websites, so I’ll make this relatively short. For those of you not in the know, Sukiyaki Western Django is Takashi Miike’s Japanese western. Now, each and every film student knows about the [...]

New Tarsem!!! The Fall trailer now online!

This looks amazing. Simply amazing. I’ll definitely be looking forward to this one. Check out the trailer.

April in San Francisco - Nikkatsu Action Cinema, Zombie Strippers, and more!

Just received this Dead Channels press release in the mail, and figured a good number of you would be interested. Heck, I was already planning on writing up something about the Nikkatsu films myself. And, provided work and school calm down enough for me to take a daylong break, I might just be able [...]