Chef Mavro — restaurant review — Hawai’i

In college, en route to work, I rode many times on The Bus past Chef Mavro, a cute little building with a continuous frosted wave of etched glass ebbing and flowing around its perimeter, hugging the “sandy” apricot-colored walls, a pleasant oasis amidst the low-rise tenements and eyesores of another era lining busy King Street [...]

Sex and Death 101 — Lost Boys: The Tribe — Watching the Detectives — dvd movie reviews

Sex and Death 101 Buy it at Amazon.com
“Topless girls are all I need” should be a running quote for movie critics who wholeheartedly recommend fodder like this. It’s not funny, it’s not interesting, it’s horribly miscast, it’s a complete disaster. It’s hard to believe, I mean really hard to believe this came from [...]

My Blueberry Nights — movie review

Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Starring: Jude Law, Norah Jones
Genre: Drama, Romance

Whaa–t? What’s wrong with blueberry pie? In Wong Kar-Wai’s Hollywood effort, My Blueberry Nights, the homely dessert is the one cast off by customers every night, an icon for the discarded, much like the fishbowl melange of housekeys left by jilted non-pie eaters in Jeremy’s [...]

Hana (aka: Hana yori no maho) — dvd movie review

Director: Koreeda Hirokazu
Starring: Junichi Okada, Rie Miyazawa, Susumu Terajima, Tadanobu Asano
Genre: Japan, Samurai, Drama
Koreeda Hirokazu is the master of the saccharine. The man has managed to tackle such subjects ranging from dealing with the suicide of a spouse (Maborosi) to the prospect of life after death (After Life), and in each instance, rather than depressing [...]

Vibrator (2003) dvd movie review

I reviewed Vibrator a while back, and you could say I didn’t really care for it. Kino now having sent me a review copy of their DVD, I figured I would check it out again. Since my initial review I’ve learned that actress Shinobu Terashima won a best actress award for her performance in Vibrator [...]

Erotic Diary of an Office Lady . dvd movie review

As mentioned in our Dreamlogic update, we’ve received three of Kinos’s recent Nikkatsu titles for review. I figured, why not start with the most provocatively titled one first? So, Erotic Diary of an Office Lady it is.
Again, this being the first film we’ve reviewed belonging to the “Roman Porno/Pinku” genre we’ve actually reviewed, an introduction [...]

ANIME REVIEW . School Rumble vol. 5

Here’s another series I’m coming to the party a bit late in, but despite my complete lack of background the show still provided a surprising amount of fun. If you’re familiar with School Rumble you can skip on down to the fourth paragraph. If not, read on.
School Rumble is a high-school romantic comedy revolving around [...]

Wristcutters: A Love Story movie review

Chris and I saw the quirky black comedy Wristcutters: A Love Story nearly a month ago, but at least it’s not out in wide release across the country/globe just yet, so this is still pretty early, hehe.
“When there is trap/ set up for you/ in every corner of the room”.. oops, sorry. That’s [...]

The Shoe Fairy (aka: Renyu Duoduo) dvd movie review

Uh-oh, I just discovered that I’m a shoe whore. I’ve always bought way too many shoes, but only recently I’ve been actually wearing them like a girl and not a guy, which means I’m not just wearing one favorite pair until they basically fall apart anymore. Oh what a joy it is to [...]

Nothing says I love you like Ravioli munchies recipe

I’ve been on a cooking/baking kick since Chris has begun Fall classes; gotta make sure he’s fed well! This is how much I loooove my hubby.. the other day I surprised him with homemade heart-shaped kabocha (japanese pumpkin)/pine nut/parmesano ravioli with browned butter and fried fresh sage. The pasta was also homemade beet [...]

The Ten, Cool Dimension, The Illusionist, Monster Squad // movie reviews // in-brief

Summertime house cleaning continues, with the Ten Commandments comedy,The Ten, the female martial artist action film, Cool Dimension, the me-too magician film, The Illusionist, and cult classic, The Monster Squad. Enjoy.
The Ten . A comedy featuring ten short stories, each centering about one of the Ten Commandments, from the guys who brought you The State. [...]

TRAILER WATCH . Lust, Caution, 3:10 to Yuma, Darjeeling Limited and more

Here are a few more of trailers I came across on the web. Also, scroll down for a Panda Prison Break ( I didn’t know where else to place it).
Lust, Caution . New Ang Li, featuring Tony Leung and (ugh) Joan Chen. Plot involves a love story and assassination plot in occupied Shanghai. Check [...]

Linda Linda Linda movie review

Linda Linda Linda is my first encounter with Shojo cinema — light and fluffy tales of female friendship, fledgling romance, and good feelings that appeal to the loose-socked teenage girl crowd. To be entirely honest, I wouldn’t have picked it up if I knew this beforehand – I had stupidly confused it with Swing Girls, [...]

DVD REVIEW [Early] . Ashura (aka: Ashura jo no hitomi)

When I first watched and reviewed Ashura, almost a full year ago, I was struck by the smart dialog, fun story, endearing performances, and quality production values. It was a fun little film that I definitely enjoyed, but didn’t think too much of after my review was in the bag. Now, having viewed the film [...]

Trailer Watch . Kantoku - Banzai! // The Brave One // Rise: The Blood Hunter // …and more

Yep. It’s that time again. A nice selection of trailers for you to peruse. Check-check em out.
Kantoku - Banzai! . New Takeshi Kitano! Need I say more? Trailer.
The Brave One. New Jodie Foster film. I can’t get this one to play at the moment, but you can try, here.
Gegege no Kitarou.  Kids film featuring Yokai and a main [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS [In Brief] . Pervert!, Dust Devil, Frankenhooker

I had some pretty nice capsules for El Topo and Pistol Opera, but unfortunately I seem to have misplaced them. Well, these capsules of Pervert!, Dust Devil, and Frankenhooker will have to suffice. Read on, cult film lovers, read on.
Pervert! - This has been getting quite a bit of notice in the cult film [...]

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade dvd movie review

Being that I’ve already reviewed Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, and professed my deep love for it in our Best of 2006 list, I’m going to launch straight into the DVD review.
Funimation presents Shinobi: Heart Under Blade in an absolutely pristine 2.35:1 transfer (truly the best I’ve seen) representing its theatrical aspect ratio, with your choice [...]

The Valentine’s Day Spin

In case you’re the superficial girlie that expects Barry White and bruised roses, drugstore chocolate and wine, and a tacky diamond baguette laced heart pendant so cheap it’s best suited for a gift for your distant aunt, or if you’re the predictable guy that has to buy all that crap, here’s a slight spin on [...]