GHOST IN THE SHELL -- Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD Review by Porfle

Originally posted in 2017

 

Futuristic sci-fi thrillers such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, BLADE RUNNER, and the more recent THE FIFTH ELEMENT used to amaze and astound us with their eye-popping visuals and stunning practical effects. Nowadays, such fare is so overloaded with CGI-generated artificial wonders jam-packed into every frame that we tend to get numbed by it all. 

GHOST IN THE SHELL (2017)--a live-action adaptation of the original manga by way of the excellent 1995 animated version--starts out that way, cluttered with too many whiz-bang visuals that don't always seem to exist in the real world, with the ever-present advertising motif of BLADE RUNNER taken to new extremes and a sort of architectural imagination gone mad.

As the film progresses, however, we settle in and adapt to this frenetic, plastic vision of the future, mainly because the theme of the story is technology gone too far--people becoming willing cyborgs for vanity and convenience and all connected body and mind to a central core--and the main characters are meant to feel alienated by it as well. 

Our heroine, Major Mira Killian (Scarlett Johansson) of the anti-terrorist group Section 9, is especially attuned to such feelings, being that she is the first successful fusion of a human brain with an entirely robotic body (i.e., a "ghost in the shell") and thus constantly conflicted as to how much of her humanity remains and what percent of her is pure machine connected to the company mainframe. 

Her inner conflict is heightened when her group's newest nemesis is a cyber-criminal named Kuze who can hack into any system including all cyborgs--meaning just about everybody to one degree or another--and service robots. 

His goal is revenge, which he wreaks to the extreme in some explosive action setpieces.  But exactly why remains a mystery until Mira and her team manage to fight their way right into his sinister clutches and discover the truth behind not only Kuze but their own organization.

Scarlett Johansson strikes the right balance between robotic demeanor and inner conflict, which she underplays until it's time to delve headlong into her action scenes.  These lack the angular inventiveness and quirky choreography of, say, THE MATRIX, but are still packed with satisfying excitement in their own way, replete with gunplay and hand-to-hand combat with sci-fi elements such as invisibility and advanced weaponry. 

"Beat" Takeshi Kitano (BATTLE ROYALE, VIOLENT COP) lends his considerable presence as Mira's boss, Aramaki, as does Juliette Binoche--who will always be Catherine Earnshaw of 1992's WUTHERING HEIGHTS to me--as Dr. Ouelet, the head scientist who created Mira and regards her as a daughter.  Pilou Asbæk is also good as Mira's partner Batou, a gruff, bearlike agent who's just a regular guy beneath it all. 

Mira's quest to find herself, to uncover suppressed memories of her former life and get to the truth of why and how she was created, eventually takes GHOST IN THE SHELL to a place that's both powerful and tragic, lending emotional depth to its final chaotic showdown between good and evil (traits which will shift their meaning considerably before it's over). 

The 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD set from Paramount is in 1080p high definition (DVD is widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs) with Dolby 5.1 stereo and subtitles in multiple languages.  The DVD contains the feature film only.  The Blu-ray disc contains the feature plus three bonus behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Visually and emotionally compelling, the live-action GHOST IN THE SHELL never quite reaches the sublime beauty of its animated predecessor but tries its damndest to do so.  In this, it succeeds in being a lively, thought-provoking, and often dazzling entry in the dystopian-future sci-fi genre which fans won't want to miss.


Street Date:      July 7, 2017 (Digital HD) July 25, 2017 (4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD) 
U.S. Rating:    PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, suggestive content and some disturbing images
Canadian Rating: PG, not recommended for young children, violence


Read our original coverage

GHOST IN THE SHELL -- Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD Review by Porfle

MXC VOLUME THREE -- DVD Review by Porfle

(NOTE: This review originally appeared online at Bumscorner.com in 2007.)


I haven't had cable TV for almost three years, and I don't really miss it--with a few notable exceptions. One of these would have to be Spike TV's irresistibly amusing and often downright delightful "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" (or "MXC"), which debuted in 2003. It's so watchable and funny, you'd have to be an inflamed zit on Andy Rooney's left buttock not to enjoy it.



That's why I was so pleased to receive a screener for the DVD release of MXC VOLUME THREE. While the actual DVD will be a 2-disc set containing 13 half-hour episodes, the screener only came with two of them. But let's face it, if watching just five minutes of MXC doesn't tell you whether or not this is your cup of warm sake, then you should probably go to a proctologist and have your head examined.



Originally a silly, but genuine, Japanese game show from the 80s called "Takeshi's Castle", these episodes have been redubbed to transform them into the most surrealistic and frequently hilarious fake game show imaginable. The two lovable play-by-play announcers are now named Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship--Kenny's the featherbrained cut-up, while Vic is the straight man who is so serenely unfazed by Kenny's ridiculous antics that his usual response is an earnest "Right you are, Ken" or a simple "Indeeed!"



Other characters include contestant wrangler Captain Tenneal, who gets the players whipped into a semi-frenzy before unleashing them upon the field of battle with the words "Let's get it on!", and field announcer Guy LaDouche, a cackling pervert whose contestant interviews are gleefully lecherous.



The competition always involves two opposing teams of reckless idiots--one of whom invariably sports the last name of "Babaganoosh"--partaking in ludicrous games that often result in them either being attacked from the sidelines by wild men or dunked in various kinds of "fluid" such as trucker man-gravy or toxic biological waste.



The two episodes I got to review featured the following teams squaring off against each other: Organized Crime vs. Weight Loss, and the Novelty/Gift Industry vs. the Death Industry. Needless to say, Organized Crime has the edge over their competition as they resort to the use of snipers, death threats, and other creative tactics. And as always, each episode ends with a recap of the most cringe-inducing spills known as "Kenny Blankenship's Most Painful Eliminations of the Day."



As the box copy aptly states, MXC is like a cross between Woody Allen's redubbed Japanese comedy WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY? and "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Each cleverly-scripted episode is total giddy fun all the way--low-brow humor and non-stop sexual innuendos fly fast and furious, while the new dialogue fits hilariously with the images of smarmy announcers, hokey costumed characters, and wildly enthusiastic contestants throwing themselves into each challenge with little regard for their dignity or physical well-being.



Rarely does a live-action TV show get this cartoonish and totally silly, and if that's the kind of thing that makes your inner disturbed child do double backflips, then you should run headlong through a wacky-but-dangerous obstacle course over a vat of rich, trucker man gravy to get your mitts on a copy of MXC VOLUME THREE.



And remember: "DON'T...GET...ELIMINATED!"

MXC VOLUME THREE -- DVD Review by Porfle

BATTLE ROYALE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/25/22

 

With two versions of a controversial, neo-classic Japanese action epic, one version of its  inferior sequel, and a whole extra disc of extras, Anchor Bay's four-disc BATTLE ROYALE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION is a viewing experience that should keep action fans off the streets and out of trouble for awhile.

BATTLE ROYALE (2000) begins at the dawn of the 21st century in a Japan whose society is falling apart.  With thousands of students boycotting school and youth violence and unemployment at an all-time high, the fascist government "bigwigs" pass the BR (Battle Royale) Act in hopes of curbing juvenile delinquency.  Thus, a graduating ninth-grade class is chosen at random once a year, taken to a deserted island, and forced to fight each other to the death until there's only one survivor.  If more than one person is alive at the end of three days, they all die via their nifty exploding necklaces.   

Hey, sounds like a pretty effective idea at first, but darn if we don't start sympathizing with these troublemaking teens as soon as their school field trip suddenly morphs into their worst nightmare.  There's Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara), the cool but troubled kid whose dad hanged himself on the first day of school; his sorta girlfriend Noriko (Aki Maeda), a nice girl who is constantly bullied by the mean girls; Shuya's nerdy foster-home roommate and best pal Nobu (Yukihiro Kotani); and several others who are familiar to us because they're like a lot of kids we grew up with ourselves.  The odd man out here is the mysterious Kawada (Tarô Yamamoto), a former winner being forced to play again although he'll eventually become a crucial ally to Shuya and Noriko.

The classroom scene that sets up the whole situation gets things off to a shocking start with its offhand carnage.  Frustrated teacher Kitano (actor-director Beat Takeshi at his understated, laconic best) has had enough of being belittled, ignored, even stabbed by his students and relishes the opportunity to preside over some official payback.  He indulges his newfound freedom to punish bad behavior such as whispering in class with summary executions, and the exploding necklaces each student wears are demonstrated in grisly fashion when an unruly student dares to mock him.  (An incongruously amusing instructional video augments his lethal lecture.)

As the seriousness of their predicament dawns on the teens, we get the feeling that we're in for some serious mayhem as soon as they're let loose into the wild with their randomly-selected weapons (guns, knives, hatchets, crossbows, etc.) and other provisions.  No sooner are they all out the door than the first tentative attacks begin, with some students' instincts for self-preservation kicking in faster than the less aggressive ones. 

The action then breaks down into isolated skirmishes fueled by quick, startling bursts of violence that are often brutal, while handy intertitles keep us informed of the running death count.  Making things even more difficult are the "red zones", which are regularly rotated and mean instant exploding-necklace death for anyone caught in one at the wrong time.

We quickly get to know various characters and their stories as they gather in pairs or groups--mainly the same couples and cliques carried over from school--in which they feel some measure of safety.  Even in such circumstances, however, the slightest suspicion or wrong move can erupt into a blood-splattered melee, as when a group of pacifist girls barricaded in a lighthouse suddenly go Rambo on each other when their situation takes an unexpected turn.

While the good kids are banding together for safety or, in the case of some enterprising tech nerds, to beat the system, the bad kids simply play the game the old-fashioned way.  The cunning and way-scary mean girl Mitsuko (Kô Shibasaki) and trigger-happy psycho Kiriyama, a sullen transfer student with spiky red hair who is actually there because he volunteered, prowl the jungle picking off anyone they come across like predatory animals.

The action scenes are quick and explosive.  One of the most sustained action setpieces is the lighthouse scene, and even this messy, disorienting eruption of senseless violence is over before we know it.  In a film that's littered with such scenes from start to finish, there's no need for prolonged shoot-outs or gratuitous sadism, and the fact that we know and empathize with these characters enough to root for them gives it all considerable emotional impact.

While not as gory or as violent as I expected, the shock value comes from seeing all these innocent (and not-so-innocent) school kids killing each other in a variety of gruesome ways.  Of course, dead teenagers are a familiar sight in just about every slasher flick from the 80s onward, and there's no more violence here than in the average Jason flick or, say, KILL BILL VOL. 1.  So if you're used to movies like that, there's no need to be braced for any really over-the-top shocks here save for a vicious knife thrust to a guy's crotch (delivered by Chiaki Kuriyama, who played "Go-Go" in the aforementioned Tarantino flick), a severed head, bullet hits and slashings galore, and lots of spewing blood.

Kinji Fukasaku's direction is superb without resorting to a lot of needless cinematic tricks, and the camerawork is also fine.  There's an expansive, full-bodied orchestral score by Masamichi Amano that reminded me at times of Alex North's music for DRAGONSLAYER.  The screenplay by Kenta Fukasaku is finely-rendered pulp fiction that fully realizes its premise and then some.

The director's cut, entitled BATTLE ROYAL: SPECIAL EDITION (2001) is, from what I could tell, pretty much the same movie but with the addition of a few extra scenes.  Several flashbacks of our main characters bonding during a school basketball game (filmed about a year after principal photography) are interspersed throughout the film, and the ending is beefed up with some brief "requiem" vignettes.  My favorite addition is a revealing flashback which gives us a clue as to why bad girl Mitsuko turned out the way she did.



And then, for better or worse, there's the sequel.  After enjoying the first film so much, I was filled with keen anticipation for its follow-up, a feeling that BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUIEM (2003) didn't quite live up to.  It may not be the worst sequel to a good movie that I've ever seen--MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME and EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC are more worthy contenders for that title--but my socks were in little danger of getting knocked off while watching it.

It's three years after the end of the first story, with Shuya now a notorious terrorist waging war on the world's adult population from his island bunker.  We meet a new BR class who will be the first to go into battle under new rules--storm Shuya's island, engage him and his followers in combat, and kill him (with extreme prejudice) within 72 hours.  This time the participants are paired up boy-girl, and if one dies or wanders more than fifty meters away from the other, both collars explode.  All of this is explained to our group of cowering students by a new and much more hostile teacher, Takeuchi Riki, who hams it up with such unbridled ferocity that you wouldn't be surprised if he started hammering nails with his eyeballs.

Instead of the free-for-all competition for survival we got in the first movie, this one starts out as a fun, but somewhat average war flick made interesting mainly because it's a bunch of terrified ninth graders doing the fighting.  The island siege is filmed like a junior version of the Omaha Beach sequence from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, only with sloppier editing and lots more Shaky-Cam.  It plays a little like something you might see on the SyFy Channel, but with a bigger budget and extra helpings of entertaining violence generously slathered on top. 

(One thing that had me wondering, though--why, if the government wants these kids to take out Shuya, do they continue to make things hard for them with the boy-girl collar thing and by continuing the red-zone policy from the first movie?)

Eventually, of course, we meet Shuya, who now sports a bleached-blonde mullet, has evolved into a brooding, full-of-himself bore with messianic delusions, and seems to be mired in a perpetual state of resentful adolescence.  Apparently, we're meant to sympathize with Shuya in his amorphous battle against "the adults" which he fights by blowing up several skyscrapers (two of which bear a distinct resemblance to the World Trade Center) as the film waxes poetic about how noble and romantic terrorism can be if committed by a cool guy like Shuya.  This, along with some annoying anti-American sentiments thrown in for good measure, constitutes the sort of blobby, self-important political hogwash that bogs the movie down for much of its running time. 

Even when the government sends in its crack commando forces to eradicate the terrorists once and for all (which had me wondering why they didn't just do this in the first place), the furious battle action is diluted by gobs of maudlin sentiment, mawkish dialogue, and some unintentionally funny dramatic touches that may have you either wincing in pain or rolling on the floor laughing. 

Every time one of the "good guy" characters gets mortally wounded, all the intense fighting around them comes to a dead stop so they can perform a dramatic dying speech while Shuya reacts with renewed grief and outrage.  Even at this point we still get the same death count intertitles but by now the "battle royale" concept has been so thoroughly diluted that they only serve to remind us how the movie we wanted to watch in the first place never actually happened.

In addition to the wildly overacting Takeuchi Riki, Shûgo Oshinari also lays it on pretty thick as the the leader of the student warriors, Taku.  Ai Maeda does a nice job as Kitano's daughter Shiori, who volunteers for the BR in order to come to terms with what she believes was her father's murder.  Beat Tageshi returns briefly in a touching flashback that shows his character in a more sympathetic light.  The rest of the performances cover a pretty wide range from good to not so good, with Sonny Chiba doing a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. 

While it certainly has its share of bloody, shoot-em-up action and a couple of good dramatic moments here and there, BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUEIM ultimately comes across as an ill-conceived, wrongheaded, and sometimes just plain silly affair that qualifies more as a guilty pleasure than the follow-up to a classic.  In its attempts to be an emotionally powerful and thematically grandiose dystopian epic, it teeters precipitously on the verge of embarrassing itself.

Disc four in this collection consists of bonus features for BATTLE ROYALE.  The mostly self-explanatory titles include:

The Making Of BATTLE ROYALE
BATTLE ROYALE Press Conference
Instructional Video: Birthday Version
Audition & Rehearsal Footage
Special Effects Comparison Featurette
Tokyo International Film Festival 2000
Battle Royale Documentary
Basketball Scene Rehearsals
Behind-The-Scenes Featurette
Filming On-Set
Original Theatrical Trailer
Special Edition TV Spot
TV Spot: Tarantino Version

Bonus features are in full screen with Dolby 2.0 sound.  The three feature films are all in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and English subtitles.  (BATTLE ROYALE: SPECIAL EDITION also comes with an English soundtrack.)  The packaging itself is exquisite, resembling a sturdy, hardbound book with thick cardboard "pages" that house the discs and contain key photos and artwork from the films. 

For someone unfamiliar with the "Battle Royale" films, I can't imagine a better introduction than BATTLE ROYALE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION.  And those who are already fans will definitely want to own this cool-looking set, or at least take it for a test drive.  While I wasn't exactly bowled over by the so-so sequel, the original film itself is one that I'll be revisiting at least once a year--right around graduation day. 

BATTLE ROYALE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

VIOLENT COP -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/2/16

 

When I ‏first heard of VIOLENT COP (1989), Japanese actor and comedian "Beat" Takeshi Kitano's debut as a film director, I expected something along the lines of Abel Ferrara's BAD LIEUTENANT with Harvey Keitel.  However, Takeshi's character, police detective Azuma, isn't "bad" as in "unscrupulous" or "corrupt."  He's actually an honest, conscientious cop.  He's just tired of endlessly going through channels and doing things the proper way when a little well-placed violence can get straight to the heart of things.

Takeshi was already a well-known TV star in Japan for such shows as "Takeshi's Castle" (1986-1990), which became a comedy hit in the U.S. when redubbed as "MXC" or "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" for Spike TV (most of us remember the catchphrase "Right you are, Ken!"), and had acted films for nine years. 

With his familiar deadpan expression which seems to reveal more the longer the camera lingers upon it, Takeshi's violence-prone cop has elements of both his Sgt. Hara of MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE (1983), dispassionately dishing out punishment as a matter of course, and his fed-up school teacher in the much-later BATTLE ROYALE (2000), whose disillusionment with the rules and due process of the system has turned him into an emotionally-warped creature of base impulse. (Still, Azuma is hardly the sadistic brute of 2010's underworld thriller OUTRAGE.)

Azuma is humanized by the fact that he tenderly cares for his simpleminded sister at home, but even here he kicks an amorous suitor down the apartment steps and sends him away aching and shaking.  His later pairing with a nervous rookie named Kikuchi (Makoto Ashikawa) and their borderline-hilarious (but still thrilling) auto pursuit of a suspect on foot provides the film with its one slender vein of sardonic humor. (Partially because Azuma, who walks everywhere--apparently because he can barely drive--insists on taking over the wheel from the rookie and then is unable to turn off the windshield wipers.)

I had to laugh again later when Azuma's harried boss asked him if it was necessary to run over the guy twice in order to arrest him.  He also seems to keep an ample supply of "apology" forms for Azuma to fill out after his more egregious acts in the interests of law enforcement.

For the most part, however, VIOLENT COP is a lean, mean cop thriller whose story kicks into gear when Azuma, conflicted by the discovery that an old friend on the force may be involved in drug trafficking, goes on the familiar one-man crusade against the underworld kingpin behind it all.

This shadowy businessman is supposedly untouchable behind his throne-like desk, with a ruthless, sadistic bodyguard-slash-assassin who loves to kill people (Shirô Sano racks up a decent body count as "Yoshinari").  The driving force of the film is Azuma's bloody war against them in which his disregard for his own personal well-being leads to several acts of sheer reckless abandon.  Interrogations involve guns, knives, fists, and dangerous ploys; confrontations are bloody, savage, and intensely personal. 

As in DIRTY HARRY or DEATH WISH, we know these bad guys are bad, so we want to see them get what they deserve even if its just a good, sound beatdown.  Although here, Azuma is more akin to the dogged veteran cop in THE FRENCH CONNECTION or the renegade rule-basher of TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. Both of those, incidentally, are William Friedkin films, with the latter being a favorite of Takeshi and seemingly an inspiration not only to his Azuma character but also to VIOLENT COP's fatalistic ending and overall pessimistic aura. 

As a first-time director, Takeshi--who says he's now embarrassed to watch this "learning process" of a film--displays a combination of lean, straightforward storytelling with a keen and sometimes slightly askew sense of style.  City settings both sprawling and squalid are used to good advantage. A cool, languidly jazzy score by Daisaku Kume works its magic throughout. 

The Blu-ray from Film Movement Classics is in 1.85:1 widescreen and stereo with a Japanese soundtrack and English subtitles.  The bonus featurette "That Man is Dangerous: The Birth of Takeshi Kitano" is a compelling look at the man as an entertainer and filmmaker. Also included are trailers for this and several other Film Movement releases, and an attractive illustrated booklet containing an essay by author and Asian film expert Tom Vick.

The ending is tense, visceral, and bleak, with the potent aura of a brashly impudent Friedkin hovering over it, so don't expect this bloody misadventure to leave you with that "feelgood" smile.  I did smile, though, because I'd just seen a movie called VIOLENT COP that had lived up to its intriguing and somewhat exploitation-tinged title quite nicely.  

VIOLENT COP -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

BOILING POINT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/6/16

 

Japanese actor and comedian Takeshi Kitano (popularly known as "Beat" Takeshi) had already appeared in such films as MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE and had his own TV show, "Takeshi's Castle", which was later redubbed for American television as "MXC" or "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" when, in 1989, he made his directing debut with the bloody action thriller VIOLENT COP, playing the lead role as well. 

Not happy with his lack of creative control on the project, he considered his next film, BOILING POINT (1990), to be sort of a second directorial debut.  And despite sharing the same tendency towards sudden, graphic violence, they're very different movies.

BOILING POINT begins, strangely enough, as a pleasantly amusing, very bucolic slice-of-life tale about a city-league baseball team in Japan that hasn't scored a single point in several games.  The setting is a less-populated and rather seedy corner of the city where regular guys play on a dusty little diamond and their manager, Mr. Iguchi, is an ex-Yakuza who seems like a regular guy himself aside from a short temper and a tendency toward sudden bursts of violence when crossed.

A timid sad-sack named Masaki (Masahiko Ono), who wears the uniform but seems detached from everything, slowly learns to assert himself in baby steps.  After being advised to practice his swing a hundred times a day, he finally hits a home run while pinch-hitting but is called out when he sprints past the other base runner.  He's trying, both on the ball field and in life, but not always with a great deal of finesse.

When Masaki runs afoul of the local Yakuza, Mr. Iguchi tries to intervene but finds that he has fallen out of favor with his former gang and is beaten severely.  Masaki and his friend Akira (Makoto Ashikawa, the comical rookie in VIOLENT COP) travel to Okinawa to buy a gun so that Mr. Iguchi can avenge himself.  While there, they meet a psychopathic gangster named Uehara (Takeshi), also looking for revenge against the Yakuza, who takes a liking to them. 

This is where the clash between slice-of-life story and bloody gangster flick becomes most interesting.  While not exactly "artsy" compared to VIOLENT COP, we do find Kitano indulging himself a lot more in languid, thoughtful character vignettes (Masaki's shy interactions with his new girlfriend Sayaka are charming) that are enjoyable for their own sake while slowly nudging the story along.

At the same time, the film lingers over scenes of the group, which now includes Uehara's toady and a couple of girls they're picked up in a bar, engaging in some pretty unsavory activities with Masaki and Akira reluctantly swept along.

Takeshi's boorish gangster takes center stage as a sort of Id monster roiling in his own worst impulses toward physical violence and casual sadism.  He loves to break bottles over people's heads and abuse his hapless girlfriend as well as sexually assaulting members of either sex.

One of the film's most stunning action scenes involves him, a roomful of Yakuza, and a machine gun hidden in a bouquet of long-stemmed wildflowers. Takeshi loves to stage such scenes of violence and retribution and there are numerous examples of this, to varying degrees, throughout the story.

This culminates in a fiery resolution to Mr. Iguchi's Yakuza problem that's cathartic not only for us but also for Masaki, who has finally learned how to hit the occasional home run in life as well as in baseball.

The Blu-ray from Film Movement Classics is in 1.85:1 widescreen and stereo with a Japanese soundtrack and English subtitles.  In addition to trailers for this and other Film Movement Classics releases, there's a bonus featurette entitled "Okinawa Days: Takeshi's Second Debut" which features members of the original cast remininiscing about making the movie. An attractive illustrated booklet containing an essay by author and Asian film expert Tom Vick is included with the disc.

BOILING POINT is unique in that it's neither a straight-up coming-of-age story nor a total gangland violence fest, yet the two elements are so deftly intertwined in Takeshi's screenplay and in his skillful handling of it as director that the film manages to satisfy on both counts.

BOILING POINT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

HANA-BI, aka "Fireworks" -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/13/17

 

Japanese film legend "Beat" Takeshi Kitano (BATTLE ROYALE, "MXC") has a taciturn, sometimes sullen and morose, sometimes painfully sad and hang-dog sort of screen character who can switch from dull joviality to abrupt, shocking violence faster than a cat with distemper. 

In his seventh film as director, HANA-BI, aka "Fireworks" (1997), Takeshi plays Nishi, a haggard cop nearing the end of his career just as his beloved wife (Kayoko Kishimoto), stricken with cancer, is nearing the end of her life. 

Nishi is into the Yakuza for a lot of money, facing constant death threats from their enforcers.  And to make matters worse, an old friend on the force, Horibe (Ren Ôsugi, SHIN GODZILLA), gets crippled for life by a gunman's bullets while taking Nishi's place on a stakeout. 

As in his previous films (VIOLENT COP, BOILING POINT, OUTRAGE), Takeshi's character is quick to violence, and as a director he depicts it with the shocking brutality of a Coppola or Scorcese gangster thriller.

Here, however, Nishi takes such action only when pushed or in any way provoked.  Although, as we'll see, at this stage he's far beyond the point of taking any crap from anybody including Yakuza hitmen or random street punks. 

Otherwise, Nishi's constant sorrow leaves him in a state of dull resignation that's mostly silent (he barely says ten lines in the entire movie) as we study his subtle expressions with an empathetic perception.  As usual, much is going on below the surface of Takeshi's performance, both as actor and director.

The film is beautifully shot, with images ranging from gritty urban milieu (the harsh cop scenes) to picturesque rural Japan.  Takeshi is unflinching when  Nishi and his fellow cops take down Horibe's shooter in a clumsy ballet of blood, or when a massacre within the claustrophobic confines of a car yields artistically wrought death tableaux spilling out against a backdrop of virgin snow.

This is contrasted with the sequence in which Nishi, who is unable to express his feeling verbally, takes his dying wife on an extended excursion to Mt. Fuji and other scenic locales.  (After robbing a bank, that is, but we won't go into that now.) 

Takeshi indulges his sentimental side here, yet Nishi's outer stoicism prevents things from lapsing into bathos.  There's a serenity to his stiff, oddly inexpressive manner, and his wife's understanding and acceptance of it, that makes the sequence sadly endearing in a way that raw emotion couldn't.

As this subplot plays out, Takeshi tells other intertwining stories including the plight of Horibe--abandoned by his wife and daughter, confined to a wheelchair, and constantly entertaining thoughts of suicide--as he tries to assuage his grief with a newfound interest in painting (Takeshi contributes his own artworks here).  But everything he does only seems to accentuate his despair.

The Blu-ray from Film Movement Classics is in 1.85:1 widescreen with Japanese stereo sound and English subtitles.  Extras include a commentary by David Fear, a making-of featurette, trailers from other Takeshi films, and an attractive illustrated booklet containing an essay by filmmaker/historian Jasper Sharp.

Fans of composer Joe Hisaishi (SPIRITED AWAY, PRINCESS MONONOKE, KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE) will relish his lush score for this emotionally and visually compelling story that wavers, like real life, amidst various extremes while exploring the subtleties in between. 

HANA-BI, aka "Fireworks" -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

OUTRAGE CODA -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/24/18

 

Here's another intense, violent, and utterly no-nonsense Yakuza thriller from writer-director-star Beat Takeshi (HANA-BI, BOILING POINT, VIOLENT COP), who makes these films with the skill and determination of a fine artist wielding a sledgehammer.

OUTRAGE CODA (Film Movement, 2017) takes us into the heart of the Yakuza organization once again, and it's a really scary place to be.

When they aren't sitting around bleak, joyless offices intimidating each other with their power and position, maneuvering themselves up the ladder while always keeping an eye out for treachery and deception from all sides, they're in constant fear of making a wrong move that some boss or rival group will perceive as a capital offense.

Takeshi (who you may also know from BATTLE ROYALE, MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE, and the TV series MXC) knows his way around this kind of filmmaking like a master, but he also knows when to break through all these complicated plot machinations with the occasional burst of blood-curdling violence, which is also a way of life with the Yakuza.

To this end, he stars as Otomo, a former big shot in the organization (whom we met back in OUTRAGE: WAY OF THE YAKUZA) now spending his mellower years working in South Korea for the Chang family.

Otomo is the kind of guy you don't mess with, even when you're his friend and you go fishing together. If he gets mad, he just might pull out his gun and shoot up the fish that you're reeling in.

Otomo is also the kind of guy that the scary guys in the organization are afraid of--with good reason--and when a blustery young would-be underboss of the Hanabishi family offends both Otomo and the Chang family on their own turf, killing one of Otomo's men in the bargain, Otomo takes it personally.  Very personally.

That's the set-up of OUTRAGE CODA, and despite how intricate and plot-heavy the story may seem at times, it's all just an excuse for Otomo's growing outrage to channel itself into those bursts of action and violence which make Kitano's crime dramas so exhilarating and even frightening to watch.

Until that happens, though, the dramatic interactions between rivals within and without the two warring factions grow increasingly absorbing as relationships gel between various characters, all of whom are expertly played by an outstanding cast.

There are no good guys here--as in the original OUTRAGE: WAY OF THE YAKUZA, there are only varying degrees of bad guys, some of whom we begin to root for over the others if they show even a hint of loyalty or integrity.

Somehow, Otomo earns our respect and support because he's (a) a straight dealer, and (b) is the baddest of the bad despite an almost placid demeanor.  Once he goes into action, though, he has no qualms about laying waste to an entire roomful of the opposition's most well-armed and well-heeled assassins.

The DVD from Film Movement is in 2.40:1 widescreen with 5.1 and 2.0 sound. Japanese with English subtitles.  Bonuses consist of an interesting making-of featurette and trailers for other Takeshi films.

I missed the middle entry in the trilogy, but I can only assume that OUTRAGE CODA is a fitting end to it because the finality comes as a shock.  It sends this gritty and uncompromising crime thriller off on a haunting, melancholy note, and serves as another feather in the cap of the fascinating filmmaker known as Beat Takeshi.

OUTRAGE CODA -- DVD Review by Porfle

BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUIEM -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 4/26/21

 

Are you one of the many people who, over the years, have liked or even loved the classic 2000 dystopian action thriller BATTLE ROYALE? Well, for better or worse, there's a sequel.  

The original BATTLE ROYALE begins at the dawn of the 21st century in a Japan whose society is falling apart.  With thousands of students boycotting school and youth violence and unemployment at an all-time high, the fascist government "bigwigs" pass the BR (Battle Royale) Act in hopes of curbing juvenile delinquency.  

Thus, a graduating ninth-grade class is chosen at random once a year, taken to a deserted island, and forced to fight each other to the death until there's only one survivor.  If more than one person is alive at the end of three days, they all die via their nifty exploding necklaces.  

 

After enjoying the first film so much, I was filled with keen anticipation for its follow-up, a feeling that BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUIEM (2003) didn't quite live up to.  It may not be the worst sequel to a good movie that I've ever seen--MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME and EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC are more worthy contenders for that title--but my socks were in little danger of getting knocked off while watching it.

It's three years after the end of the first story, with Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara), the main student character from the first movie, now a notorious terrorist waging war on the world's adult population from his island bunker. 

We meet a new BR class who will be the first to go into battle under new rules--storm Shuya's island, engage him and his followers in combat, and kill him (with extreme prejudice) within 72 hours.

 

This time the participants are paired up boy-girl, and if one dies or wanders more than fifty meters away from the other, both collars explode.  All of this is explained to our group of cowering students by a new and much more hostile teacher, Takeuchi Riki, who hams it up with such unbridled ferocity that you wouldn't be surprised if he started hammering nails with his eyeballs.

Instead of the free-for-all competition for survival we got in the first movie, this one starts out as a fun, but somewhat average war flick made interesting mainly because it's a bunch of terrified ninth graders doing the fighting.  

The island siege is filmed like a junior version of the Omaha Beach sequence from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, only with sloppier editing and lots more Shaky-Cam.  It plays a little like something you might see on the SyFy Channel, but with a bigger budget and extra helpings of entertaining violence generously slathered on top. 

 

(One thing that had me wondering, though--why, if the government wants these kids to take out Shuya, do they continue to make things hard for them with the boy-girl collar thing and by continuing the red-zone policy from the first movie?)

Eventually, of course, we meet Shuya, who now sports a bleached-blonde mullet, has evolved into a brooding, full-of-himself bore with messianic delusions, and seems to be mired in a perpetual state of resentful adolescence.  

Apparently, we're meant to sympathize with Shuya in his amorphous battle against "the adults" which he fights by blowing up several skyscrapers (two of which bear a distinct resemblance to the World Trade Center) as the film waxes poetic about how noble and romantic terrorism can be if committed by a cool guy like Shuya.  

This, along with some annoying, holier-than-thou anti-American sentiments thrown in for good measure, constitutes the sort of blobby, self-important political hogwash that bogs the movie down for much of its running time. 

 

Even when the government sends in its crack commando forces to eradicate the terrorists once and for all (which had me wondering why they didn't just do this in the first place), the furious battle action is diluted by gobs of maudlin sentiment, mawkish dialogue, and some unintentionally funny dramatic touches that may have you either wincing in pain or rolling on the floor laughing.

Every time one of the "good guy" characters gets mortally wounded, all the intense fighting around them comes to a dead stop so they can perform a dramatic dying speech while Shuya reacts with renewed grief and outrage.  

Even at this point we still get the same death count intertitles but by now the "battle royale" concept has been so thoroughly diluted that they only serve to remind us how the movie we wanted to watch in the first place never actually happened.

 

In addition to the wildly overacting Takeuchi Riki, Shûgo Oshinari also lays it on pretty thick as the the leader of the student warriors, Taku.  Ai Maeda does a nice job as Shiori, daughter of hostile teacher Kitano (Beat Tageshi) from the first film, who volunteers for the BR in order to come to terms with what she believes was her father's murder.  

Tageshi returns briefly in a touching flashback that shows his character in a more sympathetic light.  The rest of the performances cover a pretty wide range from good to not so good, with Sonny Chiba doing a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo.

While it certainly has its share of bloody, shoot-em-up action and a couple of good dramatic moments here and there, BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUEIM ultimately comes across as an ill-conceived, wrongheaded, and sometimes just plain silly affair that qualifies more as a guilty pleasure than the follow-up to a classic.  In its attempts to be an emotionally powerful and thematically grandiose dystopian epic, it teeters precipitously on the verge of embarrassing itself.

BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUIEM -- Movie Review by Porfle

Strap in for Takeshi Kitano's Explosive Cinematic Masterpiece "HANA-BI" on Blu-ray 9/19 for the Very First Time!

"Frequently surprising... sure to keep an audience on its toes." -- Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"Bracing and original... a personal film that speaks to everyone." -- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

THIS SEPTEMBER, STRAP IN FOR THE HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED RELEASE OF TAKESHI KITANO'S NEWLY-RESTORED CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE, AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NORTH AMERICA

"HANA-BI (FIREWORKS)"

Winner of 19 International Awards, Including the Prestigious Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Int'l Film Festival, The Exclusive Collector's Release from Film Movement Classics Includes Commentary from Rolling Stone Film Critic David Fear, a "Making of Hana-Bi" Featurette and a Collector's Book

Beautifully Restored in HD, This Highly Original Crime Drama Will be Available on Blu-ray ($39.95srp) and DVD ($29.95srp) on September 19, 2017

SYNOPSIS
Feeling responsible for the shattered lives of his loved ones, beleaguered police detective Nishi (Takeshi Kitano, Ghost in the Shell, Brother, Violent Cop, Boiling Point) takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack, Nishi borrows money from a yakuza loan shark and then robs a bank to clear his debt.  The yakuza, however, are not so easily bought off, sending Nishi down a road paved with nihilism and violence. Considered Kitano's first true cinematic masterpiece, HANA-BI demonstrates the auteur's immense talents both in front of and behind the camera.

Available for the first time on Blu-ray in North America, this new digital HD restoration from Film Movement Classics offers cinema buffs a singular viewing experience of the film that Entertainment Weekly calls a "rich and visually beautiful work that, for all its stylized violence, manages to convey stillness, sweetness, and affecting emotional depth."

WATCH THE TRAILER

BONUS FEATURES
Commentary by Rolling Stone Film Critic David Fear
"Making-of Hana-bi" featurette
Collector's booklet featuring a new essay from film writer Jasper Sharp

CAST
Takeshi Kitano (as Yoshitaka Nishi)
Ren Osugi (as Horibe)
Kayoko Kishimoto (Nishi's wife)
Susumu Terajima (as Nakamura)
Tetsu Watanabe (as Junkyard Owner)

AWARDS
Awards of the Japanese Academy (1999) - Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Music Score
Blue Ribbon Awards (1999) - Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director
Camerimage (1998) - Silver Frog (Hideo Yamamoto)
European Film Awards (1997) - Screen International Award
Film Critics Circle of Australia (1997) - Best Foreign Language Film
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics (1998) Best Foreign Film
Grand Prix de I'UCC (1999)
Hochi Film Award (1998) - Best Film, Best Supporting Actor
Kinema Junpo Awards (1999) - Best Film, Reader's Choice Award/Best Film
Mainichi Film Concours (1999) - Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography
Nikkan Sports Film Award - Ishihara Yujiro Award, Best Supporting Actor
Russian Guild of Film Critics (1999) - Best Foreign Actor
São Paulo International Film Festival (1997) - Critics' Award
Venice Film Festival (1997) - Golden Lion for Best Film
Yokohama Film Festival (1999) - Best Supporting Actor

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Type:  Blu-ray/DVD
Running Time: 103 mins. + extras
Rating:  N/A
Genre:  Crime/Drama
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio:  Stereo
Language: Japanese with English Subtitles

About Film Movement
Celebrating its 15th year, Film Movement is a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films based in New York City.  Film Movement has released more than 250 feature films and shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide, and last year it had its first Academy Award-nominated film, Naji Abu Nowar's THEEB. Film Movement's theatrical distribution strategy has evolved to include promising American independent films, documentaries, and an even stronger slate of foreign art house titles.  Its catalog includes titles by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Maren Ade, Jessica Hausner, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrzej Wajda, Diane Kurys, Ciro Guerra and Melanie Laurent. In 2015, Film Movement launched its reissue label Film Movement Classics, featuring new restorations released theatrically as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, including films by such noted directors as Eric Rohmer, Peter Greenaway, Bille August, Marleen Gorris, Takeshi Kitano, Arturo Ripstein, and Ettore Scola. For more information, please visit www.filmmovement.com

Strap in for Takeshi Kitano's Explosive Cinematic Masterpiece "HANA-BI" on Blu-ray 9/19 for the Very First Time!

Film Movement Classics Releases "Beat" Takeshi Kitano and Joe Sarno on DVD & Blu-ray

FILM MOVEMENT CLASSICS’ OCTOBER RELEASES INCLUDE “BEAT” TAKESHI KITANO’S FIRST TWO FILMS AND THE FIRST TITLES FROM THE JOE SARNO LIBRARY ON BLU-RAY & DVD

VIOLENT COP AND BOILING POINT OUT ON OCTOBER 11TH AND VAMPIRE ECSTASY/SIN YOU SINNERS AVAILABLE ON OCTOBER 25TH

September 28, 2016 (New York, NY) – Film Movement, the New York-based distributor of arthouse, independent and classic films, is pleased to announce the first home video releases by acclaimed Japanese star and filmmaker “Beat” Takeshi Kitano from its Film Movement Classics imprint. VIOLENT COP (1989), Kitano’s explosive directorial debut, is a testament to the stylized action of ‘80s cinema, and his sophomore effort, BOILING POINT (1990), is the first written and directed by the action auteur and features his signature stoic acting combined with his visionary directing. Both films, which will be available on DVD and on Blu-ray – for the first time – on October 11th, will each include exclusive bonus featurettes and cover art by renowned comic book artist Ben Marra.

On October 25th, Film Movement Classics will release the first two titles from its recently acquired Joe Sarno library, VAMPIRE ECSTASY (1973) and SIN YOU SINNERS (1963). Sarno, who was the subject of Film Movement’s 2014 documentary A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES, is a pioneer of sexploitation and erotic films and his work has recently experienced a resurgence in appreciation through retrospectives around the world. Partnering with Film Media, Film Movement Classics will continue to release two Sarno films at a time on Blu-ray and DVD over the next few years.

In his breakthrough classic, VIOLENT COP, “Beat” Takeshi directs and stars as vicious rogue homicide detective Azuma who takes on a sadistic crime syndicate only to discover widespread internal corruption within the police force. Kitano’s debut feature marks his transformation from motor-mouth comedic star of stage and screen to art house auteur – consciously playing with the schizophrenic nature of his public persona, both in his films and in public. The San Francisco Chronicle called VIOLENT COP “exhilarating,” and Lawrence van Gelder of The New York Times said the film “packs a punch,” when it was released in the U.S. in 1999, ten years after it was made and following the success of Kitano’s other films, HANA-BI (FIREWORKS) and SONATINE. VIOLENT COP was in the official selection of the Yokohama Film Festival, where Kitano won the Best Director award; Karlovy Vary; and Moscow Film Festival.

BOILING POINT, the second film from Renaissance man Kitano follows two members of a junior baseball team who get mixed up with yakuza gangsters, haphazardly stumbling into a journey for revenge. For the first time Kitano wrote as well as directed, carving out his unique genre blend of crime, action and comedy. The Chicago Reader observed that “Takeshi Kitano's handling of tones, which range from the grimly depressive to the irreverently hilarious, is amazing,” and Time Out called it “the funniest film to date from a key '90s filmmaker.” BOILING POINT received a Special Mention at the Torino International Film Festival and gained recognition at Karlovy Vary and Mumbai International Film Festivals.

Blu-rays and DVDs of VIOLENT COP and BOILING POINT, which will be available on October 11th, will each include an essay by Tom Vick of The Smithsonian Institution, as well as a 20-minute bonus featurette. THAT MAN IS DANGEROUS: THE BIRTH OF TAKESHI KITANO will be paired with VIOLENT COP, and OKINAWA DAYS: TAKESHI’S SECOND DEBUT will be included with BOILING POINT. The featurettes will include interviews with the filmmakers, actors and producers; clips from the films; and a survey of graphic images and posters.

Called “an undercurrent of poetic melancholia and surrealism” (Offscreen.com) and dripping with gothic atmosphere, VAMPIRE ECSTASY is Joe Sarno’s mesmerizing foray into the horror genre. When a trio of beautiful young women journey to their ancestral home to claim an inheritance, they fall prey to a coven of witches, intent on trying to reincarnate their deceased vampire leader.

Meanwhile, SIN YOU SINNERS, from the first wave of sexploitation films by Sarno, the “Chekhov of soft-core” (The Village Voice) is a hypnotic noir about a medallion forged in a voodoo ritual that preserves an exotic dancer’s youth and beauty. When the dancer’s jealous daughter and employer hatch plots to steal the amulet for themselves, it sets off a chain of events ending in murder. “SIN YOU SINNERS….finds (Sarno) already occupying the unconscious position of a genuine grindhouse auteur,” wrote film critic Tim Lucas. This inaugural home video release will also include a bonus essay by Lucas.

DVDs and Blu-rays of VIOLENT COP, BOILING POINT and VAMPIRE ECSTASY/SIN YOU SINNERS will be available to own from FilmMovement.com, Amazon.com and other retailers.

VIOLENT COP (1989, 103 mins) Directed by Takeshi Kitano. Written by Hisashi Nozawa. Starring Takeshi Kitano, Maiko Kawakami, Makoto Ashikawa. Japan. Japanese with English subtitles. A Film Movement Classics Release. Trailer, stills, and synopsis available here.

BOILING POINT (1990, 97 mins) Directed by Takeshi Kitano. Written by Takeshi Kitano. Starring Takeshi Kitano, Yurei Yanagi, Yuriko Ishida. Japan. Japanese with English subtitles. A Film Movement Classics Release. Trailer, stills, and synopsis available here.

VAMPIRE ECSTASY (aka THE DEVIL’S PLAYTHING, 1973, 103 mins) Directed by Joseph W. Sarno. Written by Takeshi Kitano. Starring Maria Forsa, Nadia Henkowa, and Anke Syring. A Film Movement Classics Release. Additional information available here.

SIN YOU SINNERS (1963, 73 mins) Directed by Joseph W. Sarno. Starring June Colbourne, Dian Lloyd, Derek Murcott. A Film Movement Classics Release. Additional information available here. 

About Film Movement Classics
Launched in 2002, Film Movement is a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films based in New York City.  Film Movement has released more than 250 feature films and shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide, and this year it had its first Academy Award-nominated film, THEEB. Film Movement’s theatrical distribution strategy has evolved to include promising American independent films, documentaries, and an even stronger slate of foreign art house titles. In 2015, Film Movement launched its reissue label Film Movement Classics, featuring new restorations released theatrically as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, including films by such noted directors including Eric Rohmer, Peter Greenaway, Bille August, Marleen Gorris and Takeshi Kitano. For more information, please visit www.filmmovement.com.

Film Movement Classics Releases "Beat" Takeshi Kitano and Joe Sarno on DVD & Blu-ray