13 Assassins
It is testament to the grandeur of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai that even its remakes get remakes (there are two Magnificent Sevens and two 13 Assassins) while the original title […]
Tag Archives: Japan
Perfect Blue
A pop star goes Gaga when she makes like an Ice Cube and freezes her music career to grab her Cher of acting life and become the next Will Smith, […]
Howl’s Moving Castle
A confession: I have never really “got” Howl’s Moving Castle, and my love of Studio Ghibli prevented me from reviewing it even after two watches (subbed and dubbed). Having now […]
First Love
Takashi Miike’s 2019 thriller sees a boxer (Masataka Kubota) rescue a call girl (Sakurako Konishi) from murderous gangsters. Let’s call it 13 Assassin’s Creed. For his 103rd picture, the insanely […]
Akira
In the futuristic year 2019, Tokyo has been destroyed and a new metropolis built on artificial islands now rife with violence, protest and gang warfare. During a skirmish the young […]
Whisper of the Heart
Yoshifumi Kondō’s only directorial effort before his tragic death in 1998, Whisper of the Heart follows 14-year-old Shizuku (Yōko Honna) whose studies are stymied by trips to the library, brushes […]
Grave of the Fireflies
A Japanese brother and sister (Tsutomu Tatsumi and Ayano Shiraishi) struggle to survive the end of World War II in Studio Ghibli’s only 12A-rated feature. Isao Takahata’s (Pom Poko, The Tale […]
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a pre-Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki movie set in a post-apocalyptic kingdom bordering a toxic jungle. Though watching the dubbed version is less than […]
Ring
A journalist (Nanako Matsushima) faces the toughest deadline of her career when she’s given 7 days to live after watching a cursed videotape that resembles one of David Lynch’s home […]
Ponyo
Newly reopened cinemas are releasing some classics back into the wild, including Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo; the story of a boy (Hiroki Doi) living on the coast who befriends a magical goldfish […]
Screen Goblin 