Little Nemo (1989), a Japanese-American co-production eventually released in the U.S. in 1992 as Little Nemo - Adventures in Slumberland, is a surprisingly good adaptation of Winsor McCay's comic strip. It's generally faithful to McCay's original stories and designs, if disappointingly altered slightly to give its characters a more contemporary appearance. But it's equally fascinating for its long and complicated production history, one that straddles virtually every era of animation across two continents. It anticipates the limitless imagination of Japanese animation then emerging, a style that would find an international audience and critical acclaim just as this was going into release abroad.

Though chiefly produced in Japan, the breadth of international talent involved is staggering. Ray Bradbury, Jean "Mœbius" Giraud, and Robert Towne worked on the story, while Ollie Johnson and ...Read the entire review

Based upon the originalcomics by Monkey Punch, Lupin the Third:The Complete First TV Series aired for two seasons and had episodesin the runthat were crafted by famed directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata,both ofwhom would later form Studio Ghibli. The show followed the famous thiefnamedLupin the 3^rd on his various escapades.

Read the entire review

Unico in the Island of Magic [sic?], the 1983 sequel to The Fantastic Adventures of Unico, is more of the same and little else. Produced by Sanrio, the Hello Kitty people, and adapted from the popular manga by Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy*, Hinotori), it seems to be targeting small and undemanding children, and for them the movie probably succeeds. Further, both movies appear to have a small cult following in the U.S. so their release, however minor the films may be, is nonetheless welcome.

Discotek Media's new DVD offers an excellent presentation of the film, in both its original Japanese language (with English subtitles) and as an English-dubbed version. Included as an extra, in Japanese only with English subtitles, is a 1979 television pilot film.

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/56391 Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:44:05 UTC Recommended

The Fantastic Adventures of Unico (1981), simply called Unico (literally, "Yuniko") in its native Japan, was the first of two animated features about a magical baby unicorn. Based on a popular 1976-79 manga by the Walt Disney of such things, Osamu Tezuka, the movie was a co-production of his company and Sanrio, the folks behind the Hello Kitty franchise. Kitty-chan even makes a cameo appearance in this.

I confess volunteering for this dangerous reviewing assignment solely because I thought my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter would enjoy it, and indeed she did, though she did find the climax a little too scary for her tastes. Everything about the movie - the musical score, the character designs, even the main title - is incredibly dated, positively screaming early '80s throughout, though that also imbues Unico with an undeniable retro appeal.

More than anything though, this k...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/46154 Fri, 08 Oct 2010 01:01:32 UTC Highly Recommended

The Film:

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Image William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", only the Montagues and Capulets are elemental fairies and Verona exists as the expanses of the sea and sky in a majestic world. That's precisely what Masami Hata accomplishes with Sea Prince and the Fire Child, also known as Shiriusu no Densetsu or The Legend of Sirius, a lesser-known piece of Japanese animation from the early '80s spawned from Hello Kitty and Unico creators Sanrio. Don't assume, though, that it's a throwaway children's take on Shakespeare's work, cranked out from the "cute factory" in hopes of selling merchandise; while it does skew towards softer, charming models for its characters in a familiar Disney-like manner, the broad-scaled animation design balance...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/43291 Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:07:05 UTC Rent It

THE MOVIE:

Ringo Lam's 1994 movie Burning Paradise (Huo shao hong lian si) is full of the kind of lightning-quick kung-fu action that used to be de rigueur in Hong Kong cinema. It's chockablock with quick cuts, complicated choreography, wire work, and the occasional cheesy special effect. One character has a projectile weapon that is obviously animated, though the damage it does is also gruesome and gory. Some of it may be quaint now (oh, those severed heads straight off a mannequin!), but still effective.

What makes Burning Paradise an interesting time capsule worthy of resurrection, however, is the element of dark fantasy that Lam brings to the movie. The story is set during the Ching Dynasty, and the Manchurians are persecuting ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/41374 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:11:54 UTC Recommended

Be it between the extremes of exacting revenge for a criminally harmed loved one to punching a snotty barista, even the most devoted peacenik probably has some tinge of vigilantism. Its only natural. No matter how civilized we like to think we are, sometimes, there is that knee jerk wish to deal with any problem, no didactic red tape in the way, just pure reaction. And, sometimes that reaction could be violently expressed.

Ah Kin (Anthony Wong) is a good man. A bit of a milquetoast but a good man. He seems to be on the right path in life, his hard work at the insurance agency putting him in line for a promotion and at home he has a loving wife with a baby on the way. Then it all goes to Hell. Late one night, his wife has complications. They desperately try to hail a taxi, get one who decides he doesn't want a bleeding pregnant woman in his car, and the driver takes off, accidentally dragging Ah Kin'...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/41575 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:22:14 UTC Skip It

The Film:

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Those who have seen Higuchinsky's Uzumaki, an adaptation of a Japanese manga of the same name, know that the director has a flare for bizarre visuals and an odd sense of storytelling. His work in that is peculiar, to say the least, but at least it has inventiveness of aesthetic and a gothic sensibility to power it forward. Tokyo 10+01, his follow-up picture that sets out to mock Battle Royale to great lengths, shows what happens when the director's style mixes with the wrong tone and an scattershot, unruly sense of style. With ear-piercing dialogue delivery, ugly visuals, unmanageable satirist characters and a ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/39295 Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:52:46 UTC Rent It

Based on a popular comic series, directed by blockbuster helmer Andrew Lau, then fresh off the Young and Dangerous films, featuring an all star cast as well as HK's first use of wall-to-wall computer generated effects, 1997's The Storm Riders needed to be a hit. The gamble paid off and topped the Hong Kong box office alongside popular imports like a little film called Titantic.

The plot is typical, convoluted fantasy stuff, no doubt compounded by the fact that, like the Shaw swordplay films of the 70's based on popular adventure novels, volume upon volume and years worth of story was crammed into a films running time. One assumes the producers were courting an audience already familiar with the material, dropping in characters and asides whose relevance is lost to those who are unfamiliar.

Its all in a name as Lord Conqueror (Sonny Chiba) likes to conquer stuff and is told he...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/33288 Mon, 19 May 2008 21:36:25 UTC Highly Recommended

Teruo Ishii is one of cinema's greatest exploitation/b-film directors. His name needs to mentioned with any of the great film makers who plied their trade in genre film, be it Russ Meyer, Jack Hill, etc. Ishii demonstrated a tremendous sense of mischievous style and zany spirit across many categories, from superhero flicks, to gangster pictures (including probably pioneering the female driven yakuza/gang picture), rebel youth films, karate bashers, to the just plain surreal and gorgeously grotesque.

Perhaps the most truly remarkable thing is that during his peak years, the 60's and 70's, much like Sam Fuller, he was a maverick within the studio system. Unlike Fuller, Ishii made some tremendously popular films, but he still always used his clout and relative comfort with low budgets to do more daring exercises. While he was one to bow to studio whims, be it taking projects or injecting certain produ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/32024 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:34:57 UTC Highly Recommended

The Product:
Warning - this review is not for the prudish. Certain words, descriptions, and allusions will be necessary in order to discuss the details of this freakish foreign film. Persons who have a predilection toward good clean non-explicit material should abandon all hope now. After all, 2004's Kiseichuu: kiraa pusshii, is a Japanese monster movie that features a creature that makes its home inside a woman's lady parts. This nasty nether region dweller with its penis-munching mandible and excessive appetite, would present any critic with a cause for concern. Just discussing the premise provides ample opportunity for the misuse of certain sensitive phraseology. So, again, here is a content caveat. If you don't want to read about mammaries, monsters, and blood-soaked mayhem, steer clear of this review. If such scatology intrigues you, however, continue on!

The Plot:
A...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/29378 Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:11:06 UTC Recommended

When I first saw Ebola Syndrome (1996) around '98 or '99, it didn't leave much of an impression. It was pretty apparent around that time that the HK cinema scene was undergoing some massive changes in terms of who had the star power (more youth-oriented model and pop star types) and we were seeing signs of the near death of the more outlandish, exploitative, genre films that flourished in the 80's and early 90's. That is precisely what Ebola Syndrome is, a pure, unrelenting, nasty, blackly comic bit of grue, and its reputation and appreciation as just that kind of "they don't make em' like that anymore" film has grown over the years.

The film follows Kai (Anthony Wong), a working class bum driven by the most basic caveman desires: get laid, make ends meet, and try not to take crap from anyone, and that includes coldly killing them if they push him to far. He's not a hero or an anti-hero...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27944 Mon, 07 May 2007 06:45:33 UTC Recommended

I think by most late 60's/early70's Japanese popcorn, genre, exploitation, whatever you prefer to call it, film standards, 1970's Blind Woman's Curse (aka. (Black Cat's Revenge, The Tattooed Swordswoman) is a solid enough and satisfying. Unfortunately, for director Teruo Ishii and star Meiko Kaji, they have resumes with films that set the bar higher than a film like Blind Woman's Curse can attain, so it ends up being a tad mediocre in comparison. Still, that isn't to say it isn't an entertaining hybrid of the period gangster, revenge, and horror film genres.

The film begins with Akemi (Meiko Kaji), the current heir to the Tachibana gang, delivering a slow motion, rain swept, night time beatown on a rival gang. She accidentally blinds a bystander (Hoki Tokuda). A black cat lapping up the blood of the titular blinded woman is seen by Akemi as a bad omen, a consequence of her vi...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/26369 Fri, 02 Feb 2007 07:05:15 UTC Rent It

Unique in Japanese fantasy cinema, Sayonara Jupiter (Sayonara Jyupitaa, 1984) is an awkward blend of derivative if state-of-the-art visual effects and misguided efforts by the once dominant Japanese film studio Toho to fashion a Hollywood-style blockbuster with broad international appeal. After the death of legendary effects pioneer Eiji Tsuburaya in 1970 and the near-collapse of the Japanese film industry soon thereafter, Toho produced a handful of mostly threadbare Godzilla movies for children's matinees before concentrating its efforts on high-concept, bigger-budgeted movies that it hoped would appeal to both a wide domestic market and international audiences.

An adaptation by Toho of Sakyo Komatsu's novel The Submersion of Japan (Nippon chinbotsu, 1973) was hugely successful within Japan; it was the highest grossing film that year, earning more than twice both the sec...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25481 Thu, 07 Dec 2006 04:47:44 UTC Recommended

Director Hisayasu Sato has spent most this career on the Japanese direct to video market specializing mainly in pink (softcore) films. Unlike the US direct to video/softcore flick market, in Japan it has proven to be fertile ground for imaginative film makers like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tatsumi Kumashiro, Takashi Miike, and Takashi Ishii just to name a few. Hard to imagine the guys doing your average Skinemax or late night Showtime silicone-packed, flesh barer eventually delivering something of high artistic regard. Hisayasu Sato has proven himself to be among that pack of distinctive directors working on the smaller circuit. His most infamous film Splatter: Naked Blood, a direct to video horror from 1995, delivers the goods as a dark, thoughtful piece of nasty, gut-wrenching (literally, no pun intended), horror exploitation.

Eiji is a young experimenter, the son of two doctors including an ambi...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25343 Wed, 29 Nov 2006 06:43:17 UTC Skip It

If you're anything like me - and I apologize if you are - then there's no way you can see a title like "Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla" and entertain the slightest thought of passing it up. That's a movie that begs, pleads, demands to be seen. The idea of a Disco Club Layla, where something called a "robokill" takes place beneath it? You have my attention.

Unfortunately, "Mikadroid" is the latest in a very long line of horror films that consists of an interesting title and little else. The film itself is generic slasher blandness in which the only notable feature is the use of what appears to be the Michelin Man as the killer. Which is not nearly as fun as it sounds.

We open in 1945, at the end of the war, where a crazed Japanese scientist has been creating genetically-enhanced super-soldiers. The project has been abandoned and the bunker ordered destroyed, but not before Dr...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/23449 Sun, 27 Aug 2006 02:31:52 UTC Highly Recommended

Opening Thoughts:

Sogo Ishii is considered by many to be one of the godfathers of modern Japanese cinema. Filmmakers such as Shinya Tsukamoto, Takeshi Miike as well as many others have been influenced by Ishii's work. Now, one of Ishii's groundbreaking early films, Burst City, is finally available on DVD.

Movie:

Much like the punk revolution that he covered in his films, Sogo Ishii was essentially doing the same thing with his approach to filmmaking. Shooting on anything he could get his hands on, Ishii independently made 3 shorts and a 70 minute feature before exploding onto the Japanese film scene in 1980 with Crazy Thunder Road. Studio execs from Toei were so impressed with Ishii's student film, that they bought the r...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/23441 Sat, 26 Aug 2006 16:35:38 UTC Rent It

The Movie

"Tongue in cheek" doesn't even begin to describe Sars Wars: Bangkok Zombie Crisis, a certifiably insane multi-genre-ational concoction cooked up by some of the loopiest Thais you ever will see. Inspired and beholden to flicks like The Matrix, Star Wars, Dead Alive, and just about any solid zombie movie you can think of -- combined with broad slapstick silliness, tons of splattery gore, and just enough self-referential silliness to get you through the dry stretches.

Sars Wars is a stupid, loud, and convoluted mess of a genre salad -- but that's not to say there's not some fun to be had.

The plot couldn't be simpler: An apartment building has been overrun by zombies created by the Sars #4 virus, and Thailand's only hope for rescue lies with a horny old coot of a martial arts master, his socially retarded apprentice, and two mega-sexy babes who pro...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22846 Sun, 23 Jul 2006 04:04:16 UTC Recommended

Regarded as something of a high water mark in early Japanese feature animation, The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots (Nagagutsu o haita neko, also "Puss 'n Boots," 1969) was produced by Toei Studios' animation division, which from the late-1950s through the early-1970s was virtually the sole producer of feature animation in Japan, cranking out about one title per year. Their earliest ventures were based on Japanese and Chinese fairy and folk tales, but The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots, a free adaptation of Charles Perrault's classic story, is more overtly crafted in the Disney mold. Needless to say, the film's budget can't compete with the deep pockets of Disney, but the film is quite entertaining on its own terms and though overlong is notably superior to Toei's later Animal Treasure Island (Dobutsu Takarajima, 197...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22550 Mon, 03 Jul 2006 21:43:10 UTC Highly Recommended

The Movie:

Sogo Ishii is the maverick of Japanese cinema.  Making amateurfilms with an 8 mm camera while still in high school in the 1970's, hisindependent films garnered much acclaim and influenced an entire generationof Japanese directors including Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Ironman)and Takashi Miike (Audition).  After taking some time off inthe late 1990's, Ishii returned to directing in 2000 with the excellentand lavish sword drama Gojoe,and followed that up with a film that returned to him to his roots, thepunk rock inspired Electric Dragon 80,000V.  This film couldn'tbe more different from Gojoe.  While the earlier film was abeautiful and captivating 2 hour spectacle that tells an interesting andintricate story, El...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21097 Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:36:04 UTC Skip It

Ryko's cult/import arm, Discotek Media, is marketing the Hong Kong offering "Sexy Soccer" as a cutesy, jiggly T&A romp, but here's the thing: it's actually a cheapjack softcore loser, a shot-on-video junker with half its running time filled with embarrassing footage of nekkid people pretending to have sex. It's the low budget Asian version of some dopey Misty Mundae "comedy" that you might regrettably catch on late night Cinemax. It's not porny enough to deserve mention in DVD Talk's adult section, but too porny for anyone wanting something naughty but not graphic. Lucky me, looks like I get to be the one to split the difference.

Your first guess about the film is right: it is indeed about a guy who puts together an all-gal soccer team, in the hopes of winning big when male opponents become incapable of movement because they're so enraptured by the ladies' bouncy assets. I'm surprised nobody...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20389 Mon, 27 Feb 2006 07:39:08 UTC Rent It

Movie: One of the things you learn about anime is that a great deal of it is based on successful manga stories in Japanese comic books. These are thick (almost like telephone books here), typically black & white, and often easily followed by fans regardless of language barriers due to the over the top manner in which facial expressions are used to convey moods and plots. The bad guys all look evil, the good guys look good and the women are typically over the top in terms of breast size and symmetry; lending a distinctive look to them regardless of translation. Well, back almost 40 years ago, a character was created by Kazuhito "Monkey Punch" Kato for Weekly Action Manga called Lupin the Third, patterned after a French cat burglar named Arsene Lupin by novelist Maurice LeBlanc. He was suave, sophisticated, and something of a successful ladies man but converting this idea to a m...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/19798 Sat, 21 Jan 2006 08:04:53 UTC Highly Recommended

An excellent adaptation of a famous Japanese folk tale (and Miyoko Matsutani's novel), Taro, the Dragon Boy (Tatsu no ko Taro, 1979) is a real find even those not especially enamored of Japanese animation will want to seek out. The film boasts many fine qualities, while Discotek Media's DVD handsomely presents this Toei Scope production in a bright 16:9 transfer. If, for instance, you're a recent convert to the films of Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle), then you'll probably enjoy this as well.

In feudal Japan young Taro, a stocky little boy living with his grandmother in a remote, mountainous village, is regarded by his neighbors as "a glutton and a sloth." He does indeed appear lazy, whiling away the day snoozing on his tatami while his poor grandmother slaves away farming millet, as the land there is too rocky and mountainous to grow rice or anyt...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/17998 Mon, 03 Oct 2005 01:13:32 UTC Recommended

Not to be confused with the 90's girls with guns, soft core, direct to video action films, Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs is one of the true exploitation gems produced during the swinging 70's (1974, to be exact). It was a time when Toei Studios was at their zenith in terms of delivering grindhouse-worthy films filled to the brim with brutal violence and copious nudity. As directed by Yukio Noda (Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon), Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs is one of those rare exploitation films filled with such invigorating style and energy, it actually rises above the rest to become a work of artistic trash, a true cinematic powerhouse.

Agent Zero (Miki Sugimoto) is a solemnly tough, play by her own rules cop, who is always clad in blood red attire, including her gun, her ID, and her red handcuffs which also function as a go for the jugular chain weapon. After she disposes of a perverte...Read the entire review

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