Nov 30
An uncompromising and blood-spattered experience, Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins is a samurai epic for the ages. The film brims with violence and energy, but it also explores what duty means and what it means to be a ruler. The picture is particularly perceptive within the context of social and political unrest around the world, as many “servants” are asking some serious questions about the quality of their rulers.
Presented in the “found footage” style, André Øvredal’s TrollHunter is an interesting movie. I can’t say that it brings much by way of freshness to the table, although there’s something to be said about sticking fairly closely to troll mythology. Trolls are found in Norse and Scandinavian folklore, apparently living in caves or isolated rocks and representing significant danger to human beings, especially Christians.
Directed by Fred Cavayé, Point Blank is a taut and well-made French thriller that has many of the standard genre conventions. The main selling feature here is a series of heart-stopping chase sequences that rival some of the best scenes in the Bourne trilogy. The whole everyman thrown into an extraordinarily dangerous situation notion has been done to death, but Cavayé’s picture has enough pop and sizzle to make it worthwhile.
The vampire mythology is one of extraordinary popularity, especially with the Twilight series and other narratives getting the kids going these days. Indeed, vampires have never really faded from popularity and have gone through a lot of transformations since Bram Stoker diagnosed vampirism as a sort of disease. In his narrative, vampirism was a sort of condition. It sprang to popularity in a time of tuberculosis and syphilis.
This is an insane film. Directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura, Tokyo Gore Police is a Japanese “gore film.” Nishimura is mostly known in Japan for his contributions to the horror and gore genres, so this one is right up his alley. He worked on Noboru Iguchi’s The Machine Girl and Media Blasters asked him if he wanted to do a feature. Tokyo Gore Police was born. It’s actually a remake of Anatomia Extinction, an indie film Nishimura made years ago.
