Zatoichi

[PaiLumDreamer]

It was pretty good until he became unblind.

I did watch the ten minute tap dance thing...which made my entire family go "WTF." The reason he said he was still blind as a bat was him trying to make an ironic joke. It...didnt work. The ending just ruined the overall feel.

[FuXnDajenariht]

TAP DANCE! IN A ZAOTOICHI MOVIE!? HOLYGAWD! THE WORLD IS ENDING...

wait...your tellin meee.... they literally stopped the movie to have a dance number? how in the **** did they stick that in there?!?!

[qiphlow]

that movie was the SHIZNIT!!!! i loved it! the workers in the field, all in rhythm. building the house at the end, all in rhythm. and yes, the dance scene at the end--man, i was groovin' out the whole time!

[Ray Pina]

Is this out on DVD? I read about it; want to check it out.

[Ben Gash]

Azumi is better

[GeneChing]

I still have yet to see it and I was a huge fan of Shintaro Katsu. Here's the e-zine story we published on it a while back.

[Sow Choy]

Fights were cool...

Too many Geisha Drag queen scenes for me...

Sort of like the new Alexander movie... just too much

[GeneChing]

I'm a huge fan of the original series. Shintaro Katsu was phenomenal, not just playing Zatoichi with his eyes rolled up all the time, but also executing exciting sword choreography, some real precision work, with his eyes rolled up. He really was a blind swordsman. I was saddened the day he was busted and mourned the day that I heard of his passing.

Takano's take on Zatoichi spoiled the character - he missed Zatoichi's humor, his compassion, and his human foibles. Could you envision Takano's Zatoichi trying to suckle a baby on his nipple to keep it quiet, then making hilarious blind faces to express how it tickled? Katsu's Zatoichi not only did it, but did it beleivably. Where the film really failed for me was the swordplay. The swordplay was very mediocre. Katsu's work was awe-inspiring, especially in some of his earlier films - long single shot fight scenes with extraordinary complexity. The digital blood, while funny sometimes, particularly where he split an opponent's weapon and took the thumb too, didn't work for me. Give me pumped blood in my chanbara movies, like Lone Wolf and Cub. If you're going to go messy, let's see the fencers flinch from the spray of real red liquid. Actually, the original Zatoichi wasn't that bloody as chanbara films go, so I felt the digital blood was all the more distracting. It was such a cheesy effect; I was never convinced otherwise. I did like the rhythm of the farmers, and the general plotline, but this is Zatoichi - an icon like Godzilla or Yojimbo - you just can't mess with it and turn out a slack job.

I've you've never seen Zatoichi before, check out the originals - they are wonderful. The new version is a feint echo, a poor update, a sorry attempt to use CGI to replace mediocre sword fights.

[Odin of Wei]

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

*GROUP HUGG!!!*


Seriously, your the only ones that have any taste. Everywhere I got everyone is like OMG!!11!11 it was soooo gooood!!!

The ending sucked ass.

You cant have godly good orginals...where he never could see...then he could really see all along.

The CG blood was so fake, you could tell...give me the corn starch and food coloring pouches of HK films any day!

The dance wasnt too bad. A good beat...thats about it. hahaha



All hail the orginals...some of them varyed...you know? Like one movie hes really nice, the next movie hes killing everything in his path...like when he was in the forest protecting the boy from the yakaza (always yakaza).




You want to see a good movie this guy was in check out Kikurjiro...that like made me cry.
And I still want to see Bad Cop. ^__^

[Sow Choy]

Hey Gene,

Did you like Samurai I, II & III? The story of Musashi Miyamoto...

I am a fan of the actor Toshiro Mifune... He was great!

I saw the old Zatoichi's long ago, but dont remember, Lone Wolf & Club too...

Any recommendations??? I love the style of the Musashi Mifune movies, rooted in Philosophy, no sound effects & Great Swordplay...

Joe

[GeneChing]

AS fast as you can, go out and find Zatoichi meets Yojimbo - it's one of MY ALL TIME FAVORITE chanbara movies. Mifune only did his Yojimbo character for four films - the two with Kurosawa, Yojimbo & Sanjuro, which are classics, something called gate of hell or something like that - I can't quite remember - it sucked, and Z meets Y which is one the same level as Godzilla meets King Kong or Frankenstein meets Dracula. An absolute must-see film.

[Shaolinlueb]

so in kitano's, he could see at the end? im confused he still looked blind. his eyes were pale like a blind person. Z meets Y, i will have to look for it.

[Shaolinlueb]

just found this guys and ordered mine.
http://www.bestprices.com/cgi-bin/vl...source=adwords

[Odin of Wei]

Originally posted by Sow Choy
Hey Gene,

Did you like Samurai I, II & III? The story of Musashi Miyamoto...

I am a fan of the actor Toshiro Mifune... He was great!

I saw the old Zatoichi's long ago, but dont remember, Lone Wolf & Club too...

Any recommendations??? I love the style of the Musashi Mifune movies, rooted in Philosophy, no sound effects & Great Swordplay...

Joe

I couldnt really sit though all of those movies.

Originally posted by GeneChing
AS fast as you can, go out and find Zatoichi meets Yojimbo - it's one of MY ALL TIME FAVORITE chanbara movies. Mifune only did his Yojimbo character for four films - the two with Kurosawa, Yojimbo & Sanjuro, which are classics, something called gate of hell or something like that - I can't quite remember - it sucked, and Z meets Y which is one the same level as Godzilla meets King Kong or Frankenstein meets Dracula. An absolute must-see film.

Theres a Ichi meets Yojimbo?!

No way!

How does that one go?

[grlyncher99]

I'm probably way behind on this, but I just caught the new Zatoichi on DVD and all I have to say is this: Is there such a paucity of martial arts movie talent in Japan that they have to CGI the swords in the fight scenes? Maybe they thought they were saving money by using computers rather than practical effects, but my god it looked bad. Combined of course with the wacky foley to make it the completely hokey effect of the year. Somebody write a letter and tell those producers CGI swords don't cut it.