47 Ronin - 浪人47

47 Ronin (浪人47) is an 2013 film. The movie stars Keanu Reeves. The supporting cast include Hiroyuki Sanada, Kou Shibasaki, Tadanobu Asano, and Rinko Kikuchi. The movie is based on a old Japanese legend of the same name.

A "half-breed" boy, Kai, is found running through the forest and found by the local warlord. Taken in as a servant, he befriends the warlords only child and daughter, Mika. Kai is basically subjected to all sorts of mis treatment for his status. When the warlord is "killed", his samurai become masterless, thus Ronin. They seek revenge against Lord Kira. Because Kira has a witch as her assistant, Kai is brought in for his expert knowledge of witchcraft and how to combat it. They set out an elaborate plan to take out Kira and avenge their fallen lord.



Pretty simple story. Should be an easy sell. Looks of swords, action, and revenge storyline. BUT it was very hard to watch this. I've watched my fair share of samurai movie through the years out of Japan. This movie's cast was made up of mainly Japanese (from Japan), but the director was not. The screenplay, etc. was not. It was a "western" staff that hired a mostly "eastern" staff. And the movie felt that way. Over emphasizing "honor" and "duty" all the way to the climax. Over playing the half breed aspect. So, in the end, it felt awkward watching this. However, when the action takes over, the action wins. You don't care, you just watch the action. But when the story comes back into focus, its a mud field to get through.

I can't really recommend this. Even though many of the actors named above are some of my favorites. However, seeing Kou again made me want to re-watch Battle Royale again.

Thor: The Dark World - 雷神索爾2:黑暗世界

Thor: The Dark World (雷神索爾2:黑暗世界) is an 2013 film. The movie stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and Tom Hiddleston. The supporting cast include Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, and Rene Russo. The movie is a sequel to Thor from 2011. But is more of a sequel to Avengers in story. This was one of my favorite films of 2013.



Approximately 10,000 years ago, the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim want to preserve pre-universe darkness and want to destroy the nine realms. Every 5000 years, the nine realms align for but a brief moment and the elves have only this chance to destroy them all. But Bor, the father of Odin, Thor's grandfather and former ruler of Asgard stops them. The dark elves leader Malekith escapes and plans to try again in the future, sacrificing his realm. Back on earth on current times, Jane Foster is in London and on a date. But Darcy comes and pulls Jane from the date to go explore energy patterns like those in New Mexico. When they get to the site, they find the objects are passing between realms. Jane explore a unique energy pattern and gets sucked into another realm where the Aether enters her body and expels her back to Earth. Around that time, Thor ask Heimdall how Jane is, but is out of sight. Worried, Thor heads to earth to find her. When he does, the Aether has attacked some police officers. Thor takes Jane back to Asgard to "save" her, but the Dark Elves detect her and try to reclaim her. In the process, Asgard is attacked and Frigga is killed. Thor takes Jane to Svartalfheim so Malekith can extract the Aether from her body. In order to do this, they free Loki to asset them. The Aether is extracted but Thor is unable to destroy it. Malekith takes it back to earth for the convergence. Thor tracks it there for the ultimate battle for the world.



This movie was quite awesome. I liked how the majority of it was off earth in the other realms. The nine worlds concept hasn't been fully explored but its a great concept for story telling. I think that's why you've seen the success of Thor in both the movies and in the comic books. It's a relatable immortals world. Very different than the Greek/Roman gods.

The comic factor of the movie was also very well played. In the mist of world destruction, humans will be humans. Alan Taylor, the director has recently been directing episodes of Game Of Thrones. He's taken the great aspects of what appeals of that world and brought it to Thor. Nice play Marvel. You're string of off the beaten path directors continue to offer great story with lots of action.

珈琲時光 - Café Lumière

珈琲時光 (Café Lumière) is an 2003 film out of Japan and Taiwan. The movie stars Yi Hitoto and Tadanobu Asano. The movie is an homage to the late Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu's 100th birthday. The film was directed by famed Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien.



Yo Hitoto plays an independent writer who is recently pregnant researching Jiang Wen-Ye. Tadanobu Asano plays her friend and research allie. We see their story unfold in their lives around their homes and with Yo's parents.

Hou's films are very artsy and don't have much story in them in terms of dialogue. The story is the lives they live. In our case, the single women decides to raise the child to the displeasure of her parents. Asano is almost comic relief when he shows up. However, the story also revolves around being "foreign" in Japan with her research of Jiang Wen-Ye. We're also exposed to the ever changing things in life when she re-traces Jiang's steps. If you like slice of life films, you should catch this one.

Thor - 雷神索爾

Thor (雷神索爾) is an 2011 film from Marvel Studios. The movie stars Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth. The supporting cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, and Kat Dennings. The movie is based on an Marvel Comics character of the same name. A sequel is in the works for a 2013 release. I really wanted to see this in the theaters this summer, but had to settle for it on Blu-Ray.

In norse mythology, there are nine worlds. The immortal gods live in Asgard, whereas the mortals live in Midgard or Earth. Thor is the son of the ruler of the gods of Asgard, Odin. As Odin's son, Thor is brought up to be a super warrior and given the hammer called Mjolnir. When Thor almost starts a war with the frost giants, Odin sends Thor to Midgard to figure it out. Along the way, Thor's powers are bound to Mjolnir and given an enchantment of "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." Once Thor figures it out, he can regain his powers along with Mjolnir. Sent to earth, Thor lands in a remote town in New Mexico to figure it out. However, when he lands on earth he's met by Natalie Portman's character of Jane Foster. Jane Foster is an astrophysicist study alien energies. Well, Jane got it in the form of Thor! Loki, whom doesn't know he's not the birth son of Odin starts to feel a need to rebel and take over Asgard. Thor to the rescue.

The movie was a pretty straight forward introduction to Thor. A lot of norse Asgard and a lot of Thor figuring it out. Throw in a very lovely Natalie Portman and the occasional Kat, you've got a pretty entertaining movie. What's a little cool about the movie is the multi-ethnic take on Asgard. Tadanobu Asano as Hogun was quite weird and didn't work for me. There were some Asian extras, but beyond that, it was only Tadanobu Asano.

The Blind Swordman: Zatoichi - 座頭市

The Blind Swordman: Zatoichi (座頭市) is 2003 film out of Japan. The film stars Beat Takeshi and Tadanobu Asano.

The movie is follows The Blind Swordman named Zatoichi to a village in Japan. The village is in a middle of Yakuza war between two powerful gangs. Zatoichi fights fot the common man and eradicates those that use their force with prejudice. Zatoichi helps out the villagers by taking down the Yakuza of the town.



I am not actually that familiar with the Zatoichi mythos. I didn't grow up watching too many Japanese imports, so this Zatoichi film was fresh for me. Although the manga and talk of Zatoichi has been around for many many years.

The movie had great pacing and dealt with everyday life of the villagers well. As well as Samurai trying to make ends meat in a changing society. The tales of villians and heroes were at times black, white, and very grey.

This is a must watch for all you samurai loving fans.