29 replies to this topic

[deuce]

If you can find it, and I bet you can't, because it's stupidly obscure, BBC Bristol did an animated film called Fallen Angels in 1997 which is simply stunning. Road movie with voodoo, kung fu, a cool dog and amazing music. I taped it on my VCR and then got it put onto DVD. I think I must be the only person on earth who watches it ten times a year.

DOES sound cool. I guess I need to check for it on Youtube.

[Haemogoblin]

For Klaus Klinski check out Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God. It's about a conquistador in the amazon slowly going insane. It was streaming on Netflix for awhile.

Les Maîtres du temps is a French animated sci-fi film. The story's good enough, but the best part is the design, which was done by Moebius.

[RJMooreII]

Mario Bava's colorful and eccentric adaptation of the Italian super-criminal Diabolik is wonderful; especially for those of us with an anarchist streak. John Phillip Law is at his coolest in this.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062861/

It has one of the most unique endings you can imagine. The final comment about it on the Mystery Science Theater version is absolutely priceless.

I love Diabolik's expression of glee as he melts the gold down, spraying it all over the place because he doesn't actually care about the gold, he's just doing it for the fun of antagnoizing the government. I wonder if the creator of Diabolik read Max Stirner or Renzo Novatore. I know Benito Mussolini praised Stirner at one point, which would explain why he was such a political opportunist (for peace, for war, an anarchist, a communist, a fascist, etc.)
Nihilistic individualism endured in Italy longer than anywhere else I know of. "The Italians are not hard to govern, it just doesn't make any difference."

Edited by RJMooreII, 08 July 2012 - 02:29 AM.

[constantine]

Alatriste. I highly recommend it. Evocative images of 17th c. Spain and her culture. Based on Reverte's books, it deals with the life and adventures of a Spanish veteran soldier. In a way, this film could even offer some insights on REH's Zingara.

[deuce]

Alatriste. I highly recommend it. Evocative images of 17th c. Spain and her culture. Based on Reverte's books, it deals with the life and adventures of a Spanish veteran soldier. In a way, this film could even offer some insights on REH's Zingara.

Heard great things about it. Reverte is an excellent writer. He's probably THE guy I would tap to write a Zingara pastiche.

[emerald]

I watch a lot (read: too much) obscure genre stuff and could probably start babbling about it until you begged me to shut up.

So I'll keep it to one film.
Anybody see the 1966 Japanese film, Samurai Wolf?
It's a classic, no frills black and white chambara flick with everything pared down to the gleaming bone. Got so much Kurosawa love going on it could almost be a Yojimbo pastiche. Fine, memorable hero, brutal, frightening badguys, magnificent stark cinematography with scenes so sharply drawn I had to keep pausing the DVD to stare at the image-- framed like an art print.
And swordplay. Excellent, gripping scenes of flashing blades and swift death. Blood looks better in black and white.
There's a sequel, too, but it's even harder to find.

[EM Erdelac]

Samurai Wolf sounds great. Who's in that one?

My favorite chanbara movie's got to be Sword of Doom with Tatsuya Nakadai. Amazing movie. The central character is a sadistic killer who weaves this skein of destruction in which he is ultimately entangled. Toshiro Mifune has a small part.

[Kortoso]

I just heard about a Japanese TV series that I missed. It's a TBS Jidai-geki called "Jin". A modern Japanese surgeon goes back in time to Japan's Edo period. I haven't seen it, but it sounds like a unique idea.

[EM Erdelac]

There was a Sonny Chiba movie called GI Samurai where a Defense Force unit on manuvers got inexplicably transported back to feudal Japan. There was a PT boat and crew, a chopper, and a tank. The PT boat went pirate and started raiding fishing villages all up and down the coast, and the other guys threw in their hand with Nobunaga, who used them as a secret weapon. So you got modern soldiers and armor vs. samurai on a pretty large scale. It had some impressive moments.

[Axerules]

Anyone interested by a great, blood-and-thunder, (semi-)historical epic?

Musa, the Warrior.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275083/


When it was released in 2001, it was the most expensive movie ever made in Korea. Set in the 14th century, in a Chinese Desert. The bloody journey of betrayed Korean warriors who will try to rescue a Ming princess from rival Mongol forces and return to Korea.

It's half historical/half Wu Xia Pian, has gruesome fighting scenes, a great score...
IMO, it's better than Bodrov's Mongol.

Here's a trailer .