Author Archives: David

Review: Wonderful Paradise (Japan 2020)

Posted on August 26, 2021 by David

Japan Cuts 2021 Looking to scratch that “weird Japan” itch but with some more substantive meat under the oddity? This has a bit of an After Hours energy, as a small goodbye party thrown by a depressed family losing their home … Continue reading →

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Review: Go Seppuku Yourselves (Japan 2021)

Posted on August 23, 2021 by David

Japan Cuts 2021 You want a master class in how to make a monologue absolutely riveting? Look no further than this intensely angry short film that maps Toyoda’s anger about government failings during the pandemic onto the story of a samurai … Continue reading →

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Review: Free Guy (USA 2021)

Posted on August 16, 2021 by David

A pinch of Matrix, a healthy smatter of Lego Movie, two tablespoons of They Live, and a dusting of Truman Show, stir in some Ready Player One. Let sit for one year and serve slightly cold.

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Review: What We Left Unfinished (Afghanistan/USA/Qatar 2019)

Posted on August 6, 2021 by David

Anybody looking for a window into the utter chaos Afghanistan is facing as the US pulls out in the face of Taliban advances would do well to watch What We Left Unfinished, a documentary about the aborted film industry that … Continue reading →

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Review: Cutie Honey (Japan 2004)

Posted on July 29, 2021 by David

Now THAT’S how to do a comic book superhero movie. Total live action cartoon full of bizarro touches and cheesecake, it’s genially sleazy in an old fashioned pin-up kind of way but maybe 1/10th as perverted as the original Go … Continue reading →

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Review: Phantom of Death aka Off Balance (Italy 1988)

Posted on July 14, 2021 by David

Man, ‘80s-era Ruggero Deodato is so batshit crazy. Stellar cast (Michael York, Donald Pleasence, Edwidge Fenech) and crew (Pino Donaggio does the music!) in service of a semi-nonsensical giallo about York as a professional pianist/part-time ninja (yes, you read that … Continue reading →

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Review: Zulu Dawn (UK 1979)

Posted on July 10, 2021 by David

If the British clinging on by a thread in Zulu (1964) pissed you off, this is the movie to watch. A prequel to Zulu, Zulu Dawn shows the British stumbling into the absolute fiasco that was the Battle of Isandhlwana, … Continue reading →

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Review: Death Promise (USA 1977)

Posted on June 4, 2021 by David

Gritty NYC! Halfway into this, I legit had to check to make sure Death Promise wasn’t a modern parody along the lines of Black Dynamite. Nope, near as I can tell all this low budget action insanity is for real, … Continue reading →

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Review: Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon (Japan 1985)

Posted on May 24, 2021 by David

We all know that auteur Hayao Miyazaki polished his chops on a work for hire Lupin film, the delightful Castle of Cagliostro. But what about the OTHER auteur who slaved in the Lupin salt mines? That’s right, Seijun Suzuki, following … Continue reading →

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Review: Space Battleship Yamato (Japan 1974-1975)

Posted on May 21, 2021 by David

Watching the original 1974-1975 Space Battleship Yamato series (presented in bowdlerized form as Star Blazers in the US) is a little like unearthing the first Homo Sapiens, the ur-text, you can see its DNA in everything (Macross/Robotech, Evangelion, hell, I’m … Continue reading →

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