Zatiochi

[slinker]

Saw this last night at the pictures, im really glad i had the chance to see it in the cinema as it was spectacular! Easily the most bloodthirsty samorai film ive had the pleasure to see, but not only was it bloody it was funny and spellbinding all in one. Theres alot of visual/rhythm in the movie which not only is mesmorizing but also unlike anything ive seen before. Plotwise its fairly slim but then i understand this is a updated version of a favorite japanese fictional character from the past. I think alot of people will complain about the use of CGI in the sword fighting scenes but to me it added an almost `comic book` style feel to the movie and managed to fit quite well. I really REALLY enjoyed this and cant wait to pick it up on DVD. Beat Takeshi has managed to stimulate my senses once again and to me is a truly original and outstanding director/actor. 9/10 from me!

[BloodMan]

I want to see this. Will probably order the PAL disc of this... I think its out now. I love the old Zatoichi movies.

[mcchrist]

I've been dying to see this, Takeshi Kitano is a visionary.

[Paff]

Interesting story:

We had reserved a local theater for showing a movie, a while back. It was for some out of town journalists. Only problem is, we weren't sure if they were coming, and we didn't have a movie to show. But it turns out, the theater held the reservation for us anyway, and a few days before, asked us if it was still on.
So, we started scrambling for something to show, even considered the idea of showing a DVD. The day before the show, our program director called Miramax, and asked if they had anything they could overnight us.
They said they had a brand new print of Zatoichi if we were interested.

So, we had a private screening of Zatoichi for about a dozen of us.

Since Miramax has this, there will be a limited run in the late spring/early summer. You might want to wait, so you can see it on the big screen.

Excellent news. Beat is great, and Zatoichi...excellent news indeed.

Aren't there like 20 of these? I want to see the one where he's against Yojimbo, that could be interesting.

[X-human]

I think there's 24 movies and a long running TV series. Which for awhile made it even larger than the Godzilla universe!

Zatoichi is king, and I'm not sure how to take the new one, but I'll certainly be seeing it. I just hope Miramax doesn't butcher it like that have their other asian releases.

[BloodMan]

I thought there were 26 of these... the one from 1989 (The copy I have) has Zatoichi 26 as its title. Shintaro is perdy old in that one. Pretty beat up copy I got though.

[Myron Breck]

I didn't realize that this series was so huge. There's a 7 disc set coming on 3/8 from Kock Vision Entertainment(never heard of them)...but Amazon doesn't list which films or how many are included. I doubt it will be all 26, but you never can tell. I know almost nothing about Asian cinema, I'm embarassed to say, but this must be a good series to be so long-running.
Just thought I'd give you Japanophiles a heads-up.

[aoiookami]

I really enjoy the old ones, I own Fire Festival, and the Last one Shintaro stared in. I'd like to buy more if I can continue finding them at low price. But the new one by Kitano is an embarassment to the series in my opinion. A movie about a swordsman..with cgi swords, err....
The old ones were so much better coreographed, written, and actually used swords and traditional blood effects. I so tired of seeing cgi blood in movies

[mcchrist]

the last thing that bothered me about Zatoichi was cgi. The action scenes worked extremely well for me.

But, I will agree with you that the film is an embarassment. I loved the tap dancing, I loved the direction... Nothing saved it, it fell completely flat on its ass.

First Kitano film I could say that about.

[adric]

i found the cgi distracting most of the time and didnt enjoy this one very much.

[Semerrill]

the cgi was awful