origo13

Synopsis The story is set in 1950 Japan in a a smalltown village called Onikobe (Devil's Skull) where a private detective Kindaichi is hired by Inspector Isokawa to help a solve a 20 year old murder case. Kindaichi and Isokawa reunites after 2 years at the Kamenoyu Inn located at Onikobe. The murder that took place in Onikobe involves the death of a Mr Genjiro (murdered husband of Mrs Rika)and a swindler Ikuo Onda. Presumably Genjiro confronted Onda about his wreath swindling scheme 20 years ago where Onda clubbed Genjiro over the head after which his head landed in a nearby fireplace leaving his face unrecognizable.

PI Kindaichi and Inspector Isokawa investigation yields several difficulties in a smalltown village where a power struggle exists between two families (the Yura- and Nire-family). Upon their investigation even more murders ensue...

Review: The Devils Ballad is a masterfully made whodunnit mystery film done by Kon Ichikawa. As far as Mystery films go, this is way ahead of its time. The amount of facts and names that one must process within the first 30 minutes of the film can be a bit overwhelming so attention to detail is a definite prerequisite to enjoy The Devils Ballad. The Horror element found mainly when the murders take place or when they show the corpses surprised me very much. Theses scenes are brief but graphic,visceral and very effective...they stand well even to today's standards. The amount of comedic relief is even less brief than the graphic scenes but also effective such as PI Kindaichi's dandruff problem and Inspector Tachibana's incompetence.

The Soundtrack is a bit all over the place. It features some upbeat fusion sounds that are borderline cheesy at times. The classical folk sounds and Orchestral work makes up for that. I especially loved the sweeping Orchestral piece towards the end.

Overall the film is beautifully shot; the acting is flawless; the story and characters are intriguing...underrated gem. My only criticism is that the film drags on a little bit just before the end. Nonetheless its a great film for those into classic Mystery films. I'll definitely be checking out more of Kon Ichikawa's work.

This is definitely one of the best Sci-Fi movies I've seen. The trickiest part of any futuristic Sci-Fi is to create an environment that looks and feels believable as dictated by the background setting. Pandorum succeeded in this with flying colors. The film sets really convinced me that the space-ship is indeed from the year 2174 all thanks to the amount of detail and quality of the film sets, no cheap 'Farscape' space decks here.

The story was unique and kept me captivated throughout its duration unlike 90% of other films. If you are a fan of 'Night of the Living Dead', 'Event Horizon' or the TV show 'LOST' than you should check this out.

I stumbled upon Pandorum by accident...this movie should've been played on our local cinema circuit. Really awesome movie.

As always, Zatoichi never disappoints. I enjoyed Samaritan Zatoichi even though it didn't try too hard to tread new ground. Yet somehow they always manage to present the Zatoichi films in such a way that its fresh and not a complete replicate of the previous films.

There are a few things the viewer should look out for, I'll try and describe them without giving away the story:

1) The outcome of the dice game is unexpected and isn't consistent with what we have learnt from Zatoichis' abilities in the previous entries in the series. I was puzzled by this scene...

2) In the final fight of the movie, Zatoichi's opponent makes the funniest most unexpected grunt right before he places the rag in his mouth!

3) Zatoichi's last sword move in this film is the fastest move I have ever seen in a Zatoichi film, I replayed that 3 second scene almost 20 times to actually try and figure out how he cut his opponent. Shintaro Katsu is the man! A worthy addition to the acclaimed Zatoichi series.

Zatoichi and the fugitives is definitely one the few that stands out from the rest of the series much like how 'Zatoichi and the chess expert' and 'Zatoichi the outlaw' did (that is if you watched the films in the order it was released).

'Zatoichi and the Fugitives' features some of the most ruthless villains to have appeared in any of the zatoichi films preceding this title. These villains really gave 'Zato no Ichi' (played by Shintaro Katsu) a tough time. Its the first time I actually worried for his safety which is a rarity since he is mostly portrayed as a practically invincible swordsmen as seen in 'Adventures of Zatoich' where he slayed an entire guard post with scores of skilled swordsmen. However this time Zatoichi has many close calls which gives a change of pace from the mass-slaying zatoichi we are so used to, suspense is no stranger to this film.

Takashi Shimura of 'Seven Samurai' and 'Red Beard' fame that played Dr Junan really left me impressed. The dynamic between the blind gangster/swordsmen/anma and the kind-hearted doctor made for a very entertaining watch. Takashi Shimura did not disappoint.

The use of Manzai comedy and the customary gambling scene where Zatoichi always manages to split the loaded dice in half is left out of this film. Instead one can expect a dark and suspenseful tale with a very solid story that doesn't feel too reminiscent of the previous 17 films.

If you have made it to the 18th installment of the long-time running zatoichi series than that means your already hooked to this very likable icon. Zatoichi and the fugitives is definitely one of my favorite Zatoichi films.

So far I have watched all 15 of the Zatoichi movies preceding Zatoichi the Outlaw and this title surprised me the most. Zatoich the Outlaw still uses the 'tried and tested' formula of a typical Zatoichi movie with a few subtle changes that gives this film a fresh take on the franchise.

This is largely thanks to the fact that this is the first film done by the Katsu Production Co. The few subtle changes I referred to was firstly brought on by the use of plot devices such as the flow of time to help demonstrate how the true nature of man can change with time.

Secondly, the movie gives a short glimpse of Zatoichis' life as a masseur in a mountain-side village. This part of the movie was my favorite part as it depicts Zatoichi as a lone drifter that tries to fit in a village of people that recognizes him as someone special, an outsider. His dealings with fellow blind massuers'(anma); rich-folk and a beautiful girl sums him up nicely as an individual in these few short scenes.

This film also didn't shy away when it came to violence. Severed limbs and blood abound demonstrates Zatoichis' deadly swordmanship. In many of the previous films it felt like he was merely hitting his opponents with a stick as there was hardly any evidence of fatal injuries and such.

The cinematography is top-notch,the Katsu Production Co. went all out: Picturesque Japanese landscapes; tons of extras dressed up in the appropriate period attire and vibrant colors never before seen in a Zatoichi film. The actors did a stellar job, Rentarô Mikuni that played Asagoro deserves special credit for his truly versatile ability to depicts both sides of human cruelty. The Katsu Production Co. obviously avoided using the same actors that circulated through the series,some actors have played as 5 different characters in the previous films! I was quite surprised when I saw some of the IMDb user reviews writing the film up as the first let down in the long-running series. To the contrary, this film in my opinion is one of the best so far.