Craig Lines Feb 18, 2019
We take a dive into the whopping 25-film Blu-ray release of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman – The Criterion Collection.
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
In the 1978 Us documentary The Blind Swordsman, Shintaro Katsu is asked how he’d like to present himself to American viewers. “I have zero interest in promoting myself,” he barks, waving the question away, “I run like a dark horse!” Indeed, this may go some way to explain that while he was celebrated as an actor, writer, director, producer and singer in Japan, his name still drifts only on the fringes of international pop culture.
The son of a kabuki performer, Katsu was born into performing arts and originally followed in his father’s footsteps as a shamisen player. After a tour of America during which he met James Dean, he changed his focus to acting and amassed a series of...
We take a dive into the whopping 25-film Blu-ray release of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman – The Criterion Collection.
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
In the 1978 Us documentary The Blind Swordsman, Shintaro Katsu is asked how he’d like to present himself to American viewers. “I have zero interest in promoting myself,” he barks, waving the question away, “I run like a dark horse!” Indeed, this may go some way to explain that while he was celebrated as an actor, writer, director, producer and singer in Japan, his name still drifts only on the fringes of international pop culture.
The son of a kabuki performer, Katsu was born into performing arts and originally followed in his father’s footsteps as a shamisen player. After a tour of America during which he met James Dean, he changed his focus to acting and amassed a series of...
- 2/18/2019
- Den of Geek
David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:
Zatoichi and the Fugitives, the 18th installment in the series, is pretty solid overall, a well-made and swiftly paced action-adventure that adheres pretty closely to the standard Zatoichi formula. Once again, the ever-wandering blind swordsman gets drawn into a cruelly unbalanced conflict between merciless criminals and honest village folk who are just trying to trudge a path through life that keeps their suffering to a minimum. If allowed to pursue their brutal agenda without interference, the bosses will grind their subordinates into the dust and inflict a lot of personal anguish upon them through various acts of robbery and exploitation. Zatoichi recognizes the bestial nature of the men in charge and reluctantly takes it upon himself to defend the weak and vulnerable. I like these stories because of their relatively pure and straightforward approach to the heroic formula. That’s...
Zatoichi and the Fugitives, the 18th installment in the series, is pretty solid overall, a well-made and swiftly paced action-adventure that adheres pretty closely to the standard Zatoichi formula. Once again, the ever-wandering blind swordsman gets drawn into a cruelly unbalanced conflict between merciless criminals and honest village folk who are just trying to trudge a path through life that keeps their suffering to a minimum. If allowed to pursue their brutal agenda without interference, the bosses will grind their subordinates into the dust and inflict a lot of personal anguish upon them through various acts of robbery and exploitation. Zatoichi recognizes the bestial nature of the men in charge and reluctantly takes it upon himself to defend the weak and vulnerable. I like these stories because of their relatively pure and straightforward approach to the heroic formula. That’s...
- 7/17/2016
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Once I saw the Zatoichi Blu-ray set from Criterion was on sale at Barnes & Noble it immediately became a hot item on my Christmas wish list. Thankfully, even at the ripe age of 36, my mother still asks what I would like for Christmas... Zatoichi it was and I couldn't be happier, the set is amazing! I can't remember exactly, but I think I watched the first six Zatoichi films on Hulu Plus earlier this year, but once I received the set there was no chance I wasn't starting from the beginning and working my way through. I managed to watch the first three so far -- The Tale of Zatoichi, The Tale of Zatoichi Continues and New Tale of Zatoichi -- and I really can't wait to get to Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, but that's still 16 movies away. Speaking of Yojimbo, or Toshiro Mifune to be more accurate, I also just received for review,...
- 12/29/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 26, 2013
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $224.95
Studio: Criterion
Shintaro Katsu relies on his blade in 1963's Zatoichi on the Road.
The colossally popular Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman action-adventure films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen’s great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman.
As this iconic figure, the charismatic and earthy Shintaro Katsu became an instant superstar, lending a larger-than-life presence to the thrilling adventures of a man who lives staunchly by a code of honor and delivers justice in every town and village he enters.
The films that feature him are variously pulse-pounding, hilarious, stirring, and completely off-the-wall.
This deluxe set features the string of 25 Zatoichi films made between 1962 and 1973, collected in one package for the first time.
Here’s a list of the films in the collection:
The Tale Of Zatoichi...
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $224.95
Studio: Criterion
Shintaro Katsu relies on his blade in 1963's Zatoichi on the Road.
The colossally popular Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman action-adventure films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen’s great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman.
As this iconic figure, the charismatic and earthy Shintaro Katsu became an instant superstar, lending a larger-than-life presence to the thrilling adventures of a man who lives staunchly by a code of honor and delivers justice in every town and village he enters.
The films that feature him are variously pulse-pounding, hilarious, stirring, and completely off-the-wall.
This deluxe set features the string of 25 Zatoichi films made between 1962 and 1973, collected in one package for the first time.
Here’s a list of the films in the collection:
The Tale Of Zatoichi...
- 8/26/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
This week was a decent week of movie watching for me as I saw Lee Daniels' The Butler and Kick-Ass 2 in theaters and at home watched The Tale of Zatoichi and The Tale of Zatoichi Continues and will be finishing New Tale of Zatoichi and watching Short Term 12 later today. And, again, if you don't have a Hulu Plus account but are interested in checking it out, click here for a two week trial. This coming week I'll be seeing The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Closed Circuit, but my hope is to also watch a lot more at home if time allows. Finally, last week I know I said I hoped the Letterboxd partnership would be live by now, but it looks like it's going to be some time next week that it finally starts up so stay tuned... it's coming. Now it's your turn,...
- 8/18/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
After yesterday's announcement that Criterion would be bringing the 25-film Zatoichi series to Blu-ray this November I decided I would finally check a couple of them out as they had been sitting in my Hulu Plus queue for quite some time. I ended up watching the first two from 1962 -- The Tale of Zatoichi and The Tale of Zatoichi Continues. To no real surprise, I enjoyed them both and even posted on Twitter that The Wolverine would have been far better had it simply learned a little from The Tale of Zatoichi and just remade it. I mention this because I'm hoping over the weekend I can watch a couple more. None of them are very long, running right around 90 minutes if not shorter and Hulu's current presentations are quite nice. If you're interested and don't yet have a Hulu account you can click here for a free two week trial.
- 8/16/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Criterion has announced its upcoming November 2013 titles and they include some highly coveted films, one of 2013's better films, an impressive box set and their new dual-format DVD/Blu-ray releases. To begin, it was a little bit of a shock to see they have abandoned releasing both DVD and Blu-ray versions of their film and instead will now release DVD/Blu-ray, dual-format editions. Note here it says dual format "editions", not "discs", which leads me to believe most releases will include both a DVD and Blu-ray disc. Consider in today's announcement the 27-disc box set of the Zatoichi films. This consists of nine Blu-ray discs and 18 DVD discs. On top of that Criterion confirms features will be available for on both DVD and Blu-ray formats. As far as this months titles are concerned, I'll begin with the upgraded Blu-ray release of Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story, which was the December 2012 selection...
- 8/15/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Yesterday the Criterion Collection launched its very own Hulu channel! Quoth Criterion: “Currently showing are The Tale of Zatoichi, The Tale of Zatoichi Continues, New Tale of Zatoichi, The Fugitive, On the Road,and Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold. All six films star Shintaro Katsu in his most iconic role, as the legendary blind masseur who lives by the yakuza code and answers his foes with a deadly cane sword.” Yes please times a hundred. Free things buffs will note that these films are not the first Criterion titles to appear on Hulu: Last March Whit Stillman’s The Last Days of Disco was uploaded six months before its Criterion release and is still available for your viewing pleasure.
- 2/19/2010
- Vanity Fair
I love the Zatoichi movies. Love 'em. One of my shelves has a pile of Zatoichi DVDs thirty cases high. The tale of a blind swordsman with amazing moves and a penchant for gambling certainly has no shortage of material for the dedicated fan: it spawned twenty-seven films and a one hundred and twelve-episode TV series. Zatoichi is remarkable for many reasons, but primarily because actor Shintaro Katsu played the character in every screen appearance but one. Now, thanks to a deal between Criterion and Hulu, you can watch six of the films, the first chapters in the long series, for free. This looks to be the first of a series of Hulu offerings from Criterion, and it's a great start. Hulu is streaming the first six films in the series, beginning with the black and white films The Tale of Zatoichi and The Tale of Zatoichi Continues, and then...
- 2/19/2010
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
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