Samurai Movie Marathon

[Point44]

I've finally found a box set containing all the Babycart (ie Lone Wolf and Cub Series). Bought it as soon as i saw it on the shelves.

So on Saturday (yesterday), i finally decided i would watch it all at once. It was a great experience. I know it sounds sad but i really don't have anything better to do. I finally understood the story better. Not that there was much to understand but it was difficult watching all the movies separately and keeping track of all the characters. With their Japanese names it got kind of confusing.

So it was 9 hours of samurai mayhem. I still believe that the martial arts in the Babycart series was and still is one of the best in movie making. It sure beats the hell out of these new action movies directed by music video directors. I can't stand it when they do those fancy editing and fast cuts during the action scene and you can't see a thing about the fight. It was also good seeing a sort of chubby bloke being the ultimate samurai hero instead of a hollywood action hero.

Now i have to search for more great samurai movies. The best 'new' samurai movie i've seen was Zatoichi. However, the CGI blood kind of annoyed me. I kind of preferred the squirting blood of the 70's movies.

 

[fixer27]

I don't know if this counts as a "samurai marathon" but I watched the
Shogun mini series all in one day. I read the book and enjoyed the mini
series.

One weekend I am going to watch all of the extended edition dvd's of
LOTR. That should take a mere 10 hrs off of my life but it should be fun.

 

[Grim/Don]

I've got a couple of the Lone Wolf movies. Waiting for my 7 year old son to get a bit old before I shre them with him. If I can ask, where did you find the box set and how much was it?

I watched the extended Fellowship with my son, and have TT on tap. After we watch that, RoTK will be next. The added Gift sequence in Fellowship was GREAT! A co-worker who's seen all three says that the extra scenes in TT are the best, and do the most for the movie.

 

[Point44]

I bought the box set at HMV here in the UK for about £40. I don't know where you could get it in the US though...sorry. I've watched Shogun Assassin on VHS years ago and it cannot be compared with the real thing. It's just an edited version of the first 2 movies. They edited it so that the storyline was actually slightly different. I still prefer the original Japanese versions.

I do have the LOTR Trilogy on DVD. I even bought the special edition extended edition box sets. The ones with the gollum figurine and i can't remember what the other 2 was. I think it was a model of minas tirith.

I ACTUALLY HAVE NOT WATCHED THE EXTENDED EDITION FULLY ON ANY OF THE 3 MOVIES. I really need to make time for it.

It's good to hear you're actually waiting for your child to be older before he watches violent movies. My mom didn't bother with that. She started renting horror movies like Zombie Flesh Eaters and lots of violent movies when i was 7. Maybe younger. The thing is she rented it especially for me. She didn't watch it. So i got an early start with zombie movies especially.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

:thumbup: I agree about the new Zatoichi film, it was good but doesnt compare to the old ones, I liked the actor who played zatoichi in the old ones more, too.
My favorite samurai movies are still those by Kurosawa- I can watch them again and again. I will have to keep an eye out for those lone Wolf & Cub flicks.

 

[Point44]

My favorite samurai movies are still those by Kurosawa- I can watch them again and again. I will have to keep an eye out for those lone Wolf & Cub flicks.

Kurosawa movies are something else. I'm a big fan of his as well. I think that he is the greatest movie director of all time. Although i like Seven Samurai i still like Ran better due to the colour of the movie. There was a certain quality to it.

By the way, did you know the guy who played Ogami Itto (ie Lone Wolf) in the Babycart series is the brother of the guy who played the original Zatoichi.