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When a game truly embraces authenticity, it takes the player’s experience to an entirely new level. The weight of every battle, the depth of every character, and the world itself feel more immersive and believable. Capcom seems to understand this well.

The game is set to release in 2026 on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox Series X|S. | Image Credit: Capcom

With its latest samurai title, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the studio is making a bold move to ensure the game captures the true essence of a warrior’s journey.

Rather than simply drawing inspiration from the legendary swordsman of history, the studio is taking an extra step and has modeled the protagonist’s face after one of Japan’s most iconic samurai actors, the late Toshiro Mifune.

A samurai legend returns with Capcom’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword

For those unfamiliar, Toshiro Mifune was more than just an...

1. Sanshiro Sugata (1943)

Akira Kurosawa‘s directorial debut is based on the homonymous novel by Tsuneo Tomita, the son of prominent judoka Tsunejiro Tomita, with the main character drawing from Shiro Saigo, one of the earliest disciples of Judo, a martial art that was originally created by Jigoro Kano. The film revolves around the challenges Sanshiro Sugata faces, both from himself and from opponents, in his effort to prove judo’s superiority over traditional jujitsu techniques. Gennosuke Higaki, the “villain” in the story, is also based on a real-life fighter, Mataemon Tanabe, who is considered one of the greatest modern jujutsuka.

Buy This Title 2. The Most Beautiful (1944) 3. Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945)

Susumu Fajita’s performance is a key factor here, as he highlights Sanshiro’s struggle as he thinks about where his path has led him thus far, and how many opponents he has left shattered and disgraced along the way.

Based on the successful “Abortion Doctor” by Kazuo Kikuta, “The Quiet Duel” is Kurosawa’s only film deriving from a modern Japanese stage play. When the director saw on stage Chiaki Minoru, who later debuted as a Kurosawa regular in “Stray Dog” (1949), he immediately pictured Toshiro Mifune as his lead for his cinematic adaption. Looking at the genesis of his other films, putting the actor first in the production process was a rather unique approach for Kurosawa. Mifune had just been posed as a gangster in “Drunken Angel” (1949) and Kurosawa wanted to use the medical subject to show him from a different side. At the same time, this was a playground for his newly formed independent director’s unit, which also led to the consideration to release “The Quiet Duel” with Daiei and, unlike his previous productions, under the Toho label.

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As the format continues to gain traction, here’s our regularly-updated list of upcoming 4K Ultra HD disc releases in the UK.

Sitting alongside our list of upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases (that you can find here), we’re also keeping a calendar for those who support the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc format. As we learn of new UK releases, we’ll add them to this list.

We have started adding shopping links too. We’d be obliged if you clicked on them, as it really helps us in our quest to make the Film Stories project of magazines, website and podcast profitable. We’re a 100% independent publisher, and we quite like drinking coffee. It’d be lovely to afford some more.

Without further ado, here are the titles we know about…

Out now

27th January: The Gift (Sam Raimi)

27th January: Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling...

This week on the Film Stories Podcast Network: space spies, spectral forces, legendary critics and more. Here’s what we’ve been up to…

Writers on Film

A legend is in the house with John Bleasdale this week as he invites on David Thomson, an emeritus international film critic across half a century, to discuss the joy of cinema. Plus! Don’t miss The Malick Hours where John talks about 2017’s Song to Song…

Modern Horror

There’s a ghost in my house, as the old Motown song goes, but just what is haunting the family in Steven Soderbergh’s Presence? A. J. Black and Hugh McStay try to find out…

Academy Watch

In the first of several pre-Oscar breakdowns of the Best Picture nominees, Bo Nicholson is joined by Sean Wilson to dig deep on Sean Baker’s Anora, plus he talks to Violet Hammond about Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance…...

One thing I've learned from my years as a writer, reader, and sharer of media is that certain genres form constellations. By that I mean, if you come up to me and say you’re a fan of fantasy, it’s likely that your interest could be piqued by something in an adjacent genre...with the right pitch, that is.

And while book enthusiasts can talk your ear off on YouTube about what stories to read this year, and you could consult Goodreads and its exceedingly unhelpful 5-star rating system, the best way to curate your Tbr list is still through good ol’ word of mouth. I hope this can be that for you.

One of the constellations I’ve come to really enjoy recommending for Sci-Fi and Fantasy heads is Horror. Every person on this Earth has their dark side. Regardless of how much we suppress what’s inside,...

Every now and then, a film comes along that transcends its genre, reshaping the cinematic landscape and becoming something of a cultural phenomenon. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is one such movie.

Released in 1975, this thriller didn’t just win audiences over; it reinvented the concept of the summer blockbuster. But its influence didn’t stop there. Jaws secured a rare spot in the hearts of filmmakers worldwide, including one of the most celebrated animators of all time, Hayao Miyazaki.

A scene from Jaws | Credits: Universal Pictures

From the pulse-pounding score that sticks to your bones to the ever-tightening noose of suspense, Jaws was a cultural earthquake, setting the stage for the blockbuster era that would follow. And then there’s that shark. It didn’t just swim into our screens—it sunk its teeth into the very heart of Hollywood, leaving a legacy that continues to send ripples through the industry.

Cinema is a profound language of emotion and storytelling; few understand this as deeply as Denis Villeneuve. His curated selections for the Criterion Collection reveal a director’s intimate connection with transformative filmmaking. These choices span decades and continents, showcasing films that challenge narrative conventions, explore human complexity, and push artistic boundaries. Villeneuve’s picks are not mere recommendations but a masterclass in cinematic appreciation—each film is a testament to storytelling’s power to illuminate the human experience.

1. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieślowski)

Kieślowski’s masterpiece represents cinematic poetry in motion. Denis Villeneuve is captivated by its meticulous artistic synthesis—the delicate interplay between visual composition, emotional narrative, and musical score. The film explores grief through a devastatingly intimate lens, tracking a woman’s journey of loss and eventual emotional reconstruction. Its visual language transcends traditional storytelling, creating a symphonic experience that moves viewers at a profound, almost cellular level.

★★★★★/★★★★★

Drawing on hardboiled US fiction, as American film had fed on his own Seven Samurai, the director brings unforgettable intensity to his anxious noir

Akira Kurosawa’s scalding 1949 cop thriller Stray Dog (★★★★★), with its extended closeup shot of a mad dog snarling into the camera over the opening credits, is about a stolen gun; as with De Sica’s stolen bicycle the year before, the resulting search leads us on a tour of the city, scene by scene into a world of poverty, cynicism and violence.

It is a gripping, drum-tight picture, a panoramic drama of crime revealed over one sweltering summer in postwar Tokyo which culminates in an ominous monsoon downpour and it stars two alpha-dogs of Japanese cinema, both stalwarts of Kurosawa. Takashi Shimura is veteran police officer Detective Sato, tolerant, good-humoured, realistic about the prospects for containing, if not eradicating crime, and Toshiro Mifune is his partner,...

“Rifle Club” by Aashiq Abu delivers neon-lit chaos, gun culture critique, and an all-timer third act in one of 2024’s sexiest thrillers.

The conceit of “The Most Dangerous Game” – the 1932 pre-code horror movie directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichell – was a horror movie that takes the romanticization of the hunt and uses that to delineate the psychology of a serial killer. From a structural standpoint, it allows the template of victims trapped in a desolate location and being hunted off one by one.

The influence of “The Most Dangerous Game” would be numerous, both directly and through differing adaptations, with the basic concept choosing to remain the same. What Aashiq Abu chooses to do is take that basic idea and craft a world where the love of guns and a celebration of gun culture and the hunt would bring individuals together, resulting in the titular “Rifle Club.” Then,...

Creator and director Shannon Tindle expected fans to connect with Ken Sato, the charismatic main character of Ultraman: Rising, but social media has taken his reception to another level. The animated film follows the professional baseball star as he returns home to Tokyo to take up the family mantle of being the world-famous, kaiju-fighting hero Ultraman — only to find himself the reluctant father figure to an adorable yet demanding baby kaiju named Emi.

Once the film was released on Netflix, audiences were drawn in by the action and fell in love with the heartwarming father-daughter relationship at its core. But more surprisingly, fans began swooning over Ken as a “hot dad,” creating videos with heart-eye emojis honoring the character. While this wasn’t exactly the reaction Tindle anticipated, it wasn’t entirely unwarranted. Ken’s creator had modeled him after Toshiro Mifune, the star of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon and Seven Samurai,...

For Akira Kurosawa, “Man is a genius when he is dreaming.” While films like Seven Samurai, Rashomon, and Ran quickly spring to mind when one thinks of the Japanese filmmaker, some of his deeper cuts have inevitably slipped under the radar.

A still from High and Low | Credits: Toho Co

For a career that spanned over fifty years, with over thirty films released across multiple decades, even Kurosawa’s lesser-known works offer a compelling watch for film buffs.

Here, we rank ten overlooked Kurosawa films that show the breadth of the director’s cinema, his boundless curiosity, and his innate understanding of humanity.

10. I Live in Fear (1955)

Akira Kurosawa opens with Tokyo’s bustling intersections, scored by a theremin – a 1950s Atomic Age paranoia hallmark. We meet Dr. Harada, a dentist-cum-mediator, summoned to resolve a family dispute involving Kiichi Nakajima, a wealthy industrialist.

Nakajima’s obsession with nuclear fallout drives...

Kurosawa Akira understood the American western beyond the mythos of the lone warrior. The western is one of the most political of genres, concerned with how resources are dispersed. The struggle in American westerns between various enforcers embodies the tug of war between the working-class and robber barons, and Kurosawa saw in these stories parallels to Japan’s fraught cultural shifts. In the case of 1961’s Yojimbo, and to a lesser extent its sequel, 1962’s Sanjuro, he uses the western template to riff on Japan’s postwar leap into capitalism.

The very first conversation in Yojimbo is between a ronin who calls himself Sanjuro (Mifune Toshiro) and a man who regrets the new generation’s obsession with money. Kurosawa stages this encounter as a comic scene, but the man’s alienation stings, especially as Kurosawa lingers on the rhythmic sound of his wife working her loom for the silk she weaves as a side hustle.

While the downfall of physical media has been predicted time and time again, 2024 has proved the opposite with many impressive and interesting releases, not juts Asian titles. However, when it comes to Asian cinema many boutique labels especially have given film-lovers the opportunity to (re-)discover many gems of the cinematic landscapes of Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand to name but a few. The following list may serve as an overview of some of these releases, some of which may stand representative of a whole catalogue from a production company.

Without further ado, let’s delve into the list of the 30 best physical media releases of Asian cinema in 2024, in random order

1. Seven Samurai (BFI)

Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece certainly needs no introduction and its release on 4k was one of the most anticipated releases for connoisseurs of Asian cinema. While there is also the Criterion edition of the film,...

Who said the French and British couldn’t get along? When they’re not lighting up the screen together in films like Anthony Minghella’s “The English Patient, the 1992 adaptation of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” and recently in “The Return,” based on the last chapters of Homer’s “Odyssey,” pals and collaborators Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes enjoy just getting to spend a little time with one another. And thankfully, Criterion gave them the chance to do just that.

Stepping into the Criterion Closet, Binoche and Fiennes pretended not to know one another, but soon became quite intimate, a not-so-unforeseen side effect of the tight quarters they found themselves in. Binoche led most of the selection efforts, with the “Conclave” star serving as the curious pupil, having heard of many films she pulled down, but not actually having seen them. After coming across Jim Jarmusch’s moody prison comedy “Down by Law,...

As we continue to explore the best in 2024, today we’re taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, features, podcasts, news, and trailers, check out the highlights below and return for more year-end coverage.

Most-Read Reviews

1. The Goldfinger

2. From Darkness to Light

3. The Devil’s Bath

4. Only the River Flows

5. Longlegs

6. The Nature of Love

7. The 2024 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films, Reviewed

8. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2

9. Trap

10. Dune: Part Two

Most-Read Interviews

1. Richard Linklater on Sex, Murder, Hit Man, and the Infantilization of Culture

2. Will Menaker on the Year in Cinema: Oppenheimer, Scorsese, Friedkin & Beyond

3. Lee Daniels on The Deliverance, Shifting Culture, Douglas Sirk, and That Glenn Close Performance

4. “All Great DPs Become Alcoholics”: Rob Tregenza on Shooting Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies

5. In a Violent Nature Director Chris Nash on Creating a New Kind of Slasher,...

It’s astounding how many great modern martial arts movies have received near-universal praise on Rotten Tomatoes. While it’s well known that iconic classics of years gone by, like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, have long been favored by movie critics, these films' legendary status can sometimes overshadow the merits of more recent martial arts triumphs in the 21st century. That’s why it’s important to take the time to praise modern martial arts movies that have pushed the genre into brave new territory in recent years and continued to enthrall viewers with spectacular fight sequences.

Some of the all-time great martial performances occurred in the 21st century, and acclaimed directors like Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee have kept the quality of martial arts cinema high. These excellent films boasted spectacular performances from modern martial arts stars like Tony Jaa, Jet Li, and Michelle Yeoh. While martial arts cinema...

The IMDb top-250 is a curious portrait of populist taste. The list is, it's worth remembering, culled only from user ratings on the IMDb website, and, judging by the films on the list, the average IMDb user seems to be a college-age white male with a taste for crime, guns, fantasy, and the ultra-masculine. The top movies on the list all seem to be the types of movies that young men would own posters for, proudly displayed on their dorm room walls. There are many unassailable classics, to be sure, and young teens could easily look to the list as a rudimentary introduction to the world of cinema, but the list seems ... skewed. There's not a lot of variety. It's not curated by a single critic, nor even a panel of critics. It's just a general consensus of the taste of the types of people who like to rate movies on IMDb.

The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew."

There's something off about Jude Law's character in "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew." In the first episode of the show, he went by the name of Captain Silvio. In the second episode of the show, he introduced himself to the kids he helped break out of jail on Port Borgo as the Jedi Jod Na Nawood. In the series' third episode, however, Kh'ymmm refers to him as Crimson Jack. It would stand to reason he'll get yet another alias in the next episode as well. It might even prove to be a running gag, with Law's character getting a fresh alias in every episode.

Be that as it may, the alias he gets from the very cool owl/otter creature Kh'ymmm in the latest episode, Crimson Jack, has a long history dating back to the very beginning...

The internationally famous J. R. R. Tolkien franchise, The Lord of the Rings, recently saw its debut in the anime world with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. It is an anime dark fantasy movie that was released on December 5, 2024, and has earned a decent reception from anime fans from all over the world.

The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim | Credit: Warner Bros. Animation

The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim follows the story of Helm Hammerhand, the king of Rohan, and his battle against the army of Dunlendings. The story is set 183 years before the original The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and puts a special focus on Helm’s family and their struggle against the attack of Dunlendings.

The anime film is directed by Kenji Kamiyama, and it is taken from a Lords of the Ring screenplay that...

James Mangold has proven himself to be a very consistent filmmaker with a true talent for working within many genres. There aren’t many directors working today who can say that they’ve made westerns, romantic comedies, crime thrillers, music biopics, and blockbuster franchise sequels, but Mangold has managed to show diversity within his output. The consistency of quality is critical to Mangold’s longevity within the industry; even the weaker projects in his filmography have noteworthy performances and excellent production design.

Not every single project that Mangold has worked on has been successful. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” was a major disappointment that did not do justice to the Steven Spielberg films that preceded it, and “Knight and Day” was an awkward action comedy that seemed to misuse Tom Cruise. That being said, the vast majority of Mangold’s work has been of very high quality, with...

Japan has a robust and storied history of film, with some of the most influential movies of all time coming from the country. Akira Kurosawa is considered one of the greatest directors of all time, Kurosawa's movies helped pioneer the modern Hollywood blockbuster, with monumental films like Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo, which played a major role in shaping the Hollywood Western, and vice versa. In fact, George Lucas was heavily influenced by Kurosawa's films when making Star Wars, particularly The Hidden Fortress, as they share many similarities.

Japan's cinematic history is incredibly varied, with some of the greatest films fitting into a variety of genres, including samurai stories, family dramas, and horror. Alongside legendary directors, these films also include some of the best acting performances of all time, with some of the best actors in the world. Actors like Hiroyuki Sanada, Setsuko Hara, and Toshirō Mifune have all played significant roles in Japan's film industry,...

The holiday season is here and that means there are lots of new releases coming out just in time to make the season bright. Below are some of the picks coming out sure to make the movie fan in your life smile. Whether it is an upgrade to a 4K edition, a reliable Blu-ray, or a special edition Box Set, this list has something for everyone!

One disclaimer: Deals as good as these can be fickle, so there’s no telling if and when a money-saving opportunity might end or if the price may change. So if you want something – snap that shit up quick! Don’t wait, only to have Festivus roll around and discover you’ve nothing to give or the price suddenly changed and you no longer have the bread. And remember that if you want to support JoBlo.com, please make all your purchases by initially clicking through our links,...

In 1960, one of the greatest Westerns of all time, The Magnificent Seven, premiered in theaters, yet many don't realize the movie is the first in a franchise of underrated Westerns. The Magnificent Seven is directed by John Sturges and based on the 1954 Akira Kurosawa movie, Seven Samurai. The film centers on a Mexican village being terrorized by a man named Calvera and his team of cruel outlaws. As a result, the villagers hire seven American gunslingers to protect them. The cowboys not only teach the villagers to protect themselves, but take down Calvera once and for all.

Though it may seem surprising now, upon its release, The Magnificent Seven was something of a failure. It did poorly at the box office in the United States and Canada, and only made a profit due to success in Europe and Asia. Furthermore, reviews were mixed. While some praised The Magnificent Seven for its high-energy first half,...

"Seven Samurai" by master Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa might just be the most remade film ever. The 1954 film is, sure enough, about seven samurai recruited to protect a farming village from bandits. The setting, themes, and characters are Japanese, but the premise is evergreen. "The Magnificent Seven" is just "Seven Samurai" but with cowboys. "A Bug's Life" retold the story with, well, bugs. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" episode "Bounty Hunters" recruits the seven from Jedi Knights and alien mercenaries. 

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas is a well-known fan of Kurosawa. (Lucas even helped him finance his 1980 epic "Kagemusha.") The galaxy far, far away isn't the only space franchise that can riff on "Seven Samurai" though. "Star Trek: Enterprise" aped the premise for its season 2 episode, "Marauders."

First, though, why are Kurosawa's films so often remade in spirit (besides them being so good)? One reason is ease of translation. Kurosawa...

The beloved classics in the Criterion Collection fit perfectly on Max, and will continue to stream there going forward.

The Criterion Collection is jam-packed with classic movies, arthouse flicks, and titles that true cinephiles consume non-stop. Having a reliable streaming partner for the Criterion Collection is a must for true movie lovers, and a new deal between it and Warner Bros. Discovery will secure that streaming future for multiple years to come. The two companies announced on Tuesday that they had extended their licensing deal, allowing Max to continue streaming Criterion Collection films.

Key Details: The new deal extension between Max and the Criterion Collection runs for multiple years. Classics like “Seven Samurai,” Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times,” and more are available. Max also offers Warner Bros. movies, A24 and Studio Ghibli films, and much more. Sign Up $9.99+ / month max via prime video

Max was already the streaming home of...

Decades after its initial release, Kurosawa Akira’s Seven Samurai is still one of the great pieces of popular art, a work of transcendent cinema as well as an intensely pleasurable movie in every sense of the word. Running like greased lightning despite its three-and-a-half-hour running time, Kurosawa’s film is the Rosetta stone of modern American action, influencing Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and countless others. A fable from the past that reverberates just as viscerally in the present, Seven Samurai is so assured that it feels timeless.

Kurosawa’s 1954 epic, produced in the middle of one of the more extraordinary run of films that any filmmaker has ever enjoyed, is a fluid balance of vast scale and intimate human emotions. Seven Samurai is much lighter on its feet than you might expect from a canonical landmark, a tall tale with a lot of room for the sort of comedy...

Physical media culture is alive and thriving thanks to the home video tastemakers hailing everywhere from The Criterion Collection to Kino Lorber and the Warner Archive Collection. Each month, IndieWire highlights the best recent and upcoming Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K releases for cinephiles to own now — and to bring ballast and permanence to your moviegoing at a time when streaming windows on classic movies close just as soon as they open.

New in November are cult classics getting a proper home video life for the first time, including Christina Hornisher’s 1974 exploitation classic “Hollywood 90028,” about a cinematographer whose Tinseltown alienation leads him to commit a murder. Our Jim Hemphill deemed it “one of the greatest films ever made about how truly brutal Hollywood’s dream factory can be on those whose dreams don’t come true.”

Meanwhile, and we’re cheating a bit, a Vinegar Syndrome 4K Uhd of...

Classic action movies, fantasy, drama, crime — you name it — the entertainment industry is all about remakes and reboots these days.

Yeah, they’re not exactly the best at it, but there are a few gemstones among the copious oodles of mediocrity. Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn occasionally, and it’s always nice to dream.

Speaking of dreaming, there are some fantastic action movies (mostly from the 1980s) that would be sublime candidates for a TV series, if well executed, of course.

(Paramount Pictures/Screenshot)

Many fans cry ‘sacrilege!’ whenever someone chooses a classic for a remake, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles in contemporary entertainment circles.

So, if it must be done, why not go all out and try for some first-rate action flicks? While some classic action movies belong to the hallowed halls of remembrance, a few pass the litmus test for the next great TV series.

In Cult Of Criterion, The A.V. Club highlights a new release from The Criterion Collection each month, examining the films entering an increasingly accessible film canon.

Funny Girl might sound a bit conventional to focus on for a series that has “cult” in its title, but compared to the rest...

Breaking Bad has always been about a man suffering from the world’s worst midlife crisis and deciding to break bad after being handed too many lemons in life. For Vince Gilligan, his own pensive experiences shaped the show’s core idea around which he then developed a cult-classic sleeper hit.

Years after its release on AMC, the whacky series became a pop culture phenomenon almost overnight when Netflix dragged it off the shelves and onto the streaming platform, giving it a second life. The fanfare around the series escalated to an all-time high and Breaking Bad became one of the biggest hits Netflix never made.

Breaking Bad [Credit: AMC]

Vince Gilligan later admitted that his creation, although completely original in its conception, is not the first of its kind. And even though that statement might sound contradictory, Gilligan cited a 1952 Akira Kurosawa film as a reference that explains it all.

Breaking Bad...

There have been rumblings for several years that David Fincher is working on something in the Squid Game universe. Although nothing is official, sources have told Deadline that Fincher is developing a new English-language Squid Game series for Netflix, which will likely be his next project.

It was originally thought that Fincher would be helming a Squid Game movie, but it seems clear now that this would be a full series. Again, nothing is official, but the idea of Fincher tackling Squid Game is very interesting. Although I will admit, I would prefer to see him do another original project. There’s also the question of whether Netflix even needs to do an English-language remake. The first season of the series still stands as Netflix’s most popular show of all time, with over 2.2 billion hours viewed. If Fincher’s remake does move forward, I could see it taking the...

Does anyone else remember Project Greenlight? The Ben Affleck and Matt Damon-produced show about giving amateur filmmakers a chance to make a feature-length film with “studio” resources? In its third (and final) season, they would focus on the horror genre, delivering the high energy and quite bonkers, Feast. While it’s sequels are considerably more Grindhouse, there’s still a lot of charm with that first film and a lot of that has to do with director, John Gulager. On the show, Gulager always came across as a bit eccentric. Son of actor Clu Gulager, it’s always been evident that John has a great knowledge of the world of cinema. So it’s not surprising to see him remix the story of the Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven into one with zombies and the supernatural. And the humor allows Seven Cemeteries to switch things up just enough.

Talking...

November 2024, Criterion Channel is set to deliver an exceptional lineup of films that will excite cinephiles and casual viewers alike. The month promises a rich exploration of genres, featuring a strong selection of Coen Brothers classics such as Blood Simple (1984) and The Big Lebowski (1998), along with their more recent works like A Serious Man (2009) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Noir and crime enthusiasts will revel in an array of titles, including The Maltese Falcon (1941), Gilda (1946), and The Big Heat (1953), showcasing the genre’s iconic narratives and stylistic depth. International cinema also shines through with compelling French dramas like Fat Girl (2001) and Dheepan (2015), highlighting diverse storytelling from around the globe.

The lineup doesn’t shy away from classic drama, featuring timeless films like On the Waterfront (1954) and Seven Samurai (1954), which continue to resonate with contemporary audiences. Additionally, viewers can look forward to a variety of documentary and experimental films, including Wild Wheels...

Director John Gulager’s latest horror comedy oddity, Seven Cemeteries, starring Danny Trejo, is a super fun mismatch of zombie-western narratives that surely stands head and shoulders above the recent deluge of pre-Halloween horror VOD releases. The premise is pretty basic; think of Seven Samurai but with a crew of wisecracking undead going against a dreaded drug lord, and that’s all you need to know before diving into the goofy, bloody spectacle of Seven Cemeteries. Aside from some good comedic moments scattered throughout the plot, the fact that despite having little screentime, the ensemble of characters have their distinct personalities is what I find really commendable. Embracing the tropes and clichés of both the western and zombie horror genres, the movie is self-conscious enough to never take itself too seriously, and despite that, it features some well-earned emotional moments that leave a mark at the end. It’s good...

This week on The Anime Effect: To celebrate 10 years of The Book of Life , filmmaker Jorge R. Gutierrez joins the show to talk about his love for anime, including how Spirited Away inspired his celebrated film and the surprising place he first watched Akira . Plus, the latest news on One Piece , SK8 the Infinity and much, much more, including recommendations from our resident anime experts! Episode 36 of The Anime Effect is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else you listen to your podcasts! If you're waiting to watch the video episode, it'll be live on Crunchyroll and YouTube at 7 p.m. Et. Listen or Watch on: Episode 36 Summary In this week's episode, LeAlec, Nick, and returning guest host Josellie Rios chat about their Fall 2024 anime watchlist so far, a new Goku balloon gets ready to debut in New York City, and we chat about My Hero Academia announcing its final season.

From epic fantasies to superhero movies and more, there are some truly sterling movies available to stream on Max.

One of the best things about having a Max subscription is the high quality that’s instantly associated not only with the HBO shows on the service, but the Warner Bros. movies stretching back decades that are available within its archives.

There’s a huge amount of movies with sterling reputations among critics and audiences alike available on Max. I’ll walk you through the top seven movies available on the streamer below; make sure to browse Max for yourself and find even more titles to scratch your latest movie itch.

Sign Up $9.99+ / month max via prime video What Are the Top 7 Movies Available on Max?

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

The Dark Knight

Casablanca

Seven Samurai

Lady Bird

The Wizard of Oz

Spirited Away

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Some...

It is a piece of public knowledge that the Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa inspired the Hollywood filmmakers from John Sturges to George Lucas whose original “Star Wars” (1977) was “The Hidden Fortress” (1957) in space. Just as well, Kurosawa himself was inspired by the literature coming from the West, from Shakespeare to the Russian classics, and a lot of his work is based on their writings.

Once again, the western world comes back as an inspiration for a Japanese filmmaker, but this time in the form of Kevin Costner‘s “Dances with Wolves” (1990) which got a Japanese “reading” from the scriptwriter Masaya Ozaki and the director Hiroyuki Nakao with “Sisam”. After the national premiere in mid-September, the film was selected for Hawaii International Film Festival where it has the international premiere.

Sisam is screening at Hawai’i International Film Festival

Hokaido, Edo period. The Matsumae clan prospers from the trade with the indigenous Ainu people.

A martial arts and katana instructor awards Seven Samurai a half-decent grade for its samurai realism. Directed by Akira Kurosawa and released in 1954, Seven Samurai tells the story of a band of samurai warriors who gather to defend a village from violent bandits. The film, which stars Toshir Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, and Kamatari Fujiwara, is widely regarded as one of the best samurai movies ever made, and it would inspire a Western remake in the form of The Magnificent Seven (1960).

In a recent video for Insider, Seki Nobuhide Sensei, an expert in martial arts and a katana instructor, analyzes one fight scene from Seven Samurai that involves combat against horse-riding opponents. Seki breaks down how a samurai at the time would have dealt with an enemy on a horse, revealing that the film gets some aspects right. One character's use of a bow and arrow is also plausible,...

Dean Parisot's 1999 sci-fi/comedy "Galaxy Quest" puts an interesting spin on the traditional "Seven Samurai" formula. In Kurosawa's classic, an impoverished village, regularly beset by food-thieving bandits, seeks out an army of samurai protectors to defend them. The villagers, however, have no money, and only manage to attract seven samurai in dire straits of their own. The samurai, however, find a certain kind of weary, bemused nobility in their job, and agree to stage the best possible defense they can.

In Parisot's film, the beleaguered villagers are innocent, defenseless space aliens who are being murdered off by genocidal reptile men. The aliens, called Thermians, travel to Earth looking for brave space-faring heroes to defend them, specifically, they are looking for the stars of "Galaxy Quest," a decades-old "Star Trek"-like sci-fi TV series. The aliens have been watching rogue TV signals for years, and came to assume that "Galaxy Quest" was nonfiction.

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

Berserk by Dejan Delic

Big Trouble In Little China by John Dunn

Elektra by Grobi Grafik

Joker: Folie à Deux by ChunHann Ho

Kill Bill Vol. 1 by Alex G.

A Nightmare on Elm Street...

Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis makes its much-anticipated theatrical bow in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend for Entertainment Film Distributors.

The sci-fi epic will open in at least 300 cinemas and marks The Godfather director’s biggest theatrical release in decades. It stars Adam Driver as a visionary architect tasked with rebuilding the city of New Rome as a modern Utopia.

Megalopolis polarised critics when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and has faced further controversy since, including several allegations of inappropriate behaviour from Coppola towards female extras on the film’s set. This extensive publicity, combined...

Tokyo International Film Festival has announced that Japanese filmmaker Sho Miyake and Taiwanese filmmaker Fu Tien-yu will be the joint recipients of the 2024 Kurosawa Akira Award.

The award honors the legacy and ongoing influence of the selected directors. Last year, China’s Gu Xiaogang and Indonesia’s Mouly Surya received the award. The selection committee for this year’s award included Yoji Yamada, Yoko Narahashi, Saburo Kawamoto and TIFF programming director Shozo Ichiyama.

Sho’s credits include Playback (2012), which was selected for Locarno competition and won the Rising Director Grand Prix award at the Takasaki Film Festival; And Your Bird Can Sing (2018); Small, Slow But Steady (2022) and All The Long Nights (2024), with the latter two films screening at Berlin.

Fu is a novelist turned filmmaker who made her directorial debut with Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, followed by My Egg Boy in 2016. In 2023, she directed her third feature film, Day Off,...

The beauty of Hayao Miyazaki’s works is that Studio Ghibli and his animation style provides a sense of tranquility. Whether it is Spirited Away or My Neighbour Totoro, not only is there ample range, but there exists something for everyone. The beauty that is consistent in Miyazaki’s works is derived from the dedication and importance of quality.

San, popularly known as Princess Mononoke | Credits: Studio Ghibli

On multiple occasions, the animation has stated that knowing one’s audience is a bigger task than most. Not acting like they are dumb and giving them the benefit of the doubt is what helps his movies shine in the first place. The effort that is put into the making of each and every panel adds to the beauty of the movies.

The Essense of Studio Ghibli’s Works

Even those who are heroes to others have their own people they look up to.

Quiver Distribution is releasing John Gulager's action, and I guess horror, Seven Cemetaries in theaters, on Digital and On Demand on October 11th, 2024. It stars everyone's favorite Mexican resteraunteur, Danny Trejo, along with Sal Lopez, Samantha Ashley, Efren Ramirez, Vincent M. Ward, Lew Temple, Richard Esteras and Maria Canals-Barrera. A recent parolee gets a Mexican witch to resurrect his old posse so that they can help him save a woman's ranch from a ruthless drug lord. Ah, we see what they've done here, they're making Seven Samurai, but with zombies. And guns. Should be good for a laugh. The official trailer came out this week. Take a look below. ...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Cinema lovers are spoiled in just how many places are on their bucket list. We think of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, the steps of the Palais in Cannes, Mount Rushmore We can visit all of these, but one that is out of reach is the famed Criterion Closet, a tiny room packed wall-to-wall with the catalog of The Criterion Collection. But now, you may have your chance…with a twist.

The Criterion Collection has announced that they are taking their Closet out on the highway, posting on their website that this comes at just the right time. “In celebration of our fortieth anniversary, Criterion has built a replica of our famous film closet inside an eighteen-foot delivery van, and later this month, we’ll be taking our Criterion Closet Picks show on the road. Stocked with more than 1,500 of the greatest films from around the world, the Criterion...

Red Sun is not one of the most well respected spaghetti westerns. Face facts: in their time none of the spaghetti westerns were well respected, just populist vehicles for sex and violence. Made primarily for European audiences, they portrayed the wild west as brutal and dangerous, populated by mercenary thugs. They depicted violence, cruelty and outright criminality. In particular Once Upon A Time In The West shows the expansion of the US as being built out of exploitation, suffering and greed. As an outside view of American society they run against the nation-building narratives of the Hollywood westerns. "To see oursels as ithers see us!" There are no white hats. Might is destructive and oppressive, not right.

What make Red Sun a film of interest is its unusual cast and premise. In 1954, taking inspiration from a number of westerns, Akira Kurosawa made the cinematic masterpiece Seven Samurai. Toshiro Mifune co-stars.

The Magnificent Seven was filmed in several beautiful locations across the United States. The 2016 film, The Magnificent Seven, is a remake of the 1960 film of the same name, which is an adaptation of a famous 1950 Japanese film called Seven Samurai. The Magnificent Seven's old-school Western style, mixed with modern special effects and production techniques, made it a huge commercial success, grossing over $160 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo).

The Magnificent Seven follows the story of a small frontier town called Rose Creek. When the town is seized by a gold mining tycoon named Bartholomew Bogue and his small army of mercenaries, the townsfolk are forced to labor in Bogue's mines until a brave widow named Emma Cullen flees and recruits a company of seven bounty hunters to liberate the town. The Magnificent Seven follows their struggle to retake Rose Creek and bring the evil Bogue to justice.

Shgun was one of the best new series of 2024, so good that Disney and FX extended its original run as a limited series and currently has at least two more seasons in development. Released back in February 2024, Shgun follows the improbable story of one man's cunning and tactful rise to become shgun, the supreme military ruler in feudal Japan. The series is based on the real-life establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, established by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the year 1600. Many Shgun characters, such as Cosmo Jarvis's John Blackthorne, were inspired by real-life historical figures and timelines.

Shgun was previously adapted into a limited series back in 1980. Like the 2024 critically acclaimed series, 1980's Shgun received outstanding reviews and was widely considered one of the best series of the year in which it was released. 1980's Shgun went on to win a total of 3 Emmys in 1981 after receiving an impressive 14 nominations, including...

Among the "Dark Tower" fandom, the typical consensus is that the first four books were amazing, and the final three books were a step down. There are a lot of reasons for this view. The big one is that books 5 through 7 were each written in rapid succession; after taking his sweet time with the first four, a post-car accident Stephen King seemingly wrote the final three books in one frantic burst. There's a sloppiness to the writing (especially with some of the anti-climactic villain deaths in book 7) that seems like it could easily be attributed to King rushing his way to the finish line.

But despite the way the final three novels tend to clump together in readers' minds, the fifth book ("Wolves of the Calla") is still very much its own distinct thing, and deserves to be treated as such. "Song of Susannah" might feel like a total bridge novel,...