Articles tagged "hiroyuki sanada"

Short Ends and Leader

Yellow Fangs (1990)

by Bill Gibron

[24.Jan.09] :. Quick - what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Sonny Chiba? Martial arts? Japanese bad-assness? The Street Fighter? A nominal name check in True Romance?...

Short Ends and Leader

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2008 Feature

The New Classics - The 30 Best Films of 2008

by PopMatters Staff

[16.Jan.09] :. Unlike previous years, where classics came crawling out of the celluloid woodwork with regular reckless abandon, 2008 was more calm… and considered. That's not to say that choosing 30 top titles was hard. The difficulty in placing them in some manner of rank order suggests the actual depth of quality involved.

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2008

Film Review

Speed Racer

by Cynthia Fuchs

[9.May.08] :. Inspired by the mostly beloved late '60s Japanese cartoon, Speed Racer is loud, large, and proudly crass.

Recent Film reviews

The PopMatters Summer 2008 Movie Preview Feature

The Return of the Popcorn Circus: May 2008

by Bill Gibron

[28.Apr.08] :. In the first act of this four-part production, Tinsel Town decides to do some unbelievable front loading. Will there be room for independent offerings, or former HBO carnal comedy divas? Who knows? Without a doubt, it's an interesting way to start the season.

The PopMatters Summer 2008 Movie Preview

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2007 Feature

A Gallery of Good Works: The Best Films of 2007

by PopMatters Staff

[11.Jan.08] :. From Julian Schnabel's artsy The Diving Bell and the Butterfly to the legendary Coen Brothers splendid adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, PopMatters counts down the 30 best films of 2007.

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2007

Film Review

Rush Hour 3

by Bill Gibron

[18.Aug.07] :. Chris Tucker is smart as Hell. Don’t believe it? Well, can you name another actor earning $25 million for doing the same thing he’s done for the last nine years -- the EXACT same thing, mind you.

Recent Film reviews

Rush Hour series was ‘meant to be,’ says Chris Tucker

by Dixie Reid [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[13.Aug.07] :. The last time we saw Los Angeles Police Detective James Carter and Chinese Chief Inspector Lee, in “Rush Hour 2,” they had dusted off another bunch of bad guys and were headed to New York...

Rush Hour 3

by Cynthia Fuchs

[10.Aug.07] :. Disjointed and hyperbolic, the film's many chases and showdowns pit Carter and Lee against an array of forces -- again.

British director gets around to making his own sci-fi adventure

by Rene Rodriguez [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[30.Jul.07] :. Soon after having made his second film, the exuberant drug-addiction drama “Trainspotting,” Danny Boyle got a lucrative offer from 20th Century Fox to direct the fourth installment in the...

‘Sunshine’ star Michelle Yeoh hits the heights

by Ethan Sacks [New York Daily News (MCT)]

[26.Jul.07] :. The world’s most famous female action heroine is deathly afraid of heights. Yet there was Michelle Yeoh, lashed into a nose-diving stunt plane to simulate zero gravity, in preparation for her...

Monkey Business (Part 4: August)

by Bill Gibron

[4.May.07] :. In past years, Hollywood purposely counter programmed these renowned Cineplex dog days, trying to offset the perception that cinematic scraps were all the studios had to offer. From the look of this lame list, it's apparently back to the filmic fridge for some patently warmed over offerings.

The Twilight Samurai (2002)

by Mark Labowskie

[20.Mar.07] :. This story takes place during the last gasps of the samurai age, before the Meiji Restoration brought Japan into the modern world, and one of the contrasts in the film is between the banal circumstances of the characters and the grandiose codes and rituals that still surround them.

The PopMatters ‘Short Ends & Leader’ Spring Film Preview

by Bill Gibron

[2.Mar.07] :. In order to separate the worthy from the worthless, PopMatters' "Short Ends & Leader" editor is highlighting 10 new films he's looking forward to this spring.

The Promise (Wu ji) (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[5.May.06] :. There's a lesson here, about the seductions of wealth versus the purities of true love, but the film is less concerned with teaching it than laying out all the pieces and letting them fly.

The White Countess (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[20.Jan.06] :. The final Merchant/Ivory collaboration is set in 1936 Shanghai and revisits the filmmakers' usual concerns -- loss, desire, and nostalgia for a moment that never quite existed.

The Last Samurai (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[4.Dec.03] :. It's a grand vehicle, with horses, martial arts, and vast armies, not to mention Tom Cruise's shiny shoulder-length hair flowing just right.