| # | Title | Director | Writer | Rated | Year | Studio | Genre |
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| 400 | Zardoz | John Boorman | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment | Horror & Suspense - General | |||
Zardoz John BoormanRated: Date Added: 30 Jan 2005 Subtitles: ENDsubtitles-->Summary: A box office failure at the time, John Boorman's 1974 cult science fiction film Zardoz is an entrancing if overly ambitious project that offers pointed commentary on class structure and religion inside its complex plot and head-movie visuals. Its healthy doses of sex and violence will involve viewers even if the story machinations escape them. Beautifully photographed near Boorman's home in Ireland's Wicklow Mountains by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001), its production design is courtesy of longtime Boorman associate Anthony Pratt, who creates a believable society within the film's million-dollar budget. A bewigged Sean Connery is Zed, a savage "exterminator" commanded by the mysterious god Zardoz to eliminate Brutals, survivors of an unspecified worldwide catastrophe. Zed stows away inside Zardoz's enormous idol (a flying stone head) and is taken to the pastoral land of the Eternals, a matriarchal, quasi-medieval society that has achieved psychic abilities as well as immortality. Zed finds as much hope as disgust with the Eternals; their advancements have also robbed them of physical passion, turning their existence into a living death. Zed becomes the Eternals' unlikely messiah, but in order to save them--and himself--he must confront the truth behind Zardoz and his own identity inside the Tabernacle, the Eternals' omnipresent master computer. --Paul Gaita
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| 401 | Zatoichi | 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano | 2004 | Artificial Eye Film Company Ltd. | |||
Zatoichi 'Beat' Takeshi KitanoRated: Date Added: 02 Jul 2005 Subtitles: ENDsubtitles-->Summary: Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, the Japanese actor-director best known in the US for his quirky, ulraviolent gangster movies ("Fireworks", "Brother", "Sonatine") and in the UK (among satellite and cable viewers, at least) for the bizarre "It's a Knockout"-meets-"Endurance" gameshow Takeshi's Castle, applies his off-kilter sensibility to the samurai genre in "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi". A blind masseur (Kitano with his hair dyed white) wanders into a small town divided up by rival gangs. Though hunched and shuffling, Zatoichi soon reveals his deadly skills as a swordsman. He befriends a pair of geisha girls with secrets of their own and helps them hunt down the bandits who killed their parents. But one of the gangs has just hired a ronin, a masterless samurai, whose fighting skill may equal the blind swordsman's.
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| 402 | Zatoichi - Collector's Edition (4 Disc Box Set) | M | Shock | Box Sets | |||
| 403 | Zatoichi - New Tale Of Zatoichi | Tokuzo Tanaka | PG | 1963 | Shock | Action | |
Zatoichi - New Tale Of Zatoichi Tokuzo TanakaRated: PG Date Added: 26 Aug 2005 Languages: Japanese Subtitles: English Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Picture Format: Widescreen Summary: Blind masseur and master swordsman, Zatoichi, is tired of killing. He journeys to his old village looking for peace, but is pursued by the brother of Boss Kanbei, a man he's killed. Back home, Ichi connects with Banno, his teacher, who seeks prestige and has arranged for his younger sister, Yayoi, to marry into a wealthy samurai family. Ichi and Yayoi realise they are in love, but Ichi's request for her hand meets with Banno's derision. Ichi is also drawn into Banno's plot to kidnap the son of a wealthy man, ostensibly to aid the Mito Goblins, a gang of thieves on the run; but Banno wants to keep the ransom. Ichi wants harmony and love, but can he escape a destiny of violence?
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| 404 | Zatoichi - The Fugitive | M15+ | 1963 | Shock | Action | ||
Zatoichi - The FugitiveRated: M15+ Date Added: 26 Aug 2005 Languages: Japanese Subtitles: English Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Picture Format: Widescreen Summary: The legendary blind warrior discovers love and money have created divided alliances in this classic samurai film. After defeating a angry stranger he meets along the road, blind nomad Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) learns that a bounty is being offered for his head; despite the danger to himself, Zatoichi visits the mother of his victim and offers to help support her. As Zatoichi tries to find out why a price is being offered for his life, he discovers a community has been torn apart by violent feuding from rival bands of criminals - and that one of the bloodthirsty killers who has been drawn to this ugly contest is now the husband of Gajuro, a woman he once loved. Will Zatoichi fight to free his love, or will he search out the man who wants him dead?
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| 405 | Zatoichi 21 - The Festival of Fire | Kenji Misumi | NR | 1970 | AnimEigo | Action & Adventure | |
Zatoichi 21 - The Festival of Fire Kenji MisumiRated: NR Date Added: 02 Jul 2005 Subtitles: ENDsubtitles-->Summary: I've seen several films in the Zatoichi, and I have to rate this as the best. I could see several ties to film noir in this movie, from the outlaw connections and shady bosses (never named) to the femme fatales and grey-shaded hero. |
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| 406 | Zatoichi 22 - Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman | Kimiyoshi Yasuda | NR | AnimEigo | Action & Adventure | ||
Zatoichi 22 - Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman Kimiyoshi YasudaRated: NR Date Added: 02 Jul 2005 Subtitles: ENDsubtitles-->Comments: Animated Summary: This is actually the second Zatoichi film i've ever seen (first was Kitano's). I took a chance seeing Animeigo had a sell on it, and since I enjoyed their releases of Lone Wolf & Cub I gave this a chance. I knew it was going to be good, but I had no idea it was going to be that good. Nice mix of martial arts and swordsplay as Zatoichi meets the one armed chinese man. Sadly they misunderstand each other due to the language barrier. |
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| 407 | Zatoichi 23 - Zatoichi at Large | Kazuo Mori | R | 1973 | ANIMEIGO | Action & Adventure | |
Zatoichi 23 - Zatoichi at Large Kazuo MoriRated: R Date Added: 07 Dec 2006 Subtitles: ENDsubtitles-->Summary: This 23rd installment of Zatoichi is highly recommended. As usual, we find Zatoicihi in another one of his wildly strange predictaments. And as usual, we find the amusingly funny, humorous and charming personality of Ichi in this film. There is more humor in this episode than most of his previous outings. Also, Zatoichi is taunted by a young orphan who believes that Ichi killed his mother. And this orphan constantly taunts Ichi. [namely by throwing rocks at him]
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| 408 | Zatoichi 26 | Drama | |||||
| 409 | Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, Vol. 1 - The Tale of Zatoichi | Kenji Misumi | NR | 1962 | Home Vision Entertainment | Action & Adventure | |
Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, Vol. 1 - The Tale of Zatoichi Kenji MisumiRated: NR Date Added: 02 Jul 2005 Subtitles: ENDsubtitles-->Picture Format: Letterbox Comments: Black and White Summary: Zatoichi, the wandering masseur and master swordsman, is a mercenary hero with a difference: he's blind, and no less deadly for it. In his debut, Ichi shuffles into a gangster-run town like a wry con man, fleecing the dim-bulb gambling thugs and sponging off a local mob boss who wants the deadly Ichi on his side in an impending gang war. Released the same year Akira Kurosawa unleashed "Yojimbo", stocky Shintaro Katsu's modest and soft-spoken Ichi couldn't be more different from the dynamic Toshiro Mifune's swaggering and arrogant Yojimbo. Director Kenji Misume can't match Kurosawa's searing cynicism or dynamic action, but when Ichi finally lets loose after avoiding conflict for the entire film, his spare, sudden attack makes a startling contrast to the usual flashing swords and furious movements. Zatoichi returned in 25 sequels and a long-running TV series, always played by Shintaro Katsu. |
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