Sukiyaki Western Django

2007

98 minutes

5 Stars

Adult-R for violence

This is one of the strangest westerns I've ever seen. In fact, it is the strangest. A whole new genre of the spaghetti western. Soba western? Noodle western? It is violent (including rape). And it is funny. It takes place in the southwestern town of Nevada Utah, which is a cross between an old west town and a Japanese village. The Red Clan and the White Clan are fighting over the gold the villagers dug (and hid) when into the town comes the stranger. A Japanese film, in English (suggest subtitles—pronunciation is great, syntax is "off." Quentin Tarantino has a couple of cameos, and as always, he's wonderful! Takashi Miike is the director, and if you're familiar with his work, you won't be disappointed. Parody? Homage? I dunno, but I enjoyed it to the end.

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Hellboy!

Hellboy

English

132 Minutes, 2004

PG 13

5 Stars

I've seen Hellboy2 on the tube many times, and just realized I'd somehow missed the first one. Oh. My. God. I haven't laughed this much in ages. Ron Perlman, long one of my favorite actors, plays Hellboy, a demon child summoned by the Nazi's from the realm of Chaos. He is rescued by the Good Guys and raised not to do evil, but to destroy it. Lots of action, fights with monsters from the supernatural realms. Hellboy is just great fun of Good vs. Evil – You know, when something goes bump in the night, someone has to bump back and that someone is Hellboy!

Comics were never this much fun (Hellboy is from the comic book series)

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The Great Yokai War

The Great Yokai War

Japanese, English Subtitles

2005, 124 minutes

4 Stars

Grab a glass of your favorite libation, a bowl of your favorite munchies, and toss your disbelief out the window. Rainy Day wasn't sure where this was going until about midway through when the movie stopped, a disclaimer was shown, and nothing but wonderful laughs followed. A 10-year-old boy, not the bravest of the bunch, gets sucked into a spirit world where he must fight and win, or else.... The villains are modern and villainous. The scrap metal robots are marvelous, and become quite the scene stealers in a couple of places. Thankfully, Takashi Miike left his gruesome side at the other studio and just brought us fun spirits, a screaming hero, and great battle scenes. It is a movie the whole family can enjoy together (well, at least 10 and older).

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