Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon

2013

124 minutes

Mandarin, English Subtitles

5 stars

Be sure to fasten your seat belt before watching—this is a heckuva ride! And, oh, what a ride it is. I hope more are coming. You may have to watch it twice. Once to read all the subtitles, and the second time to watch all the action. You may have to suspend a bit more of your disbelief than usual what with all the visuals, gravity defying martial arts, and story line. Sea Dragons are not the only evil things in the capital city of Luoyang.  And our intrepid Young Detective Dee must solve the mystery and save the country, or die in the process. This movie is pure fun and entertainment. It's what movies should be, in my opinion.

Trailer http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi21669913/

Wind and Cloud: Storm Riders

Wind and Cloud: Storm Riders

Chinese, English subtitles

2004, 109 minutes

5 Stars

Rainy Day won't claim to be able to follow the whole story, but she will state she enjoyed the ride! Basically, it's a Good v. Evil story, with Wind and Cloud two brothers who fight for the Good. Rainy Day has read this movie is condensed from 20+ discs, which makes for a jumpy story. Just pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage, and enjoy the martial arts and special effects. It is a sequel (10 years later) of the earlier Wind and Cloud movie. The costuming was great, the fight scenes pure fun, and if you have one of those brains that can/will 'fill in the blanks' it's a great ride.

Click here for a trailer

Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold

Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold

Japanese, English Subtitles

1974, 84 Minutes

0 Stars

Hanzo "the Razor" Itami, played by Shintaro Katsu. Rainy Day is pulling this review, and changing the rating to 0. This is the 3d in the trilogy, and though it is somewhat violent, as most of Shintaro's movies are, it wasn't too bad. However, she just got one of the other Hanzo movies, and could not watch it. While Rainy Day doesn't mind a good sword fight, one that is totally non believable, she does mind sexual violence, and the beginning to the new movie was too full of it to watch, and she decided to pull this review. Frankly, Rainy Day was expecting something more along the lines of Zatoichi, who though a blind swordsman, and not averse to some of the fun things of life, is also a man of honor.

Once Upon A Time in China, Part 1

Once Upon a Time in China

Mandarin, English subtitles

1991, 134 Minutes

5 Stars

This story, based on the life of Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li), takes place when the Foreign Devils (Europeans) are moving into China and carving it into their own colonies. The story is from the Chinese perspective of this era, and shows how fiercely they wanted to preserve their culture against the onslaught of Westernization. If you are an aficionado of Martial Arts movies, this is one to watch! Wong Fei-Hung was a martial artist, a physician, an acupuncturist and a revolutionary. Jet Li has one of the best lines (and all of the really good fights) when he says, "You can't fight guns with kung fu!" Marvelous costuming, fantastic fight scenes, and, of course, Jet Li;-) (Rainy Day likes Jet Li, can you tell?) Part 2 & 3 are in her queue!

For a 3 minute trailer of Part 1, click here. There are several sites with information about this national hero, click here for the Wong Fei-Hung site.

Hana, the Reluctant Samurai

Hana: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai

Japanese, English Subtitles

2005, 125 Minutes

5 Stars

Rainy Day was quite surprised when she started watching this DVD. The background story is about the 47 Ronin of the previous movie she watched. This tells the story of a young Samurai, who's father's death wish is for his son to seek revenge, and kill the man who killed him. The young man is torn. He is a low ranking Samurai, sworn to commit revenge, and really wants only to teach young children, and any one else who wants to learn, to read and write. The people in this movie are interesting and likable, and Rainy Day sat spell-bound waiting to see how the young man would resolve his situation. A good movie to see how the poor lived versus the usual well-off Samurai and Daimyo. A movie of peace, community and humanity.

Click here for trailer.

Mea Culpa's and a Lone Wolf with Cub

Rainy Day apologizes for not keeping you, her faithful readers, up to date on the movies she's watching. Actually, she hasn't watched too many movies, she's been too engrossed in another Japanese TV series from the 1970s. And, of course, she's also been busy with the Holidays;-) She hopes you will forgive her as she gets back on track.

Lone Wolf and Cub: TV Series

Japanese, English subtitles

1970s, 90 minutes (2 episodes)

5 Stars

Ogami Itto, the wrongfully disgraced executioner of the Shogun, did not commit seppuku as a man of honor would have; instead, he took his infant son, his Datanuki battle sword, and set off to wander Japan as an Assassin for Hire and to clear his name. Kinnosuke Nakamura epitomizes the 'strong, silent hero' as Ogami. And his young son, now about 3 or 4, is equally silent. If you liked The Lone Ranger Rainy Day is fairly confident you'll enjoy this series. True, Ogami is a sword for hire, but he does not take every job that comes his way. True, he is a ronin, but he is a ronin with honor. Rainy Day is not getting the discs in order, but it doesn't seem to matter. Each story is complete.

As Rainy Day thinks on it, this series reminds her a lot of the various Western series and movies she loved when growing up – the ones where the hero with or without a sidekick, rode into town, saved the town, the heroine, the poor and downtrodden from the evil outlaws, cattle barons, or whatever. If you liked those oldies but goodies, give Lone Wolf and Cub a try.

For a trailer for the first Lone Wolf and Cub movie, click here. The movie and series have subtitles, the trailer does not. But, who needs subtitles for a sword fight?