Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island: a worthy finish to the trilogy. It’s the better of the three, but that’s partly because it carries the advantage of having both the backstory provided to it by the first two, as well as a proper ending. The characters are all fleshed out, and the story ends as it should. I missed the dolly shots this time, but the other things I loved before were still there. See also: Samurai II: Duel at […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure

Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple: interesting enough, but still needs to be seen as a part of the whole. As a stand-alone, it feels like something is missing. Again, I’m mostly impressed by 3 things: Mifune (as usually is the case), the camera work (beautifully revealing dolly and crane shots) and the music (it’s very Western-y, which fits the story). See also: Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto: as is often the case with series that were planned as such, judging this as a stand alone is tough. Particularly in this story, where the characters are simply in the process of taking shape, and when they do the movie is over. It’s interesting enough that I wish I could watch the next one right now. The use of dolly is wonderful, and Toshiro Mifune is indeed a force of nature.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure