**A good film, full of detail and historical verisimilitude, but painfully long without needing to be.** I've already seen two of Akira Kurosawa's most renowned films and, quite frankly, I still can't understand why this Japanese director is so commonly considered a cinematic genius. His films are quite good, they're meticulous, there's a lot of attention to detail, but they're not particularly unforgettable… that's what I think. This film is an adaptation of the plot of “King Lear”, by Shakespeare: a warlord, in the middle of the Japanese feudal era, decides to withdraw and divide his lands, power and castles among his three sons. Only one of them disagrees and warns him that it is highly unlikely that they will stay together as brothers, which provokes the old father's wrath. However, the future proves true for the younger son's words when the two older brothers despise their father and conflicts begin. Driven mad and accompanied only by a fool, the old man ends up mad while the brothers fight each other. I won't talk about the cast because I don't know these actors. I can only say that they worked well, within the context and the type of film we are talking about. There is an excessive stylization, both in terms of interpretation and in terms of dialogues, which sounds theatrical, forced, but I don't know if that was on purpose. On a technical level, the film has a lot of points in its favor, starting with an excellent cinematography, very colorful and with good lighting. The sets are superb, in particular the castles, recreated to the smallest detail, and the costumes are also good, beautiful and historically credible. I don't think I'll be being unfair if I say that this film probably has some of the best war scenes in period films set in Japan. There is no CGI, special effects have been used judiciously, and the war has been recreated to be as authentic as possible, with hundreds of extras dressed to the nines and a lot of effort on the part of the production. For a historian, you can't ask for more. The big problem with this movie is that it wasn't made to entertain but to make you think, and it's full of scenes and sequences designed to make the viewer think about what they're watching. It's something that would work, if it weren't sometimes overly cryptic. The audience needs to understand what the director wants to convey, and that often doesn't happen. Furthermore, it is a film that does not spare the audience: it starts very well, it ends very well, but everything in between is unbearably prolonged and distended. What could be said or done in two minutes is done in five minutes, and there are a lot of dialogues and scenes that don't seem to have any function other than to make the film take longer.
World War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impossible to breach. It's up to a group of skilled Allied soldiers to liberate the general before it's too late.
Movie Star Rating : 7.6 Read More
A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lemar sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.
Movie Star Rating : 7.3 Read More
Seven years after the death of his wife, widower Shigeharu seeks advice on how to find a new wife from a colleague. Taking advantage of their position as a film company, they stage an audition. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu is enchanted by the quiet Asami. But soon things take a twisted turn as Asami isn’t what she seems to be.
Movie Star Rating : 7.1 Read More
Black Box BRD steps back into German history, showing the Federal Republic of Germany of the 70s and 80s. The country is polarized due to the power struggle of the German state and the "Red Army Faction". Society is torn, the fronts are irreconcilable. The life stories of both Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen are tragically linked to this era. Grams is the one who takes up arms for moral rigor; Herrhausen however seizes power and dies when powerful.
Movie Star Rating : 5.9 Read More
Allie Fox, an American inventor exhausted by the perceived danger and degradation of modern society, decides to escape with his wife and children to Belize. In the jungle, he tries with mad determination to create a utopian community with disastrous results.
Movie Star Rating : 6.4 Read More
Former secret government agent Max Hecker (Sven Martinek) disguises himself with a clown mask in order to fight international crime. He hangs up his mask when one of his supporters, journalist Claudia (Diana Frank), is murdered. Four years later, he must put it back on as Claudia's sister Leah (Eva Habermann) is kidnapped by the same people that killed Claudia.
Movie Star Rating : 4.4 Read More
Mr. Miyagi decides to take Julie, a troubled teenager, under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents' demise and struggles to adjust with her grandmother and fellow pupils.
Movie Star Rating : 5.3 Read More
The Dancing Detective A Deadly Tango 2023 - Movies (Jun 4th)
Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania 2023 - Movies (Jun 4th)
Creed III 2023 - Movies (Jun 4th)
Kandahar 2023 - Movies (Jun 4th)
Rich in Love 2 2023 - Movies (Jun 2nd)
Buddy Games Spring Awakening 2023 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
You Can Live Forever 2022 - Movies (Jun 4th)
TLC Forever 2023 - Movies (Jun 4th)
Simulant 2023 - Movies (Jun 4th)
The Man from Rome 2022 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Ambush 2023 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Cora Bora 2023 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Operation Fortune Ruse de Guerre 2023 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Purple Beatz 2022 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse 2023 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Choosing Death The Legacy of Roe 2022 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
The Way Out 2022 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Subspecies V Blood Rise 2023 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Student Seduction 2022 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Passport 2022 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
Lets Get Physical 2022 - Movies (Jun 3rd)
The Prank Panel - (Jun 4th)
From - (Jun 4th)
I Kissed a Boy - (Jun 4th)
Ciao House - (Jun 4th)
VICE - (Jun 4th)
Lucky! - (Jun 4th)
Nancy Drew - (Jun 4th)
Saturday Kitchen - (Jun 4th)
The Summit - (Jun 4th)
The Sketch Artist - (Jun 4th)
WWE Main Event - (Jun 4th)
James Martins Saturday Morning - (Jun 4th)
Masters of Illusion - (Jun 4th)
Totally Weird and Funny - (Jun 4th)
Sex and Murder - (Jun 4th)
Accident, Suicide or Murder - (Jun 4th)
Lakefront Luxury - (Jun 4th)
Salvage Hunters- The Restorers - (Jun 4th)
On Patrol- Live - (Jun 4th)
Joe Pickett - (Jun 4th)