Popped in another DVD from my six-disc Sonny Chiba set: Bullet Train, a superbly-crafted Japanese take on the classic disaster movie...

Finally got around to watching yet another hard-to-find DVD I bought a while back: Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon, part of a six-disc Sonny...

Signed up for a free trial of Shudder specifically to watch Noroi: The Curse, a twisted horror mockumentary from Koji Shiraishi, the...

I’m a huge fan of martial arts movies that feature both Chinese and Japanese combatants: Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman, Master...

The recent Ghost in the Shell remake reignited my desire to seek out more of famed anime director Mamoru Oshii’s work, particularly...

I don’t remember where I first read about Sauna, but I immediately knew I had to see it. After all, it combines two of my favorite...

Watched another DVD I salvaged from the bottom of a bargain bin years ago and promptly forgot about: G.I. Samurai, a zany late ‘70s...

I finally got around to watching Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress, an out-of-print animated masterpiece that’s been collecting dust on my...

While digging through my DVD collection back in Florida, I managed to unearth one of the weirdest (and possibly most cursed; I found it...

Earlier this week, while browsing Criterion’s website, I found out that Japan Society would be hosting a retrospective dedicated to the...

Earlier this week–Wednesday, I think–I somewhat impulsively pre-ordered tickets for tonight’s midnight screening of Sadako vs. Kayako (or...

Dropped by IFC Center to catch Ocean Waves, a lesser known Ghibli production that, like Only Yesterday, never made its way to the U.S....

Stan Lee is far from the only creative genius we lost this year; Isao Takahata passed away in April, and tonight, Japan Society—with some...

On the way back into the city from visiting family for Thanksgiving, I decided to pay my respects to the late, great Stan Lee by finally...

Can you believe that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus recently celebrated its 200th birthday? To commemorate the...

Returned to IFC Center to catch a screening of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters. Like After the Storm, this Palme d’Or winning masterpiece...

Watched Locke on Kanopy. It takes an immense ego to say “Let’s make a movie in which the protagonist never leaves his car and only...

A story’s success depends powerfully upon how the writer chooses to tell it. Good writers understand and respect the beauty of minimalism...

Caught a midnight screening of Martin Scorsese’s Who’s That Knocking at My Door at IFC Center. It’s been years since I first saw it (home...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Martin Scorsese is the most religious—or, at the very least, the most spiritual—filmmaker...