Instead, I got what amounts to a feature-length commercial for said Shock Labyrinth. Also in 3-D (if you have the proper player), Tormented opens with 10-year-old Daigo (Takeru Shibuya, who acts primarily by blinking) putting a gravely injured rabbit out of its misery, much to the horror of his fellow classmates and his mute older […]
japanese
Posted inArts & Culture
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
In other words, if it’s all-out action you seek, stick to 13 Assassins. You won’t get that until about the last 20 minutes of Hara-Kiri, but I’d argue the wait makes the clash of swords sounding all the more sweet. I’d also encourage viewers to consider them companion pieces, and to consume both. Set in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Blade Anime
Therefore, I should love Blade Anime. And yet, even going in with no expectations to do just that, I don’t. Worse, I didn’t even like it. Collecting all 12 episodes — each about 20 minutes — the Japanese series offers strong visuals throughout, as it uses Blade’s origin as a diving board to tell an […]
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FOOD & DRINK
Best Mediterranean restaurant ZORBA’S MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE & BAR 6014 N. May This marks the fourth consecutive win for Zorba’s, and it’s easy to understand why with its hummus, gyros and grilled skewers. Everything is packed with authentic flavors, and the service is always exceptional. On the weekends, enjoy watching traditional belly and Flamenco dancers while […]
Posted inNews
FOOD & DRINK
Best Mediterranean restaurant ZORBA’S MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE & BAR 6014 N. May This marks the fourth consecutive win for Zorba’s, and it’s easy to understand why with its hummus, gyros and grilled skewers. Everything is packed with authentic flavors, and the service is always exceptional. On the weekends, enjoy watching traditional belly and Flamenco dancers while […]
Posted inArts & Culture
I Wish
In the Japanese-language film I Wish, two brothers are coping as best they can with their parents’ separation and impending divorce. Twelve-year-old Koichi (Koki Maeda) is pensive and anxious, not cripplingly so, but enough for him to worry — not without some justification — why no one in his town seems alarmed about living in […]
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Zoom In: Sex Apartments
The 1980 Japanese film is part of Impulse Pictures’ “Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection,” which would equate to a hard-R rating here. While nudity is often, it’s all above-the-belt, frontally speaking, and this work in particular is like a Skinemax flick with an actual plot, and where sex is integral to the story. Well, sorta. That […]
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Tokyo drift
A passion for drawing and a deathly milk allergy played a role in the creation of Brandon Reierson’s design line, Lactose Intoler-Art. His work will be featured in a special show Saturday at Cafe Oasis. Growing up in Stratford, Okla., Reierson was read children’s books with vivid illustrations. He then used markers and copy paper […]
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Yakuza Weapon
For the uninformed, the yakuza is the Japanese equivalent of our mafia — an underworld crime syndicate where loyalty is value No. 1. Break that, and there’s hell to pay! In this Sushi Typhoon offering from co-directors Tak Sakaguchi (“Mutant Girls Squad”) and Yûdai Yamaguchi (the similarly wacky but overlong “Battlefield Baseball”), Sakaguchi also stars as […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bunraku
With an unfortunate Burt Reynolds mustache, Josh Hartnett (“30 Days of Night”) plays a drifter — that’s literally his character’s name — who rolls into town, which looks like the Old West has been given a face-lift courtesy of “Moulin Rouge”’s Baz Luhrmann. His fists are supposedly as mean as his game of cards. Sporting more […]