No comments about Resurrection of the Golden Wolf.

2 comments about Martial Arts Samurai Pack (Legend of the 8 Samurai, Street Fighter, Bruce Lee "The Man The Myth", Kung Fu: Punch of Death).

1. can't emember the other 2 movies on this, but the 2 i can are decent flicks. I got this at cd tradepost for 3.99, so don'y invest much so if you don't like it don't matter.



2. it's not a bad buy. I really bought this for my man who is into kendo and stuff. He really liked it (I got lots of hugs from it LOL). The video and sound quality is good.

3 comments about Classic Sonny Chiba Movies (Shogun's Ninja / Sister Street Fighter / The Body Guard).

1. Sonny Chiba can be called a poor man's Bruce Lee...full of attitude, self-taught, great martial artist, but flops around like a great white shark on the deck of party boat! Sonny truly is the final answer to critics who say you can't make it on guts, emotion, furrowed brows and monkey-do kung fu. I can't get behind this DVD because it doesn't even list what the heck we're talking about. But, if you're at all interested, track down the out of print double-features that bring the top six Chiba films out of retirement.



2. Sonny fans, want to see Sonny Chiba, better see Kill Bill I & II Or Storm Rider Or Explosive City.



3. Body Guard 2.5/5
   Cast: Sonny Chiba
   I am a fan of Sonny Chiba. Not a huge fan but a fan nonetheless. Okay I'm going to be honest I bought this film for a dollar and have seen it at least 10 times. The version I own is from Digiview Productions and is poor quality and is probable cut. This film is authentic Sonny Chiba and it is a good movie don't get me wrong. Well for the price I paid for it I guess it was worth it.

No comments about The Executioner 2: Karate Inferno.

5 comments about Iron Eagle 3: Aces.

1. This film is spectacularly bad.

   A great effort should be made to gather each copy of the film and burn it in an incinerator.




2. Where to begin, when I saw this movie for the first time I just feel in love with Chappy. I have yet to see a movie that even comes close to the quality that this movie embodies. If Chappy were a real person I would marry him and have a life of action and romance in his jet, going really fast all over the world and blowing stuff up. I am not sure if Chappy should be hanging out with little boy though, that could be bad. You know what they say "16 will get you 20". You just have to watch this film, you too will be swept away by the passion that Chappy exudes. If I had a chance to save my daddy from the bad guys I would want Chappy by my side, if not sitting on his lap in the cockpit of his jet.



3. This has meaning to me as I was in Marana, AZ during the filming of this movie and got to meet Lou Gosset Jr. who is the finest of actors and a real gentleman. Seeing first hand, the vintage WWII fighter planes in action was awsome, especially the Zero. We had a part in shooting holes in a piece of an airplane fuselage on the set. The movie itself was the best of the Iron Eagle Series in my opinion.



4. IRON EAGLE 3 WAS VERY GOOD WITH ALOT OF ACTION IN IT BUT I THINK IRON EAGLE 1 IS BETTER



5. The Iron Eagle series of films was a silly premise, contrived to get the elements of ground combat, air action, and a tacked on mystery plot all in one movie vehicle. Unless you were really into seeing aircraft go thru the motions, it never quite worked. The 3rd in the series, reviewed here, is a thin plot and sop to politics in Latin America. If you like "hardbody women"(as do I), and Rachel McLish in particular, then you may find this pretty hot(there are no nude scenes or even anything approaching that though). She was in great shape and was one of the true "prima donnas" of woman's bodybuilding. So, like her: buy it; else: don't bother..

5 comments about G.I. Samurai - The Sonny Chiba Collection.

1. ahem, perhaps you didn't read the plot synopsis? I simply can't see how anyone with the mindset to spend money on this could possibly regret it.



2. Sonny Chiba and his whole troop(around 40 soldiers altogether) are somehow warped back into time 400 years. First thing they experience is an army pouring arrows down onto them. They begin to realize that they may have gone back in time when they see what people are wearing and meet the general. Being the fun loving guy that he is, the general comes right up and asks Chiba if he can handle that gun they were shooting at him. Chiba kindly obliges and makes sure this guy will be his friend.
   
   From here the movie kind of drags on for a while but I have to say that this is different than any Chiba movie I have seen before. While you think it is gonna get super boring like Ninja Wars, they actually take the time in this mvoie to develop the characters so that when someone dies or betrays the troop, you will actually feel something. And recognizing family members is a huge thing in this movie. Many of the soldiers give up and decide to just live it out in ancient times(the warrign period). The others think that if they change history by winning a war then they will have to be warped back into time. By the end the director realizes he has to wrap things up and the ending is a bit deeper than you may think but I too would have liked to know the real ending, becasue I bet it was just a bit more exciting than this.
   
   This movie is certainly not for everybody, I am surprised to say that this is a really good "movie". Plenty of great action sequences, but too many guns. So I ask you, if you were brought back in time with a whole bunch of guns during a time when there was not a single day with no fighting going on, what would you do?
   
   The dvd is from the distributor Adness is very good. Not widescreened like it says on the box but is in a very good 16:9 format. Picture is a bit washed out but really no flaws at all. Sound quality is good and the music itself is just weird. If you have seen Shogun's Ninja and Ninja Wars, then you know what type of music to expect, though in this movie it almost makes sense.



3. Pop quiz: you're a part of the modern armed forces in peacetime on routine manoeuvres and you find yourself thrown back in time with a chance to change history. What do you do? Well, if you're a Hollywood studio, you change the Japanese G.I.s in G.I. Samurai (aka Timeslip) to the crew of an American aircraft carrier, have them debate stopping the attack on Pearl Harbour for 90 minutes and then go home and hope that no-one reminds you that Japan did it first and with more balls in 1979 with this Sonny Chiba movie. But unlike its Hollywood counterpart The Final Countdown, this sees its premise through: thrown back 400 years into the Japanese feudal wars, its peacetime soldiers decide that their best hope of getting back lies in provoking history by trying to change it by joining with a warlord to conquer the country - cue lots of tank and helicopter vs. samurai action, including a very impressive unrelenting 25 minute battle sequence featuring a cast of thousands inflicting serious damage on each other. And yes, there are decapitations.
   
   Of course, things don't go as planned, and even superior firepower doesn't stand up as well as hoped to thousands of soldiers. Even before that, the soldiers are falling out with each other into those who want to go home, those who want to go to war and those who want to rape and pillage for the Hell of it.
   
   Impressively directed and surprisingly well thought through, the soft rock and country and western songs are sometimes a distraction, especially when they feature English lyrics sung by Japanese singers who audibly can't pronounce the words let alone speak the language, but it's a forgivable flaw in a surprisingly good sci-fi actioner.



4. It's a old movie, but you don't see it.
   Good actors, very good story, nice costumes.
   Too bad it's not well know in France.
   
   No regret at all !



5. G.I. Samurai has to be a guilty pleasure.
   I found myself laughing more at the bad acting and worse script than anything. If you can believe Sonny Chiba leading a bunch of actors who have never seen a day of actual military service, then you can believe this mess of a film. If you can believe half the stuff these so-called 'soldiers' do back in the Sengoku, then you need to seriously crack a history book and get educated.
   
   I found the 'stopped watches' and the fact that Venus was postioned differently in the sky to be an excellent way of having passed from the Modern day into the Sengoku period. What really killed the illusion was the cheesy special effects to convey that. The music was, at best, inappropriate most all throughout the film. I also couldn't fathom the two or three rape scenes [one would have been very ample]. Also to see Uesugi Kenshin laughing like an idiot on drugs stretches things out of the realm of the possible. I was rooting for the tank, helicopter, half-track and all the other paraphenalia of these 'soldiers' to break down or get destroyed simply to end the misery of this film. The period costumes for the Uesugi and Takeda armies were, from what I saw, mostly well done.
   By the way- a lone man of comparatively no-name able to challenge a Daimyo like Takeda Shingen, then take the man's head? I'd have to think Takeda's Hatamoto would have made human sashimi out of him and Shingen wouldn't have wasted the breath on this idiot.
   G.I. Samurai could have succeeded with a better script, better acting and a more believable plot. Then again, it would seriously trash the comedic value of this whole affair.
   
   G.I Samurai is so bad that it'll leave you wincing and laughing at the same time.

1 comments about Welcome to the Grindhouse: The Bodyguard/Sister Street Fighter.

1. This was the first double feature I have bought under this title and I must say it was the start of a new film viewing habit. I bought a 20 film box set labled Grindhouse as well and I couldn't even see the people in the films due to a horrible tape to dvd transfer. If you're looking for the quality to accompany the stink of such rotten awesome movie cheese then this is the Grindhouse to get with.

4 comments about Labyrinth of Flames.

1. I passed over this anime because it looked and read like another nerd cast adrift in a timeline of wild girls. When I bought it, I was shocked because it was actually pretty good. (The worst thing is it only has two episodes.)

   Yes it is another guy and bunch of gals video, but it cuts right to the bone: the main male lead already knows three of the fem's and the first thing to happen is he gets a sword from the princess, which is a marraige proposal. None of the slow ...of introducing girls one-episode-at-a-time and having them fight over the lead.

   Rather, this is more conventional. We meet a whole bevy of ladies in the first episode and they aren't so plastic as some are. They don't all fight for Mr. Nerd. He isn't just another clueless highschool kid. The dirty old man is a muscled samurai who's kinky and gets his thrills various ways. Yet he's also competent. The princesse's retainer lusts for her unwanted father-chosen fiance and she gets her guy!

   Keep in mind that I'm male, and I like offbeat anime. This gave me lots of nice bikini grade shots of the ladies. The lead male is a clumsy but earnest knucklehead who you can see why the princess loves. (She's no super-lady herself). It gives slapstick and situational humor and diverges from the same-ole plot lines of others while maintaining the general mysterious strangers plot. It takes place in modern day and has swords and tanks mixed up and killer manikins. Blood spurts in humor during the first few minutes; after that deaths are avoided. . There is profanity and sexual inuendo enough to make it a much older young persons anime - but it's not trashy like some ribald sex movies. The people are quiet believably human, cheering at one moment and booing at another.

   In the end, this is good general audience fair, a must-see for older normal people. People with a twisted lech for violence or pornography or pure goddy-two-shoes or robot mechas will find it boring or insulting, but for a normal person of mature mind who likes what is sometimes outrageous comedy and sometimes cutting human-interest satyr, it's a decent watch.




2. This new show from the creator of Project Ako is not a disapointment. It manages to bring light-hearted comedy to the screen as well as some fleshy scenes that might be appealing to some viewers who may feel animation belongs only in the realm of children.
   As I stated there are a few adult overtones in the show but these are laced with extreme insanity which, though it often does not work in a live action format, often does wonders for an animated feature. There are no direct nudity scenes in the show itself though the end credits leave little to the imagination.
   The voice tracks seem in some ways to be coming from different directions. The Japanese voice track does not seem to flow as easily as the English especially in the comedic scenes. The Japanese actors seem almost to be struggling with their characters but this might be expected. The original idea for the show was that of a samurai show after all. The English track was recorded long after the idea for the show was switched to comedy so the idea the English actors had was different from that given their Japanese counter-parts.
   Compared to other shows such as Love Hina the flare with which the characters tackle their environment may seem old fashioned but it is sure to appeal to anyone who likes comedy in anime. It may not be another Tenchi Muyo but it is still worth taking a look.



3. This Fun Anime by Katsuhiko Nishijima (creator of Project A-KO and Agent Aika) features a look at raunchy Anime humor. Much like "Agent Aika," the animation is filled with mild sexual content, that's almost too obvious. Which by far is one of appeals of the show. It's almost comparable to flipping through the pages of a "Maxim" magazine. I really must admit, the animation is very good though. The plot at times is pretty outragous, which isn't too off of many Anime comedies. The voice acting isn't great, but bearable, which is common in many of the works in the genre. I really, really liked the Russian soundtrack though, it seemed strange at first, but accented the show very well. The dvd package is decent, with an art gallery and a few extras, including a textless closing that features the women of the show in let's say "compromising positions." If your taste turns toward wacky humor, appealing art and lots (I mean lots) of female underwear shots, this is definately your Anime.



4. This is without a doubt, one of the craziest and funniest animes I've ever seen! It will especially appeal to those that like Puny Puny Poemy, Kekko Kamen, Steel Angel Kumuri, Project A-KO, and some others. Some people don't like this anime cause of the pantyshots I say it's an ecchi-show! It's suppose to have adult themes.
   
   The music and voice acting is top-notch, with perfect use of sound voice (and so forth) to exaggerate the events. In fact the voice-acting alone made me laugh my guts out awesome.
   
   I love this anime like I love cheating on my wife.

5 comments about Martial Arts Masters.

1. I had prepared a long and insightful review of this DVD set, but then my computer crashed and I lost it before I could post it. And I don't feel like typing it up all over again. So just buy this DVD set will you! Its better than you think.



2. the bruce lee part of this set is really just three movies that use clips of bruce so don't think your getting some of his best. that is the reason for the 4 star rating. the other movies are really fun martial arts movies with sonny chiba in them and they look good. so if you like these movies this is a really good set.



3. It also has Streetfighter's revenge and the horrible Sister Street Fighter. To top it off they throw great movies like Shogun's Ninja and Fist of Fury in(aka the Big Boss). Throw in a couple of the worst movies ever to go along with it and you have every reason in the world to buy this. IT IS CHEAP. Amazon has it for 10 bucks. BUY THIS TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   
   Adn if you have seen True Romance, this is THE trilogy featured in that movie. You just don't get any better than Sonny ripping that guys throat out. And has anybody ever figured out why that guy fights Chiba in EVERY one of their movies?



4. Bruce Lee may be the photo on the cover, but there's only one Bruce Lee movie in this collection, Fists of Fury, and it looks like it was taken off an old print. You get vertical lines randomly appearing throughout the movie, and the sound won't work properly with a home theater system. You'd be better off just buying a watchable copy of Fists of Fury, and ignoring this.



5. Got this as a gift, so I can't complain too much. However, the one real Bruce Lee movie in the set I already had a copy of. Mostly this is a collection of Sonny Chiba movies of mixed quality.
   
   Some of the movies have been cropped to look like widescreen, but you can tell that they got cropped too much, cutting off part of words that were on the bottom of the screen and/or cutting off people's heads at the top of the screen. What's the point? They probably copied it from VCR and cropped it to fool people into thinking they are watching a digitally re-mastered movie. The cropping was particularly obvious on Shogun's Ninja, and Ninja Wars is obviously copied from VCR tape with a noisy sound track and occasional tracking lines. Honestly, I have duped better quality VCR copies on my home DVD recorder.
   
   The best quality is The Street Fighter, which also seems to be the movie that made Chiba famous, mainly because it is so shockingly violent. There are scenes where he punches holes into people or pulls out hunks of their flesh from sensitive parts of their bodies. Very nasty. In fact, I read somewhere else that when the movie was first released in the U.S. they gave it an X rating because it was so violent.
   
   Anyway, rule of thumb with these old martial arts movies seems to be that when you buy them in big collections you should not expect good quality. While it might sound good you are getting 14 hours of entertainment for small change, you should keep in mind that you always get what you paid for. So, set your expectations low with this collection.

2 comments about Shogun's Shadow: The Sonny Chiba Collection.

1. the film starts out ok, as a saturday-morning action flick which is decent. unfortunately about halfway through the film i guess they said the heck with it and just went full-blown into full-on cheesiness. horrible pop music, horrible special effects, really it goes from an average period/action film to just unwatchable. first half of movie- 2 and a half stars
   second half- 0 stars



2. Originally titled "Geki Totsu: The Insanity of Emperor Iemitsu Gekitosu", "Shogun's Shadow" is a non-stop action film featuring Kyokushinkai master Sonny Chiba. This film is based on the true story of a shogun who sends his army, led by an assassin (played by Chiba), to kill his eldest son and make way for his younger son to be the next shogun.
   
   Ogata Ken is the hero who leads a band of renegade ronin who escort the shogun's son to a meeting at Edo castle. His swordsmanship is a certainly match for Chiba's and the duel between them is very exciting to watch. Both are quick and skillful.
   
   The incorporation of Chinese martial arts in this Japanese film adds another dimension, thanks to Hu Jianqiang, who plays the mute guide. A former all-around national champion of China, Hu also did some of the choreography, performed by members of Chiba's Japan Action Club. Generally, Japanese martial artists don't have much respect for Chinese martial artists, but Hu is an exception and is highly regarded by the Japanese martial arts community because of his strong gongfu.
   
   As in most Asian martial arts films from the 70's and 80's, the cast performed their own stunts; some of them quite death-defying.
   
   This film is probably not good for children as several horses are injured and possible killed during the making of it.