Irezumi Ichidai

My boxing trainer, Chris Cariaso, won his match at the San Francisco Golden Gloves last night. I was there in the 8^th row cheering like a loon and having multiple Rocky-gasms. Boxing rules OK.

Working on the DVD notes now for The Fall of Ako Castle - which is Kinji Fukasaku’s version of the Chushingura legend, and Shogun’s Shadow - an update of the Eichi Kudo style “gang of samurai” film by way of The Wild Bunch. Both discs offering varying degrees of Sonny Chiba and are coming from Ventura Select / Adness in June.

Lastly, Godzilla Final Wars is the "Mutantou" movie of the millennium and the Sayonara Jupiter for a new generation. Not be missed. But it only really matters what Kojiro Abe thinks...

 

Comments

[Daniel Zelter]

GFW's playing in L.A. in June. I hope I can escape jury duty and catch it...I'm more hyped about GFW than ROTS. What'd you think of Sin City?

[matt schley]

Will Final Wars play throughout the country, or will we have to wait for video?

[Daniel Zelter]

Probably video, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a limited release.

[Kojiro Abe]

Nothing really set in stone yet for GFW. There's still a possibility Sony might give it a wide theatrical release like they did for Godzilla 2000. I've watched several clips of GFW and think it looks awesome.
And how is The Fall of Ako Castle? It's definitely one of Fukasaku's lesser known films and I thought Chushingura Gaiden Yotsuya Kaidan (Crest of Betrayal) was Fukasaku's version of the Chushingura legend. Hey Patrick, how's about asking the good people at Adness to release Crest of Betrayal to DVD? I really love that movie and yearn for a decent quality, subtitled release.