Eyes Of The Spider (1998)

1997 was a busy year for Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Serpent’s Path and Eyes Of The Spider (1998) were two movies united by the same theme – revenge – and the same star – Sho Aikawa. They were low budget movies for the straight-to-video market and each apparently only had a two week shoot. In between, Kurosawa […]

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Screened at Luna Cinemas Leederville as part of the Trash Classics season programmed by VHS Tracking.“The dolphin will take you to the data.” I remember seeing Johnny Mnemonic when it first came out. I was a kid and thought any movie that I saw at the Greater Union cinemas in the Westfield shopping mall was a good movie. […]

Serpent’s Path (1998)

The point of view shot of a car driving down inner city roads; there’s an emptiness to the streets. In the car, two men are on a mission of revenge, Nijima (Sho Aikawa) and Miyashita (Teruyuki Kagawa). Miyadhita’s child has been molested and murdered. They know the culprit. They have a soundproofed warehouse. Revenge will […]

Place Vendôme (1998)

Place Vendôme (1998) fits the bill for French neo-noir in that the key female characters are glamorous blondes while the men are all weathered looking mutts. The cinematography feels very 1990s “movie for adults” in the dark hues of the interiors, and its overall polished feeling, reminiscent of a Grisham or Le Carre adaption from […]

Silent Trigger (1996)

Dreaming about a YouTube ambient video titled, “Meditating with Dolph Lundgren in his high rise building sniper’s nest while raining.” While Silent Trigger (1996) is an action movie that gives fans what they want – Dolph using a massive sniper rifle to take down masked mercenaries who are toting sub-machine guns – it also aims […]