Lone Wolf And Cub: Baby Cart In The Land Of Demons (1973)

When wandering assassin-for-hire Ogami Itto (Tomisabura Wakayam) is asked if he would assassinate a child and their parents, he replies, “My son and I are on the Demon Path To Hell” i.e. sure thing. Ogami Itto is no joke! He and his son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) continue to travel along the roads of feudal Japan […]

Transit (2018)

Transit (2018) is the third film I’ve watched of German director Christian Petzold and at this point, I have to say that I’m a fan. There is something very direct about Petzold’s filmmaking style, it is not too showy or over-the-top; there’s a degree of elegance, though for some it might also be close to […]

Lone Wolf And Cub: Baby Cart In Peril (1972)

With the Criterion Collection boxset of Lone Wolf And Cub beckoning me back on the demon path to hell, it was time to continue with the fourth entry, Baby Cart In Peril (1972). Being in the back half of the series, there were definitely sequences where I was like, this feels familiar, have they done […]

Lone Wolf And Cub: Baby Cart To Hades (1972)

There’s something about Tomisaburo Wakayama’s portly stature and sullen demeanour as Ogami Itto, the wandering ronin, at the centre of the Lone Wolf And Cub series. A highly skilled and almost invincible assassin, Wakayama grounds everything with his grumpy stoicism and physicality, particularly in the face of enemy hordes and gushing blood sprays. Or in […]

The Grandmaster (2013)

I can’t remember much of a cinema release for Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013); it felt like its mixed reception resulted in an underwhelming reputation. Unexpectedly a martial arts movie for fans of Wong Kar-wai’s arthouse melodramas, it might have been too much of an arthouse melodrama for fans of martial arts movies. I was […]