Director Jim Jarmusch is a truly independent filmmaker with a very distinctive cinematic style. Jarmusch has always struck me as one of those extremely self-conscious directors. Regardless, this movie was one my first artsy film. It didn’t depend on big names or explosions, it was quiet and moody, and it told a story that moved [...]

Out of the gates, Mulan II has a lot in its favor compared to many other direct-to-video Disney productions. Sequels never compare to the original movie, and although this movie was great, the first Mulan [review] movie will always be my favorite. The plot is fairly interesting in that it has no overt bad guy. [...]

Welcome to a double feature special here at Japan Cinema! Every so often we feature special postings like this to showcase movies in the same vein. Director Brett Ratner is a director that gives and he takes away. After destroying one trilogy with X-Men: The Last Stand, he revives another with Rush Hour 3. Rush [...]

I explained in the Transformers [review] why this is getting reviewed on my site, so reference back to that for furthur explaination. Let me preface this review by saying, I highly enjoy spectacles. I enjoy good summer blockbusters. I like guns, boobs, and monsters. I am even a Mchael Bay fan although I really hated [...]

Kill Bill Volume 2 begins with the Bride looking glamerous in a convertible, addressing the audience like an avenging angel out of a 1940s Hollywood melodrama: “When I arrive at my destination, I am gonna kill Bill.”  Quentin Tarantino has made a rip-roaring, highly entertaining, extremely enjoyable continuation to “Vol. 1“: a work that flows [...]

Shanghai Knights is the sequel to 2000’s Shanghai Noon. Yet again we’re taken back to the 1880s, where trouble’s a-brewing in China. Although it might not quite measure up to Chan’s claim of quintuple the quality, it is one of those rare multiplex delights: A sequel that bests its predecessor in nearly every way. The [...]

Jack Black voices the title character, Po, who helps in his father’s noodle shop but dreams of becoming a kung fu fighter and joining the Furious Five: Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross) and especially Tigress (Angelina Jolie). He wants to watch the Five compete to be the great [...]