Best bit in the movie! Glad you liked it, though. Sonatine has a strange sense of humour, deadpan camerawork and Kitano's usual charisma. I can't think of a more charming and satisfying blend of humane observations, tranquil humour and shattering violence.

I was walking past my local dvd shop when i decided to have a look through the "nothing over $2 box".Thinking i wouldn't find f all for two bucks my eyes caught the cover of Martin Scorceses King of comedy.With my last two bucks in my pocket i bought the fil took it home and watched.Firstly this is a great film.I really enjoyed it and DeNiro was killer funny as Rupert Pupkin.At time you really feel for the guy and i found myself laughing one minute,depressed the next.Anyway for two bucks it was an excellent find.A great film.Watch it if you havent already.

I agree whisper, it was a good film. One of Marty's overlooked movies

SONATINE 1/2
(First Viewing)

A world-weary yakuza in Tokyo is assigned to take his clan to Okinawa to help settle a dispute between two factions. He's suspicious of the assignment, but he goes, and within a couple days, his role remains unclear and several of his men are dead. He retreats to a house on a remote beach to wait. The first night there, he rescues a young woman from an assault, and they develop a playful relationship. Over time, it becomes clear he's been set up, sent to Okinawa so that others can take over his lucrative territory. As his clan dwindles, he plans a revenge.

Very disappointing coming from Takeshi Kitano after I just watched his version of ZATOICHI. On the cover of this DVD is a quote of how it's reminiscent of GOODFELLAS. This film is in no way, shape or form reminiscent of Martin Scorsese's masterpiece. I would barely consider this a gangster picture. There's barely any violence and shootouts. It's basically about the boss, Aniki Murakawa, waiting on a beach like a dumbbell while people take over his turf. Seriously, that's about 1 hour or 1 hour 10 minutes of the 90 minute movie. As a result, I was almost asleep by the time Sonatine finally decided to take his revenge.

Hey Irish, whaddaya know about the RAGING BULL Special Edition DVD?

This DVD?

Yeah, how are the extras?

Do LaMotta and DeNiro appear together at all?

The specs are:

-Audio Commentary #1: Marty Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker

-Audio Commentary #2: Irwin Winkler, Robbie Robertson, Robert Chartoff, Theresa Saldana, John Turturro, Frank Warner, Michael Chapman and Cis Corman

-Audio Commentary #3: This third installment is called The Storytellers Commentary and it includes Mardik Martin, Paul Schrader, Jason Lustig and Jake La Motta.

-Raging Bull: Before the Fight

-Raging Bull: Inside the Ring

-Raging Bull: Outside the Ring

-Raging Bull: After the Fight

-The Bronx Bull

-De Niro Vs. La Motta

-La Motta Defends Title: Old MovieTone newsreel footage re-capping one of La Motta’s comeback victories.

-Theatrical Trailer and a 6-Page Commemorative Booklet.

----------------------------------------------------------------

From what I remember, the specs were good. I watched them when I bought the DVD when it first came out. I remember them being a little short but if you don't own this movie on DVD, get the specail edition! The movie itself has got to be in my Top 10 All-Time list

Nah, it's nothing like GoodFellas. Kitano's got far too individual a style to be compared to Scorsese. Check out Boiling Point next, then Violent Cop, then Brother.

Don't lose hope.

Irish, when was the Raging Bull DVD released? I checked in amazon, couldn't see any version released recently.

I just ordered it from Columbia House.

I have the "generic" one with no extras, so I'm really looking forward to the extra disc.

Are these other gangster pictures?

It was released February 8, 2005. Here's the link for it

I had a bootleg copy myself. The quality on this is a lot better and as you said, the extras. I want to watch GOODFELLAS with the Martin Scorsese & Henry Hill commentary and I want to watch RAGING BULL with the Martin Scorsese and Jake La Motta commentary. I should have time to do all that this summer

Yeah.

I know you've never really been into MEAN STREETS, but if you watch it with the discussion on (Marty narrating along with Amy Robinson) you'll really gain insight into the film and where he gets almost all of his motivation from. It is without a doubt his most personal film.

LETHAL WEAPON 1/2
(First Viewing)

Los Angeles police sergeant Roger Murtaugh, who has just turned 50 years old, is assigned to investigate the death of Amanda Hunsaker, a prostitute who is one of the daughters of bank president Michael Hunsaker, a friend whom Roger has known since they were in the Vietnam War together, but Roger hasn't seen Michael in 12 years. Beginning with this investigation, Roger is assigned a new partner Sergeant Martin Riggs, who has been suicidal ever since his wife Victoria "Vicky" Lynn Riggs died in a car crash in 1984. Riggs and Murtaugh's investigation of Amanda's death reveals that she was murdered. Upon hearing of this, Michael tells Murtaugh that he would like for whoever is behind Amanda's murder to end up dead, like Amanda. Riggs and Murtaugh's investigation continues and it makes them the targets of Shadow Company, a group of former Vietnam War era mercenaries who now bring heroin into the Los Angeles County region. Shadow Company's leader, General Peter McAllister, and his right hand man, Mr. Joshua, want Riggs and Murtaugh dead, no matter what the cost.

suspect_5 has been telling me to watch these films for a while now and I had 2 hours to kill, so I figured what the heck. I have a ton of respect for writer Shane Black since he wrote one of my favorite movies of all-time, THE LAST BOY SCOUT. This was the typical action film with not as much humor, but Mel Gibson made up with the excitement of his character, Riggs. Gary Busey was enjoyable for the minimal role he had in the film. And finally, I can't believe I caught this because she was in the film for about 15 seconds in quick shots, but this was Joan Severance's first film.

Actually, I've been wanting to watch it the last few months but haven't been able to get a hold of it. The Blockbuster's closest to me in Texas and New York don't have it but no worries, I'm getting the DVD for my birthday.

SANSHO THE BAILIFF
(First Viewing)

In mediaeval Japan a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.

A truly tragic story about the family of a governor. The governor is very compassionate to the people he rules and as such, is run out of office by the businessmen of the territory. This film takes place before "human beings became compassionate" towards their fellow man. What made it so tragic for me was the father of this family was such an admireable man and as such, his family is split apart and sold into slavery. Pretty depressing but powerful at the same time.

One can never depend on COCKBUSTER. Right?

LETHAL WEAPON 2 1/2
(First Viewing)

Los Angeles police sergeant Roger Murtaugh and his partner, Sergeant Martin Riggs, are working on yet another drug related case. Soon after finding 1 million dollars worth of South African krugerrand in a crashed red BMW after a chase, Riggs and Murtaugh are assigned to keep an eye on Leo Getz, who is scheduled to testify in a case. There are people who don't want Leo to testify, and they are a group of drug smugglers led by Arjen Rudd, the minister of diplomatic affairs for the South African consulate. Rudd turns out to be the man that Riggs and Murtaugh are after in the drug case they were working on before Leo was placed in their protective custody, which doesn't look very protective when Leo is kidnapped by Rudd's right hand man Pieter Vorstedt. Riggs ends up falling for Rudd's secretary Rika Van Den Haas, who doesn't like Rudd. In a confrontation with Vorstedt, Riggs is told the true circumstances behind the death of his wife Vicky, who died in a car crash in 1984 the car crash was caused by Vorstedt, who was supposed to have killed Riggs. Minutes after Vorstedt tries to kill Riggs, Riggs finds Rika dead, and this sends Riggs over the edge.

The guys are back and pack a heavier punch. This time they also brought Joe Pesci with them. More humor and action scenes makes this probably my favorite LETHAL WEAPON of the series, as I've heard #3 & #4 aren't gems like the first 2.

ONIBABA
(First Viewing)

As a feudal war rages in 14th-century Japan, those left behind are struggling to survive. The wife and the mother of a soldier make their meager living by preying upon hapless samurai who come their way, killing them and selling their armor for food. When a friend of the soldier returns to the women's hut, they learn the fate of their soldier, and are forced to deal with this survivor. Tensions build as the young widow gives in to her loneliness, and the older woman fears abandonment, feels jealousy, and plots revenge.

What I love most about this film is the fact there isn't much dialogue. Much of the movie is represented as a visual imagery. Shindô does a fantastic job capturing these women's desperation and loniness though their actions. Literally I don't believe a line of dialogue is spoken in the first 5 minutes. It was wonderful because the tension was building up, I was wondering who was going to break the ice first. Not only that, but the opening scene with the women and samurai was pretty shocking to me for it's time. In addition, I would somewhat classify this as a horror movie due to the mask. Again, this would be in my Top 10 all-time favorite Japanese movies.

Nice review Irish, this sounds very good - I want to watch it soon. The only japanese movie I have watched is Rashomon and it is already in my all time top 10 or so. It might be a good idea to start a separate thread and compile your reviews of Japanese movies, the way you did for grindhouse movies.

Irish, have you seen Kwaidan? I can't remember.

But its not as good as FANTASTIC FOUR, right?

Thanks for the kind words svsg. RASHOMON is my favorite Japanese movie of all-time BTW (good taste in movies we have) ONIBABA is definitely up there (I hope you watch it soon), HARAKIRI is up there as well. I'm really into the samurai genre so most of my favorites are samurai movies. I'm not sure if that's what you're into but HARAKIRI was great regardless. THRONE OF BLOOD was great by Kurosawa along with YOJIMBO & SANJURO. Everyone else here will tell you the SEVEN SAMURAI is but I find it difficult to sit through for 3 1/2 hours (but that's just me). As for the seperate thread, I don't watch a lot of Japanese movies. It's just I've been able to get these through Blockbuster Online and 2 recent gems (HARAKIRI & ONIBABA) just have me begging for more. But if you and others think we should, I'm game. I just find it easier to complie all the movies into one thread.

No I haven't, but it's on my list. Is it anything like I've watched recently?

BODY COUNT (1995)
(First Viewing)

Two vengeful assassins are loose on the streets of New Orleans and are looking to systematically murder some of the elite Special Crimes Agents responsible for sending one of them to prison. Now only the two leaders of the highly trained corps will be able to stop the slaughter.

I'm branching out a little with Sonny Chiba in a non-samurai role. I honestly only saw this film because I wanted to see more of Brigitte Nielsen's work. Really the only work of her's I've seen is: RED SONJA, ROCKY IV, BEVERLY HILLS COP II, and THE DOUBLE 0 KID. A surprisingly noticeable cast with Robert Davi (THE GOONIES, LICENSE TO KILL), Steven Bauer (he played Manny from SCARFACE), Brigitte and of course Sonny Chiba. Chiba was cool because he was an assassin but also for his up close kills used his skills with the samurai sword. A decent B or C action flick.

Irish, you can view Kwaidan here. I've still not seen it, though.

Cool, thanks for the link Capo. Is it only an 1 and 13 minutes?