Falling

Daisy (Penelope Wilton), a middle aged author is recovering from a divorce and a broken leg. She moves to a cottage in Yorkshire for some peace and quiet to work on her next book. Instead of writing she falls for her gardener (Michael Kitchen). Yet another movie about a manipulative man seducing a lonely woman.

Rating: *

Ninja Scroll

Jubei a ninja and master swordsman is tricked in to working for the Shogun, by a wizened old monk. They are joined by the beutiful Kagero, poison taster of a clan loyal to the Tokugawa. Soon they are plagued by bizarre ninja demons on all sides. A trippy imaginative anime that might shock but never bore you with its regular fare of blood, gore and titties.

Rating: * * +

You Kill Me

Frank (Ben Kingsley) is a hitman with a drinking problem. When it starts to get in the way of his job, his family decides to banish him to California. Shakily he stops being a staggering drunk, holds a job at a funeral parlor and promptly falls for Téa Leoni. But being in love and in the mafia at the same is never easy...

The storyline is scrappy and is scaffolded by an even shittier script. In spite of that the film never has you reaching for the off button but neither does it leave you satisfied.

Rating: * *

Lights in the Dusk

Koistinen (Janne Hyytiäinen) is a dour security guard who falls for a blond ice queen (Maria Järvenhelmi) and unwittingly ends up being used in a heist. Stoic is the word that comes to mind about the actors, the story and everything else in the film, which is like reading a Chekhov or Gogol short story without the depth.

Rating: *

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance

A plot by the scheming and treachorous Yagyu clan, leaves Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama)and his three year old son as outlaws to Shogunate. Once the Kogi Kaishakunin and the feared executioner of the Shogun, he now wanders the Japanese countryside as an assasin for hire, swearing eternal vengence on the Yagyu.

Based on the manga, Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, the film is the first in a series of six. Inspite of the intense sword fights with splayed limbs and splurting blood, the film has a calmness to it. Plus it gives the viewer a excellent picture of the life, times and poltical layout of Japan during the Shogunate era. So watch the film or pick up the manga, if you dare venture down meifumadō...

Rating: * * * +

Samurai Fiction

A rogue samurai Kazamatsuri (Tomoyasu Hotei) takes off with the clan's treasured sword presented by the Shogun. Hot in pursuit is Inukai (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), the son of a clan official, who gets wounded in the confrontation. He is rescued by a wily sword master, Mizoguchi (Morio Kazama) and his very hot daughter Koharu (Tamaki Ogawa) who heals him back to strength. And now all he wants his revenge.

A film captured in black and white or to be exact, in black white and red, has all the ingridients of a samurai flick with swords fights and ninjas. The spicy bit is the bizzare humor and the rock riffs that accompany the sword duels but it sadly lacks in plot and story line.

Rating: * +