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There will be spoilers for "Star Wars: Ahsoka" Chapter 3 - Time to Fly

The third episode of "Ahsoka," titled "Time to Fly," begins for Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) with an extended training sequence. At first, she's drilling with the Jedi droid Huyang (David Tennant), but then Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) arrives and believes she needs something a little more difficult. That's when Ahsoka suggests a training regimen called "Zatochi." 

Huyang is convinced that Sabine is clearly not ready for such an exercise, but Ahsoka is adamant. Ahsoka then puts a blast helmet on Sabine, much like Obi-Wan Kenobi does to Luke Skywalker in "A New Hope," and tells her to stretch out with her feelings and block her blows without being able to see. Just like Huyang thought, Sabine is not very good at this, but she gives it the best she has. But there's more than a "Star Wars...

While the chambara genre is generally associated with the likes of Akira Kurosawa and many others, the name of director Kihachi Okamoto is mentioned only occasionally, even though he probably made some of the most important entries into the genre. With titles such as “Seven Samurai” and “Rashomon” being associated with the samurai film, Okamoto would add a unique spin to the genre with often acidic and laconic humor or a world view which reflects the dark times his home country had to go through at the time his features were made. Some of his most influential works include “The Sword of Doom”, “The Human Bullet” and “Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo”, his entry into the popular “Zatoichi”-franchise, whereas his 1968 feature “Kill!” perhaps best sums up what constitutes Okamoto’s cinema.

Kill! is screening at Japan Society

In 1833 two men, Genta (Tatsuya Nakadai) and Hanjiro (Etsushi Takahashi) arrive in the town of Joshu.

Not a single trip to the theater this week. I was going to see Before I Go To Sleep on Wednesday night, but they cancelled the screening only a few hours before it was to take place. However, at home I was able to see a few things. First off there was Samurai Assassin (1965) from director Kihachi Okamoto who also directed The Sword of Doom, which I've already professed my love for, Kill! and Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo. Samurai Assassin, in this case, is second to Sword of Doom and boy is it dark and rather disturbing by the end with yet another great performance from Toshiro Mifune. I also watched the new Blu-ray for A Most Wanted Man, which I ended up reviewing right here, and I also watched the Blu-ray for George A. Romero's The Dark Half, which I reviewed here. Other than that, I watched the opening...

Last night I watched Zatoichi Challenged, which just so happened to be the 50th movie I've seen this year (find my full list on Letterboxd right here). As far as this week was concerned my Saturday delivered the only two movies I watched this past week. The first was Muppets Most Wanted on Saturday morning and then the 17th Zatoichi film last night. I think I've said this several times, but I absolutely love these Zatoichi films. Criterion's presentation of these 25 films is phenomenal and the movies are a lot of fun to continue to visit. I have eight more to watch and then I'll dive into the bonus features, which is to say there is a lot more to explore. What I'm most looking forward to is Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, which is now only two movies away. I think I'll have to revisit Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sanjuro before taking that one in though.

Once I saw the Zatoichi Blu-ray set from Criterion was on sale at Barnes & Noble it immediately became a hot item on my Christmas wish list. Thankfully, even at the ripe age of 36, my mother still asks what I would like for Christmas... Zatoichi it was and I couldn't be happier, the set is amazing! I can't remember exactly, but I think I watched the first six Zatoichi films on Hulu Plus earlier this year, but once I received the set there was no chance I wasn't starting from the beginning and working my way through. I managed to watch the first three so far -- The Tale of Zatoichi, The Tale of Zatoichi Continues and New Tale of Zatoichi -- and I really can't wait to get to Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, but that's still 16 movies away. Speaking of Yojimbo, or Toshiro Mifune to be more accurate, I also just received for review,...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 26, 2013

Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $224.95

Studio: Criterion

Shintaro Katsu relies on his blade in 1963's Zatoichi on the Road.

The colossally popular Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman action-adventure films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen’s great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman.

As this iconic figure, the charismatic and earthy Shintaro Katsu became an instant superstar, lending a larger-than-life presence to the thrilling adventures of a man who lives staunchly by a code of honor and delivers justice in every town and village he enters.

The films that feature him are variously pulse-pounding, hilarious, stirring, and completely off-the-wall.

This deluxe set features the string of 25 Zatoichi films made between 1962 and 1973, collected in one package for the first time.

Here’s a list of the films in the collection:

The Tale Of Zatoichi...

Criterion has announced its upcoming November 2013 titles and they include some highly coveted films, one of 2013's better films, an impressive box set and their new dual-format DVD/Blu-ray releases. To begin, it was a little bit of a shock to see they have abandoned releasing both DVD and Blu-ray versions of their film and instead will now release DVD/Blu-ray, dual-format editions. Note here it says dual format "editions", not "discs", which leads me to believe most releases will include both a DVD and Blu-ray disc. Consider in today's announcement the 27-disc box set of the Zatoichi films. This consists of nine Blu-ray discs and 18 DVD discs. On top of that Criterion confirms features will be available for on both DVD and Blu-ray formats. As far as this months titles are concerned, I'll begin with the upgraded Blu-ray release of Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story, which was the December 2012 selection...