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David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:

As William Greaves declared, “it’s important that as a result of the totality of all these efforts, we arrive at a creative piece of cinematic experience.”

The same could be said of any movie, I suppose. But the sentiment expressed above is especially applicable and indicative of the net cumulative impact that resonates in the sensory receptor system of individual viewers of that hilariously salacious film known as Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One, filmed in the summer of 1968 on a lawn in Central Park, New York City, and also in a few relatively nearby locations including a room situated in an undisclosed location (presumably somewhere in Central Manhattan) where members of the crew gathered to provide an additional layer of insider commentary filmed in real time to shed light on the genesis, exodus and revelation of what Director Greaves may or...

David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:

Samaritan Zatoichi, the 19th film in the franchise and the fifth of six installments directed by Kenji Misumi (who started off the series with 1962’s original The Tale of Zatoichi) is a solid entry in the series that I can’t say is particularly unique or altogether distinctive from its predecessors. The aspect that stands out the most is that we get to see Zatoichi functioning in a role usually reserved for his backstory, that of a lethal yakuza enforcer, even though his companions in that early scene don’t seem to have any knowledge of his lethal capabilities. To them, he’s just a blind bumbling tagalong who could have just as easily been left behind. But as it turns out, Ichi is the guy who had to deliver the fatal blow to a young hothead who didn’t...

David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:

Just as the Monterey International Pop Music Festival marked a pivotal and definitive turning point (in this case, upward) in the cultural ferment of the 1960s, so too the film document of that event, D.A. Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop, initiated a new way of capturing music and its performance for posterity. The weekend-long Festival, featuring mostly West Coast hippie rock and folk combos, with a few international surprises tossed into the mix, was like a meteor that streaked across the sky of an emerging new civilization, illuminating the landscape, brightening the eyes of its witnesses, summoning a potent mix of emotions: joy, euphoria, ecstasy, bewilderment, even dread. The cinematic document, a short film clocking in at just under 80 minutes, that confirmed all those conflicting, incredulous impressions is like the meteorite that survived its hard descent into the atmosphere – potently powerful...

A lighter week I'd say as I caught my screening of Godzilla and, at home, have so far only watched Samaritan Zatoichi, the nineteenth Zatoichi film I've seen and I think it's safe to say it's the only one I would call legitimately bad. Pretty much every Zatoichi film depends on coincidence and things just "happening", but this one is so paper thin when it comes to the plot, characters will simply defy any and all logic and reason just to find themselves in danger, even Zatoichi makes extremely questionable decisions, something not at all of his character. It's a bit frustrating really. Then, last night I decided to finally check out BBC's "Sherlock" and I watched the first two "episodes" and started the third. I'll likely finish the first season tomorrow and I'm planning on watching Werner Herzog's Cobra Verde, the most recent film of his to be added to Fandor.

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...