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GHOST DOG : THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI-1999-This very unusual drama stars Forrest Whitaker as a philosophical hit man involved with the disappearance of a mob bosses’ daughter. He uses pigeons to communicate with his “retainer” (John Tormey) and his only friends are a French ice cream vendor ( who doesn’t understand English ) and a little girl he discusses books with. He likes to steal cars too. Henry Silva is the unsmiling mob boss who likes to watch cartoons (Felix The Cat is one of them). Cliff Gorman is his rap music loving second in command who has a memorable death.. All the gangsters seem mean and ugly but are really old, comical, kind of inept and at the end of the line. Much like Ghost Dog himself. A landlord keeps hassling Gorman’s character for rent money!
Whitaker’s character (minus the samurai references) reminded me a little of his character in DIARY OF A HITMAN! Like much of writer/director Jim Jarmusch’s work it’s very un-commercial and quite hypnotic but the ending is a downer and as Ghost Dog says “The end is important in all things”.........
SOL BIANCA-1990-Japanese anime involving a group of female space pilots, their stolen space ship and a young stowaway who wants to rescue his mother from the evil villian Battros. There's a lot of action and soul searching and it spawned a sequel and a TV series.
BIOHUNTER-1997-Another anime, very weird and violent, about a vampire like virus that turns victims into powerful monsters. Not for everyone I guess but I liked it...
RAILROADED!-1947-is an interesting film noir directed by Anthony Mann. John Ireland stars as a gangster who frames an innocent man for robbery and murder. Hugh Beaumont (10 years before he became father of TV's Beaver Cleaver) plays the detective out to stop him. Sheila Ryan plays the innocent man's sister who tries to help out too. Jane Randolph (ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN) gives a nice performance as Ireland's drunken moll. Mann gives the film some great classic touches but the climax is a little too dark and quick for me. He went on to make many more movies but has always been a little underrated in my book.
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Posted by CavedogRob on 2008-01-07 22:47:13 | Rating: | Views: 35
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