Big Screen Big Apple- A Yakuza in Love(1997) Thurs. 3/17 at 7:30 PM

50% of all ticket sales will go to Japan Society's Earthquake Relief Fund.

Yakuza in Love(1997)

The Japan Society says - "A dark, delicate, comic and complicated telling of a hard-as-nails, simple love story. Boy meets girl; boy falls in love, boy drugs girl. Boy and girl start a rather twisted, chemical-fueled affair. Things get sour. The boy is a low-ranking ne'er-do-well yakuza in an ill-fated gang, fighting a losing battle with their rival gang. The girl... well, the girl is just a waitress who should probably know better. Auteur Mochizuki (Onibi: The Fire Within; Another Lonely Hitman), director and co-writer, has fashioned this unlikely romance between two mismatched lost souls into a black comedy of startling directness and intensity, following the old boy's fumbling (and often funny) attempts at romance through questionable methods of courtship (which include kidnapping into the bargain). Generously spiced graphic sex scenes alternate with moments of lyricism and otherworldly calm, subtly layering the characters and their path to ruin. As the strange relationship blossoms, the yakuza's drug addiction and unstoppable habits of destruction threaten to destroy everything..."

Don't forget to arrive early, because ticketholders get to sneak a peak at Bye Bye Kitty Exhibition from 6 to 7:30.

Thursday, March 17th 7:30 PM @ Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, at 47th Street and First Avenue

Big Screen Big Apple- Audition(1999) Wed. 3/16 at 9:30 PM

To Celebrate the release of Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, in cahoots with Subway Cinema, are producing a 13 movie retrospective to celebrate the works of a cinematic Master. Miike's torturous thriller, Audition(1999), is set to kick off the series, which runs from March 16th to the 23rd. If you are unfamiliar with Miike or his large body of work, this experiment in terror is a good way to kick off a future love affair with the director.

IMDB says - "Seven years after the death of his wife, company executive Aoyama is invited to sit in on auditions for an actress. Leafing through the resumés in advance, his eye is caught by Yamazaki Asami, a striking young woman with ballet training. On the day of the audition, she's the last person they see. Aoyama is hooked. He notes her number from her file, calls her and takes her to dinner. He hesitates to call again, worried that he'll seem too eager. When he does, Asami knowingly lets the phone ring for some time before answering. She's alone in her darkened room - alone, that is, apart from the writhing victim she has tied up in a sack on the floor..."

Wednesday March 16th @ 9:30 PM Walter Reade Theater, West 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave, on the upper level, Upper West Side

Big Screen Big Apple- Dead or Alive(1999) and Miike Tues. 3/15 at 7:30 PM

It's a good thing The Japan Society is taking a couple days off from Hardest Men in Town: Yakuza Chronicles of Sin, Sex & Violence film series after the underworld onslaught this past weekend, because it get's dizzying keeping up with everything...phew! Tuesday night the cinematic slaughter continues with Dead or Alive(1999) followed by a Q&A with one of Japan's favorite sons, Takashi Miike.

The Japan Society says - "A mind-boggling carnival of ultra-violence, massive drug use, punch-drunk camerawork and unending stroboscopic editing, perfectly calculated to induce an outbreak of rapture that will leave the viewer shaking and ringing from the shock. Miike's legendary Dead or Alive pits a yakuza of Chinese descent (Riki Takeuchi) against a Japanese cop (Sho Aikawa) in the mean streets of Tokyo's crime-infested Shinjuku area, prowled by warring factions that vie for supremacy. Their fated encounter, propelled by an astonishing opening reel of hyperspeed action, leads a truly out-this-earth, apocalyptic conclusion, perhaps the most spectacular showdown ever committed to celluloid. Visuals, courtesy of "Hana-bi" D.P. Hideo Yamamoto, are slick and arresting and give a proud, bloody-minded majesty to the trip."

Tuesday, March 15th 7:30 PM @ Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, at 47th Street and First Avenue

Big Screen Big Apple- Onibi:The Fire Within(1997) Thurs. March 10 at 8:15 PM

Day Two Hardest Men in Town: Yakuza Chronicles of Sin, Sex & Violence, the Japan Society's yakuza film series, brings us something a bit more somber and up-to-date than the series opening. The US premiere of Onibi: The Fire Within(1997) Kicks of with a separate lecture about what the taboos are of depicting yakuza in Japanese pop culture.

Japan Society says - "Coming from a man who started his career as a porn director, this is a surprisingly spare and emotionally savage film. Often regarded as Rokuro Mochizuki's masterpiece, Onibi injects both sexual passion and subdued sentiment into the macho world of yakuza cinema. Within the confines of the genre, Mochizuki artfully builds a parable of implacable fate, probing the leading performer's inner life with a calm intensity that is almost unparalleled. Noriyuki Kunihiro (Yoshio Harada, in one of his most unforgettable roles) is a yakuza who has just spent half a lifetime in prison, doing time for a double murder. Although his former acolytes try to tempt him back into the fold, he prefers to put his aging but still strong body to more honest work. He finds love in the person of young pianist... and trouble soon follows."

Thursday, March 10th 8:15 PM @ Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, at 47th Street and First Avenue

Give Me An Extended Vacation To Midian

Question: Do I want to see an extended director's cut of one of my favorite Clive Barker horrors? I of course am speaking of Nightbreed, one of my fondest cinematic memories as a teenager. The answer would, of course, be "yes" with a capital Y.

I'm sure many horror fans out their feel the same way I do, if not all the horror fans in the world. But apparently, Morgan Creek, the company that owns the rights to Nightbreed don't really think so. In fact, there is a 159 minute cut in existence that might never see the black of night, and that's just wrong. From what I understand after listening to the latest Outside the Cinema podcast, Barker would even agree to do a director's cut if the extended version were to be released.

So what can we do to make this happen? I don't know if it's a fruitless effort or not, but the first step would be to join the letter writing campaign to Morgan Creek. Hopefully, if they hear enough of an outcry they will reconsider their decision to release one of the most visually-stimulating horror movies from it's era. I could definitely use an extra few minutes of Peloquin action, and I'm sure the rest of you sickos out there could too.

So write some letters, and lets make this happen. Try to be nice though. Remember, straight-laced, corporate probably don't respond well to hordes of angry nerds.

To contact Morgan Creek:

frontdesk@morgancreek.com

And to show your support for the effort by Clive's compatriots:

philandsarah@clivebarker.info

Dr Mordrid(1992)

Typically when I mention Full Moon Entertainment, or any of there many releases, to my friends who are familiar I usual get an answer somewhere along the lines to "fuck that shit". Not that I hang out with film school fuckfaces, but a great deal of my compatriots are fans of the-gorier-the-better-school of horror. Even though Full Moon claims to produce horror movies, most people know that their releases are far from scary, most are actually so cheesy by accident it becomes hysterical. look at such greats as Troll, Ghoulies, and the Puppet Master series. If you know anybody who has ever had nightmares or been surprised by any of these movies, there is probably something wrong with them. Full Moon horror is far from scary, ever-so-slightly gory and the closest they get to "risque" comes in the form of f-bombs and the occasional boob. So you can see why horror purists would have a problem with most of the Full Moon catalog. Their movies are quite retarded, and this is one of the things I love about them. Not quite in the "so bad, it's good" or "bad-good,good-bad" categories, but somewhere around there. I always love taking in a Full Moon movie with several beers, a light snack, and a whole lotta giggling. This is exactly what I did tonight with Dr. Mordrid, sans the brew.

Dr. Mordrid is not exactly a horror, it is more of a low-budget fantasy, which makes it more retarded then the previous Full Moon features I have cast my eyes upon. Dr. Anton Mordrid is an occult researcher/NYC landlord by day, and the protector of the 3rd Dimension/Earth by night. He has been trapped on our planet for the better part of a century awaiting for the return of the sorcerer known as the Death's Head aka Kabal. As the story goes, many centuries ago, Mordrid and Kabal were both gifted sorcerers from an early age, growing up together. As young male friends-who-are-like-brothers tend to do, they were very competitive in their mystical studies, always trying to one up each other as if life was a game. As they both grew older and more powerful, each chose a different path to follow in life> Mordrid as the Protector, and Kabal as the Enslaver. When Kabal becomes too unruly, Mordrid casts him and his demonic minions into magical imprisonment and leaving the 4th Dimension awaiting the day that Kabal might escape as fate predicts.

As I said before, a century goes by with Mordrid as the Protector of Humanity. I don't really know if he is earth's only hero because I'm not that familiar with the Full Moon Universe. With all the tie-ins the company puts out(Dollman vs. Demonic Toys vs. Puppetmaster,ect.) I'm guessing he could probably wrangle up a couple of other bad mutherfuckers who fight for truth, justice, and Albert Band way. But he didn't, so the good ole' Doctor only has the help of Samantha the occult investigator against Kabal and his headbangin' minions. Sounds pretty easy for someone who has had a hundred years to perfect, doesn't it? Wrong again. When Kabal's far-from-virginal teenage concubine is found dead, Mordrid becomes public enemy number one according to the NYPD. How will the good doctor ever protect the human race from the inside of a cell?

I'm not even going to go into an ending. Not like I ever do anyway because I don't want to spoil this awesome piece-of-shit for you potential viewers, and I do hope you take the time to get wasted and laugh hysterically. Can you really go wrong with such great names for actors as Jeffrey Combs(Re-Animator) and Brian Thompson(Ugly muscular dude,X-Files,Baywatch,ect)playing roles they were obviously born for, like every other role the played previously and after.Besides, do you really want to take the opportunity to miss the stop motion animation sequences? That's right, stop motion animation. The high-end special FX used in such cinema classics as Jason and the Argonauts and The Gate. The dino-skeleton battle is to die for. Who needs Jurassic Park level CGI(which I believe was in theatres at this point) when you have stop motion animation?

It's unfortunate that Full Moon never went ahead and did with Dr. Mordrid what they did with Puppetmaster. This is one of those movies I would love to have seen multiple sequels of. There are just so many unanswered questions. What of his budding love affair with Samantha? Will he ever get an apprentice? How would Anton look in a shiny ruby red outfit? I want to know, dammit!!! Besides, a series could have made Jeffrey Combs a household name. Regardless, this movies is a fun watch as long as you don't expect anything deep, well acted, or grotesquely horrifying. If your into watching silly shit every once in awhile, grab a couple of Old English 800's and prepare to giggle yourself retarded.