Who here just watched The Last Samurai again? (+ other movie/TV tips)

[Xstar]

Hey everybody!

Getting really pumped about this Samuari era now! I even downloaded The Last Samurai in 1080p and watched last night. 11 gb of download but oh man, was it worth it! Really great movie. That's actually the only really good samurai movie I've ever seen, and if you haven't seen it now's the time!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325710/

But im looking for more Samuari material to watch, or something generally relevant to the Shogun era. Any tips for me?

I know about Shichinin no samurai from 1954:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/

...but that's really old and in black-and-white if I'm not mistaken. Is it really worth the watch?

Any other TV or movie tips to get into the Shogun mood?

Cheers everyone!

[MaximiIian]

I am currently watching Rurouni Kenshin again. Same time period as Last Samurai. Though both are centuries after the timeframe of Shogun 2.
Still, a good watch.

[Xstar]

I personally do not care for manga.

[Shabby_Ronin]

I prefer "Twilight Samurai" or the Kurosawa films. "RAN" is amazing.

"Last Samurai" was dripping with cliche and Hollywood melodrama.

[ArmoredSergeant]

Look around and see if you can find the TV miniseries called Shogun. It was live action and ran in the 1980's and it was a drama about a Dutch privateer and his involvement around the port and countryside of Japan after it opened itself to the new world. I'm also going to look for it and will post back if I find anything. This series left an impression of samurai and ninjas when I saw it as a kid.

Edit:

Well here is the theme to Shogun anyway, but I can't see links to the actual show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmx0Fjbut3g

And here is a taste of the actual show, but they added inappropriate music. Mute it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-SVM...eature=related

[Shabby_Ronin]

Here is the trailer for "RAN", it;'s a little wonky, but good as far as aged foreign movie trailers go.


It was used in a Shogun promo, or the intro if I'm not mistaken, it's been a while.

[MaximiIian]

I personally do not care for manga.

Which is just as vapid and stupid as saying "I don't care for comics" or "I don't like television". You're writing off a whole medium for no reason.
In any case, I wasn't talking about the manga; I was talking about the TV show.

[Shabby_Ronin]

It's not stupid at all; there are perfectly valid reasons for not liking comics or television, just as there are reasons to dislike anything else.

I liked both as a teen, but I don't spare a look to either anymore, but I don't begrudge those that do. I also stopped our cable service because I don't want my daughter inundated with advertisements, she can watch "Rugrats" on Netflix.

[MaximiIian]

there are perfectly valid reasons for not liking comics or television, just as there are reasons to dislike anything else.

No, I don't think so. You can dislike specific examples, even certain genres. But claiming that it's valid or right to hate an entire medium?
I cannot agree to such absurd cultural ignorance.

[GoodSmurfin]

Check out Kagemusha and Seven Samuria

[Shabby_Ronin]

Sorry, he said he "does not care for manga". He didn't disparage the style or the substance. You're foisting your tastes on others. He stated his opinion and didn't demand others to subscribe to it; you are of the opposite character.

[MaximiIian]

I didn't exactly say that he has to love it. But he shouldn't toss it aside for no reason at all.
IMO, objective standards must be maintained; and one of those is that all artistic media deserves a chance.

[Shabby_Ronin]

I do not appreciate (but respect) classical music, or for the most part poetry in general...I know this because I have read/listened to both trying to love it, but I can't. I love great foreign films, and reading; Shakespeare, Tolstoy, McCarthy etc, but I'm talking to a wall trying to convince my fiancee or friends they should explore either. I really "do not care for manga", but I own the Trigun boxed set.

[Sassori]

Guys, forget all those holly-bood nonsense and get the "originals". I seriously advice to watch Yoji Yamada's trilogy about the Samurai world: The Twilight Samurai already mentioned here (2002); The Hidden Blade (2004); Love and Honor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Samurai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Blade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_and_Honor

You wont regret it!

[Shabby_Ronin]

Those are mostly films about the decline, but they are great. "Hidden Blade" used most of the themes from "Twilight Samurai" less effectively, so I really didn't care for it.

[hardcore knight]

watched the last samurai yesterday.
never noticed the awesome soundtracks in it!

[RO Citizen]

I saw it twcie or 3 times. Cool action, even if it's not historical

[hardcore knight]

I saw it twcie or 3 times. Cool action, even if it's not historical

well I heard about some French guy, who actual became a samurai.
just like in the movie last samurai.

[oldboyhammer]

Hmmm, I suggest watching Azumi 1 and 2. Sure, the story is completely fictional but it's set in the Warring States Period and has some great action scenes!

Ran, Kagemusha and Seven Samurai are some very good ones too.

Yoroi: Samurai Zombie too! Although that has less to do with the Warring States and more to do with zombies.

[wis]

For the Sengoku Jidai/Warring states period, i wouldn't recommend the Last Samurai. Awful movie. Instead i would recommend watching the live action series about the rise of Oda Nobunaga, there are 45+ episodes and each episode is about 40 mins long. It is really great and historical.

Also i recommend reading "Path of the Assassin", by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. The same people who made the Lone Wolf and Cub graphic novels.