Here are the best-selling titles for NUELOW Games this month. Our sales were not quite as strong as in October, and I don't think the Thanksgiving sale made a difference one way or the other; our prices are already so low that knocking a bit off the price won't entice anyone that wasn't going to buy anyway.
Next year, i think I'll just say, "Look! We've got stuff on sale for Black Friday!" (because we've got stuff on sale every day as it is....)
Still, it was a decent month... and I thank you all for your support. Please stick around.
Also, if you've got a short, rules-light RPG, get in touch. We'd love to add some gaming variety to our line-up.
The Nine Days of the Ninja Blogaton is almost over! But there's still time for you join in with a ninjtastic post or three! Put something ninja-related on your blog and send the link to me at stevemillermail(at [@])gmail.com.
Like the neigh-invisible Ninja, Nine Days of the Ninja has appeared suddenly and without warning! It's a blogathon that's one of the web's best kept secrets!
Okay... so I kinda dropped the ball in promoting it... BUT if anyone out there wants to participate, send me links to any reviews of or commentary on Ninja movies or comics, or if you have Ninja art or anything else Ninja you want to put forward, I will link to it in this post. Just email me the link.
As for me, I will be posting at least one Ninja-related post each day between now and November 9th on one of the blogs that make up the Cinema Steve Network. Like those written by others, I will be linking to them in this post.
On the Saturday of last year's Nine Days of the Ninja Blogathon, I posted a couple YouTube ninja videos. I'm doing it again, including a reappearance of Ryan Higa. This officially makes it a tradition, yeah?
N is for Ninja. N is for November. And while we're at it, N is also for Nine.
Last year, I declared November 1 - 9 as the Nine Days of the Ninja. Well, since November 1 - 9 only comes around once a year, I'm doing it again. I will once again be posting reviews and other Ninja-related items across my various blogs--and will even be releasing a Ninja supplement for "ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters" through NUELOW Games--in celebration of the Nine Days of the Ninja.
Since playing with myself is not as fun as it might sound when there are Ninjas involved, I am inviting the rest of the blogging world to join with me in a celebration of the world's best-known secretive assassins. Maybe we can make a real blogathon out of this!
Post something Ninja-related to your blogs during the Nine Days of the Ninja. Send the link to me at stevemillermail@gmail.com, and I will list in in a Nine Days of the Ninja index post (The Ninjex?). Anything is fair game. Reviews of movies, cartoons/anime, and comics featuring Ninja and/or posts featuring information about the creators of such stuff, or just pictures of Ninja doing their thing--flipping out and killing things--are acceptable subjects. If you have existing posts, you can send me the links ahead of time, and I will link to the best of those as well.
If you want to take part, or just want to promote Nine Days of the Ninja, you can use this logo.
Link back to this post, because it will eventually become the "Ninjex" of the 2011 Nine Days of the Ninja. And let me know if you do want to participate. I will link to your blog and let the world know.
I will be doing reminder posts and further plugs over the next few weeks, because when the monsters of October go away, the Ninja come out to play!
"Nine Day of the Ninja" for 2010 has come and gone, and those mysterious masked assassins have faded back into the shadows. But you never know when they'll show up again at Watching the Detectives, or, more likely, at Movies You Should (Die Before You) See.
I will be doing this again next year. I tried to put my focus in a different place than what is usual for me, which meant staying away from the craptacular ninja movies from Hong Kong. As a result, I learned a few new things about the genre. Visitors and emailers helped broaden my horizons as well. Next year, I'll probably learn a few more Ancient Ninja Secrets, and perhaps this blogathon will even be more than just a one-man show!
But here's an overview of the Great Ninja Onslaught of 2010. Each review is listed on my usual 0-10 Star scale, with 5 and 6 representing films of average quality. A total of 15 films and 3 graphic novels were covered, with two funny YouTube music videos thrown in for good measure.
Although the word "ninja" never comes up in the "Street Fighter" series, the character played by Sonny Chiba, in the three movies that collectively make up his most famous effort internationally, sure seems like a ninja to me. So, on this, the final of the Nine Days of the Ninja, I bring you The Complete Street Fighter! Three movies of eye-gouging, penis-ripping glory in which Sonny Chiba takes the ancient art of making goofy faces while doing martial arts to heights that Bruce Lee could only have dreamed of!
If you want to see what REAL martial artists are capable of--what truly talented fighters can do without camera tricks and wire-harnesses--you need to check out these films.
The Street Fighter (1974) Starring: Sonny Chiba, Waichi Yamada, Yutaka Nakajimam, Akira Shioji, and Tony Cetera Director: Shigehiro Ozawa Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
When a gruff, anti-social martial-artist-for-hire (Chiba) turns down a Yakuza contract to kidnap the heiress of an oil-based financial empire (Nakajimam), he discovers they'd rather kill him than risk him revealing their plans. So, he does the only sensible thing a human engine of death and destruction can do: He offers his services in protection of the heiress, and proceeds to tear through her enemies like so much tissue paper. However, a callous act of his past will come back to haunt him, complicating his fight against the foot-soldiers of the international crime cartel.
"The Street Fighter" may be a fairly low-tech and low-budget action film, but it shows that martial arts fights scenes don't need wires and CGI to be exciting... they just need actors who really know their stuff!
When it comes right down to it, the plot in this film is pretty nonsensical and so full of holes that it'll collapse if you try to give it even the slightest thought. But who cares? The fight scenes are extremely cool and horribly violent at times. (Is there any other film where the hero has ripped the gonads off a would-be rapist with his bare hand?)
Interestingly, despite the films title, the main character, martial arts mercenary Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi doesn't seem like much of a street fighter. He seems far more like a ninja, both in how he dresses and how he behaves. This is no more clear than in the film's climax where he singlehanded takes on a floating nest of bad guys on an oil tanker. (I also think that this, more than any other film, must have inspired the notion that the purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people. Lord knows Terry does some flipping out AND he kills a ton of people in this movie!)
Although "The Street Fighter" was rated X for its eye-gouging, throat-slitting, and penis-ripping graphic violence back when it was first released in 1974, I really didn't see any violence worse than the average slasher flick or "torture porn" movie that gets R-ratings these days. (And unless the censors were a little more artful with this film than usual, I think I viewed an uncut copy.)
"The Street Fighter" is a movie that fans of martial arts and action films need to see. It's a classic of the genre, weak script aside, its got great fight scenes, great soundtrack music (with a catchy theme)... and Sonny Chiba makes more goofy faces while fighting in this single movie than Bruce Lee did in his entire career!
Return of the Street Fighter (1975) Starring: Sonny Chiba, Masafumi Suzuki, Yôko Ichiji, Masashi Ishibashi, and Hiroshi Tanaka Director: Shigehiro Ozawa Steve's Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi (Chiba) opens a new can of whup-ass when Otaguro (Tanaka), the master of a martial arts school that's serving as a money-laundering front for an international partnership forged by the Mafia and Yakuza, targets the incorruptible martial arts master Masaoka (Ishibashi) for death. But can even Terry's powerful Karate carry the day when female assistant (Suzuki) is plotting with Otaguro, and an old and deadly enemy returns from the grave to confront him?
"Return of the Street Fighter" has fight scenes as great as the ones in the first movie. Some are even better, like the Terry's mountain-top fight against a band of expert martial artists armed with traditional Japanese weapons, or his confrontation and battle with Jonju, whose pulse someone clearly should have thought to take as the end credits rolled on "The Street Fighter". Oh, and while Terry does about the same amount of skull-cracking, bone-breaking and internal organ crushing as in the first film, he doesn't make nearly the same amount of funny faces while doing it. (Those are reserved almost entirely for the climactic battle where Terry takes on a whole building full of gangsters.)
Although the story is full of logical lapses and incomprehensible actions on the part of the characters, the story is a bit stronger, because it draws the lines between the good guys and bad guys a bit more clearly. Terry may be even more amoral and money-grubbing than he was in the first film, as he starts this film in the employ of the gangsters as an assassin. However, his change-of-heart to join the side of the good guys appears to be motivated by a sense of justice... or at least a desire for revenge, because the employers he turns against here make the international gangsters from "The Street Fighter" look like a bunch of Mormon missionaries.
With a slightly stronger storyline, more evil bad guys and lots of cool martial arts scenes (which include a little Wire-Fulooooooong flashbacks that consist of clips taken from "The Street Fighter". Some 10-15 minutes of the film's 83-minute running time is included for no reason other than to make the film longer.
(Interestingly, the filmmakers almost entirely avoided the one bit of recycling I wish they had engaged in--the reusing of the "Street Fighter Theme" from the original film. I think we only hear it once in this film.)
It's a shame the director or producers couldn't be content with a 70 or 75 minute film. Just losing the bulk of the padding would have made this a far superior movie (and would have earned it a 7-rating in my eyes). It's still entertaining, and if you enjoy martial arts films I think you'll get a kick out of Terry Tsurugi second round against international organized crime.
The Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1979) Starring: Sonny Chiba, Reiko Ike, Koji Wada, Tatsuo Endo, Akira Shiojo, Sue Shihomi, and the Voice of George Takai Director: Shigehiro Ozawa Steve's Rating: Five of Ten Stars
Mercenary martial arts expert (read ninja!) Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi (Chiba) is hired by a criminal syndicate to secure the secret formula for a synthetic type of heroin that can be manufactured for virtually nothing. Instead of paying Terry the agreed-upon-sum, the gangster try to cheat and kill him--will they never learn?--which causes Terry to kick much ass and steal part of the formula to hold it until he is paid. When a corrupt district attorney (Wada) and an exceptionally slutty vamp (Ike) get in on the action, even more ass is kicked, and much crossing and double-crossing takes place. Will Terry EVER get paid?!
"The Street Fighter's Last Revenge" is the second and final sequel to "Street Fighter". It has a few improvements over "Return of the Street Fighter", but, overall, it's another step downward quality-wise.
On the upside, the film is as fast-paced as the original "Street Fighter", perhaps even moreso, because it is virtually padding-free. There are no long, nearly pointless sequences of students practicing martial arts (as we had in the original film) nor are there reels worth of repeated footage (as we had in "Return of the Street Fighter"). In fact, there is hardly a quiet moment in the entire film--even a semi-romantic/comic interlude ends up presenting some action.
On the downside, the film has a rushed quality to it. The foley work is downright pathetic, with the same sound being used for a ribcage being crushed as for a punch in the face, and the same same gun sound for a shotgun or a revolver. The fight scenes are not nearly as impressive or well-choreographed as in the first two films, and there is more one instance where even the camera placement is off to the point where it's evident that blows aren't actually connecting.
Even more disappointing is the change that has been made to the character of Terry Tsurugi; in this film, his in-your-face brutality has been dialed back a couple of notches and his apartment has sprouted secret compartments and he has developed disguise skills that rivals those of the agents from "Mission Impossible". He's even making fewer funny faces while channeling his chi and breaking people's bones. (He still has his moments of extreme brutality, such as when he tosses a foe into an oven in a crematorium and turns on the fire, but, overall, he comes across as if he was James Bond with a smaller operating budget and no social graces.)
For the dubbed English language version, there are the additional problems of what I am certain amounts to bad translations that end up making it hard to identify who the various factions in the film are, the fact that most of the voice actors are so bad that shouldn't even be allowed to do computer game voices, and that it's very distracting to hear George Takai doing one of the film's villains. Someone with such a distinctive voice shouldn't really be doing live-action dubbing once their face is famous.
Although fast-paced and entertaining, "The Street Fighter's Last Revenge" is a disappointing close to the series. While the finale of the film involves an explosion, it still closes the book on the Street Fighter not with a bang but with a whimper. (Come to think of it, even Terry's final lines have a bit of a whiny, whimpering quality to them. Of course, if I was looking at the terrible sight he was gazing upon, I'd feel a bit whiny too.)
If there's one creature who is more elusive than a Master Ninja, it's Bigfoot. He goes where he wants, when he wants, and no one is ever really able to see him. And this despite the fact that some "Bigfoot scholars" believe he's a migratory animal who moves up and down the northwest coast, passing unseen through some pretty well-inhabited areas.
Movie critic and political commentator Michael Medved believes in Bigfoot, so who am I to question? I wonder if the film I'm reviewing today convinced him. It's probably one of the finest pieces of Bigfoot scholarship, even if they don't address the theory that Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) are big hairy Ninja the likes of which exist nowhere in the world but my home of the American Northwest.
(Although I don't quite get how Bigfoot can be so stealthy when he apparently stinks worse than a Venezuelan garbage dumb in July.)
The Legend of Bigfoot (1976) Starring: Ivan Marx and Peggy Marx Director: Harry Winer Rating: One of Ten Stars
This film is supposedly a documentary that chronicles a ten-year quest by a professional tracker to determine the migratory habits of Bigfoot and to acquire irrefutable film documentation of their existence. It's actually a collection of nature photography that wasn't quite good enough to make it into the PBS and Mutual of Omaha programs, intermingled with out-of-focus shots of guys in fur-suits and rubber feet.
"The Legend of Bigfoot" is crushingly dull unless you're really REALLY into Bigfoot and nature films. And even if you're really REALLY into nature films, you're going to find yourself wishing that Marx would get to some point, or that Bigfoot would rear up and eat him. At the very least, I suspect you're going to find yourself reaching for the remote so you can scan past the boring bits. What do wild pigs have to do with Bigfoot? What do Caribou hunters have to do with Bigfoot? What do "ground squirrels in love" have to do with Bigfoot? While the ground squirrels are damn cute, they have NOTHING do to with Bigfoot, yet we are treated to scenes of all the above that seem as long as the ten years Marx supposedly hunted Bigfoot. (Oh... and what self-respecting tracker drives a red VW Bug, even if it was the Seventies? And drives it into the remote central Washington back country in the middle of winter?)
Will the film make you believe in Bigfoot? Only if you can believe that someone and/or his camera crew is capable of getting crystal clear film of any living animals except the mysterious, stinky Bigfoot. As hoaxes/mocumentaries go, this is very badly done. It's far more likely that, if the film doesn't put you to sleep, it will motivate you to change the station the next time they're discussing the critter on "Coast-to-Coast AM". The theories featured in "Legend" are almost as stupid as the ones they aspouse on that show--Bigfoot as an extra-dimensional visitor is actually almost more believable than Bigfoot as migratory animal that literally moves as fast on the ground as Canada Geese fly through the air.
Supposedly, Ivan Marx--the tracker whose quest is documented in this film, and who supposedly took the blurry images of Bigfoot--was a leader in the field of Bigfoot research. I am definitely in the wrong line of work. The bar for being taken seriously in the field of Bigfoot scholarship must be seriously low, perhaps even lower than that in the field of studying scantily clad women to prove they cause earthquakes.
The people who take Bigfoot research seriously must also be very stupid, if "The Legend of Bigfoot" is the sort of material they consider valid. (Although this essay at www.bigfootencounters.com explains exactly what sort of documentarian Marx is. In brief, he's a fraud who makes Michael Moore look like Ken Burns. If "serious Bigfoot scholars" do web searches, they probably know what a piece of trash this film is.)
-- Why this film was included in the "Chilling Classics" DVD multipack--which is where I came across it--I'll never know. Perhaps someone mistook it for the Bill Rebane film known as "The Legend of Big Foot" (note the space), but never bothered to actually watch it before doing the digital transfer. Or maybe they got so bored they figured it HAD to be a Bill Rebane film. (And I apologize to Mr. Rebane for dumping on him while not even reviewing one of his movies. After all, I plenty of that here.)
Red Shadow (2004) Starring: Masanobu Ando, Megumi Okina, Jun Murakamim and Kumiko Aso Director: Hiroyuki Nakano Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
Three young Ninjas (Ando, Aso and Morakamim) of a clan devoted to keeping peace among the many warring nobles of 16th century Japan inadvertantly find themselves at odds with a completing Ninja cland and in the middle of a plot to overthrow Princess Koto (Okina) by powerhungry and bloodthirsty members of her court.
"Red Shadow" is a fast-moving action-comedy with cool and honorable (if occassionally clumsy) Ninjas, sinister and treacherous Samurai that presents just the right mix of action, humor, drama and over-the-top Ninja action to make it a fun viewing experience from beginning to end. Good acting and a neat pop-rock, guitar-driven soundtrack also adds greatly to the both the fun and the excitement.
With great looking sets and costumes, virtually no blood and no sex or nudity, this is a Ninja film that the entire family can enjoy together. The story is a bit disjointed at times, but the exceptional quality in all other departments make up for this.
Cyber Ninja (1988) Starring: Hanbei Kawai, Hiroki Ida, Shôhei Yamamoto, Eri Morishita, Makoto Yokoyama, and Masaaki Emori Director: Keita Amemiya Rating: Five of Ten Stars
In the far future, the Suwabeh Clan is locked in a final desperate battle against a society of techno-demons who are turning human warriors into cybernetic ninjas while preparing for when the Stars Are Right to unleash their demon god upon the world. At the eleventh hour, they receive surprise assistance from one of the cyber ninjas, who is on a quest to reunite his soul with his body.
"Cyber Ninja" is probably some sort of mile stone in cross-genre craziness. The film covers the fantasy aspect with sorcery and echoes of ancient Japan feudal culture with its princesses, house retainers, ninja, ronin, and samurai, and it hits the sci-fi genre with giant battle-mechs--that mirror the fantasy aspect by looking like pagodas--and armies of robot ninja vs. cybernetically enhanced samurai, and it brings in horror with some fairly dastardly demons and the uber-demon they are about to summon to ravish the world.
Unfortunately, it's not an achievement in story-telling, and all those various elements just sort of swirl around and bump into each other in a chaotic mess that makes very little sense. However, I think this is one of those movies that 10 year old boys will get a huge kick out of. They will be so enamoured with the robot ninjas, waving swords and giant battle-mechs they won't notice the complete lack of logic to much of the activities by both the good guys and the bad guys, nor will they notice that the battle-mechs look more like a row of outhouses than the mechanized castles they're supposed to be. Kids might not even notice how absolutely rediculous some of the voice acting in the dubbed version is. (The Dark Bishop would have been laughed out of Evil College with a voice like that.)
Trivia: Director/co-writer Keita Amemiya created several genre-mixing movies and anime series during the 1980s and 1990s, the most famous of them being the "Zeram" movies and cartoons. He was also the main creative force behind the sci-fi/fantasy film hybrid "Moon Over Tao".
For the next nine days, Ninjas will be popping up all over my blogs--and perhaps elsewhere if someone has decided to take part in the Blogathon, and I hope that you'll email me your links to be posted here f you do--but they have been lurking in the shadows all along...
This post provides a listing of previous Ninja incursions at Cinema Steve. I will update post additional indexes as I think they are necessary, probably every two or three days if I don't get any outside links.
At any rate, I, and the Ninja, thank you for your attention! (They may try to pretend they're all secretive and mysterious, but Ninja are attention whores when it comes right down to it. That's why they dress in black masks and black footie pajamas everywhere they go.)
Reviews of the Ninja! (Movie and Graphic Novel Reviews)
Halloween is here, and Michelle Phan has a last-minute quick and easy costume tip for all you proscratinaters. Or a quick and easy way for you to get ready for the Nine Days of the Ninja, which start tomorrow.
Once Halloween is behind us, comes November, and the celebration of men and women who wear masks better than anyone in all of history: Ninja!
November 1 - 9 brings Nine Days of the Ninja, a blogathon that will span cross through several of my blogs and possibly even beyond!
If you want to take part in Nine Days of the Ninja--if you want to help draw back the curtain on these deadly and secretive assassins--assassins who may have killed David Carradine and who may have Randy Quaid in their deadly sights even as you read these words--all you have to do is post something Ninja-related on November 1 - 9 and then send me the link. I will make sure to post it here at Cinema Steve.
But if you fear the Ninja and choose not to take part, I can understand. But I hope you will come here to read and learn about Ancient Ninja Secrets (or at least check out the reviews I'm going to be posting).
All the revealing posts about these secretive Magicians of Death will be indexed in in this space. It would be extra Ninjalicious, however, if the masked marauders showed up not just on my blogs but also in other places on the web.
If you would like to participate in the Nine Days of the Ninja Blogathon, all you have to do is send me a link to a ninja-centric post you make between November 1 - November 9, 2010, and I will link to it from the index post here. If you let me know of your intention to participate ahead of time, I will post a link to the blog where the post will appear. (The same is true if you help promote Nine Days of the Ninja by putting the logo and the top of the post along with a link to this post.)
And have no fear. While Ninjas may be lurking everywhere, there is no proof that they killed David Carradine to protect their hidden ways. Screw your courage to the sticking post, and join me in shedding light upon the Ancient Ninja Secrets!
N is for Ninja. N is for November. And while we're at it, N is also for Nine.
Therefore, I am declaring Nine Days of the Ninja on November 1 - 9. I'll have a little blogathon across the various Cinema Steve blogs during those days, and I would like to invite anyone out there to join in. Maybe it can be a real blogathon, instead of just me playing by myself in my own little sandbox.
You can send me links to old reviews of movies, cartoons/anime, and comics featuring Ninja and/or posts featuring information about the creators of such stuff, and I'll index them as I did with my Expendables Week mini-blogathon. Of course, I'd love for someone to post new material that I can link to during the Nine Days of the Ninja, November 1 - 9, 2010.
Please email me at stevemillermail@gmail.com if you're interested. Logos will be posted soon, and I'll be doing reminder posts/emails as the time draws near.
