"Actor: Takashi Shimura"

• Zatoichi | DVD | (20/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo The gentle breeze the murmur of a babbling brook the scent of plums. These memories call Zatoichi the blind swordsman back to a once-loved village. But memories are deceptive and he arrives to find things much changed. The former boss Hyoroku has been reduced to a carver of statues of Jizo the Buddha of Healing and his daughter Umeno has become a hostess and as she describes herself one of the bad ones. Control of the village is split between a former travelling merchant Eboshiya and his son Masagoro. Eboshiya befriends Zatoichi and seeks his aid against Masagoro's minder the drunken samurai Yojimbo the crooked crook. When a masseur is killed amidst rumours that a large amount of gold has been secreted in the village the two factions begin to size each other up. It is at this point that Masagoro's younger son suddenly decides his father needs more protection and calls on the services of the contract killer Kuzuryu... Zatoichi's Pilgrimage A girl is assaulted on the highway and Zatoichi is embarassed to find himself acting as midwife to a dying woman. Entrusted with the baby he embarks on a mission to the village of Dashu to deliver the baby to the father Satoro. When there he is waylaid and cheated by Seji a young stooge of the local gang whose ageing father is Dashu's law enforcement officer. To add to his miseries he is dogged by a boy who delights in stoning him and running away. Dashu's loan shark gamblers are on the point of seizing Satoro's sister Oyae to become a sex slave in forfeit for an unpaid debt and with the arrival of Satoro the town begins to heat up. In the process of resolving Oyae's financial difficulties Zatoichi reveals himself as master of a wide range of martial skills as well as finding time to teach certain hoodlums the intricacies of nude dancing... Zatoichi At The Blood Fest The endless travels of the blind swordsman have unexpectedly led him back to the town of Kasama. Zatoichi's arrival has coincided with a welcome home feast for Shinbei his childhood friend. Shinbei has returned home a successful businessman and pays the town's taxes which it cannot afford apparently due to the poor rice harvest. But Shinbei's motives are far from pure. With the peasants now in his debt he is free to plunder their quarry and to sell their stone across country. In order to save his hometown Zatoichi must confront his former friend and end the conspiracy of rice and stone. Zatoichi Meets The One Armed Swordsman A one-armed swordsman saves the life of a young boy sentenced to death for stopping an official procession. The local peasants however suffer in the aftermath as all are massacred and Zatoichi is caught up in the maelstrom...

• Zatoichi At The Blood Fest | DVD | (02/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The endless travels of the blind swordsman have unexpectedly led him back to the town of Kasama. A chance meeting with a girl Omiyo stirs up memories when Zatoichi learns that they were both raised by the same woman. He is invited to stay with Omiyo and her grandfather Sakubei who remembers Zatoichi as a boy. Zatoichi's arrival has coincided with a ""welcome home"" feast for Shinbei his childhood friend. Shinbei has returned home a successful businessman and pays the town's taxes w

• The Bullet Train | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A madman (Ken Takakura) plants a bomb on one of Japan's prestigioss Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Hakata the Hikari 109. Threatening to blow it up unless his demands are met if the train slows below 80km/h it will be destroyed. While the police try to track down the culprit it's up to a heroic train conductor (Sonny Chiba) to find the bomb and disarm it in time... Pre-dating ""Speed"" (and its Korean homage ""Tube"") by almost two decades ""Bullet Train"" is gripping edge of

• Seven Samurai | DVD | (22/11/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Unanimously hailed as one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of the motion picture, Seven Samurai has inspired countless films modelled after its basic premise. But Akira Kurosawas classic 1954 action drama has never been surpassed in terms of sheer power of emotion, kinetic energy, and dynamic character development. The story is set in the 1600s, when the residents of a small Japanese village are seeking protection against repeated attacks by a band of marauding thieves. Offering mere handfuls of rice as payment, they hire seven unemployed "ronin" (masterless samurai), including a boastful swordsman (Toshiro Mifune) who is actually a farmers son desperately seeking glory and acceptance. The samurai get acquainted with but remain distant from the villagers, knowing that their assignment may prove to be fatal. The climactic battle with the raiding thieves remains one of the most breathtaking sequences ever filmed. Its poetry in hyperactive motion and one of Kurosawas crowning cinematic achievements. This is not a film that can be well served by any synopsis; it must be seen to be appreciated and belongs on the short list of any definitive home-video library. --Jeff Shannon