Akasaka Hiker wrote:

For those who have seen the older series (I think there was 20 ++ movies made starring Mr. Katsu) what do you recommend watching ?

I think probably all of 'em are good...

I've got Zatoichi vs. The One-Armed Swordsman, Zatoichi and the Chess Expert, and Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo.... I'll probably get the rest eventually...

I have Samaritan Zatoichi, Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold, Zatoichi Outlaw, Zatoichi in Desperation. Of the four I have watched, I liked Samritan better.
_________________

I love this movie, I love Takeshi Kitano *o*!!

The recent movie was pretty good, with the exception of that weird dancing sequence at the end.

Being from the USA, I find it comical to see Japanese people attempting hip-hop style dancing and nearly fall over laughing when I hear them attempt to rap.

Note that I am Japanese.
-PCM

pcmodem wrote:

The recent movie was pretty good, with the exception of that weird dancing sequence at the end. Being from the USA, I find it comical to see Japanese people attempting hip-hop style dancing and nearly fall over laughing when I hear them attempt to rap. Note that I am Japanese. -PCM

Takeshi's version of Zatoichi was, imo, a visually striking film, and there were some scenes which I enjoyed a lot. That said, I much prefer the Katsu Shintaro Zatoichi films (he made 26 of them) to Takeshi's. Katsu brought depth and humanity to the Zatoichi character; you understood his suffering and his joy and you ended up sympathizing with him and liking him a lot. Takeshi's Zatoichi, in contrast, came across as an efficient killing machine; there was something there to respect but nothing there to like. I should admit that I am not a big fan of Takeshi. In his films, of which I have seen most of them, he always has select scenes which I enjoy and appreciate, but I invariably end up not really liking any of his films as a whole.

i wanted to see that movie too