A Film By Hiroyuki Nakano: Samurai Fiction

Description

Heishiro, a noble Samurai, sets out in search of the renegade who stole his clan's treasure and killed his best friend. Heishiro should be able to hold his own against the villain Rannosuke, who has only killed hundreds of men and fought entire armies while simultaneously defending himself against dozens of deadly ninja assassins. This is Samurai Fiction. Don't believe everything you see in Chambara movies!

Customer Reviews:

Not cool........2007-08-10

Not cool at all. I've seen most of the early Samurai movies and if you are a true fan you will not like this. Everything about this movie- from the fake B&W to the stupid jump cuts is just bad and silly. No drama, just parody of convention. It's like a 6th grader watched too much Quentin Tarrantino and Kurosawa, (both of whom I love), and tried to make a movie. The music choices are dumb- the camera angels are ridiculous. Not good-bad. Bad-bad.

Awesome!!! A real samurai story.......2007-06-18

If you like people flying around and play fighting then don't get this!! This is how the samurai fought, thought, and lived. Great cinematography, music and storyline!! I never get enough of this one!

Modern Classic.......2006-08-04

Do you like anime? You'll love Samurai Fiction. This movie is a wonderful movie inspired by anime creativity, classic themes, but with modern humor and action.

Cowboy Samurai?!.......2006-07-13

I love this move because it is unique. Somehow, this sentence says it all. This is a unique movie and very original, even it is somehow a parody but also a serious one about Samurai movies. The whole movie is B&W and the actors are sometimes playing like in a 'silent movie' with strong, overdone expressions esp. Tamaki Ogawa. However this is not overdone and the movie itself is IMO far away from being too serious. In fact it is hilarious and fun to watch. I have to admit that for people who do not know very much about Japanese culture, this movie might be boring and senseless. This is not a martial arts movie even there are some fighting scenes in this movie. They story is told using a valuable sword stolen by the incredible Tomoyasu Hotei, who acts in this movie as the villan and wrote most of the music for this movie too. He also wrote the IMO unforgettable music for the big battle in 'Kill Bill 1'.
If you can lower your expectations and let yourself dive into the story, watched some Kurosawa Samurai movies before and share a general addiction to Asian culture, you should give this movie a try and I believe, you will be positively surprised. For the real lover of Japanese movies this DVD comes in the only way, it is suitable for the fan: Original Japanese language with English subtitles. If this annoys you, put it back on the shelf.
For all others, highly recommended. It features a wonderful love story, some criminal story and how the underdog Samurai can beat the master Samurai in the best sense of a drama.
For me, this is an absolute gem and stands for it's own. As I wrote at the beginning: Unique.

I am writing this here, because you can't buy this movie in Germany but I can order it in the US and I highly appreciate that I can do this and Amazon is just a very reliable company. I am not paid to write this, it reflects my true opinion :-)

This is one Creative Movie...........2005-11-29

I have watched many samurai movies and I am a huge fan of the genre. This movie uses many different styles to tell it's very simple story.
The music ranges widely. The film, though set in the past, has a modern feel to it. It's also very funny (the guy who keeps appearing/ dropping from the cealing and nearly falling over). The actors do a good job and are believable. Overall, a very fun, watchable movie. If you are into the genre, you'll like it even more.

Average customer rating:

It's Ok
Way to many bugs wait for 9.0
Awesome concept somewhat hampered by low budget...
silent hill meets power rangers/vr troopers

Game Box 1.0 (Widescreen)
Starring: Nate Richert , Danielle Fishel , Patrick Kilpatrick , Patrick Cavanaugh , and Robert Tena
Director: Scott Hillenbrand , and David Hillenbrand
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000MRNWJM
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Description

Charlie Nash is an expert video game tester whose life has become unbearable after the tragic shooting of his girlfriend Kate. Finding no comfort in his friends or in his job, Charlie loses himself in video games. After receiving a mysterious test game in the mail, he immerses himself in its amazingly realistic, 3-D fantasy universe. However, Charlie soon learns this virtual world is totally real as he's plunged into a perilous, life-and-death battle against the game from which there is little chance of escape - or survival - in this pulse-pounding, effects-packed, sci-fi thriller.

Customer Reviews:

It's Ok.......2007-06-01

It's got its moments. Not to bad for a low budget film. Feels almost like it's from the 80s. It looks kind of crummy but I think it was intentional to give the feel of it being in a video game. It's an ok rental, think twice about actually buying. And it's definately better than most other low budget films such as Raptor Island (A very crappy movie).

Way to many bugs wait for 9.0.......2007-05-17

As your walking down the video aisle Game Box 1.0 might catch the casual eye of the horror/sci-fi fan with its slick cover and catchy phrases like, "The only way out is to win," "None stop sci-fi thriller," and some international award for best screenplay and visual effects (Same geniusness that probably gave Gigli the best picture in 2004). Nonetheless, your curiosity gets the best of you and you rent the movie.

Then you realize the best thing about this movie was its cover, and the voice of the video game that sounds like HAL from 2001 A Space Odyssey. Besides that this movie was worse than a left over Chinese food sitting in your fridge for over 3 months. Just because its a low budget movie doesn't excuse it from being bad. There are plenty of low budget horror/sci-fi movies that are ebullient, but 1.0 fails in all aspect, no direction, no character development, and above all NO PLOT! The movie is pretty much about a nerd who gets a mysterious video game and is SOME HOW transported in to a virtual reality game, which has worse graphics then a regular NES (Put it this way TRON made in 1982 has better graphics). But you're never told who develops the video game, why, the purpose, and why it's sent to Charlie Nash (the main character). The #56 of things that didn't make sense about this movie (it's too difficult to list 1-100) was that if the game is sent to each person by the previous individual player, like the way Charlie did too Ronald Hobbes/Ao Shun in the end, than how did Charlie Nash receive the console if the previous player was dead????? Because according to the video game (yes it speaks) all previous players are dead? I guess we can only assume that the video game has limbs and is able to wrap and stamp it self up and make it in the back of the USPS truck. #42 Why does it want to kill people? Is it pissed off that X-BOX has better graphics??? Are you confused yet??? My gosh, make it cheesy, but please don't make it this stupid....

I disagree with the previous reviewer that this movie is for kids. The only part where Patrick Kilpatrick (Ronald Hobbes/Ao Shun) is not moaning like a Neanderthal is when he offers Nash a stash of drugs. Even if its really cheesy, plenty guns, pistols to semi-automatics, chopping off hands, and killings makes it difficult to recommend to any one under 13.

IN THE END There are too many "bugs" in this movie. It won't appeal to any gamers, sci-fi, or horror fans. There is a reason why this movie was made in 2004 and is now being released on to DVD in 2007. It's because it's bad! I've seen better cheesy movies on the SCI-FI channel that are 10x more entertaining, and after 3 years if SCI-FI channel ain't showing it than you know it must be bad........

Awesome concept somewhat hampered by low budget..........2007-05-07

Gamebox 1.0 (originally titled Game Over) is NOT a horror movie as the cover art implies. It is actually a very family friendly PG-13 sci-fi/action adventure movie involving a guy who gets sucked into a virtual reality video game where if he dies in the game, he dies in real life.

This movie was made with a $200,000 budget, which is pretty impressive considering what the final product ended up looking like. The first half of the movie, in which our hero is in a Grand Theft Auto-esque virtual world, looks wonderful. The computer generated background is rich in detail and full of eye candy. Once the movie shifts gears, and the characters end up in the next two games (ZombieLand and Alien Planet), the special effects are much less impressive, which was a bit disappointing. It would be great if they would remake this movie with a "movie theater quality" budget!

With that being said, the movie goes by very quickly and holds your interest. The story is fascinating, and, unlike a lot of movies I have seen recently, the ending is actually very good and extremely satisfying. This is a great movie for tweenage boys (8-12), especially ones that are into video games. There is very little swearing, and all the violence is very toned down, such as when someone gets shot in the video game, there is just like a small smoking hole in their shirt and no blood. I'm pretty picky about what our 10 and 11 year olds watch, but after screening this, I had no qualms about letting them see it; I knew it would be right up their alley, and they did love it!

If this sounds like something you would be remotely interested in, check it out. Oh, and if you want to see how they did the special effects, check out some of the behind the scenes footage in the special features. It's actually pretty cool! Highly recommended!

silent hill meets power rangers/vr troopers.......2007-04-21

crappy B movie that has no entertaiment value....nothing cool about this movie at all, the only 2 reasons why I didn't turn it off was 1. because I spent 4.25 at blockbuster to rent it (which by the way, is almost to buying price on amazon) and 2 it has topenga (Danielle Fishel) from boy meets world in it and I had a smidgen of hope that she would take her clothes off. Keep on dreaming, because they could even do that for this film. It's in your best interest to pretend like you've never hear of this movie and go on with your live!

G.I. Samurai - The Sonny Chiba Collection

Average customer rating:

Amusing...for the most part.
A very good movie !
The greatest tanks vs. samurais movie ever made!
yu will be unhappy if you buy this thinking it's gonna be the best action movie ever with sonny chiba ripping people's limbs off
Love=War

G.I. Samurai - The Sonny Chiba Collection
Starring: Sonny Chiba , Miyuki Ono , Hiroyuki Sanada , Nana Okada , and Isao Natsuki
Director: Koichi Saito , and Mitsumasa Saito
Manufacturer: Adness
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

Sci-Fi Action | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

Adventure | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Action & Combat | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0002ZYE0K
Release Date: 2005-02-08

Description

Before there was The Final Countdown . . . there was . . . G.I. Samurai A squadron of Japanese soldiers find themselves transported through time to Japan's feudal period . . . 400 years in the past, where rival samurai clans are battling to make their leader the supreme Shogun. The squad leader, Lt. Iba (Chiba), sees this as the perfect opportunity to realize his dream of becoming the ruler of Japan. To achieve this, he teams his troops up with those of Kagatori, a samurai who also aspires to become Shogun using their hi-tech modern weaponry to rule Japan.

Customer Reviews:

Amusing...for the most part........2007-04-03

G.I. Samurai has to be a guilty pleasure.
I found myself laughing more at the bad acting and worse script than anything. If you can believe Sonny Chiba leading a bunch of actors who have never seen a day of actual military service, then you can believe this mess of a film. If you can believe half the stuff these so-called 'soldiers' do back in the Sengoku, then you need to seriously crack a history book and get educated.

I found the 'stopped watches' and the fact that Venus was postioned differently in the sky to be an excellent way of having passed from the Modern day into the Sengoku period. What really killed the illusion was the cheesy special effects to convey that. The music was, at best, inappropriate most all throughout the film. I also couldn't fathom the two or three rape scenes [one would have been very ample]. Also to see Uesugi Kenshin laughing like an idiot on drugs stretches things out of the realm of the possible. I was rooting for the tank, helicopter, half-track and all the other paraphenalia of these 'soldiers' to break down or get destroyed simply to end the misery of this film. The period costumes for the Uesugi and Takeda armies were, from what I saw, mostly well done.
By the way- a lone man of comparatively no-name able to challenge a Daimyo like Takeda Shingen, then take the man's head? I'd have to think Takeda's Hatamoto would have made human sashimi out of him and Shingen wouldn't have wasted the breath on this idiot.
G.I. Samurai could have succeeded with a better script, better acting and a more believable plot. Then again, it would seriously trash the comedic value of this whole affair.

G.I Samurai is so bad that it'll leave you wincing and laughing at the same time.

A very good movie !.......2006-09-03

It's a old movie, but you don't see it.
Good actors, very good story, nice costumes.
Too bad it's not well know in France.

No regret at all !

The greatest tanks vs. samurais movie ever made!.......2006-09-01

Pop quiz: you're a part of the modern armed forces in peacetime on routine manoeuvres and you find yourself thrown back in time with a chance to change history. What do you do? Well, if you're a Hollywood studio, you change the Japanese G.I.s in G.I. Samurai (aka Timeslip) to the crew of an American aircraft carrier, have them debate stopping the attack on Pearl Harbour for 90 minutes and then go home and hope that no-one reminds you that Japan did it first and with more balls in 1979 with this Sonny Chiba movie. But unlike its Hollywood counterpart The Final Countdown, this sees its premise through: thrown back 400 years into the Japanese feudal wars, its peacetime soldiers decide that their best hope of getting back lies in provoking history by trying to change it by joining with a warlord to conquer the country - cue lots of tank and helicopter vs. samurai action, including a very impressive unrelenting 25 minute battle sequence featuring a cast of thousands inflicting serious damage on each other. And yes, there are decapitations.

Of course, things don't go as planned, and even superior firepower doesn't stand up as well as hoped to thousands of soldiers. Even before that, the soldiers are falling out with each other into those who want to go home, those who want to go to war and those who want to rape and pillage for the Hell of it.

Impressively directed and surprisingly well thought through, the soft rock and country and western songs are sometimes a distraction, especially when they feature English lyrics sung by Japanese singers who audibly can't pronounce the words let alone speak the language, but it's a forgivable flaw in a surprisingly good sci-fi actioner.

yu will be unhappy if you buy this thinking it's gonna be the best action movie ever with sonny chiba ripping people's limbs off.......2006-08-06

Sonny Chiba and his whole troop(around 40 soldiers altogether) are somehow warped back into time 400 years. First thing they experience is an army pouring arrows down onto them. They begin to realize that they may have gone back in time when they see what people are wearing and meet the general. Being the fun loving guy that he is, the general comes right up and asks Chiba if he can handle that gun they were shooting at him. Chiba kindly obliges and makes sure this guy will be his friend.

From here the movie kind of drags on for a while but I have to say that this is different than any Chiba movie I have seen before. While you think it is gonna get super boring like Ninja Wars, they actually take the time in this mvoie to develop the characters so that when someone dies or betrays the troop, you will actually feel something. And recognizing family members is a huge thing in this movie. Many of the soldiers give up and decide to just live it out in ancient times(the warrign period). The others think that if they change history by winning a war then they will have to be warped back into time. By the end the director realizes he has to wrap things up and the ending is a bit deeper than you may think but I too would have liked to know the real ending, becasue I bet it was just a bit more exciting than this.

This movie is certainly not for everybody, I am surprised to say that this is a really good "movie". Plenty of great action sequences, but too many guns. So I ask you, if you were brought back in time with a whole bunch of guns during a time when there was not a single day with no fighting going on, what would you do?

The dvd is from the distributor Adness is very good. Not widescreened like it says on the box but is in a very good 16:9 format. Picture is a bit washed out but really no flaws at all. Sound quality is good and the music itself is just weird. If you have seen Shogun's Ninja and Ninja Wars, then you know what type of music to expect, though in this movie it almost makes sense.

Love=War.......2006-06-16

ahem, perhaps you didn't read the plot synopsis? I simply can't see how anyone with the mindset to spend money on this could possibly regret it.

DVD:

DVD

DVD