Lock, Stock, and Two Film Geeks

Film Duel is our written review format in which Benn and James each review a film, and then comment on each others’ reviews to give a proper balance and really fill out the commentary as well as possible.  For those who liked the action in Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2, we review one of the earlier works of John Woo, from before he made the transition to U.S. soil.  The Killer, is one of his better known, and better respected films, and this week we take it on as part of our film duel column.

The Killer
Year: 1989
Directed by: John Woo
Written by: John Woo
Starring: Chow Yun Fat, Danny Lee, Kong Chu
Genre: Action, Crime

Benn and James’ reviews and rebuttals follow after the jump. Continue reading

So you fancy yourself a film buff now. You’ve watched enough movies, a mix of film-studies classics and pop, cult favorites, to carry on an hour-long discussion. The conventions of Western story telling have become predictable and you yearn for cinematography that will wow you.

World cinema is looking more and more attractive, but you don’t know where to start. Then, while watching that episode of Cowboy Bebop from the first season you got at DVD Planet, it hits you: What about Japanese cinema? Continue reading