The Comic Critic Reviews Silent Running

There are two camps when it comes to Silent Running. The first camp sees the movie as an overly simple story, drastically different from the one that inspired it, with laughable inaccuracies. The second camp sees it for the iconic, startling, pure science fiction which indeed holds a message within. Perhaps it’s the fact that I saw it when I was ten and easily impressionable (I was crying during the end scene) is why I’m with the latter camp. Keep a cinematic timeline in mind. Star Wars was still five long years away. And even if you don’t care for Joan Baez’s singing, I still say that Silent Running is well worth a first-time viewing. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it over the years. Once you do see it, you can’t help but realize the effect this film had on so many Sci-Fi and space operas that followed it.

The Comic Critic Reviews: Hanzo The Razor: Sword of Justice

I’m trying to remember which one of my friends recommended Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice. While I can understand his honorable intentions in introducing me to a new-to-me form of cult-driven film, he should have stressed that this is not a date movie.  (Features like these are the reason I have a hard time getting my wife to watch movies with me.) After the first twenty minutes, we turned it off to watch something we could enjoy together.

Later the next day, I finished watching it. Why did I go back to something I found very uncomfortable? I’ve always have felt the need to watch a film all the way through; otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to make an honest appraisal. There would always be nagging questions, “Did it get any better?” and “Does the sixties jazz soundtrack, more-Shaft-than-Shogun, turn into something more traditional?” For my own piece of mind, and because by that point I wanted to draw a review, I finished watching, but let me assure you, it was no fun.

A few of you kind readers are also fans of manga and anime. Some of you might know that Hanzo the Razor was originally a manga created by the same hand that made Lone Wolf and Cub. Some of you might even know that in “Samurai Champloo,” the over-the-top policeman character named Mando was a parody of Hando. Still, I urge you not to seek out this film. And if you do, don’t watch it with your wife—or anyone else you ever want to look in the eye again.