I just watched this and really liked it:

Of the four Werner Herzog movies that I have watched, I have really enjoyed all of them. These include:

Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1975)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Grizzly Man (2005)

So I have just now added the following to my Netflix queue:

Burden of Dreams (1982)
Even Dwarfs Started Small (1971)
Heart of Glass (1976)
My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski (1999)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Stroszek (1977)

I just got back from the theater after seeing Once. It was great.
An Irish film about a street musician. Right up my alley.
I had to see it once I noticed it had a stunning 97% on rottentomatoes with over 100 reviews counted! It was a touching movie with some good songs.
The music worked in a powerful way in some scenes, and I liked how the movie focused on the important parts of relationships between people. I know that’s kind of a general statement, but I don’t want to spoil anything.
I’ve been bad with posting movies that I’ve seen recently that I like. There are a few more that I need to put up here that are really good.

What does it mean to be a man? Does driving a Hummer make you a man? Do you have to be physically strong to be a man? Successful? Do I have to watch football to be a man?
Cicero wrote that “a man’s chief quality is courage.”

I bring this up because I watched one of my favorite movies, Harakiri, last night for the third time.
If someone were to ask me, “What does it mean to be a man?” I would refer them to this movie.
Movies like this are rare nowadays. Most men in movies today are hardly masculine, in my opinion, no matter how physically strong or “tough” they may seem.
It seems that director Masaki Kobayashi and star Tatsuya Nakadai must really understand what it means to be a man. How else could they portray it so perfectly?
In my opinion, neither your physical strength, your sexuality, or even your gender defines your masculinity. Courage, honesty, compassion, mental fortitude and discipline are characteristics that anyone can strive for and achieve.
If you want to see a real man, watch Harakiri.

The Akron-Summit County Public Library is showing my favorite samurai movie, Harakiri (1962), for free on May 24 at 6:30pm. This movie isn’t shown often on the big screen (and for free!), and if you haven’t seen it yet I highly suggest traveling to Akron, Ohio on May 24. I’ll be there.

Here is a great documentary - rated an impressive 92% on rottentomatoes.

13-15. The Samurai trilogy: Miyamoto Musashi (1954), Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955), Duel on Ganryu Island (1956) This is a 3-film series about the life of Miyamoto Musashi, a famous Japanese swordsman (played by Toshiro Mifune) who is considered the greatest samurai and most skilled swordsmen in history. What I loved about this movie is how it clearly shows the distinction between the non-samurai and the samurai - not only in skill, but in courage, strength and honor. Mifune portrays this perfectly as the restless orphan grows into a man.
12. Samurai Assassin (1965) This is an inspiring move about Tsuruchiyo Niiro (played by Mifune), an ambitious samurai who recognizes an opportunity and lets nothing get in the way of achieving his goal.
11. Love and Honor (2006) I have yet to see this movie, but I am guessing it will be worthy of the list since it is directed by Yoji Yamada and it recently tied a record at the Japan Academy Awards with nominations in 12 out of 15 categories. It would have had 13, but Takuya Kimura rejected his nomination for best actor because he didn’t want to put himself “in a position of competing with other actors for the prize.”
10. Chushingura (1962) Referred to as the “Gone with the Wind of Japanese cinema,” this is a great movie based on the famous Japanese historic tale of the loyal 47 samurai. If you want to truly understand the samurai spirit, especially its emphasis on loyalty - watch this movie.
9. Ran (1985) Kurosawa’s loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear, and his last epic samurai movie (and most expensive), is beautifully filmed with great battle scenes. The film used approximately 1400 extras (each in a suit of armor) and 200 horses.
8. The Hidden Blade (2004) Yoji Yamada’s second samurai movie was nominated for 11 Japanese Academy Awards. There is little swordplay, but it is a thoughtful, well directed drama about several samurai during a time of change in the ruling and class structures of Japan.
7. Yojimbo (1961) Remade as the spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood, this is one of the Kurosawa-Mifune classics. Toshiro Mifune plays a crafty ronin who comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other.
6. Samurai Rebellion (1967) Directed by the less well known Masaki Kobayashi, this samurai movie does a great job at depicting the struggle between the individual and society. The mother of a feudal lord’s only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.
5. Sanjuro (1962) This sequel to Yojimbo is one of the lesser-known films of Kurosawa and Mifune, but just as good. As always, Mifune is perfect and Kurosawa directs my very favorite fight scene ever.
4. Throne of Blood (1957) Regarded as one of Kurosawa’s best films, this one uses the plot of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth in a samurai setting. The famous arrow scene at the end was in fact done with real arrows - the arrows hitting the wall were not done with special effects, but choreographed with archers.
3. Twilight Samurai (2002) Like Yamada’s The Hidden Blade, this film has few fight scenes and is different from many other samurai-themed films in that it concentrates on showing the main character’s everyday struggles instead of focusing on battles. It is still great and won an unprecedented 12 Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress.
2. The Seven Samurai (1954) This well known Kurosawa film is not only a great samurai movie, but is usually regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. It was remade as the western The Magnificent Seven.
1. Harakiri (1962) This movie won the Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963 and is my favorite samurai film. Actor Nakadai and director Kobayashi are perfect together and their long-term collaboration is often compared to the working relationship between Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune.

#1 on my list of must-see movies is Bushi no ichibun. It is directed by one of my favorite living directors, Yoji Yamada, who made the other great samurai movies Twilight Samurai and The Hidden Blade. It recently tied a record at the Japan Academy Awards with nominations in 12 out of 15 categories. It would have had 13, but Takuya Kimura rejected his nomination for best actor because he didn’t want to put himself “in a position of competing with other actors for the prize.” I’m not sure when it will be released in the USA, but I’m hoping to see it before then.
Maoxian reminded me of the top 100 movies list ranked by rottentomatoes.com for 2006. Everything in the top 10 is a must-see.
I’m especially interested in Spike Lee’s 4-hour documentary on Hurricaine Katrina, When the Levees Broke.
The Queen, with an astounding 98% on rottentomatoes from 153 reviews, is one that I will have to see.
The War Tapes looks interesting - a documentary about the war in Iraq filmed by the soldiers.
I’d also like to see Kekexili, a true story about volunteers protecting antelope against poachers in the mountains of Tibet.
I had never heard of Pan’s Labyrinth and it doesn’t seem like my type of movie, but I will watch it simply based on its high reviews.
The only TV movie in the top 10 - 49 Up, looks great. It’s a documentary of the lives of a dozen English children filmed at 7 years intervals starting at age 7.
Iron Island looks interesting, another documentary about “a huge rusting tanker off the Iranian coast in which dozens of homeless families have found shelter and formed a community.”
51 Birch Street, yet another documentary, is about the filmmaker’s parents.
I saw Wordplay - it was good and I recommend it - about the crossword puzzle championship. It reminded me of chess tournaments.
So 8 out of the top 10 movies are documentaries. I guess the critics like documentaries.
Anyway, the top 100 list is a great list to take to the video rental place and I wouldn’t bother wasting my time with any movie that wasn’t on the list (unless it was on the list for a previous year).

I watched Casablanca again last night. Roger Ebert says that the movie is “probably on more lists of the greatest films of all time than any other single title.” Leonard Maltin says it is his “candidate for the best Hollywood movie of all time.”
Here is a great scene with Ingrid Bergman (I could only find it on youtube with Spanish subtitles).

It seems like almost every line is a famous quote, here are some examples:

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
“Here’s looking at you, kid.”
“Play it again, Sam.”
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
“If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon — and for the rest of your life.”
“We’ll always have Paris.”
“Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.”

Humphrey Bogart, who had to wear platform shoes to play alongside Ingrid Bergman, was a tournament chess player. You can review some of his games here.

It looks like one of my favorite movies, Kurosawa’s Sanjuro, is being remade. It is listed in imdb and here is the official website. Sweet.
But I am betting on a big let-down. Without Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, it will be almost impossible to improve on the original.