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Film, Movie Feature Dec 17, 2019
Ben Sachs’s top 12 films of 2019

Yes, there are some ties.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Feature, Year in Review 2019, Sunset, László Nemes, Belmonte, Federico Veiroj, The Moneychanger, “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians”, Radu Jude, The Wild Pear Tree, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, The Image Book, Jean-Luc Godard, Relaxer, Joel Potrykus, Hotel by the River, Grass, Hong Sang-soo, Coincoin and the Extra-Humans, Bruno Dumont, The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg, First Love, Takashi Miike, Vitalina Varela, Pedro Costa, Give Me Liberty, Kirill Mikhanovsky, Pain and Glory, Pedro Almodóvar, Richard Jewell, Clint Eastwood, The Sower, Marine Francen, The Laundromat, Steven Soderbergh, The Wandering Soap Opera, Raúl Ruiz, Ghost Tropic, Bas Devos, The Grand Bizarre, Jodie Mack, The Irishman, Martin Scorsese

Film, Movie Review Jun 14, 2018
Upgrade is so derivative, it’s original

Horror director Leigh Whannell rips off so many other movies that his new feature becomes a collage.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, Upgrade movie, Leigh Whannell, Brian De Palma, Hi, Mom!, Phantom of the Paradise, Takashi Miike, Fudoh: The New Generation, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Logan Marshall-Green, Melanie Vallejo, David Cronenberg, eXistenZ, Spike Jonze Her, Mi

Blogs, Bleader Mar 9, 2018
You probably missed Blade of the Immortal when it played here, but now you can catch it on DVD and BluRay

Takashi Miike's thrilling 2017 action fantasy is worth seeking out.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Film, Foreign, On Video, Blade of the Immortal, Takashi Miike, Jeremy Thomas, 13 Assassins, Hara-Kiri, manga, Visitor Q, Ichi the Killer, The Great Yokai War, Zebraman, Audition, Imprint, Dead or Alive, Shinjuku Triad Society, The Negotiator, Izo, Big Bang Love: Juvenile A, Detective Story, Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki, Akira Kurosawa, Hiroaki Samura

Blogs, Bleader Oct 9, 2015
Video
Life on Mars, plus more new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Opening, Ridley Scott, The Martian, Matt Damon, Yakuza Apocalypse, Takashi Miike, Big Stone Gap, Ashley Judd, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead, National Lampoon, The Fool movie, Freeheld, Julianne Moore, He Named Me Malala, Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize, Labyrinth of Lies, Pan movie, Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara, Spring Night Summer Night, Leo McCarey, The Awful Truth, Buster Keaton, Battling Butler, Dennis Scott, George Roy Hill, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Anthony Mann, Men in War, Luis Bunuel, Los Olvidados, Fred Camper, Eric Rohmer, Pauline at the Beach, Archie Mayo, The Petrified Forest, Gordon Parks, Shaft, Ingmar Bergman, Smiles of a Summer Night, Becoming Ourselves: How Immigrant Women Transformed Their World, Global Girls Film Fest, Heart Like a Hand Grenade, Green Day, American Idiot, Agnes Varda, The Gleaners and I, Cleo From 5 to 7, The Beaches of Agnes, Video

Film, Movie Review Oct 8, 2015
Yakuza Apocalypse: Splatter and silliness

Japanese cult director Takashi Miike unleashes one of his wackiest creations.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, Yakuza Apocalypse, Takashi Miike, Ichi the Killer, 13 Assassins, Yoshitaka Yamaguchi

Film, Movie Review Aug 12, 2015
Recommended
Tokyo Tribe: A mixture of Cassavetes, Fassbinder, and arterial spray

Japanese street gangs do battle in the latest art-shocker from Sion Sono.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, Sion Sono, Tokyo Tribe, Suicide Club, Love Exposure, John Cassavetes, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Walter Hill, The Warriors, Riki Takeuchi, Takashi Miike, Dead or Alive, Recommended

Film, Movie Review Mar 25, 2015
Recommended Video
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter: A Japanese comedy by two guys from Austin

In David and Nathan Zellner's film, a Tokyo office drone arrives in Minnesota to dig up the loot from Fargo.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, David Zellner, Music Box, Nathan Zellner, Rinko Kikuchi, Norwegian Wood, Fargo, Coen Brothers, Hirokazu Kore-eda, After Life, Air Doll, Takashi Miike, The Bird People of China, Zebraman, Katsuhito Ishii, The Taste of Tea, Funky Forest: The First Contact, Recommended, Video

Blogs, Bleader Aug 17, 2014
Weekly Top Five: The best of Japanese horror cinema

The best of Japanese horror
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Weekly Top Five, Film, Doc Films, Japanese horror, Hausu, Onibaba, Kaneto Shindo, Jigoku, Kuroneko, Kwaidan, Audition, Takashi Miike, Marebito, Takashi Shimizu, Ju-On, the Grudge, Fritz Lang, H.P. Lovecraft, Richard Sharpe Shaver, Suicide Circle, Sion Sono, Himizu, Guilty of Romance, A Page of Madness, Teinosuke Kinugasa, School of New Perceptions, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Jonathan Rosenbaum

Blogs, Bleader May 12, 2014
How a movie might be memorable because of a single detail

Snacking on some nourishing movie crumbs
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Moviegoing, Film, Moviegoing, I Am Breathing, Neil Platt, Takashi Miike, White-Collar Worker Kintaro

Blogs, Bleader Jun 13, 2012
There's no zebra time like the present

In praise of Takashi Miike's wonderfully warped Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City, now available on DVD
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Foreign, On Video, Takashi Miike, Zebraman, Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City, Dead or Alive 2: Birds, Happiness of the Katakuris, 13 Assassins, V-cinema

Blogs, Bleader Jan 6, 2012
This week's movie action

A preview of movies playing in Chicago from January 6 - 12.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Film, Japanese film, Mikio Naruse, Hideko Takamine, Lightning, Takashi Miike, 13 Assassins, A Fistful of Dollars, Doc Films, Takeshi Kitano, Outrage, Chicago Reader, Ben Sachs, J.R. Jones, Andrea Gronvall

Blogs, Bleader Dec 13, 2011
Coming soon: Alex de la Iglesia's The Last Circus

A preview of Alex de la Iglesia's The Last Circus, which screens in Chicago this Saturday.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Film, Alex de la Iglesia, The Last Circus, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santa Sangre, Chicago Cinema Society, Portage Theater, 800 Bullets, El Crimen Perfecto, Common Wealth, Accion Mutante, Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds, Takashi Miike, fascism, 2010 Venice Film Festival, Anthony Mann, Spaghetti Westerns, Winchester '73

Blogs, Bleader Dec 5, 2011
Best of 2011, number 9: 13 Assassins

Our best of 2011 countdown revisits Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Film, 13 Assassins, Takashi Miike, Best of 2011, Chicago, Dead or Alive 2: Birds, Izo, Ben Sachs, J.R. Jones, battle sequence, Music Box Theatre

Blogs, Bleader May 26, 2011
Video
This Week's Movie Action

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue.
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris, Bullets Over Broadway, Alexandre O. Phillipe, The People vs. George Lucas, The Hangover Part II, The Hypnagogic Empiric, George Monteleone, Sirius Frantisek Vlacil, 13 Assassins, Takashi Miike, Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie, This Is My Land . . . Hebron, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Charlie Chaplink City Lights, Gene Siskel Film Center, Alfred Hitchcock, Family Plot, University of Chicago Doc Films, Manoel de Oliveira, I'm Going Home, Tim Burton, Mars Attacks, Modern Times, David Gordon Green, Undertow, Music Box, film festivals, movies, Video

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Articles

Ben Sachs’s top 12 films of 2019

Yes, there are some ties.

Upgrade is so derivative, it’s original

Horror director Leigh Whannell rips off so many other movies that his new feature becomes a collage.

You probably missed Blade of the Immortal when it played here, but now you can catch it on DVD and BluRay

Takashi Miike's thrilling 2017 action fantasy is worth seeking out.

Video
Life on Mars, plus more new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue

Yakuza Apocalypse: Splatter and silliness

Japanese cult director Takashi Miike unleashes one of his wackiest creations.

Recommended
Tokyo Tribe: A mixture of Cassavetes, Fassbinder, and arterial spray

Japanese street gangs do battle in the latest art-shocker from Sion Sono.

Recommended Video
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter: A Japanese comedy by two guys from Austin

In David and Nathan Zellner's film, a Tokyo office drone arrives in Minnesota to dig up the loot from Fargo.

Weekly Top Five: The best of Japanese horror cinema

The best of Japanese horror

How a movie might be memorable because of a single detail

Snacking on some nourishing movie crumbs

There's no zebra time like the present

In praise of Takashi Miike's wonderfully warped Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City, now available on DVD

This week's movie action

A preview of movies playing in Chicago from January 6 - 12.

Coming soon: Alex de la Iglesia's The Last Circus

A preview of Alex de la Iglesia's The Last Circus, which screens in Chicago this Saturday.

Best of 2011, number 9: 13 Assassins

Our best of 2011 countdown revisits Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins.

Video
This Week's Movie Action

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue.

Other Searches

Browse

Browse News & Politics

Browse Music

Browse Film

Browse Arts & Culture

Browse Food & Drink

Browse City Life

Browse Columns

Browse Ads

Browse Events

Articles

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Features

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Yes, there are some ties.

Horror director Leigh Whannell rips off so many other movies that his new feature becomes a collage.

Takashi Miike's thrilling 2017 action fantasy is worth seeking out.

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue

Japanese cult director Takashi Miike unleashes one of his wackiest creations.

Japanese street gangs do battle in the latest art-shocker from Sion Sono.

In David and Nathan Zellner's film, a Tokyo office drone arrives in Minnesota to dig up the loot from Fargo.

The best of Japanese horror

Snacking on some nourishing movie crumbs

In praise of Takashi Miike's wonderfully warped Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City, now available on DVD

A preview of movies playing in Chicago from January 6 - 12.

A preview of Alex de la Iglesia's The Last Circus, which screens in Chicago this Saturday.

Our best of 2011 countdown revisits Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins.

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue.

Other Searches