Seven Samurai with Toshiro Mifune. ‘Seven Samurai’ analysis: Akira Kurosawa movie gets better after repeated viewings Some films get better after repeated viewings. Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 black-and-white drama Seven Samurai / Shichinin no samurai is one of them. It fully deserved winning that year’s Silver…
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Watching Akira Kurosawa’s 1948 black-and-white effort Yoidore Tenshi / Drunken Angel is an interesting experience, for he clearly had not mastered the art form, yet. Even so, there is so much that is good in Drunken Angel – touches that would become great in just…
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The Bad Sleep Well with Toshiro Mifune. Akira Kurosawa’s 1960 corporate corruption drama stars the filmmaker’s favorite leading man, Toshiro Mifune, who “gets to display the full range of his acting chops” as a white-collar worker bent on revenge. Kurosawa (1910–1998) and Mifune (1920–1997) collaborated…
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Gojira with Akihiko Hirata, Momoko Kôchi, and Akira Takarada. Tokyo-born actress Momoko Kôchi (1932–1998) was seen in more than 30 films over the course of four decades. In Ishirô Honda’s Gojira, Akira Takarada is Kôchi’s love interest, while Akihiko Hirata is the man her father…
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Godzilla. Whether in Ishirô Honda’s 1954 Japanese original Gojira or in the 1956 U.S. version, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the destructive reptilian creature emblematic of the atomic age remains one of cinema’s iconic creations. Like Harry Potter, James Bond, and Andy Hardy, Godzilla has…