For this Sunday Kino Night, we’re continuing through this year’s Oscar nominations with Past Lives (2023), a romance from Korean-American director Celine Song, and her best-known and best-reviewed work to date. A Korean woman emigrates to New York and leaves behind her childhood friend, and then, surprise, they meet again as adults, except now she’s married and they’re woogin’ for each other. Will cheating happen? I guess we’ll find out. A simple premise, but one apparently good enough for the movie to be nominated for dozens of awards (including the Best Picture Oscar), and to be listed at #217 on Letterboxd’s Top 250 films of all time. Let’s watch. After that is Taiwanese food-themed comedy Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), a comedy from Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon [2000], Hulk [2003] Brokeback Mountain [2005]) about a master chef whose three grown daughters all start to break away from him as they find love. Will the family survive? I guess we’ll find out. This is one of the highest-rated Taiwanese films on Letterboxd.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here:

https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Past Lives: https://letterboxd.com/film/past-lives/
• Eat Drink Man Woman: https://letterboxd.com/film/eat-drink-man-woman/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Past Lives: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/1025804
• Eat Drink Man Woman: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/117695

CWs for Past Lives:

• Alcohol.
• Drunkenness.
• Cheating.
• Natural bodies of water.
• Implied sex. Not depicted.
• Honking car horns.

CWs for Eat Drink Man Woman:

• Dead animals.
• Carnism.
• Meat preparation shown in detail.
• Vomiting.

Links to movies:

• Past Lives: https://vimeo.com/911734313
• Eat Drink Man Woman: https://vimeo.com/911737510

For this edition of Saturday Anime Night, the people demanded more Sailor Moon, and so, we’re continuing on, with episodes 31 through 36 of the 1992 series, the definitive magical-girl anime. This is the completely unabridged, unexpurgated, uncensored, Japanese version of the show, including everything that the English dub butchered, altered, and/or cut, which is quite a bit. Tonight’s episodes see the introduction of Sailor Venus, and the revelation of Princess Serenity’s true identity. You’ll never guess who she is! After that is Gainax’s legendary mockumentary Otaku no Video (1991), a two-part OVA (about 90 minutes altogether) that both tells an embellished history of Gainax in animated form, while also including some live-action segments that offer a snapshot of anime nerd-dom as it existed in 1991. This was one of the classics of the tape-trading days of Western anime fandom, one of those things that existed more as rumor than as reality for most who had heard of it. Otaku nowadays value it especially as a time capsule, since this has some of the best first-hand footage of the early-90s scene. Let’s check it out.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here: https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Sailor Moon: Sorry, not on Letterboxd. Here’s the MAL page: https://myanimelist.net/anime/530/Bishoujo_Senshi_Sailor_Moon
• Otaku no Video: https://letterboxd.com/film/otaku-no-video/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Sailor Moon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103369/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg
• Otaku no Video: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089749/parentalguide?ref_=tt_ql_5

CWs for Sailor Moon:

• Nudity.
• Objectification of female characters.
• Bath scenes.
• Age-gap romance.
• Panty shots.
• Cutting of flesh.
• Blood and gore.
• Animal abuse.
• Children in peril.
• Smoking.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Sexual harassment of schoolgirls.
• Kissing.
• Deaths of parents.

CWs for Otaku no Video:

• Nudity.
• Objectification of female characters.
• Panty shots.
• Discussion of sex.
• Appearance of hentai video game on a computer monitor.
• Alcohol.
• Drunkenness.

Links to movies:

Forthcoming. I have the files, but the most convenient way to upload them is to replace one of the earlier videos while a later video is playing.

For this Friday Movie Night, we’re continuing our run through this year’s Oscar nominees with the French legal thriller/mystery Anatomy of a Fall (2023), one of the best-reviewed movies of last year. It is by far the most popular and best-reviewed work of director Justine Triet to date. What happens when a lady is accused of murdering her husband, and the only characters who can possibly acquit her are her blind son and a dog? I guess we’ll find out. This is currently one of the highest-rated French films on Letterboxd. After that, since Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) was a hit last week, we’ll watch Boy (2010), another satirical comedy from renowned auteur Taika Waititi. A boy living on a New Zealand farm in the 80s with his pet goat has a rude awakening when his dad drops by and is nothing like he had imagined. They go on a hunt for a bag of buried money. Excellent reviews everywhere for this one, so let’s give it a whirl.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here:

https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Anatomy of a Fall: https://letterboxd.com/film/anatomy-of-a-fall/
• Boy: https://letterboxd.com/film/boy-2010/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Anatomy of a Fall: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/1024885
• Boy: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/20131

CWs for Anatomy of a Fall:

• Someone leaves without saying goodbye.
• Child abandonment.
• Parental neglect.
• Domestic violence.
• Gaslighting.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Animal abuse.
• Sick dog.
• Someone is drugged.
• Broken bones.
• Finger mutilation.
• Unconsciousness.
• Death by falling.
• A sighted actor plays a blind person.
• Suicide references.
• Death of parent.
• Cheating.
• Natural bodies of water.
• Shower scene.
• Mannequins.
• Vomit.
• Bisexual cheating.
• PTSD.
• Mental illness.
• Unstable reality.
• Someone has a meltdown.
• Shaky cam.
• Obscene language.
• Blood and gore.

CWs for Boy:

• Domestic violence.
• Child abuse.
• Drug use.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Deaths of animals.
• Someone is hit by a car.
• Death of pet.
• Snakes.
• Haircut.
• A boy mentions that girls his age have showed him their underwear.
• Death of parent.
• Bath scene.
• Spitting.
• Needles.
• Violent mentally-ill person.
• Suicide attempt.
• Misophonia.
• Flashing lights.
• Michael Jackson and his music are prominently featured.
• Childbirth.
• Death of pregnant woman.
• Homophobic slurs.
• Swastika.
• Ableism.
• Screeching tires.
• Blood and gore.

Links to movies:

• Anatomy of a Fall: https://vimeo.com/911734313
• Boy: https://vimeo.com/911737510

For this Sunday Kino Night, we’re starting off with Fires on the Plain (1959), a WW2 survival drama featuring an ill Japanese soldier left behind on a deserted Philippine island at the end of the war. He has to use all of his wits to survive the bleak landscape; surely, this will end happily. This is arguably the magnum opus of renowned auteur Kon Ichikawa (otherwise best-known for The Burmese Harp [1956]), and is considered one of the best Japanese war films of all time, so let’s check it out. After that is Conan the Barbarian (1982), the legendary sword-and-sorcery epic written by leftist Oliver Stone and directed by rabid Reaganite John Milius (otherwise best-known for Red Dawn [1984].) Join Conan as he rises from slavery to kill the evil hippie cult leader Thulsa Doom. It has all the blood, gore, sex, and muscles that you would expect, but also a surprisingly intelligent script that deals with mythic narrative in interesting ways. It also features one of the greatest film scores of all time, courtesy of Basil Poledouris. I was going to do a Conan double feature tomorrow, but I don’t think I’ll have time, so fine, it will have to take a Sunday slot. It’s a little less kino than normal, though still more kino than the many films it inspired. Oddly, it deals with many of the same Nietzschean themes that The Fifth Seal (1976) did last Sunday. A good thematic pair.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here:

https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Fires on the Plain: https://letterboxd.com/film/fires-on-the-plain/
• Conan the Barbarian: https://letterboxd.com/film/conan-the-barbarian/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Fires on the Plain: Sorry, nothing on DTDD or IMDB.
• Conan the Barbarian: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/61991

CWs for Fires on the Plain:

• Death of dog.
• Gun violence.
• Starvation.
• Sanity slippage.
• Cannibalism.
• Corpses.
• Sad ending.

CWs for Conan the Barbarian:

• Nudity.
• Sex.
• Blood and gore.
• Slavery.
• Deaths of animals.
• Decapitation.
• Children in peril.
• Mind control.
• Body horror.
• Child abuse.
• Drug use.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Animal cruelty.
• Snakes.
• Someone is physically restrained.
• Conan is forced to have sex with a female slave. Nothing is really shown other than her being thrown into his cage. Also, the women in Doom’s cult are implied to be his sex slaves, though he is not directly shown using them as such.
• Cannibalism.
• Someone is burned alive.
• Amputation.
• Broken bones.
• Unconsciousness.
• Finger mutilation.
• Torture.
• Someone falls down stairs.
• Death by falling.
• Kidnapping.
• Ghosts.
• Spitting.
• Audio gore.
• Suicide.
• Obscene language.
• Objectification of female characters.
• Sad ending.

Links to movies:

• Fires on the Plain: https://vimeo.com/909295139
• Conan the Barbarian: https://vimeo.com/909301641

For this edition of Saturday Anime Night, the people demanded more Sailor Moon, and so, we’re continuing on, with episodes 25 through 30 of the 1992 series, the definitive magical-girl anime. This is the completely unabridged, unexpurgated, uncensored, Japanese version of the show, including everything that the English dub butchered, altered, and/or cut, which is quite a bit. Tonight’s episodes see the introduction of Sailor Jupiter, and the show’s second opening. After that is Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994), the much-better-received of the two 1994 Street Fighter films, being more faithful to the game’s canon and featuring a whole bunch of cool animation. We already watched the live-action one, so let’s check this one out, too. Director is Gisaburo Sugii, who also did the gay goat romance Stormy Night (2005), the surreal sci-fi tale Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985), and the fairy-tale adaptation Jack and the Beanstalk (1974), all of which have been previously featured for Anime Night, and all of which were good.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here: https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Sailor Moon: Sorry, not on Letterboxd. Here’s the MAL page: https://myanimelist.net/anime/530/Bishoujo_Senshi_Sailor_Moon
• Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie: https://letterboxd.com/film/street-fighter-ii-the-animated-movie/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Sailor Moon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103369/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg
• Street Fighte II: The Animated Movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114563/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg

CWs for Sailor Moon:

• Nudity.
• Objectification of female characters.
• Bath scenes.
• Age-gap romance.
• Panty shots.
• Cutting of flesh.
• Blood and gore.
• Animal abuse.
• Children in peril.
• Smoking.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Sexual harassment of schoolgirls.
• Kissing.
• Deaths of parents.

CWs for Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie:

• Nudity.
• Shower scene.
• Blood and gore.
• Torture.
• Objectification of female characters.
• Sexual harassment of female characters.
• Broken bones.
• Gun violence.
• Profanity.
• Alcohol.

Links to movies:

Forthcoming. I have the files, but the most convenient way to upload them is to replace one of the earlier videos while a later video is playing.

For this Friday Movie Night, since Oscar season has begun first up is one of the frontrunners for Best Foreign Language Film, Society of the Snow (2023). It concerns the famous real-life 1972 saga of a Chilean rugby team whose plane home crash-lands in the Andes, after which the team must survive the severe climate. Most infamously, they eventually resort to cannibalism. Aaahhh! This story was previously adapted as Alive (1993), but this is, by all accounts, a less-Hollywood-y take The director is J.A. Bayona, who is otherwise best-known for, uhh, Orphanage (2007) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). This is by far his best-received film to date, having already won numerous awards. Let’s check it out. After that is Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), a satirical comedy from renowned auteur Taika Waititi. The cops launch a manhunt to find a boy and his foster uncle in the New Zealand bush; to get away, they have to learn to work together. Hilarity ensues. Excellent reviews everywhere for this one, so we’ll give it a whirl.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here:

https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Society of the Snow: https://letterboxd.com/film/society-of-the-snow/
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople: https://letterboxd.com/film/hunt-for-the-wilderpeople/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Society of the Snow: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/1070175
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/12769

CWs for Society of the Snow:

• Nudity.
• Sex references.
• Blood and gore.
• Disembowelment.
• Cannibalism.
• Profanity.
• Smoking.
• Alcohol.
• Plane crash.
• Drugged drink.
• Someone is physically restrained.
• Hand damage.
• Broken bones.
• Someone struggles to breathe.
• Deaths by crushing.
• Body horror.
• Squashed head.
• Asphyxiation.
• Tooth damage.
• Unconsciousness.
• Frostbite.
• Deaths by falling.
• Stabbing.
• Death of parent.
• Jump scare.
• Natural bodies of water.
• Shower scene.
• Vomiting.
• Spitting.
• Hospital scene.
• Someone has a meltdown.
• Anxiety attacks.
• Claustrophobia.
• Starvation.
• Sudden loid noises.
• Shaky cam.
• Screaming.
• Debate over existentialism.

CWs for Hunt for the Wilderpeople:

• Death of dog.
• Child abandonment.
• Child abuse.
• Stalking.
• Gaslighting.
• Smoking.
• Deaths of animals.
• Hunting.
• Carnism.
• Sad animals.
• Harm to rabbits.
• Death of pet.
• Mention of child sex abuse. Not depicted.
• Joke about man being sexually assaulted. Not depicted.
• Cutting of flesh.
• Someone struggles to breathe.
• Unconsciousness.
• Broken bones.
• Stabbing.
• Death of child.
• Death of parent.
• Natural bodies of water.
• Mannequins.
• Spitting.
• Screams of agony.
• Misophonia.
• Suicidal ideation.
• Profanity.
• Fat jokes.
• Ableist language.
• Homelessness.
• Car crash.
• Honking horns.
• Blood and gore.
• Gun violence.

Links to movies:

• Society of the Snow: https://vimeo.com/909295139
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople: https://vimeo.com/909301641

For this Sunday Kino Night, we’re starting off with The Fifth Seal (1976), a Hungarian WW2 drama in which a trio of men in fascist-controlled Budapest hold a thought experiment: which would you prefer to be, an amoral tyrant or a moral slave? Drama ensues when the participants start getting a little too into the game, and their dirty secrets are revealed. It is by far the best-known and best-regarded work of director Zoltan Fabri, being both the highest-rated Hungarian film on Letterboxd, and ranked #149 on the site’s Top 250 films of all time. Great reviews for this one across the board, so let’s check it out. After that is Kikujiro (1999), a road-trip comedy from Japanese auteur Takeshi Kitano. A boy goes on the road to look for his missing mother; he meets a crotchety man, played by Kitano, and they proceed to go on adventures. Dudes rock. We previously watched his yakuza-vacation film Sonatine (1993), which was a hit on Hextube, so let’s give another of his a shot.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here:

https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• The Fifth Seal: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-fifth-seal/
• Kikujiro: https://letterboxd.com/film/kikujiro/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• The Fifth Seal: Sorry, nothing on DTDD or IMDB.
• Kikujiro: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199683/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg

CWs for The Fifth Seal:

• Mention of child sexual abuse in a hypothetical context to demonstrate amorality. Not depicted.
• Fascism.
• Holocaust setting, which is plot-relevant, though no atrocities are shown.

CWs for Kikujiro:

• A child is abducted by a man who tells him to take off his underwear. No sexual acts are depicted, nor do they even happen off-screen, as the protagonist stops the man and beats him up.
• Nudity.
• Fistfights
• Comic violence.
• Ghosts.
• Nightmare sequence.

Links to movies:

• The Fifth Seal: https://vimeo.com/907098161
• Kikujiro: https://vimeo.com/907299241

For this edition of Saturday Anime Night, the people demanded more Sailor Moon, and so, we’re continuing on, with episodes 19 through 24 of the 1992 series, the definitive magical-girl anime. This is the completely unabridged, unexpurgated, uncensored, Japanese version of the show, including everything that the English dub butchered, altered, and/or cut, which is quite a bit. Tonight’s episodes see the conclusion of the Nephrite arc, including his doomed romance with Naru. After that is Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron (2023), since a decent-quality camrip has finally appeared. In this latest highly-acclaimed addition to the filmography of Hayao Miyazaki, a yonng boy loses his mother, and attempts to cope as he deals with his stepmother, who looks just like his mom, and a mysterious talking bird who heckles him. Drama ensues. Great reviews for this one, so we’re giving it a whirl.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here: https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Sailor Moon: Sorry, not on Letterboxd. Here’s the MAL page: https://myanimelist.net/anime/530/Bishoujo_Senshi_Sailor_Moon
• The Boy and the Heron: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-boy-and-the-heron/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Sailor Moon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103369/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg
• The Boy and the Heron: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/46347

CWs for Sailor Moon:

• Nudity.
• Objectification of female characters.
• Bath scenes.
• Age-gap romance.
• Panty shots.
• Cutting of flesh.
• Blood and gore.
• Animal abuse.
• Children in peril.
• Smoking.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Sexual harassment of schoolgirls.
• Kissing.
• Deaths of parents.

CWs for The Boy and the Heron:

• Someone leaves without saying goodbye.
• Stalking.
• Smoking.
• Death of parent.
• Deaths of animals.
• Animal abuse.
• Blood and gore.
• Suicidal ideation.
• Bugs.
• Bullying.
• Someone is physically restrained.
• Someone’s mouth is covered.
• Deaths by crushing.
• Someone is burned alive.
• Body horror.
• Unconsciousness.
• Torture.
• Deaths by falling.
• Stabbing.
• Suicide.
• Kidnapping.
• Jump scares.
• Ghosts.
• Natural bodies of water.
• Razors.
• Poop.
• Destruction of priceless artifact.
• PTSD.
• Self-harm.
• Unstable reality.
• Misophonia.
• Anxiety attacks.
• Claustrophobia.
• Sudden loud noises.
• Underwater scenes.
• Screaming.
• Someone is watched without their knowledge.
• Pregnancy.
• Debate over existentialism.

Links to movies:

Forthcoming. I have the files, but the most convenient way to upload them is to replace one of the earlier videos while a later video is playing.

For this Friday Movie Night, since a decent-quality camrip has finally appeared, we’re starting off with Godzilla Minus One (2023), the hotly-anticipated latest entry in the series about the big monster who destroys Tokyo over and over again. This one goes back to the beginning, restoring the serious tone of the original 1954 film and treating the big G as a manifestation of Japan’s post-WW2 PTSD. Critics are raving about this one, so let’s check it out. Director is Takashi Yamazaki, who has also made, uhh, a couple of Doraemon movies. This is certainly his best-regarded film so far. After that is The Player (1992), a biting Hollywood satire from renowned auteur Robert Altman (we have watched his films The Long Goodbye [1973] and Popeye [1980].) Tim Robbins stars as a studio executive who receives death threats from a jilted screenwriter, and tries to identify the culprit. Hilarity ensues, along with a parade of cameos from various famous actors and the like. This is generally considered to be one of Altman’s best, so we’re giving it a whirl.

We’ll start at 9PM EST on Hextube, right here:

https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Godzilla Minus One: https://letterboxd.com/film/godzilla-minus-one/
• The Player: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-player/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Godzilla Minus One: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/1069535
• The Player: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/32929

CWs for Godzilla Minus One:

• Camrip. Quality is much better than the previous rips that were floating around, though.
• Someone leaves without saying goodbye.
• Child abandonment.
• PTSD.
• Deaths of animals.
• Someone is held underwater.
• Someone is physically restrained.
• Broken bones.
• Decapitation.
• Someone is crushed to death.
• Squashed head.
• Unconsciousness.
• Deaths by falling.
• Eye mutilation.
• Blood and gore.
• Death of non-human character.
• Deaths of parents.
• Deaths of family members.
• Natural bodies of water.
• People being eaten alive.
• Audio gore.
• Hospital scene.
• Mental illness.
• Unstable reality.
• Meltdowns.
• Kamikaze pilots.
• Anxiety attacks.
• Jump scares.
• Loud noises.
• Underwater scenes.
• Crying baby.
• Screaming.
• Flashing lights.
• Plane crash.
• Nuclear explosion.
• Gun violence.

CWs for The Player:

• Stalking.
• Gaslighting.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Death of animal.
• Animal abuse.
• Snakes.
• Cheating.
• Racial slurs.
• Ableist language.
• Sex. Seems pretty tame, though.
• Drowning.

Links to movies:

• Godzilla Minus One: https://vimeo.com/906909711
• The Player: https://vimeo.com/906911166