Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (1972)

This film made me feel a very specific type of cinephile shame. Of the four Lone Wolf and Cub films that I've seen so far, I like this one best. So where does shame come into the equation? My shame comes from the fact that this is the first film in the series not directed by the legendary Kenji Misumi, who in addition to directing the bulk of this series, also directed six of the Zatoichi films. This is the one and only film in the series directed by Buichi Saito whose filmography is filled with films only an aficionado in Japanese cinema might recognize. I swear I'm not saying all of this to be a contrarian. I'm not trying to be "that guy" who prefers Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music to Transformer. I'm not even saying it is a masterpiece. Like the other films it suffers from not being able to successfully balance the ongoing story with the "adventure of the week". But thanks to Saito's particular use of pans, tracking shots and push-ins, my attention was maintained throughout the litany of endings. Perhaps I should track down more Buichi Saito films. Maybe I'll be the guy who "discovers" this forgotten master! Or maybe I'll just be that contrarian guy.

The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Filmmakers don't have to make chamber dramas about death to be great. John Ford made westerns, Alfred Hitchcock made thrillers and Akira Kurosawa made samurai films. There's something to be said about a director working in the popular vernacular. You are provided with a huge canvas, and if done right, you can reach untold millions. Who would ever have thought that a Japanese film from the 50's (that was itself inspired by the westerns of John Ford) would wind up inspiring generations of kids to take up filmmaking? But it did! After seeing this movie in film school, George Lucas was inspired to tell his own epic adventure from the perspective of two lowly characters. While this film might not be a one-to-one analogue for Star Wars, you can see what drew Lucas to this film: the adventure, the action, the characters, the scale, even the use of wipes to signify the passing of time. And that right there is the power of influence. John Ford inspires Akira Kurosawa who inspires George Lucas who inspires THE WHOLE WORLD!

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2011)

A former assassin (Uma Thurman) seeks vengeance upon her former co-workers who left her for dead in a massacre at her wedding.

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Boy do I love genre films. So what if they hardly ever get love at The Oscars? Just because a large percentage of genre films deservedly belong in the discount bin at RiteAid, doesn't mean that the tree itself is rotten. A Western is just as capable of imparting insight into the human condition as some melodrama and a horror film can reach parts of your brain that some arty foreign film could never dream of stimulating. It's all just a matter of where the filmmaker chooses to take the genre and what subtext they choose to imbue within its confines. At the surface, Kill Bill is a revenge story: woman done wrong wreaks vengeance upon a series of people responsible for her misery. But when you really think about it and take away all of the blood and samurai swords, Kill Bill is a film about how tough it can be to leave behind a wild and reckless life in favor of the simple yet enriching joys of motherhood. Had this film starred Meryl Streep and been set in Manhattan with cutting remarks in place of actual cutting, it would have received all of the Oscars. When you really stop and think about it, the line between Kill Bill and Kramer vs. Kramer is pretty thin. There's even a Vs. in the title! Just sayin...

PS: Doesn't the end credit sequence kick serious ass?