Shogun is one of the most engaging mini-series on television right now. The FX series is winning well-deserved acclaim for its atmospheric portrayal of James Clavell’s novel, and fans everywhere are raving about the finale. Now that it’s over, if you find yourself in need of more period Japanese drama in your life, we’ve got you covered. Here are six movies and bingeable shows to feed your Samurai needs. The Last Samurai Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai, Credit Warner Bros. The Last Samurai is probably the most accessible entry for Western audiences who aren’t already familiar w ..read more

Minor spoilers for Shōgun It’s been a while since a show has captured the imagination and attention to the degree that FX’s Shōgun has. Based on the novel of the same name, the series is set during the early 1600s and marries history with a flourish of fiction. Full of complex and well-written characters, attention to detail, great effects and a gripping story, Shōgun ticks all the boxes and is an easy recommendation. Let’s dive into why. Shōgun comes to us over at FX from relative newcomers Justin Marks (Top Gun: Maverick) and Rachel Kondo. The show opens up in the year 1600, when a Protesta ..read more

Note: there’ll be no major spoilers in this article but I will talk about some of the inciting incidents seen in the first two episodes, so minor spoilers ahead. We’re living in the dawn of a golden age of video game adaptations it seems! Over the past few years, we’ve seen Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. dominate at the box office while on the small screen, The Last of Us and Arcane have shown that character-driven game adaptations can be prestige TV. I’m happy to say that Prime Video’s Fallout is now a proud member of the “successful video adaptation club”. It’s a great treat for fa ..read more

Up until now, my retrospective on the historical epics, of the late 90s and early 2000s, including the likes of Gladiator and Troy, felt very dramatic and practical; tangible recreations of history with lavish sets, costumes and tons of extras. Controversial director Zack Snyder came around with his 2006 adaptation of Frank Miller’s seminal graphic novel 300. Instead of megasets and tons of extras, a lot of 300 would be created with the use of chroma key (blue screen) backgrounds, with some props and minor sets used at the same time. Alongside the Star Wars prequels, it could be one of the fil ..read more

Acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino has been pretty deadset on ending his tenure as a film director with ten films under his belt, fearing his work will begin to deteriorate after that number. So his swan song feature film was set to be The Movie Critic, starring Brad Pitt, which would have seen an irreverent film critic working for an adult magazine in the late 1970s, writing reviews about mainstream films (which may not be the point of the magazine). The idea for the film was based on a real critic Tarantino used to read as a teenager, citing the protagonist “is based on a guy who really li ..read more

During my rundown of the most anticipated movies of 2024, British filmmaker Alex Garland’s newest movie about a renegade America going into war with itself was my top pick. It’s hard to remember a movie warning us of a real and actual potential danger in a political landscape where democracy is taken for granted in key places around the globe (we can only think of the war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the very unstable balance of power in the Middle-East). So, what would that look like, considering the intense political divide in the US ? Here’s Civil War; and unlike what we got from ..read more

Suppose you’re like me and you’re a fan of Guy Ritchie and World War II stories. In that case, you’ve probably been at the very least hoping that the English director’s latest film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, would offer some amusing entertainment. The film is slated to hit the big screen on April 19th, there’s just one catch though: it will only hit the big screen in the United States. In case you’re wondering what this movie is even about, here’s the official synopsis for the film: “Based upon recently declassified files of the British War Department and inspired by true events ..read more

Sean receives friend of the show Alex Callard back to the podcast as Fred deals with a plague of technical issues. Together, the two will discuss the disappointing Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, as well as the recent trailers for Joker: Folie à Deux and the Star Wars: Outlaws video game. Apple ..read more

In a recent interview promoting his latest project, Shogun on Hulu, Hiroyuki Sanada admitted that he very much wants to be part of the MCU and Star Wars. On camera with Variety he said “Especially Star Wars. I’m a big fan of all of them.” Among Sanada’s many roles over his impressive career he has played Samurai, Yakusa, and even a few astronauts. So what would be the perfect MCU or Star Wars character for him to step into? "Shōgun" star Hiroyuki Sanada says he's a big #StarWars fan. https://t.co/GlnKMH2Yi2 pic.twitter.com/4VmNmFtXVF — Variety (@Variety) April 6, 2024 Marvel Cinematic Unive ..read more

We recommended the first season of Tokyo Vice earlier this year, the Max Original (formerly HBO Max, what a stupid name change) series starring Ansel Egort as an American investigative journalist working the criminal underworld in the titular city circa 1999. After a longer-than-expected wait, season two finally aired and we’re happy to report that it’s awesome. Let’s dive in. The season premiere of season two of Tokyo Vice actually feels like a season finale for season one. One of my criticisms that I wrote of that season was that it felt like it just ended anti-climactically, despite the bu ..read more