eric nielsen Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Very deep thinking in this movie. BE would like it a lot. So would a lot of people on this forum, I'm guessing. Several outstanding examples of Zen thought (or no-thought) in words, and without words too. My favorite really was Capt. Algren's take on karma, it's almost West-meets-East: "You do all you can, until your destiny is revealed." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 You're so lucky to have seen this movie. I've been waiting months to see it and now it comes out and we get burried with over 3 feet of snow. Damn I hate living in New England. Now I have to wait another 5 days to see it. I can't wait. I've studied the Samurai for many years now and they are handsdown my favorite warriors of all time. Did the movie do them any justice? How was Tom Cruise? Pistol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherErik Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Ive been meaning to get out to see it. A friend of mine saw it said it was excelent, however the local papers riped on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric nielsen Posted December 8, 2003 Author Share Posted December 8, 2003 All the scenes where Algren is the lone American are great. That's the entire Act II, more than half of the movie. I was eating it up like the leftover Halloween candy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Joe Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 The one kendo scene was great. Algren's guard gave him a bitching for getting beat, something to the effect of: "You have too many minds. Mind the opponent, mind the next move, mind the people watching. No Mind!" Something I personally need to work on at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric nielsen Posted December 14, 2003 Author Share Posted December 14, 2003 If you're still snowed in, here's the screenplay... http://www.script-fix.com/images/TheLastSamurai.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 Best Tom Cruse movie I have even seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 Saw it last night.. it's not excellent like Secondhand Lions, but is a good movie. Dragged a bit in spots, but it's worth it. (and yes, it is possible that the Japanese troops had bolt-action rifles in 1878..) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 I agree w/ TL... best Cruise movie I've seen. No damned Scientology references, either... yay! Good movie to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 Well, I finally got to see it tonight. This was the best movie I've ever seen. I've been studying the Samurai for the longest time and have always had such a fascination with them. The movie def. did a great job showing the Warriors spirit and the mindset of the most interesting warriors the world has ever known. I give this move 2 thumbs up and can't wait to own it on DVD. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ganado Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Sure, and we also sent a Civil War General over to Japan to teach them how to make Sushi.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 That's Hollywood for you. There was a foriegner who trained the government forces, but he did not side with the Satsuma clan in the revolt. And he was not an American, he was German. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 I haven't seen it because I have no use for Tom C whatsoever. Can anyone who's seen it relate? If so, should I suck it up and see it anyway? be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 You might like it in spite of Tom. I did and do not care for him either. Open Range was good even with Kevin Costner and I always thought the only movie he was right for was Dances with Wolves. He has enough charisma to lead a fort with no troops........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 The one kendo scene was great. Algren's guard gave him a bitching for getting beat, something to the effect of: "You have too many minds. Mind the opponent, mind the next move, mind the people watching. No Mind!" Something I personally need to work on at times. Exactly!! That was the scene that hit me the most! It totally related to "my" shooting, as well as other's apparently. Cruise's character was getting whooped pretty good when a young man told him that basically he was thinking about too many things when he was battling. He wasn't shooting in the now! He was ego'ing his way around. You know when you get to the start position and...... Brian, it's worth $7 to see. That doesn't mean you have to like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 BE you need to at least see it once to offset some of those weird ones you have watched a dozen times, that the rest of us don't understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 I haven't seen it because I have no use for Tom C whatsoever. Can anyone who's seen it relate? If so, should I suck it up and see it anyway?be I didn't like TC, until I saw Vanilla Sky or Magnolia (can't remember which one I saw first), so I can relate I think. I'd suck it up and go anyway. I saw it yesterday and I found it a very impressive and beautiful movie. I was a little hesitant to go and see it, because of my earlier experiences with movies that had anything to do with Japan made by American directors. But this one is different. Absolute beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Brian, I was a very slow sell on Tom Cruise. I first saw him, way back when, in Risky Business in the theatres. I know a lot of people loved that movie, but to me it just seemed boring. Then I saw him in Top Gun. I could see why he was a star, the good looks, the great smile, the personal presence, but he still didn't do it for me. I thought Anthony Edwards as Goose was much more impressive. I stayed away from Tom Cruise movies for years. Then I saw Jerry Maguire and he blew me away. I was like, "Oh my God....this guy can actually, really act." Then I saw Vanilla Sky. The movie, and Cruise, were both just frickin' incredble. Dude, you need to see this movie. Given your personality, I guarantee you'll love it. This thing makes a Jim Jarmusch film look straightforward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric nielsen Posted January 24, 2004 Author Share Posted January 24, 2004 He's not always at the best of his ability, and his ability isn't the best of all time. But this movies he's good. His best is "Born on the Fourth of July". Hands down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 I saw this movie yesterday and it is easier one of the best I've EVER seen. Such an amazing people. I would have loved to have known them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyn Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 Sorry to be the contrarian but I could not get over the fundamental flaw of this movie. Like Dances with Wolves, this movie tries to depict how American culture is desperately lacking. The tragic hero has been punished and abused by American culture which lacks the ability to provide him enlightenment, relief, or moral sustenance. Once he meets up with a foreign culture goes native and adopts its ways, he then goes on to achieve bliss, happiness, enlightenment etc. etc. For the other culture is superior to the one he has left. I actually have nothing against the critiques of American culture but these movies always focus on the flaws. But my biggest issue is how these movies COMPLETELY romanticze Plains Indian culture or Samurai culture and COMPLETELY ignore the dark sides, of which there are PLENTY. Sure it was great to be a samurai but as with other feudal political and social organizations, the samurai existed at the top of the pyramid. Their system allowed for no social mobility (once a peon always a peon and if you try to raise your status, off with your head) or individual rights for the lowly peasantry, and it stifled free inquiry and thought (no questions!). The Last Samurai does not show you the bottom of the pyramid, the myriad of peasants slaving away to support this feudal edifice. Tom Criuse never spends 12 hours in a rice paddy before practicing his swordsmanship. The movie also fails to note how the Cult of Death practicised by the Samurai goes on to be the basis for the excesses of Japanese militarism in the 20th century. While the treatment of Indians may be a black mark in American history, it comes nowhere near the level of Japanese behavior in China, Korea, the Philippenes. Despite all of this, I did think it was a good flick. It was no Seven Samurai or Throne of Blood however. And please note how Kurosawa movies are not afraid to show the dark side of the samurai world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 It was too close to the old minseries Shogun for my taste. I kept thinking they would start calling him Anjin-san. And the scene in which Anjin, I mean, Aldren, defends the warlord from the ninja assassins? Total Shogun rip-off! I wish it would have done a better job at being a Don Quixote type movie wherein the old-fashioned protagonists tragically resist the inevitable changes of progress and modernization. (E.g., Gangs of New York, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, The Wild Bunch, etc.) kellyn, I too was surprised by the complete lack of depiction of the peasant side of the feudal system. But remember it's a work of entertainment, not a documentary or history or biography. Going deeper into the aspects of feudalism would have detracted from the movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 I've been spooling to see it, but now I feel a lull coming in. Thanks for the breakdown Kelly. Other than discipline, there's not a whole lot about the "code of the Samurai" I'm a big fan of. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George D Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 I watched the movie last night and, whilst I enjoyed it, I would rate it behind Shogun. Another favourite East-West clash movie is "The Red Sun" which starred Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune (not to mention Ursula Andress). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Beverley Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 I watched the movie last night and, whilst I enjoyed it, I would rate it behind Shogun. Another favourite East-West clash movie is "The Red Sun" which starred Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune (not to mention Ursula Andress). "Red Sun", now there's a blast from the past. I loved it and saw it a couple of times. I never really enjoyed "Shogun" the movie but then I had read the book 4 times and I don't think the movie did it justice. I recall when I had just finished the book the first time I felt a tranquility which I hadn't expereienced before. Perhaps I should read it again. I enjoyed "The Last Samurai" but I tried to watch it just as a movie rather than as anything much deeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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