Message from Space (1978)
Mar 6, 2001Japanese Space Opera
Japanese attempt to jump aboard the Star Wars fad, a vigorous and colourful retelling of The Seven Samurai as a space opera
Hiroyuki Sanada
Ring (1998)
Aug 31, 1999Cursed Video Broadcast/Japanese Ghost Story
Kaidan eiga (Japanese ghost story) that was a huge hit, spawning several sequels and an English-language remake, plus a horde of imitators. For all its reputation, the film is often crude, nevertheless does evince an eerie atmosphere
The Spiral (1998)
Mar 26, 2008Ring Sequel
The black sheep among the Japanese Ringu films. A sequel released the same time as the first film, this lacks the other's uncanny atmosphere and was ignored
Ring 2 (1999)
Oct 1, 1999Cursed Videotape/Haunting/Japanese Ghost Story
The second of the Japanese Ring/Ringu films where director Hideo Nakata improves over the original with a series of eerie scares if a frequently incomprehensible mishmash of story ideas
Sunshine (2007)
Apr 19, 2007Solar Expedition
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland make a big serious SF film about a solar expedition, which works with great scientific rigour until the shows heads off at a tangent and falls apart in the latter third
47 Ronin (2013)
Jan 18, 2014Samurai Epic Fantasy
US film based on a real Japanese historical incident that has been oddly spun out into a Keanu Reeves-starring epic samurai fantasy film. One of the biggest financial flops of 2013
The Wolverine (2013)
Aug 3, 2013X-Men Spinoff Film
While this received a good deal of fan buzz, I must admit to being disappointed. It strips much of the superheroics and mutant cameos of the other X-Men films until it feels more like a Westerner in Japan thriller like Black Rain or even a routine film noir plot that happens to be cast with Wolverine
Life (2017)
Jun 10, 2017Alien Organism Amok on the International Space Station
This is essentially Alien as a scientifically grounded space film like Gravity where an original alien menace attacking aboard the International Space Station
Mortal Kombat (2021)
May 1, 2021Interdimensional Combat/Videogame Adaptation
A reboot of the film series adapted from the popular videogame. Produced by James Wan, this emerges as a kinetic and enjoyable effort that has clearly designed to introduce an ongoing franchise
Mortal Kombat II (2026)
May 30, 2026Interdimensional Combat/Videogame Adaptation
A sequel to the 2021 revival of the film series based on the videogame and a much more satisfying film than its predecessor. The first film was all origin story, but this plunges us into the actual kombat itself