Japan meets 007

Ironfinger was such a pleasantly surprising film, the Japanese tend to have a good track record for Bondsplotation and this is no exception. I'd honestly say it's a much better film than most of the Connery outings and this one even stars a later Bond girl to boot. The title of this film is actually 100 Shot, 100 Killed, Ironfinger was more of a translator's joke to more closely associate it with the James Bond series that it's a parody of.

After being mistaken for an Interpol agent, a man who was just supposed to go on vacation gets mixed up in a war between two gangs intent on winning the favour of a notorious arms dealer.

For those of you who read my Godzilla reviews know I'm not a fan of Jun Fukuda's work on the series, nor his Star Wars venture The War in Space, I am however a big fan of his other works, the man clearly has a talent for mad-cap action and Ironfinger is just another film I can add to his repertoire of great films. Funny, inventive and full of wit, it's hard not to love its madness.

The whole idiot accidentally becomes Hero trope is nothing new, I'll admit. But it's played off in a fantastic way befitting of Fukuda's manic and inventive directional techniques, combined with a superbly written screenplay by Kihachi Okamoto and Michio Tsuzuki that balances the playful tone with a much more menacing and serious threat looming overhead with a deadly gang war with a poor tourist caught in the middle.

It's got everything you could want from a Japanese take on James Bond, the action, the gadgets, the humour, the girls, the partial nudity, the seemingly indestructible henchman and a likeable lead to boot, all presented in a nice mad cap Japanese concoction that should satisfy the most die-hard of Bond fans.

Akira Takarada is cast against his usual type of more buttoned-down archetypes into one of a bumbling fool that effortlessly switches between speaking Japanese, French and English with such outstanding effort, it can't be easy. Mie Hama stars as the film's female lead, eventually going on to play Kissy Suzuki in You Only Live Twice, she gets way more to do here than she does in her later official Bond film. It's kinda sad when a knockoff does that better than the series it's knocking off. Other familiar faces include Ichirô Arishima, Susumu Kurobe, Chōtarō Tōgin and of course, Akihiko Hirata playing the film's villainous henchman.

The score by Masaru Satō is genuinely good fun, it combines his usual trappings with a fun dose of John Barry-esque motifs. There's even a killer theme song to boot although not quite on the same level as some Bond numbers, it's catchy enough to stick with you.

Overall, Ironfinger is another fab film from Jun Fukuda, up there with the likes of ESPY and The Secret of the Telegain in terms of sheer quality mixed with brilliant storytelling. I'd easily watch more of this sort of stuff from Fukuda and thankfully there's a sequel.

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Verstility is the name of the game

Original Hong Kong Version

Even with this ancient DVD print full of screen tearing and damaged frames, God of Gamblers showcases one of Chow Yun-Fat's most versatile performances effortlessly switching back and forth between impeccably suave and utterly adorable on a dime. Backed by the ever-amazing Andy Lau, it's really only two extremely questionable moments that hold this film back from being rated any higher. Even then Wong Jing's intense gambling drama is a classic of Hong Kong cinema and one I will definitely pick up on Blu-ray. I do question the sheer number of sequels and spin-offs though with one of them being a time travel story... Nonetheless, sign me up.

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The best street fighter movie

I'm not overly familiar with Tsukasa Hojo's original manga, but I have seen the original anime a long time ago. As adaptations of the source material go, Wong Jing's City Hunter isn't really the most faithful, it tones down a lot of Ryō's antics to fit with Jackie's style of humour and image but offers in its place a genuinely great movie that doesn't repeat a lot of the mistakes of American anime adaptations by trying to make it gritty, it's bat shit insane in the best way possible. It's also the best adaptation of Street Fighter this side of Future Cops, who doesn't wanna see Jackie Chan dressed as Chun-Li?

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TAKE ME HIGHER!

It's taken me way too long to finish this series and I wanna apologise to my friend Garasharp for that. After small side steps into a few short-lived co-produced Ultra shows, Ultraman returned to his full Japanese roots with Ultraman Tiga marking the debut of a new full-fledged Ultra series and the first full Heisei series.

After a franchise hiatus of over 15 years, set in a universe different from all previous series and updated with a new look and feel. Ultraman Tiga is basically one of, if not, the defining Ultra show. You don't need prior knowledge of any of the previous shows to get Tiga, it acts as a fresh start for the series but remains faithful and familiar to the long-time fans.

Where Tiga shines brightest is in its cast of likeable lead characters, raw emotional impact and breathtaking production values. The storytelling is up to the usual Tsuburaya quality with seemingly every episode, for better or worse, developing the characters and their own motivations over the course of the 52-episode run. The slow-burn love story between Daigo and Rena is extremely worthwhile and rewarding for those invested in the series, and the rest of the supporting cast is equally fantastic although Horii can be extremely hit or miss with his comedic antics even then he gets a satisfying and conclusive character arc.

Wildly unpredictable at times with a multitude of excellent episodes under its belt (and yes even some rather dire ones), the series is never lazy. It continues to bring out new and imaginative monsters without feeling the need to recycle and even when an old monster shows up again, it's not without reason.

Unfortunately trying to watch this series in its original format is made nearly impossible due to a long-standing and extremely strict contract with lead actor Hiroshi Nagano's talent agency, Johnny & Associates. There's a great video on why this happened by Vintage Henshin which you should all watch. It's a real shame that due to this, Tiga has been plagued by a lack of reruns, botched home video releases and even suffering from extreme cuts or outright being skipped due to the use of Nagano's own likeness.

The show's production is essentially flawless, the top-notch suitmation work combined with tight direction, scripts and fantastic musical score by Tatsumi Yano. But it's the use of Take Me Higher for the series' opening and often used to accompany the final battles of the episodes where it really gets your heart pumping, unfortunately, it's another casualty of Johnny & Associates' rules due to the fact that Nagano is a member of the band, V6, who perform the song.

There are so many stand-out episodes from the show it's hard to narrow it down to a list of favourites or best episodes, although I will attempt it:
1. The Ultra Star
2. One Vanishing Moment
3. The One Who Inherits the Shadows
4. Zelda's Point Defences
5. Dear Mr Ultraman
6. Take Me Higher! / Master of Darkness / To the Shining Ones
7. The Released Target
8. Second Contact
9. Resurrected Friend
10. Hana

The series has range and it uses it superbly well, be it introducing the first fully evil Ultra of the franchise with Evil Tiga, a self-indulgent love letter to the founding father of Tsuburaya Productions telling a story of how he met the original Ultraman or a scientist trying to live with the grief of his creation that killed his own daughter. There's a multitude of different styles and genres present in this show, catering to everyone and anyone. Even the more kid-focused stories while being the weaker ones are more than worth a look for some rather decent kid acting and storylines.

Ultraman Tiga on the whole distils everything and anything you could want or need out of an Ultraman show. Pure glowing hope and love in the face of Lovecraftian cosmic evil. No matter how dire the situation, it never relents in its depiction of its titular character as a source of optimism. My love for Tokusatsu as a whole can more than be summed up with my love for this show.

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