TheRetroCritic

As he took on the very first Star Trek movie, director Robert Wise certainly had his work cut out. Pleasing fans of the original series while translating a somewhat cartoonish 60's show into a legitimate, impressive 70's space opera to rival Star Wars was never going to be easy. How to bring these characters back together? How to update the look of the show without sucking all the iconic charm out of it? Turns out: by making a really long episode :S Yes this Star Trek isn't so much the big, awesome movie you'd expect but rather an extended episode of the original series with different sets, different costumes and better (but still mostly cheesy) effects. Which is not to say it's bad, even if critics and audiences over the years have panned it quite a bit, it's actually very decent (a very decent episode that is). As a movie... Star Wars this isn't. To give you an idea: it takes about 35 minutes for the main crew of The Enterprise to come togeth

Yes, the trailer is finally here and BOY is it wacky! Click on the new poster to watch :) So not the gothic drama I thought they were gonna go for lol What do you guys think?

More along the lines of Casshern than the recent anime-style extreme gore subgenre which is sweeping Japanese cinema by storm, Ashura is actually not so much about the gratuitous violence and gore but rather about its opera-style story and general melodramatic feel. Adapted from a play, Ashura is very theatrical throughout and often feels like a cross between an opera, anime, a samurai film, an Onimusha video game and a cheesy Hammer horror film. There's dodgy CGI and way too many green-screened backgrounds but overall the film still looks pretty decent. It's the performances though which keep the whole thing afloat: some are hammy, some are very good: it's a mixed bag but overall the cast keep Ashura entertaining throughout. That said, the film still feels much longer than it is and could have done with a shorter running time and a faster pace. It remains compelling throughout though and it's worth a look if you're interested in Kabuki or any of t