Blade Licking Thieves

We review Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love (2000), an intimate, heartbreaking, and emotionally simmering peek into the lives of two forlorn souls (actor Tony Leung and actress Maggie Cheung) who seek companionship with one another after discovering that their spouses are having an affair together. Timestamps: [00:00] Intro, Demon Slayer, Dragon Ball GT, Yamato 2202 [26:45] Review of In the Mood for Love

Just in time for Halloween, the Thieves are back with a review of Tsui Hark and Ching Sui-tung's spooky romantic comedy, A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), a genre defying tale of star crossed lovers, filled with slapstick comedy, exciting martial arts sorcery, and enough ghouls, ghosts, and zombies to fill your night with frights! Timestamps: [00:00] Intro, Vinland Saga, Way of the House Husband [36:51] A Chinese Ghost Story Review [1:58:24] Twitter Questions

On today's episode of the Blade Licking Thieves, we talk about our hopes for the recently announced continuation of the Berserk manga (sans its creator) and the potential pitfalls facing the creative team; discuss the long awaited and finally realized North American Macross licensing deal; briefly touch on the recent anime series I'm Quitting Heroing; and, finally, we review Shaw Brother Studio's 1977 King Kong rip-off and certified so bad its good cult classic: The Mighty Peking Man. Timestamps: [00:00] Intro, Berserk, Macross, I'm Quitting Heroing [39:25] The Mighty Peking Man Review [1:46:50] Twitter Questions

We review the Daniels' latest film, Everything Everywhere All at Once, a wild, weird, and wonderfully irreverent journey through the multiverse that's equal parts exhilarating action film, laugh-out-loud absurdist comedy, poignant family drama, and meaningful commentary on the fractal like nature of the Asian American experience. Timestamps: [00:00] Intro, Gunpla, Digimon,and Eat-Man [42:41] Everything Everywhere All at Once Review [2:02:54] Twitter Questions

In Takeshi Kitano's summer road movie, Kikujiro, a young boy searching for his estranged mother sets out from Tokyo into rural Japan with an unruly former Yakuza as his guide, begetting a series of misadventures, felonious incidents, comedic interludes, surreal vignettes, and tender moments, as bonds of affection form between the unlikely pair. Timestamps: [00:00] Introductions and Nonsense [09:09] Mini-Review of Tatsuki Fujimoto's Manga Goodbye, Eri [44:40] Kikujiro Review

BLT Team B review Brian De Palma's rock opera musical Phantom of the Paradise (1974): a strange and twisted horror / comedy cult-classic about a disfigured song writer who haunts the concert hall of the producer that betrayed him and stole his love, in a plot heavily inspired by both Phantom of the Opera and Faust.

Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, and Corey Yuen star in this hyper-kinetic supernatural comedy, Zu Warriors From the Magic Mountain, a special effects laden wuxia film from Hong Kong director Tsui Hark about an ordinary Chinese solider who, after stumbling into a world of fantastical supernatural battles between the forces of good and evil, must embark on a quest to save the universe. Timestamps: [00:00] Films we've been watching, Chainsaw Man, Shenmue the Animation, Anno's Shin Ultraman Trailer [49:05] Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain Review [2:15:38] Twitter Questions

We review Korean director Bong Joon-ho's class-conscious thriller Parasite, a black comedy about the Kims, a scrappy lower class family living on the edge of subsistence in Seoul, who through luck and by hook or crook manage to gain employment as help in the household of their incredibly wealthy city neighbors, the Parks, only to realize much too late that their stroke of good fortune portends a much darker misfortune. Timestamps: [00:00] Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 and Konosuba [29:00] Parasite Review [2:15:30] Twitter Questions

We chat about the Ip Man franchise, discuss the influences and merits of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and lastly review one of the premiere anime titles of the 1990s: Macross Plus Movie Edition, an explosive work, by Macross series creator Shoji Kawamori and the core creative talent later responsible for a little known title called Cowboy Bebop, that twenty seven years after its release has lost none of its original impact. Timestamps: [00:00] Ip Man 2-4, Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 [43:42] Macross Plus Movie Edition Review [3:21:09] Twitter Questions

BLT Team B review Stuart Gordon's 1986 body horror film, From Beyond. Like Gordon's prior film, Re-Animator, also starring Jeffrey Combs, From Beyond is based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story - this one involving inter dimensional creatures brought into our reality through a science experiment gone awry with, as you might imagine, predictably gruesome results for those involved.

We review the 2017 Hong Kong gangster film, Chasing the Dragon, the story of the rise and fall of Hong Kong's most notorious gangster "Crippled Ho" (Donnie Yen) and his unlikely partnership with Police Detective Lee Rock (Andy Lau) during the cities' most turbulent and lawless decades, the 1960s and 1970s, during the height of the heroin trade. Timestamps: [00:00] Tenchi Universe, Blade Runner: Black Lotus, Star Wars: Visions [50:27] Chasing the Dragon (2017) Review [2:14:25] Twitter Questions

We review the ingenious Japanese horror / comedy One Cut of the Dead from Japanese filmmaker Shinichiro Ueda. Timestamps: [00:00] Dragon Quest Dai and Cowboy Bebop Live Action [58:27] One Cut of the Dead Review [2:02:30] Twitter Questions

BLT Team B review British filmmaker Ken Russell's horror / comedy cult classic, The Lair of the White Worm (1988), starring a young Hugh Grant, Peter Capaldi of Dr. Who, and the provocatively bewitching Amanda Donohue.

Special guest David Bednar (@ykarps) joins us on the show to chat about two of his favorite '90s Tokusatsu films, the action filled, science fiction cult classics, Zeiram and Zeiram 2, from the creative mind of artist / director Keita Amemiya. Timestamps: [00:00] Intro + What We've Been Watching: Violet Evergarden, Alita, Cyber Punk Movies, One Piece, Golden Kamuy [43:17] Zeiram [1:23:10] Zeiram 2

Classic Tatsunoko super heroes return in this cross dimensional, team up film follow up to the 2017 CG animated Infini-T Force series by Tatsunoko and Digital Frontier studios. Tune in for the full review of Infini-T Force: Farewell, Friend!

Team B review Jack Frost (1998): the Michael Keaton film in which he plays a neglectful father and musician who, after dying in a fatal automobile accident, is given one last chance to make things right when his son summons him back to life (using a magical harmonica he gifted him on the eve of his death) as a wisecracking, fun-loving snowman - Oh Joy!

Our series of donation funded listener requests continues with a Blade Licking Thieves' double feature! First, we have a review of Tatsuo Sato and Masaaki Yuasa's short, surreal and slightly twisted 2001 OVA, Cat Soup, based on the manga by the late Nekojiro. And, lastly, we review One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island, the sixth film in the long running shonen action series by Eiichiro Oda, notable for being directed by Mamoru Hosoda (a year before he would go on to achieve monumental success with his next feature, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). Cat Soup Review (5:46) | Twitter Questions (36:08) OP: Baron Omatsuri Review (41:23) | Twitter Questions (1:58:36)

Ultra cool grouch and Hideo Kojima love interest Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) has twenty four hours to rescue the President of the United States from the world’s largest maximum security prison, New York City. Tune in to find out whether Snake is a bad enough dude to save the president as BLT Team B check out John Carpenter’s cult classic Escape from New York (1981).

We're kicking off our series of listener requests with Guillermo Del Toro's love letter to the Kaiju and Mecha genres: Pacific Rim - so, tune in, enter the drift with us, and let's cancel the apocalypse! Review (17:14) Twitter Questions (1:42:05 )

BLT Team B review Color Out of Space, writer-director Richard Stanley's new film adaptation of the classic H.P. Lovecraft horror short story, featuring the latest and greatest advancements in CAGE RAGE™ technology.

Special guest Nate Ming joins the Blade Licking Thieves to talk about one of his all time favorite martial arts films, The Prodigal Son (1981), an action comedy romp featuring the mega talents of Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, Lam Ching-ying, and Frankie Chan. Review (36:08)

We chat about the 3-D anime, centered around 1990s arcade nostalgia, Hi Score Girl. Argue the merits of the Berserk anime before a court of law. Sally forth into the whimsical world of slimes, heroes, and dragons with the launch of Dragon Quest Your Story. And, finally, review a hidden gem from 1985, Rintaro’s tragically underappreciated ninja epic: The Dagger of Kamui.

We spend an hour talking Tezuka's Phoenix, Sega's Yakuza series, and too-horny-for-TheHeat-mecha-show Godannar, among other things, before breaking into our review of director Yoon Jong-bing's Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Game (2012), which chronicles the rise and fall of two South Korean gangsters (Choi Min-Sik and Ha Jung-woo) during the 80's and 90's.

BLT Team B review the 80s slasher cult classic, Maniac Cop, starring always a treat Bruce Campbell and man with a huge face Robert Z'Dar!

Dawn from the Anime Nostalgia Podcast joins us to review Ryuhei Kitamura's break out Japanese action film Versus! Review (39:48) Twitter Questions (2:32:05)

We review the 2006 anime film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time from director Mamoru Hosoda: a delightful coming of age comedy / drama loosely based on a story by Paprika writer Yasutaka TsuiTsui about a teen-aged girl named Makoto who discovers she has the ability to quite literally leap through time. Review (25:45) Twitter Questions (1:27:58)

Daryl Surat, writer for Otaku USA Magazine and host of the Anime World Order Podcast, joins us on this special "regular" episode for a long chat about stuff we've been watching, Chinese action films (and their perpetual mistreatment by western companies), and for a review of Zhang Yimou's utterly majestic wuxia drama, Hero (2002), starring Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, and Donnie Yen. Review (44:45) Twitter Questions (2:40:50)

We ring in the New Year with a review of Satoshi Kon's somewhat overlooked Christmas film, Tokyo Godfathers (2003): an animated comedy about three homeless people on a quest to reunite an abandoned baby with its parents that, through a series of wildly improbable, yet seasonally appropriate, coincidences and several generous sprinklings of movie magic, carries with it the promise of salvation for all. Review (41:05) Twitter Questions (1:50:02)

Once again proving they are a danger to themselves, BLT Team B willingly dive head first into the pit of darkness that is Holiday themed B-Movies and emerge, bloodied and maimed, with a review of arguably the most well-known film of that odious genre: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2.

We review the 2014 fantasy adventure series Rage of Bahamut: Genesis from studio MAPPA and Tiger and Bunny director Keiichi Sato, loosely based on the mobile card game by Japanese developer Cygames. Review (29:56) Twitter Questions (1:38:30)

It's the annual Blade Licking Thieves Halloween episode, so, of course, as seems to have become something of a tradition for the show, that means we're reviewing yet another Takashi Miike film. This time we're watching the joyfully bizarre, genre mashup that's part family drama, part dark comedy, part musical, and many parts absurd: The Happiness of the Katakuris. Enjoy the show! Review (42:49)

In 2008, after a relatively successful stint in Hollywood, John Woo returned to Chinese-language features with Red Cliff Part I & II, a two part epic adapted from arguably the most famous novel in Chinese literature, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Tune in to hear Grant's book report on that 1400 page tome along with our thoughts on this nearly five hour film series.

There's nothing quite like Survive Style 5+. With an unusual narrative of five interweaving stories, off the wall humor, tripped out art direction, and an all around odd sensibility to it, this debut film from commercial and music video director Gen Sekiguchi feels just as fresh and exciting today as it did in 2004 the year of its release. You don't want to spoil this one for yourself -- please go watch the film first, then listen to the review. Enjoy!

He's a loner. A rebel. And so are we...because Blade Licking Thieves is quite possibly the only podcast daring (or stupid) enough to spend nearly thirty five minutes talking about old 1970's Tatsunoko cartoons, wuxia-puppet-shows, Godzilla, and the Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms before completely flipping the script and launching into a review of an american comedy classic like Pee-wee's Big Adventure. But then there's a lot things you don't know about us. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand.

One Piece Film: Strong World, the 10th film in the franchise but the first to feature designs and story ideas from One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, catapults the Straw Hat crew onto a mysterious series of floating islands controlled by Shiki, a vicious pirate hailing from the era of Gol D. Roger with plans to destroy all of East Blue. Review (24:25) Twitter Questions (1:41:48)

We review Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, an anime continuation of the HIGHLANDER saga. The movie follows immortal Colin MacLeod’s quest for revenge in the future, and is directed by veteran director Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Ninja Scroll). Intro (00:00) Review (35:57) Twitter Questions (1:33:45)

The regular crew has been too busy to record a "normal" episode, but thankfully BLT Team B are here to fill the void with a review of the little known or remembered movie Dreamscape about a psychic dream walker, played by Dennis Quaid, who, in order to prevent nuclear Armageddon, must battle a giant snake man inside the dreams of the President of the United States - really, that's what happens.

Crazy. It's our 50th episode. A big thanks goes out to all of our listeners new and old. Truly. We've been thrilled by all of your feedback, comments, and responses -- please keep them coming -- but, more than that, knowing that quite a few of you actually track down and watch the weird, obscure, and sometimes crazy films we discuss here on the show before tuning in to each episode, frankly, means the world to us. Thank you. Anyways. Grant wanted to do something big for our 50th episode, and, well, Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA was and is a big freakin' deal. For a certain generation of anime fans, this film was the anime equivalent of the Empire Strikes Back, which is to say, it blew our minds and quickly achieved legendary status. Honestly, there's no way our episode about it can measure up, but that didn't stop us from rambling on and on about the film for well over two hours anyways. Hope you enjoy the show! Intro (00:00) Review (28:51) Twitter Questions (2:18:14)

The romance genre goes art house in Chungking Express, Wong Kar Wai's two part riff on loneliness, yearning, and the comforts of late night take-out, featuring the talented Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Brigette Lin, and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Timestamps: Intro + News (00:00) Review (30:41) Twitter Questions (1:47:59)