Nobody can make you like this stuff if you don't want to. So although there's no doubt that "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi" is the summer's most rousing action picture, it's also hard as nails, bloody ...

For all their considerable charms, the Zatoichi films are the epitome of genre filmmaking at its most formulaic. By contrast, since branching out from TV, director-editor-writer-actor Takeshi Kitano ...

It's not that "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi" lacks gory scenes. When a sightless masseur chops off a gambler's hand, the amputated limb spouts a geyser of blood on par with anything in "Kill Bill." ...

When I was in high school 20-something years ago, I would get up early every Saturday to watch Zatoichi movies on cable. One of Japan’s longest-running film series (seriously, think the Marvel movies ...

A do-gooder blind masseur with a penchant for gambling and steel blades might appear an unlikely cinematic hero. But after he first appeared in the 1962 Japanese film "Zatoichi Monogatari" ("The Tale ...

An updating of the character that dominated Japanese films andtelevision from 1962 to 1989, “The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi”brings with it powerful new tools for special-effects action andhumor, along ...

Japanese director Junji Sakamoto has started shooting Zatoichi The Last, starring SMAP member Shingo Katori in the lead role of the famed blind swordsman, for Japan's Sedic International and Toho ...

Kung Fu is kicking its way onto Blu-ray in a big way September 15 with the release of Hero, Zatoichi, Iron Monkey and The Legend Of Drunken Master on Blu-ray Disc. Zatoichi, Iron Monkey and The Legend ...

The great Bruce Lee twirled his limbs around with such fearsome speed and control that he seemed to be slicing through time itself. His whirling, precision chop kills weren’t just fast — they were ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The blind swordsman Zatoichi is to Japanese cinema what James Bond is to American cinema: an ...