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Summary: Check the original aspect ratio nefore you complain...
Review: I'm sick of all the people that complain "Why isn't it in letterbox/widescreen?!! I can't believe they butchered it and put it in fullscreen!" etc. It was shot in 1.33:1 ratio, and its displayed here in its original ratio, so before you complain about it and give them grief, know what you're talking about. All it takes is a little google search or god forbid a look at the box where it says "original aspect ratio..." ...and I never thought that sitting through 3+ hours of a 50s Japanese film would fly by faster than most of the 1.5 hour movies I see today. I was never board for a second. But I can see how it may not be some people's thing. Since Criterion are expensive, just give it a rent first.
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Summary: IN MY OPINION THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE
Review: I've loved this movie since the first time i saw it. It has everything you could possibly want in a movie - Action, great acting, Romance, and a cast of characters that you will be absolutely captivated with. The directors excellent choices of landscapes and beautiful scenery as well as his excellent sense of timing and mood in weather. You can't go wrong with this movie. It is the greatest movie ever made in IMHO. If you are a movie collector you MUST have this movie
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Summary: I don't get Kurosawa
Review: As a fan of Japanese videogames, Japanese authors, Japanese animation, Japanese history and the Japanese aesthetic in general, I guess I'm supposed to think this film is the holy grail. Personally, though, I think Kurosawa is overrated; that he's just another reasonably talented director, nothing emblamatic of Japan or modern cinema. First of all, this movie is really long. Before the seven samurai can actually fight the bandits, the villagers have to spend about an hour tracking them down, then they spend another hour or so preparing the village for the attack, and then you have a series of battles, each one seeming to be the last but in each case disappointing. Second, while many of the characters are interesting (especially the wise samurai and the renegade peasant-samurai), many of them aren't especially well-defined, and those who are don't get much significant development beyond their initial personas, especially considering that it's such a _long movie_.The peasants are even more uninteresting, and it's difficult to care about their plight. Kurosawa's tenative social message, summed up by the renegade samurai - 'Peasants aren't saints...but who made them that way? You samurai!' is interesting, but not so much to justify such an INCREDIBLY LONG FILM. The acting in general, though, is good, as is the cinematography. I don't exactly dislike it, but I really wish people would stop mentioning it whenever I bring up my interest in Japan. For Kurosawa films, 'Yojimbo' is better, and for films in general, Tarantino and Takashi Miike both have it over Kurosawa.
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Summary: WOOT
Review: this movie is amazing! pure genious! there is a playstaton 2 game out, as a tribute to this movie called SEVEN SAMURAI 20XX (hmm odd name hey?) well the game is a hack and slash, but its amazing too, it allmost exactly follows the story of the movie. and kambei is in the game too!!!
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Summary: The Greatest Chambara Ever Created
Review: Seven Samurai is one of the greatest action films ever made. a group of seven samurai are hired by a village of famers to take care of some bandits that are terrorizing them, but the samurai and the farmers will have to overcome their differences and unite before they can get the job done.
takashi shimura is great as the aging samurai who's seen it all. toshiro mifune is also terrific as the clumsy samurai who is torn between the farmers and the samurai. this is supposedly the first movie that a group is hired to take on a mission. if that is true then that is quite an accomplishment in filmmaking history with all the movies these days with a similar plot to this. you really need to buy this dvd, a truly great film
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Summary: A Great film for Criterion Collection
Review: This is one of the most (if not the most) famous Japanese film of all time. It is also Kurosawa's most popular film. This film has often been imitated but never surpassed. It's plot is of villagers who are repeatedly robbed by wandering bandits. In an act of despiration the village elder recalls that when he was a child that people hired samurai to protect their villages. So the village does the same for when the bandits return. The fight scenes are excellently choreographed and the cimematography has been imitated by others an uncountable number of times. An interesding note that that is the first US edition where the Japanese language curse-words are translated in the subtitles. Something too risque for audiences at the time of release. I don't know why so many people are turned off by foreign language films. Internationally US films are popular because English is taught in all the schools. Being American myself, I think it should only be fair that we return the favor to our international film audience and watch their films also. We have missed quite a lot.
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Summary: Relevant and awesome masterpiece
Review: Unlike many of today's techo-violence shockers, this film speaks to us from a simpler time: a primer on community defence and the social impact of character, what it means, on a personal level to be a soldier, and human. No one is more human, more vulnerable, and in the end, a finer warrior, than Mifune's character, brilliantly played. The acting is uniformally great. All the samurai depicted still inspire, and the realism, as always with Kurosawa, moves us. A terrific value.
Rating:
Summary: Seven Samurai
Review: Truly one of the greatest movies ever made. Akira Kurosawa has created a masterpiece which develops its characters with so much depth that anybody can connect with any one of them. Unlike many of the horrible movies released nowadays, this movie uses only the natural elements available and makes for classic battle sequences that will never be forgotten. If you enjoy good movies then watching Seven Samurai would be a great choice. Anybody who gives this movie 1 star shouldn't be taken seriously, this movie deserves far more stars than one could give it.
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Summary: Absolute Classics
Review: The "Seven Samurai" is probably the best black and white film by Akira Kurosawa. Through this movie, the audience can learn a lot about ancient Japan, an example would be the caste system of traditional Japan. However, I believe the best facet of this movie is the values and beliefs of the Samuri. Great values such as honor, dignity, friendship and cooperation is presented. Too bad that I can't rate this movie as a 6 star. :)
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Summary: One of the most boring movies ever!
Review: I guess I should preface this by saying that I'm really not an Asian-movie person. I just don't "get" them, and I'm sure it's a cultural thing. "Tampopo," "Crouching Tiger," "In the Realm of the Senses" and now this one -- I couldn't sit through any of them. Unless you are a martial arts or samurai fanatic, or a big lover of Japanese culture and history, I would say definitely skip this -- especially if you are female. I think this is one of those "Emperor's New Movies" that we're all supposed to like, and no one will admit to NOT liking it for fear of being thought ignorant!
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