Heaven and Earth (aka Ten to Chi to) (1990) – I’ve been listening to this soundtrack for almost thirty years; I finally watched the movie. It’s beautifully shot, with massive 15th-century Japanese armies contending with each other (shot in Canada because there aren’t that many wide open spaces left in Japan). The story… well, it’s a historical epic, and it’s probably fine for people who already know the story and just want to see scenes and battles from it portrayed. For the rest of us, it’s a series of disjointed scenes with narration explaining all the stuff that happens off-screen and why it’s important. And then, because of the nature of history, the protagonist and antagonist finally meet on-screen for a climactic man-to-man battle that stops without a resolution, and the narration states that they each live for decades more but never face each other again. History sometimes doesn’t make for great story structure.
Come and Find Me (2016) – Fairly successful suspense thriller. A millennial web designer’s live-in girlfriend suddenly disappears, and after a year of searching for her, he suddenly picks up on a clue from a mutual friend that she wasn’t what she seemed to be. Refreshingly, as the plot expands to include organized crime and governmental corruption, the protagonist doesn’t become a super badass overnight, but also proves to be a competent individual when he applies his own strengths to the problem. A few too many coincidences to be swallowed smoothly, but overall pretty satisfying.
Ator the Fighting Eagle (1982) – I really thought I had seen this in my teen years, but after nothing seemed familiar, I guess I just misremembered bits and pieces of its sequels, with maybe scenes from different Deathstalker movies mixed in.
As is pretty much expected from a quickie co-written and directed by Joe D’Amato to capitalize on the announcement of Conan the Barbarian to be released that same year, it’s a shoddy and lackluster production, with scenes that go nowhere and cost-cutting all over the place (and a paycheck for Laura Gemser in a small role, natch). The most remarkable part of the story happens early on: Ator (how much Keeffe? MILES O’Keefe!) doesn’t know that he’s actually adopted, but he’s got the reciprocated hots for his sister anyway, and doesn’t find out that they aren’t biological kin until he approaches his step-dad about maybe marrying her anyway. Doubleyou-Tee-Eff in large helpings.