#93: Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013)

The Blade Licking Thieves podcast has hit 100 episodes!  Thanks to all the listeners out there that have taken the ride with us.  Please keep sending us your comments, feedback, and suggestions for new films or shows for us to watch. This being the 100th episode, we thought what better time than now to finally break the glass and at long last tackle a work by Akira Kurosawa, arguably, THE Japanese film maker.  Kurosawa's first film to achieve critical recognition in the West, Rashomon (1950) tells the story of an encounter in a bamboo grove between a bandit (Toshiro Mifune), a samurai (Masayuki Mori), and the samurai's wife (Machiko Kyo) ending with a rape and murder, yet the narrative is fragmentary, as the story is retold multiple times, through various eye witness accounts, often varying and contradictory, forcing the audience to judge "the truth" of the story for ourselves.  Timestamps: [00:00] Intro [24:14] Review - Rashomon (1950) [2:31:35] Twitter Questions

BLT Team B return with a review of the schlocky, horror movie Humanoids from the Deep (1980) in which a small fishing village is laid siege by mutated fish-men intent on rape and murder.

We review Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), from acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, a visually arresting, erotically charged, and boldly operatic retelling of Stoker's classic gothic horror novel that remains just as spellbinding a cinematic vision today as it was upon release. Timestamps: [00:00] Intro + The Human Target, Brave Bang Bravern, Delcious in Dungeon [36:33] Review - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) [2:43:05] Twitter Questions

Tragic space vampires, sabre tooth tigers with laser beams, terminator-esque death machines, enough F-bombs to pop your explosive cyber collar, and more delightful nonsense abounds in Yoshiaki Kawajiri's classic cyber punk OVA:  Cyber City Oedo 808!  Tune in for the full review and your twitter questions! Timestamps: [00:00] Intro + Kaiju No. 8, Fist of the North Star, The Boy and the Heron [48:24] Review - CYBER CITY OEDO 808 [2:25:58] Twitter Questions

We're starting off the new year with a review of Shin Kamen Rider (2023), the third film in Hideaki Anno's Shin series of remakes of classic Tokusatsu franchises.  This latest entry, with a plot heavily inspired by Shotaro Ishinomori's original Kamen Rider manga, finds man turned cyborg Takeshi Hongo (Sosuke Ikematsu), as the titular Kamen Rider, squaring off against the villainous organization SHOCKER and its rogues' gallery of evil animal cyborgs; along for the ride is his beautiful but icy partner Ruriko Midorikawa (Minabi Hanabe) and a mysterious rival Kamen Rider (Tasuku Emoto) whose allegiance is unknown. Timestamps: [00:00] Intro, Baldur's Gate 3, Berserk, The Knick, Mad Max: Furiosa, Onimusha, and Symphogear [27:48] Review - Shin Kamen Rider (2023) [2:17:07] Twitter Questions

A hard boiled yakuza fresh out of prison and a beautiful and mysterious young woman seek out high stakes thrills in the illegal gambling dens of Tokyo in Masahiro Shinoda's film noir Pale Flower (1964). Plus impressions of the anime Hell's Paradise and Onimusha. Timestamps: [00:00] Intro, Hell's Paradise, Onimusha [45:55] Review - Pale Flower (1964)

We review Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto's A Thousand and One Nights (1969), the first film in Mushi Production's Animerama trilogy, billed as the world's first work of "adult animation". We also discuss the news of Cobra creator Buichi Terasawa's passing, Rightstuf's transition to the Crunchy-roll store, the decline of physical media, and Grant's impressions of Netflix's live action One Piece series. Timestamps: [00:00] Intro, RIP Buichi Terasawa, Rightstuf's closure, decline of physical media, and live action One Piece impressions [45:55] Review - A Thousand and One Nights (1969)

Join us as we celebrate Halloween with a review of a little known Golden Harvest cult horror film: The Seventh Curse (1986). Loosely based on the popular Dr. Yuen series of Chinese novels about a globe trotting wealthy doctor, versed in the martial arts, and his confrontations with the supernatural, this highly entertaining adventure film from director Lam Ngai Kai (best known for the infamous Story of Ricky) features a talented cast of Hong Kong stars such as Chin-Sui Ho, Chow Yun-Fat, and Maggie Cheung; however, the real star of the show is arguably the picture's wild, thrill a minute, never ending spectacle, in which truly anything goes -- over the top martial arts and exciting gun play, anxiety inducing stunt work and cool creature effects, and a vast assortment of pulp adventure and horror tropes, from exotic locales, alluring damsels, trashy nudity, and insensitive stereotypes, to deadly blood cults, ancient curses, child sacrifices, and HR Giger inspired monsters -- anything goes so long as it entertains! Timestamps: [00:00] Intro / Discussion - Ragna Crimson, Homer's Die Hard (750 B.C.), Scavengers Reign [26:00] Review - The Seventh Curse (1986)

We review Stephen Chow's 2013 action comedy, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, loosely based on the 16th century Chinese literary classic.  The film stars actor Wen Zhang as the famous Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang, Huang Bo as Sun Wukong, and Shu Qi as the love interest Duan.  Timestamps: [00:00] Intro / Discussion- The Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn, Turn A Gundam, The Grandmaster [48:48] Review - Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013)

Super agents, sleazy soft-core, skateboarding assassins, and one stupendous snake.  BLT Team B are back with a review of director Andy Sidaris' trashy 80's action flick : Hard Ticket to Hawaii(1987), touted by some as "the best B-movie of all time".