Movie reviews for the day

Rico says that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Today had some of both.
Finally finishing The Code (originally called Thick as Thieves, apparently) was good; Banderas and Freeman, how could it be bad? (Though it was still about one tricky plot twist too many, but some great sex between Banderas and Radha Mitchell.) Robert Forster was good, too, as ever.

On the other hand, Rico's friend Kelley had shipped down several DVDs of movies he'd acquired.
Rico says he tried to watch them, and failed.
Oh, they worked, all right, but they were awful... Costume dramas out of Japan (Sword of Desperation: "A talented but troubled Edo Period swordsman, Kanemi Sanzawmon. Three years earlier, Kanemi killed a woman, Renko, the corrupt mistress of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. Unexpectedly, Kanemi received a lenient sentence for his crime and is allowed to return to his clan after only one year of imprisonment. Following his return, Kanemi is faced with the death of his wife, Mutsue. Thereafter, Kanemi lives with and cares for his wife's niece, Satoo, who has secret affections for Kanemi and expresses them by helping change his bleak outlook on life. Meanwhile, Kanemi develops his unique "bird-catching" sword technique which he will soon put to test in battle for the first time against the fearsome swordsman, Hayatonosho Obiya") and Korea (War of the Arrows: "Set during the second Manchu invasion of Korea, Nam Yi, the best archer in Korea, goes up against the Qing Dynasty to save his younger sister Ja In, who was dragged away by Manchurians"), they were pretty, but contained all the terrible plots, characterizations, and (worst of all) dialog that the wily Oriental can devise...

However, Rico was saved by the inclusion of Samurai Assassin, starring the inestimal Toshiro Mifune: "17 February to 3 March 1860, inside Edo castle. A group of assassins wait by the Sakurada Gate to kill the lord of the House of Ii, a powerful man in the Tokugawa government, which has ruled Japan for three hundred years. They suspect a traitor in their midst, and their suspicions fall on Niiro, an impoverished ronin who dreams of samurai status, and Kurihara (played by Mifune), an aristocratic samurai who befriends Niiro, who longs to identify his father, knowing he is a high-ranking official who will disclose himself only if Niiro achieves samurai status. With American ships in Japan's harbors, cynicism among the assassins, and change in the air, Niiro resolves to reach ends that may prove ephemeral."