I am Corwood with regard to Kurosawa.

The Hidden Fortress

Oh, I think this is elevated to the rank of greatness just for the fact that it stars Toshiro Mifune in short shorts and knee socks. That's what he wears, the whole movie through, and at no point does anybody at all say, "Dude, where's the flood? Dude, who are you, Daisy Duke?"

Also, there is an awesome duel with twelve-foot pikes.

High and Low is the kidnapping one, right? Interesting to see his take on a police thriller after seeing all his versions of westerns.

at no point does anybody at all say, "Dude, where's the flood? Dude, who are you, Daisy Duke?"

That's because it's fucking Toshiro Mifune!

Indeedy. See also: duel with twelve-foot pikes.

I have to say, I would put Throne of Blood on the first list instead of the second.

I also like Kurowasawa's Dodesukaden which is sort of like the comic book Love and Rockets. Street urchin kids on the loose and getting into scrapes.

Of the Kurosawa I've seen, YOJIMBO is probably my favorite. SEVEN SAMURAI is epic and amazing, but I like the concentrated black humor of the former so much (this may be similar to my preference of TOUCH OF EVIL over KANE).

Heh. Roger Ebert has a new book out titled Your Movie Sucks.

Here's the review that provided the title:

From Roger's review of Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (0 stars): "The movie created a spot of controversy in February 2005. According to a story by Larry Carroll of MTV News, Rob Schneider took offense when Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times listed this year's Best Picture nominees and wrote that they were 'ignored, unloved, and turned down flat by most of the same studios that . . . bankroll hundreds of sequels, including a follow-up to Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, a film that was sadly overlooked at Oscar time because apparently nobody had the foresight to invent a category for Best Running Penis Joke Delivered by a Third-Rate Comic.'

"Schneider retaliated by attacking Goldstein in full-page ads in Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. In an open letter to Goldstein, Schneider wrote: 'Well, Mr. Goldstein, I decided to do some research to find out what awards you have won. I went online and found that you have won nothing. Absolutely nothing. No journalistic awards of any kind. . . . Maybe you didn't win a Pulitzer Prize because they haven't invented a category for Best Third-Rate, Unfunny Pompous Reporter Who's Never Been Acknowledged by His Peers. . . .'

"Schneider was nominated for a 2000 Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor, but lost to Jar-Jar Binks. But Schneider is correct, and Patrick Goldstein has not yet won a Pulitzer Prize. Therefore, Goldstein is not qualified to complain that Columbia financed Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo while passing on the opportunity to participate in Million Dollar Baby, Ray, The Aviator, Sideways, and Finding Neverland. As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks."

I have been appreciating Ebert more and more, and not just from the Deuce Bigalow review. I saw Firestarter for the first time the other night-- couldn't sleep-- and I checked out his review:

FIRESTARTER contains a little girl who can start fires with her mind; her father, whose own ESP causes him to have brain hemorrhages; an Indian child molester who is a CIA killer; a black scientist; a kindly farmer; a government bureaucrat; and a brilliant scientist whose experiments kill 75 percent of his subjects but leave the others with powers beyond the imagination of mortal man. The most astonishing thing in the movie, however, is how boring it is.