A couple reviews on some great storytelling

13 Assassins

This is not a story for the squeamish or under 17. The rating is spot on for gore and violence.

Summary: Cult director Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition) delivers a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan’s feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a wartorn future.

Style: With several nods to Akira Kurasawa, 13 Asassins shows the complexity of political/fuedal relationships and the true honor of the warrior. Miike does an incredible job of communicating the different styles of warriors and championing them all as they travel through this story.

Extras: All of the pieces to any Samurai story are all here from the supernatural to the reality of taking a life and the code of Bushido. My personal favorite was Tsuyoshi Ihara and his portrayal of Hirayama – everytime this character was on screen his blade moved like the wind.

Sherlock (BBC)

I started watching this to the acting chops of the future Bilbo, The Hobbit’s Martin Freeman, and he didn’t let me down. This modern update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most favorite of characters is a great rendition. It’s a great collaboration of technology, intrigue and misdirection.

Summary: Co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the new Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as his loyal friend, Doctor John Watson. Rupert Graves plays Inspector Lestrade.
The iconic details from Conan Doyle’s original books remain – they live at the same address of 221b Baker Street, have the same names and, somewhere out there, Moriarty is waiting for them.

Style: This Sherlock admits right out of the gate that he’s a, “high functioning, sociopath” and, like Guy Ritchie’s film from 2009, Dr. Watson is dashing and brace versus bumbling and a fan boy. Mystery stories can take two different roads, the first to show you all the info and then watching the characters move through the story. This style of storytelling fills us with dread because we know what’s coming. However, with this show, we are along for the ride and in a sense standing next to Watson throughout the story. We never get the full picture until the very end and we’re guessing the whole time. It’s really enjoyable.

Extras: There’s great use of typography troughout the show to illustrate the use of phones, texts, notes and to see the wheels turning in Sherlock’s mind. The show is currently streaming on Netflix and each episode, while only 3, are 1.5 hours each.