DDR + David Hasselhoff = ??? -- Legend of the Dancing Ninja

Dance Dance Revolution, Kung Fu, David Hasselhoff.

Do I really need to say anything more about this production?

Is The Cup of Tears Already the Third Best Ninja Movie Ever Made?

Gary Shore's two-minute independently produced "trailer" The Cup of Tears has already led to him signing an agreement with Universal to direct a film based upon the trailer. The two-minute trailer combines Tibetan monks, Shaolin looking monks, Samurai, Ninjas, things that look like missiles shot in "bullet time," and space ships shooting at each other. Somehow it manages to do this with almost no similarity to Cowboy Bebop.

Looking at Shore's direction of the action sequences, I am almost tempted to say that this is the third best American made ninja movie ever produced.

The first two?

Ninja Assassin and Revenge of the Ninja

The lack of Sho Kosugi automatically removes Shore's film from the top two.

As for other films in the Top 10 American Produced ninja movies, they include in no particular order The Octogon, You Only Live Twice, American Ninja, The Challenge, and The Hunted.

I don't consider Kill Bill a ninja film. It is too much an amalgam of all that is awesome in Eastern action cinema.

Hulu Recommendation Friday -- Enter the Ninja

The classic Bond film You Only Live Twice, may be the first example of ninjas being featured in mainstream Western cinema, but it was the Sho Kosugi vehicle Enter the Ninja that captured the imagination of a generation. I can still remember sitting in my 7th grade Drama class, having just finished performing a monologue from The Glass Menagerie, as a group of my classmates enacted a sequence from Enter the Dragon.

The instructor wasn't very impressed, but I was and I immediately hunted down the Sho Kosugi film and experienced pure viewing pleasure.

Enter the Dragon follows one of the standard Golan and Globus action storylines. In this case it is the "old army buddy comes to visit an old friend who he served with during some military exchange or another, only to find out that the friend is in trouble with the local (criminal underworld, greedy land grabbing corporation, or both)." It's up to our protagonist to kick ass, take names, kick the asses of the people whose names he took, and save the day. Enter the Ninja adds ninja techniques to our protagonists usual repertoire of skills, which naturally makes him invincible as only a ninja can kill a ninja.

Franco Nero (Django and Camelot), our protagonist, has less than stellar martial arts skills, most of the acting is horrible, and the film suffers from Samurite syndrome. The film often borders on the ridiculous. For example, there is a point when Christopher George is calling out stating, "I want my ninja now!" in a manner that can only be described as extremely homoerotic -- an extremely incongruous moment in the film. Any one of these flaws could have ruined the film for all time, yet none do.

Why?

Sho Kosugi. The moment Sho Kosugi hits the screen, the viewer is in for a treat. Even while covered head to toe in his ninja costume, Sho Kosugi brings charisma and power to the screen. Yes, ninja costumes are inherently cool, but Sho is cool beyond the outfit. He is a joy to watch, which is likely one of the reasons Revenge of the Ninja drops the Samurite aspects of narrative and let's Sho carry the film. Sho Kosugi was the quintessential ninja throughout the 80s, and I cannot wait to see him in the forthcoming Ninja Assassin -- even in a small role.

Out of the Box Games to Release Pirate vs. Pirate Boardgame

Earlier this year, Out of the Box games released the excellent simple strategy game Ninja vs. Ninja. The game featured excellent graphic design and a solid rules set which balances strategy and chance to create a game that is quick to play and entertaining as well.

Historically, a couple of the advantages that video games often have over board games have been their lack of long set up time and the ability to "save" progress in a game without having to either keep detailed journals or leave out hundreds of cardboard chits. The Eurogame movement countered this advantage in that the majority of Eurogames are quick to set up and quick to play. If you only have an hour to spare for playing a few games, the modern Eurogame influenced market has many games available and Ninja vs. Ninja is one of those games.



Later this year, Out of the Box Games will be releasing the natural thematic -- if not mechanical -- sequel to Ninja vs. Ninja with their forthcoming Pirate vs. Pirate. The game, which is a three-player game as opposed to Ninja vs. Ninja which is a two-player game, should be available before the end of the year and I am very much looking forward to the design. Out of the Box has been fairly quiet with regard to what the game itself will look and play like, but if it plays well I'll certainly be hoping they manufacture a Pirate versus Ninja game in the near future.