Recently seen flicks:

"Ran." (1985) Wow. I saw this when it came out on
the big screen and forgot just how good this was. 
The Criterion edition DVD came out in Nov. 2005 and 
it is stunning! This is the story of King Lear, 
transposed to Japan. Instead of a king with three 
daughters, we have a warlord with three sons. Ran 
(or, "Chaos") is more that just a retelling of Shakespeare.
For, through this movie, we see that the delusions leading
to the madness of the warlord (Lord Ichimonji) are the same
as the delusions that lead to war itself. This warlord has more 
backstory than Lear ever had, and a lot of what happens to
him sure looks like payment for bad karma. And the lethal 
character of Lady Kaede gives the film something Lear never 
had: someone like Lady Macbeth.

It's also worth noting that this movie was filmed in a very 
theatrical style. Emotions run high throughout. The actors often 
seem to be playing for a live audience. Further, Kurosawa often 
sets up shots with zoom lenses, framing all the actors in a single 
shot that could go on for minutes without cuts. The scenes become 
like set pieces, and just about anything within a scene can be 
symbolic for something else. And that's art. Look for the scene 
where the warlord walks out alive from a burning castle - this is 
one of the best scenes ever.
 
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"Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." 
Great! Something for everyone here. Cheese! Cheese!
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"Kagemusha." For me, a fantastic Kurosawa movie (1980). It's
about to what extent one person (in this case, a criminal 
pressed into service to impersonate a deceased warlord)
can become another person. The battle scenes are notable
in that you don't see much of the battle at all; you only
see its effect on the warlord's double. Some stylistic
touches from Japanese theatre, too. Some have complained 
about the lead actor's (Tatsuya Nakadai) skills, but I 
don't see it. Whereas "Ran" is a pretty bleak assessment
of the human condition as a whole, "Kagemusha" is more about
a person, one who develops and achieves a sort of redemption.
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"The Falcon and the Snowman," made nearly 20 years ago,
with Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn in a true story of 
two youths who conspire to sell intelligence secrets 
to the Soviets. This film strikes me as very realistic,
in how it depicts spy tradecraft, and how the spies'
personal agendas get the best of them and lead them to their
ultimate fate. It also has a good soundtrack by Pat Metheney 
and Lyle Mays. But the acting is excellent, too. This was 
only the second of Penn's roles I knew, after "Fast Times,"
and I was rather impressed.