The Last Samurai

This week we're back in Cruise control as we follow Tom to a mystical faraway land of blood and honour. It's 2003's The Last Samurai, directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada, Timothy Spall, Billy Connolly, Koyuki, William Atherton, Scott Wilson and Masato Harada. The movie's conception of the dawn of the Meiji Restoration is bafflingly nonsensical, but what it gets wrong about Japan in 1876 can be forgiven for what it gets right about America in 2003. It's a sweeping war epic from the director of Glory, starring Tom Cruise at the height of his leading man swagger, and a supporting cast that notably launched the North American careers of several Japanese treasures of the silver screen. Meanwhile at the theatre, Hayley hit up the re-release of Ex Machina while J Mo caught up with Love Lies Bleeding. Other works discussed in this episode include Blow Out, Civil War, Godzilla vs Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Godzilla Minus One, Children of Men, The Good Shepherd, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Batman Begins, Inception, Gladiator, Troy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Gossip, White Noise, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The Mummy, Hot Rod, The Walking Dead, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Tropic Thunder, Days of Thunder, Valkyrie, Vanilla Sky, Eyes Wide Shut, and Minority Report among others. We will be back next week to celebrate the release of Alex Garland's Civil War by tracing it all the way back to the last American civil war, as we check in with returning favourite Heath Ledger and returning gremlin Mel Gibson in 2000's The Patriot -- a movie that sadly just like The Last Samurai is not currently available to stream in Canada. Oh well. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!