Recommendations?

When you say a handful I'm guessing that you've seen:
The Last Samurai
Twilight Samurai
Ringu (he's in the others of this series, but small roles)

As a huge fan, it's almost impossible for me to pick favorites. I even watch his films that do not have English subtitles, many of those I have purchased from sources such as cdjapan.com. One of those favs is Hero Interview. I also enjoyed Kaito Ruby. In both of these films he shows his comedic talents.
D-Zaka was awesome but certainly not funny and it has a very adult theme.

You can rent The White Countess, The Promise, and occasionally some of his early films like Samurai Resurrection. Those early ones are not my favorite. Royal Warriors (with Michelle Yeoh) was pretty entertaining and can be rented from online services such as Netflix.

I really enjoyed both The White Countess and The Promise (just remember this is best described as a fairy tale, lots of people didn't like this film)

Occasionally you can find one of his tv series (doramas) on ebay. They were all GREAT - Unmarried Family, Story of Love and High School Teacher. Unmarried Family can still be purchased (with Chinese subtitles) on sites like cdjapan and hkflicks. Rarely will you find these with English subtitles. But they are so good that it doesn't seem to matter.

If you have a question about a particular film, just post a question and I'll be happy to answer.

Wow! Thanks for replying :)
I've actually seen "Hero Interview" and "The Promise" as well. Really enjoyed "Hero Interview"; thought "The Promise" was only ok. I liked a lot of actors in that movie, so I just thought it was disappointing in its execution. But he did a really good job speaking Mandarin, though, lol. His Mandarin was way better than Nick Tse's.

Can't wait to check out some of those doramas you recommended. THANK YOU!

I'm happy to hear that his Mandarin was good. He worked VERY hard. So many people were critical of his abilities. The Promise is one of those love or hate films I guess.

Also, you might want to check out 'Round about Midnight, Aegis (not my fav), and First Love. I rather liked Lovers Lost as well. These all have subtitles.

I don't know if this was one of his best, but I still remember this movie. It was funny and showed him at his most graceful. FYI Kung fu/ninja aficionados hold this in very high regard.

Ninja in the Dragon's Den

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_XjCS69C-T4



Griffin


Evolution takes no prisoners.

I think he's awesome. I've seen Twilight Samurai, The Last Samurai, The While Countess and unfortunately Onmyoji. But he still looked hot.

I'll be using those recommendations too. Thanks.

Babel is this year's Crash is proof that there is no GOD

SHOGUN'S NINJA - this was one of the very first martial arts movie I've seen as a kid (it was already an old movie by then), but that early scene where he fights all the guards got me interested in taking up fighting and martial arts. Great classic...never knew he still continues to act. And I sure as hell didn't know that he was the general in "The Promise" until seeing it on here. Damm...