In 1998 Marco Pantani, the most flamboyant and popular cyclist of his era, won both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, a titanic feat of physical and mental endurance that no rider has repeated since. He was a hero to millions, the saviour of professional cycling following the doping scandals which threatened to destroy the sport. However, less than six years later, aged just 34, he died alone, in a cheap Italian hotel room.

This film is not just about cycling but an emotional expl find out more...

Princess Mononoke was raised by wolves and sounds an awful lot like Baz Luhrmann's ill-fated Juliet. Critically acclaimed, this is one of the biggest manga films of recent years. When a young warrior sets out to find the cure to an illness that is threatening his life he comes across a host of characters that must all fight against gods present in the forests. Mononoke leads the animal gods and the film is clearly an allegory demonstrating the struggle between man and nature through stunning find out more...

A group of idealistic young men, determined to clean up the corruption in their town, are aided by a scruffy, cynical samurai, Sanjuro, who does not at all fit their concept of a noble warrior, but, of course, runs rings round the baddies. Kurosawa's sequel to his Japanese "Western" (Yojimbo), a fast-paced classic of Japanese cinema with a frenetic finale find out more...

Set in remote north-west China at the birth of the Qing Dynasty in the late seventeenth century. A new law has banned martial arts on pain of death, and an army of bounty hunters, led by balding psycho Fire-Wind, targets Martial Village, where rebel lovers Wu and Han have won the friendship of a retired executioner who convinces to seek help from a master swordsmen from distant Mount Heaven. He agrees, sending four of his disciples to assist them, but as they lead the village to a safer place, t find out more...

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A hardened veteran of the American civil war, Captain Nathan Algren is a man who's lost his way. A hero to many, he is haunted by some of the things he has done and when offered the chance to teach the art of modern warfare to a Japan in the grip of modernisation, he sees an opportunity to escape his past. Plunged into a war against the Samurai, Nathan is captured but allowed to live so that the warriors may learn the ways of their new enemy. From here on in it's mutual admiration all round; Nat find out more...

Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George's kidnapped daughter - and ends up on the wrong side of the Yakuza, the notorious Japanese mafia. 

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Kanichiro Yoshimura has escaped a famine in northern Japan and found himself work as a guardian in the Imperial Capital. At first scorned by his fellow Samurai, because his first concern is his starving family rather than his duty, Kanichiro nonetheless excels at his job, a peerless swordsman, he shows no fear in the face of battle, and it is not long before his fellow warriors start to understand the true nature of his honour. When The Last Sword Is Drawn is a sumptuous and epic sweep of the en find out more...