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on ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ star shines bright! Watch the Trailers for the ‘Wicked Priest’ collection arriving on Blu-ray in SeptemberMissing the spin off film, Whipmaster: Ballad of Murder? I could have sworn I…
on THE FURIOUS PART II? A sequel to ‘The Furious’ already in the works as producer promises a bigger follow upIn the mainland chinese cut, the villain who killed his wife in the lionsgate…
on Jackie Chan and Tony Leung Ka Fai return for Round 2! ‘The Shadow’s Edge II’ to begin filming in OctoberI liked the first movie until I hated it for being too overstuffed and that t…
on The Bodyguard (2024) ReviewGreat review, as ever, and really glad you're shining a light on these underr…
on James Lew, martial artist, actor and stuntman in films such as ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ and ‘Timecop’, passes away at 73He will be missed. It was awesome to watch almost any action film, and he’d a…
on WTF? Watch the blood-soaked U.S. Trailer for Joko Anwar’s Indonesian martial arts-horror-comedy ‘Ghost in the Cell’fun flick, tho.
on Heaven and Hell | aka Shaolin Hell Gate (1978) ReviewJust saw Heaven and Hell on youtube, and while it's pretty damn strange in so…
on HEAD’d your way! Jimmy Wang Yu’s kung fu classic ‘Master of the Flying Guillotine’ arrives newly restored on Blu-rayAbout freakin time!
on James Lew, martial artist, actor and stuntman in films such as ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ and ‘Timecop’, passes away at 73The Luke Cage guy paid tribute to him. https://www.instagram.com/p/DcbK2ZExau…
on James Lew, martial artist, actor and stuntman in films such as ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ and ‘Timecop’, passes away at 73James Lew was a very influential person in my life. I first discovered him wh…
on THE FURIOUS PART II? A sequel to ‘The Furious’ already in the works as producer promises a bigger follow upWell almost 4 decades ago, there was this little movie about a cop who fights…
on Anybody seen Richie? Okay, wrong movie. But Steven Seagal’s ‘Above the Law’ is coming to 4K Ultra HD this NovemberNoice. Happy Arrow/Toy Robot are releasing Warner Bros action classics. I'm c…
on THE FURIOUS PART II? A sequel to ‘The Furious’ already in the works as producer promises a bigger follow upWhat would even a part 2 be about, literally every bad guy in the first film…
on HEAD’d your way! Jimmy Wang Yu’s kung fu classic ‘Master of the Flying Guillotine’ arrives newly restored on Blu-rayFrank Djeng talks too fast, and with his accent I find him very hard to liste…
on The Fall of Ako Castle | Blu-ray (Eureka)Is this blu-ray available to purchase anywhere in the U.S. in Region A, Regio…
on FURIOUS director Kenji Tanigaki returns to work on Soi Cheang Pou Soi’s ‘Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In’ sequelRaymond Lam said that filming for the sequel has been officially completed (c…
on Second Life | aka Son of a Punch (2024) ReviewDefinitely a good idea! I'll leave the suggestion with our colleague Zack sin…
on The Bodyguard (2024) Reviewi enjoyed this film.
on Heaven and Hell | aka Shaolin Hell Gate (1978) Reviewi'm glad i'm not the only person that thought Chang Cheh (and possibly others…
Author Archives: JJ Bona
Ninja Assassin (2009) Review
Director: James McTeigue Cast: Rain, Naomie Harris, Ben Miles, Rick Yune, Sho Kosugi, Sung Kang, Randall Duk Kim, Linh Dan Pham, Ill-Young Kim, Yuki Iwamoto, Stephen Marcus Running Time: 99 min. By Mighty Peking Man If any of the following statements apply to you, then chances are, you definitely went through a “ninja phase” in the 1980s: 1. You had a copy of Revenge of the Ninja playing religiously in … Continue reading
Posted in Asian Related, Ninja, Reviews
Tagged James McTeigue, Naomie Harris, Rain, Rick Yune, Sho Kosugi, Sung Kang
Branded to Kill Blu-ray & DVD (Criterion)
RELEASE DATE: December 13, 2011 When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki delivered this brutal, hilarious, and visually inspired masterpiece to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired. Branded to Kill tells the ecstatically bent story of a yakuza assassin (chipmunk-cheeked superstar Joe Shishido) with a fetish for sniffing boiled rice who botches a job and ends up a target himself. This is Suzuki at his most … Continue reading
Tokyo Drifter Blu-ray & DVD (Criterion)
RELEASE DATE: December 13, 2011 In this jazzy gangster film, reformed killer Phoenix Tetsu’s attempt to go straight is squashed when his former cohorts call him back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. This onslaught of stylized violence and trippy colors got director Seijun Suzuki in trouble with Nikkatsu studio heads, who were put off by his anything-goes, in-your-face aesthetic, equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa … Continue reading
Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases
Night Train Murders Blu-ray (Blue Underground)
RELEASE DATE: January 31, 2012 It was released as Second House on the Left, New House on the Left and Torture Train. The ads screamed, “Most movies last less than two hours! This is one of everlasting torment! It remains one of the most graphically fiendish films in exploitation history, the story of two teenage girls traveling through Europe, forced into a nightmare of sexual assault and sadistic violence. Irene … Continue reading
13 aka 13 Tzameti Remake, Russian Roulette, Blu-ray/DVD (Anchor Bay)
RELEASE DATE: November 8, 2011 13 is a remake of the 2005 French film 13 Tzameti. It’s directed and written by Géla Babluani, who directed and wrote the original film. A naive young man assumes a dead man’s identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men. Starring Jason Statham (“Blitz“), Alexander Skarsgard … Continue reading
The Six Million Dollar Man 6-DVD Set: Season 1 (Universal)
RELEASE DATE: November 29, 2011 After an astronaut is practically left in pieces when his aircraft crashes, a secret organization rebuilds him and now he’s a bionic badass with unbelievable powers! This classic TV series has one of the coolest credit/pre-credit sequences ever. It also has a cool character with a cool name (Steve Austin), played by a cool actor with an even cooler name (Lee Majors). Formerly only available … Continue reading
Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams: Archive Collection DVD (Warner)
RELEASE DATE: October 18, 2011 Academy Award-winning director Akira Kurosawa (“The Seven Samurai,” “Ran”), whose cinematic genius has inspired such classic films as “Star Wars” and “The Magnificent Seven,” presents his 28th, and most personal, film. Visually splendid, Kurosawa’s film consists of eight powerful vignettes, one of which features acclaimed director Martin Scorsese as painter Vincent Van Gogh. “Breathtaking… dazzling,” says The New York Times.
The return of Hong Kong action films
In the mid-90s, the Hong Kong film industry ate itself alive. In 1993, it had produced a record 238 films and its doyen director, John Woo, was about to dive, twin guns aflame, through Hollywood’s doors. Six years later, production had crashed to just 40 films a year and not even the local triad gangs could prevent their own films from being pirated: there were bootlegs VCDs on sale everywhere … Continue reading
Posted in News
Shogun Assassin (1980) Review
AKA: Lone Wolf and Cub Director: Kenji Misumi Co-director: Robert Houston Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Akiji Kobayashi, Shin Kishida Running Time: 89 min. By Joe909 Shogun Assassin is one of those films that demands a recounting of its history, before you can actually review it. In 1980, a pair of producers with ties to Roger Corman got hold of the first two films in the Japanese Baby … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Ninja, Reviews
Tagged Kenji Misumi, Tomisaburo Wakayama
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame Blu-ray & DVD (Indomina)
RELEASE DATE: December 13, 2011 Tsui Hark’s (Knock-Off) epic mystery film Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame swept the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Director, Best Actress (Carina Lau), Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Sound Effects, and Best Visual Effects. Nominations include: Best Film, Best Action Cherography (Sammo Hung), Best Original Score (Peter Kam), Best Supporting Actor (Tony Leung, Deng Chao), Best Cinematography … Continue reading
Dragon Dynasty Jet Li 3-Disc Blu-ray Set: Fist of Legend, Legend Fong Sai Yuk & Tai Chi Master (Weinstein)
RELEASE DATE: October 11, 2011 Together for the first time in one complete Blu-ray package: Fist of Legend, Legend of Fong Sai Yuk (first time on Blu-ray), and Tai Chi Master (with Michelle Yeoh). Trailers: Fist of Legend | Legend of Fong Sai Yuk | Tai Chi Master
Dragon Dynasty 2-Disc DVD Set: Legend of the Black Scorpion aka The Banquet & Empress and the Warrior (Weinstein)
RELEASE DATE: October 11, 2011 This set contains: Ching Siu-tung’s Empress and the Warrior starring Donnie Yen, Kelly Chen and Leon Lai; and Feng Xiaogang’s Legend of the Black Scorpion (aka The Banquet), starring Zhang Ziyi, Ge You, Daniel Wu and Zhou Xun. Trailers: Empress and the Warrior | Legend of the Black Scorpion
Boy Wonder DVD (Inception Media)
RELEASE DATE: November 8, 2011 “Robin Begins”? Not quite. But definitely a revenge/vigilante film. I’ve been reading many positive reviews about this indie festival favorite. It seems to be more like a drama than an action flick, but people seem to be talking about how realistic and brutal the fight scenes are. Boy Wonder is Michael Morrissey’s directorial debut. Check out the trailer.
Dragon Dynasty Jet Li 3-Disc DVD Set: Fist of Legend, The Enforcer aka My Father is a Hero & Tai Chi Master (Weinstein)
RELEASE DATE: October 11, 2011 Together for the first time in one complete DVD package: Fist of Legend, The Enforcer (aka My Father is a Hero), and Tai Chi Master (with Michelle Yeoh). Trailers: Fist of Legend | The Enforcer | Tai Chi Master
The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence Trailer
“Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)” director Tom Six has a few words for the British Board of Film Classification, which has banned the sequel to Six’s “Human Centipede” film in the U.K. The BBFC claimed that the movie, about a man who gets “erotically obsessed” with the first film and gets the idea to create his own human centipede, was “sexually violent,” “potentially obscene” and a “real risk” to moviegoers. … Continue reading
Posted in News
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