Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 film Le Samourai remains one of the most influential genre movies of all time thanks to icy, existential cool. The French riff on gangster cinema has inspired filmmakers as diverse as Walter Hill (The Driver) and Johnnie To (Vengeance). Now it looks like legendary Hong Kong director John Woo is planning to tip his hat to Melville’s film – even moreso than he did in The Killer … Continue reading →

THE MOVIE: After a lengthy detour into the world of family movies, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is getting back to doing what he does best: action movies. Much fuss has been made over G.I. Joe: Retaliation‘s delay to March 2013, but The Rock has another movie to tide us over in the meantime. Snitch is a gritty thriller from Summit Entertainment, featuring The Rock as a concerned father out to clear … Continue reading →

The last week of January brings slim pickings for Asian film fans, but let’s soldier on anyway. If you’re interested in any of the following titles, you can support the site by ordering through our affiliate. We appreciate it! Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 1/29/13: ASIAN CINEMA Bangkok Assassins (DVD) – Lionsgate presents this 2011 Thai action film about four young men who were trained … Continue reading →

Hideo Nakata is back! Sure, he never really went away, but the Ringu director’s career has taken slight a detour the past few years. Nakata made the jump to Hollywood by directing sequel to The Ring, which was not nearly as well received as the original American remake. In 2008, Nakata directed a spin-off of the live-action Death Note series titled Death Note L: Change the World. 2010 gave us Chatroom, … Continue reading →

Jang Joon-hwan made a name for himself  back in 2003 with his directorial debut Save the Green Planet. Part black comedy, part science-fiction, the movie was instantly held up as one of the best Korean films of all time, only slightly overshadowed by that same year’s Oldboy. Rather than get straight to work on a follow-up, Jang Joon-hawn decided to all but disappear from the movie industry. Ten years later, Joon-hawn is … Continue reading →

This week is jam-packed with Asian film releases. So let’s get started! If you’re interested in any of these titles, you can support the site by ordering through our affiliate. We appreciate it! Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 1/22/13: ASIAN CINEMA Tai Chi Zero (Blu-ray/DVD) – actor-turned-director Stephen Fung launches a new kind of action hero with this highly anticipated 2012 steampunk martial arts film … Continue reading →

Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau is presiding over the Jury at the 2012 Asian Film Awards. Today the jury announced the nominees, which include a number of genre films from all over Asia. Says Andy Lau: “Asian films are spreading across the globe because of their diversity and innovation.” Nominees for Best Picture include Johnnie To’s “Drug War,” starring Louis Koo; Takeshi Kitano’s sequel to his violent Yakuza thriller “Outrage,” … Continue reading →

A Jackie Chan Double Feature…a Bruce Lee documentary…and low-budget kung fu. It’s a good week to be a fan of Asian cinema! If you’re interested in any of the following titles, you can support the site by ordering through our affiliate. We appreciate it! Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 1/15/13: ASIAN CINEMA Jackie Chan: Crime Story/The Protector (Blu-ray/DVD) – it’s a Jackie Chan Double Feature … Continue reading →

I don’t know about you but here at Cityonfire.com we love a good disaster movie. From The Towering Inferno to The Poseidon Adventure, there’s nothing like seeing a bevy of celebrities forced to fight against the elements. I mean, that has to be the reason we paid good money to see 2012 in theaters, right? Well, the booming Korean film industry is taking another stab at the genre, no doubt … Continue reading →

If The Raid taught us anything, it’s that the Indonesian martial art Silat looks amazing on camera and you don’t need a Hollywood-size budget to make a great action film. Twitch reports on a gritty new Malaysian film that looks to be taking these lessons to heart. Plot and cast details are scarce, but the title roughly translates to One on One. You won’t want to miss the first trailer. The … Continue reading →

A New Year means New Releases, so let’s get cracking! There are plenty of films coming out this week on Blu-ray and DVD. If you’re interested in any of the following titles, you can support the site by ordering through our affiliate. We appreciate it! Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 1/08/13: ASIAN CINEMA The Assassins (Blu-ray/DVD) – in this 2012 Chinese-language historical epic, Chow Yun Fat … Continue reading →

MOVIE: AICN has posted the first image from Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, a dark and action-packed take on the classic fairy tale. The film stars Jeremy Renner (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) as the titular brother and sister duo, who are now all grown up and hunting witches as a daytime job. Director Wirkola is most famous for his Norwegian zombie movie … Continue reading →