-
-
-
-
-
-
Newest Comments
on Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024) ReviewFinally got around to watching this. The first third of the film is fantastic…
on The Furious (2026) ReviewJust saw this. John Wick, Donnie Yen, Bren Foster, Tony Jaa, Scott Adkins, Ik…
on 14 Blades (2010) ReviewMy favourite Daniel Lee movie is Moonlight Express by quite a wide margin. Ma…
on FIGHTING BLACK KINGS! Watch the Trailer for ‘Paper Made’ featuring Michael Jai White, Taimak and Walter E. JonesCinema!!!!!
on You gotta let your WANG hang! Steve Wang’s cult classic ‘Guyver 2: Dark Hero’ arriving on Blu-ray later this yearYes! Look at the features! I’m so happy, y’all. Can’t wait for this thing.
on THE FURIOUS PART II? A sequel to ‘The Furious’ already in the works as producer promises a bigger follow upCecep Arif Rahman Wu Jing Masanori Mimoto Iko Uwais Jet Li Jiang Luxia Andy L…
on 14 Blades (2010) ReviewCalling 14 Blades a remake of Secret Serviceof the Imperial Court is quite th…
on ‘Blades of the Guardians’ hits digital on June 30 and arrives on physical media on August 25 with a new overly long titleFilms are subjective. The person watching gets to decide if they are good or…
on FIGHTING BLACK KINGS! Watch the Trailer for ‘Paper Made’ featuring Michael Jai White, Taimak and Walter E. JonesI can’t to watch this. I am already sold on it.
on THE FURIOUS PART II? A sequel to ‘The Furious’ already in the works as producer promises a bigger follow up"strong $19.6 million" Compared to the more than 100M$ made by City of darkne…
on Operation Hadal (2025) ReviewI'm inclined to agree with you: I had the same thought, that the audience for…
on Hop right to it! New Bruce Lee doc, ‘Mr. Vampire’ reboot and more arriving from veteran Hong Kong producer Bey LoganMr. Bey Logan, It's great to see you posting here on City on Fire. As a longt…
on Broken Rhythm: Bruce Lee’s Game of Death (2026) ReviewLet's you make a movie my friend. What do you contribute to society?
on Broken Rhythm: Bruce Lee’s Game of Death (2026) ReviewGlad it looks good. When do we can expect to see it digitally? Or order it on…
on Broken Rhythm: Bruce Lee’s Game of Death (2026) ReviewJonathan Hillburn huh? Ok chaps. If you know you know.
on Broken Rhythm: Bruce Lee’s Game of Death (2026) ReviewBruce Lee documentaries are a dime a dozen. pass.
Author Archives: Kelly Warner
Lake of Dracula (1971) Review
Director: Michio Yamamoto Writer: Ei Ogawa, Masaru Takesue Cast: Midori Fujita, Sanae Emi, Choei Takahashi, Shin Kishida, Tadao Futami, Mika Katsuragi, Setsuko Kawaguchi, Tatsuo Matsushita, Yasuzo Ogawa, Haruo Suzuki Running Time: 81 min. By Kyle Warner In Vampire Doll, the first film of Michio Yamamoto’s Bloodthirsty Trilogy, the director made a vampire movie that wasn’t much of a vampire movie. The Vampire Doll is this strange, dreamlike tale of devotion to … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Michio Yamamoto
Vampire Doll, The | aka Legacy of Dracula (1970) Review
AKA: Night of the Vampire Director: Michio Yamamoto Writer: Ei Ogawa, Hiroshi Nagano Cast: Yukiko Kobayashi, Yoko Minazake, Atsuo Nakamura, Kayo Matsuo, Akira Nakao, Jun Usami Running Time: 71 min. By Kyle Warner Vampires don’t have a long history in Japanese cinema. Though Japan does import Dracula and vampire tales from overseas, the ol’ bloodsuckers just don’t have much of a connection to Japanese culture and have never secured that … Continue reading
Toho axes ‘Shin Godzilla 2’ in favor of Kaiju cinematic universe
Sometimes it’s easy to forget, what with all the superheroes flying about, that kaiju are having a moment of resurgence right now, with Godzilla in particular enjoying a new period of fan appreciation. 2014’s Hollywood Godzilla was a box office smash and helped convince Toho to revive the monster in its native Japan, resulting in the highly successful Shin Godzilla in 2016. Since then we’ve had the 2014 Godzilla enter … Continue reading
Posted in News
Man with a Shotgun, The (1961) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Hideaki Nitani, Izumi Ashikawa, Yuji Kodaka, Yoko Minamida, Akio Tanaka, Eiji Go, Keisuke Noro, Asao Sano, Jun Hamamura Running Time: 84 min. By Kelly Warner Nikkatsu was always fond of mixing genre tropes from American movies into their films (sometimes they admitted it was less a case of influence and more a copy and paste job). Usually we think of American gangster films as the main … Continue reading
Tokyo Knights (1961) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Koji Wada, Mayumi Shimizu, Yoko Minamida, Nobuo Kaneko, Yoshiko Nezu, Shoichi, Ozawa George, Luiker Naomi, Ozawa Moto, Matsuyama Hiroshi, Kamayatsu Yasuhiro, Kameyama Zenpei, Saga Hiroshi Running Time: 87 min. By Kelly Warner Seijun Suzuki was a contract studio director for Nikkatsu. That meant that he made the films they told him to, with little time for pre-production, rewrites, or creative decision making. 1961 alone saw the … Continue reading
Smashing the 0-Line (1960) Review
AKA: Secret Zero Zone Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Hiroyuki Nagato, Yuji Kodaka,Sanae Nakahara, Mayumi Shimizu, Tomo’o Nagai, Kaku Takashina, Emiko Azuma, Shoichi Ozawa, Ryohei Uchida, Keisuke Noro Running Time: 83 min. By Kelly Warner One of my favorite film heroes is the investigative journalist. Seekers of truth armed only with pen and notepad, overturning stones to reveal the misdeeds of powerful men who thought justice couldn’t touch them. Films about … Continue reading
Downrange (2017) Review
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura Cast: Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson, Rod Hernandez, Anthony Kirlew, Alexa Yeames, Jason Tobias, Aion Boyd, Eric Matuschek, Ikumi Yoshimatsu Running Time: 90 min. By Kelly Warner Ryuhei Kitamura is a director I keep tabs on because he interests me. He has this weird balancing act where he teeters back and forth between almost greatness and absolute garbage – sometimes, in his most well-known films, you get a … Continue reading
Sleeping Beast Within, The (1960) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Writer: Ichiro Ikeda Cast: Hiroyuki Nagato, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Shinsuke Ashida, Kinzo Shin, Kojiro Kusanagi, Keisuke Noro, Hisano Yamaoka, Ko Nishimura, Shoichi Ozawa Running Time: 85 min. By Kelly Warner After two years away on business, Mr. Ueki returns home on a ship from Hong Kong to meet his family at the Yokohama pier. None of his business partners are there to meet him and the family thinks this suspicious. After … Continue reading
Vampire Clay (2017) Review
Director: Soichi Umezawa Producer: Yoshihiro Nishimura Cast: Ena Fujita, Asuka Kurosawa, Yuyu Makihara, Ryo Shinoda, Momoka Sugimoto Running Time: 80 min. By Kyle Warner Horror fans like to convince themselves that they’ve seen it all. ‘That new horror film everyone loves is actually a more mainstream take on a similar horror movie made 20 years ago that nobody paid attention to at the time, don’tchaknow?’ But then something like Vampire Clay … Continue reading
Eight Hours of Terror (1957) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Nobuo Kaneko, Harue Tone, Sumiko Minami, Kenjiro Uemura, Minako Katsuki, Kan Yanagiya, Hiroshi Kondo, Hideaki Nitani, Masao Oda, Taizo Fukami, Ryutaro Nagai, Fumiko Fukuda, Keiko Shima, Eiko Misuzu Running Time: 78 min. By Kelly Warner Now this is more like it. I enjoyed watching Seijun Rising, the first Arrow Video box set showcasing five of Seijun Suzuki’s earlier films. As a big fan of the director, … Continue reading
Born Under Crossed Stars (1965) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Ken Yamauchi, Yumiko Nogawa, Masako Izumi, Masao Mishima, Ruriko Ito, Chikako Miyagi, Michio Hino, Michi Azuma, Yoko Benisawa, Keisuke Noro Running Time: 98 min. By Kelly Warner Filmed just two years later, featuring the same leading man in Ken Yamauchi, and based on a book by the same author in Toko Kon, Born Under Crossed Stars is something of a spiritual sequel to the angst-driven youth … Continue reading
Incorrigible, The | aka The Bastard (1963) Review
AKA: The Young Rebel Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Ken Yamauchi, Masako Izumi, Midori Tashiro, Chiharu Kuri, Emiko Azuma, Mieko Takamine Running Time: 95 min. By Kelly Warner The Taisho era, named after Emperor Taisho, was a period in Japan sandwiched between the rapid modernization of the Meiji period and the ultimate push to war of the Showa era. Director Seijun Suzuki was born in the final years of the Taisho period but … Continue reading
Gintama (2017) Review
Director: Yuichi Fukuda Cast: Shun Oguri, Masaki Suda, Kanna Hashimoto, Masaki Okada, Masami Nagasawa, Tsuyoshi Muro, Kankuro Nakamura, Yuya Yagira, Ryo Yoshizawa Running Time: 130 min. By Kelly Warner It’s the age of the comic book movie in Hollywood. And though you can argue that there is an oversaturation of such films at the theatres, I don’t really think there’s much debate that the filmmakers have gotten better at making … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Hirofumi Arai, Masaki Okada, Shun Oguri, Takayuki Yamada, Yuichi Fukuda, Yuya Yagira
Teenage Yakuza (1962) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Tamio Kawaji, Noriko Matsumoto, Keiko Sugiyama, Kayo Matsuo, Asao Sano, Midori Tashiro, Kotoe Hatsui, Tatsuya Fuji, Toshio Sugiyama, Kaku Takashina Running Time: 72 min. By Kelly Warner Listen kids, I know that your teenage years can be rough. Your body is um, changing. You have, uh, urges. And sometimes your emotions are out of control. But you’re a good kid. You know the difference between right … Continue reading
Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass, The (1961) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Koji Wada, Mayumi Shimizu, Shin Morikawa, Arihiro Fujimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Kotoe Hatsui Running Time: 85 min. By Kelly Warner Charming and sweet aren’t phrases I’d usually use to describe a Seijun Suzuki film, but The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass is not the typical Seijun Suzuki film. Occasionally reminiscent of the Yasujiro Ozu film Floating Weeds, The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass (from here on … Continue reading
Be the 1st to Comment