Author Archives: Paul Bramhall

We’re Nothing at All (2026) Review

There was a time in the late 2000’s when it appeared director Herman Yau had made the shift from Category III shock master to gritty social drama filmmaker, with the likes of 2007’s Whispers and Moans and 2008’s True Women for Sale set in the world of Hong Kong’s less advantaged parts of society. However in retrospect, the subsequent years would reveal Yau to be a creative force who was … Continue reading →

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Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub (2026) Review

It’s been 20 years since the release of director Choi Dong-hoon’s Tazza: The High Rollers in 2006, one of the defining productions of the 2000’s K-Wave that, unlike today, was mainly driven by the countries cinematic output. A TV series adaptation followed in 2008, while the 2010’s delivered 2 sequels (2014’s Tazza: The Hidden Card and 2019’s Tazza: One Eyed Jack), and who can forget 2024’s (definitely not officially related) … Continue reading →

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COF Presents: John Wick & the Dawn of the Joyless Bloodshed Genre

There’s a scene in 2025’s From the World of John Wick: Ballerina in which Ana De Armas, playing the ballerina assassin of the title, is forced to fend off an attack from an axe wielding assailant. It’s a frantic sequence, with De Armas eventually snapping her attacker’s arm, hacking his back to shreds with the axe, and for the pièce de résistance- with his head slumped over a smashed car … Continue reading →

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Ghost in the Cell (2026) Review

There was a time during the 2010’s when Indonesia got tagged with the much bandied about label of action cinemas next big hope. However here in 2026, it’s become increasingly apparent that the hope which has been realised doesn’t belong to action cinema, but rather the Asian horror genre. A genre that Japan and its slew of long black-haired ghosts seemed to dominate in the early 21st century, it’s taken … Continue reading →

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Fish, Fists and Ambergris | aka Chase for Amber (2025) Review

I’m always grateful for those moments when watching a movie leaves me that little bit smarter after the closing credits roll than I was before them. In the case of Vietnam’s Fish, Fists and Ambergris it takes the form of an expanded vocabulary, with the newly acquired knowledge that ambergris refers to “the solid, waxy, and flammable byproduct created in the digestive system of sperm whales” (thanks Google). Also commonly … Continue reading →

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Legend of the White Dragon (2026) Review

"Legend of the White Dragon" Poster

Losing your lead actor before filming has wrapped on a production is never easy, and not taking into consideration the emotional toll, the approaches taken to finishing a production that’s lost its lead over the years have ranged from questionable to admirable. When Bruce Lee died during the filming of Game of Death, Golden Harvest dusted off the footage 5 years later and attempted to complete it with lookalikes (and most … Continue reading →

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Hope (2026) Review

Ten years is a long time to wait for anything, but as a fan of director Na Hong-jin, that patience has finally paid off in 2026 with the release of Hope. Notwithstanding his 2023 short film Faith (made to promote the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra) and foray into producing with the 2021 Korea-Thailand co-production The Medium, the last time Hong-jin sat in the director’s chair for a feature length production was … Continue reading →

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Holiday (2006) Review

"Holiday" Poster

Onscreen text during the final moments of Holiday states “This film is for the victims of the Preventative Custody Policy”. A policy which was only abolished in September 2005, just 4 months before Holiday hit the cinema in January 2006, it was used to unfairly extend prison sentences under the guise that it would prevent the prisoner in question from going back to a life of crime. In reality it … Continue reading →

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Greenhouse (2023) Review

Whether it’s a stereotype or not, there can be a tendency to lump Korean indie features from debut directors together as being rather depressive affairs. Usually gritty character driven dramas centred around those on the bottom rungs of society and their daily struggles, the genre is an understandable go-to, able to be executed on a small to mid-budget while still being able to pack a powerful emotional punch. Director Lee … Continue reading →

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Bodyguard, The (2024) Review

In 2024 director Qin Pengfei seemed to be channelling the work ethic of Chang Cheh at his most productive, cranking out an impressive 6 productions spanning everything from period kung-fu flick, to wuxia styled swordplay, to contemporary actioner. It’s hardly a surprise that in the following year he’d take a break, before returning in 2026 with Wings of Dread, offering up the enticing prospect of Ashton Chen versus Iko Uwais. … Continue reading →

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Second Life | aka Son of a Punch (2024) Review

What do you get when you combine an actress who was around when Bruce Lee was still active, and the actor who played Bruce Lee in 2016’s Birth of the Dragon? The answer is 2024’s Second Life, which offers up a rare starring role for Yuen Qiu, and arguably an equally rare starring role for HK action thespian Philip Ng, here reuniting for the first time since appearing together in … Continue reading →

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The Sin (2024) Review

There are two extremes when it comes to directorial debuts in Korea – on the one end you’ve got the gritty social dramas, tending to focus on those dwelling on the bottom rungs of societies ladder and the struggles of their every day lives. On the other, you’ve got an almost avant garde approach that could best be described as go hard or go home, in which first time filmmakers … Continue reading →

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A Good Man (2014) Review

Was director Keoni Waxman trying to tell us something through the production titles he helmed with Steven Seagal? A kind of DTV version of “blink twice if you need help”? When they first worked together in 2009 it seemed Waxman thought Seagal was A Dangerous Man, however 5 years in he’d changed his mind, indicating in 2014 that Seagal was in fact A Good Man, only for things to turn … Continue reading →

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Curbing Violence (2024) Review

Was 2024 the year the Chinese web movie discovered irony? For a production titled Curbing Violence there are more bottles smashed over heads than is possible to count, bodies are frequently thrown into inanimate objects, and faces regularly subjected to a barrage of punches. Not that I’m complaining. With a scene stealing villainous turn in Black Storm from the same year, here Bao Beier (Journey to the West: Demon Chapter) … Continue reading →

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Black Storm (2024) Review

When China’s now ubiquitous web-movie scene first appeared in the mid-2010’s, it would be a hard sell to believe that such productions would eventually lead to a resurgence of the contemporary setting martial arts movie. Back then they mostly consisted of cheap looking wuxia movies and even cheaper monster flicks, however it was arguably 2021’s Fight Against Evil that made fans of HK style action sit up and take notice. … Continue reading →

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