Until 2008 my interest in Japanese movies had been centred around Kurosawa, and some Anime. I loved Yojimbo, Seven Samurai and Akira, but for some reason I had not burrowed deeper in to the treasure trove of Japanese film. When my local cinema in Edinburgh, Scotland screened a Japanese cult film season, here was my chance. The season was programmed by Matt Palmer, director of recent Netflix original Calibre, my … Continue reading →

I think it’s fair to say that Japanese cinema was a part of my movie watching experience since childhood. I was a kid who loved dinosaurs and as a result I loved watching dinosaur and monster movies. I didn’t really understand until much later that a sizeable number of these movies were made in other countries, many of them in Japan. They were dubbed and, to be honest, the human … Continue reading →

While it was Jet Li’s breakthrough role in Shaolin Temple that provided me with my first real taste of Asian cinema, my curiosity was piqued enough that I soon found myself exploring the realms beyond the kung fu genre. As a result, after binge watching the Hong Kong cinema classics for over a year, I gradually began consuming cinema from countries like Japan and Korea. My exposure to Japanese cinema … Continue reading →

My childhood in the leafy suburb of Linlithgow, near the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, could not have been more idyllic and beautiful. On Saturdays the family would head through to Edinburgh, a place I remember as a kid being labyrinthine with great Victorian atmosphere, with winding streets that connect up in weird ways. In the evening we would regularly go to my Grandparents house, just outside of the city. My … Continue reading →

By 2002, I’d seen a handful of Hong Kong action movies – mostly John Woo staples like A Better Tomorrow and Miramax’s dubbed Jackie Chan pictures – but it wasn’t until my hand reached for a lonely copy of Tsui Hark’s 2000 gonzo action masterpiece Time & Tide at Blockbuster Video that I truly became a devotee of the genre. To my teenage self, Hark’s surreal blend of audacious camerawork, … Continue reading →

Today I couldn’t tell you whose idea it was to go to Blockbuster and rent a Jackie Chan VHS but I can clearly remember more than one family movie night spent laughing and gasping in shock while watching Operation Condor. Of course, even this innocent memory of a Hong Kong superstar’s attempt at an Indiana Jones movie is somehow wrapped up in Weinstein controversy. For the longest time, pre-internet Kyle … Continue reading →

Over the coming months, myself and other regular contributors here at cityonfire will be weighing in with what movie it was that first got us into Asian cinema. We’ll be breaking it down into 3 regions – Hong Kong/China, Japan, and Korea – in that order, with a month dedicated to each. First out of the gates, as expected, is Hong Kong and China. Most likely the gateway for many … Continue reading →

As fans of kung fu cinema, we can certainly never be accused of having it easy when it comes to the movies we love. Deleted scenes that may or may not exist, alternate endings that are considered lost, and copious amounts of additional footage known to be destroyed are just some of the lamentable realities the genre comes with. However at least with the scenarios described above, we can say … Continue reading →

A large slice of every video shop was once dedicated to shirtless, blood-dripping men, striking clenched poses and displaying great fighting skills. Taking their key from Hong Kong cinema, the films of Jean-Claude Van Damme (perhaps the man who personifies video more than anyone) and the various sub-Van Dammes was a vibrant and varied industry of fighting tournaments programmers, bar room brawls and cops who knew chop-socky. They were born … Continue reading →

For various inexcusable reasons, last year I omitted posting a list of the best movies bore witness to in 2016. Thankfully 12 months on, looking back over my movie viewing habits of 2017, I can safely say there’s definitely been more good than bad. And when it was good, it was really good. So it seems apt to once more pull together a summary of titles I found myself categorizing … Continue reading →