Category Archives: All

Harbin (2024) Review

Director: Woo Min-Ho Cast: Hyun-Bin, Park Jeong-Min, Jo Woo-Jin, Jeon Yeo-Bin, Lee Dong-Wook, Park Hoon, Yoo Jae-Myung, Lily Franky, Kim Ji-Oh, Lee Tae-Hyeong, Ahn Se-Ho Running Time: 114 min.  By Paul Bramhall There’s been no shortage of action tinged spy thrillers set during Japan’s colonisation of Korea in the early 20th century, with productions like Assassination, The Age of Shadows, and Phantom being superlative examples of the genre, but few … Continue reading

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Prosecutor, The (2024) Review

Director: Donnie Yen Co-directror: Ho Pong Mak Cast: Donnie Yen, Julian Cheung, Shirley Chan, Kent Cheng, Michael Hui, Ray Lui, Mark Cheng, Kang Yu, Pak Hon Chu, Adam Pak, Kong Lau, Liza Wang Running Time: 118 min.  By Paul Bramhall Is it just me or is Donnie Yen making a bit of a niche for himself riffing on Yuen Biao’s 1980’s era? During the 2010’s we got a 2-part remake … Continue reading

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Lucky Seven | aka 7 Ninja Kids (1986) Review

Director: Chao Chen-Kuo Cast: Chiao Pei, Yang Wei-De, Lin Tung-An, Wang Chi-Cheng, Cheng Wei-Pai, Chang Chai-Ming, Hsu Yu-Ta, Hsiao Hung-Me, Eugene Thomas, Chang Yi-Teng Running Time: 90 min. By Paul Bramhall Spend long enough in the niche genre that is kung-fu cinema, and you’ll eventually find yourself exploring some of the more obscure corners of what’s on offer. One such corner is that of the Taiwanese kids kung-fu movie, a … Continue reading

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Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) Review

Director: Rob Cohen Cast: Jason Scott Lee, Lauren Holly, Nancy Kwan, Michael Learned, Lim Kay-tong, Ric Young, Luoyong Wang, John Cheung, Van Williams, Shannon Lee Running Time: 120 min.  By Ian Whittle This is a film I enjoy a lot more unreservedly now than I did as a teen. Back then, I knew all the ins and outs of Bruce’s life (or at least, I thought I did, Matthew Polly’s … Continue reading

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Legend, A (2024) Review

Director: Stanley Tong Cast: Jackie Chan, Bextiyar Gülnezer, Yixing Zhang, Aarif Lee Zhi-ting, Chen Li, Max Huang, Kim Hee-seon, Shawn Dou Yecheng Zheng, Ray Lui Leung Wai Running Time: 130 min.  By Paul Bramhall Back in 2021 I wrote a retrospective on Jackie Chan and Stanley Tong called ‘Giving the People What They Want’, framed from the perspective of how their collaborations as director and star always appealed to the … Continue reading

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Black Cat II: The Assassination of Boris Yeltsin (1992) Review

"Black Cat II" Theatrical Poster

Director: Stephen Shin Cast: Jade Leung, Robin Shou, Zoltan Buday, Bob Wilde, Alexander Skorokhod, Tatiana Chekhova, Mike Miller, Jack Wong Wai-Leung, Wan Seung-Lam  Running Time: 90 min.  By Paul Bramhall Despite Black Cat’s middling box office results, it wasn’t enough to deter D&B Films from continuing to push Jade Leung as a bankable action lead for the 1990’s, and just a year later we’d get a sequel in the form … Continue reading

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Beheaded 1000, The (1993) Review

AKA: The Executioner Director: Ting Shan-Hsi Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, Chin Siu-Ho, Joey Wong Cho-Yin, Monica Chan Fat-Yung, Wu Ma, Pauline Wong Siu-Fung, Sun Ya-Tung, Shen Hai-Rong Running Time: 105 min. By Paul Bramhall One of the more intriguing propositions to come out of the early 90’s, on the surface at least The Beheaded 1000 offers up a Taiwanese take on the Hong Kong blend of wuxia and fantasy that … Continue reading

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Striking Rescue (2024) Review

Director: Siyu Cheng Cast: Tony Jaa, Xing Yu, Kaho Hung, Philip Keung, Peng Bo, Yu Bolin, Wang Chenxin, Chen Duo Yi Running Time: 110 min.  By Paul Bramhall Action cinema is always evolving, and whenever it’s discussed Hong Kong’s golden era deservedly casts a long shadow. For a long time fans have lamented the gradual decline of the territories output, an inevitability that’s down to a number of disparate reasons, … Continue reading

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Devils Stay (2024) Review

Director: Hyeon Moon-seob Cast: Park Shin-Yang, Lee Min-Ki, Lee Re, Won Mi-won, Yoon Jong Seok, Yoo Sun-ho, Shim So-young Running Time: 95 min. By Paul Bramhall Ever since 2015’s The Priests Korean cinema has had bit of a thing going on with, well, priests. While Jang Jae-hyon’s debut served up its holy protagonists in the context of the exorcism genre, since then we’ve had MMA priests fighting demons in The Divine … Continue reading

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Goose Boxer | aka Shaolins Tough Kid (1978) Review

Director: Tai Si-Fu Cast: Charles Heung Wah-Keung, Lee Hoi-Sang, Phillip Ko Fei, Tin Ching, Addy Sung Gam-Loi, Chan Lap-Ban, Lee Chun-Wa, Wong Mei, Cheung Sin-Ming Running Time: 90 min.  By Paul Bramhall This year marks the 10th anniversary of my relationship with Goose Boxer, which I confess has been a fairly one-sided affair. Purchased as part of a 9-movie DVD set called Brooklyn Zu Volume 1, I picked up the … Continue reading

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Secret Executioners | aka Trouble-Solving Broker (1982) Review

Director: Lee Doo-Yong Co-director: Godfrey Ho Cast: Shin Woo-chul, Hwang Jang Lee, Jim Norris, Kwon Il-soo, Min Bok-gi, Park Dong-ryong Running Time: 90 min. By Paul Bramhall It remains one of the greatest travesties in Korean cinema that director Lee Doo-yong’s The Trouble-Solving Broker is referenced in 99% of English language content as “another one of those Godfrey Ho cut and paste jobs.” The real tragedy is that it’s also … Continue reading

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Film Safari Ghana (2024) Review

"Fim Safari Ghana" Theatrical Poster

Director: Andrew Leavold Cast: Andrew Leavold, Samuel K. Nkansah (aka Ninja), Joseph Osei, Emmanuel Afriyie  Running Time: 86 min. By Paul Bramhall While in his native Australia Andrew Leavold may be known for many things – former cult video store owner, punk band frontman, Filipino cinema historian, sometime actor, and documentary filmmaker – internationally he’s likely to be remembered as the guy who directed 2013’s The Search for Weng Weng. … Continue reading

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Tai Chi Master, The (2022) Review

Director: Lin Zhenzhao Cast: Wu Yue, Zhang Kai, Zhang Ming Can, Ada Liu, Zhang Chunzhong, Yu Hai, Lemon Li Running Time: 90 min. By Paul Bramhall During the Chinese web-movie boom of the 2010’s many of them were regarded as cheap and disposable entertainment, often justifiably so, with most of them falling either into the category of cheap kung-fu flick, or even cheaper monster movie. However it’s not an industry … Continue reading

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100 Yards (2024) Review

Director: Xu Haofeng Co-director: Xu Junfeng Cast: Jacky Heung, Andy On, Bea Hayden Kuo, Li Yuan, Shiyi Tang, Kevin Lee, Brono Bajtala Running Time: 109 min. By Paul Bramhall There’s a strong argument to be had for Xu Haofeng being the greatest kung-fu cinema director of the 21st century. When Haofeng made his directorial debut with The Sword Identity in 2012 he was billed as the writer of Wong Kar-Wai’s … Continue reading

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High Forces (2024) Review

Director: Oxide Pang Cast: Andy Lau, Liu Tau, Zhang Zifeng, Qu Chuxiao, Jiang Mengjie, Jiang Chao, Eric Chou Running Time: 115 min. By Paul Bramhall The disaster movie on a plane has been going through a bit of a renaissance in Asia during recent years. China threw their hat into the ring with 2019’s The Captain, and Korea’s returned to the genre twice in as many years with 2022’s Emergency … Continue reading

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