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on ‘The Raid’ director Gareth Evans is back! Watch the New Trailer for Netflix’ ‘Havoc’ starring Tom HardyIt looks like Gareth and company are staying true to their previous work. Sin…
on ‘The Raid’ director Gareth Evans is back! Watch the New Trailer for Netflix’ ‘Havoc’ starring Tom HardyI have been waiting for so long. I'm glad it's finally got a date.
on Asian Hawk in 4K Ultra HD! Jackie Chan’s 1991 action masterpiece gets the treatment it deserves from 88 FilmsOne of my favorite Jackie Chan movies but I'm not sure I'll get this. I've ha…
on ‘The Raid’ director Gareth Evans is back! Watch the New Trailer for Netflix’ ‘Havoc’ starring Tom HardyJude Poyer! I'm watching it!!
on ‘The Raid’ director Gareth Evans is back! Watch the New Trailer for Netflix’ ‘Havoc’ starring Tom HardyTrailer looks great. Evan know how to do action that for sure. Looks better t…
on When Kung Fu Zombies Attack! Social Media star Steven He to lead ‘Kung Fu Deadly’ with Jason Tobin and Max Huang"Social media star" I won't watch it.
on 100 Yards (2024) Reviewi've watched it the other day, it had been a while since i last watched an Ha…
on In the mood for some all-you-can-eat VFX? Don’t miss the kinetic Trailer for Han Yan’s sci-fi thriller ‘Per Aspera Ad Astra’Does anyone know if it will be released in 3-D? It looks to have been shot fo…
on Koji Suzuki’s ‘Ring’ saga continues with a creepy marketing Trailer for the upcoming Japanese thriller ‘Sadako DX’From the very beginning, the drawings are incredibly powerful, and the candle…
on ‘Aliens’-sploitation? West gives Bishop’s knife game some stiff competition in a New action clip from Well Go USA’s ‘Jade’Hope she sees this bro.
on Lookin’ for Sammo action!? Watch the Trailer for the ‘The Swordsman II’ remake ‘Invincible Swordsman’"Written by Wong Jing " Truly the stamp of highest quality in Chinese film.
on Let’s talk about sex… 88 Films’ Blu-ray for Michael Mak’s 1991 sexy cult Hong Kong comedy ‘Sex and Zen’ has come…lol!
on Let’s talk about sex… 88 Films’ Blu-ray for Michael Mak’s 1991 sexy cult Hong Kong comedy ‘Sex and Zen’ has come…As is advertising something like a "LIMITED EDITION RIGID SLIPCASE" as a spec…
on ‘Aliens’-sploitation? West gives Bishop’s knife game some stiff competition in a New action clip from Well Go USA’s ‘Jade’Would love to see her in Black Dynamite 2
on Let’s get serious, Jackie! 88 Films is releasing a 4K Ultra HD for Kirk Wong’s 1993 Hong Kong thriller ‘Crime Story’Yeah getting fleeced multiple times comes with the territory when it comes to…
on Ultra violent Jackie Chan vibes? Watch an action clip from ‘Demon City’ streaming on Netflix on February 27thBallerina and Nobody 2 are coming out. Also The Accountant 2. Keep crying abo…
Category Archives: Japanese
Godzilla vs. Gigan | aka War of the Monsters (1972) Review
AKA: Godzilla on Monster Island Director: Fukuda Jun Cast: Ishikawa Hiroshi, Umeda Tomoko, Hishimi Yuriko, Takashima Minoru, Fujita Zan, Nishizawa Toshiaki, Nakajima Harou, Satsuma Kenpachiro Running Time: 89 min. By Ian Whittle Godzilla vs Gigan generally doesn’t get a good reception from G-fans, who dislike the Scooby Doo-ish human characters, the recycled music score, the frequent stock footage from earlier films, and the fact that the Godzilla suit (this particular … Continue reading
First Love (2020) Review
Director: Takashi Miike Writer: Masaru Nakamura Cast: Masataka Kubota, Sakurako Konishi, Nao Omori, Shota Sometani, Seiyo Uchino, Becky, Jun Murakami, Sansei Shiomi, Takahiro Miura, Maimi Yajima Running Time: 115 min. By Martin Sandison It’s pretty difficult to be an Asian movie fan in the last 25 years, and not love at least one Takashi Miike film. An omnipresence in challenging, genre-shifting vital cinema, the director is irrepressible and much-loved. Even … Continue reading
Dangan Runner | aka Non-Stop (1996) Review
Director: Sabu Writer: Sabu (as Hiroyuki Tanaka) Cast: Tomorowo Taguchi, Diamond Yukai, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Akaji Maro, Ren Osugi, Sabu Running Time: 88 min. By Paul Bramhall The world of V-Cinema remains a criminally overlooked one when it comes to being released on either Blu-ray or (are we still allowed to say it in 2019?) DVD. A uniquely Japanese phenomenon, V-Cinema refers to the name given to the DTV style of … Continue reading
One Cut of the Dead (2017) Review
Director: Shinichiro Ueda Cast: Takayuki Hamatsu, Mao, Harumi Syuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya, Manabu Hosoi, Hiroshi Ichihara, Shuntaro Yamazaki, Shinichiro Osawa, Yoshiko Takehara Running Time: 95 min. By Paul Bramhall I’m not sure if there’s a single person out there that would willingly raise their hand to being a fan of the Japanese zombie micro-budget genre. The standard traits of such productions usually consist of uninspired stories, enough budget to try and … Continue reading
Record of Sweet Murder, A (2014) Review
Director: Koji Shiraishi Writer: Koji Shiraishi Cast: Kim Kkobbi, Yeon Je-Wook, Ryotaro Yonemura, Tsukasa Aoi, Yeo Min-Jung, Koji Shiraishi Running Time: 86 min. By Paul Bramhall Japanese director Koji Shiraishi had, for a long time, carved out a niche for himself as the guy who makes grimy found-footage/docu-horror flicks. The likes of 2005’s Noroi: The Curse, 2009’s Occult, and 2011’s Cho Akunin, all feature some kind of first person perspective … Continue reading
Killing (2018) Review
Director: Shinya Tsukamoto Writer: Shinya Tsukamoto Cast: Yu Aoi, Sosuke Ikematsu, Kohji Katoh, Tatsuya Nakamura, Ryusei Maeda Running Time: 80 min. By Martin Sandison I think I was the tender age of 14 when I first saw Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo. At that point I had seen David Lynch’s Eraserhead, and the two really went hand in hand for me. Both share an otherworldly, DIY, black and white aesthetic, and push … Continue reading
Oh Lucy! (2017) Review
Director: Atsuko Hirayanagi Cast: Shinobu Terajima, Josh Hartnett, Kaho Minami, Shiori Kutsuna, Koji Yakusho, Megan Mullally, Reiko Aylesworth, Suzuka Ohgo, Hajime Inoue, Leni Ito Running Time: 95 min. By Kelly Warner Setsuko is a depressed, lonely middle-aged woman working in a joyless office job with nothing to come home to but a big mess of an apartment. Her family – a bitchy sister and a niece that was the result … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Atsuko Hirayanagi, Josh Hartnett, Kaho Minami, Koji Yakusho, Shinobu Terajima, Shioli Katsuna
Ajin: Demi Human (2017) Review
Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro Manga: Gamon Sakurai Cast: Takeru Satoh, Gou Ayano, Yuu Shirota, Yudai Chiba, Yuki Yamada, Tetsuji Tamayama, Rina Kawaei, Minami Hamabe, Hiroshi Shinagawa Running Time: 109 min. By Paul Bramhall For those who’ve become jaded when faced with the endless superhero franchises that have come to dominate Hollywood in recent years, then chances are they haven’t had to suffer through any of Japan’s big screen manga adaptations. While … Continue reading
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! (1963) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Writer: Iwao Yamazaki, Haruhiko Oyabu Cast: Joe Shishido, Reiko Sasamori, Tamio Kawachi, Nobuo Kaneko, Kinzo Shin, Naomi Hoshi, Asao Sano, Yuko Kusunoki, Kotoe Hatsui Running Time: 89 min. By Kelly Warner Like most people, my first Seijun Suzuki film was the infamous Branded to Kill. It was unlike any crime movie I’d seen before; weird, visually inventive, playful, and shocking. Jo Shishido got off on the smell of rice, there were all … Continue reading
Legend of the Demon Cat (2017) Review
Director: Chen Kaige Cast: Shota Sometani, Huang Xuan, Hiroshi Abe, Sandrine Pinna, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shohei Hino, Zhang Luyi, Baiqing Xin, Tian Yu, Qin Hao, Crystal Zhang Tian-Ai Running Time: 132 min. By Paul Bramhall It’s been 3 years since fifth generation alumni Chen Kaige made his ill-advised wuxia caper Monk Comes Down the Mountain, however far from looking like a director licking his wounds, Kaige’s latest storms out the gates … Continue reading
Evil of Dracula (1974) Review
AKA: Bloodsucking Rose Director: Michio Yamamoto Cast: Toshio Kurosawa, Mariko Mochizuki, Kunie Tanaka, Shin Kishida, Katsuhiko Sasaki, Mio Ota, Mika Katsuragi, Keiko Aramaki, Yunosuke Ito, Yasuko Agawa Running Time: 87 min. By Kelly Warner In Michio Yamamoto’s Bloodthirsty Trilogy, The Vampire Doll was like a fever dream of a vampire movie and Lake of Dracula was a social anxiety thriller disguised as a vampire movie, so where could the director … Continue reading
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
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
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
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