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on When Brandon Lee was marked for death!It's a fun movie that erred on the wrong side of violence. It just needed a l…
on Exit the Dragon, Enter the Gold Rush! Ang Lee’s ‘Bruce Lee’ biopic put on hold due to budget disputesIf this movie happens eventually, I hope Mason Lee keeps up his training and…
on Exit the Dragon, Enter the Gold Rush! Ang Lee’s ‘Bruce Lee’ biopic put on hold due to budget disputesAt this point if I hear Shannon/the Lee Estate were backing this project why…
on Exit the Dragon, Enter the Gold Rush! Ang Lee’s ‘Bruce Lee’ biopic put on hold due to budget disputesSonny should be able to fork out 20 million dollars for the movie. Don’t real…
on When Brandon Lee was marked for death!Thanks for carefully reading our post! =) Here's some things we didn't mentio…
on Match, The (2025) Review"albeit with a noticeable lack of any publicity" A little more than 2 million…
on R.I.P. Kim Tai ChungIn the german Version of No Retreat (Karate Tiger) he was voiced / dubbed by…
on Warner needs to rush in because Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are both game for ‘Rush Hour 4’Hell no, Ratner is a creep. Jackie shouldn't be bear a dude who gets off rapi…
on I still refuse to say that Karate came from Kung Fu! Watch the New Japanese Trailer for ‘Karate Kid: Legends’The Shang-Chi Kid. https://www.instagram.com/p/DKfeNf-IwBP/?utm_source=ig_web…
on The night comes for Bob Odenkirk! New Trailer for ‘Nobody 2’ from director Timo TjahjantoThe first one was directed by Ilya Naishuller. Looks like they stopped giving…
on When Brandon Lee was marked for death!LOL!!!!
on Gods, Masked Avengers, Max Zhang and Kwangtung Tigers! Here’s what’s streaming on Hi-YAH for the month of JuneStubcheck
on Brother (2000) ReviewGreat put together movie?
on Carl Scott, ‘Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth’ and ‘Sun Dragon’ actor and martial artist, passes awayI am quite tired of this. So many of the people that made these films great a…
Category Archives: Japanese
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
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Nobuo Kaneko, Seijun Suzuki
Blade of the Immortal (2017) Review
Director: Takashi Miike Cast: Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki, Sota Fukushi, Hayato Ichihara, Erika Toda, Kazuki Kitamura, Chiaki Kuriyama, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Ken Kaneko, Yoko Yamamoto, Ebizo Ichikawa Running Time: 140 min. By Kyle Warner Takashi Miike, one of today’s most prolific filmmakers, celebrated his 100th film as a director with Blade of the Immortal. And it’s tough to imagine a more perfect film for Miike by which to hit that amazing 100. … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Chiaki Kuriyama, Ebizo Ichikawa, Kazuki Kitamura, Takashi Miike, Takuya Kimura, Tsutomu Yamazaki
Boy Who Came Back, The (1958) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Sachiko Hidari, Akira Kobayashi, Ruriko Asaoka, Toru Abe, Makiko Aoi, Akemi Ebata, Shoki Fukae, Ayako Fukuda, Akinori Hanamura, Ikuhiro Hashiguchi,Eiko Higashitani, Kaoru Higuchi, Akira Hisamatsu, Kyoko Hori Running Time: 99 min. By Kelly Warner Famed director Seijun Suzuki was fond of saying that his films “made no sense and made no money” and indeed we know him best for the bizarre action movies that led to his … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Akira Kobayashi, Jo Shishido, Seijun Suzuki
R100 (2013) Review
Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto Cast: Nao Omori, Shinobu Terajima, Hitoshi Matsumoto, Ai Tominaga, Eriko Sato, Naomi Watanabe, You, Suzuki Matsuo, Atsuro Watabe, Gin Maeda, Katagiri Hairi, Lindsay Kay Hayward, Mao Daichi Running Time: 94 min. By Paul Bramhall Any discussion on director Hitoshi Matsumoto inevitably brings up a comparison with Takeshi ‘Beat’ Kitano. Much like Kitano, Matsumoto is also a famous Japanese TV personality that started off as (and still is) … Continue reading
Re:Born (2016) Review
Director: Yuji Shimomura Cast: Tak Sakaguchi, Yura Kondo, Takumi Saito, Mariko Shinoda, Akio Otsuka, Orson Mochizuki, Kenta Akami, Masaya Kato, Rina Takeda, Yoshitaka Inagawa Running Time: 100 min. By Paul Bramhall The swansong of Tak Sakaguchi (here billed as Tak ∴), Re:Born has certainly had one of the more interesting journeys to the screen. Having been plucked from Japan’s underground street fighting circuit by director Ryuhei Kitamura to headline the 2000 cult hit Versus, Sakaguchi has maintained a … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Masanori Mimoto, Rina Takeda, Tak Sakaguchi, Yuji Shimomura
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Last Days of the Boss (1976) Review
Director: Kinji Fukasaku Cast: Bunta Sugawara, Isao Bito, Takeo Chii, Takuya Fujioka, Seizo Fukumoto, Eiji Go, Ryuji Katagiri, Takuzo Kawatani, Chieko Matsubara, Kan Mikami, Michiro Minami, Sanae Nakahara, Kōji Nanjo Running Time: 91 min. By Kyle Warner 1976 just happened to be a leap year. And on February 29th, a woman with a drug problem is murdered. The first suspect is the yakuza Imamura, her known supplier. But then Imamura … Continue reading
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss’s Head (1975) Review
Director: Kinji Fukasaku Cast: Seizo Fukumoto, Yuriko Hishimi, Meiko Kaji, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Ryuji Katagiri, Nenji Kobayashi, Hideo Murota, Mikio Narita, Ko Nishimura, Bunta Sugawara, Asao Uchida Running Time: 94 min. By Kelly Warner Now this is more like it. I was a bit disappointed with the first New Battles film, and if writer Koji Takada’s account of things is correct, so was director Kinji Fukasaku. The first film of the trilogy is … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Bunta Sugawara, Kinji Fukasaku, Meiko Kaji, Sonny Chiba, Tsutomu Yamazaki
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1974) Review
Director: Kinji Fukasaku Cast: Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Nobuo Kaneko, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Tsunehiko Watase, Kunie Tanaka, Noboru Ando, Seizo Fukumoto, Reiko Ike, Ryuji Katagiri, Takuzo Kawatani, Yoko Koizumi Running Time: 98 min. By Kelly Warner When Toei’s Battles Without Honor and Humanity came to a close in 1974 with Final Episode, audiences still in love with the series demanded more, and the studio was more than happy to oblige. Over the next three years, … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Bunta Sugawara, Jo Shishido, Kinji Fukasaku, Kunie Tanaka, Nobuo Kaneko, Reiko Ike, Tomisaburo Wakayama
Outrage Coda | aka Outrage: Final Chapter (2017) Review
Director: Takeshi Kitano Writer: Takeshi Kitano Cast: Beat Takeshi, Nao Ohmori, Ken Mitsuishi, Ren Osugi, Tatsuo Nadaka, Ikuji Nakamura, Toshiyuki Nishida, Hakuryu, Sansei Shiomi, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Pierre Taki Running Time: 104 min. By Matija Makotoichi Tomic Even before he would go on to direct his senior citizen “yakuza” comedy Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen, easily his least memorable effort, Kitano said that the producers wanted him to make another Outrage … Continue reading
Doberman Cop (1977) Review
Director: Kinji Fukasaku Cast: Sonny Chiba, Janet Hatta, Eiko Matsuda, Masaru Shiga, Tatsuo Endo, Hideo Murota, Koichi Iwaki, Takuzo Kawatani, Hiroki Matsukata, Ryuji Katagiri Running Time: 90 min. By Kelly Warner An Okinawa girl’s been murdered, the latest in what appears to be the work of a serial killer. She was strangled and then her apartment was set on fire, making any positive identification unlikely. The Tokyo cops are stumped, so … Continue reading
Gun Woman (2014) Review
Director: Kurando Mitsutake Writer: Kurando Mitsutake Cast: Asami, Kairi Narita, Noriaki Kamata, Matthew Floyd Miller, Dean Simone, Tatsuya Nakadai Running Time: 86 min. By Z Ravas It’d be easy for detractors to label 2014’s Gun Woman another case of low-budget sleaze – after all, Japanese AV turned action star Asami spends most of the film’s climax stark naked and drenched in blood – but director Kurando Mitsutake is far too … Continue reading
Tag (2015) Review
Director: Sion Sono Cast: Reina Triendl, Mariko Shinoda, Erina Mano, Yuki Sakurai, Maryjun Takahashi, Sayaka Isoyama, Aki Hiraoka, Ami Tomite, Mika Akizuki, Makoto Kikuchi Running Time: 85 min. By Z Ravas In 2015, Takashi Miike, a filmmaker known for his ceaseless work ethic, eased his output to a relaxed – by his standards – two movies a year. For his part, Love Exposure and Cold Fish director Sion Sono seemed determined to pick up the … Continue reading
Before We Vanish (2017) Review
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Cast: Ryuhei Matsuda, Masami Nagasawa, Mahiro Takasugi, Yuri Tsunematsu, Hiroki Hasegawa, Atsuko Maeda, Masahiro Higashide, Takashi Sasano Running Time: 129 min. By Matija Makotoichi Tomic Following the premiere at 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Before We Vanish continued its festival circuit at this year’s 17th edition of Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival. With budget as the one thing that shouldn’t give the organizers any headache, NIFFF had the … Continue reading
Rage | aka Anger (2016) Review
Director: Sang-il Lee Cast: Gou Ayano, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Mitsuki Takahata, Hideko Hara, Ken Watanabe, Kenichi Matsuyama, Aoi Miyazaki, Chizuru Ikewaki, Mirai Moriyama, Suzu Hirose Running Time: 142 min. By Martin Sandison As I settled down to watch Rage, my second last film of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, I had no idea what to expect. Director Sang Il Lee’s previous films I had heard of, but had yet to … Continue reading
Cops vs. Thugs (1975) Review
Director: Kinji Fukasaku Cast: Bunta Sugawara, Kunie Tanaka, Nobuo Kaneko, Reiko Ike, Hiroki Matsukata, Toru Abe, Mikio Narita, Akira Shioji, Tatsuo Umemiya, Shotaro Hayashi, Hideo Murota, Masaharu Arikawa Running Time: 100 min. By Kelly Warner No one dies well in a Kinji Fukasaku gangster movie. A director who fuels nearly every scene with rage or panic, his characters always seem to either be screaming at each other or tripping over one another in an attempt to escape … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Bunta Sugawara, Kinji Fukasaku, Kunie Tanaka, Nobuo Kaneko, Reiko Ike
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