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on The Furious (2026) ReviewRon Smoorenburg was good in Fighting Fish and Triple Threat. While I didn’t c…
on Can Iko Uwais deliver the next THE FURIOUS? ‘The Raid’ star teams with ‘Menace II Society’ director for ‘Jakarta’For some reason, I'm never excited when I hear the word "series." I was reall…
on The Furious (2026) ReviewThanks for the insights! I know nothing of Smoorenburg other than his appeara…
on This one makes people FURIOUS… Grab a Limited Edition Blu-ray for ‘Citizen Vigilante’ before it gets cancelled!And i still love you Andrew..... even though we had our differences. Just rem…
on This one makes people FURIOUS… Grab a Limited Edition Blu-ray for ‘Citizen Vigilante’ before it gets cancelled!finally!!! someone with critical thinking skills!
on This one makes people FURIOUS… Grab a Limited Edition Blu-ray for ‘Citizen Vigilante’ before it gets cancelled!It's just hearsay! The entire internet knows that Leeder has been jealous of…
on This one makes people FURIOUS… Grab a Limited Edition Blu-ray for ‘Citizen Vigilante’ before it gets cancelled!The Tao of Mike Leeder Bey Logan is accused of sexual misconduct - outrage, h…
on Wandering Earth II, The (2023) Review“Wandering Earth 2” Movie Review: A “very Chinese” disaster science fiction f…
on This one makes people FURIOUS… Grab a Limited Edition Blu-ray for ‘Citizen Vigilante’ before it gets cancelled!The narrative has been floating around the internet but the movie is not bann…
on Move over, FURIOUS! Martial arts star Tony Jaa is back, and he’s bringing Dan Chupong and Jeeja Yanin along for the rideThe simple fact is that Tony's first 3/4 films were awesome , terrific films.…
on Move over, FURIOUS! Martial arts star Tony Jaa is back, and he’s bringing Dan Chupong and Jeeja Yanin along for the rideJaa is an interesting case. While 'Ong Bak' and 'Tom Yum Goong' launched him…
on The Furious (2026) ReviewTrue, true all agreed. Just alot of hype surrounding The Furious made it soun…
on Move over, FURIOUS! Martial arts star Tony Jaa is back, and he’s bringing Dan Chupong and Jeeja Yanin along for the rideI'm so glad that Jeeja Yanin is making a comeback. I bet Jaa has something to…
Category Archives: Japanese
Eight Hours of Terror (1957) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Nobuo Kaneko, Harue Tone, Sumiko Minami, Kenjiro Uemura, Minako Katsuki, Kan Yanagiya, Hiroshi Kondo, Hideaki Nitani, Masao Oda, Taizo Fukami, Ryutaro Nagai, Fumiko Fukuda, Keiko Shima, Eiko Misuzu Running Time: 78 min. By Kelly Warner Now this is more like it. I enjoyed watching Seijun Rising, the first Arrow Video box set showcasing five of Seijun Suzuki’s earlier films. As a big fan of the director, … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Nobuo Kaneko, Seijun Suzuki
Born Under Crossed Stars (1965) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Ken Yamauchi, Yumiko Nogawa, Masako Izumi, Masao Mishima, Ruriko Ito, Chikako Miyagi, Michio Hino, Michi Azuma, Yoko Benisawa, Keisuke Noro Running Time: 98 min. By Kelly Warner Filmed just two years later, featuring the same leading man in Ken Yamauchi, and based on a book by the same author in Toko Kon, Born Under Crossed Stars is something of a spiritual sequel to the angst-driven youth … Continue reading
Third Murder, The (2017) Review
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda Cast: Masaharu Fukuyama, Koji Yakusho, Suzu Hirose, Yuki Saito, Kotaro Yoshida, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Mikako Ichikawa, Isao Hashizume, Izumi Matsuoka Running Time: 124 min. By Martin Sandison Director Hirokazu Koreeda has gone from strength to strength in the last ten years, with a strong following thanks to films such as Still Walking and Our Little Sister. His most recent, The Third Murder, swept the Japanese Academy Prize last week … Continue reading
Soul of Chiba | aka Soul of Bruce Lee (1977) Review
Director: Chan Tung-Man, Noda Yukio Cast: Sonny Chiba Shinichi, Luk Chuen, Shiomi Etsuko, Bolo Yeung Sze, Fong Yuen, Kong Chuen, Tadashi Yamashita, Lau Nga-Ying, Peter Chan Hoh-San, Krung Srivilai, Naowarat Yooktanun, Somjit Sapsamruey Running Time: 94 min. By Paul Bramhall At the risk of blacklisting myself from ever writing for an Asian cinema site again, I’ll admit I initially wasn’t very enamoured with Sonny Chiba. When I first got into … Continue reading
Posted in All, Bruceploitation, Chinese, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Bolo Yeung (Yang Sze), Krung Srivilai, Noda Yukio, Peter Chan Ho Sun, Sonny Chiba, Tadashi Yamashita
Incorrigible, The | aka The Bastard (1963) Review
AKA: The Young Rebel Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Ken Yamauchi, Masako Izumi, Midori Tashiro, Chiharu Kuri, Emiko Azuma, Mieko Takamine Running Time: 95 min. By Kelly Warner The Taisho era, named after Emperor Taisho, was a period in Japan sandwiched between the rapid modernization of the Meiji period and the ultimate push to war of the Showa era. Director Seijun Suzuki was born in the final years of the Taisho period but … Continue reading
Junk Head (2017) Review
Director: Takahide Hori Writer: Takahide Hori Animator: Takahide Hori Running Time: 115 min. By Martin Sandison Dystopian Science Fiction has a prerequisite to be po-facedly serious in tone and downright depressing at times (see genre stalwarts Blade Runner and Brazil), and it’s about time a movie came along that alters this. Enter Takahide Hori’s Junk Head, a one-man show labour of love that manages to be an endlessly inventive, hilarious entrant … Continue reading
Gintama (2017) Review
Director: Yuichi Fukuda Cast: Shun Oguri, Masaki Suda, Kanna Hashimoto, Masaki Okada, Masami Nagasawa, Tsuyoshi Muro, Kankuro Nakamura, Yuya Yagira, Ryo Yoshizawa Running Time: 130 min. By Kelly Warner It’s the age of the comic book movie in Hollywood. And though you can argue that there is an oversaturation of such films at the theatres, I don’t really think there’s much debate that the filmmakers have gotten better at making … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Hirofumi Arai, Masaki Okada, Shun Oguri, Takayuki Yamada, Yuichi Fukuda, Yuya Yagira
Teenage Yakuza (1962) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Tamio Kawaji, Noriko Matsumoto, Keiko Sugiyama, Kayo Matsuo, Asao Sano, Midori Tashiro, Kotoe Hatsui, Tatsuya Fuji, Toshio Sugiyama, Kaku Takashina Running Time: 72 min. By Kelly Warner Listen kids, I know that your teenage years can be rough. Your body is um, changing. You have, uh, urges. And sometimes your emotions are out of control. But you’re a good kid. You know the difference between right … Continue reading
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
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, Saori Izawa 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 … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Masanori Mimoto, Rina Takeda, Saori Izawa, 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
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