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on Old Woman with the Knife, The (2025) ReviewHow do you make a movie like ‘The Old Woman With the Knife’ even more of a sl…
on Jackie Chan, Scott Adkins, and old women with knives! Here’s what’s streaming on Hi-YAH for the month of Augustpuede poner noticias de tony jaa y de scott adkins y jet li y de bren foster
on FULLY LOADED! Watch Trailers for Arrow’s highly anticipated ‘A Better Tomorrow Trilogy’ arriving in 4K UHD in SeptemberIs there any difference aside from the Tony Stella art (which for me is well…
on Curbing Violence (2024) ReviewInteresting! It's not out of the realm of possibility that Vincent Zhao felt…
on Black Storm (2024) ReviewSpeaking of co-finnancing from China, I felt the urge to rewatch The Edge of…
Category Archives: Korean
Good News (2025) Review
Director: Byun Sung-hyun Cast: Sul Kyung-Gu, Hong Kyung, Ryoo Seung-Bum, Takayuki Yamada, Shiro Sano, Show Kasamatsu, Nairu Yamamoto, Eita Nagayama, Hinata Hiiragi Running Time: 136 min. By Paul Bramhall Korean cinema rarely ventures into the realm of satire, however on the few occasions it has it’s done it well. 2002’s Fun Movie saw the Korean film industry going the Scary Movie route and lampooning its own blockbusters of the era … Continue reading
Posted in All, Korean, News, Reviews
Tagged Byun Sung-Hyun, Ryoo Seung-bum, Takayuki Yamada
Hantang (2023) Review
Director: Jung Cho-sin Cast: Kan Mi-youn, Han Seong-sik, Kim Joo-kyeong, Yoon Ki-won, Kim Ki-suk, Hwang Ba-ul Running Time: 90 min. By Paul Bramhall While the erotic genre in Korea had its peak during the 1980’s, it’s never really gone away since. Finding its home on the straight-to-VHS format in the 1990’s, and continuing to DVD in the 21st century, while the covers for such movies may promise a gratuitous amount … Continue reading
Brave Citizen (2023) Review
Director: Park Jin-pyo Cast: Shin Hae-Sun, Lee Jun-Young, Park Jung-Woo, Park Hyuk-Kwon, Cha Chung-Hwa, Lee Chan-Hyeong, Bae Hyeon-Jun, Cha Woo-Min, Lee Joong-Ok Running Time: 113 min. By Paul Bramhall High school power struggles have always been present in cinema, and they usually take the form of an underdog going up against one or more characters who are best described as bullies, worst as violent psychopaths. Korean cinema is no different. … Continue reading
Mantis (2025) Review
Director: Lee Tae-sung Cast: Yim Si-wan, Park Gyu-Young, Jo Woo-Jin, Jeon Do-yeon, Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Tae-Han Running Time: 113 min. By Paul Bramhall When I first heard that streaming giant Netflix had greenlit a spin-off to its 2023 assassin flick Kill Boksoon, titled Mantis, I’d hoped it was going to focus on the newbie assassin played by Lee Yeon, whose killer action scene in the former gave her a scene … Continue reading
Villagers, The (2018) Review
Director: Lim Jin-soon Cast: Ma Dong-Seok, Kim Sae-ron, Lee Sang-yeob, Jin Sun-gyu, Jang Gwang, Oh Hee-joon Running Time: 99 min. By Paul Bramhall The trope of a big city character having to set up shop in a small rural town is one that’s been repeatedly visited in Korean cinema. Whether it be a cop hiding from their past in A Girl at My Door, a grieving widow looking to start … Continue reading
Ugly, The (2025) Review
Director: Yeon Sang-ho Cast: Park Jeong-min, Kwon Hae-hyo, Shin Hyun-been, Im Seong-jae, Han Ji-hyeon Running Time: 102 min. By Paul Bramhall Back in 2020 the Korean film industry hedged its bets on director Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan sequel, Peninsula, to bring back cinema audiences after the COVID-19 pandemic had forced filmmaking into a period of hibernation. While for the most part the bet paid off, whether it be because … Continue reading
Hidden Face (2024) Review
Director: Kim Dae-woo Cast: Song Seung-heon, Cho Yeo-jeong, Park Ji-Hyun, Park Ji-Young, Park Sung-Geun Running Time: 115 min. By Paul Bramhall Hidden Face marks the return of a long missing in action genre for not only Korea’s film industry, but cinema in general – the erotic thriller. While the jury is still out on if we’re currently in a new Puritan age of cinema, what can’t be denied is that … Continue reading
Devils (2023) Review
Director: Kim Jae-Hoon Cast: Jang Dong-Yoon, Oh Dae-Hwan, Choi Gwi-Hwa, Jang Jae-Ho, Son Jong-Hak, Shin Seung-Hwan, Yoon Byung-Hee, Ji Nam-Hyuk, Lee Sang-Won Running Time: 106 min. By Paul Bramhall The body swap trope certainly isn’t a new one, and in Korean cinema there have already been plenty of examples. From Shin Ha-kyun and Byun Hee-bong in 2007’s brain swapping thriller The Devil’s Game, to Jin Young and Park Sung-woong as … Continue reading
My Daughter Is a Zombie (2025) Review
Director: Pil Kam-sung Cast: Cho Jung-Seok, Lee Jung-Eun, Choi Yoo-Ri, Cho Yeo-Jeong, Yoon Kyung-Ho Running Time: 113 min. By Paul Bramhall While surrounded by hordes of the undead in the middle of their Seoul neighbourhood, a father and his teenage daughter attempt to make their escape, the father telling the daughter to stay put while he makes a break for their car parked nearby. Successfully getting behind the wheel, its … Continue reading
Wall to Wall (2025) Review
Director: Kim Tae-joon Cast: Kang Ha-neul, Seo Hyun-woo, Yeom Hye-ran, Kim Hyun-Jung, Jeon Jin-Oh, Park Sung-Il, Yoon Jung-Il, Kim Yoon-Jin, Lee Jong-Goo, Na Ho-Sook Running Time: 118 min. By Paul Bramhall Wall to Wall, or 84 Square Metres as its Korean title directly translates to, fits into that distinctly 21st century genre of homeowner anxiety. In Korea such productions usually find themselves set in one of the myriad of towering … Continue reading
Nocturnal (2025) Review
Director: Kim Jin-Hwang Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Kim Nam-Gil, Yoo Da-In, Jeong Man-Sik, Im Sung-Jae, Lee Hye-Soo Running Time: 100 min. By Paul Bramhall Nocturnal dares to ask the question, what if Ha Jung-woo hadn’t become a mainstay of Hallmark channel style ‘based on a true story’ movies in the 2020’s, and instead went back to the kind of gritty roles he frequented in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s with … Continue reading
Revelations (2025) Review
Director: Yeon Sang-ho Cast: Ryu Jun-yeol, Shin Min-jae, Shin Hyun-been, Han Ji-hyun, Kim Bo-Min, Kim Do-Young, Moon Ju-Yeon, Bae Youn-Kyu, Oh Chi-Woon, Woo Kang-Min Running Time: 122 min. By Paul Bramhall The journey of Yeon Sang-ho as a filmmaker has been an interesting one. Gaining attention amongst cineastes in the early 2010’s for his gritty feature length animations like King of Pigs and The Fake, it was his transition to … Continue reading
Hi-Five (2025) Review
Director: Kang Hyeong-Cheol Cast: Lee Jae-in, Ra Mi-ran, Oh Jung-se, Park Jin-young, Ahn Jae-hong, Kim Hee-won, Shin Gu, Yoo Ah-in, Choi Eun-kyeong, Na Jin-su, Jin Hee-kyung Running Time: 119 min. By Paul Bramhall Where audiences suffering more from superhero fatigue in 2025 than they were in 2022? It’s a question worth pondering, since the 3 years in-between is how long the Korean superhero comedy Hi-Five has sat on the shelf. … Continue reading
Big Deal (2025) Review
Director: Choi Yoon-jin Cast: Yoo Hae-jin, Lee Je-hoon, Byron Mann, Son Hyeon-ju, Choi Young-Joon, Kim Ki-Hae Running Time: 104 min. By Paul Bramhall Watch any Korean movie from the last 30 years, and it won’t be too long before the ubiquitous green soju bottle (usually several of them) makes an appearance, the alcoholic beverage that’s remained the number one best selling hangover inducer in the world for almost as long. … Continue reading
Match, The (2025) Review
Director: Kim Hyung-Joo Cast: Lee Byung-Hun, Yoo Ah-In, Ko Chang-Seok, Hyun Bong-Sik, Moon Jeong-Hee, Jo Woo-Jin, Kim Kang-Hoon Running Time: 115 min. By Paul Bramhall More than 10 years ago I reviewed a Korean movie called The Divine Move, which at one point I described as consisting of “an abundance of scenes with characters playing Go, and then beating the living daylights out of each other”, the implication being that … Continue reading
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