🐍 City on Fire thanks you for your unwavering support… May the New Year bring you all that you strive for and more!

We’re excited to continue serving you in 2025!

– From your friends at Cityonfire.com

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Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) Review

"Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" Theatrical Poster

“Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story” Theatrical Poster

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 recent biography certainly tears up a few myths!) and this just seemed like fancy Hollywood Babyloney.

Now, having seen that two of my favourite “true story” films, The Elephant Man and Ed Wood, were just as fictitious as this,  and having laughed through several Hong Kong/Taiwanese Bruce bios, I can now appreciate it for its merits. Which are considerable.

Jason Scott Lee is superb. A three-dimensional portrayal that captures the essence of Bruce without restoring to clichĂ©s like thumb-nosing. Although the fights rely a tad too much on flipping out of trouble, they have energy and drama in them – and boy, John Cheung Continue reading

Posted in All, Asian Related, Bruceploitation, News, Other Movies, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , |

Happy Holidays from Cityonfire.com!

Happy Holidays to ALL OF YOU!

– From your friends at Cityonfire.com

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Legend, A (2024) Review

"A Legend" Theatrical Poster

“A Legend” Theatrical Poster

Director: Stanley Tong
Cast: Jackie Chan, Bextiyar GĂŒlnezer, 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 demographic Chan was catering to at that point in his career. In the closing line I’d speculated how “when the pandemic is over we’ll need a movie that gets people back into cinemas for good, and perhaps Chan and Tong will be the ones to deliver it.” Well, writing in 2024 thankfully for most of the world the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming an increasingly distant memory, and it also happens to be the year when Chan and Tong would reunite, this time for A Legend, the official sequel to their 2005 collaboration The Myth.

I say official because their 2017 atrocity Kung Fu Yoga was originally touted by Chan himself as a sequel, however at some point during production The Myth connection was dropped, despite the glaring similarities. Whereas Kung Fu Yoga opened with an extended Continue reading

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Winners and SINNERS! Watch the brutal Trailer for Kwok Man Ki’s ‘Beyond the Sin’ starring Louis Koo and Gordon Lam

"Beyond the Sin" Theatrical Poster

“Beyond the Sin” Theatrical Poster

Filmmaker/actor Kwok Man Ki – who is perhaps best known for his assistant director credits on films like 2009’s Bodyguards and Assassins, 2010’s True Legend and Reign of Assassins – is taking on a full director’s credit with Beyond the Sin.

The upcoming thriller stars Louis Koo (The White Storm, Wild City)and Gordon Lam (Z Storm, Nessun Dorma, The Brink) and is produced by Catherine Kwan and Tang Wai But (Full Strike, The Empty Hands).

According to AFS, Beyond the Sin is about a man on the hunt for his daughter’s killer.

Look out for the film in its domestic territory on January 11, 2025. A U.S. release Continue reading

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The night comes for Bob Odenkirk! Images from ‘Nobody 2’ from acclaimed Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto

"Nobody" Japanese Poster

“Nobody” Japanese Poster

Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto (The Big 4, The Night Comes for Us) – of the “Mo Brothers” directing duo (Killers, Headshot, Macabre) – has wrapped production on Nobody 2, the sequel to 2021’s Nobody, which has Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) reprising his lead role.

Tjahjanto directs from a script by Derek Kolstad (John Wick, Nobody), Aaron Rabin (Jack Ryan), Odenkirk, and Umair Aleem (Kate). Kelly McCormick and David Leitch are returning to produce through 87North’s first look deal with Universal, as are Odenkirk, Marc Provissiero through Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, and Braden Aftergood through Eighty Two Films (via Deadline).

The original film follows a former ‘auditor’ (Odenkirk) for the likes of the CIA and Continue reading

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Play it Cool | Blu-ray (Arrow)

RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2025

On March 3, 2025, 88 Films is releasing a Blu-ray (Region A/B) release for 1970’s Play it Cool, a little-seen gem by one of Japan’s most highly regarded directors of the 1960s, Yasuzƍ Masumura (Giants and Toys, Irezumi), a filmmaker known for his social satires and powerful portrayals of women.

Play it Cool is a chic and erotically charged drama starring popular Japanese singer of the day Mari Atsumi as a college girl negotiating her way through Continue reading

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, News | Tagged |

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

"Black Cat II" Theatrical Poster

“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 of Black Cat II – The Assassination of President Yeltsin. The production brought back D&B’s executive director Stephen Shin as director, and if anything doubles down on the globetrotting location shoots, keeping America as the setting (before being turned into an assassin in the original, Leung was a waitress at a New York truck stop diner), and having the primary plot play out in Russia.

As a sidenote, at the time of writing in 2024 the good folk at 88 Films released Black Cat II on Blu-ray during the same year, perhaps showing a sense of humour in their timing to put a movie out that shows the American government doing all it can to protect the Russian president. Times have certainly changed. The release is worth noting though as it’s one of the few times for the sequel to be made available with its original English audio, of which the majority Continue reading

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Deal on Fire! The Crow | 4K Ultra HD | Only $19.99 – Expires soon!

The Crow | 4K UHD (Paramount)

The Crow | 4K UHD (Paramount)

Today’s Deal on Fire is the 4K Ultra HD for The Crow, a 1994 thriller from director Alex Proyas (I, Robot) that stars Brandon Lee (Legacy of Rage, Rapid Fire) and Ernie Hudson (The Ghostbusters). The film is often overshadowed by the death of Lee, who was tragically wounded on set.

Based on a series of cult comic books by James O’Barr, The Crow stars Lee as Eric Draven, a rock guitarist who is killed, along with his fiancĂ©e, on the eve of their wedding and returns from the dead as “The Crow” to seek revenge.

The Crow also stars David Patrick Kelly (Warriors), Michael Wincott (Nope), Rochelle Davis (Revenge of the Devil Bat), Bai Ling (Maximum Impact), Jon Polito (Miller’s Crossing), Laurence Mason (True Romance), Tony Todd (Candyman), Michael Continue reading

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A return to the murky world of film noir? Wei Shujun’s acclaimed thriller ‘Only the River Flows’ now on Blu-ray

Only the River Flows | Blu-ray (Picture House)

Only the River Flows | Blu-ray (Picture House)

Now available is Picture House’s Blu-ray (Region B) for Only the River Flows, a 2023 thriller directed by Wei Shujun (Ripples of Life) that’s based on Yu Hua’s popular short novel, Mistakes by the River. For U.S. audiences, the film will be released on DVD from KimStim.

1990s small town China. A woman’s body washes up in the local river. The chief of police, Ma Zhe, is tasked with heading up the investigation. An obvious perp leads to a hasty arrest, though the mystery lingers in Ma Zhe’s mind. What kind of darkness is truly at play here?

Director Wei Shujun’s murky throwback film noir, gritty, textured film grain captures the pulpy proceedings. Torrents of rain envelop the characters as they descend into madness in pursuit of the truth. Equal parts atmospheric tour-de-force and Continue reading

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I guess that’s why they call it the blues! Eiichi Kudo’s neo-noir classic starring Yusaku Matsuda is now available on Blu-ray

Yokohama BJ Blues | Blu-ray (Radiance)

Yokohama BJ Blues | Blu-ray (Radiance)

Now available from Radiance is the Blu-ray (Region A/B) for Yokohama BJ Blues, 1981 Japanese thriller from acclaimed filmmaker Eiichi Kudo (13 Assassins).

When his police detective best friend is killed, down-at-heel private eye and part-time blues singer BJ (Yusaku Matsuda, The Game Trilogy) gets the blame. He must start his own investigation to clear his name, but what he uncovers is a tangled web involving crooked cops, drug-dealing gangsters, the city’s underground gay and biker scenes, and even his own past.

A loose remake of Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye that also draws from Visconti’s Death in Venice, this was Matsuda’s break with his action hero image. Samurai movie veteran Eiichi Continue reading

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Details for the 4K Ultra HD SteelBook editions for Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill Vol 1-2’, ‘Jackie Brown’ and ‘Reservoir Dogs’

On January 21, 2025, Lionsgate Limited is partnering up with Quentin Tarantino for Remastered 4K SteelBook Editions of Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Jackie Brown, and a semi re-release of Reservoir Dogs.

There was some speculation if the upcoming 4K version of the Kill Bill films will include the long-awaited Whole Bloody Affair (Tarantino’s edit of both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 as one film, complete with new footage), but judging from the newly released Continue reading

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The Shaw Brothers logo is missing from these Eureka, Arrow, Shout and Vinegar Syndrome releases – Intentional or Error?

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Praying for a ‘Mantis’? First images from the upcoming ‘Kill Boksoon’ spin-off arriving on Netflix in 2025

2023’s Kill Boksoon is getting the “expanded universe” treatment with Mantis, an upcoming spin-off that’s being helmed by newcomer Lee Tae-Seong, with co-writing writing help from Byun Sung-hyun (The Merciless), the writer and director of the original.

Mantis is set in the same contract killer world as Kill Boksoon. While the latter explores the story of Gil Bok-soon struggling to balance her life as a single mother and assassin, Mantis shifts the spotlight to a contract killer named Continue reading

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Gordon Liu, Alexander Fu Sheng, Kara Hui and Xie Miao! Here’s what’s on Hi-YAH for the month of December

Hi-YAH!, Well Go USA’s very own Asian/martial arts streaming channel has just announced their New Releases for the month of December

If you want to give Hi-YAH! a go, visitors of this site can use the promo code “CITYONFIRE” for a FREE 30 Day trial!

Read on for the full list of New and Exclusive Continue reading

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