Evil Instinct (1996) Review

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Paul Bramhall
"Evil Instinct" Theatrical Poster

“Evil Instinct” Theatrical Poster

Director: Barry Chu
Cast: Carrie Ng Ka-Lai, Diana Pang Dan, Bowie Lam Bo-Yi, Evergreen Mak Cheung-Ching, Stuart Ong, Chung Sau-Han, Le Rong-Rong, Yeung Ging-Shing
Running Time: 96 min.

By Paul Bramhall

In 1996 the golden era of the Category III genre had already past its peak, with the excess of the early 90’s classics like Naked Killer and The Untold Story subsiding to the uncertainty of the HK handover the following year. There was still a small amount of gas left in the Cat III tank, with Sex and Zen 2 providing Shu Qi with her unforgettable screen debut, but more and more titles which once seemed sure to receive the infamous rating, increasingly became tamer and somewhat lifeless affairs. Titles like Hong Kong Showgirls (featuring the triple threat of Veronica Yip, Diana Pang Dan, and Pauline Chan) got away with a Cat IIA, while the Chingmy Yau and Donnie Yen starring Satan Returns received a mild Cat IIB. Thankfully, along with Sex & Zen 2, Evil Instinct also came along to remind audiences that Cat III was still around.

Somewhat humorously, the back of the UK DVD released in 1999, making it almost as much a relic of a bygone era as the movie itself, proudly declares it to be “The most watched hotel pay-per-view film in Asia”. I’m not sure how distributors M.I.A. got access to such seemingly obscure data, but we’ll give them the benefit to the doubt (I’m unable to confirm if the 2020 Hong Kong Blu-ray release reaffirms these claims). The opening credits are juxtaposed with scenes of a model, seemingly posing for a playful outdoor photoshoot with a snake draped around her neck, in a sequence which is notable for having Continue reading →

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Runaway Train | Blu-ray (Kino Lorber)

Posted on December 17, 2020 by JJ Bona
Runaway Train | Blu-ray (Kino Lorber)

Runaway Train | Blu-ray (Kino Lorber)

RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

On March 16, 2021, Kino Lorber is releasing the Blu-ray for Andrey Konchalovskiy’s 1985 thriller, Runaway Train. The film stars Jon Voight , Eric Roberts (Best of the Best), Rebecca De Mornay (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle), Kyle T. Heffner (Flashdance), John P. Ryan (The Delta Force 2) and is based on an original story by Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai)

Tearing up the tracks at 100 miles-per-hour, Runaway Train features “hair rasing footage” and spectacular, Oscar performances By Jon Voight and Eric Roberts.

Manny is the toughest convict in a remote Alaskan prison who, along with fellow inmate Buck, makes a daring breakout. Hopping a freight train, they head full steam for freedom, but when the engineer dies of a heart attack, they find themselves trapped, alone and speeding towards certain disaster, Until, that is, they discover a third passenger, beautiful railroad worker who’s just as Continue reading →

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, News, Other Notable Titles |

Divine Move 2: The Wrathful, The (2019) Review

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Paul Bramhall
"The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful" Theatrical Poster

“The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful” Theatrical Poster

Director: Khan Lee
Cast: Kwon Sang-Woo, Kim Hee-Won, Kim Sung-Kyun, Heo Sung-Tae, Woo Do-Hwan, Won Hyun-Joon, Park Sang-Hoon, Jung In-Gyeom, Stephanie Lee
Running Time: 106 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

Since Korean cinema started to gain international recognition in the late 90’s and early 00’s, sequels have never really been a part of the industries repertoire, and when they have, they’ve mostly felt unneeded. It’s safe to say nobody was really clamouring for follow-ups to the likes of Attack the Gas Station, Friend, and Tazza, and their arrival was greeted by a muted response combined with low box office returns. 2014’s The Divine Move also feels like it fits into this category, and while it came long after Korean cinema had asserted itself as a force to be reckoned with, like the Korean Wave classics mentioned, nobody was expecting a sequel to it.

5 years later though, and that’s what we have with The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful, although technically it’s billed as a prequel. The prequel billing only relates to the late 90’s era its set in, offering up a new set of characters, with only the fact that the story revolves around the game of Go connecting it to the original. The opening introduces us to a villainous master Go player played by Jung In-gyeom (The Negotiation, Assassination), who has an unhealthy fondness for the underage girl he’s been giving pocket money too for cleaning his house. After In-gyeom forces himself on her which leads to tragedy, her younger brother challenges him to a game of Go, but he crumbles under the pressure Continue reading →

Posted in All, Korean, News, Reviews |

Watch Silver Harvest Films’ Shaw Brothers-esque throwback ‘Battle of Brothers’

Posted on December 14, 2020 by JJ Bona

If you enjoyed the recently released Dragon of the Law and Tiger Cop: Toilet Paper Hero and still want more of that “old school Hong Kong action” nostalgia, then you don’t want to miss Battle of Brothers, a new Shaw Brothers-esque action short from the independent creatives at Sydney Australia’s Silver Harvest films.

Battle of Brothers is written and directed by David Vuong, produced by Therese Chen (who also handles cinematography and screenplay adaptation) with a cast that consists of Phuoc Quan Vuong, Andy Trieu, Derek You and David Vuong Continue reading →

Posted in News |

Skylines | Blu-ray & DVD (Lionsgate)

Posted on December 12, 2020 by JJ Bona
Skylines | Blu-ray & DVD (Lionsgate)

Skylines | Blu-ray & DVD (Lionsgate)

RELEASE DATE: January 12, 2021

On January 12, 2021, the third film in Brothers Strause’ Skyline saga, titled Skylines, will be released on Blu-ray & DVD from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

The XYZ Films production will take place after the events of 2017’s Beyond Skyline, which revolved around a detective (played by Captain America: Civil War’s Frank Grillo) embarking on a relentless pursuit to free his son from an alien warship with the help of The Raid franchise’s Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian.

For Skylines, Liam O’Donnell (Portals) once again writes and directs and Brothers Strause’ (directors of the first film) are on board as producers for a third time.

Official plot synopsis for Skylines: When a virus threatens to turn the now earth-dwelling friendly Continue reading →

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles, News |

Call, The (2020) Review

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Paul Bramhall
"The Call" Korean Theatrical Poster

“The Call” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Lee Choong-Hyun
Writer: Lee Choong-Hyun
Cast: Park Shin-Hye, Jun Jong-Seo, Kim Sung-Ryoung, Lee El, Park Ho-San, Lee Dong-Hwi
Running Time: 114 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Korean cinema has had a longstanding fascination with the concept of two characters interacting with each other from different moments in time. From the 2000 Korean Wave classic Il Mare, which sees a love story play out between a man and a woman living in the same house 2 years apart (and was lamentably remade by Hollywood into 2006’s The Lake House), to 2015’s The Phone, which has a lawyer receiving a call from his wife a year on from the day she was murdered. In 2020 the genre has another title to add to its ranks in the form of The Call, the debut full length feature of director Lee Chung-hyun.

Similar to The Phone, Chung-hyun opts to use the plot device within the framework of a thriller, although The Call differentiates itself by also incorporating a strong undercurrent of horror. Following the trend of recent Korean productions such as 2017’s The Vanished and 2018’s Door Lock, The Call is a remake of the 2011 British/Puerto Rican co-production The Caller. Thankfully the component being remade is only the concept of the phone call between two characters taking place years apart from Continue reading →

Posted in All, Korean, News, Reviews | Tagged |

Here’s what’s streaming on Hi-YAH! for the month of December

Posted on December 8, 2020 by JJ Bona


Hi-YAH!, Well Go USA’s very own Asian/martial arts streaming channel has just announced their New Release line up for the month of December, which includes a New film added to Hi-YAH! every Friday! Some of the highlights includes two HK crime classics, Johnnie To’s PTU and Ringo Lam’s Full Alert – and a whole lot of Donnie Yen! Continue reading for the full list Continue reading →

Posted in News |

Max Cloud (2020) Review

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Paul Bramhall
"Max Cloud" Theatrical Poster

“Max Cloud” Theatrical Poster

Director: Martin Owen
Cast: Scott Adkins, John Hannah, Lashana Lynch, Elliot James Langridge, Tommy Flanagan, Franz Drameh, Sam Hazeldine, Isabelle Allen, Lois Amber Toole
Running Time: 89 min.

By Paul Bramhall

British action star Scott Adkins has been doing his best to throw his fans off-guard in 2020. Sure, we’ve had the traditional Adkins action vehicles like Legacy of Lies, The Debt Collectors, and Seized, but there’s also been a couple of titles that definitely weren’t what his fanbase have come to expect. First up was Dead Reckoning, which cast him as a terrorist determined to blow up a 4th July beach party, in what its own marketing material proclaimed was “a millennial romantic thriller”. Next up was a science fiction movie, in which a teenage girl in 1990 Brooklyn is sucked into the video game she’s addicted to playing, which sees a group of heroic space adventurers battle against an evil force.

Going by the pre-production title of The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud, Adkins latest feature eventually makes it to the screen as the arguably less unwieldy Max Cloud. Rather unfortunately the plot involving the video game, which is where we spend most of the runtime, bears some resemblance to Adkins last foray into sci-fi, with the close-to-unwatchable 2018 effort Incoming. While the plot for that one involved a prison set in space, here our heroes crash-land on a planet which is being used as a prison. Thankfully, that’s where the comparisons end, and while Incoming was a torturous slog Continue reading →

Posted in All, Asian Related, News, Reviews | Tagged |

Oscar Isaac to star in Sony’s Live-action adaptation of ‘Metal Gear Solid’ for ‘Kong: Skull Island’ director Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Posted on December 4, 2020 by JJ Bona
"Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" Poster

“Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” Poster

Sony Entertainment has reportedly enlisted Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, A Most Violent Year) to star in Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ (Kong: Skull Island) live-action adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid.

In the film, Isaac will take on the role of the iconic video game character Solid Snake, a highly skilled special operations soldier whose speciality is destroying models of the bipedal nuclear weapon-armed mecha known as Metal Gear.

The script is being written by Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) and produced by Avi Arad (Spider-Man: Far from Home) with Peter Kang overseeing for the studio (via Deadline).

We’ll keep you updated on this project as we learn more. For now, we leave you with a clip for our favorite Continue reading →

Posted in News |

Bodies at Rest (2019) Review

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Paul Bramhall
"Bodies at Rest" Theatrical Poster

“Bodies at Rest” Theatrical Poster

Director: Renny Harlin 
Cast: Nick Cheung Ka-Fai, Richie Ren Xian-Qi, Yang Zi, Feng Jia-Yi, Carlos Chan Ka-Lok, Ma Shu-Liang, Ou-Yang Ching, Roger Kwok Chun-On, Ron Ng Cheuk-Hai
Running Time: 94 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Back in the 90’s it seemed like Renny Harlin was destined to become one of the great action movie directors working in Hollywood. Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, and The Long Kiss Goodnight all deserve a mention in any conversation around the best Hollywood has to offer from the 90’s action genre, but alas Harlin’s hot streak wasn’t sustainable. Like many a director, diminishing box office returns, combined with one epic flop in the form of the ironically titled Cutthroat Island, soon saw the big budget offers drying up. As the 90’s came to a close, in the post-millennium world Harlin can be found helming WWE Studios flicks like the 2009 John Cena actioner 12 Rounds, or the B-movie version Brett Ratner’s Hercules from 2014, The Legend of Hercules, released the same year (and definitely minus Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson).

Luck was on the Finnish directors side though, as in 2016 he was hired to direct Jackie Chan in Skiptrace. Despite pairing Chan up with one-time Jackass Johnny Knoxville, Skiptrace was primarily a Chinese production, and upon its release it went straight to number 1 in the Chinese box-office. It may not have provided Harlin with a Hollywood come back, but it didn’t need to, as he suddenly found himself inundated with offers from Chinese studios to direct their movies. Not only did Harlin decide to accept several of the offers, in 2017 he packed his bags and re-located Continue reading →

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Fasten your seatbelt for Dante Lam and Eddie Peng’s big budget, CGI-induced thriller ‘The Rescue’

Posted on December 3, 2020 by JJ Bona
“The Rescue” Theatrical Poster

“The Rescue” Theatrical Poster

On December 18, 2020, CMC Pictures is finally releasing The Rescue (aka Emergency Rescue) to U.S. theaters. This big budget thriller is directed by noted Hong Kong action director Dante Lam (Operation Red Sea).

In the film, a rescue unit within the Chinese Coast Guard are forced to overcome their personal differences to resolve a crisis.

The Rescue (read our review) reunites Lam with his To the Fore, Unbeatable and Operation Mekong star, Eddie Peng (Call of Heroes, Cold War II).

The lavish production also features Oscar-winning cinematographer Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Continue reading →

Posted in News |

Deng Chao and Wu Jing to face off in ‘Ping-pong of China’?

Posted on December 1, 2020 by JJ Bona
"Ping-pong of China" Teaser Poster

“Ping-pong of China” Teaser Poster

Actor/filmmaker Deng Chao – who is perhaps best known for his roles in Shadow, The Mermaid and Assembly – will direct and star in Ping-Pong of China, an upcoming sports drama that will also star Wu Jing (Wolf Warrior 2, SPL II: A Time for Consequences).

According to AFS, the movie will center on the Chinese national ping-pong team’s victory in 1995. Here’s hoping Ping-Pong of China will be as fun (and entertaining) as some of the other cult-favorite, table tennis movies such as 2012’s As One, 2002’s Ping-pong, and of course, 2007’s Balls of Fury.

Deng Chao’s past directorial projects include 2014’s The Breakup Guru, 2015’s Devil and Angel and 2019’s Looking Up.

We’ll keep you updated on this project as we learn more. Until then, here’s the Trailer Continue reading →

Posted in News |

I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK (2006) Review

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Paul Bramhall
"I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK" Theatrical Poster

“I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK” Theatrical Poster

Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Lim Soo-Jung, Rain, Oh Dal-Su, Park Jun-Myun, Choi Hee-Jin, Kim Byung-Ok, Lee Yong-Nyeo, Yoo Ho-Jeong, Park Byeong-Eun, Kim Do-Yeon, Son Young-Soon
Running Time: 105 min.

By Paul Bramhall

In 2005 director Park Chan-wook wrapped up his Vengeance Trilogy with the release of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, concluding 3 of the most iconic movies of the 21st century (and which, to this day, I find my answer changing every time someone asks me which is my favorite). The trilogy put Chan-wook on the map, and naturally, the audience which had lapped up the gritty, morally ambiguous, and always confronting slices of cinematic vengeance eagerly awaited whatever he was going to deliver next. Looking backwards from the perspective of 2020, not many people expected it to be a love story between two patients in a mental institution, and when I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK was initially released, for many their feelings landed somewhere between stumped and confused.

Of course since then we’ve had horny blood-sucking priests, murderous uncles, and erotically charged lesbianism. It’s easy to argue that if Chan-wook released IaC,BTOK (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) now, it would be accepted and enjoyed far more than it was back in 2006. In many ways the reaction to its release at the time, at least from a western perspective, was a culmination of factors. In the mid-00’s most distributors had cultivated an image of Asian cinema as being some kind of Extreme variant on what you could expect from Hollywood – it was all about ultra-violent gangster Continue reading →

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Versus + Ultimate Versus: 2-Disc Special Edition | Blu-ray (Arrow Video)

Posted on November 28, 2020 by JJ Bona
Versus + Ultimate Versus: 2-Disc Special Edition | Blu-ray (Arrow Video)

Versus + Ultimate Versus: 2-Disc Special Edition | Blu-ray (Arrow Video)

RELEASE DATE: December 8, 2020

On December 8, 2020, Arrow Video is releasing a 2-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray for Ryuhei Kitamura’s Versus, which will include the original 2000 and expanded 2004 Ultimate Versus iterations, in a brand new, director-approved restoration.

Read the official details below:

A relentless one-of-a-kind sensory assault chock full of hyper-kinetic fight scenes, gangster shootouts, sword-slashing violence and gory zombie horror, Versus was a key title amongst the barrage of innovative horror and action movies that appeared as if from nowhere from Japan at the turn of the millennium, leading to a new wave of appreciation for Asian extreme cinema.

A mysterious face-off in a wooded clearing between two escaped convicts and a carload of sharply dressed yakuza holding a beautiful woman captive ends in hails of bullets and showers of blood. The location for this violent Continue reading →

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

Revenge: A Love Story (2010) Review

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Paul Bramhall
"Revenge: A Love Story" Theatrical Poster

“Revenge: A Love Story” Theatrical Poster

Director: Wong Ching-Po
Cast: Juno Mak Jun Lung, Sora Aoi, Chin Siu Ho, Anthony Lau Wing, Ken Lo Hui Kwong, Tony Ho
Running Time: 111 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Most Hong Kong cinema fans hold a special place in their heart for the territories Cat III output that populated the 90’s. A heady concoction usually consisting of graphic violence, ample nudity, and a manic energy which made it impossible to take any of the 2 factors just mentioned seriously, it’s difficult to imagine such movies being made anywhere other than Hong Kong. While many fans (myself included) mourn those glory days when we took the likes of The Untold Story, Sex and Zen, Naked Killer, and Run and Kill for granted, that’s not to say the Cat III genre died out completely by the turn of the new millennium.

Sure, the Cat III label started to feel more innocuous than it did in the past, with movies like Election (and its sequel) being slapped with the rating more for the fact they were about triads than any over the top violence and nudity. However in 2010 we were gifted with what I believe are the last 2 Cat III flicks that both lived up to the expectations the rating was once associated with, and were genuinely entertaining (Herman Yau fanatics may cite 2017’s The Sleep Curse, but personally I found it an inconsistent effort). The first of those came in the form of Pang Ho-Cheung’s Dream Home, a blood splattered satire Continue reading →

Posted in All, Chinese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , |
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