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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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

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 →

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Netflix to release Takeshi Kitano biopic ‘Asakusa Kid’ in 2021

Posted on November 24, 2020 by JJ Bona
"Fireworks" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Fireworks” Japanese Theatrical Poster

Director/actor/comedian Gekidan Hitori (A Bolt from the Blue) is set to direct and write Asakusa Kid, an upcoming biopic that follows the early years of the legendary, multi-talented Japanese celebrity Takeshi Kitano (Outrage Coda, Battle Royale, Hana-Bi).

Asakusa Kid will star Yagira Yuya (Gintama) as Kitano. Also starring is Oizumi Yo (I Am a Hero), who will play Fukami Senzaburo, a comedian who is also known as Kitano’s mentor. The film will be based on the memoir of the same name written by Kitano.

Since his early days of stand-up, Kitano has evolved and diversified. In the 1980s he became one of Japan’s most popular comedians, first as part of a duo called “Two Beats” (thus his “Beat Takeshi” stage name) and then as a solo act with routines that ranged from slapstick to insult humor. His acting career took off, including an appearance in Oshima Nagisa’s Continue reading →

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Max Cloud | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Posted on November 24, 2020 by JJ Bona
Max Cloud | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Max Cloud | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

RELEASE DATE: January 19, 2021

Martial arts star Scott Adkins (Ip Man 4, Seized, The Debt Collector, Incoming) is taking a second trip to space in Well Go USA’s Max Cloud (aka The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud) a sci-fi actioner that hits VOD on December 18, 2020, then arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on January 19, 2021.

Directed by Martin Owens (Let’s Be Evil) and written by Sally Collet (Twist), Max Cloud centers on Sarah, a gamer who finds an “easter egg” and accidentally opens a portal into her favorite side-scroller. She then becomes trapped in a notorious intergalactic prison, home to the galaxy’s most dangerous villains. To escape, she must finish the game with a little help from her not-so-savvy friend on the outside…or remain a 16-bit character forever.

Adkins stars along with Tommy Continue reading →

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

Wu Jing may yet again go balls deep into sci-fi territory with ‘Ball Lightning’ from ‘The Wandering Earth’ author

Posted on November 24, 2020 by JJ Bona
"Ball Lightning" Novel Cover

“Ball Lightning” Novel Cover

Another live-action adaptation of Liu Cixin’s (writer of The Wandering Earth) sci-fi novel, titled Ball Lightning, is currently in-the-works from actor/writer/director Chen Sicheng, who is perhaps best known for the Detective Chinatown franchise.

The novel follows the experiences of a first-person protagonist, Chen, whose family was killed by a ball lightning while he was in high school. Both traumatized and inspired by that experience, he makes the investigation of ball lightning his life’s work, first getting his PhD in the subject, then exploring the phenomena through both applied and theoretical research. During the research, a military technology researcher Lin Yuan who wants to turn his science into a weapon and brings him in to a weapons development research team (via Wikipedia).

Martial arts star Wu Jing Continue reading →

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Port of Call: Director’s Cut (2015) Review

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Paul Bramhall
"Port of Call" Theatrical Poster

“Port of Call” Theatrical Poster

Director: Philip Yung
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Elaine Jin, Patrick Tam, Jessie Li, Michael Ning, Jackie Cai, Maggie Shiu, Eddie Chan, Hatou Yeung, Ellen Li, Don Li, Ronny Yuen, Tam Ping-man
Running Time: 120 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Port of Call is something of an anomaly for the year in which it was made, being a Category III Hong Kong production which received no financing from the Mainland. The end product is one that will remind audiences familiar with the territories output just how much that distinctive Hong Kong atmosphere has been missed. Invoking a feeling though isn’t enough to make a good movie, but thankfully director Philip Yung’s third feature also happens to be an enthralling piece of cinema, equal parts murder mystery and character study.

Yung is one of a handful of new voices in the Hong Kong film industry, and with his output so far it’s become a voice that reflects the disenchantment of the territories youth, and the depths that such disenchantment can lead to. Much like how Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong captured a certain moment in time for the youth of Hong Kong in 1997, so Yung’s features echo the same for the current times we’re living in. Both his debut and sophomore features, 2009’s Glamorous Youth and 2013’s May We Chat (notably also both Cat III), take place in the world of prostitution and compensated dating, and Continue reading →

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The ‘Storm’ stops for director David Lam with ‘The Tipping Point’

Posted on November 22, 2020 by JJ Bona
"The Tipping Point" Teaser Poster

“The Tipping Point” Teaser Poster

Veteran Hong Kong filmmaker David Lam (Street Angels) is finally putting a cork on his ever-growing crime franchise (2014’s Z-Storm, 2016’s S-Storm, 2018’s L-Storm, 2019’s P-Storm and this year’s G-Storm – all of which were produced consecutively) with The Tipping Point.

As you probably would have guessed, its plot bracket is within the crime/thriller territory. The upcoming film will star Qin Hailu (Tale of Three Cities), Julian Cheung (Extreme Crisis), Eric Tsang (Golden Job), Ray Lui (To Be Number One), Ng Man Tat (Shaolin Soccer), Xiao Yang (Detective Chinatown) and Shao Bing (The Sword And the Chess of Death).

Thanks to AFS, we have a look at the film’s first Poster, as well as a few Continue reading →

Posted in News |
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