Donate to see Cynthia Rothrock in an uncensored ‘Bitchfight’

Posted on September 3, 2015 by JJ Bona
"No Retreat, No Surrender 2" American VHS Cover

"No Retreat, No Surrender 2" American VHS Cover

Action star Cynthia Rothrock (Shanghai Express) is reuniting with her No Retreat, No Surrender II co-star, Max Thayer, for a Grindhouse-style, Tarantino-esque martial arts flick titled Bitchfight, directed by UK filmmaker and cult movie historian, Dean Meadows.

According to a press release (via FCS), “Bitchfight harks back to the glory days of the 80’s and early 90’s when video stores where lined with low budget action classics from the likes of Golan/Globus, Roger Corman and Cirio Santiago.”

Meadows stated, “We’re making this movie for all those fans who remember the excitement of going into the video store and anticipating the next release from companies such as Cannon, you know the old-school stuff starring guys like Chuck Norris, Michael Dudikoff and Steve James…”

Bitchfight is set to start shooting in the Spring of 2015. Stay tuned!

Update: The filmmakers have unveiled a 30-day Kickstarter campaign in which supporters will gain access to an exclusive, uncut version of the film. This raw and uncensored cut will feature 25 minutes of footage not available anywhere else!

Posted in News |

Well Go USA brings home Indonesia’s ‘Golden Cane Warrior’!

Posted on September 2, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Golden Cane Warrior" Theatrical Poster

"Golden Cane Warrior" Theatrical Poster

This November, Well Go USA is bringing home Ifa Isfansyah’s The Golden Cane Warrior, an Indonesian Wu Xia epic, featuring martial arts choreography by Hong Kong’s Hung Yan Yan (Shaolin, Coweb, Time & Tide).

The film stars some of Indonesia’s most popular talents, including Christine Hakim, Nicholas Saputra, Reza Rahadian, Slamet Rahardjo, Prisia Nasution, Eva Celia and Tara Basro.

Official Plot: The Golden Cane: a relic of incomparable force, coveted by all. And with it, the training of a technique so unrivaled, it vanquishes all who dare oppose its power.

As Master Cempaka and her four disciples – orphans of her enemies, now heirs to the Cane – prepare for the new warrior guardian to ascend, an act of villainous betrayal threatens to destroy the clan and destabilize the realm. Their only hope to restore order lies in finding the elusive White Dragon, the only remaining pupil still equipped to unlock the mysteries of the Golden Cane.

The Golden Cane Warrior doesn’t hit shelves until November 3, 2015, but it’s currently available for pre-order on Blu-ray & DVD. If you haven’t already, check out the film’s trailer!

Posted in News |

Northern Limit Line | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Posted on September 2, 2015 by JJ Bona
Northern Limit Line | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Northern Limit Line | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

RELEASE DATE: October 20, 2015

Well Go USA presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Kim Hak-Soon’s Northern Limit Line (aka Battle of Yeonpyeong). This box office hit stars Kim Moo-Yul, Jin Goo, Lee Hyun-Woo, Lee Wan and Lee Chung-Ah.

June 29th, 2002. As the citizens of South Korea celebrate the FIFA World Cup, the North Korean navy sends two patrol boats to a disputed border in the Yellow Sea. The surprise attack on Battleship 357, now remembered as the Battle of Yeonpyeong, honors the men who bravely fought for freedom – on the Northern Limit Line. | Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Northern Limit Line from Amazon.com today!

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

Stray Cat Rock: Beat ’71 (1971) Review‏

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"Stray Cat Rock: Beat '71" Japanese Theatrical Poster

"Stray Cat Rock: Beat '71" Japanese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Alleycat Rock: Crazy Riders ’71
Director: Toshiya Fujita
Writer: Tatsuya Asai, Hideichi Nagahara
Cast: Meiko Kaji, Takeo Chii, Tatsuya Fuji, Yoshio Harada, Takeo Chii, Yoshio Inaba, Bunjaku Han, Michiko Tsukasa
Running Time: 87 min.

By Kyle Warner

Director Toshiya Fujita returns to the Stray Cat Rock series for the fifth and final installment, Stray Cat Rock: Beat ’71 (aka Stray Cat Rock: Crazy Rider ’71). While I thought that the previous film signaled that the series was running out of steam, Fujita successfully livens things up and lets the series go out with a bang (literally and otherwise).

In Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, Fujita broke away from the delinquent girl gang stuff that the series is generally known for, and he moves even further away from that sort of movie with Beat ’71. The final Stray Cat Rock film isn’t about cool, good-looking young people hanging out in clubs and getting into altercations with their rivals, instead it’s about homeless hippies and a society that doesn’t see a use for them.

Meiko Kaji plays Furiko, a hippie that lives with her friends in a broken down bus. She’s in love with Ryumei (Takeo Chii), a rich young man that’s given up his life of luxury for love. However, Ryumei’s dad doesn’t accept this, so he sends a biker gang to retrieve Ryumei and get him away from Furiko. Ryumei kills one of the bikers but he is abducted anyway – and what’s worse, Furiko is blamed for the biker’s murder. It’s not long before the hopelessly romantic Furiko breaks out of prison, skips town, and tracks down her lover. Her hippie friends hear about her escape and are originally against chasing after her, but when one of their own dies while masturbating with a jackhammer, they figure ‘what the hell?’ and begin a road trip to find their fugitive friend.

This is such a fun, weird movie. Easily one of my favorites of the series. Fujita’s style is very carefree and he encouraged improvisation from his actors. You can tell that the cast is having a good time. And though there are many laugh out loud moments to the film, Beat ’71 is not without its dramatic tension and political commentary.

When the hippies arrive in town looking for their friend, they’re met with general hostility by the townsfolk who just want them to leave. The hippies go to a grocery store and are told that they can’t buy anything. To which the hippies smile and say that they weren’t planning to pay anyway, they’re just taking what they want. By the end of the film, the bad guys and general townsfolk alike have all taken up arms and rallied against the hippies who refuse to leave their town.

Perhaps the most amusing part surrounding the hippie lifestyle comes early in the film when a magazine writer and photographer go to the hippie bus for interviews and photos. The hippies do their best to play the part that society expects from them, sniffing glue, playing with guns, and engaging in group sex for their guest’s entertainment. After they’ve been paid, the hippies drop the act and return to their usual activities.

Beat ’71 brings back many familiar Stray Cat Rock faces for the finale film. Takeo Chii, previously seen in Wild Jumbo, convincing plays Ryumei as a man lost between two worlds. Chii’s Wild Jumbo co-star Soichiro Maeno has a small part as a bad guy. Eiji Go once again plays the leader of an evil biker gang. Rikiya Yasuoka, the ‘cross-breed’ hero of Sex Hunter, makes a cameo appearance as a biker. And Bunjaku Han, who only missed out on one of the Stray Cat Rock films, also appears in a small role.

If there’s one major thing to hold against Beat ’71, it’s that it almost completely wastes series star Meiko Kaji. In the original film, Delinquent Girl Boss, Kaji was not the lead but she was definitely the most interesting performer of the cast. In Beat ’71 she’s relegated to a supporting part despite her star billing. Once her character Furiko busts out of jail and goes in search of Ryumei, she’s only seen sporadically until the finale. In her absence, the hippies take over the film, particularly the leaders of the troupe played by series regular Tatsuya Fuji and newcomer Yoshio Harada. Fuji and Harada are good enough to hold the film together while Kaji isn’t around, but the series star is missed.

Yoshio Harada’s one of my favorite actors and it was cool to see him in this, one of his earliest film roles. In his youth Harada was known for playing antiheroes and was one of Japanese cinema’s best tough guy leading men in the 70s and 80s. Later in his career, Harada became more of a character actor and would impress in both dramatic and comedic roles in films like Rokuro Mochizuki’s Onibi: The Fire Within, Hirokazu Koreeda’s Still Walking, and Katsuhito Ishii’s Party 7. If Harada had been around about ten to fifteen years earlier his name might be mentioned in the same breath as Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, and Shintaro Katsu. Alas, he was a generation behind those cinema giants and entered film during the 70s, just as the studio system started to die, with the Japanese film industry never fully recovering. In Harada’s own words, “I got on the last carriage of the last train.” Still, Harada gave us many great films, and his presence is very welcome in the Stray Cat Rock series. In his role as the hippie leader Piranha, Harada showcases a bit of everything he’d come to be known for, including great comedic timing and a cool tough guy swagger.

Stray Cat Rock: Beat ’71 was more than just the end of a series. Nikkatsu, the studio behind Stray Cat Rock and many of Japan’s most popular action movies, would soon shift towards producing pink films in order to stay afloat. Many actors that Nikkatsu had long been grooming quickly jumped ship, including Meiko Kaji. Beat ’71 and other films made by the studio around the same time mark the end of an era.

I’ve really enjoyed my time with the Stray Cat Rock series and I’m kind of sad that I’ve now reached the end. I’m trying to think of another series that’s like this one and I just can’t at the moment. It’s a strange series of films. They use many of the same actors from film to film, but never playing the same characters. Sometimes a Stray Cat Rock film is a gritty crime drama, other times it’s a youth comedy. One film deals with the subject of racism, another film has a dude dying from sexual excitement while using a jackhammer. And though the films are often funny and wildly different, they all invariably end in shocking, downbeat fashion. The Stray Cat Rock series is part Nikkatsu action movie, part Easy Rider, part counterculture comedy, and 100% 1970s.

Beat ’71 may not be the most polished of the bunch but it is one of the funniest. In general, Yasuharu Hasebe’s entries are the more dramatic and thought-provoking, but I think I’ll return to Fujita’s films more often. Wild Jumbo and Beat ’71 are cool, fun, and wild. I’m giving this film – and this series – a strong recommendation to fans of Japanese cinema.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 7.5/10

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

Van Damme’s next film: ‘Bourne Identity’ with humor?

Posted on August 31, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Pound of Flesh" Japanese Theatrical Poster

"Pound of Flesh" Japanese Theatrical Poster

Did Jason Statham’s role in Spy give Jean-Claude Van Damme (Pound of Flesh) inspiration for an upcoming film? Possibly. In a recent interview with TOD, the action star teased a project he’s currently working on: “Right now, I’m working on a lighter project where I play an actor who’s a spy… it will be a bit like The Bourne Identity with a touch of comedy.”

This won’t be the first time Van Damme is venturing into comedy. This year, he appeared in the Chinese superhero parody film, Jian Bing Man. In 2013, he starred alongside Adam Brody, Kristen Schaal and Rob Huebel in Welcome to the Jungle.  2011 gave him a bit role in the French film Beur sur la ville, not to mention voice work in Kung Fu Panda 2 that same year.

Since it may be a while until the new spy comedy comes to fruition, what’s next for Van Damme? In early 2016, you can catch him in Kickboxer: Vengeance with Alain Moussi, Dave Bautista, Georges St. Pierre, Gina Carano and the late Darren Shahlavi. According to sources, his long-awaited thriller, Full Love (aka Eagle Path), will also be released in 2016. Stay tuned!

Posted in News |

Exclusive: Interview with Masaharu Take

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Martin Sandison

Interview with Masaharu TakeBeginning his career as an assistant director, Masaharu Take has gone from strength to strength as a director with a singular and unique voice. His two most recent movies Unsung Hero (In the Hero) and 100 Yen Love have proven his ability to weave interesting stories, strong visuals and great characters into a cohesive whole.

With a feeling of deja vu I was attempting to get an interview with Take, and as with Sakura Ando I bumped into him at a film festival party. I managed in the few minutes following to secure an interview with him as he was in town for a few days. A very calm, collected customer, he proved to be an authority on Japanese film and expressive about his creations.

Note: The entire interview was conducted with myself speaking English and Mr. Take speaking Japanese

"100 Yen Love" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“100 Yen Love” Japanese Theatrical Poster

MARTIN SANDISON: Have you had a chance to walk around Edinburgh?

MASAHARU TAKE: Yes I’ve been walking around every day.

MS: What do you think of the city?

MT: I want to come back again. There’s not enough time this time. It’s a beautiful city with a lot of history, and the people in it are very friendly. This is a very good film festival, and I want to come back not just for the festival.

MS: Have you seen any other films here?

MT: I’ve seen five films. I only had two days to see films, but yeah a few.

MS: Did you like any one in particular?

MT: I watched Scottish Mussel last night, it was really nice to see Scottish scenes being here.

MS: How did you begin in the film industry?

MT: I didn’t particularly study cinema at school but there’s a social society in University, and I was part of that, and through people I knew from there I got some part time jobs. Then eventually, gradually I got more and more jobs.

MS: What was the inspiration for 100 Yen Love?

MT: The screenwriting began about five years ago with Shin Adachi. It was going to be something where the main character was a female, and someone who would learn how to fight, not just physically but fighting in general.

 

Sakura Ando (left) in "100 Yen Love"

Sakura Ando (left) in “100 Yen Love”

MS: How was Sakura Ando to work with?

MT: It was actually my first time working with Sakura Ando but as a film-maker I grew working with her. There was a lot to learn from each other and trying to get an actress as famous as her to get motivated to do something was very inspiring.

MS: The end boxing scene in the movie is very intense, how was that to film and were you involved a lot with the choreography?

MT: There were three rounds to the boxing match, each one was choreographed. Each punch, each duck, each cling on to the other person all of it was specifically choreographed so we had both boxers train and practice that routine for one month. One month for the choreography for both boxers to learn and practice that choreography and three months for boxing training.

MS: Were you inspired by any previous films films with boxing scenes in them?

MT: Personally I really liked Raging Bull, the boxing film, but specifically when I think about the boxing scene in 100 Yen Love it’s more about watching actual female boxers and going to their matches and seeing how they fight. It was inspired by the spirit of Raging Bull, but the fighting scene was more about the matches.

MS: Your previous film was the martial arts film Unsung Hero, how was it making that kind of film?

 

"Unsung Hero" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Unsung Hero” Japanese Theatrical Poster

MT: It was much harder making Unsung Hero compared with 100 Yen Love, because it’s actual action scenes and there’s one hundred people fighting. Unsung Hero was shot in the winter of 2010, then the following summer was when we shot 100 Yen Love so the action scenes and that sort of vitality in the main character of Unsung Hero sort of blended in to Ichiko the main character of 100 Yen Love. There’s a big meaning that in that for both films we didn’t use any doubles it was purely the actors doing the stunts, and that’s meaningful.

MS: How interested are you in the Chambara (Japanese Samurai films) genre?

MT: I like it very much. It was a good opportunity to make that sort of film using that spirit and the techniques of Chambara in my generation.

MS: Takashi Miike made 13 Assassins and Hara Kiri a few years ago, were you inspired by those films?

MT: Miike’s films are all remakes of earlier films, I really like the original versions of 13 Assassins and Hara Kiri, and I watched them before making Unsung Hero. In the garden set in Usung Hero, that was inspired by Hara Kiri. There is a garden and the camera moves around it, that was a homage to Hara Kiri.

MS: Do you have a favourite Chambara film?

 

"13 Assassins" (1963) Japanese Theatrical Poster

“13 Assassins” (1963) Japanese Theatrical Poster

MT: Zatoichi, the old Shintaro Katsu ones, 13 Assassins the original one. Raizo Ichikawa’s films too, do you know him?

MS: Yes… Sleepy Eyes of Death they are called in English. Do you prefer working on a martial arts film like Unsung Hero or a film like 100 Yen Love more?

MT: I do like doing action, martial arts films but that requires a lot of proper budget, a lucrative budget behind you to support you. I’d rather not make something in between. It doesn’t have to be a superhero action film, I prefer to make ones that are like action but like 100 Yen Love so real life people doing action. Do you know Cassevetes’ Gloria? I would like to make something like that. Like a middle aged woman shooting guns. Also something like Leon.

MS: Do you like 70’s films?

MT: 100 Yen Love is more in the same feel as Martin Scorsese, like Mean Streets and Taxi Driver. That was what I was aiming for to begin with.

MS: Can you comment on the relationship between Ichiko and Yuuji in 100 Yen Love?

MT: They’re both very socially awkward people, they have difficulty expressing themselves. But I think they are both in love with each other. They’re not people that are liked by everyone. They’re not good at expressing themselves, but Yuuji has boxing and Ichiko at the start of the film is at home a lot, that’s how they deal with their problems. I had the image of Rocky, if Adrian was the one boxing!

(Laughter)

I sort of relate Adrian with Ichiko. That was always in my mind when making the film.

 

The colorful Super Sentai-ish cast of "Unsung Hero"

The colorful Super Sentai-ish cast of “Unsung Hero”

MS: You worked as assistant director on Memories of Matsuko, a very famous film. Can you talk about working on that film, and working with director Tetsuya Nakashima?

MT: It was my first time working with Nakashima on that film, but he has a very talented group of staff, he is capable of bringing staff for each aspect of filmmaking, so that was very inspiring. I was really surprised how Nakashima handled the original screenplay and made it more colourful and illustrative, that was a real surprise for me. I never thought it would actually become a musical! It was a lot of studying and a lot to take from working with him. I was in charge of doing all of the dancing scenes. Nakashima he aspires to Kurosawa, they both have a lot of talented people with them, so trying to get the most out of them, the maximum out of them that was a really good thing he was doing and it was really inspiring to see that. He had a lot of quirks and specifics on the film so nobody got to sleep that much. He also likes films made in the 70’s so I could easily relate to him and what he was trying to make. I really like that film.

 

MS: Do you have a favourite Japanese film and director?

MT: I really like films made by Yuzo Kawashima. I really like films featuring Ayako Wakao. They are showing a lot of her films in Japan just now. I’ve been co-directing with Kazuyuki Izutsu and I’ve been making about ten films with him and he is another favourite of mine, he has had a big impact on me. There’s a film made in 1980 called Empire of the Sun made by Izutsu, that’s a major inspiration to me, and it’s the film that made me work in film today. It’s about kids that are in gangs growing up in the 60’s in Osaka.

 

"Raging Bull" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Raging Bull” Japanese Theatrical Poster

MS: Are there other directors you are influenced by? You talked about Scorsese?

MT: Out of the directors I have worked with it’s Izutsu. I haven’t actually met Scorsese, so out of the people I’ve met it’s Izutsu but growing up Scorsese was a big influence on me and Izutsu aswell.

MS: I think it’s great how Scorsese loves Eastern films; he loves Japanese and Hong Kong films.

MT: Yeah, he is shooting a film called Silence just now that is set in Japan.

MS: What’s your next project?

MT: Hopefully we can start shooting in the winter, I want to make a comedy. 100 Yen Love I think is a comedy, but the new film is about two men who start deceiving people and the comedy that comes out of that.

MS: Ok, thanks very much!

MT: Thanks!

To read more of our interviews, please click here.

Posted in Interviews, News |

A Hard Day | Blu-ray & DVD (Kino Lorber)

Posted on August 29, 2015 by JJ Bona
"A Hard Day" Theatrical Poster

"A Hard Day" Theatrical Poster

RELEASE DATE: November 24, 2015

Kino Lorber presents the Blu-ray & DVD for A Hard Day (our review) starring Lee Sun-kyun (R-Point), Cho Jin-woong (The Spirit of JKD), Shin Jeong-Geun (The Pirates) and Jeong Man-Sik (Kundo).

Detective Geon-soo is having a hard day: in less than 24 hours, he receives a divorce notice from his wife, his mother passes away, and along with his coworkers, he becomes the focus of a police investigation over embezzlement. Making things worse, on his way to his mother’s funeral, he commits a fatal hit and run and then, hides a corpse in his deceased mother’s coffin. | Watch the trailer.

Pre-order A Hard Day from Amazon.com today!

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

Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance | Blu-ray & DVD (Cinema Epoch)

Posted on August 29, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance" Theatrical Poster

“Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance” Theatrical Poster

RELEASE DATE: January 12, 2016

Cinema Epoch presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Gregory Hatanaka’s Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance (read our review).

25 years ago, they joined forces to take on the Yakuza in Samurai Cop (1991), now Detective Frank Washington (Mark Frazer) and Joe Marshall (Matt Hannon) are teaming up once again in Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance. This time their mission is to solve a series of assassinations being committed by a secret group of female vigilante killers.

The film also stars Mel Novak (Game of Death), Bai Ling (The Crow), Tommy Wiseau (The Room), Mindy Robinson (American Slaughter), Shawn C. Phillips (Aliens vs Titanic), Joe Estevez (Lockdown), Laurene Landon (Maniac Cop), Kristine DeBell (The Big Brawl) and adult film stars, Kayden Kross and Lexi Belle. | Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance from Amazon.com today!

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

Indie martial arts film ‘Unlucky Stars’ gets distribution!

Posted on August 27, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Unlucky Stars" Movie Poster

“Unlucky Stars” Movie Poster

Decades later, the iconic films of Hong Kong legends Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan continue to inspire a new generation of stuntmen and filmmakers. Case in point: Unlucky Stars, an independent martial arts comedy directed by and starring Dennis Ruel.

As you can tell from the title, the film takes particular inspiration from the Lucky Stars series of films that Sammo popularized in the Eighties. Expect tongue-in-cheek humor and bone-crunching fight choreography.

You can scope out the teaser trailer for the film on YouTube. The cast includes Dennis Ruel, Ken Quitugua, Sari Sabella, Jose Montesinos, Giovannie Espiritu, and Vladislav Rimburg.

Updates: 2nd teaser. | BTS feature. | Full trailer. | New trailer.

BREAKING NEWS: We just received word that a distributor has been found for Unlucky Stars. A sales package for international markets are ready, and plans to distribute the movie in North America are underway. Stay tuned for more details! (via Paul Bramhall)

Posted in News |

Cityonfire.com’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ Blu-ray Giveaway! – WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Posted on August 27, 2015 by JJ Bona
Wolf Warrior | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Wolf Warrior | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Cityonfire.com and Well Go USA are giving away 3 Blu-ray copies of Wolf Warrior to three lucky Cityonfire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, this video.

We will be selecting a winner at random. Be sure to include your email address in the appropriate field so we can contact you for your home address. Additionally, you must ‘Like Us‘ on cityonfire.com’s Facebook by clicking here.

The Blu-ray & DVD for Wolf Warrior (read our review) will be officially released on September 1, 2015. We will announce the 3 winners on September 1, 2015 and ship out the prizes immediately.

CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by August 31, 2015 to qualify. U.S. residents only please. We sincerely apologize to our non-U.S. visitors. Winners must respond with their mailing address within 48 hours, otherwise you will automatically be disqualified. No exceptions. Contest is subject to change without notice.

WINNERS: Isaac, Ben and Ken L.

Posted in News | Tagged |

Memories of the Sword (2015) Review

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"Memories of the Sword" Korean Theatrical Poster

“Memories of the Sword” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Park Heung-Sik
Cast: Lee Byung-Hun, Jeon Do-Yeon, Kim Go-Eun, Lee Joon-Ho, Lee Kyoung-Young, Kim Tae-Woo, Bae Soo-Bin, Kim Soo-Ahn, Moon Sung-Geun
Running Time: 121 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Korean cinema continues to create some of the most original and innovative movies for audiences to enjoy, however just like many other countries, it also has a film industry that likes to follow trends. If a movie makes it big, a trail of inferior copy cats is inevitable. With the success of the 2012 blockbuster Masquerade, lavish period pieces quickly became the in thing after an absence of several years, although none of them have really captured the success of the Lee Byung-hun starring historical drama. Three years on, and Byung-hun returns to the genre with Memories of the Sword, which also marks his first Korean movie since Masquerade.

Byung-hun’s name would usually be enough to sell a title, however a scandal which he found himself at the center of in 2014, that played out very publicly, saw him fall out of favor with a lot of the Korean public. It also explains why he’s kept his focus on building a career in Hollywood, having earlier in the same year featured in Terminator Genisys. Despite this, Byung-hun is one of the most charismatic and solid actors working today, so many are no doubt happy to see him back headlining a Korean production. Here he’s paired with an actress of equal caliber in the form of Jeon Do-yeon, with Memories of the Sword marking the second time the pair have worked together, after starring in Lee Yeong-jae’s 1999 drama The Harmonium in My Memory.

Helmed by Park Heung-sik, the movie marks the directors first time at attempting a wuxia. Known for dramatic pieces such as I Wish I had a Wife and My Mother, the Mermaid (both of which starred Do-yeon), as anyone familiar with Zhang Yimou would contest, when a dramatic director turns his attention to the wuxia genre it usually wields interesting results. The anchor for Heung-sik’s piece comes in the form of Kim Go-eun, who plays the daughter of one of the Three Great Swords, a trio of heroes that once fought to overthrow the corrupt military authorities of the time. All she knows is that her father was murdered when she was still a baby, and she’s been raised by a blind tea house owner, played by Do-yeon, with the one purpose of seeking revenge against the two people responsible for her fathers death.

This may sound rather heavy, which is in stark contrast to the sunflower filled fields the movie opens with, which see Go-eun cheerily running around them without a care in the world. After jumping over a 20 foot sunflower, she enthusiastically declares that she’s finally ready to go out into the world. Several gravity defying jumps later, she forces her way into a high ranking officials fight tournament, where she proceeds to take part in a duel marred by split-second editing, crash zooms, and generally hectic camerawork. Although as an audience it’s impossible to really see what’s going on, the high ranking official, played by Byung-hun, thankfully observes enough to recognize her fighting style, and tracks her down afterwards to find out who she is.

In a nutshell, Byung-hun and Do-yeon were the other 2 members of the Three Great Swords, and used to be a happy couple. However Byung-hun betrayed them, killing Go-eun’s father, and becoming a power hungry aristocrat. Do-yeon couldn’t bring herself to kill Byung-hun when she had the chance, but she does rescue the baby of her murdered comrade, and settles on raising it to kill both herself and Byung-hun when she becomes 20. Do-yeon stays true to her word, revealing her true identity to Go-eun and how Byung-hun killed her father, and explains how she must kill both herself and Byung-hun to avenge her father’s murder.

While the above may sound like I’ve just spoiled the whole plot, including all the reveals and twists, this isn’t so, as the events described all take place within the first 30 minutes. Herein lies Memories of the Sword’s biggest problem, in that by placing all of its cards on the table so early on, for a 2 hour production it leaves itself with 90 minutes to keep us interested and engaged. Unfortunately it fails miserably at doing this.

It’s difficult to ascertain what Heung-sik, who also wrote the screenplay, was aiming for here. In many ways it almost feels like we start proceedings in the middle of the story, with the first 15 minutes being full of Byung-hun and Do-yeon working their best tortured expressions. Do-yeon often looks into the distance regretfully, Byung-hun looks sad as he keeps remembering Do-yeon’s words, such as how boiling water looks like shrimps eyes (kindly provided by Do-yeon in voiceover), but none of the pained expressions are earned. The movie has just started, so we don’t have any emotional investment yet, but Heung-sik seems to think we should be sharing their pain from the word go.

As events unfold, everyone struggles with a script that becomes increasingly preposterous, with developments that defy believability and twists which are plain laugh worthy. Even the plot begins to break down under the weight of its own logic. Go-eun has been raised in the tea house Do-yeon runs, and from the opening scene we witness that it can’t be anymore than a kilometer from where she meets Byung-hun. However later on we’re supposed to believe that Byung-hun has never seen Do-yeon for the 20 years she’s been raising Go-eun, or known her location, despite apparently living in such close proximity to each other.

Memories of the Sword’s crimes sadly don’t end there, with themes and often whole scenes being ripped from other movies. The Three Great Swords are blatantly styled after the characters of Broken Sword, Flying Snow, and Sky from Zhang Yimou’s Hero (not to mention the imagined fight sequences and distinct color schemes). The training sequence in a bamboo forest manages to do a double whammy, bringing to mind both Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Pai Mei sequences in Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Heung-sik also plagiarizes his fellow Korean contemporaries, with an attack on an outdoor tea ceremony starting off exactly like a similar scene from A Frozen Flower, and a fight in the shadows taken almost shot-for-shot from Lee Myeong-se’s Duelist.

The action itself poses another issue, in a production already riddled with them. Poorly shot, while Byung-hun acquits himself quite well (although he admittedly has little to do), Do-yeon and Go-eun are not so lucky, with Do-yeon in particular coming out the worse. While the blame lays more with the action director than it does with her, in the action sequences she’s required to perform in her uncoordinated flaying of the sword does anything but convince she’s a master swordswoman. Go-eun also seems too slight to really convey any believability in her duels, and seems miscast in the role of a character that has their world ripped out from under them.

Despite having a cast led by two heavyweights of Korean cinema, Memories of the Sword is the perfect example of a production which, if you don’t have the quality behind the camera, no amount of quality in front of it is going to hide the cracks. Featuring a ridiculous plot, a talking parrot, and Lee Byung-hun delivering the line “I’ll never drink tea again. Never”, with a perfect poker face, Memories of the Sword is, unlike its title, best forgotten for everyone involved.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 3/10

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

Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, The (1974) Review

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Zach Nix
"The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires” Japanese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Seven Brothers Meet Dracula
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Co-director: Chang Cheh
Cast: Peter Cushing, John Forbes-Robertson, David Chiang, Robin Stewart, Julie Ege, Shih Szu, Chan Shen, Tino Wong Cheung, Fung Hak On, Lau Wai Ling, Lau Kar Wing, Wong Pau Gei, Lo Wai, James Ma Chim Si
Running Time: 89 min.

By Zach Nix

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is a fun martial arts film co-produced by the Hong Kong based Shaw Brothers and the British centric Hammer Pictures. While most action fans are familiar with the Shaw Brothers, some may not be as familiar with Hammer. Hammer Pictures was a British production company that flourished in the late 50s and 60s with their colorful and Gothic horror films that made stars out of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Technicolor classics of theirs include Horror of Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein, and The Mummy, all starring Lee and Cushing.

Hammer eventually made attempts to revitalize their production company as Gothic horror went out of style in the 70s. Therefore, Hammer got in on the martial arts craze when they teamed up with the Shaw Brothers for The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. The two companies set out to produce an action film that would offer the best of what each studio had to offer, as well as two of their biggest stars: Peter Cushing (Horror of Dracula) and David Chiang (Vengeance). Even though this action/horror hybrid is a blast to watch, the film lacks the distinct qualities that made the best Hammer and Shaw films classics.

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires opens with a prologue set in 1804 in Transylvania where a man named Kah tracks down the infamous Count Dracula. Kah begs Dracula to revive the seven golden vampires in China so that their reign of terror may continue. Dracula agrees, but only if he can take over Kah’s body in order to escape his castle. The film than fast-forwards 100 years to Chung King, China where Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) lectures on a Chinese legend concerning the seven golden vampires. One of the students, Hsi Ching (David Chiang), reveals his relation to the man in Helsing’s story and proclaims the legend to be true. Ching and his seven brothers offer for Helsing, as well as his son and their new friend Vanessa (Julie Ege), the chance to travel to the village of Pang Kwei with them in order to destroy the golden vampires once and for all.

There is no denying that The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is a fun blend of Hong Kong martial arts and Hammer Gothic horror. You would be hard pressed to find any other film in existence that features hopping vampires, Peter Cushing, and martial arts. Therefore, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires excels based purely on its uniqueness and blend of genres. Unfortunately, the film is only able to represent the most superficial elements of each company, thereby lacking the strong points that made each company’s strongest films classics.

For example, a Hammer classic like The Mummy is a great film because it blends Gothic horror and monstrous action with memorable characters and deep themes. The film offers the kind of B-movie entertainment that you expect, but achieves greatness through its romanticized tone, lavish sets, and excellent costume design. The same can be said for a Shaw Brothers classic like The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Shaolin features the death defying stunt work and jaw dropping fight choreography that you expect from a martial arts genre picture. However, the film also features strong character work and themes of enlightenment and Buddhism. Shaw, much like Hammer, blended B-movie entertainment with great filmmaking when they were at their best. Unfortunately, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires never excels beyond basic B-movie entertainment, thereby delivering the most superficial elements (i.e. the boobs and the blood) of each studio.

The cast is a lot of fun, as the film features both Peter Cushing and David Chiang in dual lead roles. Cushing portrays Van Helsing once again for Hammer as a man who has decided to move to China to look for the seven golden vampires. However, he gets more than he bargained for when he ultimately realizes that Dracula himself is behind the raising of the seven vampires. The film itself has no true connection to any previous Hammer Dracula film, even though Cushing returns as Helsing. Even Dracula himself is recast, with John Forbes-Robertson taking over for Christopher Lee. Dracula fans should be warned though that the lord of darkness only appears in the film for mere minutes.

Chiang plays Hsi Ching, a man who decides to team up with Helsing in order to rid China of vampires. Chiang doesn’t do much more than kick monster butt and destroy people left and right during his action sequences. He gets to partake in a little bit of romance with Norwegian actress Julie Ege as well. Surprisingly, even the aged Peter Cushing gets in on the action. However, his fight choreography never excels beyond anything more than swinging a flaming stake around.

I wish I could overlook Legend’s plentiful flaws and simply embrace its B-movie goodness, but I just can’t. The film suffers from extremely uneven pacing; opening with an unnecessarily long prologue, than a 100-year jump in time, followed by a lengthy flashback. This film, along with its plot and character motivations, are all over the place. After all, it takes some creative thinking to come up with a reason for Dracula to move to China of all places.

The fight sequences, while manic and bloody, are never particularly exciting or gripping. Besides an impressive bout between the seven brothers and a group of men in an open field, Legend features several uneven fights where characters either defeat their enemies with ease or fall at their hands conveniently. This unfair balance deprives the film of any danger or stakes (get it, stakes) and makes the characters’ fates all the less worrisome. Stronger action sequences, as well as more finely tuned characters, would have strengthened Legend’s action/horror hybrid proceedings.

Even though I spent most of this review bashing The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, I still recommend it to the uninitiated. The film is a fun historical gem in which two legendary and iconic companies teamed up to produce a film that offered each of their stars and genres. While most definitely a far cry from each company’s best, Legend is still a blast to watch if you turn off your brain and soak in the B-movie goodness. If anything, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires should be on your viewing list come next Halloween if you need a little action to go with your horror. Just don’t expect anything elegant or thematic. This is Hammer/Shaw schlock through and through, courtesy of the year 1974.

Zach Nix’s Rating: 6/10

Posted in All, Asian Related, Chinese, News, Other Movies, Reviews, Shaw Brothers | Tagged , , , , , |

Takashi Miike’s ‘Shield of Straw’ is getting a U.S. remake

Posted on August 25, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Shield of Straw" Japanese Theatrical Poster

"Shield of Straw" Japanese Theatrical Poster

A 2013 Japanese thriller titled Shield of Straw is getting a Hollywood remake. The original, which was directed by the prolific Takashi Miike (13 Assassins), centers on a team of cops who do everything they can to protect an accused killer with a billion-yen bounty on his head.

According to Deadline, Naoaki Kitajima (producer of the original) will produce the remake alongside Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass), Andrew Miano (A Single Man) and Dan Balgoyen (Being Flynn). Creighton Rothenberger (Olympus Has Fallen) and Katrin Benedikt (London Has Fallen) have been tapped to adapt the screenplay. Currently, there is no director or stars attached.

We’ll keep you in the loop as we hear more. For now, don’t miss the original film’s trailer.

Posted in News |

Classic Martial Arts Collection | DVD (Echo Bridge)

Posted on August 25, 2015 by JJ Bona
Classic Martial Arts Collection | DVD (Echo Bridge)

Classic Martial Arts Collection | DVD (Echo Bridge)

RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2015

Echo Bridge Entertainment presents the 4-Disc DVD set for The Classic Martial Arts Collection (aka Bruce and Brandon Lee Action Pack), which contains 19 movies. Why they didn’t make it an even 20 is beyond us.

Like most of these “budget” kung fu complications, Bruce is once again all over the artwork, but the closest thing it has to an actual Bruce Lee movie is The Real Bruce Lee. But hey, at least you get a Brandon Lee flick (Hint: it rhymes with blazer magician). See comments section below (or click here) for its full title list.

Pre-order the Classic Martial Arts Collection from Amazon.com today!

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

Assassination (2015) Review

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"Assassination" Korean Theatrical Poster

“Assassination” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Choi Dong-hun
Cast: Jeon Ji-hyeon, Lee Jung-Jae, Ha Jung-Woo, Cho Jin-Woong, Choi Duk-Moon, Oh Dal-Su, Heo Ji-Won, Lee Kyoung-Young, Kim Eui-Sung, Park Byung-Eun
Running Time: 139 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Director Choi Dong-hoon has built up an impressive resume since he burst onto the scene with the heist thriller The Big Swindle in 2003. With each successive movie, both the budget and the stakes have increased, with his last effort, 2013’s The Thieves, ticking all the boxes of what audiences want to see from a summer blockbuster. Assassination sees him return to the director’s chair once more to try his hand at something a little different, with a piece that revolves around espionage and spies set in 1930’s Japan occupied Korea and China.

Dong-hoon obviously clicked with a lot of the actors who worked with him on The Thieves, as a total of four key cast members return for similarly significant roles in his latest effort. Jeon Ji-hyeon takes the lead, in what can really be considered her first headlining role since 2009’s ill fated adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire, with Lee Jeong-jae, Oh Dal-soo, and Kim Hae-sook all back on board as well. Rounding off an impressive cast are Ha Jeong-woo, Jo Jin-woong, and Choi Deok-moon.

The seven players I’ve named above though are just the tip of the iceberg, as Assassination throws a whole heap of characters into the mix, all with their own agendas and intentions, wrapped around a sprawling 140 minute runtime. Thankfully this isn’t the first time Dong-hoon has juggled so many elements at once, as demonstrated by The Thieves, which sported an identical run time and just as many characters entering in and out of proceedings. While under a lesser director Assassination could easily become an unruly mess, Dong-hoon shows an assured hand with his fifth movie, and keeps things moving along at a brisk pace.

Book marked by scenes which take place in 1949, the central story takes place in 1933. A trio of independence fighters (Ji-hyeon, Jin-woong, and Deok-moon) are brought together in Shanghai and given a mission to assassinate several high ranking Japanese officials, as well as a Korean who’s working for Japan, in Seoul. Little do they know though that the man who hired them, played by Jeong-jae, is in fact also working for the Japanese, who pays two guns for hire to take the trio out. The pair of hired guns, played by Jeong-woo and Dal-soo, believe they’re going to be killing Japanese sympathizers, setting the stage for double-crossings, revelations, and a healthy dose of action.

There’s been a streak of highly patriotic Korean movies of late, driven by the likes of The Admiral: Roaring Currents, which paint the Japanese as evil stereotypes devoid of any humanity. Assassination continues this theme, however it deserves points for making the decision to have many of the central villains actually be Koreans who’ve decided to work for the Japanese. It gives the movie a welcome layer of complexity, as the central trio are essentially going to kill their fellow countrymen, rather than a one dimensional Japanese villain who simply acts as a plot device to give a cheaply earned happy ending.

When I say welcome layer of complexity, it’s really because Assassination is first and foremost about delivering a series of high octane set pieces. Dong-hoon showed a considerable grasp of how to put together big budgeted action in The Thieves, and Assassination builds on the promise that was shown in his previous effort with a variety of entertaining sequences. Despite it’s lengthy run time, you’re never too far away from a shootout or vehicle chase. Ji-hyeon acquits herself especially well, often front and center in many of the action scenes. Whether it be running down a street while firing a machine gun, armed with a pistol while strapped into a wedding dress, or running across rooftops while wielding a sniper rifle, she conducts herself with aplomb, and is never anything less than convincing.

Indeed the action on display in Assassination sets a new bar for the quality of what we expect to see out of a Korean action flick. The many shootouts show a touch of John Woo, only without the slow motion, with surroundings being blown away and splintered by countless bullets, all with a satisfying absence of CGI. This can be appreciated the most in an extended action scene that takes place inside a grand wedding hall, which sends bullets and grenades in every direction, resulting in gratuitous amounts of collateral damage that will leave any action fan smiling. Ha Jeong-woo also gets to further develop his action persona after satisfying turns in Kundo: Age of the Rampant and The Berlin File (in which Ji-hyeon also starred), here getting to channel his inner Chow Yun Fat as he brandishes some double fisted pistol firepower.

Some viewers may draw comparisons to Kim Ji-woon’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird, in that the era and feel of both movies strike similar chords, utilizing their respective environments to allow for a series of impressive set pieces. Assassination even sees Dal-soo getting involved in a chase sequence that sees him behind the handlebars of a motorbike with an attached sidecar, a scene which will no doubt draw comparisons to the finale of Ji-woon’s western with Song Kang-ho riding an identical vehicle. However both movies stand up on their own, and if anything would make for a great double bill of Korean action.

If any criticism can be held against Assassination, it’s that the number of plot threads which are set up ultimately result in the movie lasting an additional 10 minutes beyond the point which seemed like its natural ending. While the closing minutes are by no means an after-thought, following on from the adrenalin rush of what’s come before, it’s a shame the threads couldn’t be resolved any earlier. However this is a minor gripe in what’s arguably one of the most satisfying action movies of 2015. The fact that it’s bolstered by a solid plot, which doesn’t just rely on going through the motions to get to the next big set piece, is a bonus.

Starring a sizable percentage of Korea’s top talents, high end production values, and a cast which gets to speak Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, and French, Assassination provides a rich history lesson that just happens to be told within the framework of bullets, explosions, and stunts. If only history was always this exciting.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8.5/10

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