Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon, The (2023) Review

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Paul Bramhall
"The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon" Theatrical Poster

“The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” Theatrical Poster

Director: Wong Ching-Po
Cast: Ethan Juan, Li Li-Ren, Ben Yuen, Ivan Chen, Gingle Wang, Chen Yi-wen, Lee Lee-zen
Running Time: 134 min.

By Paul Bramhall 

One of the biggest tragedies of the increasingly restrictive policies Mainland China has placed on the film industry has been the fact that some of the newer creative talents from Hong Kong have simply disappeared off the radar. Filmmakers like Pang Ho-Cheung and Lee Ka-Wing, who both made their directorial debuts in the 2000’s, have yet to make anything in the 2020’s, and for the longest time I also included Wong Ching-Po in the same discussion. Responsible for one of the most uncompromising Cat III productions of the 21st century with 2010’s Revenge: A Love Story, Ching-Po’s output always offered up something a little different and unique. However after 2014’s Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, with the exception of directing a segment in the 2016 omnibus movie Good Take!, he disappeared off the radar. Thankfully, in 2023 he reappeared.

Just shy of 10 years since he last helmed a feature length production, The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon sees Ching-Po back in the director’s chair. While even the most distinctive Hong Kong directors have seemingly resigned themselves to helming middling Mainland-friendly fare in recent years (see Derek Kwok’s instantly forgettable 2021 thriller Schemes in Antiques for the perfect example), thankfully Ching-Po has decided to take a different route, choosing to make his latest in neighbouring Taiwan. While to the uninitiated it may not appear to be a big deal whether a production shoots in Mainland China or across the Taiwan Strait, the reality is there’s a world Continue reading →

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Monkey Man (2024) Review

Posted on April 9, 2024 by Will McGuire
“Monkey Man” Theatrical Poster

“Monkey Man” Theatrical Poster

Director: Dev Patel
Cast: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Adithi Kalkunte, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Makarand Deshpande
Running Time: 121 min.

By Will McGuire

Monkey Man is Dev Patel’s love letter to Southeast Asian action cinema from 8 Diagram Pole Fighter right up to The Night Comes For Us. It is what a lot of action fans have been clamoring for: a mid budget, carefully produced and crafted, R-rated, revenge film. It comes from a place of actual understanding about what makes kung fu films work, and if you want a short, snappy, takeaway from this review it is this: the actual martial arts action of Monkey Man is a little less extreme than the marketing may have led you to believe however, the soul of a classic kung fu movie is under the bones here.

Monkey Man is about Kid (Dev Patel, who also wrote and directed) a young man who works as a hapless pit fighter to make money in order to infiltrate a criminal organization through a pleasure palace run by Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar). We soon learn that Kid wants access to Queenie’s place because it serves Rana (Sikandar Kher) the local police chief, who used to work for psychotic guru Shakti (Makrand Deshpande) who destroyed Kid’s home and killed his mother. Kid’s first attempt at revenge goes awry and he barely escapes to a Temple with his life where he rededicates Continue reading →

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The Inspector Wears Skirts 3 | Bu-ray (88 Films)

Posted on April 8, 2024 by JJ Bona
The Inspector Wears Skirts 3 | Bu-ray (88 Films)

The Inspector Wears Skirts 3 | Bu-ray (88 Films)

RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2024

On July 9, 2024, 88 Films will be releasing a Blu-ray (Region A/B) for The Inspector Wears Skirts 3, a 1990 Hong Kong film directed by Wellson Chin Sing Wai (Naughty Boys).

Inspector Kan (Stanley Fung), now married to Madame Wu (Sibelle Hu), has been instructed to train the Banshee Squad Members after Madame Wu goes into semi-retirement. For their next mission, the Squad is assigned to go undercover into a Casino Ship to nab a group of thieves responsible for stolen law enforcement and military weapons.

The Inspector Wears Skirts 3 also stars Sandra Ng (Thunder Cops 2), Kara Hui (Angel Terminators), Amy Yip (Miracles), Billy Lau (Miracles), Shing Fui On (Horrible High Heels) and Peter Continue reading →

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

The Inspector Wears Skirts 4 | Bu-ray (88 Films)

Posted on April 8, 2024 by JJ Bona
The Inspector Wears Skirts 4 | Bu-ray (88 Films)

The Inspector Wears Skirts 4 | Bu-ray (88 Films)

RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2024

On July 9, 2024, 88 Films will be releasing a Blu-ray (Region A/B) for The Inspector Wears Skirts 4, a 1992 Hong Kong film directed by Wellson Chin Sing Wai (Naughty Boys).

To save the Hong Kong Police Force’s Banshee Squad from becoming defunct, the struggling new squad members seek the help of former officers Amy (Sandra Ng Kwan Yue), now a divorced mom with a young kid, and May (Kara Hui), now partially mentally-unstable, to help them with their training regiment, lead by Madame Yang (Cynthia Khan). Their police skills are put to the test when they are ordered to nab a band of brutal thugs in the city.

The Inspector Wears Skirts 4 also stars Moon Lee (Killer Angels), Sheila Chan Suk Lan (Outlaw Brothers), Billy Lau (Miracles), Peter Continue reading →

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

Mark Dacascos and Mickey Rourke break ‘Jade’ in the Trailer for the upcoming martial arts actioner starring Shaina West

Posted on April 8, 2024 by JJ Bona
"Jade" Theatrical Poster

“Jade” Theatrical Poster

Stuntman-turned director James Bamford (Supergirl series) rounds up newcomer Shaina West (Black Widow), Mickey Rourke (Take Back, Double Team), Mark Dacascos (One Night in Bangkok, John Wick: Chapter 3) and Katherine McNamara (Arrow) for Jade, an upcoming martial arts actioner from Defiant Screen Entertainment!

Bamford is perhaps best-known for his stunt work on Watchmen, Blade: Trinity, as well as directing episodes of DC’s Arrow and Superman and Lois.

Jade features action choreography from Daniel Joseph Rizzuto (Jiu Jitsu), Tony Vittorioso (Man from Toronto) with additional choreography from West and Bamford.

Jade follows a woman (West) who comes between a powerful businessman Continue reading →

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The search for the extremely rare ‘The Big Boss Part II’ starring Lo Lieh, Bruce Le and Chan Wai Man is finally over!

Posted on April 8, 2024 by JJ Bona
"The Big Boss Part II" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“The Big Boss Part II” Chinese Theatrical Poster

The search for Lo Lieh’s 1976 cult classic, The Big Boss Part II – an unofficial sequel to the 1971 Bruce Lee classic, The Big Boss – is finally over! Back in 2014, the film had a one-night-only showing at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, but unless you lived in the area, news of this limited engagement was nothing but a lost opportunity for the rest of world.

But now, The Big Boss Part II, one of the most sought after kung fu titles ever, is being released in Severin’s upcoming The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol 1.

The Big Boss Part II practically picks up on location in Thailand where original The Big Boss left off. Bruce Le (Challenge of the Tiger) takes over the role of Cheng Chiu On (Bruce Lee), who is now in jail for the events Continue reading →

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New recruits join Jason Statham’s ‘Levon’s Trade’ from director David Ayer and writer Sylvester Stallone

Posted on April 8, 2024 by JJ Bona
"Levon’s Trade" Novel Cover

“Levon’s Trade” Novel Cover

Action star Jason Statham (The Meg, Redemption, The Expendables) is currently hard-at-work on MGM’s Levon’s Trade, an upcoming actioner – written by Sylvester Stallone (Rambo: Last Blood, Rocky) – that will reunite Statham with The Beekeeper director, David Ayer (End of Watch, Suicide Squad).

Joining Statham is David Harbour (Extraction), Michael Peña (Narcos: Mexico), Jason Flemyng (The Iron Mask) and Arianna Rivas (The Harvest).

The movie – based on the novel of the same by comic author Chuck Dixon (Batman) – will chart how Levon Cade (Statham) left his “profession” behind him to go ‘straight’ and work in construction. He wants to live a simple life and be a good father to his daughter. But when his boss’s teenage daughter Jenny vanishes, he’s called Continue reading →

Posted in News |

Why does Creed III not feature Sylvester Stallone?

Posted on April 7, 2024 by JJ Bona

SOURCE: Photo

The third Rocky sequel, Creed III, reached the big screen a little over 12 months ago. The $75-million-budget release grossed over $275 million at the box office. This made it the highest-grossing Creed movie yet, but crucially the only Creed movie not featuring Rocky legend, Sylvester Stallone.

There’s no doubt that Stallone is the face of the Rocky franchise, which has cemented itself as the pinnacle of boxing movies on the big screen. In fact, most movie buffs would associate Stallone with Rocky Balboa even more so than Stallone’s other iconic role as Rambo. Yet the franchise moved into unchartered territory last year with the decision to exclude Stallone from the cast of Creed III.

If you’re just exploring the Creed sequels to the Rocky franchise, we’ll explain why Stallone doesn’t feature in the latest release. Stallone himself was quizzed on his absence from the cast of Creed III and he was quick to acknowledge there was “no room” for him in the storyline. Stallone revealed that Creed III was much more about Adonis Creed’s “family” and “his journey”, with very little to do with the boxing side of things.

Stallone’s fractured relationship with the franchise’s producers

Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that Stallone’s relationship with the Creed series is strained. With Rocky reuniting with his son and grandson at the end of Creed II, cynics will say Rocky simply doesn’t have a compelling place within the ongoing narrative of the Creed series.

Although Stallone is synonymous with the Rocky brand, the reality is that he’s never had much control over the franchise. Although he’s performed in eight movies as Balboa – and played a major role in writing the screenplay of seven of them – Stalone’s ownership of the series is minimal.

After Stallone wrote his first Rocky screenplay, he sold it on with a view to playing a key role in its cast. He only received $75,000 for acting and writing in it, plus a percentage of the profits. Producer, Irwin Winkler, was crucially given ownership of the characters themselves, leaving Stallone in a somewhat precarious position.

Stallone has publicly voiced his frustration at the fact Winkler and his late fellow producer, Robert Chartoff, own both the series and the rights to the characters. Stallone is still seemingly bitter at Winkler’s refusal to give him a greater share in the series despite the franchise being nothing without his vision and presence.

Stallone has also intimated in the past that the series would have had several more releases if he had his way. One thing we can be certain of is that Creed 4 is already in development and there’s no indication yet of Stallone’s potential involvement.

Posted in News |

Closet, The (2020) Review

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Paul Bramhall
"The Closet" Theatrical Poster

“The Closet” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Kwang-Bin
Cast: Ha Jung-Woo, Kim Nam-Gil, Heo Yool, Kim Si-A, Park Sung-Woong, Shin Hyun-Bin
Running Time: 95 min. 

By Paul Bramhall 

While the practice of shamanism has always been around in Korean cinema, it was arguably The Wailing that popularised it within the context of the horror genre for a 21st century audience, and 2020’s The Closet was one of many productions post its release in which shamanism plays a central part of the plot. Opening with grainy home video footage from 1998 of a shaman performing a ritual in front of a closet, things turn gruesome when an invisible force possesses her to turn the knife she’s brandishing against herself, slitting her own throat before the footage cuts off. It’s a suitably unsettling opening, even if the way the scene is edited admittedly contradicts the ‘found footage’ nature of what we’re supposed to be witnessing, and sets a foreboding tone for what’s to come.

In present day we meet Ha Jung-woo (Ashfall, Ransomed), an architect and single father raising his 11-year-old daughter after the tragic death of his wife in a car accident. Played by K-drama actress Heo Yool, here making her big screen debut, since the accident she’s become increasingly detached from the world, barely speaking a word and resistant to Jung-woo’s efforts to connect. In an attempt to give her an environment where her condition can improve, he Continue reading →

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Deal on Fire! Assassination | Blu-ray | Only $9.99 – Expires soon!

Posted on April 7, 2024 by JJ Bona
Assassination | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Assassination | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for 2015’s Assassination (read our review), a South Korean thriller directed by Choi Dong-hun (The Thieves) and starring Jun Ji-Hyun (Kingdom: Ashin of the North, My Sassy Girl), Lee Jung-Jae (Deliver Us from Evil: Final Cut, Il Mare) and Ha Jung-Woo (Take Point, Yellow Sea).

Snipers. Marksmen. Hired Guns. Double Agents. A group of exiled rebels are planning a hit on an Army Commander in Japanese-occupied Korea, but the only killer for the job is in prison. Now, the Resistance must devise a jailbreak, escape a hitman…and discover which of them is a traitor.

Assassination also stars Oh Dal-su (Old Boy), Cho Jin-woong (Spirit of JKD) and Continue reading →

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

Swordsman of All Swordsmen, The (1968) Review

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Will McGuire
"The Swordsman of All Swordsmen" Theatrical Poster

“The Swordsman of All Swordsmen” Theatrical Poster

Director: Joseph Kuo
Cast: Polly Shang-Kwan, Tin Peng, Miu Tin, Tin Yau, Sit Hon, Kong Nam, Cho Kin, Go Ming, Liu Chu, O Yau Man, Hung Fa Long, Lee Tso Nam, Ngai So
Running Time: 85 min.

By Will McGuire

The Swordsman of All Swordsmen is a film in a unique position in 2024: despite being a little seen but highly regarded early film from one of the legendary directors of the “Kung Fu Boom” it is effectively playing second banana on its own release from Eureka Video because it has been paired with the long awaited issue of The Mystery of Chessboxing, a seminal kung fu film made eleven years later by the same director.

Don’t be fooled, though. The Swordsman of All Swordsmen is no mere appetizer rather, it is a technically assured, impressively staged, beautifully restored wuxia classic that bears heavy influence from both King Hu’s Dragon Inn and Cheng Cheh’s The One Armed Swordsman both of which had been produced the previous year and both had been blockbuster successes in the Chinese speaking world. Not only is this film worthwhile on its own as a piece of cinema, but it is a fascinating historical document Continue reading →

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Calling all pill-poppers! ‘The Martian’ writer Drew Goddard teams up with Lana Wachowski for a 5th ‘Matrix’ movie

Posted on April 3, 2024 by JJ Bona
"The Matrix" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“The Matrix” Japanese Theatrical Poster

Director Drew Goddard, who is perhaps best known for co-writing the 2015’s The Martian and directing 2011’s The Cabin in the Woods, is set to direct a 5th Matrix film for Warner.

Lana Wachowski, who created The Matrix trilogy with Lilly Wachowski (the two visionary directors are collectively known as “The Wachowskis”) will executive produce the project.

“Drew came to Warner Bros with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters,” said Jesse Ehrman, Warner Bros Motion Pictures President of Production. “The entire team at Warner Bros Discovery Continue reading →

Posted in News |

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s mesmerizing masterpiece ‘Monster’ roaring onto Blu-ray next week from Well Go USA

Posted on April 3, 2024 by JJ Bona
Monster | Blu-ray (Well Go USA)

Monster | Blu-ray (Well Go USA)

On April 9, 2024, Well Go USA is releasing the Blu-ray for the 2023 thriller, Monster. The film comes from Hirokazu Kore-eda, the acclaimed filmmaker behind Broker and The Third Murder.

The film stars Ando Sakura (Shoplifters), Nagayama Eita (Water Boys), Kurokawa Soya, Hiiragi Hinata (Piece of Cake) and Tanaka Yuko (The Rape).

When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds though the eyes of the mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually Continue reading →

Posted in News |

Dance of Death | aka Eternal Conflict (1980) Review

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Paul Bramhall
"Dance of Death" Theatrical Poster

“Dance of Death” Theatrical Poster

AKA: Eternal Conflict
Director: Chan Chi Hwa
Cast: Angela Mao, Wang Tai-Lang, Hsu Pu-Liao, Dean Shek Tien, Chia Kai, Paul Chun Pui, Ko Pao, Sun Jung-Chi, Lee Man Tai, Chan Chi Hwa, Chiu Ting
Running Time: 90 min.

By Paul Bramhall

There are certain stars of the old-school kung-fu genre who faded from the spotlight before the fight choreography evolved into the more complex and dynamic style that began to emerge in the late 70’s. Out of all of them, I’d always thought about how Angela Mao’s career would have developed if she’d continued in the industry rather than retire in the early 80’s. After Bruce Lee died Mao became the face of Golden Harvest’s kung-fu output, with her Hapkido training seeing her headline over 10 productions for the studio from the early to mid-1970’s. Her turns in the likes of 1972’s Hapkido and 1973’s When Taekwondo Strikes were showcases for her raw intensity, and straddled the period when the punch and block basher style of choreography was beginning to transition into the more intricate shapes style. I’d always assumed we’d never got to see Mao feature in a true shapes driven kung-fu flick, but thankfully I was wrong.

In 1980 she’d star in Dance of Death, essentially her leading lady swansong before turning up in a handful of minor supporting roles in Taiwanese wuxia and gambling movies leading to her retirement in 1983. By this point Mao had already re-located back to her native Taiwan a couple of years prior, and hadn’t truly headlined a production since 1977’s Broken Oath, which also heralded her last movie for Golden Harvest. For her final turn to headline Continue reading →

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The Procurator | Blu-ray (Bayview)

Posted on April 2, 2024 by JJ Bona
The Procurator | Blu-ray (Bayview)

The Procurator | Blu-ray (Bayview)

RELEASE DATE: April 16, 202

On April 16, 2024, China Lion/Bayview is releasing the Blu-ray for The Procurator, the latest thriller from director, Alan Mak (Integrity), one of the creative forces behind Infernal Affairs, Overheard and Extraordinary Mission.

The film stars Johnny Huang (Lost in Russia, Operation Red Sea), Baihe Bai (A City Called Macau, Monster Hunt 2), Qianyuan Wang (Saving Mr. Wu, Caught in Time), Shaofeng Feng (Code of the Assassins) and Bei’er Bao (Jian Bing Man).

The Procurator revolves around a group of prosecutors who gets mixed up in a deadly situation with they investigate the death of a wealthy businessman.

If you haven’t already, don’t Continue reading →

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