Deal on Fire! Chawz | Blu-ray | Only $8.49 – Expires soon!

"Chawz" Blu-ray Cover

"Chawz" Blu-ray Cover

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Shin Jeong-Won’s Chawz (aka Chaw), a 2009 South Korean horror/comedy that attempts to do the whole ‘small town terrorized by a big monster’ shtick like Jaws, except with dollops of goofy humor.

Je-mun Yun of Mother and The Good, The Bad, the Weird gives a scene-stealing performance as a top hunter trained in Finland, which is apparently the number one country to do that sort of thing in.

Order Chawz from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

Predator: Triple Feature | Blu-ray (Fox)

Predator Triple Feature | Blu-ray (Fox)

Predator Triple Feature | Blu-ray (Fox)

RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2014

20th Century Fox presents the Predator: Triple Feature on Blu-ray. This Triple Feature includes 1987’s Predator, 1990’s Predator 2 and 2010’s Predators (aka Predator 3).

All 3 Predator films make up a cast that includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Robert Davi, Bill Paxton, Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne and Danny Trejo.

Pre-order the Predator: Triple Feature from Amazon.com today!

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

Dragonwolf (2013) Review

"Dragonwolf" International Theatrical Poster

Director: Raimund Huber
Cast: Kazu Patrick Tang, Johan Kirsten, Macha Polivka, David Winters, Guk Srisawat, Stephen Thomas, Bonnie Zellerbach, Sunanta Yousagoon, Janissa Charoenrach, Vincent Kinne
Running Time: 120 min.

By Dirac

From Raimund Huber – the director of Kill ‘Em All (2012) and Bangkok Adrenaline (2009) – comes Dragonwolf, a Thai-produced, English language martial arts film about two friends who meet on the street as kids, and work their way up the ranks of a local criminal empire in a fictional city known as Devil’s Cauldron.

Julius (Johan Kirsten) befriends Mozart (Kazu Patrick Tang, who also served as fight choreographer and stunt coordinator) and takes him under his wing. Julius teaches Mozart self defense, as well as the use of weapons. The two soon make a name for themselves as effective enforcers. However, trouble ensues when they begin vying for the hand of the same woman.

Weird dubbing: ✓
Occasionally confusing continuity: ✓
Decent soundtrack: ✓

Pretty standard stuff, but there are a few things that bothered me. I know that it’s a Thai production, but the fact that EVERY character was dubbed made the dialog delivery seem awkward. As far as I can tell, the actors originally delivered their lines in English, but everyone was still dubbed. For example: in one scene, Julius’ tall and slender lackey (I think his name was Brutus) was obviously overacting his lines, and the dubbing of the voice made the overacting even more pronounced! The result is pretty hilarious, which I doubt was intentional.

The action choreography was shabby and inconsistent. For instance, Mozart seems to be capable of battling waves of bad guys and comes out the other side more or less intact; at other times, he’ll sustain a seemingly trivial flesh wound that would knock him out. I suppose one could say the same thing about Special ID (2013), but Dragonwolf takes the concept to new level.

I’m hesitant to use the word ‘copied,’ but at the very least, some fight scenes were inspired by Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003). Aside from the hordes of stock bad guys, Mozart would occasionally fight unique villains that actually had speaking lines (the two Russian guys, for instance), but the dialog was so silly that it got tiresome quickly. The ‘fight hordes of bad guys’ formula works really well in films like The Raid 2 (2014), but that movie had good writing, direction, cinematography, and editing on its side.

In terms of continuity, some things felt like they were tacked on; I won’t give away these plot points, but toward the end of the film, there’s a Deus Ex Machina plot device, as well as a twist that left me shaking my head. They could’ve been trying too hard or taking themselves too seriously, but these moments had a jarring effect that made me wonder: what went on during writing and pre-production? Also, it helps to be careful when using flashbacks liberally. I’m no filmmaker, but isn’t there a right and wrong way to intersperse flashbacks? At times, I wasn’t sure if I was watching a flashback or not.

I won’t criticize this film because it had a small budget, but the sets mostly consist of dilapidated buildings. If I didn’t already know the film was shot in Thailand, I would’ve guessed that the production crew chose a series of abandoned auto factories in Detroit. Maybe heavy industry in Devil’s Cauldron had fallen on hard times, due to an economic downturn or something? But, I digress. I did like the ambient soundtrack; I thought that its application per scene fit well, and didn’t feel discontinuous like the plot did at times.

I’ll wrap it up by saying that with a little more time and TLC, this film could’ve been better. I can see that the writer and director probably put considerable effort into it, but with odd post-production choices (dubbing!) and sloppy writing, Dragonwolf fell flat.

Dirac’s Rating: 4/10

Posted in News, Reviews, Thai | Tagged , |

Lucy (2014) Review

"Lucy" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Lucy” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Pilou Asbæk, Analeigh Tipton, Nicolas Phongpheth, Jan Oliver Schroeder
Running Time: 89 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Back in the 1990’s Luc Besson was considered to be in the top tier of action directors, infusing his movies like La Femme Nikita, Leon: The Professional, and The Fifth Element with a distinctive European style and intelligence, while also delivering a unique action aesthetic. It was in the post-2000 era though that Besson really caught the attention of martial arts movie fans, not as a director, but as the guy who wrote and produced some of the best western martial arts movies of the time.

It was Besson that gave us Jason Statham in The Transporter and its sequels, marking the Brit as the go-to man for no nonsense action movies that he still carries the flag for even now. It was Besson that gave us Jet Li’s best English language movies with Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed (aka Danny the Dog). It was Besson that introduced the world to Parkour in the movie District B13, and it was Besson that convinced us all that Liam Neeson could be a man with “a very specific set of skills” in Taken.

Besson continued to also direct, including the 2011 biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi, which saw Michelle Yeoh stepping into the role of Burma’s inspirational fighter for democracy. However it was arguably the movies that he was indirectly involved with rather than his own that received the most attention internationally. So, with the news that he would be both writing and directing Lucy, the tale of an American female living in Taiwan, who’s forced to become a drug mule by having packets of a dangerous new substance surgically planted in her stomach, only to fight back, he had our attention.

Scarlett Johansson would be playing the pivotal role of Lucy, having recently got to flex her action muscles as the Black Widow in both The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She’d be ably backed up by Morgan Freeman, who himself had starred in the Luc Besson scripted Jet Li movie Unleashed (aka Danny the Dog), and the most exciting news for fans of Asian cinema was that Korean actor Choi Min-sik would be playing the villain of the piece. Min-sik will be most recognizable to western audiences as the main character from 2003’s Oldboy, however he essentially makes any movie he’s in worth watching, most recently as the legendary Korean admiral Yi Sunshin in the period epic The Admiral: Roaring Currents.

So, all the ingredients are there for 90 minutes of vintage Besson – the strong female lead which promised to echo the likes of Anne Parillaud in La Femme Nikita. The gritty urban setting of Leon: The Professional mixed with the sci-fi concepts in The Fifth Element. All topped off with the Asian influence that Besson has clearly shown a strong love for over the past decade.

The story of Lucy is as initially simple as previously mentioned. She’s an American living in Taiwan, and after the boyfriend she’s only been dating for a week convinces her to drop off a mysterious suitcase to Mr. Jang, played by Min-sik, she’s sedated and wakes up to be told she has a packet of a new drug called CPH4 planted in her stomach. She’s given her passport and told to go back to the US, where she’ll be picked up by some of Min-sik’s lackeys and have the packet removed, at which point she’ll be free to go. Along the way though, things go wrong when she’s assaulted by a pair of thugs, and after a violent confrontation the packet tears inside her, unleashing the drug into the bloodstream, which leads to her being the first human to be able to utilize 100% of their brain capacity.

It’s the stuff of B-movie goodness, but it becomes clear from the start the Besson is aiming much higher than a run of the mill action flick. After a 2001: A Space Odyssey style opening, the whole scene of Lucy being taken is juxtaposed with a deer being hunted by a leopard. It’s obviously supposed to be very symbolic, but the imagery comes across as a little goofy. Depending on how much you buy into the movies concept of how time and evolution is all connected (or something like that) will largely determine how you enjoy the rest of it. I say this because you also have an awful lot of Morgan Freeman lecturing on the human brain capacity and the history of humankind, which treats us to more symbolic juxtaposition of erupting volcanoes, rocket launches, and animals humping each other.

Thankfully for those who are a little lost, it regularly flashes across the screen the exact percentage of how much of Lucy’s brain capacity has been utilized, kind of like an idiots guide to all the philosophical mumbling. Lucy of course eventually realizes that something unique is happening to her, and as she strolls into a Taiwan hospital with gun in hand, something which not a single person seems to notice, she orders the doctors to take the drugs out of her. In one of many scenes which threaten to be laughable, she proceeds to call her mother in the US while the surgeon slices open her stomach, and gives a rather bizarre speech about how she can remember the taste of her mother’s breast milk and the feeling of her bones growing. Luckily just like all of the people who have just witnessed Lucy strolling through the hospital with a gun, her mother is remarkably unfazed by all of these revelations.

I guess it was at this point that I kind of gave up on Lucy. It’s an extremely silly movie, which could well be enjoyed, but the silliness is handled in such a heavy handed and serious way that it sucks all the fun out of it. Lucy herself is not a particularly likeable character, she’s been dating a guy who’s obviously an idiot, she shoots a poor taxi driver in the leg just for saying he doesn’t speak English (in the middle of Taiwan!), and even kills a hospital patient, which she justifies by saying he had a brain tumor which he wouldn’t have survived anyway. This kind of stuff could have come across as darkly comical, but here it just comes across as unpleasant.

Min-sik also isn’t given a lot to do except scowl and have his hands stabbed, a brutal experience for anyone to go through, but one which he seems to have recovered from in the very next scene he appears in. Most interesting of all though is the direction Lucy takes in its final third, in which instead of making her an unstoppable force of nature, the ending goes for a mix of 2001: A Space Odyssey combined with elements of Akira, as she reaches 100% capacity and we’re treated to all sorts of time travel and CGI assisted silliness. At one point she’s almost eaten by a velociraptor, no joke.

All in all Lucy should have been a breezy 90 minutes of sci-fi B-movie silliness and action. However Besson’s seeming insistence that he was making a bold statement about the nature of humanity too often see it get bogged down in heavy handed exposition and scenes that make little sense, which only stand out more due to its deadly serious tone. While everyone hoped that Lucy would see Besson utilizing 100% of his directing capacity, sadly the final product only looks like he reached 50% at best.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 5/10

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

Ron Perlman hopes Stallone taps him for ‘Expendables 4’!

"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" Japanese DVD Cover

"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" Japanese DVD Cover

With The Expendables 3 currently exploding in theaters, we decided to get going on updates regarding talent (actors, directors, writers, etc.) that have reportedly been approached or have stated interest in being a part of The Expendables 4 or any future installment of the popular action franchise:

Updates: Jean-Claude Van Damme chatted with Expendables Premiere about The Expendables 4. Van Damme openly states that he’s interested, but that it’s ultimately up to Sylvester Stallone if it happens.

Here’s his exact words: “Dear Trevor and the Expendables Premiere fans, I had a great time shooting The Expendables 2 with Mr. Stallone and other big action stars. Mr. Stallone is an inventive man. He may even create a stronger character than Claude Vilain, the twin brother of Jean Vilain. Some fans ask me if the next Vilain – if there’s next– is going to be a good or a bad guy. I would leave it to Mr. Stallone to decide, as I trust his way of imagination. Thank you. – JCVD”

Expendables Premiere notes (via sources from slyitalian.com) that Steven Seagal is close to signing on as the main antagonist. According to the article, Sylvester Stallone is trying to convinced producer Avi Lerner to let bygones be bygones (apparently, Seagal and Lerner had a business disagreement and they haven’t been in good terms ever since; hence, Seagal’s lack of participitation The Expendables 2 or 3). In Addition, Stallone and Lerner will try to convince Jackie Chan to participate in a minor role, hoping that the Chinese actor will put aside his big ego. This is all definitely rumor material, but you never know!

In a recent interview with Shortlist.com (via Expendables Premiere), Pierce Brosnan said: “The offer has come in for the next Expendables. I just worked over in Bulgaria with Avi Lerner who makes them. He said ‘Would you like to be in The Expendables? I’d love to have you’, and I said ‘Why not?’. So we’ll see.” The former James Bond actor added: ”I have no idea which one it would be, I just said ‘Yes’. It could be Expendables 7!”

According to a Collider interview with Stallone, both Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson were both considered: “Well, you know Clint is so involved with what he’s doing, so that’s kind of a pipe dream. I was going to go up to Jack Nicholson and we just got there a little too late cause actually he had said he might be interested in it, so there are still interesting avenues out there. I want to get, if possible, the most unique actors from the past and just put ‘em on there once and for all, if we can. It just seems like an interesting quest to do that, because I don’t know if it’s ever going to happen again; we’re certainly not getting any younger. So we’re very lucky and we’re going to keep going, and it doesn’t automatically mean you have to be an action guy.”

Expendables Premiere reports (via Bulgaria’s Blitz.bg) that Hulk Hogan has joined The Expendables 4. According to the article, Hogan is expected to visit Bulgaria in the autumn to start filming. Considering The Expendables 3 hasn’t even been released yet, we doubt that this news is official. However, it’s not exactly out of the question; after all, Hogan and Sylvester Stallone have remained close friends since 1982, where the two appeared alongside each other in Rocky III. Well, only time will tell…

Thanks to manlymovie.net, we have this info about original Die Hard/Predator director John McTiernan: Empire asked him if he’d be willing to direct another Die Hard movie and/or an Expendables movie. His answer? Yes! “Though in theory he’d be up for doing another Die Hard movie, or an Expendables movie, he hasn’t got time for another dud: DEA versus drug lords actioner Red Squad, which is being reported as his comeback movie, has stalled because he views the current draft as offensive.

During a recent Reddit AMA, here’s what Dwayne Johnson had to say about appearing in an Expendables movie: “I don’t want to be on their team and be buddies with them… F*ck that noise. I want to hunt every single one of them down and tell them to ‘send your soul to heaven cause your ass is mine.” After hearing what Johnson said, Sylvester Stallone had this to say: “Bring It On.”

According to Expendables Premiere (roughly translated), Sly expressed interest in casting both Christopher Lambert (Highlander) and Jean Reno (Leon: The Professional) for Expendables 4: “I would like Christopher Lambert in Expendables 4 as a good guy. Actually, I thought about it for 3, but there was no more space. Why not Jean Reno to play the villain?”

During a press conference for Expendables 3, a reporter asked Stallone if he planned on continuing to add Asian actors to the cast in future Expendables sequels. Stallone reply: “YES!” He also added that he wanted Jackie Chan to be a part of the third film’s cast, but unfortunately, Chan’s schedule was booked, but he will try again for Part 4.” The next morning, Sly’s words got back to Jackie: “I said, ‘Okay.’ Because they already asked me to be in 2 and 3, but I refused. Well, I didn’t refuse, but I said, ‘Sly, can’t we just do you and me? Not just a bunch of people and me only coming out for five minutes.’ Because then the audience is, ‘Oh!’ And then I’m gone.” – Thanks to Expendables Premiere

BREAKING NEWS: In a recent video posted by Expendables Premiere, Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy, Hellboy) had this to say: “I’m hoping Stallone taps me on the shoulder one day and says: Okay Ron, you’re 65, why don’t you be in one of these?”

Posted in News |

Bruce Lee Action Pack | DVD (Echo Bridge)

Bruce Lee Action Pack | DVD (Echo Bridge)

Bruce Lee Action Pack | DVD (Echo Bridge)

RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2014

Echo Bridge presents the Bruce Lee Action Pack DVD set. This 2 disc collection includes the following titles: One Down Two to Go (1976), starring Fred Williamson, Jim Brown and Jim Kelly; L.A. Street Fighters (1985) aka Ninja Turf, starring Phillip Rhee; Laser Mission (1989) starring Brandon Lee, Terminal Rush (1996), starring Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Roddy Piper; Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980), starring Fred Williamson and Ron Van Clief; Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave (1976); and Blind Fist of Bruce (1979) and The Image of Bruce Lee (1978), both starring Bruce Li.

Pre-order the Bruce Lee Action Pack from Amazon.com today!

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

First trailer for Andrew Lau’s ‘Revenge of the Green Dragons’

"Revenge of the Green Dragons" Theatrical Poster

"Revenge of the Green Dragons" Theatrical Poster

Hong Kong filmmakers Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs) and Andrew Loo (It Had To Be You!) have finished filming their first Hollywood film together titled Revenge of the Green Dragons, an upcoming action-drama about Chinese gangs in New York.

It should be noted that Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) is the film’s producer, which is most likely a returned favor from Scorsese to Lau, which goes back to Lau’s 2002’s Infernal Affairs being remade into Scorsese’s 2006’s The Departed.

Revenge of the Green Dragons stars Justin Chon (21 & Over), Kevin Wu (YouTube’s KevJumba), Harry Shum Jr. (Glee), Ron Yuan (Girl from the Naked Eye), and Eugenia Yuan (daughter of Come Drink With Me’s Cheng Pei-Pei), Jon Kit Lee (The Corruptor) and Ray Liotta (Goodfellas).

Revenge of the Green Dragons takes place in the 1980s/early 1990s and follows two immigrant brothers who join the Green Dragons gang and quickly rise up the ranks, becoming notorious to the city’s police. When an ill-fated love affair pits one of the brothers against the gang leader, he sets out for revenge on the group. The film is based on a true story, as chronicled by the New Yorker in 1992.

The film is currently in post production with a 2014 target release date. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing a full trailer soon; until then, here’s some set photos as well as a press conference, featuring the directors, actors and other crew members. At the 18:00 mark, there’s a nice little teaser trailer.

BREAKING NEWS: Watch the first trailer! According to Collider, Revenge of the Green Dragons will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be available exclusively on DirecTV starting September 11th, followed by a theatrical release in October.

Posted in News |

Edge of Tomorrow | Blu-ray + Blu-ray 3D & DVD (Warner)

Edge of Tomorrow | Blu-ray + Blu-ray 3D & DVD (Warner)

Edge of Tomorrow | Blu-ray + Blu-ray 3D & DVD (Warner)

RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2014

Warner presents the Blu-ray + Blu-ray 3D & DVD for Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow. An officer (Tom Cruise) finds himself caught in a time loop in a war with an alien race. His skills increase as he faces the same brutal combat scenarios, and his union with a Special Forces warrior (Emily Blunt) gets him closer and closer to defeating the enemy.

The film is based on All You Need Is Kill, a Japanese novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Edge of Tomorrow from Amazon.com today!

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

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai (2014) Review

"Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" International Poster

“Once Upon a Time in Shanghai” International Poster

Director: Wong Ching Po
Cast: Philip Ng, Andy On, Mao Jun Jie, Sammo Hung Kam Bo, Jiang Lu Xia, Chen Kuan Tai, Yuen Cheung Yan, Fung Hak On, Yolanda Yuan Quan
Running Time: 95 min.

By Paul Bramhall

In a Hong Kong which continues to be starved of performers who can deliver screen presence, charisma, and kung-fu skills, the trend over recent years seem to be to push the talented martial artists that usually take on supporting roles to the fore, making them front and centre and hoping for the best. Wu Jing pulled off directing and leading man duties in 2008’s Legendary Assassin, with only lukewarm results; Xing Yu took top billing in 2013’s Wrath of Vajra, displaying all the screen presence of a rock; and in 2014, Philip Ng was pushed to the forefront for Once Upon A Time in Shanghai.

Just like Wu Jing and Xing Yu, Ng has consistently shone brightly and briefly in his many supporting roles. However, also just like Wu Jing and Xing Yu, the real question here is can he carry a whole movie by himself? Thankfully in Once Upon A Time in Shanghai, he gets to share the screen with a high caliber of Hong Kong talent, both new and old. In many ways the cast is like a roll call of Hong Kong fighting talent – Andy On, Jiang Luxia, Sammo Hung, Chen Kuan Tai, Fung Hak On and Yuen Cheung Yan (who bizarrely sounds like Darth Vader here) are all in the mix, reading like a kung fu fan’s dream.

The story is also reminiscent of the Hong Kong movie industries glory days, as it tells the tale of Ma Wing-Jing, a country bumpkin who comes to 1930’s Shanghai in the hopes of living the big city life in a virtuous and honest manner. The tale has been told in many different formats, including the 1972 Shaw Brothers movie The Boxer From Shantung, in which Wang-Jing is played by Chen Kuan Tai (who also appears in this version), and again in 1997’s Hero, in which the role is taken on by Takeshi Kaneshiro. Both Kuan Tai and Kaneshiro have strong onscreen personas, so Ng has been left with some big shoes to fill, and understandably, he somewhat falters.

The story goes that Ma Wang-Jing comes to Shanghai as an innocent country bumpkin, who eventually falls in with some local gangsters and begins to be corrupted by power, a change which is important to convey in any version of the tale. However here that change isn’t conveyed at all, but this isn’t due to Ng’s acting, we’ll return to that point later. What Ng does convey is a sense of awe at the bright lights of Shanghai, but unfortunately, he seems to confuse acting like a gape jawed idiot as a look which conveys innocence. It doesn’t.

Speaking of the bright city lights, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re not that bright at all, because the movie’s color palette is so washed out that it’s essentially black and white, with only the slightest splashes of color, such as Ng’s jade bracelet or some red lipstick. This color scheme worked in movies like Sin City, but here it just looks a little off, like they should either make it full color or make it completely black and white. On a side note, the original publicity poster which was distributed reflected this color scheme; however, as it neared release, all of the new publicity shots that came out were shown in full color, which was somewhat misleading whichever way you look at it.

This decision was probably a choice of director Wong Ching Po, who’s known for his quirky movies such as Let’s Go! and Revenge: A Love Story. There are times when it does work, and the movie starts off strongly, with Ng displaying his fighting prowess on a boat, and then his first interactions when he arrives in Shanghai. However, the movie is also scripted by Wong Jing, Hong Kong’s master of low brow entertainment. Wong can deliver when he wants to, and in fact some of the sets here look to be the same used on 2013’s excellent The Last Tycoon, which he wrote and directed, however here the story shows signs that he probably wasn’t putting a lot of effort in.

A disturbing amount of randomness seems to enter the movie at various inappropriate moments, most of which involve poor Andy On. A scene suddenly cuts away to him sitting in his living room with a live tiger prowling around, in a moment of manly bonding with Ng, he explains the origin of a hotdog and how the sausage was too slippery to hold bare handed; and to top it all off, he has to frequently break out of character to deliver hysterically fake evil laughter. It’s all very unintentionally funny, and you have to frequently remind yourself that it’s supposed to be a serious movie whenever these moments occur.

Thankfully, unlike some recent movies like The Viral Factor and Naked Soldier, On gets to unleash his fists and feet at regular intervals, here under the choreography of Yuen Woo Ping, the second time they’ve worked together after 2009’s True Legend. On is probably the closest thing Hong Kong has right now to the perfect thespian: he has the looks, the screen presence, and the moves, topped off with perfect English. Ng is the star of the show of course, and he gets plenty of opportunities to also bust out the moves, his mid-film fight with On being a highlight. The choice of camera work is not always the best in the fight scenes, but thankfully, there is a lack of the dreaded shaky-cam, and we get to see that Ng’s skills are undoubtedly the real deal.

There are aspects of the action which will frustrate though, or more specifically, the absence of action by some performers. Jiang Luxia, once heralded as the next Yukari Oshima, continues her decline of being in movies in which she has virtually no lines and even less action. I don’t know why she was even here, as she’s basically a glorified extra. I confess to harboring a secret desire to see a Sammo Hung vs. Chen Kuan Tai match, but it didn’t happen. Without giving too much away, I also found the finishing move Ng pulls off against the first Japanese fighter in the finale to be laugh out loud funny, rather than the ‘wow, that was cool’ reaction it was probably going for.

While on the subject of the Japanese, it brings me back to my point regarding Wang-Jing’s corruption by wealth and power. As I mentioned this part is a crucial change for the character, but of course both The Boxer of Shantung and Hero were made before Hong Kong’s handover back to China, so didn’t need to worry about such things as appeasing the China censorship board. In Once Upon A Time in Shanghai the character Ng portrays is much more two dimensional, and dare I say dull, compared to previous depictions. So instead of being corrupted by power and taking on his own country men in the form of the axe gang, Ng is left stuck with a plot which pits him against, you guessed it – the Japanese! Jet Li fought them in Fearless; Donnie Yen fought them in Legend of the Fist and Ip Man; and Xing Yu fought them in The Wrath of Vajra; but hey, clearly not enough mileage has been traveled with the Japanese villains plot device yet.

While of course this was also par of the course in many of the 1970’s kung fu movies, the in your face nationalism that seems to come packaged with it these days definitely wasn’t, and here once again it’s On who is given the embarrassingly cringe worthy line of yelling out how he’ll never let China be ruled by Westerners or the Japanese. For a simple story of a country bumpkin who comes to make a living in the big city, the jarring but predictable turn of events that make it all about the unwavering Chinese spirit against the Japanese will likely induce a yawn. How much you enjoy the movie will probably come down to balancing a love of fight scenes with a high level of patience. You’ve been warned.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10

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

The Prince | Blu-ray & DVD (Lionsgate)

The Prince | Blu-ray & DVD (Lionsgate)

The Prince | Blu-ray & DVD (Lionsgate)

RELEASE DATE: October 28, 2014

Lionsgate presents the Blu-ray & DVD for The Prince. Bruce Willis, John Cusack and Jason Patric face off in this action-packed thriller. A mechanic – and retired assassin – with ties to the underworld is drawn back into the life he gave up when his daughter is kidnapped. To rescue her, he must confront his former rival.

The Prince also stars Jessica Lowndes, Jung Ji-Hoon (aka Rain from R2B and Ninja Assassin), Gia Mantegna, Jonathon Schaech and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. Watch the trailer.

Pre-order The Prince from Amazon.com today!

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

Deal on Fire! Brothers Five | Blu-ray | Only $9 – Expires soon!

"Brothers Five" Blu-ray Cover

"Brothers Five" Blu-ray Cover

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for 1970’s Brothers Five, directed by Lo Wei (The Big Boss). This 1970 Shaw Brothers classic stars Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink With Me), a woman who must reunite the Kao brothers to rid the Teng Lung Manor of killers whilst avenging the murder of their father.

Brothers Five also stars Lo Lieh (Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind), Chang Yi (The Victim), Yueh Hua (Vengeance is a Golden Blade), Kao Yuan (Edge of Fury), Tien Feng (Man Called Tiger), Unicorn Chan (Way of the Dragon) and many more! Get it while it’s cheap!

Order Brother Five from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

Companeros | Blu-ray (Blue Underground)

Companeros | Blu-ray (Blue Underground)

Companeros | Blu-ray (Blue Underground)

RELEASE DATE: October 28, 2014

Blue Underground presents the Blu-ray for Companeros, written and directed by the legendary Sergio Corbucci (Django, The Great Silence), Companeros is a once-in-a-lifetime teaming of the two greatest European stars in `Spaghetti Western’ history.

Franco Nero (Django), Tomas Milian, Jack Palance and Fernando Rey star in this action-packed comedy classic that also features a remarkable score by Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly). Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Companeros from Amazon.com today!

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

Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack | Blu-ray (Universal)

Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack | Blu-ray (Universal)

Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack | Blu-ray (Universal)

RELEASE DATE: October 14, 2014

Universal presents the Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack Blu-ray set, which includes John Woo’s Hard Target (1993), Jean-Claude Van Damme’s The Quest (1996), Steven E. de Souza’s Street Fighter (1994), Peter Hyams’ Sudden Death (1995) and for the first time on Blu-ray, Sheldon Lettich’s Lionheart (1990).

The Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack is a 5-Disc set, which also contains the Digital Copy of each movie.

Pre-order The Van Damme 5-Movie Action Pack from Amazon.com today!

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

Moebius (2013) Review

"Moebius" International Theatrical Poster

“Moebius” International Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Writer: Kim Ki-Duk
Producer: Kim Ki-Duk, Kim Woo-Taek, Kim Soon-Mo
Cast: Cho Jae-Hyu, Seo Young-Joo, Lee Eun-Woo, Lee Eun-Woo, Kim Jae-Rok and Kim Jae-Hong
Running Time: 88 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Kim Ki-duk has remained one of Korea’s most discussed and controversial directors over the last 15 years. His movies usually portray the dark side of human nature with tales dictated by the sex and violence that permeates through them, often taking on subject matter even the most open minded individual would shy away from.

Ki-duk cranked out a movie every year since his debut with Crocodile in 1996, sometimes even two, however things took an unexpected turn for the worse in 2008 when, while filming Dream, actress Lee Na-young nearly died while filming a scene in which she had to hang herself. On top of this, the distributor for the movie which he wrote and produced, Rough Cut, went bankrupt, which resulted in him not making a single dollar from it.

The combination of his guilt over Na-young’s near death combined with the unexpected blow to his finances sent Ki-duk into a 3 year exile. It was an exile which he wouldn’t return from until 2011, with the autobiographical piece Arirang, a documentary in which Ki-duk plays both the interviewer and interviewee, holed up by himself in a log cabin, in his own attempt to come to terms with the time that had passed. Arirang must have served its purpose, because in 2012 he returned with Pieta, which won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival of the same year, a brutal work which follows a ruthless debt collector who is visited by a mysterious woman claiming to be his mother, who abandoned him as a child.

In 2013 Ki-duk followed up Pieta with Moebius, and even before the movie was given a release date, it seemed that the controversy which he became known for with movies like The Isle and Samaria was back front and center. Upon submitting the movie to the Korea Media Ratings Board, it was given a ‘Restricted’ rating for harmful content. While a movie being given an R rating in the US is not such a big deal, in Korea only specific cinemas can show ‘Restricted’ movies, and at the time of writing there are currently none in the whole country, which effectively made it banned on its home soil. Ki-duk found himself in a dilemma, and in interviews openly expressed that he’d do whatever it takes to get the movie released, not least because the cast and crew would only get paid based on the returns the movie received.

In July 2013, Ki-duk wrote a letter to the board in which he explained how the scenes that were being described as harmful played an essential part of the story, and that in the context of which they’re taking place, make sense. In the letter he explained that if the board still refused to tone down the rating, he would pay the cast and crew himself. While it was never made clear if the second time he re-submitted the movie there were any changes or cuts made to it, the presumption is that it remains the original version, and it appears that Ki-duk must have quite a way with words, as Moebius was indeed granted a release domestically.

So, with all this drama playing out behind the scenes, what of the actual movie itself? The plot of Moebius will probably be enough to turn a lot of people off from the word go. It revolves around the family unit of a father, mother, and son. When the mother captures the father cheating on her one evening, something she’d long suspected, enraged she storms into the bedroom where the father is sleeping and tries to castrate him with a knife. He wakes up just in time to foil her attempt, but while he’s recovering from the (understandable) shock, the still enraged mother barges into the son’s bedroom, and castrates him instead. This is all within the first 15 minutes, and really to say anything more about the remaining 75 would be to spoil the experience.

Another crucial thing to mention about Moebius is that it doesn’t contain a single line of dialogue, there’s not a single word spoken during the whole run time. This may sound remarkably grim and depressing, and there’s no doubt that it is, however Ki-duk seems to realise this, and by putting the most shocking events that take place in the first 15 minutes, the rest of the movie takes us into some surprising, and sometimes even touching, situations. For me Ki-duk’s movies are to a degree hit and miss, when he gets it right his movies are remarkably effecting and unsettling, but on more than one occasion I’ve been of the opinion that he can be rather clumsy when it comes to characters dialogue and interactions with each other. He’s a director that works best when he’s using symbolism, and it should come as no surprise that many consider another one of his best movies to also have minimum dialogue, 2004’s 3-Iron.

So to some extent, Moebius represents Ki-duk embracing his strengths in a way he never has before, by doing away with dialogue all together. It’s amazing then, that while watching the movie this isn’t an issue at all, and in fact it’s one of the contributing factors to the brilliance of Moebius, while never being a gimmick or a distraction. The characters interactions with each other, driven by expressions and glances along with the situations which unfold, all happen naturally, and there’s never any scene which feels like words are needed. Remarkably for a Ki-duk movie, and even more so for the subject matter being dealt with, there’s also a degree of black humor running through various scenes. Despite the desperation of the situation, you can’t help but smile at the scenes when the bond between father and son seems to be growing stronger while they browse through penis transplant websites together. It’s absurd, and it’s that absurdity which the movie doesn’t shy away from which makes it such an achievement.

The two actors and actress who make up the main characters of Moebius deserve kudos for their amazing performances. Jo Jae-hyeon as the father is a world away from his role as the father in 2010’s Thai-Korean co-production The Kick. Jae-hyeon frequently collaborated with Ki-duk on his early movies, however this is the first time they’ve worked together since 2002’s Bad Guy. Lee Eun-woo deserves special mention as she not only plays the mother, but she also plays the part of the woman whom the father is having an affair with, and goes on to play a significant character in the story. She is amazing here, coming across as both dangerous and vulnerable, and Moebius is worth a recommendation for her performance alone. It’s Seo Yeong-joo as the son who steals the show though, after capturing people’s attention in 2012’s Juvenile Offender, here he really makes his mark, and delivers an entirely believable, and very brave, performance, all being just 16 years old.

While the subject matter may put a lot of people off Moebius, it would be a shame because it means they would be missing an amazing movie. There is much more going on than just sex and violence here, which no doubt there is a lot of, but to go into it in any detail is a conversation best saved for after viewing rather than before. It’s best to say that rest assured, Ki-duk has created what is arguably his best movie to date in my opinion, and one that is worth watching by anyone who class themselves as a fan of cinema.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

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Jimmy Wang Yu 4-Film Collection | DVD (Shout! Factory)

Jimmy Wang Yu 4-Film Collection | DVD (Shout! Factory)

Jimmy Wang Yu 4-Film Collection | DVD (Shout! Factory)

RELEASE DATE: November 18, 2014

Shout! Factory presents the DVD set for The Jimmy Wang Yu 4-Film Collection. This 4 film, 2 disc set includes One-Armed Boxer (1972), The Tattooed Dragon (1973), Beach of the War Gods (1973) and Man Called Tiger (1973).

The Jimmy Wang Yu 4-Film Collection also features James Tien (Fist of Fury), Lung Fei (Master of the Flying Guillotine), Sylvia Chang (Slaughter in San Francisco), Feng Tien (A Better Tomorrow) and Maria Yi (The Big Boss).

Pre-order The Jimmy Wang Yu 4-Film Collection from Amazon.com today!

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