Blog Archives

Triple Threat (2019)

(from /, dir: )
Posted on July 14, 2019 by Andrew

I’ve been waiting to see Triple Threat for over two years. Seemingly caught up with distribution difficulties and generating little buzz, it nevertheless carries the potential to be an all-time action classic. Check that cast list. It’s absolutely stacked with talented action practitioners. Real ones, who know how to make fights look good. Even if not all the names are widely known, the sheer amount of experience there is mouth-watering for a dedicated action fan. Game on!

It’s always exciting … (read more)

Comments Off on Triple Threat (2019)

The Protector (Tom Yum Goong) (2005)

(from , dir: )
Posted on March 18, 2017 by Andrew

After exploding onto the international action scene with Ong Bak, star Tony Jaa and team return in an attempt to top their own bone-crunching hit.

Originally called Tom Yum Goong, the version we get in Australia comes by way of the Weinstein Company, most recently infamous for their stripped-down version of Snowpiercer. This time significant changes were made, beginning with the title. The Protector is actually not too bad — as it references the theme of the … (read more)

Comments Off on The Protector (Tom Yum Goong) (2005)

Chocolate (2008)

(from , dir: )
Posted on November 21, 2016 by Andrew

The one chocolate that most reminds me of this movie is a jaffa. Hard and crunchy on the outside, soft and melty on the inside.

Chocolate was Yanin “Jija” (or “Jeeja”) Vismitananda’s debut film role and director Prachya Pinkaew, the late Panna Rittikrai, and team created a movie designed to showcase her talents, much like they did for Tony Jaa with Ong Bak. A fairly basic story, acted out fairly basically, sets up a goal for our hero to … (read more)

Comments Off on Chocolate (2008)

The Protector 2 (2013)

(from , dir: )
Posted on August 2, 2014 by Justin

The news arrived last week that celebrated Thai action choreographer Panna Rittikrai has passed away, at the far too young age of 53. He had been the driving force behind Thailand’s new wave of action movies, touched off by his work with his student Tony Jaa in 2003’s Ong Bak. Amidst a cinematic sea of elaborate fantasy wirework, CGI-enhanced stunts and elaborate, unrealistic weaponry, Panna’s films brought a grounding in reality back to modern action cinema: hard-hitting Muay Thai, … (read more)

Comments Off on The Protector 2 (2013)

This Girl is Badass (2011)

(from , dir: )
Posted on February 14, 2013 by Justin

Retitled from Jukkalan, after its lead character, to the rather more bombastic This Girl is Badass, this film is omnipresent Thai comedian Petchai Wongkumlao’s (a.k.a Mum Jokmok) seventh movie as director, writer and actor. We don’t get all that much Thai cinema here in Oz, but even casual viewers of the nation’s output — like me — will recognise him as Tony Jaa’s offsider in the modern martial arts classic Ong Bak, open-faced, wide-eyed and occasionally very … (read more)

Comments Off on This Girl is Badass (2011)

Headshot (2012)

(from , dir: )
Posted on June 3, 2012 by Elizabeth Kerr
Headshot

Headshot screens at the Sydney Film Festival on June 13 & 14. Check the festival schedule for times.

Pen-ek Ratanaruang has always been a bit of a philosopher. When he burst onto the scene with the high octane comedy of errors crime caper 6ixtynin9 it looked like he was setting himself up to be the next Tarantino/Rodriguez/Park-type urban thriller auteur. That didn’t happen. Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves and Nymph happened, and it looked like he was … (read more)

Comments Off on Headshot (2012)

Ong Bak 3 (2010)

(from , dir: /)
Posted on February 3, 2011 by Justin

Tony Jaa returns to our screens in another Ong Bak film, released here in Australia on DVD by Eastern Eye. And unlike Ong Bak 2, which shared nothing with its predecessor but the name and the lead actor, volume 3 picks up directly where the last one left off (so the rest of this review contains spoilers for that one — you can’t say I didn’t warn you!)

We begin the film with our hero Tien (Jaa) in chains, … (read more)

Comments Off on Ong Bak 3 (2010)

Raging Phoenix (2009)

(from , dir: )
Posted on January 17, 2011 by Justin

I spun up the disc for Raging Phoenix with some reservations. I’d seen the trailer and formed a number of assumptions: martial arts film, female lead, some sort of custom mixture of Muay Thai and hip-hop dancing. The latter sounds like something thrown into the mix by a marketing executive early in production: we’ve got to appeal to a younger crowd, people, so you’re gonna add some b-boy stylings and perhaps chuck a music video or two in there … (read more)

Comments Off on Raging Phoenix (2009)