Blog Archives

Ip Man: The Legend is Born (2010)

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Posted on April 16, 2011 by Alan

Recently I watched Monsters, Gareth Edwards’ reasonably low-budget sci-fi and romance flick. Getting over the being-bashed-on-the-head subtext about racial inequality and the U.S.’ view of the poor and foreigners alike as ‘alien’, the film has a very gorgeous sense of cinematography. The landscapes are verdant, the cityscapes alive, rusted, and full of movement. Edwards’ film captures beautiful moments with economy and subtlety.

Why mention this? Because unfortunately the very next film I watched, immediately afterwards, was this film, Ip … (read more)

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I Saw the Devil (2010)

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Posted on April 12, 2011 by Elizabeth Kerr

Director Kim Jee-woon and Lee Byung-hun are turning into Korea’s own Scorsese and De Niro. After flopping around the industry for a while and getting notice on and off for his interesting, if uneven, films (The Quiet Family, The Foul King), international audiences sat up and took note of Kim’s segment in the horror anthology Three. A year later A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) really made a splash. Imperfect though it was, Sisters had a … (read more)

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Heroes Two (1974)

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Posted on April 11, 2011 by Justin

Chang Cheh was one of Shaw Brothers’ most iconic directors. Working from the late 50s into the 90s, he was extremely prolific (more than a hundred films, eight films in one year at his peak in 1974) and, along with action maestro Lau Kar-Leung, he can claim a large chunk of the credit for Shaws’ reputation as a martial arts film powerhouse. Heavily influenced by Kurosawa’s samurai pictures and Leone’s spaghetti westerns, he brought a dramatic, blood-spattered intensity to Shaws’ … (read more)

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The Man From Nowhere (2010)

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Posted on April 8, 2011 by Elizabeth Kerr

Oh, you’ve seen this movie before, my friend. It’s Taken. It’s Man on Fire. It’s every movie ever made wherein a super-tough but fundamentally sensitive man with a mysterious, deadly and usually governmental past has to go on a bloody rampage to rescue a child — his own or one somehow close to him. The Man from Nowhere is that hoariest of tales, the one about the redemptive power of genuine affection as only children are able to … (read more)

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The Unjust (2010)

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Posted on April 7, 2011 by Elizabeth Kerr
Image from The Unjust

Director Ryoo Seung-wan has quickly made a name for himself as an action man; a director of a singular, urban, macho brand of thriller. Beginning with Die Bad (basically all about male aggression) and through Crying Fist (basically about male self-determination via the world’s most brutal sport) and The City of Violence (basically about male grief and the loss of fraternal trust), Ryoo could easily be referred to as the polar opposite of Pedro Almodovar: he’s a man’s director! I … (read more)

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Jyu Oh Sei (2006)

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Posted on March 26, 2011 by Deni

Jyu Oh Sei, based on a three book manga by Natsumi Itsuki, is possibly one of the more underrated anime you could do yourself a favour and watch. Think Asmiov crossed with Golding – a kind of Lord of the Flies in space, where man is reduced to the most basic needs of survival, where the alien plant life is both beautiful and deadly, and where the rules are completely made to be broken.

Thor and Rai are twins … (read more)

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The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (2010)

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Posted on March 15, 2011 by Justin

Opening this week in Australian cinemas, The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman is the cinematic debut for director Wuershan (a successful Beijing-based commercial director), and the second Chinese film with the backing of Fox International, after last year’s star-studded romance Hot Summer Days. It’s also got Doug Liman (director of The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith) on board as an executive producer, and “presenting” the film in the posters for Western markets, much like Quentin … (read more)

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Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2010)

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Posted on March 7, 2011 by Justin

The role of Chen Zhen is a storied one in Hong Kong film. First played by Bruce Lee in (arguably his best film) Fist of Fury, the fictional vengeful student of real-life martial artist Huo Yuan Jia has been played by Jet Li (in Fist of Legend, also a classic), and in television adaptations by Donnie Yen, Bruce Leung and Jordan Chan. Fist of Fury’s original director Lo Wei also went on to make a sequel, 1976’s … (read more)

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