The New King of Comedy

It’s not really a secret that I am a huge fan of Stephen Chow as both an actor and a film-maker, so it was with great joy I picked up his latest effort, a low budget, Chinese New Year Effort, co-directed by another one of my favourite Hong Kong directors, Herman Yau.  It’s also a…

Asian Cinema Film Club #25 – Battle Royale

25th Episode! You all knew it was coming, and the Asian Cinema Film Club hates to disappoint. Elwood and Stephen are joined by first time guest Emily Intravia (The Deadly Doll’s House of Horror Nonsense / The Feminine Critique) to talk about all things “Battle Royale”. A film which alongside “Ringu” and “Audition” helped usher…

Asian Cinema Film Club #24 – The Bullet Vanishes

Elwood and I are joined by Kim (Tranquil Dreams / Movies and Tea) for a Sherlock Holmes style mystery as a pair of Detectives (Nic Tse and Sean Lau) team up to solve a series of unusual murders at a Bullet factory in 1930s Tiancheng County, China. We also look at the many talents of…

Hang in There, Kids!

Nearly missed this one being published on easternKicks, which is a shame, as it’s my review for a really lovely little Taiwanese film. It’s got some really genuine performances by the young cast, and it’s simply a good heartwarming drama albeit with a dark underbelly.

Asian Cinema Film Club #23 – The Twins Effect

Elwood and I kick off 2019 looking at “The Twins Effect” a wonderfully random mash up of vampires, romantic comedy and special friendly appearances? On this episode we dive into this star studded movie vehicle for Cantopop duo “Twins” while also looking at the many scandals which rocked the various cast members. I have another…

So It’s 2019 Stephen.. What Do You Have Planned?

It won’t come as a shock to any of my long term readers (assuming there are any!) that the actual new content here has been pretty shocking this year. A quick look at my posts here shows me that I only did 13 unique film reviews here last year – and that’s even with the…

Asian Cinema Film Club #22 – Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris

It’s the happiest time of the year which of course means that it’s time to once more celebrate a Kaiju Christmas as this year we check out the final part of the 90’s Gamera trilogy. We also reveal our top episodes of the year, as well as the lows for 2018, while I also discus…

Satan’s Slaves

Over a year ago I was lucky enough to chat to Joko Anwar for easternKicks, and he was talking enthusiastically about just finishing up his latest film, a remake of the first film he ever saw, “Pengabdi Setan”, a mostly forgotten Indonesian horror film that holds the distinction of being probably one of the few…

One Cut of the Dead

Everyone over easternKicks.com have been talking about this one for a while, and let’s face it, a comedy Zombie film is always going to get interest from me. What I wasn’t expecting was an outrageously brilliant micro-budget Japanese comedy that has a scope and execution that belies the financial resources behind it. And there is…

Daughter of the Nile

I am a big fan of Taiwanese New Wave Cinema, but I have to admit I have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to one major director of this school – Hou Hsiao-hsien. I may well have adored “The Assassin”, but his significant back catalogue has been something I have failed to…

Origin Story

Another review over at easternKicks.com! This time it’s actually an American film, a documentary about comedian Kulap Vilaysack’s journey to her Laotian roots in “Origin Story”. There is probably going to be a glut of posts in the next couple weeks, as I desperately try to get through the shortlist for easternKicks’ film of the…

Go-Go Sisters

Over at easternKicks, I take a look at rather fabulous remake of the already fabulous South Korean movie “Sunny”. Go check out my review of “Go-Go Sisters” here. It might be my film of the year!