easternKicks.com – how do you get yours?

Yeah, that’s right, just list the cast. Nice one Empire, glad to see you’re keeping on top of quality reviews. All this time I’ve fretted when PR companies asked me for a quote for a cover, tried to come up with something witty and clever, worried that I couldn’t come up with the goods. (And usually don’t, but that’s more to do with the films I get asked about.) And all I needed to do was list the cast….

Mind you, to be fair for some reason the releasing company have seen fit to cut the original quote down from ‘The most awesome action cast assembled ever…’

…Better, but listing the cast? Really? Come on guys, even in a full review that’s a bit lame.

Fancy watching some free kung fu movies? Fancy getting them in an iPod or iPhone friendly format? Not too picky about the quality – whether that happens picture, dubbing or even the actual movie itself?

Well, if you’re using iTunes, just follow the link below to the Cult of Kung Fu podcasts, a special branch of the Cult of UHF who release a lot of ‘public domain’ b-movies. (Still not really sure how these films become public domain in the first place, but there you go…) There you’ll find a growing selection of American dubbed Hong Kong movies, including Shaolin Invincibles and Shadow Ninja. Many of these have been available in some format or another before on low cost video or DVDs (though often not cheap enough considering the dire quailty!)

Entertaining if not brilliant, they coud be just what your daily commute needs…

See the current list on iTunes

From 6 November next week the Barbican Centre plays host to The London Korean Film Festival 08. As well as a preview showing of Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird – with the director himself and lead Lee Byung-hun in attendance, their also be other new films like Seven Days – starring Lost‘s Kim Yun-jin, May 18 and Forever The Moment, some classic movies from the 1960s, and a Lee Chang-dong Retrospective including Green Fish and his latest film Secret Sunshine.

For a full listing and information on how to book, click here.

That’s the question Time journalist Tim Youngs asks in his well-informed article The China Syndrome. A Tim points out, the Hong Kong film industry has been in decline for many years now, not helped piracy, internet and shrunken local markets.

Under a 2003 trade pact, Chinese co-productions are recognized in mainland market as Chinese films, not as imports subject to tight quotas, but what concessions are directors ready to make towards strict censorship in order for a slice of that market?

Read Tim Youngs article, The China Syndrome, in full »

With two more Hollywood remakes of Asian Horror’s to (ahem) look forward to, The Eye and One Missed Call, the Guardian’s Joe Queenan looks at the genre, and why American gets it so wrong…

Read the article on the Guardian Online »