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Ashura

Saturday, January 21st, 2006
Fantasy fun from director Yojiro Takita, but seriously, it’s no When The Last Sword is Drawn… (more…)

Posted in Films, Japan, Reviews, Wuxia / Swordplay | No Comments »

Cello

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006
Another solid horror from South Korea, but surely the lesson here is don’t give your daughter a scary haircut like that girl from The Ring?… (more…)

Posted in South Korea | No Comments »

Chihwaseon

Thursday, March 8th, 2007
A beautiful film by veteran filmmaker Im Kwon-taek with a fine performance by Oldboy’s Choi Min-sik, but suffers from covering far too long a period… (more…)

Posted in Drama, Films, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »

Guardian Godzilla giveaway!

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

The Guardian are giving away a DVD of the classic original 1954 Godzilla movie this Saturday.

Posted in General, News, Releases, UK | No Comments »

Hana

Tuesday, November 28th, 2006
Writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s thoughtful and hilarious take on the samurai genre… (more…)

Posted in Comedy, Drama, Films, Japan, Reviews, Wuxia / Swordplay | No Comments »

Infection

Thursday, July 20th, 2006
More schlock thrills from the J-Horror Theatre, but this is more Garth Marenghi’s Dark Places than Lars von Trier’s Kingdom Hospital… (more…)

Posted in Films, Horror, Japan, Reviews | No Comments »

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

Monday, March 17th, 2008
Little Red Riding Hood retold as a psychological thriller from the director of Ghost In The Shell and Patlabor – but just who exactly is the wolf? (more…)

Posted in Action / Thrillers, Anime, Films, Japan, Reviews | No Comments »

Ju-On: The Grudge

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
Scary and genuinely unsettling, presenting the latest cult Asian horror to get a Hollywood makeover… (more…)

Posted in Films, Horror, Japan, Reviews | No Comments »

Ju-on: The Grudge 2 / Marebito

Sunday, September 24th, 2006
There’s no doubting director Takashi Shimizu’s ability to do some very scary, very unsettling stuff, but has he achieved his potential yet?… (more…)

Posted in Films, Horror, Japan, Reviews | No Comments »

Lone Wolf and Cub

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
The groundbreaking manga that influenced generation upon generation of comic book creators and inspired the notorious ‘Baby Cart’ series that began with Shogun Assassin… (more…)

Posted in Books, Japan, Manga, Reviews | No Comments »

Perfect Blue

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
A tense and intelligent psychological Anime thriller (yes - ANIME!)…

Fed up with watching the likes of Will Young or Kelly on your TV screens, thought you might have a go yourself? Take heed, being a pop idol might not be as easy as you think…

Mima Kirigoe is the lead singer with a popular girl band, on the cusp of quitting them to concentrate on acting. Led more by her management than her own desires, it’s a decision that doesn’t please all her fans - particularly the pale, crazily obsessed ‘Me-mania’. When she lands a role in a popular murder mystery series, her life begins to fall apart.

She begins receiving threats that become all the more deadly as she takes on a controversial rape plot line in the show. When she discovers a web site that contains a diary that describes all her secret thoughts and feelings, the line between reality and fantasy begin to blur. As a murder begins to kill those connected to Mima, we follow her deeper into a nightmare existence where nothing makes sense.

With more than a hint of Hitchcock, Satoshi Kon’s debut movie throws us headlong into this world, continually pulling the rug from under our feet until the mystery is revealed. It’s also a wry look at the empty, superficial life of the celebrity. Mima is as shut off from the world or any real friends as her obsessive fan. Beyond her public persona, her sense of her own identity has been completely lost.

This is the perfect example of how powerful and intelligent a medium animation can be, something only Japanese Anime seems to be taking advantage of. Not to be dismissed it as ‘just a cartoon’.

Posted in Action / Thrillers, Anime, Films, Japan, Reviews | No Comments »

Premonition

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
The opener for Takashige Ichise’s J-Horror series is Asian horror by numbers, but with a redeeming finale… (more…)

Posted in Films, Horror, Japan, Reviews | No Comments »

Returner

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
Somewhat derivative but well played sci-fi action flick - a welcome alternative to the lame Matrix sequels… (more…)

Posted in Action / Thrillers, Films, Japan, Reviews, Sci Fi / Fantasy | No Comments »

Ring

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
The book that spawned the cult movie, not to mention the US remake, and led the tsunami of Asian horror movies in the last few years. But is it really that scary?… (more…)

Posted in Books, Japan, Novels, Reviews | No Comments »

Shinobi

Thursday, February 7th, 2008
A nicely played and well-directed swordplay film – but haven’t we seen it all before? (more…)

Posted in Films, Japan, Reviews, Wuxia / Swordplay | 1 Comment »

Spirited Away

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
A beautiful, bizarre and completely compelling masterpiece, Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar winning follow up to Princess Mononoke is a wonderfully dark fairy tale for all ages… (more…)

Posted in Anime, Films, Japan, Reviews | No Comments »

Steamboy

Thursday, August 17th, 2006
Nearly twenty years on from the groundbreaking Akira, was director Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s first feature length anmie since really worth the wait?… (more…)

Posted in Anime, Films, Japan, Reviews | No Comments »

Takeshis’

Friday, November 25th, 2005
A triumph of autonomy over consequence, what begins as a sharp comedy blurring the lines between reality and fiction quickly devolves into a banal mess that an art student might be ashamed of (sorry Beat!)… (more…)

Posted in Action / Thrillers, Comedy, Films, Japan, Reviews, Sci Fi / Fantasy | No Comments »

Tales From Earthsea

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Another fine fantasy movie from Studio Ghibli, but this debut from Hayao’s son Goro Miyazaki misses out on the magic of Spirited Away and the potential of the Earthsea novels… (more…)

Posted in Anime, Films, Japan, Reviews | 2 Comments »

The Promise

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
First Zhang Yimou made a film about the same subject as Chen Kaige had, now Kaige has followed Yimou by making a CGI led ‘wuxia pian’ movie - will these guys ever stop treading on each others toes?… (more…)

Posted in China, Films, Hong Kong, Japan, Reviews, South Korea, Wuxia / Swordplay | No Comments »

Three

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
Solid horror anthology with three very different takes on life after death from three different Asian countries and directors… (more…)

Posted in Films, Hong Kong, Horror, Reviews, South Korea, Thailand | No Comments »

Three… Extremes

Thursday, May 1st, 2008
A solid follow-up to horror anthology Three features segments by Park Chan-wook, Miike Takeshi and Fruit Chan… (more…)

Posted in Films, Hong Kong, Horror, Japan, Reviews, South Korea | No Comments »
  • TAG CLOUD

    36th Chamber of Shaolin 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 A Better Tomorrow A  Better Tomorrow II A Chinese Ghost Story Akira Kurosawa A Moment of Romance Andrew Lau Andy lau Ang Lee Anthony Wong Ashes Of Time Bangkok Dangerous Beast Cops Blood Brothers Bruce Lee Buddha's Palm Bullet In The Head Chen Kaige China Ching Siu-tung Chow Yun-Fat City On Fire Come Drink With Me Corey Yuen Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Daniel Wu Dark Water David Chiang Days of Being Wild Donnie Yen Drunken Master Duel To The Death dvd Eastern Condors Ekin Cheng Election Enter The Dragon Eric Tsang Fist Of Fury Fong Sai Yuk Full Contact Golden Chicken Golden Swallow Gong Li Hard Boiled Hero Hidden Dragon Hideo Nakata Hong Kong House Of Flying Daggers Infernal Affairs In The Mood For Love Iron Monkey Jackie Chan Japan Jet Li Jimmy Wang Yu Johnnie To John Woo Kill Bill Killer Clans Kim Ji-woon King Hu King Of Comedy Kung Fu Hustle Lady Vengeance Last Hurrah for Chivalry Legend of Zu Leslie Cheung Lone Wolf And Cub Louis Koo Maggie Cheung Manga Master Of The Flying Guillotine Mission: Impossible 2 New Police Story Nowhere To Hide Oldboy Old Boy Once Upon a Time in China One-Armed Swordsman Ong-Bak Park Chan-wook POLICE STORY Project A Rabbit Proof Fence Raise The Red Lantern review Ringo Lam Ringu Ronny Yu S.P.L. Sammo Hung Saviour Of The Soul Seven Swords Shaolin Soccer Shaw Brothers Shiri Snake In The Eagle's Shadow So Close South Korea Stephen Chow Swordsman Sympathy For Lady Vengeance Sympathy For Mr Vengeance Thailand The Avenging Fist The Bride With White Hair The Eye The Foul King The Killer The Matrix The Pang brothers The Promise The Transporter Three Ti Lung Time And Tide Tony Jaa Tony Leung Chiu Wai Tony Leung Ka-fai Touch of Zen Tsui Hark Vengeance Wild Search Wong Jing Wong Kar-wai Yuen Biao Yuen Wah Yuen Woo-ping Zatoichi Zhang Che Zhang Yimou Zhang Ziyi
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