NE ZHA 2 Continues The Epic Legendary Saga In North America In February!
The first installment, Ne Zha, was China’s biggest animated box office grosser in 2019. The sequel is currently playing in local cinemas in time for the Chinese New Year!
The first installment, Ne Zha, was China’s biggest animated box office grosser in 2019. The sequel is currently playing in local cinemas in time for the Chinese New Year!
I, The Executioner comes to VOD, Digital, and Film Movement Plus on January 31. TW: This movie review discusses sexual assault and battery. This is all in my head at the moment, but I’m really curious as to the influence of classic Japanese films on a certain Korean filmmaker favorite of mine whose latest completed film I’m yet to capture. For now though, I’m happy to continue my own growth in that direction as I get to examine a little bit of the post-war cinematic work of Tai Kato these days. This time, it’s I, The Executioner, also known as Requiem For A Massacre depending on the marketing. Chalk this one up as another masterpiece by one of the most revered filmmakers of his time – and ours – gathering a cast of characters who are as complex as they are compelling in their deconstruction. That’s really what pulls you […]
DON’T MESS WITH GRANDMA stars Michael Jai White and Billy Zane, and is directed by Jason Krawczyk
Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Joe Cole are back to reprise their roles along with a slate of new additions, including “Warrior,” and “Boy Kills World” actor Andrew Koji!
Actor Takayuki Yamada (Crows Zero, “The Naked Director”) stars in the new dystopian thriller series coming soon to Netflix!
SINNERS opens in theaters this April!
The film opens this week in China and Hong Kong in time for the Chinese New Year!
By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him comes to VOD, Digital, and Film Movement Plus on January 31. Late filmmaker Tai Kato is the latest centerpiece of Film Movement Classics’ VOD and digital releases for the first month of 2024. First up among a pair of titles forthcoming is By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him, Kato’s 1966 crime drama starring Noboru Ando as a post-WWII medic-turned-doctor who reflects on his life of turmoil, heartache, and violence when an old friend is admitted as his patient. Fans of Showa-era productions like these might be more than familiar with Kato’s work, or even that of Ando or the actor’s own history as a former gangster in his heyday. The same can likely be stated with respect to the distinguishable scar Ando bares on his left cheek, which certainly makes Ando’s performance here an inspired one, it not enhanced. Optically, […]
The 33rd edition of the Pan African Film + Arts Festival is fast approaching, and that means tickets are already on sale via their official website. The same goes for their 2025 programme which is host to over 200 films across the African Diaspora, including eighty-minute conceptual martial arts thriller, The Order, from directing duo Najah Elessie, and Jonathon Jacobs. After being orphaned, Amari and Aissa are raised by a secret society called The Order, where they are trained as elite assassins by the mysterious Mama Zee. Tasked with eliminating a notorious human trafficker, Chipasha Luchembe, their mission takes a personal turn when Aissa learns he is responsible for her parents’ deaths—a secret Mama Zee kept from her. Consumed by vengeance, Amari and Aissa’s differing approaches threaten their bond as they uncover shocking truths that could destroy everything they thought they knew about Mama Zee and themselves. In a world […]
Eureka Entertainment’s Running On Karma arrives on Blu-Ray on January 28. Order it today at the MVD Shop. Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai’s Running On Karma hit me differently twenty years ago, so I wasn’t too keen on it. Nowadays my mind is more open to different types of films in the field I cover, and I’ve come to realize that it’s a film that holds a little something for several kinds of audiences. Andy Lau wears an albeit convincing muscle suit in his second role after donning a similar suit for a portly character in Love On A Diet, a 2001 rom-com from the same directing duo. The muscular build for the role Lau plays this time around takes a life on its own as an aspect to the inherently transformative nature of the story To and Wai proffer to viewers. The long and short? Lau stars along with […]
Brian Tang’s phenomenal SXSW-selected samurai SWAT fantasy thriller is now online to enjoy!
Very little can be officially said early on with Tyler Atkins’s new MMA drama, The Beast In Me, save for what’s available now via Instagram. Thanks to actors Daniel MacPherson (Land Of Bad) and Bren Foster (Life After Fighting), we now have a brief look behind-the-scenes showcasing the looks of their characters in the film, including a polaroid of a bruised MacPherson which you can see in the first slide of his most recent Instagram post from over the weekend. The post comes a few weeks after Foster also teased his role in a seperate post hinting with the caption reading in part “New hair, new character, new movie, new fights!!…”. Filming took place over the weekend set against the backdrop of an event at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, as announced last Fall. Atkins directs a cast led by MacPherson, Foster, and Academy Award-winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator), from […]
Dead Before They Wake is now available on Digital Download I’ve come across the work of director Nathan Shepka prior to this year but his latest, Dead Before They Wake is my first real dive into his work. Shepka stars in the film which he also shares co-directing duties with Andy Crane, from a script Shepka wrote as well as produced under his own banner. The film is much ado with the kind of real world-driven storytelling in which human and sex trafficking is the underpinning that propels the story forward. Shepka plays Alex, a nightclub bouncer who is also known for doing favors for the right price, and people. Evan (Sylvester McCoy) is one such individual who approaches Alex one evening with a job offer: To search for a missing 14 year-old girl who is believed to have been enveloped into the city’s labyrinthine underworld of child sex trafficking. […]
Two weeks into production, new stills and BTS images are online for the next chapter in the ECHO 8 trilogy!
The Devil and The Daylong Brothers opens in North American January 31, 2025 from Quiver Distribution. Brandon McCormick’s new film, The Devil And The Daylong Brothers, took me by surprise. It’s definitely one of those films I blindly went into a little bit, save for what I got from the trailer released last month from Quiver Distribution, and I can gladly assert how pleased I am from this latest watch. A Biblical dark fantasy fable in the American South lands us in the throes of three brothers, Ishmael (Brendan Bradley), Enoch (Nican Robinson), and Abraham (Jordan Bolden), sworn to damnation in the years since their father, Nehemiah (Keith Carradine), made a deal with the devil. In an effort to redeem their own souls, the Daylongs are contracted to kill their own extensive list of the Damned, traveling via their loyal Grace (a 1958 Chrysler Imperial), and leaving a trail of select bodies […]
Actor and producer Alexander Nevsky is ramping up a trio of titles on Hollywood Storm roster ahead of EFM in February, two of which are set to go into production in 2025. The slate includes the long-awaited Savage Attack, which has been in development since roughly 2017, with Last Heroes Of Rio Bravo set to complete his Rio Bravo trilogy with co-star/director Joe Cornet back at the helm, as well as upcoming Western actioner, The Wide West. Savage Attack is billed as “The Raid meets Die Hard”, in a story centered on a CIA operative who must save his former mentor from an insane asylum besieged by hired killers. Nevsky will star alongside Nick Baillie (Malicious), Tatiana Neva (Taken from Rio Bravo) and Cornet. Highlander franchise mainstay Adrian Paul is also circling the project in a potential reunion with Nevsky since Art Camacho and Andrey Bogatyrev’s 2019’s historical sports drama, […]
Anybody else love the sound of a gritty Hong Kong thriller? Enter Atonement, the latest outing from directing duo Mark Wu, and leading man Ronald Cheng (Fatal Contact, Special ID) who shares the helm in his directing debut. Cheng plays a struggling father on a mission of vengeance when his daughter is kidnapped during their vacation in Thailand. Also starring are Chrissie Chau, Philip Keung, and young actress Fu Shun Ying for the film’s April release. Peep the teaser below along with the latest poster.
Fans of Hiroshi Tanaka’s manga catalogue can now find themselves re-living their fandom once again thanks to director Tatsuro Nishikawa with action drama, Bad Boys: The Movie. JO1 member Mamehara Issei will make his screen debut alongside Rihito Ikezaki of boy band INI, joining actors Jyutaro Yamanaka, and Sora Inoue, from a script by Nishikawa and screenwriter Kento Mineo. Based on Tanaka’s original 1988 Shonen Gahosha publication for Young King, the film centers on Kiriki Tsukasa (Issei), the only son of a wealthy family who instead runs away to follow in the footsteps of a legendary delinquent who helped him when he was younger. His quest to climb the ranks of gang life eventually brings him together Yoji (Ikezaki), Toshio (Yamanaka), Eiji (Inoue), forming a friendship which soon finds its integrity tested with looming gang battles to come, and Tsukasa reluctant to join in. Tanaka’s manga also found new life […]
Mercenaries have occupied an offshore platform in Chinese territorial waters by force. The Chinese Navy sets sail to repel the invaders as the Jiao Long commando team prepares for a fierce fight in the deep sea. Such are the details for Operation Hadal (f.k.a. Operation Leviathan) for its North American theatrical run from Well Go USA. Dante Lam directs this, the threequel entry to his previous two patriotic actioners, Operation Mekong, and Operation Red Sea. Operation Hadal stars Xuan Huang, Yosh Yu, and Bryan Larkin. Catch the official trailer and poster below!
The 32nd edition of SXSW revealed its line-up on Wednesday which now includes a first look at Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant 2. The long-awaited sequel to O’Connor’s hit 2016 thriller from Warner Bros. Pictures reunites Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal who can also be seen in a first look now going viral online which you can view below this article. When someone close to her is killed by unknown assassins, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina is forced to contact Christian Wolff to solve the murder. With the help of his estranged but highly lethal brother Brax, Chris applies his brilliant mind and less-than-legal methods to piece together the unsolved puzzle. As they get closer to the truth, the trio draw the attention of some of the most ruthless killers alive — all intent on putting a stop to their search. Also returning are Cynthia Addai-Robinson and J.K. Simmons, with the additions […]