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Japan Cuts XVII: Time To Raise The Curtain With A Look At Ten Titles Filling Up The Slots For This Year’s Festivities!

The seventeenth edition of Japan Cuts is officially just over a week away, and the festival just added two more titles to its feature slate: Kentaro Hagiwara’s latest screen treatment of Tsubasa Yamaguchi’s upcoming Blue Period, and Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s animated adventure, Look Back, which released in Japan cinemas last week. It was crucial to mention this as I push ahead with coverage this month, especially since now I’m raising the curtain on select titles I think folks might take a liking to. Granted, I haven’t seen the aforementioned titles, but I did get to preview a good deal of what is on the roster, some of which I will have written up. That especially goes for Shun Nakagawa’s new teen drama, Sayonara, Girls., which stars lead VO role actress in Look Back, Yuumi Kawai. That film is one of six in the Next Generation raft of titles, along with another […]

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BAD BOA’S: New Dutch Buddy Cop Thriller Hitting Netflix In 2025

I dropped the ball on this last month but I figured now’s as good a time as any given that production is still on going. Alas, Bad Boa’s is the name of the new Dutch buddy cop romp from debut director Gonzalo Fernández Carmona, and starring Jandino Asporaat and Werner Kolf. Carmona is directing from a script by Thomas van der Ree, Joost Reijmers and Kenneth Asporaat. It centers on Ramon (Jandino Asporaat), a dedicated special investigating officer determined to make his Rotterdam neighbourhood safer. He is forced to work with Jack (Werner Kolf), a reckless ex-detective temporarily demoted to Ramon’s team after an incident. In working together, they eventually discover they have more in common than they expected: the loss of a loved one who was murdered. As Ramon and Jack become a dream team, they do everything they can to track down the perpetrator, leading to several major […]

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HIJACK 1971: Terror In The Skies In The Official U.S. Trailer!

Sony Entertainment is taking the mantle this summer with Kim Sung-han’s new suspenseful thriller, Hijack 1971. Based on a true story, the movie is already out in South Korea and is now poised for select theatrical in the U.S. on July 5. Pilots Tae-in (HA Jung-woo) and Gyu-sik (SUNG Dong-il) are set to fly to Gimpo. Under the guidance of flight attendant Ok-soon (CHAE Soo-bin), passengers are busy boarding. However, shortly after takeoff, a homemade bomb explodes, turning the cabin into chaos. Check out the trailer from Rotten Tomatoes:

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Philip Ng Heads To The Small Screen, With Yuen Biao And Wu Yue By His Side, For ARMORED

Streaming giant iQiyi is the place to be these days for Chinese martial arts stars. Whether it’s Andy On, Xie Miao, Tiger Xu, or even Tiger Chen, making a medium-budgeted film for the streaming service, between bigger projects, seems to be the trend. The massive amount of output from iQiyi has led to mixed results but every now and then they give us a gem. Which leads me onto this story. Philip Ng (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In) announced, via his Instagram page, yesterday, that he is working on a new film for iQiyi, ARMORED. And that will costar the lgend himself, Yuen Biao (The Iceman Cometh). Yuen Biao’s been a little quiet as of late, making lesser known straight-to-streaming films. With Ng by his side, this one certainly has potential. But it doesn’t end there. Also joining the cast is underrated martial arts maestro, Wu Yue (Ip Man […]

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REVOLVER Teaser Revealed For New Crime Thriller Starring Jeon Do-Yeon

Kill Boksoon star Jeon Do-yeon is back in the limelight nowadays as her latest role makes headway in crime thriller, Revolver. Jeon reunites with Oh Seung-uk with whom she worked on the helmer’s second feature, 2015’s The Shameless. Per Screen‘s Michael Rosser, Revolver stars Jeon “as an ex-police officer seeking revenge after serving a prison sentence for someone else and discovering that the promised compensation for her time behind bars has vanished.” The cast also lists Ji Chang-wook and Lim Ji-yeon, along with Kim Jun-han, Kim Jong-soo, and Jung Man-sik. Revolver is produced by Sanai Pictures and releases August 7 from Plus M. Check out the teaser and poster below!

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99 PERCENT Boots Blades And Beer Bottles To The Face In The New Stunt-Loaded Sci-Fi Short

99 PERCENT: Boots, Blades And Beer Bottles To The Face In The New Stunt-Loaded Sci-Fi Short

In a futuristic city, AI has been implanted in humans head to help them in their daily life. Sometimes the AI can spread and take control of the host… That’s the wind-up-and-the-pitch here with 99 Percent, a new shortfilm from stunt professional and filmmaker Marc David. It’s a very lush and explosive piece of fight-heavy action sci-fi and ripe for the taking as an experiment with A.I. as a part of the narrative (not that I’m a fan of A.I.; I’m an OG student of the arts and grew up on James Cameron flicks as part of my boyhood diet, so don’t @ me). 99 Percent comes hand delivered by David and writer/fight choreographer Maxime Ecoiffier who stars along with Tomas Paredes, Angelique Rivoux, and Curtis Rowland Small. Got four minutes? Yes? Great. Enjoy!

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NOBODY 2 Finds A Director in THE NIGHT COMES FOR US filmmaker, Timo Tjahjanto

It seems you can’t dip your toe into the action film genre these days without hearing the name Timo Tjahjanto. And rightly so. He first caught the eye of horror fans with his V/H/S 2 segment, Safe Haven, where he teamed up with Gareth Evans (The Raid) to tell a terrifying tale of an evil Indonesian cult. He then rocketed onto the action scene with the Iko Uwais film, Headshot, cementing his name in the hearts of many with the Netflix production, The Night Comes For Us, also starring both Iko Uwais and bringing The Raid star, Joe Taslim, on board. After The Night Comes For Us, Hollywood jumped on Tjahjanto, with his name being tied to the upcoming Train to Busan remake, The Last Train to New York, and a possible Under Siege remake. While IMDb lists the former as being in post-production, the latter seems to have disappeared […]

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FILM FIGHTS WITH FRIENDS PODCAST: Watch Stephen Koepfer And Paul Varacchi Talk Stunts For Film And TV In New Podcast Series

The action film podcast scene has been a bustling one over the last several years with martial arts stars and fans setting up platforms to lend their voices to the dialogue. Nowadays, listeners are welcome to add stuntmen Stephen Koepfer and Paul Varacchi who’ve since paired up for the Film Fights With Friends Podcast which launched back in April. The Film Fights With Friends Podcast is recorded exclusively at Breakfall Studios in New York City where Koepfer and Varacchi train stunt performers and professionals alike in multiple aspects of screenfighting and choreography. Alas, the show is oriented in all aspects of stunts for film and TV, including guest interviews with fellow stuntmen and coordinators, and other industry multi-hyphenates. There are new episodes every two weeks, and four are already available to consume to your heart’s content, with guests including stunt performer Becca GT (Kevin Can F**k Himself, Law & Order: […]

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Japan Cuts XVII Review: A Roundup Of The Short Cuts Of This Year’s Festivities

There’s a bundle of movies I wanna watch this summer, and the list is only increasing. That certainly goes for the selections I have in mind for covering Japan Cuts next month. The official line-up is here and I’ll be touting a small curtain raiser later next Monday. To start though, I thought I’d dive into the Short Cuts portion to get warmed up. The works below are pretty inspirational and intriguing, and I’ve shared my reviews and thoughts for each in the descriptions of each still below. Director Rintaro’s twenty three-minute short is as much of a revelation as it is a celebration of the work to whom it’s attributed. The animated Edo-set folkloric tale of a Japan’s answer to Robin Hood is drenched in blue tint for its night time setting, and scored to a lively and skittish swing track to capture the playful antics of a infamous […]

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Second Sight Tells Physical Media Fans YOU’RE NEXT This August

These days, Adam Wingard may best known for giving us giant CGI apes and lizards punching each other in the face, but long before Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hit our big screens, he was dabbling in horror. In 2014 he delivered the excellent horror-thriller, The Guest, and in 2011 he burst onto the slasher scene with the superb YOU’RE NEXT. Well now we can all sit back and enjoy You’re Next in gorgeous 4K (or standard Blu-Ray, if that’s your preference) when UK-based distributor, Second Sight Films, releases the film with all the bells and whistles on August 19th. Second Sight are at the top of the Blu-Ray game at the moment. Their releases have physical media fans drooling the moment they’re announced, and rightly so. Check our the special features on this bad boy! Special Features  New 4K restoration and HDR Dolby Vision grade approved by Director Adam Wingard Dual format […]

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OASIS: Hiroya Shimizu And Mahiro Takasugi Make The Criminal Underworld Theirs In The First Trailer!

You gotta love little surprises like this… Gangland thriller Oasis marks a feature directing debut for filmmaker Takuro Iwaya, with a Fall theatrical release set TBA. The first official trailer and key art are here as well with a new look at lead actors Hiroya Shimizu and Mahiro Takasugi of live-action Tokyo Revengers and Kakegurui franchise fame. Oasis follows an incident that sees former friends Hiroto (Shimizu) and Kanamori (Takasugi) part ways, rising in the ranks over the years as rivals in the criminal underworld. The film hails from Glasgow 15, The Klockworx, and SPOTTED PRODUCTIONS, and is produced by Fujimoto Shinsuke, Mae Shinsuke, and Naoi Takatoshi, and features action sequences by Obara Tsuyoshi. Watch the trailer below:

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HOPELESS: Don’t Miss The Official Trailer For Kim Chang-Hoon’s Crime Drama

Well Go USA is proudly releasing South Korean crime drama Hopeless on digital from June 25. The film is written and directed by Kim Chang-hoon and stars Hong Xa Bin, Kim Jong-soo, and Song Joong-ki. After spending his entire childhood in a town riddled with crime and violence, a teenage boy saves up his money in hopes of someday moving with his mother to start a new, happier life. But after he crosses paths with a local gangster intent on helping him, he is drawn into increasingly dangerous situations that will leave him questioning whether his attempts to escape his hellish reality will instead ensnare him in it—permanently.

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PLACE OF BONES: Greed And Terror Grip A Mother And Daughter In The Official Trailer For The New Western

The official trailer has finally arrived for Place Of Bones, the latest dark Western thriller from She Never Died director Audrey Cummings. The film stars Heather Graham, Tom Hopper, Corin Nemec, Brielle Robillard and Cowboy Cerrone, and will release theatrically and on digital from August 23. On a remote ranch, a mother (Heather Graham) and her daughter fight for survival when a wounded outlaw seeking refuge brings a notorious bank robber and his ruthless gang, all desperate to reclaim a stolen fortune, right to their doorstep in this action-packed horror Western.

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CUSTOMS FRONTLINE: Official U.S. Teaser And July Date Revealed For Herman Yau’s NYAFF Entry!

It’s about that time again. Indeed, Herman Yau’s newest endeavor with Customs Frontline is readying to screen for the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival next month, and with none other than leading man and entertainment multiphyenate Nicholas Tse on-hand as an honoree. I suppose this is also a great way to assure that Well Go USA can get some eyes on this flick as the company is now heading up its stateside theatrical release on July 19. After boarding an unauthorized cargo ship and finding its entire crew dead, Hong Kong customs officers discover a hidden cache of illegal weapons and trace them back to an ongoing and highly volatile international conflict. But when elite agents go undercover abroad to locate the source of the smuggled firearms, they uncover a complex transnational operation with roots far closer to home than they ever imagined.  Tse stars and also debuts as […]

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New Takeshi Kitano Movie In The Works At Amazon MGM

Japanese auteur Takeshi Kitano announced he’s currently working on a new film for Amazon MGM Studios on Tuesday. That’s pretty much all there is to know about the mystery movie aside from that Kitano himself is directing and starring in it. A few trade sources previously reported that Kitano’s latest, Kubi, a subversive period piece chronicling the taboo and blood-drenched final years of Oda Nobunaga’s reign, would be his final flick. Not so, apparently, so there’s that. I should mention that Kubi is currently making the festival rounds after debuting at Cannes last year, and will soon hit Japan Cuts audiences in New York City in July. More from the language on Kitano’s collab with Amazon MGM: “Takeshi Kitano is an icon, not only in Japan but in the sphere of global film and media entertainment, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with him on the project, soon to launch on […]

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DOCTOR-X: THE MOVIE Intensely Pressure-Tests Ryoko Yonekura In The First Teaser!

Filmmaker and TV veteran Naomi Tamura (Seven Secretaries: The Movie) is back again to advance another in her past TV Asahi stakes: Doctor-X: The Movie. Actress Ryoko Yonekura reprises her role from the seven-season medical drama for which Tamura has helped shepherd since its 2012 debut. Yonekura stars in the title role as a freelance surgeon with a mysterious past whose methods have garnered her a reputation as a surgeon who never fails, taking on procedures where other surgeons wouldn’t dare. Her methods are cheered and jeered by both colleagues and members of the medical elite who question her methods, topped by issues pertinent to her mysterious past. According to the logline from Toho, that history may well come into the light as the heroic protagonist herself continues her exploits in the newest feature, from a script by fellow “Doctor-X” series cohort Miho Nakazono. The film opens on December 6. […]

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ULTRAMAN TAIGA Coming to Blu-Ray! Mill Creek expands Tsuburaya Deal

The first Ultra hero of the Reiwa era is taking the trip across the Pacific, and Mill Creek is driving the boat! ULTRAMAN TAIGA, the 31st Ultra Series production, has been announced for a four disc Blu-Ray package, as well as a digital release. This release also will feature the film ULTRAMAN TAIGA THE MOVIE: NEW GENERATION CLIMAX to make this drop an all-in-one TAIGA experience that’s sure to please neophytes and veterans alike. Just as exciting to this writer as the announcement of this collection is Mill Creek’s expanded partnership with Tsuburaya, which includes “…digital and physical rights for a full slate of episodic series and feature films from the international powerhouse brand, ULTRAMAN, including many that have not been available in the US previously,” per the press release. Mill Creek has absolutely dominated the tokusatsu space in the west, in this writer’s opinion, with their steady release of […]

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NYAFF XXIII Brims With Additional Titles And Big Name Honorees And Award Recipients In Second Wave!

UPDATE – 7:13pm EST: A previous version of this article was updated to include late additions to the selection of nominated directors for the Uncaged Award jury. It goes without saying that the 23rd edition of the New York Asian Film Festival is top priority among others for this site. Its line-up is already rich with enticing titles advancing their way here and as of Tuesday, the second wave just adds to the awesome. A few nods here include a wide array of shorts, as well as a line-up of stars and laureates being celebrated including Nicholas Tse whose new actioner Customs Frontline is screening for the festival, and Yugo Sakamoto who gets the prized Daniel A. Craft award this year as his latest installment of the Baby Assassins franchise will also play for the crowd. Read the presser in whole below, and as always, visit the official links for […]

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A MAN OF REASON Sees Jung Woo-Sung Battling A Past That Wants Him Dead In The Official U.S. Trailer!

I can’t begin to tell you why it took as long as it did for South Korean star Jung Woo-sung’s feature debut to get the ball rolling stateside after almost two years. At long last though, Epic Releasing is finally out on Friday with the official U.S. trailer for upcoming action noir thriller, A Man Of Reason, which hits on demand and digital beginning July 9. After spending a decade in prison, a hitman learns that he has a daughter and just wants a chance at a normal life. But his former mob boss wants him back at any cost, sending merciless assassins after him. Also starring are Kim Nam-gil and Park Sung-woong from a script Jung penned with co-scribe Jung Hae-sin. Watch the trailer:

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TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN Stamps August U.S. Release Date

It’ll be a while before we learn more on the future endeavors of Soi Cheang’s Twilight Of The Warriors franchise after Cannes. In the meantime, the first movie, Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In, is already slated for releases after commercial screenings in the U.K., as wel Hong Kong and China where its become a box office hit. The movie is also part of this year’s NYAFF line-up, after which its U.S. theatrical run will kick off on August 9 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Actors Louis Koo, Richie Jen, and action cinema laureate Sammo Hung line-up the cast along with Raymond Lam, Terrance Lau, German Cheung, Tony Wu, Kenny Wong, and Philip Ng, and with action sequences by Kenji Tanigaki. Many years after the bloody turf war that ushered in an uneasy era of peace in Hong Kong’s underworld, the notorious Kowloon Walled City serves as a fortified, lawless […]

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