Asian
Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror
You’ve never seen anything like Oblivion Island. And when I say that, know that I mean it quite literally in fact, as the animators behind this feature-length family adventure film from Japan developed a whole new style of animation specifically for the film. To this end, the animators combined 3-dimensional, computer-generated character models with traditional [...]
The Sword Identity
Xu Haofeng’s The Sword Identity is one of the most visually arresting Wu Xia films I have ever seen. While Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Zhang Yimou’s Hero are two films that would probably come to mind when thinking along these lines, yet The Sword Identity is very much far removed from that [...]
The Raid: Redemption
In 2011, Welsh director Gareth Evans brought the traditional Indonesian martial art of pencak silat to world cinema in his intense actioner, The Raid (Serbuan Maut). For The Raid, Evans teamed up with star/fight choreographer Iko Uwais, who had previously starred in Evan’s 2009 film, Merantau. Together, the team produced easily one of the most [...]
Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale
Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale is one of the most impressive Taiwanese films I’ve ever seen and one of the best acquisitions that Well Go USA has released in the U.S. thus far. The films revolves around the indigenous tribes living in Taiwan, that get attacked by the Japanese occupation in the early 20th [...]
My Way
Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War was the first Kang Je-gyu film I saw and the second Korean film I ever purchased, the first being Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, obviously. I was in absolute awe after seeing Kang’s take on the Korean War and felt that after seeing this and his first film Shiri, I felt the [...]
Butterfly Swords
On July 10th 2012 Well Go USA will release the 1993 martial arts action flick Butterfly Swords, starring Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh, and Tony Leung, on DVD and Digital. Donnie Yen has received much acclaim recently for his many contemporary works, including Ip Man 1 and 2, Bodyguards and Assassins, Legend of the Fist: The [...]
The Great Killing
Eiichi Kudo’s The Great Killing is like the chambara version of Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers. With its focus on realism and commentary on the social upheaval in 1960′s Japan, the second film in Kudo’s Samurai Rebellion trilogy is an absolute pinnacle of the genre and elevates it to new heights. The film follows [...]
Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike
Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike is a prequel to the 2008 Xbox 360 game Tales of Vesperia. Although not exclusively meant for fans, those who haven’t played the game may have a hard time keeping up. It does, however, reveal more about the protagonist Yuri Lowell, as well as his best friend and rival [...]
Black Cat
Animated in 2005 by Studio Gonzo and serialized in Shonen Jump, Kentaro Yabuki’s Black Cat holds up very well and is a fine foray into the shonen genre. The series follows Train Heartnet, an assassin for the Chronos Organization, a shadowy group that vies for world peace by setting up assassinations and other dirty means. [...]
Accident
My introduction to Soi Cheang was his 2006 film, Dog Bite Dog, that was an impressive and visceral crime thriller and one of the best Hong Kong action films I had seen in years. Now, Shout! Factory has just released his 2009 film Accident, produced by Johnnie To and his Milkyway Production team that is [...]
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