Movies We're Watching

Despite the prevalent traces of Judo in modern martial arts action choreography, it remains sorely neglected as either a subject or primary martial art across the whole of cinema. Johnnie To’s Throw Down (2004), a spirited tribute to master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, was a long-awaited solution to the problem of ...

By all rights, Alber Pyun’s Nemesis (1992) should be a staple midnight movie, slated alongside the likes of Eraserhead, Mad Max, and Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill! At that rate, his Jean Claude Van Damme starring Cyborg (1989) is also inexcusably absent from that tradition of raucous late-night cinema. A veritable ...

With a cast like Robert DeNiro (Sam), Stellan Skarsgård (Gregor), Sean Bean (Spence), Jean Reno (Vincent), and Natascha McElhone (Deirdre) to its credit alone, it hurts to know that the Feature Film Ronin somehow got lost in the shuffle. A great cast does not necessarily make a great film, but ...

It is difficult not to feel the perpetual sting of loss when looking back on the shortened life and career of Brandon Lee. Lost to us at the mere age of 28 in 1993, indeed at the cusp of his ascendancy, Brandon fell victim to a fatal gun-prop error that ...

Legend has it that 666 portals to the netherworld are scattered throughout our universe. While human beings remain blissfully unaware of these dimensional gateways, the 444th is nestled deep in Japan’s “forest of resurrection.” Strange things happen in this remote forest that unfortunately serves as a preferred dumping ground for ...

Three time World Boxing Council (WBC) World Bantamweight champion Jôichirô Tatsuyôshi, is the subject of Joe, Tomorrow: 20 years with Joichiro Tatsuyoshi (2015), directed by Junji Sakamoto and produced by King Records. Sakamoto is no stranger to the ring, having delved into the boxing world with three of his features, ...

For those who came of age in the early 90’s, there is a good chance one of your first encounters with the martial arts world was Saban’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, a westernized reworking of the long-standing Japanese Super Sentai series which pits a group of teens against giant monsters ...

With unmistakable kinship to his 2004 Judo film Throw Down (Yau doh lung fu bong) and more than a pinch of Fulltime Killer’s (2001) hyperactive swagger, Hong Kong cinema royalty Johnnie To returns from a three year hiatus with Chasing Dream (Chihuo Quan Wang), ending the longest stall in a ...

Bolo Yeung, born Yeung Sze, is a Hong Kong martial arts actor and former Mr. Hong Kong bodybuilding champion. He is best known as Bolo, Han’s enforcer in Enter the Dragon (1973), and as Chong Li, the champion Jean-Claude Van Damme has to beat in Bloodsport (1988). It seems peculiar ...

Bruce Lee inspired an endless amount of clones. In the years following his death, movie producers seemingly booked nothing but Lee copycats. You had to pose like him, yell like him, and try your best to move like him. However, Lee falls second to another martial arts master when it ...