Born Li Lianjie in Beijing 1963, Jet Li was always going to be a star. Showing to have a natural talent for the traditional performance martial art Wushu, from as early as the age of 8, he would dominate the sport between 1974 and 1979, winning the Men’s All-Around National […]
Ben Jones
Horror, Cult, Grindhouse & Psychotronic B-Movies. Celebrating the Trashy side of Cinema. Crowned “Trash King” by podhard & Official NWPPVIP of
The New World Pod
The Royal Tramp Collection (1992) Stephen Chow delivering laughs whilst he finds his voice (Review)
The early 90s were huge for Stephen Chow. Having stepped out of the shadow of Chow Yun Fat in 1990’s All for the Winner, he would set his unique brand of mo lei tau and leave an indelible mark on the Hong Kong film industry with Gordon Chan’s Fight back […]
Beach of the War Gods (1973) A Seven Samurai retelling with epic intensions (Review)
Beach of the War Gods is an accumulation of a career, but before we get there it can never be overstated just how much of a star Jimmy Wang Yu was for Shaw Brothers in the late ’60s going into the early ’70s. With his boyish good looks and his […]
From Beijing with Love (1994) The Universal Language of Stephen Chow (Review)
Mo lei tau is a relatively new genre in terms of it’s history within Hong Kong pop culture. Born in the late 70’s and early 80’s through the comedy of the Hui Brothers (Michael, Samuel and Ricky Hui), and whilst their brand of humour was never officially called “Mo Lei […]
She Shoots Straight (1990) There’s more to Joyce Godenzi than being Mrs. Sammo (Review)
She Shoots Straight and she kicks ass, but there is a lot more to Joyce Godenzi than being Mrs Sammo Hung. Hollywood could have learned a lesson or two from Hong Kong cinema in the late 80s and early 90s, and whilst it would slowly catch on towards the end […]
Blood Flower (Harum Malam)(2022) More is Less in Shudder’s Malay Horror (Review)
Carnivorous plants aren’t the only thing lurking in the corners of Blood Flower, Shudder’s first foray into Malaysian horror. Poverty and superstition often go hand in hand – which can result in some surprisingly simple methods to deal with the supernatural. In China for example, many old buildings have a […]
The Skyhawk (1974) A “not so” Classic passing of the Wong Fei-Hung torch that still carries the weight of history (Review)
There are actors that just become synonymous with certain roles. For instance, if I were to mention Sherlock Holmes then many would think of Benedict Cumberbatch, whilst others would think of Basil Rathbone, and for a character that has appeared in over 250 screen adaptations, that isn’t bad going. The […]
Rich and Famous/Tragic Hero (1987) Heroic Bloodshed’s Strength in Depth (Review)
Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan had become the faces of Hong Kong cinema, delivering a brand of action cinema that was both thrilling as it was technical in its execution, we’d never seen anything quite like it here in the West. And whilst it may have been Cheng Chang-Ho’s 1972 […]
Golgo 13 (1973) Ken Takakura at his Effortless Best (Review)
When Takao Saito’s manga creation of the worlds deadliest assassin, Golgo 13, was first optioned by Toei Studios he had but two caveats. The first was that the entire film should be shot on location, and the second was that the actor that the character was based upon should be […]
The Katsuhito Ishii Collection (1995-2022) (Review)
Anyone with an interest in Japanese culture in the mid to late Noughties had heard the stories of these mad films coming out of Japan. There was the one with the weird babies and the other that had a huge head in the garden. It would transpire that the first […]