Takashi Miike is one of the most prolific and transgressive of Japan’s modern cinema directors. Best known for 13 Assassins, Dead or Alive (no, it has nothing to do with the games), and Ichi the Killer, Miike likes indulging in a spot of the old ultraviolence and in-out (I do…
Read MoreThe Rurouni Kenshin series of films is what 47 Ronin should have been. Stripped of the formula that marks a Hollywood period film, and replaced with an actual understanding of the Japanese culture and philosophy (as you would hope, given that it is a film native to Japan), Rurouni Kenshin…
Read MoreIf there is one thing common to Quentin Tarantino’s films, it’s that they’re made with a genuine and abiding love for film. That being the case, Shion Sono’s Why Don’t You Play In Hell is the kind of film that Tarantino would have loved to make. In theory it’s meant…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. “Give me your panties so I can save the school – no, the world!” This is an actual line of dialogue from Hentai Kamen: Forbidden Superhero. It’s spoken as the titular teenaged “hero” asks a schoolgirl that he has a crush on for her underwear; which…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Cinema from the South East of Asia has certainly turned ultraviolent films into an art form. The films that often defined Hong Kong cinema have since branched into fledgling film industries in Thailand (for example: the Ong Bak series), and now Indonesia. With The Raid finding international…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. One of my favourite film genres is the Chinese epic cinema. There’s something about the way that that that particular film industry is set up that films such as Curse of the Golden Flower, Hero and Red Cliff all have such a deep sense of colour,…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Firestorm was a technical first for Hong Kong cinema. It was the first 3D police action film produced in Hong Kong. But it’s much more than just that. Prolific actor, Andy Lau, best known in the west for his work in the breathtaking House of Flying…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Exploitation cinema is a constant across the world. It doesn’t really matter if the film comes from America, Japan, Europe, or Australia, you’re going to get much the same thing, regardless where they come from. Exploitation films are short – and would be much shorter if…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Every so often there has been an attempt by a filmmaker, writer, or mainstream journalist to chronicle video games in a way that explains to those outside of this growing community what it is about games that is so important to modern culture. Video Games: The…
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