A group of botany students, Yabe, Junco, and Michi begin to wonder about the absence of one of their group, Tagaumi, who was working on a computer program for them. Tagaumi, who showed no signs of being despondent or depressed, commits suicide, hanging himself, leaving behind him an odd charred black spot on the wall. Reeling from the strange, unexpected suicide, the group loads his work disc only to find it contains information about a webpage that shows a shadowy figure of Tagaumi eerily standing in front of his computer... Meanwhile another student, named Kawashima, gets his first computer and tries to log onto the Internet. When he does, he is taken to a page that says "Do you want to see a ghost?", and then it transfers to a webcam of another dark figure in an isolated room... While being plagued with calls on his cellphone in which a static ridden voice says, "Help", Yabe begins to try and unrave...Read the entire review

In the not-too-distant-future, population and unemployment are at an all time high. Desperate times lead to desperate measures, so the Millennium Educational Reform Act is passed. One class of schoolchildren is chosen to complete in the Battle Royale, a three day competition on an island in which they are given one random weapon (tracker, stun gun, uzi, knife, shotgun, binoculars, and so forth), an exploding tracking collar around their neck (different areas are danger zones, where the collars will go off, so the kids are forced to move near each other rather than hide), and told that only one of them can survive.

This years class of 42 fourteen yr-old students think they are on a field trip. They are drugged, wake up in a run down building, and are confronted by an army of soldiers and the supervisor, their former 7th grade teacher (Takeshi "Beat" Kitano- Sonatine, Violent Cop, Hanni-BiRead the entire review

My knowledge of Hong Kong cinema is embarassing, limited almost entirely to a couple of one-offs such as Death Mask of the Ninja and Monkey Kung-Fu, as well as what few works have been imported by international superstars like Jet Li and the ubiquitous Jackie Chan. One of the region's brightest stars, Stephen Chow, remained an unknown quantity to me until recently, when a friend of mine ranted at length about the brilliance of Shaolin Soccer. Audiences in Hong Kong apparently were equally enthusiastic, leading to a nearly $60 million gross in that country alone in the space of a month, and Miramax is slated to release the film on these shores in early April. In the meantime, though, Shaolin Soccer has quietly been given a region-free release, available at a handful of specialty retailers online. Despite the reservations I generally have about the quality of foreign R0 di...Read the entire review

The Seventh Curse (1986) is a grindhouse midnight movie at its best. It has no care other than to entertain you, blood, guns, deadly puppets, nudity, bombs, arrows, pagan magic, kung fu, booby traps,... did I say blood? While Ingmar Bergman may give film viewers a glimpse of the human soul, its films like the Seventh Curse that give us a look at the downright silly and wonderfully stupid depths of our imagination. And, there are sometimes when a person just needs to sit back and be mindlessly entertained.

The Film: Dr Yuan (Chin Siu Ho, Tai Chi Master ), a geeky, unlikely looking hero, is called to the scene of a hostage situation. The brazen plan is basically to have Dr. Yuan go in, and on cue, set off a distracting flash bomb while the cops bust in, and the plan works, though it is nearly foiled by pesky reporter Tsia-hung (HK mega-actress, Maggie Cheung, Police Story,...Read the entire review

After her film debut in the third In the Line of Duty film, Cynthia Khan returns in the fourth addition to the classic HK cop-action series. But, the true stars are Donnie Yen and director Yuen Woo Ping, who help make this 1989 sequel a superior effort.

The Film: The basic premise is about a dockworker who is thought to have gained some secret microfilm from corrupt CIA agents. In a Hitchcockian twist, the dockworker, ironically named Luk, is completely innocent, but no one, not the bad CIA or the Hong Kong Cops believe him. So, everyone is out for the poor guys blood. Eventually, it is up to Donnie Yen and Cynthia to protect him from the renegade agents appearing around every corner thanks to Donnie Yen's turncoat partner played by Michael Wong, who previously played a good guy in the first In the Line of Duty film, Royal Warriors.

The action (thank you Yuen Woo Pi...Read the entire review

Review:
Prison on Fire II

Movie:
Prison on Fire II is the English title for Tao Fan, which was originally released in 1991. The only sequel to 1987's Prison on Fire, the film features the re-teaming of director Ringo Lam and action star Chow Yun Fat (Ching). Along with the first part, the duo also teamed for City on Fire in 1987 and Full Contact in 1992. It is important to note that this DVD is missing two scenes – the scene where a toothbrush is stabbed through an eye is cut, as is the scene where the toothbrush is pulled out.

After the events of the first film, a new security officer, Zau, is introduced. However, much like his predecessor, he is entirely sadistic. Officer Zau sees Ching as a way to get information about the two gangs, the Mainlanders and the Hongkies, and refuses Ching a leave to attend his mother's funeral when he knows nothing. With his mother de...Read the entire review

THE GOD OF COOKERY

Synopsis:

If you have ever watched the "Iron Chef" on the Food Network, then you have a fairly good understanding of the "God Of Cookery! Stephen Chow is the "God of Cookery". A top chef and poster boy for the multi-billion dollar a year business of food preparation and marketing. Hosting a weekly TV show, Chow holds court with four of the top chef's in the surrounding locales. While sampling all of their works, he comments on the taste, texture and overall presentation of the food items prepared. His critique is so scathing that he even brings one chef to tears over his evidently inept culinary dish. Not too mention his less than pleasing physical appearance! Quite content to bully and boss any and everyone around him, he commands the cooking world from atop the rooftop expanse of his office building. When you are the top dog and all you can do is belittle those "...Read the entire review

Review:
City on Fire

Movie:
City on Fire is the English title for Long hu feng yun, which was originally released in 1987. The film features the team of director Ringo Lam and action star Chow Yun Fat (Ko Chow): the duo would team up again for Prison on Fire I & II and Full Contact. Also starring in the film are Danny Lee (Fu; He and Yun Fat would also go on to star in City War and The Killer) and Roy Cheung (John Chan; He and Yun Fat would star in Triads in 1989).

Deep undercover with clues that could lead to the arrest of a group of jewelry thieves, Wah is killed while contacting police headquarters. Undercover agent Ko Chow is called in from his current assignment and ordered to take over Wah's investigation. With great hesitation, Chow accepts. Posing as an arms supplier, Chow immediately fits in with the gang and soon becomes friends with Fu. When he is invit...Read the entire review

Review:
Triads: The Inside Story

Movie:
Triads: The Inside Story is the English title for Wo zai hei she hui de ri zi, which was originally released in 1989. Directed by Taylor Wong, the film stars Chow Yun Fat (Ho), Wai-Man Chan (Shing), Roy Cheung (Kong), Fui-On Shing (Keung), and Feng Tien (Kwan).

When a meeting on Lamma Island goes awry, Uncle Kwan, head of the Hung Hing family, is killed, despite the best efforts of his top two men, Keung and Shing. His dying words to them are to not involve Ho, his only son, in the business. Years ago, Ho had moved to the states to avoid the triad life and to study. Upon hearing of his father's death, he goes to Hong Kong, and before long, finds himself forced into being the leader, though he doesn't approve of the family's violent tactics. The other families are eager to get the turf owned by the Hung Hing, and sensing a weakness, ...Read the entire review

Prison on Fire

Movie:
Prison on Fire is the English title for Gaam yuk fung wan, which was originally released in 1987. The film features the team of director Ringo Lam and action star Chow Yun Fat (Ching): the duo previously teamed for City on Fire earlier in 1987, and they went on to do Prison on Fire Part II in 1991 and Full Contact in 1992. The film also stars Tony Leung (Yiu), who re-teamed with Lam in 1999 for The Victim. Though several scenes (most notably the ear-biting scene at the end and Yiu's suicide attempt) have been missing from several versions of the film, they have been restored for this DVD release.

When he defends his father from an attack, Yiu accidentally pushes one attacker in front of a bus. Convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to three years in prison, Yiu is a man totally unprepared for the hard prison life that awaits him. Luckily, he so...Read the entire review

Review:
City War

Movie:
City War is the English title for Sing Si Jin Jaang, which was originally released in 1988. The film is directed by Sun Chung and stars Ti Lung (Ken) and Chow Yun Fat (Dick).

Ken is a veteran police officer whose past comes back to haunt him when Ted, a criminal he arrested and sent to jail ten years ago, gets released. Dick, his friend and expert police negotiator, tries to make peace between Ken and Ted, though to no avail. Ted is set on getting revenge, and hires some local thugs to take out Ken and his family. But when things don't work out quite as planned, Ken and Dick pursue Ted, determined to make him pay for his crimes.

City War is a film I hadn't seen before, but as a big fan of Chow Yun Fat, I was eagerly awaiting the chance to view another of his films. City War is more of a drama than an action movie; in fact, all the action take...Read the entire review