Melbourne Cinémathèque screens six Tsui Hark films

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Justin

You might be forgiven for thinking that Melbourne really does get the lion’s share of Asian cinema programming here in Australia, and this snippet of news from a reader does nothing to dispel this particular feeling!

On Wednesday nights from 18 May to 1 June, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image is screening six films from iconic Hong Kong director Tsui Hark as part of the Melbourne Cinémathèque program. Some of these are relative rarities: there are very … (read more)

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Free tickets to The Lost Bladesman

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Justin

(Update: we’re all out of free tickets and DVDs this time — thanks to everyone who got in touch!)

As we’ve already mentioned, the new Chinese period action film The Lost Bladesman (which Tom’s just written about) is screening in cinemas in Australia as of last Thursday. And courtesy of Icon, we have a bunch of free tickets and DVD packs to give away to encourage you to get out and see it… after all, what’s the last … (read more)

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The Lost Bladesman (2011)

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Posted on April 28, 2011 by Tom

The Lost Bladesman is a film adaptation of a portion of the Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which has been the basis of many popular adaptations, most recently Red Cliff, the anime series Ikki Tousen and the popular Dynasty Warriors series of video games.

This particular film follows Guan Yu, here played by Donnie Yen (SPL, Ip Man, and Shanghai Knights), a great warrior and general who is more or less … (read more)

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More classic anime on Blu-Ray

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Justin

It’s likely that most Aussie anime fans will be up on new releases of big titles, but just in case…

Last week, Aussie distributor Madman released three classic anime titles on Blu-Ray:

You can tell from the ratings we’ve given these over the … (read more)

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FLCL (2000)

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Posted on April 22, 2011 by Eugene

Certainly a sign of advancing years when one starts reminiscing of times past.  It’s hard not to be nostalgic when revisiting a series that first began and ended almost 10 years ago but that’s certainly the case when the new Blu-ray disc of FLCL arrived in the mail.

I have fond memories of the show though the exact details as to why eluded me up until the point I pressed play for the entire series.  The Pillows soundtrack came on … (read more)

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Punished (2011)

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Posted on April 18, 2011 by Elizabeth Kerr

Have you noticed how the last few years have seen South Korean cinema fall under the influence of the great Hong Kong crime thrillers of the 1980s and early-’90s? Whether it’s in a stylistic and/or thematic shout-out or a straight-up remake of a classic — like Son Hae-sung’s A Better Tomorrow or the upcoming 3D remake of The Killer (nooooooo!) starring Jung Woo-sung — the Korean industry owes a lot to the trail blazed by John Woo, Ringo Lam and … (read more)

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Ip Man: The Legend is Born (2010)

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Posted on April 16, 2011 by Alan

Recently I watched Monsters, Gareth Edwards’ reasonably low-budget sci-fi and romance flick. Getting over the being-bashed-on-the-head subtext about racial inequality and the U.S.’ view of the poor and foreigners alike as ‘alien’, the film has a very gorgeous sense of cinematography. The landscapes are verdant, the cityscapes alive, rusted, and full of movement. Edwards’ film captures beautiful moments with economy and subtlety.

Why mention this? Because unfortunately the very next film I watched, immediately afterwards, was this film, Ip … (read more)

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I Saw the Devil (2010)

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Posted on April 12, 2011 by Elizabeth Kerr

Director Kim Jee-woon and Lee Byung-hun are turning into Korea’s own Scorsese and De Niro. After flopping around the industry for a while and getting notice on and off for his interesting, if uneven, films (The Quiet Family, The Foul King), international audiences sat up and took note of Kim’s segment in the horror anthology Three. A year later A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) really made a splash. Imperfect though it was, Sisters had a … (read more)

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