Martial Arts | Cagey Films

Italian murders and Ninja intrigue from Radiance

Posted on July 24, 2024July 22, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Souvenir "art" becomes an instrument of murder in Luigi Comencini’s The Sunday Woman (1975)

Recent Radiance releases include a pair of Italian police procedurals – Pietro Germi’s neorealist noit The Facts of Murder (1959) and Luigi Comencini’s satire on bourgeois hypocrisy The Sunday Woman (1975) – and some traditional and new wave martial arts from Japan with Yasuharu Hasebe’s pop-art Black Tight Killers (1966) and a set of the first three movies in Daiei’s Shinobi series of bleak Ninja movies, Satsuo Yamamoto’s Band of Assassins (1962) and Revenge (1963) and Kazuo Mori’s Ressurection (1963). And speaking of Ninjas, Neon Eagle have released a deluxe two-disk set of Godfrey Ho’s patch-job Ninja Terminator (1964) and the original Korean movie cannibalized by Ho, Kim Si-hyun’s The Univited Guest of the Star Ferry.

Spring 2024 viewing, part two

Posted on May 22, 2024May 20, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

A strange young woman disrupts a middle-class home in Go Yeong-nam's Suddenly in the Dark (1981)

Continuing my survey of what I’ve been watching this Spring… Mondo Macabro Mondo Macabro is a label I haven’t mentioned much here, though they specialize in genre movies from around the world and I’ve discovered some real oddities through them – like H. Tjut Djalil’s Mystics in Bali (1981) and Juan Lopez Moctezuma’s Alucarda (1975). […]

Spring 2024 viewing, part one

Posted on May 15, 2024May 13, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

The new preacher in town (Robert Mitchum) has more than religion on his mind in Henry Hathaway's 5 Card Stud (1968)

Springtime viewing includes monsters and murderous mayhem, found-footage rawness and classical Hollywood craft, psycho killers and ancient evil, along with a couple of westerns with different attitudes towards violence on the frontier.

Johnnie To’s The Heroic Trio/Executioners (1993): Criterion Blu-ray review

Posted on February 14, 2024February 13, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Flights of martial arts fantasy in Johnnie To & Ching Siu-Tung's Executioners (1993)

Before attaining international critical success with a series of cool, formally precise thrillers, Johnnie To made a pair of wildly inventive superhero movies fraught with anxiety about the approaching hand over of Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997. The Heroic Trio and Executioners (both 1993) mix fantasy, science fiction, traditional martial arts and modern action into a potent dystopian stew centred on three of Hong Kong’s biggest female stars – Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung. Criterion’s three-disk dual-formal edition showcases stunning restorations by L’Immagine Ritrovata.

Summer viewing, 2023: Vinegar Syndrome

Posted on September 13, 2023September 10, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Cynthia Rothrock is prepared to kick ass in Godfrey Ho's Undefeatable (1983)

Another assortment of horror, fantasy, murder, madness and general mayhem from Vinegar Syndrome.

Recent Asian releases from Eureka

Posted on August 2, 2023February 24, 2024 by Kenneth George Godwin

Disillusioned Christians Shiro Amakusa (Kenji Sawada) and Hosokawa Gracia (Akiko Kana) return from the dead to seek revenge in Kenji Fukasaku's Samurai Reincarnation (1981)

Eureka, and their specialty label Masters of Cinema, continue to release a range of Asian films, from pulp action to classical tragedy. Among recent releases are a two-disk set of four sequels to Rickay Lau’s Mr. Vampire (1985), Cynthia Rothrock’s first lead role in Mang Hoi & Corey Yuen’s Lady Reporter (1989), and a pair of very different samurai epics: Tadashi Imai’s bleak dissection of the Bushido code in Revenge (1964) and Kenji Fukasaku’s mix of history and supernatural horror in Samurao Reincarnation (1981).

What I haven’t been writing about

Posted on May 24, 2023May 24, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Mia Goth as a porn actress who encounters a rural killer in Ti West's X (2022)

Although I write regularly here about the movies I watch, there are a lot more I don’t get around to mentioning – the reasons for what write about or ignore are not entirely clear.

Asian action and fantasy from 88 Films and Eureka

Posted on February 22, 2023February 21, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Ricky (Fan Siu-wong) with the warden's severed head at the climax of Lam Ngai-Choi’s Riki-Oh (1991)

Asian genre movies often contain a dizzying mix of exhilarating action, slapstick comedy, graphic violence and gore, and wild supernatural horror – all of which are on display in recent releases from 88 Films and Eureka.

Wrapping up 2022

Posted on January 4, 2023January 4, 2023 by Kenneth George Godwin

Countess Erzebeth Bathory (Lucia Bosé) discovers that virgin's blood will keep her young in Jorge Grau's Blood Ceremony (1973)

Hunkered down in the depths of winter, I spent a lot of December immersed in genre movies from around the world – it’s a dizzying mix of violence, perversion and unexpected cinematic delights.

Vinegar Syndrome closes out 2022

Posted on December 28, 2022December 27, 2022 by Kenneth George Godwin

Fong Sai Yuk (Willie Chi) faces a Manchu army in Ringo Lam's Burning Paradise (1994)

Vinegar Syndrome wraps up 2022 with a very mixed bag of releases, including no less than four grubby, bottom-of-the-barrel slasher movies, a dynamic Hong Kong martial arts movie, and loaded special editions of Freeway (1996), Matthew Bright’s reworking of Little Red Riding Hood as serial killer black comedy, and Rowdy Herrington’s red-neck action-romance Road House (1989).

Tag: Martial Arts