Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling: The Criterion Collection by Noor Razzak (12th January 2025)
"Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling" (1986) marks the directorial debut of comedian and actor Richard Pryor, a film that presents a deeply personal and introspective journey into the complexities of identity, addiction, and the pursuit of redemption. While the film certainly benefits from Pryor’s unflinching exploration of his own life experiences, it ultimately raises questions about the balance between artistic ambition and cinematic coherence, offering a work that is both provocative and uneven in its execution. The film follows Jo Jo Dancer (Richard Pryor), a successful comedian who is at the peak of his career when a traumatic accident occurs, sending him into a near-death experience and forcing him to confront the choices and behaviours that have defined his life. As Jo Jo recovers physically, he must also face the emotional and psychological wreckage of a life marred by drug addiction, strained relationships, and self-destructive tendencies. The central theme of Jo Jo Dancer is the tension between fame and personal fulfillment. The film explores how the external validation of success can mask deeper internal struggles, ... |
Evil Does Not Exist by James-Masaki Ryan (8th January 2025)
"Evil Does Not Exist" 「悪は存在しない」 (2023) Takumi (played by Omika Hitoshi) was born and raised in the rural village of Mizubiki, living as a handyman for the community for their everyday needs. He is a single father to eight year old Hana (played by Nishikawa Ryo) and teaches her about the nature surrounding them, through the plants and the animals that they come across. A town meeting is held when representatives of an entertainment company show their presentation of how they will open a glamping site in the town, which would bring tourism and boost the area's economy. The representatives Takahashi (played by Kosaka Ryuji) and Mayuzumi (played by Shibutani Ayaka) are bombarded with comments and concerns from the locals who are afraid that such a place would pollute the water supply, disrupt the deer trail, and bring other problems from outside, with the showcased plans being inadequate. Following the international breakthrough that was ... |
Oddity by Eric Cotenas (6th January 2025)
While her psychiatrist husband Ted (Midsomer Murders' Gwilym Lee) works nights in a mental institution, Dani Timmis (You Are Not My Mother's Carolyn Bracken) spends her days renovating the medieval farmhouse they have purchased in the remote countryside. One night, one of Ted's patients Olin Boole (Boy Eats Girl's Tadhg Murphy) turns up on the doorstep urging Dani to let him inside, claiming that he saw someone else run inside while she went out to the car. Although unnerved by noises inside the large building, she is also too afraid to unlock the door to this stranger. A year later, we learn that Dani was murdered by Boole who himself was subsequently brutally murdered ostensibly by another patient while in custody. Although Ted has started a relationship with pharmaceutical representative... |
Cheerleaders' Wild Weekend by Eric Cotenas (3rd January 2025)
The annual California high school cheerleading contest is being held in Sacramento and bus seventeen is transporting cheerleading teams from three rival Los Angeles-area schools: the good girls of Pierce High lead by level-headed Debbie (Meatballs' Kristine DeBell), the bad girls of Polk High lead by soul sister Sally (Mean Mother's Marilyn Joi), and the rich girls of Darwell lead by snobby Lisa (Up in Smoke's Ann Wharton), and chaperoned by icy coach Frankie McDougall (Courtney Sands). As night falls, they come across a roadblock and the Highway Patrol steers them to a detour leading to a remote cabin where it is revealed that the cops are their abductors: professional football players Wayne Mathews (... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Pulse by James-Masaki Ryan (1st January 2025)
"Pulse" 「回路」 (2001) Kudo Michi (played by Aso Kumiko) goes to the apartment of her coworker Taguchi (played by Mizuhashi Kenji) who has been absent from work for some time. Entering his unlocked dark apartment, she sees him there seemingly tired and unwell, but a few moments later she finds Taguchi hanging by the neck in the next room. Her coworkers Junko (played by Arisaka Kumiko) and Yabe (played by Matsuo Masatoshi) are able to recover a disk from Taguchi's home computer, which are filled with unusual repeating images of what seems to be of his room and a dark unrecognizable face appearing within the computer monitor reflections. With the three trying to find an answer to Taguchi's suicide, unexplained situations start to plague them as well. Meanwhile there is the case of Kawashima Ryosuke (played by Kato Haruhiko), a university student who decides to try the Internet for the first time. But things do not see... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition) by Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025)
"Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion." The One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's ... |
The Keep: Limited Edition by Noor Razzak (1st January 2025)
Michael Mann’s "The Keep" (1983) is a fascinating and enigmatic film that blends horror, supernatural elements, and war drama into an almost dreamlike narrative. Despite being visually striking and conceptually ambitious, the film struggles to find coherence within its own sprawling ideas. Adapted from F. Paul Wilson’s 1981 novel, "The Keep" represents Mann's first foray into genre filmmaking, and while it showcases his signature style and visual sensibilities, it also presents significant narrative and tonal challenges. At the core of film is a story set during World War II in an isolated Romanian fortress that harbors an ancient evil. When a group of Nazi soldiers occupies the keep, they unknowingly unleash a powerful, malevolent entity. As the creature begins to terrorize the soldiers, a Jewish historian named Glaeken (Scott Glenn) is brought in to try to stop it, leading to a confrontation that blends existential horror with mystical elements. While this premise has the potential for a gripping narrative, the film quickly becomes mired in its own complexity, struggling to tie... |
Three Wishes for Cinderella by Eric Cotenas (25th December 2024)
Cinderella (Kolya's Libuse Safránková) lives under the thumb of her wicked stepmother (Bread and Roses' Carola Braunbock) and spoiled stepsister Dora (I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen's Dana Hlavácová). The servants love her and the animals help her in the backbreaking daily chores meted out by her stepmother, but she's really a tomboy at heart. While her stepmother and stepsister prepare for a visit from the King (Mephisto's Rolf Hoppe) and Queen (The Dead Stay Young's Karin Lesch), Cinderella comes across the Prince (singer... |
The Brokenwood Mysteries: Series 10 by Eric Cotenas (25th December 2024)
Touted as New Zealand's answer to Midsomer Murders, The Brokenwood Mysteries trades village fetes for cheese rolls as four-times divorced, country & western music-loving city officer Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (The Irrefutable Truth About Demons's Neill Rea) first turned up in the North Island town of Brokenwood to put the "field in field investigator" and takes over investigation into a death that everyone else would rather believe was a suicide or accidental death, replacing the local senior inspector implicated in the case. Ditching the city for Brokenwood and a vineyard, Shephard finds his outsider status both alienates him from the locals but also allows him to view cases from a perspective lacking in partner Kristin Sims (The Almighty Johnsons' Fern Sutherland) and D.C. Daniel Chalmers (... |
Cooking Price-Wise by James-Masaki Ryan (22nd December 2024)
"Cooking Price-Wise" (1971) Vincent Price had a long distinguished career as an actor for more than five decades of his life on stage and on screen. While his most well remembered works were in the horror genre such as "House on Haunted Hill", "The Fly", "The Last Man on Earth", and "The Pit and the Pendulum", he graced the screen in almost every genre there was, giving striking performances to each role. He poised charm and power in major works such as "The Ten Commandments" and "Laura", while also giving his all in campy works as well, treating each production as not a paycheck, but a wonderful way to show his remarkable talent. Television roles such as in ... |
The Hop-Pickers by Eric Cotenas (20th December 2024)
It is a mandatory requirement that teenagers from all over the country participate in the seasonal harvesting of hops. To all of them it is thankless work. Even handsome model worker Honza (Milos Zavadil) is just "in it for the money," but everyone goes to bed exhausted whether they exceed their quota or come under. Those that stand out from the group are the unpopular ones: intellectually-minded Filip (Loves of a Blonde's Vladimír Pucholt) who earns the contempt of Honza, his buddies, the chairman (Witchhammer's Josef Kemr), and the camp's teacher Jana (Ikarie XB 1's Irena Kacírková) for his lack of sociability, and Hanka (Ivana Pavlová) who dresses in the l... |
The Wombles: The Complete Series by Peter Neal (19th December 2024)
"The Wombles" (1972-1975) "Wombling Free" (1977) There are many beloved UK TV series, especially those with a younger audience in mind, but above all else, one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Well, about three feet high, actually. Yes, it's The Wombles, the inhabitants of Wimbledon Common who made good use of the things everyday folk leave behind. Originating with the first novel by Elisabeth Beresford in 1968, the tales of Bungo, Tomsk, Wellington, Tobermory, Great Uncle Bulgaria, Orinoco and Madame Cholet quickly became a sensation with kids, and after the book was read on similarly beloved TV show Jackanory, it wasn't long before Auntie Beeb commissioned The Wombles for a series of their own. With the triumph The Herbs already under their belt for rival TV station ITV, FilmFair was tasked with unleashing the beloved characters from the page and into three-dimensional life. In the hands of the ridiculously talented Barry Leith (who would go ... |
The Wombles: The Complete Series by Peter Neal (19th December 2024)
"The Wombles" (1972-1975) "Wombling Free" (1977) There are many beloved UK TV series, especially those with a younger audience in mind, but above all else, one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Well, about three feet high, actually. Yes, it's The Wombles, the inhabitants of Wimbledon Common who made good use of the things everyday folk leave behind. Originating with the first novel by Elisabeth Beresford in 1968, the tales of Bungo, Tomsk, Wellington, Tobermory, Great Uncle Bulgaria, Orinoco and Madame Cholet quickly became a sensation with kids, and after the book was read on similarly beloved TV show Jackanory, it wasn't long before Auntie Beeb commissioned The Wombles for a series of their own. With the triumph The Herbs already under their belt for rival TV station ITV, FilmFair was tasked with unleashing the beloved characters from the page and into three-dimensional life. In the hands of the ridiculously talented Barry Leith (who would go ... |
The Wombles: The Complete Series by Peter Neal (19th December 2024)
"The Wombles" (1972-1975) "Wombling Free" (1977) There are many beloved UK TV series, especially those with a younger audience in mind, but above all else, one stands head and shoulders above the rest. Well, about three feet high, actually. Yes, it's The Wombles, the inhabitants of Wimbledon Common who made good use of the things everyday folk leave behind. Originating with the first novel by Elisabeth Beresford in 1968, the tales of Bungo, Tomsk, Wellington, Tobermory, Great Uncle Bulgaria, Orinoco and Madame Cholet quickly became a sensation with kids, and after the book was read on similarly beloved TV show Jackanory, it wasn't long before Auntie Beeb commissioned The Wombles for a series of their own. With the triumph The Herbs already under their belt for rival TV station ITV, FilmFair was tasked with unleashing the beloved characters from the page and into three-dimensional life. In the hands of the ridiculously talented Barry Leith (who would go ... |