Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2011/2016)

Director: Gilles Penso

If it wasn’t for Ray Harryhausen, a site like Blood Brothers wouldn’t exist. For us, his work as a special effects artist and animator was something of a childhood favorite and his impressive catalog of creatures fueled imaginations for an entire generation of film makers and fans. While documentaries are rarely covered here on the site, it was only my pleasure to be able to cover the one based on his robust catalog to be released on Blu Ray through Arrow Films called Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan. While the film itself is a fairly straightforward documentary, for cinephiles and those interested in the historical elements of film, it’s one that comes with a big recommendation for its insightful look into Harryhausen’s career.

Into the Well: Is the Ringu Franchise Still Relevant?

When The Ring came out back in 2002, I was hooked. I was in high school, I was a horror movie fanatic, and I couldn’t get enough of atmosphere and concept. It was scary, smart, and most of all – timely. It combined familiar ghost story elements with the unfamiliar tones of a blooming J Horror trend and I loved it. I quickly sought out the original Ringu at the video stores (requiescat in pace) and I have been a fan since. Granted, it’s been years since I revisited the franchise and its various spin offs, reboots, and forgotten sequels, but with the recent announcement of a third American film Rings, a new Japanese film in Sadako Vs Kayoko, and some requests from our readers for more J Horror material, I decided it was time to go back and look at one of the strangest and overly complicated franchises that horror has ever seen and examine why this series is still relevant today despite some odd turns in quality.

Midnight After, The (2016)

Director: Fruit Chan

Notable Cast: Wong You-nam, Janice Man, Simon Yam, Kara Hui, Lam Suet, Chui Tien-you, Cheuk Wan-chi, Lee Sheung-ching, Sam Lee

Since the day that I saw the short film “Dumplings” as part of the anthology film 3 Extremes, I have been waiting for Fruit Chan to release another film that would hit as hard as that one. It’s not like he does a lot of films as a director, but each time I wait for him to knock one out of the ballpark and sigh in disbelief when he doesn’t. His latest film The Midnight After, a film adaption of a cult online story, arrived last week and I held my breath again. The concept sounded intriguing, but could this be his time? Could this be the film where Fruit Chan finally matches Dumplings? The short answer? No. The Midnight After is not even close to matching the heights that Fruit Chan previously touched with his offbeat horror flick. The more complicated answer is that I’m not even sure that The Midnight After can constitute a full film. Not only is this film scattered, unfocused, and muddled in its narrative approach, but it never feels like there was a purpose or intent for it by the time it ended and the credits began to roll.

Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman (1982)

Director: Chor Yuen

Notable Cast: Ti Lung, Lo Lieh, Teng Wei-hao, Ku Kuan-chung, Linda Chu, Tai Liang-chun, Ku Feng, Yuen Wah

For the first twenty minutes or so, I was fairly confused by Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman. I had enjoyed the previous two entries of the series, but right away the tone of this film felt different – less dramatic, more off the cuff – and Ti Lung’s character was completely different in his actions and demeanor. After a quick pause and five minutes of research I found out that Perils is actually not a sequel to the Sentimental Swordsman franchise, but it’s a sequel to another wuxia series from Chor Yuen that stars Ti Lung. It’s the same series that features films like Clans of Intrigue and Legend of the Bat. With proper expectations, Perils became a fun film filled with some outrageous fantastical set pieces and plenty of memorable battles that I was able to enjoy once my expectations had been adjusted for the proper franchise, but keep this in mind when going into the film. It is probably not the film you will be expecting to see from its title.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Director: Bryan Singer

Notable Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Evan Peters, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Josh Helman, Ben Hardy, Lana Condor, Hugh Jackman

Expectations can be a bitch. When a series gets as much critical and fan acclaim as the new “rebooted” X-Men franchise has received, in particular with regard to the previous entry Days of Future Past, it’s only time until one of the entries disappoints and receives the flaming. Enter in X-Men: Apocalypse, the third entry into the latest series featuring a younger X-Men cast, and while it is a disappointment when compared to the previous two it’s hardly worthy of the horrendous (and dare I say, vicious) response from critics that is has received. As it is, Apocalypse is a fine X-Men film filled with plenty of entertaining sequences and fun pieces for audiences even if the film itself is a much more hollow experience compared to the previous two films. It suffers from some of the same issues that have plagued previous X-Men films in the past, but ultimately it moves at such a smooth pace that it never bottoms out the film like it could have.

She Shoots Straight (1990)

Director: Corey Yuen

Notable Cast: Joyce Godenzi, Carina Lau Ka-Ling, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Yuen Wah, Sammo Hung

For me, there is something magical about late 80s/early 90s Hong Kong action films. Just like any other era and/or genre there is still a 3 to 1 ratio of mediocre crap to genuine awesomeness, but the look, the energy, and the feel of this era has always held a special place for me as one of the first non-mainstream film styles that I latched onto. One of the kings of this style and era is Corey Yuen, who, to this day, continues to offer his services as an action director and choreographer to inferior directors for a plethora of various films. One of the films I had not had a chance to dive into is the gimmicky – and oddly titled – She Shoots Straight. While the film has some issues with melodramatic plot set ups and narrative hiccups in the second act, I found myself very impressed with the ballsy twists and often shocking violence that She Shoots Straight uses to deliver its story. This may not be Corey Yuen’s best, but it’s one of his more chancy films that earns a lot of respect even if the execution is a bit patchy.

Three (2016)

Director: Johnnie To

Notable Cast: Louis Koo, Wallace Chung, Vicki Zhao, Lam Suet

Johnnie To has always remained a chameleon as a director. He’s always changing and shifting through various genres, fitting his style to each one like a versatile coat of arms, pushing and challenging boundaries as he goes. As the genre fan that I am, it’s his gangster and cop films that really stick out as his best including the likes of Election, Exiled, and Drug War to name a few. His latest film to reach the US, courtesy of our friends at Well Go USA, is the cops and robbers flick Three. Just like some of his other films, this isn’t your cut and dry action thriller. Once again To is all about pushing boundaries and he does it again with this one. Most of it works, some of it doesn’t, but it’s hard not to love what To does here stylistically as he crafts a minimalist, teeth gritting thriller that is demanding of an artful respect. It’s not a perfect film and it certainly falls short of his last US release Drug War, but if you’re a To fan or love a solid and pulse pounding film it’s hard to go wrong with most of what Three has to offer.

Murder Unincorporated (1965)

Director: Haryasu Noguchi

Notable Cast: Jo Shishido, Kon Omura, Hiroshi Hijikata, Tooru Yuri, Shunji Sayama, Yoko Yamamoto, Juro Sasa, E.H. Eric

After a fun first film with Tokyo Mighty Guy and a phenomenal action comedy in Danger Pays, I was starting to see why Arrow Video wanted to do a compilation of Nikkatsu comedies for their second Nikkatsu Diamond Guys volume. The third film in the set, a comedy called Murder Unincorporated, easily represents the weakest of the three films though. For an action comedy, the balance is off and the humor is almost exclusively slapstick silliness which negates some of the heart that was represented with Tokyo Mighty Guy and the strong sense of poise present in Danger Pays. For those looking for some dumb jokes and a very easy to consume sense of style, Murder Unincorporated may certainly fit the bill. For those looking for something a bit more, then it’s perhaps best to look to the other two films in the set because this is a pretty basic comedy.

Onibaba (1964)

Director: Kaneto Shindo

Notable Cast: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satō

J-horror is something I've always been pretty fond of since I was a teenager; Ju-On, Ringu, the works of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and so on have always gotten under my skin and really stuck with me in a lot of ways that horror films elsewhere haven't managed to do. I guess I can also add to that, I am not truly a horror genre fan although there is quite a bit I do like in the whole never-ending pool of cinema out there. I've been interested in checking out some of the earlier stuff, and this is very, very early ('64), and is essentially a pre-cursor to what was to come out of Japan. So does it live up to its reputation? I would say yes, although I do have a few problems, but first, the good!

Danger Pays (1962)

PART OF THE NIKKATSU DIAMOND GUYS VOL. 2 BOX SET

Director: Ko Nakahira

Notable Cast: Jo Shishido, Hiroyuki Nagato, Ruriko Asaoka, Arihiro Fujimura, Eiji Go, Bokuzen Hidari, Kojiro Kusanagi, Torahiko Hamada

I love Jo Shishido. Since I started earnestly digging into the Japanese films of the 60s and 70s (with a major tip of the hat to Arrow Video for being so aggressive with their Nikkatsu releases in the last year), he’s come to be one of my favorite aspects of the era. However, I had yet to see him in a more comedic role and it was one of the many reasons I was so excited to really sink my teeth into Danger Pays, the second of three films included in the newest Arrow Video release Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol. 2. Here, Jo Shishido leads an ensemble cast in a comedic action film that knows how to balance the two genres and runs with such a manic energy that it’s hard not to be swept up in the offbeat laughs and unrelenting pace of the film. The film is often very silly and features a few truly WTF moments, but when it’s this full speed assault that makes the film work so well.