oh hey, THE HAPPY TRIO (1975), a mediocre film i wrote about as an interesting branch between shaw brothers and the upcoming hk new wave has been uploaded to the SB youtube channel! someone is doing a great job over there youtu.be/RaUmHCiA7Bc?...

spent the last 2 weeks trying to learn 'huckleberry hornpipe' and this is about the cleanest take i could manage! www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHgA...

banjo progress update. new goal: don't look so utterly miserable while playing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0opl...

#OtD 27 Jun 1869 Emma Goldman, the legendary Jewish writer, feminist, birth control advocate, and anarchist was born in what is now Lithuania. Some of her works, and items celebrating her life available here to help fund our work: shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/...

sad news! chua lam was also an important bridge between the industries of japan and hk during his early career with the resulting personnel exchange havimg a big impact on the look and feel of much of hk's golden age.

Renowned food critic Chua Lam has died at the age of 83, according to an announcement on his Facebook page on Friday. In full: buff.ly/8TKa0O7

One of Chor Yuen's pre-Gu Long wuxia action movies with English subs. In his book Planet Hong Kong, David Bordwell analysed a sequence from this film to showcase how some of John Woo's action style was anticipated by the "floating fights of Chor Yuen" www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJDp...

Chor Yuen’s THE KILLER (aka Sacred Knives of Vengeance) is now streaming with English subs on the Shaw Brothers Cinema YouTube channel! Never released in Hong Kong or with English options on disc, it’s an early ’70s martial arts blast, raw and direct. youtu.be/jJDpUUyGkQ8?...

this youtube channel is uploading a fair few of celestial's restored shaw brothers films at the moment with english subs - many from the 1960s and outside the usual martial arts form we get on home media here www.youtube.com/@ShawBrosCin... some recs so far:

Oh no! RIP Richard Norton. Among other virtues, he was the greatest "white guy in a Hong Kong movie" there ever was.

Hey, they're doing an encore screening. www.closeupfilmcentre.com/film_program...

Good morning! We can finally reveal the details of the boutique home video label dedicated to South Asian Cinema. A major new project that me & Ranjit Ruprai have been working on together for a while now. Please support us! More info & details through the week... variety.com/2025/film/ne...

crikey!!!

"Why restoration matters? A conversation with Tilda Swinton and Tang Shu-shuen" How is this real?

Some are taking my article as an attack on US game writers & historians. That would be like blaming US cinema critics for Hollywood's domination. Like there's structural racism, cultural hegemony is also structural. My article tries to rally against it and celebrate resistances like the Taiwan expo

this is so good - a recommended read for my anti-canon pals. timely, too, with 2025 encouraging lots of 'best games of the 21st century' lists which are inevitably circulating the same (valuable, but limited) handful of familiar, 'official' games.

This piece about Toshi Seeger in the new Bob Dylan movie is a hilarious explainer of the very Hollywood problem: “there’s a woman in this story that we can’t get rid of because she kind of ran everything so what can we possibly do?” merrillmarkoe.substack.com/p/a-complete...

this is great! so many films to catch up on and, as always, an energising and borderless survey of cinema. nice to see some familiar folks @jlwroot.bsky.social, @hayleylscanlon.bsky.social

I first watched Amos Why's "Dot 2 Dot" back in 2014. Prior to viewing it again earlier today, I wondered whether I'd still love it as much as I did then. The answer is yes. And I remain convinced as ever my that this is one of those films made for, and by, folks who really f**king love Hong Kong.💛

Reading an interview with Pan Lai, and I'm not surprised his career (in Hong Kong) was short lived. For Ann Hui's Love in a Fallen City, they rebuilt the Repulse Bay Hotel from the original plans. The doors and windows had to be shipped in from the British Museum. Crazy stuff.

another year, another december of daily hallmark films down. here's my list in order of how much i enjoyed watching them (sincerely or otherwise)

🏎️🎬 And that is a wrap on the Burning Rubber Crossing Borders season at Hyde Park Picture House! Thanks a million to the amazing people we got to work with & everyone who came out to see the films & BFI #ArtOfAction for making it all possible. Joshua Gulam @fraell.bsky.social & I toast you all! 🏁

Dayo Wong’s The Last Dance is now the highest-grossing Chinese-language film of all time in Hong Kong, with a total of HK$122 million as of Saturday morning. Including English language films, it is 7th all-time, behind Titanic, the 2 Avatars, and the 3 Avengers films www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...

Oh nice, Kani is releasing Angie Chen's Maybe It's Love, starring Cherie Chung and Elaine Jin. I looked for this years ago when I was writing about Chen and couldn't find it anywhere.

Tsui Hark casually dropping that he's making a Hong Kong movie with the Hui Brothers.

Many non-Malaysians may not have heard of Ananda Krishnan but fans of Asian cinema will know about Celestial Pictures, which he established after buying the Shaw Brothers Film Library, and Astro Shaw, whose productions include the film adaptation of Tan Twan Eng's "The Garden of Evening Mists".

I programmed a strand at the Showroom Cinema as part of the BFI’s Art of Action season, all themed around people hunting each other for sport! It kicks off next Sunday with The Most Dangerous Game. If you’re in Sheffield, it’d be lovely to see you. 🎯 Tickets for the first film: tinyurl.com/462bnx97

a dream day at hyde park picturehouse yesterday, racing through the fast and furious franchise in 12 hours!!

Are you dying to write about a key film in Asian cinema history that doesn't have enough attention? Has BFI Film Classics snubbed an important Asian film for too long? Now's your chance to change that! Reach out to chat about Lever Press's CINEMAS OF ASIA series! www.leverpress.org/cinemasofasia/

Tickets still available for our Fast & Furious in a Day at Hyde Park Picture House this Saturday, 23 November. Here is Mo Ali Founder of Bradford Modified Club on reasons why you cant miss it. See you there, mi familia! hpph.co.uk/films/fast-f... #FastandFurious #FastSaga #RideorDie

CLASS OF 1999 (1990) was a lot of fun. somewhere between ROBOCOP and THE WARRIORS, teens have become so unruly that militarised robots replace their teachers. a few too many gunfights but some goofy fun to be had! particularly enjoyed the robot bragging about its 1000 megabytes of power

I’ve written about 69 Palestinian films directed by women in my newsletter over the last year. This list collects them all with links where you can watch most of them. 🔗 boxd.it/xlziu/detail

planning my december hallmark movie marathon and where do you even start with this quantity? this is *just* new 2024 releases

If you are in Leeds this Saturday, please join us for Fast & Furious Film School! Not only will @fraell.bsky.social and Joshua Gulam be there but so will Mo Ali founder of Bradford Modified Car Club. #FastSaga #RideorDie hpph.co.uk/films/fast-f...

i can see why THE LAST DANCE has resonated with so many - particularly in its vignette moments that give glimpses into different kinds of grief found the main narrative nicely measured in its nuance and complexity around mourning and the various old/new tensions going on. (1/3)

Since 2018, Hallmark has made these movies: Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas Time for You to Come Home for Christmas Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas Time for Her to Come Home For Christmas (1/2)

STALKED BY MY DOCTOR: THE RETURN (2016) was like someone smushed the first film around a bit and added a new coat of paint and more gaslighting. full marks. not quite as balls-to-the-wall bonkers as 1 but i'm locked in for the continued adventures of this cardiologist

WATERSHIP DOWN (1978) on the big screen this morning made me realise child-me never watched it all the way through. still harrowing aspects in the opening but more notable for its varied animation and violent swings between bleak and hopeful ideas of community

STALKED BY MY DOCTOR (2015). now we are TALKING. i loved this. eric roberts as a surgeon who begins stalking a teen patient in a film that REALLY goes places. one of those made-for-tv films which deals with very serious subject matter in utterly ludicrous ways. get some pals round and get on it!

never enjoyed watching FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) as much as i enjoy looking at its poster. it feels like what was a novel premise in 1985 has been iterated on so much since that it's lost a bit of its spark still, a good palate cleanser after this year's SALEM'S LOT remake

The country of Japan has extremely good historical worldbuilding

The new Hong Kong movie The Last Dance ( 破. 地獄) is selling out cinemas across the UK and even Mark Kermode has now reviewed it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CSQ...

CAMPFIRE TALES (1997) is a silly anthology horror that feels like a kid's film with occasional spikes of grisly violence. i had a grand old time studded with 90s b-listers and cautionary tales of internet strangers, mothmen, and sexy ghosts.

rewatching 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS ahead of our day school next week (hpph.co.uk/films/fast-f...) never noticed this kazuma kiryu cosplayer before

DOLLMAN (1991). A 33cm-tall space cop Brick Bardo travels through a portal into the Bronx and a hokey drug war. Not as good as TRANCERS and there's a lot more phallic anxiety but i do enjoy these stupid Charles Band sci fi films.

finally watched it after a pal's recommendation and BABY ASSASSINS (2021) is a very good time! a look into a really likeable young friendship that also includes occasional action sequences. that kind of charismatic low-budget filmmaking that japan seems great at fostering

pleasantly surprised by HERETIC. sophie thatcher and chloe east both amazing in another 2024 critique of sexism and the religious right - tho a little more russel brand this time (also a reminder of how insufferable we were as undergrad religion/philosophy students 😅😬)

part contraceptive, part critique of misogynist psychiatric methods, i really enjoyed THE BROOD (1979) and seeing cronenberg working through his divorce.

decided to watch GHOST PUNTING (1992) which was as sexist and mediocre as one would expect from a late-stage lucky stars film! as a teen i loved the 1st 3 films in this series, but can really see why stanley fung has disowned them. still - i'm always here for richard & sammo