Iron Monkey Quick Review

The phrase ‘all time great’ gets thrown around a lot but it’s accurate when talking about Iron Monkey.

Easily accessible in terms of story and pacing for those that want to try a classic martial arts movie, it has incredible action scenes and a pretty decent script. Donnie Yen is a star here and some of the sequences need to be seen to be believed. 

Normally with these sorts of movies there are caveats and concessions you have to make such as overlooking poor plotting or things that don’t hold up anymore but Iron Monkey requires none of that. It’s a classic, hugely impressive and iconic and no matter how many years pass this will always be one of the best action films out there. 

It’s A great place to start for those looking to get into classic martial arts cinema and of course the Eureka! Blu-Ray has everything you possible want on it as well. 

Were-Wolf By Night Quick Review

Marvel’s ‘special presentation’ walks the wonderfully weird world of classic creature features perfectly while introducing a host of odd ball new characters ready for anytime the studio wants to walk the darker side of the MCU.

Elsa Bloodstone and Jack Russell are well cast and provide the perfect hammy performances against the backdrop of a wailing theremin and spooky early cinema horror audio. The introduction of Man-Thing also provides some welcome gruesome humour as Marvels take on the Minotaur plays out in entertaining ghost train style. 

As a venture into the ‘one off special’ format it opens up a world of creative opportunities to explore the stranger side of things which can only be good moving forward.  It’s Original, fun and well worth visiting this halloween. 

Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind Blu-Ray Review

 This 1980 film from Sammo Hung is one of the directors best known works and had acquired the proverbial ‘cult following’ in the West. Sammo also stars as ‘Bug Guts’ Cheung, a loser who gets in over his head making crazy bets to stay in haunted houses.

Sammo has never been the best director but this is a good mix of horror, comedy and martial arts that contains enough elements of each to ultimately be successful and it is by far the best early example of this style in the Hong Kong film system.

It would be a strange introduction to newcomers of Hong Kong cinema but for those looking to view the iconic films of the age it holds up well.

The visual jokes are plentiful and the fight scenes suitable exciting. The English dub is one of the worst ever though so stick with the subs or you’ll have no idea what’s going on.

Do Revenge Quick Review

Big surprise, but I really enjoyed Do Revenge.

It’s not perfect and the ending is a little abrupt but it’s packed with fun little moments, cameos and endless iconic tunes from teen movies gone by.

It’s just great fun and anchored by the two leads well. blending Strangers on a Train with Clueless is a great idea. Simple, effective and it works

The Last Of Us Season Review

The Last of Us started with a strong opening episode and then ebbed and flowed between slow burn character development and high emotion drama throughout. Remarkably for a show set in an infected wasteland there weren’t that many infected, but it worked.

The performances of the two leads are exceptional throughout with the supporting cast providing new interest and believable characters at every turn. It may have lacked action at times but it was always bleakly believable. 

It’s very difficult to criticise as the world building and tone are exceptional with people just surviving in a desperately sad world emphasised consistently and poignantly. 

When the show goes big it always makes the moments payoff and the pacing is outstanding. Despite all this i’m not sure I will watch it again though. I think it does perhaps lack a little subtlety but then when the emotions are this raw it doesn’t exactly need it. 

The best video game adaptation ever? Undoubtedly. 

Episode Ratings - 

Ep 1 9

Ep 2 7

Ep 3 9

Ep 4 6

Ep 5 7

Ep 6 7

Ep 7 7

Ep 8 9

Ep 9 8

Cyberpunk Edgerunners Review

Cyberpunk Edgerunners is a bold adaption of its source material that gets both a lot right and wrong in it’s anarchic ten episodes.

It looks and sounds amazing with a future tinged palette layering neon yellows over the more dour colours you might associate with dystopian cyberpunk narratives.

The city is a busy and chaotic place full of background detail and made to feel claustrophobic through a camera that won’t get out of close up. It would have really benefitted from a few shots further back at times as it sways from keeping you in the detail of the gruesome action to the Michael Bay realms of ‘what is actually going on’ a little too often with the world flying by at 150mph.

Characters are interesting, though I felt all are substantially underwritten except for our lead with most reduced down to a simple characteristic and signature piece of chrome (maybe that’s the point?). Even Lucy feels like an underbaked starry eyed doomed lover by the end.

The ten episodes do just about hold together though, despite Episode 6 wrecking the pacing and making much of what has come before somewhat irrelevant. Still, I’m glad it exists and hopefully there will be more to come. 10% more focus next time and it’ll be a standout show.

Armour of God Blu Ray Quick Review

First released in 1987 you can now get a wonderfully restored Blu-Ray of Armour of God containing the different cuts of the film. A kung fu heist movie at heart, it sits as one of Jackie Chans most well known Hong Kong roles.

 It’s crazy in the way all Hong Kong films of this time were and contains a heavy mix of martial arts, insane stunts and slap stick comedy. It is perhaps not the film to win over non-Jackie Chan fans and it has some outdated attitudes (the representation of the ‘South American’ tribe at the start *shudder*), but it’s a fun ride and one remembered with a heady dose of nostalgia by many of a certain age and a film that encapsulates the Hong Kong film industries commitment to star based spectacle and action at the time.

 The Blu-Ray also comes with a ton of art stills and production notes.