Section 8 (2022)

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Section 8 (2022)

True Blood actor Ryan Kwanten turns action hero for this mind-numbing exercise in B-movie box-ticking – a rough attempt at Bourne-meets-Expendables but on a small DTV budget. Kwanten plays an ex-Marine with PTSD living as a doting family man and mechanic in Mickey Rourke’s garage. This is another one of Rourke’s strange, meandering cameos which was clearly filmed on a deadline. When his family are killed by street thugs, Kwanten exacts his revenge and winds up in the slammer, only to be released by the dashing Dermot Mulroney who recruits him into ‘Section 8’ – an off-the-books group of mercenaries used …

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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 82: Tribute to Jimmy Wang Yu

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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 82: Tribute to Jimmy Wang Yu

“He was the first martial arts star – before Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan… and he was the first to combine different martial arts styles in his films.” Frank Djeng

When Jimmy Wang Yu died on 5 April 2022 at the age of 79, Jackie Chan took to his social media accounts to pay his respects, stating that, “the contributions you’ve made to kung fu movies and the support and wisdom you’ve given to the younger generations will always be remembered in the industry.” But Wang Yu’s legacy is a complicated one. Despite being a huge Hong Kong martial arts star in …

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One-Armed Boxer (1971)

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One-Armed Boxer (1971)

Jimmy Wang Yu throws everything at his first directorial effort after his controversial exit from Shaw Brothers, remixing his two most successful films during his tenure at his former studio, One-Armed Swordsman and The Chinese Boxer, to create One-Armed Boxer. It’s a bonkers, relentless rival schools story in which Wang Yu shows his penchant for the surreal, pitting his Chinese boxer against an array for foreign fighters, each more bizarre than the next. Fighters include a Tibetan monk who uses his qigong skills to inflate his entire body like a balloon; an Indian yogi who balances on his hands and spins …

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Profile: Michiko Nishiwaki

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Profile: Michiko Nishiwaki

Date of birth: 21 November, 1957 (Funabashi, Chiba, Japan)

Other names: Nishiwaki Michiko; Michiko Nishikawa

Occupation: Actor, stunt performer, bodybuilder.

Style: Gōjū-ryū karate, Shotokan karate, wushu, taekwondo.

Biography: In her adolescence, Michiko Nishiwaki was passionate about sports and fitness. She became a gymnast at high-school; a dancer with a background in classical ballet and traditional Japanese dance; and a martial artist. She has a black belt in Gōjū-ryū karate and has trained in Shotokan karate. When living in Hong Kong, she learned wushu, and taekwondo when she relocated to the USA.

After high-school, she worked in the human resources department of a Mitsubishi bank. When …

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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 81: Michiko Nishiwaki

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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 81: Michiko Nishiwaki

“I look really good for my age… If I were to compete, I would be a winner.”

As a powerlifting champion, three-time ‘Miss Fitness’ winner in Japan and an action film star, Michiko Nishiwaki has been on quite a journey. When she left school to start working in human resources for the Mitsubishi bank in the 1970s, her life goals were similar to many other Japanese women in her position; to find a husband and have children. But for Michiko – obsessed with gymnastics, karate, fitness, singing and the arts from an early age – she decided to take a different …

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Passionate Killing in the Dream (1992)

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Passionate Killing in the Dream (1992)

A loose Hong Kong remake of Irvin Kershner’s 1978 thriller, Eyes of Laura Mars, featuring a strong central performance from Michiko Nishiwaki, promoted from her usual high-kicking supporting badass role to something far more substantial. She plays Sha Sha, a tough, independent fashion photographer working in Thailand who keeps having premonitions involving Chit Chit (Gordon Liu with a mullet) breaking into the apartments of young women and killing them. Chit Chit is a former Thai kickboxer with serious mental illness, who – in shades of Peeping Tom – can now be found stalking the streets and nightclubs of Thailand, taking …

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The Avenging Quartet (1993)

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The Avenging Quartet (1993)

Four years before the Chinese handover, this Hong Kong action film is an exercise in reconciliation in which a spunky HK girl (Moon Lee) helps and summarily becomes roomies with a PLA soldier (Cynthia Khan) who is new in town, looking for her childhood sweetheart (Waise Lee), an art thief on the lam from the mainland. Both are young and single, they share a bed, get drunk and bitch about men, and Cynthia learns a few valuable lessons about consumerism. There may be cultural differences, but at least they share a common enemy: the Japanese. Here, the Japanese are depicted …

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Princess Madam (1989)

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Princess Madam (1989)

This has all the hallmarks of a Godfrey Ho potboiler: pacing issues, histrionics, goofy comedy and acts of extreme violence. First, the good stuff: it’s a buddy cop action comedy with excellent fight scenes designed in the mould of Lethal Weapon only with swapped gender roles – itself quite a refreshing premise – but it’s also a film that never once feels contrived. Focusing on the friendship of Moon (Moon Lee) and Lisa (Sharon Yeung), the two cops are assigned to protect the former PA of a wealthy businessman before she spills the beans on her boss’ criminal connections in court. …

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In the Line of Duty 3 (1988)

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In the Line of Duty 3 (1988)

Debut starring-role vehicle for young Taiwanese dancer, Yang Li-tsing, renamed “Cynthia Khan” by her new employers, D&B Films, based on a combination of the stars of the studio’s first smash-hit movie, 1985’s Yes, Madam!: that’s Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Khan, née Yeoh. Cynthia Khan picks up this notable ‘girls with guns’ film series from Yeoh – who starred in the first two films, confusingly known as Yes, Madam! and Royal Warriors – who took early retirement after marrying D&B Films co-founder, Dickson Poon. Cynthia Khan is a great onscreen fighter, but you certainly won’t be mistaking her for her namesakes given her …

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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 80: Jonathan Eusebio

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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 80: Jonathan Eusebio

“I try to mix it up… To keep me creative, I do as much as I can that’s different.”

There aren’t many stunt coordinators and fight choreographers who can say they have helped to change the course of modern day action cinema like Jonathan Eusebio. His work on the Bourne films alone sparked a movement in Hollywood into more realistic, grittier fight sequences, inspired by his background in Filipino martial arts. He took this style into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shaping the grappling movements of Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson), and adding his flair to films like Doctor Strange and …

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