Life After Fighting (2024)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Life After Fighting (2024)

Impressive Australian indie from Bren Foster, a former soap star and martial artist who writes, directs, produces, choreographs the fight scenes and stars in this effective, efficient revenge drama. What it lacks in budget it makes up for in an absorbing cinéma-vérité style which lends the drama a quite convincing sense of reality – despite the extreme nature of the story – supported by strong acting performances (especially the film’s central warring couple, played by Luke Ford and Cassie Howarth), and great action which shows Foster at his blistering best. Foster plays a hunky, retired, wholesome MMA fighter called Alex …

Read More

KFMG Podcast S08 Episode 104: Andy Le / Brian Le

Posted in Podcasts
No Comments
KFMG Podcast S08 Episode 104: Andy Le / Brian Le

“We came from the ground up, working inside out. Whatever our inspirations, that would go straight onto the film.” Brian Le

Self-made and self-taught, the story of Martial Club – a YouTube channel created in 2012 by Daniel Mah and the brothers Andy Le and Brian Le – is truly inspiring. As kids obsessed with kung fu movies, they would copy the moves, create their own short films and upload them to the internet, purely as a way of expressing their passion for the martial arts. As their filmmaking and on-screen talent progressed – Brian, Andy and Daniel are all incredible …

Read More

KFMG Podcast S08 Episode 103: Jude Poyer – Live in Oxford, ‘The Heroic Trio’ special

Posted in Podcasts
No Comments
KFMG Podcast S08 Episode 103: Jude Poyer – Live in Oxford, ‘The Heroic Trio’ special

“If one of my stunt people or the director of photography has an idea that they think I should listen to, I will listen to it. Then if we follow it or we don’t, it’s not about me, and it’s not about them, it’s about the sequence.”

For the second of our four live podcasts – co-hosted by the Life of Action author, Mike Fury – we welcome back the British stunt coordinator and former Hong Kong stuntman Jude Poyer. Jude’s first appearance was on Episode 48 back in 2019 – now, in 2025, he is the action director behind Xavier Gens’ violent …

Read More

KFMG Podcast S08 Episode 102: Katrina Durden – Live in Lewes, ‘Dragon Inn’ special

Posted in Podcasts
No Comments
KFMG Podcast S08 Episode 102: Katrina Durden – Live in Lewes, ‘Dragon Inn’ special

“I’ve always been a bit of a tom-boy, I grew up that way… I never wanted to be a damsel in distress. I wanted to be Xena: Warrior Princess.”

For our first live episode – recorded at the wonderful Depot Cinema in Lewes, UK – we welcome back the actor and martial artist Katrina Durden, who first appeared on Episode 12 of the podcast back in 2017. From her work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Doctor Strange (2016) and Joey Ansah‘s fantastic Street Fighter web series, to roles in TV’s Strike Back, Heads of State starring Idris Elba and John Cena, and the upcoming Red Sonja reboot, …

Read More

KFMG Podcast S08 Episode 101: End of Year Show 2024 with Mike Fury

Posted in Podcasts
2 Comments
KFMG Podcast S08 Episode 101: End of Year Show 2024 with Mike Fury

It’s that time of year again – the annual Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast End of Year Show returns for its eighth year!

Featuring the author of Life of Action Vol. 1 and 2, Mike Fury, we unpack our martial arts movie highlights of the year, discuss the news that has been hitting the headlines, and – because it’s the festive season – we also unwrap some martial arts-themed Christmas presents.

2024 has been a particularly strong year for fight-centric action films. We saw the return of many fan favourites – Po the panda returned in Kung Fu Panda 4, Hugh Jackman’s …

Read More

Profile: King Hu

Posted in Profiles
No Comments
Profile: King Hu

Date of birth: 29 April, 1932 (Beijing, China)

Date of death: 14 January, 1997 (aged 64), Taipei, Taiwan

Mandarin name: Hu Jinquan

Other names: Hu King-chuan, Wu Kam-Chuen, Frankie Gam Chuen, Hu King-Chuan, King Chuan, Hu Jing-Chuan, Chin Chuan

Occupation: Director, writer, editor, actor, set designer.

Biography: King Hu is one of China’s most respected and influential filmmakers, famous for historical martial arts films. Despite not being particularly interested in martial arts, he popularised the ‘new school’ wuxia (‘martial chivalry’) genre in the 1960s and helped to cultivate the role of the female knight-errant. King Hu was a scholar of Chinese history and a master …

Read More

18 Fingers of Death! (2006)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
18 Fingers of Death! (2006)

Life imitates art in James Lew’s directorial debut, Hollywood’s go-to Asian heavy and stunt performer from countless American martial arts films. The film employs a ‘mockumentary’ style to tell the story of Buford Lee (James Lew), stunt double to the stars who is desperate to launch his own starring-role project and leap out from the shadows. When Buford is told he’s not a big enough name to attract the finance needed to produce his own film – which he calls 18 Fingers of Death! – he sells his prized possessions collected from years in the movie business to make the movie …

Read More

Machete Kills (2013)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Machete Kills (2013)

“Fuck world peace,” says Amber Heard, playing Machete’s government fixer who supplies the Latino legend with a new triple-bladed machete and sends him off to Mexico by orders of the US president (played by Charlie Sheen) to stop a madman from blowing up America with a nuke. This is less focused than before and gets bogged down with too many characters and plot-lines, while the set-up sees Rodriguez go over familiar territory riffing on the James Bond spy formula with gags that feel dated, its cheekiness and deranged villains resembling something closer to Austin Powers than anything too subversive. The …

Read More

Machete (2010)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Machete (2010)

A sublime slice of trashy, punky, post-modern exploitation cinema which shows director Robert Rodriguez in his element – exalting the dubious virtues of his favourite schlocky B-movies while simultaneously making a wry, almost satirical point about the rise of neo-fascism, political corruption, and the plight of minorities in America. He creates an everyday hero for the underclass living in the border towns between Mexico and the USA, and that hero goes by the name ‘Machete’ (Danny Trejo, in his first lead role) – the sort of hero who can beat a guy up while eating a taco. He’s a former …

Read More

Sakra (2023)

Posted in Reviews
No Comments
Sakra (2023)

How reassuring to know that, even at the age of 60, Donnie Yen is still churning out blood-spurting bonkers Chinese beat-em-ups like this movie, particularly at a time when he can glide easily between leading contemporary Hong Kong action projects (Enter the Fat Dragon, Raging Fire) and scene-stealing turns in huge Hollywood franchises (Rogue One, John Wick Chapter 4). Sakra sees Yen return to the director’s chair for the first time since 2004’s Black Rose Academy. A lot has changed in the last 20 years, and it shows. Yen’s confidence as a leading man is now just as apparent behind the camera, …

Read More
« Previous Page
Next Page »