Night Of The Juggler (1980)

Thank you, Cinephobe TV, for screening this lost gem. Night Of The Juggler (1980) stars James Brolin as a bearded trucker who returns home for his daughter’s birthday but then spends the whole day tearing up the city after she is kidnapped by a psychotic Cliff Gorman in a case of mistaken identity (this creep […]

Pusher (1996)

I’ve had friends recommend the Pusher trilogy to me for a long time and even though I am a fan of Nicolas Winding Refn, I never got around to the Danish crime films that made his name internationally. With Pusher (1996), I was surprised by how low-fi it was in contrast to what Refn is now known for as […]

Fear City (1984)

I was hooked on Fear City’s (1984) opening credits with its lurid red-coloured titles, New York neon, and strip club montage, all pumping to Joe Delia and David Johansen’s song ‘New York Doll.’ Abel Ferrara directed this film, which feels like a 1940s film noir melodrama but coated in Times Square Eighties Sleaze. Filtering the […]

Battles Without Honor And Humanity (1973)

Taking up Lewis Rice O’Donnell’s strong recommendation, I was looking forward to experiencing the Yakuza Papers series of films. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku (of Battle Royale and Doberman Cop), Battles Without Honor And Humanity (1973; Jingi Naki Tatakai) is the first film, which follows the journey of ex-soldier Shozo Hirono (played by Bunta Sugawara) and […]

Drunken Master (1978)

I’d long heard about the legend of Drunken Master (1978) so it was good escapism to finally catch up with this iconic Jackie Chan film, a box office hit in Hong Kong early in his career, Wikipedia tells me. As the character of Wong Fei-Hung, Chan is a cheeky, cocky troublemaker whose mischief catches up […]