Podcast on Fire: Black Mask
Podcast on Fire watches Black Mask (1996)! “Jet Li is a super soldier Kato lookalike in Hong Kong’s superhero actioner Black Mask. With Kenny B and Michael Scott of the Admins Undisputed podcast.”
An Ode to Herioc Bloodshed
At Strange Harbors, Jeffrey Zhang reviews Benny Chan’s Raging Fire (2021). “Chan, with his swan song, has crafted an ode to the ‘heroic bloodshed’ genre of Hong Kong action cinema. A maelstrom of melodramatic concepts: redemption, brotherhood, duty, honor–and of course–copious amounts of bloodletting, this sub-genre was a […]
“Uncanny Talent: Clarence Williams III (1939-2021)”
At RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz writes on the life and career of Clarence Williams III. “His ferocity burned holes in the screen, and filmmakers took advantage of that, casting him in roles that shook up the main character’s preconceived notions, rattled their complacency, and otherwise pushed their buttons.”
Choose Your Fighter: Mortal Kombat (2021) and The Night Comes for Us (2018)
This week’s Guest Star is Sachin Hingoo. Sachin is a Toronto-based writer and editor at biffbampop.com. He has never had a superpower, but would like to think that if he did it would be more interesting than an armoured sweater. ~~~ [Warning: The following contains copious spoilers for […]
The Projection Booth: Hard Boiled (1992)
Friends of the Gutter Mike White and Beth Accomando discuss John Woo’s Hard Boiled (1992) with Jess Byard at The Projection Booth. “John Woo’s 1992 film, Hard-Boiled is the story of a hot-handed supercop, Tequila, (Chow Yun-Fat), and an undercover cop — either Alan or Tony depending on […]
“The Energy Can’t Last: On the Grimy, American Fringes of Jeremy Saulnier”
At RogerEbert.com, Roxanne Hadadi writes on the films of Jeremy Saulnier. “[W]hat Saulnier has built into his Blue Ruin, Green Room, and Hold the Dark trilogy is not only a flair for the gory and grisly, but a consistent acknowledgment of the role this country’s regimented class system […]
The Cultural Gutter 