James Marsh

Tonight:

Absolutely, a couple of decent action beats, and someone could definitely have fun with the sadistic antagonist role, but nothing to compete with that central rivalry

Yup, read the book too and liked it quite a bit as a pulpy exotic action thriller. But as a sequel to HEAT it’s a big step down.

Gotta say I’m intrigued to see Dillon’s Brando

Tonight:

Returning for Another Battle After One

12 of the best movies at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2025 Highlights of the 22nd HKAFF include local film Another World, Japanese period epic Kokuho and South Korea’s The World of Love.

The 22nd Hong Kong Asian Film Festival announces its full line-up, boasting a tantalising selection of features from around the region. The festival runs from 22/10 - 9/11 and tickets go on sale from noon tomorrow. For the SCMP, I single out 12 titles not to be missed. www.scmp.com/lifestyle/en...

Juno Mak's otherworldly gangster epic is out today in Hong Kong!

As today is a public holiday, this week's cinema releases are staggered. Here's what's opening between now and Friday in Hong Kong: SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT, GABBY'S DOLLHOUSE: THE MOVIE, SHENZHOU 13, THE STAGE, BEING MARIA, 100 METERS, MEASURE IN LOVE

SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT Review: Juno Mak's Long-Gestating Hong Kong Crime Epic is all Surface, No Feeling Visually striking yet narratively incoherent, Juno Mak’s ambitiously staged yet lethargically paced Hong Kong crime saga Sons of the Neon Night finally arrives on home shores, more than a decade...

SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT: A decade in the making, Juno Mak's sprawling Hong Kong crime epic finally arrives. Starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Lau Ching-wan, it is gorgeous to look at and impeccably designed, but it's also lethargic, incoherent, and rather dull. screenanarchy.com/2025/09/sons...

Today:

Tonight - never seen this on the big screen before

The rumours are true. Paul Thomas Anderson’s ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is an absolute banger. Although inspired by a novel penned in the 80s, this couldn’t have been tailored better to fit our tense uncertain times. Thrilling, terrifying and frequently hilarious, this needs to be seen big & loud.

Just got out of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER and its uncanny

If they ever make an RFK jr biopic, and Lord I hope that never happens, it’s a role Sean Penn was born to play.

Today:

Review | Dollhouse: haunted doll J-horror with Masami Nagasawa is great fun Japanese director Shinobu Yaguchi mixes horror and riotous comedy in this film about a family tormented by a possessed doll.

DOLLHOUSE: Packed with jumps, scares, skin-crawling stand-offs and breathless belly laughs, Masami Nagasawa stars as a grieving mother who adopts a possessed doll in this absolute gift of a J-horror comedy. www.scmp.com/lifestyle/en...

Time to throw in the towel

New movies out today in Hong Kong: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, ALPHA, DOLLHOUSE, CHAINSAW MAN - I’ve got some serious catching up to do when I get back!

Busan 2025 Ranked A list of 18 films compiled on Letterboxd, including The Secret Agent (2025), A House of Dynamite (2025), No Other Choice (2025), Bugonia (2025) and Good News (2025).

The 18 films I saw at Busan 2025, ranked and rated: letterboxd.com/marshy00/lis...

BUGONIA: a perfect example of how to put an original spin on a remake while staying faithful to the original. Three great performances combined with understated yet stylish direction and a deft recontextualisation of the central themes to perfectly address pressing issues of the day.

So pumped for this. Read Vineland last year in preparation, and loved what I was able to decipher from it 😂

Last day at Busan:

Review | The People Upstairs: cheeky sex comedy directed by and starring Ha Jung-woo Ha shows skill on both sides of the camera in his movie with Gong Hyo-jin and Kim Dong-wook as a prim couple seduced by swinging neighbours.

THE PEOPLE UPSTAIRS: Ha Jung-woo directs and stars in this frequently funny sex comedy, adapted from the Spanish film SENTIMENTAL, that debuted at Busan this past week. www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-...

Today at Busan:

A fantastically tense slice of competency porn from the mighty Kathryn Bigelow. Even more chilling than imminent nuclear war was realising how significantly this infrastructure has been dismantled, with precious few experts left in place to execute this intricate cascade of “best case” protocols.

Seated for the new Kathryn Bigelow movie! 🔥🔥🔥

Review | The Great Flood: Kim Da-mi can’t save bewildering Netflix sci-fi fantasy Kim Da-mi stars in what begins as a disaster movie then spins off into science fiction, a move that will surely leave viewers floundering.

THE GREAT FLOOD: the high water mark of Kim Byung-woo Netflix extravaganza is its bravura opening, before all that good will is swept away in a torrent of baffling sci-fi twists and turns. The film premiered at Busan this past week, and drops on the streamer December 19. www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-...

Today at Busan:

Today at Busan: