A. Tran

Book-Off about to make an incursion deep into Half-Price Books territory with a Houston location.

Kenji Kawai’s original soundtrack to TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN is set for release in Japan on January 7, 2026 by the label Nei! Music.
The jacket art is designed by Shinji Higuchi and will reportedly include notes by Kawai and action director Kenji Tanigaki.

The Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute is tackling the film scholarship I want to see with ENTER THE BRONATION, a 14-movie retrospective of lone heroes against long odds from Bruce Lee to THE RAID: REDEMPTION. A standout is a 4K restoration of Junya Sato’s MANHUNT (1976) with English subs.

Closing out the 11-film Hong Kong Cinema Classics retrospective with A CHINESE GHOST STORY III.
I’m happy to hear from the program director that the series has been successful enough that they’re open to booking more Hong Kong movies.

Final Sunday for Hong Kong cinema at the River Oaks.
Now seated for THE KILLER.

A WRITER’S ODYSSEY 2: the idea of alternate realities colliding that was played with in the first film is in full bloom here and while it eventually piles-up an enough ideas for two sequels I welcome its go-for-broke audacity. The spectacle and swordplay remain fun and plentiful.

Now watching: A WRITER’S ODYSSEY 2.

Happy government shutdown eve!
Now seated for A CHINESE GHOST STORY II.

8 down, 3 to go in the HK Cinema Classics series at the River Oaks Theatre.
I feel like I should get a prize if I make it to all 11 screenings, like free wonton soup.

Tonight’s movie was PEKING OPERA BLUES.
Five stars, no notes.

Yeah, I made it to the screening of SPEED RACER this morning, which I haven’t seen in its entirety since opening weekend 2008.
And it’s still so much fun. Time well spent!

Joey Wong is welcome to haunt me anytime.

Back for A CHINESE GHOST STORY.

RIP Claudia Cardinale.

Happy birthday to John Woo from the guy who somehow owns three different laserdisc versions of his ONCE A THIEF Canadian made-for-TV movie.

Oh hell yeah, some good news for my Monday morning.
(from Don Lee’s Instagram account)

Now seated for Ringo Lam’s CITY ON FIRE and officially halfway through the Hong Kong Cinema Classics series!

GHOST KILLER has some of the key creative personnel behind the BABY ASSASSINS series for a supernatural action thriller that’s part GHOST and part WHERE’S OFFICER TUBA? I’m happy to have seen it at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas and now own the 4K UHD from @wellgousa.bsky.social.

Yep, still love it.

Now watching: LINDA LINDA LINDA

THE LONGEST NITE hits Blu-ray in Hong Kong later this month. Would be nice if this whole tariff situation got settled but I can always suck it up and eat the cost or wait a year or two when some western boutique label offers their own release.

The rollout for SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT continues with release dates announced for Australia (October 2) and New Zealand (October 9) by distributor Magnum Films Global.

I’m going to be busy over the next few Sunday nights. I hope my family understands.

Over this past weekend, one of my local Half-Price Books stocked a bunch of used soundtracks and film scores and I, uh, kinda got carried away.
No regrets though, I found a lot of rare and OOP titles at bargain prices.

Now watching: THE HOT ROCK.

You know what would’ve paired really well with this? A nice big plate of fried rice.

Sundays are for John Woo.
Now seated for BULLET IN THE HEAD.

Ok, so SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT has a Mandarin trailer and an October 1 release date in China.
The long awaited crime thriller from Juno Mak stars Takeshi Kaneshiro, Lau Ching-Wan, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Louis Koo, Gao Yuanyuan, Alex To, Nina Paw, Jiang Pei Yao, and Michelle Wai.

Now seated for:

A new trailer for Lu Yang’s A WRITER’S ODYSSEY 2 dropped. I’m looking forward to seeing this.