Kenny B
@sogoodreviews.bsky.social
I’m the guy you hear on Podcast On Fire.
Now I have tattoos.
Still typing with my fingers.
Occasionally talking on Blu-ray commentaries. We bring 🍪 & ❤️
Now I have tattoos.
Still typing with my fingers.
Occasionally talking on Blu-ray commentaries. We bring 🍪 & ❤️
Only meme I’ve ever made.
November 26, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Only meme I’ve ever made.
Late-60s Shaw pulp at its most fun. A spy caper, with pop-art sets, and Tina Chin Fei dual role via Fantômas-style masks. Light, fast, SHORT, playful, and packed with colour. TEMPTRESS OF A THOUSAND FACES is a strange, stylish little gem that deserves more eyes on it.
November 25, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Late-60s Shaw pulp at its most fun. A spy caper, with pop-art sets, and Tina Chin Fei dual role via Fantômas-style masks. Light, fast, SHORT, playful, and packed with colour. TEMPTRESS OF A THOUSAND FACES is a strange, stylish little gem that deserves more eyes on it.
Cinema City’s first film is such an odd one. John Woo doing a full Chaplin homage, Dean Shek as theTramp, undercranked gags and skit-like setups. Amusing, sometimes tiring, but fully committed. Somehow LAUGHING TIMES still pulled in 5M and set the path to Aces Go Places etc.
November 20, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Cinema City’s first film is such an odd one. John Woo doing a full Chaplin homage, Dean Shek as theTramp, undercranked gags and skit-like setups. Amusing, sometimes tiring, but fully committed. Somehow LAUGHING TIMES still pulled in 5M and set the path to Aces Go Places etc.
Small local VHS pickup today. Dreadnaught joins the Made in Hong Kong collection, and Hitman in the Hand of Buddha is the Mandarin, subtitled full-screen version. I’ve seen the shorter widescreen cut, so I don’t mind going back to a cropped one.
November 18, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Small local VHS pickup today. Dreadnaught joins the Made in Hong Kong collection, and Hitman in the Hand of Buddha is the Mandarin, subtitled full-screen version. I’ve seen the shorter widescreen cut, so I don’t mind going back to a cropped one.
One of the first wave of Golden Harvest films, THE ANGRY RIVER (1971, dir. Wong Fung) is a genre trip: rare herb quest, sword duels, fire rivers, even monsters. Angela Mao debuts with intensity and emotion. Sammo and Han Ying-Chieh deliver a gnarly, gory final act.
November 14, 2025 at 6:36 PM
One of the first wave of Golden Harvest films, THE ANGRY RIVER (1971, dir. Wong Fung) is a genre trip: rare herb quest, sword duels, fire rivers, even monsters. Angela Mao debuts with intensity and emotion. Sammo and Han Ying-Chieh deliver a gnarly, gory final act.
The great Tatsuya Nakadai has passed away at 92. Star of Harakiri, The Sword of Doom, Ran, and, of course, Hong Kong’s The Wicked City. One of the last giants of Japanese cinema’s golden era.
November 11, 2025 at 7:01 AM
The great Tatsuya Nakadai has passed away at 92. Star of Harakiri, The Sword of Doom, Ran, and, of course, Hong Kong’s The Wicked City. One of the last giants of Japanese cinema’s golden era.
Everyone’s unboxing their shiny new 4Ks of Hard Boiled, Peking Opera Blues, and City on Fire… Meanwhile, I’ve got tapes for you. Swarms of them. Including Hard Boiled 2 (naughty, naughty retitle, Eastern Heroes 😆).
November 7, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Everyone’s unboxing their shiny new 4Ks of Hard Boiled, Peking Opera Blues, and City on Fire… Meanwhile, I’ve got tapes for you. Swarms of them. Including Hard Boiled 2 (naughty, naughty retitle, Eastern Heroes 😆).
Rewatched One-Armed Swordsman from Arrow’s Shawscope Vol. 3. A landmark of Hong Kong cinema, not just for its action, but its heart. A wounded man learns the martial world can destroy as much as it honors. It's carried through pain, grace, and blood, by Wang Yu and Chang Cheh.
November 3, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Rewatched One-Armed Swordsman from Arrow’s Shawscope Vol. 3. A landmark of Hong Kong cinema, not just for its action, but its heart. A wounded man learns the martial world can destroy as much as it honors. It's carried through pain, grace, and blood, by Wang Yu and Chang Cheh.
Po-Chih Leong’s Hong Kong 1941 finds power in restraint. Less spectacle, more humanity, friendship, loyalty, survival under siege. Chow Yun-Fat’s quiet, magnetic charisma and Leong’s realism turn this modest wartime drama into one of the 80s’ most affecting Hong Kong films.
October 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Po-Chih Leong’s Hong Kong 1941 finds power in restraint. Less spectacle, more humanity, friendship, loyalty, survival under siege. Chow Yun-Fat’s quiet, magnetic charisma and Leong’s realism turn this modest wartime drama into one of the 80s’ most affecting Hong Kong films.
Ringo Lam’s The Adventurers, filmed on a global scale, plays like a warm-up for Hollywood: big scope, little to no soul. A messy shoot, rewrites, and delays didn’t help, but the problem runs deeper. Lam’s realism flickers early, then fades. He got better when he came home again.
October 23, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Ringo Lam’s The Adventurers, filmed on a global scale, plays like a warm-up for Hollywood: big scope, little to no soul. A messy shoot, rewrites, and delays didn’t help, but the problem runs deeper. Lam’s realism flickers early, then fades. He got better when he came home again.
Happy to support re-issues like this one from Eureka, even if my old VCD viewing already told me this was minor stuff. SHAOLIN BOXERS is a brisk 78-min Golden Harvest pickup. Competent, occasionally lively, but pure filler from the post-Bruce Lee product era.
October 21, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Happy to support re-issues like this one from Eureka, even if my old VCD viewing already told me this was minor stuff. SHAOLIN BOXERS is a brisk 78-min Golden Harvest pickup. Competent, occasionally lively, but pure filler from the post-Bruce Lee product era.
The only review of a certain film on @letterboxd.social is mine. I choose to believe that makes me a pioneer, not a weirdo.
October 19, 2025 at 6:38 PM
The only review of a certain film on @letterboxd.social is mine. I choose to believe that makes me a pioneer, not a weirdo.
The thing with ten movies from THAT guy is here.
October 9, 2025 at 4:27 PM
The thing with ten movies from THAT guy is here.
Since the thing with the 4 just got announced, thought I’d catch up with the thing with the 3.
October 8, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Since the thing with the 4 just got announced, thought I’d catch up with the thing with the 3.
Reviewing the first half of Eureka’s Exact Revenge set, The Eunuch comes from a fresh voice in Teddy Yip, delivering sharp revenge beats and fierce swordplay. Pai Ying, in Dragon Inn reprisal mode, doesn’t disappoint. A lean, confident slice of early-70s Shaw wuxia.
October 6, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reviewing the first half of Eureka’s Exact Revenge set, The Eunuch comes from a fresh voice in Teddy Yip, delivering sharp revenge beats and fierce swordplay. Pai Ying, in Dragon Inn reprisal mode, doesn’t disappoint. A lean, confident slice of early-70s Shaw wuxia.
It starts... again.
September 9, 2025 at 6:55 PM
It starts... again.
A veteran of dramas & huangmei operas, Yueh Feng brings fresh eyes to wuxia’s revenge cycle in The Bells of Death (1968). Primal, bloody, and raw and proof that even in the twilight of his career he could match, even outdo, the new wave of wuxia films.
September 7, 2025 at 11:10 AM
A veteran of dramas & huangmei operas, Yueh Feng brings fresh eyes to wuxia’s revenge cycle in The Bells of Death (1968). Primal, bloody, and raw and proof that even in the twilight of his career he could match, even outdo, the new wave of wuxia films.
Doing the thing with the research and the podcast.
September 3, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Doing the thing with the research and the podcast.
The Sword and the Lute closes Shaw’s early wuxia trilogy with familiar faces but diminishing returns. Wang Yu and Chin Ping are sidelined, action is competent but less gory, and only the titular lute and and its effects really stand out. A respectable wrap-up, but wisely the end.
August 31, 2025 at 4:16 PM
The Sword and the Lute closes Shaw’s early wuxia trilogy with familiar faces but diminishing returns. Wang Yu and Chin Ping are sidelined, action is competent but less gory, and only the titular lute and and its effects really stand out. A respectable wrap-up, but wisely the end.
A swift sequel to Temple of the Red Lotus, The Twin Swords expands Shaw’s new wuxia vision with faster swordplay, grisly violence, and the Red Lotus Temple’s ingenious trap-lair. Operatic melodrama dates it, but the mix of spectacle and gore keeps the trilogy’s momentum.
August 30, 2025 at 8:08 AM
A swift sequel to Temple of the Red Lotus, The Twin Swords expands Shaw’s new wuxia vision with faster swordplay, grisly violence, and the Red Lotus Temple’s ingenious trap-lair. Operatic melodrama dates it, but the mix of spectacle and gore keeps the trilogy’s momentum.
Shaw Brothers’ first color wuxia, TEMPLE OF THE RED LOTUS (1965), blends high production values, family-centered conflict, and gory swordplay staged by an uncredited Lau Kar-leung & Tang Chia. A mature launch that feels fresh even after thousands of wuxia films followed.
August 25, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Shaw Brothers’ first color wuxia, TEMPLE OF THE RED LOTUS (1965), blends high production values, family-centered conflict, and gory swordplay staged by an uncredited Lau Kar-leung & Tang Chia. A mature launch that feels fresh even after thousands of wuxia films followed.
So Celestial puts out Temple of the Red Lotus, the first color wuxia from Shaw Brothers, on a non-anamorphic restored DVD. Fine. Then The Twin Swords and The Sword and the Lute get digital HD releases but not Temple. Way to sideline the film that started the whole trilogy.
August 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM
So Celestial puts out Temple of the Red Lotus, the first color wuxia from Shaw Brothers, on a non-anamorphic restored DVD. Fine. Then The Twin Swords and The Sword and the Lute get digital HD releases but not Temple. Way to sideline the film that started the whole trilogy.
Chang Cheh’s first surviving wuxia, THE MAGNIFICENT TRIO (1966), doesn’t go for the jugular, but the Chang Cheh we know starts here: bloody brotherhood alongside a still female-centric story. Largely a remake of Three Outlaw Samurai.
August 23, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Chang Cheh’s first surviving wuxia, THE MAGNIFICENT TRIO (1966), doesn’t go for the jugular, but the Chang Cheh we know starts here: bloody brotherhood alongside a still female-centric story. Largely a remake of Three Outlaw Samurai.