Rating: 3.0

‘Big Brother’ is a wasted opportunity. It is enjoyable enough for its duration, but every scene seems like it’s been pinched from the genre book written with Dead Poets’ Society strokes.

‘Big Man Japan’ isn’t always quite as quirky and clever as it thinks it is but is nevertheless another entertaining example of why Japanese cinema is at the forefront of the unique and creative.

‘Black Coal, Thin Ice’ is one of those films that are encountered once in a while that are much easier to admire than feel warm and fuzzy about.

The action is still impressive, and deserves 4 stars, but the direction, annoying camera work and lack of real plot drag it down into the 3 star category.

Low budget, straight-forward, though with a couple of unexpected twists and turns, this was a fun and surprisingly action packed ride.

‘Bleeding Steel’ starts with promise and then refuses to flesh out any of the plot details, leaving us bewildered shortly after our interest had piqued.

Director Teddy page made a ton of these action clunkers back in the day and while it’s far from his best it does boast Karen Shepherd in a lead role kicking lots of ass.

This short, sharp and mostly sweet martial arts vampire actioner may lack budget and a dense narrative but what it does have is oodles and oodles of awesome fight action.

Recommended to all fans of Gary Daniels, and those who like their hands free action violent and acrobatic.

Dark cinematography, powerful scenes, politically incorrect humour and good fight choreography combine to make this an entertaining film, but one you are only likely to watch once.

Not as riotously entertaining as the first instalment, ‘Bodyguard Kiba 2’ is still a fun watch, mainly to see Chiba strutting his cool stuff and for the impressive fight scenes that open and close the film.

The comedy is hit-and-miss and as it takes up the majority of the running time, it slows the pace right down after a promising start.