by Sebastian Kluth
Take Aim at the Police Van, originally known as Jûsangô Taihisen' Yori: Sono Gosôsha o Nerae, is a Japanese film noir that unfolds as an investigative thriller through seventy-nine minutes. The movie was made by renowned director Seijun Suzuki who had...
Gone with the Bullets, obviously a pun on Gone with the Wind, is a Chinese comedy-drama with romantic undertones, originally known as Yi Bu Zhi Yao. This film is the second part of a trilogy that started four years earlier with Let the Bullets Fly, originally...
Who would have thought that British heavy metal veterans Judas Priest would release such an amazing record as Invincible Shield six years after very strong predecessor Firepower? It's no exaggeration at all to claim that this is the quintet's greatest...
Innocence, originally titled Gyul-baek, is a South Korean movie halfway between a drama and a thriller. It tells the story of a successful female lawyer who travels from the busy capital of Seoul back to her gloomy hometown to defend her own mother suffering...
River, originally known as Ribâ, nagarenaide yo, is a Japanese science-fiction movie with elements of comedy, drama, mystery and romance. The film takes place in Kifune, a calm mountainous town north of Kyoto, on an automnal afternoon. The main setting...
Rendezvous Point is a Norwegian quintet on the thin line between progressive rock and progressive metal. Dream Chaser is the group's third full length studio effort, includes eight new songs and clocks in at a reasonable thirty-eight minutes. The quintet...
Most bands who have taken the decision to record beloved early records again have failed miserably. The worst cases in the metal scene might be the infamous re-recordings by heavy metal veterans Manowar. Harakiri for the Sky is one of the few bands that...
It's a mystery to me why Rebellion isn't a much bigger heavy and power metal band than it is. The band has been around for over two decades and plays music in the key of popular German heavy metal groups such as Accept, Grave Digger and Rage but it has...
Nothing Can't Be Undone by a Hot Pot, originally known as Mei you yi dun huo guo jie jue bu liao de shi, is a quirky Chinese comedy movie with a dynamic mixture of elements from others genres such as drama and thriller. The story revolves around four...
Sou Jiu, internationally known as Come Back Home or Polar Rescue, is an intense family drama from the People's Republic of China. It shows legendary martial artist Donnie Yen in a completely new role as this film doesn't feature any fight sequences at...
Di er shi tiao, internationally known as Article Twenty, is a Chinese courtroom drama directed by renowned veteran Zhang Yimou. This is the first legal-themed Chinese movie that focuses on the issue of justifiable defence. The movie aims to prove the...
Perfect Days is a slice-of-life combining comedy and drama elements directed by renowned German filmmaking veteran Wim Wenders and starring a selection of extraordinary Japanese actresses and actors. Shot in only seventeen days in Tokyo, this movie shows...
I have never been a fan of Marvel's cinematic universe since the vast majority of its films are boring, predictable and shallow. If you wonder why I even bothered watching Madame Web, then I would like to let you know that I had to attend this film because...
Orphaned Land is a completely unique quintet from Israel that has been promoting understanding, peace and diplomacy for decades by now. The group offers a most fascinating mixture of epic heavy metal soundscapes, atmospheric doom metal passages and even...
Wo Te Po Po Tsen Me Pa Chuan Chuan Kao Tiu Le, internationally known under the stupid title U Motherbaker - The Movie, is a Taiwanese comedy movie based upon the popular television series of the same title. The movie revolves around middle-aged mother...
Genre-breaking female quintet Nemophila offers thirty-eight minutes of joyful entertainment in ten vibrant songs on third studio output Evolve whose cover artwork is as colourful as the material presented to us. The band has been keeping its quirky identity...
Gotsu Totsu Kotsu is Japan's most commercially successful and critically acclaimed death metal band. Back from the Underworld is the trio's sixth full length effort after five years of silence. This album comes around with ten songs and a total running...
This is the second instalment in Therion's Leviathan trilogy consisting of thirty-three songs released in three consecutive years in total. In retrospective, it was certainly a logical idea to release a whopping one hundred fifty minutes of new music...
Shiki Soku Ze Ku roughly translates to All Is Futile and relates to the fundamentalist Buddhist doctrine that all things in this world having a connection or reason has no intrinsic essence. It's also the title for the twenty-third studio record by Japanese...
Flor de Loto is a progressive folk rock sextet from Peru that has been around for twenty-five years and that has already released nine full length efforts. The band has taken five years between Lines of Nasca and its predecessor but released two live...
Earthshaker is a Japanese heavy metal band that has been around for an incredible forty-five years and that has now released its twenty-fourth studio record in forty years. The five members are all in their sixties now and while the youthful grit might...
A very good friend of mine, who is particularly intrigued by experimental bands walking off the beaten path, has recently been introducing me to Edmontonian quartet The Spruce Moose and its second record Pyramid Scheme. The first element that fascinated...
Amorphis has been my favourite band for more than a decade by now but even the most faithful fans must question the purpose of a release such as Queen of Time - Live at Tavastia 2021. The Finnish metal band had only just released the excellent live record...
Amethyst is a Swiss heavy metal quintet that has released its debut extended play Rock Knights digitally in December 2022, on cassette in March 2023, on CD in May 2023 and on vinyl in September 2023. This means that any collector can purchase this product...
Da Zui Xia, internationally known as Come Drink with Me, is one of the very first wu xia movies coming out of Hong Kong that has paved the way for many more films of the same genre to be released ever since. This genre combines historic settings, plots...
