"Actor: Toshishiro Obata"

• Showdown In Little Tokyo | DVD | (30/01/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Showdown in Little Tokyo is a 1991 martial arts action comedy which, in pitting Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee as LA cops against Japanese drug dealers, plays like a B-movie Tango and Cash or Lethal Weapon 2 (both released just two years before). Between career highs in Rocky IV (1985) and Universal Soldier (1992) it looked as if Lundgren might make it big at the box-office, and clearly wanting to be the new Schwarzenegger he is here directed by Mark L Lester, who had earlier helmed Arnie's Commando (1985). In the event both actor and director headed for straight-to-video territory. The 75-minute running time suggests the studio lost confidence and seriously cut the movie though, as the space between the action is filled with nothing but cringe-inducing dialogue, thriller clichés and Lundgren "romancing" Tia Carrere, it still makes sense. Basing its title on John Carpenter's 1986 fantasy-comedy Big Trouble in Little China and anticipating Rush Hour (1998), Showdown in Little Tokyo alternates between crude tongue-in-cheek moments and action so ludicrous it's unintentionally hilarious . A camp disaster which simply defies belief, this is stupidly entertaining so-bad-its-good six-pack entertainment. On the DVD: There are no extras other than the trailer. The anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 image offers a good transfer of a grainy print. The stereo sound is clear but for a modern action film seriously lacks impact: gunshots sound like a paper bag popping. --Gary S Dalkin

• Blue Tiger | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £7.58   |  Saving you £-1.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Blue Tiger explores the bloody-minded determination of a mother to avenge the tragic death of her young child fatally shot in the crossfire of a Yakuza 'hit'. Her only clue to the identity of her son's killer is the ripped shirt of the hitman and a lurid Blue Tiger tattoo emblazoned across his chest. Disguising herself as a voluptuous cocktail waitress she infiltrates known Yakuza haunts seducing suspects in the hope of finding the tell tale tattoo and exacting her burning revenge. According to Samurai legend the Blue Tiger is always in search of the Red Tiger; when they finally meet someone always pays with their life!

• The Sword Of Bushido | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Conners (Norton) is a former U.S. Navy Seal searching for an ancient Japanese ceremonial sword and the body of his grandfather who stole it during World War 2. With the help a computer expert (Ashana) he manges to locate the sword but the Japanese government and the ruthless Yakuza also seek the coveted prize and will stop at nothing to retrieve it. It's a battle to the finish and only one man can remain standing...

• Ulterior Motives | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £6.55   |  Saving you £-0.56 (-9.30%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Ambitious and beautiful New York journalist Erica (Keller) has the scoop of her career: a Japanese businessman suspected of selling American secrets to Japan. When private investigator Jack Blaylock (Griffith) is hired to help her he finds himself entangled in a web of violence and corruption with a deadline whose fatal consequences leave no margin for error...