Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Posted on February 9, 2026

Hey dude, this is no cartoon! We’re rolling out some encores of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 1990!

Before superheroes ruled the multiplex, four brothers from the New York sewers saved the world with martial arts and heart. Director Steve Barron’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a box-office surprise and a practical-effects marvel. Produced on the edge of indie ingenuity, the film blended Jim Henson’s Creature Shop wizardry with street-level grit, creating a tone that felt mythic. Beneath the pizza jokes and wisecracks was something sincere…growing up in a hard (shelled?) city.

Tiger on the Beat

Posted on January 30, 2026

“Like Lethal Weapon only far funnier and with more chainsaw action.” -Total DVD

After so much emotion and violence, we are choosing to close our Hong Kong Action Essentials series by cutting loose with little bit laughter and…uhhh…more violence.

Directed by Lau Kar-leung and starring Chow Yun-fat, Tiger on the Beat follows a pair of mismatched cops on the trail of a violent drug dealer, a case that escalates from street-level comedy into something far more savage and unhinged. What begins as a rambunctious action/comedy steadily sheds its humor, morphing into a full-throttle collision of gunplay, hand-to-hand combat, and sheer physical excess. By the time it reaches its infamous finale, the film has abandoned restraint entirely, delivering the perfectly brutal and messy ending to our series.

Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

Bullet In The Head

Posted on January 30, 2026

The penultimate film in our Hong Kong Action Essentials series is Bullet In The Head, which also happens to be our final John Woo film in the series, as well. There’s no better way to end his chapter in this lineup than with his most brutal and personal film to date.

Three friends fleeing Hong Kong after a violent crime find themselves trapped in the chaos of the Vietnam War, where their loyalty and morality are tested beyond repair. What begins as a desperate bid for escape descends into a harrowing portrait of friendship under unimaginable pressure. As war strips away ideals and innocence, the bonds between the men fracture, leading to betrayals that cut deeper than any bullet.

Fueled by rage and grief Bullet in the Head trades balletic elegance for raw emotional devastation. This is heroic bloodshed turned inward, and a legendary filmmaker pushing himself into completely new territory.

A Better Tomorrow II + A Better Tomorrow III Double Feature

Posted on January 30, 2026

Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series is growing larger, darker, and more operatic with each and every chapter. There’s no better example of this with our special double feature of A Better Tomorrow II + A Better Tomorrow III!

Directed by John Woo, A Better Tomorrow II picks up in the aftermath of betrayal and loss, following survivors pulled back into a violent underworld they can’t escape. As old wounds reopen and new alliances form, the film pushes themes of brotherhood and sacrifice to even more operatic extremes, all building toward action staged on a mythic scale.

And then after a quick 10 minute intermission…Tsui Hark’s A Better Tomorrow III rewinds the clock, re-centering the saga around the rise of its most iconic figure amid political upheaval and shifting power structures. Steeped in romantic fatalism, this prequel is less about crime than about identity and the cost of survival.

There will be a ten minute intermission between each film. One ticket gets you access to both movies!

Once Upon a Time in China

Posted on January 30, 2026

Never was a Hero needed more…

Once Upon A Time In China, Writer-producer-director Tsui Hark’s sprawling vision of a changing nineteenth-century China, is coming back to The Frida Cinema!

This blockbuster hit cemented Jet Li’s status as the greatest martial-arts superstar of his generation. Li displays his stunning, fast-and-fluid fighting style as the legendary martial-arts teacher and doctor Wong Fei-hung, who, with a band of disciples, battles a host of nefarious forces, foreign and local, who are threatening Chinese sovereignty as British and American imperialists encroach upon the Mainland.

Once Upon a Time in China’s breathtaking blend of kung fu, comedy, romance, and melodrama climaxes in a whirlwind guns-vs-fists finale that is also a thrilling affirmation of Chinese cultural identity.

The Heroic Trio + The Heroic Trio 2: Executioners

Posted on January 30, 2026

Each holds a secret power…together they face the ultimate evil!

We’re harnessing the supernova star power of cinema icons Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and Anita Mui in a gloriously unrestrained action extravaganza double feature of The Heroic Trio + Executioners!

From genre maestro Johnnie To, the story follows three knife-throwing, shotgun-toting, kung-fu-fighting super-heroines who must overcome their dark pasts in order to defeat an evil, baby-snatching eunuch who is terrorizing Hong Kong. Eye-popping motorcycle stunts, brain-exploding skeletons, infant cannibals, and kinetically choreographed wire work are all part of the delirium in this unstoppably entertaining cult favorite (referenced in Cheung’s international breakthrough Irma Vep), a kick-butt showcase for three of the coolest women warriors to ever hit the screen.

There will be a ten minute intermission between each film. One ticket gets you access to both movies!

Eastern Condors

Posted on January 30, 2026

A lethal secret arsenal was left behind in the jungle of Vietnam. Their job: find it and destroy it!

Legendary actor-director Sammo Hung delivers a bazooka blast of pure adrenaline with Eastern Condors, an exemplar of Hong Kong action cinema at its most entertaining.

Drawing inspiration from Hollywood war films like The Dirty Dozen, Eastern Condors follows a ragtag band of Asian American prisoners dropped into Vietnam on a secret suicide mission to prevent a cache of weapons from falling into the hands of the Viet Cong, who are more than ready for a fight. Propelled by a dynamic ensemble cast that includes the ever-charismatic Yuen Biao as a black-market trader and a superhuman Yuen Wah as a giggling martial-arts monster, this rip-roaring spectacle offers a nonstop barrage of turbocharged set pieces that defy gravity itself.

Police Story + Police Story 2 Double Feature

Posted on January 30, 2026

Witness action cinema pushed to its absolute physical limits with Police Story + Police Story, a double featuring Jackie Chan, the filmmaker-performer who redefined what a movie star would risk for the camera.

A smash hit that made him a worldwide icon of daredevil action spectacle, the director/star/one-man stunt machine plays Ka-Kui, a Hong Kong police inspector who goes rogue to bring down a drug kingpin and protect the case’s star witness (Chinese cinema legend Brigitte Lin) from retribution. Packed wall-to-wall with charmingly goofball slapstick and astoundingly acrobatic fight choreography, including an epic shopping-mall melee of flying fists and shattered glass, Police Story set a new standard for rock-’em-sock-’em mayhem.

Then, after a quick ten minute intermission, Jackie is back! Having been demoted to a lowly traffic cop for his, ahem, unorthodox policing methods, Chan’s go-it-alone officer Ka-Kui quits the force in protest. But it isn’t long before he’s back in action, racing the clock to stop a band of serial bombers and win back his much-put-upon girlfriend May (the phenomenal Maggie Cheung, reprising her star-making role). Boasting epic explosions, an awesomely 1980s electro soundtrack, and a showstopping finale that turns an abandoned warehouse into a life-size pinball machine of cascading oil drums, collapsing scaffolds, and shooting fireworks, Police Story 2 confirmed Chan’s status as a performer of unparalleled grace and daring.

There will be a ten minute intermission between each film. One ticket gets you access to both movies!

City on Fire

Posted on January 30, 2026

He thought he knew the risks of going undercover.

We are stepping away from the lens of John Woo to explore the eye of Ringo Lam, as we present his iconic 1987 action thriller City On Fire!

Ko Chow is an undercover cop who is under pressure from all sides. His boss, Inspector Lau, wants him to infiltrate a gang of ruthless jewel thieves; his girlfriend wants him to commit to marriage or she will leave Hong Kong with another lover; and he is being pursued by other cops who are unaware that he is a colleague. Chow would rather quit the force, feeling guilty about betraying gang members who have become his friends.

Stripped of glamour in favor of sweet, sweet desperation, City on Fire replaces operatic heroism with fatalism and realism, helping define a harder edge of Hong Kong action cinema that would echo for decades.

The Killer

Posted on January 30, 2026

One Vicious Hitman. One Fierce Cop. Ten Thousand Bullets.

Step into the operatic heart of Hong Kong action cinema with John Woo’s The Killer!

Mob assassin Jeffrey is no ordinary hired gun; the best in his business, he views his chosen profession as a calling rather than simply a job. So, when beautiful nightclub chanteuse Jennie is blinded in the crossfire of his most recent hit, Jeffrey chooses to retire after one last job to pay for his unintended victim’s sight-restoring operation. But when Jeffrey is double-crossed, he reluctantly joins forces with a rogue policeman to make things right.

What unfolds is a tragic dance of loyalty and doomed brotherhood, escalating into some of the most iconic slow-motion gunfights ever put on screen. See it how it was meant to be seen: loud and emotionally overwhelming.