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.
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.
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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.
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.
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Brothers by blood. Enemies by chance. Killers by nature.
Welcome to the birth of the Heroic Bloodshed era of Hong Kong cinema as we are proud to present John Woo’s masterpiece A Better Tomorrow!
When a deal goes disastrously wrong, loyalty is tested, friendships fracture, and revenge becomes unavoidable. As Ho attempts redemption and Kit is pulled deeper into moral compromise, the film builds toward a tragic reckoning where honor, survival collide in a storm of gunfire.
A Better Tomorrow’s influence is impossible to overstate: slow-motion violence, tragic brotherhood, trench coats, and moral codes, the list goes on and on.
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.
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Two hunts. Two eras. One ultimate killing machine.
Join us on Thursday, February 26th as we present both the original 1987 Predator with its 2025 predecessor Predator: Badlands in an awesome double feature hosted by Jordan Morris, the author of the upcoming Marvel comic Predator: Bloodshed!
First up is John McTiernan’s Predator (1987), which drops a team of elite commandos into the Central American jungle on what should be a routine rescue mission, only to reveal they’re being stalked by something far deadlier than any human enemy.
Then, after a short intermission, it’s time for Predator: Badlands! This contemporary sequel brings the hunt roaring into a new frontier. Trading dense jungle for harsh, open terrain where old rules no longer apply.
Doors open at 6:15PM and the films will start at 7:00PM after a brief introduction. Tickets are $15, there will be a ten minute intermission between the films, and our host for the evening, Jordan Morris (co-host of the excellent and long-running podcast Jordan Jesse Go) will be selling and signing comics in the lobby before, between, and after the films!
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It’s time to dance with the Devil…again.
Ryan Coogler’s genre-mashing dance party from Hell, Sinners, is back at The Frida Cinema after winning four Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler, Best Cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw, and Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson!
Set in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta during the Jim Crow era, Sinners follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) as they return home after years away trying to leave their troubled pasts behind. With plans to open a juke joint for their community using money earned in Chicago, the celebration takes a dark turn when supernatural forces are awakened and begin to menace the town.
A towering modern classic, Sinners has unheard of levels of ambition in the modern Hollywood landcape. Whether you’ve seen it already or are experiencing it for the first time, there’s no denying that the big screen is the best place to celebrate its massive success.
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A long-awaited dream to play on the big screen, god-level director John Woo’s Hong Kong action masterpiece, Hard Boiled, is finally coming to The Frida Cinema with a brand new 4K restoration!
Mobsters are smuggling guns into Hong Kong. The police orchestrate a raid at a teahouse where an ace detective loses his partner. Meanwhile, the two main gun smugglers are having a war over territory, and a young new gun is enlisted to wipe out informants and overcome barriers to growth. The detective, acting from inside sources, gets closer to the ring leaders and eventually must work with the inside man directly.
Hard Boiled is routinely placed in the top tier of action cinema, not just of the 1990s, not just of Hong Kong, but of all time. For many critics and fans, it represents the peak of John Woo’s “heroic bloodshed” era, combining balletic gunplay and emotional melodrama that filmmakers ripped off for decades to come.
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.
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What dream are you welcoming?
Mamoru Oshii’s (Ghost In The Shell) first live-action feature, The Red Spectables, is coming to The Frida Cinema with a brand new 4K restoration via our friends at Small Sensations!
Returning to Tokyo years after a failed rebellion by his elite Kerberos police unit, Kōichi Todome finds a city warped beyond recognition: a paranoid surveillance state where noodle stands are illegal, loyalties shift like shadows and reality itself seems to fray.
A mix of just about every genre under the sun, The Red Spectacles promises to deliver a visually stunning new canonized addition to the late night cult classic club.
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Live for tomorrow. Die today.
The Frida Cinema is excited to partner up with our friends at GKIDS to present All You Need Is Kill, the action-packed new anime film from director Kenichiro Akimoto!
When a massive alien flower known as “Darol” unexpectedly erupts in a deadly event, unleashing monstrous creatures that decimate the population of Japan, Rita is caught in the destruction—and killed. But then she wakes up again. And again. Caught in an endless time loop, Rita must navigate the trauma and repetition of death until she crosses paths with Keiji, a shy young man trapped in the same cycle. Together, they fight to break free from the loop and find meaning in the chaos around them.
All screenings will be presented in the film’s original Japanese language with English subtitles.
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The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit? More like The Bat, The Cat, and The Penguin! Tim Burton’s 1992 pop masterpiece Batman Returns is coming back to The Frida Cinema! We believe wholeheartedly that it’s the ultimate Christmas movie, filled to the brim with gothic spectacle and holiday glam.
The monstrous Penguin, who dwells in the sewers beneath Gotham, joins up with corrupt mayoral candidate Max Shreck to topple the Batman once and for all. But when Shreck’s timid assistant Selina Kyle finds out, and Shreck tries to kill her, she’s transformed into the sexy Catwoman. She teams up with the Penguin and Shreck to destroy Batman, but sparks fly unexpectedly when she confronts the caped crusader.
With an all-star cast of Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, and in incomparable Michelle Pfeiffer, Burton took the success of Batman (1989), and doubled down in the best way possible, creating the template that every sequel should strive for.
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World War II meets science fiction in The Final Countdown, which has just been released by Blue Underground in a brand new 4K restoration!
Captain Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) commands the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz, which is conducting routine patrols off Hawaii in 1980. A bizarre electrical storm, unlike anything seen before, temporarily knocks out the crew, and when they come to, things are strange. Very strange, including Jack Benny’s voice on the radio. That’s written off as nostalgia programming, but the crew can’t make any normal communications with the outside world…and then they spot mint condition Japanese Zero planes. As the evidence mounts, the captain and crew ultimately realize that, hard as it is to believe, they’ve gone back in time…to December 6, 1941.
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