Ip man is a very loose biopic of the early life of Ip Man, pioneer of Wing Chun fighting and later master to Bruce Lee. With Ip Man, Donnie Yen takes on his meatiest role yet. He’s played the central hero before (in Iron Monkey, for example) but they’ve all been a bit over the [...]

Red Cliff 2 is Simply the second half of an almost five-hour movie rather than a self-contained pic in its own right, John Woo’s costume actioner delivers in spades for audiences left hungry for more by last summer’s first segment – Red Cliff part 1 [review]. It’s hard for me to decide whether Red Cliff [...]

The reason Twin Dragons succeeds for me is because the film relies on slapstick comedy, instead of spoken humor, and Jackie Chan is a master of that particular comedic art form. Chan doesn’t need to be funny to be funny, he already is, and at his best it’s impossible not to laugh out loud at [...]

Blood Brothers is a natural return for John Woo to his Hong Kong roots that he deserted years ago for Hollywood – a passionate male bonding tale of loyalty, love and betrayal in Shanghai in the 1930’s. Three young men leave their small town and go to Shanghai to pursue life in the big city. [...]

Originally set to be Jaa’s solo debut as a writer, producer, director and martial-arts coordinator, as well as star, Ong Bak 2’s production was halted earlier this year when a frustrated, diva-like Jaa walked off the set in a dispute over money with producers at Sahamongkol Film International. With more than two years spent in [...]

For a little while, there, Chinese movies had a bit of momentum, with the release of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers. Somewhere along the way the hype really died down, which is sad, because strong efforts still make their way out to the theaters from time to time. Here we have [...]

In Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, a painfully high-toned erotic drama set in Japanese occupied Shanghai during World War II, Tony Leung, as a poshly repressed Chinese government minister, and Tang Wei, as a willowy student resistance fighter who seduces him as part of an assassination plot, spend a fair amount of time with their clothes [...]