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Earlier this summer, the home video distributor Shout Factory was announced to be collaborating with Hong Kong Film Archives to bring you the 4K remastering of the most coveted of Chinese action film classics. The films will include works by Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark. The partnership is set to be a treasure trove for fans of classic action films from Hong Kong cinema. Now, Shout! TV is going further by unveiling a Hong Kong Fight Club Fast Channel. Fast channels are free ad-supported television channels on services like Roku, Plex or Freevee that stream content live like old-fashioned television. You can also watch it Right Here!

The channel showcases the absolute greatest in action cinema from Hong Kong’s cinematic golden age of the ’80s and ’90s. Restored from new 4K scans, the channel will showcase the classic films in the best quality...

The Story: A college kid (Brandon Lee) witnesses a gangland hit. Betrayed by witness protection, he’s recruited by a task force headed by a no-nonsense cop (Powers Boothe) as a pawn, but little do they know he’s more than able to handle himself against any of his foes.

The Players: Starring: Brandon Lee, Powers Boothe, Tzi Ma & Nick Mancuso. Directed by Dwight H. Little.

The History: The early nineties were the heyday of the martial arts movie star. Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme were consistently churning out hits, so if they could become icons, why not a guy like Brandon Lee? He was movie star handsome, could move, was charismatic and could act. Oh yeah – he also happened to be the son of the greatest Kung-Fu movie star of all time, Bruce Lee.

“I wouldn’t want to refer to them as stepping stones. That seems to demean them.

Streaming has not always made watching niche classics easy, but fans of Hong Kong cinema of decades past are in luck. The Wrap exclusively reports that Shout!TV will be host to Hong Kong Fight Club, which is a channel that is exactly as it sounds. Starting in August, the Fast channel will stream fan-favorite movies from famous stars like Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat, and Jackie Chan. The channel has publicized that this new endeavor:

“Showcases the absolute greatest in action cinema from Hong Kong’s cinematic golden age of the ’80s and ’90s. Restored from new 4K scans, these fan favorites look better than ever. The channel will also sport interactive features, special events, and livestreams, as well as new original content produced for the channel featuring titans of the genre, including Jet Li, John Woo and more.”

John Woo may be familiar to Western audiences due to the...

Showcasing an exciting lineup of fan favorites and the best of pop culture, Shout! Studios, a Radial Entertainment Company, is thrilled to announce its return to the convention center this summer for San Diego Comic-Con 2025!

This year, Shout! will be giving away a number of exclusive items at its booth (#4118), while supplies last. We’ve teamed up with Gkids to help fans of the series Arcane: League Of Legends stay cool with a hand fan featuring art from the exciting series. Celebrate the works of beloved filmmaker Jim Henson with an exclusive pin pack featuring four beloved properties: The Dark Crystal, Farscape, Labyrinth, and The Storyteller. Fans of the classic sci-fi comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 can pick up an exclusive pin pack featuring four fan-favorite characters from the show.

Capture your Sdcc experience with a visit to our photobooth, featuring backgrounds from several of our most popular film...

Hong Kong Fight Club, a new Fast channel featuring classics from John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, will arrive on Shout! TV this August.

According to the official release, the channel, hailing from from Shout! Studios, a Radial Entertainment company, “showcases the absolute greatest in action cinema from Hong Kong’s cinematic golden age of the ’80s and ’90s. Restored from new 4K scans, these fan favorites look better than ever. The channel will also sport interactive features, special events, and livestreams, as well as new original content produced for the channel featuring titans of the genre, including Jet Li, John Woo and more.” We are so in.

Among the titles that will be hitting Hong Kong Fight Club are John Woo masterpieces “Hard Boiled,” “The Killer,” “Bullet in the Head” and “A Better Tomorrow,” Ringo Lam’s influential “City on Fire” and Jet Li classics “Fist of Legend...

Sdcc ’25: A Monster Hunter Walks into Boom! Studios: "The must-read companion to the award-winning and critically acclaimed Something is Killing the Children, Something Is Killing The Children: A Monster Hunter Walks Into A Bar, is collected for the first time!

From the Eisner-winning creative team of James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera, this one-shot companion story originally serialized across six parts in the acclaimed horror anthology series Hello Darkness, gathers the complete story in one epic release! Erica Slaughter moves from town to town, hunting the monsters that haunt the night—but this time the story isn’t hers alone.

Told from the perspective of those she saved, this haunting anthology explores the legend and lasting impact of the mysterious monster hunter!

Something Is Killing The Children: A Monster Hunter Walks Into A Bar #1 features main cover art by series artist Werther Dell’Edera, and variant covers by acclaimed illustrators Ben Stenback,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (Peter Browngardt)

Directed by Peter Browngardt, this is a charming affair. Modeled after sci-fi B-movies of the 1950s and starring Looney Tunes legends Porky Pig and Daffy Duck (both voiced by Eric Bauza), The Day the Earth Blew Up starts with a UFO landing. The spacecraft takes off on the roof of Porky and Daffy’s broken-down house (bequeathed to them by surrogate father Farmer Jim) just before crashing. It goes on to infect a local scientist (Fred Tatasciore) with a zombifying goo not long after. Soon enough, the goo is in the mix at the gum factory, where Porky and Daffy have taken jobs in a last-ditch effort to save their beloved home from being demolished.

The beloved action cinema hailing from Hong Kong in the 1980s and ’90s is now being honored by distributor Shout! Studios.

IndieWire exclusively announces that the films of John Woo, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark, and Tony Ching will screen as part of the “Hong Kong Cinema Classics” series, taking place at Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque and New York City’s IFC Center in August 2025. The retrospective will then tour select markets across the U.S. throughout the fall, with Shout! Studios releasing physical and digital versions, courtesy of the Golden Princess library.

Woo will also be in attendance at select American Cinematheque screenings. The auteur recently made his return to Hollywood filmmaking with 2023’s “Silent Night” and his 2024 remake of “The Killer” Woo’s “Hard Boiled,” “Bullet in the Head,” “A Better Tomorrow,” and its sequel, “A Better Tomorrow II,” are all among the “Hong Kong Cinema Classics” program. “A Better Tomorrow III,...

Nobody does it like John Woo. Calling Woo a pioneering force that helped shape Hollywood action movies would be an understatement, as his influence runs deeper than one might imagine. It wouldn't be farfetched to call Woo's brand of cinematic violence poetic, where he revitalizes the mundane with slick gusto — whether it's when a hail of bullets pierces through shattered glass, or time slows down to highlight something impossibly cool.

Ever since Woo found mainstream success with 1986's "A Better Tomorrow," he has been experimenting with the action genre and how it expresses stylized violence in passionate bursts. That film brought together American gangster cinema and Hong Kong martial arts flicks in ways never done before, and once Woo cemented his status as one of the masters of the genre, countless action flicks (including "The Matrix") mimicked Woo's aesthetic time and again. More recent genre entries, like Chad Stahelski's...

Among the notable crime films in Hong Kong cinema, “Infernal Affairs,” stands as one of the most influential, even inspiring an Academy Award-winning American remake by Martin Scorsese, “The Departed.” Yet, while the remake has its merits, the original remains a masterpiece in its own right. Whereas many of its contemporaries leaned heavily into stylized action, Lau and Mak opted for a more grounded picture that functions as a character-driven drama, building suspense through deliberate pacing. These qualities, along with its star-studded cast, earned the movie critical acclaim upon its 2002 release and spawned two sequels.

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As an ongoing rivalry lingers between law enforcement and the criminal underworld, two men with opposing professions take on secret roles. Lau Kin-ming poses as a police officer to spy on the Hong Kong Police Force as a mole for Triad boss Hon Sam. On the other side,...

Dan Trachtenberg is now two for two in the "Predator" franchise.

His 2022 movie "Prey," which was released straight to Hulu amid the height of the streaming wars, revitalized a franchise that was flagging in the aftermath of Shane Black's messy 2018 movie "The Predator," and gave Trachtenberg the opportunity to direct another movie in that franchise called "Predator: Badlands," which is coming to theaters later this year. But the writer/director, who has been elevated to a position of overseeing the franchise, didn't stop there -- while making "Badlands," he also co-wrote and directed "Predator: Killer of Killers," an animated anthology project that hit Hulu this past Friday.

Simply put, the new movie rules. It opens up the world in fascinating ways, the animation looks like concept art come to life, and the action is some of the most jaw-dropping and accomplished of the entire franchise. I caught up with...

“K.O.” is a potent mix of action, thriller, drama, and martial arts. The film, a Franco-Belgian co-production, underscores a broader trend in the streaming landscape: a notable investment in localized European content, particularly within the action genre.

Spearheading “K.O.” is the formidable presence of Ciryl Gane, a prominent Mma fighter cast in the lead role. Gane’s involvement not only brings an inherent physical credibility to the film’s martial arts elements but also has the potential to draw in his considerable fanbase from the world of combat sports. His growing filmography suggests this is more than a fleeting appearance, marking a serious foray into acting.

The Plot

The narrative of “K.O.” centers on Bastien, played by Ciryl Gane, a former Mma fighter whose life has been irrevocably altered by a tragic event in the ring. Three years prior, Bastien accidentally killed his opponent, Enzo, a devastating blow that led...

Newly Remastered And Restored Hong Kong Classic Arrives In 4K Uhd+ Blu-ray On August 26, 2025 From Shout! Studios

Offering a treasure trove of essential films from the explosive creative epicenter of Hong Kong, Shout Studios’ Hong Kong Cinema Classics aims to preserve these iconic films in their best possible presentation for fans new and old alike. On August 26, 2025, Hong Kong Cinema Classics presents City On Fire 4K Uhd + Blu-ray. Chow Yun-Fat, Sun Yueh, and Danny Lee (The Killer)star in this sizzling, highly influential crime drama from director Ringo Lam. Featuring a new 4K scan and a wealth of bonus features, City On Fire is a must-have for collectors, cinephiles, and action enthusiasts. Pre-order is now available at ShoutFactory.comand select participating online stores.

Hong Kong Cinema Classics: City On Fire 4K Uhd+ Blu-ray (Hkcc #6)

Ko Chow is an undercover cop torn between his duty as a police officer and his...

Here’s how you know the “Mission: Impossible” movies are great: They were only made because the TV series “Mission: Impossible” was a gigantic, award-winning hit, and now hardly anyone even remembers that show.

What started as a crafty ensemble series about unlikely experts teaming up to perform impossible espionage missions evolved into a series of gigantic action spectaculars, less about a group of spies and more about Tom Cruise. Not even the character he played, Ethan Hunt. No, just Tom Cruise. It’s the franchise he made his own, a series of films that always portray him in a fawning, heroic light, in a series of productions that also made his daring do-it-yourself stunt mentality a beloved marketing ploy.

There are, truth be told, no “Mission: Impossible” films that aren’t at least mostly fun to watch. Some of them are great films. Some are merely great action movies.

Exclusive: Arrow Films has struck a deal with Shout! Studios to release 156 Hong Kong titles in the UK, including seminal classics by John Woo and Tsui Hark.

It follows the acquisition of the Golden Princess film library by US outfit Shout! Studios in January, which comprised worldwide rights (excluding some Asian territories) to the renowned catalogue of titles.

While Shout! will handle the US release of the films, both on physical media and through streaming platform Shout! TV, Arrow Films has acquired UK rights to the features.

Produced during the golden age of Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s and 1990s,...

The home video distributor Shout Factory is collaborating with Hong Kong Film Archives to bring you the 4K remastering of the most coveted of Chinese action film classics. The films will include works by Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark. The digital titles will include A Better Tomorrow in 4K, A Better Tomorrow II in 4K, and A Better Tomorrow III in 4K, Tsui Hark’s Peking Opera Blues in 4K, John Woo’s The Killer in 4K, Tony Ching’s A Chinese Ghost Story (starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wang), A Chinese Ghost Story II (starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wang), and A Chinese Ghost Story III (starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Joey Wang) and John Woo’s Bullet In The Head in 4K (starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai).

However, the first two big releases are the Chow Yun-Fat films Hard Boiled and City on Fire. The descriptions...

Once feared lost, the original negative of John Woo’s action classic Hard Boiled has been rescued and restored. The 4K disc is due in June.

There’s cool, and then there’s ‘Chow Yun-fat sliding down a banister, shooting bad guys with a toothpick in his mouth’ cool. It’s an early, iconic moment in an action thriller stuffed full of them: 1992’s Hard Boiled cemented director John Woo’s reputation in Hollywood, and remains a high point in Hong Kong cinema.

For years, however, it was thought that Hard Boiled's original print was lost. Although that film – and other films in Woo’s back catalogue – can be purchased on disc online, some knotty rights issues mean a new 4K release was long thought to be impossible.

In the mid-90s, Golden Princess, the production company that made Hard Boiled and numerous other Hong Kong classics, went bust.

Chow Yun-fat’s bullet ballet is reloaded and ready to fire again on the Croisette.

As John Woo’s landmark 1992 action spectacle “Hard Boiled” prepares for its spotlight screening at this year’s Cannes Classics, Variety has uncovered the blood, sweat and digital wizardry behind saving the bullet-riddled masterpiece from cinematic extinction.

The Chow Yun-fat starrer, which had long been unavailable due to rights issues, comes to the Croisette with new revelations about the technical challenges faced during its meticulous preservation.

In the film, a hard-boiled cop (Chow) who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers, goes on a mission to catch them. To get closer to the ringleaders, he joins forces with an undercover cop (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) who’s working as a gangster hitman. Together, they use all means of excessive force to find them.

“‘Hard Boiled’ and all 156 films in the Golden Princess library have...

“I’m going to miss being disreputable,” Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell grumbles to Tom Cruise’s now-iconic superspy after their first of many impossible missions. It’s 1996 and these brazen upstarts sip beer outside a pub, preparing to part ways forever. “Well, Luther,” Ethan assures with a smirk, “if it makes you feel any better, I’ll always think of you that way.” It’s a lovely, quiet moment, germinating the earnest warmth that makes Mission: Impossible endure.

That endurance, longevity, and the ever-increasing scope they persist under both fuel and plague Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. In its aims, director Chris McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendersen’s script serves as a capstone to this monumental action franchise. It also attempts the semblance of a standalone film, accessible to any viewer who is (for some reason) fresh to the series in its eighth, presumably ultimate entry. One sympathizes; the...

Nearly 75 years have passed since the release of arguably one of the greatest movies ever made, and a stone-cold classic of film noir — Sunset Boulevard. Directed by Billy Wilder, who would go on to helm other Oscar winners like Marilyn Monroe's Some Like it Hot and the Jack Lemmon rom-com The Apartment, the feature was a sensation from the moment of its release in 1950, earning 11 Academy Award nominations, three wins, and, eventually, was among the first films to be preserved in the National Film Registry. Yet, one thing the cinematic masterpiece has lacked is a proper restoration in 4K Ultra HD for modern viewers. That's about to change this summer with a new physical and digital release. Collider can exclusively share the official trailer made from restored footage of the Paramount classic.

Immediately, the trailer whisks viewers back to Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, which is looking crisper than ever.

The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its public-oriented Cinéma de la Plage sidebar at its 78th edition kicking off next week.

The sidebar will screen a selection of films, many of which have past Cannes connections, on the big screen on the beach beside the Palais des Festivals.

The titles include Terrence Malick’s drama A Hidden Life about Austrian conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter, which premiered at in Competition at the festival in 2019,

Older selections include King Vidor’s 1946 classic Dual in the Sun, presented and restored by Walt Disney Studios in association with The Film Foundation, with the participation of The George Eastman Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, and the involvement of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

Further highlights include Japanese animation director Mamoru Oshii’s 1985 animated feature Angel’s Egg to mark the 40 th anniversary of its release, Oshii is best known internationally...

Quentin Tarantino will be the guest of honour at Cannes Classics, the repertory cinema strand of Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection.

Tarantino will present two western films by George Sherman – 1949’s Red Canyon, and 1950’s Comanche Territory – and will take part in a discussion with critic and filmmaker Elvis Mitchell.

Scroll down for the full selection of Cannes Classics titles

The Classics lineup includes the Cannes pre-opening film, a 4K restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 The Gold Rush, restored by the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory at the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna. Mk2 Films is arranging a worldwide re-release of the...

A documentary on Shia Labeouf’s acting school, conversation with Quentin Tarantino about George Sherman, tribute to the late David Lynch and Mariska Hargitay’s feature directorial debut are among the highlights of this year’s Cannes Classics lineup, revealed on Wednesday.

“Slauson Rec,” a documentary from Leo Lewis O’Neil about Labeouf’s controversial free acting school he launched in L.A. in 2018, will screen in the presence of both O’Neil and Labeouf. The film has already caused a stir, with O’Neil’s recent interview with Vanity Fair about the project revealing that scenes are included of Labeouf’s alleged physical violence toward members of the experimental theater collective. As O’Neil told Vanity Fair, he sent a trailer for the project to Labeouf seeking his sign-off on it, and the actor gave his full blessing.

In a statement to Vanity Fair, Labeouf said: “I gave Leo this...

Distributor CineAsia is preparing to release the action drama Stuntman on digital platforms next month. The movie is a tribute to classic Hong Kong cinema and the world of stunts. The story centers around a washed-up action choreographer whose career has stalled. The industry has changed and no one seems to be returning his phone calls anymore. That’s when he gets the idea to stage an epic comeback, a stunt that will grab the attention of everyone and prove he’s still got it. There are other problems in his life though…in the process, he must find a way to repair the relationship with his estranged daughter. Stuntman stars Terrance Lau and Philip Ng. Also starring is stunt veteran Stephen Tung Wai, a seven-time winner of Best Action Choreography at the Hong Kong Film Awards, making his on-camera return after seven years. The cast also features Cecilia Choi and Rachel Leung.

The action cinema of John Wick, Havoc and John Woo’s The Killer has constantly evolved as it’s travelled between filmmakers and eras.

Now on Netflix, writer-director Gareth Evans’ Havoc is an ultra-violent stew of influences. It’s set in a benighted US city, but was shot in Wales; its bullet-strewn action is directly inspired by Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo.

Then again, action cinema has always been a particularly international genre, taking in disparate bits of American westerns, low-key French thrillers and more besides. When John Woo directed A Better Tomorrow, released in 1986, its contemporary gangland setting and ferocious shoot-outs changed the look and feel of action cinema forever. Widely credited with inventing what was later dubbed the ‘heroic bloodshed’ genre, it made a star out of its lead, Chow Yun-fat.

Woo continued to hone his signature style – slow-motion photography, close-quarters action, and his characters’ habit of holding...

Yesterday it was revealed that Shout Factory is bringing a plethora of Hong Kong action titles to 4K with new Ultra HD Blu-rays. Among these releases were the Chow Yun-Fat classics, Hard Boiled, The Killer, City on Fire and the A Better Tomorrow trilogy. Blu-ray.com now has the details of special features and specs on the Jet Li Collection that was also announced. The collection is due to hit retailers on July 29.

“For the upcoming Hong Kong Cinema Classics releases, Shout! Studios, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Film Archives, has been working diligently to remaster and restore several prized hits, all scanned in stunning 4K from the original camera negatives. The video and audio have been restored, and the subtitles have been newly translated. With fans in mind, Shout! Studios is currently producing a variety of bonus content for each physical media release for this numbered and deluxe home entertainment series.

Shout! Studios is punching Monday in the face with brass knuckles by announcing an outstanding action film initiative with Hong Kong Cinema Classics! The celebration of Hong Kong action classics includes 4K presentations on Digital and physical media featuring iconic filmmakers, time-honored films, and many of the action genre’s legendary badasses of the silver screen.

The Hong Kong Cinema Classics collection brings films like Hard Boiled, City on Fire, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, Fist of Legend, Peking Opera Blues, and more to the stage!

Per today’s press release from Shout! Studios:

Hong Kong cinema in the ’80s and ’90s, renowned for its thrilling action choreography, distinctive visual styles, and emotional storytelling, represents a remarkable era in cinematic history, whose crime thrillers, martial arts classics, and action films, in particular, have left an indelible mark on Hollywood, profoundly influencing everything from Quentin Tarantino’s...

In a major boon for action film enthusiasts and physical media collectors, Shout! Studios is launching a new entertainment label dedicated to restored Hong Kong cinema classics.

The Hong Kong Cinema Classics line will spotlight a treasure trove of Hong Kong cinematic masterpieces, beginning with digital 4K releases in June before expanding to definitive-edition physical media.

The move comes on the back of Shout! Studios nabbing worldwide rights (excluding select Asian territories) to the coveted Golden Princess movie library.

The digital rollout begins June 24, while the label’s first physical release will be “The Jet Li Collection,” a 10-disc 4K Uhd + Blu-ray box set arriving July 29. This comprehensive set features five of the martial arts superstar’s seminal Hong Kong films: “Fist of Legend,” “Tai Chi Master,” “Fong Sai Yuk,” “Fong Sai Yuk II,” and “The Bodyguard from Beijing.” The lavish collection includes new interviews, audio commentaries, vintage featurettes and more special features.

Shout! Studios has unveiled Hong Kong Cinema Classics Line, “a new entertainment label spotlighting a treasure trove of Hong Kong’s most captivating and cinematic masterpieces on digital entertainment platforms in 4K and definitive-edition physical releases (Uhd and Blu-ray) for collectors’ home entertainment shelves,” according to the official release. The first titles will be released this summer.

The home video company “in collaboration with the Hong Kong Film Archives, has been working diligently to remaster and restore several prized hits, all scanned in stunning 4K from the original camera negatives. The video and audio have been restored, and the subtitles have been newly translated. With fans in mind, Shout! Studios is currently producing a variety of bonus content for each physical media release for this numbered and deluxe home entertainment series.”

Many of these titles have long been out-of-print or unavailable in the west, so to have them with brand-new...

Jessica Mei Li is wreaking Havoc — literally. Whew. And that was violent, huh? If you’re here, I’m gonna go ahead and assume you’ve already watched Netflix’s latest gut-punch action flick, Havoc, where Jessica Mei Li and Tom Hardy tear up the screen like it’s nobody’s business.

Now, you’re probably wondering: why am I writing about Jessie Mei Li? What went down behind the scenes? And most importantly, who really deserves the credit for her absolute takeover?

Quick rundown: She first made waves leading Netflix’s fantasy hit Shadow and Bone — but Havoc? This was her first real foray into blockbuster chaos. And she crushed it. The thing is, Jessie’s kind of shy by nature. When Shadow and Bone dropped and catapulted her into the spotlight, she was admittedly overwhelmed. But fast forward to today, and it’s pure ‘Veni, Vidi, Vici’ energy.

While we’ve been hearing about Gareth Evans’s Havoc since 2021, it’s finally made its long-awaited debut on Netflix this week. Action fans have been waiting with bated breath for this one, with it the director’s first all-out action movie since The Raid 2, with his most recent film Apostle being a detour into horror. At the same time, he also tackled the TV series, Gangs of London (which has plenty of bone-crunching action of its own).

While The Raid films mainly relied on martial arts for the action sequences, Havoc is done in a different style, with Evans revealing that it’s his tribute to the heroic bloodshed genre that rose to prominence in the 1980s, and made Chow Yun-Fat into perhaps the era’s great action hero.

“I love the Hong Kong heroic bloodshed genre. I grew up watching those movies, where it was John Woo,...

Jessie Mei Li is, admittedly, a little shy. So when Netflix’s hit fantasy adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s bestselling Shadow and Bone series presented her to the world in the show’s lead role, the star was quickly overwhelmed.

“I’d gone from being just Jessie Mei from Redhill to suddenly being recognized,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is for me.'”

But, thanks to the close bonds cultivated with her fellow cast members as they filmed on the streets of Budapest, Li managed to adapt. She’s staying put in showbiz, and now finds herself as Hardy’s right-hand man in the streaming giant’s newest action thriller Havoc.

Released on Netflix on Apr. 25, Gareth Evans’ Havoc stars Hardy as jaded detective Walker Mackey working in Hong Kong. After a drug deal goes awry, he must fight his way...

"Havoc," the new action film from writer/director Gareth Evans, has been on /Film's most anticipated movies of the year list for about four years. When we first learned Tom Hardy would be teaming up with the filmmaker behind "The Raid" for a movie about a journey into a corrupt underworld, we were thrilled. But thanks to Covid, the strikes, and some good old fashioned scheduling issues, it's taken much longer than we expected to actually see the movie. The film is finally on Netflix as of today, and while your mileage may vary on how it turned out as a whole (you can read /Film's full review of "Havoc" here), action junkies will almost certainly be enthralled by several of the movie's incredible setpieces -- despite the bullet count not always exactly matching up with what you see on screen.

I recently caught up with Evans to talk to him about designing those setpieces,...

At first, “Havoc” sounds like just another one of those generic, one-word titles Hollywood slaps on action movies to convey a terse, efficient shoot-’em-up. Why give such projects a long-winded name like “A Clear and Present Danger” or “Every Which Way but Loose” when you can find something punchy like “Taken,” “Crank” or “Drive”? Look it up in the dictionary, however, and “havoc” doesn’t simply mean “devastation” (of which there is plenty in “The Raid” director Gareth Evans’ excessively violent Netflix outing), but also some mix of confusion, mayhem and all-around disorder (which spoils whatever fun a couple over-the-top set-pieces deliver).

Looking worse for wear than Bruce Willis’ tank top at the end of “Die Hard,” Tom Hardy fully commits to the walking stereotype that is Walker, the least bad cop working Christmas Eve in a city that a) doesn’t exist, b) seems to be modeled on...

Jack Quaid plays the central character Nathan Caine in his new action film, Novocaine. His character suffers from a rare disorder, congenital insensitivity to pain (Cip), which prevents him from feeling any sort of pain. When the girl of his dreams gets kidnapped during a bank robbery, his condition becomes one of his greatest strengths in his journey to rescue her.

Jack Quaid as Nathan Caine in Novocaine | Credits: Paramount Pictures

One of the inspirations for Quaid to take on this action role is Keanu Reeves’ John Wick. He shared that he wanted to be part of movies like John Wick 4 and when the script of Novocaine was presented to him, he jumped at the opportunity. Prey fame Amber Midthunder plays the female lead in the film.

Jack Quaid took on the role in Novocaine after Keanu Reeves’ John Wick inspired him Keanu Reeves in a still from John...

Spoiler Alert !!!This article contains spoilers for Sakamoto Days Episode 4.

There are both good parts and bad parts to a series. For Sakamoto Days, the anime is divided into parts that the fans would immediately adore and those they would otherwise be averted by. Many could criticize the still animation while others could point out how off the pacing was in this episode. My biggest complaint is the lack of an overall theme. Usually, I am good at spotting the thematic concerns of each episode, which I personally find to be the best part.

Sakamoto Days | Credit: Tms Entertainment

Episode 4 somehow robbed me of that. Either I am too dense to realize what it was, or there really wasn’t one for me to break down and overthink about. Sakamoto’s daughter is perhaps the most adorable little girl I have seen in anime for a long time. It would...

The following contains spoilers for Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 4, “Hard-Boiled,” streaming now on Netflix.

Sakamoto Days is in its fourth episode, and viewers have yet to learn what makes Taro Sakamoto such a legendary figure in the assassin community. Only the past can provide that answer, and the story makes inroads into the secretive world of assassins through borrowed memories of embarrassing encounters. Old rivalries stir the pot already up to the brim with rising action and suspenseful turn of events as new characters enter the fray. It is everything one can expect from an action-packed shonen anime where lighthearted fun keeps the audience invested.

More assassins join Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 4 as the story continues with its main objective of killing Taro Sakamoto. But as it stands, the episode is poised to make professional killers look like stand-up comics as serious attempts on Sakamoto's life become the funniest snafu.

The following contains spoilers for Sakamoto Days Season 1, Episode 4, "Hard-Boiled," streaming now on Netflix.

As Sakamoto Days Season 1 continues, Taro Sakamoto finds himself with a new mission. Initially, he retired from the assassin life, got married to Aoi, and had young Hana. It was a simpler, much more peaceful way of living. He wanted to get away from the bloodshed; granted, a lot was because of Aoi's ultimatum if he wanted to marry her.

However, there is trouble knocking on Taro's doorstep in the present. The Japanese Association of Assassins wants him dead for turning his back on them. They think he broke the rules when he left their fraternity, shaping a John Wick-like anime. However, Taro remains undeterred. He has new charges to protect, as well as his kin, but he knows he can handle it. As contract killers come for him, the show focuses on the theme...

Early Hong Kong classics from Jet Li, including works from celebrated filmmakers Gordon Chan, Yuen Woo-ping (perhaps best known by western audiences for his work on “The Matrix”) and Corey Yuen will finally arrive on digital 4K on Feb. 18, courtesy of Shout! Studios in collaboration with Li.

The releases include 1994’s “Fist of Legend,” 1993’s “Tai Chi Master,” “The Legend” and “The Legend 2,” and 1994’s “The Bodyguard From Beijing.” These are the movies that made Li an international superstar and paved the way for him to appear in western blockbusters like “Lethal Weapon 4,” “Romeo Must Die,” “The One” and “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” along with Sylvester Stallone’s “Expendables” franchise.

“Thanks to our new partner Shout! Studios, movie fans can now easily enjoy these entertaining films in stunning 4K on various digital platforms. I hope a new generation of audiences will be introduced to these...

In the wake of the legendary David Lynch's passing, social media timelines flooded with tributes to the influential filmmaker, often utilizing screenshots and gifs from his immaculate body of work. However, another image made the rounds with just as much fervor -- namely, that of Pamela Anderson in the hallowed grounds of the Criterion Closet with the subtitle "We love David Lynch." Anderson had made her visit to the famed closet as part of the awards campaign for "The Last Showgirl," a way for movie lovers to admire (or judge) her taste in cinema. Indeed, countless creatives have made their way to the Criterion Closet since Guillermo del Toro was first filmed making his selections back in 2010, with many calling it a "dream come true."

When Criterion announced that it would celebrate its 40th anniversary by replicating the Closet with a portable Closet van, cinephiles across the country started...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSInland Empire.Former MoviePass CEO Ted Farnsworth pleaded guilty to defrauding the company’s investors by making “materially false and misleading representations” of the company’s operations. In the words of a Justice Department official, Farnsworth “concealed that MoviePass’s subscription model was a money-losing gimmick and falsely claimed that [the company] used artificial intelligence to monetize MoviePass’s subscriber data,” the latter tactic described as “AI washing.”Shout! Studios has acquired the worldwide rights to the Golden Princess movie library, a collection of 156 Hong Kong action cinema classics that have been unavailable in Western markets for decades. The collection includes John Woo classics like The Killer (1989), Bullet in the Head (1990), and Hard Boiled (1992), as well as Tsui Hark’s...

Incredible news for international action fans this morning. Variety reported this morning that Shout! Factory have announced that they acquired the worldwide rights for Golden Princess' 156-film library. In this library are essential action titles from John Woo, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark and Johnnie To. In a major move set to electrify action film aficionados, Shout! Studios has nabbed worldwide rights (excluding select Asian territories) to the coveted Golden Princess movie library, a treasure trove of 156 Hong Kong cinema classics that’s been Mia from Western markets for decades. The acquisition’s crown jewels include Woo’s action masterpieces “Hard Boiled,” “The Killer,” the complete “Better Tomorrow” trilogy, “Bullet in the Head” and “Once a Thief.” The library also boasts Ringo Lam’s “City on Fire,”...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

What is quite obviously the best film news of 2025 thus far (and will be tough to beat in the foreseeable future) comes via Variety, who tell us Shout! Studios have acquired worldwide rights (minus certain Asian territories) to 156 films owned by Hong Kong’s legendary Golden Princess, comprising the likes of John Woo, Johnnie To, Tsui Hark, and Ringo Lam, to say nothing of filmmakers whose work’s been long sequestered from western eyes and is finally receiving due attention. For those who consider Hong Kong cinema between the ’80s and ’90s something of a peak for the medium itself (hello) this is a nice leavening effect the same month Los Angeles burns and Donald Trump becomes President once more.

One might expect it’ll take a second for any library so vast as Golden Princess’ to arrive. Restoration plans are unclear, minus the notice that Shout! looks to “remaster...

Home video distributor Shout! Studios has acquired the worldwide rights (excluding select Asian territories) to the Golden Princess movie library – a deal that Variety reports will “electrify action film aficionados” because the Golden Princess library is “a treasure trove of 156 Hong Kong cinema classics that’s been Mia from Western markets for decades. The deal, which brings together Hollywood’s indie powerhouse with one of Hong Kong cinema’s most prestigious catalogs, includes genre-defining works from directing legends John Woo and Tsui Hark, alongside star-studded vehicles featuring Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Leslie Cheung.“

The line-up that is now in the hands of Shout! Studios includes “Woo’s action masterpieces Hard Boiled, The Killer, the complete Better Tomorrow trilogy, Bullet in the Head, and Once a Thief. The library also boasts Ringo Lam’s City on Fire, Prison on Fire and its sequel; Eric Tsang’s Aces Go Places...

In a major move set to electrify action film aficionados, Shout! Studios has nabbed worldwide rights (excluding select Asian territories) to the coveted Golden Princess movie library, a treasure trove of 156 Hong Kong cinema classics that’s been Mia from Western markets for decades.

The deal, which brings together Hollywood’s indie powerhouse with one of Hong Kong cinema’s most prestigious catalogs, includes genre-defining works from directing legends John Woo and Tsui Hark, alongside star-studded vehicles featuring Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Leslie Cheung.

The acquisition’s crown jewels include Woo’s action masterpieces “Hard Boiled,” “The Killer,” the complete “Better Tomorrow” trilogy, “Bullet in the Head” and “Once a Thief.” The library also boasts Ringo Lam’s “City on Fire,” “Prison on Fire” and its sequel; Eric Tsang’s “Aces Go Places”; Tsui’s “Peking Opera Blues”; Tony Ching’s “Chinese Ghost Story” trilogy; and additional hits...

Spoiler Alert for NCIS season 22, episode 7, "Hardboiled"

Agent Parker refers to Leroy Jethro Gibbs in NCIS season 22, and the comment shows how Mark Harmon's legacy is getting in the way of Gary Cole's character taking control of the team. Cole assumed the lead role in the CBS procedural after Mark Harmon exited NCIS in season 19, episode 4, "Great Wide Open," with the Office Space actor playing a fundamental role in the plot that bids Gibbs farewell. After a case takes Gibbs and McGee to Alaska, the agent in charge decides to stay in Naktok Bay due to his newfound sense of peace.

NCIS introduces Parker in tandem with Gibbs' swan song plot, making him the FBI agent tasked with arresting the McRt leader. Ultimately, Parker refuses to arrest Gibbs and gets fired from the FBI. Coincidentally, however, he takes Gibbs' place after McGee refuses the role. NCIS season 22...

It's Tom Hanks vs. Tom Cruise as beloved film Forrest Gump has beaten several Mission: Impossible movies on Pluto, per Flix Patrol. As film lovers around the world celebrate New Year's Day, what could be better than streaming some classic movies?

Forrest Gump is number one on Pluto's streaming charts, followed by the first four Mission: Impossible films. It's Hanks vs. Cruise, with one Tom taking the streaming crown. Also topping the chart on the first day of the year are two John Travolta classics, Grease and Pulp Fiction.

Hanks' film was an instant and beloved classic when it debuted during a fairly busy summer of 1994. Among the box office hits were Forrest Gump, The Lion King, True Lies, and The Maverick. Directed by Robert Zemeckis from a script by Eric Roth (Dune: Part One), who adapted the novel by Winston Groom, the movie follows Forrest Gump, a man with a low Iq,...

Feature films have not been kind to the Looney Tunes. There was a time when the wacky adventures of Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny and their animated pals were the best and funniest shorts on the silver screen, an era that lasted decades. But most of their longer movies were repackaged classic skits, thinly strung together by new bookend material based on whatever movie or TV show was hot at the time, like “Fantasy Island” or “Ghostbusters.” Then of course there were the “Space Jam” films, two of the most creatively bankrupt and shamelessly tacky brand exploitations in the history of [checks notes] everything.

Until now the only great “Looney Tunes” feature was the one that completely flopped, Joe Dante’s inspired and hilarious “Back in Action,” which smartly skewered the callow capitalism that made the “Space Jam” movies a cinematic crime. The new film, “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie,...

The details for the new NCIS episode have been released. While many shows are already on winter hiatus, CBS continues airing NCIS installments throughout December.

Hardboiled (the previous NCIS episode) featured Agent Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) protecting a surprising informant.

Previous episodes of NCIS are streaming on Paramount+, so any fans who missed the December 2 episode can catch up there.

The new NCIS episode debuts on Monday, December 9. The upcoming episode is called Out of Control and is the penultimate (new) episode for 2024.

CBS has also released sneak peek footage from the upcoming episode, giving fans an early look at some important scenes.

Only one new episode remains after this one, with the NCIS fall finale arriving on December 16. Then, the show begins its long winter break before returning in 2025.

NCIS Season 22, Episode 8 synopsis (Out of Control)

“NCIS investigates a murder related to a car that begins driving on...

The following contains major spoilers from NCIS Season 22, Episode 7, "Hardboiled," which debuted Monday, Dec. 2 on CBS.

NCIS Season 22, Episode 7, "Hardboiled" is an episode that might divide fans. On one hand, it's a solidly entertaining installment of the CBS show, and one that avoids several very obvious pitfalls. On the other, it's an hour that doesn't make great use of the series' main cast, making them feel more like supporting players in the guest characters' story.

"Hardboiled" centers around one of Nick Torres' confidential informants, who becomes the lead suspect when her husband is found dead. But it doesn't dig too deeply into Torres, or any of the NCIS team. Instead, it's Sara Paxton's character Amber Carnahan who's front and center. While the script serves her well, it's also hard not to want more from the folks who have helped keep NCIS so popular.

NCIS Season 22, Episode 7 Is Meant to...