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Sammo Hung has seen it all. From battling Bruce Lee on screen in “Enter the Dragon” (1973) to bossing Donnie Yen behind the camera as the action director of “Ip Man” (2008), the legendary martial artist now wields influence as jury president of this year’s Asian Film Awards. The man who helped define Hong Kong action cinema for generations is now evaluating its future.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The 73-year-old action star, whose career spans over five decades, has transitioned seamlessly between acting, directing, and producing, crafting some of the most influential martial arts films in cinema history. When asked about the evolution of martial arts choreography from the classic Golden Harvest days to today’s spectacles, Hung remains philosophical. “I think there’s not much difference. It always evolves with time and evolves with trends,” Hung tells Variety.

Hung’s collaborations with Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao have produced countless iconic moments in action cinema.

From directing fantasy wuxia (“Martial Universe” and the “Demon Subduing Division” series) to modern day themed action adventures (“Blind War” and “The Comeback”) mainland director Huo is no stranger as far as online streaming movies go. However, with “Second Life”, which features Philip Ng and Yuen Qiu in the leads, he has given viewers a taste of old Hong Kong action comedy but made in China instead.

At the funeral of policeman Shi, the gang boss who had him killed shows up and pokes fun at his pregnant wife Liang Jie (Zhao Xiao Fei). The furious Liang kills him in the heat of the moment and ends up in the prison. A few months later she gives birth to a baby boy nicknamed “Jelly Noodles”. However, after his first birthday, the prison has him transferred to an orphanage. Fast forward thirty years, the much older Liang, (now played by Yuen...

In Cult Of Criterion, The A.V. Club highlights a new release from The Criterion Collection each month, examining the films entering an increasingly accessible film canon.

Only Sammo Hung could inject a grim Vietnam war movie with the kind of bouncy humor that always seems to accompany his regular troupe of acrobatic action heroes.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

Following last edition’s trip to Latvia, we are heading to Hong Kong with Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, a martial arts hit that is making waves at the global box office. Bolstered by an all-star cast, the film follows an illegal migrant, who is also a skilled fighter, as he finds a way to survive in the triad-ridden Kowloon Walled City, invoking Hong Kong’s martial arts movies of the past. Although concrete walls tower onscreen, the film’s success has scaled all blockades,...

Like much of actor-choreographer-director Sammo Hung’s work behind the camera, 1987’s Eastern Condors is a collision of disparate tones held together through sheer force of will. During the Vietnam War, a group of Chinese prisoners get a chance at parole and American citizenship if they undertake a secret mission to destroy a cache of weapons before they can fall into the hands of the Viet Cong. This sets up a standard war movie abundant in heroic sacrifice, last-stand shootouts, and archetype characters, but Hung brings his martial arts expertise and propensity for slapstick to a film otherwise keyed to the tragic human waste of war.

Proof of the influence that Hung, who stars in the film as Tung Ming-sun, wielded within the Hong Kong industry, the members of the ad hoc suicide squad at the film’s center are played by a who’s-who of stars and character actors,...

Jackie Chan had been an international star for the better part of a decade when he made 1983’s martial arts action comedy Project A, but it was with this film that he raised his profile to a global phenomenon. It was here that he first assembled the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and pushed his facility with both action choreography and precisely timed physical comedy into the extremes that defined many of his films throughout the 1980s and early ’90s.

Set at the end of the 19th century in a Hong Kong now fully consolidated as a British colony with the signing of a 99-year lease, the film follows Dragon Ma (Chan), a member of the maritime police who’s tasked with taking down a pirate ring responsible for smuggling weapons into the area. As Ma pursues his mission with chaotic zeal, he entangles himself in a rivalry with Hong (Yuen Biao...

The Asian Film Awards Academy (Afaa) and the Singapore Film Society announced today that Hong Kong's first-generation kung fu superstar Sammo Hung will visit Singapore for the Afaa's Masterclass Series and a number of activities at the upcoming 12th Singapore Chinese Film Festival (Scff). Director Sammo Hung's five important movie classics will be screened during Scff as the festival's first “Filmmaker in Focus” special segment.

Studied under Peking Opera master Yu Jim Yuen at a young age, Hung was the “big brother” of the famous Seven Little Fortunes. Under the guidance of a strict master, Hung learned the true skills behind the four basic techniques of traditional Chinese opera: Singing, reciting, acting and martial arts. His career as a young performer gave him the foundation for his future as an action superstar and cultivated his hardworking and dedicated persona.

Hung thinks that “achievements” mean a great deal to him, and...

Kung Fu Hustle

Kung Fu superstar Sammo Hung will deliver a masterclass on May 4 as part of the 12th Singapore Chinese Film Festival. He will also attend a mini-retrospective of his films. Hung studied under Peking Opera master Yu Jim Yuen at a young age and was the “big brother”’ to the China Drama Academy’s performance troupe known as the Seven Little Fortunes, whose members included Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu and Corey Yuen. He starred in “Painted Faces” (1988), which was based on his time in the Seven Little Fortunes.

Hung’s career as an actor, action choreographer, director and producer spans some 60 years. His acting credits include action comedies “Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog” and “Odd Couple,” paranormal horror comedies “Encounters of the Spooky Kind” and “The Dead and the Deadly,” comedy film series “Lucky Stars” and gangster action film “Shanghai, Shanghai.” In 1982, Hung won the...

Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche is the new president of the European Film Academy.

The Efa board on Thursday said they voted unanimously to name The English Patient and The Taste of Things star to succeed Polish director Agnieszka Holland (The Green Border) as president.

Binoche’s appointment will be put to a vote by Efa members and, assuming she receives majority support, she will take over as president on May 1, 2024.

The French star will be only the second female head of the Efa, after Holland, who took over the role in 2021, succeeding German director Wim Wenders.

“I am not a person to easily step aside, but I have come to the conclusion that I am a filmmaker first and foremost. And this is what I want to focus on in the years to come,” said Holland. “For me, it is time to step aside now. Knowing that Juliette Binoche...

This year’s Best International Feature Oscar race was filled with surprises, from Japan selecting a work from a German director (Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days”) as its official submission over work from homegrown legends like Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” to France picking Tran Anh Hung’s “The Taste of Things” over Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall.” And while “The Taste of Things” is remembered as one of the most acclaimed films of 2023, its star Juliette Binoche thinks that its Oscar submission led many people to unfairly criticize it.

In a new interview with the New York Times, Binoche spoke about the backlash that the film attracted for beating out Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” and what she thinks critics misunderstood about it.

“First of all, we didn’t choose to be selected — we were chosen in spite of ourselves,” Binoche said...

Recently there has been a spate of action movies centered around child trafficking/kidnapping. From Malaysia's “Walid” to Vietnam's “Foggy Mountain”, it's a subgenre taken directly from news headlines and provides plenty of opportunity for emotional drama amidst the carnage. With the imminent release in the west from Film Movement, we get an opportunity to take in another example but one with considerable pedigree. “578 Magnum” was the Vietnamese submission for the 95th Academy Awards for Best International Feature. So the question is, does it live up to the reputation?

578 Magnum is Premiering Via VOD, Digital & Film Movement Plus On February 23, 2024

Hung (Alexandre Nguyen) drives a truck,, accompanied by his daughter An. He leaves her at a school so can make his schedules only to find her taken by associates of Thai (Ngoc Tinh) when she tries to visit. Tracking Thai down, Hung kidnaps him in turn setting in motion a...

Juliette Binoche is finding the flavor of new love in “The Taste of Things.”

Written and directed by Tran Anh Hung, the film is officially France’s Oscars submission for the Best International Film category. “The Taste of Things,” formerly known as “The Pot-au-Feu,” premiered at 2023 Cannes.

Binoche and her ex-partner Benoît Magimel star as two chefs fall in love across 20 years in the 19th century; Hung adapted the romance drama from Marcel Rouffe’s 1924 novel “The Passionate Epicure.” The film marks Hung’s second Oscar entry, following 1993’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” where Hung made history as the first Vietnamese nominee.

Set in France in the late 19th century, the film follows the life of Dodin Bouffant (Magimel) as the preeminent chef living with his personal cook and lover Eugénie (Binoche). Eugénie and Dodin share a long history of gastronomy and love. While emotions remain contained, the culinary discoveries are,...

David Costabile has landed a big new recurring role on the upcoming season of USA Network’s breakout series Suits. He will play Jessica (Gina Torres) and Harvey’s (Gabriel Macht) former managing partner Daniel Hardman, a brilliant lawyer who, following the death of his wife, returns to the firm, which had been run by Jessica in his absence. In another major boss addition to a USA series, Rebecca Creskoff (Hung) has joined the upcoming season of CIA drama Covert Affairs, playing Annie’s (Piper Peribo) new boss/mentor. She is with Innovative and Steven Levy.

Mahershala Ali has been added to the cast of David Fincher’s Netflix drama series House Of Cards. The political thriller stars Kevin Spacey as Rep. Frank Underwood, the Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives who after being passed over for Secretary of State hatches a plot to bring down the new president.