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Malaysian director Bebbra Mailin’s local drama Ninavau is set to open the 8th Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest), which will be closed by Pia Marais’s Transamazonia.

The festival will take place in Kuala Lumpur from July 19-27 and has programmed 62 films from 48 countries, up from the 50 titles selected last year.

Opening film Ninavau marks Mailin’s feature directorial debut and is based on a short she directed in 2019. It tells the story of a Kadazan woman who returns from the peninsula to her devout Catholic family with a change of heart in a film that explores cultural identity.

Before becoming a director, Sam Wong Ming Sing was part of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. In addition to working as a stunt coordinator on “Rush Hour” and “Bodies at Rest”, he also choreographed numerous action titles including “Police Story 3: Supercop”, “Project S”, and “Shanghai Grand”. Wong made his directorial debut with “Choy Lee Fut” or “Fight the Fight” in 2011, starring Sammo Hung.

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A Hong Kong and mainland China iQIYI co-production with a star-studded cast, “Man on the Edge” revolves around the conflict between the police and a powerful local gang. As 1997 approaches and Hong Kong’s British colonial era nears its end, change and chaos are imminent. Lam Yin Cheong, the leader of the San Luen Sing triad society, plans to retire and wants his old friend and lieutenant Lok Chi Ming (Richie Jen), who once took a fall for him, to take over and lead their brothers forward.

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...

Directed by Ronny Yu and featuring a young Brandon Lee in the lead role, “Legacy of Rage” was also his only Hong Kong production. American actor Lee, trained in Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun, and Muay Thai, was the son of the legendary martial arts icon Bruce Lee. After returning to America, he went on to star in “Showdown in Little Tokyo” (1991), “Rapid Fire” (1992), and “The Crow” (1994).

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In this revenge-driven story, Brandon Ma (Brandon Lee) and May (Regina Kent) are a happy couple living in a small apartment. Ma loves motorbikes and works two jobs—a car wrecker during the day and a waiter at night. May also works at the same nightclub as a dancer. Their wealthy friend, Michael (Michael Wong), enjoys spending time with them, believing he can win May over. Unaware that Michael’s father, Boss Yee (Michael...

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...

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,...

Tsui Hark is a great director. Tsui Hark is a great actor (here the most expert will immediately mention Final Victory by Patrick Tam). Tsui Hark is a great producer. But Tsui Hark is first of all a Great Dreamer. A tireless creator of wonders who, from the late 80s to today, has continually rewritten the expressed codes of entertainment and the rules of the mainstream industry (let’s not forget the Hollywood experiences with Van Damme: Double Team and Knock Off). A brilliant activist of the Hong Kong New Wave who has constantly reinvented himself, project after project, always looking “further ahead”. Eyes wide open to the future but a heart deeply tied to roots and tradition.

Tsui Hark will present the super fantasy “Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants” and will receive the Far East Film Festival Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement from celebrated China-Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-Fai!

Acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark is set to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Italy’s Udine.

The director, known for blockbusters The Battle at Lake Changjin, Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back and the Detective Dee film series, will receive the Golden Mulberry Award at the festival on April 30.

The award will be presented by Tony Leung Ka-Fai, who appears in Tsui’s latest martial arts film, Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants. The feature, which was acquired by Sony Pictures International Productions, will screen at...

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.

The 18th Asian Film Awards proudly announces this year’s recipients of the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award —Korean screen icon Jang Dong-gunand acclaimed Chinese actress Tang Wei. Recognised for their remarkable achievements and lasting contributions to Asian cinema, both esteemed actors will attend the awards ceremony on March 16 at the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District to accept this prestigious honour.

Jang Dong-gun expressed his gratitude, saying, “It is a tremendous honour to receive this award, and I sincerely thank the Asian Film Awards for this recognition. Having my three-decade acting career acknowledged is deeply meaningful and inspires me to keep going. I look forward to sharing this joy with everyone in Hong Kong.” Tang Wei also shared her excitement, stating, “I am truly grateful to the Asian Film Awards for recognising my work. Hong Kong has always been special to me, and I...

The Asian Film Awards has unveiled Korean veteran actor Jang Dong-gun and Chinese actress Tang Wei as this year’s recipients of the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award, which will be presented during the awards ceremony in Hong Kong on March 16.

With more than 30 years in the film and television industry, Jang has starred in top Korean films like Friend, Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, No Tears for the Dead and A Normal Family, among others. He has also acted alongside Hong Kong talent like Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse in Chen Kaige’s pan-Asian production The Promise and reunited with Cheung in Dangerous Liaisons.

Tang played leading roles in Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave and Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. She also co-starred with Chris Hemsworth in Michael Mann’s Blackhat and worked on numerous Hong Kong productions and co-productions like The Golden Era, Office...

Although he has been working in Hong Kong cinema since the late ‘60s, the legend of director John Woo truly kicked off with A Better Tomorrow in 1986. The success achieved critically and commercially not only made actor Chow Yun-fat into a megastar overnight but also invented a new genre of cinema known as "heroic bloodshed." Like any blockbuster hit that captures the cultural zeitgeist, A Better Tomorrow II was produced to strike while the iron was hot.

South Korea’s Contents Panda is launching upcoming horror features Incarnation and The Second Child at the EFM, meeting the rising appetite for genre titles from Asia.

Incarnation centres on a nun who teams with a detective to investigate a series of suicides, which they discover is linked to a curse. The cast is led by Stephanie Lee of The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful, which proved a box office hit in 2019, and Lee Shin-seong, whose credits include Commitment (2013) and A Better Tomorrow (2010).

This film incorporates elements of Vietnamese horror, including rituals and spirits, tapping into a hugely popular genre...

Hing-Ka Chan is a rare breed of filmmaker and writer. He masterfully juggles humor, drama, and social commentary. By the end of the film you realise what an insight you’ve had into each of the characters, but during it? You never even have to work. His films are sharp, witty, and packed with surprises. Whether you’re here for the laughs, the layered storytelling, or just curious about his work, keep reading. I guarantee you’ll find out something new about this talented director.

Poker King (2009)

Poker King tells the story of a man who had no real interest in his family’s casino business until he tried to learn how to play poker online. After finding a passion for Texas Hold’em, he ends up competing to be crowned the Poker King. It doesn’t sound terribly deep, but it’s one of Hing-Ka Chan’s more poignant films.

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...

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...

While the downfall of physical media has been predicted time and time again, 2024 has proved the opposite with many impressive and interesting releases, not juts Asian titles. However, when it comes to Asian cinema many boutique labels especially have given film-lovers the opportunity to (re-)discover many gems of the cinematic landscapes of Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand to name but a few. The following list may serve as an overview of some of these releases, some of which may stand representative of a whole catalogue from a production company.

Without further ado, let’s delve into the list of the 30 best physical media releases of Asian cinema in 2024, in random order

1. Seven Samurai (BFI)

Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece certainly needs no introduction and its release on 4k was one of the most anticipated releases for connoisseurs of Asian cinema. While there is also the Criterion edition of the film,...

In 1986, a virtually unknown film with a tight budget became a blockbuster and broke box office records in Hong Kong and Asia. The film, “A Better Tomorrow” also made its star Chow Yun Fat an overnight success and launched him into the big league of the Asian film industry. Furthermore it also gave co-star, a Shaw Brothers veteran, Ti Lung‘s career a much welcoming boost.

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After the huge success of its predecessor, a sequel with the same cast returning soon hit the big screens. The filmmakers had to bring Chow back due to his popularity. The problem was, they killed off Mark, the character he played in the previous film, so he returns as Ken, Mark’s long lost twin brother. John Woo was also back as director but it was a troubled shoot since producer Tsui Hark was...

What are some of the movies that come to mind if somebody mentions the word “siblings”? To be specific, movies with plots that hinge on the sibling dynamic instead of just having siblings in it. If you pick from the crime drama genre, there are Deewar, A Better Tomorrow, and Fiza. If you move towards the action genre, there’s Main Hoon Na, Karan Arjun, and Warrior. If you look at horror films, you’ll get Crimson Peak, Evil Dead Rise, and Nope. If fantasy is your thing, then there’s The Chronicles of Narnia franchise, the Spy Kids franchise, and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. If you are wondering about step siblings, then you have Cruel Intentions and Step Brothers. And if you want to go into the realm of taboo, you can try out Close My Eyes. Now, even though it may seem like the...

A stunt choreographer tries to recapture his 80s and 90s youth in a movie that pays tribute to Hong Kong action cinema. Our Stuntman review:

Exploring similar territory to this summer’s The Fall Guy, but made with less noisy bombast, Stuntman is a heartfelt ode to the golden age of Hong Kong action cinema. It opens with what looks strikingly like the climactic set-piece in Jackie Chan’s 1985 masterpiece, Police Story – a bruising fight in a shopping mall, with hoodlums being side-kicked down escalators and sent crashing into glass display cases. This, we later learn, is the set of mid-90s martial arts crime movie Operation Vulture, on which Sam (Stephen Tung) was at the height of his powers as a stunt choreographer.

During the making of that film, however, a high-wire stunt involving a leap from a bridge and a moving truck went catastrophically wrong, almost fatally injuring...

Exclusive: Legendary director John Woo has signed with Independent Artist Group. Famous for his pioneering work in the Hong Kong action genre stamped with balletic scenes of stylized violence that inspired a generation of Hollywood films, Woo just directed the remake of his signature film The Killer. The new one stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Sam Worthington and was released by Universal Internationally and ran on Peacock domestically.

Last year Woo directed the Lionsgate action thriller Silent Night, which starred Joel Kinneman as a man bent on revenge, but unable to speak.

Woo has always split time directing in both North America and China over an illustrious career that began with the Hong Kong action classics A Better Tomorrow, Bullet In The Head, Hard Boiled, and The Killer. He was courted by Hollywood, where his films have included Broken Arrow, starring John Travolta and Christian Slater, Face/Off, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage,...

It’s been four decades since The Terminator first blasted onto the big screen – seemingly from the future – and propelled writer-director James Cameron to the big time. Now, for its landmark anniversary, Empire celebrates cinema’s greatest cyborg in the November 2024 issue, featuring a major new candid Cameron interview, and much more.

The issue doesn’t hit shelves until Thursday 26 September – order online here – but in the meantime here’s a sneak peek inside its pages.

The Terminator At 40

For 40 years now, The Terminator has been unstoppable. Empire celebrates cinema's ultimate cyborg in a huge new James Cameron interview – talking the franchise’s ongoing legacy; Cameron’s most prominent thematic preoccupations; his changing relationship with the original film; and what the Terminator’s future holds.

Plus, producer Gale Anne Hurd writes exclusively for Empire, remembering the casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and how he boosted The Terminator to iconic status.

Paddington In Peru...

Netflix’s 2024 batch of family crime dramas have been quite the test of patience. Things started off pretty rocky with Fool Me Once, which featured rich people doing murderous things (I watched it in January and I don’t remember the details). That was followed by The Brothers Sun, which was packed with some of the most enjoyable stunts and a lot of heartwrenching mother-son drama. The streaming platform lulled me into a sense of comfort with the equally amazing House of Ninjas, which was about, you guessed it, a family full of Shinobi facing a deadly threat. Then, things started to go off the rails. Eric was all over the place. Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper established some sort of stability. But the triple-punch delivered by The Accident, The Perfect Couple, and Blood Legacy demolished the genre’s reputation. And, while I thought they were done with this nonsense, now...

John Woo, the director of such classic action movies as The Killer, Hard Boiled, Face/Off, and A Better Tomorrow, is swapping guns for song-and-dance routines in his next movie. Partnering with the cult music duo the Sparks, Woo is looking to venture into the musical genre in his next untitled project. While the announcement comes as a surprise from those expecting another action thriller, for fans who love how bonkers Woo's movies can be, it marks a welcome surprise as the filmmaker continues to evolve.

Speaking to Empire, John Woo addressed his new musical movie. Apparently taking a page out of Lady Gaga's book, the director was hesitant to label his next film as a full-blown musical. "My next project is actually a half-musical," Woo said, which is currently undergoing re-writes. Most surprisingly, the Sparks brothers (the duo behind the '70s hit "This Town Ain't Big Enough for...

Director John Woo is a name synonymous with action-packed cinema and stylized violence. Once a Hollywood favorite, known for his unique brand of gunfights, slow-motion scenes, and explosive action sequences, Woo helmed some bonafide blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible 2 and Face/Off.

Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in Face/Off. | Paramount Pictures

However, despite his early success, Woo underwent a bit of a Hollywood exit after a Ben Affleck flick that made around $117 million at the box office. This, against a budget of $60 million, was seen as a failure, which led to a lack of offers for the director himself.

Woo himself believes that the failure of a couple of his later projects, including Paycheck, led to his status as an action movie pioneer being overlooked.

John Woo was highly-rated in the Hollywood for his action films

John Woo. | John Woo, Instagram

Woo’s journey from Hong Kong to Hollywood led...

Some people think remakes have to be as good as or even better than the original to be worth making, but that’s a high bar and it’s covered in vaseline. All a remake actually has to do is justify its own existence. Maybe it’s got a new style, maybe it’s got a new context, but either way there just needs to be some reason to watch this new version instead of the old one, at least once.

Unfortunately, the only reason I can think of to watch John Woo’s Peacock-exclusive remake of “The Killer” is because it’s the only version that’s currently available on streaming. It’s not good filmmaking and that’s not even good capitalism. The law of supply and demand falls apart when the only supply most people can access is of inferior quality.

The original “The Killer,” also directed by Woo,...

If you ask any action fan hailing from any country, that has some kind of internet connection or cable television, about the most influential director in the genre, they’ll definitely talk endlessly about John Woo. Before checking out his Hong Kong productions, I was watching his Hollywood films on loop. I was mesmerized by Woo’s use of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s mullet in Hard Target. I was forced to watch Broken Arrow multiple times by one of my friends, and even though it didn’t hit me during the first few viewings, eventually, the utter insanity on display blew me away. Obviously, I wasn’t ready for the bonkers premise of Face/Off and the even more bonkers performances from Nic Cage and John Travolta. I didn’t like Mission: Impossible 2 initially because it was so different from Brian De Palma’s work, but now I think it’s a masterpiece.

It’s been more than 30 years since John Woo first came to Hollywood, and it often feels like he’s been looking for a way back to Hong Kong ever since — or at least a way back to the iconic action filmmaker he was when he worked there in the ’80s and early ’90s. Orgiastically blending the muted cool of a Jean-Pierre Melville neo-noir with the explosive melodrama of a Martin Scorsese crime epic and the florid grandiosity of a Chinese opera, Woo’s elevated style clashed with the meat-and-potatoes ethos of American blockbusters. The same ecstasy that defined Cantonese-language classics like “Hard Boiled” and “A Better Tomorrow” seemed more like self-parody after being translated into “Mission: Impossible 2,” and last year’s dreadfully generic “Silent Night” suggested that Woo had lost whatever was left of his voice as an artist.

Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly filled with...

Alain Delon, one of the biggest international movie stars of all time, has passed away at 88. The actor, who’d been in poor health in recent years, is widely considered one of the most iconic French stars ever. First rising to fame as part of a new crop of actors during the French New Wave, Delon was the first person to play Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley in Purple Noon, while also starring in classics such as The Leopard, Rocco and His Sisters and many more.

Yet, it was his role as the cold, calculating hitman in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai which remains the part he’s arguably best known for. Playing an impeccably dressed killer named Jeff, who is double-crossed by his employers, pretty much every hitman movie in the last fifty years owes a debt of gratitude to his performance. Chow Yun-Fat’s style in A Better Tomorrow...

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.

Bad Behaviour (Alice Englert)

Watch an exclusive clip above.

Bad Behaviour cannot pick a tone. Over the 107 minutes of Alice Englert’s debut feature, the only consistency comes from constant shifting. Following Lucy (Jennifer Connelly), a former child actor attending an enlightenment retreat, and her daughter, Dylan (Englert), the dark comedy switches between these two stories until they converge in the third act. Neither plotline has enough substance, though, acting like a series of half-baked ideas about wellness, parenthood, and happiness. – Michael F. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Heroes Shed No Tears (John Woo)

In this explosive precursor to his breakout film A Better Tomorrow, director John Woo demonstrates the genesis of his trademark style of hyperkinetic action and violence in...

1986 is a decisive year in the career of director John Woo as he would define his style with the two projects released that year. While “A Better Tomorrow” is highly regarded among cinephiles and seen as the first “definitive” John Woo-feature, “Heroes Shed No Tears”, the last project he would make for Golden Harvest, is just as important. The production would be another tumultuous affair resulting at Golden Harvest essentially shelving the film from distribution, with only a few copies made for countries such as South Korea. However, with Woo's following projects garnering international attention and given the recent 4k restoration, “Heroes Shed No Tears” is finally available in a truly deserving form, allowing filmlovers to experience a story which serves as the first “Heroic Bloodshed”-moment in Woo's career.

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To defeat the drug cartels in the region and to bring the druglords to justice,...

Ever consider whether the most accomplished directors in Hollywood share a mutual admiration for one another? Amidst this mutual reverence, we recently learned about a fascinating anecdote: The acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker & master of intense action, John Woo, once declared his adoration for the legendary Martin Scorsese.

John Woo’s The Killer | Golden Princess Film Production

With a career that has lit up theaters with films like Mission: Impossible 2 and A Better Tomorrow, Woo’s admiration for Scorsese’s work goes beyond rivalry, allowing viewers to delve into a moving homage given in the former’s classic film The Killer. Despite receiving positive reviews for its lavish style and action scenes, this 1989 masterwork did not openly succeed in Hong Kong but went on to win over critics all over the world.

The Killer: A Cinematic Homage to Martin Scorsese, by John Woo

John Woo, the iconic director known for...

Three years ago, cryptocurrency collective PleasrDAO said it would make Wu-Tang Clan’s one-of-a-kind album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin more widely available after purchasing it from the US government. Now, the group’s seventh studio album will be a centerpiece of an exhibit at Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona), where select visitors will have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear it in person.

From June 15th through 24th, the museum’s Frying Pan Studios will play selections from Once Upon a Time in Shaolin during free, 30-minute listening sessions. They will be offered twice per day as part of the week-long Namedropping exhibition. Try your luck for tickets beginning Thursday, May 30th at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Get Wu-Tang Clan Tickets Here

“Final thing on the Wu-Tang bucket list, and probably the only chance you’ll ever get to hear it,” Mona shared on Instagram.

Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano, an Oscar nominee this year for Italy in the best international feature category, was the big winner of this year’s 2024 David Di Donatello Awards, Italy’s equivalent to the Oscars, winning best film and director for Garrone.

Io Capitano also picked up prizes for best cinematography, editing, sound, and visual effects.

Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow, a black-and-white feminist dramedy that became the top-grossing film in Italy last year, won Cortellesi the Donatello honors for best actress, directorial debut, and original script for the screenplay she co-wrote with Furio Andreotti and Giulia Calenda.

“I want to thank those who gave me the opportunity to write this role as I wanted it,” she said, accepting her actress honor.

Cortellesi’s film, a dramedy about an abused woman in post-wwii Rome that manages to combine serious social drama with situational comedy, sight gags and even a musical number,...

A restored 4K version of Tsui Hark's “Shanghai Blues 2024” will be screened in the prestigious Cannes Classics programme at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

Set against the backdrop of wartime Shanghai in the 1940's, the film weaves a poignant love story between a soldier, Tung Kwok-Man (Kenny Bee) and a young woman Shu-Shu (Sylvia Chang), who vow to meet after the war ends. Unfortunately, they walk away not able to recognize each other's faces or remember their names. Through a series of misplaced opportunities, the two lovebirds keep missing their reunion, even though fate has a funny way of bringing them ever so closer to each other.

Infused with a delightful blend of innocent romanticism, satirical wit, and whimsical sophistication, “Shanghai Blues” showcased director Tsui Hark as a burgeoning master who could seamlessly fuse different genre's for the screen.

To bring the film back 40 years later, the “Shanghai Blues...

Scenes of gun shootouts have been an essential fixture in cinema since “The Great Train Robbery” (1903). Serving as a staple of cinematic spectacles, filmmakers have continuously competed to present their unique interpretations, whether through virtuosic camera work or unconventional set-up. Just think back to the final assault in Branded to Kill, John Woo ‘s personal rendition of the Mexican standoff in the iconic restaurant scene from A Better Tomorrow (1986) or more recently the climax shootout of Drug War. The list could go on forever.

Diao Yinan introduced a very peculiar variation of it in his noir film “Black Coal” set in far northern China. Fragments of a recently identified body have been discovered scattered across various coal mining sites, leaving Inspector Zhang with just one lead: a coal truck driver who has just resigned, and whose brother happens to be the proprietor of a hair salon. The scene unfolds as Zhang,...

The 1980s was a seminal period in the development of what we now define as the action movie. This was the decade that cemented the statuses of both Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the muscle-bound box office behemoths eating the competition for breakfast. Having emerged off the back of critically acclaimed efforts like Rocky and The Terminator, the years that followed saw the pair hone their greased-up on-screen personas to fine effect.

It wasn’t all about the muscles though. The 1980s also ushered in the era of the everyman action star with Bruce Willis in Die Hard and Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop opting for brains over brawn and reaping the benefits in multiplexes far and wide as a result. While Hollywood basked in the glory of a new generation of leading men, in the Far East, Jackie Chan was taking action movie physicality to a whole...

Chow Yun-fat has appeared in approximately 115 movies, becoming a major success with Eastern and Western audiences alike. Jackie Chan, a global media personality, has appeared in approximately 150 movies, showcasing his slapstick fighting style. Sammo Hung, a martial arts legend, has worked both behind and in front of the camera, appearing in approximately 200 movies and choreographing fight scenes for Jackie Chan.

While there are plenty of martial arts stars who have been in numerous movies, there are very few who hold the honor of appearing in more than 100. As a fast-paced, action-packed genre, some martial arts stars worked as furiously hard as their own characters and didn't slow down for anything. With some martial arts stars maintaining careers over many decades, it only makes sense that there would be a committed few who have amassed filmography numbers in the hundreds.

While certain names like Jackie Chan and Andy Lau will be familiar to Western audiences,...

John Woo is a legendary filmmaker who hails from Hong Kong and has made some of the region's best action movies. Considering Hong Kong cinema is known for delivering great action movies (among other genres of course), it's therefore safe to say that Woo has directed some of the greatest action films of all time, most notably titles like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled. His movies are often defined by plentiful explosions, tons of slow motion, tragic characters involved with melodramatic stories, and, of course, flocks of doves flying around for dramatic effect.

When we think of the great director-actor pairings throughout Asian cinema history, at the top is Kurosawa and Mifune. But we can’t forget Kenji Mizoguchi and Kinuyo Tanaka or Wong Kar-wai and Tony Leung. But for many of us, we were straight up introduced to international action movies through the teamings of John Woo and Chow Yun-fat, chiefly The Killer and Hard Boiled. But the pair hasn’t worked together in more than 30 years – unfortunately, that may have been the last time.

Despite their place as one of the best director-actor duos in all of action, we only ever got five movies directed by John Woo and starring Chow Yun-fat, two of the most recognizable figures of Hong Kong cinema. As the 77-year-old Woo recently told HK01 (via Yahoo!), “We are getting older and it would be hard to find the right script…[But] I still want to be like...

Silent Night Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Kid Cudi, Harold Torres, and Catalina Sandino Moreno

Director: John Woo

Silent Night Movie Review(Photo Credit –IMDb)

What’s Good: It is fantastic to see John Woo back doing films in the West. His experience in making action scenes still shows under all the gimmicks.

What’s Bad: The movie relies too much on a strange narrative gimmick that only hinders its enjoyment and makes the entire experience quite strange and boring.

Loo Break: Sadly, there are several. The movie’s gimmick makes certain scenes feel completely unnecessary.

Watch or Not?: There are better John Woo films out there to watch. Sadly, Silent Night doesn’t make the cut as an easy recommendation.

Language: English

Available On: Cinemas

Runtime: 104 Minutes

User Rating:

Silent Night is a film directed by John Woo and written by Robert Archer Lynn. The film...

Thrillers are a universal genre made by every single film industry around the world. North, South, East, and West, regardless of location, people everywhere enjoy the heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat suspense of a well-crafted thriller.

Sadly, some of cinema's greatest international thrillers have gone unseen by the masses. Numerous world-renowned thrillers have significantly less than 100,000 ratings on Letterboxd. To put this into perspective, recently released thrillers such as David Fincher's The Killer and Saw X already have in excess of 200,000 ratings on Letterboxd. From modern gems like The Chaser and The Guilty to classics such as The Vanishing and High and Low, many acclaimed international thrillers need more exposure to a wide audience.

City On Fire Inspired Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs

Related 10 Great Time-Bending Thrillers While some thriller movies capitalize off of cheap thrills, others delve into more tension-fueled scenarios with the manipulation of time.

Year Released

1987

IMDb Rating

7/10

Rotten Tomatoes...

Let's be blunt: The current state of action cinema worldwide would not be what it is today without the work of director John Woo. While Woo is hardly the only influential filmmaker when it comes to action movies, he's undeniably one of the biggest figures in shaping the genre. Like any great auteur, Woo's style was developed film by film, working his way through his kung-fu features at Golden Harvest in Hong Kong and adding in more experimental techniques (gleaned from the likes of prior filmmakers such as Sam Peckinpah) until he ended up at his signature magnum opus, 1986's "A Better Tomorrow" and its style, which was dubbed "heroic bloodshed."

Over the next several years in Hong Kong and then through to his transition into Hollywood, Woo expanded his "heroic bloodshed" style, peppering in other influences along the way from some of his other favorite filmmakers like Jean-Pierre Melville and Alfred Hitchcock.

John Woo couldn’t miss.

The godfather of gun fu, who helmed a number of balletic, bullet-riddled Chinese actions hits — A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled among them — before taking his talents to the States, was coming off four consecutive Hollywood smashes. First came the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Hard Target, a play on The Most Dangerous Game; then, John Travolta-starrer Broken Arrow, about a rogue terrorist armed with a nuclear bomb; the face-swapping flick Face/Off, pairing a very game Travolta with an even more game Nicolas...

For action fans who came of age in the 1980s and 1990s, the arrival of a new John Woo movie was not just a cinematic event but a spiritual catharsis. No one was making films the way he was, creating exquisitely orchestrated ballets of melodrama and violence influenced in equal amounts by Sam Peckinpah and Douglas Sirk but not beholden to either. Hong Kong imports like “A Better Tomorrow,” “The Killer,” and “Hard Boiled” set a new bar for what audiences could demand in terms of kinetic thrills, and when Woo moved to America, fans wondered if his voice would survive the trip. Luckily, he changed Hollywood more than Hollywood changed him, as he infused “Face/Off,” “Mission Impossible 2,” and other studio assignments with his signature dynamism and influenced a generation of action filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino to Robert Rodriguez.

Then, in 2003, it all stopped. Woo directed Ben Affleck in “Paycheck,...