All Film Reviews

If you like seventies cheese then you might want to pick this one up. Otherwise it’s probably best to avoid unless you happen to be a hardcore Shaw Brothers or Ti Lung fan.

It is heartfelt, but never cloying, sentimental, but never to the point of being overly orchestrated and the kind of gentle tear-jerker that stirs the mind as much as the heart.

A simple and fast moving story about a tough female cops, is told with style, if not great direction, by Yuen Kwai.

Director Guo Xiaolu does manage some scenes of striking realism where the drama and relationships work but soap opera theatrics derails the overall dramatic impact of ‘She, A Chinese’.

For a director known for lurid excess, ‘Shield of Straw’ is a subtly haunting thriller with an ending that asks questions of everything that went before it.

Not sure what it wants to be, the latest Japanese production of their beloved property is not the triumphant return some had hoped.

There’s some very powerful visual displays of violence that pepper the film throughout, showing us that if you turn to the dark side you really will become slave to its master.

This is a low, low budget film that has the look of a really, really cheap TV series. The sets are no better than you would expect to see in a bad porno movie and the lighting is terrible.

A very involving and enticing tale that is made all the more appealing by some top performances from Han Suk-Kyu and Choi Min-Sik.

‘Shock Wave’ is an above average Andy Lau action film that shows that the star can still be called on to play the tough hero when needed.

One’s suspension of disbelief may be pushed to breaking point but if you can go with the adrenaline pulsing momentum and the fact this is supposed to be a load of entertaining fun, then you will have a good time.

Not the best of its kind and it drags a little too much with the running time, ‘Shogun’s Samurai’ is still a decent slice of Samurai drama from a time when they used to make them big.

As a work of cinema, ‘Shoplifters’ is as carefully considered, lovingly framed and beautifully measured as the very best the medium offers.

It’s certainly worth watching once, but as the action is good but not great it is unlikely to require repeat viewings due to it’s shortcomings in other areas.

A mixed bag unfortunately but if you stick with it there is some incredible fight action come the second half which is a great showcase for some very gifted screen fighters.

‘Silent Assassins’ gets a couple of stars as its got enough Eastern flavoured action to keep it rollicking along, a bunch of B-movie stars hamming it up and is perfect fodder for some low rent action fun.

Bogged down with a little too much cliché and oppressive doom, ‘Silent Night’ may not be what you’re expecting but it is Woo still flexing both his artistic and action muscles to deliver a ‘Death Wish’ style action flick.

Though there’s far less of the ghastly CGI that marred ‘The Touch’, ‘Silver Hawk’ still continues to remind the viewer of the chasm between the choreography of the 80s/early90s and today.

‘Simply Actors’ represents a modest enough cinematic diversion, even superficially entertaining in passages, for modern Hong Kong cinema aficionados.

If you’ve seen any of the recent Hollywood disaster movies, then you pretty much know exactly what to expect from ‘Sinking Of Japan’.

‘Sixty Million Dollar Man’ is a lazy and disappointingly unfunny outing for all concerned.

‘Skills’ is a decent effort for a parkour themed action film, but is only sporadically entertaining and not as thrilling as it should have been.

A worthy attempt to fuse a serious topic with insane action, ‘Skin Trade’ can’t quite find the right balance between the two but rollicks along on the charisma and fight power of its stars.

Another superb Sammo film which sees him team up with Karl Maka for more hijinks.