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Beijing born Hu Jin Quan, better known as King Hu, worked as an actor, scriptwriter, set decorator and assistant director after joining the Shaw Brothers Studio in 1958. Hu slowly worked his way up as the director of “Sons of the Good Earth” (1965) under the influence of director Li Han Hsiang. Besides launching the film career of its star Cheng Pei Pei, Hu’s highly acclaimed wuxia film “Come Drink with Me” (1966) would put him on the world map. After leaving Shaw, he directed “Dragon Inn” (1967) in Taiwan which became a phenomenal cult classic in Southeast Asia.

Hu continued to achieve more fame with films like “A Touch of Zen” (1971), “The Valiant Ones” (1975), “Raining in the Mountain” and “Legend of the Mountain” both in 1979. Although his later films were less successful commercially, he returned from California to direct “Swordsman” (1990) and “Painted Skin” (1992). Actually, producer Tsui Hark‘s team had to finish...

9 years after the release of the first film, the “Detective Chinatown” franchise is still going strong, as the fourth installment takes it back in time to San Francisco’s Chinatown circa 1900. With the reinforcement of mega-star Chow Yun Fat as latest cast member (only his second film in 8 years), the film stormed the Chinese New Year box office and made more than 250 millions dollars in its first five days of release alone (and more than 400 million as of this writing). This time around, however, the franchise offers not only comedy but also historical drama and fervent patriotic rhetoric.

Lead actors Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran are back, although they technically play new characters. Liu (also known as Turbo Liu) this time plays Qin Fu, an aspiring but rather cowardly detective and distant ancestor to the present-day hero familiar to audiences. Setting the story at the turn of the 20th century...

Ann Hui is one of the foremost auteurs in Hong Kong cinema, the filmmaker behind some of the territory’s most thoughtful and touching productions about immigrants and social outcasts. But over the years she has also directed more commercial films, including “Love in a Fallen City”, produced by major studio Shaw Brothers. The film stands out in her filmography as more commercial and traditional than her usual fare, but it also paves the way for some of her later masterpieces.

Love in a Fallen City is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas

The story centers on Bai Liu-Su (Cora Miao), a divorcée living in Shanghai in the early 1940s and having to face the pressure of her declining aristocratic family, who shame and despise her for her failed marriage. Encountering the charming and womanizing businessman Fan Liu-Yan (the irresistible Chow Yun Fat), she follows him to...

The Story: A corrupt American cop (Michael Douglas) and his partner (Andy Garcia) wind-up in Japan after a prisoner exchange gone awry. With their former captive cutting a swath through the local Yakuza in an attempt to establish himself as the new Tokyo boss, the cops are forced into an uneasy alliance with a by-the-book local police inspector (Ken Takakura).

The Players: Starring: Michael Douglas, Andy García, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw and Yusaku Matsuda. Directed by Ridley Scott. Music by Hans Zimmer.

The History: Michael Douglas was riding high in 1989. Following his Oscar-win for Wall Street, and Fatal Attraction’s boffo box office, his was considered one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood. Opting for a rare action role, grittier and more hard-edged than his turns in Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, Douglas, with his Fatal Attraction producers Stanley Jaffe and Sherry Lansing (who would...

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.

The Chinese box office hit a record high over Lunar New Year with animation Ne Zha 2 and prequel Detective Chinatown 1900 helping deliver a total gross of more than $1.1bn (RMB8bn) over six days from January 29 to February 3

The Year of the Snake made a strong start last Wednesday (January 29), the first day of the holidays, with takings of $250m (RMB1.8bn), up 35% on 2024 and the biggest single day gross ever in China – beating the previous record of $235m (RMB1.69bn) from 2021.

Six new local titles were released over the period and the total gross is expected to...

Max makes up for its absence of attention-grabbing original movies this month with a new, impressive assortment of bona fide film classics that will keep you entertained throughout the second month of the year. The streaming platform’s lineup of February film additions includes a handful of thrilling blockbusters, a few underrated and oft-forgotten titles and two of the best efforts from two of America’s finest directors.

Here are TheWrap’s picks for the best new movies streaming on Max in February.

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Sony Pictures Classics) “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000)

Director Ang Lee‘s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a balletic epic of clashing swords, thrown fists and untaken roads. The Oscar-winning drama follows the prideful young daughter of a powerful governor (Zhang Ziyi) as she bucks against the prearranged structure of her life by stealing a legendary sword long held by Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat...

Mainland China stars Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran reunite for a fourth round of high-stakes snooping in Detective Chinatown 1900. The twist this time is that they are playing ancestral versions of the characters they have portrayed in three previous blockbuster installments. Switching the action from contemporary diaspora districts to turn-of-the-century San Francisco, the film throws the duo together to investigate a double murder that could trigger an all-out nationwide race war.

Chief among the big names joining our intrepid sleuths are Hong Kong legend Chow Yun-fat, as Chinatown’s unofficial kingpin, and John Cusack, who plays a scheming politician whose daughter is a murder victim.

Detective Chinatown 1900 is part of a clutch of tentpole Chinese offerings releasing around the world this week as part of the Lunar New Year festivities, which has become the mainland’s most fruitful frame at the box office in recent years. On day...

Chinese New Year box office started with a bang today in China, as Maoyan estimates 1.8B yuan ($248.3M) was generated for all films on day-one of the holiday period. This would mark a new milestone that well exceeds 2021’s previous first-day New Year record of 1.69M yuan.

For its part, Imax topped itself on Wednesday, seeing a Cny day-one record-breaking haul of $12M, besting its previous high of $11M in 2021. With 5% of the Cny box office so far, and on less than 1% of total screens, Imax captured its biggest percentage of the first-day results ever. Attendance for Imax was also at a new peak with 1.2M admissions nationwide.

The No. 1 title ushering in the Year of the Snake on Wednesday was Enlight’s Ne Zha 2, the follow up to 2019’s animated hit, with 486.6M yuan ($67.1M). In Imax, it grossed $2.5M.

Behind Ne Zha 2 at No. 2 for the day is...

Entertainment studio Cineverse has set a new deal between its streaming licensing service Matchpoint and American Asian media company JoySauce, which streams “Kim’s Convenience,” “Mixed Six” and “Jimmy O. Yang: Good Deal,” among other titles.

As part of the pact, Matchpoint will license, monetize and distribute JoySauce’s full library of original dramatic shows, reality series and more, as well as with third-party content for which JoySauce holds streaming rights. Matchpoint will also handle licensing JoySauce content to other streaming platforms.

The partnership will expand later in 2025 with Cineverse teaming with JoySauce to launch a standalone streaming service, including a branded JoySauce subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) app and later a free, ad-supported streaming television (Fast) channel targeting both the Aapi community and all viewers interested in content showcasing the American Asian experience. Cineverse will distribute these on all devices and offer access to other streaming platforms.

“Cineverse is the proven expert...

Disney’s “A Complete Unknown” held its spot at the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office for a second weekend, earning £1.6 million ($2 million), according to numbers from Comscore. The cumulative total of the Bob Dylan biopic, starring Timothée Chalamet, now stands at $7.3 million.

In second place, Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” added $1.7 million in its sixth weekend, raising its total to $34.7 million. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” from Paramount remained steady in third, collecting $1.09 million during its fifth weekend and pushing its total to $29 million.

Lionsgate U.K.’s “Flight Risk,” directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg, debuted in fourth place with a solid $1.01 million. Universal’s awards season favorite “The Brutalist” debuted in fifth, earning $938,452 in its opening weekend.

Universal’s “Nosferatu” dropped to sixth with $666,526 in its fourth weekend. The gothic horror reboot has reached $15.1 million overall and continues to attract genre enthusiasts.

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...

The fourth installment in China’s wildly popular Detective Chinatown action comedy franchise has locked down day-and-date theatrical release plans in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The highly anticipated feature will open around the world on Jan. 29, the same date it unfurls at home in China on the first day of the lucrative Lunar New Year holiday.

The previous three films in the franchise — spanning 2015-2021 and all directed by Chen Sicheng — collectively earned over $1.3 billion in cinemas, with the vast majority coming from the domestic Chinese market.

The new title, Detective Chinatown 1900, is co-directed by Chen and Dai Mo. Detective Chinatown favorites Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran both return to star, along with franchise newcomer Chow Yun Fat. The film is a prequel that takes audiences back to turn-of-the-century San Francisco. The supporting cast includes Hollywood actor John Cusack, Yue Yunpeng (Full River Red), Steven Zhang (Endless Journey...

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...

Touted as Hong Kong’s first radiation-disaster blockbuster, Anthony Pun’s Cesium Fallout chronicles the political and frontline responses to a national catastrophe as it unfolds on the outskirts of the city. Emulating the blockbusters of Irwin Allen and Roland Emmerich, the rampant urban destruction is complemented by a star-studded ensemble of some of the local industry’s most prominent talent. Andy Lau takes top billing as the scientist drafted to advise Karen Mok’s bullheaded politician when a fire breaks out in a landfill site riddled with illegal radioactive waste. As the leadership bickers over the appropriate response and who is to be reprimanded, it falls to the blue collar heroes of the Hong Kong Fire Services Department to tackle the inferno head on.

Yu Bai and Louise Wong are among the heroes in helmets putting their lives on the line for the sake of seven million innocent souls,...

Veteran director Johnnie To discussed the challenges of filmmaking under increased regulation in Hong Kong during a conversation with Japanese filmmaker Yu Irie at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

“There is a lot of regulation in Hong Kong, especially when it comes to expression,” To said Thursday when asked about balancing culture with freedom. “You have to think about what you are going to say carefully. It’s about responsibility.”

To founded the Fresh Wave film festival in Hong Kong, which unearthed several new talents. In 2023, the festival was hit with censorship. The filmmaker noted that creators need to adapt to the current environment. “With the Fresh Wave program there was a certain amount of censorship. In that environment you have to be ready to understand what the censorship is going to be doing.”

However, To emphasized that filmmakers shouldn’t remain passive. “Filmmakers can’t be bystanders. They have to take action,...

Fox said late Sunday night that it is developing a drama series tentatively titled Billionaire Apocalypse that hails from The Morning Show creator Jay Carson and counts Hugh Jackman among its executive producers.

The drama, from Fox Entertainment Studios for the Fox network, is written and executive produced by Carson, creator and writer of Apple+’s Emmy-nominated Morning Show. Also serving as exec producers are Lawrence Bender (Flesh and Bone, Pulp Fiction) and Kevin Brown (Flesh and Bone, Trumbo).

The logline for the drama: “The richest man on the planet, 200 of his employees, and his family are forced to flee to his private island in the wake of a global financial collapse, where the employees and family members — who he’s treated as afterthoughts for decades — quickly realize he’s no longer rich and thus no longer in charge.”

The project, which has received a script commitment, is being distributed worldwide by Fox Entertainment Global.

By the 1980s, the genre of fantasy martial arts had produced some of the best martial arts performances of all time. They present the best of both worlds the action, mythology, and magic of fantasy mixed with the thrill of watching graphic martial arts combat. These films were often set in a fantastical world that allowed martial artists to defy physics and perform gravity-defying stunts. The special effects and the magnetic characters of the 1980s made it a golden age of this hybrid genre. Film-makers have taken the conventions of kung fu and transformed them into something exciting and different.

These movies married martial artists to monsters, magic, and adventure, delivering over-the-top fight scenes and exciting storytelling, bringing with them rich folklore, lore, mythical creatures, and heroes on epic journeys. Films like Shogun Assassin and one of Kurt Russell's best comedy films, Big Trouble In Little China didn't just...

When it comes to betting, Asian cinema knows how to raise the stakes, both on-screen and off. With sports betting, card games, and the classic game of chance woven into the fabric of so many films, these movies don’t just depict a quick soccer bet. Instead, they capture the adrenaline, the tension, and yes, the inevitable heartbreak of gambling. Asian filmmakers don’t sugarcoat the gambling world; they throw you right into the fire, where fortunes are made and lost in the blink of an eye.

The High-Stakes World of Tazza: The High Rollers

Take Tazza: The High Rollers from South Korea, for example. This film isn’t just about gambling—it’s a crash course in the dark side of betting. It shows us the seduction of big wins and the catastrophic consequences of chasing losses. You’ve got your slick conmen, the hustlers who make you think...

Few films have been as massively influential on the action genre as John Woo‘s “The Killer”, where the director’s choreographed shootouts and Chow Yun Fat‘s virile charisma dazzled as never before. 35 years later, the Hong Kong director is back with a Paris-set, English- and French-language remake of that film, also called “The Killer” (not to be confused with David Fincher’s 2023 film of the same name). This was a strange idea to begin with, one that had been kicking around Hollywood for decades (the film is co-produced by Universal). And as it turns out, a rather misplaced idea too.

Where to watch

The main story is almost identical, with one major difference: now the titular character, Zee, is a woman (played by Nathalie Emmanuel). She still is a supremely effective contract killer who can shoot her way through any situation – until she decides to spare the life...

In her 1987 “An Autumn’s Tale”, Second Wave Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung draws from her experience as a student in New York and revisits the American Dream, through the eyes of a female protagonist, Jenny (Cherie Chung), who is building her life and identity, juggling between societal expectations and individual desires. Her co-lead Samuel (Chow Yun-fat), is a young man with a rough-around-the-edges charm and survivalist instincts, most likely inspired by the resilient immigrant spirit Cheung encountered in New York’s Chinatown. Under a rom-com façade, the film discloses many thought-provoking layers about migration, cultural displacement, identity, and the fragility of human connections.

In a scene midway through the narrative, Samuel visits Jenny at an upscale Chinese restaurant in Chinatown called Big Panda, where she works. The restaurant’s owner is a sleazy figure, with his gaze lingering inappropriately on Jenny’s youthful, slender figure. Samuel, eager to impress Jenny,...

The movie and the casino industry are closely knitted together all around the world, including Asia. There are many great movies where the hero goes to the casino and takes them for everything they have. We all root for the main character and always want him to win. In most cases in Asian casino movies, you can see suitcases of money get poured on the tables and incredibly high wagers placed per hand.

This is not too far from the truth. Gambling has been deeply embedded into Asian culture since ancient times. They consider gambling to be a way for wealth to move and circulate, so the money you lose will be received by someone else along the way. But how much of an influence do casino movies actually have over gambling trends?

Gamblers and gambling movies

Coincidently gamblers are the ones who actually love gambling movies the most. If...

A forgotten Mark Wahlberg cop movie from the 1990s feels like an origin story for his character in The Departed. While Mark Wahlberg action movies might be ten a penny now, back when he was making the transition from rapper to actor, he was more eclectic in his choices. He followed Boogie Nights with projects like Three Kings while mixing in bigger budget fare like The Perfect Storm. He made his action debut in 1998's The Big Hit, a bizarre mixture of wacky comedy and Hong Kong-style action flick.

In the following years, the genre would yield some of Wahlberg's biggest hits, including the Transformers sequels or 2007's Shooter. That said, arguably Wahlberg's best performance was playing Sergeant Dignam in The Departed. This was very much a supporting role for the star, with the story involving Leonardo DiCaprio's cop Costigan going undercover in the Irish mob, while Matt Damon...

Ann Hui is one of the foremost auteurs in Hong Kong cinema, the filmmaker behind some of the territory’s most thoughtful and touching productions about immigrants and social outcasts. But over the years she has also directed more commercial films, including “Love in a Fallen City”, produced by major studio Shaw Brothers. The film stands out in her filmography as more commercial and traditional than her usual fare, but it also paves the way for some of her later masterpieces.

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The story centers on Bai Liu-Su (Cora Miao), a divorcée living in Shanghai in the early 1940s and having to face the pressure of her declining aristocratic family, who shame and despise her for her failed marriage. Encountering the charming and womanizing businessman Fan Liu-Yan (the irresistible Chow Yun Fat), she follows him to Hong Kong to escape her spiteful siblings.

Akira Toriyama's displeasure with Dragonball Evolution prompted him to take a more active role in future Dragon Ball projects. In particular, the failure of the 2009 film led to Toriyama's involvement in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Super. Despite the live-action adaptation's failure, it did help renew Toriyama's interest in the franchise, leading to successful and beloved projects.

Akira Toriyamas reaction to Dragonball Evolution secretly saved the Dragon Ball franchise by proving to the manga creator that he needed to be more directly involved with projects based on his beloved characters. Originally written and drawn by Toriyama, Dragon Ball was serialized in Weekly Shnen Jump from 1984 to 1995 before being collected into manga volumes. By combining the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West with the marital arts stylings of Hong Kong cinema, Dragon Ball became incredibly popular in Japan and, eventually, around the world. Even now,...

Warning: Spoilers for The Killer (2024) below!

I wasn't expecting John Woo's long-delayed remake of The Killer to match the original, but I'm so glad it's still an action delight. I saw the original film late at night on the UK's Channel 4 back before I had any awareness of John Woo movies or Hong Kong cinema. The movie's immense style, the exhilarating action and the incredible turn by leading man Chow Yun-fat combine to make The Killer Woo's best movie, period. I soon sought out the rest of his work, including Hard Boiled and the first two Better Tomorrow movies.

I'll admit that John Woo's American movie output was a mixed bag. There were the highs of Face/Off and Hard Target, but Paycheck felt like the title summed up the cast and crew's participation in it. Woo is one of my all-time top directors, and while his work can be overly melodramatic,...

Quentin Tarantino appeared on Bill Maher’s longform “Club Random” podcast in an episode released Sunday, with the pair getting high together and musing on everything under the sun — until a discussion of the Academy Awards’ difficulty finding a host leading to a discussion of the accidental shooting on the set of the Alec Baldwin film “Rust” that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Maher noted that Jimmy Kimmel and John Mulaney (who Maher accidentally called “Mulvaney”) had turned the gig down.

“They went to Alec Baldwin,” Maher added, a remark that seemed to slightly confuse Tarantino until Maher added, “I’m joking. He said he couldn’t do it. He was shooting.”

After that murder joke, Maher went on to defend Baldwin from the criticism he’s faced since the tragedy on the set of western film “Rust,” on which he also serves as a producer.

Watch the first part of...

It had been over two decades since Hong Kong director John Woo stunned audiences with his hyper-stylized action classic, The Killer. Released in 1989, the film pushed boundaries with its balletic gunplay and tragic melodrama. Chow Yun-fat gave an unforgettable performance as a dedicated assassin struggling between his deadly profession and humanity. With influences like Jean-Pierre Melville, Sergio Leone, and John Cassavetes, Woo pioneered what became known as “Heroic Bloodshed.” He brought swift-paced action and complex character drama together in a wholly unique way.

Hollywood soon came calling for Woo to export his brand of mayhem stateside. Films like Broken Arrow, Face/Off, and Mission Impossible 2 dazzled worldwide crowds with the director’s expertly staged set pieces. However, it had been 20 years since Woo last delivered a stand-alone Hong Kong production. Fans wondered if he’d ever return to the wellspring of his signature style.

In 2024, that question was answered. With a...

If you were waiting for John Woo‘s latest action thriller film The Killer, featuring his signature action style and a thrilling story. Then the wait is finally over as the Nathalie Emmanuel and Omar Sy-led film is finally available to stream on Peacock. Based on Woo’s 1989 film of the same name, the Peacock film is co-written by Brian Helgeland, Josh Campbell, and Matt Stuecken and it follows the story of a deadly assassin as she refuses to kill a young blind woman and in turn her employer puts out a hit on her, forcing her to kill the people coming after her while being hunted by a relentless cop. So, if you loved the high-octane action, thrilling story, and interesting characters in The Killer here are some similar movies you should check out next.

The Killer (Buy DVD on Amazon) Credit – Magnum Presentation

The Killer is a...

Plot: Zee is a mysterious and infamous assassin known, and feared, in the Parisian underworld as the Queen of the Dead. But when, during an assignment from her shadowy mentor and handler, Zee refuses to kill a blinded young woman in a Paris nightclub, the decision will disintegrate Zee’s alliances, attract the attention of a savvy police investigator, and plunge her into a sinister criminal conspiracy that will set her on a collision course with her own past.

Review: Before coming to Hollywood and delivering modern action movies Broken Arrow, Hard Target, Face/Off, and Mission: Impossible II, John Woo revolutionized action cinema with the one-two punch of The Killer and Hard Boiled. Both films starred Chow Yun-fat and changed the landscape of action movies forever. In the years since their release, John Woo’s signature style has been copied ad nauseam, resulting in the appearance of slow motion, doves,...

A remake of John Woo’s groundbreaking action movie “The Killer” has been in the works since shortly after it premiered in 1989, but it took until 2024 for it to finally materialize — from Woo himself.

Over the years a number of filmmakers took a stab at adapting the beloved Hong Kong action movie, about a hitman (played by frequent Woo collaborator Chow Yun-Fat) who accidentally blinds a young girl, including “Alien” principals Walter Hill and David Giler, “Top Gun” writers Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr., and Korean-American filmmaker John H. Lee. There would be announcements made every so often, but very little forward momentum.

While development creeped along, Woo made his way to Hollywood, directing a series of highly regarded, star-filled action movies like “Hard Target,” “Broken Arrow” and “Mission: Impossible II,” which grossed more than half a billion dollars worldwide back in 2000. The style he developed in Hong Kong...

John Woo's "The Killer" from 1989 is, without exaggeration, one of the greatest action films ever made. The Hong Kong filmmaker revolutionized action cinema across the globe with his bullet ballet style of gun-fu, expert use of slow motion, subversions of Western cinema tropes, and high-stakes heroism covered in blood. When he made his way to Hollywood, he melted eyes and brains with "Hard Target" and his masterpiece, "Face/Off," but audiences have distilled Woo's vision down to tropes instead of giving themselves over to the story. He became the guy known for big shoot-outs, doves, wuxia-style leaps, objects giving off sparks for no discernible reason, and at least one character with a tragic backstory that would make the Lifetime Movie Network blush.

Stripping those elements away, Woo has also been devoted to telling stories about complex characters — namely men — and the way a shared sense of honor/duty/revenge can...

You know, there was something very peculiar about the directors who were auteurs. They didn’t just direct a movie. Instead, they wrote poetry on screen. And what good is a poet if they don’t romanticize those lonely eyes? For the most part, I believed, cinema is nothing but capturing those eyes at their most vulnerable moment. And here you can think of any great actor on screen, and all you will remember is their expressive eyes. And while I rewatched John Woo’s 1989 film, The Killer, I only looked into Chow Yun-Fat’s eyes because that’s where I found the real meaning of his loneliness.

The Killer begins with our protagonist, Ah Jong, sitting in an empty church ironically called the “Church of Salvation.” At the beginning of the film, Ah Jong was lonely, but he wasn’t burdened by that loneliness. But that was about to change soon enough.

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...

Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Ang Lee

Ang Lee was pulling his hair out. He was in preproduction in China on his ambitious martial arts movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when a silent investor pulled out. “It was the toughest movie I’d ever tried to make,” recalls Lee, who thought it was all over. But Columbia came to the rescue, thanks to a new initiative to assist local-language filmmaking in foreign markets. Gareth Wigan, a widely respected Sony exec, became involved, as did Barbara Robinson, who lived in Hong Kong and headed up Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, and was asked to meet with Lee in Taiwan. A coalition came together, including Columbia, China Film Co-Production Corp., Good Machine International, Edko Films and Zoom Hunt Productions. Michael Barker and Tom Bernard’s Sony Pictures Classics signed on to distribute Crouching Tiger domestically, while Columbia International handled international territories...

In 2009, Dragonball Evolution happened, which was so disappointing that it made the fans question its existence. The film deviated heavily from Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball, failing to feature the essence of the anime and manga series that fans love and are so passionate about.

Justin Chatwin & Emmy Rossum in Dragonball Evolution. Credits: 20th Century Fox

From whitewashing the characters to showcasing poor VFX, the live-action adaptation was an abomination in the name of a film. The film featured Justin Chatwin in the role of Son-Goku, who was differently portrayed than he was shown in Toriyama-Sensei’s iconic franchise.

Hence, fans wanted to forget the ghastly addition that looked like an ugly splotch in the Dragon Ball franchise. However, it looks like the fans are ready to give the actor another chance, as they would like him to return to the franchise, but in a different role, which might just...

Released in 2009, Dragonball Evolution quickly came under fire because it achieved a new milestone in being the most disappointing watch that has ever been created in the history of cinema. The flick soon became a hot topic of conversation among fans and critics, primarily because it was heavily different from the source material.

Justin Chatwin & Emmy Rossum in Dragonball Evolution. Credits: Credits: 20th Century Fox

The film was a quagmire of mess and complications, from whitewashing the characters to deviating from the source material and subduing the magical essence that Akira Toriyama had spent his life creating. It could not get any worse, or could it?

James Marsters, who played Demon King Piccolo, claimed he was duped into agreeing and that the adaptation would be allegedly made by a well-known director with a large production budget.

James Marsters Recalls How He Was Allegedly Tricked Into Joining Dragonball Evolution

James Wong...

James Marsters' role as Piccolo in Dragonball Evolution led to his successful voice acting as Zamasu in Dragon Ball Super. Despite Dragonball Evolution's failures, Marsters' later casting as Zamasu shows his lasting impact on the Dragon Ball franchise. Marsters' experience with morally ambiguous characters makes him a perfect fit for Zamasu, who's one of the franchise's best villains.

A live-action adaptation of Dragon Ball, Dragonball Evolution was a massive disaster, but the 2009 movie still brought one good thing to the franchise. Directed by James Wong (The X-Files), Dragonball Evolution is loosely extremely loosely based on Akira Toriyama's beloved manga-turned-anime of the same name. The movie, which inexplicably stars Justin Chatwin (Shameless) as Goku, follows its teenage Saiyan protagonist as he learns more about his past and takes a stand against a ruthless alien warlord, Piccolo (James Marsters). As in the manga, uniting the wish-granting Dragon Balls is a key plot.

Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series is one of the most renowned and commercially successful franchises that has ever been created. Over the years, the franchise has had numerous additions, including films, video games, merchandise, action figures, and a live-action film. While Toriyama-Sensei’s Shonen series excelled in every way possible, Dragonball Evolution faltered in every possible aspect.

Goku and Bulma in Dragonball Evolution. Credits: 20th Century Fox

From a subpar plot to whitewashing the characters, the film was a disaster that tanked big time at the box office. Well, for a long time, fans believed that the film flopped because it deviated from the source material.

However, in a surprising turn of events, James Marsters, the actor who played Demon King Piccolo in the adaptation, opened up about his experience. Especially how he was deceived into joining the cast and adding his name to the project, whose name adds...

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of “The Acolyte.”]

“The Acolyte” creator and director Leslye Headland loves a binge watch. The accessibility and volume of television out there in the streaming galaxy is such that not only is it possible to wait for a handful of episodes, but honestly seems preferable to her. You’ve got to sort out if a show will appeal to you, if you’re watching it with friends or a partner, and if so, are you doing that together or asynchronously? It’s a much easier call to make with three or four episodes at a time than just a pilot, invariably an exercise in worldbuilding.

“The last thing I think I really enjoyed watching weekly was ‘Breaking Bad,’ which I know is like a decade ago now,” Headland told IndieWire on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “Or ‘Lost’ or like ‘The Sopranos.’ But those were constructed by these guys who knew that old model backwards and forwards,...

Director John Woo has remade his iconic 1989 Hong Kong action film The Killer in America. Here’s the trailer.

John Woo is, of course, one of the forefathers of the modern action film, helping to create an entire subgenre known as Heroic Bloodshed.

From his earliest martial arts film Hand Of Death through the legendary Hard Boiled and The Killer to his underrated English language debut Broken Arrow and blockbusters like Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2, Woo’s action sequences are as majestic as they are brutally balletic.

The Killer, released in 1989, followed Chow Yun-Fat as a troubled hitman who injures a singer during a bloody shootout. He must commit one last hit to raise the money for her operation, without which she will go blind. It’s often cited as one of the greatest action films ever made – if you’ve never had the pleasure, it really is incredible.

John Woo is following his killer instincts for the highly-anticipated English-language remake of his beloved 1989 classic film, “The Killer.”

Now with a gender-swapped twist, “The Killer” centers on Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel), a mysterious and infamous assassin who is known and feared in the Parisian underworld. With code name Queen of the Dead, Zee executes the kills her mentor and handler (Sam Worthington) assigns to her. However, after Zee refuses to kill a blinded young woman (Diana Silvers) in a Paris nightclub, the decision will disintegrate her alliances and attract the attention of a savvy police investigator (Omar Sy).

Per the official synopsis, that decision “plunges her into a sinister criminal conspiracy that will set her on a collision course with her own past.”

Woo’s original film starred Chow Yun-fat, Sally Yeh, and Danny Lee. The remake was announced in 2022 for Peacock, in collaboration with Universal Pictures. Back in 2018, Oscar...

Peacock has just dropped the trailer for The Killer, John Woo’s upcoming remake of his own 1989 action classic. This new version stars Nathalie Emmanuel as Zee, a mysterious assassin known as the Queen of the Dead. When she refuses to kill a young blind woman (Diana Silvers) on the orders of her handler, Finn (Sam Worthington), her world implodes, and she finds herself on the run, attracting the attention of police investigator Sy (Omar Sy).

When he was asked why he decided to remake his popular Chow Yun-Fat film, Woo said, “Well, the project was in the works for many years, but it was hard to find a director to direct it. So when I came back [to the States], we got support from Universal, and they asked me to do it. So I decided to give it a try, and we have a very good script from Brian Helgeland. He’s so wonderful,...

The trailer for the upcoming Peacock film The Killer has been released. The Killer is originally a 1989 action film by director John Woo. It features a leading cast including Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Kong Chu, Kenneth Tsang, Fui-On Shing, and Wing-Cho Yip. Woo also directs the upcoming Peacock adaptation.

Now, Peacock has released the trailer for The Killer. Check it out below:

More to come...

Source: Peacock...

The legendary John Woo is back with The Killer, a radical reimagining of his own 1989 Hong Kong classic.

John Woo’s The Killer remake comes to Peacock August 23. Watch the trailer below.

Action auteur John Woo returns to reimagine and re-direct his own classic with the brand new movie, written by Matthew Stuecken and Josh Campbell (10 Cloverfield Lane), as well as Eran Creevy (Welcome to the Punch, Collide) and Brian Helgeland (42, Legend).

From the Oscar® winning producer of Oppenheimer, the kinetic action thriller stars Emmy nominee Nathalie Emmanuel as Zee, a mysterious and infamous assassin known, and feared, in the Parisian underworld as the Queen of the Dead.

But when, during an assignment from her shadowy mentor and handler (Avatar’s Sam Worthington), Zee refuses to kill a blinded young woman in a Paris nightclub, the decision will disintegrate Zee’s alliances, attract the attention of a savvy police investigator,...

John Woo, who got his start making films in Hong Kong before directing bombastic Hollywood blockbusters like "Face/Off," "Broken Arrow," and "Mission: Impossible II," is one of the unquestioned masters of the action genre. He's one of the most influential directors of all time and the maestro of "heroic bloodshed," a subgenre about violence, brotherhood, and redemption populated by thieves, killers, cops, and scoundrels. In his movies, Woo was able to infuse his action scenes with a style, liquidity, and balletic sense of movement that was unlike anything moviegoers had seen before. After a long break from Hollywood filmmaking, Woo returned last year for the theatrically released "Silent Night," and now he's back again with an unusual new film for Peacock: "The Killer," which is a remake of his own 1989 action classic that starred Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee.

This time around, Nathalie Emmanuel faces off against Omar Sy ("Lupin") in the lead roles.

A former Triad gang member praises The Corruptor for accurately telling the story of a corrupt police officer that he personally knew. The film is criticized for lacking realism when it comes to actual gang activity, including shootings and bombings. Despite featuring a powerful combination of stars with Mark Wahlberg and Chow Yun-Fat, The Corruptor was met with mostly negative reviews from critics and audiences.

The Corruptor is assessed by a real-life former gang member, who reveals that it draws heavily from a real-life figure. Released in 1999, The Corruptor is directed by James Foley, with Chow Yun-Fat and Mark Wahlberg starring as cops in New York City attempting to put an end to drug trafficking and violence by the Chinese Triads. The film, which features some standout action scenes and shootouts, features a storyline involving the Triads attempting to bribe Yun-Fat's officer Nick Chen, a practice that wasn't uncommon at...

Michelle Yeoh is the epitome of steel-wrapped silk on-screen—a self-assured combat expert whose grace is as lethal as her kick. But the journey to bring her Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon role to life was no stroll along the Great Wall of China.

The plot was dense when she and co-star Chow Yun-Fat grappled with delivering their Mandarin lines, a language as foreign to them. They took the bull by the horns, mastering their lines phonetically in a true show of dedication. However, the physical aspect of Ang Lee’s 2000 flick proved to be the most challenging technique to master.

Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Sony Pictures Classics

With the traditional martial arts choreography as hard as climbing a mountain backward, Lee’s vision pushed Yeoh to the edge. Yet, the Crazy Rich Asians actress returned to deliver a scene so authentic that it prompted the director to shed tears for about 15 minutes.

Despite proving to be extremely divisive amongst the Star Wars fanbase, The Acolyte is now gaining some steam as it approaches the inevitable conclusion of its first season. Created by Leslye Headland, the series primarily follows twins Osha and Mae, who find themselves on opposite sides of the Force.

The Acolyte is receiving praise for Osha and Qimir’s dynamic (Credit: Lucasfilm).

However, in the show’s sixth episode, the dynamic changes when Osha meets Qimir and is encouraged to see his way of harnessing the power of the Force. During an interview, Headland spoke about the dynamic between Osha and Qimir, citing one Michelle Yeoh movie as a major inspiration, and here is what she had to say in that regard.

Leslye Headland Reveals How Michelle Yeoh’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Inspired The Acolyte

Leslye Headland created The Acolyte, which has generally received negative reactions from critics and fans.