THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL

This new Korean action movie is a throwback to the grimy, neon-lit Hollywood thrillers of the ’70s and ’80s and their ’90s Hong Kong gun-fu counterparts. There’s nothing quite as thrilling as an action movie done well and this one is just right. When a brutal crime boss (played by an angry bear of a […]

SHADOW

With SHADOW, director Zhang Yimou (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) once again pushes the boundaries of wuxia action to create a film like no other, masterfully painting a canvas of inky blacks and greys punctuated with bursts of color from the blood of the defeated. In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, […]

A Hero Never Dies

Johnnie To’s strange, funny and fascinating take on the Hong Kong heroic bloodshed genre seems to contain the whole history of action films within its taut running time. It is an art film and crime film in one, and one of the boldest statements of its era. With Lau Ching-Wan and Leon Lai. Special thanks […]