Sometimes a movie works despite all its faults. Outrageous Fortune has a flimsy, formulaic script, so-so production values and an odd combination of stars, but somehow it's engaging and fun. Shelley Long and Bette Midler play two struggling actresses--one a hoity-toity priss and the other a brassy slob--who learn they've been sleeping with the same guy (Peter Coyote) when he gets blown up in a terrorist assault and they confront each other in the morgue. When they discover that he's still alive, the bickering pair track him down, traipsing across the US in high heels, pursued all the way by government agents, using their dubious acting talents to get them out of tough situations. The absurd plot keeps things moving and director Arthur Hiller (Silver Streak, The Out of Towners) gets cheerful performances out of everyone, particularly the strong supporting cast--including Robert Prosky (Broadcast News, Mrs. Doubtfire) as a pompous acting teacher, comedian George Carlin as a burnt-out would-be Indian and the underused John Schuck (M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller) as a long-suffering agent. Although contrived and cliché-ridden, the film is just absurd enough to entertain. --Bret Fetzer
Directed by John Woo, "Red Cliff" charts the remarkable events leading up to the most famous battle in Chinese history
Based on real events The Children of Huang Shi is a sweeping but intimate story set against war-torn China in the 1930's. The film centers on a young English journalist (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) an American nurse (Radha Mitchell) and the leader of a Chinese partisan group (Chow Yun Fat) who meet in desperate and unexpected circumstances. Together they rescue 60 orphaned children leading them on an extraordinary journey across hundreds of miles of treacherous terrain through snow-covered mountains and an unforgiving desert. Along the way they discover the true meaning of love responsibility and courage.
Directed by John Woo, "Red Cliff" charts the remarkable events leading up to the most famous battle in Chinese history
A family find themselves on a desolate, seemingly endless country road on Christmas Eve in this unnerving slice of surreal horror.
In a world within our world, yet unseen by any human, the beings there control time and tide and the changing of the seasons. On the day Chun turns sixteen, she is transformed into a dolphin to explore the human world. She is rescued from a vortex by a human boy at the cost of his own life. Chun is so moved by the boy's kindness and courage that she decides to give him life again. But to do this, she must protect the boy's soul, a tiny fish, and nurture it to grow. Through adventure and sacrifice, love grows, yet now she must release him back to the sea, back to life in the human world. Featuring a Making Of documentary profiling the 12 year process for the writers and directors to get the film produced, before it became one of the highest-grossing Chinese-originated animated movies of all time.
Using a faulty thriller for his soapbox as an outspoken critic of China, a devout follower of the Dalai Lama, and an influential supporter of Tibetan freedom, Richard Gere resorts to the equivalent of propagandistic drama to deliver a heavy-handed message. In other words, Red Corner relies on a dubious strategy to promote political awareness, but director Jon Avnet appeals to the viewer's outrage with such effective urgency that you're likely to forget you're being shamelessly manipulated. Gere plays a downtrodden TV executive who sells syndicated shows on the global market, and during a business trip to China he finds himself framed for the murder of the sexy daughter of a high Chinese official. Once trapped in a legal system in which his innocence will be all but impossible to prove, Gere must rely on a Chinese-appointed lawyer (played by Bai Ling) who first advises him to plead guilty but gradually grows convinced of foul play. Barely attempting to hide its agenda, Red Corner effectively sets the stage for abundant anti-Chinese sentiment, and to be sure, the movie gains powerful momentum with its tale of justice gone awry. It's a serious-minded, high-intensity courtroom drama with noble intentions, but one wonder if it has to be so conspicuously lacking in subtlety. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
In a world within our world, yet unseen by any human, the beings there control time and tide and the changing of the seasons. On the day Chun turns sixteen, she is transformed into a dolphin to explore the human world. She is rescued from a vortex by a human boy at the cost of his own life. Chun is so moved by the boy's kindness and courage that she decides to give him life again. But to do this, she must protect the boy's soul, a tiny fish, and nurture it to grow. Through adventure and sacrifice, love grows, yet now she must release him back to the sea, back to life in the human world. Featuring a Making Of documentary profiling the 12 year process for the writers and directors to get the film produced, before it became one of the highest-grossing Chinese-originated animated movies of all time.
Chungking Express tells two stories loosely connected by a Hong Kong snack bar. In one, a cop who's been recently dumped by his girlfriend becomes obsessed with the expiry dates on cans of pineapple; he's constantly distracted as he tries to track down a drug dealer in a blonde wig (played by Brigitte Lin, best known from Swordsman II and The Bride with White Hair). Meanwhile, another cop who's recently been dumped by his girlfriend (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, from John Woo's Hard-Boiled and A Bullet in the Head) mopes around his apartment, talking to his sponge and other domestic objects. He catches the eye of a shop girl (Hong Kong pop star Faye Wang) who secretly breaks in and cleans his apartment. If you're beginning to suspect that neither of these stories has a conventional plot, you're correct. What Chungking Express does have is loads of energy and a gorgeous visual style that never gets in the way of engaging with the charming characters. The film was shot on the fly by hip director Wong Kar-Wai (Happy Together, Ashes of Time), using only available lighting and found locations. The movie's loose, improvisational feel is closer to Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless than any recent film--and that's high praise. Quirky, funny, and extremely engaging, Chungking Express manages to be experimental and completely accessible at the same time. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
By strumming his guitar with words of inspiration Woody Guthrie instilled hope in the hearts of downtrodden Americans everywhere during the 1930s Depression. The extraordinary life of this legendary balladeer and poet is captured in this elegantly crafted beautiful film directed by Hal Ashby that won two Oscars (Best Cinematography Best Original Song Score/Adaptation Score). It is 1936 and the Great Depression is forcing droves of people from the dust bowls of Texas to the allur
Mortal Engines Visionary ï¬lmmaker Peter Jackson presents a startling new adventure unlike any youve seen before. Hundreds of years after our civilisation was destroyed, a new world has emerged. A mysterious young woman named Hester Shaw leads a band of outcasts in the ï¬ght to stop London now a giant predator city on wheels from devouring everything in its path. The Great Wall Starring global superstar MATT DAMON and directed by one of the most breath-taking visual stylists of our time, ZHANG YIMOU (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world's most iconic structure. JING TIAN, PEDRO PASCAL, WILLEM DAFOE, and ANDY LAU also star in this sweeping epic. Warcraft The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilisation faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors ï¬eeing their dying home to colonise another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction, and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, an unlikely set of heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their families, their people, and their home.
When Miles Langfore (Malcolm McDowell) the head of Kennedy High School decides to take his school back from the gangs robotics specialist Dr. Robert Forrest (Stacy Keach) provides ""tactical education units"". These are amazingly human-like androids that have been programmed to teach and are supplied with devastatingly effective solutions to discipline problems. So when the violent out-of-control students of Kennedy High report for class tomorrow they're going to get a real education... in staying alive!
In the Japanese theatre of war during W.W.II the allies must strike back at the Japanese who have captured their top generals. A commando unit is assembled with the most notorious criminals fighters and soldiers and this dream team -- the fantasy mission force -- will crumble the Japanese force. Jackie Chan is among the recruits of this team.
Beijing Bicycle kicks off like an updated Chinese reworking of the 1948 Italian neo-realist classic Bicycle Thieves: a worker, dependent on his bike for his job, has it stolen and doggedly sets out to get it back. But pretty soon Wang Xiaoshuai's film mutates into something more elemental: a battle of wills between peasant lad Guei, original owner of the bike, and Jian, a surly urban schoolkid who claims to have bought it second-hand. For both the bike is status: for Guei it secures him his job as a courier, while for Jian it lets him keep up with his peers and chat up the girl he fancies. Each sees himself as the rightful owner and neither will give way, so the bike swaps hands back and forth, stolen and re-stolen, as the duel waxes increasingly personal. There's a diverting subplot about a beautiful, stylishly dressed girl glimpsed by Guei who turns out be something other than she seems, but essentially the battle over the bike is the meat of the film. The fascination of Beijing Bicycle--perhaps especially for non-Chinese viewers--is its portrait of present-day Beijing as a buzzing, high-pressure, neo-capitalist boomtown, impersonal and seemingly as lawless as any Wild West frontier burg. At no point, in all the thefts and counter-thefts and mounting violence, does anyone think to call the police--everyone is left to fight his own battles. Wang, one can't help suspecting, is slipping in a hint of social criticism in this vision of an uncaring society where possessions are all that matter. On the DVD: Beijing Bicycle on disc has the original theatrical trailer (the French version, oddly enough), filmographies for the director and four of his lead actors, notes on the film by Nick Bradshaw and trailers for other Metro Tartan foreign-language DVD releases. The transfer's in the full anamorphic widescreen of the original, with good Dolby Digital sound. --Philip Kemp
This epic movie depicts the struggle and battles of those who sought to destroy the Monks' temples. A cast of real Shaolin Monks and Wu Shu fighters demonstrating skills not matched by others. Star of 'Mystery of Chess boxing' and '7 Grandmasters' Lee Yi Min starred and produced this action packed classic.
Chungking Express tells two stories loosely connected by a Hong Kong snack bar. In one, a cop who's been recently dumped by his girlfriend becomes obsessed with the expiry dates on cans of pineapple; he's constantly distracted as he tries to track down a drug dealer in a blonde wig (played by Brigitte Lin, best known from Swordsman II and The Bride with White Hair). Meanwhile, another cop who's recently been dumped by his girlfriend (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, from John Woo's Hard-Boiled and A Bullet in the Head) mopes around his apartment, talking to his sponge and other domestic objects. He catches the eye of a shop girl (Hong Kong pop star Faye Wang) who secretly breaks in and cleans his apartment. If you're beginning to suspect that neither of these stories has a conventional plot, you're correct. What Chungking Express does have is loads of energy and a gorgeous visual style that never gets in the way of engaging with the charming characters. The film was shot on the fly by hip director Wong Kar-Wai (Happy Together, Ashes of Time), using only available lighting and found locations. The movie's loose, improvisational feel is closer to Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless than any recent film--and that's high praise. Quirky, funny, and extremely engaging, Chungking Express manages to be experimental and completely accessible at the same time. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
Titles Comprise: Ashes of Time Redux: In ancient China on the edge of a vast desert swordsman Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) lives the life of a vagabond controlling a network of deadly assassins. Pitiless and cynical his heart has long been wounded by a love he neglected then lost. But as seasons friends and enemies come and go he begins to reflect back upon the origin of his solitude. Action-packed and visually dazzling with an all-star cast of Hong Kong cinema greats and extraordinary cinematography by Christopher Doyle Ashes of Time Redux is the ultimate edition of Wong Kar Wai's long-lost martial arts classic brilliantly re-cut and remixed for the 21st Century. Chungking Express: 'Chungking Express' is the ultra-stylish film by internationally acclaimed Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai. Using gorgeous Hong Kong stars and perfect pop music 'Chungking Express' tells two stories of lovelorn cops dangerous drug smugglers and California dreamers. The first story takes place in the infamous Chungking Mansions as melancholic Cop No 223 meets a mysterious woman in a wig and dark glasses in a late night bar little dreaming she's a big-time heroin smuggler up to her neck in trouble. The second story is set around the Midnight Express fast-food joint where Cop No 663 played by Hong Kong heart-throb Tony Leung orders his dinner each night. So broken-up over an air hostess who's flown away 663 fails to notice that the girl who serves his food (Hong Kong rock star Faye Wong) has a massive crush on him. Until to the soundtrack of California Dreaming she takes drastic action to mend his broken heart... Happy Together Cult director Wong Kar Wai's first film shot outside of Hong Kong is a spellbinding tribute to blind passion that features two of Asian cinema's biggest stars. Lai (Tony Leung) and Ho (Leslie Cheung) arrive in Argentina as lovers but while driving south in search of adventures something goes wrong and Ho leaves for Buenos Aries. Devastated Lai finds work in a tango bar but is consumed by thoughts of being happy together once more with Ho. A heady cocktail of sound and vision Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle marry the rythms of Buenos Aries and Frank Zappa's jazz to an astonishing array of images.
An all-action martial arts movie which focusses on an undercover agent's fight against corruption in Hong Kong. Flash Legs Tan stars in this dark spaghetti western style kung fu flick that has become a cult classic.
A must have for any kung fu fan - watch as Hwang Jang-Lee and Leung Ka Yan battle it out for the first and only time in their prolific careers.
Xanda is the latest film to be produced by Tsui Hark famous for his collaborations with John Woo and his attempts to reinvent various Chinese legends in films such as 'Once Upon A Time In China'. Qiang learns that Lung has been training in Xanda under his father Tieh a former Xanda fighter himself who has since retired from the sport and become a coach. When Qiang helps Lung with his training Qiang is able to use his Kung Fu to good use. Along the way he meets Ning a young woman whose feelings for Qiang and his culture soon turn to love. Lung is ready to compete against Wei in the Xanda competition in hopes that he will earn his father's respect by winning the championship. However Lung is viciously mauled by Wei and ends up in the hospital. Qiang offers to take on Wei combining Xanda with his form of Kung Fu. After months of training the time has come for Qiang to step up to the plate and take on Wei in the ultimate Xanda showdown...
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