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Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

It’s a day to celebrate! We discuss the legend Maggie Cheung! Our B-Sides include Lost Romance (a.k.a. Story of Rose), Full Moon in New York, Green Snake, and Sausalito. Our esteemed guest for this episode is Nick Newman, host of the Emulsion podcast for The Film Stage.

We talk about the Hong Kong New Wave, Maggie’s aborted performance in Inglourious Basterds, the true B-Sidey-Ness of Sausalito, and Maggie Cheung’s brief, lovely, recent Sight and Sound interview.

There’s also Nick’s Sight and Sound List, that GQ piece, Julia Ormond’s tackling a famous Audrey Hepburn role, and Nick’s great interview with filmmaker Olivier Assayas back in 2022.

By 2004, at the young age of forty, Cheung retired from acting.

Our time on this planet is agonizingly brief, which, among other bummers, means that we'll leave loads of great movies unwatched. Ultimately, you've got to prioritize which filmmakers and types of films matter the most to you, while, and this is crucial, making sure you block out time to screen movies that are well out of your wheelhouse. Dive into the wilds of experimental cinema. Explore the many modes of African filmmaking. Acquaint yourself with Italian neorealism. The broader your horizons, the better you understand the lives and struggles of people in places you may never personally visit. As Roger Ebert once noted, movies are "empathy machines." Also, you might just find a new favorite filmmaker along the way (like I did with Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun via The Criterion Channel).

You should always be craving new experiences, but, let's face it, sometimes... Okay, a lot of the time you...

Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy" is a relic of a time when the Hollywood epic was still a healthy, consolidated institution -- before the superhero boom largely replaced it with "grounded," smaller-scale, mostly-contemporary set blockbusters. Starring Brad Pitt as Achilles, Diane Kruger as Helen, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, and a host of legends including Peter O'Toole and Julie Christie in smaller roles, Petersen's 2004 film offers a loose, condensed reimagining of Homer's "Iliad," chronicling the most legendary of all ancient conflicts: the Trojan War.

While full of historical and literary liberties, "Troy" is a muscular, stirring movie that, seen today, feels like a throwback to a time when American tentpole movies were still driven by a chief concern to be fun. In that spirit, here are 15 other cinematic epics and historical blockbusters that will also show you a great,...

As we ponder if the rest of the world will ever see Wong Kar-wai’s 25-hour project Blossoms Shanghai following its premiere in China about a year ago, those in the country will get a chance to experience an expanded edition of his 2000 masterpiece In the Mood for Love very soon.

In celebration of the film’s 25th anniversary, a new 4K remastered edition of In the Mood for Love will arrive in China, fittingly, on Valentine’s Day. While it’s unclear if it will be the same recent (and controversially green-tinged) restoration that Janus Films released, this new edition will feature 9 minutes and 9 seconds of never-before-seen footage, local media reports. It’s not yet confirmed what the new footage will entail, but reports indicate it may include the sex scene between Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung that was deleted but revealed in promotional stills.

It’s not the...

The Asian World Film Festival (Awff) is delighted to announce the festival’s Main Competition and Short Film lineups; select, noteworthy screenings; special program highlights; and centerpiece film. Celebrating its 10th anniversary of showcasing Asian film from around the world, Awff will take place November 13-21, 2024, at The Culver Theater in Culver City, CA.

The nine-day festival will present narrative and documentary motion pictures and short films from 27 countries, including four that premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. More than 30 of the screenings will feature live Q&As with the filmmakers, talent, and crew.

Georges N. Chamchoum, Awff Executive Director, said, “We are very grateful to the filmmakers around the world supporting this year’s line-up with more than 60 narrative and documentary films. The Awff continues to open the window to the region of Asia as well to showcase AsianAmerican talent through our range of programs. I am amazed at...

James Gunn is a curious figure in popular culture. As a young man, just rising in the film business, Gunn co-wrote the witty and disgusting Troma epic "Tromeo & Juliet" with Lloyd Kaufman, and it featured kinky sex, a bisexual Juliet, cow monsters, mutant penis creatures, and an opening narration by Lemmy from Motörhead. After that, Gunn took the piss out of the superhero genre with "The Specials," a low-low budget film about what superheroes — petty jerks, mostly — do on their day off. He stayed aloft in Hollywood writing the screenplays for two surreal "Scooby-Doo" movies, and Zack Snyder's remake of "Dawn of the Dead" before making his directorial debut in 2006 with "Slither," another gross movie about body-invading worm monsters and wacko mutants.

Gunn then deconstructed superheroes even further with "Super" in 2010, a film that hypothesizes that superheroes are mentally ill and addicted to extreme violence. "Super" is bleak,...

Kicking off Nov. 13, the Asian World Film Festival sports features from 27 countries with its main competition screening 16 films submitted for the international feature Oscar. The festival runs through Nov. 21 at the Culver Theater in Culver City, celebrating its 10th anniversary. More than 30 of the screenings will include Q&As with the filmmakers, talent and crew.

“We are very grateful to the filmmakers around the world supporting this year’s lineup with more than 60 narrative and documentary films,” says Georges N. Chamchoum, Awff executive director, said. “The Awff continues to open the window to the region of Asia as well to showcase Asian-American talent through our range of programs. I am amazed at the depth and breadth of the work on the Awff schedule this year.”

The festival opens with South Korean drama “A Normal Family” and closes with Filipino romantic drama “Hello, Love, Again.” The Centerpiece film is Wong Kar-wai...

In times when the flux of people moving from one country to another has significantly increased, driven by a variety of factors including globalization, economic disparities, political instability, the concept of “home” has become a slippery one, introducing the distinction between a physical home and an emotional home. In Ann Hui‘s 1999’s semi-autobiographic film “Song of the Exile” two women try to make sense of their identities and homelands in 70’s China and Japan, but Aiko’s chainless but challenging titular exile and her struggle are bound to resonate strongly with today’s audiences.

Follow the Ann Hui Project by clicking on the image below

The film opens in 1974’s London where Hueyin (Maggie Cheung) has just finished her university course and is enjoying that fleeting mix of relief and excitement before starting a new chapter in life. When a phone call informs her that her younger sister is...

When I started my blindfold series Amnesiascope I knew there’d come time to show a Maggie Cheung film. Probably this doesn’t require much explanation: movie star, master thespian, action heroine, and melodrama titan, Cheung is perhaps the world’s greatest actor (working or otherwise) who’s nevertheless known for a relatively small collection––nine or ten titles, largely by one director, from a career spanning dozens and dozens of films in just about every known genre. Thus on September 17, in slight advance of her birthday, I’ll be presenting one of Cheung’s lesser-screened works at the Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research––its first New York appearance since 2016.

There’s temptation to also note it’s a crowdpleaser, though likely I’m more accurate (and hopefully not spoiling the surprise) deeming it a crowdpummeler: some of the most impactful, kinetic, plainly overwhelming filmmaking the action genre has ever seen,...

This article is part of IndieWire’s 2000s Week celebration. Click here for a whole lot more.

Putting together best-of lists is both a pleasure and a pain — you are always going to “leave something out” or “forget about” one of the all-time greats, and even if you’re able to cull through every possible iteration and entry, ranking and rating the merit of anything in any artistic realm is bound to draw dissent. And, yes, we just keep doing it.

This summer, we’re all about the aughts. And what a time for on-screen performances, the kind that belong not only on this list, but any list of best-to-ever-do-it. In the early 2000s, we saw all manner of breakthroughs on the big screen, be it Javier Bardem burrowing into our collective nightmares or Adam Sandler continuing to proof his salt as a full-stop Great Dramatic Actor. Heath Ledger became our most chilling supervillain.

Celebrate the cinematic genius of Stephen Chow with a selection of his most iconic films, showcasing his unique blend of humor, creativity, and cultural impact in Heart of the Richmond: Stephen Chow Film Festival. This three-day festival in Richmond district is a tribute to one of Hong Kong's most beloved filmmakers, offering audiences the chance to experience his timeless classics on the big screen. Don't miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of Stephen Chow and enjoy an unforgettable film experience! Heart of the Richmond: Stephen Chow Film Festival is is a partnership of the Balboa Theater, The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, the Office of Supervisor Connie Chan, and Another Planet Entertainment.

Friday July 12

Opening Reception: 6:30-7:30

Featuring traditional Chinese dancing, hors d'oeuvres, and Cantonese calligraphy

Shaolin Soccer (2001): 8pm

The film revolves around a former Shaolin monk who reunites his five brothers,...

The intoxicating romance of a Wong Kar-wai movie is a special kind of thing. In the Mood for Love is rightfully hailed as one of the greatest romantic movies ever made, but people who haven't dived further into Kar-wai's filmography might not know that it is actually the middle chapter in a loosely connected trilogy. Wong Kar-wai began what many have billed his "Love Trilogy" in 1990 with his second directorial feature, Days of Being Wild. After ten years, he came back around for In the Mood for Love, the timeless, endlessly beautiful movie about unspoken love starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. In 2004, he followed up In the Mood for Love with the final installment, 2046.

For many around the world, there’s one name at the top of the action totem pole: Jackie Chan, and today marks his 70th birthday.

If you only know him as a goofy martial arts comedian from the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon series, then consider this a wake up call. Because when Jackie did things His way on his home turf, he churned out some of the best action movies you’ll ever see.

Many would point to Drunken Master II as Jackie’s magnum opus. Fair enough, that is an all-timer, but for an example of his best modern day martial arts action, mixed in with some crime drama and his signature comedy, one of his absolute best outings is 1985’s Police Story.

In the 1970s, Jackie Chan soared to fame internationally once he was finally able to break out of the shadow of Bruce Lee. When Chan...

Whereas his last project “Happy Times”, a blend of comedy and tragedy, garnered favorable reviews but to this day remains one of the director's smaller features, Zhang Yimou's next movie, the wuxia drama “Hero” marked a huge success for its director, both critically and commercially. Even today, “Hero” is one of the fan favorites among the many films by Zhang, and together with such features as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” started a renaissance of the genre, to which the Chinese filmmaker has contributed many other stories, albeit with lesser success. In the 2002 film he tells the story of the founding of China's first dynasty, which resulted in the unification of the country after seven warring states had fought for many years to rule it entirely. Apart from being visually stunning, even by today's standards, “Hero” is a timeless story about the passions of men and how they can manipulate...

The two of them wait for the rain to pass together, since Su Li-zhen does not want to take Chow Mo-wan's umbrella, fearing that the neighbors will realize they were together. When the rain stops, she asks him to part ways, since her husband has returned. He agrees.

Both of the cinematographers, Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping-bin, present shots that appear as if the camera is peeking in on the action while it frequently moves in slow motion. This tactic finds its apogee in this scene, as the protagonists are being watched initially from behind a corner and then from a barred window. Furthermore, when he touches her hands, his move is presented in slow motion.

In another cinematic tactic, the scene is not presented in chronological order, with the most important moments inserted randomly in the timeline, as is the case with Li-zhen's crying and her exit.

Maggie Cheung...

Clockwise from top left: Lady Bird (A24), True Grit (Paramount Pictures), The Royal Tenenbaums (Touchstone Pictures), The Irishman (Netflix)Graphic: The A.V. Club

If winning an Oscar wasn’t a big deal, why are the year’s biggest snubs and surprises the first topic of discussion following every nomination announcement?...

Though he’s known today as one of Hong Kong’s most distinctive contemporary filmmakers, in the early 1990s Johnnie To was still a gun for hire. Having apprenticed for the region’s Tvb broadcasting network for most of the ’80s, he had only recently established himself as a reliable maker of action and comedy films. And chief among his early successes is 1993’s wuxia superhero film The Heroic Trio, which is at once indebted to his genre forebears in Hong Kong cinema and possessed of his own idiosyncratic skills.

Like so many wuxia classics, the film’s plot is at once unnecessarily convoluted and little more than justification for moving from one stunt set piece to the next. In the sewers beneath present-day Hong Kong’s bustling streets, an ancient court eunuch, Evil Master (Yen Shi-Kwan), abducts newborns of imperial blood and raises them as potential new emperors in...

Anyone who has dipped a toe into Hong Kong cinema or international film is probably familiar with visionary director Wong Kar-wai. Bursting onto the scene in 1988 with his directorial debut As Tears Go By, Wong's films have been known for their melancholic plots, romantic themes, kinetic imagery, and poignant scores. With frequent collaborators like Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, and Carina Lau, Wong weaved a mesmerizing tapestry of films connected by thematic through lines of love, loss, and longing.

Those who’ve never been exposed to the joys of Hong Kong action cinema would be pardoned for thinking that Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh only blitzed onto the scene opposite Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond, but Yeoh was a star long before Hollywood ever heard of her, evident in her starring in a film featuring Hong Kong’s very own Wonder Woman! And no, it’s not that Wonder Woman. The film in question is Johnnie To’s The Heroic Trio, and, just like any superhero movie from Asia, it’s properly insane. The ‘Wonder Woman’ in question is actually played by Anita Miu, where Yeoh instead plays the Invisible Woman. And no, we don’t mean that Invisible Woman either. Rounding out the cast is Maggie Cheung who plays the Thief Catcher, a Batman analogue. Only this one, like Snyder’s, is very questionably fond of her guns.

The Godzilla franchise has yet again proven its massive audience appeal with Godzilla Minus One's breakout, unrelenting success at the domestic box office.

Godzilla Minus One's successful theatrical stint can be credited in no small measure to the overwhelmingly positive reviews from the Godzilla fan base and movie critics. These in turn managed to pull in casual fans who would have otherwise skipped watching the film in favor of other blockbuster offerings. Godzilla Minus One proves it has the legs for a global theatrical run with an impressive opening weekend, but Collider reports the film still has a lot of steam to vent as it has now broken a box office record that stood unchallenged for almost 20 years.

Related How Godzilla Minus One Sets Up a Sequel Godzilla Minus One ends by recalling a few of the giant monster's previous movie conclusions in a manner that suggests a radioactive sequel.

In February 2024, The Criterion Collection will release The Heroic Trio and Executioners in 4K and Blu-ray. Yes, they will also release films by Michael Roemer's Nothing But a Man, Raoul Walsh's The Roaring Twenties, Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons, and Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller in 4K (?!). You can read more about at the official Criterion site. But my personal takeaway is The Heroic Trio and Executioners in 4K and Blu-ray will be released. I'll just quote from Criterion's official verbiage: "The star power of cinema icons Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh fuels these gloriously unrestrained action joyrides from auteur Johnnie To and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung. "The Heroic Trio and its sequel, Executioners, follow a new kind...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Congratulations to Johnnie To, whose achievements are such that almost anything else is pat. Yet he now has one of the best films in the Criterion Collection: his action-fantasy masterpiece The Heroic Trio––starring Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and Anita Mui––will retire its hard-subbed laserdisc rip for a 4K Uhd arriving in February, its sequel Executioners (perhaps not one of the best films in the Criterion Collection but welcome all the same) included as a two-feature set. (With appreciable credit given to co-director Ching Siu-tung.) Raoul Walsh’s The Roaring Twenties is likewise joining the collection in 4K, while 2016’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller disc gets an upgrade.

Arguably most eventful, though, is the long-awaited release of Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons, which Janus toured virtually and physically throughout 2021. And not to be discounted even slightly is Michael Roemer’s Nothing But a Man––arguably, it so happens,...

Ten years after he attended the Tokyo International Film Festival for the screening of The Grandmaster, Tony Leung returned to the festival on Thursday to conduct a masterclass.

The Hong Kong acting icon, dressed in a black tailored suit and fashion-forward Kolor sneakers, was met with warm applause at a packed house at Tokyo’s Hulic Hall. Festival programmer Shozo Ichiyama began proceedings with Leung’s early years as an actor, namely his work with Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien on the classic A City of Sadness, which Ichiyama considered one of his personal favorites. A City of Sadness was notable as it was set in Taipei, and Leung, at the time, had no experience working outside of Hong Kong and couldn’t speak Mandarin.

“It was the start of my career, and I wanted to challenge myself,” Leung said through an interpreter on why he took on the role, given...

Veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung passed through the Tokyo Film Festival this afternoon, where he led a masterclass session following a screening of 2046, his sixth collaboration with filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai.

Leung’s appearance onstage was brief but dense, with the actor largely digging into the early inception of his career and how he first hooked up with Wong Kar-Wai, with whom he has since made seven feature films.

“When I first met Wong Kar-wai, I was stuck. I didn’t know what to do because my acting wasn’t getting any better,” Leung told the packed audience inside Tokyo’s Hulic Hall.

Leung said at the time, he was working with Wong Kar-Wai on the 1990 feature Days of Being Wild, but he was struggling to land his character.

“I was working with Maggie Cheung. And Wong Kar-Wai was watching my acting and knew what wasn’t great about it,...

Hong Kong cinema is associated with action films which most often bring to mind male protagonists. Most undeservedly so since, thanks to the characteristics of Hong Kong martial arts films, women have been successfully surmounting their male counterparts with training, agility, and wits in them for many decades. The masters, such as King Hu and Tsui Hark, were well-aware of it. They were among the ones who discovered outstanding artists whose roles were ahead of their times and set out new directions for the development of popular cinema.

Hong Kong is not just about action cinema, but also brilliant comedies and dramas, and sharp tales with social overtones, in which fascinating, complex female characters are also present. The Hong Kong Heroines section brings back strong heroines and the great roles of stars, including Cheng Pei-pei, Sylvia Chang, Cherry Ngan, and Maggie Cheung. The section presents Hong Kong cinema from the...

Hong Kong multihyphenate Andy Lau may just be ready to star in a Hollywood movie after long being a box office king and pop star in Asia. But only if the major studios will meet him on his terms.

“I’m ready for Hollywood, as long as Hollywood is ready for me,” Lau said during an informal conversation at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday after a more than four-decade career stopping short of following his contemporaries and heading to Hollywood.

In Toronto to receive a special tribute award ahead of the Sept. 15 world premiere of Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, Lau said he always enjoyed playing the bad guy in movies as a change of pace early in his career. “I don’t know why in the beginning, everyone saw me as the good guy,” he insisted.

Lau, who sits near the top of China’s A-list...

Several martial arts movie sequels have managed to greatly outdo their predecessors. Martial arts films are like any other genre, in that some of their stories are specifically designed to be one-offs, while others are the beginning of a franchise. The latter tends to be a fairly common scenario, and has often led to such popular martial arts movie franchises as The Karate Kid, Kickboxer, and the Ip Man movies.

There are also numerous examples of the second installment of a martial arts movie series completely surpassing the original. In some cases, it is simply the case of a superior sequel with bigger and better action scenes being made. In other cases, part two of a martial arts franchise even ends up being so good as to become regarded as the true beginning of its respective series. Here are 10 martial arts movie sequels that are significantly better than their predecessors.

by Cláudio Alves

Happy birthday to Wong Kar-Wai. The Hong Kong auteur turns 65 today, the same day I say goodbye to 28 and welcome my 29th year –we're birthday twins! But of course, I've loved the director long before discovering we shared July 17th, having fallen for his cinema when I glimpsed Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung cross paths in slow-motion, saw the treacherous enchantment of a kitschy lamp lost in Buenos Aires, experienced a Nouvelle Vague color kaleidoscope to the sound of "California Dreamin'." It's only fitting to celebrate the date by pouring over some of Wong's most ravishing pictures, remembering his mastery as we mourn a decade since his last feature.

Join me as I consider three films Mubi has programmed specially for July, a collection they call As Time Goes By. A trio marked by lavish spectacle, they reach for the stars – a wuxia experiment, a sci-fi lament,...

The '90s were an exciting but strange time for cinema. More franchise films were being made, more chaotic filmmaking styles were being employed, and there was a resurgence in the indie film scene with many promising new artists rising up. Many great movies came out during this period from great filmmakers, but one director had an exceptional run of films that could be considered some of the greatest of the decade. That director is the Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai.

The films made by Kar-wai during this decade would define his unique style of filmmaking and cement him as one of the greatest artists in filmmaking. They include such masterpieces as Days of Being Wild, Chunking Express, Fallen Angels, and Happy Together, each film bearing his iconic style and moving storytelling. To further prove how important he was to the decade, here are four reasons why Wong Kar-wai was...

Veteran Chinese director Peter Chan Ho-sun is busy as ever these days. Behind the scenes, Chan is laying the foundations of the new production company, Changin’ Pictures, which he formally announced towards the end of last year. In public, the director is one of the most prominent cheerleaders of Chinese cinema, a role he played at the Shanghai International Film Festival this week.

The focus of a MasterClass at the festival, Chan talked expansively about Chinese film and its place in the world. “China has a lot of great stories, and many of them can resonate with people worldwide,” he said. “So why not make these stories that everyone can empathize with? I believe we should aim to make the whole world want to watch Chinese stories. We shouldn’t make films that are intended to please them or enhance a stereotypical image of China. That won’t lead to progress.

(Welcome to Best Action Scene Ever, a column dedicated to breaking down the best, most effective action sequences throughout the genre. In this edition, we circle back to Jackie Chan's stunt-acular action classic, "Police Story.")

Before Jackie Chan ever crossed the shores of the American mainstream during his Hollywood heyday in the 1990s, the actor/director/stuntman extraordinaire had been hard at work in Hong Kong cinema, churning out hit after hit for decades in his native country. One of his most memorable successes came only a scant handful of years before he finally crossed over into global appeal: 1985's "Police Story," directed by and starring Chan as Chan Ka-Kui, followed the rogue cop on his relentless quest to take down a drug lord, babysit a key witness played by Maggie Cheung, and subsequently clear his own name after being framed by his powerful enemies

The movie — which, quite honestly,...

The Film

With Cynthia Rothrock having only done Yes Madam, and Michelle Khan [Yeoh] departing the loose franchise following Royal Warriors, this third entry (the title of which also translates as Royal Madam III: Male and Female Thieves) had to turn to new talent. Billing then 20 year-old Taiwanese actress Yang Li-tsing as Cynthia Khan was a cynical move on par with introducing a new action star to US movies today, and giving her the screen name Kate Theron. Like the alternate title fusing those of the two previous films, it’s not something that screams of inspiration, but like Cynthia Khan herself, this film is a dark horse that deserves more credit, and to be looked at on its own terms rather than based on what its name is ripping off.

The story, as ever, is largely a framework to hang the action on, but this time it sees Khan as...

Above: Original French release poster for Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Designer unknown.Jeanne Dielman wins again! Posted on the day that Chantal Akerman’s masterpiece was announced as the surprise come-from-behind winner of Sight and Sound’s decennial Greatest Films of All Time poll, the original poster for the film racked up close to 3,000 likes on my Movie Poster of the Day Instagram (helped perhaps by being paired with this photo of Akerman pensively smoking in front of the same poster back in the day). I have no doubt that any poster for the film posted on that day would have gotten a lot of attention, but I’d like to believe that some of the likes were for the poster itself: unassuming yet elegant (like Jd herself), foregrounding that radically mundane title, and containing nothing surplus to requirements, just Mrs. Dielman at her dining room table, waiting patiently,...

With sun-drenched shots of the Italian countryside, the Call Me By Your Name aesthetic immerses audiences in its European setting. A heartwarming love story set in Northern Italy in the 1980s, Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name was the breakout movie of Timothée Chalamet in the role of lovesick Elio Perlman. It received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Chalamet — he became the third-youngest actor to receive the honor — and it won in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Surprisingly, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s sumptuous visuals didn’t receive a nomination for Best Cinematography.

Since most movies about two people falling in love focus on the performances and the actors’ chemistry above anything else, the cinematography often takes a backseat in the romance genre. Call Me By Your Name stands out for having great performances and great cinematography. However, it's not unique in that regard. From...

Michelle Yeoh has just won the Academy Award for best actress with her hysterically good performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, making Oscar history as first Asian woman winning that category. It has been a long way since the year 1937, when white actress Luise Rainer won the same category for sporting a “yellowface” and play a Chinese villager in “The Good Earth.” But the Malaysian-born actress had already built up a reputation in the 1980s and '90s as Hong Kong's kick-ass action star.

Check out the interview of Michelle Yeoh An Interview with Michelle Yeoh : One of Asia's Biggest Film Stars

A ballet dancer since 4, she moved to London to study at the Royal Academy as a teen, but her dancer career didn't last long. After winning the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant title and the Miss Moomba beauty pageant title in Australia in the early 1980s, she...

World-famous martial arts star Jackie Chan is returning to his Hong Kong roots in news that will have any action junkie positively buzzing with excitement. Longtime fans will hardly need a reminder of Chan's leading role in the "Police Story" trilogy of movies. Made with significant creative influence by Chan (who directed and co-wrote two of the films) from 1985 to 1992, the trilogy follows lead character Chan Ka-Kui, a local cop tasked with assisting in a major undercover sting operation. The franchise was actually rebooted twice with Chan's direct involvement, most notably in 2004 with "New Police Story." That film also starred Chan in the lead role and paired him with immensely popular popstar and actor Nicholas Tse. Now, the two are teaming up once again to deliver a follow-up to that film with "New Police Story 2."

This news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which states that Chan recently made the official...

“Emily in Paris” star Lucas Bravo is thankful to George Clooney and Julia Roberts, who starred with him in hit 2022 romcom “Ticket to Paradise.”

The dashing French star, who is also known for “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” was speaking at a press meet for the 16th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, where he is a presenter.

“George and Julia happen to be the most generous, kind and protective people I’ve ever worked with — they go out of their way to make the set a safe place,” Bravo said. “They gave me an opportunity to improvise, they made me feel loved and accepted. And I’ve learned with them that the bigger the star, the nicer the person, so it gives me a lot of fuel for the rest of my career.”

Bravo also revealed his admiration for Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, stemming from the time he...

It might be obvious to say, but a film getting nominated for an Oscar doesn’t automatically make it good.

In fact, there have been many deserving movies over the years that were somehow overlooked by the Academy.

It’s easy to assume that certain releases don’t get nominated because they’re not what Oscar voters would usually go for, but there have been some surprises in the past.

For example, pretty much every new superhero film earns a nomination thanks to the technical or makeup categories, while random animated films are acknowledged most likely because of the low number on offer in a certain year.

This means films likem say, DC’s Suicide Squad may get mauled by the critics, but they still gain recognition from the Academy (it went on to win).

This is even more ridiculous when you consider that classics such as Don’t Look Now...

It might be obvious to say, but a film getting nominated for an Oscar doesn’t automatically make it good.

In fact, there have been many deserving movies over the years that were somehow overlooked by the Academy.

It’s easy to assume that certain releases don’t get nominated because they’re not what Oscar voters would usually go for, but there have been some surprises in the past.

For example, pretty much every new superhero film earns a nomination thanks to the technical or makeup categories, while random animated films are acknowledged most likely because of the low number on offer in a certain year.

This means films likem say, DC’s Suicide Squad may get mauled by the critics, but they still gain recognition from the Academy (it went on to win).

This is even more ridiculous when you consider that classics such as Don’t Look Now...

It is my experience that one gets a far richer, stranger cinema education in pursuing the careers of actors, that group defined first by (assuming luck shines upon them) two or three era-defining films and then so much that dictates their industry—pet projects, contractual obligations, called-in favors alimony payments, auteur one-offs, and on and on. Few embody that deluge of circumstance better than Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom are receiving spotlights in March. The former’s is a who’s-who of Hong Kong talent, new favorites (The Heroic Trio), items we can at least say are of interest (Trio‘s not-great sequel Executioners), etc.

Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...

Two Octobers ago, freshly heartbroken, I saw In the Mood for Love for the third time. Honestly, I was in pretty bad shape. My first real relationship had just ended with a whimper. There hadn’t been any thrown dishes or fuck yous. Love had simply been there, constant, and then I looked again and it was gone. Or that’s how it felt. Presence, then whoosh.I’d run away to England for the fall, officially to get some writing done, but mostly I was just sad and wanting to be sad anywhere but at home. My focus, care, and energy had dissolved into a soup of loneliness. My stomach was tight, my head was fuzzy, I was crying in bed most nights; it was ordinary grief, but it was mine.That week, though, at the beginning of my trip, visiting with new friends, I would be myself again,...

A scene cut from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds would have solved a mystery about Shosanna’s (Mélanie Laurent) story. Tarantino has explored various genres in his movies, including alternate versions of historical events, as he did in Inglourious Basterds. Set during World War II, Inglourious Basterds tells two stories with a common goal: kill as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler, with one story led by Shosanna Dreyfus and the other by Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), leader of the Basterds, a commando unit that targeted Nazi soldiers.

Shoshanna’s story is at the core of Inglourious Basterds, as her mission was a personal one. Shosanna witnessed the murder of her family by SS officer Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), and she was the only one who could escape. Some time later, Shosanna was living in Paris under the name Emmanuelle Mimieux and was the owner of a cinema, but unfortunately,...

From an emotional standpoint, romantic movies can have several different functions. On the happier end of the spectrum, they can produce feelings of joy, hope, and gratification. Then there are romances that are best described as tearjerkers, with endings that devastate more than delight. But there are also films that fall somewhere in between these two extremes, movies that feel both melancholic and joyful at the same time.

When picking a romantic film to watch, it's important to know what mood you're in -- or what mood you want to be in. With this list, I've compiled a group of films that fall somewhere on the spectrum between bittersweet and tragic. A few of these films have decidedly sad endings where no one ends up happy (or even alive), while others depict a romance that changed an individual's life for the better, regardless of its outcome. What's great about romance...

The Lunar New Year is a time of feasting and family gatherings. It’s also a time for new movies. China’s Lunar New Year film rush is on par with the holiday film rush in the West, with dozens of premieres jockeying to be the season’s number one blockbuster. In the Chinese queue for this year are films like Donnie Yen’s Kung Fu fantasy Sakra, The Wandering Earth II, the prequel to China’s visionary 2019 sci-fi, and the eagerly anticipated action comedy, Everything Under Control.

It often takes a few months for new Chinese films to cross the pond to the West, and they seldom get theatrical showings. However, Western theaters are becoming increasingly aware of the drawing power of the Lunar New Year and have begun to showcase some special releases in honor of the holiday. This year the U.S. market is treated to a...

"Never meet your heroes" is one piece of advice Quentin Tarantino has never listened to. His first feature "Reservoir Dogs" starred Harvey Keitel, his "favorite actor in the world." "Jackie Brown" was a vehicle for Pam Grier, star of 1970s blaxploitation films like "Coffy" which Tarantino loves. "Kill Bill," a samurai film love letter, featured Japanese genre star Sonny Chiba as sword-smith Hattori Hanzō.

There's another collaboration between Tarantino and one of his personal acting icons, one we haven't gotten to see. Who's the icon in question? Hong Kong star Maggie Cheung, who played a character cut from "Inglourious Basterds."

The hero of said film is not one of the titular Nazi-killing squad. No, it's Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a young Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied France. The sole survivor of her family's massacre, she now poses as a Gentile cinema owner named "Emmanuelle Mimieux." When "Emmanuelle" comes face-to-face with Nazi...

by Simon Ramshaw

Lam Nai-Choi’s “The Seventh Curse” opens with a wistful statement from its creator, prolific pulp writer Ni Kuang: “Everyone has many strange things happen around them every day. Every little thing, as long as you’re willing to dig deeper, can be turned into a strange story.” He sits in a comfortable armchair, nursing a glass of brandy as Miss Asia contestants listen eagerly to his every word. One may almost think it’s the introduction to a “Twilight Zone” tale, one of intrigue and philosophical musing within tales of the weird and macabre. Enter blossoming Hong Kong megastars Chow Yun-Fat and Chin Siu-Ho with a strange story of their own to share, one that blows the viewer’s expectations out of the water with a cult Hong Kong horror-comedy gem, filled with booby-trapped ancient temples, flying kung-fu demons and many, many explosions of blood and gore.

When Louis Feuillade’s “Les Vampires” premiered in 1915, escalating the war of attrition between French film companies Pathe and Gaumont — in the middle of the actual armed conflict of World War I — it wasn’t a given that narrative feature films would become the dominant format for cinematic storytelling. In the 1910s, serials were in. It was equally likely, and more economical, for filmmakers to string together hours of storytelling via 12-minute reels that would stand as individual episodes and end on a cliffhanger, prompting the audience to return to the theater next week to see how it all turns out. Film was still as much an emerging technology as it was an art form, one with various and uncertain business models that were being tested simultaneously. Feuillade has more in common with any director working in the Age of Streaming than with Fellini or Ford, and making a “Les Vampires...

Hello, old friend. Here we are, you and me, on the last page. Yes, this will be my last Pop Culture Imports column, as I will be leaving /Film for another job. So I thought a good way to end this column would be to take a look back at my favorite titles that I've featured here.

I started this column as a way to better shine the spotlight on international movies and TV shows that I was worried would get buried amid an increasingly crowded streaming market. But it was also a way for me to express my love for the Chinese action movies that I watched from behind my parents' shoulders, the animes that were my guilty pleasures, the K-dramas that were suddenly getting crossover success. I didn't want to lose those building blocks of my love for movie and TV, so Pop Culture Imports became a diary...

Considering the people involved in the movie, with Johnnie To directing, Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung starring as the titular trio, and Anthony Wong as one of the key villains, and with a script that is filled with martial arts action plus a plethora of Catiii elements, one would expect that “The Heroic Trio” would be the quintessential Hk action film. However, a number of faults in the script and a couple of other issues prevent it from becoming so, although the entertainment it offers, at least for the most part, is undeniable.

“The Heroic Trio“ is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival

The aforementioned trio comprises of Tung (aka Wonder Woman), who is married to a policeman, Chat (Thief Catcher) a mercenary and head hunter, and Ching (Invisible Woman). As the story begins, an enigmatic persona mentioned only as Evil Master is blackmailing the Invisible Woman...

What: The 42nd edition of the Hawai’i International Film Festival (Hiff) presented by Halekulani continues celebrating the best of indie cinema through: in-person screenings, online presentations, and panel events with industry luminaries. As part of the annual Hiff tradition, the festival will recognize Hiff Awards Gala Honorees as outstanding artists for their commitment to excellence in their field. The Gala also provides an opportunity to announce the Competition Winners, including recipients for this year’s Made in Hawai’i Award.

When: This year’s honorees – Hirokazu Kore-eda, Jung Woo-Sung, Simu Liu, Kerry Warkia, Auli’i Carvalho and Josie Ho – will be honored at the Awards Gala on Sunday November 13th, 2022 at 6pm Hst.

HIFF42 Halekulani Vision in Film Award – Hirokazu Kore-eda

HIFF42 Halekulani Career Achievement Award – Jung Woo-Sung

HIFF42 Halekulani Maverick Award – Simu Liu

HIFF42 Leanne K. Ferrer Trailblazer Award Presented by Pacific Islanders in Communications...