Profile: Hwang Jang-lee
Date of birth: December 21, 1944 (Aomori, Honshu, Japan) Other names: Huang Cheng Li, Hwang Jing Lee, Hwang Jung Lee, Hwang Tae Su, Wang Tang Lee, Wong Cheng Li, Wong Jing Lei Occupation: Actor,...
View ArticleHitman in the Hand of Buddha (1981)
Taking full creative control as director, producer and leading man, this is Hwang Jang-lee‘s labour of love. The result is a chopsocky classic. As a reaction to always playing the villain, Hwang casts...
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Interview: Hwang Jang-lee
In a film career spanning over two decades as the archetypal go-to bad guy, Hwang Jang-lee kicked out Jackie Chan’s teeth and wore some of kung fu cinema’s most elaborate hairdos. Then he disappeared....
View ArticlePainted Skin (2008)
A mad supernatural romance with just the right level of pie-eyed craziness to keep things interesting and avoid falling completely into mawkishness, despite the sentimental score. Based on a story by...
View ArticleKung Fu Hustle (2004)
To get things started, we are introduced to the Axe Gang – an army of suited henchmen who dominate the underworld of 1940s Shanghai – by way of a brutal slaying worthy of Scorsese. They then quite...
View ArticleUnleashed (2005)
A mismatched film revolving around three very different character actors. Bob Hoskins plays a gruff Del-Boy character in a Lock, Stock setting filmed in grimy Glasgow. Morgan Freeman plays a wise,...
View ArticleCleopatra Jones (1973)
Dobson plays the title role of superfly US special agent Cleo Jones in this dated blaxploitation which provides ironic hilarity throughout. According to popular opinion, Jones is “some kinda woman” and...
View ArticleCleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975)
Cleo Jones returns in this haphazard Shaw-produced sequel. She’s tackling dope fiends on the mean streets of Hong Kong; specifically the lesbian style queen The Dragon Lady (Stevens) and her posse of...
View ArticleMagnificent Bodyguards (1978)
Jackie Chan plays a Ming Dynasty fist fighter hired by a wealthy family to escort a sedan chair holding a secret cargo across the notorious Stormy Hills, famous for its bandits and traps. He assembles...
View ArticleTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Perfectly serviceable reboot of the Turtles franchise which is just the sort of thing you would expect from the multiplex king of blockbuster carnage Michael Bay – here acting as executive producer....
View ArticleDragon Fist (1978)
Lo Wei’s attempts to launch Jackie Chan as the next Bruce Lee was never more apparent than with this schlocky kung fu time-waster; an undemanding slice of mediocrity that takes itself far too...
View ArticleSpiritual Kung Fu (1978)
A sacred manual for the Seven Fists is stolen from the legendary Shaolin Temple and the only style worthy enough to defeat it – the Five Fists – has long since vanished. Thankfully, a meteorite hits...
View ArticleProfile: Sammo Hung Kam-bo
Date of birth: January 7, 1952 (Hong Kong) Other names: Chu Yuan Lung, Hong Jin Bao, Hung Ching Pao, Samo Hung, Zhu Yuan Long Occupation: Actor, director, writer, action director, producer, stuntman....
View ArticleMr. Nice Guy (1997)
A cat and mouse tale set in Melbourne involving Jackie Chan as a celebrity TV chef who finds himself the target of top international drug smugglers looking for an incriminating videotape detailing...
View ArticleThe King of the Streets (2012)
Predictable fight movie from China dogged by pacing issues and a leading man who has seemingly suffered from a charisma lobotomy. It’s an effort to fully warm to the expressionless Yue Song in the lead...
View ArticleBeverly Hills Ninja (1997)
The burly Chris Farley is promoted to starring role status with this dumb comedy. The film appeals to his natural abilities as a physical comedian with a story mostly consisting of him bumping into...
View ArticleHalf a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978)
Still under contract with Lo Wei, Jackie Chan was finally given full creative control on a film and here is the result: an early hint at the slapstick potential of the kung fu comedy sub-genre. Chan...
View ArticleFist of Unicorn (1972)
On the face of it, this standard revenge film seems generic and innocuous – apart from the bizarre moments when Bruce Lee appears on screen in crude, candid, behind the scenes footage. Lee had taken...
View ArticleWeapons of Death (1981)
Ugly American B movie which descends into non-stop fisticuffs once it veers off-road and into the Californian outback. Director, writer and actor Paul Kyriazi takes a decent meat-headed stab at...
View ArticleThe Big Fight (1972)
A relentless but competent chopsocky film from Taiwan which, contrary to the title, is more like a series of little scuffles followed by a big fight before culminating in a really big fight. Tien Peng...
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