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Is there any contemporary actor more iconic than Nicolas Cage? Instantly identifiable and beloved by both mainstream audiences and cult aficionados, it’s hard to believe that there was a time when Nicolas Cage wasn’t considered a bankable leading man. While movies like Raising Arizona and Moonstruck established him as a quirky lead, in 1990, he made an action movie called Fire Birds, which was like Top Gun with helicopters and whiffed at the box office. He had a solid hit as a romantic lead in Honeymoon in Vegas. However, in 1995, the same year he delivered an Academy Award-winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas, he was still considered so minor of a star that David Caruso took top billing over him in their remake of Kiss of Death – which – by the way – was another flop. However, that all changed when uber producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer decided Cage had potential as an action hero,...

Welcome to this week’s review of Aew’s, Collision, which brings wrestling back to Saturday nights. We’ve got the commentary team of Tony Schiavone, and Nigel McGuiness calling the action, so let’s get into our review!

Match #1: The Opps def. Starboy Charlie, Titus Alexander, & Jack Banning The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Hook hurled Starboy Charlie with a suplex. Alexander grabbed a tag. Shibata and Joe double teamed Alexander with chops. Samoa Joe jabbed at Alexander. The Opps took turns punishing Alexander in the corner. After a Pk, Shibata pinned Titus Alexander.

My Score: 0 out of 5 Match #2: The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd & Truth Magnum) def. The Premier Athletes (Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari) The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

The Premier Athletes double teamed Truth in the corner turnbuckles. Sterling slapped Truth as the ref was distracted. Truth retaliated, taking on all three men. Turbo...

A glimpse at upcoming UK DVD and Blu-ray release dates well into 2025: here’s what’s coming to disc and when.

Here, then, are a few of the upcoming dates for new movies on DVD and Blu-ray that may not yet have been officially announced. Note that all dates are for the UK.

Also: We’ve started adding affiliate links. If you click on those, we benefit, and can spend more money paying more people to write more things for this website. No pressure, just hugely obliged.

Obviously in the current climate everything is subject to change, of course…

Just released

First Time On UK Blu-ray: No Way Out (Film Stories Blu-ray #2)

First Time On UK Blu-ray: Bull Durham (Film Stories Blu-ray #3)

This week

10th March: Father Brown series 12

10th March: St Patrick’s Day Massacre

10th March: Drifting Dragons season 1

10th March: The Terminal Man

10th March: New Religion...

Update: Angela Russo-Otstot, the Chief Content Officer of production company Agbo, revealed the title of the spin-off while speaking to The Direct: “We have just announced a green light for a series called Mercenary, which is part of the Extraction universe and starring Omar Sy and we’re thrilled about that one.”

The original article follows:

While Netflix’s planned Gray Man universe has yet to come to fruition, another big piece of IP from the Russo Bros is being expanded in a big way at the streamer. Deadline has just revealed that Netflix has greenlit an all-new spin-off of their hit action franchise, Extraction, which will re-team them with their Lupin star, Omar Sy. The spin-off, which will be a streaming series, as opposed to a film, will follow Sy as “a mercenary as he navigates a dangerous mission to rescue hostages in Libya. Trapped between warring factions and ruthless killers,...

Hundreds of war movies exist, designed to thrill audiences, sometimes at the behest of the summer movie season -- we're looking at you "Pearl Harbor." Too often, Hollywood neglects to tell the whole story, resulting in cookie-cutter pictures like John Wayne's "The Green Berets" or generic action extravaganzas like John Woo's "Windtalkers." Sure, they may contain state-of-the-art special effects, A-list stars, and rousing battle scenes, but they too often rely on genre cliches or wrap their historical backdrops around sappy romantic subplots.

What's missing? Well, all great war movies contain a pivotal ingredient: realism. Far too many pictures nix this key element and wind up as shallow cash grabs that exploit history for their own benefit. Luckily, plenty of directors also went to great lengths to achieve optimal realism, ensuring audiences walked away from their pictures with a greater understanding of the strength and sacrifices of those who died on the battlefield.

By literary definition, a movie that features the same lead character while continuing the same plot and theme from the first film is considered a sequel. But if you explain this to Tom Cruise, he might refuse to admit it, much like he declined to call Mission: Impossible 2 a sequel to his 1996 movie.

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 2 | image: Paramount Pictures

According to Tom Cruise’s interview with Vanity Fair, his $546M blockbuster Mission: Impossible 2 is just a different movie with the same guy doing more impossible things. Kind of like saying your second slice of pizza isn’t really part of the whole thing, just because you’ve added a bit of ketchup to it.

Tom Cruise refused to call Mission: Impossible 2 a sequel A still from Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) | image: Paramount Pictures

Although the world believes that any published or broadcast work that continues the story,...

“An Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance” is, as the title clearly suggests, the sequel to a film from 2022. The Chinese action superstar Xie Miao played “the blind swordsman”, a fighter named Cheng Xiazi who earns his money as a bounty hunter. He meets a young woman named Yan Ni (Gao Weiman), whose entire family has fallen victim to a brutal attack. Cheng is only reluctantly persuaded to help her with her mission, which is of course revenge. The film lasts 77 minutes and is a flagship product of the bustling Chinese streaming service iQIYI. iQIYI, it seems, produces new films and series practically around the clock. These are now also finding fans in the West. As different as the quality of these products might be – the output of iQIYI alone is impressive.

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The Masters of the Universe franchise has been going strong for over forty years now, consisting of multiple lines of action figures, several animated TV shows, a bunch of comic book series, and much more including a live-action film adaptation that was released in 1987 and starred Dolph Lundgren as the iconic character He-Man. Although that ’87 film has a strong fan following, it wasn’t received very well in general… but now, Mattel (the toy company behind the franchise) is ready to give the idea of a live-action Masters of the Universe film another try. Set up at Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Studios, the new Masters of the Universe is aiming for a theatrical release date of June 5, 2026 – and here’s everything we know about it:

Development Hell

The new attempt to bring a live-action Masters of Universe movie into the world has been making its way through development hell...

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This March, Paramount+ is bringing you a ton of entertainment with the much anticipated true crime drama series Happy Face and also the streaming release of the horror comedy film Rumours. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 10 best films coming to Paramount+ in March 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Up In The Air (March 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90% Credit – Paramount Pictures

Up in the Air is a comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Sheldon Turner. Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Walter Kirn, the 2009 film follows Ryan Bingham, a man whose job is to travel places and fire people from their jobs.

John Woo's 2000 film "Mission: Impossible 2" is handily the worst film in the "Mission: Impossible" film series. Its drama is turgid and unconvincing, the romance between Tom Cruise and Thandiwe Newton is only briefly convincing, and the villain, played by Dougray Scott, is generic to the point of being noncorporeal. Woo's ordinarily vivacious and balletic gun violence is supplanted by instantly-dated, "You Wouldn't Steal a Handbag"-style hyper-edited violence, something that feels like a remnant of a now-forgotten era of MTV. The film tried to turn Ethan Hunt from a steely company man into a flippant, sexy, American James Bond. It didn't really work.

The most memorable part of the movie is, like in most of the "Mission: Impossible" movies, the stunts that Cruise performed himself. Woo's film opens with super-spy Ethan Hunt (Cruise) enjoying a rare vacation by himself. He is seen rock climbing on the various rock...

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...

While the films we see from Mainland China in festivals mostly follow arthouse social/family drama paths, the ones we see outside of the circuit, mostly in various streamers and occasionally in distribution, are almost always of the crime/action variety and quite frequently, of dubious quality. “Go For Broke”, a Chinese/Hong Kong production by Marc Ma, checks both these last two boxes.

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In a hidden corner of Mancheng, a profit-seeking drug cartel is unscrupulously causing countless people to fall into the abyss of drug addictions and tearing apart families. Zhang Yao was persecuted by the drug traffickers until his family met their ruin, so, with his life in shambles, agrees to cooperate with anti-narcotics captain An Du to seek revenge against the leaders of the criminal syndicate, Mu Kun and An Pei. To do so, Zhang Yao takes the place of Mu Kun’s lost son,...

Jackie Chan has done it again. After “A Legend,” he has released another bad film, and it is not entirely clear why he made it in the first place. With “Panda Plan,” he is doing even more damage to his extensive and glorious work. Its audience success was also quite modest. With production costs of $25 million, “Panda Plan” grossed just $36 million. That’s really not great, especially bearing in mind that the film was released on China’s national holiday on October 1, 2024, and considering that it was obviously intended as a family film.

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As soon as you say “family film,” you wonder how the first scenes of “Panda Plan” fit into this concept. The movie starts with a wild shootout in a church, clearly inspired by John Woo‘s action classics. But wait! It’s a film set, and Jackie only...

Netflix's "Extraction" is no longer just a series of movies starring Chris Hemsworth -- it's a full-on franchise. The streaming service has officially expanded the scope of this universe by giving the greenlight to a new TV show set in the same universe as the Hemsworth-fronted Tyler Rake films. The catch? Hemsworth won't be the leading man. Instead, Omar Sy is set to take on the lead role in the TV spin-off.

According to Variety, the currently unnamed "Extraction" TV show will be headed up by Glen Mazzara ("The Walking Dead"), who serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Angela Russo-Otstot, Scott Nemes, Chris Castaldi, Sam Hargrave, Eric Gitter, and Peter Schwerin are on board as executive producers. Hargrave directed both "Extraction" and "Extraction 2." As we previously reported, Netflix was eyeing TV spin-offs for several hits, "Extraction" among them. Now, that's becoming a reality. So...

Despite being Remedy Entertainment’s second game, Max Payne is an immensely ambitious action game that combines mature storytelling with themes from John Woo films to produce a timeless masterpiece. Similar to bullet-time in The Matrix films, the slowdown function in this third-person action game is available to the game’s protagonist, a former NYPD investigator.

Max Payne was released in 2001. | Credit: Remedy Entertainment.

Like Neo, Max can make slow-motion leaps while holding his reliable weapons in both hands to eliminate opponents in front of him. It’s been over two decades since this game’s release, but the immaculate writing of the game even beats the monologues of recently released titles like Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Max Payne‘s writing is a timeless classic That “Noooo!” still haunts many Max Payne fans. | Credit: Remedy Entertainment.

Max Payne was released in 2001and quite naturally graphics was not a big deal at that time.

Fargo and Alien: Earth showrunner Noah Hawley is set to partner with Chris Pine for the Texan thriller, Nowhere Fast.

Bursting onto the scene as the TV showrunner behind Fargo just over a decade ago, Noah Hawley has barely put a foot wrong since. Fargo, loosely inspired by the Coen Brothers’ 1996 film, spawned five acclaimed seasons, while Hawley also made a critically-admired take on the X-Men mythos with Legion.

Most recently, Hawley’s TV spin on the Alien universe lands later this year in the form of Alien: Earth. A new teaser recently dropped for that show, and we’re tremendously excited by the prospect of Hawley bringing his wit, originality and flair for thrilling narrative conceits to a series that could really benefit from some new ideas.

It looks as though Hawley is opting for a palette cleanser of sorts after Alien: Earth, as Variety is reporting that he...

It's no secret that video game movies have been risky propositions for most of their history, though that's changed in more recent years with successful adaptations of big properties like Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. But back in the mid-2010s, the genre was still mostly wildcards bending toward box office bombs. Unperturbed by this, Sony decided to get in on the business with a handful of movies adapting major PlayStation properties. Specifically, two hit action-platformer franchises from the PS2 era -- "Ratchet & Clank" and "Sly Cooper" -- were put in development as animated films.

The "Ratchet" adaptation was announced in 2013, and the "Sly" movie got a full teaser trailer a year later. Blockade Entertainment, animation studio Rainmaker Entertainment, and director Kevin Munroe and animation studio were attached to both. The projects even had some video game pedigree in the form of Blockade producer Brad Foxhoven, who previously worked...

For decades now, Tom Cruise has been taking audiences to giddy heights in his pursuit of blockbuster excellence – often literally. And while later Mission: Impossible films saw him scale the Burf Khalifa, cling to planes mid-flight, and Halo jump through the night sky, his love affair with dangerous dangling goes all the way back to the John Woo-helmed Mission: Impossible 2. The 2000 sequel begins with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt hanging loose in a dizzying Utah free-climb, a jaw-dropping stunt that quickly became the film’s most iconic scene.

In the new issue of Empire, Cruise talks us through an iconic moment from every Mission movie so far, packed with stories on his greatest feats – from the Langley dangle in the Brian de Palma original, to the Rogue Nation aircraft hanger, to the Fiat 500 chase in Dead Reckoning. Here’s an exclusive extract, with Cruise looking back on that legendary Mission: Impossible 2 opener.

The 31st Vesoul International Film Festival Asian Cinema, chaired by the international jury of the great Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke, presents the complete feature films of Jia Zhang-ke, in the presence of his muse, the actress Zhao Tao.

Two honorary Cyclos d’or are awarded to them during the opening ceremony at the Théâtre Edwige Feuillère.

92 films, including 47 unreleased ones, make up the official selection.

The fiction and documentary competitions offer a selection of 17 films from Bhutan, China, Korea, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Malaysia, Yakutia, etc., judged by 7 juries and presented by the film teams:

Bhutan: I The Song by Dechen Roder – French premiere

Burma: Ma – Cry of silence by The Maw Naing – French premiere

China (Hong Kong): To Kill a Mongolian Horse by Jiang Xiaoxuan – French premiere

Korea: The Land of Morning Calm by Park Ri-woong – French premiere

Iran: The Witness by Nader Saeivar – French premiere

Japan:...

Let’s talk about the incredible journey of John Travolta through Hollywood’s ever-changing landscape. From lighting up the screen with his legendary dance moves in the ’70s to becoming an action superstar in the ’90s, and then reinventing himself as a compelling character actor, Travolta has done it all.

John Travolta in Grease (1978) | Credits: Paramount Pictures

What’s particularly fascinating about his filmography is how certain movies reveal hidden gems every time you watch them. You know those films where you catch something new on your fifth viewing that completely flew over your head the first four times? Well, Travolta’s got quite a few of those under his belt. Here are ten of his movies that just keep getting better every time you hit that play button.

10. Face/Off (1997) Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in a still from Face/Off (1997) | Credits: Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Touchstone Pictures...

Rumors of a "Metroid" movie have circulated in Hollywood for decades, but they never got closer to actually happening than the John Woo film first announced in 2004. At the time, Nintendo's sci-fi video game series was at the peak of its popularity. That height has sadly not been reached since by subsequent entries, though there has been a rising "Metroid" tide again in recent years with the critical and commercial success of 2021's "Metroid Dread" and excitement around the upcoming "Metroid Prime 4: Beyond."

In 2004, though, "Metroid" was one of the biggest names in gaming thanks entirely to 2001's "Metroid Prime." In an era when Nintendo was being overshadowed a bit by more adult-oriented games like "Grand Theft Auto III" and "Halo," "Prime" gave the company a massive critical hit. It was a technical marvel, highly sophisticated, and has often been thrown into the (somewhat bizarre) conversation around what...

CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks starts Season 2 in a precarious situation—sidelined by his superiors after the tumultuous Prague operation from the previous season. With excess time and growing restlessness, a cryptic message about an old greymail case pulls him toward Seoul, South Korea, where peril awaits.

This mission represents more than routine work; it’s Owen’s opportunity to redeem himself or potentially meet his downfall. Personal connections to South Korea deepen the emotional complexity, as memories of his deceased father emerge during a treacherous conspiracy.

In Seoul, Owen becomes deeply involved with Jang Kyun, a South Korean intelligence agent whose wife Russian mercenaries have kidnapped. What initially appears as a straightforward rescue mission transforms into a complex plot linked to cryptocurrency, threatening global political stability.

Working with allies like Nichka Lashin, Max Meladze’s daughter, and Janus Ferber—an unenthusiastic partner—Owen confronts dangerous operatives, criminal organizations, and internal CIA challenges.

Early Hong Kong classics from Jet Li, including works from celebrated filmmakers Gordon Chan, Yuen Woo-ping (perhaps best known by western audiences for his work on “The Matrix”) and Corey Yuen will finally arrive on digital 4K on Feb. 18, courtesy of Shout! Studios in collaboration with Li.

The releases include 1994’s “Fist of Legend,” 1993’s “Tai Chi Master,” “The Legend” and “The Legend 2,” and 1994’s “The Bodyguard From Beijing.” These are the movies that made Li an international superstar and paved the way for him to appear in western blockbusters like “Lethal Weapon 4,” “Romeo Must Die,” “The One” and “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” along with Sylvester Stallone’s “Expendables” franchise.

“Thanks to our new partner Shout! Studios, movie fans can now easily enjoy these entertaining films in stunning 4K on various digital platforms. I hope a new generation of audiences will be introduced to these...

What are the greatest action movies of all time? It’s a controversial question, isn’t it? Any time any publication or site puts out a new list of what they consider the best action movies of all time, it can’t help but generate a ton of controversy. Nevertheless, we here at JoBlo have decided to throw our hats into the ring with a list we really hope generates some nostalgia among our viewers but also encourages them to seek out the movies on this list that they may not have seen. But first, some may wonder where superhero movies are on this list. Given how broad that genre is, we decided to stick to old-school action, so we have left them off the list, as they deserve their own ranking. There are also a few absences from the list, notably some Jackie Chan Hong Kong films (like Police Story...

In the wake of the legendary David Lynch's passing, social media timelines flooded with tributes to the influential filmmaker, often utilizing screenshots and gifs from his immaculate body of work. However, another image made the rounds with just as much fervor -- namely, that of Pamela Anderson in the hallowed grounds of the Criterion Closet with the subtitle "We love David Lynch." Anderson had made her visit to the famed closet as part of the awards campaign for "The Last Showgirl," a way for movie lovers to admire (or judge) her taste in cinema. Indeed, countless creatives have made their way to the Criterion Closet since Guillermo del Toro was first filmed making his selections back in 2010, with many calling it a "dream come true."

When Criterion announced that it would celebrate its 40th anniversary by replicating the Closet with a portable Closet van, cinephiles across the country started...

Welcome to this week’s review of Aew: Dynamite, which was broadcast from the Knoxville Coliseum in Knoxville, Tn. We’ve got Excalibur, Taz, and Tony Schiavone on commentary, so let’s get into the review!

Match #1: Aew World Tag Team Championship Match – The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) def. Private Party (Zay & Quen) The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Zay launched off the back of Quen and dropkicked Lashley. Bobby bulldozed Zay with a running lariat in the corner. Quen held Shelton while Zay landed a senton. Private Party flew through the ropes with topes, but Shelton and Bobby caught them and tossed them with belly to belly suplexes. Lashley smashed Zay through the announce table. Benjamin and Lashley focused all their fire on Quen, whipping him into the barricade, as Zay was down. Quen kicked Shelton in the back of the head and finally tagged in Zay.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSInland Empire.Former MoviePass CEO Ted Farnsworth pleaded guilty to defrauding the company’s investors by making “materially false and misleading representations” of the company’s operations. In the words of a Justice Department official, Farnsworth “concealed that MoviePass’s subscription model was a money-losing gimmick and falsely claimed that [the company] used artificial intelligence to monetize MoviePass’s subscriber data,” the latter tactic described as “AI washing.”Shout! Studios has acquired the worldwide rights to the Golden Princess movie library, a collection of 156 Hong Kong action cinema classics that have been unavailable in Western markets for decades. The collection includes John Woo classics like The Killer (1989), Bullet in the Head (1990), and Hard Boiled (1992), as well as Tsui Hark’s...

In a dingy lab somewhere in China, a young girl named Wei (Mohan Liu) watches her father, Liu (Sam Wang), go about his work. He’s developing a new kind of skin graft procedure that he hopes will rid both of them of the large purple birthmarks adorning their faces. And like your average B-movie scientist with a little too much on the line, Liu decides to use himself as a guinea pig. He applies a strange, fleshy substance to his face and then grins triumphantly as it wriggles into life, replacing his birthmark and melding perfectly with the rest of his skin. But Liu’s delight quickly turns to horror as he discovers—like, well, so many B-movie scientists before him—that his invention works a little too well, and with deadly consequences.

Grafted is full of spluttering effects that look and sound wet and nasty, and they’re...

After a week of delays, the Producers Guild of America has announced its nominees for the 2025 PGA Awards. These prizes constitute the PGA’s favorites in movies and television, with only a few surprises scattered throughout. On the movie side, the PGAs were in line with last week’s Golden Globes,...

It has been over two decades since Denzel Washington screamed ‘King Kong ain’t got sh*t on me’ in the legendary Training Day. The Antoine Fuqua directorial got Washington his second Oscar after he had previously won for Glory. The film was also a commercial success and the legendary combo was set to reunite for an epic gangster film again.

Alas, the workings of Hollywood do not always make way for dreams and Fuqua had to give up his dream of crafting his incredible gangster film with Washington again. The filmmaker mentioned how heartbroken he was after his version of American Gangster was shelved. The film ended up being made by Ridley Scott with Washington in the lead.

Antoine Fuqua lamented about his shelved version of American Gangster with Denzel Washington Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in Training Day | Credits: Warner Bros.

Antoine Fuqua broke into the scene by directing music videos for Prince,...

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When done with a modicum of proficiency, action movies are pure cinema. They are kinetic, ecstatic, and occasionally balletic. Whether we're watching hand-to-hand brawls, bullet-whizzing shootouts, or tire-squealing car chases, action cinema holds the potential to leave us gasping and cheering as stunt people (or combat-trained actors) strut their fearless stuff. And if the director is skilled enough to inventively storyboard, shot-by-chaotic-shot, the mayhem unfolding on the screen, your reward is nothing short of bliss.

While the action films of maestros like John Woo, Jackie Chan, and Walter Hill make life worth living, a true movie junkie can get their daily fix from a down-and-dirty formula flick laden with crudely executed punch-ups and twisted-metal set pieces. There is a nobility to this kind of filmmaking. In her vital essay "Trash, Art and the Movies," legendary film critic Pauline Kael wrote,...

Incredible news for international action fans this morning. Variety reported this morning that Shout! Factory have announced that they acquired the worldwide rights for Golden Princess' 156-film library. In this library are essential action titles from John Woo, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark and Johnnie To. 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 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,”...

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

What is quite obviously the best film news of 2025 thus far (and will be tough to beat in the foreseeable future) comes via Variety, who tell us Shout! Studios have acquired worldwide rights (minus certain Asian territories) to 156 films owned by Hong Kong’s legendary Golden Princess, comprising the likes of John Woo, Johnnie To, Tsui Hark, and Ringo Lam, to say nothing of filmmakers whose work’s been long sequestered from western eyes and is finally receiving due attention. For those who consider Hong Kong cinema between the ’80s and ’90s something of a peak for the medium itself (hello) this is a nice leavening effect the same month Los Angeles burns and Donald Trump becomes President once more.

One might expect it’ll take a second for any library so vast as Golden Princess’ to arrive. Restoration plans are unclear, minus the notice that Shout! looks to “remaster...

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 upcoming Sniper: The Last Stand is the eleventh(!) entry in the series, and I am weirdly excited about it. So, a quick history lesson on the Sniper movie franchise. It began with the original film in 1993, where Tom Berenger played a veteran sniper taking Billy Zane's rookie under his wing for an assassination mission. Sniper is the kind of film you would catch late at night and half remember in the years ahead, but when Sniper 2 arrived nearly a decade later, it kicked off a seemingly unstoppable cult saga.

Berenger's Beckett was the lead for the first two sequels before handing the keys over to Chad Michael Collins as Brandon Beckett, the estranged son of Berenger's character. I'm proud to say I've been with the series the whole way through, with the seventh entry - which finally united Berenger, Collins and Zane - feeling like the Avengers: Endgame of the Sniper series.

As the actor's resurgence continues, a recent Nicolas Cage hit is finding a new streaming home. Even before landing his Oscar win for Leaving Las Vegas, the actor had made a name for himself in the '80s with leading roles in everything from the teen romantic comedy Valley Girl to the Coen brothers' Raising Arizona. He would solidify himself as a household name with his work in the action genre throughout the '90s and 2000s, including Michael Bay's The Rock, John Woo's Face/Off and the National Treasure franchise.

For the majority of the 2010s, Cage infamously became better known for his work in critically panned direct-to-video movies, which he has since explained stemmed from encountering financial problems and taking on as many projects as possible to make up for it. He would begin to enjoy a career resurgence with the 2018 psychedelic horror movie Mandy and the crime drama Pig,...

While the downfall of physical media has been predicted time and time again, 2024 has proved the opposite with many impressive and interesting releases, not juts Asian titles. However, when it comes to Asian cinema many boutique labels especially have given film-lovers the opportunity to (re-)discover many gems of the cinematic landscapes of Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand to name but a few. The following list may serve as an overview of some of these releases, some of which may stand representative of a whole catalogue from a production company.

Without further ado, let’s delve into the list of the 30 best physical media releases of Asian cinema in 2024, in random order

1. Seven Samurai (BFI)

Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece certainly needs no introduction and its release on 4k was one of the most anticipated releases for connoisseurs of Asian cinema. While there is also the Criterion edition of the film,...

Disney might not be exactly known for their R-rated films, but the company has had a hand in creating some surprisingly high-profile and brilliant movies aimed at adults only over the years. Disney has cultivated a family-friendly image for a long time now, from the carefully-curated broad appeal of franchises like Pixar, Star Wars, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the classic animated films of Disney's golden age. It might surprise many Disney fans to know that the House of Mouse is behind some of the best R-rated films ever.

To help keep the Disney brand name squeaky clean in the eyes of the general public, the company primarily uses subsidiary entertainment companies to produce its R-rated features, such as Touchstone and Hollywood pictures. In recent years, however, Disney has explored actually allowing a very R-rated film, Deadpool & Wolverine to release under their main brand by way of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

Tom Cruise is a major box office star, thanks in large part to the success of the Mission: Impossible movies, and the action franchise has broken the same box office record multiple times for its star. Cruise began a nearly 30 year run as Ethan Hunt back in 1996 after already establishing himself as a growing box office draw. Top Gun and Rain Man were pivotal films in that regard, as they set records as being Tom Cruise's highest-grossing movies upon their respective releases in 1986 and 1988.

Tom Cruise currently has Top Gun: Maverick to thank for giving him his highest-grossing film, as it was the first of his projects to make over $1 billion worldwide. This happened even though the Mission: Impossible franchise has consistently performed for the star over the last few decades. As he gears up for what could be his final time playing Ethan Hunt, there are various box office...

Welcome to this week’s review of Aew’s, Collision, which brings wrestling back to Saturday nights and is now all alone in Aew’s weekend programming following the end of Rampage. We’ve got the commentary team of Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness calling the action, so let’s get into the review!

Match #1: TNT Championship Match – Daniel Garcia def. Mark Briscoe The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

They began with a collar and elbow tie-up with Briscoe backing Garcia into the turnbuckles. Briscoe tried for a sliding dropkick to the floor, but Garcia dodged him. Briscoe wanted to push the pace, but Gracia slowed things down. Garcia was grabbing for a Dragon Tamer, but Briscoe evaded it. Briscoe suplexed Garcia. Garcia returned the favor with three consecutive neck breakers for a near fall. Briscoe unleashed his redneck Kungfu and knocked Garcia out of the ring. Briscoe...

In the span of two December weeks, Alessandro Nivola made three memorable impressions on the big screen.

Beginning with Brady Corbet’s Oscar-contending The Brutalist, Nivola signed on to play Attila Miller just days into 2020’s pandemic. At the time, production was still expected to begin three weeks later, but as we can all attest, those best-laid plans quickly turned into three years. Thus, Nivola became one of only a few holdovers from Corbet’s 2020 cast, as Adrien Brody then took over the lead role of Attila’s cousin, László Toth. The latter is a celebrated Hungarian-Jewish architect who, having narrowly survived the Holocaust, emigrates to the States where Attila provides him with a bed and a job on behalf of his modest Philadelphia-based furniture store.

While there’s a great deal of love between the two cousins, Nivola is now shedding light on some of the unspoken elements that inform their eventual conflict.

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This January, Paramount+ is bringing you a ton of entertainment with the highly anticipated new film in the Star Trek universe alongside a great new series based on Sherlock by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 8 best films coming to Paramount+ in January 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Arrival (January 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Credit – Paramount Pictures

Arrival is a sci-fi drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer. Based on the 1998 short story titled Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, the 2016 film follows Louise Banks, a linguistic expert tasked with interpreting the language of aliens who have come to Earth in a giant spaceship.

There is a long-hidden secret formula in the film industry that lets Hollywood choose which stars to raise among the litany of struggling and aspiring actors. Tom Cruise is one such movie star who has almost a messianic quality to his career, fame, success, and popularity.

The fact was further proven when his love for the entertainment business propelled him to save the theatrical distribution system, thus saving Hollywood, after the global pandemic.

Mission: Impossible 2 [Credit: Paramount Pictures]

However, such an overbearing love for the industry has often led Cruise to cross a line and overstep where he isn’t meant to. Jumping off cliffs and dangling from a Boeing aside, the fanatic in Tom Cruise has sometimes taken his love for the filmmaking business and turned it into a weird obsession. Naturally, not all directors took kindly to his attitude… for obvious reasons.

Tom Cruise Gets Too Bossy on...

With Korean taking a step back even in that regard, not in terms of quantity, but of quality, this list may initially appear poorer that those of 2023. Soi Cheang took care of that, though, while Hong Kong seems to be back on track in that regard, as apart from “Twilight of the Warriors”, “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” also signaled a return to the Golden Age of Asian action, both due to the quality of action, and the unapologetic, non-pc approach implemented. The same can be said about “The Shadow Strays” from Indonesia and “Moor” from Kazakhstan. Japan continued with the adaptation of anime while going particularly big in terms of production, something that also applies to the entries from China, India and Korea, with the latter also continuing on the “Round Up” path.

Without further ado, here are the 20 best Asian action/martial arts films of 2024, in reverse order,...

It is easy to say that this was the year of the Chinese diaspora in terms of cinema. The amount of films, mostly in the family drama category, was overwhelming, and you will actually see titles in list beyond this particular one. Newcomers, experienced filmmakers and a number of masters all had an output this year, resulting in a list that is filled with great films. The presence of Soi Cheang, who seems to get the top every time he directs films that are heavy on action, is just the cherry on top of a list that actually includes titles from a number of genres.

Without further ado, here are the best Chinese Language movies of 2024, which includes titles from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in reverse order, although the difference of quality is so small here, that the order could be completely different. Some films may have premiered in...

Welcome to this week’s review of Aew’s, Collision, which brings wrestling back to Saturday nights! We’ve got the commentary team of Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness calling the action, so let’s get into the review!

Match #1: Continental Classic Gold League Match – Ricochet def. Will Ospreay The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Fans threw streamers for Ospreay, but then threw rolls of toilet paper at Ricochet. They grappled to the mat and then Ricochet hit a shoulder tackle. Ospreay popped right back up on his feet. Ospreay went for a hurracanrana, but Ricochet landed on his feet! Ricochet caught Ospreay and tossed him at the top turnbuckle. Ricochet flipped over the top rope and wiped out Ospreay. Ospreay connected with a springboard forearm for a near fall. Ricochet blocked a Styles Clash attempt. Ricochet missed a moonsault attempt and Will nailed him with a Styles Clash.

In the vibrant tapestry of Hong Kong film, Stuntman appears as a poignant thread, weaving together nostalgia, tragedy, and redemption. The movie follows Sam Lee, a once-revered action choreographer whose life falls after a disastrous stunt leaves a fellow performer in a wheelchair. Years later, Sam is drawn back into the industry he left, reflecting a culture trying to figure out who it is amid changing standards.

Stuntman has significance within the genre because it both honors and criticizes the heyday of Hong Kong action cinema. It navigates the tension between recognizing the current focus on safety and remembering the bravery of the past. My ambivalence toward those risky, thrill-seeking shows with hidden costs resonates with this duality. Reflecting our nostalgia while reminding us of the human cost behind the glitz, the film’s examination of redemption and family relationships serves as a mirror.

I question my biases as I...

One of the most consistent trends for franchises is the disappointing sequel to the first movie. Of course, there are movie franchises where each successive movie is better than its predecessor, but that's considerably rarer. However, a less consistent trend is the worst movie sequels of all time being followed by better third movies that allow franchises to bounce back. Some of these terrible sequels surprisingly don't kill their franchises, buoyed by a better follow-up that revitalized people's faith and interest in the series.

Movie franchises that rebounded after a disappointing sequel often have a pattern in the creative choices. The disappointing sequel usually fails to live up to the standards of the original because creators are trying to recapture the magic of the original film by treating the first movie as a blueprint. The third movie on which the franchise's future hinges is often where people take the biggest risks,...

Executioners.Now that’s a suit, I think, as Johnnie To walks into the offices of the Museum of Modern Art in New York—shades on, cuffs shot. I’m not there in person, but even through the low-resolution video-chat window, the Hong Kong maestro cuts a sharp silhouette. If you’re familiar with To’s films—most of which boast a lithe 90-odd-minute running time—then his expertly tailored aura makes perfect sense. Just like the man himself—who, five months shy of turning 70, appears to be in rude health—there isn’t an inch of fat on a Johnnie To picture. To is best known in the West as an action director with an innate sense for space and place. He released his first film eleven months after Tsui Hark’s debut, The Butterfly Murders (1979), coming up a few years behind John Woo. But To’s approach to...