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There’s a reason why those  in the know  were championing Hong Kong action movies in the early ‘90s.  While Hollywood was cranking out tepid retreads like  The Last Boy Scout , HK filmmakers simply cut to the chase, reloaded the ammunition and delivered a frenzied take on what America invented in the first place: the buddy picture.  1991’s  The Last Blood  (known as  Hard Boiled 2  in the UK) is a blood-spattered escapist cop comedy that wants nothing more than to top itself after every bullet-riddled scene! After an assassination attempt on the Dalai Lama leaves him in desperate need of a rare blood type, two members of an anti-terrorist squad track down the only living donor: a clumsy con-man nicknamed Fat Boy.   Dodging bullets from hired thugs and rushing to beat the clock, the trio race through Singapore crowded with civilians celebrating the national holiday…which makes for a lot of collateral damage!   Directed by Wong Jing with an eye for all the ‘90s HK action cliches (broken

When it comes to straight-up dramatic filmmaking, streaming shows have the edge over theatrical releases in pretty much every way.  Screenwriters can take their time weaving characters into intricate stories without the confines of a 2 or 3 hour time window.  Of course, a lot of episodes are just filler, but we take the good with the bad, right?  2015’s  Suburra  feels very much like a movie that was  meant  for the small screen; in fact, a prequel produced two years later  did  wind up on Netflix.  But that’s not to diminish what director Stefano Sollima manages to accomplish in his relatively brisk two hours and fifteen minutes, which is to deliver a compelling ensemble gangster drama that’s all killer… no  filler .  Filippo Malgradi, a dirty politician, sets the gears of his own demise in motion when he covers up the death of an underage hooker in his hotel room.  A blackmailer looking to take advantage of the situation is quickly “handled” by an associate, Numero 8 (Alessandro Borg

Critical opinions notwithstanding, Wes Craven’s 1972 original film is the most despicable piece of trash I’ve even seen.  It’s crude, brutal and disgusting in ways other films only hint at and I felt dirty recalling the experience for days afterward.  That being said, I respect the hell out of any filmmaker that can generate that kind of response.  And  Last House  is probably the premiere example of the heights (or depths) of which ‘70s horror was capable of achieving.   Director Dennis Iliadis’ 2009 remake is not even half as disturbing as the original. It’s a beautiful film, full of gorgeously photographed scenery, polished actors and high-production values.  Of all the horror remakes out of the gate in the early aughts ( Halloween, Hills Have Eyes,  etc.),  Last House  is by far the prettiest and most effective.  And that contrast between Iliadis’ artful compositions and the ugliness taking place on screen  almost  elevates the material above the fray.  However, after our heroine i

The Hallmark Movie production system, which cranks out holiday-themed romcoms at an unbelievable pace, is probably the closest we can get right now to the assembly-line system used by Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest at the height of their international success.  Developing talent and staying on top of trends, both studios combined to put Hong Kong cinema on the map and launched their fair share of action icons; among them Chow Yun-Fat, who’s part of a team sent to deliver four mysterious cases to a warlord hidden in the mountains of feudal China in 1982’s  The Postman Strikes Back . A postal worker whose job is almost obsolete, Errand Horse (Bryan Leung) agrees to lead a ragtag group through rebel territory in exchange for a quick payday upon delivery.  Fu Jun (Chow Yun-Fat), Hu (Eddy Ko) and Bu (Mei Sheng Fan) fill out the roster, bringing their specific set of skills that come in handy when a rebel leader attempts to hijack their goods.  But that’s nothing compared to the masked nin

It would be understandable to write off  Borsalino  (1970) as a Gallic take on  The Sting , pairing up two legendary French leading men (Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon) in a depression-era tale of high-stakes criminality and con-artistry.  But the film actually beat Redford and Newman’s box-office smash to the punch by three years, incorporating much of the same bromantic playfulness and even a similar music score.    After settling their differences over a shared love interest, Capella and Siffredi (Belmondo and Delon respectively) combine forces to work their way up the criminal ladder of 1930s Marseille. Earning a reputation as  fixers  who sabotage the competition for a fee, the mismatched duo soon finds themselves marked men after another romantic entanglement gone wrong.  But their balanced skill set of daring and ingenuity eventually gives them a shot at the top.  Question is, how long can they stay there?   Based on the exploits of genuine gangsters Paul Carbone and Francoi

Of the much-heralded crop of ‘70s directors – Scorsese, Spielberg, and Coppola among them – to emerge from the ruins of the studio system, Brian De Palma seems the least significant by critical comparison.  Perhaps because he was labeled more of an “imitator” than an “innovator”; lifting the themes, characters, music and wholesale camera movements of Alfred Hitchcock to elevate his career.  But even the harshest critic would begrudgingly admit  that De Palma’s films are technically wondrous to behold.  It’s just that the material on the page couldn’t compete with what he was doing with the camera.  1993’s  Carlito’s Way , which reunited the director with Al Pacino after their successful  Scarface  collaboration, finally achieves that perfect balance. Released from prison and vowing to go straight, Carlito (Pacino) reconnects with an old flame, Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), and attempts to rewrite the second half of his life.  But the streets just won’t let him forget his reputation.  Aft