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A riff on the familiar American ‘80s crime movie where a helpless female must be protected from bad guys by a begrudging bodyguard (think Stallone’s Cobra ), this Hong Kong variation introduces a clever gender-swap and takes some seriously dark turns. Starring Yuen Biao and Patricia Ha as the mismatched couple dodging corrupt cops and underworld thugs, On the Run (1988) knows it’s treading on familiar territory. So director Alfred Cheung plots a route with just enough zigs and zags to make the trip interesting. After his DEA wife is murdered by a professional hit, Ming (Biao Yuen), a cop himself, vows to solve the case on his own time. But his activity stirs up a conspiracy within the department that puts his entire family at risk. His only hope is Pai (Patricia Ha), ironically enough the hired gun responsible for the death of his wife. Now both of them are on the hit list, forcing a truce while they try to get Ming’s daughter to safety. Delivering an unexpectedly emotional perfor...

There are certain filmmakers who seem to be actively trying to piss off their audience: Godard, David Lynch and certainly Robert Altman. They know the unspoken “rules” of cinema, a visual language we’ve all quietly agreed upon, but simply refuse to abide by them. Take O.C. and Stiggs (1987), Altman’s gleeful attempt to sabotage the National Lampoon franchise, a film that tested so poorly it was shelved for three years and scrubbed of any overt connection to the magazine. Is it a bad movie? Most definitely, by multiplex standards. But it’s also a deliberately hostile middle finger to studio executives who thought they could keep one of Hollywood’s most iconoclastic directors on a leash. O.C. and Stiggs are a pair of high school pranksters whose attention is mostly focused on their neighbors, the Schwabs, an eccentric family embodying the worst aspects of conspicuous consumption and American entitlement. What begins as juvenile harassment of the community at large escalates into bl...

Most of us have picked up enough Greek mythology from high school and Ray Harryhausen movies to guess our way through a pop quiz. The guy who chopped off Medusa’s head? Perseus. The hot babe in a clamshell? Aphrodite. The half-man half-fish holding a trident? Ummmm….Aquaman? We may not be perfect but trying to tackle Asian fantasy films is on a whole ‘nother level! Saga of the Phoenix , a Hong Kong-Japanese co-production based on a popular manga (and sequel to the previous Peacock King ), introduces so many characters and pseudo-religious mumbo jumbo in the first half hour it feels like a crash course in Eastern mysticism. But once that prerequisite is out of the way, the movie relaxes into a breezy fish-out-of-water comedy full of stop-motion creatures and hand-drawn special effects. Gloria Yip plays Ashura the Hell Virgin (sounds like a great Tinder name), promising to turn over a new leaf if she’s allowed seven days in the human world. Tagging along to keep her in line is ...

It doesn’t really matter if 1986’s Rosa is considered a comedy with elements of intense action or an action film with elements of broad comedy. Hong Kong audiences were eating up this particular brand of genre mashup during the industry’s golden era, blending established martial arts stars with crowd-pleasing comedians to offer up a little bit of everything on the cinematic menu. Produced by Sammo Hung’s Bo Ho Film Company, the savvy veteran gave his brother-in-arms Yuen Biao a rare leading role and a chance to reinvent himself in the modern HK martial arts mold. Accidental partners “Little Monster” (Biao) and Lui Kung (Lowell Lo) are assigned to track down a missing roll of film that will put a ruthless band of counterfeiters behind bars. Their strategy involves getting close to a petty gangster’s former girlfriend, the titular Rosa, in hopes that the criminal element takes the bait. But, in Lui’s case, preferably not before he gets Rosa between the sheets...while Little Monster’...

Structured like a teenage fairytale, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s The Island Closest to Heaven  (1984)is a dreamy coming-of-age postcard that intentionally echoes the sweeping cinematic cliches of a 1940’s Hollywood melodrama. That’s a lot to pack into one sentence…and one movie. But somehow the film’s episodic nature breezily jumps from one seaside encounter to the next without the exhaustion – or predictability – of a too familiar guided tour. Like the best vacations, it sneaks up on you with moments that feel small at the time but become special in hindsight. Mari (played with unaffected charm by teen icon Tomoyo Harada) travels outside her comfort zone on a trip to New Caledonia where she hopes to reconnect with the memory of her late father who described the island as “heaven on earth.” Instead, she’s greeted by the flat reality of a tourist trap. But the sincerity of her search inspires various strangers to suggest alternatives, leading to plane trips, boat rides and off-road exc...

As gleefully entertaining as Shaw Brothers films can be, those box-set collections can get a little, well, repetitive. Kick, punch, jump, repeat. It’s like button mashing on Super Street Fighter and hoping to be surprised with the results. But Arrow’s Shawscope Volume Four gathers films outside of the studio’s typical martial arts wheelhouse; odd detours into kid-friendly superhero territory, South Asian black magic, evil sorcerers and slimy vigilantes. And with sixteen – count ‘em, sixteen! – movies of steadily increasing weirdness, this limited edition is essential stuff for kung-fu and horror fans. Look, no one wants to read a play by play of each film. Besides, that would spoil the fun of what (for most people) would be “first contact” with movies that are so much more enjoyable going in blind. Things start off with the Ultraman -inspired Super Inframan , which sends a bunch of Ice Age Monsters topside in a series of Power Rangers -style face-offs. But the majority of the...