Legendary action director John Woo is set to produce a Chinese superhero movie based on an unpublished story created by the late Stan Lee. According to THR, the film will be an adaptation of Monkey Master, an unreleased comic book series which Lee created alongside his longtime collaborator Sharad Devarajan in 2016, and which tells […]
When a Soundtrack Becomes Beautifully Contrary to Violence on Screen
Tom Jolliffe looks at the effective use of contrarian music in films which show violence… There’s something about a great film soundtrack whether it’s the score or songs (or both). You can have a melancholic drama which will usually be laced with melancholic music. You can have the rousing action adventure with the John Williams […]
The Problems Facing the Face/Off Sequel
Tom Jolliffe on the problems facing a Face/Off sequel almost a quarter of a century on from the original… Even in an ever changing film climate, with theatrical distribution facing unprecedented difficulties when coming out the other side of the global pandemic, the predilection for remakes/reboots/sequels continues. If it worked once it could work again. […]
Broken Arrow at 25
Tom Jolliffe takes a look back at John Woo’s somewhat forgotten sophomore Hollywood effort, Broken Arrow, which turns 25… Remember Broken Arrow? Memory a bit hazy? Well John Woo’s second Hollywood film, a box office hit at the time, turns 25. In 1996 we were seeing a decided shift away from the kind of heroics […]
From Hard Boiled to Soft Boiled: Why John Woo’s masterpiece will never be matched again
Tom Jolliffe revisits John Woo’s action masterpiece Hard Boiled… John Woo had already made quite a name for himself in China, thanks to hit action classics such as A Better Tomorrow and The Killer. In 1992 he released the film which would see him transition from Hong Kong director, to Hollywood. The film was Hard […]
The Greatest Action Directors of All Time
Tom Jolliffe looks at the greatest action directors of all time… The action genre has never particularly had the greatest respect associated with it. Maybe there’s a feeling that they’re dramatically anaemic, or sometimes intellectually inferior, but this isn’t always the case. It’s a genre that doesn’t always have consistent specialists, because certain directors who […]
The Moments Which Made You Love Cinema
Tom Jolliffe on those moments which made you love cinema… It’s different for everyone and maybe for some it never happens. Not everyone (shock horror!) is into film. For those film buffs, nerds, geeks, or even merely casual enjoyers of cinematic delights, there are always defining moments. Maybe it’s a moment within a film. Maybe […]
Giveaway – Win Last Hurrah for Chivalry & Hand of Death: Two Films By John Woo – NOW CLOSED
Eureka Entertainment is set to release LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY & HAND OF DEATH: TWO FILMS BY JOHN WOO, an essential pair of early films from one of the greatest action directors of all time, for the first time ever on Blu-ray in the UK in a 2-disc set taken from brand new 2K restorations […]
Should you choose to accept them, here are the best Mission: Impossible moments
Matt Rodgers on the best Mission: Impossible moments… The ability for the Mission: Impossible franchise to subvert the law of diminishing returns, in terms of both box-office and quality, as well as keeping the fuse lit under Tom Cruise’s dimming star power, is surely down to the stylistically diverse way in which the films are […]
Lupita Nyong’o to headline John Woo’s The Killer remake
It’s a busy week for John Woo related news, with his new thriller Manhunt landing on Netflix this Friday, and now Deadline reporting that the remake of his own 1993 classic The Killer, has found its assassin in the form of Lupita Nyong’o. The Oscar winning actress will take on the role made famous by Chow […]