1930s Shanghai: the glamorous, tumultuous "Paris Of The East" whose salons, streets and bedrooms frame this Chinese adaptation of the French novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" - into a lush new vision of Dangerous Liaisons. Aging socialite Mo Jieyu (Cecilia Cheung) still finds herself circling ex-boyfriend Xie Yifan (Jang Dong-kun). Even after years of separation, their attraction - and appetites - smolder just beneath the surface.
From the acclaimed director/writer Wong Kar Wai comes an epic tale inspired by the life of the warrior hero who taught Bruce Lee. Asian superstar Tony Leung (In The Mood For Love) portrays legendary kung fu master lp Man, who survived the turmoil of 1930s China to change the world of martial arts forever. Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Chang Chen (Red Cliff) co-star in this visually stunning saga of love, honor and vengeance, featuring breathtaking action choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix, Kill Bill).
The director of Chicago, Rob Marshall, transports us into a mysterious and exotic world that casts a potent spell. A Cinderella story like no other, Memoirs Of A Geisha stars Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li. "Gorgeously photographed, meticulously directed andihypnotically acted. Memoirs of A Geisha isiluxurious, ethereal andiintoxicating. It will leave you breathless." (Rex Reed, New York Observer)
In Wong Kar Wai's quasi-sequel to In the Mood for Love, 2046 is a hotel room, a futuristic story, and a state of mind. Tony Leung returns as Chow, but perhaps not the same Chow who appeared in the first film. Starting three years later in 1966, we see Chow on various Christmases as he lives, loves, and writes in a hotel and nearby restaurants. Although he is less sensitive and more of a ladies man now, Chow's love life always seems to exceed his grasp. Whether the character is the same (the director calls this an "echo" of the first movie) might be trivial.
The Warrior combines gorgeous cinematography, complex historical politics, and joltingly bloody action sequences to create a sweeping historical spectacular. A squadron of Korean soldiers, sent to protect a diplomatic envoy to China, find themselves unmoored when the envoys are killed in clashes with Chinese and Mongol soldiers. Struggling to return home, they rescue a high-handed Chinese princess (Ziyi Zhang, House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and decide that protecting her is their best chance to survive, and possibly improve Korean-Chinese relations as well.
From the stars of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Zhang Ziyi) and Iron Monkey (Yu Ruan Guong) come this HK $60 million chivalric action epic. In 1375, the ancient Korean kingdom of Koryo sent an envoy of diplomats and soldiers to make peace with China, only to be charged as spies and sent to the remote Gobi desert to die. As they struggled to return to their home country alive, the warriors came across a princess (Zhang) who's kidnapped by the Mongolian troops.
No one uses color like Chinese director Zhang Yimou--movies like Raise the Red Lantern or Hero, though different in tone and subject matter, are drenched in rich, luscious shades of red, blue, yellow, and green. House of Flying Daggers is no exception; if they weren't choreographed with such vigorous imagination, the spectacular action sequences would seem little more than an excuse for vivid hues rippling across the screen.
Rush Hour 2 retains the appeal of its popular predecessor, so it's easily recommended to fans of its returning stars, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. The action--and there's plenty of it--starts in Hong Kong, where Detective Lee (Chan) and his L.A. counterpart Detective Carter (Tucker) are attempting a vacation, only to get assigned to sleuth a counterfeiting scheme involving a triad kingpin (John Lone), his lethal henchwoman (Zhang Ziyi, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and an American billionaire (Alan King).
Director Zhang Yimou brings the sumptuous visual style of his previous films (Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad) to the high-kicking kung fu genre. A nameless warrior (Jet Li, Romeo Must Die, Once Upon a Time in China) arrives at an emperor's palace with three weapons, each belonging to a famous assassin who had sworn to kill the emperor. As the nameless man spins out his story--and the emperor presents his own interpretation of what might really have happened--each episode is drenched in red, blue, white or another dominant color.
Hong Kong wuxia films, or martial arts fantasies, traditionally squeeze poor acting, slapstick humor, and silly story lines between elaborate fight scenes in which characters can literally fly. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has no shortage of breathtaking battles, but it also has the dramatic soul of a Greek tragedy and the sweep of an epic romance. This is the work of director Ang Lee, who fell in love with movies while watching wuxia films as a youngster and made Crouching Tiger as a tribute to the form.
