It way be corny to call this a 'Noodle Western', but that's exactly what He Ping's swordplay film is. Borrowing heavily from the iconography of the Spaghetti Western, utilising the same haunting atmosphere and a harsh landscape that envelops the protagonists, this is as close to Sergio Leone et al as Chinese cinema has ever got. And, perhaps surprisingly, it works very well. From the opening shots of figures appearing in the dust clouds to ample use of atmospheric diegetic sounds, everything nods reverently in the direction of the inspirations behind them. The marvellous opening to 'Once Upon A Time In The West' is alluded to by He Ping as he gradually puts on layer upon layer of style to compliment the standard narrative.

There is a slick marriage between the execution of the story and the swift, chanbara-style action that peppers the film. There are none of the grand spectacles we've all become accustomed to; there is an admirably stripped down look to the whole production. No wirework, no flowing robes swishing with each sword strike, just quick-draw confrontations that again recall Italian Westerns and Japanese samurai flicks. Such simplicity of action requires a mood to build the tension of each showdown and He Ping knows exactly how to achieve this supremely.

The unfamiliar aspects of a very young hero with an even younger love interest mix rather well with the obvious influences and create a swordplay film quite unique within Eastern cinema. From the opening frames to the denouement, this is a production that sucks you into its strange universe, style dripping out of every shot. The victory of this style over substance may mean it isn't as accessible as other genre efforts, but it is gripping enough to recommend to anyone.

Ichi (Haruka Ayase) is a blind samurai searching the land for the man she thinks may be her father. Her exceptional fighting skills keep her safe and help protect her from a group of bandits who mean to do her harm. During the scuffle, a man comes to her aid, another wandering warrior by the name of Toma (Takeo Osawa) who due to a childhood accident has been unable to draw his blade in battle. He befriends Ichi and promises to keep her safe, despite her impressive combat skills already doing so. The two then find themselves aiding a local clan, the Shirakawa, in protecting their village from a group of marauding bandits. Their relationship and fighting skills are pushed to the limits as the two must discover the courage within themselves to overcome their weaknesses and defeat the enemy.

Avoiding the often melodramatic nature of many other samurai films, adding a few modern touches and staging some impressive action, 'Ichi' is an invigorating samurai flick. Sori, the director of cult hit 'Ping Pong' and stunning animation 'Vexille', crafts a good looking film that doesn’t skimp on the human emotion or action. An often told tale it may be, 'Ichi' still feels fresh thanks to excellent performances, eye catching production design and some often touching moments in among all the slicing and dicing. Leading lady Haruka Ayase ('Cyborg Girl') gives an impressive performance and despite her small frame and good looks, convinces as the sword wielding heroine. Her Ichi is a fragile soul, still coming to terms with the way her life has turned out but a force of nature when she is called into combat to strike down those who will do her harm. Likewise, Takeo Osawa (Sky High) is excellent as the similarly damaged soul, Toma, providing a few lighter moments but never being relegated to the comedy sidekick. The relationship he has with Ichi is affectionately developed and often touching as they come to care for one another.

The colour scheme and setting are vivid in colour but never garish or overbearing. They give the film a heightened look rather than a gritty one but this never detracts from the story or drama. The film isn’t saturated with action but there is a good amount of sword wielding combat, wonderfully staged and shows that slow motion can be a bonus to an action scene rather than a hindrance. While the story may not be the most complicated or original it is the characters and the emotional journey’s they take that provide the backbone to 'Ichi'. Sori may drag a few scenes out and some may be a little irritated that Ichi gets sidelined for a while in favour of Toma but this is actually a film about the two of them. Unpretentious, well crafted, a great central performance and some excellent action make 'Ichi' a hugely enjoyable experience and refreshing take on the samurai genre.

The only dark cloud on the horizon is whether or not Sam's real identity will help or hinder his plans to woo Milan - the latter appears more likely as she reveals great scorn for whoever the mysterious billionaire is who is disrupting her home community. Sam looks to his two best friends for assistance, but both also have fledgling romances to navigate and obstacles to overcome.

It rarely fills my heart with sunshine to write - and try to expand upon - the synopsis of a typical rom-com and 'Look For A Star' is about as typical as you're likely to get. Released for the Chinese New Year - never a period when anyone usually expects masterpieces to issue forth - this is a glossy vehicle for the ageless Andy Lau and, of its kind, it really isn't too bad. Shu Qi is a very attractive love interest for Lau, managing to balance her quirky side with her stunning looks and enliven what is a perfunctory storyline.

Andrew Lau photographs Macau with the adoring lens of a father filming his child's first school play, though the slick presentation does distract through the quieter moments. However, the most opulent aspect of the production is the two-hour running time, 120 minutes that should only ever be used on the very best of the genre. 'Look For a Star' isn't in that bracket and so, as it drags itself to the conclusion, past numerous false dawns, the pace gets stuck in cinematic gridlock. The film does have three love stories to rely on, the other two proving to be strangely more engrossing than the main storyline proves to be. Nevertheless, where Andrew Lau needs to be ruthless he ends up being profligate and so the grand denoument is sorely lacking a proper emotional punch.

'Look For A Star' will be welcomed by the legions of Andy Lau fans who are keen for the star to return to a genre he dominated at the end of the century while Macau's tourist board will be crying tears of overwhelming joy over how beautifully shot the territory is. The rest of us will be distracted for a while, fidgety as 100 minutes approaches and exasperated as the dvd timer shows that nearly two hours have passed.

An evil doctor, who works for an evil corporation, has created some kind of evil virus and infected everyone with it. Thus Japan (and possibly the world) is now populated with the undead. However, this being a zombie flick, there is a rag tag bunch of non-dead making their way across the land, fighting off hordes of mutant dead people, so the main characters can find the remaining (hopefully) alive members of their family. And kill the evil doctor. Or something. What’s definitely happens is: there is a sexy bikini wearing samurai cowgirl who hacks up a lot of zombies. If that is your thing, then, well, cool.

While it offers nothing new to the zombie and action genres or low budget Japanese cinema (except maybe a sexy bikini wearing samurai cowgirl), 'Chanbara Beauty' is mindless action stuffed junk that packs in the odd bit of creativity here and there. Director Yohei Fukada (cinematographer on Japanese sick flick, 'Grotesque') is obviously trying to make his own fun zombie/horror/action flick a la Raimi, Jackson or even Kitamura and while his film works with its own simple, silly premise and sexy leading lady, it is nothing genre fans haven’t seen a million times before. The sense of fun a flick like this needs never ignites enough and when it does gets extinguished in favour of making things go serious all of a sudden. Not something that really works when the main premise is a sexy bikini wearing samurai cowgirl fighting zombies. I mean, how do you make that dull?

The crappy CGI in the action scenes actually mars the film rather than adds to the silly fun and there are a couple of unnecessary and distastefully misogynistic scenes, which again, ruin the fun. Still, it’s not all that bad and if you need another zombie slaying flick to sate your appetite, then 'Chanbara Beauty' will do. Despite the ropey CGI, action guy Go Ohara ('Death Trance') does stage some cool feats of combat not least an epic showdown between the sexy bikini wearing samurai cowgirl and a bunch of hooded zombies in an abandoned warehouse.

Not quite having the right sense of gleeful fun a flick like this needs or reaching the crazy, stylized and action heights of similar fare such as 'Versus' or 'Machine Girl', 'Chanbara Beauty' is an uncomplicated, intermittently fun, undead actioner that will please fans of the genre and the videogames.

‘Cape No.7’ is a celebration of the Taiwan of the past and the present, an evocation of the gentle beauty that has a global resonance. Starting with its own aquatic juggernaut, Wei Te-Sheng’s film opens with the romantic writings sent by a Japanese teacher to his beloved as he sails back to his homeland. The love letters never arrive though and appear some 60 years later in the possession of uninterested postman Aga, a frustrated young musician disillusioned with big city life having relocated to the Taiwanese hinterland. Aga cannot deliver the package of letters due to the intended address no longer existing and so unwraps it, becoming absorbed in the story it evokes.

In the same coastal area is failed Japanese model Tomoko who is used by the local powers to help organise a big beach concert highlighting J-Pop artist Kousuke Atari. She reluctantly becomes involved in the complexities of the event while continuing to balance these with local idiosyncracies which constantly bubble to the surface. Short-tempered councilor Hong insists on having a Taiwanese support act performing before Atari and auditions get underway in the town, enthusing the eclectic local population. Aga is persuaded to lead the very unusual band - a union of old and young, traditional and international, but finds Tomoko a difficult person to deal with, their respective tension hiding an obvious love for one another.

An often parochial drama, peppered with dashes of subtle humour and amusing sight gags, few could have predicted the success of director Wei Te-Sheng’s first film. Apparently, ‘Cape No.7’ was intended as a quick way to secure financing for the director’s magnum opus ‘Seediq Bale’ - and how; investors are all too happy to support Wei’s big project now. The popularity of ‘Cape No.7’ is difficult for a reviewer unfamiliar with the nuances of Taiwanese culture to grasp, but it is a paean to idealised rural life that every cinematic market around the world will be cogniscant of. Whether we are residents of the U.K., U.S. or India, there is something atavistic about these glimpses of life outside the big cities we are used to seeing on the big screen.

Initially filled with short snapshots of the various population of the area, ‘Cape No.7’ settles into a more routine romantic drama as it passes the hour mark. It’s in this second hour that the pace, which was already leisurely, becomes almost statuesque and fails to close the stories off successfully. The central romance is unoriginal and features two protagonists whose moody swagger is difficult to penetrate - if indeed we really want to bother. Unfortunately the cornupcopia of unusual characters that are subtley crafted in earlier moments are pushed aside in favour of said love story, a fact that is difficult to ignore.

Nevertheless, ‘Cape No.7’ is an ensemble production whose success is tied up with its exploration of Taiwan’s southernmost area, its use of localised flavour and copious amounts of colloquial humour. It’s these ingredients that have been so beloved in its homeland and will perhaps bar it from having quite the same impact overseas. Naturally, films do not create such a vibrant support unless there is something of genuine interest inherent within the story and ‘Cape No.7’ portrays a refreshingly different environment than most modern cinema tends to favour. The cast is packed with newcomers and inexperienced thespians, but this adds some genuine realism while never compromising the professionalism of a big production. Strengths like these are more encouraging to remember than the often listless two hours that never quite achieve their opening potential.

Lets talk about story - Jackie Chan plays Steelhead (I have friends called copperhead and lead feet so I guess I can let that slide), he's an illegal immigrant who was working as a Chinese farmer until his childhood sweetheart, Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei) goes missing in Japan so he travels to find out where she is. He's helped by Jie (Daniel Wu) and settles into life in Japan with other illegal immigrants, doing odd jobs while trying to adjust to this new life. It's at one of these jobs he finds Xiu Xiu and after a serious case of wrong place wrong time, he discovers his childhood sweetheart is with a Yakuza boss and things take a dark twist as Steelhead himself gets involved in some shady dealings in the underworld.

Ok so the plot isn’t the most gripping as it deals heavily with the Chinese immigrant issue, even with a factual statement at the end of the film. What it does show though, and I'm going to put my neck on the line here, is that Jackie Chan can act. This is his film, in fact if it wasn't for JC this might have just ended up as a run of the mill thriller. Gone is the over-acting that comes with many a year of slapstick comedy and in comes a 'less is more' attitude. There's a couple of firsts for JC here as well, or at least in his recent body of work, and we have 2 scenes which should jump out at you, as in "JC can't do that, its JC!". You'll know them when you see them and he should really be applauded for it.

Director Derek Yee certainly throws in some shocks, and not just the JC ones. There's some very powerful visual displays of violence that pepper the film throughout, showing us that if you turn to the dark side you really will become slave to its master. He also manages to get the best out of JC that we've seen in years. Sadly though, there are some holes so large you could drive a truck through and it doesn’t quite hang together as well as it should. The ending is also inevitable as you follow the characters progression through the movie. In saying all that though, it is still a great little film with the supporting cast, especially Daniel Wu, adding depth to the story.

So overall what drives you to watch 'Shinjuku Incident' is Jackie Chan giving his best performance in years (which should be reason enough) and you could almost call this “Jackie Chan's Rumble In Japan”. I really did hover over a 3 out of 5, which is a way off 4, but on second viewing I appreciated the film a lot more. It’s not going to win a lot of awards but it is going to win a lot of hearts. Jackie Chan is back, all be it for the time being, and in one hell of a ride.

Working with pater is one challenge he can barely handle, but Young-joon also has to contend with an eccentric team of officers who swear allegiance to his father. Their relaxed, not to say disorganised, approach is at odds with their new superior's taciturn obsession with minutiae. Nonetheless, the mixture of skills yields results and father and son are soon embroiled in the world of a corrupt tycoon with links to suspect Yu-Ri.

The increasingly confident film industry is, not surprisingly, looking to the very familiar to bolster its output. 'My New Partner' is the kind of slick cop movie that could just have likely come from Hollywood, so professional, yet unremarkable is its execution. 'My New Partner' is part buddy-cop story, part 'fish-out-of-water' and finished with a healthy dollop of intense action sequences near the end, a Pot-Pourri of all of those blockbuster staples from the West. Nevertheless, as with its obvious inspirations, there's undeniable fun to be had from the assured handling of the cliches.

'My New Partner' is at its best when it plays on the parochial Busan cops trying to deal with their cosmopolitan Seoul superior. It is less successful when it tries to blend in the dramatic story of redemption on the part of Min-ho, a plot strand that is needlessly overblown at the end. Kim Jong-Hyeon is unable to convey the thawing relationship between father and son with the vital subtlety that befits the characters and their issues. Ahn Sung-Ki is difficult to fault in most performances he gives, but even he can only imbue a certain amount of pathos into the drama. This means that 'My New Partner' is a glossy and sharply packaged Korean production, but its attempts at emotional resonance are not entirely successful.

There is no doubting the visual spectacle of 'Natural City'. The future world is beautifully rendered, often in intricate detail, through a mixture of CGI and miniature effects. The visual effects blend into the frame rather than dominate it, Min Byung-Chun wisely choosing to film much of the movie in the real world rather than against a green screen. The design, from costume to production, is of a high standard and helps to envelope the viewer in the futuristic world. However and as often can be the case when style takes precedence, the actual story and characters of the film are somewhat lifeless. Now the concept of disconnection and loneliness in a hi-tech machine dependant world is certainly present but often the characters come across with no real personality or purpose, that the viewer eventually loses interest in them. Leading man Yoo ('Oldboy') particularly suffers from being a little too nonchalant and lifeless about, well, everything. His character is supposed to be in love and worried his cyborg partner is dying but come across more as a petulant teenager and annoying twit than a futuristic hero.

Likewise, the pace is never really in a hurry. Not that is has to be jet propelled but the film just kind of trundles along from one concept or scene to another. Things do pick up with some lively and visually stunning action scenes. Portraying the combat cyborgs in action, their heightened skills are achieved using practical means and stunts rather than CGI, making them all the more impressive. Yet, there isn’t enough action to make 'Natural City' a fast paced future thriller and the drama isn’t engaging enough for it to succeed as a slice of serious, romantic sci-fi.

It’s not all a loss as Min Byung-Chun has tried hard to create a unique future world and on those terms he has succeeded. Lee Jae-Un Lee does offer some respite from the lifeless characters with her sparky performance as Cyon and the visuals and action certainly make 'Natural City' worth checking out at least once. But ultimately the overly serious tone and lack of energy telling the story make 'Natural City' a frustrating and hollow experience.

Single mother Yasuko Hanaoka runs a popular lunchtime eatery that is regularly frequented by socially isolated, depressed maths teacher Tetsuya Ishigami who clearly harbours deeper feelings for her. As he is also her next door neighbour, Ishigami is aware of how she is looking after her teenage daughter alone and in hiding from her abusive lout of an ex-husband. When Hanaoka's errant partner finally tracks her down, he bullies her into giving him money and then begins intimidating her daughter, an action that causes his death when the pair retaliate. Although acting in self-defense, the mother and daughter are left catatonic by the event and have to rely on Ishigami to help conceal the body when he discovers he death. Together, the three conspire to hide the body and construct a water-right alibi for the suspects.

Under-appreciated, yet eager detective Kaoru Utusmi is assigned to the case after a mutiliated body is discovered in wasteground and identified as the repulsive ex of Hanaoka, who is immediately made the number one suspect. Yet her alibi is flawless and Utusmi is stumped as to where to go with the investigation. Once again she calls on her partner's good friend physics professor Manabu Yukawa who relishes the challenge of unravelling seemingly impossible cases. Intially Manabu - nicknamed 'Detective Galileo' by the police - is unmoved by the case reasoning that it has little to do with the cerebral conundrums he usually involves himself in. When he finds out that his old college friend Ishigami could be involved, the intellectual battle that awaits proves to be irresistible.

U.K. viewers will, like myself, immediately think of 'Johanthan Creek' with regards to 'Suspect X' and the prior 'Galileo' television series. Both characters are lateral thinking, puzzle-solving protagonists who have less interest in actual justice and more in the conquering of the seemingly impossible. Both have a certain social ineptitude that marks them as eccentric geniuses and both rely on their bewildered female colleague to bring them into the real world. While the BBC series is a more darkly humorous crime series, 'Galileo' and especially 'Suspect X' is a more straight forward proposition, though no less enjoyable because of it.

Any truly great detective story is only partly about the twists and turns of the narrative: the characterisation are what ultimately determine the dynamic. The ever wonderful 'Columbo' gave the killer's identity away within the first few frames, yet the real pleasure was seeing this dishevelled hero outwit the supercilious suspects. In 'Suspect X' the same applies, but there are more twists within the narrative to trick those who think they've seen it all before. Again much enjoyment is derived from the eccentricity of its hero, yet the story is brave enough the blur the distinctions between the two sides with the audience's emotions subtely changing throughout. The killers and the accomplice are fleshed out enough to be sympathetic and their motives not as dark as the usual genre fare. The skill of 'Suspect X' is that, while the viewer is drawn into this strange empathy, a twist awaits to turn pulls the rug from underneath them.

Former J-Pop star Masaharu Fukuyama is a reliably stoic Manabu Yukawa, a handsome yet unapproachable physics obsessive who distances himself from everyday minutae. Shinichi Tsutsumi steals his thunder in this particular story, though, as the depressed maths lecturer whose last chance of meaningful contact with the outside world is when he assists the cover-up next door. It's difficult not to be moved by his tentative attempts at friendship even though later actions show just how obsessive he has become. 'Suspect X' plays with the usual hero/villain dynamic before settling into a denoument that reveals the complexity the audience was hitherto unaware of.

Although not particularly cinematic - 'Suspect X' is as equally at home on the small screen as the series behind it - those familiar with the characters will enjoy seeing them tackle their first big screen outing. Those of us who have not seen the television series will also find much to savour as 'Galileo' - our oddball hero - could quite easily join the vast panthenon of much-loved detectives with similar quirks. It therefore offers something, albeit not as substantial as it might have been, for nearly everyone.

Kim Sang-jim follows up his breakthrough hit, 'Attack The Gas Station', with a cheeky and often funny, if overlong, look at how the need to act tough and prove you can fight never really leaves you, even many years after high school. Very much looking at how ridiculous males can be when it comes to proving they can fight, especially when the affections of a woman are involved, 'Kick The Moon' shows how this need, especially in high school, affected two very different people. Despite being the tough guy who leads his school into the infamous fight, Ki-wong is basically just an overgrown kid. Confident he may be but his bullheadedness often shows him for the loud mouth fool he is. This is especially apparent when he is trying to mould a group of four young students (who are all desperate to prove themselves as great fighters and get into a local gang). Cha Seung-won puts so much energy into playing Ki-wong he often borders on tipping the character over into unlikeability. This is perhaps the point, as his constant male aggressiveness always makes him look the buffoon rather than the hero. On the flipside, Young-jim has turned from a meek individual into a slick, sleek gangster. Exuding a quiet authority, he even begins to act the fool and flares up his old rivalry with Ki-wong when they both fall for Ju Ran (Kim Hye-su).

Throw in a surfeit of inept gangsters, a bunch of high school wannabes and enough farcical testosterone fuelled comedy and 'Kick The Moon' is basically the anti-'Fight Club': where fighting doesn’t make you feel alive and part of something but pretty much makes you an incompetent fool. Kim Sang-jim wisely steers away from any dark anylization of youthful violence and male testosterone and has a blast sending up gangster posing and male competitiveness. This leads to lots and lots of shouting and most of the characters getting hit around the head repeatedly. The comedy often varies, Kim Sang-jim sometimes stretching the limits of on screen shouting, mugging and the obnoxiousness of characters. It’s all played pretty broad but the film is often energetic and despite being a little overlong in the run time department, whisks along at a colourful pace.

The tone does vary a little too much with some rather violent fight scenes clashing with more comedy based ones but Kim Sang-jim keeps everything bubbling along nicely and often keeps you guessing as to what ridiculous antics the characters are going to get themselves into next. Plus, Kim Hye-su has to be on of the most attractive Korean actresses around and her character is infused with such an infectious energy (proving just as feisty as the guys) she more than makes up for any of the flicks shortcomings.

If you're looking for an accurate representation of Yoshiki Takaya's Guyver manga or any of its anime adaptations, then it's probably fair to say that 'The Guyver' isn't the movie for you. Whilst it may feature a number of elements from the original story and a decent visual representation of the main character, it’s the film's openly tongue in cheek attitude and slapstick sense of humour that prevail. Playing out a bit like an adult version of Power Rangers, the film clearly takes it's cues from the 80s and 90s Hollywood comic book conversions and successfully makes up for its flaws by providing a number of men in ridiculous rubber suits and unintentionally amusing dialogue.

Similarly, the film's acting talent isn't exactly the cream of the crop but there are still a couple of appealing actors on show. Mark Hamill is billed as the film's main star (surely a statement in itself) but surprisingly doesn't portray the Guyver. Instead, he resigns himself to taking a role that doesn't require a rubber suit and convincingly fills the part of a CIA agent. Fan favourite Michael Berryman and 'Re-Animator' star David Gale also stand out and are both highly underrated actors who are more than capable of impressing in this particular environment.

As for the action on display, this is rarely taken all that seriously but is still quite fun and definitely suits the film's overall style. The majority of the Guyver's moves seem to be Aikido inspired and include a lot of quick takedowns mixed in with a few superhuman jumps and acrobatic flips. Considering the obvious restrictions of the rubber suits, the majority of these scenes are actually rather impressive and I remember being quite captivated when I first saw the movie as a child (and prior to my discovery of Asian cinema of course).

'The Guyver' is clearly some distance from the original source material, but is still a movie that can be immensely enjoyable if approached in the right frame of mine. If you fancy a film that falls somewhere inbetween 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' and 'Gremlins', then this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Whilst it may have a strong South Korean influence behind the camera, its clear that 'D-War' shares far more in common with the current Hollywood blockbusters like 'Transformers' than it does with its Asian counterparts. If you're expecting a well-devised plot or strong emotional bonds between characters, you won't find either of them here and this is a film that is probably best viewed from a special effects standpoint only. Now there are times when this can be a good thing as you can switch off your brain, get in some mates and rack up the beers, but 'D-War' is one of those films that is just plain bad. Throw into this sour mix some 'Days Of Our Lives' style soap actors and an embarrassing attempt at retelling a Korean legend, and you soon realise that this is just one hell of a major turd.

As mentioned before, the only redemption is to be found in the special effects and 'D-War' certainly has its fair share of impressive CGI. Unfortunately, the majority of it is wasted as we just follow the snake as it meanders around the city but it does come into its own once you approach the last fifteen minutes. During this time we actually get to see something that resembles entertainment as the army take on the snake atop a skyscraper, and there's some hot snake on snake action for the final confrontation. It's scenes like these that actually show a small amount of promise and it’s a shame that director Hyung didn't spend more time on the snake encounters rather than the wafer thin love story.

I'm normally a sucker for cheesy monster movies but 'D-War' just has so many genuinely bad elements that it doesn't even fall into the "so bad its good" category. It does earn itself an extra half star for the special effects seen in the finale but unlike the millions that inexplicably line up to see Michael Bay movies, I need more than flashing lights and explosions to keep me amused.

Makdong (Han Suk-kyu) has just been released from the army and is returning to his humble home when he rescues a woman from some pestering thugs. Said woman, Mi-ae (Shim Hye-jin) tracks down Makdong to thank him and he goes to see her in the nightclub she sings in. At first shunned by the gangster types she affiliates with, Mi-ae’s boyfriend Kim Yang-kil (Meong Gye-nam) takes a liking to Makdong. Kim just happens to be the head of the local gang and recruits Makdong to do the odd job for him. Makdong proves adept at his new role and makes his way through the ranks with rapid speed. This, naturally, irks the other members and he soon finds himself battling his new “brothers,” his aptitude for violent confrontations increasing and his feelings for Mi-ae growing.

The most appealing aspect of 'Green Fish' is its determination not to make anything appear cool. After so many gangster movie’s (both western and eastern) that persist on presenting the violent gangster world as “cool”, 'Green Fish' does the opposite and presents it as a pretty mundane existence, just with the potential to make a lot of fast money. There is no posing, cool montages, gangsters talking about their favourite movies or any kind of romantic vision of the gangster world. The violence is never glamorized either and despite there not being an abundance of it, when the violence happens it sticks in the mind for its painful impact rather than its cool styling. For instance a powerful scene where Makdong kills a man in a restroom and then cleans up the blood laughing giddily and trying to hold back tears as he realizes what he has done and has no idea how to act. Likewise, his relationship with the gangster’s moll avoids familiar trappings as she is pretty much a drunk and the two, Makdong and Mi-ae, seem pretty inept at trying to escape the crappy lives they find themselves falling into.

Credit should also go to writer/director Lee Chang-dong for resisting the temptation to jazz his film up with tricksey editing, flashy camerawork and all kinds of film school flashiness. Still nicely shot, the flick has an almost 70s feel to it in terms of style and storytelling as the story takes time to unfold. This is perhaps also the film’s major downfall. Proceedings never hurry along, meaning the slow approach may not be to everyone’s taste. The familiar territory of the film's narrative also holds few surprises (despite characters not fitting the stereotypical form) and a good ten or fifteen minutes could have been shaved off as at two hours, 'Green Fish' is a little too long telling its story. Still, the excellent acting, especially from star Han Suk-kyu, and the easy going approach give 'Green Fish' a style all of its own and it’s certainly worth seeking out as it is a lesser known Korean drama.

Lonely student Jirou (Koide) opines that on his birthday, there is no-one to share the special day with. A year ago to the day, a beautiful oddity (Haruka Ayase) entered his life on the same day, turned his plans and emotions upside down and left has abruptly as she had arrived. Jirou cannot forget this 'perfect woman', this gorgeous mystery figure who seemed so enraptured by him and hopes this birthday she will return. It appears his wish has come true when a doppleganger appears in his favourite restaurant, saves his life, and whisks him away for an unpredictable night. She reveals herself to be a cyborg, created by Jirou sixty years in the future and sent back in time to be his companion in 2008.

The cyborg may be utterly ravishing, but as she has to learn human emotions from those around her, Jirou struggles to get close to her. Despite saving numerous lives and breathing life into his sad existence, the cyborg cannot show the love her future creator yearns for even during his pathetic attempts to make her jealous. Eventually Jirou banishes her and returns to his moribund routine, always wondering whether his actions were justified as the adventures he once thrived on now melt away. The cyborg is not too far away from him though and when a vicious earthquake destroys much of Tokyo, Jirou is saved by his unusual girlfriend.

A lavish budget for this Japanese production allows Kwak Jae-Young to take his trademarks to a new level while never quite giving viewers anything new to savour. What could easily be called 'iSassy Girl' (did you see what I did there?) is a tsunami of emotion and melodrama, pushing hitherto strong levels of sentiment to new heights. This is our much loved Sassy Girl given a sci-fi reboot and plonked into a narrative of timelines and the inevitable paradox or two. Another truly radiant actress (Haruka Ayase in this case) turned into the enigmatic object of desire for a endearingly dopey hero, something most of us real-life dopey wannabe heroes will cheer about.

And yet, despite reeling these facets of the production off with almost monotonous precision, I cannot help but be charmed by 'Cyborg Girl'. Kwak Jae-Young has a Phd in stirring emotions and this film has more heart-pulling moments of manipulative magic as a room full of kittens playing with balls of string. Every action film ever made has the intention of creating excitement, every horror film of creating fear so its to be expected that a rom-com by the genre master should try to leave us in a puddle of tearful goo on the floor. Kwak Jae-Young understands how to achieve this better than anyone and puts together a few notably powerful scenes that linger long in the memory. The moment when the cyborg takes our hero back in time to see his now reconstructed home village again is spellbinding and about as moving a piece of cinema as I have recently seen.

What was unforgettable about 'My Sassy Girl' was its ability to surprise and confound, something 'Cyborg Girl' still manages to do. Cliches are mixed with moments that are by turns bewildering and even shocking while an winning cast ensures we cannot take our eyes off the action. The pacing is again Kwak Jae-Young's greatest adversity and 'Cyborg Girl' threatens to ground to a halt before it has run its course. Stick with it though as, at the end of two hours, there is something ethereal about the production and the ending it contrives to give us.

At the other end of the line is Grace Wong, a single mother who is grabbed by a ruthless gang and thrown into a remote shack until she is willing to co-operate. Grace, however, is completely unaware as to why she has been kidnapped and, using her engineering capabilities, re-connects an abandoned telephone line to make the random call. As her captors reveal just how few scruples they have, Grace begs Bob to pick her daughter up from school before she is apprehended. With corrupt police officers and wrongful accusations to contend with, Bob finds his heroic side and tries to find Grace before their connection is discovered.

When it was announced that the competent, yet hardly remarkable 'Cellular' was to be remade in Hong Kong, few cinephiles were counting down the days until it reached cinemas. Benny Chan moved from the thrilling 'Invisible Target' to a 're-imagining' (as I understand the professional terms for this to be now) that nobody had asked for. Yet the concept that Larry Cohen - the ever-imaginative B-movie maestro - had for the original is ripe with dramatic possibilities, the very epitome of that term 'high concept'. Suspend disbelief, no tie disbelief to a missile and launch it into the stratosphere, and the whole story becomes a gripping race-against-time.

Without obvious bias clouding judgement, it is safe to say that Benny Chan's 'Connected' is more consistently entertaining than its inspiration. Some superior action set-pieces help the pace zip along while the varied locations used to stage them adds to the thrill. 'Connected' also concludes with an airport-set finale that is a credit to its director, a man whose skill in the genre should not be ignored. Every drop of tension is squeezed from the narrative, never allowing any plot holes to make themselves apparent. Louis Koo is cast against type as the diffident hero quite successfully while Nick Cheung's solid performance should hopefully ensure that future roles will be dramatic like this rather than 'comedic' in some desperate comedy with 'Conman' or 'Gambling' in the title.

Villains cackle, heroes shout and Motorola is given the kind of plug that verges on the reverent. That said, 'Connected' is outrageously entertaining and maintains its energetic momentum throughout. For anyone looking for an above average Hong Kong action film these days, that should be all the commendation it needs.

Takuma is a no nonsense mercenary who is asked by the Mafia and Yakuza to kidnap the daughter of a recently deceased oil magnate. When he refuses, mainly down to the fact they won’t meet his extortionate price, he switches sides and offers to protect the daughter (yep, not morally ambiguous at all!). However, the Mafia and Yakuza are having none of this, kidnap the daughter anyway and send legions of disposable bad guys to kill Takuma. He’s not going to let that happen and what follows is almost ninety minutes of absurdity, ultra violence and Chiba gurning like a mad man.

Now despite the flick looking pretty good in its new digitally re-mastered form and glorious widescreen, no one would ever mistake 'The Streetfighter' for being a great film. Tarantino might argue the point and while Chiba can be a great on-screen presence, 'The Streetfighter' is so inept on so many levels. But that is precisely the reason it is so good. Amping the exploitation factor up ten fold and playing everything with a straight face 'The Streetfighter' has everything the lover of bad cinema needs: oodles of gore, campness and ridiculous dialogue.

Perhaps the most memorable aspect is the ultra gory fight scenes. Blood explodes out of bodies everywhere and bad guys have their throats, eyes and even genitals ripped off by Chiba’s raging fighter. On top of this there are bonkers scenes of the hero and his poor put upon sidekick somehow escaping a very dangerous and fatal looking car stunt, simply by Chiba breathing heavy and blowing his cheeks out! Then there is all the misogyny, questionable morals of the hero and plenty more insaneness. So yeah, exploitation at its finest.

To be fair, 'The Streetfighter' does have a mean, nasty streak that gives it some bite and while the fights don’t always convince in their execution they certainly do with their brutality and unrelenting quest to hurt as many people as possible. The final showdown set aboard an oil tanker at night is a well sustained and excessively violent denouncement. 'The Streetfighter' was a break through film for Chiba and apparently the first film to receive the old ‘X’ certificate for violence. which gave it some more notoriety. While there is certainly better trash films out there, 'The Streefighter' gets an extra star for delivering the exploitation goods and being a good laugh even when it probably wasn’t supposed to be. Followed by the equally nutty 'Return of the Streefighter' and 'The Streefighter’s Last Revenge'.

Firstly let me point out that this film has nothing to do with the first one; it's just a cash in on the name, although why they bothered is beyond me as Tony Jaa is the real attraction and the reason why people want to watch this. However, the good news is that they have at least tried to do something a bit interesting rather than finding a stolen elephant!

The story revolves around Tien (Tony Jaa) who is orphaned at a young age when a mysterious cloaked back figure kills his parents. Of course, he isn't solely responsible and there is an evil warlord behind it all giving the usual bad guy sneer at every opportunity. Throw in a childhood sweetheart and Tien being saved by a group of pirates (pirates on land, I kid you not) and well that's about it. No seriously, that's it. what did you expect, Shakespeare?

What we have all come to see here is the fight scenes and in this respect you wont be disappointed by 'Ong Bak 2'. This time around, Tony Jaa not only gets to show his power and grace in the martial arts but also picks up a few weapons along the way (the three sectioned staff being my personal favourite). On top of this, the film throws in the usual training montage in which he learns the way of the warrior with Kung Fu, Samurai sword and Ju-Jitsu being just a few of the abundance of styles that are on display. Jaa also gets to use those physical attributes aplenty with some of the best action scenes you'll find on film today, with amazing stunts that include a run across several elephant's backs that he makes look so easy but one fall and he'd have to be scraped off an elephant's foot.

All in all, 'Ong Bak 2' is a mixed bag. You can clearly see that it had a troubled production and the ending is... well, unexpected to say the least. On the bright side, the cinematography is stunning and there's still no doubt that very few have the on-screen charisma of Tony Jaa. So I'd say if you love your action then you won't be disappointed but I still can't shake the feeling that if Tony hadn't left the set half way through, things might have been even better. With 'Ong bak 3' already in production, lets hope they learn from their mistakes and take the opportunity to tie up those loose ends.

Despite the tendency to overdo the heroic aspect with intrusive and sometimes inappropriate music and the need for the main characters to over egg their loyalty, 'The Warlords' is a surprisingly straight forward and therefore more effective epic war movie. This is not a flashy costume drama or a CGI enhanced flight of fancy but rather a gritty, grimy and quite often, an in your face epic. Melodrama just stays the right side of over-the-top the love triangle between Pang, Lian and Erhu played surprisingly human and bittersweet. Peter Chan makes an effective move to big epic filmmaking, framing 'The Warlords' in a dusty, dirty setting that evokes realism, even when proceedings are on a grand scale. However, Jet Li is the real star here. Just when you think he is resting on his laurels and content with making crappy Hollywood films ('War', 'The Mummy 3') and that he may just be done with this whole acting business he comes right back and reminds you why he is one of Asia’s biggest stars. For the lack of a better word, he is mesmerising as the conflicted Pang, a man who is essentially good but seems to do some very bad things in order to be good. While Lau and Xu are also especially good, it’s Li that carries the movie and not just in the battle scenes. He once again shows (much like he did in 'Danny The Dog' and 'Fearless') he is an actor as well as a martial artist and this is one of his best roles. A meaty character to sink his teeth into and Li wisely refrains from grandstanding making sure we are always engaged with the character no matter the horrific acts he sanctions.

Li is also adept in the big action scenes but don’t go expecting solo face-offs of martial arts mayhem. This is a war movie and the action/battles stay within this theme, never flashy but always brutal. Li does get a few show stopping scraps, not least his extended takedown of dozens of enemy soldiers, but the action is on a large scale and brutally realized. Limbs are severed, soldiers beaten while lying on the ground and the horses they ride don’t fare much better either. It’s savage stuff and lends itself well to the realism 'The Warlords' is striving for.

A great, big ballsy war movie, 'The Warlords' may not always be subtle but it is never pretentious. Li commands the screen like his character commands his army and while the film has it fair share of savagery, 'The Warlords' still manages to be a touching, personal and sometimes, even beautiful film.

After winning all of his matches in the USA, 12-year-old tennis prodigy Echizen Ryoma is brought back to Japan by his father and enrolled in the prestigious Seishun Academy Middle School. Although he doesn't understand the move, the school is in fact famous for it's tennis team and Ryoma soon finds himself playing alongside school captain and national player Tezuka Kunimitsu, cool-headed Oishi Syuichirou and the acrobatic Kikamura Eiji. He also attracts the attentions of Higaki Shioin, a strange and quiet girl who watches him attentively from the bleachers. As the pressure from both his father and fellow team mates begins to rise, can Ryoma meet the challenge and earn the title of Prince Of Tennis?

The first and most instantly appealing aspect of 'The Prince Of Tennis' is that it sticks fairly close to the original concept. Right from the opening, it opts to recreate as many of the crucial scenes as possible and mimics the introductions of the main characters to great effect. Likewise, the overall look and feel of the production is spot on, with a very anime inspired style that showcases some excellent camerawork. As if this wasn't pleasing enough, the film also boasts a cast who really act and look like their animated counterparts and the highest compliment I can pay the film is that it always feels exactly like 'Prince Of Tennis'.

When it comes to the acting ability on display, this is equally as adept and it's nice to see a manga adaptation that doesn't just dip into the realms of the ridiculous. 15-year-old Kanata Hongo is right on the mark as Echizen and provides an exceptionally mature performance for his age. Unlike a lot of child actors, he never comes across as obnoxious and manages to convey the quiet and contemplative elements of his character without ever appearing arrogant. Yuu Shirota (Tezuka), Sayuri Iwata (Shion) and Kousuke Kujirai (Kaidou) are also worthy of special mention as they all slot perfectly into their roles and avoid the tendency to overact.

For a film that uses tennis as it's main focus, I'm also pleased to report that all of the matches in the film are extremely well shot. Considering the erraticness of the game, you may expect there to be some issues with the flow but they are amazingly realistic and there's a tenseness to the matches that is often lacking in most sports movies. Surprisingly, the superhuman techniques of the players are also well represented and aside from a few bizarre flying manoeuvres, the CGI is very impressive and certainly right up there with the likes of 'Shaolin Soccer'.

Understandably, the time restraints of the movie do cause some upsets and a number of popular characters and sequences are noticeably glossed over. This is particularly true for several of the Seigaku team and (a much younger and prettier) coach Ryuzaki, who all take a back seat so that Echizen and Tezuka can become the central focus. For the sake of the film's story this is clearly the best approach, but from an existing fans' perspective you do miss out on several entertaining personalities. Similarly, some of the early bouts with the Seigaku team are much shorter than they originally were but once again, this works in the film's favour as it makes the final matches that much more exciting.

If you're a fan of the anime or enjoy superhuman sports movies like 'Shaolin Soccer', I would strongly advise you to seek out 'The Prince Of Tennis'. It's exactly how a manga/anime live-action adaptation should be done and ignores the hype in favour of providing an accurate and fun representation of the source material.

Cao Cao may have lost the last battle, but his vast forces seem to indicate that he will win the war against the rebels. As he relaxes with his advisors, Sun Shangxiang (Zhao) infiltrates his camp and begins to note all of his strategems before she can be detected. When an epidemic of typhoid hits his kingdom, Cao Cao fiendishly ties the bodies to rafts and drifts them down the river to the enemy, decimating their forces and morale. Their ebullience has been crushed and Cao Cao has successfully divided their forces as Liu Bei takes his demoralised army away from combat. A lack of manpower and a severe lack of arrows leaves Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang teetering on the brink of collapse.

What Cao Cao's oopposers lack in sheer force they make up for in dogged determination and Zhuge Liang devises a way of getting the arrows needed in an ingenious way. Meanwhile Zhou Yu concocts a way of turning the antagonists against one another to regain the upper hand, cleverly breaking up the naval intelligence that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun provide. With intelligence about Cao Cao's tactics to assist them, the stage is set for a monumental battle on two fronts to end the war: the hopelessly outnumbered fleet using the information to their advantage while Zhou Yu leads his fellow generals to a final assault on Cao Cao's heavily defended fortress.

'Red Cliff' left the story of the Three Kingdoms deliciously balanced and so a way of concluding all of the plots and intrigues would take special effort from a director who we had forgotten had that ability. Starting with an uneasy CGI dove that reminded me of the beginning of 'Clash Of The Titans', the opening implied a worrying regression back to the Woo cliches we all chuckle over now. Yet any fears of the conclusion to 'Red Cliff' not proving to be a fitting sequel are soon abolished as the director rolls back the years to when his name was uttered in hushed tones. To tell a complex story with such clarity, while also successfully orchestrating some of the greatest battle scenes in history, is a feat that John Woo achieves with aplomb. In nearly every way, part 2 is better than its predecessor and an event not to be missed.

The international print has been criminally truncated to 148 minutes in total, a whole half chopped away for easier consumption. To Chinese audiences, this must seem as disrespectful to the source material as trying to condense the 'Lord Of The Rings' trilogy into three and a half hours. In so doing, John Woo's vision is compromised and two genuine 'epics' are needlessly thrown together, missing such wonderful scenes as how Zhang Liang acquires the 100,000 arrows he promises to deliver. For a director whose value has dropped from the heights of the international avant garde to the 'Poundstretcher' bargain bin, this must be hard to swallow. It is with this in mind that I implore you all to watch both parts in their entirety as they deserve 280 minutes of anyone's time (it might be good to have a break in between though).

'Red Cliff II' fleshes out its characters beyond their legendary status and a few sub-plots that threatened to overwhelm in the original suddenly slot in perfectly. All of a sudden, the revisionist inclusion of Vicky Zhao's Sun Shangxiang is justified and her part in the overall narrative superbly blended in. Tony Leung, Chang Chen and Takeshi Kaneshiro are every bit as good as could be expected though Zhang Fengyi's uncompromising portayal of Cao Cao leaves with the acting chops. Nevertheless, the 'Red Cliff' project is about the work of John Woo, his vast production and creative team and a record budget that is utilised so expertly that every last yuan can be seen in the mise-en-scene.

With Taro Iwashiro's beautiful score resonating in my ears long after the end credits have rolled and some of the greatest visuals ever committed to celluloid burnt onto my retina, its fair to say this project has been a resounding success. Part 2 is certainly the superior one, but both deserve individual credit for reviving the dying embers of John Woo's career. It's difficult to see how any future historical epic - and after 'Red Cliff' that that term will have to be reappraised - can hope to top this very special production.

On a dark and stormy night, Yoko (Mizusawa) is returning home to be reunited with her real parents, the Nanjo’s. Living in almost seclusion out in the country in a massive, scary mansion (the first clue that everything might not be right with this family!), the Nanjo’s have not seen their daughter since she was small. Likewise Yoko is rather unsure about this family reunion but father Nanjo thinks it is for the best. Needless to say, all is not well at the mansion and on her first night Yoko is tormented and chased by an unseen force. A force that makes its way through the mansion’s air ducts, kills small animals for fun (and then deposits the dead carcasses on Yoko while she sleeps) and cackles maniacally, all the while remaining hidden. In addition, Mother Nanjo is madder than a bag of frogs, refuses to acknowledge Yoko’s existence and is enamoured with Yoko’s dead sister: the evil, giant handed, mutilated child running around the mansion causing rampant destruction. And cackling maniacally.

'Tamami' is the kind of film that will divide people straight down the middle: you will either love it or hate it. This is probably Yamaguchi’s most accomplished movie in terms of style but the movie has two distinct tones: low key tense one minute, over-the-top/set-piece gore heavy the next. Yamaguchi manages to keep it all just together (before the ridiculous explosion heavy finale) and to be fair, how serious and complex does one expect a movie about an over grown mutant baby to be? With its groovy 50’s gothic ghost vibe and sense of fun, 'Tamami' sets out to take the viewer on a ride and this it certainly achieves. One minute you will be jumping out of your seat as the you catch glimpses of the baby running around the mansion, the next howling with laughter as it’s flying through the air attacking someone and then smiling insanely at the ridiculously over-the-top gore scenes, that often come out of nowhere.

Yamaguchi certainly goes all out in his attempt to make 'Tamami' the ultimate killer baby movie and by all accounts he may just have succeeded. The earlier scenes involve a lot of tease, us viewers never really getting to see Tamami in all her glory. Come the halfway mark, all caution is thrown to the wind and Tamami is seen, at regular intervals, causing all kinds of havoc. The effects may not be the greatest and the CGI more dodgy than not, but this all adds to the low tech scare charm and Tamami is one ugly, creepy and strange creation. No real legs, one giant hand and with the ability to seemingly fly through the air makes her very adept at slaying the fully grown characters.

Some may be disappointed that the slow build vibe of the first half is replaced with the all out set-piece tone of the second (including an amazing bit with a broken guillotine used in a Pit and the Pendulum fashion) but on its own charmingly weird and over-the-top style, 'Tamami: The Baby’s Curse' is a horror hoot. It may not be as intensely gory as say 'Machine Girl' or 'Tokyo Gore Police' but it is still a delightfully mad slice of Japanese comic book horror.

'The Young Hero of Shaolin' is nothing overly original and in old school kung fu terms, follows a well worn path. However, it stands above typical fare due to its impressive production values and widescreen photography. Apparently some money was invested in this production and many of China’s elite martial artists were used as fighters. The training and fighting scenes certainly stand out, highlights including an aging Sifu doing a handstand on two fingers and Fang beating an opponent atop a collection of Shaolin poles. However, the standout sequence, and perhaps the main reason to see this flick, is Fang and his buddy taking on the Temple’s students in the famous Lo Han Formation. Rows of students line and move in sync to confuse and engage the hero in combat forming such shapes as a Swastika and a Chinese good luck symbol. Shot from above, it’s an impressive sequence as we see the students moving in perfect tandem, seemingly creating one moving shape. Plus, any kung fu flick where the students form a Swastika (of all things) to try and beat the hero is worthy of a viewing, not least as it’s not something you see everyday, not even in old school kung fu movies.

The rest is pretty much business as usual as the tournament is just an extended series of fights before the big showdown. Nicely staged with varying fighting styles, it only pales in comparison to having just seen a giant human Swastika fight our hero. Still a worthy addition to any avid kung fu fan’s DVD library as it hits all the right beats, benefits from some impressive photography and features some interesting, well staged and even downright barmy fighting styles.

Angst-ridden youth Sid (Chan) unwisely involves himself with the beautiful young wife of a high-ranking gangster (Tsang), taking the warnings of his friends in his sulky stride. The husband, Stephen Ma, eventually discovers the infidelity and demands that Sid's triad father Kwan (Leung) hand his son over for some impromptu capital punishment. A previous friendship means that Kwan eventually negotiates to 'merely' maim his son, but secretly sends the rebel without a clue to the wilds of Taiwan with his trusted aide Chiu.

Out in the wilderness, away from the influence of a corrupt city, Sid comes under the influence of the tribe of Zen drummers who practice on the mountain nearby and tries to insert himself into their near-monastic order. He eventually wins all but one suspicious young pupil (Lee) over and finds the solitude and meditation beginning to turn him from being a bellicose trouble-maker to an introspective young adult beginning to face up to his resposibilities. Meanwhile Kwan finds himself betrayed by former associates and sent to jail for a substantial stretch. Yet the correspondents between father and son now take a much more rewarding turn, despite ominous machinations occuring behind the scenes.

They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and with Jaycee Chan giving one of his better performances as a troubled youth in need of a disciplined lifestyle, it's easy to recall one particular film from his father's past. Although 'Drunken Master' may appear to be a very different production to this rewarding drama, there's more than a little of the iconic portrayal of Wong Fei Hong in Jaycee's work. Starting off as a truculent solipsist who swaggers through Hong Kong with disdain for those around, he then matures into someone with a far greater appreciation for life and family; I couldn't help but recall his father in a kung-fu classic that may be some distance from this in tone, but shows how both have a genetic ability to convey arrogance then quiet humility. He may never be Hong Kong's foremost thespian, yet his display here finally banished memories of 'Twins Effect II' - where Chan showed all of the emotional dexterity of Metal Mickey - from this reviewers mind forever.

Chan is flanked by some impressive acting talent to ensure that, should he falter, the film will still progress confidently. Tony Leung Kar Fei relishes his scenery-chewing anti-hero role and enjoys a few choice scenes with that most elegant of Hong Kong screen kingpins, Kenneth Tsang. Both men prove to be more intimidating than the simple parameters of the screen allows and give the simple story its necessary frisson, providing some consolation for the underuse of Angelica Lee.

Lovingly shot by Sam Koa - who goes to great lengths to juxtapose the hectic concrete jungle of Hong Kong with the verdant mountains of Taiwan - 'The Drummer' is something to savour in what may prove to be a hugely productive career in the director's chair for Kenneth Bi. This is more than just a story of the troubled and certainly a notch above the usual redemption-through-arts film that is more than a little familiar to us all. This is a drama that dares to serve up quiet contemplation along with the expected epiphany of the protagonist. Bi serves up familiar twists and turns, yet the way they are presented raises them above expectations, successfully mixing the elements of the triad drama with something quite the opposite. The fact that 'The Drummer' gels together so competently is perhaps its greatest commendation and makes Bi's future projects even more anticipated.

Without going into too much detail as knowing as little about 'The Chaser's plot is beneficial to a first time viewing, Hong-jin Na’s film completely turns the conventional serial killer/cop drama on its head. The first 30 minutes or so are brutally tense and nerve shredding as the race to find Mi Jin before she is killed is on. They could easily be the last minutes of any conventional serial killer flick and you wonder where the film is going to go after this. Well it takes you on one hell of a dark trip as Joong Ho, the cop turned pimp, tries to convince everyone (including the police) that 4885 is actually the killer. His arrogance and bull headed nature do him no favours in trying to convince people he is not lying and the sheer calm and genuine evil that 4885 (the amazing Jeong-Woo) displays doesn’t help matters. We know he is the killer, Joong Ho knows he is the killer but through calmly admitting and denying the murder and then generally twisting around what is real and what is not, 4885 sends everyone on a wild goose chase. And then things get even crazier. Coincidence and some severe police ineptitude play a big part in what goes one but as in life, sometimes things happen or are solved by a mere chance, a factor that helps to imbue 'The Chaser' with fantastic cinematic tension.

All the cast are excellent, especially the three leads and it’s a testament to the Hong-jin Na that we come to care about Joong Ho as he really isn’t a sympathetic character despite being the closest thing we have to a hero. There is also an amazing performance from a young child actor who plays Mi Jin’s daughter, one of the few uncorrupted souls in the film, and shows that not all kids in movies are annoying little moppets. Tension is the name of the game here with Na Hong-Jin orchestrating several electrifying set pieces, not least a scene set in a dirty bathroom and involving the drastic use of a hammer and chisel. But despite the violence and blood, 'The Chaser' is not packed with gore more concerned with the dark side of humanity. The reason the killer kills is never fully explained either, the common idea that he is impotent therefore mad at women so kills them, given as a possibility but really just an excuse for the cops to have a reason to hold him. Police ineptitude plays a big part in the film as well, the murder case apparently based on real events. The director obviously has something to say about the police’s lack of professionalism as they are often shown being encouraged to fabricate evidence in order to pin the murders on their suspect. This may be the film’s only downfall as maybe a little too much time is spent on the police ineptitude and some ma also find the notion of coincidence hard to buy.

Other than that, 'The Chaser' is a true gob smacker. You may figure out the ending but the emotional impact is never lessened and will stick with you for some time afterwards. If Hollywood ever remakes it (which they will), there is no chance in hell they will keep what happens in the final third. A gripping often emotional rollercoaster of a thriller, 'The Chaser' isn’t just one of the best Korean films of the year but one of the best films of the year.

The story starts with a Reginald Perrin-style montage of lead character Sugiyama's uninspiring day-to-day routine. He has a doting wife and a loving daughter, but the sheer monotony of the daily grind is slowly destroying him inside. On the evening train home, the haggard office worker spota a beautiful, yet equally pained face peering out of the window of an apartment block and resolves to find out who she is. On discovering that she is the teacher at a Tokyo dance studio, Sugiyama plucks up the bravery to join the beginners' class and meets a quirky mixture of amateurs, each with their own reason for attending. Sugiyama gradually finds the pull of the waltz to be addictive and slowly progresses to being a reasonably competent dancer. He also notices that a spirited samba dancer - complete with awkward wig and false tan - is actually the bullied worker Aoki who works in his department at work. Aoki helps his new friend to expand his horizons and takes him to amateur dances at the weekend.

Sugiyama's secret dance lessons are arousing the suspicions of his spouse who smells the perfume on his shirts and notices his continued absence from the family's evening meal and comes to a worrying conclusion. Keen to find about what she thinks is her husband's infidelity, she hires a private detective to uncover the truth and meanwhile tries to decipher his odd behaviour. The truth about Sugiyama's nocturnal activities surprises everyone though and the deeper reasons for his discontent gradually comes to the surface.

'Shall We Dance?' opens with a strangely haunting ten minutes of Sugiyama's ennui and deep depression over what could be interpreted as his mid-life crisis. Yet, unlike the usual Western dissection of this subject matter, where the protagonist is almost destined to seek solace in the arms of someone younger, as if we should view this as an ordinary symptom of reaching middle-age, Masayuki Suo provides us with one of the most uplifting experiences committed to celluloid. There is pathos and humour flawlessly blended together in 'Shall We Dance?' and even moments of quiet introspection that turn familiar characters into three-dimensional figures.

These aforementioned characters add the necessary layers of interest, all their quirks and imperfections becoming more than just a little endearing by the end. The bolshy firebrand Toyoko has, as is expected, a soft centre, but the way her development is handled shows how accomplished the man behind the lens is. Even larger-than-life protagonists like the delightful Aoki (played by the fabulous Naoto Takenaka) have the vital humanity that gives 'Shall We Dance?' an earnest emotional punch. This helps the inevitable redemptive scenes near the end of the film - where each person uses the burgeoning prowess attained from dancing to confront the other issues they have to face - to gain real poignancy.

Masayuki Suo has constructed an often hilarious comedy mixed with a tender kernal that proves to be irresistible. The underdog or the underappreciated everyman may not be impossible heroes in the world of cinema - Asia is often adept at championing them - but when their stories are told with such care, it is impossible not to applaud the excellence we're left with.

After various clashes with the police department, Lee is teamed up with naive lawyer Mabel (Liu) who immediately makes an impression on the swaggering gangster and their professional relationship turns into something more personal very quickly. Equally quickly is Mabel's announcement that she is pregnant and Lee needs to provide for the upcoming child. He is initially horrified by the developments and sees a child as an end to his ill-advised lifestyle. Yet, when his daughter is born, Lee finds himself prepared to go to any length to be a better father to her, even masquerading as a businessman and painfully changing his tattoo. As his daughter, Heiyi, grows though, it becomes evident that only a life away from crime will save his daughter from a similar fate. Getting out of the triads and cutting away all criminal connections is far harder than starting on the path though.

At first glance, 'Run, Papa, Run' seems somewhat out of place among the pantheon of Sylvia Chang films, a definite diversion away from the realism and subtle social critiques that the director has expertly utilised in the past. This is a intoxicating mixture of the surreal and the mundance where the definite star is a male character quite a distance away from Chang's usual cinematic focus. Yet, its admirable when any film-maker extends themselves beyond their expected output and in such cultured hands this has all the hallmarks of excellence that have attached themselves to Sylvia Chang's name. It may almost appear hyper-real at times, a world where visible manifestations of thoughts and dreams come to lucid life, but this is the product of solid source material and a woman who is as accomplished behind the lens as she was in front of it.

This production starts with a startlingly animated credit sequence and retains a visual elan that sets it apart from the usual tales of triads trying to go straight. It may be a storyline that appeared throughout 80s Hong Kong cinema and beyond, but from the beginning until the end 'Run, Papa, Run' has designs on ploughing its on furrow rather than going along a conventional route. Much early humour is derived from the odd tangents the film disappears off into, while the hairstyles during the first half become intimidating characters of their own. Such a zany edge sets this apart from the numerous contemporaries, yet does occasionally divert the narrative from its intended pathos. Nevertheless, even during the moments of absurd comedy and genre parody, there are subtle hints at the dark world surrounding the Lee family.

Louis Koo - in probably his most mature performance - provides narration, punctures reality with little asides to the camera (the fabled 'fourth wall' crumbling in the process) and pokes fun at the stereotypical triad leader, full of machismo and surprising sentiment. Chang allows Koo to give the performance of his career, but surrounds him with great supporting players; from Rene Liu to the welcome return of Nora Miao to the big screen, 'Run, Papa, Run' has a cast that is full of talent and experience. Max Mok is sterling support for Koo and brings the genre's 80s zenith back to mind as one of the familiar faces of that era. Yet its not just empty nostalgia that actors like Ti Lung and Chan Hui Man provide - their gravitas lends itself well to a production with higher aspirations.

Ultimately, this is a story about the love of a father for his daughter and, as such, it delivers all of the poignancy and power it should. Chang achievements are that, even in the moments of mirth, there is an underlying power to the scenes; one particular moment sees Lee having his intimidating tiger tatto changed for his daughter's sake, a sequence that tell us so much about the relationships in the film. There is a merciful lack of histrionics or show-boating, award-grovelling scenes that larger than life productions tend to allude to and this only helps to make the overall theme relevant to a wider audience.

'Run, Papa, Run' is a story we may have seen before with style that may initially be jarring, yet is ultimately delivered with aplomb. Chang stirs a number of emotions throughout while finally leaving a message about family and the unforgiving underworld our anti-hero tries to leave. It proves to be one of 2008's most illuminating Hong Kong efforts.

Woo wisely decided to release this epic - and that word has lost as much value as the pound in recent years - production in two parts, allowing the complexities a full five hours to play out on the big screen rather than trying to squeeze them into a comfortable size for international consumption. There are notable, controversial changes from the original chronicles and the novel 'Romance Of Three Kingdoms', yet just to see John Woo behind the lens of such an outrageously lavish release rather than contriving to fit some avian slow-motion in another awkward Hollywood blockbuster is significant compensation.

Nefarious Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Feng-Yi) persuades a reluctant Emperor Xian to allow him to use the multitudinous forces to quell a suspected rebellion in the south of the kingdom. Although one advisor sees through this thinly-veiled attempt by Cao Cao to manoeuvre himself into a position of near total control, the plan goes ahead to destroy warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, the initial battles intially being won quite easily. Liu Bei, keen to protect his citizens from impending slaughter, organises an ingenious stand-off against Cao Cao's cavalry, where reflective shields gives the protectors a vital advantage. Eventually the superior numbers prove too much and the enemy forces Liu Bei and his armies into retreat, along with thousands of refugees. Zhuge Liang, chief advisor to Liu Bei, decides to venture to Sun Quan's kingdom, Wu, and ask the canny young ruler to form an alliance with them.

On arriving in Wu, Zhuge finds a pensive Sun Quan (Chang Chen) contemplating whether to stand up against Cao Cao - who is still officially an ally of their kingdom. An impassioned Zhuge explains that any pretense of friendship by Cao Cao will soon turn to widespread totalitarianism and, despite criticism from his numerous wizened old advisors, it is imperative to join the war on the side of Liu Bei. Sun eventually agrees and Zhuge subsequently calls on the services of chief commander of the Wu forces, Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), who is busy training his troops near the legendary Red Cliff. Although still massively outnumbered by the approaching hordes, the southern kingdoms are now ready to engage on land and sea with the war moving into its next phase.

It would take something special to stir me from my 'Chinese Historical Epic' daze, a condition that has increased in severity during the past few years with the world and his wife making their version of Chinese history. Of course, this particular 'Red Cliff' project had the greatest budget in the history of Chinese cinema to call on, but every recent costume drama - of vastly differing budgets - has looked effortlessly opulent without necessarily being any better than the last. Yet John Woo's excellent return to form is a notch above its contemporaries because it is more than just impressively-peopled wide-angle shots and eye-straining battle sequence. For a story as rich in detail as 'Red Cliff', this is ironically Woo's most measured film of recent years and certainly his most human.

'Red Cliff' has been a troubled production with cast changes and delays rife throughout shooting. Nevertheless, the chaos behind the scenes never interrupts the vision on screen and Woo rediscovers his insight into brotherhood, friendship and heroism. These themes, long associated with the director, seemed to have been either jarringly inserted into recent flops or altogether deleted, so to see him playing with these ideas on an epic stage is gratifying indeed. The intimate scenes blend superbly with the undeniably incredible battle sequences, making a 140 minute duration canter along confidently. A first-rate cast helps us forget that this was intended to be the reunion of Chow Yun-Fat with his mentor and focus on the drama that unfolds. Zhang Feng-Yi is the kind of scenery-chewing villain that makes every battle ripe with drama and full of tension while Chang Chen impresses as the young Wu ruler keen to show himself an old head on young shoulders.

As stated, there are changes to the original texts and not all of them sit comfortably. The concession to modern audiences of including Vicky Zhao's Sun Shangxiang in the actual fighting is awkwardly arranged as are a few none-too-subtle allegories. Yet, by the end of the first part, 'Red Cliff' leaves the impression of the peerless'Empire Strikes Back' where, despite having no conclusion of its own, all of the groundwork of the characterisation and story make the next chapter and exciting prospect. John Woo has returned - at least until 'Paycheck 2' is announced on the back of 'Red Cliff's worldwide acclaim.

The story follows a once beloved Korean rock star who is now relegated to singing at private parties for a nostalgic clientele. Even this modest job pushes the hot-headed former star to breaking point and, after finding himself unemployable, he is left to drown his sorrows. His faithful agent though, still eager to resurrect his client's career lobbies the television networks for work only to find the sole remaining lifeline available is as a dj at a provincial radio station. Also working for this fm outpost is a disgraced radio producer and a whole host of eccentric locals who still adore their new employee based on his glorious past. The reluctant disc jockey finds his new job something of a step down from what he is used to, yet his honest opinions begin to enthral the listeners and he soon becomes a cult hero on the airwaves. It isn't long before the chance to take his show to a national audience is offered to him, but there is one condition - he must proceed without his loyal friend and agent.

That old theme of redemption through reduced circumstances is once again used for cinema, yet Lee Jun-Ik's 'Radio Star' is an invigorating film that shows how solid characterisation is the essential foundation for any good production. The story opens with a familiar scene of the lead protagonist enjoying life at the very apex of his career only to cut to the present day and show the impoverished life he now leads. No surprises in the execution here nor in the subsequent 'fish-out-of-water' storyline that emerges when this truculent figure is put into a very alien environment. 'Radio Star', though, introduces figures into the narrative that make the whole journey to the inevitable conclusion and endearing one.

'Radio Star' is more about the great friendship between the two lead men rather than the actual penance of former rocker Choi-gon. The long-suffering agent Park Min-Su is seen negotiating and work behind the scenes to prop up the terminal flop his good friend's career has endured. The director is keen to show Choi-gon as a surly loser who never appreciates Park's efforts, but this is obviously a facade in anticipation of learning more about his character. As the story progresses and Choi performs on air, his initially unpleasant persona gives way to the more human side. It's the old idea of the purity and eccentricity of the rural folk changing the ways of the jaded city inhabitant, yet 'Radio Star' manages to throw in cliches with some aplomb.

Lee Jun-Ik's film is chiefly about its two leading men and their friendship, a fact that can mean the secondary characters are given little chance to flourish to their potential. Though not a lethal blow to an otherwise charming dramedy, the opportunity to involve Park's wife forlorn - who we also discover was the ex-president of the now-defunct Choi-gon fanclub - is unfortunately underused. She, along with the disgraced radio producer, becomes someone who skirts around the narrative only occasionally making meaningful intrusions into it.

It may be familiar material and it may be a two-man show, but 'Radio Star' delivers its quota of entertainment, humour and even poignancy with some to spare. Park Hoon-Joong seems to relish playing the cranky faded star (who looks a lot like a Korean Johnny Halliday) though Ahn Sung-Kee walks away with the acting honours for his winning performance as the endearing Park. Together with laid-back direction from Lee Jun-Ik and an appealing blend of supporting players, their efforts turn 'Radio Star' into something very easy to enjoy.

Beautifully shot and superbly acted by a committed cast, 'The President’s Last Bang' is ultimately an underwhelming affair. The laid back approach to proceedings will certainly be enjoyed by some but the film seems to take too long to get going anywhere, the suspense often diluted by a meandering pace. Things certainly pick up with the bloody attack on the President, startling in its violence after such a slow first start. But after this outburst the flick once again falls back into that meandering, never stirring up enough emotion or pace. As mentioned some will find this approach rewarding while others may be frustrated as nothing ever really happens outside of the assassination and Kim Jae Kyu’s somewhat humorous mental fallout.

That said the film is still an occasionally interesting slice of Korean cinema, thanks in part to Baek Yun-shik’s excellent portrayal of Kim. A man, who seems to have everything together, soon unravels as it becomes increasingly questionable about why he in fact decided to assassinate the President. The fine photography is also a delight to watch (including an impressive overhead tracking shot ala Brian De Palma) but ultimately Sang-soo’s film fails to find the right balance between black comedy, suspense and true life drama. Certainly recommended for those looking for something a little different but not quite the film it could have been.

Sakiko is found, rushed to hospital and becomes a minor celebrity as she recuperates over the next few months. The indolent patient is only shaken from her ongoing stupor when she learns that the criminals who abducted her and the money they stolen is all believed to have perished in the explosion that followed their car crash. Sakiko knows the former may be true, but the latter is certainly not and if she could find the cave and somehow traverse the obstacles therein, she could have millions of yen to satiate her hunger for wealth. What follows is a Homeric adventure where the single-minded obsessive plans a way to get the case while obtaining a geology degree, becoming a champion swimmer and Japan's most successful climber on the way.

Shinobu Yaguchi excels in taking ordinary, often hebetudinous losers, and turning them into unlikely, empathetic heroes. 'The Waterboys' was replete with such characters while the peerless 'Swing Girls' was perhaps the very apex of this theme. Yaguchi's earlier 'My Secret Cache' is a film driven by its nutty protagonist and her blinkered view of life, though again this potentially repugnant character becomes a heroine we quickly learn to cheer for. In so doing, the very capable man behind the lens produced another delightful comedy that, while rougher around the edges than his later hits, still retains great charm throughout.

'My Secret Cache' works on a number of different levels. As a satire - albeit not a particularly subtle one - the film pointedly mocks the materialism and unreasoning love of financial gain that has become intrinsic in Japanes (and Western) culture. Sakiko takes this desire for wealth to new heights, showing how that this compulsion could be focused in a slightly different way, yet with the same ultimate goal. The broad satirical swipes at Yaguchi's homeland mix together with an increasing level of surrealism, all executed with that divine Japanese dead-pan humour at the kernal.

Naomi Nishida is undoubtedly the driving force of the narrative and goes through all manner of catastrophes with that vacant expression firmly planted on her face. Her motive is difficult to sympathise with while her selfishness is not a facet of her character that is appealing, yet Nishida injects interest in her role. She succeeds in making Sakiko naive rather than ruthless and has the viewer in the palm of her hand by the end. Director Yaguchi also ensures that his lead changes by the time she finally reaches the money, her life having been so full of incident and purpose that it appears as if her ultimate goal may have adjusted. The story is packed with oddballs and eccentrics; Odysseus had Sirens and Lotus-Eaters while Sakiko has to contend with slipper-wearing, afro-adorned road-ragers, a psychotic love rival and a geology professor who tastes the specimens he discovers. It all makes for a delightful adventure that has belly laughs weaved together with the odd moment of social commentary. Shinobu Yaguchi is a first-class director of comedies and this is an earlier example of his craft.

Meek taxi driver Min-Woo (Kim Sang-Kyung) has only two distractions in life: the responsibility he has towards his ambitious younger brother Jin-Woo, a student in Gwangju college, and a growing love for the kind-hearted nurse Sin-Ae. Egged on by his best friend, Min-Woo decides to ask the love of his life on a date and, after considerable persuasion, manages to take her to the cinema. Trouble is brewing in the city though and the military has been sent in to quash apparent communist uprisings in the university campus. The ensuing chaos that explodes envelops the patrons of the cinema as the soldiers burst in to capture a dissident, forcing the audience out onto the streets. Min-Woo, Sin-Ae and Jin-Woo all witness the brutality meted out by the nervy soliders who unleash their confusion on protestors with a barrage of beatings. Gwangju is in turmoil with students and civilians all facing the wrath of the over-zealous military and struggling to find some refuge in the city.

Observing the devastation is Sin-Ae's father Heong-Soo, a retired officer who now runs the taxi company that employs Min-Woo. The only form of defense for the Gwangju inhabitants now beseiged by tanks is to join a civilian militia started by Heong-Soo that breaks into a munitions storage to ready itself for an upcoming battle. Initially they manage to force the army to retreat and there is hope that the international press will be made aware of the Gwangju atrocity. The jubiliation turns to dread as Heong-Soo warns his makeshift regiment that, to cover up the incident, the regime will return to finish the job it had started.

Kim Ji-Hun starts this epic production with a single scene that casts an ominous shadow over the next thirty minutes of ordinary Gwangju life: a platoon of troops are told that they are being sent out to fight the North, bundled onto a aeroplane, whipped up into a jingoistic frenzy and it is only then that one of the soldiers realises that the flight is heading south rather than the expected direction. This shocking moment is always at the front of our mind as 'May 18th' settles into moments of mirth and mundanity that attempts to lull us into a false sense of security. Anyone with even a fleeting knowledge of this terrible episode in Korean history will unfortunately know exactly what the viewer is in store for.

There is a narrow margin between the dramatic and the operatic; 'May 18th' leaps between the two areas like a dog on hot coals. Following the aforementioned opening scene, desperately tense and inauspicious as it is, comes a diverting introduction to all of the main characters and their uneventful lives. This, as is all too common with even the best Korean films, becomes zany to the point of annoyance and makes certain background players into caricatures rather than sympathetic persons. Not that the plight they quickly face is not powerful, but it does show a few cracks in Kim Ji-Hun's direction. Eventually moments of melodrama also overshadow the genuine sadness the incident naturally resonates, yet such a subject is fiendishly difficult to present without falling into this trap.

'May 18th' is an imperfect production. Even in this state, it is an engrossing one. The performances range from the understated to the over-ripe, yet as a whole the cast provide the story with the needed pathos to remind us of the human cost behind the terror. Although 'May 18th' cannot achieve the juxtaposition of everyday life and unimaginable dread as successfully as 'Taegukgi', when the reality of the Gwangju massacre begins it is impossible to ignore. Every moment between the civilians and the military balances on a knife-edge, exploding into chaos after the fuse is lit. These moments are exceptional in their execution and the director handles them with aplomb. They are upsetting and lodge in the mind long after the film has ended.

Though historical events tend to be notoriously difficult to translate to the screen and despite needless contrivances, 'May 18th' is an unforgettable two hours that deserves many of the plaudits it has received. Some of Korea's finest acting talent is available to remind international audiences of a tragedy that they may be unaware of or forgotten. It's a though-provoking, highly recommended film.

Jun (sans make-up, plus a few pounds) plays Soo-Jung, a chain smoking, world weary reporter who’s made a career from human interest stories. Tired of work and people in general, she intends to quit and take a trip to Mongolia to be with her wayward boyfriend, using the money from her latest article (an expose on a man who thinks he’s Bruce Lee) to fund it.

Having barely set foot inside the train station, a thief makes off with her camera and her screams for help fall on deaf ears. All except except for one mans. Rushing to her aid is a local loon in a Hawaiian shirt who chases down the perp in a selfless act of heroism. He retrieves her camera with personal physical cost, but when Soo-Jung tries to thank him, the odd man replies that he was only doing his duty as Superman. She is suitably tickled at his obvious delusion, but eyeing a chance to make one last quick buck, she asks him for an interview.

He tells her that he is Kal-El, last son of Krypton, and that the evil villain Lex Luthor has placed a shard of kryptonite in his brain. He informs her that although it stops him from using his superpowers he can still help old ladies cross the road, rescue cats from trees and even stop robbers and that it is his dream to one day remove the Kryptonite and soar through the clouds once again. Soo-Jung and her crew cynically follow Superman for days on his unending quest to help people. As he subdues perverts outside the local school he seems quite happy and never notices the fun poked at him by many passers by. At first the film crew too can’t help but laugh at him, but when her curiosity gets the better of her, Soo-jung takes him to the hospital to have an X-Ray, and the discovery that he has something sharp lodged in his brain tells her she could be sitting on the story of her life.

Anyone who enjoyed Marathon will be in familiar territory here and the fact that A Man Once A Superman is based on real life events only heightens this beautiful, uplifting, tragic but humorous tale of the kindness of one mans soul. Jeong shoots the film in a refreshingly non-glossy but assured way and as mentioned before, some fans may not even recognize Jun in her stripped down, overweight real life image which is a million miles away from the idealized characters she essayed in Windstruck or My Sassy Girl. The beating heart of the picture is undoubtedly Hwang Jeong-Min, and he embodies his character completely with a range which is duly tested over the course of the film. Whether as the happy go lucky local weirdo, savior of the people Superman or a normal guy stripped of all life can take, he captures the viewers hearts and minds in a way few actors are ever able to achieve. He also has superb on-screen chemistry with Jun leading to an implied romance that is eons away from usual Korean melodrama.

To talk too much about the plot would only serve to give away the films wondrous ending but the script is refreshingly simple and surprisingly knowledgeable in Superman lore. DC fans will get a kick out of everything from the implied Lois (chain smoking, cynical, bad grammar) of Jun, to the definite Clark (bumbling, caring, phone booth loving) of Hwang. Indeed, at one point, when asked where he lives our hero explains “I used to live at the North Pole, but global warming melted the ice”. Ultimately though, the film touches on notions of inspiration, just like Jeong’s Marathon, and of how we each have a great gift and responsibility as beings who can inspire those around us to achieve more than they think possible. This is something film-maker Bryan Singer tried to touch upon in the recent Superman Returns. It is ironic however, that a non official, special effects-less Korean drama can put this notion across better than even his assured directorial hand.

In all areas I found A Man Once A Superman to be a resounding success. The acting is marvelous and fans of Jun will certainly go home happy as the young starlet adds yet another string of variety to her already impressive bow. I would also be shocked if it didn’t win new fans for Hwang as he too is truly mesmerizing. Credit, of course, must go to writer-director Jeong who doesn’t sensationalize the moving moments and manages to keep an ostensibly simple script moving at a rapid pace. At times it is laugh out loud funny, at others horrifically saddening but it never once drops the ball on what it is saying or where it is going. The destination will probably be inevitable to you 5 minutes into the movie, but that is unlikely to stop the tears rolling down your cheeks come closing credits and the journey, not the destination is the thing of greatest importance. Ultimately, the most powerful effect a film can have on a viewer is to make you reflect upon the gift we all have of being alive. As I write this review, a good 6 hours after seeing it, I feel like I took something away - a tiny piece of warmth - something I can use in real life. That has to be worth the price of admission.

Slick, funny and oh so gory, 'Machine Girl' is Eastern exploitation done right. Managing just the right balance between funny and gory and never outstaying its welcome, 'Machine Girl' is out right craziness with belly laughs, all the while retaining a sense of cool. It is no doubt the type of film Tarantino would endorse and rave on and on about if he saw it all before us. The cast throw themselves into the absurdness, some very nasty characters merging and two feisty females we root for as they blow people’s heads off and fight with ninjas. Yep, ninjas even make an appearance in a very cool fight sequence. On top of that, there is all kinds of gore, drill bras (!), demented Yakuza mothers, a chainsaw leg, more cool fights scenes, loads of gunfire and tons and tons of blood.

Much like the other ultra gory Japanese film doing the rounds as the moment, Tokyo Gore Police, 'Machine Girl' features copious amounts of blood gushing all over the place. Comic book in tone and ultra violent in execution, the violence is giddy, gleeful stuff that gorehounds will soak up. Unlike Tokyo Gore Police (both films come from the same company, Tokyo Shock) 'Machine Girl' paces its gore and action scenes meaning we get time to breathe between the next onslaught of severed limbs. 'Machine Girl' is the slightly better, and better made, of the two flicks, overall more satisfying and genuinely funny.

Slick, sick exploitation 'Machine Girl' is absurd Japanese cinema at its best. About as subtle as a kick in the balls it is nevertheless well designed, gore soaked, action packed and surprisingly funny entertainment. And it’s also about as good as any flick about a girl with a machine gun for an arm is ever going to be. Great fun.

At once a riveting dissection of a man known for his martial arts skills and rocky private life but also a rollicking good time, 'JCVD' takes a look at the man and the myth and allows Van Damme to indulge in some on screen therapy and give him one of his best acting roles in years. Now playing one’s self is by no means a stretch but Van Damme shows depth, emotion, personality and even humour to a degree he never has done before in any of his straight action pictures. On the one hand the film can be seen as a vanity project, a former big shot spending an hour and a half taking about himself, and in some ways I suppose it is. On the other hand it allows a famous screen presence to show a side of himself we never see and underneath any egos, any amount of crappy straight to DVD movies and split kicks, Van Damme certainly shows he is a real person and when pushed, can even act.

'JCVD' also doesn’t alienate all his action movie fans. There is still enough kinetic energy, SWAT teams raiding buildings and even the odd roundhouse to keep the Van Damme action fans happy. In this sense, the film also dissects the action film and its silliness: the real people Van Damme encounters expecting him to be just like his on screen personality. The film opens in grand fashion as Van Damme is shooting his current movie and is attempting to do one long take that involves taking out an onslaught of bad guys. But Van Damme is older, and dare I say wiser, and is having difficulty keeping up with the pace. Action heroes do get old and perhaps it is best to let them retire gracefully than to try and recapture the glory days. But the standout sequence is the unbroken confession to camera that Van Damme delivers during the heist. It’s as if the pause button has been hit and Van Damme takes time out to confess his sins, derail Hollywood and, well, basically cry. And he lets it all hang loose showing that beneath any ego or success there is a lost soul looking for acceptance.

Don’t go into 'JCVD' expecting a cruel and vapid look at the shallowness of Hollywood (we’ve seen that a million times in a million other movies) as the film is still a ‘movie’ and a damn, fine entertaining one at that. Critics will enjoy it as it will allow them to enjoy a Van Damme movie without watching ‘a dumb action movie’ while Van Damme fans (myself included) will enjoy getting to see the star do something a little different and add a little meat to all the thrills. Perhaps the only downside is that I would still rather watch one of Van Damme straight action pictures ('Hard Target', 'Kickboxer'). 'JCVD' is a great film but within his own arena Van Damme was a champion: he made fun, action packed movies. They may not be considered high art (and I’m suspect of what high art really is, as who the hell gets to decide what is and isn’t?) and the man himself may not think much of them either but for a time he made quality action pictures that have their right alongside the rest of cinema.

Let me start by giving you the background, This biopic, which centres around Ip Man who was one of the earliest Wing Chun martial arts exponents, sees Donnie Yen play the lead as a man of wealth and dignity who is respected by the town of Fo Shan. Within the town's core lies the various schools of martial arts but everyone within the town knows that the true master is that of Ip Man who practices his style every day to perfect his technique. The real bulk of the story gets set in the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, where General Miura (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi) takes over not only the town but also sets up his headquarters in Ip Man's grand house and reduces the master and family to a life of near poverty. What we then see is how a man who prided himself on his privacy has to put his skills to good use to help Fo Shan and it's people to restore pride and rid the area of the evils of the Japanese.

What we have here is a film that gives Donnie Yen a chance to act. Yes I might be stretching things a little but I think he can and does act, and it’s a very restrained performance that I believe he gets about right. There are moments of ladish behaviour when he's showing a student how Wing Chun can easily counter the students moves, but I think it works well for the most part and up until the half way point Donnie Yen portrays a man that you think Ip man was.

Fan Siu Wong also gets a decent amount of on-screen time with a side story about an upstart martial artist trying to prove he's the best, and perhaps if he were given more time might have stolen the show. A quick note here to say that if you manage to pick up the DVD with the deleted scenes, there's a few with Fan Siu Wong that deal with what eventually happened to his character. Similarly, Gordon Lam and Hiroyuki Ikeuchi also have different endings and I recommend watching them as they change the outcome drastically and would surely have given the movie a totally different feel.

I know what you are all after though and that's the fight scenes as lets be honest, that’s what you want from a Donnie Yen film. Thankfully, you wont be disappointed with the action, which comes from every film fans favourite, Sammo Hung. The Wing Chun scenes are spot on, from the very first fight showing you the power which these movements can deliver with such devastating force, to the brutality of the big fight where Ip Man takes on 10 of the Japanese and shows why this martial arts style looks so good on screen.

So 4 out of 5 for a film that mostly delivers whatever you are looking for. Maybe I'm a little harsh on it and I could have easily given it 5 but perhaps I wanted it to last longer and it does have the potential to be a great franchise in the vein of the Once Upon a Time films. If you’re an action fan you won't be disappointed and for me, this is Donnie Yen's best film to date from an acting performance point of view. I'm off now to pop this back in my DVD player and ponder if I'm perhaps not too old to tread the mats again and learn Wing Chun once more. High praise indeed I feel.

Another day and another slickly made, exquisitely handled and admittedly emotionally manipulative Korean romantic drama. It seems that the sub-genre has pretty much reached its apex in the hands of a variety of Korean film-makers and their undeniable skill is to take pedestrian storylines and breathe new life into them. This means that, while on paper films such as this rarely tantalise the imagination, the knowledge of just how accomplished much of these productions are makes each of the better ones develop their very own identity. There are inevitable comparisons with the way Hollywood handles its romantic dramas, but Korea has carved out a niche in the market that means their products seem genuinely moving while their Western rivals appear hopelessly contrived and over-cooked.

'If The Sun Rose In The West' nudges our emotions in the right direction thanks to ample use of long, lingering shots of the sympathetic leads and a pounding soundtrack that is full of well-known Western pop songs. The denoument is also a flamboyant show of affection that would normally appear synthetic, but Lee Eun fashions a story that makes the viewer eager for such a rousing conclusion. We are quite happy for to forgive the narrative for taking such an ostentatious turn at the end only because the director has cleverly used enough of the scenes prior to this as a way of helping us get to know the lead couple.

While the plot hints at 'Notting Hill', 'If The Sun Rises In The West' appears far less manufactured and there is a welcome lack of the needless scenes of well-heeled gentrified city-folk that was the obvious failing of much of Richard Curtis' writing. Beom-Soo is timid without being caricatured and has a grounding in reality that makes his actions more believable than they might otherwise be. The beautiful Koh So-Young, an actress who had impressed me with her quiet fragility in 'Love Wind, Love Song', illuminates this popularist fable and lends her character some much needed humanity. Her initial rejection of Beom-Soo may have us rooting for the leading man, but as she re-enters the story, Hyun-joo develops into the perfect romantic ideal. Unlike Julia Roberts in 'Notting Hill', Hyun-joo never becomes aloof and her gradual feelings towards Beom-Soo are not just a famous star condescending to be with a member of the general public.

Other Korean films are probably better examples of how the country has perfected this kind of gentle love story, yet 'If The Sun Rose In The West' accomplishes its modest directives and creates two characters we quickly warm to throughout their moments together. Lee Eun utilises tried-and-tested genre techniques, but it is hard to be too resistent to these when the story moves along so effortlessly.

The film begins with a lecherous businessman fondling a woman on a crowded Japanese train. Despite her obvious protestations, he continues, but is caught when the train stops and subsequently take away by the police. Once in the station, the antagonist, though professing his innocence, is presumed guilty by the prosecuting officer and told that a prison sentence awaits if he doesn't confess. With the shame of his family and employers finding out used as bait, he stops, turns his pleas to ones of guilt and, after some cowardly begging to the stoic inquisitors, is given a relatively meagre fine.

The system, in this instance cut-and-dry, is called into question when Teppei, a young man on his way to a job interview, is accused of the same crime. Marched off by the station security, Teppei sees the one woman who insisted on his innocence ignored and the police involved in the proceedings. Taken into custody, Teppei is given the same choice as the previous suspect: confess - incurring a small fine - or claim innocence and await the inevitable sentence that the judge will give. With a 99% conviction rate, the pressure is on Teppei to yield the authorities, but he remains adamant that he is not guilty and the whole incident is a miscarriage of justice waiting to happen. What follows is a torrid ordeal where finding a lawyer willing to believe his innocence and agree to take on his case is only the start of the tribulations. Every facet of his personal life is used as a stick to beat him with in court, while the judge - who has the absolute decision on the defendent's fate - has already made up his mind before the case has even been heard.

'Even So, I Didn't Do It' is far removed from the star-studded, Grisham-inspired blockbusters where a slick young rookie lawyer takes apart his opponents with a bravura display of tub-thumping rhetoric. Even the alleged incident would barely make it into an episode of 'Judge Judy' yet alone persuade Hollywood moguls to put their bucks behind it. But Masayuki Suo's return to Japanese cinema is so assuredly put together, so expertly developed that two hours left with the director's work is an absorbing experience.

Little is initially known about Teppei and his innocence is therefore open to question. The obvious juxtaposition of the guilty man cravenly begging the police for clemency is intended to show just how unbalanced the lead protagonist's situation is. The real skill of the director is the way he not only allows time to be afforded to Teppei's characterisation and subsequently history, but how he also manoeuvres others into the story to support his quest for justice. As we gradually learn of his innocence, we also get a not-too-favourable insight into the Japanese legal system. Not that Suo uses the whole of his two hours as a way of preaching his particular indictment: the film is much more than just a lecture for the uninitiated, acting as a partial history for non-Japanese viewers while also cranking up the tension considerably. The director shows that it is not the 'crime' that is the focus - as is often the case in the glossy flicks previously alluded to - it is the execution of the battle of wills that ensues.

As with so much of Suo's successful ensemble films, the cast is adeptly assembled with Ryo Kase being the obvious recipient of plaudits for his portrayal of the beleaguered Teppei. What is so involving about 'Even So, I didn't Do It' is the growth of his character from faceless innocent to the determined fighter unwilling to take the easy way out and consequently besmirch his name. Masako Motai also requires attention as the mother who is first of all doubtful of her son's virtue, yet becomes a crusader for his rights when the odds are stacked against them.

Masayuki Suo has proven, if such proof was needed, that his ability isn't just with underdog comedies. Suo can craft works that move the mind and the heart while entrancing the viewer along the way. Whatever he has in mind for his next project, I, among so many others, will be waiting eagerly.

The film opens in grand fashion as a train rushes through the harsh, open desert plains of Manchuria and three very different outlaws raid the locomotive looking for a much sought after treasure map. The Weird (Song) is a bumbling thief but a dab hand with his double pistols and simply wants the map to find the treasure, get rich and live the good life. The Bad (Lee) is a pretty boy killer, a merciless outlaw who along with his gang want the map also. The Good (Jung) is a bounty hunter after the pair of them who is less interested in the map but in catching (and even killing) the best outlaws in the land. The three then set off on a cataclysmic course as they try to steal the map from one another, form risky alliances and leave a huge wake of destruction in their path as everyone from the Japanese army to Russian and Chinese bandits take up arms against the trio and attempt to acquire the map for themselves.

Kim Ji-woon’s film is an obvious nod to the Western’s of Sergio Leone, packed full of beautiful vistas, wide shots of the deserts and outlaws squaring up to each other and rip roaring adventure. But this is a distinctive Eastern take on the genre and above all a no holds barred action adventure that is stuffed to the gills with adrenaline pumping set pieces. Having started his career with quirky comedies 'The Quiet Family' and 'The Foul King' before dabbling in horror ('A Tale Of Two Sisters') and gangster (' A Bittersweet Life') movies, Kim Ji-woon has gone all out to create one huge action picture. Setting everything on a grand scale from sets to locations to the amount of extras, 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird' ('TGTBTW') is epic in every sense. Don’t go expecting a dissection of the Western myth a la 'Unforgiven' as 'TGTBTW' is much more concerned with having fun; setting good guys against bad guys and then having everyone shoot seven shades of hell out of each other.

The action is relentless and thanks to some bravura camerawork and a rollicking soundtrack endlessly exciting and creatively staged. The actors throw themselves into the mix from the daring robbery that opens the flick to an amazingly staged gunfight in a shanty village (which sees The Good literally flying across the rooftops while shooting bad guys) to the insanely staged, dangerously stunt packed 20 minute desert chase that will literally fry your eyeballs with it’s audaciousness and momentum. It’s great big spectacle, most of it all done for real, that we don’t get anymore. In addition, there is also the staple cowboy showdown and an extremely brutal knife fight that shows the West (or the East as it may be) at its wild best.

Many will no doubt grumble at the streamlined story and lack of breaks to build character in between all the action but they will be missing out on a huge gun barrel of fun. The film is essentially a chase flick and the plot is fleshed out and works well enough within these confines. The characters are immediately and always engaging and appropriately sketched for this comic book type of film. The three main actors seem to be having a ball and Lee Byung-hun cements his cinema cool credentials with his ice cold role as The Bad. But it is Kang-ho Song who steals the flick with a performance that is as energetic as anything else in the film. A dab hand in the action scenes, his character is an infectious bumbling anti-hero who provides just as much slapstick comedy (all of which works surprisingly well within the Western trapping) and enthusiasm that one can’t help but root for him. The scene where he uses an antique diving helmet to deflect bullets during a shootout is gut bustlingly funny without diffusing the tension of the scene. In fact, despite being a Western and an action film, 'TGTBTW' is also a great comedy which adds all the more to the sense of fun.

Some may be disappointed that Kim Ji-woon has followed up two very serious efforts with a more fun affair but that is not to mean 'TGTBTW' is any less worthwhile. He is a director who dabbles in all genres and it is always refreshing to see a director doing something different. And films that are purely fun and entertaining have their place in cinema alongside much more worthy and thought provoking cinema. The tone may vary a little too much for some viewers and this is fair enough as a scene of brutal torture (an unfortunate soul getting his finger severed) followed up by slapstick comedy (the aforementioned diving suit bit) may not be to everyone’s tastes. In addition, the post credits epilogue ends the film on a bit of a frustrating note and can be seen as somewhat of a cop out after all the greatness that has come before.

However, 'TGTBTW' is a great achievement and another success for Kim Ji-woon and is most importantly big, bright and ballistic entertainment that should be seen on a screen as big as possible. There is a whole lot of good, plenty of weird and very rarely any bad. Korean cinema continues to excite, stimulate and entertain.

Baek's leads eventually point to a white collar criminal who has organised a team of ex-cons to carry out his precise plans. But Baek is surprised to learn of the esteem he is held in by his target and the real intentions he has for the detective. Soon the men from either side of the law need to combine to bring down a common foe, a Korean kingpin who has tangled with Baek in the past yet continues to evade imprisonment.

Similar in execution to 'Running Out Of Time' - not to mention a number of other cop flicks, 'Eye For An Eye' hardly offers stunning originality. The cat-and-mouse thriller has been married to the police procedural film since the invention of celluloid and we've all developed cinematic gout from endless pairings of mercurial detectives with their kindred spirits on the other side of the law. Yet 'Eye For An Eye' is testament to how a glossy, slickly handled work can foxtrot over endless cliches.

Any story that is so centred on the battle of wits between two perspicacious protagonists is entirely at the mercy of their performances and how skilfully their characters inhabit the narrative. 'Eye For An Eye' can be thankful for its two flawed heroes and the enjoyment sustained from judging who has the upper hand and at what point. This even translates to the final act where the pair co-operate to take on the story's real aggressor. Han Suk-Kyu as the self-assured Baek is undoubtedly the pivot of the whole film and he dominates every scene he is in with a menacing glint in his eye and an obsessive determination that recalls 'Dirty Harry'. The way this maverick anti-hero saunters into investigations and reacts to the game he has found himself sucked into is beautifully realised by the two men behind the camera. This would be a far less diverting feature without Han Suk-Kyu participation.

'Eye For An Eye' has its fair share of twists and turns to compensate for the lack of hard-edged action. There's also a undeniable pleasure in seeing how a motley crew of robbers can pull off their tasks right under the noses of the law enforcers who are closely watching, then having to use the same wiles to keep one step ahead of the true villain of the piece. It may not be refreshing, it may not be especially exciting, yet 'Eye For an Eye' has a few aces up its sleeve - these are enough to recommend it to a wider audience.