Best known in the West for his superb performance in Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chow Yun-fat has since gone on to star in a number of both American and Asian films, including Curse of the Golden Flower, Bulletproof Monk, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

One of his most recent films, Let the Bullets Fly, was released in China back in December 2010, and took 730m. yuan ($111m.) at the Chinese box office, becoming the highest-grossing domestic film in China. It’s now getting a limited release out in the States, and we’ve got the first US trailer and poster to share with you, courtesy of Apple.

“In this pitch-black action-comedy, the legendary bandit “Pocky” Zhang violently crosses paths with the con man Tang, who desperately offers up an intriguing proposition: Zhang will become the governor of Goose Town, where he can make more money in a month than he would in a year of train robberies. But neither realizes that Goose Town is already under the iron rule of Master Huang (Hong Kong action legend Chow Yun-Fat), a ruthless and wealthy crime lord. Zhang and Huang begin a hyper-violent and hilarious series of escalating mind games in this witty, masterfully vicious film, China’s highest-grossing of all time.”

The film is directed by Jiang Wen, who also stars alongside Yun-fat, along with Ge You, Carina Lau, and Feng Xiaogang.

Let the Bullets Fly will be hitting US theatres in just a few weeks’ time on 2^nd March, and though unfortunately we probably won’t be getting a theatrical release here in the UK, hopefully we can look forward to getting it on DVD/Blu-Ray soon, most likely through Cine Asia. (On a slightly different note, Cine Asia will be re-releasing Jackie Chan’s classic Wheels on Meals on DVD on 19^th March, and you can pre-order it for only £4.99 via the usual places.)

Without further ado, here’s the great first US trailer for Let the Bullets Fly, followed by the poster. And if you want to watch the trailer in HD, then you can click on over to Apple.

This sort of thing can rapidly turn into a vanity project, so I will have to watch my step a little. Laudable as it is to try to bring to people’s attention some splendid films which they may not have seen, it can swiftly deteriorate into, “oh gosh, you haven’t seen Cube: Zero, what kind of film fan do you call yourself?”.

So the criterion here is not obscurity, nor necessarily five-star classic status, rather this is an effort at a simple introduction to a handful of rarely seen and perhaps under-appreciated films that you might want to catch when and where you can. I’ve tried to mix up the genres a little and so hopefully everyone can find something they will like.

 Page One (#1 #2) – Page Two (#3 #4) - Page Three (#5 #6)

1. A Better Tomorrow (1986) – Dir. John Woo

John Woo has been responsible for some of the most acclaimed and satisfying action films to ever see the light of day. Hard Boiled and Face/Off are very different propositions, but no less splendid for it. Before he made The Killer and long before he moved to Hollywood and all but lost his mojo, Woo gave the world Chow Yun Fat with a gun in each hand and A Better Tomorrow, arguably the best film on his CV, if not as balletic in its violence as Hard Boiled, or as sky-high in its conception as Face/Off. It’s certainly better than Hard Target and Mission: Impossible 2.

A Better Tomorrow finds Chow Yun Fat as a gangster, trying to mend his ways and reconnect with his policeman brother, though the path is a difficult one. It gives us the (now) trademark flourishes of a Woo set-piece, lots of guns, quite a lot of slow-motion, operatic themes, seemingly limitless ammunition and piles of dead bodies. As noted above, it is not as much of an adrenaline rush as some of Woo’s later output, but the characterisation is better, the performances more affecting and the denouement more satisfying. Catch it if you can.

2. Scarlet Street (1945) – Dir. Fritz Lang

This one really was a match made in heaven. A film noir, featuring a lead actor (Edward G. Robinson) who was tailor made for the genre (and has given us splendid iterations on both sides of the law in films like Key Largo, Little Caesar and Double Indemnity) and a director brilliant at exploring shadows, both photographically and thematically (The Big Heat, M, Metropolis). It must be admitted that this is a pretty obscure film, relatively unheralded in the oeuvre of Robinson or Lang, but it is no less worth tracking down for it. I caught it on the big screen during an extremely limited re-release back around the turn of the millennium and I am so very glad that I did.

The story sees Robinson as Christopher Cross (Chris-Cross?), a mild-mannered gentleman in the throes of a mid-life crisis who meets and befriends a young woman, whose fiance gets her to help try to con Cross out of a perceived fortune.

Unusually for Robinson, who tended to play characters with plenty of wit, nous and guile, he presents us here with a sad-sack of a man, downbeat, simple and gullible. He is easily duped, but wholly lacks the intellectual or emotional equipment to recover and we are left with a conclusion of devastating finality and bleakness. Fritz Lang is clearly entirely at home with the themes, character arcs and dour colour palate and perhaps the idea of a female character leading someone to their unwitting downfall resonated with him from one of the key elements of Metropolis.

The screenplay is by Dudley Nichols, who also gave us the scripts for Stagecoach, Bringing Up Baby and The Tin Star and is suitably economic and clinical, but in the end it is Robinson’s performance and his plight that most gets under the skin. Affecting and powerful. If you have the time, the whole film is embedded below:-

 Page One (#1 #2) – Page Two (#3 #4) - Page Three (#5 #6)

Arriving on DVD and Blu-ray today is Confucius. The film stars Chow Yun-Fat as philosopher Confucius and judging from the trailer (which you can watch embedded below) it looks to be a pretty epic affair.

Showbox and Cine Asia are releasing the film in the UK and they have very kindly given us two copies of the DVD to give away to our readers.

The synopsis for Confucius is as follows:

In 500 B.C., during China’s famed ‘Spring and Autumn Period’, Kong Ze (Confucius), a commoner reverred for his outstanding wisdom, is made Minister of Law in the ancient Kingdom of Lu. Under his inspired leadership, Lu ascends to new heights but becomes a target of conquest for the warlike nation of Qi. Threatened with annihilation by their powerful neighbour, a desperate people turn to their greatest teacher to lead their most powerful army. When Confucius delivers a stunning victory against all odds, a jealous aristocracy sets out to destroy him, but they should never under-estimate a remarkable man whose wisdom is more powerful than the sword.

To be in with a chance of wining all you need to is answer the following question in the form below:

Which of the following is the 1992 film in which Chow Yun-Fat played a character known as Tequila?

• Hard Target

• Hard Boiled

• Hard Eight

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close Friday 8th October at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Looks like the WWII war genre is still alive and kicking.  The Pacific has been making the rounds and today, courtesy of the good folks over at Firstshowing.net, we get a look at the international trailer for a film called Shanghai.  Now, to be honest I hadn’t previously heard of this film, but it’s hooks were in me the minute I saw Chow Yun-Fat’s name on it.

Set in the early 40′s, pre-Pearl Harbor, the film focuses on an American who returns to Shanghai to investigate the murder of his friend.  The film is directed by Mikael Håfström, who directed 1408 previously and stars Chow Yun-Fat, John Cusak, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, David Morse, Ken Watanabe and Franka Potente.  Wow, that’s a crazy strong cast.  From the looks of the trailer, this film has it all.  Action, intrigue, romance! I’m actually excited for this one.  But unfortunately, IMDB doesn’t show any type of release date for the US or the UK.  No worries though, we’ll keep you posted on any updated info.

You can head over to Firstshowing.net for a more in depth look, but be sure to check out the trailer.

A new extended trailer for Hu Mei’s upcoming biopic Confucius starring Chow Yun-Fat as the titular philosopher has appeared online. This production has caused a lot of controversy in China as the casting of action hero Chow Yun-Fat as Confucius had people fearing the film would contain inappropriate levels of action.

Further controversy arose when it was discovered the film would portray Confucius as being romantically attracted to the concubine Nanzi (played by Zhou Xun). This even led to a man who claims he is a direct descendant of Confucius suing the makers of the film to have several scenes deleted that involve the love story.
Well the full-length trailer is finally here and it mostly contains battle scenes and a hinted at romantic sub-plot between Confucius and Nanzi! Check it out.