The Heroic Trio (1993)
Nov 1, 2002Hong Kong Superheroines
Enormously entertaining and hilariously tongue-in-cheek Hong Kong action film featuring three popular actresses as superheroines who go into action in a series of wildly over-the-top moves
Michelle Yeoh
The Heroic Trio II: Executioners (1993)
Mar 10, 2004Hong Kong Superheroines
A disappointing sequel to the madcap Hong Kong superheroines film. This reunites the principal cast members but seems to miss all the fun of its predecessor
The Tai Chi Master (1993)
Jul 20, 1999Hong Kong Martial Arts
Hong Kong action choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping directs a masterpiece of martial arts cinema, featuring some of the sensational fight sequences ever put on film
Butterfly & Sword (1993)
Apr 14, 2001Hong Kong Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
One of the most amazing of the Wu Xia (flying swordsman) films from Hong Kong in the 1990s, this explodes with out of this world fantastical action scenes
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Nov 19, 1999James Bond Film
Pierce Brosnan's second outing as James Bond holds up fairly well, especially in the action department, although Jonathan Pryce seems miscast as a Rupert Murdoch-modeled super-villain
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Dec 11, 2000Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
Sensational hit that introduced most of the West to the Wu Xia film. Directed with elan by Ang Lee, there comes a sublimely graceful poetry in the film's imagery of sword combatants dancing up walls and flying through the air
Sunshine (2007)
Apr 19, 2007Solar Expedition
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland make a big serious SF film about a solar expedition, which works with great scientific rigour until the shows heads off at a tangent and falls apart in the latter third
Babylon A.D. (2008)
Oct 9, 2008Cyberpunk Future
This was critically dismissed - even its director spoke out against it - nevertheless it proves a flawed but not entirely uninteresting French Cyberpunk film as mercenary Vin Diesel is hired to protect miracle girl Melane Thierry
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
Oct 9, 2008Revived Mummy/Chinese Adventure
The third of the Brendan Fraser Mummy films that feels like it has no point other than to steal $10 from your hand and give you a bucket of content free mental popcorn in return
Reign of Assassins (2010)
Sep 14, 2012Chinese Flying Swordsmen Film
Chinese-made Wu Xia film – sort of a flying swordsman variant on A History of Violence. This comes on an impressive scale but also plays down the action element and leaves all the flying swordsman moves sitting on the fence as being possibly mundane
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Jun 16, 2011Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
Sequel to DreamWorks hit animated film, this does little more than repeat its predecessor. The detail and texture is amplified to a work of art, although you cannot help but wonder if the under tens care about this
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016)
Mar 13, 2016Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
A massive letdown of the year. A sequel that brings back several of the original cast and gives it to Yuen Wo-Ping to direct but is merely slickly paced, uninspired action that substitutes CGI for the graceful wirework of the original
Morgan (2016)
Sep 10, 2016Artificially Intelligent Android
A.I. film directed by Ridley Scott's son. The set-up seems awfully similar to Ex Machina – unfortunately, this sidesteps any of that fascinating questions about A.I. that film dealt in, while the latter half just becomes The Terminator before reaching a frankly unbelievable twist ending that sinks the film
Boss Level (2020)
Mar 20, 2021Timeloop/Action Film
You don’t think the mix of cartoonishly over-the-top action and a Groundhog Day timeloop scenario would work but this proves your assumptions wrong in highly entertaining ways
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Nov 20, 2021Marvel Comics Martial Arts Superhero
The Marvel onslaught continues with this resurrection of a martial artist superhero character from the 1970s. Amid the mostly ho-hum MCU offerings of the 2020s, this becomes an energised action vehicle
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Jun 4, 2022Multiverse Comedy
A multiverse comedy in which Michelle Yeoh is propelled through an hilarious series of alternate selves. One of the most mind-spinning films of recent viewing. Also the first SF film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)
Aug 20, 2022Animation/Super-Villain and Cute Mischievous Creatures
The cutely nonsensical Minions have become a pop culture phenomenon. Here we get more of them in the second film outing, although this acts more as a Gru origin story
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)
Jul 22, 2023Live-Action Transformer Robots
The seventh of the live-action Transformers films, the second made after Michael Bay stepped down from the director’s chair
Wicked: Part 1 (2024)
Jan 11, 2025Musical/The Wizard of Oz Prequel
The first half of a two-part adaptation of the hit Broadway musical that is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, showing The Wicked Witch’s origin story
Star Trek: Section 31 (2025)
Feb 8, 2025Intergalactic Adventures
A Star Trek film spun off around Michelle Yeoh and the secret service that appears in the modern revival series
Wicked: For Good (2025)
Jan 10, 2026Musical/The Wizard of Oz Prequel
The second half of the film adaptation of the musical Wicked. This essentially operates as Wizard of Oz fanfiction and substantially wrenches the characters and backstories from the 1939 film out of shape to write its own story