This is arguably Jackie Chan’s best action movie, and certainly one of the best action movies of all time. I think what really propels this one among Chan’s other films is its sheer audacity: consider the opening sequence, where Chan drives a car down a hill and through a shanty town, or where he’s on the bus and jams on the brakes, sending the baddies flying through the windows and landing on the pavement (the stuntmen were supposed to land on the hood of the car in front of the bus – whoops). Needless to say, I doubt very many of these performers would work with Chan again (I can’t begin to wonder how many injuries some of them must have suffered).

Police Story came about after the disappointing results of The Protector, which failed to catapult him into American fame (it would take a few years for that to happen), and while it didn’t cement his status in the Western world as a super action hero, it was huge in Asia, launching several sequels and spin-offs. The story is flimsy but fun: Chan plays a police inspector (doesn’t he always?) investigating a crime lord. Part of his assignment includes protecting a secretary and exposing the crime lord’s illegal activities. The story doesn’t really matter much here: we’re here for the action. Like his other films, this one also includes his usual slapstick humour, which I’ve never really cared for, but I suppose it’s his trademark (Crime Story is one rarity that features a very serious Chan and none of the silly humour, but it’s strangely a bit dull).

That being said, the stunts and action sequences really deliver here, culminating in an epic battle in a shopping mall. I think my favourite scenes are the opening ones, including a downhill car chase through a shanty town and a double decker bus chase. While the slapstick comedy sets the film back a bit and could be nipped at the bud, the action more than makes up for everything. Police Story is great ’80s entertainment and classic Chan and right up there with Drunken Master. Check it out!

Yippee ki yay! ‘Tis the season for Die Hard, folks. But what’s ‘better than a dozen Die Hards’? Well, it’s John Woo’s 1992 film Hard Boiled (not a film about eggs), and this is saying a lot because the original Die Hard is one of the greatest action films of all time. Hard Boiled stars Chow Yun-Fat as a hard boiled cop nicknamed Tequila and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Alan, an undercover cop masking as a Triad, and it’s in the same vein as A Better Tomorrow and The Killer, but better. Woo really ups the ante for this – I mean, where else can you watch an epic thirty-minute shootout in a hospital? The choreography in this film is amazing. Apparently Woo really wanted to create his own Dirty Harry with this film, and while it isn’t Dirty Harry, you can see stylistic traces of it, and for me, Hard Boiled is so much more – ruthless, raw, gritty, compelling, and a visual feast of bullets and explosions. Woo’s trademark gun fu choreography is fully realised here – in one of my favourite scenes, Tequila slides down a banister firing two guns and demolishes everything in his path. It’s everything you want your action movie to be.

The plot is also pretty great, and you’re vaulted into action from the get go with an incredible shootout between Tequila and a Triad boss in a teahouse. Alan is an undercover cop who becomes a trusted member of the Triad’s inner circle. Tension ensues when he and Tequila join forces – Tequila is reluctant to take on a partner and he doesn’t really stick to the rules, and Alan is crushed when he has to betray his boss to Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong), the head of the Triads (then a warehouse shootout ensues). Arguably one of the best characters in the film is Mad Dog, a one-eyed ‘silent killer’ who works for Johnny. In short, all this leads to an epic shootout in a hospital where everyone meets their fate and action adrenaline reaches its peak. And in the amazing end sequence, Alan makes it to Antarctica, his life-long goal.

Hard Boiled has it all: epic gunfights, a great storyline, dialogue, and it’s so much fun. I love everything about this movie, and I could probably watch it a dozen times. As I’ve mentioned, Woo really perfects the gun fu technique here; we also see it done well but to a lesser extent in Face/Off and some of his earlier Hong Kong films. There’s just something so much fun about this stylised destruction and destructible environments – maybe it’s a subversion of the mundane and everyday order. I guess everyone loves a bit of chaos.

In an interesting homage (or rip-off?) to Hard Boiled, there’s actually a scene in Live Free or Die Hard (a very good Die Hard sequel) where a character shoots through himself to kill the bad guy – this is clearly taken directly from Hard Boiled. On a final note, Midway Games released a video game sequel called Stranglehold a few years ago, and it’s pretty good (super destructible environments too, which is always fun). The plot is much more surreal than Hard Boiled (the sequel is not Riki-Oh craziness or anything), but it’s definitely worth playing if you can find a copy.

I think Hard Boiled is Woo’s masterpiece and it’s essential action movie watching. While it’s not exactly holiday viewing, it’s still a great action counterpart to Die Hard, if not better. Believe it: the hype is real!

Here are my top ten favourite films of 2016 (I still want to watch Tale of Tales and Raw, but managed to see most of the good ones):

The Witch
Into the Inferno
Hell or High Water
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Everybody Wants Some
10 Cloverfield Lane
The Shallows
I, Daniel Blake
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Finding Dory

Yes, Mad Max: Fury Road is as good as everyone says it is. Perhaps even better! No, you don’t need to watch the original trilogy beforehand, but it wouldn’t hurt, especially The Road Warrior (my favourite), and perhaps the original Mad Max to make sense of his circumstances and bodily damage in the second film. I loved everything about this film, from the striking visuals, to the feminist allegories and over-the-top displays, to the hyperactive action and plot.

The premise of this enchanting reboot is that Mad Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) escapes from the prison of some patriarchal marauders and reluctantly joins forces with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), who is leading her own escape from the tyrannous antagonist Immortan Joe (what a great name for a villain! He wears a face mask and full body armour – so ’80s, like Shao Kahn!). What ensues is possibly the most explosions you’ll see in one movie, and a fantastic and epic car chase (or series of them) that are reminiscent of The Road Warrior‘s climactic gasoline truck escape. Imperator is probably my favourite character in the film and series – a strong, independent, kick ass rebel with a knack for survival and a really cool bionic arm. What can’t Charlize do? She leads a team of women from Immortan Joe’s misogynistic clutches (he calls these women “breeders”), and along with Joe and an unlikely Immortan Joe lackey-turned-defector, they head towards the Promised Land.

On the surface, it seems like a super exciting action movie, and while it is in every respect, it’s more than that. Imperator’s call to arms against Immortan’s sexist empire is a testament to the feminist stance of the movie, and furthermore her character is a breakthrough in the cinematic world, joining other awesome female characters such as Lisbeth Salander from the Millennium Trilogy in recent film. As well, the film touches on ideas of existentialism and hopes and dreams. Immortan’s army members are driven by a weird religious fervour, and the defector in the film comes to question his own beliefs and drives in a seemingly nihilistic world. There’s no Christ here to save the fallen from the chaos of the Wasteland. The film also touches on human trafficking and bodies as commodities.

The whole film is an adrenaline rush, low on dialogue but high on octane. You can hear and feel the motors running and engines rumbling like they’re right next to you, and Max and Imperator always have an exciting new strategy up their sleeve, so it’s never dull. It has great fight scenes, chases, and even one guy who rides a vehicle with a flamethrower guitar!! This is an action movie buff’s dream, and in the hands of George Miller (the seasoned director of the original director), it’s an art. I’m so glad that Miller could direct this one, and I actually didn’t miss Mel Gibson as Max (‘You want to get out of here? You talk to me.’). Such a satisfying experience. I just to watch it and it’s so much more than you think it will be. You’ll be on the edge of your seat for this one in the best way possible as the world blows up around them. Happy viewing! What a lovely day!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEJnMQG9ev8&w=560&h=315]

Based on the novella by Joe Lansdale, Cold in July is an exceptional 2014 crime drama film directed by Jim Mickle. With its ’80s setting, striking visuals, revisionist narrative, and dark tone, inevitable connections will be made between it and No Country for Old Men. I loved both works and I can see similarities, but Cold in July ultimately establishes an atmosphere of its own and is perhaps less symbolic than Cormac McCarthy’s work. Mickle’s film is also compared to Blue Ruin, which was good but somewhat lacking (I hated the dweeb protagonist), which pursues a Hamlet-style story arch and considers the relationship to the southern U.S.

Starring Michael C. Hall of Dexter fame, the story tells about a man named Richard Dane who kills a home invader and incurs the wrath of the deceased’s ex-convict father Ben Russell (Sam Shepard). The father starts coming after Richard and his family, and then the storyline takes a turn when it seems that the authorities are trying to cover up the incident. Revelations abound when it is discovered that the dead home invader is actually alive and well and living under FBI protection. What the FBI doesn’t know, however, is that the not dead son is committing the most heinous acts of all.

After being lauded for his performance in Dexter, Hall really delivers with this role, which sees him become uncertain of what he is doing, unlike his Dexter character. In fact, the performances are great all around, and I was delighted to see Don Johnson (Miami Vice) appear halfway through the story as Jim Bob Luke. He basically plays himself, but he’s so charismatic and awesome that we are drawn to him. I would probably recommend the film just for Johnson alone. As I mentioned, it’s a true ’80s style neo-noir in the vein of Blood Simple and To Live and Die in L.A..  There is no CGI used and the film is very nostalgic (there’s a scene where they’re in a rental video store that made me miss the Blockbuster days a bit), and it’s a creative and entertaining story. The final showdown is a terrific payoff, reminiscent of the epic gundown in Rolling Thunder. There’s one scene where they watch a home movie that you won’t forget anytime soon.

There are only two issues that stop Cold in July from being an absolute classic, and they are mainly centred on the plot holes of the film. Firstly, the film never explains why the authorities try to get rid of Ben Russell and why they leave him for dead; we are only left for implications. Perhaps they are trying to protect the son, but it doesn’t add up. Secondly, Ben Russell’s transformation as a character through the film is a bit unconvincing. He comes across as an intimidating, obsessive stalker at the beginning of the film, but then he becomes this weird, grumpy sidekick later in the film. I didn’t really buy into his moral redemption, but I still liked his character.

The great acting, compelling storyline, fascinating characters, stirring atmosphere, gorgeous visuals, and sense of adventure and spark, however, ultimately redeem Cold in July from its slight flaws. It’s a great summer movie and most certainly the movie of the year. It’s refreshing, engaging, full of action and surprise, and not to be missed.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6peMZlQlEM&w=560&h=315]