Chow yun fat is an unsuspecting man who inherits supernatural powers from his ancestor a tribal chief of nepal. His newly found inheritance brings him danger as a power-hungry messenger of evil hunts him down. Special features: subtitles with on/off function in chinese eng. jap. korean indonesian and french. Studio: Tai Seng Entertainment Release Date: 04/20/2004 Starring: Chow Yun Fat Emily Chu Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Ching Siu Tung

One of Chow Yun-fat's most successful comedies of the 1980s, a fundamentally conventional romp about three bachelor brothers (a cartoonist, a TV cooking instructor, and an aspiring actor) who stumble into romance. But it's spiced up by an unusually rich mix of indigenous Cantonese flavors. The careers of several characters link them to the Chinese opera stage, and the characterizations are stylized in an intentionally "operatic" way. Chow plays a man who pretends to be gay in order to ingratiate himself with women; and his flamboyant camping--complete with limp wrists and Black Lagoon mud packs--is only a little more flamboyant than the other key performances. In the finale, the entire cast appears in traditional makeup and performs a scene from the classic Cantonese opera The Purple Hairpin, with the lyrics satirically altered. The ethnic seasoning here may finally be too exotic for Western tastes: in fact, most of the mile-a-minute wordplay is inaccessible even to speakers of other Chinese dialects. (A few key puns are translated in the helpful subtitles, including a running gag conflating the Cantonese words for "love bite" and "chicken curry.") But the fun of watching Chow Yun-fat strut, squeal, and preen his way through an entire movie transcends cultural barriers. No film performer on earth seems to have more fun earning his living, and the pleasure is infectious. --David Chute

Fans of Sammo Hung's TV series, Martial Law, will enjoy Enter the Fat Dragon, the second film Hung himself directed. He plays a young pig farmer who idolizes Bruce Lee and comes to Hong Kong to work in a food stall with his uncle. In no time at all he finds himself brawling with a crew of street toughs, whom he dispatches with dazzling skill--but unfortunately wrecking his uncle's stall at the same time. From there, the plot involves a millionaire art expert with three powerful bodyguards and a long-lost girlfriend, who just happens to be a waitress at the restaurant where Hung starts working as a dishwasher. But it doesn't matter if the story is nonsense--the point is the spectacular fight scenes and broad jokes. It's amazing to watch cheerful, roly-poly Hung whirl and kick with devastating speed; somehow his girth makes his skill all the more impressive. In one scene, Hung gets hired as an extra for a kung fu movie with a Bruce Lee imitator. Unsurprisingly, Hung is disappointed in the fake's abilities and teaches him--and the rest of the stunt crew--how it's done. The scene is not only a tremendous display of fighting prowess, it's also a charming depiction of a young man who clings with childlike wonder to his idols, and yearns to achieve the same glory. Perhaps it's a bit of a self-portrait. --Bret Fetzer

Actor and martial arts maestro Jet Li and iconoclastic director Tsui Hark revisit historical China and legendary folk hero Wong Fei Hung in the second installment to the wildly popular Once Upon a Time in China film series (or better yet, "serials"). The main players include Li as Wong Fei Hung, Rosamund Kwan as his beloved but Westernized Auntie 13, and their clumsy sidekick Foon (Max Mok). China is in a period of political unrest. Dr. Sun Yat Sen is beginning to gain momentum behind his Nationalist party. A Qing minister (played with intensity by skilled fighter Donnie Yen) firmly carries out his job as police enforcer and a crazed cult called the White Lotus Sect has decided to take matters into their own hands by bullying citizens and destroying everything foreign. Wong and his crew find themselves at odds with the minister and the Sect, who have more in common than they initially let on. It all leads to some high-octane action scenes, including an all-out table-stacking and airborne brawl with the Sect (in which Wong uncharacteristically goes a little berserk himself) and a one-on-one matchup between Li and Yen. Tsui juggles the multilayered plot while Li juggles his opponents in a perfectly serviceable epic that is perhaps not as significant as the first Once Upon a Time in China but is solid kung fu nourishment for fans. --Shannon Gee

Studio: Tai Seng Entertainment Release Date: 06/29/2004 Starring: Yuen Biao Kwan Tak-hing Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Yuen Woo Ping

It lee aka guts lee is an ex-cop turned bodyguard after his amily is killed by a blackmailer. Jacky cheung co-stars as artial arts superstar jackie lone and guts lees boss. Both with secrets soon to be exposed by a snooping news reporter. English and chinese subtitles. Studio: Tai Seng Entertainment Release Date: 07/17/2001 Starring: Jet Li Chingmy Yau Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Wong Jing

Studio: Tai Seng Entertainment Release Date: 08/29/2000