Reviews from China

Superlative - everyone should see this

Great, a must-see if you like the genre

Good, a decent example of the genre

Watchable, but only for serious genre fans

Unwatchable

Half stars could have gone either way depending on mood.

Movie Name / Release Year	Summary	Date	Reviewer
Swordsman in Double Flag Town (1991)	Bleak and beautiful	2001-09-24	Simon
Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)	Quite moving	2001-10-16	Simon
Sino Dutch War 1661 (2001)	Nice story, badly made film	2002-01-06	Simon
Happy Times (2000)	Simple but effective	2002-04-27	Simon
Hero (2002)	Pretty special	2003-05-10	Simon
To Live (1994)	Simple epic, masterfully made. Highest recommendation!	2003-07-19	Simon
Xanda (2004)	Career lows	2004-06-16	Simon
House Of Flying Daggers (2004)	Beautiful to look at	2004-10-12	Simon
Shanghai Triad (1995)	Visually stunning	2006-01-08	Simon
Arhats In Fury (1985)	Decent mainland wushu film	2006-01-15	Simon
Kekexili (Mountain Patrol) (2004)	Simple but effective cinema	2006-03-21	Simon
Riding Alone For Thousands Of Miles (2005)	pretty forgettable	2006-04-16	Simon
The Promise (2005)	Strange but good	2006-04-17	Simon
Red Sorghum (1987)	Worth a watch	2006-06-06	Simon
The Banquet (2006)	Lovely to look at	2006-12-03	Simon
Curse Of The Golden Flower (2006)	Zhang Yimou's homage to the female bosom	2007-01-20	Simon
The Warlords (2007)	Decent remake of THE BLOOD BROTHERS (1973)	2008-01-26	Simon
Blood Brothers (2007)	A bit boring	2008-02-28	Simon
An Empress and the Warriors (2008)	Feels too much like a "me too!" project	2008-04-02	Simon
Bodyguards And Assassins (2009)	Disappointing	2010-10-26	Simon
Little Big Soldier (2009)	Well worth a look.	2010-11-10	Simon
Shaolin (2011)	nicely made	2011-12-19	Simon
The Sorcerer And The White Snake (2011)	Pretty, but nothing to write home about	2011-12-19	Simon
Reign Of Assassins (2010)	Highly enjoyable	2012-02-15	Simon
White Vengeance (2011)	Gorgeous production with interesting characters and plot	2012-04-23	Simon
Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker (1994)	Captures a moment in Chinese history well	2013-01-30	Simon
Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012)	Beautiful, tragic fantasy	2013-04-21	Simon
Chinese Zodiac (2012)	Messy but ultimately entertaining	2014-06-22	Simon
Shadow (2018)	Strikingly beautiful and poetic	2020-06-23	Simon
Double World (2020)	Big budget epic fantasy	2020-07-26	Simon