Period Film Reviews

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
Ten Tigers Of Kwantung (1979)	Disposable kung fu	2006-05-01	Simon
Shaolin Temple (1976)	Not that great	2003-05-03	Simon
Shanghai Shanghai (1990)	lacks that 'certain something'	2007-05-18	Simon
Red Sorghum (1987)	Worth a watch	2006-06-06	Simon
Opium And The Kung-Fu Master (1984)	not awful, but not that great either	2007-03-01	Simon
Once Upon A Time in China V (1994)	Quite good, from what I could see	2001-05-31	Simon
Last Eunuch in China (1988)	...read review...	2006-01-16	Simon
Ip Man 2 (2010)	...read review...	2010-12-03	Simon
Heroes Two (1974)	Groundbreaking, apparently	2003-02-24	Simon
Executioners From Shaolin (1977)	Less obviously a Lau Kar-Leung film than most he directed	2021-06-20	Simon
Duel For Gold (1971)	Chor Yuen's first film for Shaw Brothers	2007-04-02	Simon
Death Duel of Kung Fu (1979)	Fair	2001-10-21	Simon
Death Duel (1977)	Lesser Chor Yuen/Gu Long work	2003-03-29	Simon
Cat Vs. Rat (1982)	Great fights	2005-05-07	Simon
Arhats In Fury (1985)	Decent mainland wushu film	2006-01-15	Simon
An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty (1984)	DVD missing nearly half the film?	2004-10-12	Simon
A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990)	cash-in with more comedy (but less funny)	2005-06-28	Simon
Shadowless Sword (2005)	Probably a bad film but it's at least kind of pretty	2012-05-25	Simon
Killing Machine (1976)	Worth a look for Chiba fans, non-essential for everyone else	2012-05-22	Simon
Dragon Fist (1972)	So you say you want a revolution	2024-05-12	Simon
Painted Skin (1993)	An ignominious end to a stellar career	2024-01-30	Simon
The Red Phoenix (1978)	Nothing special, but some decent action	2023-11-01	Simon
Black Invitation (1969)	Nothing special	2023-06-24	Simon
Full River Red (2023)	Weak by Zhang Yimou standards	2023-04-30	Simon
A Girl Fighter (1972)	Not great but not boring	2023-04-22	Simon
Lung Wei Village (1978)	Rather random and weird	2023-03-16	Simon
The Killer Meteors (1976)	Reasonably entertaining fluff	2022-08-09	Simon
Hanagatami (2017)	If war is worth dying for, so is a festival	2021-05-14	Simon
Snake And Crane Arts Of Shaolin (1978)	Great final reel but the rest is trash	2021-02-26	Simon
Once Upon A Time In China III (1993)	The series falters in its 3rd outing	2020-05-31	Simon