Genre: Fantasy

Not to everyone’s tastes, could have been a little shorter and hardcore Yen fans may be let down by the lack of dynamic hand-to-hand combat but ‘Painted Skin’ is still a stylish slice of fantasy filmmaking.

‘Painted Skin 2’ ramps up the CGI spectacle and melodramatic romance, all but forgets the action and excitement and thus is a rather hollow but undeniable pretty to look at fantasy.

‘Ponyo’ is yet another strong Hayao Miyazaki movie that is as uplifting and enthralling as ever.

A fantastical story filled with a meaningful narrative and superb characters. Truly another masterpiece from the mind of Miyazaki.

Despite the slick visual look, kooky set up and a little too much reliance on wirework and CGI enhancement come the last third, ‘Raging Phoenix’ is really what we loved about the fight flicks from Hong Kong’s golden age.

There is quite a lot going on in ‘Re-cycle’ for both the eye and mind and while its perhaps a bit too ambiguous for its own good it’s probably a film best viewed a couple or several times to fully appreciate and digest.

Fast, fresh, funny and full of character and tension, this is wuxia done well and should be seen by fans of the genre at their earliest convenience.

Overall the film, much like its hero, has a low budget ramshackle charm that manages to entertain for the duration but wont leave you thinking about it the next day.

With a startling visual style and innovative action aplenty, ‘Saviour Of The Soul’ ranks among the very best of the Hong Kong fantasy genre.

When the focus is on the more interesting science fiction narrative, director Lau succeeds in throwing in some surprising touches.

‘Sixty Million Dollar Man’ is a lazy and disappointingly unfunny outing for all concerned.

‘Space Sweepers’ may not be revolutionary in narrative terms but more than makes up for it with likeable characters, oodles of space-set adventure and lashings of superior CGI.