Sam Jackson, Asian movie fan

Add comment August 6th, 2008

This isn’t exactly brand-new, but it is interesting — and EW just posted it now. Besides being a big-time Hollywood movie star, Sam Jackson is also a movie fan, and thankfully his tastes run beyond the usual Tinseltown product. For Entertainment Weekly’s “New Classics” issue, Jackson listed his top 10 “New Classic Asian Films.” Drumroll, please…

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1. OLDBOY — Intense drama about a guy imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years, then released and given a few days to find out why. (The fight where our hero fights off a crowd with nothing but a hammer has become a classic — watch the above clip to see why.)

2. AUDITION — Cult director Takashi Miike’s hypnotic and gruesome thriller about a romance gone horribly wrong

3. CITY ON FIRE — Hong Kong gangster flick that bears more than a slight resemblance to RESERVOIR DOGS — though this came first.

4. INFERNAL AFFAIRS — Multi-part Hong Kong cop drama remade by Martin Scorsese as THE DEPARTED.

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5. ONG BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR — Amazing fight stunts by Tony Jaa highlight this action flick. See example in the clip above.

6. AZUMI — Girl raised to be the ultimate assassin. Lots of people die. Lots.

7. FAMILY — Mob drama from the aforementioned Takashi Miike.

8. THE DUELIST — Korean combination of period police work, romance and action.

9. HARDBOILED — John Woo action epic starring Chow Yun Fat as an undercover cop. May have the best gun battles ever captured onscreen. That’s right, I said ever.

10. HERO — Lush action romance starring Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Danny Yee and a host of other big names from China.