"Director: Zhang Yimou"

• Shadow (4K UHD + Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (16/09/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a shadow, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

• Shadow (Blu-ray + DVD) | Blu Ray | (16/09/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a shadow, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

• House Of Flying Daggers (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It is 859AD; the Tang Dynasty at its height one of the most enlightened empires in Chinese history is in decline. The Emperor is incompetent and the government is corrupt. Unrest is spreading throughout the land and many rebel armies are forming in protest. The largest and most prestigious is an underground alliance called the House of Flying Daggers. The House of Flying Daggers operates mysteriously stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Thus they have earned the support

• Curse of the Golden Flower | Blu Ray | (15/08/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Chinese director Zhang Yimou ends his bid to outfly Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with Curse Of The Golden Flower, the third in his Wuxia (the Chinese style of flying and fighting) films. Much like Hero and House Of Flying Daggers, it is drenched in colours so dazzling, and boasts action scenes so exhilarating, that you can almost forgive any shortcomings in the story. Almost. Despite its grandeur, this film is in many ways the least rewarding of the three. Set in China’s tenth century Tang dynasty, the story sees Chow Yun Fat’s emperor trying to poison his wife, a trussed-up and progressively unstable Gong Li, who is having an affair with her step-son Wan, and trying to manoeuvre her other son Jai against his tyrannical father. Let’s just say that it gets more complicated from there on in, and involves lots of running through endless corridors, but really, it’s best to just sit back and let that intense visual style work its magic. Swapping action for dramatic intrigue might have been Yimou’s mistake, but there’s no mistaking his knack for breath-taking cinematography. Even if purely on a visual scale, Golden Flower still manages to captivate, and the final battle scene is at least worth the slightly overlong wait. Die hard fans of these films might feel a bit stiffed, but everyone else won’t be short of eye candy. --Luke Mawson

• Sci-Fi Triple ( Mortal Engines/ The Great Wall/ Warcraft) | DVD | (12/10/2020) from £11.15   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Mortal Engines Visionary filmmaker Peter Jackson presents a startling new adventure unlike any you˜ve seen before. Hundreds of years after our civilisation was destroyed, a new world has emerged. A mysterious young woman named Hester Shaw leads a band of outcasts in the fight to stop London now a giant predator city on wheels from devouring everything in its path. The Great Wall Starring global superstar MATT DAMON and directed by one of the most breath-taking visual stylists of our time, ZHANG YIMOU (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world's most iconic structure. JING TIAN, PEDRO PASCAL, WILLEM DAFOE, and ANDY LAU also star in this sweeping epic. Warcraft The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilisation faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonise another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction, and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, an unlikely set of heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their families, their people, and their home.

• Tan Dun: The First Emporer | DVD | (15/09/2008) from £13.21   |  Saving you £2.04 (17.07%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Legendary tenor Pl''cido Domingo stars in the visually stunning opera The First Emperor by Academy Award winning composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) - Filmed live at the Metropolitan Opera in High-definition. EMI Classics continues its 'Metropolitan Opera : Live in High-Definition DVD series' with the Metropolitan Opera's world-premiere of Tan Dun and Ha Jin's The First Emperor. Commissioned by the MET in the mid-1990s this spectacular new production was one of the most highly anticipated cultural events of the 2006-07 Metropolitan Opera season. The Opera tells of Emperor Qin's quest for a national anthem for his new country and his ill-fated decision to force a rebellious but talented young composer to write it. Tragedy results following the composer's love affair with the emperor's crippled daughter including the deaths of three principal characters. Pl''cido Domingo as Emperor Qin leads an all-star ensemble in this classic story ideally suited to the opera stage. The First Emperor combines the expressive power of traditional ancient Chinese singing with the long musical lines of Italian Opera. This juxtaposition of musical cultures illustrates Tan Dun's musical style and influences perfectly. In his music not only East and West but ancient and modern coexist. One of just six composers to conduct their own works at the Met Tan Dun lead all the performances of the first run of the opera. Revered Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou (Hero Raise the Red Lantern) directs and was instrumental in the opera's creation having worked closely with Tan Dun while he composed the music.

• JU DOU | DVD | (13/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The title character a peasant sold as a concubine to a cruel old man is played by the beautiful Gong Li one of the great actresses of our time who followed this brilliant work with spectacular performances in The Story of Qiu Ju (1991) Raise the Red Lantern (1992) and Farewell My Concubine (1993). Li Wei plays her master the childless owner of a dye mill in the agrarian China of the 1920s. Li Wei's fine performance combines craftiness with iniquity. The third character in the tragic triangle is Jin-shan's nephew Yang Tianqing a modest man who does most of the work in the dye mill. Ju Dou falls in love with Tianqing almost by default and it is their ill-fated love that leads to tragedy.