'The Assassin' (2015) – Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

Beautifully shot with consummate style, the exhilaratingly mounted martial arts sequences, and a no less luminous performance by Shu Gi as stealthy killer Nie Yinniang provides an uncommonly sumptuous feast for film fans. Hsiao-Hsien's dazzling, melancholic, rigorously engrossing feature's non-combative elements prove no less compelling, making this enchanting, visually exquisite film an absolute must-see event! As an avid, life-long, and some might say, overtly obsessive fan of Asian cinema, I found The Assassin to be both profoundly moving, and an especially potent endorphin booster! Spellbinding spectacle, tinged with tragedy, this is a remarkably refined film that is as meticulously executed as Yianniang's victims. On a more subjective note, I found the production design to be exquisite, not only the lavish interiors, but the rustic, magnificent-looking 9^th century agricultural dwellings.

 'Doctor Mordrid Master of The Unknown'. (1991) – Charles Band.

Creative genre alchemists Full Moon are one of the very few independents who so frequently created dazzling B-Movie gold from such pulpy base elements. The exciting escapist fantasy Doctor Mordrid Master of The Unknown finds mankind unaware that their reality is about to be utterly usurped by maniacal sorcerer Kabal (Brian Thompson), his demonic dominion courageously combated by heroic warlock Anton Mordrid (Jeffrey Combs). Ostensibly a brisk, boisterous battle of diametrically opposed wizards for big kids of all ages, Band's enormously likeable feature's Saturday morning serial/Rocket Man ethos is manifestly part of Doctor Mordrid Master of The Unknown's great charm. For me, this is one of Jeffrey Combs most overlooked performances, his electrifying confrontations with equally charismatic Thespian Brian Thompson are pure magic!