The best Ai Wan’s movies

When Hong Kong Inspector Lee is summoned to Los Angeles to investigate a kidnapping, the FBI doesn't want any outside help and assigns cocky LAPD Detective James Carter to distract Lee from the case. Not content to watch the action from the sidelines, Lee and Carter form an unlikely partnership and investigate the case themselves.

Madeline is married to Ernest, who was once arch-rival Helen's fiance. After recovering from a mental breakdown, Helen vows to kill Madeline and steal back Ernest. Unfortunately for everyone, the introduction of a magic potion causes things to be a great deal more complicated than a mere murder plot.

A sexy nightclub owner, Barb Wire moonlights as a mercenary in Steel Harbor, one of the last free zones in the now fascist United States. When scientist Cora Devonshire wanders into Barb's establishment, she gets roped into a top-secret government plot involving biological weapons. Soon Barb is reunited with her old flame Axel Hood, who is now Cora's husband and a guerrilla fighter, resulting in plenty of tense action.

A retired thief swears revenge on the lunatic who murdered his brother and partner, while going on the run with the loot they stole.

A Presidential candidate running against the Vice-President plans a trip to the Balkans to negotiate the release of American servicemen being held hostage. Before he leaves, he receives a disk documenting evidence that the Vice-President has been trying to revive the American economy by causing a war in the Balkans. He plans to show it to both sides in the hopes of ending the situation. However, Secret Service agents hijack the Concorde he is on and kill the pilots. It's up to an Air Force officer, nicknamed "Washout" because he can't fly a plane, to land the Concorde. Written by Leigh Roche

A compulsive gambler finds his new family's safety seriously threatened by a ruthless gambling boss.

Dumped by her fiance just two months before their wedding, comic strip writer Sophie hatches an elaborate plan to get her Jeff back and punish the movie star, Joanna, who seduced him away. She finds herself a partner, Gordon, an ex-lover of Joanna's. The two start on a comic adventure full of laughs and tears, aided by Sophie's two best friends, Lucy and Lily. At the eve of her success, Sophie suddenly faced of having to chose between a repentant Jeff and Gordon who has fallen for her.

It's Silicone City in this soft-core marriage of L.A. exotic dancers and the dub reggae musings of famed music producers Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. (Who are they, you ask? Cast your mind back to the mention of their names in the Tom-Tom Club's "Genius of Love," or the coproducers credit on the Rolling Stones' early '80s album Undercover of the Night.) This skin show--perfect for guys too short on cash to make the two-drinks-minimum cover at their local topless joint--simply is what it is: 16 ladies gyrating to the wooshes and chugs and shimmering chimes of Sly and Robbie tracks. Directed by music video vet Jeff Stein, the production can induce seizures with its rapid cuts, and there's enough smoke to make you think Southern California is on fire. But if it's women you want, Strip to the Bone has got quite an assortment, with names such as Jackie Lick, Chase, and Deja.

British sad sack Gary is a failed entrepreneur who has just arrived in Beijing's stylish Sanlitun district, allegedly to start a business. There are other reasons why he has uprooted himself — he's followed his ex-wife and young son, for one — but he soon finds out that China isn't the easiest place to succeed. Blissfully untouched by self-awareness, and only fitfully in tune with reality, Gary sallies forth to make money, armed with faith in himself and little to no knowledge of Chinese culture. He soon hooks up with Frank, a trust-fund kid from Australia who offers to mentor Gary in Eastern ways, although Frank's pedagogical method is restricted to yelling at Gary for being a Westerner and not being as "Chinese" as him.