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  1. The Legend of The Flying Swordsman The Legend of The Flying Swordsman Dave Wang (Actor) | Chiba Shinichi (Actor) | Gigi Lai (Actor) | LUO ZHONG XIA (Actor)
    Never has a movie been so fraught. Ominous music, grimly canted camera angles, and a main character, Fun Li, with the mope-topped haircut of the gloomiest of goth rockers. Wong Jing acolyte, Bosco Lam, filmed this odd drama about alcoholism and infanticide in snowiest Korea, and the ice-encrusted landscapes match the chill in its heart. It's not a swordplay flick, but a Lifetime movie for the sword-slinging set. Fun Li is a sloppy wastrel, a drunk who spends most of his wedding day gazing at the bottom of an upturned jug. His wife, Cher (Gigi Lai, looking psychotic) isn't happy about this, and neither is his dad, a magisterial Sonny Chiba (billed here as "Mr. Chiba"). Marriage, as usual,... [read more]
  2. Golden Lotus Golden Lotus Yang Chun (Actor) | Tanny Tien (Actor) | Hu Chin | Li Han Hsiang (Director)
    Well, this is a different kind of film for me to review. The Golden Lotus is a Shaw Brothers film that features no kung fu, no roving swordsmen, no cultists, no priests, and no battling for honour or control of the martial world at all. It does (as the synopsis above says) have murders, corruptions and sexual exploits. Mostly sexual exploits, actually - the corruption and murders are generally side-effects in this story. So, consider yourself warned: most definitely not for those who will happily watch films about people beating the stuffing out of each other, but tremble at the sight of uncovered knees. The Golden Lotus is an adaptation of the well-known novel (the Chinese title is Jin Ping... [read more]
  3. Take Top Take Top Hugo Ng | Anthony Wong | Tommy Wong | Strawberry Yeung
    Received wisdom has it that Hong Kong is always knocking off Hollywood hits. El Mariachi becomes Run; Ruthless People becomes Muto Bontie. But the wackier cousin of this trend is when Hollywood hits get infected with a local virus upon reaching Hong Kong shores. Die Hard meets Wong Jing and becomes the Jet Li vehicleHigh Risk, complete with flying iguana. James Bond meets Stephen Chiau and becomes the hillbilly parody,From Beijing With Love. And now, Murder on the Orient Express goes Hong Kong, mating with the triad film, and becoming Take Top. Tommy Wong is a decent triad chap who goes on a vacation with his family. Vincent Wong is the boss of a gaggle of triad kids whom he's desperately... [read more]
  4. Enchanting Shadow Enchanting Shadow Lok Dai (Actor) | Chao Lei (Actor) | Li Han Hsiang (Director) | Yeung Chi Hing
    For those who may not know, Lee Han Hsiang's Enchanting Shadow and Tsui Hark's A Chinese Ghost Story share the same Chinese title. Why? It is because ACGS is a remake of this 1959 classic. Adapted from Po Chung-ling's novel, this is a romantic ghost story revolving around a sympathetic scholar and a beautiful ghost. Ning (Chao Lei) is a poor but benevolent scholar. One day, when he is lodging at an old temple, he comes across the enchanting ghost Chien (Betty Loh). Chien's initial mission is to lure Ning and drain his blood for her master Lao (Tang Jo-cheng), but she is soon moved by Ning's passion and decides to betray Lao. Lao is enraged and swears to kill them. Ning and Chien are forced... [read more]
  5. Help Help Ekin Cheng (Actor) | Jordan Chan (Actor) | Cecilia Cheung (Actor) | Raymond Wong
    Milkyway Images' hospital comedy, Help!!!, is a minor masterpiece in a year of pleasant surprises. Revering everything about HKSAR movie-making that others try to eradicate - notably tight schedules (21 days from idea to edit), flying paper (Wai Ka-fai says that this is the film that taught him scripts don't matter; film is film, not paper), and shameless appropriation (MASH is referenced endlessly, from the surprise spurt of blood out a patient's jugular to the surreal, anthropomorphised loudspeakers) - this has to be one of the most irresponsible, irreverent, loud-mouthed comedies to hit the screen in ages. Having gone the character route (and what else is Needing You besides extended... [read more]
  6. Full Contact (DTS Version) Full Contact (DTS Version) Chow Yun Fat | Simon Yam | Ann Pak
    A particle physics experiment in baroque atrocity,Full Contact records what happens when quarks, quasars, hitmen, and psychopathic killers collide in the sweaty Skinner box of the arms dealing, flesh-peeling underworld. A seedy slither through Thailand, the general Hong Kong fear of strange places is in full effect. Thailand isn't the sunny land of white beaches and blue lagoons the chamber of commerce would have you believe, but a skanky hole where guys get their heads rolled up in car windows and families get blown away by emotionally unbalanced thieves. Ringo Lam's least popular movie in Hong Kong is his most popular movie overseas. With a carnivalesque atmosphere that pulls you into... [read more]
  7. The Delinquent The Delinquent Lily Lee | Bei Di | Wong Chung
    This hard-hitting slab of mondo-70's outrageousness generates torrents of violence just like its main character generates rainstorms of sweat and blood from his lithe torso as he cracks his knuckles on the faces of street slime at Mach 2. From the credits sequence of lead actor, Wong Chung, crashing through wooden walls while bathed in noxious primary-colored lighting; to the final scene where bloody meat meets concrete, this movie is a hell-bent-for-leather social justice kung fu flick that cranks the intensity to the limit with every trick in the 70’s cinematographic arsenal: whip pans, smash zooms, freeze frames, superduper long shots, and telefoto lenses picking out fights from two... [read more]
  8. Intimate Confessions Of A Chinese Courtesan Intimate Confessions Of A Chinese Courtesan Ngok Wah | Chor Yuen (Director) | Bei Di (Actor) | Lily Ho
    Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan is one of Shaw Brothers' more infamous and influential films, one that shocked audiences when it was released in 1972. It's since been remade by the same director (as 1984's Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan) and was apparently the inspiration for Clarence Fok's Naked Killer. It has garnered its reputation for its marriage of the kung-fu genre with eroticism, usually a recipe for thoroughly B-grade cinema. However, Intimate Confessions' acting, production values and slightly loopy plot manage to elevate it above such description. The story concerns Ai Nu, a young girl kidnapped from her family and sold into service at a bustling brothel run by... [read more]
  9. Comrades, Almost a Love Story Comrades, Almost a Love Story Leon Lai (Actor) | Maggie Cheung Man Yuk (Actor) | Eric Tsang (Actor) | Kristy Yang
    Far too many punters insert the word "action" after "Hong Kong", and only define the territory's output by flying kicks and boiling lead; while many mainstream filmgoers might turn their nose up at Hong Kong films for exactly the same reason. Peter Chan's romance Comrades Almost a Love Story bucks all such trends, being equal to the greatest dramas from any country. Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai feature as Mainlanders who have come to Hong Kong; she wants to get rich, and he is just happy enough getting by. The film is scored to the much-loved music of Chinese songstress Theresa Tang, and indeed her life and death become central to the events of the film. This is one of the great Maggie Cheung... [read more]
  10. Golden Chicken Golden Chicken Eric Tsang (Actor) | Sandra Ng (Actor) | Felix Wong | Chow Hoi Kwong
    In the end of 2002, Hong Kong film market has experienced a short period of rejuvenation. In early December, the two blockbusters Infernal Affairs and Hero hit the theater and received immediate success. Then Golden Chicken came out as the second wave and provided a satisfactory wrap up for the year. This is a biographical account of a prostitute called "Ah Gum" (Sandra Ng). From a fledgling to a well experienced "one apartment one phoenix", the story of Ah Gum is never insipid or colorless. As you might have gussed right, the title of this movie Golden Chicken refers to Ah Gum. In Cantonese, the word "chicken" is a slang that is similar to "whore" in English. The term "Golden chicken" can... [read more]
  11. Human Lanterns Human Lanterns Chen Kuan Tai (Actor) | Lo Lieh | Anthony Lau (Actor) | Tanny Tien
    Shaw Brothers made martial arts movies, and Shaw Brothers made horror movies, but when they made martial arts horror movies they really struck gold. Slowly, these shivery action flicks are being unearthed from the Shaw Brothers vaults and as each one is exposed to the light it gleams like pure gold. Human Lanterns (also known as “Human Skin Lanterns”) is a Technicolored marvel that looks like the kind of movie MGM would have produced if it had suddenly stopped making movies in the 1950’s and started making horror flicks: a lush, beautifully lit emotional epic that unfolds on a series of gargantuan soundstages. Chen Kuan-tai and Liu Yung play two tetchy noblemen locked in a long-running game... [read more]
  12. Three - Going Home (Director's Cut) Three - Going Home (Director's Cut) Leon Lai (Actor) | Eric Tsang (Actor) | Kim Hye Su (Actor) | Christopher Doyle
    Going Home is not a brand new production, it is the extended version of the short story directed by Peter Chan in Three. Chan extracted Going Home from Three, added about five minutes of footage and released the movie for a theatrical run at the end of the year. It is said that Peter Chan was very satisfied with Leon Lai's outstanding performance, that he didn't want Lai to miss the opportunity to be nominated for best actor at the Golden Horse Award Ceremony and Hong Kong Film Academy Award Ceremony. Going Home was therefore released separately from Three as a result. The story starts off with Wai (Eric Tsang) and his son moving in an old building. There they meet Fai (Leon Lai), the only... [read more]
  13. Come Drink With Me Come Drink With Me Ngok Wah | Cheng Pei Pei (Actor) | Chen Hung Lieh | King Hu (Director)
    Come Drink with Me was made in 1966. It was King Hu's first attempt at Wuxia genre, as well as Cheng Pei-pei and Yue Hua's debut in a Wuxia movie. Before the release of this film, Wuxia was not a popular genre in Hong Kong. In some senses, it is not inappropriate to say that Come Drink with Me was the first movie to arouse the attention of Hong Kong audience to new style Wuxia film. King Hu was also known as a synonym of Wuxia genre later. The story begins with the kidnap of a government official by the notorious "Five Tigers". In response to this case, Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei-pei), the sister of the government official, starts her rescue mission. Being pure and inexperienced, she does not... [read more]
  14. Hollywood Hong Kong Hollywood Hong Kong Zhou Xun (Actor) | Chan Ying Ming (Actor) | Wong Yau Nam | Ho Sei Man
    (Possible spoiler below) I always have mixed feeling about Fruit Chan's movies. While I like the raw quality of Made in Hong Kong, the blatant documentary approach in Durian Durian hasn't much appeal for me. Perhaps I had really bad experience with Chan's previous work Durian Durian, I didn't have any expectation before I watched Hollywood Hong Kong, and that's why I found it more interesting and entertaining than I thought. This movie features a fruitful plot, the boss of a roast pork shop and his two sons are attracted by a Shanghaiese girl, while a young pimp Wong has also developed some kind of sexual relationship with a prostitute from Shanghai. The two girls are in fact one single... [read more]
  15. Lai Man-wai Father Of Hong Kong Cinema (DVD) (A Feature-length Documentary Collector's Edition) (Hong Kong Version) Lai Man-wai Father Of Hong Kong Cinema (DVD) (A Feature-length Documentary Collector's Edition) (Hong Kong Version)
    Lai Man-Wai, a name that may be unknown to most general movie-goers in Hong Kong nowadays, was the most important contributor of Chinese cinema. As the pioneer of his time, Lai Man-Wai was the first person to actually make a movie in Hong Kong, he was also the founder of Lianhua, the biggest film production company in Shanghai in the 1930s. It was really a surprise to see that such an prominent figure of Chinese cinema history was often neglected, not only was his name seldom appear in related books, it's also very hard to locate any materials that cover his achievements in details. That's why when I knew that the DVD of this documentary was finally released, I quickly got myself a copy and... [read more]
  16. My Life as McDull (Movie Version) My Life as McDull (Movie Version) Lee Chun Wai | Jan Lamb | Yuan Jian Tao (Director) | McDull (Actor)
    Animation production is never a popular business in Hong Kong. Back in the 1980s, three Old Master Q were produced, which did not gain too much attention from the public. In the mid 1990s, Tsui Hark produced an animated feature A Chinese Ghost Story. It was pretty well received, but still unable to stimulate the growth of the animation industry drastically. In 2001, Brian Tse animated his highly successful comic series The Story of McMug and released My Life as McDull. This film does not have a very strong narrative structure. As the title suggests, it is mainly about the life of the protagonist, a little piggie called McDull. The film is like a rough autobiography of this character. It... [read more]
  17. You Shoot, I Shoot You Shoot, I Shoot Ken Wong | Eric Kot | Vincent Kok | Edmond Pang (Director)
    Edmond Pang, the writer of Fulltime Killer, finally directed his first film in 2001. The film is called You Shoot I Shoot. It features two excellent comedians in Hong Kong - Eric Kot and Cheung Tat-Ming. If one has seen Fulltime Killer, it should not be too hard to expect how far Pang is willing to push in his own film. His creativity is allowed to be fully exhibited. The story is about Bart (Eric Kot), a hitman, who hires a cameraman Chuen (Cheung Tat-Ming) to shoot when he kills. After they get the killing footage, Chuen will do the editing work and make a short film out of it. The two team up and work for rich people who hire them to kill and shoot. Just from reading this brief synopsis,... [read more]
  18. Miles Apart Miles Apart Michael Wong | Cecilia Yip
    Giving line deliveries that sound like Cantonese in Three Easy Lessons, Michael Wong is famous for being one of the worst actors in Hong Kong. So imagine my delight when I heard he was the writer, director, producer and star of Miles Apart, an actor's movie about police corruption, DNA and, more importantly, who's going to fly Michael Wong's helicopter. The greatest show on earth is watching a celebrity implode as they direct/produce/star in a vehicle with "special meaning"; disintegrating into black holes of hubris. But many of these projects start from a crumb of talent. Michael Fitzgerald Wong starts with none. God love him. Playing Hong Kong detective, Miles Ma, Wong keeps trying to draw... [read more]
  19. The Avenging Fist The Avenging Fist Gigi Leung | Leehom Wang (Actor) | Stephen Fung (Actor) | Sammo Hung
    It seems that director Andrew Lau is really interested in working on adaptations. The Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero are both adapted from comics, this time, The Avenging Fist is adapted from a video game Tekken. Due to copyright problems, the production company is unable to retain the names and the story of the video game. But the analogy is so obvious that it is not too hard to indentify who is who in the film. The background of this film is set in a not too distant future. A set of power gloves, a secret weapon that can activate the unknown power of human brain, was stolen by War21 (Roy Cheung). Two decades later, War21 returns with the power gloves and aims at conquering the world.... [read more]
  20. Funeral March Funeral March Eason Chan (Actor) | Kenneth Tsang (Actor) | Liu Kai Chi | Charlene Choi
    Joe Ma is a prolific filmmaker in Hong Kong. In the past few years, he has participated in many films projects including the partnership with promising new director Wilson Yip in the highly acclaimed Bullets Over Summer and Juliet in Love. Other of his popular films include Dummy Mommy, Without a Baby and Love Undercover. In Hong Kong, some people like to compare Joe Ma with Wong Jing and criticize most of his idols-based comedies severely. I believe this accusation is too harsh. In my opinions, Ma is a way more honest and enthusiastic filmmaker, he truly loves the craft of filmmaking, and it can be proved by the release of Funeral March, a serious drama that is totally different from his... [read more]
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