Saturday, January 24, 2009
31 Days of Film Day 24: The Bedside Story
Today's film is a classic Hong Kong comedy and drama which examines the roles of both the individual and how those roles must change when one gets married. It's the classic liberal vs conservative conflict told only in the way that MP & GI could.The Bedside Story tells the story of Dingwen and Renmei. After Renmei wins best actress at the Far East Film Festival and Dingwen wins Best Screenwriter and Director the two decide to get married, much to the disagreement of Dingwen's brother, Dingwei.
After the marriage Renmei goes back to her old ways staying out late with her boss and dancing the night away. The two stay in separate rooms and essentially have a paper marriage. It takes a little blackmail and quite a bit of comedy to straighten it all out but as is the case with MP & GI films, everything turns out alright in the end.
MP & GI films are some of the most accessible Hong Kong films to Western Audiences. They derive much of their filmmaking and plots from the Western influence in Hong Hong.
The Bedside Story is a fun little picture and is certainly a film worth watching.
Labels: 31 days of film, Cathay, Classics, Comedy, Hong Kong
Saturday, January 17, 2009
31 Days of Film Day 17: Fight Back to School
Stephen Chow is undoubtedly one of the kings of Cantonese comedy. Like Jackie Chan and to a lesser degree the Hui Brothers, his films have been essential viewing to all those who wish to sample the films of Hong Kong. Fight Back to School doesn't feature the over the top effects of his more recent films such as Shaolin Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle but it does feature a young and exciting Chow at the start of his super-stardom.Chow plays a young policeman who is ordered by his superiors to go undercover in what appears to be a high school (though it's identified as a college.) Chow's mission is to find his superior's stolen pistol. He is aided by Chow's regular comedic partner Ng Man Tat who plays another undercover cop posing as Chow's father. Chow also vows to win the heard of the lovely Sharla Cheung who was also a regular in Chow's films of the 90s.
Your enjoyment of this films depends on how well you can take silliness. If you've seen any of Chow's other films then be my guest and go right ahead. If you haven't, I'd say to check out either Shaolin Soccer or, better yet The God of Cookery.
Labels: 31 days of film, Comedy, Hong Kong, Stephen Chow
Sunday, January 11, 2009
31 Days of Film Day 11: Lady Whirlwind Against the Rangers
More wars have been fought over salt than gold. This little historical tidbit makes the premise of this movie a bit easier to understand. As the faded and nearly unreadable expeditionary credits tell us, the government of China at some point restricted the trade of sale and thus a large black market of salt began.Most every kung-fu film has pretty much the same plot. Someone is killed or wronged and his pupil/offspring goes off to fight the bad guy. At first the hero gets his rear end handed back to him so he goes back and trains or tries another method and then in one huge fight at the end they win and the bad guy is defeated.
This is one of those stories but it has an interesting twist to it. The hero of this film is the daughter of a framed official. She and her little brother do a double gender bending twist infiltrating the bad guys to clear their father's name.
For a chop socky film, this one is about average. The comedy is a little weak and quite frankly I'm a little tired of the urine jokes so common in these films. The action is good and the film kept me entertained. I guess that's about all I can ask for, right?
At least it had the lovely Polly Shang-Kuan. She could kick ass and still have you marvel at what an adorable girl she was. She made just over fourty films in her career (according to her imdb page) and I'll certainly be checking out some more of her films in the future.
I should also mention that never once was a character referred to as either Lady Whirlwind or a ranger. Still, English titles of kung fu movies never seemed to make much sense anyway but this was most likely done by the distributor to tie it to the Angela Mao film.
Labels: 31 days of film, Hong Kong, Kung Fu
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
31 Days of Film Day 7: The Singing Escort
What would happen if you took an AIP beach movie and moved it to Japan and cast Hong Kong film stars in it? You'd probably get something like this quirky little movie. You get everything from girls in bikinis to fast motion action scenes to cheesy songs every ten seconds. What's not to love?The plot is so thin that one can pretty much deduce each and every plot turn before it happens. Much of the film is just an excuse for the main stars to lip-sync (rather poorly) to pop songs that are relevant to the plot. Lame attempts at comedy may get a smirk but at times many elements were overdone. It's obvious that the only reason to watch this film is for the eye and ear candy.
Lin Chong plays Chao Ke-jan, the leader of a pop band in Hong Kong. He dresses like Sergeant Pepper and seems to win over girls wherever he goes. He and the band go to Japan to work for his uncle's hotel as well as to find their boss's daughter and bring her back home. What he does find is a lot of trouble and mishaps that would make Frankie and Annette proud. I half expected to have Eric Von Zipper crash the party. Of course all's well that ends well and you know that's where this is headed before the film even starts.
Honestly, these films are a bit of an acquired taste so unless you love 60's fashion, Shaw Brothers female actions and Inoue Umetsugu musicals I would stay away from this one. The only exception would be for the really curious. Luckily I fit all of the above but I realize that I'm probably alone in my opinion.
Perhaps tomorrow I'll try something more "mainstream."
Labels: 31 days of film, Hong Kong, Musical, Shaw Brothers
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
31 Days of Film Day 6: 2 Become 1
"Watch something happy today." That was a request from one of my closest friends when I asked what I should watch tonight for my month long experiment. Well, what could be happier than watching a movie about Miriam Yeung getting breast cancer? In all serious while the film has an obvious message it does succeed in keeping my attention for 98 minutes and it even made me think about a serious topic for a while.Miriam Yeung plays Bingo: a single 30 year old professional who, by chance, runs into V (Richie Ren) after some hanky panky starts up at her place V suddenly discovers that Bingo has a lump in her left breast and we see in all the things that Bingo must go through both physically and emotionally as she battles her disease.
Strangely with a plot like that you'd expect it to be a Lifetime TV movie complete with dramatic music, the ignorant evil man-like character that appears in all of those types of films as well as the washed up former TV has-beens. Instead what we get is a rather silly and contrived comedy along with some inspirational scenes as well.
Since I have a lot of random notes jotted down about this film and no real concise way to tie them together I am going to end this review with some things I learned while watching 2 Become 1.
* If a tumor is close to the nipple then a radical masectomy is required
* Suicide hotlines numbers are printed on bags of charcoal in Hong Kong
* People sing Psalm 23 in Cantonese
* Psalm 23 in Cantonese to Engrish subs gives us some interesting results
* Miriam Yeung looks hot in a bra
* If a woman invites you back to her place you have a better chance of getting with her if you start doing the dishes
* I get a strange feeling seeing a hot woman driving a Hyundai.
I suppose if you are a big Miriam Yeung fan you will enjoy this film. For the casual Hong Kong fan you might want to stay away. Still, it might also be a good film to show your girlfriend if you want to get her into the genre.
Labels: 31 days of film, Drama, Hong Kong
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Story of Sue San
I know, my blog has been neglected quite a bit lately. The reason for this is that, quite frankly, I haven't been watching any DVDs lately. I have however, been catching up on my fansubs as well as getting a little bit of a social life again.
Anyway ...
The Story of Sue San is a one of the classic Huangmei opera and as such it's a sort of folky simple Chinese tale. It's adapted from the 15th century story "The Miserable Yu Tang Chun Meets Her Husband" and, quite frankly, can be downright depressing at times yet still pleasant to watch and listen to.
I think what makes Huangmei so fascinating to me is just how culturally different it is from western style stories. I don't know if it's related to the Buddhist belief that life is suffering but the film seemed to show people really down on their luck a lot. All the while the system of brothels is never challenged seriously by the characters (which based on my scant knowledge of Chinese history and culture may in fact be entirely accurate) but yet to me it seems appalling how such a system of buying your wife would lead to happiness. Still, it seems nice and the two really must have loved each other so who can argue with that?
The Story of Sue San is an interesting opera and for those curious of Chinese opera or those who want to see Shaw Brothers outside of Chang Cheh bloodbaths, give this one a look!
Anyway ...
The Story of Sue San is a one of the classic Huangmei opera and as such it's a sort of folky simple Chinese tale. It's adapted from the 15th century story "The Miserable Yu Tang Chun Meets Her Husband" and, quite frankly, can be downright depressing at times yet still pleasant to watch and listen to.I think what makes Huangmei so fascinating to me is just how culturally different it is from western style stories. I don't know if it's related to the Buddhist belief that life is suffering but the film seemed to show people really down on their luck a lot. All the while the system of brothels is never challenged seriously by the characters (which based on my scant knowledge of Chinese history and culture may in fact be entirely accurate) but yet to me it seems appalling how such a system of buying your wife would lead to happiness. Still, it seems nice and the two really must have loved each other so who can argue with that?
The Story of Sue San is an interesting opera and for those curious of Chinese opera or those who want to see Shaw Brothers outside of Chang Cheh bloodbaths, give this one a look!
Labels: Hong Kong, Huang-Mei, Musical
Friday, July 13, 2007
Her Fatal Ways II
Hong Kong cinema is certainly a fun genre and it was never more fun than during the so-called "golden age" of the 80s. During this period it seemed if you had a hit you were guaranteed at least two or three sequels. So does this sequel measure up?Carol Cheng returns as the adorable and innocent by the book Communist. Instead of her going to Hong Kong it's a Hong Kong cop coming to see her. Coincidentally the cop happens to be the cousin of Tony Leung's character from the first scene as apparently he wasn't available.
Sadly this film tends to fall into the stereotypical stinky sequel model. While the jokes were fun the first time, now they seem stale and the whole bumpkins coming to the country can only be taken so far.
The first one is fun and this isn't the worst thing ever but unless you loved the first one, I can't recommend it.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Between Tears and Laughter
If ever was there a more appropriate title for a movie, I don't know of it. This 1960 M.P. & G.I film delivers a well rounded story of the lives of three women living together and their happy times and sorrows. The trio consists of a writer who is living in her romantic past, a younger girl unhappy with her arranged marriage and infatuated with her pen-pal and an older woman whose husband went astray and despite the pleading of him and her sick child she cannot forgive and move on.Between Tears and Laughter is, at its core, a nice romantic comedy and drama. I found myself at times, despite the troubles of the characters, of wanting to jump into the film into this rather inviting and comfortable setting. Friendship, I believe, is one of the few things that is universal and the friendship between these women to help each other out in times of need is something to really look at with admiration.
Cathay films are, to me, like an favorite old shirt; while I know not everyone can appreciate them, I get a sort of cozy feeling watching them. While I know that at the time they were made, most in Hong Kong were not living the sort of middle class lifestyle that was always showcase dbut yet, they seemed to show that life can be comfortable with just a little romance and good friends. In this age of movies with explosions, CGI and explicit sex, maybe Hollywood could learn a little from this film.
Labels: Cathay, Drama, Hong Kong, Romance
Monday, May 28, 2007
Front Page:Of the great comedy teams in film history one of my absolute favorites would have to be the Hui Brothers. Sam, Michael and Ricky made some great films back in the 70s and 80s and then went their separate film ways. While two brothers, usually Michael and Ricky, would appear together at times it was not until 1990, nine years after their last film together, that all three reunited.
The film has the usual premise of a Hui brother film with Michael playing the boss and Sam being the smart ladies' man and Ricky being the stuttering guy who always appears to be crying. This time they work at a tabloid gossip magazine whose sales are so bad that people are using them to wrap food in. This leads to a change in the office and typical Hui episodic misadventures take place while they search for the big scoop.
I will admit that while I wasn't expecting something as great as say The Private Eyes but I have to admit that as a fan of their earlier films this one was sort of a letdown. The other major letdown was that the print was washed out and cropped. I may as well have been watching a VCD.
Still, if you're a Hui fan, pick it up.
Tropicana Interlude:The Shaw Brothers studio is known worldwide for its martial arts movies. For me, however, I tend to think of their musicals as the prime output of the studio. Tropicana Interlude is one of those delightful musicals made in the 60s and early 70s, long after Hollywood abandoned the format.
Although this movie has quite a lot of Hollywood touches to it. In fact, the film is somewhat of a remake of my favorite Elvis movie, Blue Hawaii. Our hero (in the form of Jimmy Lin Chong) refuses to go into his father's business and instead decides to go work as a tour guide to a group of young girls. If you've seen Blue Hawaii you know what's coming but it was all fun with lots of music and footage of many historic and beautiful sites around Malaysia and Singapore.
All in all, a very enjoyable film.
Labels: Hong Kong, Musical, Shaw Brothers
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
New Police Story: Jackie Chan returns to his 80s roots and after a string of mediocre films I can finally say I have seen a good Jackie Chan film again.
In this film Jackie plays Inspector Chan, an elite officer of the Hong Kong police. Set on tracking down a ruthless gang who kill cops just for the sport of it Chan instead becomes their next target having his entire team, including his future brother-in-law completely obliterated. This takes its toll on Chan, obviously, and he then degrades into a drunken existence until a new partner, in the form of a police wannabe played by Nicolas Tse, comes along and sets Chan straight and goes after the gang to seek justice.
The film was fantastic and unlike other Jackie Chan films, you won't see much in the way of comedy. What you will see is a lot of fights and action scenes. All in all, Chan's best film since his Who Am I and First Strike days.
Labels: Action, Hong Kong, Jackie Chan
Monday, May 21, 2007
My Dream Girl: Here is a movie I had heard about for a few years as being exceptionally terrible and should be avoided. For some masochistic reason when people tell me these things I want to seek out that film just to see how awful it is. This was the case with Protégé de la Rose Noire and was the case here. However unlike that film which was so inept that nothing could save it, this film was more boring than anything else.
What was cool was seeing Richard Ng again. His minor role in My Wife is 18 seemed in many ways like a tease of his former glory and while he doesn't play the zany guy he once did during his Lucky Star days, he did handle his role quite well and I would really like to see him do more.
Labels: Bad Movies, Comedy, Hong Kong, Romance
Thursday, May 17, 2007
June Bride: The stars of Cathay are out in full force in this upbeat musical drama which shows in a muted way some of the ways that Western culture mixed with Chinese to create something quite different.The very lovely and talented Grace Cheng plays Wang Tanlin who has traveled with her father for many years. She has in her travels picked up a suitor and dance partner much to her refusal. Her only love is Tung Chifang, a man she hasn't seen in over two years. However traditional she seems, she resents that her father seems to be using the marriage as nothing but a business proposal and when a third suitor, a salior played by the always wonderful Roy Chaio, comes into play Tanlin is so confused she leaves the groom in the lurch. Of course being a Cathay film you are guaranteed a happy ending.
If there was ever a film studio so devoted to happy and upbeat "slice of life" films it was the glorious and wonderful Cathay studios otherwise referred to as M.P. & G.I. As I have documented in the past the sheer amiability of everyone in the film from Grace Cheng to Roy Chaio to the portly Liu Enjia, Cathay always seemed to deliver a film worth watching. They seemed to take a topic so simple as buying a car, being a stewardess or just about dancing the Mambo, Cathay could make a 100 minute film about it and make it interesting.
Sad that those days of simple movies are gone but thanks to DVD a whole new generation can see them. I can pretty much guarantee that no one at M.P. & G.I. ever thought their films would be watched 50 years later by a white guy on the East Coast of the US but in this age of DVD, it can be done!
I definitely recommend this one just as I recommend every Cathay film.
Labels: Cathay, Comedy, Hong Kong, Musical, Romance
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Chase Step by Step / The Super Gang: Again I make a trip to the dollar store and get a few more public domain kung fu films.Chase Step by Step, despite what the generic description on the back says is not about a kickboxer seeking revenge. It is actually about a couple of circus performers who are assigned to protect a shipment of gold. Unfortunately while the fights are mildly entertaining the film ultimately fails at being anything close to be worth your time.
The Super Gang: Now here's a piece of crap if I ever saw one. I know some out there go nuts for every Bruceploitation film ever made but I for one am not one of them. Personally I found this film quite boring and at times a strain to keep awake. Not really what I was looking for tonight.
To sum it all up, this disc rots.
Labels: Bad Movies, Cheap DVDs, Dollar DVD, Hong Kong
Monday, May 14, 2007
Shaolin Deadly Kicks: Yet another typical kung fu movie of good guys and bad guys. After a gang of thieves break up their treasure map into eight pieces and scatter. A lawman goes to hunt them down one at a time to get the pieces. This film, based on that plot description, could be a western but instead, it's a kung fu movie.I seem to be a total sucker for dollar DVDs with Kung Fu movies. I tend to pick up anything that appears to have some sort of period kung fu to it. A lot lately have been stinkers but this one wasn't that bad, although the plot was a bit boring at times. In fact if I had been director, I would've ended the film after about an hour.
Still, for a dollar kung fu movie it's not that bad.
Labels: Bad Movies, Dollar DVD, Hong Kong, Kung Fu
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Robotrix: Legendary Collection: Here is a film that I bought on recommendation from a friend. Of course the fact that he also has suggested I watch Ebola Syndrome should have been a tip off that something wasn't kosher.What we have here in a Category III science fiction / action film about a police woman who dies in the line of fire and comes back as a cyborg. The premise sounds interesting but at the same time what we end up getting is 93 minutes of pure HK exploitation.
I would like to give something positive about the film and I will say that beyond the nudity and the rather boring plot that the fights were at least interesting.
I think I paid $5 for it and I can't see it being worth much more.
Labels: Bad Movies, Hong Kong
Monday, March 19, 2007
Rage of the Masters: From the dollar bin comes this rather bland Jimmy Wang Yu film. The plot is rather bland with a brother and sister seeking revenge and enlisting a great kickboxer to help them. Of course, the problem lies in the fact that he has promised his mother that he won't fight.The film progresses through some dull scenes which, I confess, I did not watch with my full attention. The saving grace is the last half hour which has some pretty cool kick boxing and martial arts scenes.
It's crappy chop socky for a dollar so if that's your thing, go for it. If you really like it, there's a widescreen version available under the title, "The Destroyer."
I think the reason I haven't watched so many films lately lies from the fact that I regularly watch crap and this is just more of it. I've seen so many kung fu movies over the years that it's almost getting to be a genre that I can't watch anymore, at least not without some sort of comedy or class to save it.
Labels: Bad Movies, Dollar DVD, Hong Kong, Kung Fu
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Silver Hermit From Shaolin Temple: Continuing with the weirdness, I decided to watch a classic chop sockey film. Unfortunately all I found in the dollar dvd bin was this movie.Silver Hermit is a pacifistic martial artist who, along with three others, is invited to a contest to fight to win the hand of a young woman and thus inherit a prestigious martial arts school. Unfortunately for him two of them end up dead with one barely surviving. Of course he gets the blame and has to clear his name.
The film is rather dull at times, although the martial arts is pretty good. The problem stems mostly from the video presentation which is, as usual, pan and scanned plus horrendously dubbed. To top it off the film goes black at times and when you can see the picture, it's like watching it through a coffee filter.
I guess the only saving grace of the film was getting to cheer the opening credits when Joseph Lai's name came up. Yes, the same man who brought to you a monkey punching a snake! Unfortunately I still have yet to find the rest of his animated films even though I have heard they have been released.
Labels: Bad Movies, Cheap DVDs, Dollar DVD, Hong Kong, Kung Fu
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Frugal Game: Take two average unemployed Hong Kong families. Give them each HK$500 to last them a week and see how they fare. This is the concept behind the new reality TV show called Frugal Game.Eric Tsang plays Wai, a single father of two. It turns out his wife left him and he is recently unemployed so he hangs out at the local fast food place all day with other unemployed people. One day, however, his old boss (Carol Cheng) comes to him with a proposition: enter the "Frugal Game" and all of their debts will be paid off. At first Wai refuses but eventually gives in to the idea.
While this looks to be standard setup for Hong Kong silliness, it actually works. Instead of over the top craziness for 100 minutes, we actually get some good and believable drama with a smile now and then. I think this is due, mostly, to the fantastic cast. While I am more used to Tsang as the bumbling idiot of his earlier films, he comes off as a sensitive and caring guy. Miriam Yeung comes off surprisingly calm and level-headed which is a nice change from the usual over the top bubbly girl we've come to know and love. Carol Cheng also makes a nice return to screens as a more mature but still pleasing actress.
By the way, the DVD itself was just HK$23 or around $3 here in the states. Not a bad price.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
From Beijing with Love: Starting the night out I decided to check out Stephen Chow's parody of James Bond films. Chow plays the Bond-like hero out to save the day and find a missing dinosaur skull. Anita Yuen shows up as his partner in Hong Kong and of course, she's working for the enemy. Several Bond villains are parodied and the whole movie degenerates into typical Chow silliness that people paid to see.While I am normally a Stephen Chow fan, I have to admit that a lot of this film left me more smirking that laughing. Somehow this movie just didn't excite me the way it should have. Perhaps it was the amount of blood in this film or just the fact that I never seemed to have any idea what was going on.
I would have to say if you want a Chow film you can do better but you may as well pick this one up for completion's sake.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Drink, Drank, Drunk: Miriam Yeung and Love Undercover costar Daniel Wu team up again for this romantic comedy about a girl who can't get drunk and a traveler who gets intoxicated very easily.The plot of a romantic comedy is really never very important. They are usually about a boy meeting a girl and then losing her and then winning her back in the end. With that said Ive decided really to forgo any real description of the plot and just give an opinion.
Drink, Drank, Drunk is enjoyable as far as romantic comedies go. Miriam Yeung, as always, plays her role of the somewhat scatterbrained and somewhat naive girl that she plays is just about every movie she's been in. For those of us who love watching Miriam, and I will include myself in this group, will certainly enjoy her in Drink, Drank, Drunk.
I think the real drawback to the film is that the movie just doesn't have the fun that some of Miriam Yeung's other films have. She's such a bouncy girl and, in my opinion, she works best in silly roles. Still, if you want to watch a romantic comedy with your girlfriend, you could do a lot worse.
Labels: Comedy, Hong Kong, Romance
Monday, January 29, 2007
My Lucky Star: It's a Feng Shui battle of the ages with Tony Leung and Miriam Yeung battling a numerologist, Chapman To and Teresa Caprio in a battle of luck vs. luck. This movie also generated another battle for me, namely to stay awake.Miriam Yeung stars as a girl with extraordinary bad luck. This is, as the amusing prologue tells us, due to the breaking of her family luck by one of the ancestors of Tony Leung. Tony plays a feng shui expert who gets large amounts of money for his services and decides to help Miriam. It turns out, however, that her bad luck is not solely due to her family history but it is aided by a grudge that her stepmother has even enlisted the services of a numerologist. It all gets weird from there and there's not much that I can figure out.
This film was supposed to be silly and fluffy. It ended up rather stupid and annoying. Pass on this one if you can.
Labels: Bad Movies, Comedy, Hong Kong
The Mermaid: Dipping into my Shaw Brothers backlog I picked out this delightful little Huang Mei opera entitled The Mermaid. This is a film which is, quite literally, a fairy tale as a carp of the fairy world falls in love with a young scholar. As he is already engaged to a gold-digger named Mudan the carp disguises herself as his betrothed. This leads to some humorous scenes with not only there being two Mudans but friends of the carp also transform into a local judge and his court.All in all this opera is quite interesting and kept my interest the whole way through. When I do find the time to go back to a lot of these films (which I suspect will coincide with when I stop buying new films) I can certainly see myself going back to this.
Labels: Hong Kong, Huang-Mei, Musical
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
The Attractive One: Here we have a romantic comedy starring some bankable stars from Hong Kong to basically look cute and say some cute things and then we all walk away happy. It should be standard fluff from Hong Kong where I expect mediocrity and accept it with open arms. Somehow in the normal scheme of things, something went awry in that we have one of the most boring pictures in a while.Instead of concentrating on the terrible I feel it my duty to at least point out some of the merits of this film and I suppose eye candy is the first I should mention. Joey Yung Tso-Yi is cute enough although Yumiko Cheng Hei-Yi is perhaps a bit more desirable to the eyes. Also Lau Ching Wan is at least fun to watch although he is nowhere near his usual entertaining self.
So yeah, this film might entertain someone but that person probably enjoys a lot
of other activities too boring for the average person.
Labels: Bad Movies, Comedy, Hong Kong, Romance
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Protégé de la Rose Noire: Ever see a film so inept and so stupid that you can hardly stand it? Despite hearing numerous poor reviews and knowing how the central actors, Ekin Cheng and Twins Gil and Charlene, being particularly poor actors. Perhaps I am still giving them all credit for Twins Effect or perhaps the brutal sting of My Wife is 18 has not yet wore off. Either way, I dropped the cash on this piece of junk.I guess I should comment on the good before I totally trash it. Some of the singing was amusing and the Drunken Master parody made me smirk a bit. I suppose that Ekin Cheng dressed ike Robin (from Batman) was supposed to be funny but it was more weird and bizarre than entertaining. However I found myself fast forwarding through most of it which is not something you really should ever do with a movie.
Labels: Bad Movies, Crap, Hong Kong
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Her Fatal Ways: What do you get when you mix classic Hong Kong action comedy, the old trick of making up a beautiful woman to look plain with the tired and true buddy cop story? Well you get this film which surprisingly goes from fun to depressing to quite good.The story is so filled with clichés that it seems almost like any other film and in a way the plot is nothing spectacular. A drug trafficker was picked up in China to be extradited to Hong Kong and manages to escape. His Hong Kong escorts, Sister Cheng (Carol Cheng) and her somewhat daft nephew are asked to help apprehend the criminal alongside one of Hong Kong's finest, played by Tony Leung. Of course the two have different ways and each must adapt to the other's.
There is also a subplot in that Tony's father was one of the counter revolutionaries from Taiwan and Cheng is a very militant communist which at times lead to some hilarious moments like the battle of the uniforms to some rather depressing moments where she talks with some refugees from her home town now living in Hong Kong. They can see eye to eye and all love their home but the Communist party is enough to tear them from the land of their ancestors.
What the theme of the movie does give hints to is that whether from Taiwan, the Mainland or Hong Kong they are all Chinese and that both can work together and get along. Of course this movie doesn't get into the terrible atrocities that Mao Zedong committed and how those refugees fled for their lives from one of the most evil men and regimes in history. This film is not about the past; it's about living together in the future. It's also some good fun if you don't take it too seriously. Still, I had a hard time rooting for someone who would shout their loyalty to Communism but at least the fights were good.
On a side note, this is one of the first releases under the new Joy Sales editions of classic Fortune Star movies. This and many other classic Hong Kong films are part of the Fortune Star library. Many of these movies were released on DVD before by either Deltamac or Universe Laser and Video. The films were never given much respect with shoddy prints, non-anamorphic transfers and subtitles written by an fourth grade dropout. Joy Sales obviously saw there was a market for these films, not just at home but also abroad and promised much better DVDs than we got before.
I have to say that I really wasn't expecting a heck of a lot in terms of picture quality. I have to say that I am impressed. The print was excellent, although not perfect. The transfer itself looked great and sounded great. The real winner for these are the new subtitles. Long gone are the days of misspelled and illiterate subtitles. Now even cultural references are explained to ignorant viewers like myself. Joy Sales did a great job and I plan on trying a lot more Hong Kong films now since they are releasing these.
The backlog, by the way, is now officially 189.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Blue Skies: If there is one genre that is neglected today more than any other, it's the musical. Back in the days Hollywood was cranking out musical after musical. That slowed down in the late 50s although other countries, such as Hong Kong, kept on producing them. Shaw Brothers, besides being famous for their Huang Mei operas and martial arts films, were also quite the studio for producing musicals like the one I watched tonight.Blue Skies is an interesting if not completely typical musical of its day. Cheng Pei Pei stars in this lavish musical as a girl who wants to join show business but her father won't let her as he feels her morals will suffer. When she does in fact become a star via being a last minute replacement for a cranky dancer she does indeed go down the path towards self-destruction. Between losing her boyfriend (played by one of my favorite Hong Kong actors, Peter Chen Ho,) and being horribly scarred in a car accident, her life becomes Hell for her and, in typical fashion, she is saved in the end.
The clichés are many and that is to be expected. This isn't really art but it is a lot of fun to watch. Some of the musical numbers are quite fun and one in particular, a dream sequence, really reminded me of the Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse dance number from Singin' in the Rain. So, while it was good, I don't know that I'd recommend it for a first Shaw musical experience; Hong Kong Rhapsody would be a much better choice.
So after watching three dvds today(!) my backlog has been reduced to 195. If I can keep this up, I may be back to normal in a month or two.
Friday, December 29, 2006
The God of Cookery: Stephen Chow plays Stephen Chow: The God of Cookery! Having won this prestigious title he becomes a complete arrogant snob critical of the smallest thing that doesn't go his way. His critical ways do not last forever when he is exposed as a fraud and ends up in a shady part of town beaten up for panhandling. Lucky for him he meets up with Turkey who is rather ugly and is brilliantly played by the very beautiful Karen Mok with a lot of makeup on. They end up working together and create a new dish which instantly sweeps Hong Kong and he uses this reacquired fame to challenge the chef who took his God of Cookery title from him.The inspiration for this film has to be the then new craze of Iron Chef. Chow plays his part masterfully, as always, and you truly hate his guts at the beginning and come to root for him at the end. This one is easy to recommend for fans of Kung Fu Hustle or Shaolin Soccer.
I am beginning to think that I am watching my DVDs in somewhat the wrong order. Since my order has come in, I am watching all of the stuff I know I will like and leaving some mediocre stuff to stay on my backlog for last. Sometimes I think I should watch the mediocre stuff first to build up to the great stuff, but at least I have enough good stuff to go around.
Labels: Comedy, Hong Kong, Kung Fu
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Kung Fu Hustle: Here's a film that is simply indescribable. Imagine a kung fu movie that puts 100% style over substance along with some of the funniest humor this side of a Buster Keaton film and toss in Stephen Chow and you get Kung Fu Hustle. Well actually what you get is the typical Chow film. While you get par for the Stephen Chow course you get one hell of a ride that, depending on your preferences, you will either love or hate.Kung Fu Hustle holds a special place for me. While, in terms of Cantonese humor, other comedians such as Jackie Chan and especially Michael Hui stand out more than Chow in my eyes this was the first Hong Kong film I ever saw in my local multiplex that wasn't a dub and cut job. Sadly, I fear that it will be the last Chow film that will make it here in that form. While it broke records across Asia, its American box office wasn't so hot. But who knows what the future will bring.
By the way, the backlog is officially 153. I really should watch at least three more before the others come in and who knows how many I will get for Christmas. I fear that 200 count coming back soon.
Labels: Comedy, Hong Kong, Kung Fu
Monday, December 18, 2006
The Splendor of Youth: Whenever I feel down and out and I need a pick me up, I can usually count on an M. P. & G. I film to cheer me up. However, from the moment this film started, I could tell that something was different.While the standard M. P. & G. I. film was a light hearted modern musical, this film is a heavy melodrama. Now some melodrama can at least be entertaining like Father Takes a Bride but this one felt more like a cross between a Greek tragedy and Sex Madness.
The plot is about a girl, Miss Han, who moves in with her friend Danni so she can continue her studies. Danni's mother seems eager to get her into the parties but Danni insists over and over that she not be a part of it. Of course the parties are a front for it being a sort of club where the girls of the family are essentially sold to various men. In the end we are given a stern lesson on morality and the good guys do walk away but with some serious scars.
Perhaps this film was intended to be a sort of moral play for the audience of its time to be wary and avoid such shady activity and to not let your reputation be damaged by getting in with the wrong crowd. I suppose had I watched it as a sort of moral play, I may have seen it in a different light but for now, I can't recommend this film to anyone.
Labels: Bad Movies, Cathay, Hong Kong
Monday, October 23, 2006
Return of the Scorpion / Rivals of the Silver Fox: Here is the last of my recent buys over at Yankee One Dollar and again I am presented with two mind numbingly bad films.Return of the Scorpion is titled as if it were a sequel of some kind, although there appears to no other "Scorpion" films with which to link it to. Perhaps those who would choose English titles just thought it sounded cool. What we do have is a rather bland film with the same plot that all the other films have. Since no one watches these films for drama, I'll limit the rest of my comments to the kung fu itself.
The kung fu shown was rather nice with various styles on display. The fights were choreographed pretty much average compared to other films of the time. Of course we did have some nice talent such as Casanova Wong and Pan Pan Yeung (aka the female version of Jackie Chan) so we should expect a lot. If you want to skim the film for some good fights, be my guest but it is a bit too bland to recommend.
Rivals of the Silver Fox is more of the same kung fu drudgery that reviewing DVDs entails. I've often said that I would love to be a film critic if not for the fact that I'd have to watch a lot of awful moves. With my little hobby here I still have to but at least I can stop the movie halfway and consider it watched and rated crap. That's what I did with Silver Fox deserved or not.
Labels: Dollar DVD, Hong Kong
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Duel of the Dragon / Infernal Street: Taking another stab at getting something off the backlog isn't always easy when the stuff you want to see is on double feature discs. Ah well ?Duel of the Dragon comes from 1980 when Jackie Chan was just coming into his own as a star. Of course this film doesn't have Chan but it has the next best thing (or so they want us to believe) in the form of Jackie Chen. Like Bruce Lee, Jackie was bound to have his copycats I suppose and as far as the style of the film goes, it is much like a early Chan comedy, though not quite as good.
The film is your typical film with a mischievous pupil learning kung fu from his master, in this case his grandfather, and at first doesn't take it seriously and instead goes out having fun. This, of course, gets him into trouble but when confronted with a serious enemy he trains hard and uses his kung fu to get his revenge and justice is served.
It's all been done a million times before but here but at least it's fun. There are a couple notes about the film I should mention. First, Wu Ma makes a cameo early on in the film and he gets second billing on the disc and secondly, and this is not unusual, but music was ripped off of a couple spaghetti westerns for part of the soundtrack. The only cue I could recognize was the main theme from "Once Upon a Time in the West."
Finishing up the disc was the snoozefest, Infernal Street. The plot of this film was basically about some Japanese people who sell opium to Chinese people and how bad they were and stuff. Basically this film managed to be boring and potentially offensive to viewers. The kung fu is pretty good, so maybe people will ignore the plot and just watch the action.
Labels: Dollar DVD, Hong Kong
Monday, October 09, 2006
The Swordswoman in White / The Story of Red Temple Lily: Continuing with the pile of craptastic EastWestDVD's double feature dollar DVDs is this collection of kung fu films featuring women as martial arts heroes. I shall divide this review into two parts so as to give each film the justice it "deserves."The Swordswoman in White is perhaps the most bizarre kung fu I have ever seen. The story is rather bland with the typical rebels against the corrupt government plot-line which has been done a million times before. I doubt I would write more than four or five sentences on this silly little film if not for one aspect. This film has the most comical dubbing I have ever heard.
Bad dubs are common for kung fu fans. Who can forget the old films where the same three people did all the voices and characters frequently used the word "reckon" all the time? Yet these films with their crappy dubbing were largely incompetent because their key sin was ignorance. Swordswoman's dubbing was not based on ignorance but instead was meant to be bad. Watching this is something like watching "What's Up Tiger Lily?" or "Kung Pow" except without any good jokes.
Second on our double feature disc is an older and more familiar style film, "The Story in the
Red Temple Lily." As is typical with EastWest, the title is presented incorrectly on both the disc and the cover.
This film is 100% typical of the Mandarin Kung Fu films made at the time and was actually quite dull despite having some nice female martial artists. In fact, the martial arts weren't really that interesting at all. The one interesting thing about the film is the fact that it features large prop birds that carry people around.
My final verdict is that Swordswoman is at best a guilty pleasure and unwatchable at worst. Red Temple Lily on the other hand is just plain boring. Therefore I would have to give a verdict of "not worth the dollar" on this release.
Labels: Dollar DVD, Hong Kong
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Angel With The Iron Fists: I have to admit that sometimes I will buy a movie for an actor or an actress or because of the film studio it was made at. With this film I felt I couldn't go wrong with a Shaw Brothers female James Bond spy film staring Lily Ho. Of course, I did go wrong and found a rather dull and boring film. There were some neat gadgets and the whole up to the minute fashions of 1966 were very mod and such but they could not keep my attention long.Of course the worst part was the horrible soundtrack remixed and, I am sure, replaced when Celestial decided to "restore" the old Shaw library. It is mostly loud keyboard tracks with modern sound effects. This was, of course, par for the course on Shaw releases back in 2004 when this came out.
Luckily they have now learned the error of their ways and many films are being released with their original mono tracks (most important for me, the musicals) some are still getting the fake 5.1 sound. While there is much outcry online for films to be presented in the original aspect ratio, I think there should be equal outcry that all films be released with their original audio format.
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Thirty Million Rush: Here's a delightfully insane 80s Hong Kong comedy from the folks at Cinema City. Eric Tsang plays a bank employee who gets help from his two friends Mark and Tomboy to steal 30 Million dollars all set to be incinerated. Feeling they need help, they employ Baldy, played of course by Karl Maka. They are pursued by a nun who wishes to turn them away from the life of crime as well as a police inspector who has a personal grudge against Baldy. It's confusing and ends up as typical Cinema City mayhem which plays out like an old slapstick movie of the 30s.Oh, and Sam Hui sang the theme song even if he wasn't in the film.
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Little Mad Guy / 37 Ninja Kids: When Stop & Shop had a half off sale on dollar DVDs, I spring into action. Their selection is limited to EastWest titles and so I picked up a couple of kung fu discs. Last night I ended up watching Little Mad Guy and gave up on 37 Ninja Kids.This film is typical early 80s Kung fu slapstick. After Jackie Chan's "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and"Drunken Master" the genre expanded and new stars came and went. This one stars Ming Tsai Wu as "Little Fatty." There's not much plot other than the fact that he needs to beat up the bad guys and learn from another master new types of kung fu and stuff like that.
Siu Tien Yuen (the old Drunken Master himself) has a cameo in this film but since it was made three years after his death, it's quite obvious that it's stock footage.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Dragon Lee vs. The 5 Brothers: Dragon Lee, one of the many crappy Bruce Lee impersonators stars in this uninspired chop socky film about some rebels who want to overthrow the Ching dynasty. There's a girl who does kung fu, secret rebels and a villain with a metal hand.The Kung fu is very nicely choreographed and at times it looks like a well thought out dance scene. Still, with all that, there's a lot of film to sit through for some fancy kung fu scenes. I found myself nodding off at times and I do believe that will be the reaction most people would have.
On the technical side, the DVD, released by Passion Productions, is in wide screen with a fairly decent print. There are the usual scratches but it is watchable. Where it suffers is in the audio. The right channel is completely silent and thus it is somewhat like watching the film at the drive in with the little speaker put on your car window. It's too bad to ruin an otherwise fine print.
I don't know if a better version is available but for a buck, pick it up.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Spooky Encounters: This film is also known as "Encounters of the Spooky Kind" as is mentioned on the title screen. Why the movie prints and DVD titles of these Hong Kong films so frequently use alternate titles is beyond me.Anyway, this was a Sammo Hung kung fu movie with some horror elements. Apparently this was a pretty popular film when it was released in the last week of 1980 but it has shown quite a good deal of aging in the 25 years since.
The kung fu, as is to be expected, is excellent. Sammo takes on ghosts, police and even a wizard. Here is Sammo in his prime and his agility shines through. The best fight being where he takes on some guards using a bench as his weapon.
The movie, as with much of Hong Kong horror, tends to be pretty disgusting. I think I'm going to give up the genre after this. I admit I'm no supporter of animal rights groups, nor do I have any problem with eating meat, but I do not need to see a chicken's head cut off in the middle of a movie.
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, July 31, 2006
The Guy with Secret Kung Fu: Now here was a nice change of pace. After watching a rather boring duo of documentaries, I popped in this classic Kung Fu film. The plot was fairly standard with the good guys against bad guys for no reason other than they are good and bad. Of course, what helps it were the team of Meng Fei and Li Chung Chien who play through this film like they are having a blast, and that helps the enjoyment factor a lot.One other good parts of the film was the fact that the humor in kung fu films was really starting to come into its own at this time. The heroes of this film as well as the goofy undertaker all added their moments but at times I kept wondering when Dean Shek would show up.
All in all, if you like old chop socky films with some good action and some silly comedy, this is an enjoyable film.
Also, one last note. I fell short of my goal of 31 films in July and hopefully in August I not only meet that but surpass it.
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Crime Story: After watching a couple of Jackie Chan films recently, I decided to finally watch the last JC film in my collection that I had not yet seen. I was warned ahead of time not to expect the typical Chan film. What I got was simply one of the best action and crime films I've ever seen.Jackie plays Inspector Eddie Chan who works night and day to help solve a kidnapping case he was unable to prevent. He does this as one of his colleagues was killed and another seriously wounded in the line of duty. One by one he struggles to put the clues together and fight the bad guys and bureaucracy in order to save the kidnapped man's life and help get those who caused the deaths of his fellow policemen.
The film contains some of the usual Chan moments while neglecting others. There is exciting stunt work as well as hand to hand fights using Chan's trademark use of any props possible. What is absent entirely is comedy. While Chan usually fights the bad guys with a wink and a smile and a Buster Keaton inspired slapstick bit, Chan is 100% serious here and if you can tolerate Jackie Chan without the comedy, I would definitely recommend this film.
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, July 24, 2006
Moon, Star & Sun: Ah Hong Kong! A land of beauty and charm and night hostesses. Michael Mak, after glorifying the profession in Seven Angels (a film which nearly brought me to tears) he decides to make a movie about the hard lives these women have.Maggie Cheung plays May, a girl from a broken home who wants to help her mother out. She essentially gets sold into working at China City as a hostess and has to sit and drink around men she doesn't like and even ends up losing her virginity while being raped by a very large man.
The second of the two girls is Gigi, played by Cherrie Chung. She is trying to get her husband out of jail so she works at the club to get money to pay for a good lawyer to secure his release.
Lastly Carol Cheng plays Porsche who is the oldest of the group and is beyond her time as a hostess. The guests don't like her anymore and she's taken to the bottle.
The girls all have their burdens but things all start to look up for them at one point: May meets a banker who falls in love with her; Gigi's husband gets out of jail and looks to start his own hair salon; and Porshe's first love writes from the US to ask if she still wants to marry him.
Of course, as is typical of Hong Kong drama, we are supposed to leave the theaters depressed. May's fiance leaves her as his parents disapprove. Gigi's husband cheats on her and takes her money for himself. To top it off, Porshe's first love is down on his luck and wants to open his own night club in China Town in Chicago and only wanted Porshe to get girls for his new club.
One particular funny scene was when Porsche and her old beau are in a fancy western restaurant surrounded by white people, the director kept cutting back to this old white woman as if she was the voice of some important person whose acceptance Porshe should be after.
All in all, it was a rather crappy film. But then, Sunday was my day to watch really crappy movies, I guess.
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Armour of God 2 - Operation Condor: Jackie Chan gives a sequel which isn't very typical of sequels in that it only barely follows the first. The only connection to the first movie is that it stars Jackie Chan as Jackie, or Condor, the fearless treasure hunter and the fact that he is again working for the ultra wealthy Baron. What you get, though, is the same Jackie Chan action and excitement that you come to expect and love. Condor shows Jackie in his prime when he was making fantastic movies one after another.The plot here is thin and is a fairly standard treasure hunting story with some bad guys chasing the good guys. The Baron has employed Jackie to recover some gold stolen by the Nazis during WWII which was hidden in the deserts of Africa. This time he takes along Carol (Do Do) Cheng and the granddaughter of the German officer who hid the gold there. They are, of course, chased by those who wish to have the gold for themselves and Jackie has to perform some amazing stuntwork before the day is over.
Armour of God 2 is definitely a high point in Jackie's career. He had yet to break onto the American scene but was definitely the defining star of Hong Kong cinema. Unfortunately looking at this film fifteen years after it was made and looking at Chan's recent endeavors does make one rather nostalgic and wish that the man could do a film like this again. I know that's not fair to Jackie as it's not just his age that is the issue. The simple fact is a movie like Armour of God 2 just couldn't be made today. The audience has changed but these classic films will live forever in the hearts of JC fans everywhere.
My only complaint is that the towel never revealed much of Carol Cheng. She was hot when she was young.
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Walking Beside Me: In the field of cinema one of the most prevalent genres is that of the "chick flick." There are no shortages of them at just about every time you want to take your girlfriend to the movies, she'll want to see one instead of that big action adventure story you were hoping to see. The chick flick is not just an American phenomenon but spans cultures over into the East with this little disposable romantic drama brought to you from Lo Wei and 1986.The plot is pretty standard with boy meets girl; boy woos girl; girl's ex husband comes into the picture, etc. It's all been done a million times before and if you like that sort of thing, here it is. If not, you'll want to stay away.
The high point for many male viewers is of course, Joey Wong. As I mentioned in another post, Joey is not hard on the eyes but her charms can be elusive (especially if you have a thing against underarm hair.) Otherwise she's definitely cute and wears a lot of fashionable outfits of the time.
One of the cool things about these movies is the ephemerality of them. They were made to run in theaters a short time (this one ran six days) and then to be disposed of. For that reason they use up to the minute hairstyles and clothing. You get to see a part of Hong Kong as well and I'm sure for those who know some of these places, it must be interesting to see them in a film twenty years after it was released.
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, July 10, 2006
Armour of God: Here we have a typical 80s Chan movie with adventure, amazing stunts, slapstick comedy and beautiful girls. In this film Jackie and Alan Tam team up to rescue Rosamund Kwan and retrieve the legendary Armor of God. It seems the three were in a sort of love triangle when they were in a band called the Losers (an obvious poke at the Wynners.) To get to Jackie an evil cult has kidnapped Kwan to get him to collect the Armor of God for them and bring it to them. They borrow the first three parts only after agreeing to carry along the daughter of the millionaire who loaned them it. Of course they don't mind much as she is played by the very beautiful Lola Forner who also played with Chan in Wheels on Meals.As always you don't watch these films for the plots but instead for their stuntwork and in this one, the stunts are pretty good. Make sure to watch the credits where you can see the jump where Jackie almost lost his life jumping into a tree and falling.
One side note, in the process of reducing my backlog, I am revisiting genres which I have neglected for some time and have just recently come back to. At one point in my life, I could not go a month without watching a Jackie Chan movie. As of a quick check, this is the very first Jackie Chan movie that I've blogged about so it's been about three years. I can definitely say that twenty years on his movies hold up very well and it sadly makes me mourn a little for how much the HK cinema world has been in decline since then.
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Burning Sensation: After watching a horrendously bad kung fu / horror film the other night, I decided that I would watch something a little more lighthearted and perhaps more enjoyable. I guess that I lucked out when I picked up Burning Sensation.The film is about a fireman who hears a cry for help in a seemingly abandoned building. When he rushes in to save the woman, all he finds is a memorial tablet. It turns out this tablet features the spirit of an opera singer who was killed in a fire many years ago. She soon falls for her rescuer and vice versa. All is not well as there is another ghost, one vengeful towards men, who is also after him but she intends on killing him. There is also the fireman's older brother (played by Wu Ma) and his blind friend who become "ghost busters" to help out Kenny.
All the elements of a good horror / romantic comedy are there and the movie turns out quite nicely. There are some points of the film with the special effects being quite fun and the slapstick was pretty good as well. Of particular note is the often ignored Carol (Do Do) Cheng. She may not have had the looks to be on posters in every teenaged boy's room in Hong Kong, but she has a sort of "wifey" type look that appeals to me.
Also, this film should not be watched by the faint of heart. This is not for the ghost scenes or anything like that, but for the fact that you see Wu Ma in nothing but his BVDs. No one should ever have to see that!
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Kung Fu From Beyond the Grave: One would think with a title like that, I should have known better to stay away from this film. Of course, I did no such thing and happily paid my one dollar bill for this piece of crap.The plot is fairly simple. There is this guy doing kung fu at the start of the film when he is visited by the ghost of his murdered father who, you guessed it, tells him to avenge his father's death. So the hero goes looking for his father's murderer as well as his father's bones. His plan goes awry when it turns out the guy who murdered his father has hired a wizard to make him invincible from attacks. The wizard also knows pretty good kung fu himself and so there is pretty much an hour of non-stop fighting with only pauses to show people in bad makeup acting as ghosts.
The film did have its moments, though. I'd say the most bizarre was when out of nowhere the wizard conjures up Count Dracula! The cheesy special effects are fun to with cartoonish laser beams coming out of the book of magic and shooting at the ghosts.
Despite all that (and despite the fact that I gave this film more of a write up than the good movies I usually watch) I can't recommend this to anyone unless they really love the Kung Fu Horror genre or they really like bizarre films.
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, July 03, 2006
Bruce Lee the Invincible: No, Bruce Lee is nowhere to be found but one of his cheap knockoffs, Bruce Li, can be. In this pretty standard crap filled chop socky film there are all the usual elements that make these movies great (or trash depending on your opinion.) There is fighting, revenge, chivalry and bad dubbing.When I pick up a cheap Kung Fu movie, even at a dollar there has to be a gimmick or something to catch my eye. This film's gimmick is at one part of the movie, two of the fighters fight "big gorillas" as they are called in the film. In actuality they are stunt man in cheap Halloween type gorilla costumes. Still, it is so funny to watch, it will have you in stitches. Unfortunately you have to sit through over an hour of crap to put those scenes in their proper context. It's debatable on whether or not it's worth it.
Labels: Hong Kong
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Miss Hong Kong: In the 80s there were several female actresses who kind of defined the HK movie scene. One that is fondly remembered is Joey Wong. Curvaceous with a cute as a button smile she lit up the screen and filmgoer's hearts. Most either remember her from A Chinese Ghost Story or from when she teamed with Jackie Chan in City Hunter. While I admit that she is a doll, most of her charms tend to escape me.Anyways, the title of this film was originally "Private Life" and was released back in 1987. Checking the HKMDB, the film had a short run of just one week. Of course in 1987 a large amount of movies flooded Hong Kong theaters so I have no idea if one week was normal or particularly short. Either way, it was a particularly crummy movie and I can't recommend it to all buy the most die hard Joey Wong fans and I'm sure you are out there.
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Duel of the Tough: Here is another dollar release from our friends at Digiview. Since it has been a long time since I've seen a chop-socky film, and I had an extra dollar in my pocket.If you are expecting a good movie, you are sadly mistaken. Duel of the Tough barely qualifies as a movie at all. While this version is full frame (it's not even pan & scan as the sides are simply trimmed off) and horrendously dubbed, I doubt the original version is any better.
One last note, Duel of the Tough appears to be a bit of a mystery film. While the plot is standard kung fu nonsense, the IMDB had almost no information of it. HKMDB identifies it as a South Korean film which is not surprising as it was released by our good friend, Joseph Lai! If you must have every movie that has that classic fanfare, then I guess this movie is for you.
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, June 03, 2006
The Death Curse: This pop star fueled horror film brings us not only Twins but also brings Boy'z into the mix to make this the film that all the teenagers had to see ... or something like that.The film is about these brothers and sisters who never knew each other and all reunite after their father dies. Basically they have to go through some rituals and junk and become scared when the "ghost" of their dead father comes along and scares them. The plot is pretty straightforward with this flowing out like a twisted episode of Scooby Doo.
Frankly, I will say that this is perhaps the most disappointing movie I've seen in a while, even worse than Twins Effect II. I can't recommend this film to anyone really and as a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say that the real curse is to those who have to sit through it.
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, June 01, 2006
The Greatest Civil War on Earth: It's the North vs. the South ... err no, not the American Civil War, but instead a fight between two tailors in Hong Kong. One one side we have the conservative and traditional southern Cantonese speaking Liang Xingbo and then there is the more "modern" northerner Liu Enjia who speaks Mandarin.The film is a comedy which highlights in many ways differing personalities which even to someone who has little or no historical and cultural experience with the subject can pick up on the universal feeling of distrust for someone who doesn't quite see eye to eye with us and also see the humor in how silly it ends up. Of course, with an MP&GI film, don't expect a lot of social commentary to ruin the fun.
Labels: Hong Kong
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The Twins Effect 2: To borrow a phrase from Conan O'Brien, "Some say a waste of time, others say a colossal waste of time." This non-sequel of the first has no vampires or connection to the first film other than it stars Cantonese pop sensations, Twins ... Oh and that Jackie Chan makes a totally worthless cameo as well.I'd like to say that I wasn't that disappointed in the film, but indeed I was so disappointed that I was barely paying attention and was watching the timer almost instantly after it got going.
Gil and Charlene are cute but I will admit that they just don't have the appeal to me that they once did. While I do find them adorable and cute, it may be the time to take down the Twins Effect poster off my wall.
I also ended up watching the first disc of Seven of Seven and went ahead and fixed my backlog. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a backlog of 218! Plus with several brick sets "chipped into" I'm doing great!
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Beauty Parade:Watching an MP&GI film can be a nostalgic experience, even if you never lived durring that time period and or never lived in Hong Kong. I think the reason for this is the fact that they tend to show that even with their conflicts, there is a general optimism and goodness in life. I have sometimes said that my idea utopia would be a fantasy world based on 50s dating instruction films but I think most MP&GI films work well too.This film is about a cute country girl named Guo Sue who comes from a poor family. Her father feels that the reason he is in such a bad situation is because he never got a good education and with the help of the local principal of the school, Sue is sent off to the city to get a real education. Along the way she meets obsticales in the way of ridicule from classmates, keeping up with her studies and balancing studying and sports. There is something that passes for a romantic subplot, but it never gets anywhere.
MP&GI had a great stable of actors and would use them in many movies. In this movie we saw the always welcome roly poly character actor, Liu Enjia as well as Kelly Lai Chen who plays his usual handsome young guy part.
Good stuff all around.
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, October 24, 2005
The Little Dinos: Vol. 4: More of the same and good stuff. Despite all the bad dubbing and silly plots and crappy character animation, the show is pretty good.
I need to make a good marathon day on DVDs as I'm up to 224 dvds on my backlog.
I need to make a good marathon day on DVDs as I'm up to 224 dvds on my backlog.
Friday, January 02, 2004
Tonight's film: Our Dream Car.
While I just received my Layoyo order today, I thought it fitting to start with a Cathay release first. I picked "Our Dream Car" pretty much at random and I'm really glad I did as the film was a delight. Grace Chang lit up the screen and really portrayed the kind of nice caring wife we'd all love to have.
The film's subject matter, buying an automobile, is something that at this time is really near and dear to me right now. Since I am in the process of saving for a car and working on getting my driver's license, I can really relate to this film and just how difficult getting a car can be, but at the same time how much of a thrill it is.
While I just received my Layoyo order today, I thought it fitting to start with a Cathay release first. I picked "Our Dream Car" pretty much at random and I'm really glad I did as the film was a delight. Grace Chang lit up the screen and really portrayed the kind of nice caring wife we'd all love to have.
The film's subject matter, buying an automobile, is something that at this time is really near and dear to me right now. Since I am in the process of saving for a car and working on getting my driver's license, I can really relate to this film and just how difficult getting a car can be, but at the same time how much of a thrill it is.
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, December 29, 2003
R.I.P. Anita Mui Yim-Fong
I am saddened to have heard the news that the legendary Anita Mui has passed on at the age of 40. 
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Well, while I had planned to watch Totoro and then "It's a Wonderful Life" I ended up watching Diva Ah Hey which stars the cuter Twin: Charlene Choi. While there was no action, big laughs, or anything really exciting, I really found myself enjoying this film.
Oh and Chapman To was in this. Is he in every friggin' HK film made these days?
Oh and Chapman To was in this. Is he in every friggin' HK film made these days?
Labels: Hong Kong
Tonight's Film: The Bride Napping
The Bride Napping is a film that I bought some time ago and by the time it came in I completely forgot why I had bought it. I had viewed the trailer a few times but had never actually taken the time to watch it. Between its seemingly uninteresting synopsis and two hour running time, I had a hard time convincing myself to watch it. Tonight, while I was planning on watching something else, I decided now was the time to check it out.
The plot was fairly simple with a scholar and a squire's daughter falling in love at first sight. When her father wants to meet him to make arrangements for marriage the old servant he sends out to fetch him gets the wrong guy. However this guy also wants to marry the girl and threatens to kidnap her which is where the action starts.
I can't say I really hated the film, but it just didn't hold my attention. Whether its the mood I am in tonight or something else, I just couldn't keep still durring much of the film.
The Bride Napping is a film that I bought some time ago and by the time it came in I completely forgot why I had bought it. I had viewed the trailer a few times but had never actually taken the time to watch it. Between its seemingly uninteresting synopsis and two hour running time, I had a hard time convincing myself to watch it. Tonight, while I was planning on watching something else, I decided now was the time to check it out.
The plot was fairly simple with a scholar and a squire's daughter falling in love at first sight. When her father wants to meet him to make arrangements for marriage the old servant he sends out to fetch him gets the wrong guy. However this guy also wants to marry the girl and threatens to kidnap her which is where the action starts.
I can't say I really hated the film, but it just didn't hold my attention. Whether its the mood I am in tonight or something else, I just couldn't keep still durring much of the film.
Labels: Hong Kong
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Tonight's film: Spring Song
This film was about two girls going to college. One is Grace Chang whom is a girl of middle class means whose family saved so that she could be able to get a chance to go to college. The other is Jeanette Lin Cui who comes from a rich family. Then there are the boys: Grace's boyfriend is the big lunk Roy Chiao and Jeanette's beau is none other than the ever welcome Peter Chen Ho. The film's plot is mostly misunderstandings and learning to be a more well rounded person.
This is my second MP & GI film and I must say that I'm hooked. There is a lot to like in these films as long as you can take films that have just ordinary people having ordinary things happening to them.
This film was about two girls going to college. One is Grace Chang whom is a girl of middle class means whose family saved so that she could be able to get a chance to go to college. The other is Jeanette Lin Cui who comes from a rich family. Then there are the boys: Grace's boyfriend is the big lunk Roy Chiao and Jeanette's beau is none other than the ever welcome Peter Chen Ho. The film's plot is mostly misunderstandings and learning to be a more well rounded person.
This is my second MP & GI film and I must say that I'm hooked. There is a lot to like in these films as long as you can take films that have just ordinary people having ordinary things happening to them.
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, December 20, 2003
Tonight's film: The Spy Dad
Wong Jing strikes again!
Okay to be fair when I read LoveHKfilm.com's review of this film I was in for trouble. Of course when it has Wong Jing's name on it, you know you aren't in for high culture. Sure it has a cavalcade of "stars" including one of the Twins (Gillian Cheung Yun-Tung) and I did catch myself chuckling a little, but I would not recommend this film to anyone. The film is basically some parodies of James Bond, Bruce Lee, the Matrix, Spy Kids et all crammed into 90 minutes of non-entertainment.
BTW, I still can't decide which Twin is my favorite. I think it depends on which one I've seen the most recently.
Wong Jing strikes again!
Okay to be fair when I read LoveHKfilm.com's review of this film I was in for trouble. Of course when it has Wong Jing's name on it, you know you aren't in for high culture. Sure it has a cavalcade of "stars" including one of the Twins (Gillian Cheung Yun-Tung) and I did catch myself chuckling a little, but I would not recommend this film to anyone. The film is basically some parodies of James Bond, Bruce Lee, the Matrix, Spy Kids et all crammed into 90 minutes of non-entertainment.
BTW, I still can't decide which Twin is my favorite. I think it depends on which one I've seen the most recently.
Labels: Hong Kong
Friday, December 19, 2003
If a film in history ever lived up to the hype, it's Shaolin Soccer. After hearing so much good about this film, my expectations were very high and they were met and exceeded. If Hong Kong could make films with such quality as this on a regular basis instead of the usual crap that we get, HK Cinema would be much better shape than it is now.
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Today's film: The Millionaire Chase
Three girls perform in this nightclub act and they travel in search of rich husbands. There's international jewel thieves, predictable plot twists, and lots singing, dancing and beautiful outfits on beautiful girls. One would think I would have enjoyed this film more. While I did enjoy it some I found myself pausing it a few times; I even took an "intermission" to shower and shave. It wasn't really that borring, just didn't hold my interest as much as "Hong Kong Rhapsody" or "We Love Millionaires" did.
Peter Chen Ho was in this film. Just how many films was that guy in? (He was actually in 70 films - 20 being Shaws)
BTW, the DVD of this film looked rather poor compared to the other Celestial releases. The opening scene was in pretty bad shape but apparently that was the only source available for that part. Also a couple times in the film, quite a bit of wear showed on the source. :(
Three girls perform in this nightclub act and they travel in search of rich husbands. There's international jewel thieves, predictable plot twists, and lots singing, dancing and beautiful outfits on beautiful girls. One would think I would have enjoyed this film more. While I did enjoy it some I found myself pausing it a few times; I even took an "intermission" to shower and shave. It wasn't really that borring, just didn't hold my interest as much as "Hong Kong Rhapsody" or "We Love Millionaires" did.
Peter Chen Ho was in this film. Just how many films was that guy in? (He was actually in 70 films - 20 being Shaws)
BTW, the DVD of this film looked rather poor compared to the other Celestial releases. The opening scene was in pretty bad shape but apparently that was the only source available for that part. Also a couple times in the film, quite a bit of wear showed on the source. :(
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Today's film: Love Parade.
Ah more Lin Dai and more Peter Chen Ho. Can I ever get enough of either of these? Well probably. While this film started out good, it sadly dragged on just a little too long and I found myself dozing off the last 20 minutes of the film. I did laugh at some parts and I can't say it was a truly horrid film, just one that is in no danger of being overplayed.
In other news I got the first DVD of Ultraman Tiga in perhaps the crappiest box ever. >_<
Ah more Lin Dai and more Peter Chen Ho. Can I ever get enough of either of these? Well probably. While this film started out good, it sadly dragged on just a little too long and I found myself dozing off the last 20 minutes of the film. I did laugh at some parts and I can't say it was a truly horrid film, just one that is in no danger of being overplayed.
In other news I got the first DVD of Ultraman Tiga in perhaps the crappiest box ever. >_<
Labels: Hong Kong
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Next DVD up: Happy Ghost 3.
After watching My Favorite Martian with all of Martin's pointing and moving stuff gags, its seemed only natural to follow that up with a Happy Ghost film. There are only 2 more left unfortunately and I haven't been able to locate them for purchase. I suppose one might consider Nine Girls & a Ghost to be Happy Ghost 6 in a way and it would've . ~_^
Happy Ghost 3 was actually quite different for a Happy Ghost film with the "Happy Girls" really being secondary characters with very little relavance to the plot. While it seems a sequel to the first two, so much changes that one can wonder what kind of logic Raymond Wong wanted us to have, if any, to connect the 3 films.
Oh and Charine Chan was adorable again, though her character was not really very important and sadly we couldn't see her very much in the film. For some reason I think she was cuter when she was younger, not to say she still didn't look great when she was older (and still had those adorable dimples), she just looked a little less cute.
Of course Maggie Cheung was the star of this film. Its always fun to see Maggie when she was the cutie-pie actress at the begining of her career and its still fun to watch her as the glamorous woman she is now. Maggie is one you can't help but love; she can be cute; she can be elegant; she can just be a whole lot of fun to look at on the screen.
After watching My Favorite Martian with all of Martin's pointing and moving stuff gags, its seemed only natural to follow that up with a Happy Ghost film. There are only 2 more left unfortunately and I haven't been able to locate them for purchase. I suppose one might consider Nine Girls & a Ghost to be Happy Ghost 6 in a way and it would've . ~_^
Happy Ghost 3 was actually quite different for a Happy Ghost film with the "Happy Girls" really being secondary characters with very little relavance to the plot. While it seems a sequel to the first two, so much changes that one can wonder what kind of logic Raymond Wong wanted us to have, if any, to connect the 3 films.
Oh and Charine Chan was adorable again, though her character was not really very important and sadly we couldn't see her very much in the film. For some reason I think she was cuter when she was younger, not to say she still didn't look great when she was older (and still had those adorable dimples), she just looked a little less cute.
Of course Maggie Cheung was the star of this film. Its always fun to see Maggie when she was the cutie-pie actress at the begining of her career and its still fun to watch her as the glamorous woman she is now. Maggie is one you can't help but love; she can be cute; she can be elegant; she can just be a whole lot of fun to look at on the screen.
Labels: Hong Kong
Sunday, December 14, 2003
Tonight's film: The Dancing Millionairess.
After seeing a depressing Shaw musical the other day, I was a bit hesitant to try this one, despite its seemingly upbeat title. I am quite pleased to have discovered this one. Musicals are a dead genre of films and movies today will never again display things so innocently and naively as shown here.
It was quite interesting to see Peter Chen Ho and Betty Le Di (who were married at the time) act opposite each other in this silly little musical. It's really sad to think that 2 years after this film the couple divorced and 1968 Betty would die of an apparent suicide. It's doubly sad to think that Peter himself would die of cancer in 1970. :(
After seeing a depressing Shaw musical the other day, I was a bit hesitant to try this one, despite its seemingly upbeat title. I am quite pleased to have discovered this one. Musicals are a dead genre of films and movies today will never again display things so innocently and naively as shown here.
It was quite interesting to see Peter Chen Ho and Betty Le Di (who were married at the time) act opposite each other in this silly little musical. It's really sad to think that 2 years after this film the couple divorced and 1968 Betty would die of an apparent suicide. It's doubly sad to think that Peter himself would die of cancer in 1970. :(
Labels: Hong Kong
Friday, December 12, 2003
Today's film: Sunset
This was a really sad film from Inoue Umetsugu and Shaw Brothers. To make a long story short, the heroine dies. I hate movies that are sad like that. Really didn't help the low mood I was in.
This was a really sad film from Inoue Umetsugu and Shaw Brothers. To make a long story short, the heroine dies. I hate movies that are sad like that. Really didn't help the low mood I was in.
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Horray! My blog is back up! And at a new URL too. ^_^ The world can now return to its normal state.
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Tonight's film: Seven Angels.
This film was such crap that I don't even want to bother writing a darn thing about it.
This film was such crap that I don't even want to bother writing a darn thing about it.
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, December 08, 2003
Tonight's film: "Hong Kong Rhapsody"
To quote the back cover, "There's nothing like a good, opulent, gaudy musical to lift the spirits." That is certainly true with this film is everything mentioned and more. The plot is fairly standard but never fails to please.
It's really too bad that musicals are pretty much dead now that the film going public feels they are above this sort of entertainment. It's too bad since most of the stuff coming out now isn't half as enjoyable as these lavish musicals.
Peter Chen Ho shows up again and since I've seen him in quite a few films recently, and I must say that he seems a likeable chap in all of his films. According to the biography on the DVD he made 70 films in just 20 years (20 of them being at Shaws) Since the Shaws and Cathay films are finally being released on DVD the world can finally rediscover (or discover for the first time) such actors as Peter Chan Ho, Li Ching, Lin Dai, etc.
To quote the back cover, "There's nothing like a good, opulent, gaudy musical to lift the spirits." That is certainly true with this film is everything mentioned and more. The plot is fairly standard but never fails to please.
It's really too bad that musicals are pretty much dead now that the film going public feels they are above this sort of entertainment. It's too bad since most of the stuff coming out now isn't half as enjoyable as these lavish musicals.
Peter Chen Ho shows up again and since I've seen him in quite a few films recently, and I must say that he seems a likeable chap in all of his films. According to the biography on the DVD he made 70 films in just 20 years (20 of them being at Shaws) Since the Shaws and Cathay films are finally being released on DVD the world can finally rediscover (or discover for the first time) such actors as Peter Chan Ho, Li Ching, Lin Dai, etc.
Labels: Hong Kong
Another film for the night: "Cinderella and her Little Angels"
Peter Chen Ho and the lovely Linda Lin Dai star in this wonderful 1959 musical done by the Cathay Studios. In this film Peter loves Linda but Peter can't quite get Linda so Peter kisses a manequin that looks like Linda! Yeah, I know that counds weird but in this film its taken as completly normal. Of course more happens in the film like a couple of fashion shows and a few songs. The events are all quite trivial really but it really brings a smile to my face anyway.
I'm really glad that the Cathay films, like the Shaws, are getting long awaited DVD releases. I don't know if I will pick up Cathays as much as I buy Shaws but I will certainly look into some other titles as this was really quite enjoyable.
Peter Chen Ho and the lovely Linda Lin Dai star in this wonderful 1959 musical done by the Cathay Studios. In this film Peter loves Linda but Peter can't quite get Linda so Peter kisses a manequin that looks like Linda! Yeah, I know that counds weird but in this film its taken as completly normal. Of course more happens in the film like a couple of fashion shows and a few songs. The events are all quite trivial really but it really brings a smile to my face anyway.
I'm really glad that the Cathay films, like the Shaws, are getting long awaited DVD releases. I don't know if I will pick up Cathays as much as I buy Shaws but I will certainly look into some other titles as this was really quite enjoyable.
Labels: Hong Kong
Sunday, December 07, 2003
Tonight's film: "Dragon Loaded 2003"
This film was pretty interesting with some laughs here and there. Nothing really spectacular happened but I can't knock it too much. It was similar to the whole Police Academy setup that's been done umteen times before in HK.
BTW, Stephy Tang was so cute in that one shot where she was wearing glasses.
This film was pretty interesting with some laughs here and there. Nothing really spectacular happened but I can't knock it too much. It was similar to the whole Police Academy setup that's been done umteen times before in HK.
BTW, Stephy Tang was so cute in that one shot where she was wearing glasses.
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Today's film: "The Merry Wife"
Okay so a guy marries a girl who is half his age and she transfers to the school he teaches at. Of course they have to keep it a secret and various misadventures occour. Only in the movies! Nothing really happens in it of much value, but I didn't really seem to mind as it was all in good fun.
I think this is what they call unoffensive cinema. Heck even in the movies they slept in seperate beds in those days. The movie has a sort of innocence too it which today's movies severly lack. While I doubt school in 1971 in Hong Kong was anything like it was shown here, this film seems like an interesting and delightful relic of what is sadly a bye-gone era.
Okay so a guy marries a girl who is half his age and she transfers to the school he teaches at. Of course they have to keep it a secret and various misadventures occour. Only in the movies! Nothing really happens in it of much value, but I didn't really seem to mind as it was all in good fun.
I think this is what they call unoffensive cinema. Heck even in the movies they slept in seperate beds in those days. The movie has a sort of innocence too it which today's movies severly lack. While I doubt school in 1971 in Hong Kong was anything like it was shown here, this film seems like an interesting and delightful relic of what is sadly a bye-gone era.
Labels: Hong Kong
Last night's film: "The Shadow Whip"
The stars of "Come Drink with Me": Cheng Pei Pei & Yueh Hua return in this neat little martial arts film directed by Lo Wei. While not a bad film at all, it was pretty typical of the Shaw Martial arts films of which there are quite a few out there.
BTW, I still say it's amazing how Cheng Pei Pei could fight so well and still look so darn pretty.
The stars of "Come Drink with Me": Cheng Pei Pei & Yueh Hua return in this neat little martial arts film directed by Lo Wei. While not a bad film at all, it was pretty typical of the Shaw Martial arts films of which there are quite a few out there.
BTW, I still say it's amazing how Cheng Pei Pei could fight so well and still look so darn pretty.
Labels: Hong Kong
Friday, December 05, 2003
Today's film: "The Inspector Wears Skirts II"
A sequel is very rarely as good as the original. Usually one sequel is more than enough, yet it's hard to believe there are two more in this series of films. While the girls were good looking and what little action there was was pretty decent, I jus t can see how inferior this one is to the original.
A sequel is very rarely as good as the original. Usually one sequel is more than enough, yet it's hard to believe there are two more in this series of films. While the girls were good looking and what little action there was was pretty decent, I jus t can see how inferior this one is to the original.
Labels: Hong Kong
Okay, my blog has been having some issues. >_<
Last night's film: "Nine Girls and a Ghost"
Cookies and Edison Chen starred in this updated version of the Happy Ghost series though Raymond Wong is only the producer and writer this time. There are quite a few similarities with the film being centered on some high school girls and the ghost they find. The ghost of course helps them out with their sports (via some bad CGI.)
Oh and Cyrus Wong who played Karl Maka's bald infant son "Baldy Jr" in two of the Aces Go Places films and one other film (Merry Christmas) is here all grown up and acting again. Good to see some child stars can make a return.
Was it a good film? Certianly not. Was it offensive to my intelligence? Hmm, not really. I guess I can't insult a film like this since it really didn't try to be anything more than what it accomplished.
On a side note, this is the only DVD I ever bought with a cupon for feminine products in it. (eek!)
Last night's film: "Nine Girls and a Ghost"
Cookies and Edison Chen starred in this updated version of the Happy Ghost series though Raymond Wong is only the producer and writer this time. There are quite a few similarities with the film being centered on some high school girls and the ghost they find. The ghost of course helps them out with their sports (via some bad CGI.)
Oh and Cyrus Wong who played Karl Maka's bald infant son "Baldy Jr" in two of the Aces Go Places films and one other film (Merry Christmas) is here all grown up and acting again. Good to see some child stars can make a return.
Was it a good film? Certianly not. Was it offensive to my intelligence? Hmm, not really. I guess I can't insult a film like this since it really didn't try to be anything more than what it accomplished.
On a side note, this is the only DVD I ever bought with a cupon for feminine products in it. (eek!)
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
The order from Layoyo came in, which means 21 more added to DVDProfiler and so far tonight I have watched just one ...
Anyhoo, tonight's film was "Young Lovers." The film was fairly simple in plot but had some surprises. The first and perhaps most delightful surprise was that this film featured a young Dean Shek. This was a over a decade before Cinema City would ever become a reality and its really interesting to see Dean before he was just "that funny looking guy in every Kung Fu film."
As for the rest of the film, it was par for the course as far and Inoue Umetsugu musicals go. Really simple with lots of singing, funny themes, and nothing too offensive. In a word, it's a fun little film I can see myself revisiting again in the future which, for Hong Kong films anyway, means a lot for me to say that.
Anyhoo, tonight's film was "Young Lovers." The film was fairly simple in plot but had some surprises. The first and perhaps most delightful surprise was that this film featured a young Dean Shek. This was a over a decade before Cinema City would ever become a reality and its really interesting to see Dean before he was just "that funny looking guy in every Kung Fu film."
As for the rest of the film, it was par for the course as far and Inoue Umetsugu musicals go. Really simple with lots of singing, funny themes, and nothing too offensive. In a word, it's a fun little film I can see myself revisiting again in the future which, for Hong Kong films anyway, means a lot for me to say that.
Labels: Hong Kong
Today's Movie: A Diary of a Big Man
There is not much to say about this film other than the fact that I'm still laughing my head off. This film was so entertaining on so many levels it's hard to sum it up in one paragraph.
Joey Wong and Sally Yeh both looked great in this film and I'd have a hard time deciding myself if I was Chow. Ultimately I'd pick that adorable Joey since she is just so wonderful with that long black hair.
Very Nice!
There is not much to say about this film other than the fact that I'm still laughing my head off. This film was so entertaining on so many levels it's hard to sum it up in one paragraph.
Joey Wong and Sally Yeh both looked great in this film and I'd have a hard time deciding myself if I was Chow. Ultimately I'd pick that adorable Joey since she is just so wonderful with that long black hair.
Very Nice!
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, December 01, 2003
Just watched "To Hell with the Devil" which is John Woo and Ricky Hui's version of Faust. Certainly weird and often in bad taste but that's what John Woo's Ricky Hui starring comedies are about. Amazing that Woo is still going (and still respected) all these years later.
Labels: Hong Kong
Sunday, November 30, 2003
Another DVD watched was the first volume of "My Favorite Martian" It's too bad that they weren't released as season box sets. I'd certainly buy them on DVD as I really enjoy this show.
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, November 29, 2003
Today's film (or rather last night's film) was "The Romancing Star"
More silliness from Wong Jing with plenty of foolishness, stupidity, and laughs. Chow Yun Fat was really hilarious as the auto mechanic pretending to be rich to win over Maggie who was also pretending to be rich. Of course there is a rival, and CHow Yun Fat has his buddies to help him along. While many of the jokes had me cracking up, some of the humor was in really bad taste.
One particular skit that made me laugh was Chow Yun Fat, Eric Tsang, and Nat Chan intercept Stanley Fung's telephone call for love advice. Seeing and hearing those guys sing "Only You" in an odd experience but one you can't help but crack up at.
More silliness from Wong Jing with plenty of foolishness, stupidity, and laughs. Chow Yun Fat was really hilarious as the auto mechanic pretending to be rich to win over Maggie who was also pretending to be rich. Of course there is a rival, and CHow Yun Fat has his buddies to help him along. While many of the jokes had me cracking up, some of the humor was in really bad taste.
One particular skit that made me laugh was Chow Yun Fat, Eric Tsang, and Nat Chan intercept Stanley Fung's telephone call for love advice. Seeing and hearing those guys sing "Only You" in an odd experience but one you can't help but crack up at.
Labels: Hong Kong
Friday, November 28, 2003
Today's films: "Toy Story 2" and "Peking Opera Blues"
Toy Story 2 was great. After enjoying the first Toy Story so much I'm really surprised I took so long to watch this. Sequels don't usually match the original when it comes to quality but
Peking Opera Blues was another fantastic movie although I don't know if I'd call it the greatest HK film ever made like many review of it I've read. Definately great, but my favorite HK film is still "Come Drink with Me."
Toy Story 2 was great. After enjoying the first Toy Story so much I'm really surprised I took so long to watch this. Sequels don't usually match the original when it comes to quality but
Peking Opera Blues was another fantastic movie although I don't know if I'd call it the greatest HK film ever made like many review of it I've read. Definately great, but my favorite HK film is still "Come Drink with Me."
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, November 27, 2003
Today's film: "King of Beggars"
In this film Chow plays So and wishes to be a scholar, instead due to his cheating he ends up as a beggar. Since he can't be anything but a beggar he falls into self pity but later discovers that if you must be a beggar, you may as well be the King of Beggars.
To be entirely honest I have not seen many of the films of Steven Chow. Today after watching "King of Beggars" I know I will certainly watch more. The film was funny and while violent, not the disturbing graphicly shown violence. Guess I'd better start looking for other Chow films. ^_^
In this film Chow plays So and wishes to be a scholar, instead due to his cheating he ends up as a beggar. Since he can't be anything but a beggar he falls into self pity but later discovers that if you must be a beggar, you may as well be the King of Beggars.
To be entirely honest I have not seen many of the films of Steven Chow. Today after watching "King of Beggars" I know I will certainly watch more. The film was funny and while violent, not the disturbing graphicly shown violence. Guess I'd better start looking for other Chow films. ^_^
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Today's film: "Cave of the Silken Web"
The third of the "Journey to the West" series made by Shaw is just as fun as the first two. This time a group of Spider women are after Tang and its up to Son Wukong to save the day again. Full of color, adventure, color, and spectacle this film really entertained me on many levels.
Oh, and the 7 Spider Sisters were really hot too. ;)
The third of the "Journey to the West" series made by Shaw is just as fun as the first two. This time a group of Spider women are after Tang and its up to Son Wukong to save the day again. Full of color, adventure, color, and spectacle this film really entertained me on many levels.
Oh, and the 7 Spider Sisters were really hot too. ;)
Labels: Hong Kong
Today's film: "Princess Iron Fan"
The second of Shaw Brothers' "Journey to the West" series was quite an enjoyable film experience. Tang, Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy are still headed west to get the scripture they are after and of course they face obstacles in the way with such characters as Princess Iron Fan, the Ox King, and the White Bone Demon.
One great thing about the film was the fact that it featured that cutie-pie Cheng Pei-Pei. Even though she's much older now I will always think of her as she was here in her prime. She can pull off being fierce and evil in this film and in like many of her films can be quite brutal with a sword, or as sweet and gentle as in "Hong Kong Nocturne." No matter how mean she was in this movie, she still had enough to charm to make me smile; she's just fun to watch!
Anyhoo, the third film in the JTTW series is "Cave of the Silken Web" which I will have to watch sometime soon. I'll also have to order "The Land of Many Perfumes" sometime in the near future but I forgot all about it in my order I placed to Layoyo today. >_<
The second of Shaw Brothers' "Journey to the West" series was quite an enjoyable film experience. Tang, Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy are still headed west to get the scripture they are after and of course they face obstacles in the way with such characters as Princess Iron Fan, the Ox King, and the White Bone Demon.
One great thing about the film was the fact that it featured that cutie-pie Cheng Pei-Pei. Even though she's much older now I will always think of her as she was here in her prime. She can pull off being fierce and evil in this film and in like many of her films can be quite brutal with a sword, or as sweet and gentle as in "Hong Kong Nocturne." No matter how mean she was in this movie, she still had enough to charm to make me smile; she's just fun to watch!
Anyhoo, the third film in the JTTW series is "Cave of the Silken Web" which I will have to watch sometime soon. I'll also have to order "The Land of Many Perfumes" sometime in the near future but I forgot all about it in my order I placed to Layoyo today. >_<
Labels: Hong Kong
Sunday, November 23, 2003
I was able to watch "Happy Ghost II" and while not exactly a perfect sequel since it seems to take place at the same time as "The Happy Ghost" (namely the mid 80s). I am finding that I rather enjoy Raymond Wong's silly films and can't wait until I place an order for "Happy Ghost III" which has none other than Maggie Cheung.
While I know that school was certainly not like that in 1980's Hong Kong, I really wish I had gone to school with a few of those girls, most especially Charine Chan's character in this film. She seemed like such a nice and sincere person with her crush on teacher Raymond. If I could only have a gal with such cute dimples to have a crush on me ... *Sigh~~ ~* Best not to think of those things. :-P
While I know that school was certainly not like that in 1980's Hong Kong, I really wish I had gone to school with a few of those girls, most especially Charine Chan's character in this film. She seemed like such a nice and sincere person with her crush on teacher Raymond. If I could only have a gal with such cute dimples to have a crush on me ... *Sigh~~ ~* Best not to think of those things. :-P
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Continuing with the trend I started yesterday I have watched another Raymond Wong film. This time I watched the first of the "Happy Ghost" films. Perhaps tomorrow I will watch the second and maybe order the third in my next order from HK.
Labels: Hong Kong
Friday, November 21, 2003
With another day is another one of Cinema City's silly films. So far the film of the day has been Isle of Fantasy starring Cinema City Co-Founder Raymond Wong. Despite the fact that much of the film's plot and gags were lifted almost verbatim from Disney's Swiss Family Robinson I did laugh quite a bit.
The story is pretty simple with saleman Raymond Wong and 6 Girl Guides and their prudish leader get stuck on a semi-deserted isle. Of course the leader believes poor Raymond is a sex maniac and tries to keep him away from the girls. However later they find they are not alone on the island as an old man lives there as well as some pirates!
So, as far as 80s HK Cinema goes this doesn't win any awards or break down any new barriers. All it accomplishes is entertaining you for 80 minutes, which in 1985 in Hong Kong was really all that it had any ambition of doing so one can judge it too harshly.
I think I should have time for maybe another DVD or two tonight...
The story is pretty simple with saleman Raymond Wong and 6 Girl Guides and their prudish leader get stuck on a semi-deserted isle. Of course the leader believes poor Raymond is a sex maniac and tries to keep him away from the girls. However later they find they are not alone on the island as an old man lives there as well as some pirates!
So, as far as 80s HK Cinema goes this doesn't win any awards or break down any new barriers. All it accomplishes is entertaining you for 80 minutes, which in 1985 in Hong Kong was really all that it had any ambition of doing so one can judge it too harshly.
I think I should have time for maybe another DVD or two tonight...
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, November 20, 2003
While it's not quite Christmas yet, I have watched the Karl Maka comedy "Merry Christmas" which wasn't so much of a Christmas movie as it was a typical 80's Cantonese comedy. Karl Maka likes the gal next door who helps take care of his youngest son (Baldy Jr. from Aces Go Places 3 & 4) but doesn't exactly know how to let her know.
What's funny that the son's girlfriend ("Jaws") was introduced with glasses and braces. I acually found her more attractive than when she got rid of the braces and glasses. Of course I'm a little weird like that.
What's funny that the son's girlfriend ("Jaws") was introduced with glasses and braces. I acually found her more attractive than when she got rid of the braces and glasses. Of course I'm a little weird like that.
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
In Hong Kong it is said there are 3 great film comedians of the past 50 years: Stephen Chow, Karl Maka, and Michael Hui. Today I had the good fortune of seeing Chocolate Inspector with perhaps the greatest of the three comics, Michael Hui.
The film Chocolate Inspector was very enjoyable and a lot of fun. While not as great as his earlier efforts (Games Gamblers Play, Last Message, etc.) I really enjoyed this film a lot more than most of the Cantonese comedies I've seen.
Now I just need to go ahead and watch the other 151 DVDs in my backlog but since I don't exactly have class tomorrow, perhaps there is time then. ^_^;
The film Chocolate Inspector was very enjoyable and a lot of fun. While not as great as his earlier efforts (Games Gamblers Play, Last Message, etc.) I really enjoyed this film a lot more than most of the Cantonese comedies I've seen.
Now I just need to go ahead and watch the other 151 DVDs in my backlog but since I don't exactly have class tomorrow, perhaps there is time then. ^_^;
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, November 17, 2003
After a long hiatus from watching DVDs I was able to watch the John Woo directed "Plain Jane to the Rescue" with Josephine Siao Fong-Fong and Ricky Hui. The film was pretty blah but not without its moments. The best part was John Woo's cameo and he wanted to fill out an unemployment office record. (Ricky Hui made a comment on how he's seen Woo's films and they are terrible)
Also it's funny to note that while the title calls her "Jane" the subtitles call her "Jenny." (I guess this is not unlike "A Family Affair" when the subs would have us believe that the kid was named Ben when the characters were obviously saying Tommy)
Also it's funny to note that while the title calls her "Jane" the subtitles call her "Jenny." (I guess this is not unlike "A Family Affair" when the subs would have us believe that the kid was named Ben when the characters were obviously saying Tommy)
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, November 08, 2003
Sometimes I watch good movies. Sometimes I watch bad movies. Sometimes its hard to say what a movie was; It wasn't a bad movie, but it certainly was not a good one. The Movie in question was today's cinematic viewing experiment: "Happy Bigamist."
The film started out decent enough with Anthony Chan and Anita Mui getting married only to have Anthony's ex-wife (Pat Ha) move back in since her name is still on the deed. If this wasn't bad enough Anothy's aunt moves in thinking that Anthony and Pat are still married and that Anita is the maid. However this subplot which might have been the whole story in another movie lasts all of 5 minutes before the aunt admits she knows all along. The film kind of moves along slowly after that with a few laughs here and there.
Fifty minutes into the film the fourth member of the cast is introduced. Of course this is Kenny Bee (who was one of Anthony Chan's fellow bandmates in the rock group The Wynners) who also got top billing on the cover despite his minor role in the film. There really isn't much else to the film except Kenny trying to woo Anthony's ex-wife and Anthony getting jealous much to Anita's dismay.
While I can't say I totally hated the film, it was really just another disposable film from Hong Kong. If these films weren't so cheap to buy I'd be really upset at the lack of memorable films.
The film started out decent enough with Anthony Chan and Anita Mui getting married only to have Anthony's ex-wife (Pat Ha) move back in since her name is still on the deed. If this wasn't bad enough Anothy's aunt moves in thinking that Anthony and Pat are still married and that Anita is the maid. However this subplot which might have been the whole story in another movie lasts all of 5 minutes before the aunt admits she knows all along. The film kind of moves along slowly after that with a few laughs here and there.
Fifty minutes into the film the fourth member of the cast is introduced. Of course this is Kenny Bee (who was one of Anthony Chan's fellow bandmates in the rock group The Wynners) who also got top billing on the cover despite his minor role in the film. There really isn't much else to the film except Kenny trying to woo Anthony's ex-wife and Anthony getting jealous much to Anita's dismay.
While I can't say I totally hated the film, it was really just another disposable film from Hong Kong. If these films weren't so cheap to buy I'd be really upset at the lack of memorable films.
Labels: Hong Kong
Friday, November 07, 2003
To finish off the day last night I watched "The Monkey Goes West" which was the first of the Shaw Brothers films that was based on "A Journey to the West." The film was a good time waster if nothing else and at least the next two ("Princess Iron Fan" and "Cave of the Silken Web") promise to have some pretty girls in them.
Labels: Hong Kong
Thursday, November 06, 2003
I have just finished the film "Brush Up My Sisters" which should really be titled, "Brush Up on Your Acting, Girls" >_< That was the worst film I've seen in a long time. Not even hot girls playing volleyball could save it.
Labels: Hong Kong
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Song! Dance! Song! Dance!
Yes I watched that masterpiece of a film Hong Kong Nocturne. It's too bad Cheng Pei Pei wasn't given more roles as a dancer as she was really swell in this film. While I did enjoy the film mostly, I did have some problems with the ending. The theme of the movie was probobly supposed to mean that a life in show business is not always glamourous and can be hard but did they have to make Peter Chen Ho die in a plane crash?
I will probobly watch these films again someday but probobly not for a little while. That was the last of my HK musicals and all the Shaws I have left are from either the Journey to the West series and one 'hwang mai' opera.
Yes I watched that masterpiece of a film Hong Kong Nocturne. It's too bad Cheng Pei Pei wasn't given more roles as a dancer as she was really swell in this film. While I did enjoy the film mostly, I did have some problems with the ending. The theme of the movie was probobly supposed to mean that a life in show business is not always glamourous and can be hard but did they have to make Peter Chen Ho die in a plane crash?
I will probobly watch these films again someday but probobly not for a little while. That was the last of my HK musicals and all the Shaws I have left are from either the Journey to the West series and one 'hwang mai' opera.
Labels: Hong Kong
Monday, November 03, 2003
With the third and final DVD for the night (or the first for Monday) was Mr. Smart. While it had it's funny moments it was rather depressing in a way. While it would seem unrealistic for Rosamund Kwan to fall for Kent Cheng in the real world, it would've been nice if the film had a happy ending.
The highlight of the film would have to be the scene in the movie theater when they go to see Security Unlimited with the Hui Brothers.
I find it funny that LoveHKfilm does not have this film listed as a credit for Kent Cheng, Rosamund Kwan, or Teddy Robin Kwan for that matter. (He did not appear in the film but he did the music and sang the theme song) also the IMDB barely has any info on this film while the hkmdb has nothing. Was this a forgotten film?
The highlight of the film would have to be the scene in the movie theater when they go to see Security Unlimited with the Hui Brothers.
I find it funny that LoveHKfilm does not have this film listed as a credit for Kent Cheng, Rosamund Kwan, or Teddy Robin Kwan for that matter. (He did not appear in the film but he did the music and sang the theme song) also the IMDB barely has any info on this film while the hkmdb has nothing. Was this a forgotten film?
Labels: Hong Kong
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Tonight I was able to watch yet another Shaw Brothers DVD. After watching the Inoue Umetsugu directed "Whose Baby is in the Classroom" last night I decided to watch "We Love Millionaires." All I can say is that I'm hooked on these Shaw Brothers musicals. The only one left in my collection is "Hong Kong Nocturne" I guess I'll have to make a Shaw Brothers order from Layoyo soon. <^_^;
Labels: Hong Kong
I was able to watch the much anticpated DVD of "Super Inframan" which was the reason for my Layoyo order in the first place. I'll have to write a review of this cool movie for my site (oh yeah, I have a website. ~_^)
Labels: Hong Kong
Saturday, November 01, 2003
"Whose Baby is in the Classroom" was the movie of the day. It was certainly a breath of fresh air after seeing so many poor films lately. I can finally say I've seen a good enjoyable movie this week.
The film was about this chemist who ends up recieving an abandonned baby and gets a job at an all girl's school to be able to take care of him (that and to see his childhood sweetheart.) Of course the usual hijinks occur.
The film was about this chemist who ends up recieving an abandonned baby and gets a job at an all girl's school to be able to take care of him (that and to see his childhood sweetheart.) Of course the usual hijinks occur.
Labels: Hong Kong
Friday, October 31, 2003
One down andd 27 to go... I watched "She Starts the Fire" today and really don't know what to say. Wong Jing really makes crappy movies and I guess you have to understand that going into one to enjoy it.
Of course on a high note, Chigmy Yau and Carol Cheng both looked great in this film.
Of course on a high note, Chigmy Yau and Carol Cheng both looked great in this film.
Labels: Hong Kong
Yesterday my 28 DVD order from Hong Kong came in. The backlog has shot back up after all that work. On the bright side this means I have lots of HK movies to watch again.
Unfortunatly I also need to buy some more Thinpaks as I used my last 9 up last night. ;_;
Unfortunatly I also need to buy some more Thinpaks as I used my last 9 up last night. ;_;
Labels: Hong Kong
