Plot: Glasgow gangster Bart (Bob Hoskins) is one of the deadliest debt collectors in town, do you know why? He has his own enforcer - Danny (Jet Li).
When customers refuse to pay Bart, Bart unleashes Danny and Danny would beat everyone one to death until his master tells him to stop. But recently Danny seems a little off and is proving less and less helpful to Bart as he's failed to help him in some sticky situations.
One day Bart is approached by a man inviting him to a underground fight club, if you win your first fight you get fifteen thousand, for your second fight - twenty thousand, the only rule is all fights are to the death! Bart is over whelmed with this since his little Danny is quite the killing machine.
Danny wins his first fight in a matter of seconds, easy money.
When leaving the club Bart and Danny are nearly killed in a car crash, deliberately done from a victim of Danny's beatings. The car is then showered down with a hail of bullets. From the looks of things Danny is the only person that has survived..
Danny runs away and ends up in Antique Warehouse where he had met a blind piano tuner called Sam (Morgan Freeman). Danny ends up back at Sam's house after collapsing in the warehouse.
Now with his new sense of freedom Danny gets a new view of life, the better side. Sam's stepdaughter - Victoria (Kerry Condon) also takes a liking to their new friend. Danny slowly adapts to his new life and begins to feel at home.
Yet one day when he's out at the local shops he discovers that Bart is still alive and is very eager to get his hands back on his little Danny...
Review: Wow, this movie blew me away, from the opening scenes to the closing shot. Jet Li oozed so much emotion it felt like a slap in the face, it shocked me and amazed me at the same time.
After the closing shot of the movie I felt that Jet Li's acting ability was taken to a further level, Now I want to see Jet handle more serious drama, maybe even a triad thriller!
The action? We'll Yuen Woo-Ping unleashes the ferocious side of Jet Li in his opening fight scene. There is some wire use, but it doesn't spoil the action, the brawl between Jet and underground fighters was gritty and great! Jet shows off his skills in a final duel between a muscular man in a white robe wielding one big-ass knife! Yuen Woo-Ping doesn't let us down.
Acting? What can I say? Morgan Freeman was flawless, Kerry Condon was a pleasing fresh face and Hoskins, he was fab a real gritty side to his memorable 'Who killed Roger Rabbit' persona.
I quite liked the continuing story of Jet Li's fascination of Piano's. But I don't want to give away too much of the story.
Final Thoughts - The best Jet Li film outside of Asia! Superb!
Plot: Continuing two years after the Playstation Game Final Fantasy 7. Three brothers who are the result of Jenova cloning become convinced the planet is out to get them. So they decide to restart the Jenova reunion that Sephiroth tried to start two years earlier with the help of a newly reformed Shinra Corporation. Caught up in this is failed clone Cloud Strife and childhood friend Tifa who are forced to intervene and save stop the reunion.
Review: Honestly speaking, you will need to have played the game or watched someone play the game to understand a lot of the history and recognize some characters. But if you have played the game then you should be up on your ff7 history and understand the full extent of the story. Anyway, I'd been waiting to see this film since last year so I've been pretty excited about finally getting to see it.
I was literally blown away by the way the film managed to get me interested a few seconds after the starting credits. Your literally bought into the story after 10 minutes and you know the story so your not left thinking what the heck is going on here. The first half of the film I would say is mainly politics to say. There's no real action for the first 50 minutes excluding a rather nice scene in a church which I won't give away.
After the first half of the film is where the action begins and were introduced to the characters which we've come to love (and hate 1 or 2) from the game.
Although saying that the last half isn't just an action fest. It all adds fully to the storyline and more issues from the game are bought up. But I won't mention them to fear of spoiling.
To go elsewhere. It was nice to see Nubuo Uematsu returning to do the soundtrack. Parts were borrowed from the game, but considering how awesome it is I will let him off. I really need to get the soundtrack for this. It really dose rock hardcore. The most notable part is the end duel, which borrows from the final duel with Sephiroth. The mix of Catholic organ and East European gothic music is a great combination and adds real suspense and really puts you in the mood for a good ol' fashion duel.
Now past attempts of successful computer games turn to the silver screen have often 'crashed and burned', prime examples; Tomb Raider, Super Mario Brothers and Alone in the Dark. Before their was even another Final Fantasy Movie 'The Spirits Within', which was terrible, stunning graphics, but had non the slightest to do with series.
Final Thoughts, I was totally amazed by this. I should really get my copy of FF7 back from my mate Chris so I can play it again. My only wish now would be a film, tv series even of the actual game storyline. Now that would be hardcore.
Highlights
Tifa pwning Loz
Vincent Rescuing Cloud
The opening duel between Cloud and the three brothers
The gang returning in style
The Turks battling Yazoo and Loz
Kadaj summoning Bahamut
The sequence between Kadaj and Rufus falling
The soundtrack
The Turks adding comic relief
The showdown between Cloud and Sephiroth
Letdowns
Should've been a lot longer
Not enough Cait Sith
Not enough of the rest of the gang for that matter
Plot: Pang (Edison Chen) - a Cambodian pit fighter turn assassin travels to Hong Kong and brutally executes an older woman, when awaiting his escape he is caught up by two cops. The cops Wai (Sam Lee) and Fat Lam (Lam Suet) attempt to apprehend the crazed assassin he ends up driving a screw driver into Lam’s neck, killing him brutally. Pang now at gun point from Wai and his fellow officers he gives himself up allowing them to arrest him. When returning to the station Pang manages to get out of his handcuffs and causes the car to crash letting him escape back into the streets of Hong Kong.
Distressed by the death of his partner finds himself under investigation from Internal Affairs for unknown reasons, but he thinks it is because of his dad (also a cop). After being shot in the back Wai’s father lies in a coma, no one really knows what’s happened, but there are rumours that Wai’s father has been for dealing drugs on the side. With thoughts of his father, his co-workers and his own unstable life Wai sets out to stop the killer Pang from escaping.
Review: Soi Cheung delivers a vicious cop thriller which really puts both leading actors to the test and heck did they pass. Edison Chen is completely transformed from boy to man in his role as Pang. Sam Lee’s character progresses from Man to Monster by the credits roll. Leading lady Pei-Pei (who bares an uncanny resemblance to Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’s Lee Geum-ja) plays the difficult role of this warped young isolated woman, to whom is saved by Pang. The gave off similar qualities to Chan Park-Wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance mainly because you felt both sympathy and hate for both leading characters, left with being unable to decide who really is the enemy?
The fights in the movie are violent and gritty, no styles just all out street fighting. In Hong Kong the action is all modern what I mean is that they use guns to fight each other with, but by the time they are in rural Cambodia the two men settle their differences in a knife fight. Soi emphasizes the intense brutality of the fights by adding sound effects of animals roaring, it does give the fights a little more edge to them, although I can see where viewers are coming from if they think this is a little over doing it. The ending fight does pan out a little further than it should of really with the amount of cuts and stab wounds each person takes you do find it a little strange why they are still alive, but don’t take everything too seriously it’s best just to relax your mind and enjoy the film.
Notable appearances in this movie include Lam Suet for the first twenty odd minutes as Fat Lam, in his time he manages to speak Cantonese, Thai and some very broken English. Lau Yiu-Cheung and Eddie Cheung take up roles as fellow officers of Sam Lee’s troupe, they both do get their moments to shine within the running time.
Final thought, a fresh yet grubby Cop thriller which is the must see movie of the moment and is definitely worth a watch!
Plot: Wah Dee (Andy Lau), young triad lackey spends his days racing bikes at triad gatherings. One day Trumpet (Tommy Wong), a triad leader enlists Wah to be his getaway drive for their next jewellery heist. Wah has no choice but to accept his proposal.
The heist goes fine until they plan to escape, Wah is getting tailed by the cops. The only way he can get them off his back is by taking a young woman, Jo Jo (Jacqueline Wu) hostage. Trumpet orders Wah to kill off Jo Jo incase she talks the cops, but Wah doesn't have the heart to do it and lets her go, promising her that mustn't tell the police.
A relationship grows between Wah and Jo Jo. Trumpet finds out that Wah had let her go and begins to plot against the Wah and his triad brothers...
Review: Yes its the traditional 'Good girls falls for the Bad Boy' story. With Andy Lau and Jacqueline Wu leading this movie couldn't help becoming a instant classic.
A side story with Stephen Chow regular - Ng Man-Tat as another lackey who spends his days washing cars and topping up parking meters. Who finds himself in trouble when a group of youthful punks try to take over his territory.
Acting? Andy Lau is great, never flawless. The scenes where he attacks the gang who bullied Ng Man-Tat is excellent. The scenes where he confronts Tommy Wong are also memorable. Jacqueline Wu's character is also decent where she has to deal with her parents forcing her to move to Canada, keeping her away with Wah.
Final Thoughts possibly the best movie in 1990 a must own for all Andy Lau fans.
Plot: Months after his last months firearms case (aka Fight Back To School 1) Sing (Stephen Chow) and Tat (Ng Man-Tat) are giving the choice where to work. Tat chooses the hardest unit - Regional Crime Unit. Sing laughs saying "If you do Regional Crime Unit, I'll go to the Transport Unit!". Yes you've guessed it Sing becomes a Traffic Cop.
The reason why Tat is taking these risks is to impress his new boss, (miss) Inspector Wong (Deannie Yip), strangely enough Inspector Wong is head over heals for Tat! Crazy Aint it?
Now when random british schools are blown up the police have their suspicion that there coming to Hong Kong. The Police believe that the 'Adam Smith Intercontinental School'. The police want to send Tat in as a undercover with some officers to keep a look out.
For Sing....they are transferring him to Tung Lung Island. Practically a deserted island where there is no traffic! Sing flips out and quits his job.
Now Sing signs up for lessons at the college along with some of his friends from Edinburgh College aka Turtle Wong and the crew! So Sing and the crew attend the college to look out for these terrorists. But now he is a rival to the cop's. Tat is undercover as the Head of Discipline and cocky cop Mike (Michael Chow) is undercover as a football student.
As you can predict the Adam Smith School is the next target from these ruthless terrorists.
Review: Now the other subplots of this movie involves the continuing story of the relationship between Sing and Miss Ho (played by Sharla Cheung), this story line is progressing to their wedding plans and Sing meeting his 'in-laws' for the first time.
Another story is Sing developing a crush on a student on his class, I know one minute he's planning his wedding and next he's eyeing up the lovely Sandy Lai (Athena Chu). But Sing knows what he is doing is wrong and attempts to finish this before it gets serious. Even Turtle Wong gets a girl, he is forced to distract Sandy's sister Jacky (Sarah Lee) but the two end up passionately making out! yes I know... crazy!
Notable guest appearances apart from the 'iron lady' Deannie Yip, the late Blacky Ko makes great appearance as a woman beater who gets what's coming to him from both Sing and Tat. James Wong makes a cameo as the class priest who ends up getting smacked by Sing as a result of this Sing gets crucified! Last but not least Spencer Lam makes a brief appearance as the schools Judo teacher!
Flaws? I don't think there is any...maybe if your not a fan of Chows comedy this might not be the best choice of movie for you, but if your a fan of the first movie you'll laugh this one up!
Final thoughts - A fun undercover comedy which should be a fan favorite to all those Stephen Chow fans.
Plot:
Wu (Richard Ng) a caterer who owns a cafe in England. He tricks people into buying his stores Spring Chicken when it's actually pigeons he catches from the park.
His cousin, Mako (Wu Ma) is the cook in Wu's Cafe, until one day where Wu accidentally blabs in front of some customers that Mako is an illegal immigrant. As a result Mako is forced to return to Hong Kong when immigration officers show up on the scene. Since that day Mako holds a grudge against his cousin Wu.
Years later in Hong Kong, Mako works as a Cook in a restaurant as his four cousins wait on tables. With Wu coming to Hong Kong, they decide give him their spare room. Their spare room was originally rented out to a lodged - Miss Wang, although Miss Wang hasn't shown up for a couple of months now. Although on the night they discuss about her mysterious disappearance, she appears out of the blue!
Truth be told that Miss Wang is actually dead! On the day of her wedding she ends up in a car accident killing her and her bridesmaid. Their Ghosts live on looking for suitable males to help them reincarnate their sprites.
Miss Wang has set her sights on Wooing Mr. Wu. But as you soon find out that Miss Wang and her bridesmaid aren't the only ghosts in that household.
Review
Wu Ma pulls of a fairly pleasable Supernatural Comedy! The cast is strong; Richard Ng, Wu Ma, Kenny Bee and Mang Hoi etc.
The story of Wu's death doesn't arise until 50 minutes into the film, but It leads to some comical scenes with the cousins (Bee, Hoi, Tai Bo etc.) and Wu. Examples; The game of Darts, burning Wu with a iron to see if it hurts him!
Probably the best part about Wu being dead is that he doesn't know that he is!
The movie also has a plea sent spoof of Ricky Lau's "Mr. Vampire". Both Wu and Miss Wang are sitting watching Mr. Vampire - the introduction scene of Pauline Wong. Pauline Wong is replaced by 'Miss Wang' and Chin Siu-Ho cycling is changed into Wu Cycling. Things go crazy when Wu accidentally cycles right out of the TV and into a Window!
Another great scene with these two is the window cleaning scene. Its like one of those skits where someone is pretending to be another persons reflection and copy's every move they are making. With this film its just Miss Wang on one side and Wu on the other. But it turns out to be more of a ballroom dancing scene, rather than a household chore!
My Cousin, The Ghost is a fun supernatural comedy and shouldn't be ignored!
Highlights
The Mr. Vampire Spoof!
Wu's 'Spring Chicken'
The Cousins thinking Mako has poisoned the meals
Wu and Miss Wang cleaning the windows
The Ghost busters Theme appearing every once and a while
Plot: Shirley (Hong Tao) a karaoke waitress leads a perfectly normal love life with her fireman boyfriend - Ken (Daniel Wu). One day she is confronted by Chan Wai-Ching (Gillian Chung), Ching is Ken's ex-girlfriend.
She tells her Shirley that Ken is a bad guy. She tell's her when they were a couple, Ken took nude photographs of her. Soon after taking the pictures he dumps her and posts the photograph's over the internet. This soon get's out of control when it turns out that those photo's caused Ching to loose her job as a teacher.
Ching no longer cares about Ken, but she want's those photo's back, She convinces Shirley to help her sneak into Ken's apartment and destroy these photo's which are stored on his computer. Shirley agree's to help as she feel's she might be led down the path.
Together they plot against Ken and it only looks like they've skimmed the surface.
Review: Pang Ho-Cheung dazzle's us with this dark story of innocent girls showing their dark side's against pig of a boy friend.
Gillian Chung gives us an amazing performance, completely flawless. Hong Tao was also perfect for her role. Pang took a chance with Gillian Chung and it paid off. Daniel Wu also manages to pull off a great performance too.
This movie was filmed in the same year of Stephen Fung's 'House of Fury', where both Daniel Wu and Gillian Chung played a picture perfect couple. Daniel Wu being a little angel and Chung being an innocent little princess. Compared to this movie it's like the story has been flipped around and spiced up!
Final thoughts, I loved the story, it's well paced and it has some wonderful twists towards the end of the movie. Another great piece of work from Pang Ho-Cheung.
Plot: David Miao (Miu Kiu-Wai) and Halley (Eric Tsang) are the best of friends, Halley designs toys for a living. David spends most of his time living the life of a playboy, wooing women and getting Halley to help him.
While out one day both Miao and Halley get caught amongst an armed robbery and are forced to drive the getaway car. The police soon chase them and it all gets out of hand with Miao ending up in a serious car crash. Halley sustains only minor injury's however, David is presumed dead. Although with the presences of Halley, Although Halley's presence coaxes David back to life, it is only by his bizarre brainwaves...
Intrigued about these brainwaves, they send Miao to the specialists who try to help him use these new found abilities. One of the female doctors Alice (Emily Chu) takes a liking to David's charms and convinces him to take part in experiments where he is given the ability to enter the mind of others through their dreams. Although with doctors constantly having David enter the mind of mad men, he quits and just wants to lead his life.
David suddenly finds himself with no choice but to go back after he finds out that a mystery killer attempted to kill Halley. HHalley, now insane, can't bring himself to reveal the identity of the killer. The details on this killer are vital to the police force (lead by Chow Yun-Fat) and their only hope is David.
Review: To imagine what this movie would be like is crossing Roald Dahl's Matilda with Nam Nai Choi's The Seventh Curse! Sorta...
This is a great piece of 80's action. The comedy between Miu Kiu Wai and Eric Tsangs is always well, it will remind most viewers of their comic capers in Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars.
Chow Yun-Fat's character makes a late appearance in the movie, but his as you can expect Chow delivers 110% in every performance. I was also surprised to see that the lovely Emily Chu was the love interest in the movie, although she too gives a great performance!
Notable appearances include; Jackie Bodyguard - Ah Tuan as a police officer. Other appearances include Wu Fong as a superintendent and Wu Ma as a mad man. Philip Ko and Yuen Wah make appearances as Chou's assistants. We even get to see the lovely Anita Mui make a short appearance as witness to the violent murders, but now it has even put her life at stake.
Final Thoughts a great piece of work from Shaws Legend Lau Kar-Wing! Enjoy!
Plot (Celestial): In 1933, 20,000 Japanese soldiers and 50 tanks invaded the Pa Tou Lou Tzu, a strategic key point of the Great Wall. With only seven men stationing, these heroes took on the entire army for five days before succumbing.
The '7-Man Army' includes Captain Wu Chan-Zheng (Ti Lung) led this group brave soldiers who include the young - Ha Hong-Fa (Alexander Fu) who joined the army to spite the mongolian thieves raiding his village. Others include the Saber waving Jiang Ming-Kun (Chen Kuan-Tai) and Bai Zhang-Xing (David Chiang) who joined the army to become a decent man.
Review: 7-Man Army, at first thoughts I was under the impression that this was going to be a two hour war movie. I was pleasantly surprised when Chang Cheh flung some traditional old school kung fu. Now you’re wondering “Why the hell is their Kung Fu in a War Movie?” don’t worry Ti Lung and David Chiang doesn't fight off the Japanese with their Eagles Claw. The martial arts are all shown in leading characters flashback sequences, shown the reasons why these seven soldiers joined the army in the first place.
The flashbacks show you the story behind each character and the reason why they joined the army. I wont go into detail telling you ‘who done what’, cause it might spoil it for you but the storylines include; a wife beating gambler, a rogue student from a peeking opera troupe and various martial artists disgraced by the Japanese and Mongolians.
The only guest appearances that stand out is from Leung Kar-Yan, Gordon Liu and Wang Lung-Wei as the leaders of the Mongolian army. Yet we also get to see the rather heavy set japanese actor from the Bruce Lee movie 'Fist of Fury' he was the actor who got impaled by the samurai sword. He has a short part in this movie as a japanese general.
Final thoughts, the film may take a slow start, but when the going gets tough, the movie kicks ass!
Highlights
The Flashback sequences
The battles against the Mongolians
The Japanese bombing the barracks
Chen Kuan Tai kicking ass left, right and center
Guest Appreance's from Leung Kar-Yan, Gordon Liu and Wang Lung-Wei
Lam Long (Alex Fong), the inspector of Hong Kong Police Force, was framed and suspended because of his rescue for his girlfriend (Yo Yo Mung), who has been kidnapped by the mob. After leaving the Police Force, Long goes to a small island and runs a seafood restaurant for peace of mind. But the gangsters don't let him go and have been chasing him for ten years.
One day, a young man, Henry (Sam Chan), whose father was killed by Long for some reason, comes back from Australia and gets into Long's restaurant in order to find out who the real murderer is...
In the year of this movie was made we saw Alex Fong and Chin Kar-Lok teamed up for the second time. Before they were in the gritty thriller 'One Nite in Mongkok' directed by Derek Yee, which showed that both Fong and Chin were great as a team. Even after this movie we've seen them teamed up again in Derek Yee's; Drink, Drank, Drunk.
Although with my above comment about Fong and Chin making a great team, i have to say that Chin Kar-Lok really stole the show! His comical situations where he's proposing his love to Fong by asking "Do You Lap Me?" or his attempts to speak english!
Guest appearances? We have Lam Suet playing one of Fong's old cop buddies and there is veteran actor Eddie Ko taking the role as the leading bad guy who still has the personal vendetta against Alex Fong's character 'Lam'. We also have a short appearance from Young & Dangerous star; Michael Tse as 'Lam's' old friend, i'll say no more.
There was one minor letdown in the movie, towards the end the movie there is a rather 'un-needed' twist to the story. But i wont spoil it for you, hey maybe it's me.
Final Thoughts a decent movie which shows off the good side of Chin Kar-Lok and of course Alex Fong.
Highlights
Curry trying to speak english to the western customers
Plot: Two young pickpockets - Qiu (Chin Siu-Ho) and Cheung (Chiang Kam) are reunited with their teacher, Uncle Bill (Bill Tung) after he's finished his jail sentence. Usually when you get out of jail you say to yourself "that's it, starting a clean slate, no more pick pocketing for me!", but not our Bill.
Being out of Jail for not even a hour Bill manages to get three purses, right before lunch. Although he and his two students find themselves being stalked by the local police captain, Captain Wai. Yet when they find themselves in a sticky situation with the law, they are thankfully saved by Bill's daughters - Yuan and Xiao Ji. Especially since that the Captain is very fond of Yuan.
Things begin to run smooth for this family until one night when Bill, Qiu and Cheung are at a local casino, Qui over hears that the club owner, Dragon (Wang Lung-Wei) is planning on assassinating Captain Wai's associate - Captain Tie. After discovering that Tie knows who is running the opium trade in town...
The next day Tie goes to a meeting at the Huaguo Hotel, but its trap. Tie ends barely surviving a bomb in his hotel room. Now Tie is in hospital but Captain Wai, Bill, Qiu and Cheung are plan to keep watch on Tie to stop further assassination attempts from the deadly Dragon.
Review: The elements of Pickpocketing, Kung Fu and Bean Curd make a pleasent funfilled 93 minuates in my opinion.
Chin Siu-Ho is great in his movie, he shows off some great kicks, flips, stunts and a dodge perm. With the great action it makes the viewing of this movie even better. I was also impressed with the martial arts from Lo Meng and Wang Lung-Wei! Billy Tung shows off some good moves but I guess for a man his age we would have been doubled for his flips and throws.
Guest appearances? Tai Bo makes an comical appearance as the local troublemaker whose either getting beating up by girls or loosing all his money to Uncle Bill. Also in the introduction scene of Wang Lung-Wei's character you get to see a close of a young Chin Kar-Lok as a karate student.
Final Thoughts a excellent blend of Kung Fu, Comedy and Funky Theme Music, Enjoy!
Plot: Hong Kong cops 'Curry Chicken' Chiang Li-Chi (Stephen Tung) and Chin Chian (Jacky Cheung) spend their time working on cases with their boss the virtuous Shooter Yin (Lam Ching-Ying). They are soon introduced to Chin's cousins Chi Chiang and Chi Shu. Brother and Sister; Chiang and Shu have traveled from Canton coming over to visit, although they have just arrived in time for a big case.
Notorious Gangster Lau Tin-Hau a force to be reckoned with, especially with his highly skilled gun-slinging bodyguard. Curry and Chin are brought on the case to investigate the murder of Hau's old boss. The murder takes place at a Gigolo night club called 'Dream Boy Bar', at first they attempt to go undercover as gigolos wanting a job at her nightclub.
The case becomes more difficult when more bodies appear in the wake of Hau and his hitman. With Curry, Chin and Yin's colleagues loosing faith in them, they are sent on leave until the case blows over.
This isn't going to stop the trio though.
Review: Joe Cheung delivers us this buddy cop movie which is a little bit cheesy but some cool gun play action saves the day.
Now there is a couple sub-plots which I haven't mention. There is the story between Chi Chiang and sister Shi. Chiang and Shi don't get along as Chiang's family rule is that Shi has to do all the hard work as a lesson of what to expect in life, this consists of her carrying their luggage, having her meals ordered for her, exercising a lot Although she usually ends up loosing her temper and punishes herself by head butting the wall. There is an amusing moment where Tung and Cheung stop her from head butting the walls by sacrificing themselves as padding again the walls.
There is also the sub-plot of the past relationship between Chi Chiang and Nancy. Nancy is the owner of the 'Dream Boy Bar' night club, it turns out that Nancy was actually from Canton too and had dated Chiang, but he couldn't tell it was her from her new appearance.
Many people talk about the movies explosive ending where the late, great Lam Ching-Ying shows you on hell of a gun fight against the assassin. The sequence reminded me of John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow 2 where Chow Yun-Fat finds himself dueling with a slick assassin. Both sequence do kick ass though, it shows Lam Ching-Ying in a different light from the one eyed brow Taoist priest. Many of the officers loose faith in him as he fails to impress them when throws his bullets towards the gun barrel but ends up missing.
Guest appearances include a short appearance from Chan Chi-Fei as a triad and Guy Lai makes various appearances as Officer Chau.
Final thought, Good film, some bad comedy, but good action! Enjoy!
Plot: Zhong Jian (Alexander Fu), a young cocky carriage driver saves a young woman from a street punk (Leung Kar-Yan). Jian easily defeats the punk, rather than killing him, Jian lets him go. Big mistake, the punk stabs Jian and runs. Being a minor wound, Jian recovers steadily.
Jian lives with his uncle in a small tenement building, although the neighbors aren't keen on his wild cocky ways. Even his Kung Fu teacher refuses to teach him for messing around with street gangs.
For the next couple of days the street gang, lead by Feng Tian-Shan (Wang Lung-Wei) go to regain face by destroying all the street carriages looking for Jian. Eventually they find him and manages to put up a decent fight against most of the gang. When Jian is confronted by Feng, he does attempt fight Feng, but it suddenly shows that he's no match for this Gang leader, he's only just saved from his Kung Fu teacher.
The teacher admits he can't beat Feng, but he thinks there is hope Jian. He leads Jian up to a small remote area in the mountains where a Shaolin Monk lives. The monk agrees to teach Jian the style of 'Choy Li Fut'.
At first Jian is only being taught how to carry two buckets of water for ten miles to be only told to do it again. As you can expect Jian doesn't stay long and return back to his home town. But he only returns to find out that his teacher has been brutally murdered by Feng. Jian looses his temper and returns to the mountains to complete his training and seek revenge against Feng Tian-Shan!
Review: Isn't this movie just the stereotype Kung Fu Revenge Flick! Guy fights gang, gang wins, guy learns kung fu and guy kicks Gangs Ass. But I must say I did really enjoy it, but there is one thing that really ruined the movie. The Music, the music in the movie is just stupid, really annoying and out of place.
The actress playing the leading lady in the movie is a right cow too! Sure the gang raped her, but your just plain annoying!
The action is great, Fu Sheng can still bust-a-move, as well as Leung Kar-Yan and the deadly moustache wearing Wang Lung-Wei, looking identical to his character in Fast Fingers.
Final Thoughts good film, great action, good action, crap music!
Plot (Panorama): Siu-Man (Miriam Yeung) is a beer waitress who hardly gets drunk. She always wishes to have her own coffee shop. She has lost faith in men after being badly hurt in a relationship and believes that drunken words can never be treated as real.
One night, she sees Michael (Daniel Wu), a chef of a French restaurant, who gets drunk because he is on the verge of closing down his restaurant. They become friends very soon and Siu-Man then begins to help Michael to rebuild his business, and the two fall in love.
Review: 2005 seems to have been a quiet year for romantic comedies, at the start of the year we were graced by Andrew Loo & Maurice Li’s “It had to be you!” showing the growing romance between two restaurant workers (Ekin Cheng & Karena Lam), now at the later part of ’05 Derek Yee has refined us with another light hearted romantic comedy.
Some reviews have mentioned how Derek has lowered his standards by making a movie of this genre rather than his hard hitting crime dramas (One Night in Mongkok). Yet I think this has shown Derek Yee’s talent in a different light, the romantic chemistry between Miriam and Daniel is great. Another Chef includes Ken Wong.
Guest Appearances include Terence Yin as Daniel Wu’s old traveling buddy. Chin Kar-Lok makes a brief appearance at the start of the movie as the gangster ‘Big Bear’, who can’t handle his drink. Alex Fong makes frequent appearances as 'Brother 9' who in the first half of the movie thinks of Michael as a rival when he attempts to win the heart of Siu-Man, but after loosing to Michael he takes upon the role of the 'Over Protective Father'. I'm also certain that one of the chiefs that ‘Miss Zhao’ hires is Derek Tsang, son of Eric Tsang.
Final thoughts another decent and rather touching romantic comedy with Daniel Wu and Miriam Yeung, who I usually can't stand (her voice is too deep he he) pulls off a great and convincing character.
Highlights
Siu-Man discussing the house rules to Michael - No Boys!
Plot: Veteran Cop, Biu (Bill Tung) finds out he has bitten off more than he can chew when he attempts to apprehend a group of thugs making drugs in a warehouse. Biu seem's to have the upper hand until someone shoots him from behind.
Since he never seen the face of his killer, the judge in heaven agree to let him into heaven if he admits his cause of death was Suicide, not murder. Biu can't let this lie, so he convinces the judge to let him return to the world and find his savour to avenge his death!
Rookie Cop Sing (Stephen Chow) turns out to be savour to Biu and boy he isn't pleased. Biu decides to help Sing out by helping him win the heart of Ah Yuk (Vivian Chow), his bosses daughter.
His Boss, Li Kam (Stanley Fung) was Biu's old partner and he's seems to be the keen praying to the gods, giving him some nifty powers. For example his super stretchy arms!
Sing soon discovers that Biu's killer is the local gangster Lee Tang-Yang! Now with the killer discovered Sing and Kam must help Biu settle his debt with Yang, but it turns out Yang has something up his sleeve..
Review: Lau Sze-Yu delivers a delightful Supernatural Cop/Comedy with Hong Kong's King of Comedy - Stephen Chow. Equipped with the lovable Bill Tung and the grumpy Stanley Fung nothing can go wrong.
Any familiar faces? Sex and Zen beauty Amy Yip makes a brief appearance as Kam's Superior. When Kam takes all the credit for a drug bust done by Sing, Uncle Biu casts a Lewd Spell (Love Spell) on Yip and she is all over Kam like butter on toast! Yet having your busty boss all over you doesn't sound that bad, until the spell wears off and she kicks his ass for groping her!
The film could go along similar terms with Ricky Lau's "Where's Officer Tuba?" starring Sammo Hung and David Chiang. Both movies have a fight where the ghost helps the lead to do these magnificent flying moves, scaring the crap out of the enemy! Both that probably is the only similarities between the movies.
Final thought a decent comedy film which should delight any Chow Sing-Chi fan!
Review: Sing (Leslie Cheung) is an inspiring film director, but after his recent movies failed at the box office, he's self confidence is broken. Thinking that his career is in the gutter, he gets the call he's waiting for.
Producer - Cheung (Lau Kar-Ying) finds a potential investor wanting Sing to direct his movie for him. The investor turns out to be gang boss Wong, who insists that Sing should make these X-Rated movies with Wong's woman, Mango (Shu Qi).
Mango although she is very pretty, although she is very negative, she hates Sing, she hates her co-workers and she refuses to go nude!
Now coping with hostile actors, a concerned girlfriend (Karen Mok) and a gang boss only focusing on the money instead of the movie, could Sing actually make this project work?
Review: This Category 3 turn Comedy/Drama has risen above the ranks at it's time, claiming 2 Hong Kong Film Awards. Although when watching i found the film to be fun and charming as expected, but at times slow and some camera angles leave you with a screwed up look on your face.
Still this movie manages to grasp the viewer and shows it clear potential.
Guest Appearances, well get to see some brief appearances from 2002 director Vincent Kok as one of Sings film buddy's, along with Peter Ngor as Dicky. We great an appearances from Lau Ching-Wan who played a director called Derek Yee, who commits suicide after his latest movie flops at the box office, very eerie. Another noticeable appearance is from Derek Yee's older brother, Paul Chun who takes upon the role of the Triad Boss.
Final thoughts, Leslie Cheung, Shu Qi and Karen Mok showed real talent in this early piece of work, it is worth a looking into, even if you just want to stare at Shu Qi's Mango's!
Plot: Jiney (Race Wong) a young photography student finds herself uninspired when it comes to taking photographs anymore. Until one day, when she is walking home and witnesses a car accident. She suddenly has a sudden urge of inspiration as she begins to take photographs of a woman who was killed in the crash.
With her new found fascination for death, her girlfriend Jas (Rosanne Wong) finds this new inspiration worrying, even to the point where she finds Jiney swinging from the railing of a tenement building, questioning suicide.
With Jiney's new obsession, it isn't long before she has a mental break down...
With the loving support of Jas, Jiney is put back on the right track. Until one night where Jiney finds a mysterious video tape left on her doorstep. Out of curiosity Jiney watches it.
Jiney is horrified to see a woman being beaten to death by a man with a pipe. Jiney contacts the police, but the video tape isn't enough evidence. Until one night where Jiney finds another video tape on her doorstep accompanied by Jas's mobile phone.
Review: Ab-Normal Beauty shows that Oxide Pang can still inject fear into the viewer. I found myself shouting out at the TV "Open The Door!!!".
The film does take a different turn in storylines going from a young woman's obsession with death to the young woman being stalked by a mystery killer. This turn in story had a 'Marmite' effect on the audience - Some love it and some hate it.
This movie had a suprisingly fresh cast, Rosanne and Race Wong (aka Pop Duo 'R2') and Anson Leung have all been in the indursty for a little time but have shown they could handle the complicated roles they were given. A noticeable, but brief appearance was from Ekin Cheng. Ekin Cheng played the driver to whom was in the car accident at the beginning of the movie. This scene had actaully linked in with another movie made that year.
"Leave Me Alone' directed by Oxide Pangs twin brother Danny. Both Ekin Cheng and Charlene Choi were leads in that movie. One scene involed Ekin Cheng's character getting into a car carsh, killing a woman. This was the woman that Race's character took photographs of. I guess it was just another crafty idea from the Pang Brothers.
Final Thoughts - a fresh story for the supense horror genre, worth a look! Yet the stalker was predictable, well to me it was.
Plot: With the second annual International Gambling Championship, Uncle Tat (Ng Man-Tat) goes on the search for the next "Saint of Gamblers". He travels to the remote village of "Tin San" where all it's residents have unique supernatural powers. Tat is introduced to the dim witted "God Bless-You" (Eric Kot), he has the power to enlarge objects ten times it's original size and he also has the ability read peoples minds through touch.
Tat takes God to Hong Kong putting him into the competition representing Hong Kong. Whilst at the competition God befriends Ray Thai (Ben Lam), Yuen Fan (Chingmy Yau) and her younger brother Siu Lung (Sik Siu-Lung). Ray is a representing Macau in the competition, although God only seems to be giving Ray a continual stream of bad luck when he is around him. Known that God is interested in Yuen Fan he misleads him into thinking that Yuen Fan is interested him.
With the competition hotting up God and Ray end up in the finals against each other. They soon find out that Ray is going to any length to claim his victory and achieve the fame that he's been seeking!
Review: Before I begin let me remind you that I have seen God of Gamblers I & Return of the Gamblers so I don't any of the references from the films in between them either. Neither have I seen "All of the Winner" in which this is a loosely based sequel/spin off.
When watching I expected the worst mainly because I had expected Wong Jing to have ran out of ideas when it comes to Gambling comedies. Plus I'm not really the biggest fan of Eric Kot. As you can expect I ended up finding the film enjoyable, sure it's quite goof and lame at times but it does have it's charms.
Ben Lam's character is really played for laughs, you can't help but laugh at some of the crazy shit that happens to this poor fella. As well Eric Kot played his character quite well he wasn't too over the top!
Notable Appearances include: Shing Fui-On as one of Ray's men, one of asia's hottest high kickers Donnie Yen as a Interpol agent, Nat Chan & Manfred Wong make appearances as announcers. Corey Yuen also makes a nice cameo during a Mahjong scene. Other appearances include Baat Leung, Diana Pang & Teresa Ha.
Final thoughts, a fun film, although it doesn't really have a frequent re-watch value to it. Enjoy!
Lee Rock [2-Disc Set] (product link) Mystery / Crime
Plot (Mei Ah): Lee Rock (Andy Lau) first enters the society as a policeman, by which he gets acquainted with two men that help in his way to success. One is a gangster (Ng Man-Tat). Lee Rock learned a lot about triad societies from him.
Another is a senior cop (Kwan Hoi-San) who acts as Rock's teacher and friend. He recommends Rock to become a senior cop. In this period, Rock meets his beloved girl, Rose (Chingmy Yau), but is opposed by her father (Wong Yat-Fei).
Rock refuses to go along with the corrupt group in the police force makes him becoming the opponent of the majority..
Review: The film was good, it's always good to see some of Andy Lau's early work. I feel that they have dragged out this film for too long, hitting the 2 hour mark is more than enough time for this docu-drama. I thought the storyline with Chingmy Yau was not really necessary, it just prolonged the introduction of Sharla Cheung's character.
I must say one of the highlights of the film is towards the very end where we get to see some action! It's worth waiting for, if you can't wait, well just skip through the disc til the end and enjoy!
Another thing that stood out in this movie was the flawless performance from the late Kwan Hoi-San, when hearing of his death I wasn't taken back by it, I was unfamiliar with him really I had just faintly remembered his performances in God of Gamblers & Project A. But his performance in Lee Rock stood out to me, now I know why the world was shook by his departure.
The film did have a strong cast, Ng Man-Tat, Kwan Hoi-San, Sharla Cheung, we even had guest appearances from Wong Yat-Fei, James Tien, Eddy Ko, Paul Chun, Lee Siu Kei, Michael Chan and Jimmy Lung.
Final thoughts, tad long, but it aint half bad. Enjoy!
When seeing trailers for this movie I thought, wow this looks amazing. So you knew I would have been looking forward to watch this movie. This movie has stunning graphics, sets, scenery and characters, but it some how manages to be pretty crap. Okay crap is too strong a term.
Watching the movie at first it seemed alright, but then film introduced annoying kleshae (Spelling??), the 'scary girl with long black hair', yes the same character that can be seen in The Ring trilogy, The Grudge movies, Dark Water and so on. It has now became a curse on horror movies, people will not enjoy horror movies if you keep making the scary little asian children as the evil spirits.
The film does have some good parts to it, like the relationship between Chu Xun and the little girl, Ting Yu. The stunning computer graphics, the amazing cinematography, hell the movie even has Zombies! But it's just so damn confusing and strange! On minute she's running up hill, the next she's fallen into a tunnel made up of 'aborted' childen, which is a little sick in my books, I felt a little bit ill watching that giant baby thing, eww yuck!
Apperances include a aging Lau Siu-Ming (most people will remember him from the Chinese Ghost Story movies as the Old Dame). Siu-Ming apperances as this mysterious old man who tells Lee that she shouldn't be in this world. Lawerence Chou makes brief apperances Lee's agent. Rain Li makes a short appearance as her mate and sister of her ex-lover.
Final thoughts, the film does have some heart, the CGI in the movie is amazing it has some great fantasy/supernatural sets, but the Pang brothers have chosen Style over Substance and it shows.
Plot: Plane (Ekin Cheng) is a troubled cop whose haunted by his past, his girlfriend and fellow officer Carrie (Gigi Leung) was killed viciously by a psychotic hitman Angel (Alex Fong), when attempting to protect a witness. The hitman was hired by the low-life gangster - Golden Tooth.
One year after the death of Carrie, Plane is still a wreck constantly brawling, never keeping a partner for more than a day or two, until he is teamed up with Turkey (Jordan Chan).
Turkey is a young, immature and head over heels for female pop princess - Tinny (Vivian Hsu). He's also known as the son of Bond Chu (Lau Kar-Ying) aka The Jade Dragon, one of Chinese top policemen, well until he went crazy. Now he spends his days dressed in various disguises (mostly in a James Bond Tuxedo) and making some very wacky gadgets - Bulletproof Umbrellas, Mobile Phone flip-flops and tracking shoes!
Plane & Turkey finds themselves having to protect the rising pop star from Angel, who's been hired by Golden Tooth once again. Both men choose to protect Tinny and her computer expert friend - Mandy. Mandy has a shocking resemblance of the late Carrie and Plane can't help but fall for her.
Although with them constantly having to dodge assassination attempts from Angel, can they protect the ones they love this time around?
Review: Wong Jing delivers a comical slice of cheese, which isn't really surprising since he did write and direct this movie. When first watching this movie - around a year ago - I thought it wasn't that bad, found some of it rather funny. This time around the cheesy effect (both visual and sound) did spoil it a little bit. I was impressed at first with some of the violence and the squirting blood, cause they are always cool. Although some shots are just bad, mainly this one shot of some one being stabbed, but from the angle its shot at, it shows a clear gap between knife and guy, but that's the only shot that stands out.
For Comedy, some of it works, for exam when Plane fires the gun at the bullet-proof umbrella but manages to fire through it is great, I just love everyone’s reactions when they hear Bond Chu scream. Tinny & Turkey trying out the smoke bomb condom. There is also the funny situation where Turkey decides to redecorate Planes room, removing all the posters of Carrie and replacing them with Movie posters such as; Erotic Chinese Story 1 & 2, Banquet and Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai’s film based on the relationship of a gay couple), Plane hates the posters and goes to tear them down, Turkey grabs him attempting to hold him back, both on them fall over onto each other and Plane’s mother walks, sees them lying on top of each other and then notices the poster ‘Happy Together’!? I’m sure you can guess the rest from here.
Now some of the comedy isn’t as good such as the strange Police Academy spoofs with Jordan Chan attempting to be the man of a thousand sounds, the first couple of times that he does it a just silly, but towards the end, the last trick he done imitating the sound of a car, was actually quite amusing. There is also a Dr. No/James Bond spoof with ‘Bond Chu’ meeting up with ‘Lady Crab’, it’s amusing, but a little cheesy.
I happened to quite like the romantic storyline between Ekin Cheng & Gigi Leung, the scene where he’s chasing after her through the mall (which I think is the same mall Wilson Yip shot ‘Bio-Zombie’) and finds, he’s starring at her, she’s starring back. The only thing between them is the window, well on Ekin’s side it is. On Gigi’s side it’s actually a mirror and she’s just looking into it smiling, well I liked it.
Guest appearances? Well Jackie Chan stuntman/bodyguard Bill Tuan makes an appearance at the start of the movie as well as Lee Sui-Kei as Dirty Fook. Spencer Lam makes an appearance as a member of the bomb squad. Michael Chan plays the role of Turkey & Planes boss, who loves to be beaten up, he’s been beaten up all his life and he just feels weird when he isn’t being beaten, yes I know – kinky old man. Meg Lam also makes a couple of appearances as Ekin Cheng’s mother.
Final thoughts, decent film, yet it is really quite cheesy. Enjoy!
Plot: Wah (Yuen Biao) in his prime was a boxing champion, seven years later all he thinks about now is returning to the ring and regaining his championship belt. Wah isn't as fit as he used to be, he's gotten himself into some nasty habits, smoking, drinking, gambling and he's run up a serious amount of debt. Wah is now a single father with a seven year old son, he loves his son - Henry Henry's mother Susan (Gloria Yip) left Wah and Henry to focus on her career and she married to a rich doctor and lives in a pretty swanky mansion.
Wah now spends his days working in a local car repair garage with his buddy Wayne (Chin Kar-Lok). Although his mind still wonders to the Boxing Ring, when things start to get tough with Debt Collectors and Susan returning to the scene, could Wah really make back onto the Boxing career he once had?
Review: The first thing you will notice about this movie is it's quality. It looks more like a old TV drama, I'm guessing this never had a cinema release, so I'm just thinking of it as one of these TV Movies.
Yuen Biao's acting skills still haven't faded, he's good. Gloria Yip also does a good job. Now the son can be a bit annoying at times, just really whiney and always refers to his dad as 'Wah', which is a little silly.
Action-wise, with Chin Kar-Lok at the helm I expected it to be good, although it's really iffy. When Biao first gets down to fisticuffs the film goes all quick and jumpy, like in a slow motion type effect. Later in the boxing scenes it usually consists of close up shots of the opponents eyes, then it'll zoom out and they'll box, it isn't that bad, I don't doubt Chin Kar-Lok he's done some great stuff over the years and many people are rating his work in 'The Dragon Squad'.
Guest appearances, well for being a TV Movie we get a couple decent appearances, we get to see Eric Tsang towards the end of the movie playing 'Wu' an old boxing buddy of Yuen Biao's. Lam Suet makes a couple of appearances as Biao's coach.
Final Thoughts, average movie, aging cast, still worth at least one watch! Enjoy!
Plot: Ah Dan (Robert Mak) is a delivery boy who being challenged by billionaire business man Mr. Cui Tung-Sing (Chen Kuan-Tai). They have made an agree if Ah Dan and his mates could steal the billionaires rolls royce they can keep it, but no sell it. But if they loose they need to fork over $50,000 to Mr. Cui
Ah Dan and his three mates Ho Guan (Chin Siu-Ho), Cuttlefish (Chiang Kam) and Superman. Attempt to come up with clever schemes to steal the car from Cui. The plans go from dressing up as a woman crying over her dead cow to pretending to kill a group of security guards and throwing their limbs and heads around. Heck one of the so called 'guards' ends up writing 'Take Care, Farewell' with his own guts.
But they still managed to be out done by Mr. Cui. With only two days left the gang are running out of hope and luck!
Review: Rolls, Rolls, I Love You is a fun loving wacky comedy which is rather amusing after you get past how dated the movie is. What I mean is the terrible disco/arcade game sound effects and music. Another thing that will stand out is Robert Mak's jeans! I still feel ill thinking about it. Chin Siu-Ho also is sporting his crazy perm and Chiang Kam even looks like Velma from the Scooby Doo gang.
The film does have it's comical moments with the gangs attempt to steal the RR but Chen Kuan-Tai always out smarting them, he goes to the length of having 5 identical cars sent out on the streets of Hong Kong to help confuse the young men.
Guest appearances? Well we have veteran actor Ho Pak-Kwong playing Chen Kuen-Tai's driver who turns out to be a pervert. Walter Tso makes an appearance as a angry farmer and then uses the group to plough his field instead of his cows. Also cock eyed To Siu-ming and veteran actor Sai Gwa-pao make brief appearances as workers in a cafe to who think that Robert Mak and the gang are planning to rob it.
Final thoughts, not bad movie. If your looking for Kung fu this ain't it, Chin Siu-Ho and Chen Kuan-Tai don't do jack! There is NO action in this movie. It's just a wacky comedy.
Plot: This is the story of a grave robber meeting a two Taoist priests, the possibilities are endless.
The robber Chou (Chin Siu-Ho) finds himself in trouble when he robs the grave of a beautiful young concubine Hsi-Wan (Pauline Wong) the most bizarre thing happens. The grave is struck by lighting, the lighting circulates through Chou to the concubine, bringing her back to life! This freaks out Chin and he runs for the hills. Things are evening more bizarre when he notices the combine is chasing after him.
Master Chin (Chung Fat) and his student are known to be the best Ghost busters in town. His only rival is his younger brother (Chin Yuet-Sang) whose in the same business. Chin is chosen to bury the corpse of a young man, it seems he has had a dirty death, this could result in him coming back from the dead and no one wants that.
Master Chin heads off with the corpse and prepares the occasion, but little does he know that his younger brother is planning to sabotage him.
Review: Now as you can expect both Chin siu-Ho and Chung Fat meet each other during their storylines and find themselves helping one another to the solve their problems.
New Mr. Vampire isn't part of the wonderful Mr. Vampire Series which mostly starred Lam Ching-Ying. The film could have been better if they had paid attention to the little details from the original series. Some little errors are that they reanimated corpse have regimotise which cause them to hop rather than walk, but in this movie they are very flexible. i'm sure there is more errors but I'm not an expert on the subject.
Guest appearances include a brief cameo from Wu Ma as a worker at the hotel reception. Tai Bo makes an appearance towards the later half other movie as a young general.
Final Thoughts - good film, nice to see Chin Siu-Ho and Pauline Wong on screen together, Worth a watch.
Highlights
Pauline mimicking Chin Siu-Ho's every move
Chung Fat kicking the corpse into the elevator
Chin Siu-Ho jumping one to the ceiling fans
Cameo appearance from Wu Ma
Letdowns
The crazy arcade effects
Some plot holes (the gangsters threatening Chung Fat)
Nostalgia is Takashi Miike's favourite film of his considerable body of work. Including biographical elements Nostalgia centers around the home and school life of Riichi, whose family mix the violent and dysfunctional with the comic and lovable.
Though containing elements of the sudden and shocking brutality that many associate with this director, Young thugs - Nostalgia is more concerned with a child's moment of leaving the internalized world of fantasy, and passing on eagerly to the next stage of life. A wonderful, touching, startling vision that is uniquely Miike's.
This film is a prequal to the earliers, young Thugs: Innocent Blood. Shown the childhood of Riichi and how his family coupes with a boozing, beating and cheating father. Another storyline forms of Riichis School Teacher, Ito attempting to sort out Riichi family problems, although most of the time he and his dad just look at her chest.
There is also the crazy grandfather, who has strong methods of punishment...which include a broom! He also spends his time tring to contact Apollo 11!
This is a real random movie, some times it is strange and pointless, other times its touching and realistic. I prefared this movie much more than Miikes past effort with Young Thugs: Innocent Blood, which was more bizare, but which Miike movie is normal?
Plot (Deltamac): In the lower depths of human societies, the dirty rats or big circles are lurking in the shadows of society. Block Head who dotes on his son and tolerates his nagging wife. Chung who is ever so kind to his grandmother. Chung who still loves childhood sweetheart Ah Sheung, now a cabaret hostess.
Rooster and Bull's Eye. Their leader is Tung (David Lam) who has a perfect plan for a "job" in Hong Kong. In 48 hours, they are to cross the border, rob a jewelry shop and then get back across the border...
Review: Rated at number one of the 'Ten of the Best Heroic Bloodshed Flicks', I had high hopes for this movie, beating the ranks against movies such as A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled. This movie in reality does stand a chance against John Woo's master pieces. Sure I can see why many people can see this movie as a diamond in the rough or a hidden gem in the Hong Kong action genre.
Leading actor David Lam Wai (noticeable in movies such as A Chinese Ghost Story and Project A part 2) does show promise. Although the rest of the cast are a mixed bunch.
With the lack of noticeable actors it's obvious why the movie hasn't proved to by a fan favorite. I myself pined to see some familiar faces. Sure we get to see former Jackie Chan stunt man - Ben Lam take the role of a police officer, that isn't enough. Even the movies police chief i wished to see him replaced with a husky James Tien or Danny Lee!
But the film does earn some brownie points from its graphic violence - the guy having his ear lob blown off or the violent death of the police officer at the ice rink.
As you can expect the story of the mainland thieves going to Hong Kong for their get rich quick scheme ALWAYS goes wrong. Yet this movie lines the plot with unnecessary storylines of the mainland gang sleeping around or the frankly square character 'Rooster' forcing a classy call girl at gun point forcing her to give him some 'oral pleasures'. There is also the worn down subplot of Chung being reunited with his mainland love, Sheung who is now a nightclub hostess.
Watching this movie often reminded me of Ringo Lam's City on Fire where both movies feature various cast members. Hell even this movie has background music which was used in Sammo Hung's "Eastern Condors".
As you can predict, Long Arm of the Law falls short of the finish line, yet ventures off into two sequels, it must have went right somewhere...
Plot (Deltamac): Ricky (Ricky Hui) and Fatso (Johnny Koo) are friends in need. They are in dire need of money since they are only paid slave wages at the bottling factory.
However, they become millionaires overnight after buying a winning lottery ticket. During one of their swingin' nights on the town, Ricky is suddenly attacked by an upset stomach; and in no time, a quack doctor diagnoses the seizure as terminal cancer.
Ricky seriously considers suicide. But he is appalled by the drawbacks inherent in the available methods of doing himself in--primarily the pain! It is on a rooftop from which he is supposed to make a plunge that he saves a poor man from suicide by giving the latter all the money he has.
In gratitude, the newly rich man promises to hire a killer to finish off his suffering benefactor...
Review: An early comedy venture from John Woo. Remember, the guy who went on to make such amazing movies as A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Hard Boiled. But this movie doesn't hit the mark, actually it really crashes and burns.
This is a good story, I liked it, but John Woo really lost the plot on the later half of the movie. When the duo enter the mental hospital and they find themselves fighting off assassins, crazy mental patients with fake heads or the figuring out that eating bullets could actually set them off.
The comedy in the movie is a tad dated, the cheesy 70's music continues to annoy me throughout the movie.
The major plus to the movie was the appearances of my favorite actor - Mr. Vampire aka Lam Ching-Ying. He play's one of the three assassins who uses his Kung Fu to finish off Ricky rather than the other two who use poison and a hand gun.
Final thoughts, this a movie to aviod if your in the mood for a decent comedy I'm sure you could do alot better with a Stephen Chow flick. The only audience I think would appricate this is those Ricky Hui fans.
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