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Looking for Mr. Perfect (2003) Movie Review
If you’ve seen enough Hong Kong movies you may start to notice that a lot of the same people keep showing up in the same movies. It’s because the present Hong Kong film industry...
Read More »Haunted Office (2002) Movie Review
“Haunted Office”, a 2002 offering from Hong Kong, is a horror anthology consisting of 3 episodes set in the same haunted office building. Unlike other anthologies, there isn’t a middleman (e.g. the Crypt Keeper)...
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The Twins Effect (2003) Movie Review
Using manipulative music in movies is nothing new. Steven Spielberg used to make a living off it. Such is the case with “The Twins Effect”, the new “it” movie from Hong Kong starring two...
Read More »Killer (2000) Movie Review
Movies like Billy Chung’s “Killer” makes me break out that old standby: It ain’t bad, but it ain’t all that good, either. “Killer”, not to be confused with John Woo’s “The Killer”, stars Jordan...
Read More »Extreme Crisis (1998) Movie Review
Movies like “Extreme Crisis” have inspired me to create a new terminology. I’m going to call it Because the Script Says So, or BSSS. In short, BSSS means this: movies have situations or characters...
Read More »Double Tap (2000) Movie Review
Is it wrong of me to wish that the cold-blooded killer played by Leslie Cheung would come up on top? That before he’s done with his killing spree, he gets the chance to take...
Read More »Martial Angels (2001) Movie Review
“Martial Angels” has the makings of a good movie. It’s got a terrific cast, including Qi Shu as a retired thief forced back into the life when her ex-boyfriend (Julian Cheung) is kidnapped by...
Read More »Love in Garden Street (2002) Movie Review
All moviegoers know that Movie Coincidences (that is, the type of convenient coincidence that can only happen in movies) is a fact of moviegoing life. On rare occasions, your average moviegoer will be generous...
Read More »Horror Hotline: Big Head Monster (2003) Movie Review
It just doesn’t pay to be a reporter in a horror movie nowadays. Mixing elements of “Ring” with “The Blair Witch Project”, the Hong Kong product “Horror Hotline: Big Head Monster” is not as...
Read More »The Story of Ricky (1991) Movie Review
About halfway through “Story of Ricky”, the titular hero is engaged in a prison yard fight to the death with a rival when the rival, armed with a hunting knife, decides to cut open...
Read More »Bullets Over Summer (1995) Movie Review
“Bullets Over Summer” is a Buddy Cop action-comedy with strong doses of drama and, dare I say it, Asian melodrama toward the end. Francis Ng (“2000 A.D.”) stars as Mike, a veteran cop teamed...
Read More »Option Zero (1997) Movie Review
I have to admit, Hong Kong really does cop movies well; they somehow manage to weave the personal lives of the cops seamlessly with the complications of being on the job. “Option Zero” is...
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The Dragon From Russia (1990) Movie Review
Clarence Ford’s “The Dragon from Russia”, essentially an adaptation of the Japanese manga “Crying Freeman”, makes Christophe Gans’ lackluster 1995 adaptation “Crying Freeman” look like a masterpiece without equal. I kid you not. There’s...
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Yesterday (2002) Movie Review
“Yesterday” is a flashy and competently put-together South Korean take on futuristic sci-fi. It’s essentially about a group of lab experiments, led by the biggest and baddest lab experiment of them all, coming out...
Read More »PTU (2003) Movie Review
I can understand how some people might be confused by the oeuvre of filmmaker Johnnie To, who seems to exist as two individuals: the Cool To and the Funny To. I don’t particularly care...
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Blue (2003) Movie Review
The South Korean movie “Blue” is basically “Top Gun” with scuba gear instead of Tomcats. Depending on how you feel about deep sea diving, this may or may not be a good thing. Like...
Read More »Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain (1983) Movie Review
I really am not overstating things when I tell you that Tsui Hark’s 1983 special effects opus, “Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain”, is a terrible, terrible movie. But on the plus side, it’s...
Read More »Saulabi (2001) Movie Review
“Saulabi” has all the makings of a TV movie with some added R-rated footage showing gratuitous violence and bloodletting in order to justify a theatrical release. The South Korean film, about Korean expatriates who...
Read More »Inner Senses (2002) Movie Review
The Hong Kong motto is, “If it sells tickets, copy it ad nauseam until it no longer sells tickets.” As a result of that motto, 2002 has been the Year of the Ghosts —...
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Body Jumper (2001) Movie Review
Taking its cue from the still-fresh Teen Horror Parody genre ala “Scary Movie”, the Thai film “Body Jumper” has a lot of good moments in it, but it also has a bad habit of...
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