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A.f.r.i.k.a. (2001) Movie Review
The South Korean movie “A.f.r.i.k.a” is a Chicks on the Run film, a subgenre that is often associated with Road Movies, since the two subgenres often features combined conventions. Chicks on the Run films...
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April Story (1998) Movie Review
The Japanese film April Story, besides having an annoyingly sweet soundtrack, is a 1-hour film. It is a romance film at its core, but has elements of a Fish out of Water movie in...
Read More »The Bride With White Hair 2 (1993) Movie Review
Ronny Yu’s The Bride With White Hair 2 is a good example of a sequel that shouldn’t have been, and the two White Hair films, put together, is a good example of a movie...
Read More »Christmas in August (1998) Movie Review
Jin-ho Hur’s “Christmas in August” is the 1998 forerunner to his masterpiece “One Fine Spring Day”, and just like the other film, “Christmas” explores the human condition and sheds light on the power of...
Read More »The Bride With White Hair (1993) Movie Review
The Bride With White Hair looks more like an overly produced and big budgeted stage play than an actual movie. As written and directed by Ronny Yu (with co-writer David Wu) The Bride With...
Read More »Young and Dangerous 6: Born to be King (2000) Movie Review
Young and Dangerous 6: Born to be King is the latest chapter in the Young and Dangerous series, which began in 1996 and has become something of a phenomenon in Hong Kong. There have...
Read More »Art Museum by the Zoo (1998) Movie Review
Jeong-hyang Lee’s “Art Museum by the Zoo” is not a very original movie. Let’s get that out of the way first, shall we? You’ve seen the exact same formula being played out in countless...
Read More »Second Time Around (2001) Movie Review
My never-ending enthusiasm for Time Travel movies is one of the few things I can depend on about myself. Jeffrey Lau’s Second Time Around is a Time Travel movie, and like all Time Travel...
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Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001) Movie Review
My memory of the original Vampire Hunter D, of which Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a sequel to, is a little hazy. The original came out in 1985 and I saw it...
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China Strike Force (2003) Movie Review
As the writer/director of a movie you know you’ve done something grossly wrong when your audience would rather spend time with your villains than with your heroes. Such is the case with Stanley Tong’s...
Read More »This is Law (2002) Movie Review
Byeong-jin Min’s first effort, This is Law, is the kind of film that should be sued for false advertisement — at least according to what the movie’s poster (as seen above) promises. Not only...
Read More »Killer 2 (2003) Movie Review
“Killer 2″ purports to be a sequel to 2000′s “Killer”, starring Jordan Chan and Simon Lui as knife assassins on the verge of retirement. But while getting into the killing business is as easy...
Read More »Expect the Unexpected (1998) Movie Review
Movies like Patrick Yau’s Expect the Unexpected needs to be seen to be believed, because it’s so good and yet so, so bad. Is such a thing even possible, you ask? Yes, Virginia, it...
Read More »In the Mood for Love (2000) Movie Review
Hong Kong writer/director Wong Kar-wai finally ditches the constraints of lousy Hong Kong filmstock and his film has never looked, or sounded, better. With his latest movie, “In the Mood for Love”, Wong has...
Read More »Chungking Express (1994) Movie Review
Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express is a romance picture with traces of Everybody’s Related conventions (see Fast Food, Fast Women for explanation). The movie is shot in standard (and dare I say it, awful) Hong...
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Whiteout (2000) Movie Review
Setsurou Wakamatsu’s Whiteout is a Die Hard In A… Movie, with a vehicle, location, or situation put in place of the ellipsis. In this case, we’re dealing with a Die Hard In a Dam....
Read More »Friend (2001) Movie Review
Kyung-taek Kwak’s “Friend” is a memoir, a recollection of memories about 4 friends and their divergent paths from childhood to school to adulthood. The film is narrated by one of the 4 friends, middle-class...
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Uzumaki (2000) Movie Review
Uzumaki is the story of highschooler Kirie, who opens the film with a brief voiceover introduction. We learn that Kirie lives in a small rural Japanese town with her father (her mother has passed...
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Ring (aka Ringu, 1998) Movie Review
Let me preface my review by saying that I saw the sequel to “Ring”, “Ring 2″, before I saw the original. Of course this means a lot of things were lost to me (while...
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Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1998) Movie Review
A movie like Hiroyuki Okiura’s Jin-Roh is why the Japanese are considered the pioneers of animation. Over the last decade or so the shortcomings of American “cartoons” and animation have become painfully obvious when...
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