Asian Movie Reviews »
Surprise (2002) Movie Review
A t the risk of being accused of ethnic bashing (which, by the way, I have been accused of, natch), let me say that I find the way Korean women talk to be a...
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Bangkok Dangerous (2000) Movie Review
It probably won’t come as any surprise to anyone that “Bangkok Dangerous,” the Thai contribution to the old (but clearly not going anywhere) Hitman Genre, is a faithful rendition of the best of the...
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Dark Water (2002) Movie Review
It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that you could throw a rock at the present Asian film industry and hit a dozen or so ghost stories either being conceived, are...
Read More »Devil Face, Angel Heart (2002) Movie Review
Question: How do you know a film has little (to no) faith in its screenplay (re: its story)? Answer: When the screenwriter’s name doesn’t even appear in the opening credits, you know you’re in...
Read More »The Killer (1989) Movie Review
“The Killer” marks probably the best Yun-Fat/Woo team up as star/director, respectively. After the runaway success of “A Better Tomorrow,” the two men became international sensations, and “The Killer” solidified their reputations for all...
Read More »Nightmare (aka Gawi, 2000) Movie Review
The South Korean horror film “Nightmare” is a slasher film in the vein of “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” with heavy doses of supernatural elements ala the Japanese film “Ring.” It’s a...
Read More »Nowhere to Hide (1999) Movie Review
The tactics used by the cops in Myung-se Lee’s “Nowhere to Hide” to extract information from suspects would make the cops on TV’s “NYPD Blue” blush. They are, in a word, hardcore, and beating...
Read More »Volcano High (2001) Movie Review
“Volcano High” (or “Volcano High School”) is a South Korean action/comedy picture that utilizes a lot of the special effects pioneered by their American counterparts, and employs elements of Hong Kong farce comedy and...
Read More »Princess D (2001) Movie Review
About halfway through the Hong Kong drama “Princess D,” a character that has suffered a mental breakdown is visiting her incarcerated husband; in a heartbreaking scene, the woman silently tries (but is unable) to...
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Waterboys (2001) Movie Review
The Japanese film “Waterboys” is a mixture of “The Bad News Bears” and “The Full Monty,” in which misfits attempt to accomplish something they’re just not cut out for, and in which no one...
Read More »My Schoolmate the Barbarian (2002) Movie Review
I’m always a little hesitant to assume things about foreign popular culture that I’ve never studied in-depth (i.e. college courses). Hong Kong is one of those places. I bring this up only because the...
Read More »Hit Team (2001) Movie Review
The most infuriating thing about Dante Lam’s Hit Team is that it’s obviously not a low budget production, and yet so little time and effort was spent on the English translations that one wonders...
Read More »Swordsman (1990) Movie Review
“Swordsman” is your standard Hong Kong-produced period martial arts movie. All the conventions of the genre are present, including the always popular girl mistaken for man because she wears man’s clothes big (this “confusion”...
Read More »The Eye (2002) Movie Review
The phrase “Two minds are better than one” seems to hold sway when it comes to sibling filmmakers. Which might explain the recent boom in multiple filmmakers from the same family attached to the...
Read More »Legend of the Wolf (1997) Movie Review
Donnie Yen’s “Legend of the Wolf” is an absurdly amusing and immensely enjoyable failure. It’s a failure in that its efforts to tell a story comes up lacking and the core of its purpose...
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Kamikaze Taxi (1995) Movie Review
I’ve always found Japanese culture to be intriguing, not by what’s “out there” but rather by what’s hidden “under the surface.” And oh my, there are just so much under the surface when it...
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Electric Dragon 80,000 V (2002) Movie Review
The most curious thing about writer/director Sogo Ishii’s Electric Dragon 80,000 V is just how well it starts, only to go drastically downhill. Ishii’s Electric Dragon is approximately 55 minutes long, including both opening...
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Bad Guy (2001) Movie Review
There has been so many South Korean and Japanese gangster films that they deserve a subgenre of their own — the Traditional Asian Gangster films, which exists only from South Korea and Japan. Why...
Read More »Legend of Speed (1999) Movie Review
As the saying goes, it is a stupid man who keeps coming back for more punishment from the same source. I am that stupid man, since Legend of Speed is the second movie directed...
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The Duel (2000) Movie Review
I don’t give out 1-star ratings often (and in fact, I can count all the movies I have given 1-star ratings to on one hand), because I usually reserve them for special occasions. Andrew...
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