Chinese Movie Reviews »
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...
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Double Vision (2003) Movie Review
Kuo-fu Chen’s “Double Vision” was written, executed, and intended for international audiences, so maybe this is why the film lacks a more “Asian” feel. Oh sure, the screenplay by Chen and Chao-Bin Su makes...
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...
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...
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 »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 —...
Read More »Naked Killer (1992) Movie Review
Here’s an interesting survey for those of you planning on watching 1992′s “Naked Killer”: If you’re a cop, and you witness a woman repeatedly stab a guy in the balls with a scissor, should...
Read More »Lifeline (1997) Movie Review
I’m a sucker for cop movies, but I’ve never been all that enthusiastic about firefighter movies. I mean, besides watching firefighters battle fires, what’s the point? And really, how many different ways to show...
Read More »Sleeping with the Dead (2002) Movie Review
Although sold as a Supernatural Horror film, the new Jordan Chan movie “Sleeping with the Dead” actually works better as a Drama. For one thing, the supernatural premise behind “Sleeping” is a retread of...
Read More »Running Out of Time 2 (2001) Movie Review
The motto of “Running Out of Time 2″ seems to be, if it ain’t broke, make another sequel just like it. Following pretty much the same narrative structure used in the original “Running Out...
Read More »And I Hate You So (2000) Movie Review
“And I Hate You So” is a Romantic Comedy/Chick Flick. It’s a Chick Flick in the vein of “Serendipity”, and anyone interested in knowing what that means should go back and read the review...
Read More »Viva Erotica (1996) Movie Review
For those familiar with Hong Kong cinema, the term “Cat III” conjures up images of sex for the sake of gratuitous sex. Hong Kong films that fall into the Cat III rating belong in...
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Wu Yen (2001) Movie Review
“Wu Yen” looks like a play turned into a movie, but without all the trappings of a “movie world” and everything associated with that. The film purports to tell the “real” story of the...
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