The Eternal Evil of Asia (1995) Movie Review

It’s kind of hard not to love a film with a title as lurid as this, or which starts off with an unconnected prologue detailing a series of black magic practices that are apparently common on the titular continent even in modern times. The scene ends by helpfully advising the viewer against taking...

September 9th, 2004 | Read More

Love Battlefield (2004) Movie Review

“Love Battlefield” is one of those movies, along with Johnnie To’s crime thrillers, that you wish Hong Kong would do more of instead of indulging in 500 moronic slapstick comedies a year starring the same stable of pop “stars”. A blending of genres, “Battlefield”...

September 7th, 2004 | Read More

Human Pork Chop (2001) Movie Review

“Human Pork Chop” is a certain type of film, for a certain type of viewer. Seriously, given the title and the Category III rating so proudly displayed on the box, I’m quite sure that fans of more serious cinematic fare and those of a nervous disposition are highly unlikely to even consider...

August 26th, 2004 | Read More

A Lamb in Despair (1989) Movie Review

At first glance, “A Lamb in Despair” appears to be every bit the typical Category III release. It certainly has a number of the genre’s expected elements: a suggestive title, a lurid cover, and the presence of a prolific Hong Kong star, Anthony Wong (”The Untold Story”,...

August 21st, 2004 | Read More

The Twins Effect 2 (2004) Movie Review

“The Twins Effect 2″ comes to us a year after the box office success of the “The Twins Effect”, a movie about vampires; the sequel, set in ancient China, is a sequel in name only. Simply put, I found the original grossly idiotic at best and grossly moronic at worst. These aren’t...

August 20th, 2004 | Read More

The Peeping Tom (1997) Movie Review

“The Peeping Tom” arrived quite late in the 1990s Hong Kong boom of Category III psycho killer films. With most niches of depravity such as cannibalism, necrophilia, and so on having already been covered by earlier efforts, the filmmakers of “Tom” were forced to dig deep to give...

August 17th, 2004 | Read More

Moving Targets (2004) Movie Review

At one point in time, after the disgraceful “High Risk”, writer/ producer/ director/ seamstress Wong Jing was at the very top of my Hit List. But after the successful “Colour of the Truth”, a semi-take on “Infernal Affairs” that was nevertheless strangely good, I removed...

August 15th, 2004 | Read More

One Nite in Mongkok (2004) Movie Review

After the celebrated triumph of “Lost in Time”, Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Yee returns with a story that is grittier and a whole lot messier than his previous award-winning film. The location this time around is Mongkok, known as the most populated city in the world. It’s here that Lai...

August 10th, 2004 | Read More

Horrible High Heels (1996) Movie Review

The Category III rating of Hong Kong cinema is as much a genre as it is a certificate. Coming to prominence in the 1990s, the rating was created to classify those films containing extreme violence and near-pornographic sex, allowing them to be released free from censorship. The first Category III was...

August 10th, 2004 | Read More

Jiang Hu (2004) Movie Review

Running at a breezy 80 minutes (that is, if you don’t count the extensive John Woo-ish slow motion that makes up about half the film), Ching-po Wong’s “Jiang Hu” is nothing you haven’t seen before. In fact, if you’re even a little bit familiar with Hong Kong triad...

July 17th, 2004 | Read More

Throwdown (2004) Movie Review

I haven’t made any secrets of my admiration when it comes to the works of one Johnnie To. The man behind such excellent cinematic fare as “The Mission”, “PTU”, and just recently “Breaking News”, has elected to give us not one but two films in 2004. Of all the...

July 14th, 2004 | Read More

Heat Team (2004) Movie Review

You certainly wouldn’t mistake Dante Lam’s “Heat Team” to be anything of substance. It’s basically too much style-over-everything, with a number of choice scenes just screaming, “Pay attention, this is a real cool camera shot here!” As a result, you’ll...

July 12th, 2004 | Read More

Koma (2003) Movie Review

With just 3 films in his oeuvre (”Double Tap” and “Inner Senses” being the other two), director Chi-Leung Law is quickly proving to be one of the more talented filmmakers currently working out of the former British colony. With nifty camerawork and even niftier scene compositions,...

June 21st, 2004 | Read More

The Eye 2 (2004) Movie Review

Here’s the thing about these “I see dead people” movies: if I woke up one day and realized I was seeing ghosts, I would be scared; at least, for the first couple of days, and weeks, and perhaps even the first couple of months. But after a while, I think I would get used to it. After...

May 21st, 2004 | Read More

Sex and the Beauties (2004) Movie Review

The thing about characters in movies having uni-brows — that is, one long eyebrow instead of two — is that it only works if it’s not overplayed. Say, a cameo appearance by someone with a uni-brow — that will work. But when one of your lead characters sport a uni-brow for no apparent...

April 6th, 2004 | Read More

Lost in Time (2003) Movie Review

Derek Yee’s “Lost in Time” is like a gust of fresh air washing over the Hong Kong movie industry, cleansing it of the foul stench of Popstar-itis that has been plaguing it for the last couple of years. If the great unwashed of moneymaking schemes (or “films”, as the purveyors...

February 8th, 2004 | Read More

Silver Hawk (2004) Movie Review

If you picked up Michelle Yeoh’s “Silver Hawk” expecting something serious, then you’re out of luck. The movie, directed by Jingle Ma (”Tokyo Raiders”), is all camp. After the average “The Touch”, one should invest very little expectations for Yeoh’s...

January 30th, 2004 | Read More

Beyond Hypothermia (1993) Movie Review

One of the traits of Hong Kong action films that set them apart from their Hollywood counterparts is an attempt to imbue a sense of deep emotional conviction to the main characters, some sort of latent internal conflict that eventually boils over and leaves the characters with a sense of self doubt and...

January 11th, 2004 | Read More

Anna in Kung Fu Land (2003) Movie Review

“Anna in Kung Fu Land” is the second 2003 film from Hong Kong that sports an asinine love story wrapped around a martial arts tournament. The other was “Star Runner”, which looks like a brilliant masterpiece of filmmaking in comparison to this loser by Raymond Yip, who last gave...

January 10th, 2004 | Read More

Infernal Affairs 3 (2004) Movie Review

2002’s “Infernal Affairs” was, in many ways, a seminal work in Hong Kong cinema. Not only did the film come out during a period when the industry was mired in bubbly nonsensical comedies starring an army of interchangeable pop “musicians”, but also it continued a growing...

December 22nd, 2003 | Read More