Colour of the Truth (2003) Movie Review

“Color of the Truth” sports such a dubious pedigree that I sat on it for nearly a month before finally taking a stab at it today. Yes, I’m talking about the presence of the name “Wong Jing”. What worries me the most is that Jing is not only the writer, but also the co-director...

July 23rd, 2003 | Read More

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 has a system in place that mirrors the Studio System of Hollywood’s “Golden Age”. Many actors...

July 16th, 2003 | 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) to “tell” the stories, but instead the writers have interweaved...

July 12th, 2003 | Read More

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 popular teen idols, a has-been teen idol, and an old has-been action idol. Every scene of...

July 7th, 2003 | 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 Chan (”Bio-Zombie”) as Tung, one of...

July 3rd, 2003 | 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 that makes absolutely no sense, and these anomalies can appear at just about any time...

July 1st, 2003 | 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 out all the cops that act like jerks, including leading man Alex Fong? In the world of “Double Tap”, where a...

June 27th, 2003 | 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 the Russian mob. The target? A super duper anti-virus computer software. Now you may be asking...

June 17th, 2003 | 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 enough to accept one, sometimes even two, big Movie Coincidences. But if your movie is built...

June 13th, 2003 | 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 silly as you might think by the, well, silly title. The reporter here...

May 17th, 2003 | 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 up with the young and hormonally-challenged Brian (Louis Koo). After a criminal name Dragon...

May 7th, 2003 | 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 another movie by Dante Lam (”Hit Team”) that proves that the Chinese really know what they’re...

May 5th, 2003 | Read More

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 just something...

May 3rd, 2003 | 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 for the Funny To, who has a bad habit of teaming up with Ka-Fai Wai for silly comedies like “Wu Yen”...

April 24th, 2003 | 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 bad in the so-bad-it’s-good way. Essentially the forerunner to Hark’s 2001...

April 20th, 2003 | 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 — or, to be more precise, the Year of People Seeing Ghosts. Finally jumping on the “I see dead people” bandwagon...

April 17th, 2003 | 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 you: a) arrest her, or b) fall madly in love with her. Our brilliant cop chooses...

April 10th, 2003 | 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 a fire ravaging a building and getting hit with water can you possible take...

April 9th, 2003 | 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 the Kevin Bacon film “Stir of Echoes”, involving a vengeful female...

April 2nd, 2003 | 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 of Time”, “ROOT 2″ brings back Inspector Ho (Ching Wan Lau), the Hong Kong...

March 28th, 2003 | Read More