The China Dragon中國龍

Legacy of Rage / 龍在江湖 (1986)

2012-02-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

Written by Clifton Ko and Raymond Fung Sai-fung
Produced by Linda Kuk and John Shum
Directed by Ronny Yu

Brandon Lee shared many things in juxtaposition to his iconic father both in life and in death but in terms of screen presence was markedly different and what they had in common aesthetically was disappointingly only superficial. "Legacy of Rage," Brandon Lee's sole Hong Kong offering, neither breaks new ground nor does it conjure up his late father's nationalistic spirit or even reach the heights of schlock art a la "Enter the Dragon" (1973).

As unfair as it is for audiences to anticipate something that could never be duplicated (in this lifetime or the next) it's reasonable that they expected more than just a descent B picture in which the son of Bruce Lee, who was trained from an early age by his father, performs little martial arts and when he does it's with the bravado of only the average B martial artist.

Casual fans of action cinema probably won't mind; "Legacy of Rage" is fairly painless to sit through, but those in search of something in terms of a family legacy will likely leave feeling underwhelmed.

The Karate Kid (2010)

2011-02-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

Written by Christopher Murphey
Produced by James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith,
Ken Stovitz, and Jerry Weintraub
Directed by Harald Zwart

One of the most frustrating things about the oversaturation of remakes in the last decade is the update either ruthlessly bastardizes its source material ("Death Race") or is a thinly veiled attempt to cash-in on a popular foreign language film remarketed to English speaking audiences who would otherwise refuse to read subtitles ("The Grudge").

Given that no film whether cult or classic is considered hollowed ground to the dim gold digging cockroaches pouring out of the crevices in Starstruck Town it was only a matter of time then before Hollywood looked to reupholster the young adult classic "The Karate Kid" (1984).

Generation X could probably think of fewer staples of Regan era Americana they'd like to see receive a new millennium upgrade of less and perhaps that's why it may come as a surprise to some and a shock to others that "The Karate Kid" remake works as well as it does.

The key to the remake's charm isn't in the likeable chemistry recreated by stars Jayden Smith and rapidly aging martial arts icon Jackie Chan but how well the new film both honors its inspiration by effectively lifting several key sequences from the original and reimagining ones that decidedly no longer lend themselves to do-over’s.

In a bold move, "The Karate Kid" one-up's its predecessor by moving the proceeding to mainland China capturing the nation's many awe-inspiring locales through Roger Pratt's cinematography that proves so affective it feels as if you're discovering China for the first time not unlike the film's pint-sized protagonist.

Adding to the items one would never expect to see in a Hollywood remake of "The Karate Kid" starring 56-year-old Jackie Chan, the martial arts choreography is fast, fresh, and inventive -- a tribute to the actor's namesake and something sorely missing from Chan's below average Hollywood output.

Sure, "The Karate Kid" isn't without its setbacks: as good as Chan is here his Mr. Han does not possess the depth or the comedic timing of Pat Morita’s immortal Mr. Miyagi. And while 11-year-old Jayden Smith is quickly becoming one of the most reliable young actors in Hollywood despite doing little more than acting out his father's imprint the role is still better suited for teenager; those volatile years of confusion resonating more with the stranger in a strange land trope.

Further, one gets the impression the remake pulls a punch by only implying there's more than just the protagonist's foreign status that has caused him to draw the ire of his Chinese classmates when he falls for an adorable violinist (excellently portrayed by newcomer Han Wenwen).

Then again when you consider everything "The Karate Kid" remake does right it's hard to get hung-up on the few things that it does wrong.

Wax on.

Zu: The Warriors from the Magic Mountain / 新蜀山劍俠 (1983)

2011-02-06T13:41:00.000-08:00

Written by Shui Chung-yuet and Szeto Cheuk-hon
Produced by Raymond Chow
Directed by Tsui Hark

Occasionally juxtaposed to "Star Wars" (1977) these kindred spirits of camp art share not only thematic elements, some of the same technical wizards, and a shared nostalgia between contemporary critics and audiences alike but also some of the same weaknesses.

Co-written by Szeto Cheuk-hon, who collaborated on screenplays for three of director Tsui Hark's previous films, "Zu: The Warriors from the Magic Mountain" is likable based on the strength of its merits in sight and sound, but storytelling isn't one of the film's virtues. Like "Star Wars" this flying swordsman fantasy rarely ever stops to the point it's difficult to recall a moment where the narrative succeeds in pacifying Tsui's funhouse approach to filmmaking.

This is no more evident than when the aforementioned warriors from the magic mountain arrive at a cryptic queen's fortress in the clouds and spend the next twelve minutes soaring through the air jousting with rays of energy from their palms in an attempt to appeal to the speechless ruler for her help. Once you look past all the smoke and mirrors its obvious why this sequence was tailored in this fashion: "Zu" would have viewed a grounded dialogue-driven exchange as some kind of cardinal sin for this brand of ADHD storytelling even though this is what the film lacks: breaks.

The atmosphere created by Tsui's marvelously colorful vision and recreated through Bill Wong's moody photography is accompanied by Gwan Sing-yau and Tang Siu-lam's pragmatic score and accented by the tutelage of conscripted Western technicians whose collective resume includes not only the special effects for George Lucas's 1977 science-fiction phenomenon (supposedly Tsui's original inspiration) but "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," "Tron," "Battlestar Galactica," and "Bladerunner" as well. Though Tsui was given an unprecedented HK $30 million budget by Golden Harvest Studios to turn his dream into a reality the special effects -- presumably where the lion's share of the money went -- have a cost-cutting charm that still has yet to wear off.

It's just a shame it seemingly occurred to no one to give "Zu: The Warriors from the Magic Mountain" the necessary heart it so richly deserves given the film is based on a 50 volume martial arts saga and begins as a delicious slice of black commentary on war before nearly overdosing on its own kinetic energy.

Not surprisingly John Carpenter has since cited "Zu: The Warriors from the Magic Mountain" as his muse for the orientalist gonzo action-fantasy "Big Trouble in Little China" (1986).

The Man from Hong Kong / 直搗黃龍 (1975)

2011-02-02T13:35:00.001-08:00

AKA Dragon Flies

Written by Brian Tenchard-Smith
Produced by Raymond Chow and John Fraser
Directed by Brian Tenchard-Smith and Jimmy Wang Yu

The first Australian-Hong Kong co-production is clearly a product of its time almost from the word go: a promiscuous reporter hang glides into Wong Chuk Hong over the opening credits to Jigsaw's "Sky High" where she runs into a sarcastic inspector (controversial gung fu star Jimmy Wang Yu) who immediately detains her -- literally -- before heading to Australia to pick-up a Chinese criminal only to run afoul of a Sydney crime boss (unappreciated 007 and real-life Bruce Lee pupil George Lazenby).

"The Man from Hong Kong" suffers from an identity crisis: director Brian Tenchard-Smith's feature film début is no more Australian than it is Chinese which may help explain why it works -- in this case -- on a superficial level mixing equal parts of Grant Page's thirst for octane with Sammo Hung's occasionally satirical; occasionally visceral martial arts choreography.

Where past hybrids tended to frustratingly vacillate "The Man from Hong Kong" is the best, in choreography terms, of both capricious low budget guerilla film industries strikingly captured by Russell Boyd's lens though on a whole it's about as sound as Roy Chow's English dub of Wang Yu's dialogue.

According to the 2008 documentary "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation" nearly everyone involved on the Australian side of "The Man from Hong Kong" found star and unaccredited co-director Jimmy Wang Yu abrasive, controlling, openly racist to his white female co-stars, and all-around unbearable to work with.

The Warlords / 投名狀 (2007)

2010-07-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Written by Xu Lan, Chun Tin-nam, Aubrey Lam, Huang Jianxin, Jojo Hui, Ho Kei-ping, Guo Jun Li, and James Yuen
Produced by Andre E. Morgan, Huang Jianxin,
Peter Chan Hoh-san, and Jojo Hui
Directed by Peter Chan Hoh-san and Raymond Yip

As massive as the scope of "The Warlords" is, this spare-no-expense remake of the Shaw Brothers classic "The Blood Brothers" (1973), shows its teeth often enough without hardly ever baring it's heart; puzzling for a film helmed by Peter Chan Hoh-san who made a name for himself in Hong Kong during the '90s directing audience affecting romance pictures.

Thirty-four years after "The Blood Brothers" debuted eight new writers and two directors (Raymond Yip sans credit) keep the basics of the original's plot intact with some minor storytelling tweaks in addition to the jettison of martial arts which ironically weren't exactly the lynchpin to the original Chang Cheh helmed historical drama and coincide with lead actor Jet Li's recent public abstention from the genre.

Corresponding to "The Blood Brothers" at its core "The Warlords" is a romantic drama about an oath between bandits tested by love and war but here director Peter Chan seems occasionally more preoccupied with capturing Ching Siu-tung's choreographed warfare than he does exploring the possibilities and limitations of human nature.

As impressive as the film's aesthetic is, as well articulated as its budget may be, and as refreshing as it might be for some to see Jet Li out perform everyone around him in his first non-martial arts role, "The Warlords" because of its lazy eye only manages to be a likeable remake of the far superior Shaw Brothers original that too often leaves its heart beating faintly on the battlefield.

If Chan decides to return to the epic warring states genre -- the preeminent choice of Chinese filmmakers in the new millennium -- we can only hope "The Warlords" was just a fun dress rehearsal.

A Moment of Romance / 天若有情 (1990)

2010-07-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

Written by James Yuen
Produced by Johnnie To
Directed by Benny Chan Muk-sing

Denim clad rascal on a crotch rocket Wah Dee (Andy Lau) is chosen as the getaway driver for a jewelry heist doomed by convention to fail and when it does Wah takes a wealthy college student (Taiwanese actress Wu Chien-Lien in a star making role) hostage in order for the gang to make their escape posthaste.

To the shock of perhaps everyone involved once clear of the authorities Wah simply returns his captive to her residence ultimately causing more chaos than the actual robbery.

By turns "A Moment of Romance" is hackneyed and mawkish; the film might have made for Hong Kong's most expensively produced karaoke video with the good girl falling for the bad boy paradox set to Fabio Carli and Lau Dai-yau's mellow tunes. But writer James Yuen lends the film a sense of brutal realism: Lau's Wah Dee is a boy raised by wolves and whether he finds love or not he is first and foremost married to the streets that raised him and he will eventually die on them as he lived.

The film's unpretentious nature is perhaps why this occasionally gooey Stockholm Syndrome romance; occasionally visceral triad drama has withstood two decades of competition, imitation (not the least from its own producers), and parody.

Fantasy Mission Force / 迷你特攻隊 (1983)

2010-05-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

Literal Translation: The Enchanting-You Specializing Force

Written by Wai San
Produced by Chian Wen Hsiung and Shen Hsiao Yin
Directed by Chu Yen-ping

Films that are so-bad-they're-good usually must (a) take themselves seriously (b) display an almost complete ignorance of film language and (c) whose entertainment value must be derived from unintentional humor.

Had "Tell Your Children" (1936) -- better known as "Reefer Madness" -- not taken the supposedly clear and present dangers of smoking marijuana to such ridiculous lengths than it's somehow doubtful that the campy cautionary tale would have lived to see it's second wind as a cult favorite during the '60s and '70s when use of the drug skyrocketed.

Unintentional humor has the potential of breaking out into a riot but if a film is in on the joke and the punch line isn't funny than what merit does that joke truly posses?

"Fantasy Mission Force," a Taiwanese co-production, is most certainly aware of its own absurd nature: co-star Jimmy Wang Yu looks on-screen as if he's been busting up in-between every take (though probably at the audience's expense).

Fine, but "Fantasy Mission Force" is so incoherent -- even in its original target language -- it's seemingly been assembled from four very different (not to mention incomplete) scripts and melded into one desultory narrative that finds a group of personified non-sequiturs sent to rescue a group of Allied generals being held hostage by the Japanese during World War II...we think.

Jackie Chan, whose star had begun to shine at the time of filming agreed to appear in "Fantasy Mission Force" as a favor to Jimmy Wang Yu who had previously brokered a deal to get the young star out of hot water with triads back in Hong Kong. Chan is featured in one of the film's few truly funny moments out-smoking a sumo wrestler and later gets to very briefly showcase his acrobatic prowess.

Chan's involvement is likely the only reason "Fantasy Mission Force" hasn't vanished into obscurity and today enjoys a modest cult following.

The Hand of Death / 少林門 (1976)

2010-05-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

AKA Countdown in Kung Fu and Strike of Death

Written by John Woo
Produced by Raymond Chow
Directed by John Woo

To date, the second of only two very marginal collaborations between Jackie Chan and John Woo; neither had made a name for themselves when "The Hand of Death" premiered in 1976, though both future auteurs exhibit visible signs of life.

Dorian Tan stars as a Shaolin avenger whose gung fu is so good nothing can keep up with him including the film. That's less a compliment to the Korean import and more a critique of the film on a whole; "The Hand of Death" is just that slow.

Twenty-seven year old director John Woo appears in an extended cameo as one of Tan's allies.

King Eagle / 鷹王 (1971)

2010-04-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Written by Ni Kuang
Produced by Run Run Shaw
Directed by Chang Cheh

Chang Cheh was often guilty of having an unnerving fetish for blood and as gratuitous as it could be at times at least it was rarely dull. In "King Eagle" the prolific Shaw Brothers director doesn't appear to be particularly interested in bloodletting or anything else for that matter. Everything you see here is Shaw Brothers stock which is fine if you're an addict of the popular studio's output but everyone else will be checking their watches way too often for a film that isn't even 90 minutes long.

When Taekwondo Strikes / 跆拳震九州 (1973)

2010-04-14T20:08:00.001-07:00

Written by Chu Yu
Produced by Raymond Chow
Directed by Wong Fung

This female "Fist of Fury" (1972), relocated from Shanghai to Korea, initially doesn't have much going for it: the first third of the film is a sad conglomerate of plain Jane art direction, bland costumes, overcast cinematography, poorly delivered dialogue, and even poorer direction.

Thankfully, for a martial arts picture as homely as "When Taekwondo Strikes" (notwithstanding star Angela Mao Ying's natural Taiwanese beauty) its saving grace is the fist and kick sequences that grow in number during the film's 90 minute trajectory and progressively become more entertaining culminating in what has to be one of the most satisfying meat-and-potatoes finales in Golden Harvest's martial arts library.

Jhoon Rhee, the father of Taekwondo in America, co-stars along side his real-life pupil Ann Winton in their only screen credits to date. Both were discovered by the film's director Wong Fung, who also lent to the early career of co-star and choreographer Sammo Hung.

Gunmen / 天羅地網 (1988)

2010-04-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

Written by Law Gam-fai and Lip Wang-fung
Produced by Tsui Hark
Directed by Kirk Wong Chi-keung

Kirk Wong's thinly veiled, meagerly produced Cantonese retool of Brian DePalma's "The Untouchables" (1987) succeeds at energizing its overrated source material with a number of fine performances and heroically choreographed shootouts...but that's about it.

Green Snake / 青蛇 (1993)

2010-03-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

Written by Lillian Lee and Tsui Hark
Produced by Tsui Hark
Directed by Tsui Hark

Tsui Hark's soaking wet adaptation of Lillian Lee's novel (itself based on the oral tradition Legend of the White Snake) is too esoteric to recommend; too gorgeous (notwithstanding dollar store FX) to reprove a viewing.

One of the prolific director's biggest box office disappoints "Green Snake" has the scope of past Tsui fantasies "Zu: The Warriors from the Magic Mountain" (1983) and "A Chinese Ghost Story" (1987) but none of the magic that made those films' camp value worthy of comparison to "Star Wars" (1977) and "The Evil Dead" (1981), respectively.

In fact, "Green Snake" is just plain banal at times (the film's rich tapestry withstanding) though it certainly has a point: if an artist's rendition of evil knocked on your door you'd never let them in but if evil came in the form of natural feminine beauty you might not think twice about it.

Zhao Wen Zhuo is a pious Buddhist reverend (is there another kind?) waging a one monk war to keep good and evil segregated in the mortal world and may have met his match when two centuries' old snakes (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Joey Wong Cho-yin) are taking all the necessary steps to achieve full human form by way of Wu Hsing Guo a disconcerted scholar whom the pair seduce with their ham-fisted sexual promiscuity.

As a political allegory "Green Snake" has a set of fangs but as a Tsui Hark fantasy this snake is truly one of nature's most passive creatures.

Organized Crime & Triad Bureau / 重案實錄Ｏ記 (1994)

2010-03-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Written by Lu Bing
Produced by Danny Lee and Kirk Wong Chi-keung
Directed by Kirk Wong Chi-keung

"Organized Crime & Triad Bureau," the second installment of director Kirk Wong's trilogy of crime films inspired by actual events, is as underwritten as a chop sockey but then again true crime is almost never as complicated as an episode of "Law and Order: Whatever."

Danny Lee and Anthony Wong both appear in roles that they could deliver in their sleep in the same way John Wayne and Clint Eastwood made themselves stars not as great actors but as great characters.

James Ha directs the cost efficient ultra-violent gun battles beautifully choreographed on the overcrowded streets of Hong Kong as detectives unrelentingly pursue a gang of criminals (when they're not bickering with their superiors) in this underrated cops-n-robbers flick.

Love Battlefield / 愛‧作戰 (2004)

2010-03-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

Written by Szeto Kam-yuen and Jack Ng
Produced by Joe Ma, Ivy Kong, and Zhao Hai Cheng
Directed by Soi Cheang

Director Soi Cheang draws from the same well as "School on Fire" (1988) and drinks a tall glass of the same hopelessness that made Ringo Lam's final installment of his original crime trilogy nearly impossible to sit through.

Talented scribe Szeto Kam-yuen, who burst on the scene penning four consecutive Milkyway features ("Too Many Ways to be No. 1," "Expect the Unexpected," "A Hero Never Dies," "The Longest Nite") keeps things interesting for a while but watching a panty waist's day go from bad to worse after being kidnapped by violent mainland drug smugglers (one of which is bleeding to death from an off-screen gun battle) proves so depressing the protagonist's climatic redemption at the conclusion of "Love Battlefield" comes off like pure smaltz partly because it feels just that disjointed from the proceedings.

Eason Chan is the timid male nurse forced to play chauffer to Wang Zhi Wen and his associates; Niki Chow is the nurse's ex who dumps him minutes before being kidnapped; and Wong Ho-yin is great as Chow's expedient brother.

Portland Street Blues / 古惑仔情義篇之洪興十三妹 (1998)

2010-03-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

Written by Manfred Wong and Patrick Kong Pak-leung
Produced by Manfred Wong
Directed Yip Wai-man

In this official "Young and Dangerous" spin-off the origins of Sister Thirteen, the largely unelaborated on female triad introduced to audiences in the series' fourth installment, is fleshed out in spite of the preceding offerings' overt male chauvinism.

To the film's credit "Portland Street Blues" avoids merely feminizing one of its predecessors to justify giving the Sister Thirteen character a feature length film. Nor does it take the inside track and simply exploit the triad's gender (or her muddled sexuality for that matter).

"Portland Street Blues" could have been a hip and sexy triad girlz flick a la "Street Angels" (1996).

Thankfully, it is not.

In fact, "Portland Street Blues" has most of everything it needs to exist as a stand alone feature taking narrative paths previously unpaved by writer Manfred Wong and director Andrew Lau whose heavy-hands steered all six "Young and Dangerous" films plus a prequel.

Juxtaposed to its exploitive counterparts director Yip Wai-man and co-writer Patrick Kong have come up with one of series' more favorable entries that features a first in the "Young and Dangerous" universe by sporting a strong female cast with the excellent Sandra Ng reprising her Sister Thirteen role from "Young and Dangerous" parts 4 and 5, an extended cameo by former soft-core queen Shu Qi convincingly portraying an overly abused junkie, in addition to promising newcomer Kristy Yeung.

It's not until the final reel when seemingly by obligation "Portland Street Blues" plugs itself directly into the "Young and Dangerous" series and a number of hindrances we were happy to be getting a break from here begin to rear their ugly heads including but not limited to a cameo by series star Ekin Cheng.

That alone is enough to crack the foundation.

Fight Back to School / 逃學威龍 (1991)

2010-03-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

Written by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong Ping-yiu
Produced by Wong Jing
Directed by Gordon Chan

Stephen Chow's boyish good looks and juvenile musings make him the perfect foil to a intransigent senior male establishment in "Fight Back to School," an early Gordon Chan film, which ultimately made out better at the local box office than "All for the Winner" (1990), Chow's own record-smashing "God of Gamblers" (1989) spin-off released in a sea of the comedian's popular mo lai tau comedies a mere eleven months earlier.

Wong Jing is the film's main benefactor, a bankable suspicion as to why "Fight Back to School" overstays its welcome stretching a sitcom gag to its breaking point that finds Chow planted in an all-boys high school to recover his SDU superior's (writer Barry Wong) stolen pistol.

Thankfully, Chow's gamut of adolescent facial expressions and reliable quips never falter though the film's finale, which sees a number of students shooting at one another with automatic weapons inside the school, produces an unintentional uneasiness in this post-Columbine world.

Erotic Ghost Story / 聊齋艷譚 (1990)

2010-03-06T07:13:00.000-08:00

Written by Chang Kwan
Produced by Chow Jan-tung
Directed by Lam Nai-choi

Granted, audiences aren't very accustomed to high expectations when it comes to soft core pornography but this bottom-of-the-barrel skin flick inspired by "The Witches of Eastwick" (1987) never rises above stalking Amy Yip's bust.

The Bodyguard from Beijing / 中南海保鑣 (1994)

2010-03-05T15:37:00.000-08:00

AKA The Defender

Written by Chan Kin-chung and Gordon Chan
Produced by Jet Li
Directed by Corey Yuen Kwai

"The Bodyguard" (1992) lands in Hong Kong with all its excess baggage in tow; however, unlike its source material when "The Bodyguard from Beijing" is on -- it's on (thanks, almost exclusively to director Corey Yuen Kwai) -- unfortunately, it's only on about half of the time. Too many of the film's 92 minutes are screwed to the floor by uninspired characters and an utter lack of chemistry between leads Jet Li and Christy Chung. Audiences with a high threshold for long passages of wooden dialogue might just find "The Bodyguard from Beijing" an otherwise refined piece of action cinema.

The Chinese Feast / 金玉滿堂 (1995)

2010-03-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

Written by Ng Man-fai, Philip Cheng, Tsui Hark,
and Yuen Gai-chi
Produced by Tsui Hark, Wong Pak-ming,
and Lee Ling
Directed by Tsui Hark

Tsui Hark's popular 1995 Lunar New Year comedy is cute, yes, but too often just as aggravatingly nonsensical -- even for this brand of seasonal fluff -- when it has all the right ingredients and plenty of talented chefs to be far more comforting. This is not to say that "The Chinese Feast" doesn't look good: the cast is seasoned, the photography is crisp, and the lengths the chefs go to transcend one another during a traditional three day gourmet slam is almost enough to make the film a thoroughly enjoyable slice of culinary cinema.

Young and Dangerous / 古惑仔之人在江湖 (1996)

2010-02-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

Written by Manfred Wong
Produced by Manfred Wong
Directed by Andrew Lau

Being a rascal (triad) has never been so noble and has never been so much fun, either, than in Andrew Lau's controversial adaptation of the popular Teddy Boy comic that struck a cord with impressionable viewers and touched a raw nerve with the government and critics alike.

Manfred Wong, who wrote and produced "Young and Dangerous," tailors his primary cast of obnoxious low ranking punks (Ekin Cheng, Jordan Chan, Jerry Lamb, and Michael Tse) in such a way that attempts to convince his audience these young thugs (or "teddy boys") would never hurt anyone who didn't already have it coming and are all [mostly] above the deplorable acts often synonymous with organized crime.

Apparently the kids bought it: "Young and Dangerous" proved the surprise hit of 1996 and proliferated two sequels that same year, in addition to three more official sequels, two spinoffs, and two prequels all in a span of four years.

Parallel to past Andrew Lau projects "Young and Dangerous" is a train wreck of a film but one whose entertainment value is derived from your inability to look away.

Full Alert / 高度戒備 (1997)

2010-02-27T08:54:00.000-08:00

Written by Lau Wing-kin and Ringo Lam
Produced by Ringo Lam
Directed by Ringo Lam

Audiences won't yearn for the dark hue and coarse nature of 1980's crime cinema during Ringo Lam's "Full Alert" as the controversial director doesn't so much lift elements from the days of yore (before 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs" turned the genre into a honey glazed ham bakeoff) as he duplicates them with an uncanny likeness rarely seen in the East or West today.

If you didn't know any better you'd swear you were experiencing something produced a decade earlier; the highest compliment a post handover Hong Kong film could ever receive.

In addition to the film's nihilistic tone, which includes some truly visceral exchanges, present and accounted for are: the 30-something hothead inspector (Lau Ching-wan) with an unsatisfactory home life; a nuanced sociopath (Francis Ng in a fine performance); and a largely unelaborated on supporting cast that includes Amanda Lee, Chin Kar-lok, Taiwanese actor Jack Kao, and Emily Kwan.

Following nearly a decade of mixed reactions to his work -- including a 1995 gig in Hollywood directing Jean-Claude Van Damme in "Maximum Risk" -- "Full Alert" was seen by many as a welcomed return to form for filmmaker Ringo Lam.

Sex and Zen / 玉蒲團之偷情寶鑑 (1991)

2010-02-27T07:18:00.000-08:00

Written by Lee Ying-git
Produced by Stephen Shiu
Directed by Michael Mak Dong-git

Director Michael Mak effortlessly translates all the zany dexterity of Golden Harvest's martial arts output into this big budget remake of "Yu Pui Tsuen II" (1987) that offers a lot of sex but only a little Zen. Both films are based on a notorious 17th century erotic novel The Carnal Prayer Mat [supposedly] penned by well received author, playwright, actor, producer, and director Li Yu. While its praise is often times a tad unwarranted for such a tawdry piece of cinema "Sex and Zen," nevertheless, is noteworthy for being an adult comedy that is both titillating and amusing if nothing else.

Ip Man / 葉問 (2008)

2010-02-24T19:57:00.000-08:00

Written by Edmond Wong Chi-mun and Chan Tai-li
Produced by Wong Pak-ming
Directed by Wilson Yip

Grand Master Ip Man might have went down in history as the most notable practitioner of Wing Chun wu shu -- trumping Yim Wing Chun herself for whom the style was named after -- had his most famous disciple not have been Bruce Lee.

Though "Ip Man" has nothing to do with Lee (save a reference in the film's epilogue) it really doesn't have anything to do with the real Ip Man, per se, either.

Screenwriters Edmond Wong and Chan Tai-li have re-imagined Ip as a stoic national in the vein of Wong Fei-hung who remains in his home town of Fushun during World War II and restores pride to the Chinese people in the face of totalitarian Japanese occupation.

In reality, Ip's chosen profession was law enforcement and while his chivalry is noteworthy as was his Wing Chun prowess, he [understandably] fled Fushun when the Japanese invaded and didn't return until after the war.

The end game of Wong and Chan's "Ip Man" script is a title match between Ip, portrayed by Donnie Yen (borrowing all the right stuff from his "Once Upon a Time in China II" co-star Jet Li) and a bullish Japanese general (Ikeuchi Hiroyuki).

Guess who wins and then must flee to Hong Kong?

Ironically, in real life Ip fled to the British colony from his own people in 1949 when communist forces entered Fushun.

Suffice to say, the reel story isn't the real story but when is it ever? And honestly, was the audience truly hoodwinked by these biographical adjustments?

As a film "Ip Man" is an easy, breezy biopic with impressive art direction and a fine performance by the ever maturing Yen who comes into perfect alignment with Sammo Hung and Tony Leung Siu-hung's nearly organic choreography.

Running Out of Time / 暗戰 (1999)

2010-02-24T16:43:00.000-08:00

Literal Translation: Hidden War

Written by Yau Nai-hoi, Julien Carbon, and Laurent Courtiaud
Produced by Johnnie To
Directed by Johnnie To

Viewers who still have their suspension of disbelief at the conclusion of Milkyway Image's "Running out of Time" may be few and far between. What begins as a composed, slickly edited, even momentarily affecting cat-n-mouse struggle between an intuitive cop and a terminally ill thief gradually looses its way midstream succumbing to a heavy-handed script co-authored by French writers Julie Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud who could only dream of being likened to Melville.

Director Johnnie To, nonetheless, is an experienced enough filmmaker to keep "Running out of Time" moving along all the way up until it hits the wall with an over-the-top finale that borders on high camp.

The film's primary cast: Lau Ching-wan, Andy Lau, Yoyo Mung, and Hui Siu-hung ultimately prove the only consistently likeable component in "Running out of Time."

Temptation of a Monk / 誘僧 (1993)

2010-02-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

Written by Eddie Fong and Lillian Lee
Produced by Teddy Robin Kwan
Directed by Clara Law

Adapted from a Lillian Lee novel by the same name, a Tang era general (Wu Hsing Guo making his feature film debut) renounces war and the woman he loves (Sino-Hollywood actress Joan Chen) after fleeing to a monastery where he accepts Buddhist dogma and begins to confront the soul simmering inside him. Boring has never been so beautiful looking and love making never so listless. Lee shares screenwriting credit with Eddie Fong whose wife Clara Law directs.

The God of Cookery / 食神 (1996)

2010-02-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

Written by Liu Man-sang, Stephen Chow, and Tsang Kan-cheung
Produced by Yeung Kwok-fai and Stephen Chow
Directed by Lee Lik-chi and Stephen Chow

"The God of Cookery," Stephen Chow's 37th appearance in a comedy in eight years, is a noticeable shift from the popular comedian's linguistic mo lai tau films of the early '90s, instead taking aim at the Asian and American markets simultaneously a la Jackie Chan's "Rumble in the Bronx" (1995) with this "Iron Chef" parody. Here, Chow's greatest asset as an entertainer is manipulating his audience into laughing with a jerk whose built an empire on being a phony and a cheat; feeling empathy for him when it collapses; and then rooting for him as he tries to get his namesake back even though it was never his to begin with. This is a cunningness rarely seen among Stephen Chow's peers that in-part makes the comedian Hong Kong's top box office draw.

The Heroic Trio / 東方三俠 (1993)

2010-02-21T06:44:00.000-08:00

Written by Sandy Shaw
Produced by Ching Siu-tung
Directed by Johnnie To

Spearheaded by late actress Anita Mui's powerful theme Johnnie To's futuristic political allegory "The Heroic Trio" makes for an entertaining midnight movie replete with exaggerated posturing, campy art direction, and cheesy special effects. Still, it's hard to swallow any other time of the day -- even with its optimistic appraisal of the Chinese people -- as a sound superhero flick.

Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin / 蛇鶴八步 (1978)

2010-02-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

Written by Cheung San-yee
Produced by Lo Wei
Directed by Chen Chi Hwa

By the late '70s Lo Wei had all but given up on molding former stuntman Jackie Chan into the hotheaded filmmaker's new cash cow and began to farm the pigeonholed martial artist out to other directors. For "Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin" Chen Chi Hwa simply allowed Jackie Chan to be Jackie Chan; a gratuity repeatedly denied by Lo in their preceding collaborations that usually found Chan cast under duress as a quasi-Bruce Lee. And while this is Jackie Chan as we know him today in his infancy the net result is a small step in the right direction.

Raped By An Angel / 香港奇案之強姦 (1993)

2010-02-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

AKA Naked Killer 2

Written by Wong Jing
Produced by Wong Jing
Directed by Andrew Lau

The street justice eventually visited upon the film's central antagonist (Mark Cheng, dashing lawyer by day; serial rapist by night) is likely the only merit any viewer will find in this ignoble crime film and that may be pushing it. Though marketed to English speaking audiences as a sequel to "Naked Killer" (1992) the two films, despite being written and produced by Wong Jing and starring Chingmy Yau and Simon Yam, are unrelated but nevertheless of the same ilk. Hong Kong censors rejected the film's first two proposed titles: "Legal Rape" and "Super Rape."

The Twelve Gold Medallions / 十二金牌 (1970)

2010-02-20T07:35:00.000-08:00

Written by Ching Gong
Produced by Run Run Shaw
Directed by Ching Gong

Ching Gong can't manage dialogue, suspense, or narrative in "The Twelve Gold Medallions" and so what could have been on par with King Hu's "Come Drink with Me" (1966) and "Dragon Gate Inn" (1967) amounts to little more than a true -- and at times truely frustrating -- wuxia pian. A strong performance by lead actor Yueh Hua and Sammo Hung's strike-the-iron-when-it's-hot choreography help make this overhyped entry in the Shaw catalog estimable of a marginal recommendation.

Hard Boiled / 辣手神探 (1992)

2010-02-14T18:49:00.000-08:00

Written by Barry Wong Ping-yiu
Produced by Terrance Chang and Linda Kuk
Directed by John Woo

John Woo's final foray into Cantonese language cinema (to date) is also his most melodramatic piece of filmmaking powered in-part by Michael Gibbs's jazz laden score, a script perspiring with existential dialogue (phantom penned by Gordon Chan), Wong Wing-hang's stylish cinematography, and Woo's own need to admonish his audience about the consequences of violence which at the time was on a dramatic incline in Hong Kong.

"Hard Boiled" is also one of John Woo's most accomplished films fitting snuggly into the action czar's wheel house with copious amounts of ridiculously over scaled ammo orgies that Woo choreographs like a guerrilla filmmaker -- despite this being his eighth action film -- something so few of his peers will ever be likened to.

Despite achieving cult classic status in the U.S. and introducing American audiences to director John Woo and lead actor Chow Yun-fat "Hard Boiled" performed below expectations domestically causing Woo to fear he had lost his target audience which resulted in his early exodus to Hollywood.

My Father Is a Hero / 給爸爸的信 (1995)

2010-02-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

AKA The Enforcer

Written by Sandy Shaw
Produced by Wong Jing and Tiffany Chen
Directed by Corey Yuen Kwai

Wong Jing reunites Jet Li and Tze Miu from the controversial producer's own "The New Legend of Shaolin" (1994) and passes the directorial duties over to the aforementioned film's action choreographer Corey Yuen Kwai who manages to reignite the likeable one-dimensional chemistry between former and current wu shu protégés in this occasionally touching, often hyper active, largely superior father and son offering.

Bonnie Fu, in her final performance to date, is unrecognizable sans cosmetics in a much-welcomed turn as the frail matriarch.

Writer Sandy Shaw flushes Wong's usual reliance on toilet humor much to our relief though "My Father is a Hero" is still too violent -- as cartoonish as it may be at times -- to be considered solid family entertainment.

The Blue Kite / 藍風箏 (1993)

2009-12-26T12:51:00.000-08:00

Written by Xiao Mao
Produced by N/A
Directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang

On paper communism must have seemed like the socio-economical equality that the Chinese people had been denied by a century of humiliation from feudal states and foreign powers ruling from abroad.

Karl Marx viewed communism as the final stage in humanity; society without class, state, or oppression.

Ironically, communist nations have historically been authoritarian states that view even suggestion as a form of subversion.

In "The Blue Kite" Chairman Mao Zedong's communist utopia is measured against one nuclear family in Beijing, opening in 1953, whose youngest male member narrates the film -- from beyond? -- his adolescence marked by three distinct periods in Red China's formative years (Anti-Rightist Movement, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution).

These three periods are split into three chapters, which coincide with the three men who are married to the boy's mother beginning with his biological father.

By the end of "The Blue Kite" all three men will die from direct or indirect effects of Mao's aggressive, paranoid brand of Agrarian Socialism.

"The Blue Kite" is a paragon of a slow burn. Fifth Generation filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang takes his time establishing the atmosphere of early '50s Beijing and the characters who live in and around it that are happy for the things they have in life: food, clothing, shelter, and one another. Suffice to say, slowly, but surely, as government policies become greyer the hope once shared by the family gradually dims.

"The Blue Kite," to no surprise, was censored by the Chinese government upon completion in 1993 and Tian banned from filmmaking for nearly a decade. Audiences in need of a faster, more melodramatic telling of the same ground covered in "The Blue Kite" should consult "To Live" (released the following year to the same domestic consequence) by Tian's Fifth Generation peer Zhang Yimou. Both films have since gone on to wide international acclaim.

Fatal Contact / 黑拳 (2006)

2009-11-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

Literal Translation: Black Fist

Written by Dennis Law
Produced by Dennis Law and Herman Yau
Directed by Dennis Law

Alternating between cacophonies of tone Dennis Law's romantic street fighting drama "Fatal Contact" is either too saccharine to stomach or too bleak to fully digest. The film's strengths are two of its primary actors: former Beijing Wushu Team member Jacky Wu Jing, who makes for a pleasing lead with a natural martial arts prowess and obnoxious comic Ronald Cheng in a likeable turn, here, as a low ranking rascal with a knack for street magic and impromptu mooching. Frequent Milkyway player Lam Suet is wasted in a hollow supporting role as a triad fight promoter.

Rouge / 胭脂扣 (1988)

2009-11-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

Written by Yau Dai On-ping and Lillian Lee
Produced by Jackie Chan
Directed by Stanley Kwan

The first in a string of noteworthy Lillian Lee adaptations filmmaker Stanley Kwan's "Rouge" is a surreal anxiety attack on celluloid that relies heavily on the captivating performance of lead Anita Mui and the arresting score by composers Michael Lai and Tang Siu-lam to inflate this critically lauded ghost picture.

Leslie Cheung is the eldest living son of prosperous shop owners who falls in love with the most coveted courtesan (Mui) of an affluent brothel in Hong Kong, circa 1934. The young master's parents naturally disapprove; freeze his cash flow, later forcing the would-be lovers into a suicide pact so their spirits can fuse in the afterlife. Decades later, the courtesan's ghost returns searching for the young master who apparently didn't expire. Her human counterparts are dullards Alex Man and Emily Chu who navigate the weakening ghost through 1987 Hong Kong in search of her true love (presumably still residing in the area).

To our relief, Kwan eschews the nominal trappings of the fish-out-of-water narrative in contemporary Hong Kong though he flattens any semblance of context in the lovers' doomed union and his overuse of pretentious slow motion photography is exhausting.

Audiences may wonder if there was more to Lee's novel though the author is listed as one of two credited screen writers.

Rush Hour 3 (2007)

2009-10-30T15:57:00.000-07:00

Written by Jeff Nathanson
Produced by Roger Birnbaum, Andrew Z. Davis,
Jonathan Glickman, Arthur M. Sarkissian, and Jay Stern
Directed by Brett Ratner

If "Rush Hour" (1998) was only worth matinee admission and "Rush Hour 2" (2001) could wait until the dollar theater than "Rush Hour 3" can wait until next year when the film has been downgraded to a 99 cent rental on home video.

Upon his return to Hong Kong Jackie Chan told the Chinese press he hated the first two installments and only agreed to appear in a third because his agent begged him to (likely to fulfill a contractual obligation).

In a rare appearance controversial director and fugitive from the law Roman Polanski shows up in an unaccredited cameo as a French detective.

The Storm Riders / 風雲─雄霸天下 (1998)

2009-10-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

Literal Translation: Wind Cloud: Heroic Tyrant Heaven Earth

Written by Manfred Wong and Chau Ting
Produced by Manfred Wong and Li Zhu An
Directed by Andrew Lau

The decline of Hong Kong's once distinct brand of shoe string budget filmmaking could be (and by some has been) tied to this hotly anticipated wuxia epic based on the popular comic book series Wind Cloud.

An inadvertent but nonetheless caustic allegory for post-handover Hong Kong cinema Andrew Lau's "The Storm Riders" is a film divided by contradictions: The bubble gum cast is peppered with cameos from solid, established, reliable actors. The episodic nature of Manfred Wong's script despite a healthy two plus hour runtime is a thoroughly unelaborated upon odyssey that might have lived up to its potential as a 10 part TV mini series though once the film sets in this mess is hard to give up on. Comfort Chan's score which sounds as if it was lifted from a popular video game is a downright insult a la the underwhelming aesthetic quality of the overwrought CGI. Director Andrew Lau, who pulls double duty as the film's cinematographer, makes the most of China's natural beauty.

"The Storm Riders: The International Version" is dubbed in English and exorcises nearly 40 minutes of footage rendering an already inchoate film officially unintelligible.

Dragon Gate Inn / 龍門客棧 (1967)

2009-07-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Written by King Hu
Produced by Cheung Tiu-yin
Directed by King Hu

The chasm created between producer Run Run Shaw and filmmaker King Hu over artistic differences on the seminal "Come Drink with Me" (1966) proved a blessing for the prolific director who spent nearly the remainder of his career shooting memorable pictures in Taiwan before attempting a return to Hong Kong cinema in 1990.

The vast landscape of Taiwan provided Hu with the proper atmosphere for his first Taiwanese picture "Dragon Inn" (1967) set during 15th Century Ming Dynasty rule that would have otherwise been restrained by the limitations of Shaw Brothers Studios.

Cinematographer Wa Wai-ying's Panoramic photography creates an ambience of gorgeous desolation; the script taking place almost exclusively inside and around the perimeter of Dragon Inn located on the barren unelaborated upon border of China where an evil eunuch's intelligence agencies plan to ambush the banished family of an executed interior minister.

The script, a gingerly-paced allegory for the Nationalist-Communist Civil War still fresh in the hearts and minds of the three major Chinese filmmaking bodies, is -- given the country it was produced in -- a nationalistic view of chivalry as a small band of heroic rebels fight the totalitarian eunuch's numbers inside the claustrophobic tavern.

Co-star Han Ying Chieh doubles as action choreographer and bases his close range meat-and-potatoes swordplay on the movements of Peking Opera a la his celebrated work on the aforementioned "Come Drink with Me."

Beautiful, meaningful, powerful: They just don't make 'em like they use to.

The Master / 黃飛鴻'92之龍行天下 (1992)

2009-06-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Written by Lam Kee-to and Lau Dai-muk
Produced by Tsui Hark
Directed by Tsui Hark

In 1990, a penniless Tsui Hark met with a pre-fame Jet Li in Los Angeles and together they imagined a reimagining of the Wong Fei-hung legend set in present day San Francisco.

"The Master" might have worked had Tsui been after anything other than a paycheck. A lack of effort is visible on all major fronts: Tsui's direction is lazy, the production values are cheap, Yuen Wah and Brandy Yuen call the shots on cut-rate choreography, and the cast -- which includes Jerry Trimble, Billy Blanks and a half dozen other Z grade Western actors -- is atrocious.

Golden Harvest ultimately decided to sit on "The Master" until the studio reteamed with the duo for the "Once Upon a Time in China" series a largely successful revival of the Wong Fei-hung serials that returned the patriot to his cinematic roots and helped rejuvenate the martial arts genre in Hong Kong.

Shaolin Intruders / 三闖少林 (1983)

2009-06-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

Written by Ni Kuang, Hung Hak, Ling Yun, and Yip Kam-hung
Produced by Mona Fong
Directed by Tong Gai

Tong Gai's sophomore offering "Shaolin Intruders" is the middle entry in a trio of martial arts pictures the action choreographer helmed for Shaw Brothers. Tong, who didn't give up his day job -- lending to the film's many impressive gung fu elaborations -- paces his narrative as if he were directing a 90 minute action sequence. Though it took four writers to conjure up what amounts to little more than a conventional Shaw Brothers yellow robe opera Tong sees to it that you never have to look at your watch. Future romance director Derek Yee stars.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)

2009-06-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Written by Ni Kuang/Steve Oedekerk
Produced by Wong Cheuk-hon/Tom Koranda, Paul Marshal,
and Steve Oedekerk
Directed by Jimmy Wang Yu/Steve Oedekerk

Comedian Steve Oedekerk purchased the rights to Jimmy Wang Yu's "Savage Killers" (1976) retooling the plotline by way of a new comedic English dub track thus giving birth to "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist."

Oedekerk, whose writing creditals include a trio of '90s era low brow mega comedies "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "The Nutty Professor" remake, and "Patch Adams" takes the proceedings one step further and digitally wipes lead actor Jimmy Wang Yu out of the picture replacing the controversial martial arts star with Oedekerk's daffy protagonist The Chosen One in addition to filming supplement gags to weave into the narrative previously not afforded by the humorless "Savage Killers."

The problem: the film's witty premise has already been done (and done better we might add) when American International Pictures nabbed the rights to a cheesy Japanese spy flick "Key of Keys" (1965) that proved to have a chemical reaction with Woody Allen's early lust for screwball comedy in the contraversial auteur's faux directorial debut "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" (1966).

To the credit of Oedekerk's "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist" when one of the jokes is good -- it's really good. Unfortunately, the door swings both ways.

Ultimately, you may find yourself wanting to abandon the whole charade and watch "Savage Killers" on YouTube.

From Beijing with Love / 國產凌凌漆 (1994)

2009-06-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

Written by Vincent Kok, Lee Lik-chi, Roman Cheung,
and Stephen Chow
Produced by Charles Heung and Jimmy Heung
Directed by Lee Lik-chi and Stephen Chow

"From Beijing with Love" Stephen Chow's irreverent James Bond takeoff pre-dates "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (1997) by more than two years and in some ways is the superior send-up. Chow, renown for dominating the domestic market with dialect specific punch lines, gets to have his cake and eat it, too, here, with an emphasis on universal sight gags that are augmented by the comedian's sardonic observations as well as a number of digs at his peers (Chow pokes fun at Wong Kar-wai a handful of times throughout the film). Non-Cantonese speakers will miss an additional Bond joke as Chow gives his character's name as Ling Ling Chai ("0-0-7"). The film's Chinese title translates to English as "Locally Produced 007."

Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars / 夏日福星 (1985)

2009-05-31T05:31:00.000-07:00

Written by Barry Wong Ping-yiu
Produced by Sammo Hung
Directed by Sammo Hung

When "My Lucky Stars" proved the New Year's most profitable action-comedy in February-March of 1985, decidedly there wasn't enough time to properly lay ground work for a sequel. As such "Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars" (released six months in the wake of its predecessor) lacks focus like a kid in a candy store.

Ironically, the film's title characters -- a regrouped ensemble of randy buffoons from the first installment -- aren't necessarily the main attraction and regularly step aside to make room for a healthy dose of cameos tediously weaved into the storyline.

While the film's lack of concentration plays like a tribute to the Depression era comedians the actors are illuminating on screen most of the film's humor is lost to the nine tones of the Cantonese dialect.

Still, the film's opening gag is a gem on par with Sammo Hung's best bits as a director of occasionally offensive comedies and his on screen finale which pits him against Australian martial artist Richard Norton is far and away the film's high mark.

Kids from Shaolin / 少林小子 (1984)

2009-05-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

AKA Shaolin Temple 2

Written by Leung Chi-keung and Hoh Shu-wa
Produced by Fu Qi
Directed by Cheung Yam-yim

Though prone to the occasional violent outburst "Kids from Shaolin" is the kinder, gentler mid-section to Jet Li's "Shaolin" trilogy featuring a cast of predominately pint-sized players in this Chinese funded Hatfield & McCoy wu shu comedy.

Freddy Vs Jason (2003)

2009-05-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift
Produced by Sean S. Cunningham
Directed by Ronny Yu

The ultimate show down between the two most accessible shaggy dog slasher franchises finally hits the big screen after 16 years of failed negotiations and a reported $6 million dollars worth of unused scripts. Hong Kong filmmaker Ronny Yu finally took the reins in 2003 and visualized the grudge match as a Marvel What If...? comic book and as such has Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees slicing more ham than the corner deli. It's hard to fathom now more than ever that these two cutups were once considered unnerving.

Double Team (1997)

2009-05-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

Written by Don Jakoby and Paul Mones
Produced by Moshe Diamant
Directed by Tsui Hark

Notorious Chicago Bulls power forward Dennis Rodman becomes the latest media whore to parlay his pop culture persona into feature films a la shock jock Howard Stern, who last year portrayed himself in the big screen adaptation of his best selling autobiography Private Parts before returning to his full-time gig as an FCC nightmare.

In "Double Team," Hong Kong director-for-hire Tsui Hark's Hollywood debut, Rodman co-stars as an arms dealer (artificially dyed hair, multiple body piercings, gaudy tattoos, and loud attire withstanding) with a cheaply penned predilection for basketball metaphors who comes to the aid of former counter terrorism expert Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Given that Rodman, the self-made bad boy of the NBA, consistently made headlines for both his offensive on-court behavior as well as his puzzling antics off it at the time of the film's release it came as no surprise that few Americans were willing to pay to see Dennis Rodman portraying anyone but himself.

Naked Killer / 赤裸羔羊 (1992)

2009-05-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

Literal Translation: Bare Naked Cake Goat

Written by Wong Jing
Produced by Wong Jing
Directed by Clarence Ford

"The Naked Killer" resembles the kind of violent, uninspired, pseudo-stylized erotica that plays after sundown on premium channels because that's what it is and probably all it would have ever been had this Hong Kong dud not resonated with Western audiences to the point it transcended into a cult classic overseas and gradually achieved a puzzling required viewing status.

God help us all, dumpster divers Clarence Ford and Wong Jing have collaborated to bring you what only the kids will describe as lesbian assassin cinema at its finest.

And you're likely to have a blast the first time around with the film's sexy marketing, cheesy technique, poorly translated subtitles, and a handful of sequences involving sexpots Chingmy Yau and Carrie Ng graphically punishing sexual predators for their sins.

But that's just it: "The Naked Killer" is a one-time courtesy to the male ID with diminishing rewards after each subsequent viewing when cheap thrills really begin to feel more like cheap tricks.

Project A / A計劃 (1983)

2009-05-10T05:51:00.000-07:00

Written by Edward Tang and Jackie Chan
Produced by Raymond Chow
Directed by Jackie Chan

"Project A," Jackie Chan's impressive Victorian era slapstick swashbuckler, is the brainchild of ideas brooding in the actor during his [first] forgettable stint in early 1980's Hollywood ("The Big Brawl," "Cannonball Run") and the need to transcend his previous accomplishments (sans 1982's "Dragon Lord" Chan's first iconic flop in the domestic market).

Golden Harvest Studios, despite receiving disappointing returns on their preceding Jackie Chan endeavor, spared no expense so the newly minted star could lavish his audience with an early colonial Hong Kong homage to a number of Hollywood's great physical comedies from the silent era.

A recognizable first in many regards "Project A" helped fuel the momentum away from Shaolin -- the temples and their inhabitants the fizzling subjects of popular Cantonese cinema by the early '80s -- as well as unite former classmates Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao on the first of three pictures that the trio headlined.

The net result is some of Chan's best laid plans that occasionally went awry as evidenced in the blooper reel over the end credit sequence (another first in the Jackie Chan cannon).

The City of Strangers (2000)

2009-04-18T09:25:00.001-07:00

AKA The City of Lost Souls

Written by Ichiro Ryu
Produced by Kazunari Hashiguchi, Toshiki Kimura,
and Hiroshi Yamamoto
Directed by Takashi Miike

The new millennium greeted Takashi Miike with his first taste of recognition outside of the domestic market following the release of his 31st film "Audition" to the international film festival circuit in 2000.

Miike's second of three releases in that year, "The City of Strangers" (aka "The City of Lost Souls"), revisits the themes of rootless outcasts, violence, nostalgia, the need for belonging, and the destruction/resurrection of the family unit; decidedly inexhaustible points of meditation for the controversial auteur.

To his credit after approaching these themes thirty plus times over Miike offers a reimagining of the outcast by turning the Japanese into foreigners on their own soil "The City of Strangers" taking place almost exclusively in and around a Brazilian Diaspora of Kabuckicho (Shinjuku's notorious red light district and Miike's favorite locale).

The innovation ends there, however, and alarmingly for a director who usually thinks outside of the box Miike lets slip a lame "Matrix" gag in an already tiresome narrative about star crossed lovers caught in the cross hairs of a Sino-Japanese mob war.

Miike drops the ball, again, by casting a non-professional actor (Teah, who has a sense of machismo but little else) in the lead and Hong Kong actress Michelle Reis, who as Teah's illegal alien lover he's strong armed from a deportation procession at the beginning of the film, is subsequently shelved as a jade vase by the equally insipid script.

The Replacement Killers (1998)

2009-02-22T07:23:00.001-08:00

Written by Ken Sanzel
Produced by Bernie Brillstein and Brad Grey
Directed by Antoine Fuqua

You may be surprised to learn after finishing "The Replacement Killers" that Hong Kong import Chow Yun-fat had previously turned down several invitations from Hollywood on the grounds that none of the roles being offered had any substance before accepting the lead in this squeezed dry music video anew of "The Killer" (1989). Co-star and 1995's Best Actress Oscar recipient Mira Sorvino looks really bored.

The Ice Storm (1997)

2009-02-22T06:26:00.001-08:00

Written by James Schamus
Produced by Ted Hope, Ang Lee, and James Schamus
Directed by Ang Lee

Popular entertainment often remembers the 1970's as the after hours to the preceding decade's cultural upheaval.

"The Ice Storm," faithfully adapted from Rick Moody's disturbing 1994 novel, remembers it as the hangover the following morning as drug and sexual experimentation have precipitated consequences.

Though he didn't immigrate to America until 1978, a full half decade after the film takes place Taiwanese director Ang Lee effectively captures all the anger, confusion, and fear of Thanksgiving weekend for two dysfunctional families in affluent New Haven during the Watergate hearings.

Infernal Affairs / 無間道 (2002)

2009-02-06T20:41:00.001-08:00

Written by Alan Mak Siu-fai and Felix Chong
Produced by Andrew Lau
Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak Siu-fai

Just when you thought Hong Kong cinema was dead, buried and forgotten filmmakers Andrew Lau and Alan Mak drop one of the slickest looking, most thought-provoking, and poignant cat-n-mouse triad dramas the former British colony has seen since the handover in 1997. Tightly edited, tensely paced, and as gracefully executed as a ballet by a wonderful cast "Infernal Affairs" not only looks sharp -- it is sharp and will surely guarantee repeat viewings regardless of your initial reaction to the film. Only a tacked-on epilogue and an inconsistent score feel out of sync here.

Heroes Shed No Tears / 英雄無淚 (1986)

2009-02-04T05:19:00.000-08:00

Written by John Woo
Produced by Peter Chan Hoh-san
Directed by John Woo

Shot in 1984 and immediately shelved by Golden Harvest "Heroes Shed No Tears" is a decent foreshadowing of future John Woo endeavors following the runaway success of "A Better Tomorrow" (1986).

A group of Chinese mercenaries are sent deep into the Golden Triangle to extract a Thai drug czar in exchange for U.S. citizenship.

Woo seemingly lifts his crude aesthetic from an Italian cannibal film though lead Eddy Ko Hung is unpretentious in his motives and the scenes that pair him with his on screen son -- supposedly inspired by Japan's "Lone Wolf and Cub" serials -- are the best sequences the low budget action film has to offer.

Despite Woo's tenure in martial arts filmmaking he's in way over his head here. Lam Ching-ying, in one of the late actor's most unforgettable performances, co-stars as a Vietnamese general without ruth ad nauseam.

School on Fire / 學校風雲 (1988)

2009-01-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

Written by Nam Yin
Produced by Ringo Lam
Directed by Ringo Lam

Whoa there, Ringo! A little nihilism can go a long way.

Where its unrelated predecessor ("Prison on Fire," one of 1987's top grossing pictures) scrutinized the sociology of a Hong Kong correctional facility "School on Fire" dissects the microcosm of a secondary school where filial piety has eroded into a Darwinian survival of the fittest.

While hardly irrelevant "School on Fire" is so overwrought with morose brutality it leaves the viewer feeling sullen and exhausted.

The only thing more shocking than filmmaker Ringo Lam's breathlessly violent depiction of the education system is that the film was heavily edited by censors.

Roy Cheung co-stars as Big Brother Smart in what might be the most accurate portrayal of a triad in contemporary Hong Kong cinema.

Wing Chun / 詠春 (1994)

2008-12-16T17:03:00.000-08:00

Written by Elsa Tang and Wong Wing-fai
Produced by Yuen Wo-ping
Directed by Yuen Wo-ping

Instead of adapting the life of noteworthy 17th Century [female] master Ng Mei whose patented brand of aggressive, close-rang gung fu heavily influenced Bruce Lee; Yuen Wo-ping opts for a tedious satire of her top student Yim Wing Chun for whom the style was named after.

This worked for Yuen's own "Drunken Master" a comedic spin on Wong Fei-hung for two reasons: (1) the trials and tribulations of China's most cinematically accessible national had been thoroughly exhausted by 1978 when the film premiered (2) "Drunken Master" was amusing. "Wing Chun" is not.

Michelle Yeoh, in a fine performance, stars as the motherless cross-dressing title character that runs a bean curd stand with her fugitive-from-the-law father. Though her accomplished martial arts are no secret in their mountain village Yim reserves them almost exclusively for punch lines until bandits from a near-by fortress begin to harass her fellow villagers.

"Wing Chun" is fairly disarming when it should have been thoroughly engaging. The film goes to great lengths to bore the audience and then suddenly springs to life just when your threshold for tolerance is about to snap.

Yuen Wo-ping finally relaxes during the final act -- the choreography tightens as a direct result -- and the film's misguided sense of humor begins to fade but just when things really get cooking and Michelle Yeoh and co-star Donnie Yen are allowed to shine its way too late.

Cheng Pei Pei appears in a tongue-in-cheek torch passing cameo as Ng Mei.

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

2008-12-13T18:05:00.000-08:00

Written by Jonathan Lemkin, Alfred Gough, and Miles Millar
Produced by Richard Donner and Joel Silver
Directed by Richard Donner

Whatever charm the "Lethal Weapon" films may have once held is now officially gone.

Like any other $100 million dollar action comedy franchise the series gradually devolved over its eleven year trajectory to the point that the fourth installment can't take anything seriously -- including the plot.

Suffice to say, the principle characters are now decidedly parodies of their former selves.

The film's one bright spot aside from the revelations of comedian Chris Rock (who not surprisingly is cast as a detective in an ensemble of law enforcement clowns) is Hong Kong import Jet Li.

Li, who made a name for himself in his native China as a fifteen time gold medal wu shu champion in the 1970's and in Hong Kong as a martial arts star in the '90s, portrays a villain for the first time in his storied career to great effect.

So engaging is Li to watch portraying a vicious triad lieutenant he almost makes "Lethal Weapon 4" worth a recommendation.

My Lucky Stars / 福星高照 (1985)

2008-12-11T17:49:00.001-08:00

Written by Barry Wong Ping-yiu
Produced by Leonard Ho
Directed by Sammo Hung

Using "Winners and Sinners" (1983) as a dress rehearsal Sammo Hung's "My Lucky Stars" premiered two years later under the Golden Harvest banner to compete against the runaway success of Cinema City's madcap spy comedy "Aces Go Places" (1982) and its largely successful sequels.

As one might already assume Sammo (who wrote, directs, and stars) replaces the campy gadgetry of the "Aces Go Places" series with highly competitive martial arts choreography (former Japanese body builder Michiko Nishiwaki makes her debut here; Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao show up in extended cameos).

Following suit with the competition "My Lucky Stars" contains much of the same obnoxious humor that ruled the domestic market in the early '80s though the collective styling of Sammo Hung, Stanley Fung, Richard Ng, Charlie Chin, Eric Tsang and gluten for punishment Sibelle Hui hit more often than "Aces" Samuel Hui, Karl Maka, and gluten for punishment Sylvia Chang.

Heart of the Dragon / 龍的心 (1985)

2008-12-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

AKA First Mission

Written by Barry Wong Ping-yiu
Produced by Leonard Ho
Directed by Sammo Hung

Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan roll the dice with the tried and true mental retardation formula with surprisingly satisfactory results.

Hung, who also directs, portrays a 31-year-old with the mind of a small child who’s ever suffering younger brother (Chan) acts as his caretaker.

Screen writer Barry Wong, whose previous credits include scripts for the first two installments of the popular "Lucky Stars" ensemble action comedies, wisely shuns the very screwball humor and elaborate action sequences that lent to their popularity.

That being said, Hung regularly gives himself a comedic license that occasionally just spins out of control.

Still, audiences should enjoy Chan having his way with a construction site finale after being forced to appear on screen as an actor for more than five minutes perhaps for the first time in his career.

The Big Boss / 唐山大兄 (1971)

2008-12-06T17:13:00.001-08:00

AKA Fists of Fury

Written by Lo Wei
Produced by Raymond Chow
Directed by Lo Wei

In his [martial arts] film debut Bruce Lee arrives in Thailand to work at his uncle's factory but is forced to bridle his chivalry even while drug smuggling thugs run amok around him because of an oath his character took in Hong Kong.

If you're still awake at the 45 minute mark Bruce finally let's loose but it's all too brief and it's another half-an-hour before he even so much as bats an eye lash again.

If you missed the opening credits Lo Wei not only wrote the boredom -- he directed it, too!

"The Big Boss" broke all previously held box office records in Hong Kong firmly cementing Bruce Lee as a martial arts icon China over; however, his gung fu feature film debut is really for Bruce Lee fanboys and completists only.

The Corruptor (1999)

2008-11-30T09:13:00.000-08:00

Written by Robert Pucci
Produced by Dan Halsted
Directed by James Foley

Director James Foley's second film "At Close Range" (1986) was a gritty true crime drama with a white knuckle performance by stars Sean Penn and Christopher Walken.

"The Corruptor," Foley's first and hopefully last action film is loud, gratuitous, poorly acted, and wait -- we haven't even told you the worst part -- isn't entertaining, either!

Foley openly admitted in an interview to disliking Hong Kong action cinema and we suspect that's at the very least why star Chow Yun-fat, arguably the most accomplished contemporary actor in Hong Kong, is completely misappropriated here.

Thanks to his language coach (loud mouth uber liberal comedian Margaret Cho) Chow's use of English has improved ever so slightly since his bumpy transition to Hollywood in 1998, but the dialogue in "The Corruptor" is so bad you probably won't even notice.

Co-star Mark Wahlberg goes two-for-two with wretched performances in Hollywood action films featuring Hong Kong talent (1998's "The Big Hit," also starring Wahlberg, was produced by once frequent Chow collaborator John Woo and directed by Kirk Wong).

Actor Kim Chan portrays crime lord Benny Wong aka "Uncle Benny" in the wake of Chan's recent role opposite Jet Li in "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998) portraying a -- you guessed it -- crime lord named Benny "Uncle Benny" Chan.

Thankfully, "The Corrupter" (to date) is writer Robert Pucci's only film credit.

The Way of the Dragon / 猛龍過江 (1972)

2008-11-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

AKA Return of the Dragon

Written by Bruce Lee
Produced by Bruce Lee and Raymond Chow
Direced by Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee's sole directorial offering was equally notable for being the first Chinese martial arts film shot on location in Europe preceding Sammo Hung's "Wheels on Meals" (1984) by more than a decade.

Cantonese bumpkin Bruce Lee finds himself a stranger in a strange land when he arrives in Rome to protect the family restaurant from a local syndicate.

Lee, as an actor, plays the fish-out-of-water gag with a gamut of facial expressions that never betray his true capabilities and are accompanied by Joseph Koo's innocent, inquisitive, appropriately juvenile score. The film really is a farce with Lee poking fun at his own personal experiences following his migration to America which would ultimately shape all three of his Chinese pictures.

As a martial artist Bruce Lee never looked more calculated or precise -- period -- "The Way of the Dragon" earning the late auteur his largest domestic gross.

Fist of Legend / 精武英雄 (1994)

2008-11-22T18:40:00.001-08:00

Written by Gordon Chan, Lam Kee-to, and Kim Yip
Produced by Jet Li
Directed by Gordon Chan

Made with love but debatable care Gordon Chan's "Fist of Legend" is an amiable reworking of Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury" (1972). As jingoistic as the original was few scoffed at Lee's trademark bull-in-a-China-shop approach to dealing with belligerent Japanese foreign policy to the point the film remains a favorite among contemporary Hong Kong audiences and industry personnel alike.

Frequently illuminated by Western audiences as Bruce Lee's defacto successor, at the film's behest, a far more grounded Jet Li stars as Chen Zhen a [fictious] Chinese student studying abroad who is called home to Japanese occupied Shanghai, circa 1931, following the untimely demise of his master (Huo Yuanjia, the real-life founder of Jing Wu Men, whose death at age 42 remains shrouded in mystery).

Li, like Lee, had a celebrated martial arts history on the peripherals of movie making and wisely eschews emulating the late icon's distinguished style and oft-parodied mannerisms bringing to the role his own furnished technique but none of the raw emotion that made "Fist of Fury" impossible to turn your back on.

Here, director Gordon Chan assumes that not all Second World War era Japanese were right wing military fascists and that many Chinese were just as racist as their overseers -- fine -- but he does it at the audience's expense as "Fist of Legend" turns into a fourteen car pileup whenever the action stops.

Yuen Wo-ping, in what was supposed to be a (welcomed) return to natural choreography in order to synchronize the film with the 1972 original, subtracts most of the wires from his usual shtick but cannot resist occasionally under-cranking some of the combat sequences to the point of near ridiculousness.

Largely comprised of a supporting cast who are more comfortable on the small screen "Fist of Legend" is better suited for the aforementioned medium though it is often considered Jet Li's magnum opus outside of the Asian market where it failed to generate a following.

As Tears Go By / 旺角卡門 (1988)

2008-10-29T16:58:00.001-07:00

Written by Wong Kar-wai
Produced by Alan Tang
Directed by Wong Kar-wai

Before Wong Kar-wai became Wong Kar-wai the controversial art house auteur made his directorial debut with a love letter to Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets" (1973). Wong understands the original film's carnal instincts and uncannily duplicates them without forfeiting to his peers' urge to eroticize the triad life. Audiences put off by the dizzying techniques of Wong's future projects might be pleasantly surprised by the straightforwardness of "As Tears Go By."

Games Gamblers Play / 鬼馬雙星 (1974)

2008-10-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

Literal Translation: Clever Horse Double Star

Written by Michael Hui, Lau Tin-chi, and Thomas Tang
Produced by Raymond Chow
Directed by Michael Hui

Cantonese comedies often have difficulty finding an audience outside of the dialect since the bulk of their delivery is rooted in culture-specific sight gags and word play. To its credit, "Games Gamblers Play" does contain a handful of good bits and one-liners, but those same punch lines are fairly universal and could exist anywhere.

An early hit for sibling duo Michael and Samuel Hui "Games Gamblers Play" is a fairly thin romp about two conmen who meet in prison and then take their act on the road once they are released. Situations come and go; characters appear and disappear.

Despite acting as a jumping-off place for the successful careers of the Hui brothers -- "Games Gamblers Play" may be a complete mystery to some audiences.

Eat Drink Man Woman / 飲食男女 (1994)

2008-10-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

Written by Wong Wai Jan, Ang Lee, and James Schamus
Produced by Ted Hope, Tsu Kong, Tsu Li Kong, Jiang Chyt Feng, and James Schamus
Directed by Ang Lee

Delectable to the last bite Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman" is comfort food for those in need of a warm, balanced romantic comedy-drama.

A widowed gourmet (Sihung Lung) whose recently discovered he's loosing his sense of taste attempts to fill his late wife's shoes at the Sunday dinner table where a circus of emotions often unfold. His eldest (Yang Kuei Mei) is a school teacher unable to move past a soured tryst in college and jaded by the flak she receives from friends and family over her conversion to Christianity. The middle child (Wu Chien Lien) is an airline executive out of sync with her family and views her seat at the dinner table as a duty to be performed. The youngest daughter (Wang Yu Wen) is a high school student who finds her empathy for her best friend's boyfriend spilling into romantic waters she's willing to chart.

Director Ang Lee keeps his script flowing by avoiding mawkish romances, heavy-handed comedy, and overstated drama -- all trappings of the increasingly popular romcom subgenre.

The chef's toothsome spreads took [off camera] over a week to prepare making "Eat Drink Man Woman" a film that should be served with a garbage bag full of Chinese take out.

Charlie's Angels (2000)

2008-10-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

Written by Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon, and John August
Produced by Drew Barrymore, Leonard Goldberg,
and Nancy Juvonen
Directed by McG

Suffice to say, "Charlie's Angels" (1976-1981) was never intended to be high art, but this latest hit '70s television series updated on the big screen for the original demographics' offspring is unbearably frivolous even when juxtaposed to its heavily castigated source material.

Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu are no Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, and Farrah Fawcett, either.

The film's sole titillating moment sees leather clad Lucy Liu in full dominatrix mode on holdover from 1999's "Payback" (riding crop in hand) grilling a group of corporate geeks on efficiency to Heart's "Barracuda."

Yuen Cheung-yan gets in on the act and pokes fun at his own brother (Yuen Wo-ping) with silly "Matrix"-like martial arts choreography.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin / 少林卅六房 (1978)

2008-10-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

AKA Master Killer and Shaolin Master Killer

Written by Ni Kuang
Produced by Run Run Shaw
Directed by Liu Chia Liang (Lau Kar-leung)

The quintessential weakling cum accomplished master story arc made "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" a Shaw Brothers classic straight out of the chute.

Director Liu Chia Liang had up to this point only collaborated with his adopted brother Gordon Liu on a handful of films but following the success of "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" their respective careers would be attached at the hip for a number of years to come.

Derived from Woshi Shanren's novel San Te Monk's Three Visits to the Xichan Monastery the real San Te died at the hands of Ching invaders in Xichan.

The Day the Sun Turned Cold / 天國逆子 (1994)

2008-10-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

Written by Wong Sik-ban, Wong Hing-dung, and Yim Ho
Produced by Yim Ho
Directed by Yim Ho

Yim Ho's second Mandarin language film is a text book example of an ethical dilemma. Eaten alive by inner turmoil a mill worker walks into a police station to turn the mother who coddled him during his formative years in for murdering his domineering father whose death was previously ruled to illness. Though it hardly ignited a resurgence of Mandarin language cinema in Hong Kong, "The Day the Sun Turned Cold" runs a gamut of bittersweet emotions and belongs in the former colony's cinematic pantheon.

Duel to the Death / 生死決 (1983)

2008-10-07T19:51:00.001-07:00

Written by Ching Siu-tung, David Lai Dai-wai, and Manfred Wong
Produced by Raymond Chow
Directed by Ching Siu-tung

You can't go wrong with a film whose script calls for a hulking 12 foot Voltron-like ninja that eventually breaks into several ninjas (one of which is a completely nude female) just prior to doing battle with an elderly Shaolin monk. Tell us there is no merit in that even when "Duel to the Death" -- a ham fisted homage to two culture's respective martial arts cinema output and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung's directorial debut -- fails on so many other levels.

The Eye / 見鬼 (2002)

2008-10-06T20:35:00.001-07:00

Written by Jojo Hui, Danny Pang Fat, and Oxide Pang Shun
Produced by Peter Chan Hoh-san and Lawrence Cheng
Directed by Danny Pang Fat and Oxide Pang Shun

Hyped as a Chinese "Sixth Sense" (1999) its understandable that American audiences might have reservations about seeing "The Eye" which offers more stylization than its Hollywood counterpart, but with far less depth (if one can even fathom that). At its core "The Eye" is fairly tiresome: the romantic subplot is as fragile as a piece of toast and the climax is commonplace to the Chinese ghost subgenre. That being said: the hair raising, eye bulging, and spine tingling moments are consistent. There within lies the recommendation.

Encounter of the Spooky Kind / 鬼打鬼 (1980)

2008-10-06T20:25:00.001-07:00

AKA Close Encounter of the Spooky Kind
and Spooky Encounters

Written by Sammo Hung and Wong Ying
Produced by Raymond Chow
Directed by Sammo Hung

Though the first reel doesn't have much of a bite and co-star Peter Chan Lung has never been so vexing "Encounter of the Spooky Kind" is notable for being one of the first films to marry horror and martial arts -- effectively -- due in large part to Sammo Hung's work in front of and behind the camera. Watch out (literally) for an unrecognizable Yuen Biao in a brief uncredited cameo as a vampire summoned to do battle with an unsuspecting Sammo. Speaking of staying alert some audiences will justifiably be disgusted by the decapitation of a live rooster during one sequence where Chan leads an occult ceremony.

Dragon in Shaolin / 龍在少林 (1996)

2008-10-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

AKA Dragon from Shaolin

Written by Ray Mak and Lee Biu-cheung
Produced by Hui Poi-yung and Taylor Wong
Directed by Ha Sau-hin

One of the worst feelings you could ever have during the first five minutes of a film is knowing you are in for 85 more. "Dragon in Shaolin" is that film. It's uninspired, cheap, humiliating, and without any thrills to speak of. Veteran martial artists Kara Hui and Yuen Biao couldn’t have stooped lower if they tried.

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

2008-10-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

Written by Stephane Cabel and Christophe Gans
Produced by Richard Grandpierre and Samuel Hadida
Directed by Christophe Gans

Faring far better than most films allegedly inspired by actual events concerning man-devouring beasts "Brotherhood of the Wolf" is at the very least triumphant in accomplishing the decidedly implausible task of making Marc Dacascos appear entertaining (albeit vicariously through action choreographer Phillip Kwok). It's not until the third act wanders so far from those aforementioned events that saw a beast of debatable origin rampaging through the French countryside, circa 1794, that "Brotherhood of the Wolf" does not elicit the need for a repeat viewing.

The Bride with White Hair / 白髮魔女傳 (1993)

2008-10-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

Written by Elsa Tang, Lam Kee-to, David Wu Dai-wai,
and Ronny Yu
Produced by Clifton Ko and Ronny Yu
Directed by Ronny Yu

Filmed exclusively at night this extreme Romeo & Juliet is based on a Chinese folk tale whose narrative occasionally succumbs to Peter Pau's translucent cinematography and Phillip Kwok's graphic, elegant, unpretentious choreography. Taiwanese model turned Hong Kong actress Brigitte Lin is probably best known for the aforementioned bride with untamable white locks. Action starlet Elaine Lui co-stars as one half of a Siamese twin villain whose obnoxious laugh is offset by Francis Ng's over-the-top delivery.

The Bride of Chucky (1997)

2008-09-28T07:32:00.001-07:00

Written by Don Mancini
Produced by Grace Gilroy and David Kirchsner
Directed by Ronny Yu

No one asked for it but it was inevitable following the success of Wes Craven's "Scream" (1997): the reanimation of horror franchises that flat-lined long ago and should have remained dead and buried. Ronny Yu who caught the world's attention in Hong Kong with "The Bride with White Hair" (1993) directs.

Blade II (2002)

2008-09-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

Written by David S. Goyer
Produced by Peter Frankfurt, Patrick J. Palmer, and Wesley Snipes
Directed by Guillmero del Toro

The "Blade" films (based on a brief, early '70s Marvel comic book series) seem to be a gross miscalculation of priority. Both films stress make-up, special effects, and martial arts (choreographed here by co-star Donnie Yen) but treat everything else as if it were expendable.

Like its predecessor, "Blade II" is conducted by former make-up artist Guillmero del Toro whose previous film "The Devil's Backbone" (2001) doesn't rely on blood drenched porcelain walls, bodies being split in half, and mutant vampires loosing their heads (literally) to give his audience the willies.

The bulk of "Blade II" has a video game aesthetic and in that regard it may be the greatest sequel ever unleashed for the drones of gamers rushing to the theaters for nearly 2 hours of blood, guts, and vampire lore.

Blackjack (1998)

2008-09-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

Written by Peter Lance
Produced by John Ryan
Directed by John Woo

If John Woo was really telling the truth during a USA Network interview where he stated he had more control over television projects than his own films -- we never get to see the payoff. Even by TV Movie of the Week standards "Blackjack" is bad.

The Big Hit (1998)

2008-09-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Written by Ben Ramsey
Produced by Wesley Snipes and Warren Zide
Director Kirk Wong

It's hard to believe that director Kirk Wong (making his Hollywood debut here) and producer John Woo couldn't have come up with something better. Somehow we stomached the male rape sequence in "Pulp Fiction" (1994) possibly because of the aftermath that followed but there is no retribution when a drunken Elliot Gould vomits on Lou Diamond Phillips and himself. Where's Ving Rhames when you really need him?

Bichunmoo / 비천무 (2000)

2008-09-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Literal Translation: Flying Warriors

Written by Kim Young-jun
Produced by Lee Tae-won
Directed by Kim Young-jun

Hong Kong action choreographer Ma Yuk-sing, whose credits include "The East is Red" (1993), "God of Gamblers Return" (1994), "Big Bullet" (1996), directs the martial arts, by far the spectacle of this frustrating South Korean wuxia pian that suffers from a serious lack of substance. Based on a six volume comic book series and edited down to less than two hours to mollify theater owners looking to maximize daily screenings "Bichunmoo" is a triumph of the lens but a tragedy of storytelling.

Augustine, King of Kung Fu (1999)

2008-09-27T21:04:00.001-07:00

Written by Jacques Fieschi, Anne Fontaine, and Gilles Taurand
Produced by Philippe Carcassonne and Alain Sarde
Directed by Anne Fontaine

Augustin Dos Santos, the struggling actor with big fluffy dreams returns in the feature-length follow-up to the 1995 short "Augustin." Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, who appeared in a handful of French films before, during, and after her three year marriage to director Oliver Assayas, co-stars as a physical therapist struggling to adapt to French culture. Cheung, already proficient in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin supposedly learned French on-set.

Young and Dangerous 2 / 古惑仔2之猛龍過江 (1996)

2008-09-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Written by Sharon Hui and Manfred Wong
Produced by Manfred Wong
Directed by Andrew Lau

In the series' most lucrative installment (rushed into production after its predecessor proved the surprise hit of '96) "Young and Dangerous 2" picks up where the first film left off before shifting narratives and backtracking with Chicken (Jordan Chan, sporting his natural hair color for a change) to Taiwan one year earlier during his exile from Hung Hing.

The Hongkie rascal attempts to broker ties with the head of a local triad (veteran actor Lai Chen) who is trying in turn to broker his own political aspirations with Taiwanese Parliament.

Chingmy Yau is the would-be politician's lover who turns her dreamy-eyed gaze towards Chicken and into the soon-to-be great wide open.

Back home the series introduces audiences to the infamous Dai "Nose Picker" Fai (Anthony Wong Chau-sang, laying on the sleaze with both index fingers), a Hung Hing member with allegiance to the Taiwanese triad and an eye on Ho-nam's (eternal pretty boy Ekin Cheng) territory.

While a noticeable tonal shift has taken place in "Young and Dangerous 2," following the previous film's bloody climax the actors have tightened but nonetheless remain somewhat loose in this further adaptation of the Teddy Boy comic with a script by Manfred Wong that suffers from attention-deficit disorder compounded by Andrew Lau's meandering hand-held camera.

Still, the gaudy wardrobes, titillating violence, homoeroticism, and pretension romanticize the criminal life in a way that almost passes for entertainment.

We're Going to Eat You / 地獄無門 (1980)

2008-09-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Written by Szeto Cheuk-hon and Tsui Hark
Produced by Ng See-yuen
Directed by Tsui Hark

Tsui Hark and first time writer Szeto Cheuk-hon have all the wry stuff here and pull off the daunting task of synchronizing cannibalism, comedy, and kung fu in near-perfect harmony. Only when a reoccurring gag, featuring a randy Amazon woman (quite obviously an actor in drag), does the writing falter. And yet given that the epicenter of "We're Going to Eat You" is a remote village of cannibals -- fed by a group of Leatherface indebted butchers -- it's strangely fitting.

Vengeance Is a Golden Blade / 飛燕金刀 (1969)

2008-09-27T19:47:00.001-07:00

Written by Tu Yun Chih and Hoh Mung Wa
Produced by Run Run Shaw
Directed by Hoh Mung Wa

A Shaw Brothers wuxia pian homogenized with Western style cinematography "Vengeance is a Golden Blade" is an irregular but satisfying tale of revenge.

Thunderbolt / 霹靂火 (1995)

2008-09-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

Written by Chan Hing-kar, Gordon Chan, and Kwok Wai-chung
Produced by Chua Lam
Directed by Gordon Chan

Jackie Chan takes his fetish for Mitsubishi Motors to the jade screen in a big budget auto-racing picture that feels like "Rumble in the Bronx" (1995) all over again. The script is without a plot; the villains are two z grade Caucasian actors whose English dialogue needlessly rubs off on some of the Asian cast; and Chan's female co-star (Anita Yuen) is a jade vase that can walk and talk.

Worse yet, due to an injury sustained during the filming of "Rumble..." Chan is heavily doubled here causing action director Sammo Hung to photograph the choreography in a series of medium shots and close up's that alienate the audience from the one thing they look forward to the most in a Jackie Chan film.

The finale, which pits Chan against Thorsten Nickel on the track, found itself relocated from Japan to Malaysia due to poor weather conditions. Malaysian authorities forbade the actors from racing at nominal speeds so the filmmakers compensated by under-cranking the footage giving it an unintentional screwball aesthetic.

Michael Wong Man-tak co-stars.

The Wicked City / 妖獸都市 (1992)

2008-09-27T15:52:00.001-07:00

Written by Tsui Hark and Roy Szeto
Produced by Tsui Hark
Directed by Peter Mak Tai-kit

"The Wicked City" is the celluloid equivalent of Cheez Wiz, which to no surprise is why the film has a modest cult following in the West.

Some nice allegorical touches aside, this is [yet] another poorly adapted Japanese anime/manga given a Cantonese live action overhaul. The leads are fine, the photography is competitive, but Peter Mak's direction is amateurish and Tsui Hark's script resembles the popular anime of the same name in few if any ways.

Package this with a miniscule Hong Kong budget that fails to parallel the capital of animation with gross, cheap-o special effects, and "The Wicked City" is almost a complete bust.

The Water Margin / 水滸傳 (1972)

2008-09-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

AKA Seven Blows of the Dragon

Written by Ni Kuang
Produced by Run Run Shaw
Directed by Chang Cheh, Wu Ma, and Pao Hsueh Li

A big martial arts picture that is perhaps too big for its own good.

The script, based on a book by the same name, exclusively adapts chapters 64-68, with little exposition, and introduces characters for nearly the entire 120 minutes of its runtime. The Shaw Brothers literally unloaded their dormitory with a cast of thousands; however, aside from a couple of key players most of the actors -- even veterans of note -- find themselves downsized to glorified cameos.

Nevertheless, for a film based solely on a handful of occurances in the mist of an epic novel, with three different directors and four different action choreographers "The Water Margin" remains an otherwise even-keeled viewing experience that's paced by a catchy electric score.

Future auteurs John Woo and Godfrey Ho serve as assistant directors; Liu Chia Liang (Lau Kar-leung) contributes as one of four aforementioned action choreographers.

The follow-up "All Men are Brothers" reunites much of the cast and crew from the predecessor.

The Wandering Swordsman / 遊俠兒 (1970)

2008-09-27T15:34:00.001-07:00

Written by Ni Kuang
Produced by Run Run Shaw
Directed by Chang Cheh

David Chiang is the grinning, gravity-defying Wandering Swordsman who in the tradition of Robin Hood robs from the rich and gives to the poor. The pace finally picks up an hour into the 107-minute runtime but everything that precedes it is a complete bore.

The Untold Story / 八仙飯店之人肉叉燒飽 (1993)

2008-09-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

Written by Lam Gam-fai and Lau Wing-kin
Produced by Danny Lee
Directed by Herman Yau

Only in Hong Kong would a screenwriter ever risk adding comic relief to a true crime film as grizzly as "The Untold Story" but leave it to Category III peddler Herman Yau to lead a womanizing detective and his randy Keystone Cops contemporaries in search of a serial killer whose handy work (or what's left of it) has recently washed ashore in Macau. The sequences involving Anthony Wong raping and murdering are unrelenting, without bias, and as such are too revolting to look at. Yet "The Untold Story" works even when two genres battle for possession of the film's soul.

The Twin Dragons / 雙龍會 (1992)

2008-09-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Written by Cheung Tung-cho, Tsui Hark,
and Barry Wong Ping-yiu
Produced by Ng See-yuen
Directed by Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark

Two Jackie's are not better than one or at least not in "The Twin Dragons" where directors Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark refuse to take the road less traveled and repeatedly bludgeon the audience with blunders from the exhausted twins separated at birth motif.

One Jackie is an accomplished pianist in New York; the other is a headstrong mechanic in Hong Kong. Opposites attract and unknowingly cross paths where chaos quickly ensues when one is mistaken for the other.

Until the finale, staged in a Mitsubishi plant, Chan looks just plain silly going both ways.

Off screen, Chan voiced his unhappiness with the shoddy special effects.

Intended to be a benefit film for the Hong Kong Director's Guild "The Twin Dragons" features more notable filmmaker cameos than any other film that year or possibly in Hong Kong cinema history.

While that merits at least a viewing, it is unfortunately the only reason to watch "The Twin Dragons" in its entirety.

The Stone Age Warriors / 魔域飛龍 (1991)

2008-09-27T15:10:00.001-07:00

Written by Stanley Tong Gwai-lai
Produced by Stanley Tong Gwai-lai
Directed by Stanley Tong Gwai-lai

"The Stone Age Warriors" is a fever dream conjured up by an industry known for pacing its action/adventure films at a fever pitch.

Former second unit director Stanley Tong makes his debut in the director's chair with a peculiar tale that borrows from other (often superior) sources but is peerless in terms of plotting.

Deep in the rain forests of New Guinea, merciless natives attack a group of Asian tourists (that cut off Dick Wei's hand!).

A Hong Kong insurance investigator (Nina Li Chi), girlfriend to one of the men on the tour (Chang Kuo-chu), leaves for New Guinea to clear their names following accusations of staging the incident to collect money by way of insurance fraud.

Accompanying the investigator is her boyfriend's daughter (Elaine Lui) who just so happens to be a star of Japanese karate flicks.

Once there, they inadvertently step in-between a war of two native factions and are saved by the more humane one, only to discover that one member of the tribe is the son of a Chinese missionary (Fan Siu-wong).

The insurance agent, the movie star, and the Christian set out to find the whereabouts of the missing boyfriend in the midst of war where the other tribe's come into alignment with a group of multi-national cocaine traffickers.

The New Legend of Shaolin / 洪熙官 (1994)

2008-09-27T14:56:00.001-07:00

AKA Legend of the Red Dragon

Written by Wong Jing
Produced by Poi Cheung-cheun
Directed by Wong Jing

A hark back to the Shaw Brothers' "Heroes Two" (1974), "Men from the Monastery" (1974), and "Executioners from Shaolin" (1977) with one noticeable difference: it's written and directed by the Roger Corman of Hong Kong cinema; Wong Jing, whose sticky finger prints are visible in nearly every frame. Anachronisms, brutality, gratuitous under-cranking, precocious youths, randy old women, and toilet humor abound in this frustrating but watchable early '90s gung fu flick starring a stone cold Jet Li as real-life Ching Dynasty era rebel Hong Xi Guan.

The Myth / 神話 (2005)

2008-09-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

Written by Stanley Tong Gwai-lai, Wang Hui Ling, and Li Hai Shu
Produced by Willie Chan, Solon So, and Barbie Tung
Directed by Stanley Tong Gwai-lai

What is frustrating, ironic, and sad about a Jackie Chan film backed solely by Chinese funding whose trademark outtakes are largely comprised of green screen footage? So, where's the hook?

The Legend of Zu / 蜀山傳 (2001)

2008-09-27T13:31:00.001-07:00

AKA Zu Warriors

Written by Tsui Hark and Lee Man-choi
Produced by Tsui Hark
Directed by Tsui Hark

And you thought "The Phantom Menace" sucked. A 104-minute exercise in everything that is wrong with post-handover Hong Kong cinema via writer, producer, director Tsui Hark, who in his prime was occasionally dubbed the Steven Spielberg of Hong Kong cinema.

The Eternal Evil of Asia / 南洋十大邪術 (1995)

2008-09-26T19:54:00.001-07:00

Written by Chin Man-kei
Produced by Andy Ma Yin-leung and Ma Yin-leung
Directed by Chin Man-kei

"The Eternal Evil of Asia" covers all four corners of the Category III subgenre; it's a cheap but eclectic mix of dirty jokes, sleazy special effects, gratuitous nudity, and b grade actors. The plot is arbitrary and will remind fans of the subgenre why they love these films. "The Eternal Evil of Asia" works if only because of its dicey nature a must for this brand of tasteless cinema. The film's highlight sees actor Elvis Tsui Kam-kong's head turned into the glans of a penis -- its artisanship replete with contours and attention to detail -- is a singular spectacle of lowbrow humor.

The Cub Tiger from Kwangtung / 廣東小老虎 (1973)

2008-09-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

AKA Little Tiger of Canton, Master with Cracked Fingers,
Snake Fist Fighter, and Ten Fingers of Death

Written by Lau Suen
Produced by Lee Long-koon
Directed by Ngai Hoi-fung and Gam Yam

This was Jackie Chan's (then going by Sammo Hung's opera school name Yuen Lung) first big break after a former colleague got him the lead in a film that was so bad the producers walked off with the footage one night without ever finishing the film. Later [someone] re-edited the existing footage and tacked on a pseudo finale with a Jackie Chan look alike releasing it to the Western market in 1979 as "Master with Cracked Fingers" aka "Snake Fist Fighter" aka "Ten Fingers of Death" aka THIS IS JACKIE CHAN'S FIRST AND ONE OF HIS WORST.

The Bride with White Hair 2 / 白髮魔女2 (1993)

2008-09-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Written by Raymond To, David Wu Dai-wai, and Ronny Yu
Produced by Clifton Ko and Ronny Yu
Directed by David Wu Dai-wai

"The Bride with White Hair 2" relies mostly on exposition partially comprised of sequences from the first film and as such there isn't much of a script. The film clocks in at measly 78 minutes which proves that David Wu and Ronny Yu were less concerned with filming a worthy sequel to their epic fantasy and more concerned with easy money.

The Blood Brothers / 刺馬 (1973)

2008-09-26T18:42:00.001-07:00

Written by Chang Cheh and Ni Kuang
Produced by Run Run Shaw
Directed by Chang Cheh

Chang Cheh's gong-thumping, trumpet-blaring, sabre-rattling historical drama seemingly has borrowed its melodramatic edge from the trio of Mandarin musicals the prolific director cut his teeth on.

Chang, Ma, and Huang are three noble bandits who form an underground society during the Qing Dynasty and let the good times roll. Over time Ma (Ti Lung) begins to long for more and the need to better himself through indoctrination despite the lust he feels in his heart for Huang's wife Mi Lan (Ching Li).

Two years after joining the Qing the former bandit cum respected general sends for Chang (David Chiang) and Huang (Chen Kuan Tai) and his wife (who has spent every day away from Ma's presence in unbridled agony) along with their denizens who all eagerly abnegate their former stature and become legitimized soldiers.

When the would-be lovers can no longer bare the simple obstacle that lies between them General Ma decides all is fair in love and war and there shall be no honor among thieves.

"The Blood Brothers" ranks among some of Chang Cheh's most celebrated works of the 1970's and is often considered the director's superlative entry in the martial arts genre.

The Accidental Spy / 特務迷城 (2001)

2008-09-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

Written by Ivy Ho
Produced by Jackie Chan
Directed by Teddy Chen

A slight amelioration, at least aesthetically speaking, on Jackie Chan's post-"Drunken Master II" (1994) career but every bit as middling as "Rumble in the Bronx" (1995), "Thunderbolt" (1995), and "Who Am I?" (1998). Eric Tsang, once again, phones in his performance.

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires / 七金屍 (1974)

2008-09-26T18:33:00.001-07:00

AKA Dracula and the 7 Golden Vampires

Written by Don Houghton
Produced by Don Houghton and Vee King Shaw
Directed by Roy Ward Baker

The duel intention behind "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires" was to makeover an increasingly lackluster Hammer output as well as boast Shaw Brothers star David Chiang as Bruce Lee's successor in the West.

On both fronts, it failed.

Hammer Film Productions closed their doors before the turn of the decade; Chiang remained in Hong Kong and didn't appear in another English language film for decades.

While "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires" works as Hammer gothic trash it is a travesty of Shaw Brothers expectations. Unexpectedly, Tong Gai and Liu Chia Liang's (Lau Kar-leung) action choreography is diluted and soporific.

Iconic Hammer star Peter Cushing is Professor Van Helsing (once more) on the trail of Dracula (again) who has taken the form of a Taoist priest in China. David Chiang is the professor's cocksure Chinese pupil speaking in stilted English.

The Killer / 喋血雙雄 (1989)

2008-09-26T18:29:00.001-07:00

Literal Translation: A Pair of Blood Spattering Heroes

Written by John Woo
Produced by Tsui Hark
Directed by John Woo

John Woo's "The Killer" is a white hot culmination of the action auteur's patent mechanics, debonair served below room temperature by lead actor Chow Yun-fat with Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai" (1967) serving as the film's template.

The Mexican standoff between an amoral detective (Danny Lee) and a moral hit man (Chow) in an apartment of a blind songstress (Sally Yeh) is a brilliantly choreographed impasse that has yet to be rivaled.

Though abjured by domestic audiences (who made Woo's "A Better Tomorrow" the largest grossing film in Hong Kong history three years earlier) for being too violent "The Killer" is nevertheless one of the former colony's most refined action pictures and a great piece of cinema.

Kenneth Tsang Kong, Paul Chu Kong, and Shing Fui-on co-star.

Following the film's release John Woo ended his friendship and professional relationship with producer Tsui Hark.