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The Touch Director:
Peter Pau |
I shouldn't start off on such a negative foot, but, The Touch had only one good thing about it, Michelle Yeoh. She brought a sense of class and panache to an otherwise extremely boring movie. The villain, played by Richard Roxburgh, was your typical B-movie villain played over the top. The credits said Ben Chaplin was in the movie. OK, so he was, but he added nothing to it. Take him or leave him, didn't really matter. The story was mediocre and the action was nothing special. We've seen it all before. The look of the movie was quality, too bad the movie itself could not live up to that. I give it **/5 only because of Yeoh and the fact that it wasn't horrible. This movie is for those who are desperate for a Yeoh movie or just wanting to remain on top of the latest Hong Kong movies. Additional cast: Richard Roxburgh, Gabriel Harrison, Winston Chao |
Dry Wood Fierce Fire Director:
Wilson Yip
***1/2/5 |
What can I say about Dry Wood, Fierce Fire? The stars are enjoyable and the movie is cute. Most guys would probably call it a chick flick, in that in the end the gorgeous guy comes around and the quirky, not so model-perfect girl wins. Miriam Yeung is a journalist and an herbalist, with a weird habit of shouting into bottles and kicking everyone's butt in kung-fu. When the all-female magazine she works for joins the all-male magazine that Louis Koo works for, you know sparks will fly. Koo has his own weird habits, like fainting at the strangest times, but he's so cute you still like him. Koo, of course, still has feelings for another. Will they end up together? What do you think?. Wilson Yip directs a cute romantic comedy
(sorry guys, minimal action) with the typical off-center humor you tend to find in Hong
Kong movies. |
Director:
Danny & Oxide Pang ***/5 |
Bangkok Dangerous is a Pang Brothers movie. This is not your typical Hong Kong action movie though. And I have to admit that a typical Hong Kong action movie is what I was expecting. This was much more real, though it does still have a little style to it. The story is about two men, Joe and Kong, who have been friends for years. How they became friends is shown in flashbacks. Kong is deaf. The two are hitmen. Their contact is Joe’s ex-girlfriend, Aom, who is still in love with Joe. Joe has been depressed and so Kong has been taking the jobs. Aom gets the jobs from the Boss. Kong is mostly unfeeling which makes him a great hitman. Then he meets Fon at a pharmacy and romance blossoms, that is until she finds out who he really is. Around that same time Aom is kidnapped and raped and Joe goes for revenge, getting himself killed. Kong decides that there is nothing left to live for since Fon has pushed him away, so he too decides to get revenge for all that has happened to his friends. This is an extremely gritty look at the underworld. It is not made glamourous at all. It is an interesting movie and one you’ll want to see if you like different, artistic movies. If you like yours glossy, then don’t bother. |
Tom, Dick and Hairy Director:
Peter Chan & Chi Lee
****/5 Review by Sarah. 11/11/2002 |
Tom, Dick and Hairy is an amusing movie. All three guys live together. They have different approaches towards romance. Tom is the sensible one but is engaged to a horrific
woman. He meets an escort named Cat. They fall in love though they feel they can’t be
together. Who will Tom choose? The most hilarious parts of the movie are when the three male actors end up in skull caps in dream sequences where their male members are talking to them. Tom’s male member makes more sense than he does, which of course would only happen in a movie. I didn’t realize this movie was made so long ago because it has definitely held the test of time. It won a best movie award in Hong Kong in 1994. If you’re looking for a classic Hong Kong comedy, check this one out. |
The Transporter Director:
Corey Yuen ****/5 Review by Sarah. 28/10/2002 |
I have 2 words for the movie The
Transporter, kicked ass!
As you probably know by now, I'm a huge action fan. And this movie's got it. Partially written and produced by French director Luc Besson, directed by Hong Kong director Corey Yuen and starring English actor Jason Statham and Hong Kong star Shu Qi, this big Hollywood-type action movie covers it all. The story is about Statham, who plays Frank, a
transportation expert. For money, he takes things and people to destinations agreed upon
in advance. Frank has just 3 rules, Shu Qi is the package he opens. Big mistake and he knows it as soon as he opens it. She gets him involved in trying to stop a slavery ring. Shu Qi has little to do other than play the damsel in distress. I was disappointed a bit in her role. |
Whether it was the writer, director, or
actor, the screaming she did at every little opportunity was enough for me to want to slap
her character. But in the end it wasn't enough to stop me from liking the movie. |
Chinese Odyssey 2002 Director:
Jeff Lau
****1/2/5 Review by Laurent Henry & Thomas. 28/10/2002 |
A young princess (Faye Wang) fed up of her royal and aseptic life, dresses as a man in order to escape the castle and hits the road incognito to explore China. On her way, she meets and falls for a bad boy, though kind-hearted man (Tony Leung Chiu Wai). Unfortunately, his sister (Vicky Zao) falls in love with the tomboy princess! Chinese Odyssey 2002 tends to have the same spirit of the early-nineties HK cinema. It's the same mad spirit that was all over the brilliant parody Eagle Shooting Heroes made by the same team of crafty moviemakers, Jeff Lau & Wong Kar Wai. The result is, however, much milder than what we were used to. Jokes put a smile on your face rather than cracking you up with laughter. There are still however some gags that keep the HK non-sensical spirit alive. As for the production value, it's much better than in the past. The photography is to die for and the music score very nice to hear indeed. There are as well some very funny musical duets between Tony Leung and Faye Wang that are not to be missed. By the way, it's another great performance from Faye Wang after Chungking Express. Her shenanigans are a plus when she portrays both a man and a woman . |
The overall is worth watching then, even more nowadays, when the HK cinema seems to be hibernating. But something is lacking to make this movie a complete masterpiece. The next should be the one! |
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Sarah Connor lives a double life. During the week she works in a staffing
firm and on the weekends is a DJ at a radio station in Arizona, USA. She loves most movie
genres and finds it hard to find fault with a movie if it provides entertainment. To her,
movies don't have to be perfect or say something deep, though it is appreciated. Sarah
loves martial arts movies because of their sexy, exciting action, but runs in horror from
any movie that might make her scream.