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Films in the Archives |
Newly added titles |
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| 2002 Every Dog Has His Date Extreme Challenge Gorgeous In The Mood For Love Iron Monkey |
La Brassiere The Longest Nite Lost & Found Marry A Rich Man Summer Holidays Tokyo Raiders |
Frugal Game Hot War Inner Senses Love Undercover Princess d Tiramisu The Tuxedo |
2002 Director:
Wilson Yip
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Hot, hot, hot! That’s how I’d sum up the movie 2002, a fun, slightly campy action film. It stars Nicholas Tse, Hong Kong’s hottest movie and pop idol and Stephen Fung who is not far behind him. 2002 has action in an easy-to-understand sci-fi format (i.e. no hard thinking here), a couple of cool gadgets and two hot men for women to feast their eyes on. Tse stars as Tide, a psychic ghost hunter with a sidekick that is a ghost, (Sam Lee in a small but worthily, amusing part). This man/ghost team makes up a Special Unit of Spirit and Paranormal Investigation called 2002. They rid the human world of evil haunting spirits via an execution team comprised of a man and a ghost. This is a great arrangement until it’s time for Tide's sidekick to be reincarnated and he has to find a new partner. Thus Fung, as Wind, comes into the picture. The problem is, Wind is
not dead and that means that Tide has to help him finish up any unresolved issues before
he dies. It is a man/ghost partnership, or is it? |
Every Dog Has His Date Director:
James Yuen Sai-Sang Cast: Nick Cheung Ka-Fai, Michelle Reis,
Stephanie Che Year: 2001 |
Every Dog Has His Date is a Hong Kong comedy that wants to be a Disney film. It actually accomplishes this feat to a degree, although, I wouldn’t recommend this for children. There are a few risqué references that allude to bestiality, though nothing blatant. Michelle Reis, as Sharon, is a woman who always falls for the wrong guy, the "dawg". She often tells her beloved dog, Man, that he would be the perfect boyfriend: loyal and loving. Meanwhile, Sharon hires Fai (Nick Cheung) to work as a contractor on a commercial shoot she’s doing. Fai is a scummy, dirty guy: physically and psychologically, the proverbial "dawg". In a freaky lightening accident Fai and Man trade places. Man, now as a human, wants to tell Sharon that he’s her dog but of course he looks like the contractor, Fai. The typical misunderstandings and crazy situations follow. There are some funny moments. There are also jokes using Hollywood’s latest, favourite gimmick, icky potty humour. Cheung pulls off his role quite believably on all levels, although, overall it’s somewhat of a dumb movie. I say only see Every Dog… if you are a huge fan of one of the stars or have nothing better to do than kill some time on a silly movie. |
Extreme Challenge Director:
Stephen Tung ***/5 |
There’s a huge, new competition in town, or so they want you to believe. The premise of this movie is that the Extreme Challenge is a new way of competing, in essence, the ultimate competition where any type of fighter, wrestler, kick-boxer etc. is welcomed. The competition is a free-for-all at the beginning, while they try to beat one another through the obstacle course to the end, fighting off opponents. The Extreme Challenge is supposed to be new and inventive in that it is going to be broadcast on the Internet. The winner wins a huge commercial contract with the company sponsoring the event. There are four main characters. Maxfield is the all-around greatest champion of these kind of events, who at first wants to win badly and then does a not quite believable 360 in the last part of the movie. Two former classmates Fang Jin and Kuang Kin, who want to end up fighting one another in the end because of past unresolved issues. And Karen Li, one of only a few women competing. Karen wants to prove that she’s more than just the daughter of her famous father. The story is thin but if you enjoy a good martial arts competition movie, then check it out. It does have a few surprises. |
Frugal Game Director:
Derek Chiu
**/5 Review by Sarah. 28/10/2002 |
Frugal Game is the latest movie capitalizing on the success of reality game shows. In this movie, Eric Tsang is fired from his job. His children, the daughter played by Miriam Yeung, are unaware of this because he doesn't want them to know. So every day he sits in a café making calls to find work alongside other people who are out of work. One day his former boss (who fired him), played by Carol Cheng, comes and sits down at the table with him. She too has been fired. She wants to marry him for a week so that they can compete in the game show "Frugal Game". Every member of the household must be unemployed to play. He of course wants nothing to do with her but she goes behind his back. She tells his daughter that her father doesn't have a job and talks the kids into wanting to do it. They get in and compete with another family. Both families are given HK$ 400 to support themselves for a week. They must pay for everything, including the bathroom. The family with the most money left over in the end, is the winner. The movie did a good job with keeping a secret of who wins. Overall, I found the movie a bit painful to watch. It was haphazard, not following through on aspects of the characters and story lines. The scene where Yeung plays her own mother is excruciating to watch. The side story of Eason Chan and Yeung falling for one another was very weak. |
| I'm also not a fan of the "good people never get a break" movies. Everything went wrong for them. If you like that kind of humor than definitely check it out. If not, bypass this Miriam Yeung movie for another one, like Love Undercover. I give Frugal Game a 2/5 and that's being generous. |
Gorgeous Director:
Vincent Kok |
What do you look for in a Hong Kong movie? Typically, the first answer most would say is action! Well, with that in mind, a wonderful movie that came out in 1999 was overlooked by too many. Not only did it have action, it also had loads of comedy. Gorgeous, starring Jackie Chan is slick. Chan stars as a Hong Kong millionaire who meets and falls in love with a young country girl while trying to outwit his best friend and rival. Shu Qi is a wee bit young for Chan, but their chemistry and her charm can almost make you forget that and it should definitely not keep you from seeing this fun film. Tony Leung stars as your stereotypical gay guy, but he keeps the character from becoming just a joke. Of course, I mustn’t leave out the fight scenes. Chan may be getting a little long in the tooth, but he can still definitely pull it off. He’s fast, he’s exciting and he provides enough comic relief to make your "I don’t like action movies" friend see what she’s been missing out on. |
| !!! Warning: may contain
spoilers. Hot War Director:
Jingle Ma |
Blue, Tango and C.S. are research scientists working on Project VR. Project VR is a Virtual Reality program used to train soldiers to be the "ultimate soldier". On the way to the reception of C.S.’s wedding,
Alien, a terrorist trying to get the secrets behind how Project VR works, kills
C.S.’s wife and kidnaps Blue. The head of the agency for whom Tango and C.S. work, is
not too concerned about Blue, only in getting rid of Alien. Tango and C.S. decide to go
through the process of Project VR so that they can rescue Blue. The movie tried to be science fiction but just didn’t quite make it. It also seemed to take a little too long at times. With a better script the movie could’ve been a lot better. |
!!! Warning: may contain spoilers. Inner Senses Director:
Law Chi Leung
***1/2 /5 |
Inner Senses starts out with
some very haunting music leading you to believe this will be an epic tragedy of another
time and place.
What Inner Senses is about are inner demons. Some have compared it to the Hollywood movie, The 6th Sense, but the only real similarity is "I see dead people" as the running theme. They are two different movies. In Inner Senses, Yang believes she sees ghosts. Dr. Law, a psychologist who absolutely does not believe in ghosts or any other spiritual or paranormal existence, is asked by his friend to take on Yang's case. Law's friend is the husband of Yang's cousin and they are quite worried about her. In the end, Law cures Yang (though it's a very simplistic/not very realistic cure) and they fall for one another. At which time Yang finds out that Law actually sees a ghost as well. The moral of this story, because yes, there
is one, is that you have to deal with your past, your inner demons, your Inner Senses,
before you can move on with your future. |
In the Mood for Love Director:
Wong Kar-Wai. |
If I could sum up In the Mood for Love in one word, I’d say "stylistic". The cinematography is so lush you feel like it was painted with every brush imaginable and then let to dry in the warm afternoon sun of Tuscany. Maggie Cheung's (as Mrs. Chan) silk costumes are so beautiful even they look painted on. Cheung and Tony Leung (as Mr. Chow) are wonderful together. Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow, not knowing one another, move themselves and their respective spouses into apartments that are right next to each other. They often pass on their way in and out. Both are loners as their spouses are out of town on business quite often. They are neighborly to one another but not overly so until one day Mr. Chow hears that his wife has been seen with another man. Chow then invites Mrs. Chan out to dinner and they discover that their spouses have been seeing one another. How this happens is one of the twists in the movie. After that they decide to figure out what drew their spouses to one another and how it all started. You find yourself wanting them to fall in-love even as they try "not to be like them." The movie is like an old dance, slow but beautiful. It requires patience for those used to faster paced movies but is well worth it and the second time around you can see the nuances and appreciate the beauty even more. Enjoy. |
Iron Monkey Director:
Yuen Woo Ping |
Iron Monkey is directed by Yuen Woo Ping. Yuen is the man who choreographed the fight scenes for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Matrix and just about all of the latter-day great action movies that have used what is known as "Hong Kong Style" or wire work. When it comes to action, Iron
Monkey is every bit as wonderful as any of Yeun's other, more commercially successful
movies. There are tons of amazing fight scenes, each one better than the last. Iron
Monkey is actually a prequel of sorts to the Tsui Hark/Jet Li 1991 collaboration, Once
Upon a Time in China, about a 19th century Chinese folk hero named Wong Fei-hung. This is basically a Robin Hood story where Dr. Yang, as the outlaw Iron Monkey, uses the name of the benevolent deity, to steal from the rich and give to the poor. Well, it’s a little more than that. Shortly after their arrival, the father of Fei-hung is forced by the evil governor to hunt down the outlaw, Iron Monkey. |
Kei-ying is told that
his son will be imprisoned until Iron Monkey is caught. Dr. Yang/Iron Monkey helps
Kei-ying by taking care of his son. Then an evil Shaolin Monk arrives in the village and
Kei-ying and Iron Monkey join forces to fight him off. |
La Brassiere Director:
Patrick Leung & Hing-Ka Chan Cast: Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo, Carina Lau & Gigi
Leung Year: 2001 |
La Brassiere is a little slow in places, but it also has some highly amusing bits to it. A bra company based out of Japan, tells it’s Hong Kong executive, Samantha, that she must hire two men to design the "ultimate bra" within three months. Samantha tells her right hand woman, Lena, that she must work with them. Lena is not thrilled at all and is the only woman at the company to not be affected by Johnny and Wayne, their killer looks and advances. This of course, makes Wayne want to "bag" her even more. Lena has a little fun with the guys, since they don’t know a lot about bras, by making them wear a bra with fake breasts, which results in some hilarious games. Johnny and Wayne finally ask for help in understanding women and bras. This leads to bonding by Wayne and Lena and then Johnny and Samantha. Ultimately, this was not one of my favourites. There was just too little substance. |
The Longest Nite Director:
by Patrick Yau |
In this short and mean spirited low budget film Lau Ching-wan is absolutely bald and wears a disco style shirt. This laid-back guy called Tony plays dangerously with the mental health of Sam (Tony Leung), a corrupted cop who's busy enough to torture around. Working for one of the Triad leaders of Macao, the cop has to clean all the mess made by the rival gang, using and abusing of the law. But Mr. K, Sam's boss, is said to have offered an HK$ 5,000,000 reward to whom would kill Mr. Lung. Sam tries to find out who did really offer this reward. By chance, if I may say so, he meets Tony who's got something to do with it. This is a real Hong-Kong thrilling thriller, short but condensed, without any "John Woo Touch", but finally cool, effective and entertaining. |
Director Patrick Yau takes us for a nite through gangster insane and calculating brains, who mess around in the Macao streets. Here, you'd better not be a hitman in the gang playground. Everything is tricked, everyone is trapped, even the audience… |
Lost & Found Director:
Lee Chi-Ngai |
Chan Wai-Lam is the daughter of a Hong Kong powerful ship
owner. She suffers from leukaemia, and can't be saved. But, she doesn't want to give up
and she decides to work in her father company. Singer-actress Kelly Chen Wai-Lam portrays honourably a young woman suffering from a lethal disease. And, it's nice to watch Takeshi Kaneshiro acting pretty seriously, after his adventures with Mister Wong Kar-Wai. The message of the movie is to spend the remaining time of your life doing as much good as possible. A simple, clear and efficient way to direct actors makes the audience easily feel the characters and understand their desires and their motivations. |
When it came out, Lost & Found was run down by critics, because of its obvious references to 1997, and to HK people mass departure abroad. However, this partial view of things is to oppose with the deep introspection of the main character, and with her example for struggle against unavoidable things of life and for her devotion to others and for ultimate hope. |
Love Undercover Director: Joe Ma Cast: Miriam Yeung, Daniel Wu, Raymond Wong, Wyman Wong, Hui Siu-Hung Year: 2002
****/5 Review by Sarah. 14/10/2002 |
Love Undercover is another enjoyable movie from Joe Ma. It stars Miriam Yeung and Daniel Wu. Yeung playing
LK Fong is a new policewoman who is not very good and has been made to work in the lost
and found section of the police. However, because the criminal division needs someone new
to play a waitress at a restaurant in an undercover assignment, she is chosen. Daniel Wu
plays the bad guy they are trying to catch. As luck would have it, the two fall for one
another. However, he thinks she's just a half-deaf waitress. Even though this movie doesn't have the most unique plot, it is well done. It is also kind of fun to see the pretty boy, played by Raymond Wong, get put in his place. While watching, two things struck me; Yeung is quite charming as LK too. |
Marry A Rich Man Director:
Vincent Kuk |
Marry A Rich Man is an amusing little story. Though mostly because Sammi Cheng is so likeable. As Me, Sammi wants to fall in love. A palm reader tells her she will fall in love with a rich man. She runs into some old school mates and they tell her she must find a rich man in order to be happy. On the way home Me wishes on a shooting star, in desperation, and a book on how to marry a rich man is sent from the sky to her via a satellite, though she is not aware of that part. The book tells her that in order to find a rich man she must pretend to be rich. Her experiments don’t deliver her the man she wants. In a last ditch effort, she books a first class plane ticket to Italy. On the plane she meets Dan. They have a wonderfully romantic time, until he skips out on paying for dinner and she’s left to figure out a way to pay for it. Dan is not what he seemed, but then she isn’t either. It’s a cute movie, though Dan’s helplessness at times was a turnoff. If you like the actors, it’s worth seeing though. |
Princess d Director: Sylvia Cheng & Alan Yuen Cast: Daniel Wu, Angelica Lee Sin Je, Edison Chen Year: 2001
**/5 |
Princess D is a rather thin film with a few bright moments. One of those moments is actually exceptional. The relationship Joker has with his father is shown in an extremely touching and real scene, between two men, that one doesn't often get in a movie. In Princess D, Joker works for a video game company and is supposed to come up with the latest heroine, along the lines of Lara Croft. He has not been able to until one night at a club he sees Ling behind the bar. She's sarcastic and cute and can kick butt as evidenced later on in the alley. Joker has to talk her into letting him make her into this heroine. Meanwhile, she's taking care of her mom and brother (who has gotten himself into some major league gang trouble). Their father is in jail. Joker's younger brother, Kid, sleeps all the time and is trying to find his way in the adult world. Joker and Kid's dad runs a dance studio, has a woman interested in him but misses his dead wife. Overall, there were just too many stories trying to be told. It was an okay movie with a couple of sweet spots. |
Summer Holiday Director:
Jingle Ma
***1/2/5 |
Half of the reason Summer Holiday was so enjoyable was due to the beauty of the location on a Malaysian beach. The setting is idyllic and this is a great movie to get you in the summer mood. At the beginning of the movie, Summer is a career girl who lives in Hong Kong. Then, she loses her boyfriend to another woman and then loses her job because of her boyfriend. She’s quite depressed and decides to check out the holiday resort her cousin had talked her into helping him buy a few years back. If she sells it she’ll have plenty of money and will have enjoyed a lovely holiday. At the beautiful beach resort she meets Mo Mo, who claims Summer’s cousin sold Mo Mo his half of the resort. Summer tries to talk Mo Mo into selling, but he won’t. Meanwhile, Summer has asked her best friend to find out who the other woman is that took her boyfriend away. Summer finds out that if she is sweet to Mo Mo she might be able to talk him into selling. They, of course, end up falling for one another. However, in movies like this, there is always a catch. Summer Holiday is a very sweet romantic comedy and definitely a fairy tale, not too much realism here. But that’s why we watch movies, right?! Cheng and Ren have good chemistry and this movie is better than their most recent pairing of Marry A Rich Man. |
!!! Warning: may contain spoilers. Tiramisu Director:
Dante Lam
**/5 |
Fung is a deaf mailman. He has a pretty simple life with his roommate. Jane has a happy family life and is pursuing dancing. Fung and Jane run into one another one day, several times. One meeting is quite hot. She drops a book on her way out of the subway and he picks it up. Is it fate? Later, apart, they are thinking about one another as Jane gets hit in a freak accident and dies. Fung goes in search of Jane to give her book back to her, only to find out that she was in essence "calling" him from beyond. She tells him she’s a ghost and needs to hide from the Underworld Cops until the dance competition she and her dance-mates have been aiming for, is over. With Fung’s help, Jane is able to become part of Fung during the day, and encourage her former dance-mates to continue dancing. Meanwhile, Fung gets to hear the world through Jane inhabiting him. Whether or not Jane escapes the 'Underworld Cops' or whether Fung and Jane end up together is really not that compelling. I’m a fan of Nicholas Tse, so I watched this movie and his acting was quite good. The sweet character was a break from the cool-dude-type he usually portrays. In all honesty, though, the movie tried to convey too many things in too many ways and was unable to be a good movie. I only recommend it if you’re a fan of the actors looking for something new. |
Tokyo Raiders Director:
Jingle Ma Cast: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Ekin
Cheng, Kelly Chen |
Director Jingle Ma creates one of the most light, fun action movies in quite awhile. James Bond meets Charlie’s Angels in this John Woo style movie. Macy (Kelly Chan) has
been left at the altar by fiancé, Takahashi, a Japanese businessman. When she goes to
find him at his apartment, she encounters Yung (Ekin Cheng), an interior decorator,
waiting to collect on a bounced check. The two go in search of Macy’s fiancé in
Tokyo and quickly run into trouble in the form of crime boss Ito (Hiroshi Abe) and his
henchmen. The film moves at a good pace with lots of action, gadgets and laughs. The plot has some good and somewhat unexpected twists and turns. Hardly anyone is quite who we think. Director Jingle Ma’s only flaw is that he overuses Woo’s style of slow motion action so much that it loses its effect. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying this flick though. Chan, Cheng and Leung make a great team, and it’s obvious everyone’s having a good time. Additional cast : Cecilia Cheung, Toru Nakamura & Hiroshi Abe |
The Tuxedo Director: Kevin Donovan Cast: Jackie Chan & Jennifer Love Hewitt Year: 2002
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The Tuxedo starring Jackie Chan
and Jennifer Love Hewitt is about a tuxedo owned by a spy agency that conforms to the body
of one super spy agent, Mr. Clark Devlin.
The tuxedo via a wristwatch helps him achieve impossible things, like literally gliding across the dance floor or running at high speeds. When Chan, playing driver Jimmy Tong, puts on the tuxedo it conforms to his body and the hilarity ensues. The movie is somewhat slow at times. It does pick up, but was still not as good as I had hoped. The action is eventually typical Jackie Chan, but there’s really not that much of it. Hewitt provides one thing to this movie, her breasts. Many jokes are made of them, though at least they don't go over the edge into disgusting. This movie is best summed up in one word, cute. It's probably best seen only by those who are fans of the stars or are desperate for any kind of action film. |
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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.