Blog Archives

The Promise (2005)

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Posted on April 3, 2006 by Alison

This is an extremely silly film on which a startling amount of money was spent, and on which some very fine talents worked. Puzzling. One thing is for sure: just as the sheep is not a creature of the air, so Chen Kaige is not Tsui Hark. Hark is renowned for his ability to make superb fantasy, films that have a beauty and grace that transcend their often-humble special effects. No-one who’s ever seen A Chinese Ghost Story or its … (read more)

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Moving Targets (2004)

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Posted on October 29, 2005 by Mark Morrison

Moving Targets delivers on the promise of its title: it keeps moving, and hits most targets. This pot-boiling, lead-slinging, father-hating police yarn is based on the legendary 1980s TVB series Police Cadet (which, Ching Yee informs me, is where Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Lau Ching Wan became stars). I can’t speak for how faithful the adaptation is, but that would explain why the movie feels like it is cranking many hours of plot into 90 blink-and-miss-it minutes.

Fer instance: … (read more)

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My Schoolmate the Barbarian (2000)

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Posted on June 23, 2005 by Alison

There are times when you need some mindless entertainment to help you shed the worries of the day. This is just such entertainment, from the master of mindless entertainment, Wong Jing, although this time it’s one for the girls. Within the first five minutes we see Nic Tse with his shirt ripped and his hair falling over his eyes, in a variety of heroic poses of which Wong Fei Hung would be proud.

A lot of people disparage Wong Jing, … (read more)

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Goddess of Mercy (2003)

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Posted on May 31, 2004 by Alison

As opening film for HKIFF 2004, Jade Goddess of Mercy (title later changed to Goddess of Mercy, for reasons unknown) should have been excellent. Alas, it fell down in at least one major respect: casting. Although most of the cast did well, and in some cases very well, the female lead was a problem. Vicki Zhao Wei, no matter how perky, no matter how cute, is just not a sufficiently good actress to carry the role of a dedicated … (read more)

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2002 (2001)

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Posted on March 4, 2004 by Jonathan

This film stinks and I hate it. You know why? Not because of the completely incoherent plot. Not because the performances exist in an emotional vacuum. Not even because the soundtrack (ironically featuring a song entitled “Let Me Die”) made me want to kill myself. No, I hate 2002 because I want to be a magic cop. (Actually, I really want to be a magical-realist cop, but I’d happily settle for the plain old magic version.) If I was a … (read more)

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Demi-Haunted (2000)

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Posted on July 31, 2003 by Eugene

Let’s get my prejudices out in the open, OK? I have never been a particularly big fan of Chinese opera. Something to do with growing up and listening to it and not knowing what was going on and the constant clang of the percussion methinks. Even when I saw Farewell My Concubine, my eyes kind of glazed over when there were those (thankfully) few opera scenes. That and there seems on irregular intervals, bursts of hip-hop (another type of … (read more)

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Time & Tide (2000)

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Posted on July 31, 2003 by Ching Yee

Tsui Hark is back, back, back! I, for one, am very happy that he’s returned to his old stomping ground after a sojourn in the US.

Time and Tide is a big departure from anything he has ever done but that’s not the real surprise – his films have always been incredibly varied. His resume reads like the lifetime work of several directors put together and the impressive fact is many of his films are considered modern HK classics; Peking … (read more)

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