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Running Out of Time 2 (2001)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Ching Yee

If you liked Running Out of Time as much as I did then you’d have been hanging out to see this sequel by Johnnie To.

First off, the good news — Lau Ching Wan returns as the likeable, determined smarty-pants cop Inspector Ho Seung Sang. Other regulars from the first film such as Lam Suet, Ruby Wong and Hui Sui-Hong also returns (Lam Suet in a break from continuity tradition returns as a different character just to mess with our … (read more)

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Expect the Unexpected (1998)

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Posted on October 29, 2005 by Mark Morrison

This is one of the bleak new wave of post-Handover HK crime films which include Full Alert, Beast Cops and A True Mob Story. Like those films, the characters here are very Hong Kong, but in a Hong Kong the place sense rather than a Hong Kong the movie myth sense. The opening is dynamite. Three inept Mainland robbers botch a jewel store holdup. One of them flees into a nearby apartment building, inadvertently leading the police to … (read more)

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Women From Mars (2002)

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Posted on December 30, 2003 by Alison

If you’ve been waiting for years to see three men looking into their boxers and screaming, then wait no longer: Women From Mars can fill that very specific need. If, like me, you’d managed to get this far in life without being bothered by such odd cravings, then you might still get a bit of a laugh.

For starters, it might satisfy your desire to see some sexist blokes get their just desserts. And while losing their willies might seem … (read more)

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PTU (2003)

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Posted on August 24, 2003 by Alison

Johnnie To Kei Fung has been working on PTU for around two years, in between other projects, and so the film has gained a degree of notoriety purely for that reason. As a result, To was a trifle anxious as to how this pet project would be received: speaking briefly before the opening night screening, he expressed a hope that the audience would forget The Mission, and give PTU its own chance.

Well, it’s not The Mission. It … (read more)

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Running Out Of Time (1999)

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Posted on August 23, 2003 by Alison

Johnnie To is the coolest director in the known universe, bar none. He has a gift for making great movies, and this is one of his strongest. It doesn’t hurt that he’s assembled a solid cast, including Andy Lau, owner of the sharpest cheekbones in the business, and Lau Ching Wan, one of the best actors in Hong Kong. There are even credible female characters too, in the form of the lovely Yoyo Mung, and the redoubtable Ruby Wong.

But … (read more)

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Too Many Ways To Be Number One (1997)

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Posted on July 31, 2003 by Alison

This debut directorial effort from Wai Ka Fai, better known as Johnnie To’s scriptwriter is offbeat to say the least. Lau Ching Wan bumbles around as a small-time gangster who couldn’t get any smaller, led on by his friends, or at least the other small-time triads he hangs out with. There are some other fascinating performances, notably Ruby Wong as the wife (or widow?) of a business partner who wants her share, and takes it out of Ching Wan’s body. … (read more)

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