Blog Archives

Return Engagement (1990)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Alison

Well, those hoping for a big dose of Andy Lau will be the first to be disappointed with this film: the headlined star gets only about 15 minutes of screen time. The real star is Andy Tang, who does well enough, and really looks the part of a triad kingpin released from jail and searching for his daughter, but he’s not Wah-jai. Others might not be overly thrilled when they discover that the Wong Kar Wai who penned this script … (read more)

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My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Ching Yee

If there are comfort foods for the seasons then Milkyway films must be one of my comfort films.

As I was thinking about My Left Eye Sees Ghosts, Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai’s latest hit, one film in particular springs to my mind — Needing You. In this case, because Sammi Cheng is again the lead actress but My Left Eye has another secret weapon, the pairing of Sammi with another Milkyway veteran — the dark and … (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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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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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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Looking for Mr Perfect (2003)

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Posted on July 31, 2003 by Eugene

Must go to Malaysia.

Must visit Malaysia as a tourist and spend money there.

Lots and lots of money.

…

Blargh. Excuse while I just slap my head a few times. Just have to work off that subliminal marketing ploy that just tried to pass itself off as a movie. Oh, who am I kidding, there was nothing subliminal about it. Every second shot was of the wonderful Malaysian backdrops (which do look quite wonderful) and the kind of Malaysian … (read more)

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