Blog Archives

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013)

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Posted on March 12, 2013 by Rhys

From Melbourne With Love

A survey of the modest collection of obsolete optical media in my apartment reveals 32 Stephen Chow titles, a ratio of at least 5:1 over any other actor or director. Rather than being an irrelevant humblebrag on my part, this elucidates the fact that there is a global audience for Hong Kong’s popular cinema and — more importantly — Chow, whom I still consider its shining star. My take on his most recent film, Journey to … (read more)

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Shaolin Soccer (2001)

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Posted on April 2, 2010 by Samson

I can just imagine how one day, this strange idea suddenly crossed filmmaker Stephen Chow’s mind: what would happen if I combine martial arts and soccer to make a ‘sports movie’? He must have thought it was a good idea, and went on to realise it. And he was absolutely right. The result was Shaolin Soccer, one of the funniest and most original films ever made, in Hong Kong and in fact anywhere in the world.

Shaolin Soccer tells … (read more)

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CJ7 (2008)

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Posted on March 31, 2010 by Rhys

Off the shelf; it’s a Sony.

It’s not after every trip to the local video store that I leave pondering global marketing, cross-cultural hybridization, computer generated aliens and region coded DVD players. I was recently, however, pleasantly surprised to have seen a copy of Stephen Chow’s CJ7 (a local release, not an import) propped up amongst the latest plethora of Hollywood’s finest – a dim, yet shining, beacon. It seemed to me that this film was once destined to carry … (read more)

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Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Ching Yee

Hai-yah!!! If I was 10 and watched this film I would have high-kicked my way out of the cinema. But as a, *ahem*, mature and none-too-lithe adult… I just made do with imagining I was high-kicking.

Although I didn’t kick and punch my way out of the cinema, I can understand how Stephen Chow felt when he saw his first Bruce Lee film. If this was the feeling he was trying to recreate for his audience, his effort is not … (read more)

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God of Cookery (1996)

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Posted on September 27, 2003 by Mark Morrison

I keep reading that #1 Hong Kong box office star Stephen Chow is the master of the Cantonese pun, and that if you don’t speak Cantonese, then you just won’t get him.

Well, all those writers can go boil their heads.

Chow is also the master of slapstick, send-up, sight gag and silly expressions. He knows funny, and the perfect introduction to his wild makes-no-sense comic style is God of Cookery.

He plays (of course) the God of Cookery, … (read more)

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