Blog Archives

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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The Emperor and the Assassin (1999)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Alison

It’s by Chen Kaige, who made Farewell, My Concubine, so you know it will be huge and detailed. It stars Gong Li and Zhang Feng Yi, both mainland megastars, so you know it’s big budget. And it garnered lots of attention internationally, so you know it translates well. But for my money, it’s a bit too big, and a bit too overblown, although given that it’s one of the biggest stories in Chinese history that’s understandable. Just don’t watch … (read more)

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Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)

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Posted on April 3, 2006 by Alison

It’s almost impossible to write about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon without using words like “grandeur”, “breathtaking”, and suchlike. The scenery positively demands it, without even starting on the film itself. Sweeping vistas over mountainous regions, wreathed in mist and clothed in vivid green, offer the sort of territory that is probably quite foreign to most of us. Ancient Chinese towns and cities, likewise, do a great job of transporting us into another time and another world. Clearly this film did … (read more)

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Shadow Magic (2001)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Ching Yee

Now you can’t say this movie doesn’t have an interesting story behind it. The second in the new Silk Screen series, Shadow Magic is about the introduction of silent movies into China which sowed the seed for China’s early film industry.

During the early 1900s, a few enterprising Westerners introduced silent movies into China and were probably dismissed by the general masses as evil brainwashing foreigners, save a few curious and innovative locals who saw the enormous potential in them. … (read more)

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Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Deni

When Final Fantasy The Spirits Within came out in early 2001 there was talk not so much about the film itself but about the future of filmmaking. There was a great deal of hype about how realistic this all-CG film was, about how life-like the characters were, right down to individual strands of hair and their eyelashes. There was even, at one point, a fair amount of fear-mongering (at least in the media) about how this film was the way … (read more)

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Double Vision (2002)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Eugene

I really didn’t know what I was getting into before walking in on this one. I knew it involved a serial killer and had Tony Leung Ka Fai and David Morse in it. So pretty much I skipped along to my screening of Double Vision with expectations of Silence of the Lambs or Seven. After the second or third macabre ritualistic murder, it was really hard to not draw parallels with Seven. However, while that may very well … (read more)

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The Returner (2002)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Deni

There’s pretty much only one reason to watch this film. If you happen to be of the male persuasion, then it’s going to be Anne Suzuki, who plays young damsel-from-the-future-in-distress Milly. Personally I’d never heard of her before, but apparently she was in Snow Falling on Cedars (which dang it I always meant to watch but just never got around to) and she’s got one of those sweet, youthful faces that kind of looks like a lot of other sweet, … (read more)

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So Close (2002)

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Posted on January 25, 2006 by Jonathan

Okay film-goers, let’s get going. I’ll keep this snappy, because I’m here to give you the low down on one snap-p-py piece of cinema — So Close.

Pop quiz; which HK director is responsible for this film? If your answer’s not Corey Yuen, you deserve to be beaten repeatedly with a pair of rollerblades by Zhao Wei, because his name’s right there under the title, but in the mean time, here’s a selected Corey Yuen filmography…

1993 — Fong … (read more)

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