What ELSE (other than KUNG FU) has everyone been watching?

[masterofoneinchpunch]

some comments on:

Help!!! (2000: Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai) ***/****:

Successful use of satire can be quite difficult to pull off for a film. It certainly gives the directors and writers lots of leeway to make their point(s) by eschewing complete realism but therein lays the rub. How much humanity do you give your characters, do you have any straight characters and how do you work the scenarios that you put your protagonists through? Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai in their second collaboration have an easy answer to this: anything goes in their attack on hospital bureaucracy.

The collaborative work of To and Wai tend to be more audience oriented with To doing the direction and Wai in charge of the story (though Wai gets directorial credit as well). While humor is present in most of To’s work only a few films I have seen like The Eighth Happiness (1988) of his have been this silly.

Yan (Cecilia Cheung) is a new doctor who finds her assigned to the worst hospital in Hong Kong where it pays to just not get sick. After a random encounter she saves a choking transient (who later falls in love with her) and she revitalizes the interest of a once promising doctor Jim (Jordan Chan) but had fallen to the ways of that hospital. Those two then recruit an excellent doctor (Ekin Cheng) who had given up the profession to become a mechanic. Those three go on a mission to improve the hospital fighting complacent doctors and mischievous management who are more concerned by the bottom line than anything else.

The film does suffer a bit from a change in tone later in the film, particularly with the car crashes scene (though there are some hilarious gags here; this does remind me a bit of the later The Eye (2002)) and I felt cheated by the annoying ending. The romantic triangle involving the three main doctors did not really work for me either.

What surprised me though is how many of the jokes I actually found funny. Maybe I was just in a good mood, maybe I was partially catatonic because of this late night viewing but still thinking of a few scenes makes me chuckle. “How could I miss that?” is a great scene involving a patient who is completely coherent of all his injuries except for a pipe sticking through his body. The continuing use of the transient who will do everything to win the affections of Yan including becoming a millionaire and having complete body plastic surgery was quite hilarious as well.

Anyone else notice Biozombie (1998) playing on the TV? Jordan Chan stars in that film and is a recommendation to whoever is interested in zombie films.

The release I have is the Mei Ah version released through Tai Seng which actually has decent subtitles (compared to most of the Universe releases) and an OK print. This is not a fantastic release and no extras except a few trailers.

[IgaNinja]

I just finished watching Woo-ping Yuen's True Legend, not a bad film had kind of two story arcs in it and sometimes felt abit rushed or skipped in some story areas but otherwise enjoyable and good fight scenes.

[kngfu]

I watched the Tai Seng version of BOOK AND SWORD vol 1 and was totally confused. I like to watch the made for tv fight scenes with Zhao Wen Zhou, but the editing is so haphazard I had no way of following the story.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Cat and the Canary (1939: Elliot Nugent: ***/****):

Finally out for the first time on DVD (in the new Bob Hope set) is this often filmed tale originally written as a play in 1922 by John Willard. The most famous version before this was the silent directed by Paul Leni (1927; a must watch for fans of early horror), but this remake takes a comedic turn with Bob Hope as the jocular actor Wally Campbell whom is invited to an “old dark house” in the middle of the Louisiana bayou. The plot points are well familiar to fans of older horror. Relatives of an eccentric millionaire are all invited to stay the night at this reclusive house to hear the last will and testament 10 years after the death of the owner. A distant relative Joyce Norman is the recipient of the will, but she has to stay of sane mind and alive for at least a month. Will she last the night with possibly plotting relatives, a scheming servant and a wandering psychopath loose from the insane asylum?

Fans of Bob Hope should especially like this film as he is quite hilarious in this film. His quips and cowardly demeanor work well here. My favorite line is his response to being afraid of big empty houses: “Not me, I used to be in vaudeville.” Gale Sondergaard as Ms. Lu the housekeeper is also quite effective though she would be typecast in this role for example in The Black Cat (1941). This is a fun film that has a brisk pace and I imagine fans of this genre should enjoy. The film is not perfect with some so-so performances, a well-worn script, plot issues, but these things are not a big hindrance if you are familiar with films of this era.

[kngfu]

PRINCE OF PERSIA

I never played the video game so i didn't know what to expect. So, I just assumed it would be like one of those cool Sinbad movies from the 70s and early 80s. It was okay and worth a watch. A HK version would be cool, if they remade it with a skilled martial artist in the lead.

[IgaNinja]

14 Blades, good film,i really liked it. Wei Zhao is hot and Donnie does what he does best.

[kngfu]

SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE

A funny and romantic movie that still has enough guy humor to make it worth watching without your girlfriend or wife. (I watched it at work..shhh.)

[LeRolls]

SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE

A funny romantic movie that still has enough guy humor to make it worth watching without your girlfriend or wife. (I watched it at work..shhh.)

Just received this from Netflix today. Might check it out tonight.

[kngfu]

FATAL CONTACT

I liked the performance by Wu Jing, even if the wire use for the fights was overused, but was an otherwise depressing movie.

[bearpower]

Blach Hood, Killing Zone (SLP) and Dealy China Doll

[AlbertV]

Tokyo Raiders - can't get enough of Tony Leung's detective...K!!!!O!!!!. Still need to see Seoul Raiders.

2000 AD - not too bad was confusing at times but Aaron Kwok made the best of it IMO and Andrew Lin was a good villain in a rouge CIA agent.

The Karate Kid (2010) - http://albertvfilm.blogspot.com/2010/06/review-karate-kid-2010.html

Going to see Shark Busters, Come Drink with Me, and Golden Swallow this weekend.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Speaking of a coincidence: I saw Tokyo Raiders a couple of days ago (I just randomly picked a film I had not seen before, plus I wanted to see a Jingle Ma directed film). My quick review:

Tokyo Raiders (2000: Jingle Ma) **/****:

Sometimes when you pick a film to watch even low expectations do not necessarily help in the viewing experience. While this film was a smashing success in Hong Kong, I found it mostly mediocre.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai stars as a private detective Lin (with a secret) who is hired by Ito Takeshi (Abe Hiroshi in a strange performance) a yakuza who is thinking his girlfriend is having an affair. Of course she is and she is having it with Takahashi Yuji a CIA agent who is supposed to be getting married to Macy (Kelly Chan). However, he disappeared and now Macy has to travel to Japan to find out why. Luckily for her the architectural designer of the house (Ekin Cheng) Macy and Takahashi bought together is mad that his check bounced and is going along to Japan to make sure he gets his money back.

But when they get to Japan, they are chased by both the yakuza and a CIA branch. Only Lin, his jacket full of gadgets and his band of female cohorts (actually they are pretty cool) can help these two out. But everyone has some sort of a secret.

The similarities between this Hong Kong blockbuster and a Hollywood blockbuster are many. The director Jingle Ma who is also the cinematographer seems like he has been influenced by Michael Bay shaky-cam aesthetics (and occasionally with making things explode) and a strange penchant for using slow motion and double-takes in the strangest possible places. Obviously the rapid cutting is done for style, as well as masking the fact that the actors are not martial artists, but some of the opaque looking slow motion, short freeze frames and inappropriate double-takes is just puzzling. There is not always a rhyme or reason for many of his choices. Also, the actor choices, aside from Tony Leung, Ekin Cheng and Kelly Chan are more known for their popular cantopop singing careers than the acting ability. I did not find them as distracting as some scathing reviews I have read on such sites as HKMDB though.

Luckily the movie does not take itself seriously. With the amount of character turns and plot changes a serious film would have made this a lot less fun. I was confused by the story a little, but after sorting it out I found myself more annoyed than anything else. However, there are a few fun fight scenes with Tony Leung (though completely overedited), especially the first one versus the sumo-style yakuza that ends with a shocking result.

Ultimately, I cannot really recommend this film to anyone unless you are a fan of the actors. It is probably best not to think while watching this film.

[IgaNinja]

Dragon Princess

Good flick,Etsuko 'Sue' Shihomi really is the only reason i watched this one,altho i wish the director wold keep the camera steady in the heavy fighting,but that kinda thing was rather common back then..my biggest gripe is I wish there was a remastered version of this movie,the dvd i got is kinda VHS at best.

[ChineseSausage]

It was a good all-star detective movie

[Cesare]

Oh, I hate The Departed with a passion... Scorsese deserves a kick in the balls and a punch in the face for what he did to Infernal Affairs.

[The Dragon]

Ip Man 2

Gosh... Sammo has truly come a loooong way!

[Fang Shih-yu]

Essentially, a "pre-quel" to The Delightful Forest that shows how Wu Sung (Wu Song in Celestial's subs) slayed the tiger and the sequence of events that led to the beginning of TDF, which is how the film ends. Directed by Li Han-hsiang, Ti Lung plays Wu Sung for the last time, with great support from Ku Feng and Wang Ping, both of whom won awards for their performances at the '82 Golden Horse Awards.... A great film with interesting dashes of erotica!

[Shaolin Chamber 36]

I havent really been watching movies. The last movie I saw was Along Comes The Tiger. But in the last couple of weeks I've seen over 30 episodes of the TV show PAWN STARS.

I downloaded the complete 1st and 2nd seasons, then at the end of the night, when I get into bed, I stream these from my computer to my iPad and watch them with my headphones on. One night I watched about 6 episodes straight. Cool show. Already in its 3rd season, but I didn't find out about it until recently. Sadly, I am all caught up now.

[Delirious]

I'm having sudden urges of Disney as of late, so I've been watching a lot of disney classic feature-length animation. My top 5 favorites go in this order:

1. Beauty and the beast

2. Little Mermaid

3. 101 dalmatians

4. Mulan

5. Pinoccio

[bearpower]

I bought 6 vhs tape today at the flee market Eagle Fist,.Golden Killah,Kung Fu Zombie,Tiger Over Wall,Kung Fu Soul Brother "Shaolin Monk and Amazings masters of the Martial Arts

[kngfu]

I just watched TIMECOP(2) THE BERLIN DECISION. What an awful movie. Jason Scott lee and Thomas Ian Griffith desrved better than this. Jeff Pruitt was the fight choreographer but Jerry and Fran Poteet seemed to get the credit on the behind the scenes footage. The producer even stated that Fran and Jerry Poteet were the fight arrangers for Bruce Lee's movies....

[IgaNinja]

I just watched Shaolin Soccer again,hadnt seen it for ages,still rather funny lol.

[kngfu]

ALEX RIDER:OPERATION STORMBREAKER

It was a pretty entertaining movie. The dvd has a behind the scenes feature on Donnie Yen and how he choreographed 2 fight scenes. Kinda dull :xd:feature and only for the true Donnie fan (me..).

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Ghost Breakers (1940: George Marshall) ***/****:

This is the second pairing of Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard with The Cat and the Canary being the first. In between these two pictures Bob had starred in the first “Road To” film. It is safe to say his popularity was certainly rising in the cinematic world. Here he plays Lawrence L. Lawrence, named so because his parents were lazy (reminds me of the Fletch F. Fletch joke in the Fletch film), a radio gossip announcer who has recently stated some rather embarrassing information of a certain gangster and has made himself persona non grata. To make matters worse he thinks he accidently killed a man (Anthony Quinn). Mary Carter (Paulette) has recently inherited an “old dark house” in Cuba, but has recently has been threatened not to go there, offered money to sell it and been warned of the ghosts that haunt that estate. Of course she goes with a certain stowaway and his servant Alex (Willie Best) to visit a haunted house that not only has ghosts, some unknown killer, but a zombie as well.

Willie Best’s performance is quite good. While his position is a stereotypical one, how he is used is not. His repartee with Bob Hope is reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit with Will Rogers in Judge Priest though less vitriolic and with Best usually getting the better of him. Bob Hope is his usual solid self full of wisecracks, topical humor (I did not always get the references) and, well he’s playing himself. While the romance did not always work, the plot had a few problems, the film is still fun and is of special interest to those who like comedic horror from this time period.

The extras on this disc from the set are the same as the standalone R1 release. You get stills, a trailer, a short of him entertaining the troops (which I’m pretty sure has been released on other Bob Hope movies), a cut release of Command Performance from 1944 and a short film "Hollywood Victory Caravan."

The Paleface (1948: Norman Z. McLeod) ***/****:

Bob Hope stars as “Painless” Peter Potter an inept western dentist who gets caught up in the schematic plans of Calamity Jane (Jane Russell), a straight shooting woman who will earn a pardon from the government if she can bring to justice a group of traders who are bringing rifles and dynamite to the Indians. Jane needs a husband as a potent pretense so the panicky Peter Potter makes a perfect fit. Soon with the unknown help of Jane, Potter gets a reputation as an Indian killer and dangerous dead-eye shot.

There are some excellent comedic bits in this movie. There is a dental scene that is quite hilarious and was later done in The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976; I am surprised that IMDB does not have this connection). The funniest scene for me was the marriage scene in which Bob Hope was completely inept in putting on the ring and who to kiss.

I am not completely sold on Jane Russell’s performance, she seemed stiff sometimes and her delivery seemed off sometimes, but Hope was his usual solid self. This movie would actually win an Oscar for Best Original Song in “Buttons and Bows” which for fans of movie trivia should note that it was also sung in Sunset Blvd.

This would later be remade as The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968) which one of Don Knotts best starring films. There would also be a sequel to this film Son of Paleface (1952) which I have not seen and am in no hurry to get to.

[skipsweet]

just watched Along Come The Tiger from 1977, starring Wong Tao, Tung Wei & Tommy Lee.

pretty decent revenge film packed with loads of fight scenes.

watched the region 2 release by Rarescope, widescreen & subtitled (also features a commentary by Wong Tao & Toby Russell). nice to see films that are not majorly well known getting released with their original language intact, with a few extras