Member ShawAngela Posted January 6 Member Share Posted January 6 1 minute ago, pachito23 said: Flaming Brothers (1987) A tale between two brothers: One has left the triads and gone legit, the other has decided to stay and keep the triad from going to the ways of drugs and gun running. Wow! Norman Tsui, Tse Ying, and the others, (Alan Tang, right?)! It must be worth watching... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member pachito23 Posted January 6 Member Share Posted January 6 2 minutes ago, ShawAngela said: Wow! Norman Tsui, Tse Ying, and the others, (Alan Tang, right?)! It must be worth watching... Yes, Alan Tang and of course your new favorite Chow Yun Fat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 10 Member Share Posted January 10 On 1/6/2024 at 7:38 PM, pachito23 said: Yes, Alan Tang and of course your new favorite Chow Yun Fat. Talking about Chow Yun Fat... I just finished to watch Wild Search 1989. I enjoyed it a lot! Great plot, great sequences, great actors. It was a good surprise to see Ku Feng playing the little girl grandfather, and the little girl was excellent! Chun Pui plays a big boss with brio. His role is short, but with a great impact. It reminded me of his role as a really bad guy in the two Lee Rock movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 10 Member Share Posted January 10 A few days ago, I watched Lee Rock 1991 both movies. I enjoyed these movies, and and I was surprised to see that it was a true story, or at least based on a true story. Andy Lau, Ng Man Tat, Aaron Kwok and Sharla Cheung were excellent, and Chun Pui played a great corrupted cop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted January 11 Moderator Share Posted January 11 5 hours ago, ShawAngela said: A few days ago, I watched Lee Rock 1991 both movies. Andy Lau would return to the role of Lee Rock 26 years later in 'Chasing the Dragon', which tells the story of his conflict with the criminal Crippled Ho (whose story the perspective is told from in 'To Be Number One' - also from 1991!). 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 11 Member Share Posted January 11 3 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: Andy Lau would return to the role of Lee Rock 26 years later in 'Chasing the Dragon', which tells the story of his conflict with the criminal Crippled Ho (whose story the perspective is told from in 'To Be Number One' - also from 1991!). Wow! That's good to know, thanks for the information! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 13 Member Share Posted January 13 Yesterday, I watched People's hero 1987 for the first time. I didn't expect such a good performance from Ti Lung, nor to see him playing a half good-half bad guy! The ending was very sad, once again because of Chun Pui's decisions. I didn't see many movies with Chun Pui, and until now, in the ones I saw, he played good guys, but his characters in Tragic hero+Rich and famous, Lee Rock 1+2 and now People's hero were all hateable! And he plays this kind of characters very well! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 13 Member Share Posted January 13 This evening, I watched Eight taels of gold 1989. I enjoyed it, but it was a very touching a sad story. I was pleasantly surprised by Sammo's performance in this movie. His acting was full of grace and restraint, and Sylvia Chang was very good as well. I recommend it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 22 Member Share Posted January 22 I watched Casino Raiders 1989 yesterday. I loved it a lot, though I hate the sad endings. This is a great story of friendship and loyalty. I recommend it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted February 1 Member Share Posted February 1 Snipers - Dir. Zhang Yimou & Zhang Mo [2022] (China) An enthralling & dare I say entertaining military thriller about a unit of American and Chinese snipers pitted in a cat and mouse hunt for key intelligence info. I read the (biased) reviews beforehand and the criticism of this film centered on it being CCP propaganda, that the Americans are unfairly painted as 'evil' & that the Western actors portraying the Americans are terrible. Surprisingly, I didn't find any of this to be the case. First off, of course this film will portray the PLA as the good guys & laud the sacrifices they made but I also admired the restraint in which the American forces were portrayed here. They could've been painted as evil, racist imperialists but they were just shown as military men with a mission to complete with one lone exception. That lone exception was a bit over the top but he was still shown as an overzealous military commander with a fanatical devotion to getting the mission accomplished but this was mild in comparison to how US/Hollywood war movies have portrayed the "enemy" where they are completely dehumanized. I also felt the American actors while not worthy of any acting awards, generally did a decent job with the script and material. So I can only surmise many of the negative review were not based on the merits of this movie but rather had political underpinnings as were the numerous negative reviews at imdb which one should always take with a grain of salt. The technical aspects of the movie were okay, there is quite a bit of CG especially shots of the Chinese snipers' bullets hitting their targets but I appreciated it was actually filmed on location at the North Korean-Chinese border and not on a studio lot. The pacing of the film is quite good as there is not a lot of unnecessary filler and the hour and a half goes by quickly. The one negative would be the white subtitles against a mostly white snowy backdrop which made them hard to read but that's not fault of the movie. Overall, recommended for fans of military war films and cat and mouse thrillers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member nectarsis Posted February 23 Member Share Posted February 23 time for some wacky fun 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 26 Moderator Share Posted February 26 I recently got through watching Korea's first zombie movie, 1981's 'A Monstrous Corpse', which was a remake of the Euro-zombie flick 'Let Sleeping Corpses Lie'. Full review treatment over at COF (and full movie available via the YouTube link!) - https://cityonfire.com/a-monstrous-corpse-1981-review-korean-horror-let-sleeping-corpses-lie-dawn-of-the-dead-zombie/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Super Ninja Posted February 26 Member Share Posted February 26 11 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said: I recently got through watching Korea's first zombie movie, 1981's 'A Monstrous Corpse', which was a remake of the Euro-zombie flick 'Let Sleeping Corpses Lie'. Full review treatment over at COF (and full movie available via the YouTube link!) - https://cityonfire.com/a-monstrous-corpse-1981-review-korean-horror-let-sleeping-corpses-lie-dawn-of-the-dead-zombie/ Korean remake of a European zombie classic!? Wow. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is one of my fave zombie films so I don't even need to read your review, I'm watching this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted February 27 Member Share Posted February 27 (edited) Only the River Flows (河边的错误) - Dir. Wei Shujun [2023] (China) I heard some good things about this arthouse neo-noir crime thriller and decided to give it a go today. The beginning is quite similar to Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder with a series of killings occurring in a provincial backwater town and investigated by detective Ma Zhe (played superbly by Zhu Yilong) who is pressured by his superiors to hurry up and wrap of the case. All suspicions and clues lead to a mentally disabled man who was renting a room from one of the victims. So far, it sounds eerily similar to the Bong Joon-ho film but then it diverges from that story and becomes less a police procedural exposing the gross incompetence of the police but rather it becomes a neo-noir with a multitude of possible suspects. As the case goes unsolved, the mounting pressure from his superiors as well as the stress from his home life really begins to weigh down on Detective Ma Zhe and soon he begins to question his own sanity. A film full of subtle details and paradoxes, it really captures the viewer's attention and has you second guessing to the end. I mentioned the superb acting from actor Zhu Yilong as he reminds me a bit of Little Tony (Chiu-wai) here with a morose sullen disposition. But special mention has to made of the excellent location shooting, the cinematography (particularly the camera angles) and art direction which gave an authentic feel to mid-90s China before the economic boom. I'm sure this was shot on a relatively low budget & they made very efficient use of it as well the gray, dreary winter weather helped set the mood as well. One of my favorite films that I've seen this year & highly recommended. Edited February 27 by Yihetuan 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted February 27 Member Share Posted February 27 Break War aka Broken Mission - Dir. Danny Pang [2024] (China) Had an interest in this direct to streaming film for the Mainland market due to the cast which included veteran HK actors Francis Ng, Simon Yam, Lam Suet, Felix Lok, Dick Liu and of course one of the Pang brothers directing. It turned out quite mediocre and middling though. The plot could've easily been a film in the "Storm Series" as it follows a similar story line involving corruption, ICAC (Internal Affairs), and vengeance. Francis Ng plays lead Detective Mo who is assigned to a department investigating financial and computer crimes and he comes up against an adversary who is using explosives and kidnapping as part of scheme to plot his long held grievance and attempt to get revenge for a personal tragedy. But unfortunately despite the accomplished cast and director, it's more of the same with nothing really outstanding or noteworthy. A couple decent action set pieces but not enough to give it more than a lukewarm recommendation. Also, you can really see how Francis Ng and Simon have aged in this movie. Don't know if it's the makeup department or the lighting but both looked their age here compared to other recent films where they still appeared younger than their real age. Noting to do with the film per se but just an observation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 29 Moderator Share Posted February 29 I recently got around to watching one of Korea's rare forays into the slasher genre with 2006's 'To Sir, With Love' (re-titled 'Bloody Reunion' for its release in the west), which sees a group of old school friends convene to visit their former teacher at her remote beachside house. The pleasantries are interrupted though when they find themselves being picked off in increasingly gruesome ways by a mysterious killer wearing a bunny mask. I gave it the full review treatment over at COF - https://cityonfire.com/to-sir-with-love-aka-bloody-reunion-2006-review/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Super Ninja Posted March 4 Member Share Posted March 4 (edited) Farewell Dunam River (1962) - while not a Korean Manchu western per se, it is one of the films that influenced this strange genre brought to life with the release of Leone's spaghetti classic A Fistful of Dollars (1965) in Korea. Manchuria of the '30s/'40s as a setting, Japs as villains, and Koreans as freedom fighters or traitors collaborating with the Japs; you can see it all here already. Im Kwon-taek's debut is a mix of a melodrama and a war movie with obvious noir influences and beautiful B&W cinematography. Missing frames and inaudible dialogues suggest the bad state of the print KOFA restored. Still, it's a great movie that shows this early on what a talent Im Kwon-taek was. Break Up The Chain (1971) - in preparing to watch Lee Doo-yong's taekwon-action films, I was interested in getting to know the genre where he borrowed the ambient from. Directed by Lee Man-hee, Break Up The Chain is a great example of Korean Manchu Western and sadly, the only one I could find. Japs are still the villains, Koreans are freedom fighters and traitors working with the Japs, and Man-hee's film is a legitimate Western, with men riding horses, guns, and sandy plains. But also with military jeeps, trucks, fedoras, and a crazy, colorful wardrobe; Korean Manchu Westerns are indeed a strange breed. Compared with Im Kwon-taek's film, Break Up The Chain is a lot more lighthearted, both in the emotions and the plot which sees three tough, quirky characters on the hunt for the Tibetan Buddha statue hiding the names of Korean freedom fighters scattered across Manchurian plains. It's very much spaghetti Western-like, only in Italian Westerns you won't see a motorcycle jumping over a car and people ski! Bar fight, some primitive martial arts action, and a crazy, absolutely unexpected motorcycle stunt fall that'll make you seek the rewind button. If you need more recommendations, know it inspired The Good, the Bad and the Weird (2008). Both films are available in HD on KOFA's YouTube channel. Edited March 4 by Super Ninja 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted March 12 Member Share Posted March 12 Revenge in the Tiger Cage (1976) - 1.5/5 - https://abeautifulfilm.blogspot.com/2024/03/revenge-in-tiger-cage-1976.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted March 18 Member Share Posted March 18 I just watched again To err is humane 1987 after many years. I laughed a lot, just as the first time I watched it, and I enjoyed it. I think that I'm a little bit strange, since all three reviewers in hkmdb didn't thing very high of this movie... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted March 23 Member Share Posted March 23 By a stroke a luck, I came across a French/German thriller movie a few days ago, in which Angela Yu Chien played a short role under the name of Suzy May Wong. The German title of the movie is Ein Sarg aus Hong Kong 1964, and I had the luck to discover that it was in both French and German language. It was a nice story about a detective who finds a killed woman in his apartment and is sent by her father-in-law to try to discover what happened to his son, supposedly dead in Hong Kong in an car accident. Angela Yu Chien was at the very beginning of her career, here, since she began at the Shaws' in 1963 in Love Parade. Some pictures of her in this movie are shown on hkmdb, but the title isn't mentioned under the pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chu Liu Hsiang Posted March 24 Member Share Posted March 24 I watched HARD BOILED for the umpteenth time. Still gets better with every watch. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted March 25 Member Share Posted March 25 Fury - Dir. Johnny Wang Lung-wei [1988] (Hong Kong) After revisiting The Big Heat, I decided to pull out my Joy Sales dvd of another Waise Lee 'heroic bloodshed' film released the same year. This one isn't at the level of the Johnnie To/Tsui Hark collab but the finale was worth waiting for and while not as violently graphic as The Big Heat, it still sheds quite a bit of the red stuff. Story revolves around three 'brothers' Waise Lee, Philip Chan and Michael Wong (who is acknowledged as a mixed race with the nickname "Portuguese Tsan") who attempt to score the deal of a lifetime by selling off counterfeit notes to the Taiwanese Triads. The deal falls through after being sold out by Waise Lee's smarmy double crossing cousin played by Richard Cheung. Sounds like the typical A Better Tomorrow blueprint but the fly in the ointment is Waise Lee is deeply attracted to Michael Wong's wife played by Carrie Ng and this leads to a fateful decision on the night of the betrayal & his road to redemption. Like I mentioned it's rather nondescript but the finale made sitting through it worth it & the other highlight for me was Michael Wong in the club. His break dancing was 100x more cringe than JVCD in Kickboxer. I couldn't stop laughing. Anyway, worth a recommendation for the final shootout and MW's b-boy moves. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted April 3 Member Share Posted April 3 Posted a review of the Taiwanese-Cambodian horror film, The Snake Girl (1974) - https://abeautifulfilm.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-snake-girl-1974.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted April 15 Member Share Posted April 15 Piercing I - Dir. Liu Jian [2010] (Chinese) Thanks to a fellow member on here for finding this for me. Really enjoyed this debut animated feature from Liu Jian who gained fame for his Have a Nice Day released 8 years later. I haven't seen that one yet but plan to watch it soon after being impressed with this one. Considering the fact that Liu Jian does everything and I mean everything himself (script, drawings, animation, editing, music selection, marketing & even dubs the main character) it does make the final product that much more impressive. More than the actual drawings, it's the script that engrossed me as it mixes pulp with biting satire, social critique and dark humor especially with regards to the underclass & rural migrants to the big cities who are left out of China's economic ascension. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted April 18 Member Share Posted April 18 Walerian Borowczyk's "Le Lotus d'or" episode #22 of the Softly from Paris (Série rose) anthology series [1986] (France) Not sure if this qualifies for this thread or the World Cinema thread since technically this was filmed in a studio in France and only features Asian actors. Just wanted to see this for Yoko Tani's last credited role. Based on the erotic Chinese tale, The Plum in the Golden Vase but wasn't particularly lascivious nor prurient considering the material and the director but worth a watch as a curiosity. Can be viewed here in French. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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