Trigger

I watched Royal Tramp last night and Royal Tramp 2 tonight... they were great. I thought the first one had more laughs, but both were enjoyable. Seems like the second one left it open for a third?

spoiler:


Saw a preview on RT2 for King of Beggars. I didn't pick this one up - should I have?

Here's what I have from Steven Chow:

Tricky Master
Royal Tramp 1 & 2
God of Gamblers 1, 2, 3
Forbidden City Cop
Fight Back to School 1, 2, 3
God of Cookery
Justice My Foot
Chinese Oddessy 1 and 2
From Beijing With Love
Flirting Scholor
King of Comedy

My favorites so far are God of Cookery, King of Comedy, Justice My Foot, and Royal Tramp (in that order). What else should I get? I haven't watched Flirting Scholor, Chinese Oddessy, Forbidden City Cop, or the God of Gamblers ones yet. I wasn't too hot on Fight Back To School part 2 - but the first one was pretty good. Haven't watched 3 yet. I thank all of you who helped me pick out these films - they're great.

Kevin8284

Yeah, King of Beggars is definitely a classic, you should pick it up. Actually Royal Tramp was based on a novel that's been made into TV series twice alone in the 90s, so it was a refreshing change to see Wong Jing make a couple of changes, like raunchier jokes("O'Brien is invincible, he can shrink his penis!")and skipping a lot of details from what I could remember from the TV series. And if you didn't like Fight Back to School 2, you probably won't be fond of the 3rd one because from I can remember, it's actually a spoof of Basic Instinct. It just wasn't up to par with the rest of Stephen Chow's movies. Actually, I don't know how many other people would recommend it, but I thought Out of the Dark was a pretty hilarious film with Chow's dressed up like Jean Reno from "The Professional" fighting angry ghosts. But I don't think it's out on DVD yet.

princessducky

I see that you have listed God of Gamblers 1,2, 3

Are you referring to the GoG 1 with Chow Yun Fat in it. I only have 2 and 3 that has Stephen Chow in it. I have GoG 2 with Stephen and GoG 3 is when he goes back to Shanghia. Sorry I just wanted to know because I am actually looking for the first one with Stephen Chow in it.

khieng

I am looking for that one too. There is actually a movie that takes place before GoG 2 with Stephen Chow but it is not GoG 1. I think it could have been called The Saint of Gamblers 1. There is a Saint of Gamblers 2 but it sux. So far I've been unable to find the first one. If anyone knows of it let us know.

Yellow Hammer

I posted this a while back somewhere but to avoid all the God of Gamblers confusion, here is the general genealogy of the God of Gamblers series:

English Name Chinese Name

God of Gamblers God of Gamblers (CYF)
All for the Winner Saint of Gamblers (Stephen Chow)
God of Gamblers II Knight of Gamblers (Stephen Chow, Andy Lau)
God of Gamblers III - Back to Shanghai Knight of Gamblers II (Stephen Chow)
God of Gamblers Return God of Gamblers 2 (CYF)
Saint of Gamblers Saint of Gamblers II (Eric Kot)
God of Gamblers 3 - The Early Years God of Gamblers 3

Conman Knight of Gamblers 1999 (Andy Lau)
Conmen in Vegas Knight of Gamblers in Las Vegas (Andy Lau)
Conmen in Tokyo China Knight of Gamblers (Eric Koo)
My Name is Nobody Saint of Gamblers III (Nick Cheung)


All for the Winner is not on DVD and Saint of Gamblers is only available thru the Taiwanese Ritek label but could be OOP.

khieng

Thanks YH!! I was hoping you'll answer that question. You're very knowlegable about this stuff.

Also, the movie The Top Bet is also part of the GoG series.

And another question. Do these titles, the Conmen series, follow the GoG story line or are they completely different?

princessducky

I actually started a thread asking about the movie All for the Winner. I forgot who told me the title name, but they said it is not availavle on DVD. Which sucks! I just went to www.taiseng.com and they have it on VHS. I wish it will come out on DVD. I think I'll wait it out.

Trigger

Yeah - I looked at my God of Gamblers DVDs - and two of them are in fact CYF films and not Steven Chow... I got confused I guess. Anyway - I hear the CYF films are good as well.

So I'm about to place another order... most are Steven Chow films... are there any that I should reconsider? The rest of my Steven Chow collection is in the first post. I looked at reviews and I think I weeded out the ones that were awful. Maybe I missed a few or maybe I got rid of a good one. Anyone wanna comment?

God of Gamblers II
All's Well End's Well
Curry and Pepper
Final Justice
Fist of fury 1991
Hail The Judge
King of Beggars
Legend of the Dragon
Love on Delivery
Magnificent Scoundrels
Tricky Brains
Sixty Million Dollar Man
When Fortune Smiles

also...
Blacksheep Affair, The
Bio Zombie

Trigger

I just watched Chinese Oddessy pt. 1... wow. Massive Terry Gilliam influence, eh? Along the lines of Time Bandits, Brazil and Adventures of Baron Munchaussen... Heck - if you told me Terry Gilliam directed Chinese Oddessy, I might even believe you. I loved it though. Not huge on the laughs beyond stomping on the burning penis jokes - but very clever and well done. I'm about to watch the second one... thanks for the suggestion on this one guys.

Also saw Forbidden City Cop - great also. It was funny how the cast was cracking and breaking character near the end. Thanks for this suggestion also.

edit: Ok finished Chinese Oddessy pt. 2. I don't know what to say. How very sad. I liked it, but the ending was sad... not so much tragic like I'm used to with HK films - but just sad. This one seemed to be less influenced by Terry Gilliam. The subtitles seemed to have been done by a different company or something too - strange. Steven Chow is a great comedian and actor - he doesn't need to be imitating Jim Carey... kinda upset me to see a bunch of Jim Carey mugging and gestures in his Monkey King performance. He must've gotten carried away wearing the makeup. It was very "hip" at the time though, so I can forgive it... (who knew Jim Carey's schtick would be a flash-in-the-pan and get so annoying so quickly?)... Outside of that - marvelous performances all around and the story was great as were the costumes and special effects (for the time). Big Back to the Future vibe or 12 Monkeys or something. Very cool.

Lokimok

Don't expect much from Curry & Pepper or When Fortune Smiles. They're not as crazy as his later movies. Much more conventional & maybe somewhat boring (I own them & barely remember them) - but they're only $5.

King of Beggars was a rental for me. You'll probably like it, but I was a bit disappointed. More of a wire-fu action movie than a comedy. & the wires are very visible.

I totally agree with you on the Jim Carrey-ness of the 2nd Chinese Odyssey. I liked the 1st one much more because it had less Monkey King. I think Sixty Million Dollar Man takes a bit from The Mask - so you may want to be wary of that one. I haven't seen it yet, but hope to get it soon.

Trigger

WAAAHHH

I watched Flirtong Scholar and Fight Back to School 3 tonight. Neither are his best IMHO, but I liked FBTS 3 a bit better than part 2 and I thought FS had some excellent moments. The singing stuff threw me off a bit, and the word plays might've been more amusing if I had grown up in China - but I think I got the idea.

He cracks me up when he says WAAAAHHH!

edit: Lokimok - I knew Curry and Pepper and WFS were going to be a bit different - I read good things though. Hope I didn't make a mistake.

Several people suggested King of Beggars to me, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Sad to hear 60mil$man has Jim Careyness in it... where was this info before I placed the order?

I also ordered Visible Secret - hope it doesn't suck. I know it's not Steven Chow, but I stuck it on the same order.

nekobus

I love the part in Flirting Scholar when Gong Li turns around in the line of woman with the big smile on her face. Been madly in love with her ever since I first saw that scene years ago

Trigger

Got my shipment today - YAY... we watched Love on Delivery. How cute was that? I laughed my ass off at that film. Some parts dragged on a bit at first, but once it picked up it was great fun. I've noticed his films are all pretty much the same thing, but I still can't help but like it. Thanks to whoever turned me on to Steven Chow. What should I watch next? What order should I watch them in?

God of Gamblers II
All's Well End's Well
Curry and Pepper
Final Justice
Fist of fury 1991
Hail The Judge
King of Beggars
Legend of the Dragon
Magnificent Scoundrels
Tricky Brains
Sixty Million Dollar Man
When Fortune Smiles

Yellow Hammer

From this list, his best movies would definitely be King of Beggars and GoG II. But in order to fully appreciate GoG II you probably should watch GoG and All For the Winner first. I would put $60mil Man at the bottom of the list.

Final Justice is a movie that was pre-All For the Winner that shows a very different side of Stephen. He did a superb job in this movie as a punk mole. It was his initial movie and got him a nomination for Best New Artist. Strange, the nominees for Best New Artist that year were Stephen Chow, Sandra Ng, Vivian Chow, and David Ng. David won, and he did achieve success in a few movies (Robotrix, Full Throttle), but his main claim to fame is as the V-jay on an Asian MTV-like channel. Vivian Chow's main claim to fame has been as a singer.

Trigger

Thanks - I couldn't find GoG - is that what it's called? I have a GoG, but it has CYF in it. The whole GoG saga confuses me so.

Yellow Hammer

yes, the GoG I am referring to is the CYF one (I love these code words!). GoG came first, then All For the Winner, then GoG II, then GoG III-BTS. GoG's Return is the CYF sequel to GoG. GoG III-The Early Years is the prequel to GoG. You'll have a much easier time figuring out things if you watch the main Gambler movies in this sequence.

Trigger

Just watched King of Beggars - it was pretty damn good... not what I was expecting though. It wasn't as funny as his other films - while it had that element in it, it was also more of a kung-fu film than his other films. I didn't laugh much, but it was enjoyable like watching a Flying-Fu film like Fong Sai Yuk or something.

Ok - so let me get this straight -

I should watch the GoG series in this order:

GoG - with CYF (Have it)
AFTW - (I don't have it)
GoG II - Steven Chow & Andy Lau (Have it)
GoG III - BTS - Steven Chow & Gong Li (Have it)
GoG's Return - CYF (Can I watch this in place of All for the Winner? - if not, where do I find AFTW?) (Have it)
GoG III - TEY - prequel... (I don't have it)

Trigger

Just watched 60 Million Dollar Man - you were right - it was lame. There were some great moments in it, but overall it was certainly a stinker. I think they were too ambitious with the effects and didn't have the budget for them - so they ended up looking like total crap. If the Mask stuff was taken out - it would've been a bit more tolerable. They also wasted quite a few good opportunities... I don't know how this could've happened. Well....

You take the good you take the bad
you take 'em both and there you have
the facts of life... the facts of life...

JamesBrian

I'm glad I procrastinated buying Royal Tramp, since Megastar just reduced prices of Royal Tramp I & II to $78 HK (as posted in Yellow Hammer's DDD thread). Time to add 2 more DVD's to my Chingmy Yau collection.

Putting this in the Royal Tramp thread because RT1 is the movie that got me into Stephen Chow and is still my favorite. Stephen is also very funny in the episodic All's Well, Ends Well doing the Eiffel Tower kiss.

My HK, Horror, Noir & Sleaze DVD's:
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.ht...&id=jamesbrian

Trigger

I know - the price reductions are all on DVDs I already own goddammit - I just bought them not too long ago either. GRR...

Yellow Hammer

Yes this is correct. GoG's Return you can actually watch anytime after GoG. AFTW is important to understanding what goes on in GoG II. Damn, I wish AFTW were on DVD....GoG III-TEY goes into great lengths as to why the Ko Chun (CYF) character acts the way he acts, why he has his certain habits, etc.

Trigger

well sh*t then - I'll be lost? Are any of these films even funny? I imagine they are serious films, but the ones with Steven Chow are gonna have his goofy antics in them - is this true? My girlfriend liked Tricky Master and keeps bugging me to watch the GoG series and I tell her they aren't related.

Yellow Hammer

GoG is the quintessential HK movie. It's got some comedy, drama, guns, and romance in it, plus lots of gambling. One of the consensus top 10 ten HK movies of all time. I only mention about watching it in order because subsequent movies makes references to the previous movies, but I wouldn't say that you would be lost if you didn't watch them in order. AFTW is of course the movie that made Stephen Chow into a superstar and the brand of comedy in there is characterized as moleitau or nonsensical comedy. Not necessarily goofy, just comedy based on wordplays, things in left field type of humor. Since you liked RT, the Stephen Chow GoG movies should be just as funny.

BTW IMO I thought Tricky Master was a lousy movie.

Trigger

Tonight I watched Tricky Brains and When Fortune Smiles - When Fortune Smiles was kinda cute I guess - more like a Jackie Chan type of film than a Steven Chow type of film it seemed. Not hilarious or all that good, but had a cute story and some nice moments and a few really funny bits in it. Tricky Brains wasn't all that great - I would actually put 60Mil Dollar Man ahead of Tricky Brains. Maybe it's cuz I'm tired though - I didn't crack a smile hardly at all - and it started to drag on alot as if they had no point to make or they had no script. It had its moments too, but nothing all that great.

So when is Steven Chow supposed to direct Jim Carey in the US remake of God of Cookery? It said he was asked to do so in the star files on the Universe disc of When Fortune Smiles.

princessducky

I saw Royal Tramp 1 & 2. I also thought the first one was funnier and it seems like 2 left it open for another sequel.

I also thought Tricky Master 2000 was hilarious. Especially when he kept going WAHHHHH, WAHHHHH, WAHHHHHHHHHH!


I have these Stephen Chow titles:

Fight Back to School 1, 2, and 3
God of Cookery
From Beijing With Love
Tricky Brains
Look Out Officer
God of Gamblers 3: Back to Shanghai
Flirtlong Scholar
Fist of Fury 1991
When Fortune Smiles
Magnificent Scoundrels
God of Gamblers 2, VCD and DVD
King of Comedy
Chinese Odyssey 1 & 2
Justice My Foot
Hail the Judge
Forbidden City Cop
Royal Tramp 1 & 2 (MegaStar)
Tricky Master 2000
Alls Well End's Well
Alls Well End's Well 97
Legend of the Dragon
King of Beggar


Now only if they'll come out with All for the Winner on DVD. I would be very !


Thank you everyone for your help!!!!


Edited on 8/2: Just got King of Comedy. This movie is pretty funny, but some moments did drag. Some funny stuff on this.