The New One and Only Stephen Chow Thread
 

Ok - there was a Royal Tramp thread I started that kinda became the Stephen Chow thread, but I think we should start a new thread and just get a good collection of people's thoughts on their favorite Chow films or Chow moments or which films to avoid. Just trying to organize. I'm not suggesting we close up or merge any of the other threads, I just think this will be more organized. Once this thread gets going, I'll link to it in the Newbie Help thread. :)

So go ahead and start posting your thoughts.

Here's his bio from IMDB (hkmdb is closed right now):

Sing-Chi (Stephen) Chow
Date of birth 22 June 1962
Location - Shanghai

Trivia
A wing chun stylist, Chow began using it in combat scenes, starting with Fist of Fury 1991.


Actor - filmography
(2000s) (1990s) (1980s)

Shaolin Soccer (2001) (Hong Kong: English title)
Tricky Master, The (1999) (International: English title)
King of Comedy, The (1999) (International: English title)
Gorgeous (1999) (International: English title)
Lucky Guy, The (1998)
All's Well, Ends Well 1997 (1997)
Lawyer Lawyer (1997)
Forbidden City Cop (1996) (USA)
God of Cookery (1996)
Sixty Million Dollar Man (1995)
Out of the Dark (1995)
From Beijing with Love (1994)
Hail the Judge (1994)
Love on Delivery (1994)
Chinese Odyssey Part Two - Cinderella, A (1994)
Chinese Odyssey, A (1994)
Mad Monk (1993)
Flirting Scholar (1993)
Fight Back to School III (1993)
My Hero 2 (1993)
All's Well, Ends Well (1992)
Royal Tramp (1992)
Royal Tramp II (1992)
Justice, My Foot (1992)
Fight Back to School II (1992)
King of Beggars (1992)
God of Gamblers II (1991)
Top Bet (1991)
God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai (1991)
Fei zhou he shang (1991) .... Narrator
... aka Crazy Safari (1991)
... aka Gods Must Be Crazy III, The (1991)
... aka Vampires Must Be Crazy (1991)
Haomen yeyan (1991) .... Himself
... aka Banquet, The (1991)
... aka Ho moon ye yin (1991) (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
... aka Party of a Wealthy Family (1991) (USA)
Fist of Fury 1991 II (1991)
Magnificent Scoundrels (1991)
Fight Back to School (1991)
Fist of Fury 1991 (1991)
Tricky Brains (1991)
Triad Story (1990)
Legend of the Dragon (1990)
Lung Fung Restaurant (1990)
Look Out, Officer! (1990)
When Fortune Smiles (1990)
My Hero (1990)
All for the Winner (1990)
Curry and Pepper (1990)
Unmatchable Match, The (1989)
Thunder Cops II (1989)
Dragon Fight (1988)
Final Justice (1988)
Faithfully Yours (1988)
Tragic Heroes (1987)
Final Justice (1984)

Director - filmography
(2000s) (1990s)

Shaolin Soccer (2001) (Hong Kong: English title)
King of Comedy, The (1999) (International: English title)
Forbidden City Cop (1996) (USA)
God of Cookery (1996)
From Beijing with Love (1994)

Writer - filmography
(2000s) (1990s)

Shaolin Soccer (2001) (Hong Kong: English title)
King of Comedy, The (1999) (International: English title)
Forbidden City Cop (1996)

Well, Shaolin Soccer was my first Stephen Chow movie, and I enjoyed it a lot. It opened the doors for me to HK cinema. After watching it, I started to order HK movies from DDDHouse and HiViZone. Since then I had watched a few other SC movies such as Royal Tramp, II, God of Cookery, and All's Well Ends Well. Then I've learned something about SC movies - I really don't like them that much!! My wife feels the same way and she now refuses to watch SC movies with me.

I know he is a very talented actor/director and I wish I like him more. Maybe it's because I watch his movies in Mandarin and I fail to understand most of his word play in Cantonese, but I just don't think he is that funny.

Anybody else share my feelings?

Beeeil

I saw Shaolin Soccer 1st. Then GOC, then King of Beggars. I must admit I really enjoy his movies so far. GOC being my favorite of those three. :)

cheers,
Gabe

Well that's probably it. You can't watch him in Mandarin dub. Half of his funny is in his voice. I guess if you understand Mandarin, it would be easier for you to watch him dubbed, but I don't understand Mandarin or Cantonese and I know that I don't laugh when I watch him in Mandarin but I almost piss myself laughing listening to his actual voice in Cantonese. To each his own - Shaolin Soccer is a special effects driven movie and if you like that film, that doesn't really guarantee that you'll like his other films. I'd suggest giving Tricky Master and King of Comedy a try and listen in Cantonese to see if that makes a difference... however, if you don't like him in the films you mentioned, you won't like him in other films. His humor isn't for everyone.

Shaolin Soccer is Stephen's major attempt to really internationalize himself to the Chinese community throughout Asia, so Cantonese wordplay is kept at a bare minimum. In fact, Stephen speaks some Mandarin himself in this movie, which is more or less a first for him.

With Stephen's movies, if you're watching it in Mandarin, you might as well watch it with subs and the sound turned off.

I think Shaolin Soccer is easily his best movie....

I have also watched and recommend:

Tricky Brains
God Of Cookery
Forbidden City Cop
Lawyer, Lawyer


Not his top movies:

Justice, My Foot!
From Beijing With Love



J.T.

You sure you don't have Justice, My Foot! and Lawyer Lawyer confused with each other? Most people feel it is the other way around.

Everyone is going to have their different opinions on what is good and what is not. My feelings have been expressed quite a bit on what I feel are his good movies and what are not, but here goes again:

My favorite five (order depends on mood):

- Fight Back To School
- From Beijing With Love
- God of Gamblers II
- God of Gamblers III - Back To Shanghai
- Flirting Scholar

Movies I don't Like
- Out of the Dark
- Lawyer, Lawyer
- Mad Monk

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
 

Thought I had to do that as my subject line. :lol:

Anyways, I LOVE Stephen Chow. I think hands down he is like the KING OF COMEDY!!!

My favorites are:

God of Cookery - One of the popular ones :thumbsup:

From Beijing with Love - It has some very funny moments

Tricky Master 2000 - Mixed reviews on this movie

Tricky Brains - An older one

King of Comedy - I like it, but seems like lots if people don't

Hail the Judge - Don't hear much about this one

Justice, My Foot - This one was pretty good

All the gambling ones..... -biggrin- I'm chinese, so I gotta LOVE gambling!!! -biggrin-

Not so good ones:

Lawyer Lawyer - So bad I don't remember it! :thmbsdwn:

That's all I can think of now!


As for Shaolin soccer, I didn't think it was that good. I was a bit disappointed by how it was. I just guess I'm not that big of a fan of movies when it's so fake and computerized. Just my opinion, so don't :johnwoo: me, ok!

Also, if only they would come out with All For The Winner and Fist Of Fury II on DVD, I'll be -biggrin-

FWIW, there's a couple of movies missing from the original list:

- He Who Chases After The Wind
- Sleazy Dizzy

also, brief cameos only in Top Bet and Gorgeous

Yeah I got the list off IMDB cuz HKMDB was down - His TV appearances are also absent and a few films are shown twice by mistake. IMDB doesn't really proofread the submissions and check for accuracy, they just check to see that there are no swear words.

Well, sounds like I've been watching Stephen Chow's movie the wong way (with Mandarin soundtrack). I'll be sure to rewatch some of them with Cantonese st to see if I will experience them differently. I'll need to watch them with subtitles, hopefully they are translated pretty faithfully.

I did enjoy Royal Tramp II, but only because of Michele Reis' brief appearance. BTW, Royal Tramp and Royal Tramp II are based soooooo loosely on Lu Ding Ji books that it didn't do the books justice at all.

OT: I've heard that there is a pretty good version of Lu Ding Ji by Tony Leoung, in the format of mini series. Anybody knows where I get buy the VCD for a reasonable price? How many discs?

Beeeil

I've seen most of the movies listed, and enjoyed most of them. Personally, I'd put Shaolin Soccer, God of Cookery, King of Comedy, From Beijing With Love, and the Royal Tramp movies at the top of my list. I'd agree with the others that Lawyer Lawyer is probably at the bottom of the list for me.

I don't remember seeing Chow in this; can anyone tell me what part of the movie his cameo in?

I found this funny, in an ironic way. :lol:
Beeeil, I'd also be interested in the VCD series with Tony Leung, if it's available. My gf and her mother have seen it on TV, and said it was absolutely hilarious. I've looked for it, but haven't found it.

Yes, I prefer Lawyer, Lawyer over Justice, My Foot!
LL was funny all the way, (especially the Pig tongue gag!) while JMY stopped being funny on the later half of the movie. Seems to me that there are alot of people that don't like Eric Kot, which is prabably why LL is not liked...

In Georgeous, Stephen Chow has a cameo as cop with a dog on a leash, that gets dragged away! This was cut off the US DVD, but is intact on the Hong Kong DVD.



J.T.

For myself, Eric Kot is not the reason I didn't like LL that much; I just found that the humour didn't make me laugh, except in a few spots.

Thanks for the Gorgeous note. I remember that scene now; I guess I didn't pay much attention!

But that's what is so funny about Royal Tramp, the fact that it is a total nonsensical adaptation of the books. The entire set from the Tony Leung/Andy Lau version from 1980 can be found at DVDShelf for $475HK. The English name of the TV Series is called 'Duke of Mount Deer'.

Chines Oddysey!
 

I am surprised that nobody mentioned chinese odyssey - at least part 1. just saw it and was totally amazed. It was as if Tsui Hark directed Brazil with Stephen Chow!

The DVD is horrid, but the movie had me entranced. I would rate it right up there with God of Cookery...

I agree. There are plenty of adaptations of books, Chinese, American or otherwise, that are good in their own right, and only loosely based on the original story. Personally, I have no idea what the original 'Royal Tramp' stories are, I just enjoyed the movies.

Thanks for the info on the VCD set; unfortunately, it's not subtitled in English, and I can't speak Chinese, but it may make a great Christmas gift for my gf and her mom, since they really enjoyed it and were asking me to look for it.

Re: Chines Oddysey!
 

I haven't mentioned myself because, personally, I thought it was OK, but not great.

But there were some funny moments:

My favorites of his are Shaolin Soccer, From Beijing With Love (the first of his that I saw), God of Cookery and Tricky Master (even though he deson't play such a big part, that movie's great).

Re: Chines Oddysey!
 

I totally agree. A Chinese Odyssey 1 was my first & still my favorite. I'm not real big on shot-to-the-groin type comedy, but this has to have 1 of the funniest scenes ever. I love the look of the movie: the bull, spider lady, etc. God of Cookery is my 2nd favorite so far.

Now what's the deal with his name? I've been writing Stephen Chiau for about 2 years - as this is how it is on all my DVDs, but all of you write Stephen Chow. What's the story? ...At least I was eventually able to make the transition to Michelle YEOH...

Just be thankful I stopped spelling his first name "steven"... I'm a hopeless american. On IMDB, it shows him as Chow and the way you typed it and a slew of other ways as well - I guess all ways are correct. :)

Re: Re: Chines Oddysey!
 

Chow is the most common way for people from HK to spell his Chinese name, which is of course the same as Chow Yun-Fat's. Of course, as noted in a couple of movies, invariably the trivia question always comes up "What's the relation between Stephen Chow and Chow Yun-Fat".

Yeoh is kinda strange, not sure where the origin of that one would be from. Michelle's surname pronounciation in Cantonese is Yeung and in Mandarin it would be Yang. She's from Malaysia, so the name presumably could be of Hokkien/Fukien origin, but in Hokkien her name is pronounced as Yu, so hmmm.....

Re: Re: Re: Chines Oddysey!
 

Yeah, strange way, as I see how my name is pronounced in various dialects and I don't really know how Yeoh comes about.

Just watched Tricky Brains... now this is one funny movie!!
Had me laughing throughout the whole movie...

This is the second best Stephen Chow movie, behind Shaolin Soccer. Still have lots more to go ....



J.T.