jtkv

I've always maintained that Wu Yen was a very enjoyable comedy. So I totally cannot understand why people didn't like it...

Chinese Dynasty Olymipcs, introduction of Mahjong and the cuss words that go with it.. all quite funny.

It's was Anita Mui's comeback movie too, and the movie that introduced me to Sammi and Cecilia.
Plus, I saw this on the big screen in Toronto, before the Long Shong theatre closed down.

So, yeah, I recommend Wu Yen too.


J.T.

devilshalo

A. D. 2000
Accidental Spy
All Man Are Brothers - Blood of The Laopard
All's Well End's Well
All's Well End's Well 97
And I Hate You So...
Anna Magdalena
Armour of God
As Tears Go By
Attack the Gas Station
Audition
Bakery Amour
Bare-Footed Kid, The
Barking Dogs Never Bite
Battle Royale
Beastcops
Big Bullet
Bio Cops
Bio Zombie
Blackship Afair, The
Blade, The - VCD
Body Weapon
Brother
Butterfly & Sword
C'est La Vie, Mon Cherie
China Strike Force (DTS)
Chinese Feast, The
Chinese Odyssey I: Pandora Box, A
Chinese Odyssey II: Cinderella, A
Chivalrous Legend
City Hunter
City of Glass
City on Fire (MegaStar Version)
Clean My Name, Mr Corner
Comeuppance
Comrades - Almost a Love Story
Conman in Tokyo
Conman, The
Conmen in Vegas, The
Cop on a Mission
Crash Landing (DTS)
Curry and Pepper
Days of Being Dumb
Ditto
Double Tap (DTS Version)
Downtown Torpedoes
Dragon Forever
Dragon Heat
Drunken Master II
Drunken Master III
Duel to the Death
Duel, The
Electrical Girl
Evil Dead Trap 2
Executioners
Expect the Unexpected
F***/Off
Faithfully Yours
Fallen Angels
Feel 100%
Fight Back to School
Fight Back to School II
Fight Back to School III
Fighter's Blues, A (DTS Version)
Fighting For Love
Fighting To Learn
Final Justice
First of Fury 1991
First Option (MegaStar Version)
Fist Of Legend
Fist Power
Flirtong Scholar
Fly Me To Polaris
Flying Dagger
Fong Sai Yuk
Fong Sai Yuk II
For Badboys Only
Forbidden City Cop
Foul King, The (DTS)
From Beijing With Love
Full Alert
Full Throttle
Full Time Killer
Future Cop
Gen-X Cops
Gen-Y Cops
God of Cookery, The
God of Gamblers
God of Gamblers II
God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai
God of Gamblers Return
Hail The Judge
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father
Help!!!
Hero Never Die, A
Heroes Among Heroes
Heroes In Love
He's A Woman, She's A Man
Hit Team
Hitman
I Am Your Birthday Cake
Il Mare
In the Mood for Love
Isle, The
Jacky Chan My Stunts
Jiang Hu-The Triad Zone
Juliet in Love
Justice my foot
Juvenile
King of Beggars
King of Beggars (MegaStar)
King of comedy
Kingdom, The (Complete 3-Disc Set)
Kung Fu Colt Master, The
Last Hero in China
Lavender
Lawyer, Lawyer
Legend of Speed
Legend of the Dragon
Legend of the Flying Swordsman
Legend of the Wolf
Legend Of Zu, The
Lifeline
Longest Nite, The
Longest Summer, The
Look Out Officer
Lost And Found
Love is Love
Love On A Diet
Love on Delivery
Lucky Guy, The
Lung Fung Restaurant
Magnificent Butcher
Magnificent Scoundrels
Mahjong Dragon
Man Called Hero, A
Martial Angels
Mission, The
Moment of Romance, A
Moon Warriors, The
Moonnight Express
My Father Is A Hero
My Hero
My School Mate, The Barbarian
Needing You
New Legend of Shaolin, The
Old One Dies, The
Once Upon a Time In China & America
Once Upon a Time in China II
Once Upon a Time in China III
Only Fool Fall in Love
Option Zero
Para Para Sakura
Peking Opera Blues
Policy Story
Policy Story II
Prison on Fire
Purple Storm
Replicant
Ring
Ring 2
Ring Virus, The
Royal Tramp (MegaStar)
Royal Tramp II (MegaStar)
Rules of the Game
Sakuya-Slayer Of Demons
Savior of the Soul
Secret Tears
Sex and Zen
Sex And Zen II (PAL / Region 2 only)
Sex Phone Girl
Shaolin Soccer
Shiri (DTS Version)
Sixty Million Dollar Man
Skyline Crulsers
Sound From The Dark
Spacked Out
Stormriders, The
Story of Ricky
Summer Holiday
Suzhou
Sword Stained With Royal Blood
Swordsman
Tai Chi Master, The
Task Force
Taxi
Taxi 2 (DTS Version)
Tell Me Something
Tempting Heart
There is a Secret in My Soup
Thunderbolt - VCD
Till Death Do Us Part
Time and Tide
Tokyo Raiders (DTS Version)
Tom, Dick & Hairy
Too Many Ways To Be No. 1
Top Bet, The
Tri Star
Tricky Brains
Tricky master, The
True Love
Twelve Nights
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star
Ultimatum
Unmatchable Match
Victim
Vidocq
Visible Secret
Walk In
War Named Desire, A
Wheels on Meals (MegaStar Version)
When Fortune Smiles
Who's The Woman, Who's The Man
Wicked Ghost II: The Fear, A
Wicked Ghost, A
Wu Yen
Your Place or Mine
Zu : Warriors from the Magic Mountain

let me know when you got new stuff to add or when this thread splits again and i'll update. 218 titles?!?! whew, you should have your own sticky thread

just drop me a line at [email protected]

Trigger

Watched another two films tonight. Here's a couple of mini-reviews...

Beijing Rocks

Mildly entertaining mandarin melodramatic romance/tragedy. Shu Qi and Daniel Wu star in this Chinese 'almost famous'. It's not something you really need to see, but it's not entirely bad. Production values are a little thin and you can pretty much only tell with regard to sound. They edit together segments of a longer piece of dialogue rather than have a second or third take. Daniel's character is from HK and was in a rock band. He got into trouble with the law and went to Beijing where he met Shu Qi and her boyfriend's rock band. He ended up making friends with them and going on a short tour. Everything falls apart as they often do in films like this and then they are saved by the last few minutes of a movie where you are promised that things end up working out after you leave the theater (or turn off the DVD player). I hope that's not a spoiler - I am trying to be really vague. Anyway - the MegaStar DVD is nice... pretty typical of MS. The acting is okay - Shu Qi is to be adored in this film, so if you're a Shu Qi fan you might want to add this to your collection. I think the film tries too hard and overall fails to bring it together... the tragedy that I spoke of seemed to just be thrown in just so the film could actually go somewhere. Included is an alternate ending which is actually an extended ending. It's only a few minutes and they could've left it in or left it out and nothing would really change. I think they missed the mark overall and didn't really tie up all the loose ends they started. The film had some good elements to it and I think they were on to something. They either tried to hard or tried too little... I can't tell. Anyway - I'd say rental or pass unless you're really into mandarin rock music that sounds like Chili Peppers meets Oingo Boingo meets Guns 'n' Roses or unless you're into Shu Qi in some sort of unhealty obsession sort of way.

Happenstance

This is a french film starring that chick from Amelie - Audrey Tautou. I didn't find it all that magical or mystical or special. It was as described by the title... a series of events that act as a tiny catalyst for the next series and everyone is connected in some way - Six Degrees of Separation and Short Cuts are two films that come to mind - also Sliding Doors. They tell you from the beginning that you're about to see how two lovers eventually meet through a series of random events... but you never really see how that's going to happen until the very end. The bulk of the movie is spent creating loose ends that never will get tied up just so we can get the next event to take place. For example - a pebble hitting a windshield has to be set up by introducing about eight characters and going into this whole adulterous relationship. It's very chaotic as advertised and don't expect resolution on ANYBODY. It would've been nice to see how everyone's life turned out or at least what they decided to do with the questions that had been put in front of them just before the film moved away from their story... but then the movie would've been 9 hours long. It's difficult to pull off a movie like this. I think it works on some levels and I wasn't convinced until the payoff at the end... it's a minor reward after having to do all that work of keeping track of everyone and getting interested in their lives, but it's something. I got the U.S. DVD of this one and the subtitles are clear and the transfer is okay - a little grainy and washed out for a US release, but it's fine... I'd suggest this as a rental... if this type of film is your thing you might want to buy because I'm sure you'll pick up one or two details that you missed the first time, but if you're thinking about picking it up because you liked Amelie and wanted to see another film with that girl in it - then I'd suggest just renting this and buying City of Lost Children or Delicatessen (same director as Amelie) because this film will leave you with more questions than answers.

Trigger

I just finished watching Friend. It's a Korean film on a China Star DVD... Amazingly enough - the China Star DVD is nearly flawless. The subtitles aren't screwed up and the transfer is nice and the audio is crisp and the 5.1 surround is well defined. Most of my other China Star DVDs at least have one or two things wrong with them. The film is pretty decent. It's a gangster flick at heart I think that tries to pass as an artistic drama about friendship. I think it walks a thin line between the two. I wasn't particularly moved by it, but I understand that many who have seen it view it as a male-bonding piece. It seemed like typical yakuza/triad fare to me. The friendship ties between the four main characters were set up from the beginning where they showed their childhood and then showed that growing up through the years, but I never felt that they really established what created the bond between two of the friends. Korean cinema is very good I think - they seem to have a handle on how to make a good looking picture and they also seem to be able to come up with a film every now and then that has both style and substance. This film is a good example of that... the acting, cinematography, design and story are all top notch. I'd say the only downfall for this movie to me is the subject matter. I'm often put off by gangster flicks... heck, I've never been able to sit through any of the Godfather movies. The other thing I find fault with is the bonds of friendship in this film. While I really enjoyed JSA and the friendship bond there - I felt this one was never really established - the scene at the very end helps, but perhaps too late. I'm sure it's just me though. It's still a good piece of film and many people should really enjoy it. I found it worth my time and money, but I probably won't watch it again anytime soon. It's nowhere near as good as JSA as far as I'm concerned (wow, that's alot of "as"). but I think there are better films out there. If you're really into Triad films and the dramas where kids grow up together and then when they are adults one is a gangster and the other is a cop or a doctor or a lawyer or something and yet they put their friendship ahead of their roles in society, then his film should be right up your alley.

yangshouwen

I can't believe you had this disc in front of you whilst reviewing the film, eh?
It's releasesd by "Megastar", not "China Star"

Trigger

Ahh - that explains why it's not crappy. I have my MegaStar dvds in the same box as my China Star dvds... Oops. I should've brought the box in with me.

Yellow Hammer

you'll want to add yet another oldie to your list - just noticed that Happy Bigamist is coming out any day now. A really popular movie back 16 years ago. Story about a guy (Kenny Bee) who has to deal with his ninny wife (Anita Mui) and his bitchy separated wife (Pat Ha) living in the same house at the same time. (Apparently it's a bit harder to get a divorce in HK...) Really funny movie...

Trigger

Watched 3 more - well, 2 and a half...

Running Out Of Time 2

Why oh why do I even bother watching anything with Ekin anymore? It's like I'm trying to torture myself. He's so annoying. Anyway - the movie is everything people say it is... mediocre. Safe to avoid this one I think. The title is misleading because nobody is running out of time in this one like they were in the first. The CGI of the eagle is terrible and the story is weak and now the fact that inspector Ho doesn't catch the criminal when it would be so easy is just frustrating rather than cool like in the first one. The Mei Ah DVD is nice and I didn't find any problems. 5/10

Open Your Eyes

Mei Ah again with the spanish film that was later remade in Hollywood starring Tom Cruise and called Vanilla Sky. This film and Vanilla Sky are more or less scene for scene the same thing. If you've seen one, you've basically seen them both. Vanilla Sky was pretty faithful to the original here and I have to commend the filmmakers on that at least. I still liked this version better for some reason. True - Penelope Cruz wields her naked heaving breasts in this, but there are more reasons to like this version better. Tom Cruse was more annoying as the main character than the actor who played in this version. Also - there were subtle differences in plot twists that didn't change the story, but somewhat revealed the same events in different ways. I know I'm not making much sense, but I did prefer this version to Vanilla Sky and the DVD is cheap. Mei Ah did a decent transfer here of a terrible print. The print was pretty worn I think. The sound wasn't impressive either, but I'm still blaming the source material. The subtitles were really good considering it possibly went from spanish to chinese to english (more likely from spanish to english). I give this film a 7/10 I really like the premise and the plot and the way it all unfolds, but one thing bothers me about films like this:
(major spoiler, don't read unless you've seen it... )

Snaker

This is a Thai movie and it's about the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen. I knew from the first 2 minutes. I should've known from the cover and the title, but I didn't know it was a Thai movie. I'm embarassed that I bought it and that I'm now admitting that I watched it. It's just terrible. There may be some comic value here if I decide to get some friends together with a 4-track mixer and a DAT and do our own english dub of it. This film gets a 1/10 Avoid at all costs. Pretend it is the Ebola Virus and you don't want to touch it.

Uni Mae

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Trigger
[B]Watched 3 more - well, 2 and a half...

Running Out Of Time 2

Why oh why do I even bother watching anything with Ekin anymore? It's like I'm trying to torture myself. He's so annoying. Anyway - the movie is everything people say it is... mediocre. Safe to avoid this one I think. The title is misleading because nobody is running out of time in this one like they were in the first. The CGI of the eagle is terrible and the story is weak and now the fact that inspector Ho doesn't catch the criminal when it would be so easy is just frustrating rather than cool like in the first one. The Mei Ah DVD is nice and I didn't find any problems. 5/10
[QUOTE]
I love Ekin..he's hot..who cares if he plays the same character in every movie...I want him!

yangshouwen

A review that I just did yesterday night on the http://www.asiandvdguide.com forum.

-----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------
My Life as McDull


Letterboxed
Cantonese (Stereo)
Chinese (Traditional) and English subtitles (removable)
No region coding
www.asiandvdguide.com/

-----------------------------------------------------------
summary taken from global.yesasia.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
Review

Film: 8
A little pig and his friends charm the pants of you. There isn't much of a plot, but it sends out a nice message. The animation suits much of the mood. We're not talking Akira et al. Just plain and ordinary with some nice implementation of cgi. Funny and at the same time inoffensive. Not the best film from 2001 by all accounts, but easily the top 5 in my eyes.

DVD: 6

video: 7
nice non anamorphic transfer, with nice colours. Very clean.

sound: 6
not alot of direction, especially with a 2.0 soundtrack, but there's not much that would need 5.1, so adequate imo.

Extras: 2
A trailer for the website for McDull and friends.

note: comes in clear amaray size case. Side B of the cover is just green.

(I'll have screenshots sometime this week if I can remember )
-----------------------------------------------------------
more detailed summary/review:
The story on the cable tv show talks about McMug (which is seen very briefly in the film), however McDull was a popular character to follow on the film... so that's what they did.

It's a bandy of highlights from McDull's childhood life, narrated by Jan Lam as a grown up McDull. His school life with his friends and his Sammi wannabe teacher and Cheung Chau headmaster (voiced by Anthony Wong). "Dan Tat!"
His admiration for his mother and his desire to visit the Maldives. And a few more little suprises. It's very much a local film, and one that succeds admirably.

The film is very short though coming well under 80 mins

-------------------------------------------------------------

hope this is of use to some of you

Trigger

I'm sorry - I never really followed up on this post... my father died the following day on 4-12-02. I realize I just kinda left that as it was and just started watching and reviewing movies again without explaining anything. Anyway - it's been a month and a half and I've been fighting with lawyers and such because my father left his financial affairs in a mess and I also went to E3 last week. Other than that, I've just been kinda busy. My schedule is really opened up though since I don't have my father to look after anymore, so I'm able to perhaps get caught up on my movies. I'm about to make a new order and I'll be using some of your suggestions. I'll post it when I order it or when I get it, whichever... In the meantime, if you would like to start requesting reviews again, please feel free. I can't promise I'll get to them all, but I'll do my best. My girlfriend and I have resorted to picking out 4 to 6 DVDs and holding them behind my back while she picks a hand to eliminate one at a time... it's crude, but it works. I've posted some reviews in a new thread here.

I also watched a few others before I left for E3 and never did a review... one was Calla a Korean film similar in theme to Ditto and Il mare. It was pretty good. I also watched I Wish I Had a Wife which was also good. Both were Korean. If you want a review of either, I'd be happy to give it a go from memory.

I'd also like to add that while I was gone, my girlfriend watched Para Para Sakura like 5 times and knows the songs and dances by heart now... it's like her favorite movie and I had to order the soundtrack for her. If you've got a girlfriend, you might want to try popping that one in.

Trigger

With nobody requesting reviews, we're left to pick ourselves... Tonight we watched Audition and Happy End - two perfect "date" movies.

Happy End was Korean film about infidelity. The resolution of the film is worth the trip I thought. It's difficult to say much about these films without giving away too much. Many people say the ending of Happy End wasn't very happy... I felt the opposite. I was cheering at the end. Maybe that's just me. I'd give it a 7/10 and recommend it. It's nothing remarkable or groundbreaking, but I just felt like the characters were introduced and explored enough (even though they were a bit unplausable) so that you got to know them fairly well even though they didn't straight out tell you what they were all about. I liked how it unravelled. The story progressed at a good clip too. but it's not an essential film to watch.

Audition was about a guy who's wife had died about a decade ago and he was left to raise their son alone. They were doing allright, but then his son got it in his head that he should remarry. His friend decides to help out by setting up a phony audition for a movie they weren't really intending to make so he could pick a potential wife out of the girls who audition. He instantly falls for one of them who turns out to be not quite right. The ending is simply brutal and that's all I'm gonna say. The story moves along pretty slow for the first hour or so and then things pick up near the end. It all gets kinda David Lynchy. This was a Japanese film and they really know how to do gore effects... some of the best stuff I've seen and I've seen alot. I think the film works fairly well, but some of it gets a little confusing near the end and I wasn't all too happy about the ending in general as they left more questions unanswered. Sometimes in movies they'll give you the big climax and then once you're all excited they give you another 15 minutes of resolution that bore you to death and you leave the movie wishing it would've ended. Other times the movie will end right after the big climax leaving you with unanswered questions and you leave feeling kinda cheated. This was one of the latter types of films. It would've been nice to give us just one or two more minutes so we can see how everyone ended up in the end instead of some cryptic voiceover. Still - it was effective and the effects were very well executed. It's certainly worth watching for the last 20 minutes I think. There are a few scary moments and most people will cringe or look away or even possibly vomit at some scenes. I give the film another 7/10 - had it not been for the good special effects, it would've gotten a 6/10 for being too confusing and not really taking advantage of some of the story opportunities they set up. Still - for horror fans, I can give this a and a recommend. Not for the faint of heart. The Isle is more gruesome in general I think, but they are in the same class.

Trigger

Here's the DDDHouse order I just placed.

The Stewardess
Inner Senses (dts)
Partners (dts)
Happy Bigamist
The Kung Fu Scholar
The Wesley's My Sterious File (dts)
Princess-D (dts)
July Rhapsody
Salon Beauty
The Dead And The Deadly
Love Undercover
Buddy Friends
Chinese Odyssey 2002
Waterboys
The Quiet Family
Fat Choi Spirit
Happy Family
Twilight Zone Cops My Spirted Wife
Fighting To Survive
Warm Water Under The Red Bridge
Lie Lie Lie
The Uprising
Green Fish
Soul Guardians, The
Freeze Me

I asked if he could get My Life as McDull added, but it doesn't look like they carry it. I might end up picking it up from yesasia.

Here's the krdvd order I'm gonna make (whew - expensive)

Address Unknown
Art Museum by the Zoo
Bad Guy
Beat
Bungee Jumping of Their Own
Christmas In August
Take Care of My Cat
Die Bad
The Gingko Bed
Guns & Talks
Jakarta
The Humanist
Last Witness
The Legend of Gingko
Libera Me
Musa
My Wife is a Gangster
Nowhere to Hide
Attack the Gas Station
Kick the Moon
My Sassy Girl
AFRIKA
Sorum
Traveling with Ghost
April Story
Chaos
Gemini
Hana-Bi
Kids Return
Love Letter
Owl's Castle
Poppoya
Samurai Fiction

Let me know what I should dump off this krdvd list if anything. Also let me know what you would like to hear a review for... I'm probably gonna watch My Sassy Girl first and then a few others I have my eye on, but then I'll be wondering what I should watch. I have been busy watching the World Cup lately, so my movie watching time will be down a bit.

Uni Mae

Trigger don't u already have ginko bed, and attack the gas station?

Trigger

Yeah - I'm getting the Korean releases since they are supposed to be of better quality. I'm still on the fence about Ginko Bed since it wasn't that strong of a film. Anyone see the Korean DVD of Gingko Bed and can tell me if it's a better experience?

roseart

I would suggest adding My Boss, My Hero to your krdvd order. Great flick.. 2 disc + OST.

I would like a review for Last Witness. I could not find one good review for it, but have been curious. Thanks for being the guinea pig.

gabegarwick

Yay! Trigger is getting Nowhere to Hide!
Please let us know what you think of it. I'm curious where on the fence you'll sit... I'm sure you've seen by now that the opinions for this film are pretty split...

I'd also like to hear how good/bad Hana-Bi is...
(I am a Kitano fan if that would matter to my viewing experience)

Cheers,
Gabe

Trigger

Okay - I'll check out Nowhere To Hide... Someone asked me to watch Fighting To Survive as well I think... I'll most certainly add My Boss, My Hero - I remembered the review of it after I posted my list. It'll surely end up in my order. I'll try to check out Last Witness once I get my order.

Anybody know when I can order from www.krdvd.com? Their checkout seems to always be disabled.

ScreachingWeasel

Just email him the order you want and he will get back to you. If you have seen any other Beat Takeshi Kitano films and liked them you might want to get the French dvd of Hani Bi. It's a great disc with a great looking anamorphic picture, Documentary, interview with "Beat" and a trailer gallery up to Kikijuro I believe. All of the extras are also subed in english as well. Even the UK disc has some extras, but I don't know what of hand

Trigger

DDDhouse has My Life is McDull if you ask. He said it would be 80 HKD. I got my HK shipment - still waiting on krdvd... I'm trying to order, but it's taking a bit of a while.

ScreachingWeasel

For whatever reason My Life as McDull is listed in the Other section of DDDHouse. I really want to pick it up, but I'm kind of broke right now.

Trigger

Huh - I thought I looked there, must've missed it.

I watched Love Undercover last night before the World Cup came on. I thought Dummy Mommy was better. This one was unfunny for the most part and they really didn't do much with the premise... well, they didn't do enough with it anyway. This should've been comic gold. I laughed a few times, but the rest of the time I was kinda ticked off. The DVD of this by Mei Ah has terrible subtitles. Worse than Second Time Around I think. About 35 - 40% of what was being said was cut off for some reason. Mei Ah has stepped up their production process and are spitting out high quality DVDs these days, but they are almost all plagued by one problem or another. Sounds like China Star to me. Outside of the subtitle problem, the DVD is pretty nice. Good menus, good sound, great picture and plenty of entertaining extras. Without being able to understand much of what was being said - often only getting the last few words of a much larger sentence - I'm sure I missed alot of the subtle comedy going on in the dialogue. Meriam has a very subtle sense of humor and she's really quite funny in Dummy Mommy. I actually laughed more watching the deleted scenes on Love Undercover than I did watching the whole movie. My girlfriend liked Love Undercover, but I just couldn't get into it. The subtitle problem was just too distracting this time. If this subtitles were good though, I imagine this movie would rate a 6/10 on my scale, but the way it is on this DVD I'll have to give it a 5/10 and a and suggest that you avoid it alltogether and just pick up Dummy Mommy Without a Baby instead. Second Time Around is another Mei Ah DVD with a similar problem, but it didn't seem quite as bad to me and I was able to pick up what everyone was saying more so in that film than in Love Undercover. If the VCD of Love Undercover has decent subtitles, let me know and I might pick it up - in fact, that's what I suggest you do if you're interested in this film because unless you speak Cantonese you won't know what's going on half the time.

Trigger

I reviewed Wesley's Mysterious Files and Princess D - here's the link

Looking for some requests from my HK order since my krdvd order is a ways off yet... still waiting for a response from them.

gabegarwick

Partners and Quiet Family!
I've got a review up for Quiet Family somewhere around here...
Gabe

Trigger

I almost watched QUiet Family instead of Wesley's - my roommate veto'd my vote.