There's only sparse info on this Phillipino-Japanese (and possibly more countries were involved) co-production starring Romano Kristoff, Yasuaki Kurata and in a brief appearance Richard Harrison and the less said the better. Kristoff and Kurata are part of the skillful B-team (flattering name) who's sent into enemy territory to retrieve a golden buddha. Usually getting captured and doing very little at all, the movie is a slow chore that doesn't get spiced up just because Phillipino filmmaker Ken Watanabe adds prolonged nudity (female AND male) and a pyrotechnics budget towards the end. We've since long tuned out and apparently bonds were forged at the end. Best thing about Above The War to take away from it, it's kind of cool to know this cast got together once. A thought worth tackling... once. Barely.

Lifeless horror-comedy romp, the main plot concerns spirits/demons/ghouls/zombies trapped in a mirror now installed in a boutique. The comedic interludes between the girls (Charine Chan and Ann Bridgewater) of the boutique and the boys (Mark Cheng and Dung Wai-Gong) in the hair salon take center stage for a disturbingly long time and it's only so because it's simply NOT funny banter. Some set pieces are impressively big (in particular the opening with the task force taking care of the spirits) but even these are lacking an extra gear to engage the pace and energy.

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Sam Suet-Jan and Cheung Kwong-Chiu do a reprisal of sorts of their characters from Lady 9 Flower the same year (or vice versa, depending on which was released first). Sam Suet Jan is the deadly Lady 9 Flower on a revenge rampage with her sworn brothers since their sect leader has been killed. Cheung Kwong-Chiu is the Dean Shek-esque trickster who along with the son of one of Lady 9 Flower's victims fight back...

Lady 9 Flower wasn't particularly exciting but had some minute thought behind it. The Absurd Brave on the other hand is an overlong, simple tale that manages to feel extremely incoherent and lacking in the area of excitement. A sadistic opening murder is the highpoint violence- and action-wise but not much else happens in the stiff choreography that follows.

First ominous sign, a 100 minute running time. Second, no recognizable characters even 20 minutes in. Yep, Adventures Of Shaolin could've avoided being one whole misstep if it had been reduced to a 70 minute exercise. Instead this deathly dull rebels against tyrants with a dash of King Hu perfected scenes at an inn dies way before it's over with only a few minutes of cool kung-fu techniques and training being notable such as monks forming a water bridge and our white haired villain being able to transform his hand into a black one that spells doom for the recipient. Within all this the movie has the balls to try and provide familiar genre-twists rather than ending earlier which it should have. Shame because director Mo Man-Hung has the wonderful Fearless Fighters (its US re-edit title) and Stormy Sun on his resume. Polly Kuan and Tien Feng appear.

Alan Tam plays a florist who is duped by his "friend" (Eric Tsang) to marry his sister (Maria Chung) and off they go to Japan for their honeymoon. Whilst there, he falls in love for real with a slightly intrusive Atsuko (Yamazaki Atsuko). Divorcing should be the easy part, convincing Atsuko's parents of his true love for her is a bit tricker...

It's really quite hard to pinpoint why Affectionately Yours works on the levels it does. Alan Tam is his usual acting vacuum and doesn't strike up any pitch perfect chemistry with his Japanese co-star. Add to that not a thoroughly convincing and engaging story but somehow it gels into a watchable, pleasant and easily digested 90 minutes. Credit director Wong Ying-Git I guess, despite handling the film in a pedestrian way but he does capture the Japanese settings well. Billy Lau co-stars.

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It's nigh on impossible NOT to think of A Moment Of Romance as the inspiration for Andrew Lau's directing debut here. While the similarities are not always the same in terms of the romance structure, having main characters also into racing clearly cements the aim of the filmmakers here. Lacking heart and power that the enduring Andy Lau classic always will have, what we're left with in Against All is a hideously uncharismatic Nick Cheung (acquired from the Dorks "R" Us store apparently) and rarely is there sparks flying between him and Ng Suet Man. Lau also pads out the running time by at least 8 minutes due to song numbers for Ng, creating little MV's in the process.

Against All is not convincingly executed filmmaking but does possess some bearable traits, starting with the fact that Lau doesn't drench the film in cinematography tricks in favour of storytelling, which is something you see from time to time when directors of photography turns to directing. He also collaborates well with action director Tung Wai and the film has a fine amount of intense triad brawls, action and haunting violence. Danny Lee does done the cop role again (traffic cop actually) but plays more the protecting uncle. A role Lee is definitely very right for. Shing Fui On, James Ha, Wu Ma, Ha Ping and Barry Wong also appear.

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Lam Mei Kan (Anita Yuen) makes a deal with God to reduce her life by 10 years in order to save one of her young sons from death. Cut to the present and her children (played by Alan Tam, Jordan Chan and the sister by Teresa Caprio) are now grown up and Lam's time on this earth is beginning to come to a close as evident by the frequent sighting of the rather loveable angel of death (Roy Chiao)...

A film for all ages and speaking to all ages, Peter Chan scored another UFO hit but it's a wildly inconsistent work. Buried under unconvincing make-up, Anita Yuen is still very good as Lam who haven't treasured her time enough and even manages to buy a few days more just to achieve proper closure. Her home still has children, despite their adult age (Jordan Chan's character is the most puzzling here, carrying with him a paper doll of Kelly Chen who also turns up for real of course), and time has come to send all on their way (emigration in this case). Great material looking at the template but Chan's blend of heavy-handed sentiments with interludes of otherworldly magic doesn't gel. Frankly, it's Chan thinking he's being more poignant than anyone has ever been before. Some reality within the magic lurks in a few scenes and interactions but The Age Of Miracles frustrates and falls very much short of its goals, despite the frame trying to convince us otherwise. Eric Tsang and Christine Ng co-stars.

The Best Picture and Best Director winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards (honors that were bestowed upon Allen Fong's debut film Father And Son as well), Ah Ying tells the real story of its lead Hui So-Ying as she attempts to make it as an actress, gaining her creative flow through the bond with her drama teacher Cheung (Peter Wang, also co-writer). Same for him as he tries to get a movie project of his off the ground but being the artist is not a notion that belongs in the Hong Kong cinema the movie company is trying to produce.

Allen Fong has created a compelling and curiously uplifting film considering he was part of and made this during the new wave of often dark and pessimistic Hong Kong filmmaking in the early 80s. Utilizing its real life aspect to create a documentary feel, it's not totally unlike what Fruit Chan did subsequently in movies such as Made In Hong Kong and Durian Durian. While it's equally a portrayal of the working- and living conditions of the poor, Fong's film focuses on a lead character very much worthy of respect. Ying wants to break free, pursue dreams but she is also obedient in helping her family make a living, without protest. Fong largely uses an amateur cast to great effect, getting the core chemistry between Hui and Wang right in the process also.

The downer aspect of Ah Ying comes through a sub-theme talking about the dissatisfactory treatment of cinema, a sentiment that rings true both for how home video has treated Allen Fong's films but also generally today as companies like Celestial expects us to accept what's fed, even though it's highly disrespectful treatment of a legendary legacy. Allen Fong must look at this world today with the same kind of sadness.

Yep, it's a disaster all right but the actual one within the narrative takes its sweet time to occupy our senses. Doing the flick Airport-style, only much cheaper and injecting so called character depth via the variety of friendly, scheming and all out psychotic, panty sniffing characters (also seen in endless amounts of flashbacks), it's tedious, not in any way funny due to the crude nature of it all plus Hong Kong cinema simply didn't have the resources to pull off a movie like this on all fronts. Some basic suspense towards the very end and an unexpected conclusion of this apparently real life retelling means the flick had some balls after all but still no reason to exist. Ray Lui, Guan Shan, Wong San and Tin Ching stars.

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Stephen Chow became a bonafide superstar with this parody of the successful God Of Gamblers-franchise. He plays the Saint of Gamblers and must with his supernatural powers save the day at the tables. Chow's trademark humour is very much on display with highlights such as the parody of the famous entrance scene from God Of Gamblers.Corey Yuen's action directing gives Stephen a chance to show a few moves as well. This movie has more untranslatable Cantonese humour than later Stephen Chow projects and that may lessen the experience a little for westerners. It did for me but All For The Winner is still worth tracking down...

...on dvd finally! Mei Ah realized their blunder in the exclusion of footage of the first remastered pressing and have now put out a new version (with a different cover showing only Chow) that reinstates the film to its full length.

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