Somewhat sleazy undercover cop actioner with Carol Lee infiltrating a criminal organization. After the sexually abusive leader played by Anthony Wong gets killed, she beds the new leader (Alex Fong) and gets under the skin of Michael Chan's as well. Low budget but usually doing its thing adequately as a gangster piece, director Alan Chan (also actor here and in Devil's Curse, The Devil Sorcery etc) injects some large squibs during the all too few action scenes, Anthony Wong using butter and cucumbers while playing with Lee Yuet-Sin, perverts and himself as a cop more pre-occupied by porn than duty. Surprisingly callous at points too, it's neither A-grade or A-grade thrash but the sprinkles by Chan plus a decent pace makes it ok crap for those glad to be hovering around this type of Hong Kong cinema of the 90s. Alan Chui plays to his strengths as always and gets off a few manic cackles as über-evil Kwan.

Jacob Cheung portrays the importance of mending broken relationships while also celebrating the life spirit, all through the eyes of a older mother (Fung Bo Bo). First, she has to come to terms with her daughter (Cecilia Yip) who has run off abroad and into a marriage lacking of blessing from the mother's side. Director Cheung surprises us by dealing and clearing out this matter quickly and instead Beyond The Sunset becomes a sweet, good old romance, with the emphasis on old as Fung Bo Bo and Richard Ng's characters begin to bond. Much of the material and its themes are bashed over the viewer's head but not only is it affecting, Cheung still actually manages to make the proceedings retain a subtlety. There are valid complaints to be directed towards the young actor playing Cecilia Yip's kid but the overall effect of the film is pleasing thanks to down to earth and warm performances with a suitably static direction. Lowell Lo co-stars in a part dopey, part dramatic performance, an oddity coming from this walking visual gag of an actor/composer.

Beyond The Sunset ended up taking home the Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Cecilia Yip) statuettes at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Two loyal, lowly brothers (Wong played by Chen Kuan-Tai and Cheung, Jimmy Lung billed here as Jimmy Lee and playing it only mildly psychotic compared to later roles) start from the bottom but after committing a murder they are forced to flee to Shanghai where their brief trek onto the gangster path prior, takes full flight. It also draws the brothers apart...

Nothing too surprising about Chen Kuan-Tai's story here as the two country bumpkins become part of the high class, early 1900s Shanghai. Wong remains loyal to his Chinese side as much as he can while Cheung looks for the riches and glamour the Western side of the city offer up. Although touching upon France and England leasing territories as well as opium- and ammo smuggling, these are only elements that in a highly basic way carry Chen Kuan-Tai's direction to each respective fight scene. Because nothing of the affecting kind can be found in Wong and Cheung's story. The bashing and fair intricacy in the various fights has its fair amount of standout moments though and the brutal finale involving acid is well worth the trip you have to take with Big Boss Of Shanghai. Also with Chan Sing and Cheng Hong-Yip.

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Also known as Dragon The Master 2, when you're exploiting, exploit from the beginning. Joseph Lai however continues to "develop" his idea of Bruceploitation for the new millennium, by going shot on video on us. Dragon Sek returns as our copy of the piece, showcasing a decent knack for charisma and the requisite Bruce Lee-moves but unlike Dragon The Master that scored hokey points in a boring frame, director Kant Leung (the hack behind Chinese Midnight Express II) delivers a fairly slick, yet inept and boring frame. Although minute basic storytelling was never something you could count on getting out of a flick with Joseph Lai's name on it, Big Boss Untouchable, with some minor hints at being a remake of The Big Boss, struggles to make any identity for itself. Once you get used to the fight action in this particular format, you also quickly realize it wanders between seeming like a fight exhibition to downright poor with zero impact. Former Category III baddies Ben Ng, Karel Wong appears as well as Karen Cheung (Dragon Sek's co-star in Dragon The Master).

Triad boss Way (Alex Man) has served his prison sentence but demoted in the ranks and trying to live life redeeming his crimes obviously isn't going to be easy. Especially not with a hateful brother (Hugo Ng), a vengeful cop (Lam Chung) and a power hungry new big brother (Kirk Wong) to deal with...

Clifford Choi (Naughty Couple) may not bring anything new to the table as he walks through the character types (including the often used stupid ass triads and Carrie Ng cast as a cop doesn't ring true of believability one bit either). Alex Man certainly isn't doing anything different either, in a genre he found himself in often. There is a section however, showing Way's degradation, that holds a raw emotional power that lifts Big Brother ever so slightly and within the cheap frame there continues to be some minor things done right thanks to the quality initially showed a few reels in. Kirk Wong co-stars in a typical, over the top turn while Phillip Chan and Phillip Ko appear briefly.

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KENNETH'S REVIEW: The beach has people sitting on the toilet, their living rooms planted there, tables of mahjong with birds and short people are officially deemed tall so what kind of surreal nonsense is going on pre-credits in The Big Deal? Well, director Wong Jan-Yeung (Dreaming The Reality) seems very little interested in any reality or sense of giving the world another girls with guns flick. No, he lets a bomb of pure silliness and nonsense far removed from Wong Jing (meaning better) and Stephen Chow (meaning not as good) explode, that has to be seen to be believed. Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima are modern Robin Hood's of sorts, called Saint Heroes. Never hesitating to wield guns, cop Super Canon (Sibelle Hu) and Lethal Weapon (Tommy Wong, whose character they employ instead of the Ghostbusters, Bruce Lee and Mel Gibson....yep, he's low on the list) are the cops on their trail while also the leader of a gang within the Thief Tribe played by Yuen Wah in a number of creative costumes, raises hell. Sounds straight but with almost a full feature of laugh out loud, inappropriate and wild humour, The Big Deal is for a fan with no sensitivity, that's for sure. The fast action plays well into the structure and amongst several highlights you'll also find Saint Heroes master (Yuen Cheung-Yan, also action director) trying out bullet proof vests with a rocket launcher, hopping vampires hopping about like it's an everyday occurrence, master fighters engaging in silly wrestling tactics, banana peel jokes, a dildo walkie talkie and Tommy Wong encountering countless look-alike's of his, on the other side of the law. And everybody is so on board to lampoon themselves, it all makes The Big Deal a fine curiosity for fans of our action players. Wong Fung (crazy in just about every scene) also appears.

This action/comedy/gambling brew from Wong Jing is definitely on the broader side of the genre spectrum as expected but he manages to put the contrasts suitably close to each other by the end. In the opening we see Ma Qun (Anthony Wong) succeed at an undercover mission to bring down Panther Wong (Jimmy Lung Fong, not the nastiest bad guy in the film believe it or not). Despite succeeding, Panther has two assassins to go after Ma Qun and his wife, resulting in acid down the throat, shot kneecaps, blindness and a raped, dead wife. Fellow cop Kung Ching (Danny Lee) won't stand for this and gets suspended after beating up a superior. But the crippled Ma Qun wants revenge and Kung Ching teams up with Soft (Wong Jing), a master gambler with an ace up his sleeve in many, many situations. Going undercover as an American triad, Kung Ching first decides to piss off Panther by going after his desired flesh in the form of Penny (Joey Wong)...

As you can tell, it's equal nastiness, comedy, card- and mahjong playing with a twist of action mayhem Danny Lee often participates in so it's Wong Jing utilizing each talent if you will. While the odd couple pairing and plot coherency doesn't register particularly high, Wong Jing manages to keep his lighter matters unforced for once, even scoring high on at least two gags (often involving the resourceful character he plays). The 90s heroic bloodshed in the wake of more successful effort of its kind isn't high division stuff but we're awake when Wong takes dark and gory turns with his violence. Aspects that doesn't fit as well with the tone changes but when much of the expected aggravation doesn't happen, something is up in a Wong Jing movie. Word of the moment being up. Sheren Tang appears in support as the blind sister of Danny Lee's character.

After suffering a heart attack on the production of his latest film in China, director Don Tyler (Donald Sutherland) requests to have a 'comedy funeral' organized by documentarian Yoyo (Ge You - To Live). Yoyo therefore sets in motion to make Tyler's final goodbye a spectacle and a show to the point where he's selling advertisement space on the director's body. The problem is, Tyler's assistant Lucy (Rosamund Kwan) keeps it under wraps that he's on the mend...

A Columbia Pictures co-production with their Asian branch that also resulted in movies such as Double Vision (starring Tony Leung Ka-fai and David Morse), Feng Xiao-Gang may depict a huge show (a theater of the absurd as Tyler observes) but his comedy tactics are gentle. It doesn't always pan out for him though to be more of an observer of the bizarre as commercial interests come out of the woodwork for this once in a lifetime event. He plants valid thoughts about lack of heart in creativity, the superficiality of show business, pandering to audiences but the thread isn't fully apparent and effective as Feng starts his fun. There's an art in keeping the broad straight and as entertainment, as a somewhat fun and unique story setup that unleashes commercial interests, pompous PR people, media business profiles using the event as a leap off point for their own benefit, Big Shot's Funeral more than adequately passes the time. That Yoyo gets caught up in this but also wants to put on an ethical face is also a subplot of note that works for Feng Xiaogang. But he's too casual with his developments, things that are supposed to be huge are not emphasized enough and Big Shot's Funeral eventually gets a little lost in its own weirdness to fully score points as satire. The co-production aspect is neat and to see Sutherland, Ge You and Rosamund Kwan bounce off each other is fun. But focus is lacking to bring it home, at least to an outside audience and the forced romantic angle between Ge You and Kwan is one of the film's missteps as well. Sadly the latter, despite clearly transitioning effortlessly between English and Mandarin dialogue, is dubbed.

The technical ambition on behalf of D&B and director Stephen Shin is admirable but closing in on the disaster that was Black Cat (and what ultimately sank the company), A Bite Of Love shooting in synch sound, in the UK and mixed in Dolby signals sad things, to come. It would be slightly different if the final film had transcended its genre much more of course. Hong Kong cinema plank George Lam plays Duke Lee, a rather kind hearted vampire that lives his life at night, with certain folks thinking he's a magician, including Anna (Rosamund Kwan) that he falls in love with. On the horizon is her brother (Norman Tsui), a heroin dealer sick to the degree that he needs constant blood transfusions...

Ticking of the lightheartedness (represented by little Jeng Paak-Lam who I'm not sure has a reason to be in this film and Hui Siu-Hung as Duke's servant), the supposed felt and tragic romance combined with tension, technical merits are fair and with a more pronounced horror mode dominating the second half, A Bite Of Love flows better. Special it ain't though, even though Norman Tsui is memorable in a bad guy role he can literally sink his teeth into.

Moving Chor Yuen's The Black Rose (1965) into period territory and into Lo Wei's hands, now the story of a masked female warrior (Chiao Chiao - One Armed Swordsman) acting in the interest of the poor people is a snoozefest. And I'm not surprised it's Lo Wei managed to evoke that. Simple enough yet still not coming through most of the time with even basic storytelling, it's not easy to turn off and just enjoy basic conflict either when the action is slow and even embarrassingly sloppy at points. Not a good trademark coming from Shaw Brothers and although the look and design is as gorgeous as ever, The Black Butterfly is an all round failure. Lo Wei himself appear in support. As does Yueh Hua, Tien Feng (the standout performer here), Ku Feng, Chen Hung-Lieh and Yeung Chi-Hing as the drunken beggar with a secret.