Dreadful and piss poor Category III erotica/action where thankfully nothing was wasted in terms of budget as there barely is any. The opening action choreography is poorly timed and it's downhill from there. Any hope of a full on sleazefest seeing as Julie Lee co-stars will come as an disappointment to fans as her first sex scene really is the best one in Body Lover and it ends on a suitable gory note. While it can't help to rise the film to watchable on a ludicrous level, the awful score for the various sex scenes must be considered a classic. Body Lover came during the heyday and is no classic. Just another one, which is this case is not enough by a longshot.

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For a movie that clocks in under 80 minutes, you expect it to find even a basic footing quite early. No such thing occurs in The Bomb-Shell that wanders between what turns out to be its main characters for the longest of time without revealing its true intentions. May have sounded clever to the filmmakers to put focus on assassins taking out undercover cops only to switch gears to the plot about a mad bomber (Hui Bing-Sam, overacting to little acclaim here as opposed to in Cops And Robbers) but it's the true definition of steering consciously without a steering wheel, hoping for the best. Hoh Hong-Ming's ham-fisted direction almost warrants attention by the end as the tension is at least tolerable but his open end makes even rapid conclusions in kung-fu movies seem drawn out. In the case of The Bomb-Shell, someone pulls the plug. Roll credits. At any rate, in the role of the cop whose family is a victim of the bomber we see Norman Tsui while Wilson Tong plays a fighting Taoist magic practitioner (very much fitting for a modern day cop-thriller). Shing Fui-On also appear.

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TROY'S REVIEW: Good God! - If American Commando Ninja wasn't bad enough on its own, by some dumbfounding means it managed to spawn a bloody sequel! Picking up after the events of the first film (if you indeed managed to survive the ordeal), this reunites the interminable, horrific fashion wearing characters from last time for yet another excruciating adventure involving the continued hunt for a Japanese scientist's biological weapon serum. Once again we are subjected to the same abysmal attempts at dramatic acting, mercilessly drawn out pacing and careless dubbing and let us not forget that all this is filmed on a glorious home movie camera! Wow, aren't we lucky eh? To be equitable, I will say that at least the fight sequences in this are a big improvement over the first film but let's be honest, this is much akin to stating that a solid turd is easier to clean up than diarrhea.

This....is criminal. You shouldn't be able to get away with this but creating so much of his patented wacky Hong Kong cinema trying to disguise itself as feature filmmaking, sometimes Wong Jing just has to succeed. Boys Are Easy is the flick and it's not even due to gathering up a terrific cast but simply managing to time his often tired and silly gags well. Making light genres collide head on with a gunplay opening and a gunplay ending, in the middle is an unscripted mess about the daughters (Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung and Chingmy Yau) of Richard Ng's character finding their respective men. Against all odds, Lin manages to find the bad man she wants in Tony Leung Ka-Fai's gigolo (bad meaning she is touched by the thought of being beaten and raped. Thank you, Wong Jing), Cheung goes after a low-life triad (Jacky Cheung) that does awfully well during the annual (?) Triad Olympics (close to brilliantly staged, the highlight of the film) while Chingmy Yau tricks Ekin Cheng's virgin character that she's a prostitute so all matter of complications are jammed in there. Naming a character after action director Ching Siu-Tung and inserting a parody of A Better Tomorrow represents Wong Jing's usual tired routines but mostly hitting his mark otherwise, all cast is for Wong. Especially Tony Leung who at one point hypnotizes himself into becoming a bad man (the Lunar New Year greeting "Kung Hei Fat Choy" makes him go normal again), take part in a bowling alley dance number and turns into Bruce Lee towards the end. Screwy. Also with Jimmy Lin, Wo Fung, Shing Fui-On, Helena Law and Sandra Ng.

Approximately 12 minutes of footage went missing on Mei Ah's vcd and dvd releases. Despite the running time suggesting otherwise, Tai Seng's dvd is uncut.

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A sedated revenge story considering it's from the mind of Jimmy Wang Yu post-Shaw Brother's. He does let his imagination run fairly wild eventually but it's a slightly tedious wait for fans who took to heart The Chinese Boxer and The One Armed Boxer. Jimmy's action directing overall leans more towards the trend of its time with the swinging arms and legs combat but he does amp the weapons tactics during the long climax. The Brave And The Evil here takes on a very watchable ferocious aura but it's not thoroughly easy to forget that the film is not as distinguishable as one has come to expect coming from Jimmy. Fans certainly should tune in and you always easily see why Jimmy turned into such a big star prior to Bruce Lee's entrance onto the scene. Also with Polly Shan Kwan.

Although low-budget, during the opening credits we see evidence of jungle action complete with machete killings and necks being snapped so hard heads turn backwards. A flashback, precursor or something desperate done to catch audiences attention? Latter is very correct as it's basically the best bits from the final, violent reel of Braveful Police, on display first! Soon the Japanese setting reveals a variety of Taiwan women being hurt emotionally, being stuck in prostitution or kicking butt from time to time (enter Kara Hui). It's enough of a bore but it wasn't enough content apparently for director Hon Bo-Cheung who adds gangster asides that really can't be viewed upon as comprehensible. The flirts the movie has with violence and even exploitation (including girl-wrestling) remains the sole worthwhile elements but sometimes, that's a sad thing. Pai Ying also appear.

Gong Li received the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Actress via her performance in Sun Zhou's touching drama. She plays divorcee Sun Liying, a poor mother struggling financially and more importantly, to get her deaf son Zheng Da (Gao Xin, who actually is hearing impaired) into school. When he does not clear his admittance test, Liying has to quit her factory job to find one where she can be beside Zhang Da all the time in order to further his hearing and speech. Determined like few are, with the father mostly out of the way, help may lurk on the horizon in the form of kind teacher Fang (Shi Jing-Ming)...

Anchored beautifully by Gong Li's pitch perfect performance that no doubt is helped along by the innocence of Gao Xin's Zhang Da, director Sun Zhou (Zhou Yu's Train) knows that by mostly sitting back, you can translate real concerns into real cinema. Then again that's one of the hardest directing choices to pull off but he clinches subtlety (Shi Jing-Ming's performance as Mr. Fang representing this notion superbly), emotional beats and deservedly pushes with a melodramatic score by Zhao Jiping. It's an often tough watch to see Liying's devotion frequently not bearing fruit but she's a character that's convinced her son IS normal and her determination sometimes equals forceful too. Director Sun Zhou therefore have us slightly on the edge of our seats concerning the fates of the characters, not giving us final answers by the end but needed answers for Liying to move on. It's a beautiful solution.

Lung (Tony Poon), a rookie bodyguard falls in love with the first subject he's overseeing, May (May Cheung). She has come to Hong Kong with false hopes of being a singer but she's unwillingly set to enter the world of prostitution instead. Into this equation comes a model agency head (Margaret Lee - We're Going To Eat You) who's determined to conquer the love of Lung. Can a noble hitman (Eddy Ko) also fit into this film? Answer is yes.

Frequent erotica director Ho Fan makes no secret about his style of filmmaking. Gangster violence, soap opera drama and steamy sex are the pillars of his constructed narrative which is of course very promising on paper. Ho Fan does have a sexy lead in May Cheung and Margaret Lee proves to be a feisty one with the gun. However Tony Poon, one of the most unnatural "actors" I've seen in a long time plus a sluggish pace does Brief Encounter no favours. Fast forward material. Ho Pak-Kwong, Shum Wai, James Ha and Chan Ging (Long Arm Of The Law) also appear.

Gordon Chan brings back Leung Foon (Lawrence Cheng) and Ann (Carol Cheng) for a second go at trying to maintain a workable relationship. Now embarking on new careers in the yuppie world and their respective friends attempting to stick to one woman only, it's Leung Foon who's drawn into love for dual women. During a business trip to Shinjuku, it's the close working relationship with slightly loopy Wendy (Rosamund Kwan) that begins the emotional rollercoaster...

A sequel to The Yuppie Fantasia, on the surface more of a farce but director Gordon Chan still wants to portray the conflicts in a serious manner. Without as much of a through examination of characters this time, Brief Encounter in Shinjuku feels slighter yet very welcome since it's told with a straight face. Supporting characters played by Peter Lai, Manfred Wong and Chow Mei Fung returns in addition to Kenneth Tsang and Allen Fung (himself a director of films such as In Between Loves).

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Less of a Bruceploitation package but nevertheless close to generic. I say close to because Bruce And Shaolin Kung Fu passes time adequately thanks to a few minor positives in James Nam's frame. The stock Chinese vs. Japanese plot takes place mostly in the cold, harsh Korean landscapes, which makes for some cinematic flair. Also adding Bolo Yeung as a gorilla style fighter (hence the German title being Der Gelbe Gorilla) helps a certain excessiveness a generic exercise like this almost MUST achieve, at least in my untrained kung fu mind. An over the top villain, exploitation elements and an almost out of place visual style at times are also pro's for those looking for elements outside of the action to fall for.

Starring Bruce Le, an obviously talented martial artist, he's got the stock Bruce mannerisms down but he has to rely on the fighting scenarios being wild in order to stand out. Thankfully through his bout with Bolo and the fun finale with twin brothers equipped with nifty weaponry makes him end up in the middle of the road critically. As does Bruce And Shaolin Kung Fu as a film when measured out against the crowded genre. Something that should tell you it's simply a little bit more entertaining than most. Co-starring Chan Sing.

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