Alfred Cheung received the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Screenplay for The Story of Woo Viet, Chow Yun-Fat's first great performance but having those forces together again for Bloody Money results in what is certainly not the worst of Chow's movies pre-fame (Pursuit probably ranks the highest in terms of that) but pretty terrible nonetheless. Taking an awful lot of time revealing its true intentions and colours, the film eventually focuses on the misfortunes of a moviemaking family (where Lam Kau plays the father). Before there's any true hint of tragedy, certain characters die one by one while the atmos still registers as light. The latter being the sign of the lack of focus in this production that dabbles in plot tangents such as immigrant romance and characters being in debt to the triads as well. When it all turns out to be a poor melodrama anyway and Chow has the fortune to barely be included during the last half hour, Bloody Money takes every chance to squander its chances to mean something for the career of anyone involved, including our superstar in the making.

Not the greatest of vibes manifests themselves early on in Bloody Sorcery and even though an early sex scene is nice to have, you realize director Do Gong-Yue (The Devil Sorcery) haven't started directing the "script" yet! When the story does kick in, surrounding a black magic curse placed on Jason Pai's character, the film bears so many cheap traits it's downright unbearable to watch. The actor direction is at times so horribly stilted and mistimed that the veterans Ku Feng, Kwan Hoi-San and Han Ying-Chih's unconvincing acts suddenly turn award-worthy! A short running time and distinctly gruesome sights when dealing with the effects of the curse manage to liven up proceedings and Bloody Sorcery lands on watchable turkey status therefore.

Cop Tsu (Shing Fui-On) dies in a battle with a gang of robbers but a cat transfers life back into him in order for him to complete his life's wishes; to see his wife (Pauline Wong) give birth to their child and to punish the people who killed him...

The Blue Jean Monster represents a rare chance to see Shing Fui-On in a lead role and a rare good guy act for that matter. Shing has dabbled in comedic- and dramatic support before but his rough looks understandably never was in demand for starring or the role as Mr. Nice Guy. Ivan Lai, helming his second feature after the serious Thank You, Sir, not only utilizes Shing well but lives up to the ever so constant Hong Kong cinema tradition of putting every kind of mood into 90 minutes of film. Lots of mugging, toilet humour and sex jokes are the detraction but Lai also offers up car stunts, gunplay, a creative take on the supernatural plot, making both the audiences squirm at the fairly well-done make-up effects, laugh at the excess and even being on board for an emotional ride. There's something so real and heartbreaking in Tsu's resigned face when he again and again expresses his desire to at least witness his wfe's birth. It once and for all proves Shing Fui-On's chops as an actor despite it being showcased in "just" a fairly competent b-movie. Gloria Yip also appears and Amy Yip logs a memorable cameo, much having to do with the cap of her scene.

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"What worries me is that it is precisely a fear of reality and sincerity that has led to the ban on such stories being told." - The Blue Kite director Tian Zhuangzhuang

It suitably sums up a work that ended up winning worldwide acclaim despite a ban on home grounds in Mainland China. A tragic story centering on a Beijing family wanting to live through but not thoroughly with the heavy political times of the 1950s and 60s, in the center we find little Tietou (portrayed by three different child actors). Looking for a voice and trying to make sense of his place in the world, his own definition becomes a bumpy one as he's not aware of the problematic scope of the world around him, invading his small space. Loss dominate the family fate as one by one, the politics of the time suffocates free will.

Not communicated with a praise of communism but with a neutral stance on some of the people caught up in it, director Tian (part of the fifth generation of Chinese filmmakers, which also includes Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige) puts forth a bold statement where it's the most assuring that it reaches people far, far away from the land and the eras. Sure a little homework on the distinct events of the time helps put the film into perspective but The Blue Kite manages to center powerful images meaning more to the Chinese yet globally triumph in its portrayal of one family. It's quiet, distanced, non-manipulative and the more poignant film because of it. It's truly amazing how cinema can travel even when one isn't grasping a full 100% of it. Maybe the turmoil behind The Blue Kite wasn't worth it but director Tian Zhuangzhuang emerged by simply being bold to get the film out there, to a variety of minds.

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A redemption tale and a pedestrian cop thriller and as with most of Raymond Lee's output, nothing remarkable goes on in Blue Lightning. However, a competent put together package it is, starting with a solid, warm performance by Danny Lee as an alcoholic ex-cop saddled with taking care of his neglected son (Wong Kwan-Yuen - All About Ah Long) after the mother is brutally murdered. Danny works with beats scripted many times before and since but has an undeniably appealing warmth to go along with his choices. Melodrama becomes well-handled when Lee flashes these and director Raymond Lee certainly looks like he brings confidence from this part of the direction when then collaborating with action director Tony Leung on the violence. Tension is overall very consistently fine, violence gory but you do wish it belonged in a movie that didn't stop trying in certain other areas. Also starring Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Olivia Cheng, Lau Siu-Ming and Lee Siu-Kei.

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KENNETH'S REVIEW: Wendy (Shindo Emi) is a Japanese singer arriving in Hong Kong to perform. She brings her younger sister Chie (Siu Tin-Fan) who is a bit of a wild flower who just want to have fun. Wendy does want to protect Chie from matters such as getting a Chinese boyfriend but Wendy herself re-connects with Charlie (Michael Chan) in a way that might turn into proper love. As Chie is dragged deeper into sex and decadence and Wendy rejecting millionaire Francis Chao's (Kenneth Tsang) offer to buy her, bad times for good people lies ahead...

More steamy than pornographic initially, David Lai doesn't exactly light the screen on fire in his serious endeavors into conveying romance. Shamefully, his only skill in this production lies in exploitation and sleaze as the movie takes its dark turns but combine the short running time with that content and you got a digestible product.

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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.

KENNETH'S REVIEW: It's hard to admit it but somehow Wong Jing delivers a pleasant time with Born To Gamble. Nat Chan is Lolanto, confident and king of every gambling and betting you can think of. Trying to woo Hung (Joyce Godenzi) proves to be difficult though as she demands him to stop gambling. Friend Ah Fan (Stanley Fung) is also fooled by his wife so he goes off to the Philippines to get a maid that thinks she's a wife...

It's all very much based on tangents and incoherent plotting, which doesn't make the flick an abnormality in Wong Jing's filmography. First half doesn't shape up very well, with everything being cheap, fast and generally unfunny. Somehow when adding up this anti-social behaviour that's supposed to be comedy, we flow with it in the second half and laugh unwillingly. Witness for instance Wong Jing do the famous sperm joke in the vein of the subsequent Kingpin, treat Maria Isabel Lopei like a native monkey by having her eat bananas while waiting, have characters teach her naughty Cantonese but the top award goes to an AIDS joke that is so dumb, it's kind of genius. It's hard to admit it indeed. A cast of familiars include Chor Yuen, Wong Jing, Ken Boyle, Charlie Cho and the dad of our director, Wong Tin-Lam. Try and spot Elvis Tsui if you can too.