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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Another one of countless vehicles exploiting the legend of Bruce Lee (hence the term Bruceploitation). While it's shameless for even doing so, thankfully Bruce Lee Against Supermen has no cinematic qualities that can rival the few but classic works that Lee managed to put out. The film sees Bruce Li in Green Hornet mode (but also doning some truly heinous alternate super hero wear late in the film) trying to save his girlfriend and father from thugs on the hunt for a secret formula.

Independent and totally low-budget, one thing director Chia Chun clearly hasn't grasped is the tool of tightening up a film. Instead he stretches the most common things such as walking and driving to ludicrous lengths just to get his film up to 80 minutes and to top it all off, the only potentially saving grace, the fight action, is sluggish and generally sloppy. However, Bruce Lee Against Supermen is a whole lot of fun as it's ripe for tearing apart Mystery Science Theater 3000 style-style. Among the hokey highlights is a female cat fight and the supermen of the piece that are a bunch of lethal, laughing circus clowns. Priceless. Leung Fei (now widely knows as Master Betty from Kung Pow: Enter The Fist) co-stars.

When the filmmakers behind what was reportedly during production called The Stranger realized that they had an inept film and a genuine turkey of a martial arts actioner on their hands, they decided to capitalize on the wave of films featuring Bruce Lee copies (aptly named Bruceploitation). A completely unrelated and illogical opening was shot, featuring Bruce Lee (or a white guy in jeans rather) being resurrected during a thunderstorm and then The Stranger opens, a film not in any way whatsoever related to the shameful phenomenon known as Bruceploitation (the English dubbers now and again reminds us of the fact that we're supposed to think it's a Bruce Lee movie by dubbing in the famous war cries).

Featuring a Korean actor credited as Bruce K. L. Lea, he admittedly got a few nice moves and the movie is hokey fun at certain points. The fun lasts very briefly though and Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave becomes more and more a chore to get through. It still remains entertaining when examining the behind the scenes information alone and that opening is something else in terms of low points.

Trivia note: sources claim Umberto Lenzi (director of Cannibal Ferox and Eaten Alive) directed this, something that probably is difficult to believe yet it hasn't been confirmed either. Even the name Bert Lenzi occasionally appear when researching the film.

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A confident production that puts captions such as "Dragon Films Co. Masterpiece" and "Super Star Bruce Le" in its opening credits, the martial arts/treasure hunt adventure directed by its Bruceploitation star doesn't convince it has the right stuff to escape the genre hole it's deep, deep in. While an international flavour is added via Western and Phillipino actors that takes up more space than Le himself, all this senseless talk and no excess spells doom for this venture. Because Bruce The Super Hero has evidence pretty early on that it shouldn't compete so why not let us have fun by watching Bolo Yeung fight a bull...or something? Luckily for us, he actually does but this requisite behaviour is far too infrequent for the film to be loved by those in the know. The dubbing comes with some hilarious delivery at points though, the yellow track suit makes a random appearance, the worst stock music possible is employed and Kong Do employs snake style fighting at the end by having a snake head appear on his arm but content mentioned is still overall overshadowed by incompetence for even this sub-genre of the genre.

A zany cast of characters comes and goes in Yuen Woo-Ping's recognizable genre piece but outstanding kung-fu overall erases some of the pitfalls The Buddhist Fist experiences along the way. Starring Yuen-Shun-Yi as Ah Shang who searches for his missing godfather (Cheung Hei) but stumbles upon a stock plot, Yuen Woo-Ping had 4 seminal and extremely noteworthy films under his belt at this point. It's still the casting of Shun-Yi that prevents the film from reaching the heights Snake In The Eagle's Shadow and The Magnificent Butcher did. He is sincere and a likeable enough hero for the film (and less annoying compared to Dance Of The Drunk Mantis) but the film can't gain as much status in the light of Jackie and Sammo's presences in said films. It's perhaps a trifle unfair to compare but many other parts of The Buddhist Fist are hugely enjoyable despite. Your tolerance for mugging and low-brow comedy will be put to the test here and Yuen Woo-Ping for our pleasure populates the film with perverts, stuttering men with birdcages, police conducting animal court, pale faced hunchback assassins and more. All colliding quite jarringly with some slightly more serious tones later in the piece. It all foreshadows the full on insanity of The Miracle Fighters and Shaolin Drunkard and these are fun times to go along with the tragic ones.

As far as choreography goes, the Yuen's can't make all of the choreography within the skits work as smoothly as the subsequent Dreadnaught showed it can but largely Yuen Shun-Yi and Tsui Siu-Ming lead the frame with awesome skill. Performing the direction with the utmost clarity and speed, their double act is classic with a capital C and shows Yuen Woo-Ping's magic at its very best. Fan Mei-Sheng, Simon Yuen (in a variation of the Sleeping Wizard character Chin Yuet-Sang made popular in Last Hurrah For Chivalry), Peter Chan Lung, Yuen Cheung-Yan and Lee Hoi Sang also appear. Tai Seng's dvd includes multiple Chinese tracks and an English dub but omits any kind of subtitles.

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You initially think Bullet For Hire is going to be a cops vs. assassins movie, with Elaine Lui at center for the former crowd but director Yuen Chun Man turns almost completely away and goes the route of staying with the gangsters instead. Since this is not a particularly deep exploration of brotherhood and loyalty, the choice of "siding" with the outlaws seems ill-fitted. Then again, if you want your Hong Kong gunplay movies fair and balanced, you really shouldn't be watching anything out of the genre explosion in the 80s and 90s. Yuen Chun Man does have enough knowledge about what sells and while the gunplay isn't stylistically great, he really bathes the screen in blood. Not even the smallest ones are spared from neck breaks, chainsaws and the crew loaded up a good chunk of blood for the frequent squib effects as well. It attempts certain things, poorly, but Bullet For Hire delivers its selling points dependently. One note of acknowledgement I do want to point out is the inclusion of comedy that for once fits the situations rather than being tacked on and exaggerated as per usual. That is until some of the black humour enters, then it's the ill-fit again... Also starring Simon Yam, Jacky Cheung, Lo Lieh and Dick Wei.