"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.

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.

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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The buddy cop formula taken up to stupid levels but it's a badge writer/director/star Leung Kar-Yan proudly wears on his sleeve. He is Karl Choi who along with partner Ching But-Cam (Eric Tsang) would rather avoid violence and danger in their police work. When Karl receives the message that he has AIDS (probably from a very aggressive, Western prostitute encountered during an police operation), he lets his guard down and becomes a bit of a supercop without anything to lose. From said operation, But-Cam has also befriended prostitute Rose (Veronica Yip) and on the horizon is an encounter with a band of robbers worshipping/getting their guns from Saddam Hussein (!)...

Injecting the required energy and actor-direction to make this silly nonsense fly, Leung also channels a live action cartoon side to his comedy and since he gets everybody to play ball, Bogus Cops never becomes grating amazingly enough. Backed up by a willing cast that includes Johnny Wang, Jamie Luk, William Ho, Chen Kuan-Tai, Melvin Wong, Paul Chun, Shing Fui-On, Yuen Woo-Ping, Ken Tong and Lee Hoi-Sang, Bogus Cops is a a bit of a dare that pans out.

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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Meaningless nonsense in the best possible way, Chu Yen-Ping (Golden Queen's Commando, Island Of Fire) unleashes cops, conmen, children, Japanese gangsters, kids, Yukari Oshima and game stuntmen who all combine in the hunt for a treasure map with gold at the end of the rainbow. Decidedly different in feel compared to a broad Hong Kong product (this is a Taiwanese production and with the director's cartoony stamp on the proceedings), Chu Yen-Ping may not bring the bellylaughs but he keeps annoyance far away from A Book Of Heroes. So decidedly funny in bursts but more so when the terrific action kicks in. With an array of stuntmen taking falls, going through walls and being on board with intricate exchanges, adding a slapstick element within the expertly choreographed fights pay off beautifully. Especially in Laam Sam-Mei's terrific bar fight at the start but it's Yukari Oshima in her debut movie that brings the jaw dropping (despite being doubled) as Yasuaki Kurata's henchwoman. Also with Elsa Yeung, David Tao and Eugene Thomas.

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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.

Now here's a story you don't see everyday, portrayed like this. A Taiwanese fishing village is struck with a disease that makes the men's testicles grow bigger and bigger and bigger (women and their breasts are inflicted too to some degree). Theories are thrown out, such as that it's the anger of the gods due to all the sex going on or that the village has a sanitation problem of sorts. While the medical community continues to ponder, the village quickly loses its fishing status as the men can't physically go out and do the work. Solutions may be on the horizon but since the disease has progressed this far, castration is the only option for those who wishes for the village to prosper again...

A crazy setup with many wacky interludes as well as dark and highly melodramatic ones, director Hsu Chin-Liang indeed juggles many balls in the air but keeps splendid track of each mood the movie employs. Possessing no fear in letting this story go into serious territory, when eventually there, it's not a mockery of drama. Instead it's a full on sincerity attack that talks of how the medical community ultimately uses the little people in this case and the villagers are also drawn apart when faced with the decision of castration. The movie is barely done at this point as it goes deeper and deeper into its examination of the effect this disease will have on life in a larger perspective while also having no problem bouncing into comedic elements on occasion. It's all perfectly pitched humour, used suitably, with subtlety and one shouldn't resist saying that Boss Noballs has balls because such an unexpected, unpredictable gem deserves the pun. With Ma Yue-Fung, Luk Siu-Fan and Chan Chung-Yung.

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