The Category III rating may have had an impact profit-wise but audience still turned out dependably, making Fist Of Fury 1991 another hit for Stephen Chow. Aside from the very funny reworking's of the classic funeral and "we are not sick men"-scenes from Bruce Lee's Fist Of Fury, this 1991 version bares little resemblance. It's all in the now established nonsense comedy style of Chow's which in this movie still relies on many verbal gags but good doses hilarious universal humour as well. Watch out for a truly disgusting spitting duel between Chow and Kenny Bee, Chow doning the famous Mark gear from A Better Tomorrow and some very funnily staged fight action by Corey Yuen.

Speaking of that, viewers might be quite uncomfortable during the finale as it's almost exclusively dark and turns incredibly Raging Bull-esque violent at times. When it then turns to comedy again, the contrast is tough to accept but it's a minor niggle as Fist Of Fury 1991 is a satisfying Stephen Chow vehicle from the early days. My favourite days of his. Corey Yuen, Cheung Man, Shing Fui On, Woo Fung and Vincent Wan co-stars while Ng Man Tat appears in a cameo that connects the worlds of Fist Of Fury 1991 and All For The Winner.

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An interesting footnote in martial arts movie history concerns the making of Fist Of Unicorn (aka The Unicorn Palm). Conceived as a vehicle for Bruce Lee's long time friend, the late Unicorn Chan, reportedly producers had said to Chan that if he could get Bruce Lee into the movie, he would have himself a starring role. Bruce did indeed agree to support the project by coming onto the set to direct the action and to promote the film. However the film crew secretly filmed Bruce on the set and ended up integrating the footage into the storyline in addition to marketing Fist Of Unicorn as a Bruce Lee film. Whether Unicorn knew of this plan or not is unclear but it definitely put a strain on the soon to end friendship with Lee's untimely demise so close. Legal actions were taken but I haven't been able to figure out whether or not a settlement was made since the proceedings were interrupted when Bruce died.

That's about as interesting as it gets aside from the fact that the Mandarin version presented on VideoAsia's dvd doesn't have any of the poorly inserted shots of Bruce Lee or the backstory to Unicorn's character where these reside. It was clearly once part of the print (as evident by a brief shot of the Chinese/English subtitles on the English version during Lee's segment) otherwise we wouldn't have had this ruckus.

Outside of all this, Fist Of Unicorn remains poorly plotted and made with Unicorn Chan being all too wooden to be sold as the great, new martial arts hero. Points of interest turn up through young Mang Hoi's energetic performance and Whang In Sik's glorious kicking skills gets a fine showcase. Finally, Bruce's action directing is felt as selected fights are razor sharp in the to the point-way that he employed.

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Newly arrived in town, San (Gordon Liu) is seeking family heirlooms in possession of his former housekeeper, a master of disguise (Lo Lieh). Employing two local men looking to gain a little from helping out, the hunt is on...

Mixing Lau family trademark action, creative scenarios and comedy grinding the movie to a halt, Fists And Guts survives on its selling aspect quite well when all is said and done. Scenarios involving weapons fighting, quiet fighting and a scene at an island inflicted with leprosy, capping it off with a tricky, steel pole entrance into Lo Lieh's chamber gets Fists And Guts its thumbs up where it matters as the Lau's (Lau Kar-Leung co-choreographed the action) let loose in enthralling ways as usual.

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Starring and directed by Ho Chung-Tao (otherwise known as Bruce Li), here's yet another poor Bruceploitation that completely misunderstood that by avoiding the obvious Bruce Lee references you automatically was a clever filmmaker. Case in point, Ho directs a dull cops and gangsters story, with himself playing a cocky agent infiltrating one gang while others are out to do something else too. Yes, I stopped caring early and when we don't get any relentless, shameless, attempts at echoing the Little Dragon's legacy, the film stands on its own and feels completely embarrassed. And it should, despite one good fight scene at a playground, the theme from Live And Let Die and the actual James Bond-theme rearing its head as well as a Bond-esque villain weaponry turning up in Lo Lieh's hands. Or rather, his hand is suddenly on a chain while squaring off with Li. Extremely minor tangents of fun, otherwise Fists Of Bruce Lee is a torture consisting of poor dubbing galore that has no chance reaching the all important area (and the only area where these efforts could compete) of fun.

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Co-produced by King Hu acting regular Hsu Feng, early images of the young girls dressed in red having hung themselves is a terrific, eerie start to trigger curiosity. And for a while, Yeh Hung-Wei (Home In My Heart) paints a tragic picture of some of these girls as they are stuck with tradition, village superstition and darkness that gets inflicted on either them or their friends. It's all very episodic, questionable in terms of the film deserving its darkness but the starkness combined with a static direction works for at least half a flick. But the difficulty in relating to customs on display and telling the characters apart ultimately makes Five Girls And A Rope outstay its welcome. The journey leading up to the deadly fates has its opportunities to shake you in a low-key way but director Yeh loses us over the course of the 2 hours, despite the final moments leading up to the opening reel shot being quite superbly eerie as well.

Released in Hong Kong as Flirtong Scholar (I'll go out on a limb and say it's a typo), Lee Lik-Chi lets the curtain rise and we're into led very typical Hong Kong nonsense comedy, with the verbal dexterity of lead Stephen Chow at center. Now, Flirtong Scholar is really a perfect example of why Chow's film can't or shouldn't travel. A Western viewer such as myself remains constantly on guard, trying to figure out why over the top behaviour of characters and muddled subtitles are direct references locals would catch onto and hail as comedic scenarios of masterpiece status. Yep, there seems to be a lot of that and Chow never makes a secret that his jokes are going to be Cantonese in nature. Still, I think, and I repeat that... I THINK credit still must go out to the filmmakers for making an ounce of the comedic behaviour and in-joke structure travel to the extent that a Western viewer may think of it as off-beat in an entertaining way. It's problematic if you want it to be.

But there's silliness in the expected UN-expected rapid pace jokes, something Chow rarely has a problem nailing. Add onto that some new wave kung fu action and special effects of the Zu-kind and you've got yourself a local comedy with luggage that does arrive in torn but workable condition when reaching the West. I recommend trying it on. The film also possesses the welcome cast of Gong Li, Cheng Pei-Pei, Gordon Lau, James Wong, Kingdom Yuen, Francis Ng and Leung Kar Yan.

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Having been let go of his job as an employee at the department of public safety, Erroll Babbage (Richard Gere) has been tracking down and following sex offenders to the point where he occasionally turns to assault. Becoming a monster with only enough humanity in him basically. Training his replacement Allison Lowry (Claire Danes), the two go on a hunt for a sex offender in Babbage's registry that might be connected to the case of a missing girl...

Reportedly a troubled production that saw Andrew Lau leaving or being let go off his first English language project before completion, subsequently there was barely any cinema release for The Flock and it's now merely enjoying a fairly obscure dvd life. Also released in different versions in America and Europe (latter adds about 10 minutes and is reportedly more of a director's cut), what's clear is that Lau is back in his harshest territory since 1994's Raped By An Angel. Surprising and a bit intriguing considering Lau's stock was elevated via Infernal Affairs rather than his Wong Jing produced exploitation vehicle. With bearable clichés of a character soon to be retiring, training a new version of himself and being in general burnt out, Lau chooses to romance the trigger happy style of a Tony Scott. It's therefore hyper, constantly manipulated images on display but for the gritty tone setting up the darkness of Babbage's world and mind, it could be argued Lau is on to something here. On to and deserving of a bigger audience for the movie too? Nah. It's competent but standard serial killer fare that evokes the tough surroundings (sex offenders, fetishes, S & M etc) the likes of Se7en brought more masterfully. Even though there's deeper interest via lines with key words such as "... sees the human condition for what it is" and Richard Gere going admirably intense (one of his past cases he deems a failure for himself so hello... redemption-time!), The Flock has trouble differentiating itself literally from the rest of the flock. So therefore when the dust of trouble has settled, this was never going to make a dent on the box office and dvd life is barely keeping it alive. For those of us who are expecting very little with Andrew Lau alone in the director's chair however, the territory covered is beforehand an intriguing prospect but the excitement fades quickly and is soon forgotten. Avril Lavigne appears briefly.

Desperately requesting help and money for his ailing mother, little Erhfutzu receives help from Miss Yun and her company that then moves on. Finding his mother murdered soon thereafter, we cut to Erhfutzu as an adult (Steve Chan), now a swordsman known as Scabbed Tiger and out to revenge the death of his mother. Seeking someone with a particular piece of jade, he finds the one and promptly executes his plan. Bumping into the servant and daughter (Yeung Mung-Wa) of Miss Yun later on, she is grieving the death of her father and as it turns out, it's the victim of Erhfutzu's. Realizing his mistake, he tries to set things as right as possible by going after the right man for his sake and for the sake of Miss Yun's daughter. All while keeping the truth of his actions inside...

Aggressively shot with more than just a nod to Sergio Leone looking at the compositions and music alone, The Fly Dragon Mountain actually lets action mostly play second fiddle to its intriguing twist. Director Chan Hung-Man (The Eight Immortals) captures the torment of Erhfutzu's wrongdoing and despite being a Wuxia piece, Chan maintains an emotional grip on us throughout. It's the main concern. The action is a bit stiff and obviously choreographed but is mesmerizing towards the end when the high flying concept of flying warriors really gets going and Chan's aggressive camera becomes an immersing part as well. Unusual intelligence on display combines quite well with the token swordfighting essentially.