Alex Lui's (George Lam) model girlfriend Peggy (Rosamund Kwan) leaves him and takes his beloved toilet seat with her. Working in advertising himself and feeling distressed, Alex accepts a part time gig as a choir leader. There he meets the not so talented Vivian (Vivian Chow) but things go as far as him casting her voice for a commercial. Then the overprotective, out of touch mother of Vivian, the character of Chu Lai Ngor (Carol Cheng) enters as she fears her daughter is having an affair with Alex. Being fooled by his friends that he's gay initially, the two do start to bond and eventually love is in the air. But Alex not being able to speak his mind during the right time and a clingy ex-girlfriend are two aspects that bring trouble to the relationship...

Shot in synch sound, creating a pleasant atmosphere and getting more than workable chemistry between his leads, Stephen Shin's romantic comedy doesn't break new ground, nor attempts to. It does make Heart To Hearts pretty slight though and Shin's attempts at consciously letting the movie conclude with a few loose ends isn't a fully developed thought. It tracks back to Alex's inability to say the right things at the right time and while admirable to not end the movie predictably, Shin has not stayed very true to his characters come ending time. Elaine Kam is great in a supporting role as Chu Lai Ngor's mouthy friend while Carina Lau, Lowell Lo, Chan Ging, Teddy Yip, Yuen Woo-Ping, Amy Yip, Lawrence Cheng, Michael Chow, Manfred Wong and Dennis Chan also appear.

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Kwong Sun (Joey Wong) enters Hong Kong illegally from China and in order to buy herself time to get an ID, she fakes amnesia. Cop Bon (Chow Yun-Fat) has to look after her, actual truths are revealed and naturally, they fall for each other.

Time to bring in that immortal Anthony Wong quote once again; "We put everything into Hong Kong films except knowledge". Director Norman Law not so gently greets us with immigrants on the run, sadistic torture followed by buddy cop comedy shtick and the eventual romance between Chow Yun-Fat and Joey Wong's characters. Considering the fact that we have a few small plot strands instead of one coherent one makes A Hearty Response a prime suspect for one of those made up as they went along productions. When the running time also offers up a scene of Chow asking a kid to urinate into a man's mouth to see if he's faking unconsciousness, you know you're in typical Hong Kong cinema 80s fare. It's not a charming mix, it's not fun and when Norman Law goes all out for the uncomfortable and violent finale, almost all notions of acceptance goes out the window. Despite, A Hearty Response is a decent watch for fans of either stars as they look great together and the various stunts amidst the action choreography is terrific. Kent Cheng briefly appears as a dim-witted cop.

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Some convoluted nonsense about the girl Fang whose sister dies that then connects to a river goddess that then leads to a war between wizard masters and jewels... the mere curiosity about this low budget black magic movie is the fact that it's a composite of footage the sparse Hong Kong cast & crew shot and an old Thai movie on the same subject. Featuring C-talent from the likes of Witchcraft Vs Curse and Body Lover full on or barely interacting with the original movie (that has significantly lower quality source material, making the cutting back and forth very easy to spot), little fun energy is present aside from footage from the Thai production where the hero Master Linghuan wrestles with the river goddess that comes in the form of an inanimate mini Loch Ness monster with red bulbs in its eyes. Ed Wood would've been proud.

Small time hoodlum Stallone (Nick Cheung) is the witness to a massacre on other small time hoodlums and is also in the possession of money the killer wants. Sgt. Bruce Lee or Y2K (Danny Lee) is assigned the case and is to drag Stallone with him wherever he goes, including home to marriage trouble...

A forced style and poor synch sound recording dominates early but on his own, Nick Cheung scores a little every now and again by tuning his performance to the situation rather than acting outside of it. The fact that he says he watches over all McDonalds restaurants and is the poor victim of a guess the song-game is a testament to slight amusement that comes out of Aman Chang's direction. When paired up 48 Hours-style with Danny Lee, both characters with silly names will get their respective "I learned something today"-moments but duo also produces workable chemistry. It's done on shoestring but far less annoying than it should've been. Helena Law Lan co-stars as Stallone's very socially active and deceptive mom.

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KENNETH'S REVIEW: The veteran cinematographer turned director Lam Gwok-Cheung once more misfires under Golden Harvest (another dud being Mr. BIG). Although lead Ma Man-Ngai presents an unusual strong female heroine, this gangster actioner with some twists, turns, deception and way too many uninteresting characters is a fully forgettable entry in the Golden Harvest catalogue. It seems to be simple enough yet is complex beyond human logic and although the pole vaulting scene out of the ring of fire spices things up briefly, it's indeed briefly.

A trilogy of short stories, containing farce-takes on love and sex, all starring a mostly unbearable Lo Yuen. In "Till We Meet Again", he's a playboy who makes a bet with his friends (one played by Karl Maka) that he will score with a particular beauty within 24 hours. The poor man's Michael Hui in the form of lead Lo goes to work by assaulting and trying to drug the victim of his bet. Some bad taste rears its head indeed and not an ounce of humour, much of which can be applied to the second 30 minute skit "Heart On Her Undies" as well. Here Lo is a race horse broadcaster with women lining up to bed him and his heart-undies. One scene sees Lo basically raping one of the women as someone off-screen is instead describing how to deal with a pig. This bad taste coupled with penis jokes and a Benny Hill emulated score, doesn't fly. Reportedly John Woo handled the last segment called "Little Men's Big Hopes" and here things start to finally get good and bearable. Lo Yuen plays a husband under strict control of his wife and he decides to hire an assassin to kill her. Lo chooses to set the traps himself and of course this backfires. Many surreal tangents and Lee Hoi-Sang as the deranged, very braindead assassin gets this often black and exaggerated short deserved laughs. Lo Yuen is now a bearable poor man's Hui and echoes of what was to come in Woo's filmography can be picked up upon if you will. Such as guns being hidden in pots and the general dark tone to the comedy that become a huge tangent of From Riches To Rags.

Having so much wrong with it yet succeeding fairly well, it's that pesky Hong Kong multi-mood cinema working its magic again for those who can accept such an attack on the senses. Blending clownish comedy, romance, ghost story with a rape revenge thriller, Jamie Luk's (The Case Of The Cold Fish) film is as light as it sounds and as dark as it sounds. Thankfully. May (a smokin' and dedicated Anita Lee) is a prostitute with both a sick mother (Helena Law) and son to look after. After being raped and accidentally killed by a group of construction workers (William Ho, Peter Chan Lung, Kwai Chung and James Ha), her ghostly self takes over the phone lines to execute revenge. All while her neigbour, cop Ma (Lau Ching-Wan) worries about his own romantic exploits and now the well being of May's mother and son...

When it succeeds, the low budget atmosphere actually manages to go the dark, foreboding and felt places it wants to. It's a joy to root for May as she viciously gets even. Before we're prepared for the mixture however, it's almost nauseating getting slapped in the face with the clownish (more like retarded) antics of Lau Ching-Wan's co-workers while being faced with the darkness where Anita Lee really gets abused to hell and back (literally). Even gay-jokes are areas Jamie Luk happily engages in but Hello! Who Is It? eventually benefits from the main story focus which makes the dedication to create that particular mood pay off in exciting ways. William Ho is deliciously evil while Derek Yee and Ivy Leung appear in cameos.

It's sad to see expected familiarity taking such a nosedive in quality. Hong Kong horror and comedy mixed together quite often meant a few minutes of film would be fast paced and contain a unique Eastern sensibility/creativity to remember (and therefore earning the movie a place in a collection). No such thing in Yuen Cheung-Yan's Police Academy emulation Hong Kong style with a twist of The Haunted Cop Shop II, only minus the talents of Jeff Lau. With an intriguing, pixilated still on the back of the dvd, this seems to promise some nastiness eventually at the end of the rainbow but after trainees (such as Sandra Ng, Billy Lau, Charlie Cho and Andy Hui) womanize, play around, get disciplined by Wu Fung etc, director Yuen begins to showcase what an empty tank he's got. Whenever there's possession, animated special effects and the likes, the usually dependable Hong Kong cinema has no energy to offer up to salvage what's been ruined by the often intolerable skits prior. You'll remember a frame or two such as Charlie Cho biting Andy Hui's nipples and a commendable fire stunt at the end. But no brisk energy or nastiness as promised surfaces. Just another sad, forgettable copy of a copy of a copy. Also with Walter Tso and Kingdom Yuen as the ghost.

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One of if not THE finest hour for extraordinary comedienne Carol Cheng, the performance here as a highly patriotic Mainland Chinese security officer Cheng Shih Nan earned her the Best Actress statuette at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1991. Alongside her partner (played by director Alfred Cheung), she tries to re-capture an escaped prisoner (Michael Chow) while trying to understand the ways of and co-operate with the Hong Kong police. She strikes up a more deep bond with the officer Kuo (Tony Leung Ka-Fai)...

Injecting a professionalism by the use of synch sound, Alfred Cheung's finer points in the comedic interplay between the Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong characters might not get across but a basic understanding of the different mind sets is enough to appreciate Cheung's funny scenarios here. This includes a political singing match up between the respective sides in the conflict. In this case between Leung's father, played by a terrific Lam Kau and the Mainland duo. Cheng's famous rapid fire delivery gets ample time to shine and she embodies the not so always feminine and dedicated Cheng Shih Nan wonderfully well, even nailing a felt emotional core of the film she shares with straight man Leung. Brewing underneath are serious considerations about why the two sides can't come to terms at this point in time. All well handled and injected into an entertaining package by director Alfred Cheung who also lets Chin Ka-Lok action directing talents speak volumes at appropriate times. Also with Lam Chung, Sunny Fang, Emotion Cheung, Deon Lam, Sai Gwa Paau and Walter Tso (Carol Cheng's real life father).

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Mainland Public Security Officer Cheng (Carol Cheng) returns for more Hong Kong adventures and so did the movie going audiences. Alfred Cheung tampers little with the skit formula that includes the presentation of different rationales in the Mainland and Hong Kong camps plus the portrayal of how communism has not embraced modern aspects such as credit cards. While Cheng's act is largely about repeating same mannerisms from the first film, she brings an infectious aura to even the silliest of comedy. Even when doing the age old fish out of water skits, the tone remains fun. What the film doesn't have are the finer points of Her Fatal Ways that did travel and is obviously very local in intent. Adding Michael Chow as a kung-fu assistant and more of Alfred Cheung's ESP is a recipe for fair success throughout the globe though. Deon Lam handles the small but very welcome pieces of action. Also with Waise Lee, Fruit Chan and Lam Kau, reprising his dead on role.