While it's easy to proclaim there's something not quite satisfactory about Cheung Chi-Sing's (I Wanna Be Your Man!) comedy-drama, the story of impotent cab driver Man Cheung's (usually annoying Dayo Wong) adventures within a triangle of lust/love and art goes quite the creative bit in terms of portraying facets of sex. After being part of a Farrelly Brother's movie during the first few reels, Man Cheung's vacation to Lamma Island means further acquaintances with his trusted customer Man (Liz Kong), lesbian bar owner Billie (Ada Choi) and just plain out there husband of Man's, Tung (Cheung Tat-Ming). Acting as a righteous, nice guy, the triangle he finds himself in is encouraged to be by wacky Tung who sees it as his dream to have a free for all lust and love relationship even though Billie was Man's lover at one time. Enter an island cop (Pauline Suen) on the busy stage, who sets out to cure good guy Man Cheung...

Major tangents of life contemplating, musings on sex and how longing will disrupt a desired structure to love, it's sex vs. heart and soul in quite the bizarre package as presented by Cheung Chi-Ming. He goes deep in his exploration no doubt but these characters aren't particularly mapped out to cohere all the way through. Especially Cheung Tat-Ming's Tung who is a peculiar number that is hard to pin down. It doesn't seem particularly illogical to cast comedy actor Cheung Tat-Ming then and Dayo Wong handles himself adequately too. Ada Choi dominates the show though, oozing sex, desire and remains the sole, clear cut character material director Cheung squeezes out of Love & Sex Among The Ruins. Vincent Kok and Lee Lik-Chi appear in cameo roles.

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Jeff Lau has proven he can score with wacky comedy but turning his attention to romance equals complete disaster. Love And The City sees small time hoodlum Wu (Leon Lai) being let out of prison only to get entangled with the law again and meet the women of his dreams. Fate plays Jo Jo (Wu Chien-Lien) in his hands but also unluck in the form of a corrupt police force looking to pin a murder on Wu...

Lau asks cinematographer Arthur Wong to bathe certain sections in blue for some reason and doesn't make a convincing case of the true love present between his leads. Leon Lai and Wu Chien-Lien on top of it all doesn't even strike up minor chemistry while narrative choices such as rampant voice over, melodramatic high gear amplified by a constant weepie score and a subplot involving a pager call center becomes absurdities with Lau at the helm. The film does resemble a fantasy for all the wrong reasons with primarily Lau living his, thinking this is how you make passable drama. Ng Man-Tat in a dramatic act is a welcome choice but neither he or an automatically radiant Wu Chien-Lien can't outshine the inept material at hand.

Silly soap opera and Category III softcore porn tactics interspersed with Wayne The Sorcerer having wild sex in his sorcerer like, smokey bedroom. Yes, it's a gloriously cheap time for lovers of crap cinema but expecting little is the correct tuning for Love Chaser so there's plenty of unintentional fun to be had. Mrs. Leung (Siu Yam-Yam) has and is prostituting her daughters Shun Shun (Ruby Wong but not the PTU supporting actress) and Jo Jo (the luscious Amy Wong, often shot very well) and in this convoluted mess there is also movie star (but in Category III films) Yung (Foo Wai-Kei) in love with Shun Shun but also drawn to Jo Jo. The vicious mom does her best to favour only herself financially, something that proves to be tough in a slumping stock market and then there's Wayne The Sorcerer appearing every now and again. It's fairly fast movie crap with a capital C but it has a plethora of funny scenes including involuntary groping during the in the film movie shoot (a notion the director is the main cheerleader for), perverted glass-eyed customers with a penchant for wearing Mickey Mouse-ears during sex and a tedious triangle of love chasing that is often amusing in its poor ways. Also watch out for snot during the melodramatic finale, porno score galore and some supernatural shenanigans pretty much out of nowhere.

Triad boss Siu (Simon Yam) gets out of prison only to find out that his wealth and power has been diminished. While a group of loyal followers is still around, Siu in the end decides to start a from scratch and does so by helping and eventually marrying the debt ridden Ching (Cecilia Yip). Escaping the triad world where he's left permanent scars proves to be difficult though...

Ivan Lai and Lai Gai Keung takes on the redemption theme, one certainly worth examining but in the end only goes slightly humane and affecting places. Initial fresh chemistry between the stars help keep the drama buoyant but Love, Guns & Glass more or less becomes traditional genre fodder for the majority of the time. The Lai's take their story to such over the top levels that the romance angle actually turns awfully bizarre at points. Basically, the filmmakers know how to pound but not how to stroke gently and emotions therefore runs so high that it kills off any such investment from the viewer.

What Love Guns & Glass therefore is, is watchable, violent action cinema and it for sure delivers the goods. The action, directed by Phillip Kwok, is very intense and well-staged with the gore landing on quite extreme levels. Elements of sadism also rears its head, which is no surprise considering Ivan Lai was coming off Category III nastiness such as Daughter Of Darkness. Roy Cheung, Farini Cheung, Chin Ho (sporting quite bad prosthetic scar makeup) and Mark Houghton also appear.

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Things doesn't bode well when the main credits of Love In Sampan are scored to a low-grade Love Boat-esque-theme and not so surprisingly, things quickly derail from here in this Cat III rated erotic drama.

The problem is that director On has set out to do drama and while the themes of love and the unfair despair that comes with it is well-meaning on paper, On isn't armed with paper, budget or acting, resulting in an effort that reeks. Love In Sampan did of course come out during the heyday of Cat III exploitation filmmaking and many efforts certainly were close to the low quality of this one. Most of the time, others resorted to being uniquely Hong Kong though, which did at least produce some form of charm and fun. Love In Sampan intended to be respectable however. A respectable choice, not a respectable final result.

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Patrick Tam's second movie after debuting with the excellent swordplay drama The Sword (1980), Love Massacre details a quartet of characters and how breakup can lead to bloody consequences. Louie (Charlie Chin) breaks up with Joy (Tina Lau who was apparently the assistant director on the film as well) and in her distraught mood, she attempts suicide. Friend Ivy (Brigitte Lin) steps in as mother and angel during this time, trying to support and nurse Joy back to health. She even calls Joy's brother Chiu Ching (Chang Kuo-Chu - Lust For Love Of A Chinese Courtesan) but progress in Joy seems distant. Meanwhile Ivy falls Chiu Ching and shortly afterwards Joy dies in a car accident. Chiu Ching seems to change and even doctors wanted to call in Joy and Chiu Ching for fear of both their mental state. On cue, Chiu Ching snaps and his obsession with Ivy inreases...

Initially feeling very arty, static and slow, it's a tool used by Tam to increase tension bit by bit and he's rewarded as well as rewarding audiences. Shots are distant, static but very deliberately composed (there's often vertical lines present in the environments, symbolism or not... it looks striking) and strong colours break up the otherwise dominating white to striking effect (especially when red is introduced). A trippy soundtrack and the escalation to scary stalker thriller largely works (even though the stalker part feels like a tired horror convention) but via Brigitte Lin's character Tam infuses Love Massacre with depth. Her reasoning and angelic characteristics will live long after the viewing has stopped and I've not even mention how she absolutely absorbs the frame with her beauty. BUT... not at the expense of the movie. Patrick Tam isn't that stupid. Blink and you'll miss her, Ann Hui appears in a small cameo. Largely filmed in San Francisco.

The classic underdog story in the hands of Stephen Chow expectedly goes some insane places with also splendid comedic results. Chow is well in tune with both a low key delivery as well as broader hysterics and while some jokes lean towards repetition from earlier films, Chow is simply a master of making the repetitive silliness work wonders each time. Flaws do exist as the romantic angle with Christy Chung is relatively uninteresting but director Lee Lik-Chi knows what the main focus should be; the comedic duo of Chow and Ng Man-Tat running wild. Love On Delivery may sound underwhelming when I say it's just like many other Stephen Chow efforts of the time but believe me, that's a great, big compliment and a sure sign of quality. Was Jim Davies, creator of Garfield, ever given royalties for this film by the way? Co-starring is Lee Lik-Chi, Ben Lam, Wong Yat-Fei, Vincent Kok, Paul Chun with cameos by Billy Chow, Lam Suet and Jacky Cheung.

Detailing innocent Yu Lan's rise to the position of power hungry and ruthless Empress Dowager through the eyes of Wong Jing and Andrew Lau, usually lead Chingmy Yau is fitting for a cheap production from Wong Jing. However this epic tale requires something else, an actual actress and Wong must've cast based on old set in stone routines. Because the movie hinges on Yau's portrayal and while she does perform the beats, she's several miles off embodying a character in any kind of interesting way. The naive, innocent Yu Lan is a forced image and so is the cold Empress Tzu Hsi. Initially a fairly interesting and clear look at the routines and the silly regulations in the imperial palace, Yu Lan is brought in as a concubine for Emperor Hsien Feng (Yu Rong-Guang) and is lucky enough to be chosen for the night at one point. However since the emperor isn't happy afterwards, his servants literally beat the sperm out of Yu Lan. A true moment maybe but a very Wong Jing one too. Which brings us to the point when Lover Of The Last Empress works. These select few moments of sex, the aftermath as described and harsh violence transforms the classy surroundings into something entertainingly shameless. But Andrew Lau and Wong Jing think they are being more important than that and downhill the flick goes when concerning itself with Yu Lan's descent into evil and the historical power struggles that goes along with it. Zero interest and even the expensive frame isn't made particularly noteworthy despite Lau himself being the cinematographer. Viewing is based on the extended Taiwan version running 115 minutes while the original Hong Kong version clocks in at 95 minutes approximately. Also with Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Valerie Chow, Yvonne Yung, Kingdom Yuen, Chan Kwok-Bong, Lau Shun, Teresa Ha and Ku Feng.

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Carina Lau's character dreams of being a hostess, becomes one and also gets fulfillment in the excitement stakes when she gets involved with a gang of swindlers. Falling in love with one of the members (Tony Leung Ka-Fai), she might actually be the victim of the group's tactics...

With a foot in most genres conceivable in a modern, urban setting, Jacky Pang's film doesn't quite amount to anything largely despite a stunning Carina Lau on screen. Annoyance is a factor due to many facets registering as limp but during the last half hour the film picks up some steam when concentrating to a larger degree on action (choreographed by Yuen Cheung-Yan). Featuring what seems like a stylistic choice of having blood spurt onto the camera lens, main highlight is a nifty garage park fight and shootout capped by a hairy stunt possibly performed by Tony Leung himself. None of this adds up to any thematic closure but there's evidence of a lighthearted caper comedy that would've benefited from coming to life much earlier. Pauline Wong's supporting role as a tough as nails cop should've had a spin-off movie. Has terrific written all over it. Also with Kenneth Tsang, Vincent Wan and Anita Lee.