Released the month before Stephen Chow's definite breakthrough vehicle All For The Winner, this Cosmopolitan production (headed by Shaw Brother's who now has the rights) is very much in the style that is now synonymous with Chow. Despite the inclusion of brutal murder, gunplay and ghosts, much time is devoted on behalf of director Lau Shut Yue (Ghost Fever) to let Chow thoroughly go his silly, outlandish comedic ways. The results are mostly hilarious (save for a few foul, low-brow gags) and really what's missing here, and what was solved in All For the Winner, is Ng Man Tat. Also with Bill Tung, Stanley Fung, Vivian Chan, Sunny Fang and Amy Yip.

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Eric Tsang's first ventures into directing (after having been employed on various behind the scenes gigs in the capacity of stuntman and screenwriter) to this day keep and should be receiving praise. Both The Challenger and The Loot were independent productions but the latter can proudly stand beside any of the studio greats and not be ashamed. Much having to do with Chan Siu Leung's excellent martial arts choreography that also has the advantage of key players having been directed by the great Lau Kar Leung at one point.

Tsang also keeps a rather involved plot afloat quite well and while David Chiang is playing it broad mostly, when he eventually teams up fully with Norman Tsui, the movie gets a lot of momentum and even strays away from the typical comedy of the period to deliver actual wit. Best sequence being the obligatory expository one where the duo struggles to keep a man alive in order for the plot to be AAAALMOST fully exposed. Also starring Phillip Ko, Lily Li and Kwan Yung Moon.

Andy Chin's (Call Girl 92, Love Among The Triad) last movie to date, seemingly shot with a mixed cast in Chinese locations without the use of synch sound. A rare choice considering the filmmaker.

The age of old story of the spoilt, rich boy whose gullibility is exploited and he's reduced to beggar status, Chin starts off with fairly picture-esque visuals but also with an awfully talky, boring narrative. It's only when he thrusts leading man Tse Kwan.Ho (The Mad Phoenix) into the lows he goes through, even experiencing a re-birth first hand in a lot of ways, the film becomes semi-passable. Tony Leung Siu-Hung's action is even good for the brief moments it lasts, times where lead Tse shows the best of his commanding presence. At times off-beat but not overly broad, The Lord of Hangzhou does represent Andy Chin himself having lost something but there's no doubt, his body of work is highly respectable. Also with Waise Lee and Chan Kwok-Bong.

Despite the setting of a male youth prison, Samson Chiu's Lost Boys In Wonderland is at core dead on similar to the likes of Girls In The Hood (especially so since they came out around the same time) but Chiu shows why an actual good filmmaker will nail storybeats much better. Mixing the light with the dark since there exists an extremely thin line for it in regards to his characters, the youths go about their lives flashing the disrespect towards society and family to instead put all their being into loyalty towards their scoundrel brothers. Lam Ming-Lun plays Chi who willingly takes a prison sentence just to be around his big brother but as he's no longer at the same prison, Chi must face the world alone. Redefine his thoughts on society status. Symbolism is strong and valid in Chiu's visuals as they include both multiple shots of heaven and its birds but registers most favorably when featuring a story connected to the comic book character of McDull (Chiu recently directed the 3rd of the feature length adaptations of the little pig's exploits). You pay a debt for clearly going against proper values, take some beating but hopefully come out sunny side up. Chiu is right in underplaying the melodrama of the situation, the darkness and in the end, his varied answers to what fate holds for the characters. To provide hope and darkness is not a bad way to go cinematically. The young cast do fine work, especially otherwise triad character actor Samuel Leung.

James Ha is credited with the story as well as being action director and it doesn't seem wrong to think this is a personal story of his.

Impressive low budget thriller from usual lethal directing weapon Joe Hau, Lost Control is surprisingly and thankfully divided into two stories, making kudos come Hau's way as he doesn't try and stretch either to unbearable lengths. In fact, they are on separate discs of the vcd! Making a Fatal Attraction clone on disc 1 with Bowie Lam in a limp marriage giving in to his urges while drunk, Hau isn't exactly exercising snappy pace but his cast isn't completely dead like in 97' Lan Kwai Fong for instance. Bowie Lam you recognize but it's the ladies getting a gorgeous showcase via veteran cinematographer Venus Keung's eye. It even gives way to decent tension and a freaky twist that is familiar but an eye brow raiser nonetheless.

On disc 2, we see Chow Lui as a make-up person for the dead with past issues and possibly a way too great attachment to her job, something that worries boyfriend Wai (Lam Wai - My Wife's Lover). Quite slow and atmospheric but more importantly sick and depraved, this second story on relationships is a bit too pretentious but survives quite easily on mood and content.

He dabbled in romance, martial arts with a lean towards sadism but in Lost Souls, director Mou Tun-Fei displayed what has been evident in his work after leaving Shaw Brothers: a socially conscious mind willing to showcase the back alleys of human evil, times ten! The narrative here surrounding illegal immigrants from China being tortured and abused by smugglers makes a point. Mou's downfall is that he's already clearly made a point early on and the remainder of the film just goes into extreme overdrive trying to hammer home the message via exploitation elements. Not that he's ever been afraid of doing so or is the first director on the block with these sensibilities but the disgust that is generated doesn't lead into favorable impressions about the filmmaking. This verdict is something I've gathered from Mou's subsequent known output Men Behind The Sun and Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre so I can honestly say it's a shame a conscious mind squanders his opportunities to give the world something to REALLY think about. Chan Shen is one of the only recognizable faces in a lead role.

The hunt is on for Lu Nan-Jen (Tien Peng) as villainous clan Tien Cheng Chao wants to obtain The Fragrant Sword from him. Twists, trickery, personal relationships, treachery... it's a regular time with Wuxia cinema and it's worthy of being disliked. Reportedly originally destined to be a Shaw Brothers production, their prolific writer Ni Kuang did however adapt yet another Ku Long novel that has been squeezed into 90 minutes. With a production knowing being extravagant is a key for this type of fantastical setting, director Lee Ga contributes little else but that as he plows through the twisty, turny plot. Despite trying to favour human interest at points, no interest is created and what The Lost Swordship basically offers up as it gets more muddled is the occasional flash of the genre creativity you would also expect. Best example being a fight in the classical setting of the bamboo forest and it's not a poor echo of A Touch Of Zen either. Outside of these highlight reel type moments, it's doubtful anyone would connect emotionally to the so called tension or the drama. Co-starring Pai Ying and Hu Chin.

Horny dogs want women in a beauty pageant or as the literal translation for Matt Chow's comedy goes "Super Invincible Pursues the Girl", which sums up matters quite nicely but Matt Chow's feature debut is an intolerable mess of over the top wacky antics and unfunny ones at that. The boss and workers at a sushi bar (Nat Chan, Eric Kot and Jerry Lamb) are joined by real estate tycoon Super Ma (Michael Tiu - False Lady) on a trip to Thailand after already pursuing/stalking the contestants of a beauty pageant in Hong Kong. No wonder, some of them are played by Shu Qi and Vivian Hsu. If a satire or parody of some sort was attempted or if Chow wanted to do a cheap throwback to 80s comedies in the vein of My Lucky Stars (again the horny dogs aspect), it all fails gloriously despite the eye candy automatically being good. With no restraint placed on the likes of Eric Kot, Chow lights the fuse and hope that his direction will explode into fireworks of hilarity. The sole laugh comes from the girls discarding their various surgical enhancements in one scene but a laugh like that is followed by the lame inclusion of Lee Kin-Yan (nosepicking transvestite of many Stephen Chow movies) as the transvestite participating and it's indeed all pretty lame. Pretty to look at and intolerable... die hard Shu Qi and Vivian Hsu fans don't even need to bother.

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.

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.