Rival swordsmen battle for supremacy once in the past and again 3000 years later in the modern age. Simple yet somehow extremely muddled with no skills to conjure up viewer commitment, Midnight Conjure (aka Fatal Umbrella) is the kind of new wave Wuxia emulation the likes of Tsui Hark wouldn't be threatened by.

Reportedly a Taiwan production (with added star power in the form of Carrie Ng and a brief appearance by Lam Ching Ying), any time high flying action is carried out, there's a sense on director Mo Keung-Bong's behalf that he wants to keep proceedings as clear and flowing as possible. However he left out rhythm and energy from the equation so it's rather embarrassing to watch this wire-fu xerox, even though Hong Kong cheapies of this kind could very well fare as bad. Only minute recommendation of Midnight Conjure goes out to those Lam Ching Ying fans who wants every piece of footage with the man. Can't say I blame you.

Terribly uninteresting hostess melodrama by David Lai (Possessed, Saviour of The Soul). Getting no distinction out of his main casting of Kitty Chan and Ng Man Ling, the film portrays the usual rise, fall and the ones you take with you on the way down. It's done with such disinterest that you comes to a point where you wish Lai will screw his characters over (and he does to a certain extent), just so that our attention can be held just for a small amount of time. Another lackluster script by Johnny Mak and Stephen Shiu and even when having the a dynamite cast for the similar genre entry Moon, Stars & Sun, they provided no distinction whatsoever. Midnight Girls only notable trait is a feature debuting Francis Ng in a supporting role.

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Depressing drama but dedicated directing from Michael Mak (Sex and Zen) and David Lai (Saviour of The Soul) makes many of the quite evil events towards the main characters immersing, valid cinema. Josephine Koo (A Fishy Story) plays a strict mother that has her daughter kidnapped by her Chinese mother in-law (Mama Hung). While in China, the kid gets swept away by the political times, losing her grandma in the process and ended up being an outcast without much of an identity. Meanwhile the mother's long quest to find the daughter pays off and the reunion becomes a fact (in teenage form, the daughter is essayed by Moon Lee of Angel fame) but there's scarring underneath that prevents the relation from blossoming..,

An epic lasting 90 minutes, Mak and Lai manages to somehow not only make things clear as to where we might be in the timeline, make further tear in the characters as we move through the rough eras but also created is fairly immersing family drama that doesn't rely on the biggest melodramatic outbursts either. Josephine and Moon's characters are realistic snapshots, despite the overabundance of poor luck launched at them. A choice that as always kills a movie for many but this push into the dark fates of characters is at times needed. It's especially welcome when it's executed surprisingly well. No classic and the director's rightly dabbled in other genres but it's an interesting footnote nonetheless. Wong Chi-Keung co-stars.

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From an era when the Yuen clan churned out a handful of supernatural comedy romps, The Miracle Fighters fits nicely into the equation although it's not as mad as Shaolin Drunkard for instance. Concerning squabbles and battles between sorcerers, director Yuen Woo-Ping probably does present practices that are no laughing matter and does have a footing in reality but obviously the film has a sense of fun towards it all. So much so that Westerners will probably be a bit turned off by the relentless broad comedy and constant mugging of lead Yuen Yat Chor as the pupil in training. The odd couple double act by Yuen Cheung Yan and Leung Kar Yan is highly memorable though and throughout the Yuen clan offers up plenty of creative scenarios with relatively little martial arts blended in. The finale in particular set at the Sorcerer's Championship sees Yuen fire on all wacky and creative cylinders, while giving real snakes a little bit of a hard time again (also see Snake In The Eagle's Shadow). Yuen does not seem overly concerned with narrative though and the film seems to brush over Yuen Yat Chor's training quite a bit in favour of other shenanigans. Sunny Yuen plays the Bat Sorcerer while Eddy Ko and Huang Ha also appear. Believe it or not but in a twisted way, the late Simon Yuen also gets in the cast.

Yuen Cheung Yan puts in a cameo appearance as the same character in Stephen Chow's Forbidden City Cop plus he would go on to have dual roles in Shaolin Drunkard as both the titular drunkard and the granny sorcerer of The Miracle Fighters.

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Lively and cheap Taiwanese Wuxia that initially thinks of itself way too highly but repents during the final reels. Pearl Cheung (the all round creative force on Wolf Devil Woman) stars as a poor girl obeying her mother's last dying wish of looking up the secrets of her fate. Taken in by friendly swordsmen (among others by Chung Wa who plays a character who doesn't like getting his white robe dirty) and taught to be a flying swordsgirl, much time of director Fong Ho's narrative is devoted to poor melodrama and passages of dialogue concerning Pearl's trail towards what turns out to be the SUUUUPER-surprising notion of revenge. The positives in Fong's frame are strangely moody indoor-sets and an all out unleashing of the character Pearl turns into: The Flower Of Revenge! The varied landscapes (including snow and a fight at the edge of a waterfall), a certain energy to the often only averagely realized flying feats and even outrageous gore can be found deep down in the package too as our heroine carries The Bowel Cutting Blade! The final, ferocious fight is set in a cave lit in red and containing a fiery pit so it's by this point the timid title Miraculous Flower is forgotten and some cheap entertainment can be found featuring one of martial arts cinema's sole female behind the scenes creators in the form of Pearl Cheung. Gua Ah-Leh and Wang Hsieh also appear.

Although known as Wolf Devil Woman 3 (Pearl's own directed Matching Escort made the year after was also known as Wolf Devil Woman 2), Joseph Lai's IFD also distributed the film in English under the title Phoenix The Ninja. Not totally inappropriate but there's only a brief appearance by one in the original movie. Compared to the subtitled Ocean Shores version, it also has an additional scene early between Pearl Cheung and Gua Ah-Leh, totaling 6 minutes or so. Knowing the Ocean Shores track record, this scene (as well as the more graphic gore cut from IFD's edit) might as well be in their laserdisc version that doesn't have any subtitles.

A Yuen Woo-Ping movie tapping into modern culture full speed ahead. 80s culture that is and what might've been considered hip then is seriously dated today. Yet, it's a charming mix not as much due to the plethora of bad clothing, break dancing and hairdos but because this is wild 80s Hong Kong cinema. All over the place and barely plotted, Mismatched Couples wins you over for the moment due to the merging of the setting and performer's skills such as Donnie Yen's. Dick Wei is also very funny as an eager fighter but director Yuen never injects any danger into the film despite a final duel between him and Yen. In a supporting role, Woo-Ping himself actually is very likeable or completely annoying depending on who you are, causing harm to himself in pretty much every scene.

It's lighthearted and irrelevant to the max and Mismatched Couples is stuck in time. Mostly in a good way though if you're looking at it from the Hong Kong cinema perspective. I doubt any performer's would want to return to the fashion statement made here though. Also with May Lo, Wong Wan Si and Kenny Perez.

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Universally acclaimed after Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, writer/director Lu Chuan's debut feature The Missing Gun is a decidedly different beast, yet the equivalent of a talent making unique imprints on the cinema scene. Directed partially with a hyperactive sense, both in the visual- and audio field, as we follow cop Ma Shan's (Jiang Wen) quest for his missing gun, we're treated to a genre mish-mash. The rural community has its share of dopey and seedy characters and Ma Shan along the way unearths much about himself in the various confrontations. Past and current demons manifest themselves, heading towards a boiling point where the film takes a step down to reveal it's really a quiet journey for the lost man. However hard that sounds to take seriously, Lu Chuan gets fine affection out of the story after the welcome assaults. Ning Jing (Divergence, Set To Kill) appears briefly.

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Whodunit, murder mystery with 57 plot twists that means it doesn't have to follow logic, Stephen Yip (I Love Miss Fox, Mad Stylist and co-star of Disciples Of Shaolin) has a Joey Wong as Yan the abused wife of Alex Man's Cheong. After he goes missing, an investigation is launched but all of a sudden Cheong's back, making Yan doubt her sanity. But secrets and jealousy will trigger murders by a masked killer...

One of those rare ventures in suspense by a Hong Kong filmmaker (also see David Chung's excellent Web Of Deception), some nicely designed cinematography and flirts with slasher territory makes one raise an eyebrow or two but the fact that Missing Man decides to do whatever it wants, feature clearly told but ultimately not rewarding twists along the way just makes it stand out as yet another in the long line of made up on the spot-flicks (tac that on occasion generated classics). Yip's final revelation does nothing for effect although during this climax, and a few times before in the flick, the level of vicious and grisly behaviour increases to make Missing Man watchable in pieces. Lead Wong neither embarrasses or furthers herself while Alex Man presents some well-honed instincts in his critical role. Walter Tso appears in his well established Inspector gear while Carrie Ng and Leon Lai supports.

TROY'S REVIEW: Although infamous for their cut & paste ninja product, Joseph Lai and company at IFD Arts & Distribution had been utilizing the decidedly unscrupulous 'splicing' technique of lazy, cheap bastard filmmaking for quite some time prior. The film in question is an example of one of their earlier works and also happens to be one of a whole batch of films produced by the company to incorporate the title 'Thunderbolt'. Of course, this being Joseph Lai's IFD, the title bears absolutely sod all to do with the film's content. Nonetheless, despite non existent production values, hopeless acting, abysmal overdubbing and a completely nonsensical 'plot', the film nonetheless turns out to be hugely entertaining on account of how truly terrible it is. Indeed, this gloriously unhinged entry boasts such scenes as a woman being tortured by being pulled around a beach in a lobster trap, a machete wielding madman in a zombie mask chasing around a hapless woman in a busy street whilst no one around even bats an eyelid and a rather fascinating scene in which our hero employs an ingenious interrogation technique on a female assassin utilizing an oil drum, a rat and a cat! To top it all off, none other than Philip Ko stars as the main bad guy (who else?!)