A comment on the lows television goes to to satisfy its audience, it's not a finely tuned view on our times but in this second James Wong/Tommy Wong romp (first being Stooges In Tokyo), the combination of hit/miss silliness equals an entertaining, silly time. James is the host of a dirty jokes show that is a smash but when he threatens to exclude Tommy as credited writer for their upcoming book, the buddies go their separate ways. No longer repressed, Tommy achieves great success utilizing a dirty singer while James is left to his own devices that drains the life out of his audience. Verbal vulgarity, a lot of lame parody and skit-theft (Airplane! and Monty Python being victims although the makers of the former seemingly gets an end credit acknowledgement!), director Chan (Devil's Woman) begins rebounding in the second half thanks to excessive silly behaviour that means a lot actually sticks to the wall. See one of the television bosses scratch his always growing testicles, multiple jokes about Amy Yip's breasts, her choice of vibrators and even when she's sporting a beard, there is something amusing and successful about Otto Chan's straightforward directing. James Wong mostly grates but Tommy Wong is funny and part of a surreal sense Stooges In Hong Kong has as the character for some reason enter different eras wherever he goes at times. Among others appearing are Mimi Chu, writer Vincent Kok and producer Clifton Ko.

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KENNETH'S REVIEW: Also known as Super Man Chu, in the realm of yet another the flick definitely fits but the standard proceedings remains totally watchable despite. We're actually not seeing our heroes during the opening credits but the the vile bad guys that goes on a murder/rape rampage at a local inn. Thankfully an actual hero turns up, the son (Chang Yi) of the murdered family and off he goes on the revenge path. He can make proceedings stormy alright and possessing good eye/hand co-ordination (like so many others in the film, be it when they're using knives or clogging guns by throwing coins from a distance) equals created cinema of the crude but admirably intense kind at times. What's lacking in invention is made by some brief flashes of that intensity and while darkness in this straight effort never registers as truly effective, lead Chang Yi has the chops to carry standards. Some neat, fast paced choreography towards the end involves a samurai and turns out to be the true standout in this department. Also starring Pai Ying.

Despite the English title suggesting so, this ain't a recap of how Simon Yuen's So Hat Yi became the drunken beggar but pretty much your run of the mill kung-fu flick that uses some of its cast members well sporadically. Yuen himself is a mildly fun inclusion especially in the training scenes but it's clear the actor isn't as inspired as when he was directed by his son Yuen Woo-Ping in Drunken Master for instance. Yen Shi-Kwan is his nemesis after revenge and it's pretty much the only story strand you can interpret. The rest is an abstract mess of things that doesn't matter one bit, aside from a funny scene with Sharon Yeung on stage performing acrobatics and Dean Shek trying to sabotage the performance. The final reel has some expressive choreography involving Casanova Wong and Sharon however. Of note is that the director team was behind The Cub Tiger From Kwangtung (Jackie Chan's early starring role, a movie that was re-edited into Master With Cracked Fingers, featuring new footage with Simon Yuen and Dean Shek) and over 50 Wong Fei Hung films (starring Kwan Tak-Hing) respectively.

For Story Of Kennedy Town, parallels can be drawn to the core story of the three friends in Bullet In The Head and perhaps it's no coincidence either as Wu Ma's film premiered just a few months after, with Waise Lee again in a large role. Despite an unnecessary character fate reveal at the beginning, Wu Ma gets respectable mileage and poignancy out of such an expected story covering friendship, honor and law. Performances from Waise Lee and Aaron Kwok suitably match this fair competence but it's Mark Cheng who does some of his best work ever here. Cinematography is very attractive as well, enhancing the respectable nature the production. It ultimately doesn't mean a lot but Wu Ma the director usually didn't either in this capacity so it's nice to be able to proclaim this as one of his best films despite. He appears in a supporting role as well the late Bill Tung, Sharla Cheung, May Lo, Tai Bo, Billy Ching and Chu Tau.

Although not featuring the structure of Pulp Fiction to any large degree, director Shut Mei-Yee clearly channels esthetics of Quentin Tarantino's film (and places a poster of it in one scene to make the inspiration ultra-clear). More specifically via the use surf-esque music for the soundtrack accompanying two slightly interconnected stories. Chun (Ken Lo) is a former boxer turned truck driver that happens upon waitress Lorna (Alice Lau). A connection is made through various interactions but it's a love brewing. Brewing to a frustrating degree and coming up are crossroads where choices has to be made. Meanwhile close by, or not, we find Man (Moses Chan), a low-life triad and pimp for Cat (Amanda Lee). Betting on horse races while she does the do as Miss Frenchkiss, these two spend so much time together only a wall apart that it's inevitable that they start to get to know each other.

Taking its sweet time and being rather flimsy, some character reveals and dialogue is quite on the off-beat side and director Shut doesn't seems to want to place crucial events in a reality. Doubtful if any of what we see therefore means anything but the title The Story Of Movie all of a sudden turns accurate. Little by little, his cast begin to gel at key points and slight charm grows out of this very different Hong Kong production. Also with Lee Fung, Peter Chan Lung and Lam Suet. See if you can spot Wu Ma too.

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Future Milkyway founders Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai collaborated for the first time on this melodrama in the wake of To's success working on All About Ah Long (starring Chow Yun-Fat). Running a mere 80 minutes, it's no wonder he thrusts us into the life of Damian Lau's Li whose wife has just died. Not telling his young children Chien (Wong Kwan-Yuen) and Kang (Jeng Paak-Lam), they trio try to cope but broken promises, hospital bills, triad debts and in general a hellish hand continues to be dealt to the family. While the elder son Chien does try to act as a role model, all is crushed the more Li gets pushed around by the triads. It's all cinema distressing to almost the max from beginning to end, giving us no light and more importantly, no distinct belief from the director's chair. Considering To's debut The Enigmatic Case was quite the tour de force of subtle behaviour, it's definitely clear Johnnie was playing the commercial game while trying to find a footing (which he did eventually after forming Milkyway). Occasionally effective in his punishing ways, The Story Of My Son is merely extreme melodrama put out there in the hope that the masses will accept it because they're easily fooled. We aren't. Ng Man-Tat, Sunny Fang and Lau Siu-Ming (in the film's only subtle performance) also appear.

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Hong Kong cop Lau (Gordon Liu) follows the trail of robbers and gun smugglers to the Mainland and back to Hong Kong, eyeing lovers Lon (Mark Cheng) and Hung (Yukari Oshima) as prime suspects. The Story Of The Gun is simple, efficient stuff that may not stick out hugely amidst its kind but combine said effectiveness and technically able action scenes and you've got yourself a brief treat. Doesn't hurt to see Yukari Oshima leaning towards her violent, mean side either while also getting a chance to square off against Sophia Crawford. Lead Liu with hair and moustache is visual treat too! Also with Lo Lieh and Tin Ching.

God only knows what these three stories are supposed to mean but perhaps the intent was to do things you don't expect from Hong Kong cinema. That's why you get a short with Eric Tsang set in a future where men are designated to be house-wives (or house-husbands) as they are now milk-producing machines (not shown in the film though). Story is about him trying his damndest to get a normal child, not a test tube one so in the end he becomes pregnant himself. Next up is Anthony Chan as a doctor who specializes in reconstructing skulls to help the police to identify murder victims. His new assistant might be the ghost of the diseased however. Finally Cecilia Yip kills off her twin sister by shrinking her and boiling her to pieces in the bathtub in order to get the husband played by director Alfred Cheung all to herself. When he wants to leave her, psychotic Cecilia Yip starts owning the screen. Partially successful because it places the unexpected actors in dramatic and darker situations but thank god Strange Bedfellow is a three story-job. Easy to digest and have fun with therefore but ultimately it's in the various, outrageous details and not execution. In the future segment, The Wynners appear as senile old versions of themselves and you can worship any god of your choice (including Jackie Chan) at vending machines placed over the city but that's as broad as the movie gets. Also with Candice Yu, Lam Wai and Billy Lau.

With the Young And Dangerous-effect spreading its wings over Hong Kong cinema in 1996 thanks to Andrew Lau, it's no wonder it sprung to life outside of the series too. Billy Tang had been tapped to provide some satire and fun of the genre with Sexy And Dangerous the same year and although Street Angels is packed, it's not distinguishable for many reasons, especially not for fans of Hong Kong's king of Category III CINEMA (Red To Kill, Run And Kill). Chingmy Yau is Tung Yen, woman of rising triad mad dog Walkie Pi (Simon Yam) and while he flees to Holland after a kill, she takes a prison sentence for him. Out of jail, Yen starts associating herself with the hostess world and even becomes a great figure. When Pi returns to Hong Kong however, there's no love in the air anymore as the rising triad is now a full blown mad dog...

Straightforward and light for long stretches, Tang doesn't provide a terrific amount of inspired material despite dealing with issues of the 1997 handover but does have some benefits in the acting department to take Street Angels to fun, depraved places (which is all it can and should do). Elvis Tsui is hilarious as the bodyguard Moro who's constantly horny and has no problem swallowing condom if the situation dictates it. The subtitles do wonders for his scenes and even though we're not dealing with a III-rating here, Tsui makes sure to be pushed as far as he can. A little romance and extreme tragedy passes the time but the re-appearance of Simon Yam signals the time for director Tang to have fun. True to form, Yam throws himself 568% into the über-evil persona of Pi and Tang even plays around a LITTLE bit visually to strengthen these extremes. The otherwise straight cast can't compete. They do include a naked and abused Shu Qi, Michael Tao, Valerie Chow, Lee Kin-Yan (nose picking transvestite in Stephen Chow movies), Lee Siu-Kei and Liu Fan.

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