By mistake, three bags of Hong Kong bank notes slip through the cremation process. Eric Tsang is the employee that spots this and his plan to involve just a few of his friends soon fails and even a nun (Brigitte Lin) joins the hunt for the 30 million...

Typically wild and wacky comedy hijinxs from Cinema City profile Karl Maka (who also stars). He puts himself greatly at center stage and by acting like a complete moron enough times, he somehow manages to make a joke or two on his behalf amusing. A slight portion of that welcome 80s Hong Kong cinema charm is also generated, helped much by the fun presence of Brigitte Lin and Lau Kar Leung (also action director). Thirty Million Rush is only slight but mixing the faces and tone makes for solid entertainment. Mark Cheng, Wong Ching and John Woo also appear.

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Before Shaw Brothers halted production in 1985, screen baddie Johnny Wang managed to make two movies for the studio which started and highlighted Wang's desire to portray violence in largely a brutal, animalistic way. This Man Is Dangerous is merely reference material for the man himself playing the Mainland gang leader while Chin Siu-Ho's and Cheung Chin-Pang's duo of newly appointed detectives usually mucking up out of ignorance is a story strand that is a chore to sit through. Never shutting up at the right moments and spending way too much on wine during an undercover operation at a gay disco (featuring Elvis Tsui in make-up playing the Marijuana King), eventually darkness enters the frey and This Man Is Dangerous becomes more engaging. Starting with the theft of police guns that the Mainland gangs use on almost anyone who gets in their way, Johnny Wang heading these is a brutal, sadistic force that reinforces his knowledge of how a baddie should be translated to screen. Ending on several shockers, as usual nothing is fair in Wang's frame. It started here and would continue in movies such as Hong Kong Godfather and Escape From Brothel. Leung Kar-Yan, Phillip Ko and Lam Fai-Wong also appear.

The director of the vicious Vengeance Is Mine switches tac to drama and an intelligence we're used to associate him with (Lost And Found being the prime example). The age old template of relationships gets a mature, entirely non-commercial (despite commercial stars) examination as it trades in being cinematic in favour of its examination... thankfully. Yee (Cecilia Yip) and Yan (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) go their separate ways after he reveals he's in love with someone else. Specifically his piano teacher Paula. Has it been the everyday annoyances, failure or fear to communicate that's brought this on? Nothing gets resolved before, only in the aftermath which is the focal point of Lee's film. Although Tony Leung's Yan doesn't feel very sympathetic and the effects on Yee are quite grave, Lee gambles with audiences sympathy by re-uniting these two characters despite, as anchors for each other. The path they're headed and ultimately end up on is welcome in its maturity, realism and subtlety. Something that is well anchored by in particular Cecilia Yip but the entire cast (in support we find Derek Yee and Rosamund Kwan) working in synch sound.

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Lau Kar-Wing channels past genre success (Till Death Do We Scare) by going ghost-comedy on us, pairing up Yuen Biao and Eric Tsang as two stuntmen (yes, even chubby Tsang). Yuen is Lung, whose father (Stanley Fung) sleeps VERY deeply at night. Explanation being that he occasionally goes out of his body to claim souls and lead them to their new shells to inhabit. When he stops the order by refusing a lost soul entering Tak's (Tsang) body, the afterworld awakens. Oh, and there's some skirt chasing too...

While standard 80s fare and the two genres intertwining to neither bad or notable effect, director Lau can't exactly make extraordinary acrobat Yuen Biao walk in the shoes of an ordinary man. Relying little on Yuen's fighting skills, but successfully when doing so, instead makes the often annoying Tsang take center stage with behaviour akin to retardation at times. His high pitched voice in this intense mode will have viewers reach for their aspirin bottles. When eventually venturing into the ghost side of things, Lau Kar-Wing provides decent distraction but aside from the atmos turning macabre in a welcome way during a few select points, it's hard to feel immersed in this package (despite all characters taking turns to be possessed during the finale). Standard atmosphere, lightning and battling techniques ain't a bad recipe for 90 minutes of genre entertainment (and Lam Ching-Ying carries himself well too) but Those Merry Souls shouldn't be expected to mingle with the greats, ever. Lily Li appears in support while Richard Ng, Wu Ma, Moon Lee, Chung Faat, Fruit Chan, Sammo Hung and director Lau appear in minor roles.

Title gives it all away really. Chen Sing joins the Shaolin temple looking for revenge but gains spiritual enlightenment. His fellow brother (played by Michael Chan) doesn't and falls victim to the temptations of wealth and flesh. Fights ensue.

Ok, it's not thoroughly fair to label Thou Shall Not Kill...But Once as just another kung-fu movie as director Au Yeung-Jun does display fairly good storytelling competence and ambition to stand out in a very crowded room. First half definitely benefits more from this as the atmosphere ever so slightly feels fresh for the genre and it's a vehicle suitable for Chen Sing's range as an actor. Not that I would expect it but fact of the matter is, there existed an opportunity here to leave out much of the martial arts without consequence and it's also a fact that Au don't distinguish himself in any way when concentrating on the fighting. For the moments where it does try, albeit in a crude way, Thou Shall Not Kill ... But Once is worthy of respect.

By definition, Wellson Chin found a voice via the horror genre and went for it during the 90s, more distinctly starting with Thou Shalt Not Swear. Affectionately proclaimed as the start of the "Date" or "Day Of Horror" series that also included among others July 13th and The Day That Doesn't Exist, the various films refers to dates in the lunar calendar.

Otherwise known as the helmer of another series but an unremarkable one (Inspectors Wears Skirts), Chin's first dose of, albeit rightly mild, acclaim centers around his 1993 horror-comedy here and while not THE director to dissect, it's a nice feeling to see someone find a way to express a cinematic vision their way finally. Dividing his time with the buddy-cop formula and low-budget spookiness, Chin gets decent chemistry and banter out of the Michael Chow/Lau Ching Wan match-up. Chow is doning his underrated comedy persona at points (him trying to learn basic English is remarkably well-sold) but he's the straight man to Lau's slightly loopy sidekick. The two bond, even share some good serious interaction and Chin also squeezes eerie atmosphere out of the low-budget tools at his disposal. A little winner therefore. Also with Jennifer Chan, Ronald Wong, Helena Law, Kingdom Yuen, Cheung Kwok-Keung, Tats Lau and John Wakefield. A sequel entitled The Third Full Moon followed in 1994, re-teaming Michael Chow and Lau Ching Wan.

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Undemanding and fluffy when Andy Lau, Norman Tsui and Teddy Robin Kwan play out their wits against another, with the Koran scroll caught in between...

Brandy Yuen (The Champions) infuses the production with elegance and with such a lineup of profiles, Three Against The World has in it half the fun of simply spotting stars. For at least two thirds, that's as good as it gets though as the fun turns awfully stale after a while. Thankfully action director Yuen Wah is let more consistently onto the set by the end, delivering nifty fights and stunts. If Three Against The World wanted to be a slam-dunk, Brandy Yuen needed to find more excuses to utilize Yuen Wah's eye. Among those also appearing are Rosamund Kwan, Sandy Lam, Chin Kar-Lok, Teddy Yip, Chung Fat, Yuen Woo-Ping, Wu Ma, Shing Fui-On and Corey Yuen.

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Without the aid of English subtitles, this cheaper than cheap Taiwan fantasy obviously is a tougher trek... on paper that is. Because looking at shenanigans in the likes of Magic Warriors, even a translation isn't much help to decipher the fast paced madness on-screen. Three-Head Monster is calmer in that regard though and what we're left with is trying to figure out whether the visual content is any fun or not. Judge for yourself as Wong Guk-Gam unleashes what largely is a bad puppet show via the sights of little tree monsters that in the end are good guys of the piece, a re-animated Nazi who mistakes a Buddhist symbol for the swastika and salutes accordingly, a very cheap animated special effect that apparently was the only one they could afford to and multiple beheadings of the titular monster. Logically, it should add up to kinda fun and does, story coherence or not. Cynthia Khan appears and flip flops in audience sympathy only to redeem herself by the end. High drama, three-head monster... lovely combo.

This one gets complicated already at the title stage. A sequel in name only to Jeff Lau's horror-comedy Thunder Cops (an effort that in itself was a sequel to Lau's Operation Pink Squad), supposedly it was made to cash in on title and its lead Sandra Ng. Throwing out almost all comedy and horror to instead bring us a downbeat vigilante actioner, Lau's handling is rough and routinely plotted in several ways. However, despite being more or less the queen of comedy at this time, Sandra Ng goes down admirable dramatic roads as an actress for this one, something that would develop into something greater during the latter half of the 90s. Yuen Chueng Yan's action directing is also gritty and brutal (the stair shoot-out is a stylish piece of work in the 80s Hong Kong cinema tradition) and possibly employed due to the impact Tiger Cage made. Finally, the movie features a slight comedic supporting turn by Stephen Chow, before his stardom, as Ng's informant. Also with Shing Fui-On. Sunny Fang, Ann Bridgewater, Woo Fung, Eddy Ko and Jeff Lau.

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TROY'S REVIEW: Fans of bad acting gather around, for here is one of legendary overacting God Stuart Smith's finest ever performances! Our man stars as Sydney, CIA agent and ninja on the side, who is entrusted to prevent a group of evil ninjas getting their grubby mitts on the blue prints to a nuclear missile. Throw into the mix the story of crime lord, Buck and his latest henchman, David (Jimmy Wang Yu, in footage reportedly lifted from The Criminal) who faces a moral dilemma as to that which is expected of him by his employer and you have a solidly entertaining ninety or so minutes of daft fun. The real star of the show here is undoubtedly Smith himself however. How the Oscar community overlooked Mr. Smith's performance in this film is quite frankly beyond me, for our man really puts his all into this, even doing his own stunts and martial arts!

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