Once upon a time, Andrew Lau treated us to the excellent and moody cinematography on Ringo Lam's City On Fire. In 1994, he was back telling a similar story, only this time directing under the producing reigns of Wong Jing. Having said that, To Live And Die In Tsimshatsui emerges as an interesting triad picture.

While Lau often thoroughly spells out the main themes, such as what true loyalty actually means and the torment of being detached from your reality, the proceedings remain effective thanks to a very good central performance by Jacky Cheung as the undercover cop Lik. Equally of importance is sections talking about patching of family connections and it all comes with extremely little humour (considering Wong Jing is backing Andrew Lau yet again). The actual power struggle plot, with over the top characterizations for both the triad bosses and the cop superiors, is standard and holds no interest however. One silly element that also enters here is the portrayal of the very young and carefree triad punks but here Lau bounces back with some disturbing casual violence on their behalf, sealing a commentary that is memorable. Tony Leung Kar-Fai, Roy Cheung, Shing Fui-On and Wu Chien-Lien also offers up fine support.

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UFO had begun raking in the money by this point and with this light, star-filled relationship comedy, the success wasn't grinding to a halt. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is Tom, set to marry Joyce (Jay Lau) but finds himself lusting for clubgirl Cat (Ann Bridgewater). Dick (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) changes girls every night but he keeps coming back to Fong (Anita Yuen) and perhaps will realize too late the actual comfort he feels with her. Hairy/Georgio Mao (Lawrence Cheng) struggles to attract love of any kind, even doubting his own sexuality and he engages in a relationship with Michelle (Michael Chow).

Defined types and while all solutions aren't all neat and happy, much that happens is to be expected so Tom, Dick & Hairy doesn't score points for originality. Sometimes very frank sexually and breaking into singing and dancing at one point, usually the proceedings, even the more somber ones, are helped along by an engaging troupe of actors. Especially Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Ann Bridgewater help keep the soap opera drama buoyant. Amusing tangents surrounding sexual frustration (the character appear as their libidos, by simply appearing in bald caps) and Cheng's character accidentally learning French instead of English gets a neat pay-off. Athena Chu also appears.

Anthony Wong's second and currently last stint as a director initially seems to go more straight roads, dropping the abstract excess of New Tenant. However, Dayo Wong and Vivian Chow's romance doesn't remain pleasing for very long. Sure there are points here about conversions into christianity but centering its stories around call-in's to the radio show Banana Club (where the principal actors appear in different roles), Wong continues venturing into two more plots, with somewhat of a central theme being relationships. It still becomes so scattershot, self indulgent and impenetrable that you almost begin to sniff out the real reason of Wong's for making this mess. I.e. cast a bunch of your friends in multiple roles and just mess around, throwing in-jokes at us that should've remained that within the circle of friends. If being very forgiving, elements such as Dayo Wong playing a suicidal mom, overdone breast enlargements, re-enactment of The Crying Game and PSA's for wearing condoms may rank as bizarre humour to carry Top Banana Club into entertaining territory. But I simply can't and if this is a look into the mind of one of Hong Kong's finest actors, I think I speak for all that he should remain true to his character-acting, being steered by someone else. Also with Jerry Lamb, Anita Lee, Esther Kwan and Lee Siu-Kei.

The sequels, spin off's and prequels in this new wave of gambling movies already got complicated by the time The Top Bet came onto the scene. A sequel to Stephen Chow's breakthrough movie All For The Winner, Wong Jing had already sort of continued the exploits of Shing (Chow), and Uncle Tat (Ng Man Tat) in God Of Gamblers II. The Top Bet doesn't mix together two different movies with different characters however and simply continues on where All For The Winner left off. Stephen Chow even shot a cameo to lead Shing onto new adventurers but the trade off we get headlining this vehicle is a terrific one; Carol "Do Do" Cheng.

Cheng plays a conwoman nicknamed the Queen Of Gamblers whose non-powers is quickly revealed by a Mainland gambling magician (Anita Mui) who herself is out to bring down Shing. Everybody become friends however and battles together against Hung Kwung (Paul Chun reprising his villain role from All For The Winner) once more...

Manic, tasteless, thoroughly silly and completely surreal trademark Hong Kong comedy dominate The Top Bet in addition to an action set piece where Anita Mui shines. It's a matter of taste, also a matter of getting used to and perhaps it's better to watch The Top Bet with many Stephen Chow and Hong Kong comedies under your belt. It's my theory anyway but no one can take away the fact that Jeff Lau and Corey Yuen crafts hilarious results from the fast paced proceedings. Carol Cheng's rapid fire delivery of dialogue and spunky presence more than makes up for Chow's absence while the new and returning cast are all on board for the silly antics. A sizeable supporting cast includes Sandra Ng, Shing Fui-On, Kenny Bee, Woo Fung, Yuen Wah, Anthony Chan, Lau Chun, Lowell Lo, Tai Bo, Jeff Lau & Corey Yuen.

Megastar's old dvd edition lacked subtitles for the scenes playing out over the end credits. Thankfully Deltamac got wind of this and rectified the problem on their dvd. Be sure to check out the Hong Kong trailer that contains material shot specifically for it, outtakes and behind the scenes footage.

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HK Flix.com
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So a few years down the line, with virtually every reviewer giving Michelle Yeoh's action-adventure vehicle The Touch thumbs down, it's kind of fun to go in with the lowest expectations possible but expectedly, otherwise ace cinematographer Peter Pau can't provide anything but great, big imagery. Filmed in English, the performing from some of the Chinese cast takes the film down several notches early on as average English dialogue sound even worse in the hands of people like newcomer Brandon Chang. The Western cast, mainly Ben Chaplin and Richard Roxburgh inject as much conviction as they can, which sort of works as this script doesn't reek off A level storytelling. In that way, Michelle Yeoh and company had a marvelous opportunity to use less refined story, grand images and a genuine Hong Kong style to the action.

Well first of all, action director Phillip Kwok doesn't get to do a whole lot and secondly, there's very, very few moments worth acknowledging as Yeoh kicks and fly her way through the fight scenes with dull results at the end of it. Enhancement via wires and CGI become distractingly obvious and the underground fire climax is a blue screen mess that looks more like a video game than anything resembling convincing. Running at least 10-15 minutes too long, The Touch can at best be amusing thanks to some funny delivery by Ben Chaplin but that's about as nice as one can be. A squandered opportunity after Michelle had done so well for herself in the eyes of international audiences (Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Kenneth Tsang appears briefly.

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In order to avoid prosecution, Coco (Rosamund Kwan) goes undercover for questionably moral cop Leung (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) in order to bring down drug dealer King (Michael Wong). In the process, Coco falls in love with King...

A rare venture into the gangster genre for Tony Au (Dream Lovers) but not a very riveting one. The mostly unsympathetic character gallery certainly promises to hold more complexities and Au begins delivering that by portraying these as broken, desperate people trying to mend as much as they can via immoral ways. A worthwhile theme that in the end makes A Touch Of Evil interesting but it halts at that. Au gets himself into trouble since he's not very open about his goals and that then creates more frustration than curiosity. Unfortunately he can't get much out of Michael Wong either and any attempts at making him and Coco's troubled relationship integral and affecting does crumble. Kwan and Leung are dependable performers away from Wong though with the former logging a feisty, over the top but admirably complex portrayal for an actress who's not been challenged as such over the years. Kwan Hoi-San, Tai Po and Lung Fong also appear.

Pure turkey that blends modern day action (hence Yu Rong-Guang and Billy Chow) and drama as the often used terminally ill character plot point rears its head here. Admittedly, that comes as a surprise but neither elements are executed with any skill. The action is dreadfully edited at times and the drama (also dreadfully performed) never is able to go beyond any of the clichés. I'll tell you what Tough Guy has that no other movie has though; a scene where a character falls into a crematorium furnace with melting corpses! That's something you don't see every day.

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A product of Tomas Tang's Filmark International, true to form their 1986 production is an assembly of their own shot ninja footage and an older, unconnected flick . In this case, the 1982 crime actioner Unreal Dream directed by Patrick Kong, starring Chan Lee-Lee, Michael Chan, Phillip Ko and Dai Sai-An. Senselessly Cobbled together with a ninja plot and dubbed into English for its international exposure and credited to director Larry Hutton (a pseudonym for... someone), Ko and Dai Sai-An both appear in the newly shot footage but no real attempt have been made to make the blend seamless (or good). Ko sports a ten times larger moustache than he had in 82 and Dai all of a sudden has the makings of one when he fights with a group of ninjas on the street (actually the best scene of the film). Plot is of no concern because it's messed up even more in Filmark's hands, with hints at the immigrants and robbery plot from the original being connected thoroughly to the crime syndicate of ninjas. Doesn't make sense, nor excites and the movie is therefore left to its own crazy devices. That's why it's in a way shameful to say that we need MORE of Tomas Tang's influence on the movie because coupled with the general poor filmmaking and hilarious English dubbing, all new scenes are classic camp stuff, popping up way too infrequently. The wonderfully funny and inept sights treats us to a fat bellied ninja leader that turns very slim come fight time (i.e. his stunt double enter) and two scenes with a Bruce Lee copy are inserted for no other reason than to have a Bruce Lee copy appear. Oh they knew their market alright. But to be balanced in my views, Unreal Dream deserves a chance to be judged on its own merits because it clearly flirts with insanity as well, especially so since a main character has rabies!