With the acclaimed Coolie Killer behind him, director Terry Tong rightly could be expected to deliver once more. Yellow Peril ain't it though. With a little politics woven into the bad guys chasing the anti hero-scenario, the substance attempted has no place so you figure out it's up to the filmmakers to rely on violence. Choosing gritty settings and action of that kind, Tong gets zero pounding effect out of the violence despite. It's not even to be considered as an attention grabber, which is the secondary priority when you can't make it connect to character drama. There's only a minute showcase during the end that jolts you but as you can guess, Yellow Peril is far behind when it crosses the finishing line. Starring Alan Tang, Tong Lan-Fa, Kam Hing Yin, Chang Yi, Walter Tso and Sai Gwa-Paau.

Notable merely for the choice of featuring a Westerner in the leading role, Yellow Rain can only pursue the ordinary in its cheap ways, if that. Told in flashback, chronicling Chen Buo's oppression as the son of an American father (played by the same actor by the looks of it, with an added moustache) and having his Chinese mother abandon him, he channels a rare stream of conscience in a hostage situation he's in but as for added understanding psychologically in the subsequent flashback, director Lau Chung-Pak offers up nothing. Some outrageous action ensues during the finale and Chen Buo hiding in a bath house, in full scuba gear before executing a higher ranked boss is a stirring image...for your laugh center. Alex Man, Ku Feng, Dick Wei and Alexander Lo co-stars.

Future megastars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Anita Mui are the most memorable thing about the instant forgettable comedy that Young Cops is. And yet they're not even photogenic or particularly funny, just better looking and charismatic automatically based on who they were to become. A police comedy focusing little on being the police so perhaps there's a hidden message in the perhaps appropriately chosen English title? Not really as it turns out because we get unscripted 80s nonsense, comedic vignettes if you will with the only thread being that the shenanigans are performed by the young police. When the main characters all fall in love, an action concept that puts love slightly on the line is crudely inserted at the end to make matters totally unbearable. Writers Tsang Kan-Cheung and Wai Ka-Fai went on to better things working with Stephen Chow and Milkyway respectively. Dicky Cheung co-stars and is bearable compared to the antics in Future Cops and many other sins in cinema. Future ace director Samson Chiu plays a raving maniac.

Reportedly made independently in 1973 as well as suffering censor cuts, The Young Dragons collected dust until Golden Harvest stepped in in 1975 to release it and therefore John Woo's feature debut eventually got to say that here's a director with ideas. Ideas about style and themes he picked up by working with master Chang Cheh but he's not able to put inspiration to full use. It was to come but the very non-distinctive plot with Henry Yung as a robber of ammunition belonging to the rich feels very sketchy. A fact made even more apparent because it clearly doesn't want to be. Truth be told there are mature passages that approaches semi-decent considering the genre output not trying on that wardrobe always but the character-comrade between Yung and Lau Kong that very much is an integral part comes to fruition only to the point where we can say to ourselves that it was to become very much better. Soon even as Last Hurrah For Chivalry came to be Woo's finest martial arts movie. The co-directed Jackie Chan action stands out very little aside from an energetic end that is helped along by Fung Hark-On's vicious presence. Woo cameos towards the end while Dean Shek, Chin Yuet-Sang, Tanny Tien, Hu Chin and Mars can be spotted in various capacities.

After a while with either Wong Jing or Chu Yen-Ping movies rolling in front of you, you concoct this image in your head of green-faced witches with nose warts throwing nasty ingredients into their evil brew of whatever. Only these two work with movies in that regard. Despite, they exhibit quite striking differences. With Wong on the producing end of this xerox of Fight Back To School and a whole host of other spices from flicks of the era, Gimmick (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Garlic (Nicky Wu) are the two cops that go undercover at the, in this case, the Wong Fei Hung school where they're scheduled to protect the daughter (Charlie Yeong) of a wealthy Mainlander...

Flimsy is a keyword here and Chu Yen-Ping occupies himself with lots not overly connected to his main plot. Some bloodpacks left over from Requital are put to use here in gunplay amongst doves (much less of a parody and too much of a lazy John Woo emulation), a fight scene utilizes a bit too much glass to feel original (i.e. echoes of the Police Story finale) while the two cops exhibit cocky and shallow traits where expensive watches are a main concern. Very sympathetic. There's of course also friction between the friends that will lead to an emotional pay off in the en...not really, no. These tangents are spur of the moments kind of a thing for Wong Jing and Chu and it's a wonder a whole feature resembling even minute coherence was put together from it. The leads aren't particularly memorable, with Nicky Wu's garlic eating meaning a kind of Popeye effect for his character and Takeshi Kaneshiro just plainly coming off as bad in the comedy stakes. When things turn surreal and really wacky in the scenes at the Wong Fei Hung school, where you get punished by the No Shadow Kick for instance, it starts to feel a little like good ol' Chu Yen-Ping days of the 80s where he echoed/ripped off things he liked to sincere and crazy effect. Here he just proves he can make an unbearable film that is 1000% more bearable than when Wong Jing is treading similar territory (see the ultimate example Future Cops). Wong Yat-Fei also appear.

A romantic drama-comedy, marking Gordon Chan's debut and an unexpected one at that as he's more associated with guns and brawls than character-drama. Yet, that skill hasn't been totally buried as in later years we've seen the likes of Beast Cops deservedly clean up at the awards. His 1989 movie at the height of the yuppie boom does not necessarily exploit the current trend in favour of box-office returns but it's an important framework for the various crumbling's of characters, starting with the divorce of Leung Foon (Lawrence Cheng) and Ann (Carol Cheng). Their respective line of work have produced a sterile rapport and Chan along with several co-writers are totally honest when they say we all need these breakdown of walls to see clearly again. The Yuppie Fantasia is light, even funny at times, but Chan brings a level-headed direction to the film so that it doesn't stray. Some might call it boring but thanks to ideal performers (acting in synch sound to boot), the film breathes quite well and would've been a few notches better even if the voice-over by Lawrence Cheng's character had been dropped. The sequel Brief Encounter in Shinjuku followed in 1990. Also starring Cherie Chung, Sibelle Hu, Elizabeth Lee, Peter Lai and Manfred Wong. Alfred Cheung, Paul Chun and Kirk Wong make brief appearances.

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Considered a template for Sex And Zen, the Ho Fan initiated and acclaimed soft core erotica series Yu Pui Tsuen (based on the novel of the same name) has not been widely seen but the re-release of the sequel triggered the idea for another entry, hence Yu Pui Tsuen III. Walking little in Ho Fan's reportedly stylish paths, Lai Kai-Leung (co-director of Love, Guns & Glass) decides to adhere to the period sex comedy formula instead but in an amusing fashion he parodies Stephen Chow's excellent Forbidden City Cop as well. Elvis Tsui in a funny, stressed out performance is Agent 000 who is sent undercover into a brothel in order to reveal the dirty and illegal shenanigans within it. Just to make sure he practices tolerance and focuses on the task at hand, his crafty wife (Yeung Yuk-Mui) puts an armour around his nether regions. The film also finds time to feature plenty of sex to reach the 90 minute running time limit, Wong Yat-Fei as a hunchback monk in an obvious sexual dry spell (and when he does get his chance, it's over in record time) and a clever dialogue exchange concerning stuck up critics view on cheap material, such as this. Co-starring Emily Kwan, William Ho and Spencer Lam.