All About Love

All About Love Synopsis: (from AsianMediaWiki)
"All About Love" depicts the lives of two early 40s women Macy (Sandra Ng) & (Vivian Chow) Anita, who were once lovers. The women cross paths again when they both of them attend a counseling service for pregnant mothers. Macy is a lawyer who is pregnant with the child of a married man (Eddie Cheung).

Anita is a bank clerk who is carrying the child of a teenager named Mike (William Chan). Both of the woman are carrying babies from one night flings. Will the two woman reunite?

My comments:
All About Love is an entertaining movie with a very interesting cast. It’s been ages that I haven’t seen Vivian Chow and wow, she still looks radiant. I really like the first half of the movie where viewers are told how both Macy and Anita ended up being pregnant. The latter half was going around in circle a bit too much about should they keep the baby or not. I was rooting for both women to end up with their flings because I thought Sandra Ng and Eddie and surprisingly, even Vivian Chow and William Chan have good chemistry as the guys are adorably dorky. Well, I guess that such ending will be too conventional.

Perfect Wedding

Perfect Wedding Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
One night, wedding planner - Yan (Miriam Yeung) meet a young attorney, Fun (Raymond Lam) and had a one-night stand. Later, Fung did accidentally join to Yan's wedding planning company.

In a special wedding, regardless of Yan against Fung, the rigid procedures of the wedding ceremony turned into a warm, touching the carnival. Customers in more than touched, the two are deeply moved a step closer so emotional. However, the emotional harm suffered psychological Yan still cannot break the shackles of courage in the face of her girlfriends (Teresa Mo, Bernice Liu, Kate Tsui and Oceane Zhu) Fung's hand holding a bold recognition of this relationship. At this time, her fiance - Kelvin (Eric Kot) was again disrupted Yan's emotional world. Who is her true Love....?

My comments:
Perfect Wedding was a cute feel-good romantic comedy that was easy to watch. It had a nice looking cast and a trendy setting so everything was rightly calculated. I saw a lot of dramas/movies exploring the older woman/younger man theme lately and while this movie was formulaic and didn’t have many surprises but I liked it overall probably because I liked the chemistry between Miriam Yeung and Raymond Lam here. Man, I still remember them as Candy and Shrimp Head in TVB's A Taste of Love (wow, that was 10 years ago!) as they already acted as an adorable bickering couple. The friendship between Yan and her four ‘Sex in the City’ alike friends was also a hoot to watch.

The Jade and the Pearl

The Jade and the Pearl Synopsis (from AsianMediaWiki)
Princess Yan becomes engaged to a King from the faraway state of Fan. Princess Yan & her entourage are then escorted to the Fan State by General Ching Hin (Raymond Lam). During the long journey, Princess Yan & General Ching Hin often bicker with each other, but soon falls in love. The couple even exchanges loves tokens - a pearl from Yan's dowry and a family treasure jade from General Ching Hin.

Suddenly, the convey is attacked and Princess falls off a cliff and loses her memory. General Cheng is taken by a group of bandits led by Chuk Sam Leung (Joey Yung).

The princess is saved by a storyteller named Ling Kam Hoi (Cho-lam Wong) and starts a new life with him, not rembering she is royalty. When Princess Yan and General Cheng finally reunite, Princess Yan has fallen in love with Ling Kam Hoi.

My comments:

If you have free time and really have nothing to do, then watch The Jade and the Pearl. If not, then don’t bother. I shouldn’t take this movie seriously but I felt like I wrongly invested my time in this one even though the last twenty minutes before the ending was not as bad. Sorry Raymond, I’m your fan but even you couldn’t save the movie. I can accept that the setting was a fusion of ancient and modern but the movie suffered bad story, bad acting, bad costumes, bad everything! The first half was lame and childish and the ending was so cheesy that made me want to gag.

Is it me; I didn’t feel the supposing love chemistry between Raymond Lam and Charlene Choi while I thought Charlene and Wong Cho Lam made a more believable pair. Is Joey Yung self mocking her bad acting or what? She was absolutely cringe-worthy. Cameos were fun to watch but that was it.

Break Up Club

Break Up Club Synopsis (from AsianMediaWiki)
Joe (Jaycee Chan) is an aimless young man who loves Flora (Fiona Sit) sincerely. Unfortunately for Joe, Fa breaks up with Joe due to his lack of ambitions. Joe then comes across the website "www.breakupclub.asia" which promises to reunite lost loves if they are willing to break up another couple ....

Meanwhile Joe is picked to participate in a documentary by director Barbara Wong dealing with break ups...

My comments:
Thanks to cousin p for lending me this movie. Jaycee Fong and Fiona Sit reuniting 5 years later for Break Up Club. They went from playing a teenage couple in 2 Young to playing a 20 something couple in this movie. Their chemistry is evident and I enjoyed the movie despite that I didn’t find their individual character likable. We see them breaking-up for some small matters, making up and then breaking up again in the same pattern so I think a happy ending for them is questionable. I like that it was an open ending, leaving it to the viewer's imagination. I admit that I did cry for the airport scene and I was surprised by the little twist at the end. It’s funny to see Patrick Tang in such flamboyant role.

72 Tenants of Prosperity

72 Tenants of Prosperity Synopsis: (from Wikipedia)
In 1970s Hong Kong, rapacious landlords try to evict 72 tenants but sworn brothers Ha Kung and Shek Kin help the group of 72 defeat the landlord and landlady and coincidentally rescue Pinky from a planned forced marriage. When both sworn brothers fall for Pinky and propose to her, she flips a coin heads or tails, they both cheated during the toss but Ha wins her hand in marriage.

The sworn brothers become sworn enemies and Sheks hatred fuels intense rivalry against Ha in business dealings ranging from the manufacture of plastic flowers to the selling of stinky bean curd. Even after 40 years they continue to clash and in 2010 they are in keen competition selling electronics appliances in Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mongkok, the busiest street in the city and still home to the 72 tenants.

In fiercely competitive Sai Yeung Choi Street high rents force businessmen to use every means to survive, with electronics shops employing pseudo models in sales promotion campaigns and comic shops offering foot-massage services by Lolita, etc. These ploys are minor compared with the tactics of the landlord who threatens to close down the shops unless his demands for tripled rent are met. Amidst this strife and struggle the street is hit by acid-attacks and in high spirits the 72 tenants unite and pledge to safeguard their home.

Against a background of fear and turmoil, with the old love triangle between Ha and Pinky and Shek still festering, the next generation of the Ha and Shek families generate their own love affairs: MJ-style dancer Ha Junior is fascinated by Shek's daughter who is a Japanese AV culture fan; Ha's daughter, a kung fu expert, is pursued by Shek's love-struck son, the smart shortie. Affairs of the heart yet to be resolved.


My comments:
72 Tenants of Prosperity was a surprise for me. I didn’t expect that I’d enjoy it so much. The last Lunar Year movie that was memorable enough for me was Fat Choi Spirit. The fun of this movie is that you just don’t want to blink your eyes because you never know who will pop on screen as a cameo next. Really, almost all the actors/actresses of TVB are in this movie. It’s funny to see some ‘classic’ TV characters appearing in the movie such as doctor Paul Ching Chi Mei (Lawrence Ng from Healing Hands) and Laughing Gor (Michael Tse from E.U.) and I cracked up when I saw the parodies of Infernal Affairs, The Eye and Ip Man. I enjoyed gags such as ‘林Phone’ and ‘鄧梓Phone’ and the part with Bosco Wong and Myolie Wu at the end as well.

Well, basically it’s a happy movie with a big ensemble cast (it’s so great to see Jacky Cheung and Anita Yuen to do a comedy) that was pure entertainment for me.

La Lingerie

La Lingerie Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
This story is about four young women. Their lives and their loves tied together by a common thread --- lingerie.

Miu, Donut, Celine and CC come from four different walks of life. Yet they always seem to hang out at the same place, a sexy lingerie shop where Donut works. Miu works for the Research and Development division of a Lingerie company. She's been an over achiever all her life academically and career-wise, yet possessing a failing grade in romance. She recently moves into the house of her deceased, unmarried old maid of an aunt. In her room she sees glimpses of what could become her future, that of a successful career woman who dies a virgin. Just like her aunt's drawer full of fabulous lingerie and underwear, never to grace the sights of a man to share her life with. This epiphany of hers brings about a resolve to finally find someone to fall in love with for the first time. And with it comes droves of suitors of all shapes and sizes, from a rich playboy, a nerdy genius, a bank manager to a self proclaimed "love expert" Lucas who seems to have ulterior motives behind his pursuit of Miu. She needs to rely on her three close and romantically experienced friends to find her way out of this labyrinth. Yet these three "consultants of love" seem to have hit rough patches of their own.


My comments:
I wanted to watch La Lingerie when I saw the trailer because it's by the same people behind the very fun La Brassiere and hey isn't La Brassiere and La Lingerie look like sister movies? Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed by La Lingerie. It's overly long, it's choppy and all the stories doesn't connect well. But when Wong Yau Nam's character exposes the secret/metaphor of lingerie, it actually made think a bit...

Stephy Tang and Ronald Cheng ending up together is questionable because I didn't see how they develop this supposedly love relationship. He wanted to sleep with her but failed, then later decides to have platonic friendship with her by giving tips how to attract guys and finally out of the blue we learn that they do like each. Huh, did I miss something?! I find JJ Jia and Andy On (who spoke almost non-understandable Cantonese) or even Tsui Tin Yau and Kathy Yuen more interesting and believable. Only JJ and Andy's story gives me a little surprise. I seem to see Wong Cho Lam everywhere lately and gosh, he is so over the top in this movie that is almost unbearable, even though I like this guy!

The selling point of this movie is the actresses (and the movie poster) but they are unimpressive. Stephy Tang is cute and all but I still don't like her although I think she's a better actress than a singer. Janice Man continues to annoy me for unknown reasons. Therefore, the redeeming factors are the guys and the cameos; they are more fun to watch.

Painted Skin

Painted Skin Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
Commander Wang (CHEN Kun) and his army go into fierce war against bandits in the western province. There Wang rescues an exceedingly beautiful lady called Xiao Wei (ZHOU Xun) and brings her back to his imperial court. Some time later, in the city where Wang stays, murder takes place every other day and the hearts of victims are all being taken away. The entire city has fallen into terror.

On the other hand, Xiao Wei is deeply attracted to Wang and she is planning in hidden to replace Wang’s wife, Pei Rong (Vicky ZHAO). Pei Rong sees through Xiao Wei and also notices that she acts differently from others, so she seeks help from a ranger called Pang Yung (Donnie YEN) and a female exorcist Xia Bing (Betty SUN), thus unveiling the battle between the good and the evil…


My comments:
I saw Painted Skin about two weeks ago and still don't know how to give comments. The pace can be slow at times, especially the part where everyone is arguing whether Xiao Wei is a demon or not but it's to build the very interesting climax of the movie. I expected a spooky horror + martial arts movie, well the martial arts are there but deep down it's a family/love drama. I was moved at the end by both women's willingness to self-sacrifice for love but the end is too happy ever after to be true. I always wonder what both women see in Wang Sheng to be so hopelessly in love with him? He's handsome yes and loyal but that's it. One thing that surprises me is that Wang Sheng remained loyal to his wife was not that easily seduced by Xiao Wei.

The best parts of the movie is to watch Vicki Zhao and Zhou Xun together. Their so called sisterhood, conflicts and confrontations are the highlights of the movie. I felt that Aloys Chen didn't have much to do in this movie. Donnie Yen is still Donnie Yen to me, looking very cool in epic films. I'm to the point of just noticing his hair and how he walks in his movies, there is one flashback scene where he battles with his long hair flying...he!

Butterfly Lovers

Butterfly Lovers Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
Life is fleeting as the butterfly, beautiful yet transient. As legend has it, a pair of butterfly lovers re-appears once more after having gone through three lifetimes of repeated pain and tears. This time, they find each other in the world of martial arts. Liang is highly skilled in martial arts and resides in the mountains. When his Master tasks him to take care of Zhu, a girl from a wealthy family who dresses as a guy to hide herself from a revenge, it sparks off the painful journey that they must go through once again. Zhu’s father, in order to repay the kindness shown to him, has betrothed her to a General Ma although Zhu is in love with Liang. Love can fester into hate in some while in the selected few, it can lead to undying love that survives one lifetime after another.


My comments:
I read a lot of criticisms regarding this version of Butterfly Lovers. I didn't think it was that mediocre but it isn't wonderful as well. I was into the story, I cried at the end but I wasn't as moved as I should be as I thought it was a bit shallow. There are a few laughs here and there but the biggest comedy effect was Harlem Yu dubbing his own voice in the Cantonese version. I swear how he delivered his lines are just so LOL hilarious because it's so heavily accented and so Mandarin that I have rely on the subs (similar to Jay Chou's case in Initial D).

The love between Charlene Choi and Wu Chun was cute to watch, they had good chemistry and they were passable in their roles, so was Hu Ge. I thought that He Ge had a meatier role than Wu Chun and I had sympathy for Hu Ge until he slaps Charlene for refusing to marry him, he did love Charlene but just over passionate in the wrong way. Harlem Yu was very likeable too.

My problems with this movie: there are some random dialogues that seem so out of place that is laughable, check out what were the dialogues after Wu Chun and Hu Ge's bloody duel at the end. (~roll eyes~) Next, the part with the fake death pill, it's so Romeo and Juliet. Although the legend of Butterfly Lovers share some tiny similarities with Romeo and Juliet but they are two completely different things therefore, by using this important aspect of Romeo and Juliet, it made this adaptation unoriginal.

Upcoming movies

Being a bit disconnected with HK cinema lately so I was updating myself for future releases this year. Well, HK cinema is not entirely dead yet...at least there are still some movies that seem worth checking out. I'm posting this so that I'll remember these titles for future rents or purchases. :D

Lady Cop & Papa Crook (大搜查之女)
Cast: Sammi Cheng, Eason Chan, Michelle Ye, Chapman To
My reasons to watch: Sammi's comeback and it's by the people behind Infernal Affairs. Sammi + Eason should be a refreshing duo to watch. Looks like I will have some fun time spotting cameos.

Painted Skin (畫皮)
Cast: Vicki Zhao, Zhou Xun, Donnie Yen, Aloys Chen
My reasons to watch: Technically, I'm not sure if it's an HK production since most of the cast and crew are from Mainland. I tried to read this story from the 聊斋 collection but it was too hard to read so I abandoned. Anyway, it's by a cast that I'm fond of and it looks creepy.

Connected (保持通話)
Cast: Louis Koo, Barbie Hsu, Nick Cheung, Liu Ye
My reasons to watch: Louis Koo! Hehe...that aside, director Benny Chan's movies are guaranteed to be action packed and it's Da S' first HK movie.

Butterfly Lovers (武俠梁祝)/ 2nd trailer with dialogues
Cast: Wu Zun, Charlene Choi, Hu Ge, Harlem Yu
My reasons to watch: The trailer did boost up my expectations. It looks really dark and moody and of course, tragic. I'm curious how they will change this classic story and fusion it with martial arts.

Happy Funeral

Happy Funeral Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
Generation Y's infatuation with romance, growing pains, and Facebook are explored in this delightful sequel to the sleeper hit TRUTH OR DARE: 6TH FLOOR REAR FLAT. This time, the rental unit at 6th floor rear flat is occupied by six new youngsters, who want to start a business together. The death of one of their roommates' elder friend inspired them to start a "Happy Funeral" business, so that the deceased' life is celebrated instead of mourned. As they go about their plans, the six of them will also learn valuable lessons about life, love, and being responsible for your own actions.


My comments:
Happy Funeral is really a “young” movie since we have the newest sweet girl Elanne Kong and two popular duo groups Fama and I Love You Boyz starring it and even Taiwan’s popular Lolipop guest starred it. The first quarter was bleh for me as we see these slackers being aimless and having immature and pointless conversations about 'crap'. The movie gets more promising as I’m more attached to the characters and I really hope that they would succeed in their happy funeral business. You see them maturing and being more real at the end. My favorite character is actually Tian Yuan’s Kay. I so LOLed at the hockey scene with Fama and Lolipop…haha, don’t mention Fahrenheit in front of Lolipop, we get that now :p

I was expecting romance to develop between them but it didn’t turn exactly this way, except for one pair and I thought it was pretty sweet. I’m so used to seeing Fama and I Love You Boyz being funny on screen so it was nice to see them a little serious and doing dramatic scenes. It was supposed to be a happy funeral at the end but I cried like crazy. How ironic!

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
His country torn asunder by civil war, ZHAO, a common man heeds the call of duty and from the humblest of roots rises through the ranks on wings of courage and cunning to command an army charged with liberating the land from an evil warlord.

Inspiring by action, honor and a dream of unifying his divided nation, Zhao's heroism becomes legend, but as the years pass and the throne changes hands the war still rages on. When a newly enthroned king decides peace can only be achieved by defeating the warlords once and for all, the ageing Zhao embarks on his final and greatest campaign, a road to adventure that will crown his name in glory for all time.

My comments:
Well, another war epic movie! Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon is still a watchable movie but frankly speaking, I was unfocused during most of the movie and I wasn’t emotionally attached with the characters. Perhaps, I’m starting to numb at these epic movies since you already know that most of the characters will get slayed at the end. However, there are a few scenes that made a bit uncomfortable in this one.

I don’t know much about the story of Three Kingdoms, therefore I was confused at their tactics and it doesn’t help that they introduce a lot of characters like flash but make them disappear like flash too. The action is really too fast this time due to editing, I have a hard time telling who attacked who. Finally, it's odd to find a bunch of ABCs (Maggie Q, Vanness Wu and Andy On) acting in a period movie. I’m sorry but when I see Maggie Q’s face and then hearing her voice dubbed in Mandarin, I felt like laughing! I hope that dear Andy Lau will come back with a modern movie instead next time…

L For Love, L For Lies

L For Love, L For Lies Synopsis: (from Wikipedia)
Everything was going well for Ah Bo (Stephy Tang) until recently. After graduating from college, Ah Bo decided to open a shop with her long-time boyfriend, Ah Jun (Stephen Wong Ka Lok), thinking that she would eventually marry Jun when everything has been set up and running smoothly.

One day, Bao met her old classmate Kei Kei (Alice Zeng). Kei Kei, being smitten by Ah Jun; decided to steal Ah Jun for her own, not caring about Ah Bo's feelings. It turned out that not only Bo has lost her love of a lifetime, she also loses her shop.

Ah Bo's good friend, Ah Man (Leila Tong) and long time boyfriend, Ah Fung (Terry Wu). In the meantime, Ah Fung is also two-timing Ah Man with another woman. Although Ah Man does love Ah Fung, she takes him for granted and thinks that he will never leave her. She is also selfish and doesn't want to be tied to a single relationship.
After the break-up, Ah Bo found a job as a make-up artist in the mall. Her boss Ah Kuen broke the news of her engagement and invited everyone out to celebrate. At the party, Ah Bo realized that her boss’s really young fiancee is very familiar. She recognized him as her old neighbor Ah Keung(Alex Fong) but Ah Keung keeps pretending that he doesn’t know Ah Bo.

A month later, Ah Kuen’s wedding was suddenly canceled. Bo found out from coworkers that Ah Kuen’s life savings were all stolen from the fiancee, who also disappeared. Ah Bo unexpectedly met Ah Keung on the streets. Ah Keung already has a new target, Tiffany (Suki Tsui). He finds Ah Bo following him. Ah Bo hires Ah Keung to deceive Kei Kei and let her have a taste of her medicine.

One day Ah Keung met his ex-girlfriend, Ah Yun (Linda Chung). Ah Yun told Ah Keung that her family will move to Singapore. Although Ah Keung had deceived Ah Yun's sister's money, but they weren't angry with him now.

As an experienced liar, Ah Keung successfully courted Kei Kei. Being abandoned by Kei Kei, Ah Jun decided to make up with Ah Bo. But Ah Bo has no more feelings for Ah Jun because deep in her heart, she unknowingly fell in love with Ah Keung.

Ah Man finally felt tired and decided to set up a stable relationship with Ah Fung. But Ah Fung tells Ah Man that he wants to break up. In the past 6th months, Ah Fung was actually secretly dating his co-worker’s girlfriend Ah Min (Miki Yeung). Ah Fung finally decided to let go of Ah Man and chose Ah Min for a new relationship. Shocked and feeling betrayed, Ah Man never thought she would be the one to be played.

In the game of love, there are no rules. Just like in this world, there are no strange love, only strange people.


My comments:
Alex Fong, Stephy Tang and director Patrick Kong reunite again! I expected something bad because their last movie, Love Is All Around, absolutely irked me but L For Love, L For Lies is a better viewing experience. At least compared to their last movie, L For Love, L For Lies didn’t have odd moments. I cannot explain why I like it since I found 90% of the characters unlikeable and Stephy’s character annoyingly naïve (although sympathetic). It still carries the message that love sucks…everyone cheats and lies in love. No one is trustworthy but yourself. Pessimistic huh? Not only that, just when we think that it’s a semi-happy ending for Stephy, the director cruelly bursted our bubble at the last scene…oh man! It has some heart-wrenching moments, so I’ll admit that I did cry. It’s too bad that Stephy never knew all the things Alex did for her. I guess that’s life. Love is about timing and I think they played that point well.

I think that everyone performed good although I still think that Stephy is not a very good actress or maybe I'm bothered by the way she talks ( it seems that I say the same thing about young generation actresses...). Alex managed to give viewers some surprises by acting as a conman, very different from his usual goody, clean and positive characters. The best acting out of the bunch is the most experienced one, Leila Tong…

Run Papa Run

Run Papa Run Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
Raised by a single mother in a crime-ridden neighborhood, LEE has risen from street punk to successful syndicate crime boss. Fast money and women have always come easily to Lee. But Lee unexpectedly falls in love with a lawyer named Mabel. When Mabel becomes pregnant, Lee panics. Unable to commit, Lee refuses to marry her. Determined to make the relationship work, Mabel moves into his apartment uninvited. Mabel's stubbornness pays off when their baby HEIYI is born - Lee's paternal instincts are awakened and he is transformed into a doting father. Desperate to protect his new family, Lee conceals the true nature of his business. His gang members undergo an image makeover and to all outward appearances Lee is now a legitimate businessman. His secret is exposed when Heiyi reaches adolescence. Heiyi urges her father to go straight. But Lee has just been handpicked to be the next kingpin of the underworld and Lee must make a choice between the brotherhood and his family.

My comments:
I think that Run Papa Run is a pretty good and enjoyable movie. The first half is more comedy while the later part is more drama. I like the use of Louis Koo’s voiceovers as a way to narrate the movie but I find the singing segments of Rene Liu a bit random. Louis Koo gave a fine and affective performance. His character is not really the cool type and he’s flawed but it’s very touching to see how hard he’s trying to cover his gangster identity in front of his daughter Hei Yi. The poor guy must be under a lot of pressure and stress all these years. Hei Yi is like the most precious thing to him and you see how this character develops and changes because of the daughter. Rene Liu is good as usual.

They made a good choice for casting the actress who plays the adult Hei Yi because she really looks like Rene Liu. I like Hei Yi and her boyfriend’s part and when Louis’ character learns who his future in-laws are…hehe! What a fate! The ending is unexpected because of what we see in the beginning so there is a little surprise. Don’t know if I should be happy or sad…

An Empress and the Warriors

An Empress and the Warriors Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
The story is set in ancient China before its unification, during which countless kingdoms battle for supremacy. Yen Feier [Kelly Chen] is thrust onto the throne when her father is killed in battle. Feier and her loyal Muyong Xuehu [Donnie Yen] unite to defend the kingdom. But her ambitious cousin Wu Ba [Guo Xiao-dong] sends assassins to kill her. A mysterious man Duan Lan-Quan [Leon Lai] saves her. Feier falls in love with Duan who offers her another life. With the fate of their kingdom in the balance, Feier must choose between her duty and her dreams.

My comments:
Yeah, another movie with people in the shining armor, how exciting! An Empress and the Warriors offers nothing new but a fresh cast, who you would normally not see in a period movie. Story wise, it’s still the same stuff about kingdoms at war and that there is always someone ambitious in the troop; therefore, they kill each other. Right, expect a dramatic ending. I think this movie is very empty, I really couldn’t connect with the characters as you really have little background about them. At the end, I just don’t care. Decent action though.

Kelly Chen did the best she could, you can see she put a lot of effort in the fighting and looking tough but she didn’t do well overall. She’s really not suitable for a period movie, so is Leon Lai. I felt like laughing everytime Leon pops up on screen and I have the feeling that he was sleepwalking and he was bored in the entire movie. Their courtship/love story is just so cheesy and “modern” that is so out of place in the ancient context. Now Donnie Yen, he’s a cool guy and all but I always had some problems with him as an actor. A lot of his previous movies, he modeled more than acted. Here, he still fights cool and poses cool, even at his final moments, he still has his hair flying floppily...haha!

Playboy Cops

Playboy Cops Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
An extremely brutal armed robbery case has brought two very unusual young detectives together in Hong Kong. Both men have been known not to follow the usual rules of conduct in solving crimes. Lincoln, the younger brother of the deceased, an ex-policeman in China, has sworn to find the man who has murdered his brother. While he investigates the murder on his own in Hong Kong, he meets Michael, a CID officer on suspension. Michael has often been warned against insubordination, and for pulling stunts such as using his own private helicopter to capture criminals on the run...


My comments:
With a movie poster and a title like that, can you take Playboy Cops seriously? I didn’t when I watched the first third of the movie because it looked like your usual buddy cop movie. Two cops who are at odds at first and interested in the same girl but later became the best partners at solving the case…geez, that’s very new...

A large part of the movie focused on Shawn and Aloys looking, walking, fighting and posing cool. If you’re a fan girl, you’ll be pleased. Unfortunately, I don’t consider myself one, so I’m a bit bothered by that. At first, it was exaggerated and unrealistic about how Shawn handled matters by using money to solve everything, which I can’t take it seriously but then the movie switched tone at the end and became very serious, violent and even traumatizing. It was very easy to guess who was the murderer but this person’s sick and mad behavior is cringe-worthy. I didn’t feel good at the end because of the violence used on a woman and one of the main cast die unexpectedly (oops, big spoiler!). I’ll admit that I did cry…Well, it’s an okay popcorn movie if you have time.

CJ7

CJ7 Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
The latest comedy from Stephen Chow, CJ7 is a fantasy tale featuring state of the art visual effects. A poor laborer father (Chow) and his young son's lives are turned upside down when a fascinating and strange new pet enters their world. Amid the resulting comic mayhem, they ultimately learn a poignant lesson about the true nature of family and the things money can't buy.

My comments:
For a Stephen Chow, one might expect a lot more and expect to see him more in CJ7 as he’s basically a minor character. The film focused more on his son (those who are still unaware, Xu Jiao is actually a girl) and his school life. Like Chow’s previous movies, it talks about some ‘nobodies’ possessing extraordinary skills or encountering extraordinary events. This time, it involves a very cute ET pet, which they call CJ7 (I have to repeat again that it’s very CUTE!). The first quarter of the movie is actually boring showing how poor Chow and his son are but once this CJ7 appears, it gets better.

One thing that is surprising, can you associate (sort of) tearjerker with Stephen Chow? I swear that I never cried for any Stephen Chow films but I did for CJ7 but it’s really for the pet CJ7. What that little thing did was OMG touching although I don’t think that would exist in real life.

Kung Fu Dunk

Kung Fu Dunk Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
Shi-Jie (Jay Chou) grows up in a martial arts school and he is well versed in kung-fu. With his skills and his good reflexes, Shi-Jie also excels in basketball, especially the slam dunk technique. On the pretext of helping Shi-Jie find his family, Wang-Li (Eric Tsang) invites him to join the university's basketball team in hopes of making money out of him.

There Shi-Jie faces new challenges on the basketball team, especially with team mates Ting-Wei (Bo-Lin Chen) and Xiao-Lan (Baron Chen). With the upcoming championship games and the appearance of Li-Li (Charlene Choi), the team must put aside their differences and personal emotions to face their common rivals.

My comments:
After finishing Kung Fu Dunk, my reaction is “OMG, are you kidding me?!” I’m sorry Jay, even though I’m your die-hard fan, I still have to question why did you accept this movie in the first place…it’s so childish and badly written that it’s not funny. Action wise, it’s acceptable and okay but the story really kills it. Jay is still very likeable but the movie suffers from poor character development and character relationship as well. It’s like they tried to develop something but end up going nowhere instead.

Ah Sa as the love interest, didn’t have much to do, all she did was putting a smiley face and a crying face. She had zero chemistry with Jay and I can’t blame her. The Jay and Eric Tsang relationship is even more head-scratching. Their mushy conversation at the end with the candlelight atmosphere makes me wonder if they are a couple instead. I really had goosebumps here…

Warlords

Warlords Synopsis (from Wikipedia):
The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China. The story, based on an unresolved crime in 1870, tells of three sworn brothers (played by Andy Lau, Jet Li and Takeshi Kaneshiro) who are forced to turn against one another due to the harsh realities of war and political intrigue.


My comments:
Period epic movie packaged with a mega cast, grand scenes, lots of blood, battles and flying limbs is usually not my type of movie but I must say that Warlords is pretty spectacular. I’ve seen a lot of brotherhood movies in which the brothers turn against one another for personal gain/selfishness but this time, I find it hard to blame Jet Li’s character. In their situations, Andy is right but so is Jet, so we’re facing a big dilemma. Technically, the three main guys are not evils but they are not heroes as well, they are just pawns. Therefore, when I finished the movie, I find it suffocating, dramatic and depressing. A movie like this, you cannot expect a bright ending…

I have to admit that it bothered me a bit that they guys are screaming/shouting hysterically a little too much during the battle scenes. The romance element was bleh because it's too restrained and there is also a lack of chemistry. Not only that, I also felt a lack of chemistry between the three sworn brothers but the overall acting is fine and effective.

Brothers

Brothers Synopsis (from Official Website)
An intense drama on the portrayal of brotherhood. BROTHERS depicts the mistrust and feud between two brothers through the eyes of an investigating police officer. Despite their close relationship, Yiu and Shun were separated at a young age due to a decision made by their father. Years later they meet again when the family runs into crisis where Yiu, inspired by his father's last words, manipulates a series of setups which endangers Shun's life, so as to achieve his goal.

In fighting against the triad illegal activities, police officer Foon (Andy Lau) witnesses numerous brothers turn against one another due to mistrust and suspicion. The old value of ‘righteousness and brotherhood’ in the gangland has long been replaced by profit and money.

Separated since a young age at their father’s (Wang Zhi-Wen) arrangement, Yiu (Michael Miu) and Shun (Eason Chan) grew up in different places. Years later, Yiu succeeds his father to become the triad boss. His desire to legitimize the illegal dealings within the gang is met with opposition from Kui (Tong Chun-yip) who carries on with the illegal activities secretly. The crisis brings the two brothers back together again. However, a series of setups arranged by Yiu causes Shun to flee to Thailand, accompanied by confidantes Ching (Crystal Huang) and Ghostie (Wong Yat-wah). As Shun is caught between life and death, the trust between the brothers is put to a serious test. When Shun finally realizes the true intention of his brother, things are already beyond repair.

My comments:
I thought that it was a standard movie, nothing exceptional but it’s not too bad as well. I watched Brothers for the reunion of the 4 Tigers on the big screen after more than a decade but it’s disappointing to find out that they didn’t have scenes all together. There is only one scene with the 4 together but because of camera angles only three of them are in the shot with the other one out of the picture. Was it on purpose? The guys are still very charismatic and charming after all these years but I found them over aged to play the characters.

I actually knew Michael Miu’s motives to do all the things he did to Eason, so no surprise. The tiny love relationship between Michael Miu and Huang Yi was odd and didn’t seem to fit this movie. The ending was abrupt, which makes you go “Huh? That’s it?” but it’s also interesting that *spoiler warning* the first minute of the opening is a little extra of the ending, but it's still an unclear ending…

Nothing Is Impossible

Nothing Is Impossible Synopsis (from Yesasia)
Cram school teacher Vivian (Cherrie Ying) may have a good job and photogenic looks, but when it comes to fist drinking games and holding down her alcohol, she still has a long way to go. When Vivian loses her boyfriend (Andy On) to speed fists champion Mango (Debbie Koh), she is determined to win back her pride. She teams up with former champion Turtle (Dayo Wong) to learn the tricks of the game, but he has a long list of problems himself, including a money-hungry ex-wife and piling debts. Vivian soon develops a liking for the game and for her tutor, but can she master the game in time to triumph at the speed fist championship?

My comments:
I expected it be pointless and stupid but it wasn’t bad overall. I enjoyed it and found it funny at times although I don’t fully catch the rules of all the “fist games” (I loosely know how to play that 15-20 game…). It was a loud movie and those vomit parts were disgustingly yucky but other than that, I was entertained for 100 minutes. Haha…I think that Dayo wore the same clothes (he only changed the colors of the t-shirts from grey to white) during the whole movie. Andy On always played cool or badass characters but in this movie, he’s uncool so that’s a nice change. I really wonder if those "constipation" and "brokeback" fist games exist for real…hehe!