Asian Movies I've Watched Part 7 (Aug 13-Jan 14)

This is the first Jia Zhangke movie that I have seen. The director has been critically praised for his movies so I was eager to watch one of them. Set in a town in Northern China, it focuses on several young people influenced by American culture who are seen to have limited hopes in their future. They feel abandoned by their country and Jia Zhangke captures their angst very well. I don't think this movie will interest many people as it it a little bit slow but I found it a very well made indie movie with its social commentary on modern China. Give it a go and see what you think.

Jet Li's first starring role is also one of his best in a martial arts movie. It's a non-stop fight fest with barely a breath to catch before the next action sequence comes along. All manner of varied fighting styles is shown in this brilliant movie. It's easy to know why Jet Li become such a massive star in his native country and abroad - he is sensational in his debut. The story might be a little bit thin but I don't think it matters to be honest. The plot becomes secondary to the martial arts. Animal lovers though might be upset at the accidental death of a dog which is then eaten and some sheep are also killed so be warned. Overall, a solid debut from Jet Li which paved the way for his future success.

The second in the Japanese Dracula trilogy that Toho Studios released in the early 70's. It tries to blend in the Western vampire myth with a Japanese slant to it and for the most part it works pretty well. The director captures most of the well known components of a good vampire story and whilst it doesn't break any new ground in the genre it's still an eerie movie to watch. Mori Kishida is OK as the chief vampire though he's no Christopher Lee!! I was dismayed at the poor ending though and thought it could have been done better than what the filmmakers came up with. Still, it's not too bad of a movie.

A mind numbingly dull anime which might look good but the plot itself is enough to make you go to sleep. I was expecting a fun adventure on a train ride across the galaxy. What I got was a painfully slow story with cat characters, filled with disjointed surrealism, overtly Christian preachiness, and a depressing ending. If you want to watch a far superior and better paced anime with on a space steam train look no further than Galaxy Express 999. I've no idea why this anime has been given such a high rating, it's awful. Art-house lovers may enjoy it.

This Shaw Brothers movie has been hailed as a classic in many quarters but I've got to say I found it tedious and dull. The movie is very inferior to many of the other Shaw Brothers titles. I don't think the movie works too well due to the poor storyline and even the martial arts on display did nothing to inspire me. I would only recommend this to somebody that wants to add another Shaw Brothers title to their belt.

Similar in style to the first movie, the 2nd Overfiend movie carries on with it's gore ridden and tentacle sex storyline although I did think it was slightly toned down. It's a prequel to the events that take place in Overfiend I. It concerns a son of a Nazi scientist who wants to control all 3 worlds (demon, man-beast and human) and to do that he has to kill the Overfiend by summoning a demon. It will naturally disappoint those that loved the insanity, bleakness and the perverted monster-rapefest of the first Overfiend movie. I didn't think it was that bad at all.

An interesting Japanese movie about death and rebirth. I don't think a lot of people will like it as it is a very slow movie. It's about a masseur that's murdered by an evil Lord and is given a chance by the King Of The Underworld to come back as a 'hungry ghost' to avenge his killer. It's a very atmospheric movie with some beautifully shot slow motion scenes and accompanied by great music. It does get a little bit weird but it finishes quite strongly as the masseur's wish for revenge finally comes true. Only really recommended for those that like artistic foreign movies.

Although I've heard for a long time that Slayers was a great anime back in the 90's, this movie was my introduction to it. Perhaps a mistake I made was watching the dubbed version which isn't that good if I'm being honest. Sure, the story looks a lot of fun and there is some laughs to be had but I started to lose interest in the end. Maybe it was just too silly for my liking? I think I'll check out the anime series in it's original language to see if I'll enjoy that more than this movie.

A standard HK comedy actioner which only lights up during the frantic finale set in a warehouse. It has a simple plot and some awful attempts at humour. The action is only sporadic. I felt things just dragged until the setpiece at the end and the director felt that the comedy was more important than action. The highlight are the fight scenes where Cynthia Rothrock kicks her way through the bad guys and has a fight with Michiko Nishiwaki. A shame it didn't last very long. I wouldn't say this is a great action movie, probably average at best.

A fascinating low budget black and white documentary which follows the members of Tokyo's Black Emperors biking gang in the early years of the bosozoku culture which only ran out of steam recently thanks to new laws. The gang members we meet are basically rebelling against society - most of them have no jobs, money or anything significant in their lives. The movie focuses on younger members and their personal lives inside and outside of the Black Emperors as they ride through Tokyo at night drinking, vandalizing bridges, dancing in the streets and trying to look cool. Unlike the bike gangs these days the guys in this documentary are no street thugs, they just joined together to have a good time. It is very stylishly shot by the director. An interesting documentary to be watched if you're at all into Japanese culture.

This movie might not offer anything new in it's storyline but what The Buddhist Fist does best is offer great and inventive martial arts fights. There are numerous to mention and each one outdoes the last one but that's what Yuen Wo Ping brings to the table when he gets involved in a movie such as this. The creative and acrobatic fight choreography is breathtaking and a joy to behold. There's also a vein of rich comedy flowing through the movie as well. It's a shame that this movie gets overlooked by many HK movie fans. Definitely a lost gem. If you ever have an opportunity to watch this movie you won't regret it.

A classic Ozu movie and his penultimate as director. As in many of his movies, the theme here deals with the dynamics of a traditional Japanese family. There is also a theme of death running throughout the movie, it's almost as if Ozu himself saw that his time was drawing to a close (he would die a couple of years after this movie). Good acting from the entire cast but as much as I respect Setsuko Hara (a mainstay of Ozu's movies) she seems to act the same in each movie with that inane grin of hers which I found rather annoying. It's like she hasn't grown as an actress over the years. The cinematography is brilliant. It's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Ozu and classic Japanese movies.

This is without a doubt Jet Li's finest Shaolin movie. This movie has it all: friendship, love, betrayal, corruption, murder, and comedy, not to mention the kung fu style of Shaolin which will never cease to amaze, bewilder, and captivate the viewer. From beginning to end this movie is packed with some incredible kung fu. So many different styles and techniques are used, and Jet Li makes them all look as if they were child's play. The fight sequences are beautifully choreographed. Michelle Yeoh is also brilliant in this movie. Her movements are so fluid, yet also graceful. From the spinning table scene fight to battling an army of soldiers, Yeoh really demonstrates her fighting prowess and acting ability as well. This is without doubt one of the finest martial arts movies you'll get to see. Don't miss.

Another great movie from Japanese director Sion Sono. Sono uses the tsunami which destroyed Fukushima in Japan as a backdrop to tell the tragic story of two 14 year old teens, Sumida and Keiko, who are classmates at school where they are trying to survive both the aftermath of the disaster and extremely indifferent parents. It paints a bleak picture of today's youth with a touch of quirky comedy. Sometani Shouta and Nikaidou Fumi are brilliant as the leads. This movie has got it all from comedy, angst, despair, yakuza, violence, horror, search for self identity, romance and drama. The message of the movie seems to be one of going forward in life no matter how bad the situation. Sono is telling Japan to not give up and believe in hope. Definitely worth checking this movie out.

Touted in some quarters as being the best martial arts movie ever (a questionable claim in my book), nevertheless it is an entertaining movie which broke a lot of ground as being the first wuxia story. It's got a simple plot that of a girl Golden Swallow and her quest to rescue her brother, a government official, who has been kidnapped by a bunch of bandits. Although her kung fu is great, she does get some help from a beggar called Drunken Cat. There's many colourful characters such as the cheerful bandit Smiling Tiger but this movie belongs to Cheng Pei Pei as the beautiful Golden Swallow. As for the martial arts/swordplay fights, although it don't look special nowadays, it did raise the bar at the time as nothing like it had been seen by moviegoers. A solid if nothing else martial arts movie though it's hardly the best I've seen.

A short ultraviolent anime movie about a bioengineered super soldier that wages war on his enemies. If it's blood and guts you're after you'll get it in this anime as MD Geist's only objective is to kill! Basically the plot has Geist trying to stop a deadly weapon called the Death Force. Geist is a bit of a bad ass who doesn't have any hesitation in ripping people's heads off. The pace of this movie is rapid and there's no time for any character development. I wouldn't say this is a great but if you like violent anime this should entertain you as the violence never stops for more than a few minutes from start to finish.

Continuing the TV drama adventures of Toma and Sebumi from the Unsolved Crimes Unit, this movie finds them investigating people getting mummified on a ship at sea and coming face to face with an old enemy of theirs - Toma's evil brother Ninomae and his new associates. This felt like just an extended episode from the drama, not that there's anything wrong with that. I loved this movie and all the twists and turns that was going on. Yet again if you believe that the ongoing storyline ends with this movie think again with another new player coming onto the scene right near the climax. The regular cast are awesome as always in their roles. Can't wait to see the 2 new SPEC movies that were released in Japan during November 2013.

An absolute god awful Japanese horror movie which is cheaply made and populated with terrible actors. It started out promisingly enough with a woman getting her hand and head chopped off by cheesewire but then it went downhill fast. The plot is a right mess - something about a man using body parts for his real-life doll. It's just far too confusing to make any sense of what's going on. Possibly it's worth a look to J-splatter fans, but I'm pretty sure that even those fans will find this entry lacking. I did not like this movie one bit. It was scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as I was concerned.

The 3rd Yamato anime movie keeps up the high standards of the previous 2 movies. The Black Nebula Empire launches a surprise attack on Earth and succeeds in conquering the planet. Placing a double nucleus bomb in a massive fortress, the Nebulans plan to detonate the device if the EDF try to attack it. The crew of the Yamato manage to sneak off Earth, rendevous with the ship which is hidden inside an asteroid and head off to the Nebulans home planet to attack it. All of the characters from the previous movies are also back in this epic movie. Despite the length running time (nearly 2 and a half hours), it never gets boring. There are constant space battles to keep the pace from flagging. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and if you're a Yamato fan you will to. Highly recommended.

A man is asked to retrieve a Rubik's Cube which contains a key to some money whih has been robbed from a bank but there are 2 gangs also after the money. The moody anti-hero Thunderkick Tiger is named because of the tremendous power he can generate in his legs. The plot of the movie is weak and just has Thunderkick fighting his way through the 2 gangs whilst protecting a girl. Whilst the action scenes are adequate enough, it's not enough to justify this as a good movie. It's rather average in the end.

An ancient Babylonian vampire devil Daimon is awakened which travels to Japan and takes over the form of a Lord before starting his killing spree. Only the local Japanese yokai can stop him. On the surface this might look like a cute kids movie but it isn't. It's more of a comedy horror with some bloodshed. The designs of the yokai monsters based on old Japanese legends are fantastic - check out the floating umbrella creature with its long tongue or the deceptively beautiful woman with an extremely stretchy long neck! The special effects for the time are very good. Those interested in Japanese mythology will enjoy the movie.

Probably the best of the Young & Dangerous movies I've seen so far which continues the story of Chan Ho Nam and his sidekick Chicken. In this story, Chicken becomes a candidate for the vacant branch leader of a HK district after the leader is killed but there are other people manipulating things in the background so that another candidate Barbarian is successful in his bid and Chicken is discredited. This movie has a good solid plot which builds to a great ending. Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chan are brilliant as always in their roles. Karen Mok and Michelle Reis also appear as their love interests. If you've watched the previous 3 Y&D movies, you really need to check this one out.

This is a kid friendly kaiju movie about a baby monster (looks like a hippo!) with his own giant toilet hut who is adopted by some locals on an island after his parents are killed. Another monster from outer space nicknamed Goliath starts rampaging in Japan and only Daigoro can stop him. It's a fun movie if you're a child. For myself as an adult it was just OK. Don't come expecting to see lots of kaiju destruction as that doesn't happen barring 2 scenes. However, the special effects especially the minature sets are as good as you'd expect in any Godzilla movie of the period. See this as a curiosity only.

A nice little family movie which teaches kids about the food we eat. A teacher decides with his class to raise a piglet until it's ready to be slaughtered but as the kids begin to become attached to the pig they think it's too cruel to kill it for food. This is based on a true story. It is a moving, realistic and educational Japanese movie requiring the audience to think about the cycle of life and reflect on whether humans have the right to end other animals' lives. Seeing the class' divided opinions on what they should do with the pig as their graduation from the school comes closer was interesting. The young cast were brilliant and so was Satoshi Tsumabuki as their teacher. It's good that there are movies such as this for young minds to ponder over such things as the food on our plates.

One of the best modern martial arts movies you'll ever have a chance to watch with Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen at the top of their game. It has a great combination of lighthearted comedy, martial arts and romance. The movie never loses steam and it moves from one brilliant setpiece to the next. The pacing of the movie is quick. The martial arts on display is superb, exciting and breathtaking to watch. Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen are excellent. This was one of the first great high flying new style martial arts movies and it still stands the test of time 20 years on. Anyone remotely interested in martial arts romantic comedies should rush to see this. Recommended.

An early Kim Ki-Duk movie (his 3rd) which portrays the hard times of a young Korean prostitute and the family that makes money off her in a Korean coastal city. It continues the theme of human behaviour that the director likes to explore in the majority of his movies. You could also say it's also quite a restrained story from him as well with less violence than usual. It's got a good and interesting plot. I did feel a lot of sympathy for the lead character. She is very fragile and even though she is misused quite a few times she is always positive. Brilliant acting from Lee Ji-eun as the young prostitute. Another great movie from Kim Ki-Duk.

A very well made movie about a family in crisis. The mother is having an affair with a work colleague whilst the stay at home father cannot accept what's happening. A divorce is on the cards. The two children are split down the middle with the daughter siding with her mother and the son with his father. It's a realistic portrayal about the pain that takes place when divorce rears it's ugly head. It's not all doom and gloom though as there are some comedy aspect to the movie. All of the cast are excellent in their roles. The movie is riveting. moving, funny and is never boring. It's well worth checking out.

An entertaining family comedy movie starring Katori Shingo, a member of the Japanese music group SMAP. This movie is based on an old anime. The plot has Hattori, an apprentice Iga clan ninja sent to modern day Tokyo to complete his training and taking on a young kid as his master whilst also trying to solve a series of mysterious deaths that may be attributed to a ninja from a rival clan called the Koga. It's a great movie for the kids that will make them laugh and smile. Themes of friendship and loyalty are addressed. Hattori's antics in trying to make sure that nobody else but his master will see him is particularly funny. It's got a good cast and Katori Shingo is perfect in the lead role. Rena Tanaka is also brilliant as the blind artist Midori. I found this movie to be so enjoyable.

Sometimes known in some quarters as Hard Boiled 2 (even though it has nothing to do with John Woo's classic movie and is not a sequel as it was made 1 year before it), this all-action/comedy from HK finds the Japanese Red Army trying their best to kill the Daka Lama who is visiting China. This is a solid Heroic Bloodshed drama with some excellent scenes of stunt work, explosions and gun play. The violence and gore content is very high. The movie holds a few twists, but most of them you can see coming a mile away. The cast which includes Andy Lau, Alam Tam and Eric Tsang are brilliant. The mix of comedy and action gel well together. I don't think action junkies will have any complaints about this movie, there are more than enough set pieces to have them salivating. I really enjoyed it.

Billed as Jackie Chan's 100th movie, this is about the 1911 revolution in China which toppled the Qing Dynasty and established the country as a republic. As I don't really know a lot of Chinese history I did find this movie interesting. Jackie wanted this story to be told in the right way and he pumped a lot of his own money into making this movie. It's more than just a war movie even though there are many battle scenes, it also shows the political maneuverings behind the frontlines. The movie manages to mix in the political intrigue and dramatic backdrop of the situation while at the same time telling a rollicking, action-packed storyline filled with melodrama and excitement. A very well made movie which I enjoyed.

If there's one nation that excels at tearjerker human dramas it's Japan and this superb movie about the deep bond between a brother and sister who is dying from leukaemia is a perfect example of it. The duo of Kengo Kora and Mitsuki Tanimura are excellent as the main characters. Tanimura's portrayal of a teenage girl who is trying to be so cheerful in the face of adversity is brilliant and Kengo as the devoted brother who collects as much money from various jobs in order to create special fireworks as a tribute for his sister in the town's festival is guaranteed to bring viewers to tears. Overall, a wonderful drama which highlights family bonds. Recommended.

A short but brilliant CG animated Japanese kaiju movie which is meant to be a tribute to all the kaiju movies that came out in the 50's/60's. This movie is respectful to it's source material and never feels the need to devolve into cheap humour or a tongue-in-cheek nature to deliver memories. It really captures the feel of classic kaiju movies, yet has originality. Such a shame it could not have run as a full length feature movie. This is truly a piece of art and totally worth your time.

A very funny martial arts comedy from the Shaw Bros studio. It's about a young woman who marries an elderly landowner to keep his holdings from falling into the hands of his greedy and corrupt brother. After he dies, she moves to Canton to live with her nephew. This movie is more or less an outright comedy farce with the martial arts sequences only being used to make the comedy even funnier. It's difficult to take your eyes off Kara Hui who plays the title character. She is absolutely gorgeous and her martial arts skills isn't too shabby either. A very amusing, well-made movie.

A compelling yakuza story from director Kinji Fukasaku. The plot centres around a cop Kuroiwa who is fed up of his superiors in trying to be accomodating to the yakuza. He wants something to be done so he stirs up some trouble but in doing so he starts to side with one yakuza family in their war with a rival clan. The movie's theme is the lack of honour in Japanese society. The police are corrupt, and in many respects indistinguishable from the Yakuza. Tetsuya Watari is excellent as the unbalanced cop Kuroiwa. Meiko Kaji also delivers a fine performance as a mobster's wife, different from other roles she played at the time. It's another great crime drama from Fukasaku. Well worth watching.

A classic Shaw Brothers martial arts movie. It isn't a sequel as such to the 5 Deadly Venoms movie, just that it features the same actors and director. The story is completely unrelated to it. It is about an evil politician who cruelly cripples four men. Once crippled the four go to learn kung fu. After an amazing training montage, the four go back to get revenge. The martial arts in this movie is terrific and so awesome. In a nutshell, The Crippled Avengers is an entertaining martial arts flick that I certainly recommend to those who love kung fu cinema.

Yukie Nakama and Abe Hiroshi are back in the 2nd Trick spin-off movie from the popular drama series. Ueda and Yamada investigate a woman who has managed to move a rock up a cliff with her magical powers on an island and may also have kidnapped a young girl 10 years previously. This is yet another amusing Trick movie with an interesting plot. The pairing of Nakama and Hiroshi are a joy to behold and the chemistry between them is fantastic. The way the so-called magic is debunked by the pair is always fascinating as well. If you were a fan of the series as I was then you'll love this movie too.

A rather lacklustre entry in the Aces Go Places series. The lack of any spectacular action sequences really hurts this movie and it only kicks into high gear during the finale at a warehouse full of the terracotta army. The chemistry and laughs between King Kong and Baldy are good though Baldy's immediate family which provided some laughs in previous entries are missing in this one. There's some high profile HK actors such as Danny Lee and Leslie Cheung popping up in this movie as well. It's not too bad but it's definitely not the best Aces Go Places you'll ever see.

This is an incredible documentary about one man's crusade for put the souls of 6 men to rest for an incident that happened after WWII ended. The 6 men were shot dead on false charges so that they could be used as food for his starving superiors. Kenzo Okuzaki who is a little bit unbalanced goes around the country confronting the people that were responsible for the murders and if he doesn't get the answer he wants he attacks them! Many people viewing this documentary might think it's wrong for him to do that but it got him results. It makes us confront what nobody knew what was going on in the Pacific War. Just when you think Okuzaki has got everything he wants to move on with his life, there'a another twist in the tale right at the end. I've never seen such a documentary such as this, you can't take your eyes off it and it really is unforgettable. A must see.

Another superb epic by Akira Kurosawa. It is the story of 3 different warlords who are all fighting for sole leadership of Japan. When one of the warlords is killed by a sniper, his clan tries to keep his death a secret so they can avoid invasion and defeat at the hands of the other two clans. In order to do that, they make use of a petty thief who bears a striking resemblance to the late Lord Shingen, and he is put in the place of Shingen so that his death is not known by the other clans. Everything about this movie is brilliant from the big battles, the use of vibrant colour, the cast itself and the directing style of Kurosawa. The performance of Tatsuya Nakadai as the fake Lord Shingen is stunning and very touching in the final scenes, when he is expelled like a street-dog from the clan, and in the fields during the final battle. Overall, despite the running time being close to 3 hours, Kagemusha is a compelling movie that grows on you and comes highly recommended.

A quite brilliant comedy thriller movie by director Sabu (the 2nd movie he directed). Sawaki is a rather clueless mailman who gets mixed up with yakuza and as a result ends up being targeted by some equally clueless police who are convinced he's a runner for the mob. It's the characters, their conversations, their thoughts and their little quirks that make the movie very enjoyable and fairly stimulating for the mind. There are moments of absurdity that also make it very funny. There are also some terrific bicycling scenes including the ending, which plays like a demented western on wheels. Shinichi Tsutsumi is superb as the postman Sawaki. An excellent Japanese movie that should be on every Asian movie fans list to see.

Don't be fooled into thinking that with Jet Li headlining this movie it's gonna full martial arts because it isn't. It's an action comedy movie more than anything else. Jet plays a cop who is investigating a series of mysterious murders in the city with his young partner. The victims were men who strangely die with a silly grin on their faces. If you can accept that this is a shallow and at times silly movie you'll enjoy it and take the rather exaggerated martial arts fights as part of the fun. The movie does provide some laughs along the way and there's plenty of eye candy as well mostly in the shape of sexy Yan Liu. The only bad thing about this movie is in the overuse of CGI effects but overall I enjoyed this comedy and Jet Li was great in it.

A brilliant debut by director Kenji Uchida. It has an excellent story where a series of events in one night is unfolded in the perspectives of five main characters: A gullible salaryman, a woman who just found out her fiancé is cheating on her, a detective who's the salaryman's best friend, a female con artist, and a yakuza boss. Even though same events are played out over and over again, we learn more and more each time, with frequent comedic reliefs to keep us interested. One twist follows another, and summarized very well in the end. The scenario is carefully designed without obvious plot holes. The acting by the entire cast is fantastic. Definitely worth watching.

The third and final instalment in the Guts Of A Virgin exploitation series. Whilst the first 2 concentrated more on horror, this one goes down the erotic route with just a little bit of torture horror thrown in. The sex scenes do come close at times to being hardcore. The plot as it is is wafer thin and concern a powerful woman and her gang of sexual deviants who use sexual torture on people in order to steal their money. It's only a passable exploitation movie in the end.

Having not seen the late night adult tokusatsu show Garo, I wasn't sure what to expect. It plays out like a typical tokusatsu movie except there's some nudity involved (something that would never appear in the kids version)! This is the spin-off movie from the 2006 series (there has been several other Garo series since that time though). The plot has the hero, a Makai Knight called Kouga (who transforms into Garo) and his associates battling the evil Lord Karma and her cronies. Fans who like tokusatsu movies will know what to expect from this movie. The cast all perform well and Mary Matsuyama as the serious female Rekka is gorgeous in her Xena Warrior Princess like costume. A great tokusatsu movie.

One of Takashi Miike's earliest yakuza works and where he developed and honed his storytelling for the movies he'd make in the future. It's a violent movie about a yakuza member who survives being in a coma for 10 years before he wakes up, relocates to Tokyo and gets involved with several mob factions. Miike is excellent at doing yakuza movies and this one is no exception. It's got his style written all over it although the bizarre elements for some of his later works isn't in this one, it's definitely one to watch. Great stuff as usual from the maverick director.

Enjoyably silly kung fu version of the Dirty Dozen, with comedy characters and high-jinx mixed in with a dash of mildly gory violence. John Liu plays a kung fu expert hired by a gambling boss to train five vagrants with a modicum of fighting skill for the job of rescuing a gang boss imprisoned in the fort of a powerful warlord. As kung fu fighters so often do in these movies, our heroes head off on their mission with no supplies or provisions but manage to turn up some rope when they need to scale a cliff to get into the fort! The martial arts on display is good and there's no shortage of it in the movie. There's even a twist right at the end. It's an enjoyable old-school kung fu movie which martial arts fans will like.

This isn't one of Sonny Chiba's best movies and is actually unintentionally funny because it's just so bad. The plot is weak and it's about drugs flooding into Japan, Sonny Chiba's acting is poor and the fight sequences are awful as the camera is shaking so much you're not sure what's going on. One hilarious fight has Chiba kicking a guy so hard in his stomach his teeth pops out of his mouth!! With a movie made so poorly it's hard not to laugh through most it, if you can stomach it. There are better movies with Sonny Chiba so if you're one of his fans it's best to avoid this one.

This is basically your average rom-com, but still it is quite a good movie, especially because it has a very good story, but better yet, it has an amazing ensemble of actors and actresses on the list. The story actually works out quite well, because it is believable and funny, and it is really helped along by some great hilarious situations and of course the great acting by Tony Leung and Shu Qi, but also helped well along the way by supporting actor Ka Tung Lam and actress Teresa Mak. There is such a great chemistry between Tony Leung and Shu Qi and they really work well together on the screen and compliment one another quite nicely. But also the feisty chemistry between Ka Tung Lam and Teresa Mak was really great and added a lot of charismatic flavor to the movie. The one thing I didn't like about this movie was a distasteful joke about rape. So if you enjoy romantic comedies, then you can do no wrong than see this movie.

The HK version of King Kong. It follows more or less the same plot and yes, the giant ape even gets to climb a tall building in Hong Kong as well before falling in flames to his death. I was quite impressed by the special effects for this production especially the brilliant destruction sequences. It's strange why this ape is called Mighty Peking Man as he's found in the remote mountains of India!! There's some eye candy in the form of the buxom blonde Evelyne Kraft as Samantha. She runs around half naked for the majority of the movie, her left nipple gets exposed plenty of times!! Overall I really enjoyed this campy Shaw Bros monster movie. See it if you love kaiju movies.

This is the 4th of 5 movies based on a popular Hissatsu TV series. I did wonder if I'd be lost with this movie having had no experience with the TV series at all but in the end it didn't matter. It's centres on a aged samurai avenger who must solve the mysery of several deaths in his local village and a new young magistrate who is somewhat involved in all of it. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, it's one of his lesser known movies but it bears the hallmarks of his other works such as major bloodletting. The movie has an interesting story though a bit overlong for my liking and it builds up to a good finale. The realistic sets and costumes adds to the atmosphere of the movie. Fans of the samurai genre should find this movie more than enjoyable.