Chinatown Video releases for August 2000
RUNNING OUT OF TIME (1999) Rated M. 93
mins. $27.95.
Director John Woo and his favourite star Chow Yun-Fat have
gone to Hollywood, alas. But I can't say I miss them. Why? Because I have director Johnnie
To and his favourite star Lau Ching Wan. It seems to me that
everything that To and his Milkyway Image production company turns to
gold - brilliant, shining, ice-blue gold. Why blue? Because it's so damn cool, just like
this film. To overturns the powerful darkness of his company's three
films in 1998 (The Longest Nite, Expect the Unexpected and A Hero
Never Dies) with this playful thriller that pits terminally-ill master thief Andy
Lau against bored and demoted cop Lau Ching Wan. It's a heist
film fair and square, and a joy to watch the two match wits and swap handcuffs as Lau sets
in motion a three-day plan to pull the job of a lifetime. Perfect pacing, snapping
tension, laugh-out-loud humour, and a hearty dose of sheer good will - it's clear to me
that the two leads had a damn fine time making this one. Ruby Wong is
under-used in a supporting role, but Hui Siu-Hung provides many a guffaw
as the antiquated chief inspector. The warmest moments in the film belong to Yoyo
Mung, aka "The girl on the bus". To plays with his
subject of time with good-old slow-mo but also a new trick: fast-mo, hyper sped-up
segments which reinforce the fast and fleeting nature of modern life in open-all-hours
Hong Kong. As long as they keep making films as good as this one, you'll find me propping
up the counter until it's long past closing time.
EROTIC GHOST STORY - PERFECT MATCH (1997) Rated R. $27.95.
I finally did it: I finally watched a Cat III soft porn from Hong Kong.
Call it a professional obligation, call it homework, call it research for the video blurb
I was writing, call it an excuse to see ladies with nuthin' on, call it what you will, but
I call it a pretty dull way to pass 90 minutes. The story is about three cute rabbit
spirits who have broken out of Heaven and are all set to learn about human vices via
practical experimentation. However, although the storyline promises lotsa hijinx, the
execution is all a bit lame, except for one outrageous visual gag about going at it like -
get this - like rabbits. Fnar fnar. Diana Pang Dan is here but in name
only, she only really graces the beginning and the end of the film. Tsui Kam Kong is
wandering about too, but only because his contract stipulates that you can't make a Cat
III softcore in Hong Kong without him....
RAGING ANGELS (1998) Rated M. $27.95
Recent girls with guns film starring two stalwarts of the genre - Jade Black
Cat Leung and Carrie Naked Killer Ng.
Haven't seen it yet, so can't say much more than that.
