Chinatown Video releases for August 1999
Weasel Alert: I occasionally do a bit
of work for Chinatown Video. This month I wrote the blurb for The Storm Riders
video.
Slacker Alert: This month's reviews
are recycled from other parts of the site, and are brought to you by the Cut and Paste
function, and the Committee for Getting Mark to Bed Before Dawn.
CITY ON FIRE (1987) Rated R. Rental.
An absolutely tremendous crime film. Chow Yun Fat is an undercover cop
who takes one last job infiltrating a gang of jewel thieves. He befriends cool gunster Danny
Lee despite himself. The big jewel robbery goes wrong, Yun Fat
gets gut-shot, and the gang withdraw to their warehouse hideout to shout and point guns at
each other while trying to work out who sold them out. Sound familiar? That's because boy
wonder Tarrantino used the last half hour of this excellent flick as the basis for his Reservoir
Dogs. Check the original, and you'll see what turned Quentin on: great characters,
pacing, tension and drama. Clean jawed Roy Cheung is the hard detective
who decides that the undercover cop is as guilty as the thieves, and Carrie Ng
makes her film debut as Yun Fat's long suffering girlfriend (hard to
believe from this that she would go on to be the castrating assassin Princess in Naked
Killer). There is one scene in City on Fire which I always think of as the
difference between tough guy Hollywood heroes and trickster Hong Kong heroes; Yun
Fat whistles at some girls, they tell him to piss off, and he does this crazy
little happy dance. I can't see Schwarzenegger wiggling his ass like that. Director Ringo
Lam continued his appraisal of modern Hong Kong life with School on Fire
and Prison on Fire.
THE KILLER (1989) Deluxe Boxed Set Rated R. SBS subtitles. $34.95.
John Woo is at the peak of his form with this blood-soaked epic. I'm sure you've
already seen it, otherwise you wouldn't have arrived at this site. If you haven't, shame
on you. The relationship between the assassin (Chow Yun Fat) and the cop
(Danny Lee) is terrific. The scene where they point guns at each other
unbeknownst to their blind hostess (Sally Yeh) is terrific. The villain (Shing
Fui-On) is terrific. The themes of brotherhood, honour and heroism are terrific.
The action scenes are terrific. Just see the damn thing, okay? This deluxe
boxed set release contains the video, a poster and a 16-page colour booklet written by
M.C.Thomason.
THE STORM RIDERS (1998) Rated M. 124
mins. $29.95.
The Storm Riders was the smash hit of the Hong Kong box office in the Summer
of 1998, and signals the triumphant rebirth of the Hong Kong fantasy film. Director Andrew
Lau blends state-of-the-art digital effects with the whirlwind pacing typical of
Hong Kong cinema, with an all-star cast of 1998's hottest Hong Kong actors. Adapted from a
best-selling comic, the story follows Lord Conquer (veteran Japanese actor Sonny
Chiba) and his disciples Wind (Dior Cheng) and Cloud (Aaron
Kwok). A love triangle between the pair and Conquer's daughter Charity (Kristy
Yeung) rips the kingdom apart. It just might rip your VCR apart too! Check my full review, but believe me, you wanna see this one.
