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Recent Reviews
- Magnificent Warriors (1987)
- Odd Couple (1979)
- Three (2016)
- Dreadnaught (1981)
- Decision to Leave (2022)
- Once Upon a Time in China & America (1997)
- Bad Guy
- Dali & Cocky Prince
- A Korean Odyssey
- Special Delivery (2022)
- Hwarang
- My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho
- Strong Girl Bong Soon
- The Master’s Sun
- Bubble (2022)
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Magnificent Warriors (1987)
Equally excellent in the fields of action, comedy and drama, and after dozens of major roles in Hong Kong, Chinese and American productions, Michelle Yeoh can seemingly do, well, everything. Everywhere. Maybe, even, all at once. Having recently been awarded an Oscar for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once, many folks will be looking to catch up on her back catalogue and Magnificent Warriors is an early career highlight.
After her breakout buddy cop role with Cynthia … (read more)
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Odd Couple (1979)
Odd Couple is one of the quintessential kung fu films focused on the use of weapons, rather than unarmed forms of combat. Other weapon-centric flicks include Heroes of the East and Legendary Weapons of China, both directed by Lau Kar Leung for Shaw Brothers studios. Odd Couple is directed by Lau Kar Wing — brother of Lau Kar Leung — for the independent film company Gar Bo Films which he led along with Sammo Hung and Karl Maka. It’s … (read more)
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Three (2016)
OK then. It’s my turn to offer some thoughts on a movie from Johnnie To, someone whose long and varied output I largely relish, and a much-loved director here on HC.
Three is alright. Gulp.
A single location thriller set in a hospital, Three maintains the quirky humour that is a big part of the Milkyway Image house style, although there’s a dark edge to most of the comedy this time around. Chance has a big influence on the outcome, … (read more)
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Dreadnaught (1981)
Dreadnaught is a lot of things. A cracker of a fun movie for a start. It’s also a Wong Fei-Hung story, a slasher movie, a star turn for Yuen Biao, the inspiration for a scene in Batman Forever and still remains a unique film in its own right, approaching genre conventions with an unconventional spin. Blending generous helpings of action, comedy, and horror into one madcap mixture only 95 minutes long, some scenes incredibly still manage to drag a little!… (read more)
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Decision to Leave (2022)
It’s been a while since Park Chan-wook’s last feature length film. Since The Handmaiden in 2016, he’s done some television and short film work, so the industry was well and truly ready for another big screen event from one of South Korea’s hardest hitting directors. KOFFIA hosted screenings of Decision to Leave in some Australian cities back in September, but Madman has engineered a wider release for the film so now more folks have a chance to see what images … (read more)
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Once Upon a Time in China & America (1997)
Wong Fei Hung goes west. OK, technically he goes east to get to the American West, but it’s very much Wong Fei Hung in a western genre film. The Once Upon a Time in China film series has always had a historical fiction slant, so the premise of this entry, while more fanciful than those that came before it, is different in degree rather than kind. Once Upon a Time in China & America (OUATICAA) slides into self-parody … (read more)
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Bad Guy
The casting director deserves a bonus for this series. I can imagine the briefing notes: “Find us a lead actor who can smoulder. We want someone who can seduce all women, and some men, convey a broad range of emotions, or appear mysterious and enigmatic as needed. The ability to look sexy on a motorbike and deliver a spinning back kick would be good too.” Well, they certainly got all that and more with Kim Nam-gil. Add Han Ga-in as … (read more)
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Dali & Cocky Prince
Who’d have imagined that Lovely Nurse Park ™ from Doctor Romantic could metamorphose into a shouty, obnoxious, tossbadger? It certainly wasn’t on my bingo card, but Kim Min-jae does a sterling job, carrying off the role of the nouveau riche gamjatang tycoon with an unsuspected elan.
I suspect Kim has been typecast as the mild-mannered romantic lead far too often, so this role must have been a welcome opportunity. It was first offered to Lee Jae-wook, of Do Do Sol … (read more)
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