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The Lady Is The Boss (1983)

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Posted on March 25, 2007 by Justin

Lau Kar Leung brings Hung Fist kung-fu to the disco in 1983’s The Lady Is The Boss, one of his most uneven films with the Shaw Brothers studio. The basic premise is excellent: an old-fashioned kung-fu instructor clashes with the young American-educated daughter of the school’s founder, who arrives in Hong Kong to take over the school’s management. Unfortunately, some truly woeful over-acting and cheesy comedy make most of the film fairly difficult to watch, even when interspersed with … (read more)

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Three… Extremes (2004)

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Posted on March 25, 2007 by Deni

Three… Extremes is both an obscure and a completely appropriate title for this cross-cultural horror film anthology. Obscure because, as titles go, usually you can kind of work out what you’ll be watching or at least the genre it’s going to be presented in, just from the title. This title, however, doesn’t give away a lot up front. I mean, what’s with the ellipsis? Three dot dot dot Extremes. Yeah okay. Clever way to label it a sequel to Three… (read more)

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Three: Going Home (2002)

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Posted on March 25, 2007 by Alison

The brief for the segments included in the original Three (three countries, three directors, three films, geddit?) was simply that it be something to do with ghosts. The Korean and Thai segments both took this literally, and crafted straighforward ghost films. Peter Chan Ho Sun, however, took this opportunity to create a multi-layered offering combining ghost movie, thriller, medical drama, love story, and tragedy, all wrapped together in a beautiful Chris Doyle package. Don’t just take my word for it, … (read more)

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The Three Swordsmen (1994)

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Posted on March 25, 2007 by Alison

Terrible. Just terrible. Impossible to understand, unless you think the massive conspiracy mentioned in the synopsis sabotaged the film-making. Even for a fan of Brigitte and Andy and Elvis, this one was really hard-going. Don’t risk it.… (read more)

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The 14 Amazons (1972)

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Posted on March 25, 2007 by Justin

The 14 Amazons is one of those films in which Shaw Brothers pulled out all the stops: it’s got a huge cast, quite a bit of location shooting, an epic story and some huge melee battle scenes. Though many would assume from the title that it’s got either a strong feminist or exploitative slant, it’s got neither: instead, it’s a straight tale of heroism and determination that just happens to be centered around a family of women.

Their menfolk are … (read more)

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Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978)

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Posted on March 12, 2007 by Justin

Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow is one of the better films from Jackie Chan’s early career; though the story will be familiar to fans of this style of martial arts film, it has the energy and comedic timing that has really served to differentiate Jackie’s work in kung fu filmmaking from that of others. It’s directed by master of the genre Yuen Wo Ping, who should need no introduction, and co-stars the director’s father, Simon Yuen, in a similar role … (read more)

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Shaolin Hand Lock (1978)

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Posted on March 12, 2007 by Justin

David Chiang (who seems to have become rather a staple of my DVD viewing of late, for some reason) returns to the martial arts genre with this film, from rather prolific Shaws director Ho Meng-hua. Also in the mix are Lo Lieh, perennial Shaws actor, and Michael Chan (Chen Hui-min), who’s still acting today, most recently in Enter the Phoenix, The Spy Dad and You Shoot, I Shoot.

Our story follows (naturally) David Chiang’s character, a young man … (read more)

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Re-Cycle (2006)

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Posted on March 12, 2007 by Eugene

Just as a certain satirical spy film reminded us to ‘remember the henchmen’, the Pang Brothers return and asks of us to think of ideas otherwise discarded. If a writer can breathe life and soul into a character and a world, what happens when they throw an idea away? Can an author be haunted by creations otherwise left undeveloped and what responsibility does a creator have to their creations?

Will I stop asking these questions and get on with whether … (read more)

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