Blog Archives

The Viral Factor (2012)

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Posted on April 28, 2012 by Deni

I guess I’m terminally optimistic. I expect an action movie to not be that hard to understand. I mean, there’s a basic formula, right? You need a good guy, and a bad guy, and you need something for them to fight over. The good guy needs to be the hero (technically) so usually it’s a case of the good guy trying to stop the bad guy from doing bad things, whether that be on a personal scale (like Liam Neeson … (read more)

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Fire of Conscience (Fou Lung) (2010)

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Posted on May 31, 2010 by Elizabeth Kerr

To try and sort out the convoluted plot of Dante Lam’s Fire of Conscience would take more space than this website has bandwidth. Just thinking about the gratuitous twists and turns in the narrative is enough to prompt a migraine. To that end, Lam was probably going for more of the cops and robbers action vibe Hong Kong did so well in the ‘80s and ’90s — and that Lam evoked so effectively in last year’s Sniper and 2008’s surprising … (read more)

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Beast Cops (1998)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by Mark Morrison

Modern cop drama with Anthony Wong playing the mildly corrupt cop who keeps a lid on things, Michael Wong as the uptight straight cop who’ll gun down a criminal regardless of the danger to the hostage, and Sam Lee as the skinny cop who always gets the goss. Most of Beast Cops is concerned with the interaction between the three cops, and the conflict between their way of walking the beat. Roy Cheung plays the local Big Brother who has … (read more)

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Tiramisu (2002)

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Posted on July 24, 2006 by Alison

Good grief, another “boy meets ghost” romance. Bittersweet and occasionally cloying, this fills up almost two hours with a combination of A Moment To Remember and Ghostbusters that works surprisingly well, provided you’re not too attentive.

The actors: Karena Lam is young and vivacious as the tragic/romantic lead, with a beguiling air of softness. Candy Lo is spiky and strong in the support role which she fills and then some. Eason Chan, as the oft-dumped roommate, is an amusing buffoon. … (read more)

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The Twins Effect (2003)

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Posted on January 7, 2006 by Alison

This is nothing more nor less than a promotional effort for The Twins, that ebullient Cantopop duo made up of Gillian Cheung and Charlene Choi. But for all that, it’s not a bad piece of froth, provided you disengage your brain while you watch.

One of the highlights, for cinema aficionados, is the presence of the consummate actor Anthony Wong. Although he has a reputation for sleepwalking through roles which fail to engage his interest, here he adds sparkle as … (read more)

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