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Full Contact (1992)

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It might be safe to say that the late 80’s and the early 90’s was possibly the high point for Hong Kong crime cinema. Sure, there’s been a lot of brilliant flicks since then (Johnny To probably responsible for more than his fair share) but the hey day of John Woo and Ringo Lam just somehow stands out as some of the freshest, most electrifying cinema around. True, the fairly standard criminal betrayed revenge story Full Contact wasn’t the most … (read more)

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Burning Paradise (1994)

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Burning Paradise is a collaboration between two of the greats of contemporary Cantonese cinema: director Ringo Lam (Prison on Fire, Full Contact) and producer Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China series).

The opening action sequences of this martial arts feature quickly establishes the cinema landscape via a series of human and animal decapitations. The prologue describing the persecution of Shaolin monks by the Manchu government during the Qing dynasty, has been used in Shaw … (read more)

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Full Alert (1997)

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This sensational heist flick comes your way from the fevered brain of director Ringo Lam. In my opinion, he never quite topped his 1987 grand slam of City on Fire, School on Fire and Prison on Fire — that is, until this picture.

Lam leaves aside the more pyrotechnic aspects of the Hong Kong crime genre to weave a claustrophobic account of a policeman’s (Lau Ching Wan) obsession to catch a thief (Francis Ng). Lam brings off not only … (read more)

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Twin Dragons (1992)

Fun action romp featuring a cameo from virtually everyone in the HK film industry. This was made in support of a film industry move to get corruption out of the industry. Don’t know how well it worked, but it’s typical Jackie action, and you’ll have fun spotting famous faces.… (read more)

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City on Fire (1987)

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You might have heard this one before: 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 … (read more)

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Looking for Mr Perfect (2003)

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Must go to Malaysia.

Must visit Malaysia as a tourist and spend money there.

Lots and lots of money.

Blargh. Excuse while I just slap my head a few times. Just have to work off that subliminal marketing ploy that just tried to pass itself off as a movie. Oh, who am I kidding, there was nothing subliminal about it. Every second shot was of the wonderful Malaysian backdrops (which do look quite wonderful) and the kind of Malaysian … (read more)

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