Sparrow [C-Movie] (Simon Yam, Kelly Lin, Lam Ka-tung, Lam Suet, Kate Tsui)
Directed by: Johnnie To (this is all you need to know before watching)
Starring: Simon Yam, Kelly Lin, Lam Ka-tung, Lam Suet, Kate Tsui
Johnnie To woke up in love one morning. It’s the only explanation for SPARROW: three years in the making it’s as lighthearted as a birdsong. Pickpocketing is the ultimate high art in this flick, as precise as pointilism and as graceful as ballet (and, in fact, a dance choreographer was on hand to give rhythm and dash to the pickpocketing scenes). Simon Yam plays the dapper leader of a band of fingersmiths working out of Hong Kong, and when a mysterious femme fatale starts playing games with them, the delicate balance of their lives suddenly falls out of synch.
More of a musical than anything else, SPARROW is full of grand entrances, intricately choreographed scenes that unfurl like dance numbers and a 60’s Euro-cool soundtrack full of marimba glissandos, crooned whispers and sparkling jazz pianos. Oddly enough, while American reviewers have grumped that the film wasn’t a typical Johnnie To action picture and therefore wasn’t satisfying, the European press have been hailing it as his greatest achievement yet. The Berliner Morgenpost says that SPARROW resembles the innocence of the Nouvelle Vague, and even argues that Johnnie To has been unfairly criticized for aspects Wong Kar-wai is frequently lauded for. Popular German film website Film Starts argues that SPARROW is OCEAN’S ELEVEN done better and Kino-Zeit calls it a lovely homage to French gangster comedies of the 50s. Both Kino-Zeit and Film Starts claim that SPARROW deserved the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, but that it was too easy-going and apolitical for the jury to give it their highest honor.
SPARROW is a love letter to Hong Kong, which is finding its arteries increasingly clogged with Starbucks and bank branches, while its charm is bulldozed to make way for more steel and glass luxury condominiums. Celebrating the city’s cha chaan tengs, its trams, its ladder streets and even its uniquely noisy “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs, SPARROW will resonate with every New Yorker who’s seen a favorite local business replaced by a Chase Manhattan ATM. In the tough summer months when the sun is frying your brain, SPARROW is like a gentle spring breeze that’ll leave you refreshed and feeling like your soul has just been dipped into a giant, sparkling glass of cool, bubbly champagne.
Drop me a cat [C-Movie] (Shinji Takeda, Terri Kwan, Yu-chen Chang)
Director: Mi-sen Wu
Writer: Mi-sen Wu (writer)
Release Date: 14 June 2003 (Taiwan)
Genre: Adventure
Plot Keywords: Roof | Television Show | Urban | Stewardess | Underpass
Awards: 2 wins & 1 nomination
Cast
Shinji Takeda
Terri Kwan
Yu-chen Chang
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Che-ying Liu
Sue Wang
In 1999, the year before the millennium, Hei-shu, who has been unemployed for a long time, manages to get a job in a local brass band playing for funerals and weddings. One day, Hei-shu’s cat disappears. Roughly at the same time, a new neighbour moves in. Hei-shu keeps putting food out for the cat because he is convinced that it will come back one day. Later he suspects that the cat turned into a young woman, Yokulut.
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Shamo [C-Movie] (Shawn Yue, Ryo Ishibashi, Dylan Kuo)
Shamo is a 2007 Cantonese-language action film from Hong Kong. The film was directed by Pou-Soi Cheang and produced by Same Way Productions Limited. It is an adaption of a Japanese manga also named Shamo.
Cast
- Shawn Yue
- Ryo Ishibashi
- Dylan Kuo
- Bruce Leung
- Annie Liu
- Masato
- Francis Ng
- Pei Pei
- Zing Chau
This pop holocaust of unseemly proportions continues director Soi Cheang’s mad attack on humanity, screaming that the world we live in has gone insane. SHAMO leaks out of the same dark, inner place that the director reached for in his previous film, the nihilistic DOG BITE DOG, only here he creates a savage manga adaptation where everyone is out for their pound of flesh. It’s stylish to a fault, with eye-popping sets, lurid deep colors, fashion magazine layouts, scornful women camping it up like drag queens and luminous cinematography. Pain and violence have rarely looked so chic.
Based on a brutal manga from Izo Hashimoto, the film gnaws joyfully on its material. Ryo (a ripped Shawn Yue) is sent to juvie for stabbing his parents to death while they ate breakfast and he becomes a national pariah after a picture of him in his blood soaked school uniform hits the newspapers. He’s welcomed to his new home with a beat-down and a gang rape, and then he attempts suicide. Fail. His quiet younger sister, Natsumi (Pei Pei) visits him in a fluffy pink showgirl outfit to inform him that he’s ruined her life and she’s leaving town to become a prostitute. Eventually an older prisoner, Kurokawa (Francis Ng), takes him under his wing and teaches him karate and soon he’s destroying his tormentors with iron-fisted punches and gut-crushing kicks.
When he’s released from prison he becomes a gigolo and begins a lengthy trawl through every seamy red light district in Japan looking for his sister. Getting nastier and more feral with each succeeding frame, Ryo decides that the only road to money is to become an Ultimate Fighting champ, and he starts training for the lethal underground fight circuit. No need to fear that this will turn into your mainstream ROCKY story – Ryo’s a slap-happy monster who just wants more. But almost lost beneath his layers of anger, pain and psychosis is a forgotten speck of humanity and a will of iron that perversely makes you root for him through every bruise and gash that he gives and every one that he receives. Perhaps somewhere down the road there will be some twisted redemption waiting for him, but until then he only wants to survive one more day. Last year the New York Asian Film Festival showed the director’s DOG BITE DOG and we are thrilled to bring his encore film.
Red Cliff [C-Movie] (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Zhao Wei, Lin Chi-ling)
Directed by John Woo
Produced by Terence Chang
Written by John Woo, Chen Han, Sheng Heyu
Based on Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms
Cast
- Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Zhou Yu
- Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang
- Zhang Fengyi as Cao Cao
- Chang Chen as Sun Quan
- Zhao Wei as Sun Shangxiang
- Hu Jun as Zhao Yun
- Lin Chi-ling as Xiao Qiao
- Nakamura Shido as Gan Xing(甘興) (based on Gan Ning)
- You Yong as Liu Bei
Red Cliff (Chinese: 赤壁; pinyin: Chìbì), alternatively known as The Battle of Red Cliff, is a Chinese epic film based on the Battle of Red Cliffs and events during the End of Han Dynasty and immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. The film is expected to be released in two versions: within Asia, Red Cliff is to be released in two parts totaling over four hours in length, with the first part premiering in July 2008 and the second in January 2009.[1] Outside of Asia, a single 2½ hour film will be released in January 2009.[1]
The film is directed by John Woo and stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Lin Chi-ling and Zhao Wei. With an estimated budget of US$80 million, Red Cliff is the most expensive Asian-financed film to date.[3]
This film is one of the two 2008 Three Kingdoms related films, the other being Daniel Lee’s Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon which has already been released.
The Legend Of Zu, 蜀山传 [C-Movie] (2001)
The Legend Of Zu, 蜀山传 (Zhang Ziyi, Sammo Hung, 2001)
Plot:
Good versus evil in the realm of the magical mountain Zu as director Tsui Hark returns to the territory that made him famous nearly 20 years ago.
Click Me!
Overview:
Tsui Hark revisits the story of Zu, which he previously put to film in 1983. Only this time, he’s got a bigger budget, a lot more experience, and countless special effects tricks up his sleeve! Rumor has it that there are over 1600 special effects shots in this film! This is truly a great film to have on DVD, as the high quality format is perfect for experiencing Hark’s magical fantasy world as he envisioned it.
This movie is well done on so many levels that I am in awe that the score is as low as it is (5.9/10(576 votes) as of this writing). This movie has incredible special effects, a true epic storyline, complex great character interaction, and mind-blowing battles - they have to be seen to be believed! The only complaint I have is the subtitles on the HK DVD version I got (some lines were not translated - ???).
I just don’t understand when I read & hear from various sources: “it has a confusing plot….”, “I couldn’t follow the story….” or “Characters came from nowhere…”. From the very 1st time I watched this movie, I understood it, followed it, knew why characters were there, and I absolutely loved it! I’ve watched it about 8 times already and each time it is pure enjoyment. Oh, and this is not just my opinion, because I’ve shown this movie to many fellow Americans (people who have never seen an HK film before) who feel the same way. Not one of them failed to follow the storyline and each person declared their love for this movie. Oh man, why can’t we have stuff like this coming out of Hollywood? At least Lord of the Rings had a nice marriage of special effects, character development, and storyline.
This is not coming from a Asian film lover newbie either. I own an extensive library of Asian films and I must say that this movie is one of my greatest DVDs. When you watch it you will be blown away by the amazing special effects and epic feel of this movie. You will be drawn into this fantasy world and you won’t want to leave! I’ve seen both the 1983 version and the 2001 (both done by Tsui Hark), and the 2001 is far better in comparison IMO.
蜀山之中的昆仑山，主人是一名数百岁而样貌仍酷似少女的孤月大师（张柏芝饰），与自己的徒弟玄天宗（郑伊健 饰）坠入爱河，然而两人的感情却阻碍仙法的修行，邪派首领幽泉血魔便乘此机会进攻昆仑山，为保全爱徒性命便 以其资质疲劣、学师不成为借口驱逐玄天宗下山，并将昆仑山最厉害的武器“日月金轮”传予他，另外独自抵抗血 魔的入侵……
二百年后，一股神秘的邪恶力量兴起进攻正派，先用巨石沙海包围蜀山最法力最高的峨嵋山，峨嵋开山祖师峨嵋真 人（洪金宝饰），知道此事并非以往一般邪魔歪道的入侵，惟恐此战伤及凡间，乃派大地子丹辰子（古天乐饰）前 往山下疏离凡间正在交战的凡间军队，在途中与程乐天（章子怡饰）、玄天宗相遇，却意外发现血魔再复出的秘密 ，因而落入血魔精心设计的陷阱，在生死关头之际峨嵋真人率三百弟子前来救援，玄天宗赫然发现其中一名女弟子 李英奇（张柏芝饰），样子竟酷似自己师傅孤月大师。
同时，峨嵋真人发觉自己等人表面虽然阻止了血魔的野心，其实是中了借尸还魂的诡计，借众人在追击自己时候所 发出的力量，打开魔界拥有无穷无尽的邪恶之力“蚩游血穴”，为了阻止血魔侵略天下的野心，唯有借用峨嵋镇山 的双剑 “天擎剑”、“雷炎剑”双剑合并的威力，加上孤月大师生前灌注毕生功力的“日月金轮”与人界最强之剑“南明 黎火剑”，方有可能消灭邪恶的幽泉血魔，一场正邪大战即将展开…
Cast:
Zhang Ziyi, Sammo Hung (Kam Bo), Dior Cheng Yee-Kin (Ekin Cheng), Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Jacky Wu Jing, Louis Koo Tin-Lok, Kelly Lin Xi-Lei, Patrick Tam Yiu-Man
Ref.:
http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.1487/qx/details.htm
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