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Reviews
Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)
Financially struggling parents get tortured
Heading sounds like a horror film right? Well that's what happens in this film. The problem with this is that the baddies are too nice and didn't deserve any of the Tom and Jerry esq violence inflicted on them. They were a bunch of parents financially struggling rather than the low life crooks in the earlier films that deserved it.
The Mandalorian (2019)
Grew up with the original trilogy and this is a joy to watch
Each episode makes me smile and makes me reminisce about the original trilogy, in fact it's closer to those films then anything made afterwards. The action scenes remind me of how I used to play with that action figures and vehicles as a kid..And that was just pure joy. Brilliant series..
Ava (2020)
Unfortunately John Wick has set the bar too high
Done before a thousand times, fight choreography wasnt bad but the camera work didn't feel dynamic enough to catch the action and it felt John Wick lite. Sub plots didn't seem to serve a purpose with the alcoholism, the gambling, the illness with the main characters' Mum...Also the actual execution of the final fight scene (literal execution) was poor. Great acting though(with the actresses and actors involved which is expected considering the talent)but let down with a hole ridden script
'A' gai wak (1983)
I watched this when I was 7 years old..34 years on still awesome.
My first thought when I watched this when I was 7 is that "How come no one knows King Fu?" it was a reference to the hectic bar fight scene early on in the film. I was used to the long duels empty hand duels where there was a series of attacks,blocks and counters of the Shaw Brothers and old Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung films, what was this? As the film progressed and we get to Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao and co trying to bust the gentlemens club..I realised that I was watching something special. The fight scenes and stunts in this scene alone was nothing I have ever seen before, people being thrown into chandeliers, getting kicked down barristers, down the stairs, just hectic intricately created action which is astonishing. So many great things about this film, the clocktower scene, the bike chase, the music, the characters. It's has the right amount of humour and action, leaving for more, to me this is the birth of Hong Kong action cinema in the 80s which was indeed the golden age.
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020)
Highly enjoyable children's animated show
This show is a show aimed for children, so if you an adult reviewer, consider the audience as I did, as my kids loved these show. They felt the dinosaurs were great, the actions scenes amazing and the characters funny. Now putting an adult lense on it, I felt the references to Jurassic World were great and some of the characters clichéd but not unbelievable. It's a cartoon suspend your belief! So on the whole as a parent with dinosaur obsessed kids this was great and I also enjoyed it.
The Devil All the Time (2020)
Great performances and intriguing story.
The Devil All the Time is I found an interesting film. The story features interesting characters and how they are all intricately linked together. The story is driven by the characters who are all morally corrupt in some way even at some point the protagonist. The performances are all brilliant, from Tom Holland's Arvin who had shades of Travis Bickle mixed with his natural likeability and Robert Pattison's creepy Preston with his softly spoken southern accented menace and don't forget all the other performances, every one is convincing. I highly recommend this as one of the better Netflix offerings.
Mulan (2020)
I mean it's alright..
The cinematography top notch, the action passable, the story average..I have seen far superior Hong Kong films on a lesser budget and with superior action(ironically all staring Donnie Yen, Jet Li and Yu Liufei ). So let's talk about the film..It's was alright...Sets, costumes, scenery great, acting did it's job..What was missing? CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT for the lesser characters that are pivotal to make Mulan a more powerful character. It did feel slightly rushed towards the end, but it was you know just alright.
Cobra Kai (2018)
Brilliant
At first this appears to be a self parody of Karate Kid, Jonny a down an out, Daniel as a car salesman..but what lies beneath is one of the greatest reboot sequels of all time. Great characters,funny and balanced drama. It is hugely respectful to the original films with wonderful references and continuity that makes this so authentic. Also amazing acting by the leads and cast make this show wholesomely enjoyable..Bravo to the makers, writers and cast.
Project Power (2020)
Disappointing
The lead actors were great..But..the film, plot and logic were skewered...It had a great concept but lacked depth and nonsensical plot holes and contradictory characters.
Game Night (2018)
Funniest film I have seen in a while.
This film is consistently funny which is rare in films these days..great performances by the cast and just pure fun! Lots of twists and turns for added measure!
Green Book (2018)
Massively enjoyable
Marhershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen are simply amazing in this film. The acting was spot on, Mortensen's "Tony the Lip" was wonderfully comedic as the foil to the intelligence of Ali's Don Shirley or the Doc as they called him. The pair worked together wonderfully well together and on screen it did look like a convincing pairing. The story is simple enough to follow, the majority light hearted and funny but also it deals with issues such as the racial injustice of the deep south at the time. The character of Don Shirley is complicated which Ali shows his depth to bring this character to screen. My wife and I were thoroughly entertained throughout the film. I seem some reviews that what to politicalise the film, it's just a film about two guys who form a friendship through difficult times and just enjoy it and learn from it.
Mou gaan dou (2002)
2019 and still a classic.
Watched this again on Netflix and I have to say it is still one of my favourite movies of all time. Although remade as The Departed by the great Martin Scorsese, Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs moves at a brisker pace keeping you engaged at every twist and turn. Andy Lau and Tony Leung turn in fantastic performances, especially Tony Leung who through his eyes you can share each drop of pain and frustration as the undercover cop. Kudos also goes to Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang as the mentors of the two leads. It has elements of violence in this film but nowhere near the levels of the old "Heroic Bloodshed" movies of the late 80's and 90's as it is a character driven movie, the action is through the tension and suspense. This is a masterpiece from Hong Kong and I would say among the last great Hong Kong movies.
Saat po long (2005)
Best pure Hong Kong action film for a long time.
Being of a British born Chinese decent I was brought up on a staple diet of Hong Kong action movies mostly action. Yes I knew Jackie Chan before he went and made the "International" action film (See Police Story, then watch Medallion and then see Police Story). It was also before the advent of teeny bop stars taking over the movie scene making way for Japanese and especially Korean films to become the new movie darlings of the Far East. I watched these films before Hollywood hired Yuen Woo Ping and other HK choreographers repeating wire work scenes that I had seen earlier in other films and this kind of wire work made way for the antidote of the non wire work in the shape the excellent Ong Bak.
I also watched the antics of Jet Li,Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen growing up. Two of the aforementioned feature in this rather superior crime thriller from Hong Kong. It doesn't have the depth of Infernal Affairs or the close brotherhood of male bonding characters that you see in a John Woo thriller, but it does have the best action from a Hong Kong movie since Drunken Master 2. However rather being a straight edged action movie it does attempt a story of that being Detective Chan (Simon Yam) leads a posse to take down Po(Sammo Hung). However every move he makes on Po is thwarted and due to a terminal illness Chan is soon to retire to be replaced by tough man cop Detective Ma (Donnie Yen). However a shade of grey comes into Chan and his posse when they attempt to frame Po and that's were everything literally explodes.
SPL is primary built on the finale between action Gods Sammo and Yen. No these guys are not Hollywood actors training "hard" for three months only to make an action sequence look so stiff you think your watching stop motion animation, these are actors who have been training most of their lives who can also act(is that too hard to find?). What make's SPL interesting is the little fights in between that build you up for Donnie Yen's inevitable awesome confrontations with not only Sammo but his evil dagger wielding psycho henchman played by Wu Jing (Drunken Monkey) who is probably the best secondary bad guy since Bobba Fett. It also should be noted that the scenes when the heroes and villains don't actually fight are pretty intense. The stylistic approach by director Wilson Yip is fresh and displaying that Johnnie To is not the only one who can do serious thrillers in Hong Kong...but I'm digressing lets talk about the action.
Donnie Yen choreographed the fights and has it spot on, no wire work here just pure raw fight scenes, bloody and brutal but the most entertaining elements are the incorporation of Brazillian Jiu Jitsu moves, simply amazing. The way the action is shot is superb penetrating close ups and eye level action and brilliantly edited. The acting is superb by Yam and especially Sammo Hung hamming it up as the bad guy with such glee, Yen's character is perhaps the least developed although his motives become true to the end of the film but thats only a small hiccup. The supporting cast of Chan's posse though all have little star turns and yes the cast contains NO POP STARS. Let's hope Hong Kong carries on making these kinds of rocking Martial Art movies and not go backwards. It's this kind of film that finally tells all other countries that Hong Kong action is back.