Shaolin Prince Review 1982 Hong Kong - Shaw Brothers

Crazy Shaw Brothers fantasy Kung Fu comedy guilty pleasure! This film is actually insane! But so entertaining.

The films starts with an evil iron fingered villain Lord 9th over throwing the monarch to take the thrown. The King's guards manage to get his 2 sons to safety, although they are separated. One makes it to the Prime Minister's house. The other makes it to the Shaolin temple where he is left in the care of 3 monks known as The Three Holy Fools. The story picks up 20 years later. The younger Prince(Derek Yee(Protégé)) has been brought up training as a master swordsman to get his revenge on Lord 9th. The Crown Prince(Ti Lung(A Better Tomorrow)) has been brought up as a Shaolin Kung Fu master, but has no idea he is the rightful King.

Shaw Brothers were struggling in the 80s and you can see their answer was to make everything bigger. More fight scenes. More sets. Lots of special effects and explosions. Crazy wire work. Technically, it isn't the best Shaw Brother's film, it doesn't have the best fight choreography, or the best story line. But it is one of the most fun. There isn't a dull moment! The film was actually ahead of it's time in many ways.

The Three Stooges meets Shaw Brothers!

This film is so crazy! The 18 Buddha's are spectacular! The Three Holy Fools are hilarious! The Magic Sword is nuts! The Demon exorcism is campy and over the top! Shaolin Prince has to be seen to be believed.

Another excellent job by Celestial with the remastering of this old title. The picture quality is crisp and new. And the audio is brilliant. This release comes with an English Mono dub or Mandarin with English subtitles. Released by FUNimation as part of their Hong Kong Connection releases.

7.5/10

Ip Man 3 is getting a cinema release in the UK, Australia and New Zealand on the 24th December!

Although the details are vague, this looks extremely likely now!

The Facebook page that made this post "I Love Asian Cinema UK" is the same people who brought Lost In Hong Kong and now Ex-Files 2 to worldwide cinemas. Their aim is to release Asian films in various countries on the same original release date. So this looks very promising! 

Here is the link to the trailer they posted. The description says UK, Australia and New Zealand cinemas on the 24th of December!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbLb2CCi6I0

Fingers crossed for now. And when I hear any more news I will share it here!

Ex-Files 2 - Chinese Comedy gets UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand cinema release!

The same kind folk who brought Lost In Hong Kong to cinemas across the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand are doing the same with the new Chinese comedy "Ex-Files 2" on the 6th of November.

You don't need to see the first Ex-Files before you see 2. But I am going to track it down and check it out anyway before I go see Ex-Files 2 on the big screen!

For a full list of cinemas, check the link below:

Ex-Files 2: The Backup Strikes Back

The Detective Review Hong Kong 2007 C+偵探

A Hong Kong mystery thriller set in Thailand directed by Oxide Pang(The Eye/Abnormal Beauty) and starring Aaron Kwok(After This Our Exile/Cold War).

Tam(Kwok) is a private investigator living in Thailand who has been hired by a man nicknamed Fatty to track down a young woman who he believes is trying to kill him. Tam takes the job after being paid a large amount of cash and handed a photo of the woman. This could all be linked to a series of murders in the area.

Aaron Kwok delivers a stunning believable performance which really makes this film so good. Complete with a brilliant setting and style, and a captivating story, the result is one of the best Pang Brothers films in years.

Where did I leave my keys?

An intriguing story which may get a little muddled towards the end but the negatives don't out way the positives. Still a highly entertaining film with a satisfying and exciting ending. Also, the film has a fantastic soundtrack to really set the mood. That Thai pop song used in the intro is incredibly catchy.

As far as recent Hong Kong films go, this is better than most. I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the genre.

7.5/10

Three Extremes 2 Review 2002 三更 Saam Gaang

Three... Extremes 2

Great suspenseful classic Asian horror... but not as good as the original!

Three Extremes 2 is a trilogy of short Asian horror films from veteran directors from South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong. The full running time is 122 minutes.

Memories, from director  Kim Jee-woon(A Tale Of Two Sisters/A Bittersweet Life/I Saw The Devil) is a great supernatural and psychological horror following a man who keeps seeing disturbing visions of his missing wife, which his psychiatrist puts down to repressed memories of why his wife left him. Meanwhile, his wife awakens in an unknown street with no idea how she got there. 

A fun stylish horror film with an interesting story which never dulls while the two stories intertwine and the mystery unfolds.

The Wheel is a Thai film from Nonzee Nimibutr. And it is easily the worst of the 3 films. This is a period horror set in a small village. When an old puppet master dies, a curse is put on his puppets for anyone else who owns them. When someone comes along and finds the puppets, an evil curse starts.

This film didn't really grip me. No real plot or characters to care for and a dull ending which won't excite anyone.

And finally we have Going Home, from one of the great Hong Kong directors Peter Chan(Comrades/Perhaps Love/The Warlords). Although better than The Wheel, it doesn't quite reach Memories.

Going Home follows a man called Wai and his son, after they move in to a new apartment block they begin to notice they have a strange neighbour and a lot of freaky stuff happening including a strange girl and all the vacant apartment doors opening themselves. Things take a turn for the worse when they discover their neighbour Yu has preserved his dead wife's body...

Fun set of films, with a different theme and style for each film to keep you entertained. A little bit of everything for everyone to enjoy. Unfortunately, The Wheel brings it down, and overall it doesn't quite meet the height of the other Three Extremes... Which is a masterpiece.

6.5/10

Note. "Three Extremes 2" was released first in 2002 as "Three". And the Sequel "Three Extremes" was 2004 but released worldwide first.

A Snake Of June Review 2002 Japan

This is what 50 Shades of Grey wishes it was

Third Window Films is the one of the leading distributors in Asian Cinema in the UK. Some of their greatest releases have been the Shinya Tsukamoto Blu-rays. Some of which haven't been released anywhere else in the world in High Definition. And even better, Tsukamoto works with Third Window Films and supervises the brand new digital restorations.

Most people will have heard of or seen Tetsuo The Iron Man. Well if you have seen Tetsuo you will know exactly how wild amd strange a Tsukamoto film can be. Well, you haven't seen anything yet!

Rinko (Asuka Kurosawa from Cold Fish) and Shigehiko (novelist Yuji Kotari) are a strange couple, whose physical mismatch (she a lithe beauty, he an overweight, balding, obsessive-compulsive neurotic) is reflected in the complete lack of intimacy between them. They connect as human beings, but they live more like friends than as lovers and lead nearly independent lives. Both seem comfortable with this coexistence, but the desires that lurk beneath its surface are brought out with the introduction of a third element into the equation. When Rinko receives a package of candid photographs of herself masturbating and the sender (played by Tsukamoto himself) contacts her with the threat of exposing them to her husband, she submits herself to the anonymous voyeur's sexual games. If she wishes to get hold of all the negatives and prints, Rinko is to comply with a set of assignments that place her constantly on the borderline between humiliation and pleasure - the voyeur knows exactly what Rinko's personal erotic fantasies are and makes her act them out one by one. (Taken from Amazon.co.uk)

Japanese auteur Shinya Tsukamoto delivers a stunning, thought provoking, erotic thriller... Unlike anything you have ever seen. This is what 50 Shades of Grey wishes it was.

 50 Shades of Blu

A Snake Of June really looks stunning on Blu-ray, I can't emphasize that enough. The blue tint monochrome filter gives the film original and stand out cinematography. It is beautiful to look at! This film has only been released on DVD for years, so it's great to see it finally get the treatment it deserves. Restored video, audio, and some great special features.

There is a highly informative and interesting audio commentary with Tom Mes who is an acclaimed writer on Japanese cinema. This is a great insight in to the film and director Tsukamoto. There is also a brand new sit down interview with the director himself.

Another fantastic release for Third Window Films. A must have for Japanese cinema collections.

8/10

#aSnakeOfJune #六月の蛇 #ShinyaTsukamoto #Thirdwindowfilm

Daisy Review 2006 South Korea

A South Korea/Hong Kong Film directed by Andrew Lau(Infernal Affairs) and starring Jun Ji-hyun(My Sassy Girl), Jung Woo-sung(The Good, The Bad and The Weird) and Lee Sung-jae(Public Enemy).

Set in Amsterdam, Daisy is the story of a love triangle. Hye-young(Gianna Jun) is a street artist, painting portraits of people for money. She meets Jeong-woo(Lee Sung-jae) one afternoon when he asks her to draw his portrait. Jeong-woo is secretly chasing Asian criminals and uses this time to scope the area in a busy town centre. The other man is Park Yi(Jung Woo-sung) who is a hitman that has secretly loved Jeong-woo for years. Both men hide their true identity from Hye-young until their paths cross and everything starts to unravel.

Daisy is a romance melodrama thriller... With a hint of action. It really is genre busting with many different layers. If you like your Korean melodramas and your like your Korean Thrillers and Action films, then why not combine them? Also, it looks very sleek with stunning cinematography and editing. But, it is Andrew Lau, so you expect that!

Jun Ji-hyun steals the show, but she really is a wonderful actress. After My Sassy Girl, I think she will always be my favourite Korean actress, she is extremely talented and captivating in all of her roles.

There are 2 different versions. The 2 hour long directors cut or the faster paced 1 hour 40 mins original version. Both versions differ and have a slightly different ending. I think the 1 hour 40 mins version flows better, but they both have their positive points!

8.5/10

#Daisy #데이지 #AndrewLau #junjihyun #JungWoosung #LeeSungjae