Chinatown Haul + Mail Call

Picked up a few more movies in C-town this past week. Hit up the usual joints and brought home some pretty good stuff. Among the goodies are a DVD of AT THE END OF DAYBREAK, starring Kara Hui Ying-hung in her multiple award winning 'comeback' role. Can't wait to watch this one! Also picked up a legit DVD copy of Eric Tsang Chi-wai's 72 TENANTS OF PROSPERITY, and DVD's of the CAT III Taiwanese ghost drama AMAZING STORIES and Kevin Chu Ga-wang's nudie drama MY WIFE'S LOVER. Also a few bargain bin DVD's including Anita Yuen Wing-yee in the Japanese produced HONG KONG NIGHT CLUB, Sylvia Chang Ai-chia and Josie Ho Chiu-yee in FOREVER AND EVER, Karel Wong Chi-yeung and Lily Chung Suk-wai in the ultra low-budgeter BE OUT OF CONTROL, and 2 buck copies of Fruit Chan Goh's HOLLYWOOD HONG KONG, Ray Lui Leung-wai, Mark Cheng Ho-nam, and Alex Fong Chung-sun in GUNS OF DRAGON, and the Jade Leung Chang's crap fest MONEY LAUNDRY. I have the last three in my collection already but I couldn't pass them up for only $2.

Not much on the VCD front though. Only 3. Did find a nice VCD 's of Pauline Chan Bo-lin in A WILD PARTY and Johnnie To Kei-fung's debut flick THE ENIGMATIC CASE, starring Damian Lau Chung-yan and the lovely Cherrie Chung Cho-hung. I also picked up an untitled CAT III period piece. Will have to do some research on it to figure out the title, but since it's CAT III, the research should be fun!

And on the "Damn you Chinatown! You did it to me again!" tip, I picked up what appeared to be a legit copy of Zhang Yimou's A SIMPLE NOODLE STORY containing English subs. But English subs were no where to be found. I shake my fist at you C-town! But how can I stay mad at you? Look at that punum!

And on to the mail. Mrs. Mail Lady brought me a package of two rare HK VHS. The 1993 Thailand produced EROTIC JOURNEY, starring ultra cutie Chan Wing-chi. Ms. Chan has starred in a butt load of great CAT III productions in the early 90's and she is drool inducing. And nudity aside, has a very natural and breezy look. Should have been so much more. She was wonderful in FALSE LADY. Check that one out. I believe I posted the VCD a month or so ago? EROTIC JOURNEY also lists Dick Wei and Melvin Wong Gam-san in the film but seeing as this is a Thai produced heyday CAT III flicker, it might be a smush 'em up (See Devil's Love post below). I will definitely let you know though. Also in my tiny package is a film called WONDER GIRL, starring musclewoman To Gwa-fa. I have been unable to find info on this flick as of yet and it may go by another name? I will definitely be watching this one and, again, I will definitely let you guys know.

And on a side note, EROTIC JOURNEY and WONDER GIRL push me over the 2,400 HK movies owned mark. So, yeah. There's that. Good lord where has my life gone?!

Devil's Love (1992)

Devil's Love

My last post showed the lobby card's and film rating certificate for the 1992 CAT III flick DEVIL'S LOVE and here are a few screen shots and a few words about this pooper. I believe this film is a bit hard to find, but I could be wrong. And usually am. But DEVIL'S LOVE is kind of fascinating. It appears to be a mishmash flick where two unrelated and unfinished films were smushed together to make a quick buck. And one of these unrelated films is teaming with teats so that quick buck is a bit soggy. A few of these types of productions cropped up around the early 90's as HK cinema pumped out movies like some might pump their fists to certain scenes in DEVILS LOVE. Be it good business or bad, the name of the game was to make moolah. This type of odd ball production only enhances the charm of DEVIL'S LOVE.


Matching somewhat bankable stars in Yukari Oshima and Waise Lee Chi-hung, with an old favorite like Wu Ma, and coupling them with out of left field scenes of copulation, equals a winner in my book. An odd choice of title, DEVIL'S LOVE sounds a bit too hard edged for the proceedings. The flick also goes by the more logical title (!?), HIS WAY, HER WAY, THEIR WAYS, in what appears to be a nod to the Alfred Cheung Kin-ting HER FATAL WAYS series, as well as its spin off, HIS FATAL WAYS. This seems more apropos as the film is more of a goofy fish out of water/country bumpkins come to the big city kinda comedy.....with some bangin' thrown in for the fans.
,

It tastes like Pistachio ice cream. Honest!

Waise and Yukari are HK cops that team up with a few of the mainlands finest, Wu Ma, Frankie Chan Chi-leung, and Sarah Lee Lai-yui. The team are out to find a gaggle of girls kidnapped from China, shuttled to HK and hustled into prostitution. There are a bunch of scenes that point to the mainlanders being out of touch with the real world. We have seen this countless times before in similarly themed movies, but some scenes score big laughs. Case in point are the screen shots provided below. Wu Ma and Frankie Chan Chi-leung mistake Yukari's vibrator for an electric toothbrush and proceed to brush their teeth, vibrating away. Now, this scene only works because we surely believe that Yukari would leave her love toy in the toothbrush cup on the bathroom sink. That's where I keep mine. Entirely silly but very funny.

This toothpaste smells funny?





You're not doing it right! You gotta really jam it in there!

And now for something completely different! A handful (pun intended) of totally out of place sex scenes are injected into the storyline and show the kidnapped mainland tarts gettin' the dirty down below from their captors. These scenes are completely out of jibe with the rest of the film and poorly inserted to capitalize on the CAT III craze of the early 90's. These sleazy scenes were probably lifted from another failed production. They are cheap and unsubtitled. The same set is used as well. A screen shot is shown a few pics above. As you can see the walls are graffiti sprayed in a Jackson Pollockesque style. Very classy.




The film clocks in at about an hour and twenty minutes so it's a quick one that doesn't linger too long. The nookie scenes are drawn out so you can fast forward through some of the naughty bits. It's ok. I won't look at you any different. This is clearly my favorite era in HK cinema and when I discover a film from this manic movie making period I go ape. These films are unabashed. DEVIL'S LOVE has a touch of it all. Comedy, action, boobies, and even a dance number thrown in!? Fun and sleazy silliness.

Devil's Love...CAT III Certified!

Devil's Love

Some years ago I purchased these lobby cards to the 1992 CAT III film DEVIL'S LOVE. Along with the lobby cards came the above photocopy of an actual Hong Kong Film Censorship Ordinance Certificate of Approval. I have only seen these in miniature on the back of Mei Ah VCD's so this was a wonderful bonus to my purchase. And it's a CAT III certificate too! The VCD of the film was also part of the purchase and as there isn't much info around on the film I figured my next post will be a small write up and some screen shots for you guys. The film is right up my alley. A heyday shitter. For now, just enjoy these less than titillating lobby cards.

Great big lobby cards. Uncut.

Hi Daddy!




Category III is for me!

Maggie and The Bloody Angle

I know, I know. I'm beating The Bloody Angle that is Doyers St. to death. But it happens to be a very photogenic little street, so tough! I was doing a little research this weekend and revisiting a handful of HK films that were shot in NYC. I'm hoping to do some then and now comparisons in the coming months for you guys. Anyway, I found the above shot from Peter Chan Ho-san's COMRADES, ALMOST A LOVE STORY. It's brief scene of Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (aka the love of my life) walking down Doyers St. towards Bowery after she hears the sad news that Teresa Teng has passed. I have found a few other locations from the film and will hopefully visit, photograph, and post those spots in the coming months. Below is also a screen grab from COMRADES. Images of beauty.

Around Chinatown

Last weekend my gf and I were traipsing around Chinatown shoppin' and a gabbin'. I took a few pics. Also some video that I posted a few days back. Below are pics of some store fronts, awnings, signs, and a knick knack or two I came across during my travels. I also spotted DVD copies of FIRE OF CONSCIENCE and A SIMPLE NOODLE STORY. Really professional and legit looking but of course boots. They were also lacking English subs. Anyway, above are a few vintage Chinese cigarette ads found at a one of the many gift shops on Mott St. I have also seen a bunch of these really beautiful cancer endorsing images on Ebay.

Shop on Bowery between Canal St. and Hester St. A fine mix of Asian Cinema and women's pumps. I usually skip this joint because it doesn't have much to offer and the prices are less than stellar. It's only a few store fronts down from my favorite C-town shopping destination, N.Y. Music & Gifts.

Front door to P-Tune and Video Corp. on Chrystie St., between Grand St. and Hester St. I mentioned this shop and have shown this door before which is always adorned with cool posters of mostly HK flicks. Today's posters are Jackie Chan's LITTLE BIG, SOLDIER and Donnie Yen's 14 BLADES.

On the flip side. The other side of P-Tunes front door displays Eric Tsang's 72 TENANTS OF PROSPERITY and Simon Yam's BAD BLOOD. I (my gf) have enquired as to the owner floating some HK poster love my way. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Some other Asian cinema lovin' dirtbags beat me too the punch and have ALL posters on reserve. Bastards!

Chinese video store on Chrystie St., between Grand St. and Hester St. The store front window is chock full of sun damaged Shaw Bros. Celestial VCD's. This one kinda hurts my heart. Damaged VCD's. Sad face. I have yet to set foot into this store as it's a shady below street level rental joint with nary a gwailo ever entering. Plus, since it's a rental place, I don't really have much use for it. Maybe someday....someday.

C-town signage above the rental joint I mentioned above.

Great Martial Arts supply store on Mott St. Found this, and a few other, glow in the dark Bruce Lee statues. They also sell the ubiquitous dragon, tiger, Buddah, and Guan Yu statues that can be found everywhere in C-town. You can pick up a few cheap t-shirts here blazing a cool Shaolin Temple emblem. So you can intimidate other people into thinking you know kung-fu. You will be so cool.

Same store that I mentioned above, on Mott St. This grand Lion head adorned the back wall of the shop. A bunch of gwailo were chatting up one of the proprietors asking about martial arts forms and practice as I looked over their limited section of Kung Fu DVD's. Mostly booted stuff from Taiwanese Company, Bonzai Media Corp. They are a shaddy company but I will admit, the product they put out are actually of very good quality.

And now, Ladies and gents. Without further ado. Live....at the Manayana Buddhist Temple....the silky smooth like almond milk vocal stylings of Richie Ren Xian-Qi! Ok. Not really. Billboard on top of the Manayana Buddhist Temple at the intersection of Bowery and Canal, overlooking the Manhattan Bridge opening. As per the billboard, Richie will be performing at the Showboat Casino in Atlantic City, May 9t @ 1pm. Be there or be square. In the past years this Billboard has announced many a Chinese concert in AC for the Chinatown denizens to travel to by C-towns triad run bus companies. Oh how the masses have enjoyed the sweet voice of Leon Lai Ming and the peacock plumage costumes of Aaron Kwok frolicking in their own backyards over the years.....

The Bloody Angle

Yet another video of Doyers St. in NYC Chinatown. The Bloody Angle. A few posts back I showed you guys a video of the intersection of Doyers St. and Pell St. where shoot-out scenes in the films NEW YORK, CHINATOWN and KING OF NEW YORK took place. I took this video last July as my gf and I patrolled C-town for Hong Kong flicks and food. I also posted this video on my Facebook page last year so those of you who are FB friends may have seen it before. There is a little commentary on the video but non of it is film related. I do briefly mention that I might buy some DVD's and VCD's, so that makes it blog worthy. I guess? The video shows my gf and I walking up The Bloody Angle from the Chatham Square/Bowery area to Pell St. and down toward Mott St. The chatter in the background is my gf speaking to her mother on the phone. And, again, my gf makes an appearance and even mugs for the camera. Enjoy

This past week I have gone back to check on a few other HK films lensed in NYC and discovered that in Mabel Cheung's AN AUTUMN'S TALE, there is a very brief scene, about 10 seconds long, where Chow Yun-fat is kicking a can down a dark street. That street is actually Doyer's St. I posted the scene below. Fast forward to about the 1:47 mark. EnjoyI am currently trying to identify locations in other HK films made in NYC. It's proving tough since most of the films are about 20 years old. I'm trying though! Hopefully when the weather becomes warmer I will venture out to some locations and start shooting again. Stay tuned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WTaW8468Vo&feature=related

Takin' it to the streets....of Chinatown

I posted this video on my Facebook page last year. I had a few hours to kill before heading on over to the NYAFF to see the premiere of Nick Chin's MAGAZINE GAP ROAD, so I headed down to C-town for some dvd/vcd shopping, lunch, and bubble tea. I decided to film a little bit of one of the more touristy areas in C-town; Mott. St. and a bit of Canal St. One of my favorite C-town restaurants, Big Wong's, can be seen briefly in the video on Mott St. The restaurant was also briefly seen in the film NEW YORK, CHINATOWN, a movie that I have mentioned countless times before, beaten like a dead horse, on this blog. The restaurant can be quickly spotted in the film during a shootout scene. If you would like, you can go back and take a look at my original NEW YORK, CHINATOWN post and see how the facade of the restaurant has changed from almost 30 years ago.

http://inthemoodforgwailo.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-york-chinatown-1982.html

New York Asian Film Festival 2010

So the fine folks over at Subway Cinema have released a few awesome nuggets of info regarding the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival this June. I awoke to a Facebook message telling me that two HK heaveyweights, Simon Yam and Sammo Hung, including Mainland actor Huang Bo will be attending this years fest and will receive awards on opening night. I ran around my apartment, giddy like a school girl. I sent out a bunch of prayers to major deities in hopes of scoring a ticket or two to the events attended by these Hong Kong Biblical figures. Other HK films on the dance card are IP MAN 2, LITTLE BIG

SOLDIER, BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, THE STORM WARRIORS, KUNG FU CHEFS, and THE GALLANTS. Below is a link to the Subway Cinema blog that announces the goodness that made my underwear moist:

http://subwaycinemanews.com/

UPDATE: Just learned that Mabel Cheung's film ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW, which netted Yam a Best Actor Award at The Hong Kong Film Awards will also be showing. Moist undies.

Whore and Policewoman (1993)

Whore and Policewoman

Here is a very cool Pakistani poster I have for the 1993 CAT III chippie-actioner
WHORE AND POLICEWOMAN aka WHORE & POLICE WOMAN starring the tough and lovely Michiko Nishiwaki, Julia Cheng Yim-lai, the late great Kwan Hoi-san, and an appearance by my favorite booty snatcher, Charlie Cho Cha-lee. Director Wong Gwok-chue also directed Michiko in another cool CAT III flick, PASSIONATE KILLING IN THE DREAM. I admittedly don't remember much about WHORE AND POLICEWOMAN as I saw it years ago. I was going to try and dig out the VCD I have and give it a cursory rewatch for blog purposes but I was too lazy. I'm so tired and sore from hoofing it around the city this weekend.

Michiko Nishiwaki



This Policewoman is a 'straigh' shooter!

Above is a great piece of flubtitling as the poster describes the Policewoman, Michiko Nishiwaki, as fresh and "straigh". The printer probably had his hand hacked off for this error. And a prostitute who is "capricious" and "daring"? Get out!? Also, below, according to Pakistani film aficionados, the director of this film is not Wong Gwok-chue but in fact Stephen Miller. He and his band provided the score to the film as well, including hits "The Joker" and "Jet Airliner." OK. OK. I kid. I kid.

Wong Gwok-chue is also known as Stephen Miller in Pakistan. He also sang the 1982 hit Abracadbra.

A little C-town film history.....

A few months back I posted pics from the HK film NEW YORK, CHINATOWN, comparing filming locales from 1982, the year the movie was made, with up to date photos taken in 2009. This past weekend in Chinatown I made a small video around the intersection of Doyers St. and Pell St. in C-town (with my asinine sounding New Yawker accent commentary) speaking a tad about the film and locale. The same locale was also used for a shootout scene in the 1990 Abel Ferrara flick KING OF NEW YORK. You will also get to see my gf who was an extra in this video.

Below are links to my original comparative post of NEW YORK, CHINATOWN as well as a link to the Chinatown scene from KING OF NEW YORK (won't let me embed). Enjoy.

NEW YORK, CHINATOWN: http://inthemoodforgwailo.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-york-chinatown-1982.html

KING OF NEW YORK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDbqJg2028g

Panda Sexpress

Damn babe, you got one furry.....

Above and below are two lobby cards for the 2009 mainland comedy PANDA EXPRESS. It's KUNG FU PANDA meets YU PUI TSUEN as these endangered bangers get it on all over the mountains of China! Nah. Actually I took these pics at the Museum of Sex on 5th Avenue. I just loved these pics so much I figured I would lend them to a Chinese film to make it more blogcentric. Check out the smiles on the two Pandas. Baw chicka wah waaaahhhh.....

The Goods

The gf and I spent the weekend in the city hitting up some fun, touristy spots. We were born and raised in NY but sometimes you would never know it? Pics with the Polar Bears at the Central Park Zoo, hooking up with My Cousin Vinny....Van Gogh at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, watching the 'Ned Beatty' scene from DELIVERANCE and giggling like a school girl at the Museum of Sex (porn = hooray!), shopping at the South Street Seaport and Pier 17, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, and ending up at our old comfort haunts in C-town. Big Wong's for lunch, The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory (to round out my full c-cups), and shopping for HK movies. Now that's a way to finish off a weekend.

I didn't buy too much this time out. I was in C-town about 2 weeks ago and stock wasn't replenished. I managed to get my hands on two new flicks. The multi-directed 2009 comedy TRICK OR CHEAT and the much anticipated Jeff Lau Chun-wai film parody JUST ANOTHER PANDORA'S BOX. Now, I've mentioned before that I don't advocate bootlegs and if i do happen to come across/ purchase one I will ALWAYS buy the original. So, seeing as JUST ANOTHER PANDORA'S BOX was just released I understood going in that this was a booter. But it was a nicely displayed boot that 'claimed' to have English subs. Alas, I get home and throw the flick on to see the quality and....wouldn't ya know it? No subs. The transfer blows as well. Not the first time I have been conned by Chinatown. Oh, Chinatown! You bitch whore!

Anyway, a few of the other DVD's I picked up were dirt cheap copies of Wong Jing's SPY DAD, Peter Chan's Maggie Cheung flick ALAN & ERIC: BETWEEN HELLO AND GOODBYE, and the Donnie Yen actioner CITY OF DARKNESS. And what's a C-town shopping experience without some VCD's? A bad C-town shopping experience. This weeks VCD haul includes Lau Ching-wan and Season "Mumps" Ma in SILENT LOVE, Kara Hui Ying-hung, Billy Chow Bei-lei, and Ken Tong Jan-yip in OUT BOUND KILLING, the CAT III period skin piece CRAZY EMPEROR, the Joseph Kuo Nan-hong Taiwanese martial arts flick SORROWFUL TO A GHOST, Ben Ng Ngai-cheung and Strawberry Yeung Yuk-mui in VIOLENT GIRL, and 2 unsubed episodes of ATV's HONG KONG CRIMINAL ARCHIVES; HUSBAND IN COOK starring Yvonne Yung Hung and BLOODY BOX.

Your Window To Overpriced Hong Kong Cinema!

Also picked up an old mouse pad from Tai Seng Entertainment. This find was about a buck in the bargain bin at NY Music. I'm sure upon initial release it cost $40 bucks. A little Tai Seng humor.

VCD's? Look at these

Journey of the Doomed, Future Hero, Evil Instinct

A few more VCD's from my seemingly never ending collection. Do yourself a favor and seek out the 1985 Shaw Bros. action/fantasy JOURNEY OF THE DOOMED. It is one of Cha Chuen-yee's first films and it is odd and excellent. It lists a who's who of HK stars, some in their career infancy. Stephen Tung-wai, Kara Hui Ying-hung, Max Mok Siu-chung, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Margaret Lee Din-long, and Alex Man Chi-lung are a delight to see in this fantasy piece. The film also has some ninnies in it. Give it a go! FUTURE HERO is another oddity. Featuring Mark Cheng Ho-nam, Ng Suet-man, and Mak Tak-law, this is one of only a handful or so of science fiction related films to come out of Hong Kong. It is a sleek looking film co-scripted by the very good heyday director, Poon Man-kit. EVIL INSTINCT is a fun and somewhat memorable (well, too me anyway) CAT III mystery/thriller starring Carrie Ng Ka-lai, Bowie Lam Bo-yi, Stuart Ong, and the lovely "Mystical Breasts" Diana Pang-dan. I think this was the first Pang-dan film I saw? I remember reading about her "mystical breasts" and how she could give Amy Yip Ji-mei a run for her $ in the upper torso area. Indeed she does, and like Yip, she maddens the horndog viewer, forgoing full on toplessness with shots of side boobage and hands over the nips. It is all silly and unnatural looking to the film but it still some skin! She does it in EVIL INSTINCT. It's quite funny actually.

Mr. Sardine, Romance of the West Chamber, Kitchen

After is first film, the high spirited action/comedy PINK BOMB, director Derek Chiu Sung-kei made this wonderful small film from 1994 that kinda flew under the radar. Director Derek Chiu Sung-kei is a fine filmmaker and can work low budget, as he does here, or big. Comedian Dayo Wong Chi-wah, Irene Wan Pik-ha, Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung, and the excellent Liu Kai-chi star. This is relatively unknown, outside of die hards, but it's a fun piece of independent-like HK cinema. There have been a few incarnations of ROMANCE OF THE WEST CHAMBER. This is but one of them. The classic Chinese erotic novel shown here is a low budget affair with a boat load of flesh and some silly sepia toned sequences where little Jimmy Wong Shu-keu gets to make weird faces as he sexes youg Tang dynasty tang. It is what it is. KITCHEN is a 1997 offering from art house filmer Yim Ho. I have seen a few Yim Ho movies over the years and they are not my cup of tea. Going on a recommendation by a friend I gave KITCHEN a go. It, like many a Ho film, was not to my liking. Though, I must say, that the performance of Law kar-yin, who plays a transsexual, is still in my memory months later. I was hoping to enjoy KITCHEN as I had heard it was a tad off the beaten path from Ho's other works. It was, but I was unimpressed. Also, an honorable mention to the few brief scenes with the just damn awesome Karen Mok Man-wai. Laugh out loud funny. So with Law and Mok, I guess not a total waste of time?

Kung Fu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction (2009)

Kung Fu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction

Optimus Lame

Oy Vey! Ho hum poster to the super shitty 2009 action pic KUNG FU CYBORG: METALLIC ATTRACTION. For me, director Jeff Lau Chun-wai has been a hit and miss filmmaker throughout his 20+ year career. He has made some wonderful comedies over the years, even hooking up with Stephen Chow Sing-chi for some great fun. This turd is overly ambitious and fails the sign o' the times. While ripping off U.S. films isn't anything new, HK's use of awful CGI in almost every damn film, even drama pieces, is disconcerting. I am not a fan of CGI and when I see it used it far removes me from the film. Like hooking up with a gorgeous girl who is generously endowed. Mother nature has blessed her. You are about to get down to the devils business.....and you discover her large assets are fake! Your excitement fades and you just go through the motions to complete your mission. That is how I feel when I see garbage like KUNG FU CYBORG. Initial excitement to what might be? Then falling limp to the truth, struggling to the finish line. OK. Maybe it's just me. CGI's use has increased in the past dozen or so years, replacing innovation....and a little wire work, to achieve action. This is not good.

Fire Dragon (1994)

Fire Dragon

Lin, Mok, Ng

Tan & Yip

Brigitte on Fire

Slick poster for the Yuen Woo-ping's 1994 wuxia actioner FIRE DRAGON starring the lovely and formidable Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia. The supporting cast is just as stellar as the lead; Max Mok Siu-chung, Sandra Ng Kwan-yue, Tan Lap-man, and Yip Chuen-chan stoke the flames of this Woo-ping spectacle. 1994 was a sad year for us HK film fans. It was the year that saw the career of Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia come to an end. I would argue that at around this time, HK cinema steadily declined in it prolific output of films as well as it's inventive form. Sure there were great films after 1995 but for my tastes, the high water mark had been reached and the cinematic waters began to recede little by little from this point on. Ms. Lin's departure from the cinema surely didn't have anything to do with HK film's decline but it's certainly suspicious? Hmmmmm?

I was extremely fortunate enough to see Ms. Lin about 2 years ago at the New York Film Festival where she accompanied Wong Kar-wai and Christopher Doyle in presenting ASHES OF TIME REDUX. It was, as Kar-wai stated, "her first public appearance" since she left us and HK cinema high and dry back in 1994. I could not get a good picture of her that evening, unfortunately. I do have a few blurry ones though. Be on the look out for a future post featuring blurry Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia pictures. Good times.

Widow Warriors (1990)

Widow Warriors

Baby....I can't breathe!

Damn you! Bad Egg!

Poster for the kick butt chickie action flick WIDOW WARRIORS. Such a cool title! One of the most well known Shaw Bros. bad asses, Johnny Wang Lung-wei, directs this 1990, salad days girls-with-guns drama acioner starring some top notch ladies; Tien Niu, Elizabeth Lee Mei-fung, Kara Hui Ying-hung, Winnie Lau Siu-wai, and Michiko Nishiwaki. In a novel twist, after the men of a prolific triad family are ambushed and dispatched by their rivals, the females of the family decide it's time for the sisters of the family to unite! And unite they do to seek retribution and exact vengeance. I have a VHS copy of the film and, in my opinion, it is the best way to watch a movie from this era. Nice poster image too!

Lets Go METS!!!! Hooray for CAT III!!!!

It's opening day 2010! And even though I have to suck it up and watch the Yankees play Boston tonight, my gf and I scored some tix to the NY Mets opener for tomorrow. So as my gf and I enjoy the beginning of yet another looooooooong ass season by our favorites, The Metropolitans, Mr. Met will be at home taking in some sweet CAT III films. Looks like Otto Chan Juk-tiu's GATES OF HELL and Jeng Kin-ping's SUBURB MURDER are on tap. Hope he keeps his pants on. That stuffing is tough to scrub from the sofa! The NY Mets and CAT III films. These are a few of my favorite things..... LET'S GO METS!!!!!

Short of Love (2009)

Short of Love

Picked up this poster last week. SHORT OF LOVE is a 2009 romantic comedy directed by James Yuen Sai-sang. The film stars a gaggle of newer young female actresses from Hong Kong. Kate Tsui Tze-shan, Race Wong Yuen-li, J.J. Jia Xiao-chen, and Angela Baby. Yes. I said Angela Baby. She gets an instant demerit for having such a stupid name. I have not seen the film and don't really have any plans too. I am not a fan of the newer romantic comedies out of HK. There may be one or two that are satisfying but the majority star run of the mill pixies who I just fail to familiarize myself with because they come and go so quickly and all look and sound the same. Now, gimme an 90's rom-com with Anita Yuen Wing-yee and I'll be all over it. But the poster was ony 2 bucks so what the hey?

Flying Dagger (1993)

Flying Dagger

Maggi?


Sharla the proctologist. Two fingers!?

Pick a card, any card



Little Jimmy Lin

Here's another Pakistani poster that I have to go along woth my TIGER ON THE BEAT poster I showed you a few days back. While this one has a bit less going on it's still pretty nice. The images don't appear to be painted as in the TIGER ON THE BEAT poster but there is definitely an artsy transfer. As you can see in the second pic, Maggie Cheung's name is spelled wrong, missing the 'e'. Also, under her misspelled name, in parentheses it says, "3 Fantastic Females Fame." I assume that "3 Fantastic Females" is the Pakistani name for the Johnnie To Kei-fung directed THE HEROIC TRIO, which was released in 1993 a few months before FLYING DAGGER. FLYING DAGGER is an off the wall martial mo lai tau from 'everything but the kitchen sink' writer/director/producer Wong Jing and the 'off of his damn rocker' Taiwanese director Chu Yen-ping. A match made in HK hybrid heaven. The film flies by with all sorts of odd goings on and the actors seem like puppets on these mad men's strings. The love of my life (my gf is ok with this) Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Sharla Cheung Man, Jimmy Lin Zhi-ying, Gloria Yip Wan-yee, Ng Man-tat, and Kingdom Yuen King-tan run around this film with such wild exuberance, spouting spitfire dialogue at one another, making a claim that there is no other cinema like HK cinema . FLYING DAGGER boasts exactly what early 90's HK cinema was ALL about! Energy! Like a friend recently described the films of this era, "watching an HK movie is like watching an American movie on 2x fast forward." So true. My gf was brought up watching the films of this era but now could honestly care less about HK cinema. FLYING DAGGER though, happens to be her favorite or the one she most remembers. She had a crush on little Jimmy Lin Zhi-yang. This always makes me laugh. Little Jimmy.