Anthony Wong Chau-sang in COP IMAGE (1994)

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The H'wood gossip outlets have been a buzz the past few weeks over Mel Gibson's downward spiral. Mel Gibson is all the rage! Mazel Tov to him! Anyway, here is a scene from Herman Yau Lai-to's crime/comedy, COP IMAGE, starring the ubiquitous Anthony Wong Chau-sang. Wong acts as soothsayer here as he mentions Melly Mel's mental status at about the 1:14 mark. If anyone knows a mental defective EDP, Wong does! Enjoy.

Hung Fung in BODY LOVER (1993)

BODY LOVER (1993)

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One of my favorite HK film images of all time is from the cheap but pretty darn good CAT III erotic/actioner, BODY LOVER. Hung Fung, a contemporary of Charlie Cho Cha-lee and no stranger to tapping sweet ass, is seen here rub-a-dub-dubbing with two nubile starlets. But, what the F is going on here? Who does this? Hung Fung does this.

2010 NYAFF Opening Weekend-part 1

Not updating as much as I would like. It's summer time and I have better things to do. I like to pretend I have some sort of a life off of my laptop. So, i'm finally getting around to posting the rest of my 2010 NYAFF pics. These pics are from day 2 of the fest. Wei and I were there to see an awesome screening of the Sammo Hung Kam-bo clssic EASTERN CONDORS as well as the Award Winning drama ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW starring Simon Yam Tat-wah and Sandra Ng Kwun-yu. Both Sammo and Simon were in attendance so I was giddy like a school girl. The above pic has Grady introducing EASTERN CONDORS in that special Grady way.

Post EASTERN CONDORS was a wonderful Q&A with the great Sammo Hung Kam-bo. It ran about 25 minutes and Sammo was hugely funny and animated as he recalled his career. I am still working on the videos.

Sammo begins to tell an anecdote about travelling with Yuen Biao

Sammo continues....and gets great laughs

The lovely 'Ms. Sammo', Joyce Mina Godenzi

Grady Hendrix, Frank Djeng, Sammo Hung Kam-bo




Simon Yam Tat-wah

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After the Sammo Q&A Wei and I stuck around to check out the North American Premier of Simon Yam Tat-wah's award winning performance in ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW. Simon was introduced before the screening to say a few words. A genuinely warm and funny man, he tried to elicits laughs out of the audience. He went over pretty well. He then told us that he is going to try his hand at comedic films in the near future. So, keep an eye out for those opuses.

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ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW turned out to be a bit of a letdown. Overly dramatic in spots and cringe worthy moments of sap, especially the ending, mars the film from being a winning period piece. Yes, I understand the film IS a drama. But it was more like an 'Illness of the Week' TV movie. Did I give to much away? Someone gets sick and dies. Sorry for the spoilers. A few moments seemed overwrought....especially the ending. This backhand aside, the performances were quite excellent. While Simon and Sandra are the top names, they are but part of an ensemble that takes a back seat to newcomer child actor, Buzz Chung Shiu-tiu. More often than not child actors are screeching sight gags that I would rather see and not hear. Buzz almost completely owns the film. The narrative is seen through his young eyes. He's a mischievous scamp who gets himself into all sorts of trouble. These funny scenes nicely balance out some of the mushier moments of the script. Another part of this good looking ensemble is Aarif Lee Chi-ting, who plays the older brother of Buzz. A newcomer as well, Aarif has recently been cast as Bruce Lee in Raymond Yip Wai-man's Bruce Lee biopic, BRUCE LEE, MY BROTHER. Simon and Sandra's film history speaks for themselves. When you put a small film like ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW in the largely comforting and assured hands of these two talents, you have little to worry about. Simon is currently acting his age with immense knowledge of his craft. He has 150+ films behind him as well as a bunch of TV series to his crazy resume. I think it's safe to say that he understands acting. No? Sandra, when she wasn't mugging for the camera, had always filled the screen with charm and a sense of wit. Shit, even when she WAS mugging for the camera she showed understanding for film language. ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW gets a marginal recommendation. It's a fine nostalgic piece, that is funny, and sometimes genuinely touching. Sometimes. Wei cried her eyes out if that's any help? But she's a girl. They always cry.

2010 NYAFF Opening Night

Some good news and some bad news. First, of course, is the bad news. The blogger format gets a healthy and hearty "F YOU" from me. I have been trying to upload video I took at the NYAFF for the past 4 days. I have edited and edited and edited videos down to at most 5 minutes in length. Blogger will not load them? So, it looks like no videos for you guys. I will keep trying, though. Especially with the Simon Yam interview. I will keep editing and editing and editing and editing..... And, again, "F YOU, Blogger!" That being said, if you would like to see the videos, email me and I will happily send them to you. The good news is that I still have a ton of pics. Now, I can't show them all to you but I will post a few choice ones. My camera is old and it blows so you might have to temper your expectations. Other blogs and sites have crisp and clear pics of the fest but I am the only blog that has EXCLUSIVE shoddy quality shots. The lengths I go to for you guys!

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Ok, so below are a few pics from the opening night festivities. Huang Bo, Simon Yam Tat-wah, and Sammo Hung Kam-bo were on hand to receive awards from the fest. Special guest, Angela Mao Ying was also there to give Sammo Hung Kam-bo his award.

Huang Bo receives his award from his co-star from the film COW

Simon Yam Tat-wah is a Dapper Dan man

Grady Hendrix introduces Sammo Hung Kam-bo

Sammo Hung Kam-bo and Angela Mao Ying

Angela Mao Ying, Huang Bo, Sammo Hung Kam-bo, and Simon Yam Tat-wah

The Sorcerer's Apprentice and C-town rats

Eldridge St., NYC, Chinatown

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Found this little nugget of silliness while reading the NY Post this past weekend. The article was about the various filming locations around the city that were used in the upcoming Disney film, THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE. Here's a nice C-town anecdote....

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"Things went a little less smoothly in Chinatown during a sequence in which Cage and Baruchel battle a magical dragon during a New year's celebration. Filmed on Eldridge Street over two weeks, it required some 2,000 local extras-one of whom probably wished she'd stayed home.

"A giant Chinatown-sized rat fell off a roof, bounced off an awning and fell on an extra's face," Baruchel says. "She had to go to the hospital. The rats in that neighborhood are bigger than most dogs."- NY Post

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Gotta love Chinatown.

2010 NYAFF Star Asia Awards After Party

Simon and Sammo enter the after party

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The 2010 NYAFF was a huge success. I was lucky enough to be at the opening night festivities where Sammo Hung Kam-bo, Simon Yam Tat-wah, and Huang Bo received Star Asia awards from the fest. I'm slowly but surely uploading the videos of the past few weeks events for you guys to see. Just give me some time. The oppressive summer heat finds me lazier than usual.

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The above video is just a snippet I took of the Star Asia awards after party. My buddy was able to score me a ticket. The festival was at times in need of extra volunteers. Though a guest at the party I wanted to lend a hand. I also enlisted my fiance and her cousin Ronda, who were outside waiting on line for the opening night film, Ip Man 2, to assist. The 3 of us tried our best to push back the throngs of clamoring fans to try and make way for the stars to enter the event. We didn't do so well as the party was a tad over crowded and the room a touch too small. We cleared a tiny path so the stars had enough room to enter, smile for the cameras, wave like royalty, and exit the room. Enjoy the clip.

"What stink shit!"

"What stink shit!"-A Man and a Woman (1993)

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I've been extremely lethargic of late. Those crazy, hazy, lazy days of summer have hit me hard and my basement apartment is a hot box. I'm dripping sweat on to my keyboard. Gross. I go through wife-beater t's like actual wife beaters beat their wives! Anyway, i'm hoping to upload the videos I took at the NYAFF in the coming days. I have already started but the video processing is taking forever. I also hope to get back to posting my video and poster collection as well. So, until then.....here is some HK subtitling filler to tide you over. The above subtitle directly refers to me at the moment. Stink shit! . Now it's time to tend to my swamp ass with a liberal sprinkling of baby powder. So soothing.

Blog logo and So Good Reviews

Category III is for me!

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My future brother in law created this logo for the blog. I didn't ask him to, he was just bored and felt like doing it. Kinda how I came to create this blog. Boredom. He knows his way around a computer and this design took him all of 10 minutes to create. I really dig it. So i'm gonna use it.I put it at the beginning of all of the NYAFF videos I took and will be posting for you guys. I hope you don't take it as me being pompous or self important?! I don't really need a website logo but I really like this one. And it was kind of a gift. The Chinese character on display in the logo is the character for the word 'KING'. Now, you all know that I have a penchant for the seedier side of HK cinema. Namely, all of those beautiful Category III films from HK cinemas glory (hole) days. So the logo might suggest that I think I am the 'King of Cat III' movies? This is not so. King, is actually my last name and the reason behind my Blogger profile name, Kingwho? So, he felt it a natural fit to combine the two into a rather kick butt logo. And I will thank him by buying him Blimpie. He loves Blimpie. He lives on Blimpie. He has a Blimpie illness!

Sooooooo Gooooooood!

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Speaking of Category III films, I can think of at least one HK film enthusiast who might be deserving of the 'King of CAT III' title? Kenneth B., who runs the wonderful HK film review site, So Good, might nicely fit that moniker. He has such a great knowledge of Category III films but also of HK cinema in general. He lives and breathes the cinema. His site and all of it's accoutrement's are simply amazing for one man to produce. Kenneth goes the extra mile for us HK cinema lovin' folks, not only providing written reviews of films old and new, but occasionally breaking them down with YouTube video reviews, as well as a fine podcast, Podcast on Fire. If you haven't done so (shame on you), check his work out. Great, great stuff!

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So Good Reviews: http://www.sogoodreviews.com/

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Podcast on Fire: http://podcastonfire.com/