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Last Site Update: April 15, 2012

Site Review Count: 2088
   

Udine Far East Film Festival

Far East Film Festival 14

It's the last thing we do before summer comes. This year, as we've done for the last four years, we're off to the Udine Far East Film Festival where we'll watch movies, eat cheese and - most important of all - escape the rapidly encroaching humidity of Hong Kong. Really, it's a sauna over here.

The Udine Far East Film Festival runs from April 20th - 28th this year and we'll be there nearly the entire time. We'll watch a few movies, comment about them on our Twitter account and maybe review a couple when we get back. If you're going too, be sure to say "Hi."

Latest Stuff
- Awards: 31st Hong Kong Film Award Winners New
- Review: Love in the Buff New
- Review: A Simple Life New
- Review: Love Lifting New
- Review: Marrying Mr. Perfect New
- Review: Love Actually...Sucks! (2012) New
- Review: Shadowguard New
- Awards: 17th LoveHKFilm Award Nominations
- Review: Nightfall
- Review: Mr. and Mrs. Gambler
- Review: Love
- Review: The Allure of Tears
- Reader Vote: The Top 100 Hong Kong Movies of the Eighties Countdown Ended

31st Hong Kong Film Awards
Just Announced
Posted April 15, 2012

Hey, they just announced the winners of the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards, and as expected, one film took home the top prizes while a bunch of films split the rest.

If you're not into awards, you can check out the latest reviews thrown on the site, including a look (finally) at A Simple Life, plus Kevin Ma's review of super Hong Kong hit Love in the Buff. Warning: it's long.

Also reviewed this time: Love Lifting. Marrying Mr. Perfect, Love Actually...Sucks! and Shadowguard: The Blood Bond Saga. Yeah, we try to see everything, don't we.

Next time: Whatever we've got after our return from Italy. Ciao!

News, Notes and Nonsense

Updated April 4, 2012

Previous Updates archived at MySpace

Into April with regret
Posted April 4, 2012

April means many things for this website, not least among them the forthcoming Hong Kong Film Awards and the site-centric LoveHKFilm Awards, which finally has nominations to announce. Also, the Hong Kong International Film Festival is ending and in a few short weeks we'll be back in Italy for the Udine Far East Film Festival. Busy, busy, busy.

Sadly, this year was so jammed, what with the above and also our Top 100 Hong Kong Movies of the Eighties countdown, that we missed seeing some films in the cinemas. The Second Woman and Love Lifting will now be DVD fodder for this site because we couldn't make it to the cinema to catch either. We hang our head in shame at not catching either cinematic milestone.

Next time: A Simple Life, Marrying Mr. Perfect, Love in the Buff.

ALL THE WRONG SPIES is the
102nd Best Hong Kong Movie of the Eighties

Posted March 12, 2012

Our Top 100 Hong Kong Movies of the Eighties countdown is now underway and you can click over to Damn You, Kozo to start at Number 101. That's because there was a tie for #100 so the list is 101 movies, yeah, whatever. Either way, the film that just missed the final list was Tsui Hark's All the Wrong Spies - a shame really, because it's a lot of fun.

We'll be counting down the Top 100 for the next week, so check back to see the results!


  Previous Updates

NEW for April 15, 2012
- Winners of the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards were announced.
- Added Kevin Ma's review of Love in the Buff (2012).
- Added Kozo's reviews of A Simple Life (2011), Love Lifting (2012), Marrying Mr. Perfect (2012), Love Actually...Sucks! (2012) and Shadowguard: The Blood Bond Saga (2011).

NEW for April 4, 2012
- Added Kozo's reviews of Nightfall (2012), Mr. and Mrs. Gambler (2012), Love (2012), and The Allure of Tears (2012).
- Added the nominations for the 17th LoveHKFilm Awards.

NEW for March 12, 2012
- Started our Top 100 Hong Kong Movies of the Eighties countdown.

NEW for March 3, 2012
- Added Kozo's reviews of Romancing in Thin Air (2012) and New Perfect Two (2012).
- Added Kevin Ma's review of Love is Not Blind (2011).

NEW for February 7, 2012
- Added Kozo's reviews of The Viral Factor (2012), I Love Hong Kong 2012 (2012), All's Well Ends Well 2012 (2012) and Space Dream (2011).

Featured Review

Love in the Buff
Shawn Yue and Miriam Yeung

Love in the Buff
A sequel is often a commercial decision that occurs when it’s financially viable to repeat the formula of the original film – thus, Love in the Buff was from its very conception Pang Ho-Cheung’s most commercial project. One can’t blame Pang for bringing his Love in a Puff characters back for the first sequel of his career; the writer-director has gained a following in Mainland China thanks to his films as well as his social media exposure. What better way to get further legitimacy in China than with a crowd-pleasing romantic comedy? Fortunately, Love in the Buff is not a complete commercial sellout. It’s a romantic comedy that also reflects the economic realities of Hong Kong filmmakers and Hong Kongers in general. Essentially, it does what Andrew Lau’s A Beautiful Life failed to do: briefly address the plight of Hong Kongers in China while telling a believable love story. (more)

 

Newest HK/China Reviews Other Featured Reviews
THEY FINALLY RELEASED THIS MOVIE
A Simple Life
With the amount of accolades, both international and local, given to A Simple Life months before its Hong Kong release... (more)
 
Not that heavy
Love Lifting
A movie about a female weightlifter? And she’s played by waif-like idol singer Elanne Kong? Who would believe this cinematic combination? (more)
 
Warning: he snores
Marrying Mr. Perfect
Wong Jing aims squarely at the China market with Marrying Mr, Perfect and the results are as tepid you’d expect. (more)
 
Scud missle alert
Love Actually...Sucks!

Self-financed Hong Kong filmmaker Scud isn’t known for his unassailable works of art... (more)

 
The Bad Blood Saga
Shadowguard
Martial arts-gunplay actioner Shadowguard: The Blood Bond Saga is startlingly bad. (more)
 
Nick at night
Nightfall
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And if you still don’t succeed, well, consider taking some criticism. (more)
 
The House Wins
Mr. and Mrs. Gambler
It’s called Mr. & Mrs. Gambler but it’s not really a gambling film. Directed by Wong Jing... (more)
 
Bacon is more alluring
The Allure of Tears
Conceptually, Allure of Tears is sound. As executed, however, the film is pure misery. Barbara Wong directs this omnibus of tearjerker stories.... (more)
 
I can see pretty damn well, though
Love is Not Blind
As part of their film’s marketing plan, the team behind Love is Not Blind traveled across China and asked young people to recount their own break-ups. (more)
 
I can't breathe
Romancing in Thin Air
Back in 2000, Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai launched Sammi Cheng into the Hong Kong Cinema stratosphere with seminal romcom Needing You... (more)
 
Means never having to say you're sorry
Love
Taiwan idols make a convincing case for screen supremacy with Love, an ensemble romance from director-actor Doze Niu. (more)
 
Heads will roll. A lot of them.
Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale
Wei Te-Sheng will never be criticized for lacking ambition - after all, Wei made Seediq Bale... (more)
 
Ludicrous screenwriting is contagious
The Viral Factor
Dante Lam’s The Viral Factor has the action goods. Just don’t expect to it to make sense, because it won’t. (more)
 
The Master stays The Master
Flying Swords of Dragon Gate
Everything old is new yet again in Tsui Hark’s Flying Swords of Dragon Gate. A 3D remake-reimagining-sequel... (more)
 
The greatest magic is fan service
The Great Magician
If you want to get the most out of The Great Magician, it helps to like fan service. Loosely defined as "giving the fans what they want,"... (more)
 
Cross out that "perfect" part
New Perfect Two
Kevin Chu Yen-Ping continues his nearly unparalleled streak of unimpressive filmmaking... (more)
 

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Newer HK & China Reviews:
- 1911
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- The 33D Invader
- 72 Martyrs
- All's Well Ends Well 2012
- The Allure of Tears
- Beach Spike
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- Beginning of the Great Revival
- Big Blue Lake
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- Love for Life
- Love is Not Blind
- Love in Space
- Love in the Buff
- Love is the Only Answer
- Love Lifting
- Love You You
- Magic to Win
- Marrying Mr. Perfect
- Microsex Office
- Mr. and Mrs. Gambler
- Mr. and Mrs. Single
- Mural
- My Kingdom
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- A Simple Life
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- Space Dream
- Speed Angels
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- Summer Love Love
- The Sword Identity
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- The Viral Factor
- Virtual Recall
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Newer Taiwan reviews:
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Newer PanAsia reviews:
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