This time: A trio of films that star Maggie Cheung, Hong Kong noir, a Taiwanese thriller, an American film about racism, an indie flick about the mind and heart, and the best titled film ever.
Iceman Cometh
Directed by Clarence Fok, starring Yuen Biao and Maggie Chung. Biao plays an ancient Chinese guard that is charged with pursuing a fallen member of the royal guard. While in pursuit, he, and the bad guy, are frozen solid at the bottom of an avalanche. Three hundred years later, they are found and accidentally unfrozen.
Playing a pious, righteous guard, Biao is dedicated to catching and stopping his former fellow guard, who happens to be a psychotic, murdering rapist that intends to return to the past to take over the world. Along the way, Biao happens upon a beautiful, outspoken young woman (Maggie Cheung), and he has many humerous interactions with the "new" world.
Iceman Cometh is a lot like Demolition Man. There are plenty of laughs to be found in Iceman Cometh, but it certainly isn't a must see. Biao produces an interesting enough character, and uses plenty of martial arts to entertain. Never boring, but never really more than a time killer (pun intended), Iceman Cometh is a pleasing piece diversionary entertainment. Also, it features Maggie Cheung before she learned how to act.
The Seventh Curse
An uber cheezy Indiana Jones knock-off that "stars" Chow Yun-Fat, Chin Siu-Ho, and Maggie Cheung, and was written by The Master of Crap, Wong Jing. The Seventh Curse is a bad film, but, what it lacks in quality, characterization, and originality, it makes up for in laughs. If you're looking for a film featuring a cameo from Chow Yun-Fat that received top billing, a Maggie Cheung that had yet to figure out that whole "acting" thing, a bunch of scenes lifted from the trilogy of Indiana Jones films, and a healthy dose of gore, boobs, and gags, The Seventh Curse is for you. Yay for you!
Full Moon in New York
Directed by Stanley Kwan (Rouge, Centre Stage, Lan Yu), and starring Sylvia Chang (All About Ah-Long; C'est La Vie, Mon Cheri), Maggie "I learned how to act" Cheung (Centre Stage, Days of Being Wild, In the Mood for Love), and Siqin Gaowa (In the Heat of the Sun, The Postmodern Life of My Aunt).
Full Moon in New York, to put it simply, is a film about the troubles in the lives of three Chinese women living in New York. I'm not going to get into the characterization of the women as it relates politically to where the characters originate in China; Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China; or the emotion of the film as it pertains to the director, if you want to learn more about either or both, check out Shelly Kraicer's writings.
Full Moon in New York is an incredible film that tackles more subject matter than you could shake a stick at. It is thoughtful, beautiful and elegant cinema that is deserving of praise and respect. Though it isn't a film to be taken lightly, Full Moon in New York is an accomplished work that has layers of meaning and miles of talent.
Killing End
Directed by Herman Yau (Nightmares in Precinct 7), and starring Andy Hui (Nightmares in Precinct 7), Loletta Lee (Nightmares in Precinct 7), and Simon Liu (Nightmares in Precinct 7). Do you see a pattern emerging?
Killing End is a fun noir directed by the director of Nightmares in Precinct 7, and starring pretty much everybody that was in Nightmares in Precinct 7. Everything about Killing End is good. Direction, acting, story, ending. It may not be the best noir ever, but it is engaging and the chemistry between leads Andy Hui and Loletta Lee, coupled with the brotherly bond between Hui and Simon Liu, make Killing End (and Nightmares in Precinct 7) utterly watchable and extremely entertaining.
Killing End is good. Go watch it, and Nightmares in Precinct 7.
Silk
An entertaining supernatural thriller starring Chang Chen (Happy Together; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Red Cliff) that is interesting and watchable due to it's star, though it fails to reach it's potential due to a ridiculous number of subplots that serve only to take away from the main story. However, Chang Chen is a terrific actor, so much so that you don't really care that the movie has more subplots than an entire season of Scrubs. Having Karena Lam (July Rhapsody, Koma, Kidnap) in a supporting role doesn't hurt either. Silk may not be super scary, or even that great, but it is enjoyable, and better than anything you'll see out of Hollywood.
The Intruder
Directed by Roger Corman and starring William Shatner. The Intruder is not what one would expect from either it's director or star. An intelligent film made in the 1960s, The Intruder bravely tackled the sensitive subject of racial integration.
William Shatner, playing a racist troublemaker, puts forth the greatest performance of his career in portraying a smooth, sly bastard of a man that attempts to turn a town on it's own people in the name of racist ideals. The Intruder is not an easy film to watch, as it openly shows the evil that unfounded hatred can breed. The Intruder shows the ugly side of men, and how just one person with bad intentions can turn a society on its head. However, it also shows that even in the darkest of times, some men are willing to stand up for what is right.
The Intruder isn't a deep or subtle film by any means, but it possesses the unsightly truths of what lies in the hearts of some men. Both inspiring and enraging, The Intruder puts forth a believable story that, hopefully, causes one to detest Shatner's character, which very accurately represents the ridiculousness of racism in general. An insightful film that should be watched, and respected.
Special
An interesting film starring Michael Rapaport (True Romance, Palmetto, Deep Blue Sea) as Les, a meter maid that gets put into a drug trial for a new drug that makes one feel "Special". Les quickly comes to believe he has super powers, and sets about using his newfound abilities to help the helpless and make something out of his mundane life.
Unfortunatley for Les, everything spirals out of control, and he soon finds himself wrapped up in a sinister plot. With only himself to rely on, Les comes to realize that having super powers isn't neccessarily all he had hoped for, and that maybe he was a hero all along.
Dirty Ho
"You haven't lived until you've fought Dirty Ho, and then you're dead", such is the tagline for the Hong Kong martial arts classic Dirty Ho. With Gordon Liu as director and star, the greatest title and greatest tagline EVER, Dirty Ho has everything going for it.
If you like Hong Kong martial arts films like The 36TH Chamber of Shaolin, Come Drink With Me, or The One Armed Swordsman, you've either seen Dirty Ho already, or should soon. To call it a cinema classic is entirely apropos, as Dirty Ho has all the superb elements of it's Shaw Brothers pedigree, and the Hong Kong martial arts genre. Watch it for the tagline, watch it for the title, watch it for the star, you can't go wrong, as long as you watch it.
Next Post: John Woo's Red Cliff, finally.
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