Populasian: April 2023

Saturday, April 22, 2023

射雕英雄传之降龙十八掌 - The Dragon Tamer

射雕英雄传之降龙十八掌 (The Dragon Tamer) is an 2021 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Eddy Geng and Lin Yan Rou. The rest of the cast are a bit of a who's who of the old Hong Kong era movie stars, including Alex To and Eddie Kwan. The movie is losely based on the The Legend of the Condor Heroes novel from Jin Yong.

Gou Jing runs into Huang Rong disguised as a begger. As Gou Jing is the only one to come to the aid of Huang Rong and they become friends. Huang Rong reveals herself in female clothes to Guo Jing's surpirse. They than head to the Peach island to stop Ou Yang from asking for Huang Rong's hand in marriage. Can Guo Jing stop Ou Yang and get Huang Rong's hand in marriage?

I caught this via iQIYI recently. I also see it available via Hi-yah. I have not tried Hi-yah before. The movie was a very shortened version of The Condor Heroes. It is near impossible to to put all the storylines into one movie. With that in mind, I just had to figure out what was missing and make it go away in my head. From that side, I actually liked the movie a lot. It was well made in my opinion. This movie is borderline B-movie as it was not released to the theatres but direct to the web for iQiyi. But it is of better quality than then most of the other b-movies from iQiyi. Give it a watach and see how you like it.

Thursday, April 13, 2023

再說一次我願意 - Say Yes Again

再說一次我願意 (Say Yes Again) is an 2022 film out of Taiwan. The movie stars Kent Tsai and Kuo Shu-yao. The movie hit the film festivals in late 2021 before its 2022 release.

Lu is a water ski instructor that falls for Xiao Cai. Lu and Cai date for awhile after a chance meeting. Lu is now ready to take the relationship to the ultimate commitment. Will Cai look pass his video gaming, childish ways? Will Lu's dedication to changing for a family life move Cai to say "yes"?

I miss the romantic stuff out of Taiwan. These days, it seems there's no longer happy endings in Taiwan entertainment. At least from my limited viewership. So this gave me a glimmer of hope. Kent and Kuo were already linked before in an HBO Asia series from a few years back. This pairing gave us another chance to see them in an with another kind of romantic look. Another "what could have been". I would say the movie was really focused on Kent's role with splashes of Kuo.