Natural Born Lovers - 天生愛情狂

Natural Born Lovers (天生愛情狂) is an 2012 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Julian Cheung and Annie Liu. The large supporting cast include Anna Kay, Ciwi Lam, Jinny Ng, and Kathy Yuen.



Julian plays a famous bakery chef with a child star past. One day, he bumps into Annie Liu being rejected by her lover. The bump heads later and she remembers how he didn't help her before. Thus begins the chase to woo Annie. The go to elevators, dates, and they break up. Because Annie is crazy when she gets in love. The kinda of love that suffocates a relationship. Can these two love birds make it work?

The movie was just ok. There was a lot of eye candy to keep one interested. But it's not enough when the story doesn't help it out. Annie and Anna/Mabel do make it hard to take your eyes of the scene. But there's just so much other stuff to distract and make us lose interest. Julian himself seems really old for the role he's in. Playing a late 20s guy didn't seem to fit him. And than there's the story telling. All over the place, but not very clear. Trying to set up moments and character traits seemed to drag. However, I didn't turn it off and watched to the end. Maybe it was the eye candy. Maybe it was loyalty to Julian. Maybe I was just lazy to stop too.

A Mob Story - 人在江湖

A Mob Story (人在江湖) is a 2007 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Julian Cheung, Cheung Tat-Ming, Ivy Yi (Yin Shin), and Mandy Chiang. Cameo appaerances by Tina Chou (Chou Yi Chun) and Lisa S. The movie starts and ends in Hong Kong. But the 75% in the middle is based in Taiwan.

Seven played by Julian Cheung is a top assassin in the HK underground. His reputation is that death follows him wherever he goes. Seven accepts a job to assassinate the fiance of a triad boss, played by Mandy Chiang. Seven however does not hit his mark, he saves her. Off he goes to Taiwan to find his childhood friend Ghost, played by Cheung Tat-Ming. Ghost has been in Taiwan for the past 10 years, but hasn't made much of himself and carries some gambling debt to a local triad boss. Ghost is also deeply in love with Chi-Ling, played by Ivy Yi. As Seven is hiding out, Ghost gets into more trouble. Ghost however drags Seven into these troubles.

I liked this movie due it being around 85 minutes. Didn't seem like a lot of wasted time. Ivy Yi was quite amazing as beetle nut girl. And the movie was in Taiwan. Tina Chou of 7 flowers made a 2-3 minute cameo and shows up in the "making of". This wasn't a great movie nor did it suck.

The Chinese translation for the title is "person in Jiang Hu". Jiang Hu in wuxia terms is the martial world. The world of non regular people. In this case, its the triad or crime syndicate. But, "Person in the Mob" would sound a little weird.

The First 7th Night - 頭七

The First 7th Night (頭七) is a 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Gordon Lam, Julian Cheung, and Michelle Ye. Supporting cast include Eddie Cheung and Tony Ho.

The movie is about Julian Cheung asking Gordon Lam to lead him to Sun and Moon Village. No other taxi driver seem to know the way. As they start for the village, Julian and Gordon start to talk about the restaurant that burned down in town. Gordon tells his version of the story and Julian than tells his version of the story. Both are very different.

I can't go further or I will spoil the movie for you. It was an interesting twist to the ghost and spirits movies that come out of the Chinese market. Because of many traditions, ghost and spirits are usually associated with it. Unlike the US horror market where there really is no rhyme or reason to the horror.

If you like spooky thrillers, you won't want to miss this one. It may make your Halloween spookier!

Wo Hu - 臥虎

Wo Hu (臥虎) is a 2006 film out of Hong Kong. The movie has a huge cast.

The movie starts with some gangsters telling cops that they can't do anything to them. So the police force decides to send 1000 undercover cops to the triads to take down the big bosses. Fast forward some time and we find out that the triads have heard a rumor that there are 1000 undercover cops. They find out and take him out. The police now start to move so as to prevent more cop killings. This puts the leaders of a particular triad on edge and suspicions start to rear its ugly head.

In the end, this was a standard triad movie for the mid 2000. On the heals of Infernal Affairs, there was a lot of projects that played that "undercover" angle. A lot. From 2007 to now, those type of movies have apparently gone out of fashion.

You should give it watch if you're into the HK triad films.

Buddha's Palm - 如來神掌

Buddha's Palm (如來神掌) is a 2004 Chinese language martial arts drama. The version I am reviewing today is the one you can rent off Netflix and buy via Amazon. The drama stars Julian Cheung, Athena Chu, and Christopher Lee.

The American release is a shorten version of the orginally 40 episode drama. Basically taking roughly 35 hours of a drama and condensing it down to 3 hours for the US.

I had watched the original series when it first came out around 2004 or 2005. It was a tough watch back than, its a tough watch now as a super condensed version.

The story doesn't flow and things are jumping from here to there with no explanation. Lucky I had a context or I would have pulled all my hair out.

Skip this version and look for the full 40 episode version. I may review that in the future someday. I've included the cover of that drama below and the youtube clip is from the full version as well.