鬼吹灯之寻龙诀 - 鬼吹燈之尋龍訣 - 尋龍訣 - Mojin: The Lost Legend

鬼吹灯之寻龙诀/鬼吹燈之尋龍訣/尋龍訣 (Mojin: The Lost Legend) is an 2015 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Chen Kun, Huang Bo, and Shu Qi. The supporting cast includes Angelababy, Xia Yu, and Liu Xiaoqing. The movie has done really well at the box office, current sitting as the third highest grossing domestic film.

Mojin are special tomb raiders. In the 1980s, a trio of Mojin enter a tomb, but are unsuccessful. The most skilled in the group sees a vision and decides to retire. Retiring to New York on an expired visa, they make ends meet hustling antiques. When a cult sect seeks their skills to enter a secret tomb, they are compelled to joined by force. As they get into the tomb, its trap after trap they must figure out as well as deal with the cult sect.



I can see why this was a very popular film. It copies the formula of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. You get mystery, intrigue and treasure hunting. The film is well made and the production value is high. However, the special effects in Asia still have some catching up. I caught this in the theatres as the new year came.

What I don't get is the use of white guys in the film that speak Mandarin. I think there is still a novelty factor with "white" people that will be hard to displace in this generation or even the next few or ever.

火锅英雄 - Chongqing Hot Pot

火锅英雄 (Chongqing Hot Pot) is an 2016 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Chen Kun and Bai Baihe. The supporting cast include Qin Hao and Yu Entai. The film is directed by Yang Qing, who's debut film One Night In Supermarket was very entertaining. This time around, we have a heist movie based in Chong Qing.




The movie starts with a quartet of bank robbers that are about to get away, but their get away driver is noticed by the police and scrams. Leaving the quartet stranded, the robbers start to search for another way out. When the guy in the "monkey" face mask finds a whole in the safe, we're led onto another story. It is the story of Liu Bo and his two friends that open up a Hot Pot restaurant in order to unload it on a buyer, but it is a fake restaurant. Liu is a ma jong gambling addict that is in debt to loan sharks and has to take care of his 80 plus year old grandfather. When the trio finds the hole to the safe a few days earlier, they decide not to take it for fear of it being traced back to them, but the temptation is too much. The story unfolds as the money is too much temptation for all those involved.




This was an awesome movie. Yang Qing's style is pretty awesome and hearing the Chongqing accent was pretty fun too. I could make out half of what they were saying, but had to resort to subtitles for the other half. The story was a jigsaw puzzle waiting to be finished. You got hooked in by the bank robbers at the beginning of the film and you were reeled in waiting for things to connect.



Bai Baihe is in a fair amount of movies. Seems that I see her in 2-3 films a year lately. In this film , she is radiant and her presence really made you feel an emotional connection to the story. We see her role in the heist unfold to our delight. Bai is not front and center in this film, but when she is, she lights up the screen.



I don't know if this is the film to introduce Zhong Guo cinema to your friends, but its definitely got style, a great story, lots good looking leads, and plots twist galore. Go watch it and enjoy the ride.

Mulan - 花木蘭

Mulan (花木蘭) is a 2009 film out of China. The movie stars Vicky Zhao, Aloys Chen, and Jaychee Chan.

The story follows Mulan, who's spent her childhood learning martial arts from her fathers' soldier friends. Also from Mulan's village is Shiao Hu or Xiao Hu (translated to "little tiger"). When Rouran starts their descent into the middle kingdom, Mulan's villages' men are called to service, including her father, who's in bad health. Mulan instead goes in his place. Once there, Mulan befriends a high ranking offical, Wentai. Wentai eventually becomes Mulan's most trusted ally in both battle and out of battle. Both Wentai and Mulan rise through the ranks and become generals. However, Mulan quickly grows tired of the violence and starts to withdrawl and abandon her responsibilities. Wentai and Mulan have now developed feelings for each other, but it has caused tragedy to befall the rest of the army. Wentai fakes his death to get Mulan out of this situation. Eventually Mulan wakes up and starts being a strong General again. During their twelfth year of service, Mulan gets to go home. But there's a twist with Wentai. Of course.

The movie was extremely boring and I had a tough time watching it. Mulan in a nervous breakdown? Wentai and Mulan, a forbidden love? Man, I got through it though I am not better for it.

Heralded as a blockbuster, it was a major disappointment to me. Vicki Zhao continues to get work. It's about time to let some new blood into the mix and I don't mean Zhou Xun either. Wentai and Mulan was just the same couple from Painted Skin.

I picked up a rather crappy copy from my local renter. I should have asked him if the quality was any good. It wasn't and the subtitles were not removable. You know what that means...:)

One of the major differences between this installment and the Disney one is time. Rouran are from the 6th century. Mogols in the Disney film are from the 14th century. Also, there's no talking dragon. I was waiting and waiting, but none appeared.

Painted Skin - 畫皮

Painted Skin (畫皮) is a 2008 film out of Hong Kong. The film stars Donnie Yen, Zhou Xun, Aloys Chen, and Zhao Wei. The story is based on a ghost story from Strange Tales of Liaozhai.

The story is based on a several love triangles. With the center wrapped around Wang and Pei, a married couple. Wei, a fox demon spirit, needs human hearts to stay in her painted skin. Without the painted skin, humans will see her true form.

Wei is rescued by Wang one day and brought back to his house to be a servant. Pei immediately feels something is strange about Wei. Pei tells Wang, but without proof, Pei feels unheard. Pei seeks out Pang, a friend and former suitor for help.

The fun begins when Pang starts investigating Wei.

There is a certain level of Chinese mythos that need to be understood for the movie to be fully realized. If you're not familiar with Chinese mythos, some things are not spelled out for you.

I was rather impressed with this film and thought it to be a drastic departure from recent Donnie Yen films. However, this was a Donnie Yen film per se. Donnie just isn't the almighty fighter in this film that you would expect.

Playboy Cops - 花花型警

Playboy Cops (花花型警) is a 2008 film out of Hong Kong starring Shawn Yue and Aloys Chen.

The movie is about Shawn Yue playing Michael and Aloys Chen as Lincoln. Shawn is rich because his father is a tycoon. While fighting crime, he uses is own exotic cars and $$ to get the bad guys. Lincoln is a cop from China who's come to HK to investigate his brother's death. The two are linked to Lisa. The 2 alpha males go at for half the movie before they realize that they each can help each other out in solving Lincoln's brothers death.

The movie is here and there in terms of consistency. Is it entertaining and contains a lot of eye candy? Yes. For all those reasons, you need to watch it just once and its ok to fast forward. The story is confusing regardless.

Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress - 巴爾札克與小裁縫

Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress (巴爾札克與小裁縫) is 2002 film starring Zhou Xun, Aloys Chen, and Liu Ye.

The movie is about 2 teenage boys sent to the countryside for re-education during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Set in the Sichuan hills that gets flooded in present times via the Three Gorges Dam.

I am not sure how I came to watch this movie as it doesn't show up in my Netflix history. But I could have rented it from Blockbuster.

In any case, I was a little bored while watching the movie. I can see how the the repression and eventual escape of the three main protagonist can stir people up.

I don't believe this movie was ever released in China, but it did make the Film Festival circuits back in 2003 and 2004.

The Knot (雲水謠/云水谣)

Originally posted on xanga.



I finally finished The Knot (雲水謠/云水谣) today. I had been trying to watch the movie with my wife on and off for like a year now. I finally stopped waiting and finished the last 75%.

The movie stars Aloys Chen (Chen Kun), Vivian Hsu, Li Bing Bing, and Isabella Leong.

The movie starts in what appears to be New York and than jumps to a few other places. Some of the places are Taipei, Shanghai, and Tibet. There are quite a few more, but I wasn't paying all that much attention when they moved around a lot during the war segments.

Maybe because I didn't watch the whole movie at once, I didn't feel the connection between the main characters. I didn't get the point of the film in its entirety. The movie was "epic" in that it spans many years and the main storyline spanned 15 or so years.

Love is born. Love is forced to separate. Love is forced to wait. Is Love patient enough to let your life go to waste?

I've always wondered how these stories go. The Love that is born is in mere moments, but the wait is so long. So long that it is forced to die or leads to a life of confinement.

I guess if these types stories are based on true events, I feel very sorry for the parties involved. The agony of waiting and waiting. Is it the right choice? Should you just move on? What's the threshold?

I am a fan and Vivian Hsu and Li Bing Bing. I was hoping for more of the story to develop for Vivian Hsu, but it didn't happen.

I also noticed some veteran Taiwanese actors during the Taiwan segments.

All in all, I would recommend this. The production value was very high and the acting was very nice. However, the story is a little suspect and leaves you wondering. And not in a good way.

Sword of the Outlaw (長劍相思/长剑相思)

Originally posted on xanga.



Sword of the Outlaw (2004/2005) is a wuxia drama series starring Aloys Chen and Li Bing Bing. Running at a brisk 35 episodes.

Like many of the other non Jin Yong and Gu Long wuxia series, the endings are a big problem. They start out great, present great characters and develop them so you feel for them. But the plot isn't strong enough to make it last the remaining episodes. As is the case with Sword of the Outlaw. Strong strong first 20 episodes. Very very weak last 15 episodes.

First 20 episodes develops the story and you really care for the main protagonists. But when the "mystery" is solved, the resulting last few episodes are very weak. So many plot points and characters are left unexplained.

Poison Fu is used quite liberally and the cures are even more mysterious. The ending is totally unexpected. The main protagonist is just an after thought for the last 15 episodes.

Started out great. Ending was weak. If you want to get a taste of non Jin Yong or Gu Long wuxia, this is actually quite entertaining for the most part. Luckily for me, I could fast forward all the crappy parts.