Fulltime Killer - 全職殺手

Fulltime Killer (全職殺手) is an 2001 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Andy Lau, Takashi Sorimachi, and Kelly Lin. The supporting cast include Cherrie Ying, Lam Suet, and Simon Yam.



Tok is a very flamboyant assassin that likes to put on a show while he's taking out his targets. O is the top assassin in all of Asia and does things efficiently. When Tok sets his sights on becoming the number one assassin in all of Asia, he starts to infiltrate O's life. Tok looks to Chin, a Taiwanese transplant in Hong Kong who knows Japanese very well. When Tok and Chin get more serious, O starts to react. At the end, they must decide who's the number one assassin in all the land.

This movie was a breathe of fresh air when I first saw it back in 2002. I hadn't seen it right after it's released in 2001, but in 2002 while I was catching up. At that point, the catching was really sad due to overall quality of HK cinema taking a dive. There were gems of the lot, but the majority was mediocre to bad. Fulltime Killer stood out among the rest for its premise, pretty awesome acting from Andy, and great style. Andy was already an HK box office star, but his proved it during a dark time in HK cinema. He carried films all by himself. Fulltime Killer was among one of them.

The way the story ran also gave us great stories to follow as there was interpol chasing O across Thailand, to Japan, and finally to Hong Kong. There was a fair amount of English in the film. Basically letting Kelly Lin and Cherry Ying do their thing having both come from the US of A. Kelly after UCI and Cherry straight after High School.

I have this as one of my top 10 films of the aughts/two thousands. I recently rented it from Netflix again. It was all that and more. You should make it part of your Hong Kong movie viewing pleasure.

Poker King - 撲克王

Poker King (撲克王) is a 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Louis Koo, Sean Lau, and Stephy Tang. Supporting cast include Cherrie Ying, Josie Ho, Jo Kuk, and Kama Lo. Although this movie is from Hong Kong, almost all of it takes place in Macau.

The story is about Poker! Texas Hold 'em Poker. All the rage on the sports channels in the US. Is Poker even a sport? Throwing chips and cards takes a lot of skill. Louis Koo plays Jack, the heir to a casino in Macau. Sean Lau plays Uno, the current head of the casino after Jack's father passes away. Uno brings Jack in to help him run the casino. But Jack's a computer poker king, but not very good at the table. Uno forces Jack out of the casino. Jack roams the streets of Macau and finds Smiley, played by Stephy Tang. Jack and Smiley form a partnership. Jack gets better and better. Will Jack have enough to face Uno again?

The movie was really loose. The plot was everywhere. The gals were really pretty, but the story didn't flow well. But I actually enjoyed it. It's worth a watch, but don't expect it to be good.

Kung Fu Chefs - 功夫廚神

Kung Fu Chefs (功夫廚神) is a 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Sammo Hung, Vanness Wu, Cherrie Ying, and Kago Ai.

The movie is about the kung fu art of making Chinese food. Sammo Hung, as Bing Yi, is the master chef of his village. During a banquet, he's frame and subsequently kicked out. Vanness Wu is Kin, a recent graduate of a culinary school. Kin wants to increase his skills and seeks another master chef. When he seeks this master at Four Seas restaurant. But the master chef he seeks has just been defeated. Kin now joins Bing Yi's team. Learning the skills from the master, Kin's skills increase and is a force to be dealt with in the culinary world.

With Kung Fu, you have to have a competition and revenge. Queue the reason for the action and fight scenes.

A fun watch, but it has a lot of cheezy low grade effects. This reminds of 80s style HK movies.

Karmic Mahjong - 血戰到底

Karmic Mahjong (血戰到底) is a 2006 film out of China. The movie stars Frances Ng, Cherrie Ying, and Liang Jing.

The movie doesn't really include mahjong as the focus like the HK ones. The movie is about Francis Ng. He has some extremely bad luck. Along the way, he makes bad decisions upon bad decisions.

The movie was a total mess. I don't know how I didn't stop watching. Maybe it was for Cherrie Ying.

No Youtube clips available.

The Duke of Mount Deer aka Royal Tramp

Originally posted on xanga.



I recently finished watching the Chinese wuxia drama The Royal Tramp starring Huang Xiao Ming.  Of the 50 episodes, I really didn't start fast forwarding until around episode 42 or so.  The last 8 episodes takes such a shift from the 20 or so that preceded it.  I was bored and fell asleep watching.  The first 6 episodes featured Wei Xiao Bao as a pre-teen.  That was quite annoying and I kept thinking, when are they going to turn into "adults".

Also, the Mandarin the children were speaking was much different than the rest of the cast.  I have a rough time deciphering slurred Mandarin.  It was a double blow of annoyance.  Kids and slurred Mandarin.

But once the "adults" came about, the series took a turn for the better.  I like Huang Xiao Ming and think he has star quality.

Cherrie Ying plays a "love" interest of Wei Xiao Bao and is suppose to be the most "beautiful" of the 7 wives.  I also liked newcomer He Zhou Yan.  As I've written in past blogs, Cherrie Ying is one of my favorites.  Looks like Cherrie Ying is making a transition to Dramas.

I was a big fan of Tony Leung's The Duke of Mount Deer series in 1984.  I think I might have watched it like 4-5 times by the time I started high school.  I haven't seen the 1984 one since the late 80s.  Maybe in a few years, I'll get the remastered TVB series.

I also enjoyed the Stephen Chow Royal Tramp movies from 1992.  In many ways, he may have been the very best Wei Xiao Bao there has ever been.

Chinese Dramas

Originally posted on xanga.

I've grown up watching Chinese dramas and Hong Kong movies.  Its probably one of the reasons that I can still understand as much Mandarin Chinese as I do now.  Some of my favorite dramas were those from TVB of Jinyong's novels.  The ones from the 80s from the "5 tigers" of Hong Kong were my favorites.  Although I haven't watched them since the early 90s, I can still remember them fondly.  My two favorites dramas starred Tony Leung Chiu Wai.  The versions I watched were all the Mandarin dubbed versions.

Many of those Jinyong series get a production from both Hong Kong and Taiwan.  Recently, China's been releasing their own productions as well.  So, for any given drama, you can see 2 or 3 interpretations every decade or so dating to the 70s.

Recently, these past 3 months, I've been able to watch 2 series that have really caught my attention.  One is called "The Proud Twins" starring two HK male leads, Dicky Cheung and Nicholas Tse.  Its around 44 or 45 episodes (depends on which DVD set you're watching).  I must say that the first 25 episode were fantastic.  Simply amazing.  I watched in anticipation for each story arc to unfold.  But the series took a really dark tone after that point and I ended up fast forwarding through at least 80% of the rest of the series.  I remember telling my wife that she had to watch it and I'd translate whatever she couldn't understand.  But I couldn't recommend it after I watched it all.  Only 60% of the series was any good.  Do the producers and makers even know how good it was and how much it sucked after?  In any case, it was GREAT for 25 episodes.  I can tell you when to stop and not watch anymore.  This story was based off a Gu Long novel.

The second was one that I just finished watching.  It may hold a place in my heart as the best I've seen in years.  Its out of Taiwan called "Angel Lover" starring Ming Dao, Bianca Bai, and Coco Jiang.  I immediately felt an affiliation with the lead's character, personality, and sense of humor.  The lead's love interest was just as, if not more, interesting.  The series has distinct story arcs and I only fast forwarded through one of the arcs.  The songs are pretty catchy as well.  I'll have to search for the OST around town.  I have no idea where the story originated from but I thought it was quite unique and kept me on board for most the ride.

I also enjoyed a very lighted hearted movie with my current favorite actress, Cherrie Ying.  The movie doesn't have a official english name, but if I were to translate, it would be "Dream Seekers".  Takes place in China and may be reflecting the changing face of the Chinese as they start to take in more and more of the world cuture.  I must warn you that it contains a pretty high "cheese" factor.  Its called meng xiang ren jian in pinyin.

For the first time, I am actually going to open up an entry for comments.  I'll see how that goes.  If I get zero comments.  No need to turn on comments than I say.  But who knows.  It I get too many saying I am lame, I'll have to reconsider.