I've been coming here for ages. At least over 10 years.
The food is made to order as you build it. If you want it spicy, you poor on the hot sauce. If you want it sweat teriyaki, you add more teriyaki sauce.
The place is well lighted and clean. But its picked up a greeze level that you can smell and feel when you're in there. But the food is so good that you don't notice it much.
About Love (關於愛) is a 2005 film. The three directors of the film are from Taiwan, China, and Japan.
The film is broken up into 3 cities. Tokyo, Taipei, and Shanghai. In a happenstance way, they are all interconnected. However, I can't recall how the Taipei story arc is connected to the other two.
The Tokyo story arc follows Wilson Chen and Misaki Ito.
The Taipei story arc follows Mavis Fan.
The Shanghai story arc follows Jacqueline Li.
1 Taiwan dude. 2 Japanese dudes. 1 Japanese girl. 1 Taiwan gal. 1 China gal.
Looking for love in the wrong place? Check. Looking for a love that's no longer there? Check. Loving from afar? Check.
3 very different stories, presentations, and outcomes.
Worth a watch. Watched it back in the day. Watched it again recently while washing dishes.
The Promise (無極) is a 2005 film out of China. It is directed by Chen Kaige and stars Jan Dong-gun, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cecilia Cheung, and Nicholas Tse.
This is a very complicated movie to summarize. Please head over to wikipedia for the condensed version (it's like 1,300 words as of today). No way I am writing something that crazy. I am lucky to get to 300 words with each post.
The movie was crazy. Insane actually. It was super hard to follow and the CG was distracting. Having Jan and Sanada speak mandarin was even more distracting.
It was a much hyped movie of 2005 and made it to the awards in some place in 2006. I am going to guess because of the hype and Chen's rep. Other than that, this movie is a mess.
SPL (Sha Po Lang)/Kill Zone (殺破狼) is a 2005 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Simon Yam, and Wu Jing (Jacky Wu).
The movie is about the cops versus a well oiled organized crime syndicate. On the cops side stands, Donnie Yen as Ma and Simon Yam as Chan. Sammo Hung as Po is the head of the syndicate and Jacky Wu as Jack is an assassin.
The movie does some background on the day and life of the people involved, but for the most part, its heavy on the action. The police are trying to break the grip of Po's syndicate. A certian saying that law and order is only valid until midnight. At midnight, the night belongs to the syndicate.
The action was a turn into more of a gritty and reality based fighting. Grappling was introduced. The knife and baton fight between Donnie and Jacky was excellent.
A must see for you Donnie Yen fans. A must see for you HK action freaks.
Fatal Move (奪帥) is a 2008 film out of Hong Kong. The film stars Sammo Hung, Simon Yam, Tien Niu, Danny Lee, and Wu Jing (Jacky Wu).
The movie is about the cops versus a triad. However, unlike SPL, this film does have action, but also lots of drama elements that make you think.
Sammo Hung as Lung and wife Tien Niu as Soso are the couple that head Lung's triad. Simon Yam plays Lung's brother who seems to have anger management issues. The cops are hot on their tales and want to take them down.
The action is pretty good, but don't expect anything eye popping.
A good movie for you HK action fans and Jacky Wu fans.
深情密碼 (Silence) is a 2006 drama out of Taiwan. It stars Vic Zhou and Park Eun Hye. It also has Andy Hui, Megen Lai, and Kingone Wang in supporting character roles.
Vic Zhou plays the head executive of a successful real estate company in Taiwan. Vic is a workaholic with a troubled family life and engaged to his college sweet heart. However, as you find out, Vic shows very little emotions towards those that seem to extend their love to him. Vic's Wei Yi character is presented as a cold and heartless man.
Park Eun Hye as Shen Shen is the total opposite. Someone that lives life to the fullest and show loves to all those around her. Shen Shen is special though. Shen Shen's mother was from Korea, so Shen Shen is of mixed blood descent. An accident in her early teens caused her to lose her voice.
How does, Shen Shen and Wei Yi's path collide? It's a total use of drama magic. You know the story can't move on without them meeting, so it happens over and over again.
Wei Yi is cold and heartless until he finds out that he has life ending cancer. As he gets worst and worst, Wei Yi's outlook on life changes and Shen Shen becomes his focus.
The drama was really hard to watch in the beginning. Because I had rented the whole set at a time, I decided I had to watch it. I am glad I stuck around as the second half of the drama was pure drama magic.
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.
The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung (新楚留香) is 2001 wuxia series. I think its a joint TVB and CTS production, but the majority of the cast is from Hong Kong. The series stars Richie Ren as Chu Liu Xiang. There very few characters that show up in all the story arcs. But among the supporting cast are Ruby Lin, Gigi Lai, Anita Yuen, Kristy Yang, and Dicky Cheung.
The version I watched was 40 episodes long and had 4 main story arcs. Most of the story arcs run 10 episodes and there's a clear change of direction with the 3rd and 4th story arcs.
The first story arc introduces us Chu Liu Xiang as an expert thief. Nothing is untouchable for this guy. Including the hearts of women! When he is taught 小李飛刀 to go along with his expert thief skills. This now makes him a very formidable opponent. It is also during this arc that we are introduced to Ruby Lin, Gigi Lai, and Anita Yuen. However, Chu Liu Xiang and Anita Yuen's character, Xi Hu, have a forbidden love. Xi Hu eventually makes the ultimate sacrafice for Chu Liu Xiang.
The second story arc goes for all out action as Chu Liu Xiang's nemesis is revealed and he must stop him. Chu Liu Xiang and Gigi's character, Rong Rong, get serious. But it is not meant to be as their worlds collide, but is ultimately split apart.
The third story arc goes to the desert and is the strangest by far. Ruby Lin, Sing Er, and Chu Liu Xiang were getting along fine and headed for love. But Sing Er loses her memory and is tricked into loving another person. This splits them up and ends a very strange affair.
The final story arc ends the series and a storyline that's been hinted at since the second story arc. In this arc, almost all the characters are new. The shadow warriors that haunted Chu Liu Xiang in the 2nd and 3rd story arc are revealed. A new love interest played by Kristy Yang is introduced. Can Chu Liu Xiang make it out alive?
This ranks as one of my favorite wuxia series because it had so many characters. Unlike the 2007 version, the characters were only around for 8-10 episodes. The only constant was Richie as Chu Liu Xiang. The fighting was descent and the mythos were right on target. There was love, mystery and everything that made Chu Liu Xiang what he is! I loved Ti Lung as Chu Liu Xiang in the Shaw Bros films of the 70s. Adam Cheng and Michael Miu's Chu Liu Xiang from early TVB are classics. Richie isn't going to go down as a classic, but he was serviceable as Chu Liu Xiang.
If you like wuxia that has a lot of mystery and revolving door of love interest, this is a series for you!
Dog Bite Dog (狗咬狗) is a 2006 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Edison Chen and Sam Lee.
The movie is about Edison Chen, a Cambodian assassin. With no moral boundaries, Chen is willing to do anything and everything to make the hit and escape. Sam Lee Lee plays Wai, a cop with a big attitude. Wai knows the streets and willing to do anything to capture the criminals.
Chen assassinates a man in a restaurant. Wai is onsite to start the investigation. Wai finds some clues that lead to Chen, who's hours from boarding a boat back to Cambodia. In there first exchange, Chen is ruthless to all around him in order to get away. Wai is not able to catch Chen and is reprimanded for his careless actions. The pursuit is on. A fully thrilling cat and mouse chase is on between the two.
The violence is grounded in reality for the most part. Very brutal and very griming. Worth a watch for you HK action fans.
轉角*遇到愛 (Corner * With Love) is a 2007 drama out of Taiwan. The two main stars are Show Luo and Barbie Hsu. There's a large supporting cast, but they too many to list.
Lang, played by Show, is a oyster egg cake cooker at a restaurant in Shanghai serving Taiwanese style dishes. Lang is there because he got tricked into coming here. An agent told him that someone wanted to but his comic strip. Xin Lei is a piano playing daughter of a rich Taiwanese family in Shanghai . Xin Lei has the world at her heels along with a "perfect" fiance.
How in the world can these two meet and eventually fall for each other? Its a little thing I like to call drama magic. Because in real life, it could and would never happen. Xin Lei's family business goes under and she's literally kicked out into the streets to fend for herself. In a strange turn of events, both lead protagonist head to Taiwan for the remainder of the series.
The version I watched was a China version and the episodes were like 22 minutes long. It was quite annoying to skip the opening and ending titles so often. Had I know this before hand, I would have rented the Taiwan version with only 19 episodes. The China one broke it up into 40 episodes.
The like the series for the most part and would recommend it. There was rumors of a sequel, but Barbie's been busy with a movie career of late.
Catch for a good glimpse of Shanghai and for two of more appealing leads in Show Luo and Barbie Hsu.
刺陵 (The Treasure Hunter) is an upcoming movie starring Jay Chou and Lin Chi-Ling. The movie poster and some production photos were released this week.
From the looks of it, it looks pretty intense. I hope they go for an Indy feel but with a totally Chinese twist and flavor. Treasure capers are awesome due the suspense, triller, mystery, and chase elements.
We'll have to wait until December or 2010 to see this.
夏.狂熱 - 蘇打綠 -- Fever - Sodagreen was released on September 11, 2009 in Taiwan. It has yet to make it here to LA. I took a look at a couple of places with no success. But the videos are showing up left and right for the past month on youtube.
I must say, I loved 春.日光 and the clips I've seen on youtube makes me feel this will be just as awesome.
Sodagreen is slowly becoming my favorite band. Fever seems like its going for the rock sound with brit pop flare. Rock on Sodagreen.
Patrick Swayze (1952-2009) passed away three days ago due to pancreatic cancer on September 14. RIP Patrick and my condolences to your family.
I've been a Fan of Mr. Swayze since his Outsider days. Having been apart of 5 of my favorite movies. Although the movie with baby is not one of them. I've never watched the "Dirty Dancing". Only clips here and there.
Here are my 5 favorite Patrick Swayze movies.
1. Point Break (1991) Patrick Swayze's adrenaline junky portrayal of Bodhi was classic. Along with Keanu Reeve's playing Johnny Utah, "I am an F B I agent!", this was a classic cop and robber caper movie. Along with all things that was cool in 1990-1991, this was the ultimate non mainstream movie. To this day, I still put it on every few years and see it replayed on TV all the time.
2. Ghost (1990) Back in 1990, I was both a Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore fan. I had read about this movie from some the mags I use to read all the time. I will guess Rolling Stone. But I loved the premise and thought it was totally cool. So cool, I dragged 3-4 of my buddies from back in the day to wait in line for the movie on opening day. As you know, Ghost didn't get #1 position at the box office until much later. Due to word of mouth, the movie caught grass roots fire that dragged it to box office success. The immortalized the classic Unchained Melody song while making a clay vase. This movie propelled Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg to A list status through most of the 90s. And if you were around, Ditto was a phrased uttered way too many times for a few years after that. But the movie was ultimately built on the Patrick's portrayal of Sam's undying love for Demi Moore's Molly. With Patrick's raw and emotional journey, the movie would not have been as successful.
3. Road House (1989) Patrick at his best as a cooler for a Road House out in the middle of Missouri. Playing James Dalton, he's skilled at kick @$$ and taking no prisnors. Because "Pain don't hurt". This is a guilty pleasure at its best. Everything that a b-movie was in the 1990 was made good by this movie.
4. Youngblood (1986) Patrick Swayze was a supporting player in this film. I actually haven't seen this film since at least the 90s, so I can only recall that I loved this film in the 80s.
5. The Outsiders (1983) This was an ensemble cast of many up and coming young guys of 1982. Patrick doesn't have a huge roll, but is a significant player. I haven't seen this in awhile, but it is one of my favorites from the 80s.
下一站,幸福 is set for release next month and SETTV released the first teaser for it. It's a comeback for Ady An to Taiwanese dramas and a starring role for Vanness Wu. Both no longer possess the youthfulness of their F4 and Outsider days, but this seems to be a more mature drama aimed at young professionals to young adults. Although I am no longer part of that demographic, I still have a few years left before this stuff is like cartoons to me.
I'll be looking for this series when it makes it state side at the beginning of 2010. But there are plenty of ways of getting it before than. I just rather watch it via DVDs. Call me old skool!
My translation for 下一站,幸福 is Next Stop, Happiness. Let's see what the marketing folks in Taiwan end up with.
Election 2/Triad Election (黑社會以和為貴) is a 2006 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Louis Koo, Simon Yam, Nick Cheung, and Gordon Lam.
The movie is a sequel to the first Election movie. Hold overs are Louis Koo, Simon Yam, and Nick Cheung. Gordon Lam joins the group.
The movie is set 2 years after the first movie as the next election is coming up again. Simon Yam as Lok has had a very successful 2 year run. However, tradition says that a new head must be elected each time. Now that Lok as had the taste as the head, he wants to stay the head. Gordan Lam as Kin and Nick Cheung as Jet are not in the running. Louis Koo as Jimmy is not interested in the seat and would rather make money, working with the mainlanders.
Many outside factors start to get introduced and things are not what they seem. A long extended storyline takes place to find and retrieve, the leong toe, the head of a staff.
This was actually even more violent than the first movie with even more twist. It is a surprise that a number 3 wasn't made as trilogies are very popular.
In order to know the background on some of the politics, you will need to watch the first one.
Election (黑社會) is a 2005 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Simon Yam, Tony Leung, Louis Koo, and Nick Cheung.
The movie is about the Wo Sing triad's election of a new head person. The head person is not a dictator, but a representative. But with it is a lot of prestige and the promise of a legacy. Let the politics of the triad play out on the screen.
Simon Yam plays Lok, a boss that is cool and collected and doesn't show much emotion. On the other end of the spectrum is Tony Leung as Big D. Big D is loud and hot tempered. Big D is one of those prototypical triad bosses. Nicky Cheung and Louis Koo play up and coming bosses that help each respective boss.
The movie is dark and violent. It is not for the faint of heart as the violence is very real and bloody.
Behind it all is this looming sense that things will work out, even with all the chaos.
In all, for 2005, it was a great film. 2005 wasn't a stellar year for HK movies and election was hope that there are still good movies being produced out of HK that was made for HK fans. But could go international as well.
The Blade (刀) is 1995 out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Vincent Zhao, Austin Wai, Moses Chan, Valerie Chow and Hung Yan-Yan.
The movie is about a group of men from a blade blacksmith outfit. The 2 main characters are Ding and Iron Head. The both seek the same girls. Things turn ugly with Ding is transfered the reigns the the blacksmith factory. The majority of blacksmiths are loyal to Iron Head. At a certain point in the movie, it turns into a revenge tail.
The action in the film was based more on reality with elements of wire fu sprinkled through out. I recently re-watched this. I had originally seen this back in 1995. My reaction back than was pretty much in amazement. Because it was a very different type of kung fu flick. The violence was much more heavy than that of the other flare during that time.
I think its still highly regarded and even today, it stands the test of time. This type of film just isn't made anymore. Its too bad and its a shame.
I picked up the Black and White OST a few weeks back. If you've read my review, you'll know that Black and White is now among my favorite dramas. The soundtrack to this awesome series isn't so shabby either. It has 8 songs on this 21 track soundtrack. Throughout the series, the music helped set the tone and mood for many scenes.
If you're a fan of the series, you'll want to pick this up and re-live the scenes in your head as the music rocks out.
Forest of Death (森冤) is a 2007 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Shi Qi, Ekin Cheng, and Rain Li. The movie is directed by Danny Pang of the Pang Bros. directing duo.
The movie is about a mysterious forest that seems to attract people that want to commit suicide. Ekin Plays Ah Hai, a botanist that focuses on emotions in plants. Chu Qi plays Chi as a hard nosed detective that wants to solve every case that comes her way. Rain Li plays Ah Hai's reporter girlfriend.
The movie had a unique way of combining mystery, drama, and horror into the film. The movie was actually pretty easy to watch as I understood what Danny Pang was trying to do.
As a whole, its not too strong of a movie. As a horror film, it falls more in X-Files type territory.
Jerry Yan's Freedom was released in June 2009. I picked it up about a month after. Mainly because it made it to my vendor our here in LA a little late.
In all, if you're a Jerry Yan and know his voice, you'll like the CD. If you're a casual listener and not familiar with Jerry, I don't think you'd like it.
Jerry's does not have a strong voice. And a couple songs highlighted this weakness.
Check out the clips on YouTube and see if you like it.
Mr. Cinema (老港正傳) is a 2007 film out of Hong Kong. The film stars Anthony Wong, Ronald Cheng, Teresa Mo, and Karen Mok.
The movie spans most of the adult life of Kong, played by Anthony Wong. Kong is a very patriotic fellow who loves China. Hoping one day to visit Tiananmen Square. Ronald Cheng plays Chong, Kong's son who grows up to be a very dedicated man. Chong is dedicated to getting rich.
The name Mr. Cinema comes from Kong's profession in a cinema, for which he is the projector man.
I thought it was a pretty nice slice of how life is for current residents of Hong Kong. The constant need to succeed and with China in its midst.
Give it go as the acting is pretty good and moves the movie along. Even when the movie starts to drag.
絕命派對 (Invitation Only) is a 2009 movie out of Taiwan. The movie stars Bryant Chang and a host of others. It is Taiwan's entry into the torture porn genre. I've known about this movie since April.
The movie follows Bryant Chang as Wade. Wade is a chauffeur to the president of a big construction corporation. While he waits, we buys car mags and dreams of owning those rich and out of range exotic cars like the Ferrari and Lamborghini's. President Yang invites Wade to an exclusive weekend party that is Invitation Only.
But there is something really special about this party. All the party goers are among the rich and famous. And they all apparently like some sick sick things.
The movie starts with the party and a slasher event. From that point one, you're pretty much informed that this will be a gory and bloody film. But half way through the film, you know who the bad guys are! This made for a much drawn out second half of the film.
If you liked Saw and Hostel, you might like this. I've never really gotten into torture porn and find that this film is somewhere in between a straight slasher triller and torture porn.
I would give it a go if you've got the guts to stick around for the gore and blood.
Love in the City (男才女貌) is a 2007 film starring Shawn Yue and Gao Yuan Yuan. The movie follows 2 love story arcs.
Shawn Yue is a traffic cop in rural China named Yang. Gao Yuan Yuan plays a elementary school teacher named Xiaolou who happens to be hearing-impaired. The two fall in love and elope. But Xiaolou has a condition with her heart. If Xiaolou gives birth, she may die doing it, like her mother. But they find this out to late as Xiaolou is already pregnant when the dad tells her this. What will they do?
The other love story follows 2 Japanese in the same city. Makoto is a Japanese-Chinese and is hired by a movie company to be a translator. Yuko is the Japanese star of this China movie. They fall for each other, but are torn apart when their worlds do not meet. Can these two bridge the gap of their two worlds?
I liked the Shawn and Gao story much much more than the Makoto and Yuko one. The story was innocent and the love comes pretty fast. Impulsive behavior seems to be encouraged. Dealing with the consciouses is also covered.
In all, I like the movie a lot and would recommend it. Beware that its actually quite slow in pace.
Exodus (出埃及記) is a 2007 out of Hong Kong. It stars Simon Yam, Annie Liu, Nick Cheung, and Irene Wan.
Simon Yam is a police officer and takes the statement of Nick Cheung. But something happened, Nick's statement was lost and they had to redo the statement. The second time around, the statement was not an explanation, but a confession of crime. Yam is now out for justice. But the investigation is about a group of women that kill men, any men. As long as you're a dude, you got a chance to get offed by this group of women. Lots of mystery.
The movie was really slow for the first hour. I was still wondering, what is the point?! When it got to the point, I remember reading about this premise a few years back. It came together, but the pay off wasn't worth the wait. I have mixed feeling about this film. If you know the premise before, I think you're still going to wonder what's going on for the first hour.
I couldn't find the trailer as the Chinese and English names are so common. I gave up after the 3rd page.
Whispers and Moans (性工作者十日談) is a 2007 film out of Hong Kong. It stars Athena Chu and Candice Yu.
The movie follows the lives a a few sex workers from Hong Kong night clubs. The ladies all have it rough. They're looking for love in the wrong places. As the title in Chinese suggest, it follows these gals for 10 days. Who knew so much could happen in ten days.
It was a pretty interesting look into a industry that seems unique to Hong Kong. Athena Chu puts on a great performance. Candice Yu adds a mature feel to the movie.
A recommended watch for the actresses, story, and fresh look at the industry.
The Avenging Fist (拳神) is a 2001 film out of Hong Kong. It stars a lot of people. But the main star is Wong Lee Hom. Apparently, the movie was to be based of Tekken, but the license was lost right before production. The movie was directed by Andrew Lau of all people.
Wong plays a young up and coming fighter. Wong's father was also a legendary fighter before his death. Now Wong wants to become the best fighter there is. However, there's a dark and secret force that threaten the world as they know it. The police investigate and love interest are introduce to Wong.
This movie was a blast to the past in terms of storyline and it goes something like this. "I like to fight, my dad liked to fight, so let's fight man!" The CGI was grossly overused, but was needed for the "world" created to house this madness.
Do you need to watch this? Yes. Will it suck? Prolly a little. But it is a no nonsense HK action movie at its core.
The Matrimony (心中有鬼) is a 2007 film out of China. It stars Leon Lai, Rene Liu, and Fan Bing Bing.
The movie is about the marriage of Leon Lai and Rene Liu. They live in a large house with a mysterious attic. Rene is now a homemaker while Leon goes to work. Strange things start to happen as Rene explores the attic.
The movie was very very slow and the ending was a little forced. Leon doesn't have much in terms of expressions and Rene is so timid.
The movie dragged on and on and on. I would have fast forwarded more if I were in front of the TV. If you read enough of my blog, you'll know what I was doing.
The movie is about a group of teenage kids that are in trouble from both the mob and police. The movie follows a group of homeless kids that survive on the streets of Hong Kong. These kids eventually get in with the street triads. Trouble follows after this. The back story of 4 of the kids are explored. The brother of one of the homeless kids is dragged into the mess when the trouble begins.
The movie was both eye opening and disturbing at the same time. The movie presented kids that buck the trend and would rather go homeless than goto school. The parents of kids are not presented in a good light. In one case, incest is a major topic.
This actually reminded me a lot of a movie called "Kids" from 1995. The kids are wild with no adult supervision and they suffer the consciences of immaturity and bad upbringing.
This is not a happy movie. It is a dive into the darkness of lives that will end in tragedy.
Journey of the Doom (水兒武士) is a 1985 Shaw Bros movie. And one of the last ones. The movie stars Stephen Tung and Max Mok.
The movie is about Lin who rescues a young maiden. But this maiden has royal blood and people are out to get her. Lin protects her as best he can.
The movie was pretty hard to watch. The fighting was pretty lame. Being as this was 1985, the action wasn't even up to par with the TVB series of that era.
The bright spot was Candice Yu. Candice is one of my favorite actresses from the late 70s and early 80s early. Even Candice wasn't enough to save this movie.
I picked this up while I was in Singapore a couple of years back. All the Shaw Bros. films are available throughout Asia.
