Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li - 街頭霸王: 春麗傳奇

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (街頭霸王: 春麗傳奇) is a 2009 film. The film stars Kristin Kreuk as Chun Li. The supporting cast include Neal McDonough as Bison, Chris Klein as Nash, Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog, Moon Bloodgood as Maya and Robin Shou as Gen. Cameos are made by Cheng Pei-Pei, Josie Ho and Taboo of the Black Eye Peas. The movie did not fare well at the box office. I had written an upcoming post about this film back in February and labeled it as a potential "guilty pleasure" type of film.

The movie starts in flashback form. Chun Li is the daughter of a influential businessman and takes up residence in Hong Kong. Chun Li is an accomplished pianist and learns the art of wu shu from her loving dad. During Chun Li's schoolgirl days, her father is captured by M. Bison. Flash forward to the present and Chun Li is giving a piano recital. Chun Li's mother is in failing health and passes away. Chun Li is than directed to Thailand to find her way. Chun Li spends months on the streets of Bangkok and finds her new self. Chun Li finds Gen, who teaches her how to channel her skills to become an ultimate street fighter. Eventually, Chun Li gets some skillz to kill and sets out to find M. Bison.

The movie isn't going to win any awards for story and acting. What I am trying to figure out for myself is if I think its one of those "guilty pleasure" type of films or something you want to avoid. The fighting wasn't bad. Kristin Kreuk wasn't bad. Its just the story and everyone else that's bad. If you're looking for lots of action and fighting, you got it here. If you want that and beauty to go along. This film will meet those needs.

Basic Love - 愛情故事

Basic Love (愛情故事) is a 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The three leads in the movie are Janice Man, Elanne Kwong, and Rex Ho. Jones Xu has a supporting role and Cheng Pei-Pei makes an cameo appearance.

The movie is about 2 gals and 1 guy. These three have been friends since junior high. Rex Ho plays Rex, a pizza delivery boy that is working on music and hoping his band can succeed. Janice Man plays June, the daughter of a fish monger and the quiet one of the trio. Elanne Kwong plays Ling, the outgoing and charismatic one of the group. Ling however has a secret that she's kept from her 2 friends. Ling has leukemia and doesn't have long to live. You may have guessed that if there are 3, there's got to be some kind love triangle. If you did, you're certainly right. Both gals like Rex, but Rex likes Ling. Ling however always pushes Rex towards June because she doesn't want to get into a relationship since she about to die at anytime. However, Rex cares about Ling and secretly does many things for her. Things that Ling doesn't know about but June does. June even starts dating another guy to forget Rex. But June's love for Rex is too strong and the relationship doesn't last.

As the movie goes along, Ling's secret is out and Rex comes clean about his feelings for Ling. Rex is able to spend a lot of time with Ling during her last days. June ends up going out of the country to school.



I wasn't really looking forward to this movie due to the poor review it received at LoveHKFilm. However, that was before La Lingerie and before I knew who Janice Man was. I noticed Janice on the cover in my video rental place and had to snap it up. I was not disappointed. Janice Man is only 20 years old, but she's shunning and comes off late 20-ish. The photo of Janice in front of a Basic Love poster was taken from her very open Xanga blog. Janice does wear a very fake looking wig for 99% of the movie. But her beauty was able to shine through still.

The movie is extremely slow. Very slow pace. And the colors abound to convey emotions of the seasons. You'll see a lot of unfocused shots. But what is most striking to me is the head shots and how the actors had to act with their facial expressions. The slight flicker of the eyes or the slight turn of the head.

The literal Chinese translation of the title would be "Love Story". And this movie totally reminded me of the 1970 Love Story. Maybe they wanted to differentiate from it and called it basic love.

In all, if you're looking for 96 mins of a simple love story based around leukemia and a love triangle that seemingly works out. I would suggest this. You should note that Janice Man is in this movie and gives a breakout performance.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Looking forward to Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. It's one of those guilty pleasure type movies. No one is going to be up for any awards in this film. Except awards for kick @$$.

Coming out in 10 days and the hype is starting to build. Will it be a Friday the 13th like 45 million opening weekend? I know Capcom does.

Here's a nice "behind the making" of on IGN.

I hope it does well, because I want to see a Ryu one.

Filmed in Thailand and stars a lot of Asians. Kristin Kreuk, Taboo, Robin Shou, Moon Bloodgood, Josie Ho, and Cheng Pei-Pei. Check it out.

Come Drink with Me - 大醉俠

Originally posted on xanga.



The late King Hu's "Come Drink with Me" is among the best martial arts movies made by many critics account.  I saw it as a little kid in the 80s and recently saw it via Netflix courtesy of Dragon Dynasty.

It lives up to its name.  The action is not like ones of today.  But its very balletic.  Like a well tuned dance.  The action is heighten by the music and pauses.

I remember Cheng Pei Pei in the 80 as this super mom on channel 18 (KSCI).  Cheng Pei Pei had a cooking show and did various things with her daughters.  I didn't really know who she was.  My mom told me that she was a movie star.

The 19-20 Cheng Pei Pei has strong features and shows why she became a movie star during that time period.

From the Dragon Dynasty DVD, there are three interviews that are excellent and give a good context to the importance of the movie.

Highly recommend this movie if you want to see the roots of modern martial art movies.  But if you're expecting Bruce Lee, Jet Li, or Jackie Chan action, look elsewhere.