MOVIE REVIEW: "DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART 2". 单身男女 2

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART 2″ (2014)

Movie Review. 单身男女 2

Hong Kong is well-known for movie quickies.Whenever and wherever there’s a successful formula, just get ready to shoot a sequel, and then some.

There’s a perpetual drought of bright ideas everywhere, so it is safer to stick to one concoction that’s proven right and expound on it, rather than to shoot bullets in the dark.

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART 2″ is one fine example.

This 2011 romantic comedy returns with a resounding gong, adding MIRIAM YEUNG and VIC CHOU onto the stable of leads. Naturally, it is equipped with a brand new sub-plot. What else?

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART 2″ is Hong Kong director Johnnie To’s vivid continuation of his 2011 money-churning rom-com.

He adds MIRIAM YEUNG and VIC CHOU to the goodlooking threesome of LOUIS KOO, DANIEL WU and GAO YUAN YUAN. You just have to take your pick.

A QUICK SYNOPSIS

As soon as  playboy investment banker Shen Ran (LOUIS KOO) loses Zixin (GAO YUAN YUAN) to a brawny hunk of an architect, he conveniently swings back  to his notorious life as a incorrigible womanizer.

He starts bedding every girl that crosses his path until he finally settles for stock market specialist Yang Yang (MIRIAM YEUNG), a lusty sophisticate.

Unbeknownst to Shen Ran, his old flame Zixin suddenly appears.

Coincidentally, Zixin’s slightly older brother Paul has developed a hippo crush for power woman Yang Yang.

Now confusion and chaos set in.

At first Yang Yang mistakes Paul to be Zixin’s fiance and rejects his advances.

But she finally discovers the truth on Zixin’s wedding day and has to make a tough decision about her own pairing.

What would you do with fickle-minded women?

Shen Ran, in the meantime, arises from his stupor to realize that his love for Zixin has never died and determines to woo her back at all costs.

This is as stupid as you can get, because you don’t simply go and break up a devoted couple.

In summary, this movie is an entertaining farce not to be taken seriously.

However much two lovebirds might share, it’s what they don’t know about each other that rejuvenates their relationship. 

That’s the best part.

Right.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR:  GSC MOVIES

MOVIE REVIEW: “ABERDEEN” Hong Kong Movie (香港仔) .

“ABERDEEN” MOVIE (2014)PRESS REVIEW

 (Chinese: 香港仔)

(PART ONE, The MOVIE )

MIRIAM YEUNG:

“It’s FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD, yet I am so DEPRESSED.”

The FATHER-and-DAUGHTER union:

“Why is DADDY always picking on me, labeling me as an UGLY CHILD?”

UNCLE does the Ultra-Sound test:

“BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT”

Isn’t that what LIFE is about … you move in, then you shape out.”

GIGI LEUNG:

“It’s horrible to move into your mid-age and realize that you ain’t a spring chicken any more.”

“ABERDEEN” MOVIE (2014)PRESS REVIEW.  (Chinese: 香港仔)

(PART ONE, The MOVIE )

“ABERDEEN” is essentially a family dramedy.

Yet it probes a fair bit more.

Basked within the genre is a weepie of a tale where the female characters collide in life’s encounters and cry buckets.

This awesome project is helmed by the versatile EDMOND PANG  HO-CHEUNG 彭浩翔 who has a string of past successes dabbling as a novelist, playwright, actor and filmmaker. You just have to check which hat he is wearing.

His special strength is in weaving women’s yarns and hearts.

Specially in tales of love, woe and dysfunctional families. I have only managed to see one movie of his called “Love in a Puff”.

“ABERDEEN”  is a stirring potpourri of love and the price-you-pay for broken romances within one extended middle-class Hong Kong family.

The mood and tone is as grim as you would imagine.

Director PANG boasts a top-notch cast of Hong Kong veterans whose task is to tackle the bull by its horns with orders to “make it a real-istic film”.

 Why call it “ABERDEEN”?

A clue guides you to the fact that the film director was born and bred in a quiet fishing village of Aberdeen.

That said, let us move on with the plot:

Wai Ching (MIRIAM YEUNG) the family’s older sister is trying to retain her momentum and sanity. We call that mental depression. She works unhappily as a museum tour guide.

She wallows in self-pity and is unable to come to terms with the passing of her mother. Her worst nightmares tell her that her mother loathed her when she was alive.

To make things worse, her husband Yau Kin-Cheung (ERIC TSANG) is tired of her whining and is secretly philandering with his pretty nurse (JACKY CHOI) working in his clinic.

Who’d blame him when he is tied down with a tiresome wife?

Wai Ching has a good-looking brother called Tao (LOUIS KOO) who has a decent job in the tutoring line. He is obviously a pain-in-the-ass because he is self-opinionated.

Tao’s wife is Ceci (GIGI LEUNG) and she is seemingly an expired model-cum-actress.  As an artiste she is  alarmed that age has mercilessly caught up with her.

It’s every woman’s latent fear that she will no longer be categorized as a spring chicken.

Their young daughter with the less-than-average looks is Chloe (LEE MAN-KWAI).

She adores her father to the extent that, despite her disdain of the “smelly” of durian, she eats the pungent fruit anyway.

Why? The durian is her father’s firm favorite. What’s good for daddy is good for daughter. Yes.

Finally, the patriach is  Dong (NG MAN-TAT) who’s despised by the family for his wayward ways.

He indulges in a sensuous affair with a  bar hostess called Ta (CARRIE NG). It’s not just sex, it’s love too.

In real life, CARRIE NG is this middle-aged award winning actress who can floor any man. She’still a stunner who can give any young actress a run for her money.

The sum of it all? “ABERDEEN” warns us that life is not all glam and glitz.

The film is honest, heartbreaking and a convincing work of Art.

You bet!

RATING 4 out of 5

Local Distributor: GSC MOVIES

“ABERDEEN” PRESS CONFERENCE cum WORKSHOP (PART 2) 

(Chinese: 香港仔)

Organizer: GSC MOVIES

Photographer: EDDIE SIEW

Date: 13th May, 2014. Malaysia.

Actress JACKY CHOI beams while director PANG HO-CHEUNG listens attentively.

JACKY CHOI:

“I set out to be a trainee Director and is 
fortunate that Director PANG gives me this opportunity to act.”

Director PANG:

“I like to promote new talents. It’s a healthy pursuit, otherwise the whole industry will be overcrowded with veterans.”

Director PANG  HO-CHEUNG:

“To achieve as a film director you have to be patient, trust in your beliefs, meet the right connections and invest some money for a start. Even with those, you might still face various types of disappointments. But never say die!”

 THIS ONE FOR THE MEMORY

The ardent students of NEW ERA COLLEGE and ONE WORLD HAN XING COLLEGE strike a pose for keepsake.

MOVIE REVIEW "THE WHITE STORM". A Potpourri of Brotherhood, Betrayals and Redemption.

“THE WHITE STORM” PRESS REVIEW

 (Chinese Title: 掃毒)

“THE WHITE STORM” has the slick and shine of a John Woo movie, but assuredly it has nothing to do with the doyen of gangster films, Sir Woo.

Instead this one is directed with grandeur by BENNY CHAN, whose body of work includes SHAOLIN which was done two years ago.

Except “THE WHITE STORM” is so much better.

BENNY CHAN helms the stylized production with a taut, no-nonsense script, and international critics hail this as one of the best gangster films to emerge from Hong Kong in the last couple of years.

Kudos to the film director who painstakingly provides all the “reelistic” thrills and spins of what a successful cop-robber-and-undercover feature should be about.

The principal actors are screen veterans such as SEAN LAU, LOUIS KOO and NICK CHEUNG who successfully pitch their efforts to “emo” this gut-wrenching story onto the big screen.

“THE WHITE STORM” is high in entertainment value, and is fast paced as it is brutally shocking, and everything a gritty feature should be.

And what does a white storm mean? In generic term, it refers to any drug cartel, a criminal organization developed with the purpose of selling and controlling  drug trafficking operations.  Get the drift now? It is all about drugs.

“THE WHITE STORM” breezes us through the astonishing careers of  three childhood friends, Tin (Sean Lau), Wai (Nick Cheung) and Chow (Louis Koo) who join the police force.

While Tin and Wai become high-ranking police officers, Chow lands the thankless job of being an undercover cop working closely with  his two pals to infiltrate a drug-dealing syndicate in Hong Kong.

Circumstances get really complicated when Tin, Wai and Chow  are confronted  with the uphill task of apprehending Eight-Faced Buddha (Lo Hoi-Pang), a notorious drug kingpin operating on the Thai-Cambodian border.

 Here’s a brotherhood tale of “all-for-one” and “one-for-all” where their reel bonding gets “tested” layer by layer.

It is also demonstrates what betrayals, forgiveness, bonding and redemption really mean in this  new-age film about the cops, robbers, undercover profilers pooled together.

At 2 hours and 15 minutes, this feature film is a real blast from start to finish.

“THE WHITE STORM” can easily fit in as the most entertaining HONG KONG film of the year, an edge of the seat thriller, non-stop action galore, a mayhem of brutality and violence, notwithstanding a brilliant powerhouse of acting by the three male leads.

Catch this one before it is too late!

“A CHINESE GHOST STORY 2011 倩女幽魂” Movie Review. Two lovelorn GUYS. One female DEMON. One BLACK MOUNTAIN. Now, watch as the HEADS roll.

“A CHINESE GHOST STORY 倩女幽魂” Press Preview

The film business is a vicious circle, a bandwagon and a money game. Art is secondary, so you’ll always have to be on the alert.

To stay afloat is to ensure that your oven is consistently piping hot.

Chasing the commercial albeit aesthetic dream is no easy matter.

Competitions are keen. Everything is like one big elusive race. Once you have attained top position, it’s time to move on, to aim for the “next” best.

Audiences are ever discerning and are never tired of a good thing.

It’s one lesson to digress.

Take Hong Kong director WILSON YIP’s latest offering of “A CHINESE GHOST STORY 倩女幽魂” as a fine example.

It’s a well-worn Chinese folklore told and retold.

From the people who gave us Ip Man and Ip Man 2, this is a fond REMAKE of an old romantic supernatural classic which had been done countless times with different A-list casts and directors.

Expect several layers now: a brand new image, an exciting new story and generous loads of special effects whilst maintaining the pulse, mood and tone of the unforgettable old classic.

For the action junkie, this film will not fail as there are battle fare aplenty amongst men and spirits, with post production rendered from Korea providing an astounding visual feast.

The word “REMAKE” of late, is losing its fundamental meaning.

You take an established title and create characters as close as to the original and everyone would deem you are spawning another “remake”.

What do we have in this new version of the famous old Chinese folklore?

There is LOUIS KOO as Yan Chi Xia, a relentless demon hunter who’s out to kill every demon he can find. And he’s pretty good at his game.

Then we have YU SHAO QUN (as Ning Cai Chen) a young virginal air-head Government official who has a water mission to accomplish in a village right below the Black Mountain.

Both guys meet the beautiful tree demon Nie Xiao Qian played by LIU YI FEI in different story segments and fall in love with her.

So we are bestowed with a ghostly love triangle where bloody mayhem is bound to ignite.

Everything takes center stage in an ancient mountain village.

Spirits and tree monsters dwell on Black Mountain engaging in slaughter and bloodshed. Naturally, the villagers fear to tread anywhere near the mountain.

When Yan Chi Xia (LOUIS KOO) was young, he chose Black Mountain to practice to become a good Demon Hunter. He experienced many duels with demons in Black Mountain.

Until one day he encounters the alluring Nie Xiao Qian (LIU YI FEI), and their doomed-from-the-start relationship takes a beating.

Years later, when the river at the base of Black Mountain dries up, the villagers make the decision to search for a water source on the mountain.

Ning Cai Chen (YU SHAO QUN) a Government official arrives to help with the water project and another flighty romantic legend ensues.

Admirable acting from an all-star cast but of course, this being a follow-up to the original classic, there tend to be an overload of negative criticism comparing the actors from the old to the new film.

Award winning actress KARA HUI pits a fiery performance playing the 1000 year-old crabapple tree demon, one that threatens to upstage the leads. She’s a wonder to behold.

WILSON YIP helms an astonishingly entertaining film with a heart stomping script from CHEUNG TAN.

This is a haunting, part-humorous and shocking martial arts thriller that everyone is going to talk about in the Chinese cinema, one of the better “remakes”.

It's a one man-meets-vixen fantasy that has yet to see an ending.

Because there’ll be more surprises in store, aboard the bandwagon the next time.

Let's save the best for last.

Hop in for the journey, chum.

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART” (單身男女) Movie Review. True LOVE is always FIZZY, FROGGY and BITTER-SWEET. Right?

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART” (單身男女) PRESS PREVIEW

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART” tries, unashamedly to extol all virtues of what a true love should be. It does work, to a point.

It also brandishes an emotive title that’s typically “old school”.

This is the film’s positioning.

We are led to believe that love is often precariously sweet, yet saccharine baffling.

The path of true love does not run smooth.

Enter-as-you-dare and as everyone would surely do at some point in life, love is addictive, liken to fornicative sex where each participant shares his pleasurable form of connecting.

See, you now have your cake and eat it.

This long-anticipated Mandarin feature bills Hong Kong heart throbs DANIEL WU, LOUIS KOO and introduces unknown doe-eyed mainland actress GAO YUAN YUAN to the rest of Asia.

JOHNNIE TO and WAI KA-FAI grills this loving piece on the BBQ pit with such tender care that’s bound to leave you with a thin coat of tangy aftertaste, long when the credits are rolling and the lights are up.

So is it any good?

Come on, it’s time to move in with the flow.

Let’s start with love is “fizzy”. Daniel Wu is Fang, a disillusioned architect who hits the fizzy bottle once too often to free himself from reality. He sports a disheveled demeanor, is bearded and shaggy.

He saves Zixin (Gao Yuan Yuan) from being run down by an oncoming vehicle and they become fast friends. With the utmost gratitude, Zixin presents Fang with an ugly pet frog, courtesy of her ex boy friend who had dumped her.

So love is “froggy” here. The puffy pet frog becomes their “symbol” of a growing bond.

Zixin has her dreamy moods, on days when she cannot focus on her work. She “interacts” with her “opposite” neighbor Cheng (Louis Koo) from across the opposite building on the same level , using colourful Post-it notes affixed on their respective windows.

The gentle art of window communication, a la ‘seduction’ goes on … and on.

Cheng is a financial whiz kid, a cad, a dandy, a playboy who’s attracted to the ever-silly Zixin, simply because she’s “different” from the regular brood of gals he brings easily to his bed.

He’s rich and he stashes a colorful assortment of condoms in his car "just-in-case".

One fine day the entire global market crashes and things take a different toll.

Cheng moves out of the opposite building and Fang quietly disappears from the scene, and with everybody gone, life for Zixin hits a rut.

Fast zoom to three years later when Cheng returns abruptly to become Zixin’s boss and Fang also does a popping up exercise. This is at the convenience of the scriptwriter.

Our lovey-go-round commences once more, this time on a more heated plateau.

The plot tarries back and forth expanding on this exasperating love triangle with both Cheng and Fang each trying to convince Zixin of their undying devotion.

Which guy bags the gal in the end?

Zixin starts as a loser in love and ends up ensnaring two rich and successful suitors. Her star shines.

Cheng is a bad boy who’s self-assured, conceited and has the perpetual roving eye. He’s a wolf and will alway be one.

Fang is down-to-earth, wears his heart on his sleeve, has a steely presence, and would be the type every gal would love to bring back to mama.

Let’s say it’s simple to put someone on a weighing scale and measure him.

But it is impossible to measure this human quality we call the heart.

Metaphorically speaking, it’s not just the size of the man in any fight. It is the size of the fight in the man.

The one lesson this film tells us is that being in love doesn’t mean that everything in that person has to be perfect. It means you have to look beyond his imperfections.

Having drawled on this, it’s easy to deduce who’s the eventual guy who will win the fair lady’s heart.

To sum up this building-to-building office romance, it will be apt to use this line:

“The most beautiful view is the one I share with you.”

I’ll honestly vouch for this one.