All Film Reviews

If you manage to remain interested while the film establishes a story and can tolerate the odd sense of the macabre, then ‘Gonin’ does provide a few flashes of excellence.

While there are flashes of his trademark fight scenes, it’s the fairy tale love story that always takes precedence.

I walked into it expecting ‘Godzilla’ given a British spin on a Dr Who episode budget, instead it is a great, colourful thriller of a bygone age.

‘Grandmaster Of Shaolin Kung Fu’ is a two star film in every department, but that’s half a star more than a Godfrey Ho production can usually expect.

This is a beautifully told story that is wonderfully presented and extremely touching, making it hugely accessible to any audience.

The excellent acting, especially from star Han Suk-kyu, and the easy going approach give ‘Green Fish’ a style all of its own and it’s certainly worth seeking out as it is a lesser known Korean drama.

There is some pontificating about evil and society and love but ‘Grotesque’ is essentially one long torture set piece.

The somewhat sluggish pace, the constant need to flashback to an incident from Li’s past, and a surfeit of cardboard characters rob the flick of any adventure fun.

‘Gun Woman’ is unlikely to appeal to everyone, simply because it’s fairly lightweight entertainment that contains quite a bit of twisted violence and nudity.

Certainly a product of its time and now rather dated, ‘Guns of Dragon’ is still worth a watch for those in the mood for unpretentious and gratuitous gun blazing nonsense.

A few bone dry moments of humour are blended into the forced wackiness and these are the redeeming points for an overstuffed cacophony of empty spectacle.

Strange, gross, manic and bonkers are all good terms to help describe ‘GYO’ but the film is also curiously gripping.

By no means a classic, ‘Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu’ is still an undemanding and quite enjoyable early Chan film.

‘Half Past Dead’ is another poor addition to the rap fu genre and is less entertaining than both ‘Exit Wounds’ and ‘Romeo Must Die’, whose audience this clearly aims itself at.

This is a film that hides within its subtle execution a powerful social critique that pulls apart the sad misogyny and blame culture that is still far too influence in the modern world.

‘Hana And Alice’ is an interesting film rather than a fully involving one. At over two hours long, it is in desperate need of more judicious editing as too many minor scenes carry on beyond their logical conclusion.

Although not a masterpiece, ‘Hand Of Death’ is a good example of how quality quickly shines through and stands out in a crowded genre.

Above average production values help and a touch of style to the proceedings as does the all-star cast, but it still may not be enough to earn this a proper recommendation.

A simple storyline that is backed up by an ample supply of martial arts sequences; this is a film that makes no bones about being a showcase for the impressive fighting skills of its lead actors.

‘Happy Birthday’ is a slickly packaged vehicle for its two stars, but utterly uninspiring at the very same time.

It’s somewhat disappointing to see a comedian of Michael Hui’s pedigree reverting to, what is essentially, a reworking of the classic Jack Lemmon/Tony Curtis/Marilyn Monroe comedy ‘Some Like It Hot’.

‘Happy Flight’ benefits from the versatility of Haruka Ayase – as good in a comedy as she has been in action flicks like ‘Ichi’ – and a variety of low-key characters who give the story a charm of its own.

This version of ‘Hara-Kiri’ just simply pales in comparison to Kobayashi’s version and while it’s certainly good for a majority of its run time, you still may be wondering what’s the point of it.

An incredible samurai film and a classic piece of Japanese filmmaking this is old school filmmaking and storytelling at its best.