All Film Reviews

‘Battle Royale’ is a fast-paced, intense and emotionally charged film that goes where most filmmakers would never dare and produces a highly recommended movie for fans of all genres.

The core concept remains relatively fresh and the switch in style to more of a war-like epic works in the film’s favour.

Aside from the odd comedic highlight, ‘Battlefield Baseball’ feels more like a swing and a miss than a home run.

What prevents Battles Without Honour and Humanity from being a true masterpiece is its confused, muddled plot.

As an introduction to the lunacy of Wangan precinct and Japanese protocol in general, ‘Bayside Shakedown’ more than holds the attention with its zesty pace and attempts to do things a little differently.

‘Be With You’ is a Japanese drama that is easy to appreciate on the surface as it is a well-made, well-acted work that skilfully tells a story without ever getting side-tracked in needless sub-plots.

‘Beach of the War Gods’ is a fantastic vehicle for its star and his supporting cast to showcase heaps of wickedly staged old-school fight action.

‘Beast Cops’ is a powerfully shot and highly entertaining movie that raises some important issues regarding today’s society, which really need to be addressed.

Not just one of the best thrillers to emerge from Hong Kong in a good few years, but also as good as many that have been released throughout Asia over the artistically-rich 21st century.

Unfortunately, ‘Beauty Escort’ is no old school classic and should probably only be viewed by complete-ists, or after you have exhausted many (many) other old school kung fu flicks or very late at night with a buddy who can make fun of it with you.

The main problem with ‘Beauty On Duty’ is that it’s essentially a distillation of the legion of unfunny moments that Wong Jing has created throughout his long career.

‘Beijing Blues’ is occasionally frustrating, but acts as an interesting anathema to the usual portrayal of police work as gritty or glamorous.

A painfully generic kidnap/rescue flick with nothing in the plot or script to rise above most other straight to video fare.

If you can ignore some of its minor quirks, ‘Beloved Son of God’ is highly recommended viewing thanks to the wonderful and touching performances from Cheng, Wu Ma and Cheung.

With a fine set of leading actors, decent fight scenes and some hugely entertaining clichés, it’s a film that always entertains and definitely deserves to be viewed by all action movie fans.

Thanks to some solid acting, engaging characters and a little bit of gunplay action this isn’t a bad little romance-gone-bad/crime picture.

A definite notch up from it’s predecessor, ‘Best Of The Best 2’ is a fine example of a low budget martial arts movie that, whilst nowhere near Hong Kong standards, is extremely entertaining and fun.

Basically, what the movie boils down to is your typified B-movie that is fun while it lasts, mainly thanks to Rhee, but is unlikely to leave a significant impression.

There really is no disputing that ‘Best Of The Best 4’ is a far cry from the quality we have come to expect from the series, and this is basically nothing more than a very faceless action movie.

‘Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes’ has enough effortless charm and genuine heart to mean that this is more than just an exercise in playing that beloved narrative device of time-travel.

It’s still a poor attempt at a revenge flick that is sorely lacking in action and regularly feels like a chore to sit through.

‘Big Blue Lake’ is a quietly confident debut, not especially enthralling or dramatic, but with enough positives to recommend it.

‘Big Brother’ is a wasted opportunity. It is enjoyable enough for its duration, but every scene seems like it’s been pinched from the genre book written with Dead Poets’ Society strokes.

Although the state of Hong Kong cinema is much approved now, it’s hard to forget the wretched state just a few years ago. ‘Big Bullet’ really stood out when it was released and remains a class act.