Release Year: 2010

‘Cyrano Agency’ is a clever distillation of all of those sweeping moments that Korean love stories are known for.

‘Death Kappa’ is a real mess of a film that seems to be trying too hard to be considered cult rather than focusing on getting the basics right.

Impressive production values, an excellent cast and a few moments of genuine inspiration (courtesy of Sammo Hung’s action choreography) make the minutes fly be.

‘Detective Story’ is another entertaining blast of martial arts fun from The Stunt People featuring some of the best screen fighting around.

Liu provides a more than acceptable ‘Don Quixote-lite’, a necessarily truncated interpretation that will hopefully inspire some to read the Cervantes masterpiece in full.

‘Echoes Of The Rainbow’ is full of the balancing act between cliché and skilled drama, complete with solid performances throughout.

‘Edge of the Empire’ just doesn’t live up to its potential, takes itself too seriously to be cheesy fun and is recommended only to die hard historical epic fans.

While the narrative and tone get a little muddled and the pace dips here and there, ‘Fire of Conscience’ is still a good tough-as-nails cop thriller with some brutal action.

Seemingly endless scenes of two annoying kids, empty nods to whatever is currently in popular culture and a few moments of teeth-grindingly insincere pathos.

‘Gallants’ is, for the most part, a refreshing diversion that allows stars of the past to remind modern viewers that they still have much to offer to the future of Hong Kong cinema.

Although it is undoubtedly still an enjoyable arc from the show, the decision to make ‘Gintama: The Movie’ a collection of existing episodes feels somewhat disappointing.

Any way you approach it, the multitude of flaws inherent within ‘Girl$’ outweighs its handful of pluses and it remains a (sadly) vapid entry within its given sub-genre.