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Commercial cinema especially in Southeast Asia has always followed the money. A successful movie at the box office would inspire countless imitations until the well would run dry and takings decline leading to the next cycle. “A Better Tomorrow” upon release in 1986 really hit the popular culture zeitgeist, creating an iconic figure in Chow Yun Fat, a whole new subgenre in Heroic Bloodshed and inspired a wave of copycats and inspirations. One of the more mature inspirations was a double bill by Taylor Wong in “Rich and Famous” and “Tragic Hero” released the following year. Headlined by then ubiquitous Chow Yun Fat, it would strive for epic status telling its story over two features.

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The storyline kicks off in the late 1960's with Yung (Alex Man) and adopted brother Kwok (Andy Lau) getting involved in petty crime with Yung racking up a large debt.

Gambling films make for an exciting viewing experience, complete with high rollers, risky bets, crowded poker tables, and fast-paced storylines. Like online resources such as this one www.gambleonlineaustralia.com/, they are an excellent place to learn gambling strategies and see different casino plays in action. But gambling films are not limited to Hollywood. In fact, there seems to be a movie with some aspect of casino life in just about every country. Below, we review the top gambling films from the Asian continent.

God of Gamblers (1989)

God of Gamblers features some humor, which surprisingly works well with the gambling theme. The 1989 classic follows pro-gambler Ko Chun, who is so good at gambling he is considered the “god of gamblers.” Chun, like any man, has eccentricities, his being that he enjoys a piece of chocolate in every game he plays. He beats another master gambler, Tanaka, beginning a series of humorous and engaging events.

Action cinema back in the golden era of Hong Kong cinema was encapsulated with an anything goes ethos. You would get almost guerilla style film-making techniques with a complete aversion to safety and what you subsequently got on screen was the result. “Devil Hunters” concludes with one such stunt that will leave the mind boggling at how nobody got sued! It’s also a classic example of B-movie filmmaking with it fitting comfortably into the female fighting flicks that followed the success of Michelle Yeoh and “Yes Madam”. With a lot of these poorly put togethe,r will this stand out from the crowd or just be remembered for the finale?

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A transaction between two sets of mobsters is interrupted by the police headed up by Superintendent Tsang (Alex Man) and Madam Tong (Sibelle Hu). Bing (Moon Lee) also interferes, and her interaction allows them to escape.

When it comes to Hong Kong cinema, there is very little question about the international significance of the works, which, besides being artistic accomplishment, made worldwide audiences notice the level of quality within the cinematic landscape of the director’s home country. Starting with one of his first directorial efforts, the 1988 action-drama “As Tears Go By”, you notice the way the filmmaker weaved together a story of two brothers, about betrayal, loyalty and growing up, while also maintaining a unique audiovisual approach, influenced by the works of film noir as well as the diversity of Hong Kong and its citizens. The movie proved to be a formidable commercial success too, and remained Wong Kar-wai’s most lucrative feature until it was overtaken by “The Grandmaster”.

“As Tears Go By” Will Screen at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

In the streets of Hong Kong, two brothers, Wah (Andy Lau) and Fly...

When it comes to Hong Kong cinema, there is very little question about the international significance of the works, which, besides being artistic accomplishment, made worldwide audiences notice the level of quality within the cinematic landscape of the director’s home country. Starting with one of his first directorial efforts, the 1988 action-drama “As Tears Go By”, you notice the way the filmmaker weaved together a story of two brothers, about betrayal, loyalty and growing up, while also maintaining a unique audiovisual approach, influenced by the works of film noir as well as the diversity of Hong Kong and its citizens. The movie proved to be a formidable commercial success too, and remained Wong Kar-wai’s most lucrative feature until it was overtaken by “The Grandmaster”.

In the streets of Hong Kong, two brothers, Wah (Andy Lau) and Fly (Jacky Cheung), try to make a living working for the mob.

Amongst a group of films – such as Yim Ho’s “The Extras” and Alex Cheung’s “Cops and Robbers” – that ushered in the Hong Kong New Wave, “The Secret” is the debut feature by veteran and prolific directress Ann Hui. Like many of her fellow directors of the New wave Movement, she received her film education abroad, at the London Film School, after a degree in English and Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong and she proceeded in working briefly as an assistant to the director King Hu and then making television films for Radio Television Hong Kong (Rthk) and Television Broadcasts Limited (Tvb). Her experience with local broadcasting corporations mixed with her European film studies resulted in an accomplished and excitingly fresh piece of work.

In the opening credits a Taoist funeral ritual is being performed and we are thrown immediately into a mood of superstition and death.

Having a movie that revolves around a tragic love story whose actual protagonists and Hong Kong cinema legends tragically died 15 years later have deemed “Rouge” a legendary film. Apart from its non-cinematic significance, “Rouge” was an international and local success, winning six awards in from Hong Kong festival and a plethora of others in festivals all over the world.

The script is based on the homonymous novel by Lilian Lee, and unfolds in two periods. The first one takes place during 1934, when we are introduced to Fleur, a high-class, extremely popular courtesan and Chan Chen-pang, a rich playboy who frequented the opium dens of Hong Kong at the time. The two meet and soon fall in love, but his family objects to the affair. In their desperation, the two lovers decide to commit suicide and meet again in the afterlife.

The second period takes place 50 years later, when a disgruntled Fleur,...

This downhearted human drama from first time director Danny Wong Hing Fan was a standout at the 4th London East Asia Film Festival in November 2019 in which Aaron Kwok won the Best Actor Award. It was nominated for nine awards including Best Film and Best Actor at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards. However, it only won the Best Supporting Actor award for Cheung Tat Ming who played Chatting Yeung. Aaron also sang the theme song “Grey Stardust” composed by Peter Kam.

In Hong Kong, homeless people spend their nights at 24-hour fast food restaurants dotted around the city, they sleep on the hard chairs and disappear at daybreak before customers come in, but they return during the night. This movie is about how these penniless McRefugees as they’re known, survive from day to day in a rather heartless big city and living under those circumstances.

Chicago – How do you communicate Hong Kong’s homeless situation in a fresh and relatable way? Wong Hing Fan’s new film “I’m Livin’ It” takes on not only poverty, but the shortage of housing for professional and working class people. The main setting is a 24 hour burger restaurant – with the sly marketing slogan of “I’m Livin’ It!”

Once a star in his finance firm, Bowen (Aaron Kwok) now spends his nights in that fast food joint, which allows the homeless an overnight respite area, and he encounters other “roommates” who are in a similar predicament. There is a child and her mother (Cya Liu) – who has taken out high interest loans to cover her mother-in-law’s debt, an old man (Alex Man) who is too afraid to go home, a young runaway (Zeno Koo), and a singer (Miriam Yeung) who was part of the financier’s past.

The full list of nominations for the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards has been revealed. However, the dates are still unknown; the mid-April event in fact, will be probably postponed due to the Covid-19 (a.k.a. coronavirus). So for now let’s just have a look at the nominees.

This year’s edition sees Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung’s “Better Days” leading the competition with an amazing 12 nominations, followed at close range by Heiward Mak’s “Fagara” with 11 nominations and Wong Hing-Fan’s “I’m Livin’ It” with 10. Moreover, Wilson Yip’s “Ip Man 4: The Finale” bagged 9 nominations, including Best Director and Best Action Choreography.

Read the full list of nominations below:

Better Days by Derek Tsang

Best Film

Better Days by Derek Tsang

Suk Suk by Ray Yeung

Fagara by Heiward Mak

I’m Livin’ It by Wong Hing-fan

The New King Of Comedy by Stephen Chow

Best...

Entertaining Power, a film sales agent from Hong Kong, is launching “Spiders and “I’m Living It” at the Asian Film Market, part of the Busan International Film Festival.

“Spiders” is a topical and contemporary action adventure which follows a group of sailors, who come to believe that they are being stalked by a mutant creature from the depths of the ocean. Directed by Joe Chien, the now in-production picture stars Sunny Wang (“Pigeon Tango”), Rexen Cheng (“The Tag Along”), Lee Kang Sheng (“Stray Dogs”), Winona Yeung (“We Are Legends”), Lu Kung Wei (“Café Waiting Love”) and Lee Lee Zen (“The Mad King of Taipei Town”).

Chien has credits that include: “The House That Never Dies II,” “Zombie Fight Club,” “Zombie 108,” and “The Apostles”. “Spiders” is a co-production between Truffle Creative and Cultural and Entertaining Power Production (Hk).

“I’m Living It” which plays later this month in the Tokyo International Film Festival,...

With the massive popularity following “Train to Busan”, it seems inevitable that other Asian countries are keen to follow suit in offering their own take on the tired zombie genre which explains this current Hong Kong/China co-production. Not only is Alan Lo’s debut feature timed perfectly to coincide with that film’s success, but also finds that mixture of humanity and comedy as prime ingredients to exploit in this new zombie comedy offering.

“Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight” screened at the New York Asian Film Festival

Trying to move on in life, friends Lung and Chi-Yeung are two eccentric hot-blooded young men leading a devil-may-care life that deem themselves heroes who can save the earth, to the annoyance of their friends as all they do is immerse themselves in their own world.

However, Lung can do nothing about things in life that don’t work out as he wishes,...

Stars: Michael Ning, Louis Cheung, Alex Man, Carrie Ng, Cherry Ngan, Angie Shum, Venus Wong | Written by Nick Cheuk, Nero Ng, Chi Hoi Pang | Directed by Alan Lo

If there is one type of monster that has been done to death, it has to be the zombie (pun intended). We’ve seen slow ones, fast ones, even vegetarian ones in bad remakes of classics. What could make Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight any different from the rest? How about a man-sized chicken monster?

Lone (Michael Ning) and Yeung (Louis Cheung) are two eccentric young men who like to think of themselves as heroes. When Lone’s favourite animated monster, a man-sized chicken monster starts turning people into zombies, can they Lone and Yeung stop the end of the world?

If you’ve seen Train from Busan, you’ll know that Asian cinema can do zombie movies, and do them well. While...

In their fourth outing, it’s pretty much more of the same from the Young and Dangerous clan. Fans of the continuing series will still find a lot to enjoy in Young and Dangerous 4 (1997), but this is probably the weakest of the main series and doesn’t really offer anything new other than introducing some welcome characters to the franchise. This time we find our Hung Hing boys getting involved in a local war between Triad branches. The film begins with the marriage of Yee (Michael Tse) to Kk (Pinky Cheung), sister of The Legendary Tai Fei (Anthony Wong). We then move on to Thailand where the Branch Leaders are looking to meet with Mr Chiang (Alex Man), brother to Boss Chiang from the first...

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Burgeoning filmmaker Fung Chih Chiang’s (the writer of Stephen Chow's “Shaolin Soccer”) lively fusion of classic, surreal, farce and traditional kicking action - The Bounty - has just gone on sale on UK DVD. Starring Fiona Sit and Alex Man (As Tears Go By), “The Bounty” focuses on the eccentric Cho, who finds himself in a small island resort on the hunt for a fugitive robber and a highly alluring reward. However due to the nosey inhabitants who are alarmed by his unorthodox ways, Cho is lead into a comedy of errors and misunderstandings. Kung Fu Hustle it isn’t. but there seems plenty of action and laughs to go around. Synopsis: following bounty hunter and martial artist Cho Sai Fung (Chapman To) on a job to track down a fugitive. Cho arrives at the Lazy Inn, situated on an island in Hong Kong, to search for thief...

Cast:Chow Yun Fat, Cecilia Yip Tung, Alex Man, Sek Kin

Director:Leong Po Chih

Action:Hung Ga Ban, Lam Ching Ying

Genre:Drama / War

This was my first viewing of Hong Kong 1941, starring the brilliant Chow Yun fat in a great movie about Friendship, Loyalty and struggle to over come the invasion of the Japanese soldiers. This is a great movie from start to finish, it had me engaged not only with the brutal story, but every character gives 100% and Director Leong Po Chih does a terrific job.

The movie starts with the British soldiers, women and children leaving Hong Kong as anytime the Japanese will invade and they realize they are to strong at the time, so leave for Australia. The movie is centered around three friends Chow Yun Fat, Alex Man and Cecilia Yp who build a friendship to one day escape Hong Kong and head to the “Gold Mountain” for a better life.

Fresh off making what was essentially a Young and Dangerous style gangster flick with Triad, director Daniel Chan Yee Heng does it for real with the Wong Jing-produced Young And Dangerous: Reloaded. Penned by original scriptwriter Manfred Wong, this reboot of the hugely popular series of 1990s movies - based on the comics of Cowman and Dickey Yau - sees Chan Ho Nam, Chicken and the rest of the boys take to the streets of Hong Kong to avenge the death of their boss, Brother Bee. Him Law and Leung Lit Wai embody the iconic roles made famous by Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chan, along with a host of young faces including Philip Ng, Ho Wan Sze, Paul Wong, Jazz Lam and Man Chi Leung. The...

After a successful decade writing for the likes of Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, CJ7), Johnnie To (Sparrow) and Law Wing Cheong (Hooked On You, Punished), screenwriter Fung Chih Chiang finally takes a swing at directing with this light-hearted crime caper based on his own script. The increasingly ever-present Chapman To stars as low level Guangzhou bounty hunter, Cho, who will track down anything from criminals to missing pets in order to eke out a living. When his agent, Boss Tony (Wen Chao), sends him to a remote Hong Kong island in search of a ruthless thief wanted for assaulting a young bride, Cho soon finds himself caught up in the antics of eccentric hotelier Suen (Alex Man) and his oddball daughter, Linda (Fiona Sit).Nothing could...

What, there are still things about Bruce Lee’s life that we don’t know about yet? Apparently so, and this new take on the kung fu legend happens to be based on the memoir by Alex Lee, Bruce Lee’s brother, so you expect it to shed some light into the man, the legend, the asskicker that we haven’t known about. Maybe. The film stars Aarif Lee as Lee (no relations — at least, I don’t think there is), and co-stars Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Christy Chung as his parents, with Alex Man, Siu-Fai Cheung and Kar Lok Chin rounding out the cast. “Bruce Lee” (aka “Bruce Lee, My Brother”) purports to tell more of the family life of Bruce Lee, though judging by the English-subtitled trailer, that leaves plenty of room for Bruce Lee to deliver some asskicking to some dudes throughout the movie. They all had it coming,...