Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster 葉問 2: 宗師傳奇

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by 叶伟信 Wilson Yip

Casted by:

甄子丹 Donnie Yen as 葉問 Ip Man

洪金寶 Sammo Hung as 洪震南 Nam

黃曉明 Huang Xiao Ming as 黃梁 Leung

熊黛林 Lynn Hung as  張永成 Sing

任達華 Simon Yam as 周清泉 Chuen

樊少皇 Louis Fan as 金山找 Chau

鄭則仕 Kent Cheng as 肥波 Fatso

Darren Shahlavi as Taylor Miller "Twister"

Charles Mayer as 華萊士警司 Wallace

 Story: 

Wing Chun master Ip Man and his family move to Hong Kong in the mid-1940s after their escape from Japanese-occupied Foshan. There, Ip desires to open a school to propagate his art, as well as make a living during the difficult times, but he has difficulty attracting students due to his lack of reputation in the city. One day, a young man named Wong Leung appears and promptly challenges Ip to a fight, but is easily defeated. Wong leaves humiliated, only to return with some friends to gang up on him. Ip beats them as well. Stunned and impressed by his skills, Wong and his friends become Ip's first students, bringing more disciples to help the school thrive.

Wong is later caught posting promotional posters for the school by some Hung Ga students. One of them challenges Wong to a fight and loses, but his friends take Wong hostage in revenge and demand a ransom from Ip. Ip goes to the local wet market as directed, but the meeting ends in a confrontation with a growing mob of Hung Ga students. Ip and Wong fight their way outside to meet Jin Shanzhao, a martial artist and former bandit, who comes to their rescue with his own gang. The students' master and head of the coalition of Hong Kong martial arts clubs, Hung Chun-nam, arrives to break up the fight. Ip introduces himself, and Hung informs him that before setting up a school, he needs to attend a special fighting ceremony to test his worth. Ip, Wong and Jin are subsequently arrested by Officer Fatso for disturbing the peace but are later released on bail. Hung and Fatso are then shown to be acting as reluctant collectors for the martial arts schools (including Hung's) as part of a protection racket headed by Superintendent Wallace, a corrupt officer in the Hong Kong police.

Ip attends the ceremony and defeats his first challengers, before striking a draw with the last challenger, Hung. Ip is allowed to keep running his school on the condition that he pay his monthly protection fees, but he declines. Hung thus has his students loiter in front of the Wing Chun School and harass anyone interested, causing a street brawl between them and Ip's disciples. Ip is thus forced to close up and move the school nearer to home. Ip soon confronts Hung, who blames him since he wouldn't pay his protection fees, whereas Ip criticizes Hung's management of his students. Hung insists that he is doing what he must and also insists they finish their fight, but during this encounter, Ip stops Hung from accidentally kicking his son as he suddenly appears, earning respect from him. Ip leaves, and the next day, Hung invites him to a British boxing match he has helped to set up, quietly coming to terms with him.

The boxing competition allows for a demonstration by the various martial arts schools to help promote themselves and their Chinese culture. However, the event's star boxer, Taylor "The Twister" Miller, an arrogant, racist and brutal man, openly insults and attacks the students, causing chaos as the masters try to restore order. Hung accepts Twister's challenge to a fight so that he can defend his culture. Although Hung has the upper hand at first due to his wider range of skills, in the second round he suffers a devastating blow that severely disorientates him. As he fights on, he begins to weaken from his asthma and is eventually beaten to death by Twister, as he refuses to concede and allow the man to insult his culture and people. News of Hung's death rapidly spreads throughout the enraged Chinese populace, causing a scandal that spurs Wallace to hold a press conference where he lies that Hung's death was an accident and that he was a weakling who died after a few punches. Twister announces that in order to clear his name he will accept any challenge from the Chinese to participate in a fair, public boxing match, but proceeds to proclaim that he could kill every Chinese boxer in Hong Kong and that he doubts any of the Chinese are brave enough to fight him. Ip Man has already arrived to challenge Twister to a fight.

As his wife goes into labor, Ip finishes training and begins his fight with Twister. Ip exchanges blows with the boxer and seems overwhelmed by the westerner's sheer muscle at first, but begins to make a comeback using his more diverse techniques and great speed. He receives an illegal punch from Twister after the second round's bell, and is also told that kicks would not be allowed due to the judges changing the rules during the match. When it looks like the end, Ip remembers Hung's patriotic spirit and is spurred to go on. He changes his strategy and attacks the boxer's arms to disable him. The fight is brought to a climactic finish as Ip Man rains blow after blow into the knocked-down Twister's face, with flashbacks reflecting the latter's killing of Master Hung. While the Chinese celebrate, Wallace is arrested by his superiors for corruption, as Fatso has secretly reported him. Ip then gives a speech to the audience, stating that despite the differences between their race and culture, he wishes for everyone to respect each other regardless of their status. Both the Western and Chinese audience give him a standing ovation while Twister's manager walks away, unhappy at the defeat. Ip goes home and reunites with his family, including his newborn second son, Ip Ching.

A final scene shows Ip being introduced to a boy named Bruce Lee who wishes to study Wing Chun in order to "beat up people [he does not] like". Ip smiles and simply tells the boy to "come back when [he has] grown up".

 L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:

Comparing to the first movie, this time the rival change from Asian to Caucasian. Both Karate & Boxing master has loss to the ultimate Wing Chun. Lol, it might be true or it has been make it up, but this definitely has make a strong impression on Bruce Lee, Ip Man's apprentice, and all his movie was toward this kind of storyline.

Hiroyuki Ikeuchi & Gordon Lam are out from this second movie, replacing by strong and good acting Sammo Hung, Huang Xiao Ming & Kent Cheng; while Darren Shahlavi is a British Persian actor who is actually an expert in Judo. *Note: Darren Shahlavi has passed away in 2015 at his age of 42yo by a fatal heart attack, RIP.

Same comment I'm gonna give since the first movie's review, both Simon Yam & Lynn Hung should be out from the picture as their character is useless and I believe paying them are not cheap as well. I can understand Lynn's character is a continuous, but Simon? He appear less than 3 minutes in the whole film, but maybe he is on a guest appearance form, who knows?

Ip Man 葉問

 Released Year: 2008

Directed by 叶伟信 Wilson Yip

Casted by:

甄子丹 Donnie Yen as 葉問 Ip Man

池內博之 Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as 三浦將軍 Miura

任達華 Simon Yam as 周清泉 Chow Ching-chuen

熊黛林 Lynn Hung as 張永成 Cheung Wing-sing

樊少皇 Louis Fan as 金山找 Kam Shan-chu

林家棟 Gordon Lam as 李釗 Li Chiu

釋行宇 Xing Yu as 武痴林 Master Lam

黃又南 Wong You-nam as 沙膽源 Yuan

 Story: 

In the 1930s, Foshan is a hub of Southern Chinese martial arts, where various schools actively recruit disciples and compete against each other. Although the Wing Chun master Ip Man is the most skilled martial artist in Foshan, he is unassuming and keeps a low profile. As an independent wealthy man, he feels no need to accept any disciples and instead spends his days training, meeting with friends, and spending time with his family. However, his wife is often resentful of the time he spends training and discussing martial arts with friends and colleagues. Though not a professional martial artist, Ip is respected in Foshan due to the abilities he displays in friendly, closed-door competitions with local masters. Ip's reputation is further enhanced when he defeats an aggressive, rude, highly skilled Northern Chinese martial arts master, Jin Shanzhao, thus upholding the regional pride of fellow Southern stylists and others in Foshan.

The Japanese invasion in 1937 adversely affects the life of everyone in Foshan. Ip's house is claimed by the Japanese and used as their Foshan headquarters. Ip and his family lose their wealth and are forced to move into a decrepit house. Desperate to support his family, Ip accepts work at a coal mine. The Japanese General Miura, who is a Karate master, establishes an arena where Chinese martial artists compete with his military trainees. The Chinese earn a bag of rice for every match they win. Li Zhao, a former police officer and Ip's acquaintance, is now working as a translator for the Japanese and is making the offer to the martial artists working at the coal mine. Ip at first declines to participate in the matches. However, when his friend Lin goes missing, he agrees to take part in order to investigate. Ip arrives to see fellow Foshan martial arts master Liu executed by Miura's lieutenant, Sato, for picking up a bag of rice from a prior victory after conceding in a second match against three karateka. He also comes to understand that Lin was killed in an earlier fight. Barely able to contain his rage, Ip demands a match with ten karateka at once. Despite having not practiced Wing Chun since the invasion began (in order to conserve what little food his family had to survive), he proceeds to mercilessly crush each of them with a brutal barrage of his martial art mastery, showing none of the restraint he exhibited in previous engagements. His skill arouses the interest of Miura, who seeks to learn more about Ip and see him fight again.

Ip later visits his friend Chow Ching-chuen, who owns and runs a cotton mill in Foshan. Chow tells Ip that a bandit gang led by Jin Shanzhao is harassing his workers and trying to extort money from them. Ip trains the workers in Wing Chun for self-defense.

When Ip does not return to the arena, Miura grows impatient and sends Sato along with several soldiers to find him. The lieutenant then gestures at Ip's wife, prompting Ip to incapacitate them. When the bandits return to the cotton mill, the workers fight back using the techniques that Ip taught them. Ip himself arrives midway through the battle to take care of things personally and defeats Jin Shanzhao, warning him never to harass the workers again.

The Japanese soldiers eventually find Ip at the cotton mill. Miura tells Ip that his life will be spared if he agrees to instruct the Japanese soldiers in martial arts. Ip refuses and challenges Miura to a match, which Miura accepts, both because of his love for martial arts and because refusing the challenge would be a humiliation to the Japanese. The match between Ip and Miura is held in public in Foshan's square. At first, the two fighters seem equally matched, but Miura soon finds himself unable to penetrate Ip's impeccable defense and becomes overwhelmed by his relentless and direct blows. He is helpless to defend himself as Ip effortlessly uses him as a wooden dummy, inflicting a severe beating on him and clearly winning.

As the beaten general lies down after his defeat, Ip looks over to the cheering Chinese crowd and spots his wife and child with Chow. Enraged, Sato shoots at Ip, sparking a scuffle between the Chinese audience and the Japanese soldiers. During the scuffle, Li Zhao kills Sato with Sato's own gun. Ip is taken away amidst the chaos. The epilogue reveals that he survives and escapes to Hong Kong with his family with the help of Chow Ching-chuen. There, Ip establishes a Wing Chun school, where his students come to learn martial arts from him, including Bruce Lee.

 L² Scored: 8.5/10

L² Comment:

Sorry to all Ip Man's fans, but seriously this is only the first time ever I watch this movie :p This series of movie never really attracted me previously even though later on Mike Tyson was invited to play a role in the 3rd movie as well. But surprisingly this movie is not bad, as I thought i would have fall asleep half way through the movie but I did not... 

Few of the characters in this film which i think is overspend on the budget especially Simon Yam & Lynn Hung, i mean, the movie doesn't need to pay so much for them to be in the film as the character is not really important at all. The one whom is really good, I have to say is Gordon Lam, he really acted well in here; Ikeuchi is another surprise for me, as this actor doesn't have much movies or dramas on him, he might be choosy in selecting his character & film, but i think he definitely loves his part here as he is a Judo black belt master :)

Triumph in the Skies 衝上雲霄

Released Year: 2015

Directed by  葉偉信 Wilson Yip & 鄒凱光 Matt Chow

Casted by:

吳鎮宇 Francis Wu as 唐亦琛 Samuel

鄭秀文 Sammi Cheng as 譚夢 TM

古天樂 Louis Koo as 張春亮 Branson

張智霖 Julian Cheung as 顧夏陽 Jayden 

佘詩曼 Charmaine Sheh as 潘家詩 Cassie

郭采潔 Amber Kuo as 薛健雅 Kika

 Story: 

Young pilot Branson recently takes over Skylette, his father’s aviation empire, only to realize his old flames Cassie is a flight attendant there. Several years ago, he was forced to break up with her and move to New York to take care of his father's business. To this day, the two continue to harbor feelings for each other but decide to keep them bottled up.

In an effort to rebrand the airline, Branson invites rock idol TM to star in an upcoming commercial and appoints Sam as her flying consultant. Incongruent in both tastes and experience, this odd couple gets off on the wrong foot. As the shoot progresses, however, they slowly discover each other's merits, developing a strong mutual attraction.

Jayden has left Skylette Airline to become a pilot for private jets. He meets the young and vivacious Kika during a flight and assumes her to be wayward and shallow. But they turn out to have a lot in common and start falling madly in love. At the height of their romance, Jayden realizes almost too late the secret behind her recalcitrance…

Each of the three relationships comes with its own setbacks. As long as one can accept the imperfection of things, finding happiness—however fleetingly—is a blessing in itself.

 L² Scored: 2.5/10 

L² Comment:

Seriously, i never give such a low score to any of the Sammi's movie before... as u all would have know by now that i'm a big big Sammi's fans, and it so disappointed to see her act in this movie. I watched it in the cinema during Feb, but i hate it when i watch it, i didn't even feel like blog about it that time.

Well, as a professional movie blogger (self claim :P), i reconsider to watch it again and hopefully the whole movie will change my mind after a few months. But i cant... this movie is so so disappointed seriously. When the first and second drama has won a big success in my heart, i expected this to be better but it did not. Especially with Amber Kuo's part, i hope she die in that movie, she looks like a stupid retarded bitch to me... And Louis & Charmaine's part is so full of xxx... hey come on, y dont u both jst spray each other with ur underwear and lingerie?

As for Francis and Sammi's part, the feeling is seriously not strong enough. I dont even knw why the love occur in between the two of them. Really, i wont watch it for the 3rd time~

01:00AM 夜半一點鐘

 Released Year: 1995

Directed by 叶伟信 Wilson Yip

Story 1: 昏迷 Coma

Casted by:

叶玉卿 Veronica Yip as 护士 Nurse

黄耀明 Anthony Wong as 歌星 Celebrity

A famous celebrity went into coma in sudden and was send to stay in the hospital. The nurse discovered that the spirit of the celebrity was being attacked and distracted by a female ghost who happened to be the fans of the celebrity. The celebrity asked for the nurse's help but she was afraid to. After knowing that the ghost was actually being selfish and wanted own the celebrity all by herself, the nurse scolded her and advice her to release the celebrity's spirit if she really love him. 

Story 2: 辫子姑娘 Braided girl

Casted by:

袁咏仪 Anita Yuen as Fong

宣萱 Jessica Hester Hsuan as Gigi

Studying in psychology class, these university student make an assignment of dealing with the ghost behind their university, with the braided hair girl. Fong drive her new "old" car for the adventure alone and the car break down in the middle of the hill. The braided ghost appeared and in the end scare her to death, Fong then met an accident and broke her leg when she was near her university.

Story 3: 快相 Speed Trap

Casted by:

徐锦江 Elvis Tsui as 阿明 Meng

陈小春 Jordan Chan as 阿辉 Fai

Two traffic police were ordered to take charged of the speed trap section. Meng and Fai accidentally saw the spirit of a granny who was being killed in a car accident on the same highway. The granny helps them to find the one who murdered her and also solved out their problem.

L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

This movie used to be quite scary when I watched it during my younger days, but now it seems ok for me :p issit because i'm not afraid of ghost anymore or i have become a cold blooded evil? lol~ Love the 2nd story the most which i think Anita Yuen did a great job on it~

The White Dragon 小白龍情海翻波

 Released Year: 2004

Directed by 叶伟信 Wilson Yip

Casted by:

张柏芝 Cecilia Cheung as 黑凤 Black Phoenix / White Dragon Jr.

吴镇宇 Francis Ng as 一地鸡毛 Chicken Feathers

安志杰 Andy On as 天养 Tian Yang

邓梓峰 Patrick Tang as 校长 Gene

阮小仪 Kitty Yuen as Tweetie

许绍雄 Benz Hui as 陆美霸 Deer Tail

雪妮 Suet Nei as Auntie / White Dragon Sr.

 Story:

In a twist departing from the standard superhero formula, White Dragon is a narcissist, forever worried about her good looks, even as she's fighting with Feather, a blind assassin nicknamed "Chicken Feathers" because of his propensity for using chicken feathers as his calling card.

Chicken Feathers is first challenged by White Dragon, an elderly woman with proficient skills in martial arts to almost match his, but not quite enough. Thinking that she has been fatally wounded, White Dragon transfers her kung-fu knowledge into empty shell Black Phoenix, turning the young woman into the prettiest martial arts expert around. The downside to having these extraordinary powers, which she does not fully understand, is bad acne, which she manages to prevent only by doing "noble" deeds like robbing from the rich and giving to the poor.

Phoenix is reluctant to take on her new role at first, but soon becomes interested in tracking down Chicken Feathers when she learns that her love interest, Second Prince Tian Yang, might become his next target. Using her flute-playing as bait, White Dragon finally faces Chicken Feathers in an attempt to defeat him before he can carry out the assassination. Chicken Feathers proves to be too good for the new White Dragon, however. When White Dragon tries to exploit his "weak points," she ends up injured(breaking her leg while trying to kick Feathers in the nuts) and dependent on Feathers, who does nurse her back to health after their heated battle. While Chicken Feathers plays nurse, White Dragon seeks to find his true weak point to stop him once and for all. What she finds instead is that Chicken Feathers has fallen in love with her, and that he is growing on her as well.

After a while her leg healed and Chicken Feathers found a letter for Second Prince Tian Yang and had it read by the town's doctor. This letter made Chicken Feathers thinking that Black Phoenix already has a boyfriend, namely the Second Prince Tian Yang. Chicken Feathers confronted Phoenix Black with this and they ended up struggling. Accidentally the girl stabbed her flute into the back of Chicken Feathers, which gave him a moment of sight. She ran away.

The Third Prince, brother of the Second Prince, apparently hired Chicken Feathers to kill his brother, this was revealed at the very last scene.

 L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

When i look at the cover of the disc, i thought its gonna be those damn boring fighting movie. But i was wrong with the comedy aspects added in the movie, it become more lively and not that boring too. Overall the movie and storyline is ok, but it won't definitely attract me to watch it again lol

Magic to Win 開心魔法

 Released Year: 2011

Directed by 叶伟信 Wilson Yip

Casted by:

黃百鳴 Raymond Wong as 康森貴 Professor Kang

吳千語 Karena Wu as 程美斯 Macy

吳尊 Wu Chun as 凌楓 Fung

吳京 Wu Jing as 畢野武 Wu

閆妮 Yan Nee as 柏格斯大學女排教練 Coach
古天樂 Louis Koo as 古新月 Yue

 Story:

The world constitutes of five elements: gold, wood, water, fire and earth. In the wizard world of Magic to Win, the story also revolves around the "Five Element Wizardry", portraying a story that surpasses our imagination. Hong Sum-Kwai, a university professor, is also the wizard of water of "Five Elements Wizardry". Although he uses magic spells in his daily life, his superpower remains a secret. By accident, his power is transmitted to his student, Macy, and finds herself entangled in the power struggle of the 5 elements.

 L² Scored: 4.5/10

L² Comment:

When they film this movie, it stated clearly that this will be the 6th movie of the "Happy Ghost" series, but it is so different from the original 5 movies, Raymond Wong is no more the happy ghost, then what point stating this as the "Happy Ghost" series?

Back to the storyline, it is a bit childish and very predictable. The only excellent part is when Wu Jing fought with Wu Chun, the rest is just so so...

Leaving Me Loving You 大城小事

 Released Year: 2004

Directed by 叶伟信 Wilson

Casted by:

黎明 Leon Lai as 周谦 Qian
王菲 Faye Wong as 小月 Yue

 Story:

Qian is a mobile doctor who went around to save people while Yue is a graphic designer. Both of them love each other and live in Shanghai, but one misunderstanding cause them to break up and went into separate path from each other. A birthday of both of their client make them get back together again. Qian can't let go of Yue and decided to move near to her. Time prove that they still love each other and faith bring them back together.

 L² Scored: 2/10

L² Comment:

Its kind of a boring love movie i should say~ Having Faye Wong in every movie is a mess!!! Beside being like a walking stick, she doesn't know how to act at all~ one word, boring :P

A Chinese Ghost Story 2011 倩女幽魂 2011

Released Year: 2011
Directed by 叶伟信 Wilson Yip

Casted by:
刘亦菲 YiFei-Liu as 聂小倩 Qian
古天乐 Louis Koo as 燕赤霞 Yen
余少群 ShaoQun-Yu as 宁彩臣 Ning
惠英红 Kara Hui as 木姬 / 姥姥 Granny
樊少皇 Louis Fan as 夏雨风雷 Lei
Story:

Yen is a monster hunter, but he fall in love with Qian who is a fox evil. Due to the differences, he has to make Qian forgot about him but stabbing his power weapon into Qian's head. Yen rushed to join Lei's team to defeat Granny. But without Yen's weapon, the team is unable to defeat Granny. Lei sacrifice one of his hand to sealed Granny at Lan Ruo temple.

Few years later, Ning was send by government to help Hei San Village to get water source. Ning brought a few man up and discovered the source in Lan Ruo Temple. In the meantime, Ning saved a little fox on his journey and fed her with sugar. The man was attacked by evil and luckily Ning managed to save by Yen who arrived to kill the devils. Qian was there and pull Ning away while Ning mistaken that Yen is a bad guy.

Ning went back to Lan Ruo Temple again and managed to explode the well and released the water source into Hei San village. But the water has caused everyone to have disease, to get rid of the disease, Granny has to be killed. Lei was back with his sister and managed to captured Qian and try to vanished her while Lei tied up Yen aside to see her getting tortured. Ning was in time to help them all.

All of them went to Lan Ruo temple to vanish Granny. But the powerful granny suck Qian inside her body and make Yen not willing to fight against. Yen out of idea and pull out his power weapon from Qian's head and in the same time managed to pull Qian out from Granny's body. Qian now remember all her past including her love with Yen. Granny now managed to suck Yen inside her body but in the end Yen used his weapon to killed himself and vanish Granny in the same time.

Granny died cause the whole temple to collapsed, Qian decided to stay here with Yen's body to vanish. She pushed the beloved Ning out from temple and he was safe at last.

L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

My favorite chinese ghost story is back for more sequel :) Though Liu Yi Fei is not as good as Joey Wong, Yu Shao Qun is not as good as Leslie Cheung, but this movie did pulled out the good memory of mine when watching the old 3 sequels.

This time they have more computer & graphic effect on the movie, but the characters did not bring out the devilish feeling inside. Though Kara look devily, but not as good as Liu Zhao Ming in the past~ Louis Koo definitely bring out the character of Yen in this movie, bravo !!!