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 :)

Connected 保持通話

 Released Year: 2008

Directed by 陳木勝 Benny Chan

Casted by:

古天樂 Louis Koo as 阿邦 Bob

徐熙媛 Barbie Hsu as 王海晴 Grace

張家輝 Nick Cheung as 余振輝 Detective Fai

劉燁 Liu Ye as 霍德能 Detective Nang

張兆輝 Eddie Cheung as 張督察 Detective Cheung

樊少皇 Louis Fan as 唐 Tong

貝安琪 Ainke Beilke as Michelle

陳慧珊 Flora Chan as Jeanie

 Story:

While Grace Wong is driving her vehicle, her car is knocked down by another vehicle and she is abducted from the scene. The kidnappers, led by Fok Tak-nang, return to Grace's house, where they kill her maid, and start searching the place. Grace is then taken to an abandoned house, where she manages to repair a destroyed telephone. With the phone, she manages to contact Bob, a single father and debt collector. Bob has promised his son, Kit-kit, and his sister, Jeannie, that he will meet them at an airport, before Kit-kit boards a flight to Australia.

While talking to Grace on his cellular phone, Bob agrees to help Grace and hands his phone to patrol officer Fai, who believes that the distressing phone call is a prank, due to Bob's reckless driving. Grace is interrupted from the call when Fok and his men enter the room, having abducted her brother's friend, Joe. Fok forces Grace to contact her brother, Roy. After listening to Roy's answering machine, Fok kills Joe and leaves with his men, now planning to go after Grace's daughter, Tinker. Grace persuades Bob to head to the school and find her daughter before Fok's men do. When Bob arrives, he is distracted by the school's headmaster, and minutes before the school's class dismissal, he finds Tinker too late, when she is abducted by Fok's men. Bob goes after the abductors, but winds up losing sight of them in the struggle. After crashing through a truck, Bob later finds a handgun left in his car by a fellow debt collector.

Realizing that his phone has a low battery, Bob heads to a phone store to buy a cell phone charger. After losing his patience with the flirty service clerk, he holds the store at gunpoint and pays for the charger. After Bob is caught on camera at both the school and the phone store, Fai heads to Grace Wong's residence. He is still convinced that the kidnapping situation is a prank, having talked to Michelle, a woman impersonating Grace. Fok then decides to go after Grace's brother, Roy, who is in a hospital.

Fai decides to call Grace's house, after realizing the real Grace Wong is a Mandarin-language speaker, while the impersonator he met speaks Cantonese. At the hospital, Bob manages to distract Grace's abductors, who are revealed by police to be Interpol agents. The agents, however, succeed in kidnapping Roy and take him to a hill where he has hidden a camcorder. Bob intervenes, grabbing a hold of the camera and fleeing from the agents; unfortunately, he loses connection with Grace.

Fai heads to Grace's house, where he confronts and kills Michelle, realizing she was also an Interpol agent working for Fok. As Grace tries to contact Bob, she is caught by one Fok's henchmen. Grace kills the henchman and manages to find her daughter. However, while planning to escape, Grace and Tinker are caught by Fok. Bob looks at the evidence on the camcorder. The footage, captured by Roy, reveals Fok brutally executing several American drug dealers and stealing their contraband. Bob calls Fok, and tells them to meet him at the airport in an exchange for the evidence and the hostages, while attempting to keep his promise to his son.

At the airport, Bob's plans to meet his sister and son are foiled as Fok conveniently stands between them and Bob's hiding place. After telling Fok to go towards the parking lot, he demands that Grace, Roy and Tinker be released. They flee to a patrol car that is also in the lot. Unfortunately, Bob is caught by Fok and his men, and fights against them until Fai catches up to them. Fok and his men are arrested by Detective Cheung and his Serious Crimes Unit. After Bob hands the videotaped evidence over to Detective Cheung, Fok and Tong, one of Fok's henchman, appear, and Cheung reveals that he was working with Fok. Fok deletes the footage on the videotape, and a violent confrontation ensues in a loading dock in the airport where Fai and Bob take on Fok, Cheung and the corrupt Interpol agents. Cheung is shot to death by Fai after attacking the patrol officer with a forklift truck.

Bob confronts Fok on a scaffolding. After Bob reveals he still has videotaped evidence on his cell phone and threatens to send it to the police, Fok kicks Bob off the scaffolding. A net manages to save Bob's fall, but sends Fok falling to his death. While this was going on, a member of Fok's team rekidnaps Grace and her family and prepares to kill them, but Grace manages to defend her family long enough for the police to arrive. When Bob returns, Fai talks to him, feeling the glory he once had as a police officer, and wishing that they never meet again after their ordeal. Bob then meets Grace for the first time in person. Grace thanks him, and Bob concludes their meeting by saying, "If you're gonna call for help, no thanks! If you want dinner, then I'll consider." Bob is then reunited with his son, who is happy that his father kept his promise.

L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

My friend recommend me this movie for quite sometime ago and I've forgot about it, maybe the title of the movie itself does not make me feel interested at all... But i just happen to remember this movie when i went to my friend house and saw the DVD...

Basically this movie is a remake of 2004 "Cellular" movie but in asian version. Its quite excited but some of the part does not make sense at all! For example, a man in reality world will straight ahead shut down his phone when he heard such call, right? But since this is just a movie, so the action of Louis Koo can be said as brave or idiot should i say...?

Ashes of Time 東邪西毒：終極版 2008

 Released Year: 2008

Directed by 王家卫 Wong Kar Wai

 

Casted by:

 張國榮 Leslie Cheung as 歐陽鋒 OuYang Feng
 梁家輝 Tony Leung as 黃藥師 Wong Yao Shi
 林青霞 Bridget Lin as 慕容嫣／慕容燕 MuYung Yin
 梁朝偉 Tony Leung as 盲武士 Blind Swordsman
 劉嘉玲 Carina Lau as 桃花 Tao Hua
 楊采妮 Charlie Yeong as 孝順女子 Young girl
 張學友 Jacky Cheung as 洪七 Hong Qi Gong
 張曼玉 Maggie Cheung as 歐陽鋒的嫂子 Feng's sister in law

 Story: 

In this film, set in ancient times in China, Ouyang Feng, hiring famous bounty hunters. His character is portrayed as a fallen swordsman driven by greed and heartless to both friend and foe. He was perpetually being spiteful of love as his own love history was not nearly so beautiful. His bounty-hunters came and went as was narrated by Ouyang Feng himself as based on the Tung Shu predictions.

In essence, he was a loner with little love, but the bounty hunters that worked for Ouyang Feng, like Blind Swordsman and another of his best fighters, Hong Qigong, discovered the intangible secret of true love while Ouyang retained his attitude towards his fighters and the precious lessons that they have taught. However, the thread that runs through the entire narrative has clearly the spirit of refusal in the sense that one should reject another before he gets to be rejected in the future. To illustrate, nearly every character in this story has resorted to being selfish and malignant in order to prevent being rejected by others, be it in love or in comradeship as their individual hardships have moulded their attitude turning them into heartless and cold individuals in order to survive in the uncompromising desert where the story is set.

It has many moral implications but is less evident since the main character is Ouyang himself and most of the narration would unquestionably be centred on him.

 L² Scored: 8/10

 

L² Comment:

An old movie in 1994 and re-edited by Wong Kar Wai himself after so many years, just because before Leslie's one word before he die "hope this film can go international". So there goes the film to Berlin and many more countries and once again hit the blockbuster... 

CJ7 長江7號

 Released Year: 2008

Directed by 周星馳 Stephen Chow

Casted by:

徐嬌 Xu Jiao as 周小狄 Dicky Chow 

周星馳 Stephen Chow as 周鐵 Chow Ti
張雨綺 Kitty Zhang Yuqi as 袁老師 Ms. Yuen

 Story:

Chow Ti is a poor laborer working on construction sites. He lives in a partially demolished house with his son, Dicky. Chow is eager to save money so he can continue sending his son to private school. However, Dicky is often bullied by other children and his teacher, and he usually finds comfort with a young educator, Ms. Yuen.

One day, while at a department store, Dicky begs his father to buy him a popular robotic toy called CJ1. Chow cannot afford it, and the situation ends badly when Chow spanks the stubborn Dicky in front of other customers. Again, Dicky finds comfort in Ms. Yuen, who is passing by. That night, Chow visits the junkyard where he often picks up home appliances and clothes for Dicky. He finds a strange green orb and takes it home, telling Dicky that it is a new toy. Hesitant at first, Dicky agrees to keep it. The following evening, the orb transforms into a cuddly alien creature that befriends Dicky. After playing, he names the alien "CJ7", and then falls asleep. He dreams that the alien will help him gain popularity and good grades at school. Dicky takes CJ7 to school, but he receives a zero on his exam and is humiliated during physical education. Frustrated, Dicky tries to dispose of the CJ7, but realizes his mistake and later reconciles with it. The next day, because of his alien pet, Dicky begins to make new friends at school. However, when his father discovers that he lied about his bad exam result, Chow confiscates CJ7. The father and son fall out, so Dicky sticks close to Ms. Yuen, who promises she will look after him. This cheers Chow up somewhat, who fears he might lose his son's love. Dicky manages to pass another test with aid of Ms. Yuen,and is excited to show his father about this.

Later, while Chow is working on a skyscraper, his foot becomes entangled in a rope. He later dies at a hospital. CJ7 then sacrifices his life to revive Chow. The next morning, Dicky promises his father he will never give up school. At the last day of school, the kids field trip into a park where Dicky sees a UFO land nearby, from which run hundreds of little aliens, led by the resurrected CJ7.

 L² Scored: 8.5/10

L² Comment:

Having insomnia again last night, so i decided to watch this CJ7 and have a good laugh while waiting for the sunrise. Stephen Chow's movie never failed to do so as always, this film had proven it once again by hitting the 1st top selling movie in the year 2008 at the blockbuster.

Putting the adorable Xu Jiao in the main place is a good choice, Stephen has been nominated to Best Supporting actor for the first time, he did not win but still a good try i think... Xu Jiao in another hand has won the Best New actor/actress by this film.

Forgive and Forget 親愛的

 Released Year: 2008

Directed by 葉念琛 Patrick Kong

Casted by:

曾愷玹 Alice Tzeng as 韋晴 Qin
安志傑 Andy On as 程緯 Andy
楊愛瑾 Miki Yeung as 阿敏 Min
關楚耀 Kelvin Kwan as 阿勇 Jack

 Story:

Qin lost her memories and came back to Hong Kong to seek her history, she met Andy who told her that her boyfriend Jack has passed away. Qin stayed in the old apartment she shared with Jack and she on and off saw Jack's spirit appear in the house. In the same time, she met a cute girl Min who stay with her boyfriend, Keong at downstair.

But the real story is - Andy is actually Jack and he wanted to wash off Qin's memory with him, so he ask his friend to pretend as him. But Qin actually see a ghost but it is Min. Min already passed away but still thinking of her boyfriend and came back to visit their old apartment everyday...

 L² Scored: 5/10

L² Comment:

Romance + Thriller is not a bad idea, but the pace of the movie is kinda slow and i really can't stand Alice's Taiwan-Cantonese-Slang... But she looks pretty though and look very hot in the red dress... Andy On is my fav, but too bad he did not show us his gorgeous body in this film~

Scare 2 Die 嚇死你

 Released Year: 2008

Directed by  錢江漢 Chin Jiang Han

Story 1 - 13么 13 Mahjong

李璨琛 Sam Lee as 何區瑾 Au Chun

Au Chun is a gambler and it has cost him on to pay a lot to the loan shark, he was in a hospital and told by a uncle a secret to win. Aun Chun needs to put the "white board" in his mouth everytime he gamble, and he can only win with a white board, and he can only win 13 times to stop the evil chain. But on the last round, Au Chun's white board cause 3 winning. He lost and he got a baby without face.

 Story 2 - 13% 

 江若琳 Elaine Kang as 陆颖 Wing

Wing saw someone chopped off her bf in the kitchen, she ran and was stuck in the elevator. There was a guard who came to chop her down, she ran and saw a lot of ghost in the elevator, though she managed to hurt the guard but she was knock to unconscious. When she woke up, she discovered her body was cut off and she force to sew up by herself. She walk weakly down the lobby and heard a weird baby calling for her, she scream and die.

 Story 3 - 13号 Number 13

阮民安 Tommy Yuan as 陳吉隆 Sunny

Sunny went to interview for a reality show to win a jumbo money. But he met an events of weird things happen and he saw the spirit of his neighbour. Finally he was shock to death.

 L² Scored: 5/10

L² Comment:

The movie was break into 3 parts, but if you watch it closely, they linked up a bit but not too obvious. The 3 stories are just ok, the story is weird and some of them not make sense, but the horror side is there~ 

Happy Funeral 六樓后座2家屬謝禮

Released Year: 2008
Directed by 黃真真 Barbara Wong

Casted by:
侯煥玲 Huan Ling Hou as Suzy
江若琳 Elaine Kwong as 阿芝 Chee
田原 Tian Yuan as Kay
陸永@農夫 Wing as 陸永 Wing
C君@農夫 as C君 C
占@I Love You Boyz as 彭爺 Phang
Donald@I Love You Boyz as Bon Bon
曾志偉 Eric Tsang as 萬生 Mr Man
鄧梓峰 Patrick Dunn as Suzy兒子 Suzy's son
羅仲謙 Him Lo as 阿謙 Him
Story:

A bunch of irresponsible teenagers rent Suzy's unit, they dreamed of becoming rich by doing a "happy funeral" business after they attended Pete's grandmother funeral. They come up with an idea and try to sell it off to Mr Man who is doing the funeral business, Mr Man requested them to come out with a proper proposal after 2 weeks time.

The gang decided to act it in front of Mr Man with the help of Suzy as the dead grandma but Mr Man scolded them for not being serious. Suzy felt sick and was sent to the hospital, and Suzy's son appeared and decided to take back the unit from the teenagers. The teenagers never give up on Suzy and always bring joy for her and bonded up a good relationship with Suzy's son. They hold a party at home for Suzy when she's back but the tired Suzy still kick the bucket. The teenagers and Suzy's son throw a happy funeral for Suzy and want everyone to feel the joy that Suzy has bring for them when she is still alive.

L² Scored: 3/10

L² Comment:

I kinda like Barbara Wong's movie, except this. The storyline is ok, not like those normal drama style but i really dislike how the way the actors perform, no heart at all!!! Especially the "farmer" & "I love you boyz"... i feel like slapping at their face~

The Beast Stalker 証人

Released Year: 2008
Directed by 林超賢 Dante Lim

Casted by:
謝霆鋒 Nicholas Tse as 唐飛 Fei
張家輝 Nick Cheung as 洪荊 Yan
廖啟智 Kai Zhi-Liu as 郭耀新 Xin
張靜初 Jing Chu-Zhang as 高敏 Min
苗圃 Miao Pu as 洪荊妻子Yan's wife
Story:

Fei & Xin were chasing after a car of burglaries and accidentally crashed into Yan and wife in another car, in the mean time, lawyer Min's twins daughter was kidnap while another loss her life. In the accident, Xin has become one leg disablement, Yan loss an eye while Yan's wife are paralyze.

Yan continue to work as criminal to earn more money to heal his wife. He got a new mission which is kidnap Min one and only daughter and threaten Min to let go of the gangster head in China. Min avoid making police report but Fei & Xin investigate and discover where Yan's house is... They broke in and found the paralyze wife at there while Yan and the daughter is gone.

Finally Fei able to find them and in a fight, Yan loss another eye of his while the girl was savely rescues...

L² Scored: 6/10

L² Comment:

Though Nick Cheung and Liu Kai Zhi both won the Best Actor and Best supporting actor in multiple academy awards, but i can't really feel how good they are in this film. Is it because that year their competitors are not strong enough? Or just luck perhaps?

But both Nick and Liu are definitely good actors, hope to see more of their movie soon...

The Way We Are 天水圍的日與夜

Released Year: 2008

Directed by 許鞍華 Ann Hui

Casted by:
鲍起静 Paw Hew Ching as 媽媽 Mother
梁進龍 Leung Chun Long as 張家安 An
陈丽云 Chen Lai Wun as 婆婆 GrannyStory:

An and his mother live in Tin Shui Wai, the mother is working as the fruit seller of a supermarket while An is a form 5 student who is waiting for his result to go for form 6. Then the mother met granny who is a lonely old woman who stay in their same block. The granny also work in the supermarket as the vegetable seller.

The granny is very self defend and not willing to open herself to others. The mother then help her a few time and the granny become her friend later on. An's grandmother went hospitalize and An went visit her. The grandmother told An to be a good boy because his mother has been working her whole life as hard as she can but all her earning was used to support An's 2 uncle for study. An feel his mother is so grateful.

One fine day the mother accompany the granny went to visit her grandson but came back with disappointment. From that onwards they 2 woman become true friend and they stay happily together as neighbors.

L² Scored: 4/10

L² Comment:

Hmm~ the story line is a bit plain actually. You can say that it just tell out the living of 2 woman in the original life from Hong Kong. I can't feel the peak point of this film hence i just feel a bit boring though. Maybe i have put a very high expectation in this because this film has help the 2 ATV actresses won the best actress and best supporting actress in a few HK film Awards.