Infernal Affairs (TV) 2016

The movie version of Infernal Affairs starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung was a hit back then. It was a trilogy. I Liked the first one very much, the 2nd one was okay, but I didn't like the third. Can't really remember why I didn't like the third, I think the plot didn't make sense.

I got confused with the title when it first came out. As it was about police, I usually thought of 'internal affairs'; and when I read again that it was 'infernal' instead of 'internal', I thought perhaps that police department really named 'infernal affairs'... But now I know the Chinese title means 'unceasing path (to hell).'

They made the tv series in 2016 and only a few weeks ago I could watch it with subtitles. Compared to the movie version, the movie version was much better.

Sing Luen triad organization, led by Wu Koon-yau, was having rivalry with Hung Lok. Sing Luen's attorney, Hon Long, had sent one of his boys, Wai Chun-hin, to be a policeman, and now he was a senior inspector. This series consists of 30 episodes and before episode 10, Wai Chun-hin's identity was exposed and he had to quit his job. Meanwhile, the police also had sent Bullet as an undercover in Sing Luen, following the death of an undercover police in Sing Luen.

I saw the movie version many years ago, but I think Andy Lau and Tony Leung tried hard not to blow their covers. As a triad member of a policeman, they tried to do their job well and gained trust from people around them. In this series, Wai Chun-hin's cover was blown up soon and when he tried to join Sing Luen, he had to force his way. Nobody really trusted him. As for Bullet, he joined Sing Luen not for long ago, so he was also not to be trusted.

While Andy Lau and Tony Leung are two of the best talented actors in Hong Kong film industry, here we have Him Law and Wang Yang, who are not as good as the previous two - although they are not so bad. Gallen Lo, on the other hand, who played Hon Long, was good. But this is not right, isn't it? In a series about undercover, how can the actor who played the lawyer is better than the two lead roles?

Triumph in The Skies (TV)

Triumph in The Skies (2003) is an interesting TV series. After watching this I feel I know better about pilots and stewardesses. I think if I were younger I would try to apply for a job in an airport. What I really like about this series was the tips/knowledge given after each episode.

Solar Airways (based on Cathay Pacific) was recruiting new pilots so we followed them as they studied, from cadets to first officers.

In the drama side, the main love story was a love triangle involving two pilots and a stewardess. It was about fate. For me, the love stories were a bit boring, nothing new. And I dislike a character who was distressed a lot, crying all the time....

Beside pilots and stewardess, there were also chefs who prepared cabin meals and ground crews. The head chef often came up with new menus, which looked delicious.

I myself for the last several years only took short, cheap flights - so there was never any meal on the plane, not even a glass of water was served.

The 2nd series (2013) was also interesting, but it was a pity they did not gave useful tips anymore during end credits. The airways was changed from Solar to Skylette. The new character, Holiday, laughed a lot that I thought there was something wrong with her.

Face to Fate (TV) 2006

I think compared to Lofty Waters Verdant Bow, Face to Fate is a better series. The main character was a soothsayer/fortune-teller named Li Po-yee, played by Frankie Lam. At that time, the martial art world was divided into the good and the bad, and our hero belonged to none of them.

Every five years, both sides would engage in the Golden Seal Battle and each should send five representative. The one who won 3 fights out of 5, would be the winner and could reign the martial art world for 5 years. The leader of the bad guys, Ko Shu-tin, believed in a divination that said 'Evil prevails, Good disappears' - so he persuaded more guys to join the evil side.

In the beginning of the series, five future representatives from the Good were killed, so the leader of the Good, Shum Shing-nam (played by David Chiang -- or John Chiang) from Flying Fish Village, asked our hero's help to seek other five high skilled fighters to represent the Good in the soon-coming Golden Seal Battle. The journey was quite challenging because the 5 fighters were all outcasts from their own schools. Li Po-yee, however, in the end could persuade each of them to take part in the Golden Seal Battle - although later one of them died in Flying Fish Village and Li Po-yee had to replace him.

Death Wish (Chun Wong) and Li Po-yee (Frankie Lam)

The guys in the Good were not always kind and the guys in the Evil group also had their own merits. Like when one of supposed to be good guys, tortured the Miracle Doctor's girlfriend by cutting off her leg and arm tendons. This false step would make the Good almost lost the fight because the Miracle Doctor chose to be with Evil in order to cure his girlfriend, and this doctor became a strong opponent against Li Po-yee.

Doctor Lai Yeuk-yee (Raymond Lam) and his girlfriend Yin Ye-loi (Selena Li)

The ending was a happy one, with the Good and the Bad -which was no longer bad - lived together harmoniously.

Wong Ching as King Bat

 The happiest event was when King Bat could see again. King Bat was one of the bad guys and he was named like that because he was blind. The doctor later healed him. I wonder if he should changed his name.

Lofty Waters Verdant Bow (TV) 2003

I read reviews saying that this series was so-so, but I think I quite enjoyed watching it. It was only 20 episodes anyway. The story was ordinary, but I like watching Raymond Lam, Michelle Ye, and the interaction between Power Chan and Pierre Ngo.

Raymond Lam played a gallant hero - named Jin Shi-yi, who came from Snake Island - to the mainland, to seek a heroine named Lu Si-niang - who could neutralize the poison in his body. By the way, if you are familiar with Chinese history,  you will recognize Lu Si-niang's name as the heroine who beheaded Emperor Yong Zheng (from Qing dynasty).

Jin Shi-yi would be involved in a love triangle. One was an kind-hearted young heroine, Lu Si-niang's student, named Gu Zhi-hua, played by Rain Li, ; while the other, Li Sheng-nan - played by Michelle Ye - seemed mysterious and come from the enemy's side. It could be guessed that our hero chose the Gu Zhi-hua and seemed to hate the other. But who loved him more? I think this was actually not the question of who loved him more; it should be whom he chose between the two. I think he did really love Gu Zhi-hua. But near the end, when he realized that Li Sheng-nan, whom he misunderstood to be his enemy, had been loving him more; he left Gu Zhi-hua to be with Li Sheng-nan... but it was too late. In the end we see Jin Shi-yi with Li Sheng-nan's dead body on a raft, heading for the island where they had found the ultimate martial-art manual.

One of the villains, the wulin leader, Meng Shen-tong (played by Eddie Ko), had slandered Jin Shi-yi's teacher so that everybody hated the teacher. Meng Shen-tong had accused the hero's teacher as a traitor - so that they failed to assassinate Yong Zheng years ago - and the teacher had to flee to Snake Island. The teacher's good name was never restored although Meng Shen-tong had turned into a public enemy because it had been him who had cooperated with Qing government, not the teacher.

The setting in this series should be during Qian Long's era. In Qing dynasty, the men should had shaved the front side of the hair and braided the hair at the back ... I am not sure why they didn't in this series. Were the characters all rebels or the director simply thought it was not a must.

I heard that this series was based on Liang Yu-sheng's book, which I haven't read. Jin Shi-yi should be with Gu Zhi-hua in the end and they went together to a remote island where they would have a son.

The Drive of Life (TV) 2007

This is a long series, consists of 60 episodes. It's quite interesting, actually, about the Wah family and their dream to make Chinese cars.

The main characters are 3 Wah brothers: Wah Man-hon, Wah Man-hung and Wah Man-shek. This series were joint-production of Hong Kong and China. I knew Damian Lau and Michael Miu, but I was not familiar at all with the actor who played the 2nd brother Wah Man-hung. The acting was also different: Damian Lau and Michael Lau were expressive, while the mainland actor was calm and reserved. In the story, Wah Man-hon (Lau) and Wah Man-shek (Miu) had been living for years in Hong Kong, while Wah Man-hung left in Peking /Beijing.

Wah Man-hon is the manager and the brain, Wah Man-hung the technician and Wah Man-shek the salesman. The road is difficult, but they finally succeeded to found Hua-che car factory, with the first Chinese car machine developed by themselves --> so they didn't have to depend on Japan anymore. They succeeded in fabricating 100% Chinese cars. Because of this Wah family, Chinese cars are now roaming the world.

Wah Man-hung (Liao Jing-sheng), Wah Man-shek (Michael Miu), Wah Man-hon (Damian Lau)

Hui Cham-yan (Gigi Wong), Wah Ching-yue (Jessica Hsuan), Ngai Wing-biu (Joe Ma)

Wing Sau-fung (Charmaine Sheh) and Wah Chun-pong (Raymond Lam)

While the car dream is interesting, I find the drama side is so-so. There are intrigues and revenges. Sometimes they are easy to forgive, sometimes a little matter can be huge. Like, 1) Wah Man-hung hated his older brother Wah Man-hon for years because Wah Man-hon cheated him when they were choosing who would be going to Hong Kong and who would be staying in Peking. 2) Wah Man-hon's wife, Hui Cham-yan, had a big fight with her husband because he had not told her that his ex-girlfriend visited him in Hong Kong (from Peking). He just met the ex-girlfriend to say goodbye, nothing else. 3) Wing Sau-fung hated the Wah family after finding out that Wah Man-hon had once been her mother's boyfriend. Later, her mother committed suicide after Hui Cham-yan told her the truth, that she had killed her husband (Wing Sau-fung's father). I really can't understand why Wing Sau-fung put the blame all on the Wah family because her mother was also in the wrong. The worst of all, in the peak of her anger, she demanded that Wah Man-hon and his wife both kneel down for her forgiveness. They were her boyfriend's parents... it was very inappropriate.

This series has two antagonists, Ngai Tin-hang and his nephew Ngai Wing-biu. The latter is secretive and calculative. The amazing thing is, every time his wife finds out about his wrongdoing, he seems to be able to find a reasonable explanation - until the climax when she sees herself what her husband can do.

I love the sub-song 'Searching For You in Loving Memories' sung by Raymond Lam. The melody is familiar, like I have ever heard it years ago.

Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion (2006)

I would like to try to read the original book which this TV series was based on, if there is any in English. I only have read one book by Huang Yi, A Step Into The Past, and enjoyed it a lot. In this Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion - I must say the English title is horrible and not interesting at all - we are taken into the beginning of the Ming Dynasty era. I had never read this topic before, so this series were very interesting to me.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese people were ruled by Mongolians, the Yuan Dynasty. I am not familiar with the (real) history, but in this series, the present emperor had been one of the generals in the fights against Mongolians. An oracle told him that a descendant of Kubilai Khan would bring his demise, so to play safe, he killed all Mongolian children at the same age as the Mongolian Prince.

The Emperor ordered the Mongolians to pay hard tax and took men, even the old and young,  to become slaves. The Mongolians, led by Pong Pan, tried to find the Kubilai Khan's descendant and overturn Ming.

I like how the antagonists and protagonists here are not really bad. Both sides are fighting for their own country. Some characters do have weaknesses, like too suspicious, too greedy, ... I also like the ending, where The Chinese and The Mongolians could have peace on both sides and live together in harmony.

All That is Bitter is Sweet (2014)

This series was not perfect, but it was nice to watch. Before this, I had just finished Princess Agents - which had been said to be very famous. Princess Agents was beautiful to look at, and I must say that Li Gengxin who played one of the lead characters was very handsome, yet for me Princess Agents was not as warm as this little series from Hong Kong.

Sheung Chun Tong was the biggest apothecary in Foshan, Guangdong. It belonged to To family. The only daughter of the To family, To Ka-kei, was about to marry the deputy mayor, Chong Kei-cho. This deputy mayor was also the eldest son of the mayor. Three days before the wedding, Chong Kei-cho fell ill. It was not grave, but it would take days to recover. The owner of Sheung Chun Tong, To Sum, created a new pill for Chong Kei-cho so that they needed not to cancel the wedding day. However, the pill was poisonous and Chong Kei-cho died. The mayor was so angry so he sent To Sum to jail and closed Sheung Chun Tong. To Ka-kei tried to find proofs why the pill was poisonous so she could get her father out of jail and reopen Sheng Chun Tong.

This series was very promising, until I realized To Sum's step-brother, To Yung, was so greedy and stupid that he wrecked everything. He even sold To Sum's concubine in order to pay for his gambling debt. The antagonist, Police Captain Ngai Chun, was so evil that we didn't feel sympathy for him at all. I think it was never good if characters in a series were too good, too evil, and too greedy. And it would be nice if  Natalie Tong didn't wear such ugly bangs.

Natalie Tong and her bangs. I hoped she wore different hairstyle.

I didn't believe in Chinese medicine, but it was nice to watch how the Chinese traditional doctors treated patients in this series. The size of their pills were big, they had to be munched, or crushed with a spoon then mixed with hot water and served in a bowl. There was also acupuncture. I think whoever found this technique was a genius.

In the story, Sheung Chun Tong had been closed and sealed by the authority. The herbs inside should have been burned. However, To Ka-kei smuggled the herbs out so she could examined them to find which herb caused the pill to be poisonous. When she finally found which herb it was, she told the deputy mayor. But how it was possible? Did she explain to the deputy mayor that she had smuggled the herbs out?

Also, to track down the poisonous herb, To Ka-kei, accompanied by her friend Ting Yat-yuen, went to Yunnan to do the detective work. I also found this too much. I think they should leave the work to the authority. But hey, this was a TV series, where things being exaggerated here and there.

A Fist Within Four Walls (2016)

Finished watching this last night. I think it's one of the best recent series TVB ever made. Although I don't know each series TVB have made, I rarely met one like this. In the 1980's I remember there were quite a few series like this one, but it is rare these days. I think TVB lately made lots of drama/comedy series, police themed series, but not one with fist fighting.

The original title should be 'Walled-city Heroes' - which I like better than the English title. In the beginning of episode 1 it was explained the background of the situation. I must say I enjoyed the explanation. I remember the Donnie Yen movie 'Chasing The Dragon' also situated in the walled city, but I don't remember if they also gave the background - other than the large scale of corruption.

It was explained here how the walled city became a no man's land. After Qing's defeat in the two opium wars, Hong Kong Island and part of Kowloon were ceded respectively to Britain. Then under pressure, Qing leased to Britain the New Territories and the rest of Kowloon. However the Qing Court fought hard and excluded the Walled City from this. So in the following years, the walled city was left with no government. It was independent of colonial rule (Britain), but Hong Kong police also could not get in. Criminals wanted to take the walled city over and residents had to stand up for their own protection.

The story in this series began in 1945. Duen Tung-tin of Duen Style Baji [Baji fist = eight-extremities fist] and Chiu Meng-shan of Chiu Style Baji protected the walled city from criminals. In a chaos following a fire, Duen Tung-tin was murdered, but the only witness pointed Chiu Meng-shan as the murderer. Chiu Meng-shan insisted that he was innocent so he agreed to be taken to a police jail outside the walled city. In the jail, he was ambushed by three men, so he returned to his home in the walled city. The residents thought that he broke jail, so they bludgeoned him and his wife to death. Chiu Meng-shan's two children, a boy and a girl, ran away. The boy was taken by the grand-aunt to Macau, but the girl was missing.

Fifteen years later, the boy, who by then had changed his name to Chor Au-Kuen, returned to the walled city in order to look for his lost sister. He met with Duen Tung-tin's son, Duen Ying-fung, and they became friends. They stood together to protect the residents from the 3 criminals who ruled the walled city: one sold opium, one had gambling houses and one in the prostitution business.

Beside the 3 criminals, there was also a group of mysterious killers. They also had to find who had murdered Duen Tung-tin and framed Chiu Meng-shan. As for the why, it was easy to guess.

I like all the characters in this series. Even Miss Audrey was worth watching, she was not very spoiled and was strong. If there is something I hate, perhaps it was Tiu Lan's lipstick colour... but maybe in the early 60's it was common. I also think if a woman has a defected heart, it's very dangerous for her to give birth. So I was at lost when Kuen expected many children from her.

Black Heart White Soul (2014)

At first I didn't expect much from this series. I happened to come across this series when I was searching for Ron Ng's works. I had had watched him in The Four (TV series) and wondered why people liked him because in The Four he had few dialogues, almost had no expression,... anyway I was just curious.

Black Heart White Soul turned out to be a very good series. At least when I watched until episode 20 (out of 30) I liked how the story went. Roger Kwok, Kristal Tin, Ron Ng, and Waise Lee played important parts.

Ron Ng played a policeman who indirectly caused Roger Kwok's paralysis.  To atone for this mistake - and to ease his conscience - Funny (Ron Ng) befriended Mark (Roger Kwok) and told him [Mark] that if he ever needed for anything he could come to him [Funny]. Mark was a lawyer, an easy going guy who seemed to not mind of what happened years ago.

Because of his paralysis, it was not easy for Mark to get a client. His first client was May (Kristal Tin). May had been accused of being her boyfriend's accomplice in a robbery case, in which someone died. Mark was so good on defending May's case that Funny Sir who had arrested her in the first place became convinced that May was innocent. However, in the last minute, a new evidence came up and in the end May had to go to jail.

After this incident, Mark was getting well-known and hired to work in a big firm. When May had finished her term, they became close to one another. Mark liked May because she accepted his disability, and May liked Mark because he didn't care that she was an ex-con. However, Mark had a fear: that one day May would find out the real reason why she had to go to jail, because the robbery was not as simple as it had been.

Kristal Tin played May very well, or is it because I like her strong character. Other female characters here were: Denise (she was okay), Miu-miu and Gillian. Miu-miu was overweight yet pretty, but I often couldn't stand her comments. She shouted a lot. Gillian was more irritating: she cried all the time and got hysterical easily. She accused Funny of using her to incriminate her father without remembering that it had been her who had tried to commit suicide in order to force him to marry her.

The last episodes didn't go as well as I had expected. Funny worked under-cover that his character was different. A while ago I had seen him arguing with Mark and in the next scene he was agreeable to him again. The feeling was similar as when I was watching Line Walker (TV series) - one of the best TV series I have seen -  where Bao Seed jailed his enemies in sort of dog cages [reminded me of a scene in Gone But Not Forgotten] and Cheuk Sir turned evil. The characters just changed.

I think this series is one of TVB's best. 

The Shadow Boxing (1979)

What I like about this movie is that I learned something about corpse herding. It's explained in the beginning of the movie: "Transportation was not developed back then. If people died away from their home towns, they will be sent home by the corpse herders."

I had seen in Chinese movies - in backgrounds- a man led jumping zombies, and I paid little attention to it. Now I know that the man was transporting the dead bodies to their loved ones. He shouted: "The dead's on the road, the living stays away." to warn people to stay away or stay in their houses if the corpses were passing by.

Cecilia Wong and Wang Yue

In this movie itself, the location must be very remote, because seeing the hairstyles and clothes, this must be after the Ching dynasty and they should have had carts by then.

Liu Chia-liang played the corpse herder. Wang Yue played his apprentice. With a simple ceremony, they put mantra on the corpses so the corpses could walk (or hop) themselves. No need to carry them.

Corpse herder and his apprentice

On transporting the corpses this time, a fugitive sneaked in and pretended to be one of the corpses. In this way, he could pass through check points safely.

The herders rest, the corpse stay waiting

Like in other Liu Chia-liang movies, the fighting scenes were choreographed in unique styles. This time he took ideas from vampire moves. So far I am most impressed with the fighting styles in 'Return to the 36th Chamber' where Liu Chia-hui learnt how to fight by building bamboo scaffoldings.

The Kid with a Tattoo (1980)

Wang Yue (not Jimmy Wang Yu), who played Li Pao-tung, the central character in this movie, in my opinion, was very good in playing comedy and kung-fu. I've seen him a couple of times in movies directed by Liu Chia-liang, one of my favourite fighting instructors, and I have always been impressed. He was very good in playing naughty and proud characters. At times, the way he delivered his lines seemed like he knew everything, dared to do anything and thought about the consequences later. He can be compared to several more popular young Hong Kong actors at that time like Jackie Chan and Yuen Piao.

Li Pao-tung was the son of Li Chang-jian, a cotton shop owner who had been in the business for 20 years. The father wanted the son to inherit his business, but Li Pao-tung's interest was only to learn martial-arts. He secretly learned kung-fu from a beggar. When the beggar was murdered, Li Pao-tung was there to witness it and he heard the murderer said that the man who had hired him was 'The Sword in the Cotton'. Who else 'The Sword in the Cotton' if not his father Li Chang-jian? - the only cotton businessman in town. Since then, he saw his father in a different light. For example, when his father took him to a expedition company to learn how to ship cotton, the son thought that his father were teaching him to learn the situation so he went back to rob the place at night.

Wang Yue piled up 3 benches on a table and climbed to the top...

...and jumped to the chandelier.

He had an eagle tattoo on his chest, which he proudly showed to his friends. But when his father discovered it, he showed him that it could be erased because it was not permanent. Father - son relationship here was well depicted by Sun Chung, the director.

If you hit me again, I'll become a monk and you'll have no grandsons.

The final fight between Wang Yue and Wang Lung-wei was enjoyable to watch. At first glance, Wang Lung-wei should have been able to win - if you calculate the strength, experience, skills; but with his naughty tricks, our hero won.

Descendant of the Sun (1983)

I had so much fun watching this movie. It reminded me a lot of Superman II, where the superhero had enemies as strong as he was. Btw, the theme song was similar, too.

A poor old farmer found a baby boy inside a shining wall in a cave. He took the baby home and raised him with his wife. When the son had grown up, they found out that he was very strong (could lift a loaded cart) and could make peaches appeared out of nowhere in winter. Later we found out that he also could fly and speak to birds. This fairy had been sent from heaven to earth to fight a devil, who also had gone to earth approximately at the same time.

The fairy would end up in the princess's palace, guarding her against her evil uncle who wanted the throne. The devil would teamed up with the uncle.

Lung Tien-hsiang as the evil uncle and Ku Kuan-ching as the devil

Like in Superman, where the superhero will lose his power when he's near a lump of kryptonite; our fairy here also lost his power during  a solar eclipse. It was said that his power's source was the sun; although during night fight scenes he seemed do well.

Erl Tung-shen plays the title role
(L) the bird trainer - (R) the fairy.

If Clark Kent's friends cannot recognize him when he does not wear his glasses, here our fairy's friends couldn't recognize him although he didn't wear any disguise for his alter ego: the palace's bird trainer.

Knockabout (1979)

Yuen Biao and Bryan Leung played a pair of brothers who cheated people. One day they met a master kung-fu who defeated them, so they asked him to be their teacher. They didn't know that their teacher had been a criminal wanted by the authorities. When Yuen Biao accidentally found out their teacher's secret, the teacher fought them both and killed Bryan Leung. Yuen Biao then looked for a better kung-fu teacher so he could avenge his brother.

Yuen Biao and Bryan Leung

After watching the movie for an hour, I felt so bored. The acting was over the top. The first fight in the casino, for example, when Bryan Leung went under the table and the henchmen beat him on his way out, this move was repeated for five times. It was too many. I think twice was enough to make the humour worked.

Yuen Biao, been introduced. 

Sammo Hung directed the movie. So I blamed him for using too many close-ups, with the actors trying to be funny by making facial expressions. It's like watching cheap soap operas.

However, the movie started to be very interesting after Sammo Hung took Yuen Biao as his student. Their relationship was like cat and dog at this stage so the teacher used as many uncomfortable methods as he could to punish his student. There was this scene when he punished his student to flip 10 times.

Sammo Hung's monkey style

The most incredible parts were the both rope jumping scenes: the stamina training and the final fight. Although at first it seemed to waste my time watching this movie, as soon as it got to the training sequence, it all paid off. This movie was a must see.

The beginning of the rope jumping scene

There was also a scene when Sammo Hung cooked Beggar's Chicken. It exactly like Gu Long described in Swordsman Journey (Wu Qing Bi Jian): a whole chicken - complete with feathers - was wrapped with clay, and put in a stove.  

Preparing Beggar's Chicken

The Magnificent Butcher (1979)

This movie was recommended and after watching, I must say that I like it very much. The storyline is also very good for a kung-fu movie.

Sammo Hung played Butcher Wing, one of the 3 students of Wong Fei-hung. Two other students were played by Yuen Piao and Wei Pai.

Wong Fei-hung was a famous character, especially since Jet Li played him [Once Upon a Time in China]. Jacky Chan also played the character in Drunken Master 1 and 2 [I watched Drunken Master 1 in early 80's but didn't know that the main character's named was Wong Fei-hung, because the movie had been dubbed in English and the character had been named 'Freddy']. There was also a TVB series called 'Patriot Wong'.

Wong Fei-hung, a servant and his 3 students

Nowadays the title 'butcher' can also means 'he who kills (human) with a knife', but in this movie, Wing was a butcher, a meat seller. He was a hot blooded man who often did things without thinking. 'Hit first,  ask questions later.' He was honest, but not very bright. This made him gullible.

First he came into trouble after he beat one of the men from Five Dragons School, only because someone running after the man and shouting 'thief!' He didn't give both men a chance to explain what the man had taken. Mr Ko, the leader of Five Dragons School, swore not to forgive Butcher Wing if the butcher ever made another mistake. So what if the butcher was found beside the dead body of Mr. Ko's god-daughter, in the butcher's own house? The butcher was innocent, of course, but how to explain to Mr Ko, who had already had prejudice against him?

Sammo Hung might be looked over-weight, but when he fought, he was as quick and as able as those who had proportional bodies. The final fight between Butcher Wing and Mr Ko was well choreographed and I really enjoyed watching Sammo Hung doing somersaults.

Butcher Wing vs Master Ko

In best kung-fu films lists, usually it's 'The Prodigal Son' who made it. [Sammo Hung, Yen Piao, Wei Pai, and Lim Chen-ying were in both The Prodigal Son and The Magnificent Butcher.] Comparing the two, I myself prefer Magnificent Butcher because  1) The story is better (imho)  2) I think the fight scenes in Magnificent Butcher are better = or perhaps because I was amazed how an overweight man like Sammo Hung could be so agile.

In The Prodigal Son, although Yen Piao played the lead character, it was Lim Chen-ying who stole the attention. I mostly admired the make-up, how he had been transformed into a 'beautiful' leading lady.

Before and after

A Better Tomorrow (1986)

It's not easy for someone with a dark past to live a new life. People will judge with prejudice. It's even harder if your own brother cannot believe you have changed.

Ti Lung played Ho. He worked for a big money counterfeiter in Hong Kong. Chow Yun-fat played Mark, his best friend. Ho and Mark usually worked together. Ho had a sick father and a younger brother, Kit, who later would become a police inspector. Kit couldn't get promotion because his brother was a criminal.

L-R: The boss, Ho, Mark, Shing

While delivering a suitcase of counterfeit money in Taiwan, Ho was accompanied by Shing, who betrayed him. Ho was arrested by the local authorities and spent three years in jail in Taiwan. Mark killed one of the people who had betrayed Ho and because of the shoot-out, he became limp. Ho's father was also killed by a Triad member.

Three years later, Ho returned to Hong Kong. Kit was bitter because of his father's death and could not receive and forgive Ho. Kit spent his days following Shing, who had replaced Ho's position as the Big Brother. Meanwhile, Ho determined to live his new life in an honest way and became a taxi driver.

Ho, Kit and Jackie (Kit's girlfriend)
Both Kit and Jackie are clumsy

I think Ti Lung gave a good performance as an ex Triad member who wanted to earn his bread honestly. He shallowed his pain when his brother turned him down. Kit was still his brother, though, and when Kit was in danger, he did not hesitate to protect him. There was no doubt about Chow Yun-fat's performance, because he even won the Best Actor Award for his work here. With his tall features, dark trench-coat and Alain Delon sunglasses; he looked perfect as a hitman [in contrary, I always dislike how he looked in traditional costumes when he played in martial arts films]. When he talked about being forced to drink urine at gunpoint, it sounded real, because he really spoke from experience. However, my favourite scene was when Ho saw him again after three years. Mark - in rags - walked with difficulty towards Shing's parked car to clean its windshield. Ho [and I] was shocked to see Mark like this. Shing threw money to the ground for him. Compared that to the scene in the beginning, when Mark gave money to a subordinate. He did not threw the money to the ground, but gave it into his hand.

It's Lesley Cheung who was the weakest among the three leads. With a sick father, I believe it was Ho's illicit money who paid for his training in police academy. Kit must be very narrow minded, stubborn and bitter, if he hated Ho blindly. There are people who always see the best in others and there are people who always see the worst.

Kit brings someone's trash into his own kitchen to search for a clue.
Why he didn't do it outside? The house has a yard.

The theme song by Joseph Koo was beautiful. It was sung by Lesley Cheung. Lesley Cheung's was one of the most beautiful male singing voices I've ever heard.

But everytime I read this movie's title, the first thing comes into my mind is a song sung by a children choir (also in this movie) titled 'Tomorrow Will Be Better'. Back in high school, I asked my friends to write one of their favorite songs's lyrics in my book. [Actually I wanted to collect their handwritings, because I think, handwritings portray who you are.] One of them wrote this song's English lyrics:

When you wake up in the morning
When you haven't started to think
There is a whole brand new day
Open wide and waiting for you
I know in life's sorrow,
you're on the verge of drowning
May your tears flee with yesterday
blown away with the wind
...

It's a very inspirational song, like the song Tomorrow from Annie or You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel.

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979)

Like The Sword (1980), the swordplays in Last Hurrah for Chivalry look wonderful. One did not merely bang his sword to the opponent's sword, but aimed for the body. It was attack and defend.

If a movie is made with care, if the director is not burdened with a target (like he have to make several movies in a year), with a good choreographer (or two) and capable actors; the result can be as good as this one. For scenes like in this movie only could be achieved with intensive rehearsals and many takes.

First, we were introduced to Ko Peng. He was about to marry an-ex prostitute. He had bought her liberty with 1000 taels, but apparently he had forgotten to test her love and loyalty, for she betrayed him when someone paid her more money.

The wedding ceremony was trashed by Pak Chong-tong and his gang. He claimed that Ko Peng's recent house had been his, that Ko Peng's late father had taken the house from him, and now he came to get it back. At this moment, we perhaps took pity of Ko Peng, but as the movie progressed, we would see how evil his character was, how he destroyed good traditional values. Ko Peng was played by Kong Lau. I often see him playing supporting characters in TVB series, so I was rather surprised to see how good he played the final duel vs Wei Pai and Damian Lau.

Pak Chong-tong, on the other hand, was also not a good master. We saw how bad he treated his men. He used them to kung-fu practice. He beat them and didn't care whether they got hurt, crippled, or dead.

Then we were introduced to the two protagonists: Cheung Sam 'The Magic Sabre' and his friend Tsing Yi (Greeno). Tsing Yi was a killer for hire, but Cheung Sam seemed to have retired. This latter often bullied his sister's future husband.

Tsing Yi (Damian Lau), Cheung Sam (Wei Pai), and
a waterfall between

Cheung Sam's mother was gravely ill. Ko Peng, who wanted to kill Pak Chong-tong, heard about Cheung Sam's great skill, but realized that he could not buy him with money. Ko Peng gave Cheung Sam's dying mother the best medicine and when she died, held a big burial ceremony. Cheung Sam now owed him and voluntarily worked for him.

A hitman and a prostitute
Tsing Yi and the woman who loves him

Ko Peng paid a killer of hire named 'Let It Be' (strange name...) to kill his own teacher and let Cheung Sam take vengeance for him. Cheung Sam successfully killed Let It Be and later went for Pak Chong-tong. Tsing Yi knew that Cheung Sam wouldn't be able to handle Pak Chong-tong alone, so he went with him to help.

Cheung Sam vs Let It Be

When Pak Chong-tong attacked Ko Peng's marriage, he was the only one high-skilled, but now he surrounded himself by great fighters, notably the Sleeping Buddha. After Cheung Sam killed Pak Chong-tong, why would Ko Peng not leave him alone? I don't know why Ko Peng had to remove Cheung Sam and Tsing Yi. Would it be a disgrace if the world knew he hired Cheung Sam and Tsing Yi to get his house back? Or did he just like to kill everyone around him?

Cheung Sam vs Ko Peng

Treasure Hunters (1981)

Fu Sheng and Chang Chan-peng played two naughty boys who ruined a gambling house and wanted by the crossed-eyed chief police. Chang Chan-peng told Fu Sheng that he knew about a hidden treasure, but first they had to steal a bunch of letters from an old man who owned an antique store.

Using a mirror to speak with an interlocutor behind you
without turning your head

Meanwhile Liu Chia-hui played a monk from Fahua temple, who a dressed in white and cleaned his hands with tissue paper after touching anything. This monk met everybody interested in the treasure, but all the people he had met were dead. A normal person would assume that the monk killed all those people. However, our two naughty boys witnessed that Master Mo, played by Wang Lung-wei, was the one who killed those people after the monk had left.

Just found out that a thief dressed like this, so
the owner of the house won't hear his breath

Now, the two boys decided to help the monk clean his name. The treasure was hidden in the Fahua temple, anyway.

The director, Liu Chia-yung, played the old man who owned the antique store. He and his brother Liu Chia-hui made the fight scenes in this movie could be compared to the works of Kuo Chiu, Chiang Sheng, and those from Venom Mob. The woman who was with Master Mo, played by Yeung Ching-ching, played double swords so well. She was as competent as the guys.

Five lohans formation

Master Mo's high kung-fu skill made the good guys had to use five lohans formation to defeat him; but together with his female assistant, Master Mo also had this flying shallow style. In all, this was an action packed movie and highly entertaining.

Buddha's Palm (1982)

Now this is a fun kung-fu movie. The cgi is outdated, of course, but who cares?

The story was narrated, but the narrator sometimes scolded the characters.

Due to low budget, the battle of Tiansan scenes
are replaced with cartoons

Erl Tung-sen played a low skilled swordsman until he fell into a ravine and helped by a giant bird who brought him to a blind swordsman, known as the Flaming Cloud Devil. It could be guessed that after being taught by the Flaming Could Devil, our hero became invincible - or almost, because his enemies used dirty tricks.

He made friends with two female heroes, who had been trying to heal their master's ruined face. The big enemy in this movie was someone called Heavenly Foot, who could stretched his foot to kick an enemy from a far.

Erl Tung-sen and Yu On-on, here plays a pair of lovers

Dameng, the giant bird, liked to help. He took care of Flaming Cloud Devil in a cave. By its look, one could tell that this movie had a low budget. The bird looked like a barongsai, with face seemed to come from Bali island.

L-R : Alex Man, Derek Yee and Dameng

Must be great to have Dameng as a pet

Lo Lieh played Pi Gu of East Island, a swordsman who always came late. He announced his own arrival. It was kind of annoying after a while, but when he was badly wounded by Heavenly Foot, I felt sad and hoped he wouldn't die. He did not die. Heavenly Foot also did not die in the end because this was a fun movie and we should not take the story seriously.

Clans of Intrigue (1977)

This movie is based on the first 3 books from The Legend of Chu Liu-hsiang, but as its running time is only about 1 1/2 hours, some parts have been - of course- cut out.

Chu Liu-hsiang was a dandy man, still I was amused with the big chains on Ti Lung's costume. [Later in the Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman, he wore more accessories on his hair.]

See the chain accessories. The boat in the background looked expensive.

Three big chiefs from different clans had been murdered, poisoned by the magic water. If in the book the poison left no trace, here the bodies were bloated. The owner of Palace Magic Water accused our master thief Chu Liu-hsiang as the culprit and as our hero denied the accusation, they gave him one month to catch the real guilty person.

Chu Liu-hsiang found that the 3 dead leaders had been lured out by a letter from a beautiful woman, who had been married to the chief of the Beggars' Clan. The woman admitted that she had sent the letters, looking for help because her husband had been murdered.

Chu Liu-hsiang had a problem with his nose.
It's the first time I saw he used an inhaler, though.

The plots were a bit different from the book, mostly because one of the Japanese hero's children was a girl.

A very young Norman Tsui in a little role.
He played a student of one of the dead chiefs.

The Dragon Family

I remember watching this movie in the 80's and by that time it was the best movie I'd seen in years, although my cousin ruined the ending moment for me, because when the bad guy was in flame, he said that it was only a doll. Last night Celestial channel showed this and it turned out that I had forgotten so many scenes.

The Dragon family (Lung family) was the center of the story. I liked how they used the actors's real names for the characters' names. The father of the Lung family was the big brother of the 4 who had the power in Hong Kong triad and this organization had swore not to sell drugs. Problem came when Father Lung's godson, Alan (Alan Tam), killed one of the 2nd brother's sidekicks for selling drugs. The 2nd brother was furious because he thought the big brother had violated his affair and he wanted the organization to end. The accountant was panic because there was a lack of 5 millions in the balance and he privately asked the big brother for time to settle the matter. Meanwhile, Qiang (another sidekick - I forgot this actor's name, but he was very popular then after playing in Reincarnated series) came from abroad to help the 2nd brother. Together with the accountant, they set up a trap for the big brother. Lung's youngest son, A Yeh (Tan Ceng Yeh), liked to gamble and the accountant proposed to A Yeh that they would forget his debts (for his father refused to pay them) if he could received a drug cargo on his pier. A Yeh agreed but the 2nd brother caught him on the move and wanted a meeting which ended in the big brother's death. Not satisfied, the 2nd brother made a big massacre in the funeral house and killed the 3rd & 4th brothers, but Qiang stabbed him as well - made the 4 brothers were all gone and left Qiang as the leader of the organization. There was a funny line when Qiang's people made a comment that Qiang was more popular than Chou Yuen Fat.


From the Lung family, only A Hua (Liu The Hua) and the mother were alive, plus A Cung (Mo Sau Cung) who was studying in London, and Alan who had run away to Taiwan after killing the 2nd brother's sidekick. A Cung went back to Hong Kong, only to found his life was in great danger and ran to Taiwan to find Alan, and both went back to Hong Kong for revenge, when they accidentally found A Hua, who worked as a pimp (He was selling 2 actresses. One of them was Chang Man Yi, I didn't catch the 2nd's name because in the subtitles it was her Cantonese name). When A Hua brought them to meet the mother, who lived in a boat, it was too late because the boat and the mother were on fire, burned by Qiang's people. The revenge must go on!

Other actors I knew was Miao Ciao Wei, who played A Wei, Lung's eldest son. The actors who played the accountant, the chief police and Uncle Bao were also familiar, but I didn't know their names.

The actions were great, and my favourite was still the same: the scene where A Yeh ran away with the mother on a wheelchair from the funeral house until how A Hua sacrificed his hand to stop the wheelchair before it hit a car. After years, it was still a very entertaining movie, although now I think it seemed that there was no law in Hong Kong. Also found the acting was so-so, except Liu The Hua and the actor who played Qiang and Uncle Bao. Also loved A Yeh's sweater!