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Poll

Your Favorite Stephen Chow Film Is...

From Beijing with Love
1 (3.3%)
Forbidden City Cop
0 (0%)
God of Cookery
1 (3.3%)
The King of Comedy
2 (6.7%)
Shaolin Soccer
5 (16.7%)
Kung Fu Hustle
14 (46.7%)
CJ7
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
6 (20%)
don't like any
1 (3.3%)
Journey to the West
0 (0%)
The Mermaid
0 (0%)
Tai Chi
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 30

Author Topic: Chow, Stephen  (Read 2766 times)

chesterfilms

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Chow, Stephen
« on: August 29, 2008, 05:27:55 PM »
Vote!
« Last Edit: January 29, 2018, 11:36:18 PM by 1SO »
What? What are you talking about? It's girls and spaghetti. We love girls and spaghetti.

duder

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Stephen Chow
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2008, 05:29:28 PM »
Kung Fu Hustle!

Other than that I've only seen the Miramax mangled version of Shaolin Soccer (it's still pretty funny).
...

edgar00

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Stephen Chow
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2008, 05:40:25 PM »
I saw the two movies that gained some popularity around my parts, Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. Both had their strengths (fun characters, imaginative) and their weaknesses (a bit too crazy at times for me to find them consistently funny).

Still, he's alright.
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Chow, Stephen - Directors Best Poll
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2011, 12:28:01 PM »
Voted for King of Comedy, but I need to see more from him before feeling confident in that vote.

MartinTeller

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Re: Chow, Stephen - Directors Best Poll
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2011, 12:46:45 PM »
I've only seen Kung Fu Hustle, it was okay.  Withholding my vote until I see more (if I see more).

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Chow, Stephen - Directors Best Poll
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2011, 12:48:41 PM »
KFH seems to be everyone's favorite, and I think it's a really enjoyable film, but it's also easily my least favorite Chow. Though I've also only seen it, Shaolin Soccer, and King of Comedy.

StudentOFilm

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Re: Chow, Stephen - Directors Best Poll
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2011, 04:58:09 PM »
1. Kung Fu Hustle
2. Shaolin Soccer
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1SO

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Chow, Stephen
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2014, 12:52:37 AM »
1. Kung Fu Hustle
2. Shaolin Soccer
3. The God of Cookery
4. Forbidden City Cop
5. From Beijing with Love

6. Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
7. King of Comedy
8. The Mermaid

9. CJ7
« Last Edit: February 02, 2018, 12:33:46 AM by 1SO »

1SO

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Re: Chow, Stephen - Directors Best Poll
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2014, 01:19:03 AM »

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
"Miss, can I help?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Get lost."


I have been missing Stephen Chow and his brand of live-action cartoon insanity. Like most people, I discovered him with Shaolin Soccer and he built on that with Kung Fu Hustle, which contains the most inventive use of digital effects since The Matrix. I enjoyed them so much, I even sat through CJ7, which was as bad as it looked. It's taken 5 years for Chow to make another film, and this one captures Chow in all his glory before veering too far away from its bullseye, never fully recovering.

Until I saw this, I never thought of Chow as the current leader of a genre that's been part of HK cinema forever. Kung-fu action fantasy  comedies have endured for years, and I've sat through a few, but the 'paper and scissors' practical effects always kept me at a distance. With Chow, the quality of the effects are akin to a Stephen Sommers film, but the imagination unleashed by the CG is eye-popping. Chow goes well past fake looking into hilariously surreal. He makes the limitation work for him as part of the fun. It’s something a more realistic-looking effect wouldn’t have managed.

The first two major set-pieces are everything I've been missing, but in the 2nd half the story gets bogged down. I don't want to sound discouraging about Chow getting serious with themes of Buddhism and enlightenment, but those ideas don't know how to co-exist with the fun. It takes the air out of the film, so that even the mega-spectacle finale goes down like a leaking party balloon.

Shu Qi plays a lead role in this film. A beauty who works with prominent directors because she's that good an actress. She appears to be having a blast bouncing around Chow's playpen, and gives very entertaining reaction shots during the fight scenes that are endearing, while helping to sell the fantasy. I don't get why she isn't a bigger star.
Rating: * * 1/2

roujin

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Re: Chow, Stephen - Directors Best Poll
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2014, 01:44:51 PM »
1. The King of Comedy (1999)
2. Shaolin Soccer (2001)
3. God of Cookery (1996)
4. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013)

 

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