Author Topic: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 561614 times)

oldkid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1340 on: July 28, 2010, 11:34:20 PM »
Stephen Chow v. Stephen Chow!

Forbidden City Cop



A slight take off of Bond films, Forbidden City Cop is a silly comedy with a couple decent characters.  Ling Ling Fat (which means 008) is a pretty useless bodyguard for the Emperor, having the temperament of Bond's Q rather than the famous spy himself.  In fact, he is such an anti-Bond, that he has a wonderful relationship with his wife, and refuses to look at any other woman.  That is, until the Emperor commands him to investigate a famous foreign prostitute to see if he is an appropriate companion for the Emperor.  008 then becomes so in-fat-uated with her that he swipes a generous gift to his wife in order to give it to the prostitute.

There are some marvelous aspects of this movie.  The relationship between 008 and his wife is well played and truly both touching and funny, but not silly.  It was just enjoyable to watch.  In fact, my favorite character is certainly Carina Lau, whose acting is marvelous here.  Also, while most of the film was played out pretty obviously, there were a couple surprises that I truly didn't expect.  It was nice to see a somewhat low-brow comedy have some good turns to it. 

However, I found myself often wishing that it had been played as a straight forward James Bond spoof.  Certainly the opening title credits was an excellent spoof, and the inventions scene had Bond written all over it.  But that was pretty much it.  I have to say, if it was just a James Bond spoof, it wouldn't have had the wonderful acting, but there was so much they could have done...  I highly recommend it, and then you decide yourself.  4/5

Flirting Scholar



Tong Pak Fu seems to have everything going for him.  He's the most important scholar in China.  He's the greatest painter and the best poet.  He has eight beautiful wives.  However, he has two sorrows.  His brother who is constantly asking for money, which he immediately spends.  And his eight wives are selfish, never wanting to spend time with him or to pay attention to his interests, but only wanting to gamble.  What to do?  Of course, he gets away from his wives and looks for another woman to court.  And he has one big secret: he is also an expert in... kung fu!

Okay, it's just silly.  The situations are ridiculous and the set ups are just Chinese sit-com.  However the gags are executed brilliantly.  I haven't laughed out loud so much at a film since the Passion of the Christ the last Marx Brothers movie I saw.  The mock kung fu scenes were well done, but the comic timing was  brilliant.  There's really not much to say.  It's not like it's a top 100 or have any depth to it.  It's just hilarious.  Nothing wrong with that.  4/5

Verdict:

This is really tough.  The softening of the comedy in Forbidden City Cop was really well done in the marital relationship, but in the end it was an uneven film.  I have to place my vote with Flirting Scholar. It was just laugh out loud funny throughout the whole film, which is what it intended to produce.  However, I really do recommend both films.

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roujin

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1341 on: July 28, 2010, 11:39:27 PM »
Chow!

Looking forward to both of these a lot.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1342 on: July 29, 2010, 12:26:53 AM »
Yea, Flirting Scholar is unadulterated fun. I was laughing from the first few moments all the way to the conclusion. Definitely one I hope more people check on as the bracket goes on.

BlueVoid

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1343 on: July 29, 2010, 01:26:10 AM »
That screencap alone makes Flirting Scholar round 3 worthy.

Nice writeups guys.  I'm glad Raise the Red Lantern stays alive.
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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1344 on: July 29, 2010, 07:56:38 AM »
"Zhang" is his family name. . . .
Yea, I hate how the whole name thing works. It confuses me.

IMDb Westernizes the name order (i.e. surname last).  In nearly all cases, the part of the name with the hyphen is the person's given name (i.e. Kar-wai is Wong Kar-wai's given name, not surname).  The only exception I know of is Hirokazu Kore-eda (i.e. Kore-eda, also printed without the hypen, is his surname).
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1345 on: July 29, 2010, 10:40:13 AM »
That screencap alone makes Flirting Scholar round 3 worthy.
That's one of the saner fights. The movie is pretty insane as I think I mentioned in my round 1 verdict.

sdedalus

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1346 on: July 29, 2010, 01:05:35 PM »
"Zhang" is his family name. . . .
Yea, I hate how the whole name thing works. It confuses me.

IMDb Westernizes the name order (i.e. surname last).  In nearly all cases, the part of the name with the hyphen is the person's given name (i.e. Kar-wai is Wong Kar-wai's given name, not surname).  The only exception I know of is Hirokazu Kore-eda (i.e. Kore-eda, also printed without the hypen, is his surname).

Also Pen-Ek Ratanaruang.

imdb seems confused by Thai names, as they have his and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's names listed in the correct order.
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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1347 on: July 30, 2010, 09:02:42 PM »
I know it played here for the first time this year.  But I thought it may have been nominated last year.  Guess not!

If you are talking about  Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl, there were several votes for it in last years filmspots.

sdedalus

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1348 on: July 30, 2010, 10:35:57 PM »
True, but as long as it didn't actually get enough to be a nominee, it's still eligible for this year.
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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: 1990s Far East Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #1349 on: July 31, 2010, 12:21:31 AM »
True, but as long as it didn't actually get enough to be a nominee, it's still eligible for this year.

It did not deserve being a nominee last year and it still does not deserve it this year.