Chui Siu Ming Movies
A children's fantasy adventure, Warriors of Virtue features five superheroes, dressed in kangaroo-like outfits, who are known as the Roos. The Roos inhabit a magical underground world which is threatened by the foppish villain Komodo (Angus Macfayden), who is mining a life-enhancing mineral from the River of Life. Ryan Jeffers (Mario Yedidia) arrives in this fantasy world unexpectedly, after taking a dare from a bully to walk across a whirlpool in an underground sewer. Ryan has with him an ancient Chinese manuscript, the Tao, given to him by a mystical cook in a Chinese restaurant, Ming (Dennis Dun), before Ryan was suddenly sucked into the nether world. The Tao contains secrets coveted both by Komodo and by Master Chung (Chao-Li Chi), an ancient guru who rules the Roos' kingdom. But only Ryan can read the manuscript. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angus MacFadyen, Mario Yedidia, (more)
- 1994
Master Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai directed this lyrical, dream-like martial arts epic. A famously troubled shoot, the film took two years and 40 million dollars to produce (a shocking sum for a national cinema populated with low-budget quickies) and features a virtual who's-who of the Hong Kong film world. Conceived as a prequel to the popular martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Hero by Jin Yong, the movie is less a straightforward action thriller than a visually striking meditation on memory and love. It nominally centers on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), who ekes out a lonely existence as an itinerant hired sword. Getting on in years and tormented by memories of a lost love, he also works an agent for other mercenary assassins from his remote desert abode. Ouyang's old friend and fellow swordsman, Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung Kar-fai, who starred in the The Lover) drowns his lovelorn misery in a magical wine that makes him forget. Later, a mysterious young man named Murong Yang (Brigitte Lin) hires Ouyang to kill his sister's unfaithful suitor, Huang Yaoshi. The following day, that spurned sister, Murong Yin (Lin again), hires Ouyang to protect her dearly beloved. Meanwhile, Hong Qi (pop star Jackie Cheung) finds some redemption for a life of killing by accepting a poor girl's offer to avenge her brother's death -- a task that Ouyang brusquely shunned. In another subplot, a master swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is slowly going blind. He agrees to defend a village from horse thieves so that he can afford to go home and see his wife before his eyesight fails completely. This film is one of the most celebrated examples of 1990s Hong Kong cinema: it won multiple awards in its native Hong Kong, along with a Golden Osella for Best Cinematography at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, (more)
Riding the boom of action-adventure yarns following the success of the Indiana Jones trilogy, Tsui Siu-ming spins this big-budget spectacle about really good feng shui. The film centers around a mountainous region in an Asian backwater banana republic reputed to have such good geomantic qualities that the descendents of all those buried in its earth will be blessed with fantastic fortune and good health. However, if a special ceremony is not performed on the grounds, then the luck will only last for 24 years. The film opens with a trio of Chinese Americans venturing to these mountains hoping to change their luck; Anna Wong (Moon Lee) is an executive facing a corporate meltdown, Wisely (Chin Kar-lok) is dying of brain cancer, and UCLA Prof. Chang (played by the director) is an expert in feng shui. Tin can potentate General Nguen (Yuen Wah) also has designs on the grounds -- hoping to turn his third world, fourth rate country into a superpower. Along the way, the three heroes fall in with a group of local rebels, including the high-kicking Nguen Van Vong (Sibelle Hu). ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Simon Yam Tat-wah stars in this action flick as two men named Chow -- Chow Tak-kan is a nebbish geek with bad teeth while Chow Man-heng is a slick confidence man. When the latter is being chased by the cops following a botched robbery, he plows into a car driven by the former. In the chaos that ensues, one Chow dies gruesomely while the other is injured, leaving his features horribly obscured. The police are convinced that the survivor is Man-heng and insist that he committed the robbery in spite of the patient's strenuous objections. Soon Chow finds himself in a mental hospital with cops itching for a confession and a band of gangsters looking for Man-heng's ill-gotten loot. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Yam
- 1985
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Using a legend about an abbot's outer robe and turmoil during the Ming Dynasty as an excuse for kung-fu action, this otherwise routine martial arts film emphasizes honor and sentimentality. At the core of a peasant revolt is the famous Shaolin Temple, threatened with destruction by Ming soldiers if something is not done soon. So Yuan Hui, the abbot, gives two disciples his distinctive robe for safe-keeping and then sets fire to himself to stop the Ming soldiers from attacking (they are after him). When one of the monks entrusted with Yuan Hui's robe is killed, the garment is stolen by enemy forces. The rest of the saga focuses on recapturing the robe, a task laid at the feet of a horse dealer and his daughters.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Famed martial arts director and choreographer Yuen Woo-ping spins this old school period kung-fu flick featuring some particularly amazing fight scenes. The film opens with inept coiffeur Shang (Yuen Shun-Yi) getting canned from his job and returning to the hinterland to find his old man. Once there, he is unable to find his dad, who mysterious disappeared. Shang does run into his buddy Si-ming (Tsui Siu-ming), who is now a monk. Having both been raised by the same Shaolin master, the two are crack kung-fu artists in their own right. Si-ming finds himself being blackmailed, when, years ago, he violated his oath by drinking liquor, and subsequently getting framed for the rape and murder of a woman. Now a shadowy crime syndicate has the goods on the monk and forces him to do their dirty work, lest his alleged crimes be revealed. Meanwhile, Shang learns that his father stumbled onto a plot by a bunch of foreigners to steal China's cultural treasures. When Shang also discovers Si-tung's blackmailers role in the whole affair, Shang starts to question the loyalty of his friend. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
