Law Kar-ying Movies
A spoiled rich boy and his two unruly friends are enrolled in Police Cadet training school to hilarious results in this Hong Kong comedy starring popular actor/singer Ronald Cheng. Lung (Cheng) is a rowdy brat with no sense of respect or responsibility, and his father has grown increasingly concerned about the rabble-rousing youngster's future. In a desperate bid to teach his son, and the boy's equally obnoxious friends, a lesson in adulthood, Lung's father enrolls all three in the cadet training program that's sure to whip them into shape. Despite his best intentions, Lung's father finds that his efforts are in vain as the three slackers vow to get into as much mischief as needed to get expelled from the prison-like school. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Cheng, Stephy Tang, (more)
- 2003
Director Yu Zhong's slice of Chinese life Wode Meili Xiangchou (Far From Home) combines the story of a young woman trying to make it in a new city with the tale of a single mother who loses her job in that same city. Liu Xuan plays Xi, who, after a period of unemployment upon her arrivinal in Guangzhou, takes a job as a waitress. She makes new friends with her employers and her regular customers, but life a new place is still difficult on her. Xu Jinglei must decide to either leave town, or begin a new business venture. The women's friends and mothers provide support and guidance. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liu Xuan, Xu Jinglei, (more)
International action star Jackie Chan shifts gears in Bolei Cheun, in which martial arts are put on the back burner and romantic comedy is in the forefront. Bu (Shu Qi), the daughter of a pair of Taiwanese restaurant owners, one day finds a bottle floating near the docks with a message inside. The note reads, "Do you know I'm waiting for you?" and is signed "Albert," with an address in Hong Kong attached. Bu, convinced this is her destiny, flies to Hong Kong to meet the mysterious Albert, only to find he's a gay cosmetologist (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) who intended for the note to be found by his ex-boyfriend. But Albert is understanding and lets Bu stay at his apartment. Albert lets Bu tag along for a photo shoot he's working and she meets multi-millionaire C.N. Chan (Jackie Chan) when she helps him ward off a gang of toughs hired by L. W. Lo (Emil Chow), who became Chan's enemy in their schooldays and is still out to make his life miserable. Chan is single and a bit lonely, and quickly finds himself attracted to Bu. Bu discovers she likes Chan as well, but things become sticky when her boyfriend flies in from Taiwan to find out what she's done -- and Lo sends an American martial arts champion out to kidnap Chan's new love. While Bolei Cheun does feature a few sequences displaying Jackie Chan's unique fighting style and acrobatic dexterity, the emphasis is on the story and characters rather than the action, with Chan in a rare romantic lead, Leung cast against type and Shu Qi dominating most of the film's first act. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Chan, Shu Qi, (more)
Superstar comedian Stephen Chow continues with his streak of successful of his courtroom-themed comedies, like Justice, My Foot and Hail to the Judge, with this yarn set in 1899. Chan (Chiau) is not only a brilliant lawyer, but also a master practical joker known far and wide as "The King of Brain-trusters." His perennial victim is the long-suffering Foon (Eric Kot), his clueless assistant. After 20 years of putting up with Chan's japing, Foon one day freaks out and flees to Hong Kong, which has just been placed under British law. When Foon winds up with a murder rap, Chan ventures down to the colony looking to free him. Unfortunately, Chan's buffoonery soon lands him jail for contempt of court and his wife, Wu-man (Karen Mok Man-wai) is forced to take over. Yau Chingmy, Bowie Lam, and Law Kar-ying also appear. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Following up on his acclaimed work Full Throttle, Derek Yee Tung-sing made the unusual move of not only collaborating with movie industry unknown Law Chi-leung, but also to make category III sex comedy. After a string of commercial flops, art house director Sing (Leslie Cheung) resorts to making a softcore film called Viva Erotica in order to pay the bills. His gangster producer, Chung (Law Kar-ying), insists that Sing cast his beautiful, though talentless, girlfriend Mango (Shu Qi) in the lead role. As Sing wrestles with his desire to make this film something more than a cheap porn flick, he also wrestles with his desire for Miss Mango. Meanwhile, Sing's girlfriend, May (Karen Mok), is having a fit over her boyfriend's new project and his sudden lack of passion at home. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Though perhaps best appreciated by those familiar with Banana Yoshimoto's 1988 cult novel, this film version offers a quirky love story that will still please the uninitiated. The story is presented from the viewpoint of Louie, a young hairstylist who attends the funeral of the grandmother of his friend Aggie. The old woman had been one of Louie's customers. Aggie wants to be a chef, but following the loss of her grandmother, the only family she had left, the girl falls into a deep funk, finding comfort only in the aromas found in her refrigerator. Louie lives at home with his mother Emma, a nightclub owner. Hoping to lift Aggie's spirits, he invites her to spend the night. There she learns that Louie's mother was once his father. It seems that following the death of Louie's real mother, his father was so bereaved that he underwent a sex change operation following his wife's death in order to keep her memory alive. This intrigues Aggie and she and Emma become close friends. She then moves in with Louie and Emma. Louie and Aggie soon become best friends, something that angers Louie's girlfriend Jenny. Still the threesome are happy in their new friendship until one of Emma's beaus learns of her past and reacts violently. Thrown into an emotional tailspin, Louie runs off to the Sichuan province on the Mainland, leaving only Aggie to save him from ruination. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Hong Kong filmmaker Ching Siu-tung directed this lavish epic adventure set simultaneously in the present and in 1930s China, with the entire cast playing dual roles. International action star Jet Li plays Chow Si-kit, a bookish novelist whose writing is adversely affected by his problematic relationship with his wife Monica (Rosamund Kwan). Chow is best known for a series of books under the "King of Adventurers" banner in which his courageous alter-ego, an adventurer patterned on Indiana Jones from Raiders of the Lost Ark, uses his impressive martial-arts skills and prodigious cunning to fight the Japanese. Chow's personal life is threatening his deadline, however, so his assistants Shing (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Yvonne (Charlie Yeung) decide to help him out by setting up a story line, which is then played out for the viewer. Hero Chow (Li again) is asked to purloin a letter from the Japanese embassy by the Chinese government. Writer Chow is upset that the story's heroine, Cammy (Kwan again) reminds him of Monica, so he makes her a villain. Chow and Shing's 1930s alter-egos, meanwhile, are looking for a magical box (not unlike the Lost Ark of the Covenant in the film's model) which can be used to divine the future or -- if the necessary safeguards are not followed -- bring evil onto whoever opens it. The box is also being sought by the Japanese military and a group of criminals called the Salt Gang, whose leader (Ngai Sing) makes the mistake of opening it without taking steps to protect himself. Monica then takes over the writing and sends the characters to the magical scripture which can help them use the box's power to defeat their enemies. Another version of the film cuts all of the modern-day material and adds new 1930s footage to explain the abrupt shifts in story line caused by the intervention of the multiple authors. Law Kar-ying co-stars with Billy Chow. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
The second part of Hong Kong filmmaker Jeff Lau's extravagant visualization of the classic novel Xi You Ji (Journey to the West), this follow-up to the same year's A Chinese Odyssey, Part One -- Pandora's Box continues the fantasy-driven story of the introduction of Buddhism to China. This installment takes up where the original left off, with Joker (Stephen Chow) stranded five centuries in the past and falling for a Spider Web immortal called Lin Zixia (Athena Chu Yun), who is actually part of Buddha's lampwick-given flesh. The other part of the wick is Zixia's evil sister, Lin Qingxia (Ada Choi), who is just one of many enemies whom Joker must face and defeat in his efforts to change the past and save the dying Pak Jing-jing (Karen Mok), who was poisoned by the 30th Madam (Lam Kit Ying) in the first film. The film's most spectacular invention, other than its zombies, giant spiders, and so forth, is King Bull, who has an army of animal-headed mutant warriors and his own personal cadre of oversized bloodsucking fleas. Superbly choreographed by Ching Siu-tung, the film also contains a number of inside jokes, including several at the expense of Asian pinup queen Brigitte Lin (whose real name is Lin Ching-hsia, thus the sound-alike Lin Qingxia character) and a delightfully flamboyant production design by James Leung. Ng Man-tat co-stars with Law Kar-ying. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1995
In this Hong Kong comedy drama a father's illness brings him closer to his daughter-in-law. May is married with a teenage son. She works as an executive in a trading company. After her mother-in-law drops dead from a stroke, she and her husband, Sun Bing, reluctantly take in Old Sun, a former air force lieutenant (none of his other children will take him). The family is immediately thrown into turmoil as they try to deal with Sun's strange behavior. He frequently wanders away, acts strangely, and suffers from rapid personality changes alternating between a child-like and extremely irritable state. They finally get medical help after they catch him eating a soap sandwich. The old man is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. May must now balance her career, her family and Sun's needs. She tries hard, but eventually the strain is too much for her. They must place Old Sun in a nursing home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Internationally famed action star Jackie Chan tones down his usual martial arts pyrotechnics for a more traditionally dramatic role in this police drama. Crime Story finds Chan portraying a Hong Kong police detective, an honest cop guilt-ridden over his participation in a recent shoot-out. He is absolved of wrong-doing by the force, however, and assigned to protect a major real estate developer. Despite Chan's best efforts, though, the man under his care is soon kidnapped. The criminals demand millions in payment from the developer's wife, and Chan takes it upon himself to try and foil their plot and rescue the developer. His job is made more difficult by the fact that his new partner on the case, an esteemed detective, is secretly in cahoots with the criminals. Though there are a number of martial arts sequences near the film's climax, much of the action is more typical of Hollywood than Hong Kong, consisting of shoot-outs, explosions, and extended car chases. The ample amount of blood and the overall gritty tone combines with Chan's restrained performance to create a darker experience than most other Chan films familiar to American audiences. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Chan, Kent Cheng, (more)
