“A CHINESE GHOST STORY 2011 倩女幽魂” Movie Review. Two lovelorn GUYS. One female DEMON. One BLACK MOUNTAIN. Now, watch as the HEADS roll.

“A CHINESE GHOST STORY 倩女幽魂” Press Preview

The film business is a vicious circle, a bandwagon and a money game. Art is secondary, so you’ll always have to be on the alert.

To stay afloat is to ensure that your oven is consistently piping hot.

Chasing the commercial albeit aesthetic dream is no easy matter.

Competitions are keen. Everything is like one big elusive race. Once you have attained top position, it’s time to move on, to aim for the “next” best.

Audiences are ever discerning and are never tired of a good thing.

It’s one lesson to digress.

Take Hong Kong director WILSON YIP’s latest offering of “A CHINESE GHOST STORY 倩女幽魂” as a fine example.

It’s a well-worn Chinese folklore told and retold.

From the people who gave us Ip Man and Ip Man 2, this is a fond REMAKE of an old romantic supernatural classic which had been done countless times with different A-list casts and directors.

Expect several layers now: a brand new image, an exciting new story and generous loads of special effects whilst maintaining the pulse, mood and tone of the unforgettable old classic.

For the action junkie, this film will not fail as there are battle fare aplenty amongst men and spirits, with post production rendered from Korea providing an astounding visual feast.

The word “REMAKE” of late, is losing its fundamental meaning.

You take an established title and create characters as close as to the original and everyone would deem you are spawning another “remake”.

What do we have in this new version of the famous old Chinese folklore?

There is LOUIS KOO as Yan Chi Xia, a relentless demon hunter who’s out to kill every demon he can find. And he’s pretty good at his game.

Then we have YU SHAO QUN (as Ning Cai Chen) a young virginal air-head Government official who has a water mission to accomplish in a village right below the Black Mountain.

Both guys meet the beautiful tree demon Nie Xiao Qian played by LIU YI FEI in different story segments and fall in love with her.

So we are bestowed with a ghostly love triangle where bloody mayhem is bound to ignite.

Everything takes center stage in an ancient mountain village.

Spirits and tree monsters dwell on Black Mountain engaging in slaughter and bloodshed. Naturally, the villagers fear to tread anywhere near the mountain.

When Yan Chi Xia (LOUIS KOO) was young, he chose Black Mountain to practice to become a good Demon Hunter. He experienced many duels with demons in Black Mountain.

Until one day he encounters the alluring Nie Xiao Qian (LIU YI FEI), and their doomed-from-the-start relationship takes a beating.

Years later, when the river at the base of Black Mountain dries up, the villagers make the decision to search for a water source on the mountain.

Ning Cai Chen (YU SHAO QUN) a Government official arrives to help with the water project and another flighty romantic legend ensues.

Admirable acting from an all-star cast but of course, this being a follow-up to the original classic, there tend to be an overload of negative criticism comparing the actors from the old to the new film.

Award winning actress KARA HUI pits a fiery performance playing the 1000 year-old crabapple tree demon, one that threatens to upstage the leads. She’s a wonder to behold.

WILSON YIP helms an astonishingly entertaining film with a heart stomping script from CHEUNG TAN.

This is a haunting, part-humorous and shocking martial arts thriller that everyone is going to talk about in the Chinese cinema, one of the better “remakes”.

It's a one man-meets-vixen fantasy that has yet to see an ending.

Because there’ll be more surprises in store, aboard the bandwagon the next time.

Let's save the best for last.

Hop in for the journey, chum.

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART” (單身男女) Movie Review. True LOVE is always FIZZY, FROGGY and BITTER-SWEET. Right?

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART” (單身男女) PRESS PREVIEW

“DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART” tries, unashamedly to extol all virtues of what a true love should be. It does work, to a point.

It also brandishes an emotive title that’s typically “old school”.

This is the film’s positioning.

We are led to believe that love is often precariously sweet, yet saccharine baffling.

The path of true love does not run smooth.

Enter-as-you-dare and as everyone would surely do at some point in life, love is addictive, liken to fornicative sex where each participant shares his pleasurable form of connecting.

See, you now have your cake and eat it.

This long-anticipated Mandarin feature bills Hong Kong heart throbs DANIEL WU, LOUIS KOO and introduces unknown doe-eyed mainland actress GAO YUAN YUAN to the rest of Asia.

JOHNNIE TO and WAI KA-FAI grills this loving piece on the BBQ pit with such tender care that’s bound to leave you with a thin coat of tangy aftertaste, long when the credits are rolling and the lights are up.

So is it any good?

Come on, it’s time to move in with the flow.

Let’s start with love is “fizzy”. Daniel Wu is Fang, a disillusioned architect who hits the fizzy bottle once too often to free himself from reality. He sports a disheveled demeanor, is bearded and shaggy.

He saves Zixin (Gao Yuan Yuan) from being run down by an oncoming vehicle and they become fast friends. With the utmost gratitude, Zixin presents Fang with an ugly pet frog, courtesy of her ex boy friend who had dumped her.

So love is “froggy” here. The puffy pet frog becomes their “symbol” of a growing bond.

Zixin has her dreamy moods, on days when she cannot focus on her work. She “interacts” with her “opposite” neighbor Cheng (Louis Koo) from across the opposite building on the same level , using colourful Post-it notes affixed on their respective windows.

The gentle art of window communication, a la ‘seduction’ goes on … and on.

Cheng is a financial whiz kid, a cad, a dandy, a playboy who’s attracted to the ever-silly Zixin, simply because she’s “different” from the regular brood of gals he brings easily to his bed.

He’s rich and he stashes a colorful assortment of condoms in his car "just-in-case".

One fine day the entire global market crashes and things take a different toll.

Cheng moves out of the opposite building and Fang quietly disappears from the scene, and with everybody gone, life for Zixin hits a rut.

Fast zoom to three years later when Cheng returns abruptly to become Zixin’s boss and Fang also does a popping up exercise. This is at the convenience of the scriptwriter.

Our lovey-go-round commences once more, this time on a more heated plateau.

The plot tarries back and forth expanding on this exasperating love triangle with both Cheng and Fang each trying to convince Zixin of their undying devotion.

Which guy bags the gal in the end?

Zixin starts as a loser in love and ends up ensnaring two rich and successful suitors. Her star shines.

Cheng is a bad boy who’s self-assured, conceited and has the perpetual roving eye. He’s a wolf and will alway be one.

Fang is down-to-earth, wears his heart on his sleeve, has a steely presence, and would be the type every gal would love to bring back to mama.

Let’s say it’s simple to put someone on a weighing scale and measure him.

But it is impossible to measure this human quality we call the heart.

Metaphorically speaking, it’s not just the size of the man in any fight. It is the size of the fight in the man.

The one lesson this film tells us is that being in love doesn’t mean that everything in that person has to be perfect. It means you have to look beyond his imperfections.

Having drawled on this, it’s easy to deduce who’s the eventual guy who will win the fair lady’s heart.

To sum up this building-to-building office romance, it will be apt to use this line:

“The most beautiful view is the one I share with you.”

I’ll honestly vouch for this one.

“MR. and MRS. INCREDIBLE” (神奇侠侣) Movie Review. Crossing TERRITORIES with this NAUGHTY COMIC CAPER.

“MR. and MRS. INCREDIBLE” (神奇侠侣) Press Preview

We love comedies,don’t we?

More so when these are “topped” with this layer of icing called “action”.

It’s like sugar and spice and everything nice.

Fresh from the immensely successful dramatic ” BODY GUARDS & ASSASSINS”, award-winning filmmaker Peter Chan is diverging from the norm.

He’s taking a frolic gamble by switching genres.

First, he has taken a lighter approach, and moved from serious cinema to comedy.

Second, his latest offering is an action comic caper “Mr. and Mrs. Incredible” (trading ideas from the West).

No, he is not credited as film director for this one.

He helms the production whilst Vincent Kok directs.

It’s a concoction mix of Hollywood’s “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and “The Incredibles”, but this one takes place in ancient China.

Check the movie posters if you can “smell a rat”.

There are loads of screamish, albeit squirmish laughter that are bound to tickle you pink.

Festive celebration, what.

Time to merry-make and laugh.

The film stars Louis Koo and Sandra Ng who play a superhero couple who wishes to be left alone.

No, superheroes are not meant to live an uneventful life of bliss. No way.

Debonair Huan (Louis Koo) falls in love with goofy-two-shoes Red (Sandra Ng).

Unlike poles match, point taken.

They hastily decide to retire quietly, and move to an unknown village to enjoy conjugal bliss, to start a family.

Almost a decade passes by and they are trying very hard to get a baby, despite the regular conjugals exploring different ‘kama sutra’ positions.

Then a martial arts competition is scheduled in the village which they live.

Hundreds of kung-fu masters from all over the country are eyeing for the ultimate championship.

Huan and Red plan to flee the village for fear that their identities would be discovered, but end up being entangled in a conspiracy to murder every potential champion.

To uncover the mastermind, they must don the superhero costumes one more time in the name of justice.

Their baby-making plans are temporarily cast aside.

And the superheroes come charging in again.

Hurrah!

Here is a crowd-pleasing spoof with a soul, not just another glaring, superficial piece.

“Mr. and Mrs. Incredible” is a non-stop martial arts action flick with excellent choreography, camera work and special effects.

Plus, it’s gregariously hilarious!

Erase the smirk from your face and go watch this flick.

“Mr and Mrs. Incredible ” will tear the layers off the deficiencies, foibles, and frustrations of life, providing merriment and a momentary escape from a hard day’s grind.

A brilliant performance by Sandra Ng, the zany queen of slapsticks.

Whether she plays a dramatic or comedic role, she sizzles with aplomb and sets the film afire with her raucous albeit infectious guffaws.

She shares an affable chemistry with Louis Koo and her clowning with her onscreen partner literally brings the house down.

“Mr. and Mrs. Incredible” is one movie where the elements of artistry and quiet power intertwine with ease.

It is a gem that shimmers through, slowly like fine wine,

then glows brighter than ever, right before you.