Author: Andrew Saroch

‘The Storm Riders’ is a film that all Hong Kong film fans will want to watch for its reputation. Whether or not it’ll stay in the viewer’s mind much longer after the final credits role is a different matter.

If you’re looking for a strong plot or an all-round classic of cinema, this certainly isn’t for you. However, if you just want an inventive and engaging 90 minute action-comedy, you could do worse than this.

Alan Mak’s uninvolving film lacks a real narrative hook and an empathetic romance, but most of all it lacks the needed sentiment that covers a multitude of cinematic sins.

‘Still Walking’ is mature cinema, thoughtful and deceptively powerful, another significant contribution to world cinema by Hirokazu Koreeda.

Despite never straying towards originality and unlikely to win awards, there’s still an admirable mixture of action and drama to commend.

‘Spy Girl’ is broad, then at times subtle while also throwing together slapstick and satire in an interesting blend.

I did notice my skin peeling off as the film neared its conclusion, though on closer inspection this seems to have been what doctors call ‘The Chapman To effect’.

Much of the problem with ‘Speed Angels’ is its apparent contentment with clichés and a dogged determination to be utterly mundane.

‘Sparrow’ is the archetypal Curate’s Egg, a film that fuses together precious few moments of brilliance with a heavy dose of lethargy, rendering the finished article difficult to digest.

If you’re looking for a film that has superlative action and you’ve seen the famous classics that have come from Hong Kong, ‘The South Shaolin Master’ is worth searching far and wide for.

The production cannot sustain its appeal nor can it do justice to the grand themes of loneliness/love that it attempts to tackle.

Without doubt this is a powerhouse film that will satisfy even the most demanding fans of the Jade Screen. Worth tracking down at all costs.