Movies
A mediocre Hong Kong horror flick, but that's not too surprising if you look at the people involved. Jing Wong isn't the most obvious choice for directing a horror film, but he is the one to jump on whatever hype he thinks can make him an extra buck. Hence, the birth of this 2-part anthology. Wong's film is about a temp teacher filling in for a teacher who died in a terrible accident. It's a rowdy group of kids she's assigned to, and she begins to suspect they had something to do with the accident. The second film is about a group of tourists who are murdered and return as ghosts to haunt their killer. Wong's part tries to mimic the Japanese horror stories, while Kong's short is more in line with the late 90s Hong Kong stuff. Both aren't very effective and even though there are a handful of moody scenes, it never gets really tense or frightening. It's not terrible filler, but it's best to lower your expectations.Read all
A typical Lunar New Year comedy. Take a large ensemble cast, a completely nonsensical plot (though it appears to be a sequel to an old Shaw Bros classic) and a trio of comedy directors to helm the project, and what you end up with is some trademark Hong Kong comedy chaos. After defeating a group of malicious landlords in the 70s, Kung and Kin grow apart and become sworn enemies. They still live in Hong Kong 40 years later, selling phones in competing stores, but they try to trip up each other's business all the time. When a wealthy businessman tries to buy up all the stores in their quarter, it seems they'll be forced to work together once again. The quality of these comedies tends to vary, 72 Tenants of Prosperity ends up somewhere in the middle. The constant bustle is quite amusing and there are some decent gags, but the jokes can be pretty childish too and the film's a pretty big mess with lots of ups and downs. Decent filler, but impossible to recommend unless you know what you're getting yourself into.Read all