From: hcleong@iti.gov.sg (Leong Heng Cheong)
Subject: Re: HK Movies (Was: Diary of a Hitman)
Keywords: frogs evil
Organization: Information Technology Institute, National Computer Board, Singapore.
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 01:21:54 GMT

In article <1992Jul28.073210.2981@athena.mit.edu> eprice@sql.sybase.com writes:
>
>And, as has been pointed out many times in rec.arts.movies:
>
>  Just cuz a movie makes lots of money doesn't mean it's good.
>  Just cuz a movie makes lots of money doesn't mean it's bad.
>  Just cuz a movie makes no money doesn't mean it's bad.
>  Just cuz a movie makes no money doesn't mean it's good.
>
>I don't pay much attention to reviewers.  I have my own idiosyncratic
>views about film, and my own tastes and interests.  I can't rely on
>the critics to have the same approach.

And, as has been pointed out many times in rec.arts.movies, (:-))
one cannot watch all possible movies.  One possible source of judgement
is through reviewers -- especially one that has written many reviews
and you know the preference of that reviewer.  If the reviewer has
similiar taste as you, or the reviewer has completely opposite taste as
you, then the reviews can be "trusted" more.

And one source of "Entertainment Index" is via the box office.  After
all, one shouldn't have much doubt that TERMINATOR II: JUDGMENT DAY is
a rather entertaining film with regard to the popular mass audience.

Of course, there are bound to be exceptions.  MING GHOST (Chinese
Title: AH-YING) and LITTLE MAN TATE  were two movies that I saw this
year that I really like very much.  Both of them are not widely received
by critics, and do not have impressive box-office earnings...  (LITTLE
MAN TATE received excellent reviews about the direction though...)

>>However, usually these are only violence for violence sake.
>
>People always say that...  TAXI DRIVER is a perfect example of a film
>that was criticized for "glorifying" unnecessary violence, which is
>absurd.

TAXI DRIVER, in my opinion, is an exception rather than the rule.  And
as another poster has pointed out, it has a wonderful plot.  Not perfect,
but good.

>Plot doesn't actually interest me any more than cinematography, sound,
>editing, imagery, etc...  I've seen superb movies with little or no
>plot (KOYAANISQATSI), or with a stupid plot (SUSPIRIA).  Others may
>have different priorities of course.
>

Of course.  I've liked movies with little or no plots: ERASERHEAD
immediately comes to mind.  I still don't understand (but should one
always give meaning to arts?) what it is all about, but I still like the
visuals, cinematography and imagery.  However, I think
that, screenplay is a very important element in most movies.  It is
usually what drawns one into the movie -- to care about the characters,
and how the story line will continue.  This, I am afraid, could not be
applied to films like ERASERHEAD.

>A BETTER TOMORROW III breaks this similarity to the LETHAL WEAPON
>series, because while LETHAL WEAPON 3 was more of the same (or perhaps
>I should say, *less* of the same -- a lot less), A BETTER TOMORROW III
>diverged from the "formula".  It was, at least for me, original.  The
>only version I've seen is on video, not letterboxed and therefore with
>virtually (sometimes entirely) unreadable subtitles.  After repeated
>viewings I understood most of the story and dialogue, but visually and
>sonically I always enjoyed the movie despite the superficial
>incomprehensibility.

I think that A BETTER TOMORROW III diverged too much from the first two
in the series in that the charaization of the characters (especially the
one played by Chow Yuet Fatt) were not consistent with the images one
obtained from the first two movies.  The setting of the film during the
era of Vietnam war was, in my opinion, a very poor excuse of making a
political statement.  (And the statement isn't that great or with any
depth, in the first place...)

>sure, most HK films suck, but so do most American films, so does most
>of almost anything. 

I agree.  Actually, my original point that I wanted to make is that there
are much more bad HK films than Hollywood films from my personal
experience.

I also hope that more Hong Kong movies can make it around the world.
Afterall, HK isn't called "Hollywood of the East" for nothing...

Heng Cheong
  hcleong@iti.gov.sg
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies