KENNETH'S REVIEW: A basher from the vault at Shaw Brothers that right now seems destined to not ever come out in remastered form. In all honesty, that's a shame in itself but there are other flicks of the same fate that TRULY deserves the better one. Chin Han (not the one starring in many Taiwan romances and Center Stage) plays Lo Fu who returns to a home town in ruins. Parents dead, martial arts school closed down and his brother (Lung Fei) on a power rampage. Only option is to fight and at times beside the female heroine of the piece, played by Shih Szu. The movie seems tailored after a Jimmy Wang Yu vehicle a la The Chinese Boxer but is not Wang Yu-clichéd. It carries the genre staples rather. There's grit in Chin Han, solid ferocity (Shih Szu's comes off as poor and good, from scene to scene) and the biggest genre staple of them all, the rehabilitating training sequence turns out to be the best one The Champion offers up. My weakness personally are for such scenes. Also known as Shanghai Lil And The Sun Luck Kid.

Mainland gang vs Hong Kong gang vs cops, one of which has a relationship with the daughter of a gangster boss, Lau Hung-Chuen (Devil Fetus) sees this world as Hong Kong movies should have more often. In other words, as a violent, bloody place and for the sake of our movie entertainment, that is really a splendid choice. Building up to an incredible climax, violence is vicious, evil, cruel, bloody AND gory (yep, THAT much). Also as the movie rolls along, the crew is not afraid of daredevil stunts, vehicular and pyrotechnics action, all of which is incorporated in the rough and gritty gunplay finale that will have you realize Champion Operation is unfortunately a hidden action gem deserving of a higher profile despite no high profile stars or world class narrative. Starring Anthony Tang and Norman Tsui appears in support.

Short but sweet romantic comedy that comes out on top thanks to a good double act by Anthony Chan and Sandra Ng. Law Gam-Fai wrote Dr. Lamb the same year and he proves not only a contrast in his work but a genuine feel for a simple sincerity. That is then competently handled by director Chin, resulting in a much painless 80 minutes of whacky fun and expected sentiments. Which is more than I ever expected from this effort to tell you the truth. Also with Michael Chow, Carrie Ng, Kenneth Tsang and Alfred Cheung.

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Female loveliness, presence and star power can't save this predictable romantic comedy. Abel Song (Alex To) is a fashion designer who acts as the boyfriend of Cecilia Yip's Jeanne but she thinks he's gay. He thinks she is gay. Misunderstandings galore and Cherie Chung as the best friend. I'll forgive the two C's any day of the week for appearing in crap but it still stands to reason to expect some minor charm at least out of a predictable, breezy scenario. No such thing as the various, familiar misunderstandings fall flat and while padding in the form of a ghost story sequence may be the sole directorial touch by Angela Chan (My Name Ain't Suzie), it's shameless padding to a dead movie.

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Well meaning but Phillip Chan never truly affects. He takes Man Chi (Cheung Kwok-Keung) through student days having a crush on his teacher Miss Wei (Ha Ping-Ping) to actually being a key component in her life. Chan crafts a natural frame that initially does bigger comedic beats but brings the tone down to a more balanced one thankfully. The whole affair is a little bit too heavy handed for its own good though, with Man Chi being helpful and determined to a degree where it feels more manufactured than sincere. His one on one scenes with Ha Ping-Ping are fairly strong however and there is some viewer investment in the couple (that does not necessarily represent a romantic couple). Kindness is present in Alfred Cheung's script but Chan, without making it too melodramatic, doesn't translate that into affecting, on-screen heart. The Peter Yang (playing the father of Man Chi) side story is a filler-addition that just drives home themes too hard as well.

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Master swordsman Shih (James Tien) carries with him the red sword that he has to bring to Han I Chu (Tang Ching) in order to find out the secret behind his father's death. Along the way he is followed, attacked and everyone seems to have a craving for the sword that in Shih's hands is fast as lightning. Director Wong Tin-Lam tells slowly, possibly a bit too slowly before the plot-secrets starts to become revealed. In a quite stagy Golden Harvest production, he is definitely aided by his true collaboration, in every sense of the word, with action director Chen Kuan-Tai. Elevating the narrative with exciting one on one skirmishes and exciting one vs. hundred-battles, in its crude format there's still room for clever stylistic touches. Main one being the lack of a a glimpse for us of the fast sword, done through sharp editing and capped insanely well in the finale. Director Wong himself manages to even hold viewer interest through massive exposition in the latter half and despite a less than stellar cast on board to embody all of this, The Chase is involving and unusually engaging for a twist-heavy piece. Maria Yi co-stars.

Newspaper photographer Sunflower (Liu Wai-Hung, also director) gets thrown off a high railing on a commercial shoot by famed boxer Tiger Dog Bruce Lee (Wong Ching) after being mistaken for a triad attempting to make the boxer lose an upcoming fight. While at the hospital, Sunflower's cousin (Danny Lee) hatches a plan to fake a paralyzed state in Sunflower in order to get a great, big chunk of money from the insurance company. Riddled with guilt, Tiger Dog even hassles Sunflower to the point that he's taken on board as a maid...

What starts out as a glimpse of what rival reporters and photographers get up to transforms into a fully predictable tale of greed, humanity and the destructive effect the former has on a life, in this case Tiger Dog's. Liu Wai-Hung's only directorial job, he's being straightforward about his goals and Chase A Fortune is merely a semi-wacky time with 80s Hong Kong cinema. Something you'd rather have over much else but the film grows a few notches during the boxing finale as Liu manages to find some meaning in the friendship between his character and Tiger Dog. Wong Kar-Wai wrote the screenplay while Charlie Cho, Lung Tin-Sang, Parkman Wong, Joh Chung and Billy Lau turns up in the cast.

Short simplicity but effective at what it does, Hsu Feng and Wong Goon-Hung are circus artists hired to transport a trolley of gold but being turbulent times, they are continually ambushed and attacked. Intense fury from Hsu Feng and adequate fight choreography makes the 80 minutes an easy task to get through. Fight concepts like Wong fighting on stilts shows some desire to stand out and Chase Step By Step mostly moves from A to B with efficiency by Stormy Sun director Mo Man-Hung.

Being one of the founders of Cinema City, Dean Shek could also put himself into more personally flattering roles that any other company would hesitate at doing. In one of their earlier productions, Shek plays Robert, returning home from America, afro and all, to find himself a wife (a plot device echoed in his own directed The Perfect Wife?! in 1983). Time to live up to the movie title, team up with Eric Tsang and get a pink car but along the way, the girls are also chasing, in particular Fa (Nancy Lau)...

There has to be some form of redemption handed out to any movie where Dean Shek keeps his face almost always in normal mode throughout. Chasing Girls represents one of those slightly less obnoxious acts and the various skits along the way with Eric Tsang reveals a decent comic chemistry. This is why Chasing Girls surprises but director Karl Maka clearly hasn't got enough material for a feature as he reprises the same scenario between Fa and Robert while also inserting an overlong car chase towards the end. Also starring Flora Cheung while Karl Maka and Sammo Hung appear in cameos.