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Christmas at the Royal Hotel (2018) - Hong Kong     Reviewed by Andrew Chan (FCCA)   Along the lines of English language feature length films shot and independently produced in Hong Kong, like Joe Fiorello’s “Love Stalk”, Emily Ting’s “It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong”, filmmaker Craig McCourry continues this niche with “Christmas at the Royal Hotel”. Shot entirely in Hong Kong and at times within set pieces created within McCourry’s place of residency, this film is surprisingly well shot, clearly attention for details for the 1940s era and some good and decent acting turns to round out the...

Namiya 解憂雜貨店 (2017) - China Reviewed by Andrew Chan (FCCA)Chinese remake of Japanese tearjerker Namiya is not exactly necessary, but on a tearjerking and nostalgic level, the film works to maximum effect and with its less complicated characters, simpler story telling, it is likely to reach a broader audience. Before launching into the review, I must admit that despite the slow pacing of the Japanese original, I thoroughly enjoyed it along with the performances and story. With the Chinese remake, despite knowing what will happen next, it still hits you where it matters and that’s perhaps precisely why Director Han...

Concerto Of The Bully 大樂師．為愛配樂 (2018) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (FCCA)Music connects to a wider audience and its power can go beyond boundaries of humanity, touches soul, dream on and continue to evolve in the minds of generations after another. That’s the beauty of Concerto of the Bully which disguise itself as an kidnapping film that is essentially about the beauty and power of music to connect the two main leads played by the surprisingly wonderful Ronald Cheng and raw talent of Cherry Ngan.  Ronald Cheng puts in a wondrous shift of a performance that makes him...

Set It Up (2018) - USA Reviewed by Andrew Chan (FCCA)Netflix have unfortunately gone through a run of terrible films and therefore the unexpected success of Rom-Com - Set It Up is a lovely surprise. The film is as predictable as it comes by, but the pairing of Zoey Deutch (Why Him?, Everybody Wants Some!!) and Glen Powell (Hidden Figures, Scream Queens) simply provides the needed spark and winning chemistry that makes these kind of films so enjoyable. Add to the mix, we get Lucy Liu in a juicy and rare Asian American role as the Devil Wears Prada type...

Jailbreak (2017) - Cambodia Review by Andrew Chan (FCCA)The Thais gave us Ong Bak, the Indonesian came up with The Raid and it’s almost timely for the national martial arts pride of Cambodia to unleash with Jailbreak. Whilst the film is not on par with the two mentioned films, it is still one martial arts extravagant that punches and brute from start to finish and most probably the best thing to come out of Cambodia film industry for decades.   Italian expat living in Cambodia, Director Jimmy Henderson does exceptionally well in capturing all the wonderfully staged fight scenes all...