News

Film Review: Shock Wave 2 拆彈專家2 (2020) - Hong Kong / China Reviewed by Andrew CHAN (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 21/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   3 years after the entertaining action thriller “Shock Wave”, comes the stand alone sequel directed by Herman Yau. This time, Yau managed a bigger budget to boot and in the process allows him to explode an even greater Hong Kong landmark - the Hong Kong airport, the famed bridge and the twin IFC towers. In fact, Yau seems to have...

Film Review: Ready o/r Knot (不日成婚) (2021) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew CHAN (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 20/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   The beauty of Director Anselm Chan latest romantic comedy “Ready Or Knot” lies in its storytelling and relatable happenings that goes beyond the expected genre cliches. There is almost an innate expectation of how these kind of movies usually turns out, but Chan makes great use of its likeable leads in Carlos Chan and Michelle Wai to stretch the audience emotions and...

Film Review: Son-Mother (Pesar-Madar) (2019) - Iran [HKIFF45] Reviewed as part of 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival 2021 by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 18/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   Iranian cinema goes dark and the sense of constant hopelessness of the country’s state of being is added with deeper unresolved misery. Such is the premises of “Son-Mother”, by feature film debutant Director Mahnaz Mohammadi and written by veteran and the assuming Mohammad Rasoulof (“Manuscripts Don’t Burn” and “A Man of Integrity”). There is...

Film Review: Center Stage 阮玲玉 (1991) - Hong Kong [HKIFF45] Reviewed as part of 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival 2021 by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 17/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   Based in on the tragic yet inspiring life of the beautiful and talented 1930s Shanghainese actress Ruan Lingyu. In creating and directing this masterpiece epic running at over two and half hours, Stanley Kwan at 33 years of age made his possibly the most perfect film and thus cemented Maggie Cheung as a...

  Filmmaker in Focus Stanley Kwan - Face to Face [HKIFF45] Reviewed as part of 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival 2021 by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 16/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   Being one of the standout directors of our generation with an expertise in directing women roles that creates multi dimensional characters, Stanley Kwan have graced our screens with plenty of all time classics. The epic masterpiece “Center Stage” was created at only 33 years old and directing 26 year old Maggie...