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Film Review: Fist of Legend 霍家拳之精武英雄 (2019) - China   Reviewed by Andrew CHAN (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 13/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   Rather than holding the same namesake as Jet Li’s all time martial arts classic “Fist of Legend”, the film is better of being titled as a prequel of sorts “Making of the Fist of Legend”. The story follows the happenings prior to Chen Zhen return to Shanghai from his Japanese studies. It is set entirely during the period of his Japanese education and...

Film Review: Beasts Clawing at Straws 지푸라기라도 잡고 싶은 짐승들(2020) - South Korea 🇰🇷   Reviewed by Andrew CHAN (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 12/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   The film just never stop stop having fun and thrills till the very last scene of the most unexpected person striking lucky and walking away unscratched. “Beasts Crawling at Straws” directed and written by Kim Yong-hoon instantly reminds me of Johnnie To’s crime thrillers. It follows the same framed story, where everything, our decisions have a direct...

Film Review: The Golden Holiday (국제수사) Gookjesoosa (2020) - South Korea 🇰🇷 Reviewed by Andrew CHAN (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 11/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   “The Golden Holiday”, written and directed by Kim Bong-Han is precisely what it’s movie title suggest, it’s a holiday action comedy. Those trying hard to go deeper than it really is, will have a hard time enjoying the film. It is one of those senseless and mindless action comedy that will either annoy the daylights out of you or you...

Film Review: Nomadland (2020) - USA 🇺🇸 Reviewed by Andrew CHAN (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 10/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews       One of the most beautiful thing about Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” remains the grounded feeling of loneliness and isolation at a distance, meanwhile Frances McDormand’s performance is so powerful that completes the film without the need of melodrama moments. It is this simplest of nature and feeling that allows the audience to reflect upon their own physical and inner journeys both on screen and...

Film Review: Hong Boxing 百家拳之洪拳(2020) - China 🇨🇳 Reviewed by Andrew CHAN (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Help me reach one review per day in 2021. 2021 Review count - 09/365 Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofilmreviews   Director Li Lian Jun is another Chinese filmmaker heavily influenced by Hong Kong 90s martial arts cinema. In “Hong Boxing”, Li recreates the Wong Fei Hung universe with a back story focused on his famed pork butcher student - “Lam Sai Wing”. Many Hong Kong cinema fans will recall Sammo Hung’s “Magnificent Butcher”, but this film is far from that level, it is simply a...