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When Sun Meets Moon 某日某月 (2018) - Hong Kong   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     One of the best moments of the youth romantic film comes in the form of sending letters and the yearn and wait that comes with waiting for them in the pursuit of young love. Kathy Yuen and Daichi Harashima are excellent in their rawness and portrayal in capturing the innocence of young romance and all the loving and dreamy fantasy that comes with it. As usually there are obstacles, one rich one poor, one goes to boarding school and...

Acts of Violence (2018) - USA   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     Bad movies nowadays are usually associated with action VOD cameo specialist Bruce Willis. “Acts of Violence” is another one of those films where Willis appears, sleepwalk and collects his pay check in the process and adding zero value in the proceeding. This film is clearly a cardboard cut out type of action thriller that is neither thrilling or contains characters we want to care about. Without being disrespect to Willis, most of his scenes are shot within his police office location and...

Baywatch (2017) - USA   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     In terms of trashy entertainment, none is more aligned than the relaunch of 80s & 90s hit TV series “Baywatch”. Throw in The Rock and Zac Efron as the muscles and six packs and a bunch of sexy girls on a beach or bay, you got yourself a film version of an originally trashy TV show. Slow motion on the beach showing off balls and more balls depending on the genre. So to really have any sort of fun, we really need to go...

No.1 Chung Ying Street 中英街1號 (2018) - Hong Kong   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     After years of making movies for the Chinese audience, Hong Kong veteran director Derek Chiu goes political, social and even controversial about the 1967 Hong Kong riots against the British government and paralleling this with the more current Umbrella movement and Occupy Central in 2014. Stunned by the Hong Kong International Film Festival in flavour for Taiwanese and Japanese Films and rejected by the Hong Kong Film Development Council, Chiu manages to raise a limited budget of HK$3 million...

Bel Canto (2018) - USA   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     Based on the true story of an Opera singer’s romance with a Japanese Businessman in the middle of a hostage situation in Peru. This provide a rare opportunity for an Asian American Ken Watanabe to share a intimate romance with Julianne Moore further adding to Asian Representation in Hollywood. It shows how people whether in captivity or forced to stay within an isolated environment will react and eventually adapt to their given surroundings. What makes the film clicks is left largely due to...