Generally, a pretty fair to middling year in HK cinema, but there's been some gems along the way. Being reliant on imported DVD from the region (as noted elsewhere, there are no Chinese language cinemas in my neck of the woods anymore), these are the films I felt were worthy of notice thus far:

1. 2 Young
2. Colour Of The Loyalty
3. Dragon Reloaded
4. Dragon Squad
5. House Of Fury
6. Initial D
7. It Had To Be You
8. The Myth
9. Set To Kill
10. The Unusual Youth
11. Wait 'til You're Older

Stuff I have on DVD but haven't yet found the time to see: Dragon Blade, Everlasting Regret, Futago & Rice Rhapsody (really a Singaporean film -- so it doesn't count as a HK movie).

Stuff I have on order (Jan. '06 update: due to arrive soon): The Curse Of Lola, SPL & Kung Fu Mahjong 2.

Stuff I'm gonna have to wait for (but am looking forward to): Home Sweet Home, A Side B Side Seaside, b420, Perhaps Love, A Chinese Tall Story.

Biggest disappointments of the year: Himalaya Singh, AV, Set Up, Bug Me Not, Mob Sister, Election.

Films that deserved an A for effort but harboured sufficient flaws to keep them out of the "best of" list: Crazy N' The City, Slim Till Dead, The Eye 10, Divergence, Fear Of Intimacy, Seven Swords, Drink Drank Drunk, All About Love.

Obligatory harmless enjoyable Wong Jing fluff piece award: Kung Fu Mahjong

I'll update this as I go -- and see the remainder of the year's major films. Holding high hopes for Home Sweet Home & Perhaps Love.

Cheers,
Michael

Biggest disappointments of the year: Himalaya Singh, AV, Set Up, Bug Me Not, Mob Sister.

I liked AV. Unfortunately, I can't go into exactly why w/o a spoiler that I think would damage anyone's experience if they haven't seen it yet. I think Edmond Pang has a very sly sense of humor.

Of the four movies he directed, I think You Shoot I Shoot and Men Suddenly In Black are in a similar vein, and AV and Beyond Our Ken are in a similar, but different, vein.

I'm an Edmond Pang fan, I liked all four of his movies. I look forward to his next one, whatever it is.

I liked AV too...just, for me, coming after the films that it did I found it a bit of a letdown. I'm a Pang fan too, and probably liked a lot of the stuff he wrote prior to directing (like FULLTIME KILLER) as much as what he's done since he made the transition.

My (brief) thoughts over the film can be found here:

http://hkmdb.com/db/reviews/show_review.mhtml?id=10931

...of which I'll elaborate further on my own site (www.eyeswidescreen.com - still closed for business at this juncture) at a later date, as capsule reviews don't do me justice. After his previous films though, and on the back of innumerable glowing online reviews, I guess I just expected a little more than what I got. Don't get me wrong, I liked it and I "got" what it was saying...but it just felt like "Pang-lite" to me.

Regards,
Michael

White Dragon wrote:these are the films I felt were worthy of notice thus far:

1. 2 Young
2. Colour Of The Loyalty
3. Dragon Reloaded
4. House Of Fury
5. It Had To Be You
6. Set To Kill
7. The Unusual Youth
8. Wait 'til You're Older

Looking forward to reading all your reviews for these.

AV is still my favourite film of the year, as I predicted it would be. I hope I wasn't the one responsible for generating too much hype for it (I think I got in the first English language review on the net). COLOUR OF THE LOYALTY & HOUSE OF FURY were both good but not quite great, and (as documented extensively elsewhere) I was a pretty satisfied customer of SEVEN SWORDS.

Other than that... hmmm... well, I'm hoping I'll enjoy SPL, ELECTION, DRAGON SQUAD and THE MYTH when I see them

MrBooth wrote:AV is still my favourite film of the year
I was a pretty satisfied customer of SEVEN SWORDS

Wow. And here I thought your Seven Swords review was satire...

I suspect you'll like SPL...

SPL and Election, great movies!

Tony JS wrote:SPL and Election, great movies!

Sob sob.... I haven't watch this 2 show

STSH wrote:

White Dragon wrote:these are the films I felt were worthy of notice thus far:

1. 2 Young
2. Colour Of The Loyalty
3. Dragon Reloaded
4. House Of Fury
5. It Had To Be You
6. Set To Kill
7. The Unusual Youth
8. Wait 'til You're Older

Looking forward to reading all your reviews for these.

They'll go up on my own site when I have the time and inspiration to do so; in the interim there are some small capsule reviews for DRAGON RELOADED, SET TO KILL & THE UNUSUAL YOUTH herein on the DB. None are particularly effective as I'd like them -- but they capture the essence of what I liked about each film. I'm better at long, rambling reviews...

MrBooth wrote:I hope I wasn't the one responsible for generating too much hype for it

Actually Simon...it was your enormous review of it on Mobius (of which I still infrequently read but wouldn't be a part of if I was unbanned and paid to contribute) that was the first "serious" (ie: not a giddy, squealing fanboy) writeup I read that piqued my interest! So, yes, in a way...you're partially to blame for my later disappointment with the film...

I thought it was a pretty blah year for HK movies. A few good movies but a lot of average ones and a few total stinkers. Though really, it was much the same for US movies as well.

I haven't seen very many of the 2005 releases, but here is how I've ranked what I've seen (out of 10 - the reviews are posted on my site and in the DB):

Where is Mama's Boy? - 0
Himalaya Singh - 2
Ah Sou - 3
The King of Wrestlers - 3
Legend of the Dragon - 3
Set Up - 3.5
Seoul Raiders - 4
The Myth - 4.5
Drink, Drank, Drunk - 5
The Eye 10 - 5
Kung Fu Mahjong - 6
Slim Till Dead - 6
Initial D - 6
Home Sweet Home - 6.5
Colour of the Loyalty - 7
House of Fury - 7
Dragon Reloaded - 7
Divergence - 7
Seven Swords - 7.75

My favorite movie of the year so far is probably Uneashed/Danny the Dog.

So, yes, in a way...you're partially to blame for my later disappointment with the film...

Whoops

MrBooth wrote:

So, yes, in a way...you're partially to blame for my later disappointment with the film...

Whoops

I kid! I kid!

(NB: I read evirei's review of THE PROMISE on her site...not looking good...though, I must admit, the trailer had me worried from the outset... )

Just finished watching Johnnie To's ELECTION...

Disappointed!!!

Being an avowed and longtime supporter of To, I can't believe I just sat through 100m of film...in which virtually nothing happens! It doesn't even engage at the level of a mood piece, like the superior PTU before it. And I'm not going buy into the allegations of cuts eviscerating the film or robbing it of character development -- To himself has said in interviews that he wanted a film around the 90m mark and, once it was whittled down to the length he wanted (actually 99m50s), claimed that the final cut said everything he wanted to say within the story. Of course, we all know that To always has final cut on his films, so the release cut is his "director's cut". This is pretty much the first To film in nearly seven years that I have instantly been bitterly disappointed with.

I had anticipated that ELECTION might have made my "best of" list for '05, but my immediate impression is (akin to the ridiculously overhyped JIANG HU of '04) one of startling mediocrity...and a story that had very little to say, yet somehow took an hour and forty minutes to say it. IMHO, quite banal -- I hope EVERLASTING REGRET proves a better film.

NB: Must admit, am a bit concerned about the qualities of ER -- my partner tells me the film was not a success, the anticipated awards never came, and poor old Sammi lost her bf out of the whole thing as well as has become somewhat of a recluse over the failure of the film...

Apply Daily (30 Dec 2005) named the following as the most splendid movies of 2005:

1. Election
2. Perhaps Love
3. SPL
4. Wait 'Til You're Older
5. 2 Young
6. Initial D

And the following as the most disappointing movies of 2005:

7. Everlasting Regret
8. The Promise
9. Ah Sou
10. Seven Swords

Ha! And here's a late-coming surprise...DRAGON SQUAD!

Even though I usually love the films of Daniel Lee (it's his visual stylings, wild use of editing and inventive use of music that does it), I saw the trailer for this...noted the presence of Michael Biehn in the cast (assumed an American actor "slumming it")...and shuddered at the thought of Steven Seagal in a producer's chair...but guess what?

Yep -- I thought it awesome!

Biehn was one of the best contemporary bad guys that HK cinema has had; the "Dragon Squad" themselves were all superb; the action was quite high octane (though perhaps a bit MTV editing heavy for the old school dudes and their walking frames); the score was amazing -- thanks again Henry Lai; and I found the film as a whole quite exhilirating! And good heavens was it violent for a modern HK action film! I haven't seen this much blood and gore for years!

I'm stunned -- I thought it was gonna suck -- it knocked me out instead!

White Dragon wrote:(NB: I read evirei's review of THE PROMISE on her site...not looking good...though, I must admit, the trailer had me worried from the outset... )

Hahaha.. opss.. that reminds me I haven't review here in hkmdb. Ermmm well seriously, it "looks" good but hey, story wise I find it weird and confusing. Hehehe... maybe my brain functions too slow.