Films

Was the book better? Yes. Was the movie still a lot of fun? Yes.

A lot of fun, I didn’t expect so much comedy from a time travel movie. The logic of the loop was a bit difficult to understand so you just had to roll with it. The film itself being one long take was pretty impressive especially with all the time looping wackiness.

For once I’ll be the low reviewer, as someone who generally scores most movies higher than the averages on here (eg. a 3.2 on here is a 4+ for me). However this just didn’t land, even though I liked the “typical” Wai Ka-Fai twist to end the film on a different than expected ending with the movie about the movie. Even then, Michael (Koo) was promoting his movie as his lived experience - but isn’t it Sue (Chang) and Tian’s story? Sammi’s character was the highlight (as usual) as the grieving widow holding out hope, but overall a mediocre showing from the Milkyway combo To/Wai.

4 star for enjoyment, I’m siding with the audience score and not the critics score. Yes the plot was barely there… but but the nostalgia! Looks great and I loved all the references EVERYWHERE from sound snippets to parts of the dialogue to of course the visuals.

Rewatch for the Nth time but it has been years before landing on this as a casual watch when it popped up on Netflix. The practical effects still hold up with only slight awkwardness for the clearly CGI ship scenes here and there. Only thing not as believable 30 years later is the entire "love at first sight" plot which seems dated nowadays, but still super fun comfort movie.

John Woo. Chow Yun Fat. 'Nuff Said.

Really surprised me with how much heart this film had! It's a movie about lion dancing, which actually makes it a sports movie, and it fits it perfectly. Took a little while for me to ease into the animation style but after it gets going I was loving it. The characters are all great and I love how they ended things from where the initial spark of the film lead us.

Rewatched as part of my ongoing Johnnie To marathon. This was one of those early films that made me fall in love with HK cinema and the two stars, Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng specifically. They definitely carry the film, and I love the late 90s/early 00s office culture setting which seems charming in retrospect. Ah simpler times.

It's Avatar what more is there to say. The length... over 3 hours??? While I would have loved to see the cinematics on the big screen I am grateful to watch at home and take breaks. I loved the design of the Ash people and the visuals of new parts of the world. I agree with other reviews that this did feel like an extended Way of Water, since we continue to spend so much of the plot connected to the water tribe. Overall a fine conclusion even if it didn't wow with new ideas and concepts but a continuation of the main storyline.

Really strong start, with a ho-hum middle section and okay ending. The high paced beginning made me think this was setting up for a more action-oriented thriller, but the "human" and political middle sections didn't land for me.

I can see why this got so many remakes from other countries - it’s a warmly nostalgic and relatable scenario to those bygone school days. Not that I can say my schooling in the US was like this, but I love seeing school life in Asia and the contrasts. While on the one hand you’re rooting for the characters you also know they’re making those same immature childhood mistakes which make it all the more relatable.

Ok I loved the time travel plot and it gave them a wacky quest that worked while weaving in the usual nostalgic references, this is what Nirvanna TBTS was best at. Definitely some fun moments early on but I felt the humor lost some steam at the end as the plot and *gasp* character development took over.

Visually stunning but an incoherent plot with too many people and storylines is the best summation of this project. I’m a big visuals guy so I was absolutely in love with the cinematography here from the way the camera moves to the framing of people in interesting angles and positions. The opening with the spin was indeed really cool to watch. The color palette is a bleak muted greys and oranges which makes Hong Kong look like some dystopian future - I had to keep telling myself this was indeed set in HK because of the initial Causeway Bay sequence. The sound design was also great and set the mood perfectly. So props there as well. The characters though and the writing… left a lot to be desired. I was actively trying to figure out who is doing what and why but really failed at making sense out of all the plots of the cops, hitmen, and drug dealers. They overlap and it was maybe too ambitious to have so many plot points happening all at once and intermingled without it being explicitly clear on who we should be following as the audience. Overall I don’t see the 1 star hate on Letterboxd, it was flawed but not THAT bad.

“It’s all in here. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know. Its all yours, but on one condition What do you want? The Snoopys!” Rewatched in my ongoing Johnnie To binge. Maybe I had fonder memories in my 20s but this was fun in an over the top way. Andy Lau acting as the over the top (but secretly tragically flawed, of course) assassin and Kelly Lin caught in the love triangle with the Japanese assassin Takashi Sorimachi? And then it was somehow about Simon Yam as a reporter as a twist on the storytelling? Watching this again 20+ years later, the film references that I probably loved back then were a little cheesy and dated nowadays. However it does show some of To’s influences and love of cinema. I caught references to: Crying Freeman, Point Break, Leon the Professional… and the video game Metal Slug. Ah fond memories of smoky arcades playing Metal Slug - I applaud the skills of lasting all night on one coin.

Watched on Friday March 27, 2026.

A bit dated with some of the corny lines and overall plot - but that's the charm! Louis Koo trying to be cool by singing in English while Sammi Cheng is completely lost because she... doesn't understand English. Some hilarious setups that had me laughing out loud, and the story is overall pretty warm and feel good without veering too far into the Rom-Com angle, despite it being about a martial arts master who must learn the heartbreak sword technique from a playboy to beat her master.

Was this really released in 1985??? The scenery obviously feels like 80s Japan, but the film editing and structure feels so modern with it's multiple side stories and vignettes supporting the "A Story" about two guys helping a widow become the best ramen-maker in Tokyo.

Scarlet was just okay for a new anime from a big name director. The visuals looked great and reminded me of the recent anime “To Be Hero X” moving between 2D hand drawn and computer generated styles. Way more musical numbers than I would have expected based on the opening sequences.