liearn Reviews

Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003)

One scary movie!

[8/10 · 27 December 2003]

I went to watch the Ju-on marathon last night and man, it's one of the scariest horror trilogies I have seen. Ju-on 2 picks up on where the cliffhanger was in Ju on but right from the start, Kayako and her son was out to kill.

In every few scenes, you could hear that now infamous "ah ah ah ah ah" sound and it really freaked me and other audiences in the theatre out! She and her son would come out from literally anywhere without warning and it's so scary! I screamed so loud that I had nearly lost my voice at the end of the film.

Watch it if you dare. 'cos it would be a fun, rollercoaster ride of a horror festival.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Return of the hollywood magic

[10/10 · 19 December 2003]

I watched the first film not knowing what I was getting into. However I came out of the theatre feeling absolutely amazed with the film. It simply touched me, and the first time in my life, I had felt such strong emotions for a film. And the 2nd film made me got addicted to the trilogy. It got me to read the book and find out more about the writings of Tolkien.

The Return of The King is a wonderful film. Peter Jackson blended the emotions of the characters so well with the battles of middle earth that you don't feel lost at all. Unlike other fantasy films, LOTR evokes such strong feelings amongst the audiences that you would feel like you are one of them - an elf, orc, treebeard, human, wizard or hobbit.

The music suits the theme of the movie so well that it helps to liven up the whole battle scenes.

I must say that Peter Jackson has done a superb job as a storyteller and a film-maker. Elijah Wood did a great job as Frodo. He looked really exhausted throughout the journey...and it looks really real.

Good work, hollywood!

Infernal Affairs II (2003)

Nice prequel

[8/10 · 15 December 2003]

IA2 has lived up to its predecessor's name. Although the supporting actors, Shawn Yue and Edison Chen, paled in comparison to their more experienced and classy leading men, their acting was A.

I just find it disturbing that in most triad and police movies in HK, the female roles are rather limited. This is in particularly true in IA1 ans IA2, where the female roles were either guest roles or supporting roles. Carina Lau's character should have been given a bit more coverage, esp she's such a fine actress and would be able to handle a much bigger role by herself.

Eric Tsang, Francis Ng and Anthony Wong were in fact the ones who brought their movie characters to life. A good effort to Shawn and Edison but kudos to the older actors! Hopefully, IA3 would be as good as IA and IA2.

Infernal Affairs (2002)

1 of the best HK movies of the decade

[10/10 · 15 December 2003]

The storyboard was great, the acting was excellent, the cast was A+, the movie soundtrack was A++, and the cinematography was A+.

Tony Leung was definitely the star of the movie. His acting was so good that you nearly believe that the character he was portraying was indeed who he is in real life. I was really sad when his character died in the movie in the end but overall, the movie was no doubt one of the best shows I had seen in year 2002.

I think that this is a better movie about police and triad moles than the 1990 Hollywood movie Internal Affairs starring Richard Gere and Andy Garcia. There were some similarities but overall, the HK movie was a better one.

Infernal Affairs II was a good effort by the HK film makers too. If you are confused about this movie, which at times you would be wondering what was the reason behind each mole's reason in becoming a mole, you should watch IA2(prequel) first, followed up by the IA and then the IA3 ( a sequel which has just been released in HK, Singapore and Asia ).

The Tree (2001)

A good effort!

[8/10 · 7 December 2001]

This is a Singaporean film, starring a top A-listed television actress, Zoe Tay and many other Hongkong award-winning actors. The film, although not featuring much "special" effects, was well-made. Zoe Tay did a good job playing as a mother of an abused child. I am not sure how it had fared at the local box office, but true enough, it didn't do as well as the other imported hollywood films. The film did manage to get me engaged emotionally with the story's characters and I beg other Singaporeans to give this movie a try. Go out and get a copy of this film. It will be worth your money.