Blood Brothers : fails to live up to expectations

Produced by John Woo, Blood Brothers 天堂口 is your basic village kids goes to big city (in this case Shanghai), hang out with the city’s number one gangster, fall in love with the boss’ lady, and eventually turn on each other. The film does feature marquee names Daniel Wu, Shu Qi, Chen Chang and Liu Ye. Production values aspire to be of blockbuster level. The director Alexi Tan is a relative newcomer and seems to be content with paying tribute to John Woo: this means Blood Brothers has the requisite Woo ingredients (which Woo basically inherited from Chang Cheh) including male bonding (and the eventual dilemmas like choosing between sworn brothers and women) and over-the-top gunfights. Problem is we’ve seen all this before and nothing here really excites. In his prime Woo managed to overcome clichéd plots with charismatic stars and then-groundbreaking action heroics. Tan can’t really out gunplay Woo nor does he manage to tweak the heavy-handed themes to make Blood Brothers a riveting story of betrayal.

The actors can’t manage to turn things around either. Daniel Wu comes across as too wussy for a hero and Chen Chang too posy. Chang’s character bears the name Mark (the only Western name used in the film), so I suppose this is some form of homage to Chow Yun Fat’s classic Mark in A Better Tomorrow. Unfortunately, Chang has none of the swagger Chow Yun Fat had in his prime; Chang can be a thoughtful actor but he feels out of place in this type of action romp.

Other disappointments include a repetitive music theme (which I didn’t find moving at all, though it really tries hard), and stale action choreography from Philip Kwok (classic Shaw actor and the psycho killer Mad Dog in Woo’s last Hong Kong film Hard Boiled). I felt the movie was badly paced and the final act rather unconvincing.

Having kept up with the film’s production and the promo stills, I was looking forward to a solid period picture. Today, however, I came out of the cinema disappointed. I can’t really recommend Blood Brothers as entertaining – on the other hand, it is not outright bad. Just mediocre and not original. I am now hoping that Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution will fare better.

aNobii : an excellent Web 2.0 book tracker

Despite spending numerous hours each day at my PC, and despite utilizing a fair number of so-called Web 2.0 services, I haven’t come across a local Hong Kong service . . . till last week. The site in question is called aNobii.

Situated in Hong Kong, aNobii offers a useful book tracking service. Users register for a free account and immediately start entering books and various details like whether they have started reading or finished the book. The usual social networking features are present – one can invite friends, create and join groups with specific topics, as well as explore neighbours, i.e. users with similar bookshelves. Other expected features include tagging, rating titles and numerous ways to sort the bookshelves. You can also see how many users own a title and how they rate it (if they have finished reading the book).

Where aNobii distinguishes itself is in ease of use. Even non-techies should have no problems with this site. Entering books is very simple – just type in the ISBN codes at the back of the title or do a search which yields very decent results – and the site will generate the rest. I entered books I read recently (most of them in 2007) which amounted to 70+ titles and the database managed to recognize all of them via ISBN codes. Impressive.

The site is well designed too. Layout is clean, simple and easy on the eyes. The major downside at the moment seems to slow loading pages and occasionally outages. Then again the site is in beta like nearly all Web 2.0 offerings, so hiccups are expected.

As I book lover, I really liked the features aNobii has to offer. I used to compile a timeline to monitor what I’ve read – which is work because I have to input book titles, authors, date started and finished data into a XML files as well as upload images manually. With aNobii, all this is made simple. I’m giving aNobii a very positive thumbs – and highly recommending it for people who love to read.

My public profile at aNobii.

Karajan in 1966 : Beethoven’s 5th on YouTube

This Karajan clip was recommended to me today. In this rather dramatic 1966 recording, he is conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The clip contains the 1st and 2nd movements. I especially like the zoom in on Karajan’s hands!

Create online timelines with xTimeline

xTimeline (currently in beta) offers users an easy solution to creating timelines that can be viewed online. Access to timelines created can be controlled by users with 3 options: completely open to public; accessible by invited friends or viewable by user only.

After registering for a free account, users can create timelines in just a few simple steps. I found the process as straight forward as it gets. Users can enter data event by event or via bulk upload with a CSV file. An interesting option is to create timelines based on RSS feeds. This option makes the creation of a timeline of your blog entries a no brainer.

When I gave xTimeline a trial run several weeks ago, the site did not support traditional Chinese characters. I sent the development team an email about this and reply was prompt : the item was in development. About a week later, I received another email for them, this time informing me that the site now supported Chinese characters. On Monday, they’ve added another feature, the ability for users to export data in a XML or CSV file. Good work and very nice user response!

Overall, xTimeline looks promising as an online timeline solution. It is at the moment not half as flexible as Simile Timeline, but xTimeline has the benefit of being very easy to use. I’m sure the development team will gradually introduce features that allow timelines to be more tweakable. Recommended.

xTimeline
xTimeline blog
Create a timeline from RSS feeds with XTimeline – Lifehacker

《姑獲鳥之夏》 promotional video

This is the first time I have come across a video clip used to promote a novel. All I can say is that the promo clip succeeds in creating a creepy atmosphere, not unlike a J-horror films – this is rather misleading as the book is a detective thriller and not a very good one at that! I believe the clip was produced by the Taiwanese publisher in promotion of the Chinese edition of the novel.

Click to view [via bubu's blog]

Rating novels I have read in 2007

By request, here is how I feel about some of the rest of the novels I have read this year. Click on the links to see previous posts about these novels.

Title	Author	How I liked them
惡魔前來吹笛	橫溝正史	★★★
嫌疑犯 X 的獻身	東野圭吾	★★★★★
寂寞獵人	宮部美幸	★★
Daywatch	Sergei Lukyanenko	★★★★★
Nightwatch	Sergei Lukyanenko	★★★★★
如焉@sars.come	胡發雲	★★★
隱劍孤影抄	藤澤周平	★★★★
A Case Of Two Cities	Qiu Xialong	★★★
When Red Is Black	Qiu Xialong	★★★

     

Flash Point : Donnie Yen does MMA

Make no mistake, the primary reason most people go to see Flash Point will be for Donnie Yen’s action choreography and on-screen execution of those scenes. And on both counts Flash Point delivers.

Yen has been trying to re-vitalize Hong Kong action films with more contemporary fighting techniques; he discards the wire heavy theatrics of the 80s and 90s for a more realistic approach that incorporates elements of judo, Brazilian jujitsu, Muay Thai as well as more traditional boxing and high kicks – this is what is called mixed martial arts (MMA). He introduced this approach in last year’s SPL and develops it in Flash Point. Yen shows plenty of business acumen in incorporating MMA elements in his films; MMA is the fastest growing sport in the US and already extremely popular in Japan. Flash Point received extensive coverage in English language blogs because of Yen’s reputation overseas and response to his contemporary fight scenes has so far been positive.

But back to the movie. Flash Point features a simple and direct plot. A trio of Vietnamese gangsters led by Ja Ge (Ray Lui) out muscle local gangs with their reckless and violent methods. Jun Ma’s (Donnie Yen) partner Wilson (Louis Koo) is an undercover agent close to Ja, and when Ja is caught and put to trial, his gang decides to kill all the witnesses. They soon discover that Wilson is a cop and proceed to threaten him by kidnapping his pregnant girlfriend. With major witnesses dead, Ja gets off easy – this leads Jun to take matters into his own hands, confronting Ja’s brother Tony (Collin Chau) in a bloody battle.

I felt Flash Point’s dramatic elements were superior to the heavy handed SPL. The action doesn’t really kick in till the second half of the film, but this didn’t pose as a problem for me as I sort of liked the way the plot builds towards a showdown at the end. There are two major action scenes – Yen vs Xing Yu (he was in Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu) and Yen vs Collin Chau (he played Seraph in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions). The fight with Xing Yu involved more punches and kicks while the climatic duel with Collin Chau is a full fledged MMA fight. I saw Muay Thai knee and elbow strikes, straight armbars, leg locks, toe holds, rear naked chokes, German supplexs and triangle leg locks!!

This is by far the best action film I have seen in a while. Highly recommended for MMA fans!

多情浪子癡情俠 : decent but not groundbreaking

Earlier this year I came across a brand new Chinese martial arts novel. Apparently a web site in China organized a competition to find new martial arts writers. 多情浪子癡情俠 by the female writer 鄭丰 won the top prize and was voted the most popular entry by web readers. 中華書局 published this novel in a 4 volume set, with the last two volumes debuting at the Hong Kong Book Fair. According to the blurb on the inside cover, the author was born in Taiwan, and received her university education in the US; she married and moved to London, before migrating to Hong Kong as a full time banker. She wrote the novel in London, a period when she did not have to work.

多情浪子癡情俠 focuses on two heroes : 趙觀 and 凌昊天. The former is clearly modeled on Louis Cha’s 韋小寶, a wily and smooth talker who wins over the ladies. The latter is a top swordsman with few peers but falls in love with his elder brother’s fiancee. The novel follows these two characters from the beginning when they are just kids to the end when they become saviours of China (against invaders) and torchbearers of the new generation. 趙觀 is the more fascinating character as he must navigate through the dangerous waters of the secret societies in the hope of avenging the death of his mother.

Written for initial “publication” online, the novel comprises of short chapters and the plot progresses very rapidly. This is a pro and a con : positive in that novel draws readers in quickly, but negative because too many plot points are glossed over. As a debut novel, I found it very readable. Prose is simple, crisp and unpretentious. Despite a large cast, characters were generally likeable if not particularly developed in depth.

Most martial arts novelist live under the shadow of the three greats – Louis Cha 金庸, Gu Long 古龍 and Liang Yusheng 梁羽生. How does this new novel fare in comparison? Well, it cannot claim to be being a masterpiece despite publicity dubbing the author a female Louis Cha. The novel does not break any ground stylistically (unlike Gu Long’s works) and the plot can hardly be deemed original,as it clearly owes more than a little debt to Louis Cha’s works. But considering that the author is basically an amateur novelist and this is her first work, let’s not be too harsh on the novel. After all, decent new martial arts novels are VERY rare. And while 多情浪子癡情俠 isn’t a seminal work, it does deliver good entertainment.

Recommended.

Link to review at 以書會友

Recently read books : Japanese fiction

Recently, I have read quite a few Japanese novels translated into Chinese. Most of these novels were decently entertaining, with the exception of the rather pretentious and long-winded 姑獲鳥之夏.

The surprise was 砂之器 by 松本清張. I read his so-called seminal Points And Lines in English translation more than five years ago and found that book very dull with too much details involving train schedules. I found 砂之器 to be significantly more interesting.

Having watched a fair number of ninja movies and anime, I was delighted to come across 伊賀忍法帖 by 山田風太郎. The cult movie Ninja Wars actually managed a rather faithful adaptation of this novel – but the novel is nonetheless the better read. Very amusing stuff.

Title	Author	How I liked them
宿命	東野圭吾	★★★
池袋西口公園2	石田衣良	★★★★
動機	橫山秀夫	★★★
某《小倉日記》傳	松本清張	★★★
雪國	川端康成	★★
砂之器	松本清張	★★★★
危險的童話	土屋隆夫	★★★
姑獲鳥之夏	京極夏彥	★
伊豆的舞孃	川端康成	★★★
伊賀忍法帖	山田風太郎	★★★★

     

Freebie postcards at Commercial Press bookstore

I picked up a set of postcards for free at the Commercial Press’s new flagship bookstore in Tsim Sha Tsui. The 4 postcards depict locations that are mentioned in the detective stories of Tsuchiya Takao 土屋隆夫. Very nice for a freebie.

La Terza Madre to premiere in Toronto

I am real envious of folks living in Toronto! Dario Argento’s La Terza Madre – the final instalment of the Three Witches Trilogy that includes Suspiria and Inferno – will première at the Midnight Madness section of this year’s Toronto Film Festival. If the film fares well with critics and film-goers, I just might get lucky enough for it to be included in next year’s Hong Kong Film Festival. I have seen most of Argento’s films but only on DVD and it would really be great if I could experience this one on a large screen.

The writers at Twitch are obviously equally excited about Argento’s latest film and have been providing loads of info about the film. Apart from starring Asia Argento and Dario Nicolodi, the film will feature a score by former Goblin member Claudio Simonetti (who also provided a large part of the soundtrack for Phenomena). Twitch has also posted a fascinating interview with Dario Argento – it provides plenty of insight into this latest film as well as why the DVD for Four Flies On Grey Velvet will probably not be available in the short term (damn!).

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