Ann Hui’s Night And Fog A Disappointment

Star Trek (2009) – I was really looking forward to the Star Trek reboot given the raving reviews stateside and I must say I wasn’t disappointed. J.J. Abrams imbues this 2009 version with great energy less all the cheesy dialogue that made the previous movies quite cringe-inducing at times. Without any A-list stars in the leading roles works in the film’s favor and in fact the relatively unknown cast delivers solid performance – we can see how they grow into the characters. The movie never really slows down as crisis after crisis hits the crew of the Enterprise and I must say the space fleet battles are the best yet in any of the Star Trek series. My pick for the best blockbuster for the summer so far! Highly recommended.

Terminator Salvation – many film buffs probably squirmed at the idea that McG was going to direct this 4th installment of the Terminator franchise but the casting of Christian Bale in the leading role as John Connor gave some hope. Terminator Salvation isn’t as hopelessly boring as Terminator 3, but fails to generate the excitement of T2 or the original. We’ve seen robots bashing each other around in the Transformers two summers ago, there aren’t any new jaw dropping special effects … and the plot fails to deliver any surprises either. The film remains a passable popcorn movie but won’t be crowned top dog among this summer’s blockbusters.

Duplicity – Hollywood has run out of ideas (and new stars) for successful romantic comedies so they created a new genre – the romantic thriller. Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as ex-CIA and ex MI6 operatives who have fallen in love, and given up their secret service jobs in order to make a quick buck in the world of corporate espionage. Alternating between romance and thriller, Duplicity should provide enough serpentine plot twists and romantic interludes to keep both guys and chicks happy. Recommended.

Night And Fog 天水圍的夜與霧 – I found Night And Fog a disappointment as part 2 of acclaimed Hong Kong director Ann Hui’s probe into life in the working class Tin Shui Wai 天水圍. Her earlier film followed the mundane life of a blue collar mother working to support her son – that movie never succumbed to melodrama and delivered a slice of life about making a living in one of Hong Kong more troubled neighborhoods with honesty and a lot of heart.

Night And Fog, however, although based on a real life tragedy, quickly falls into genre movie territory with Hui adding an overt layer of social commentary on top of the proceedings. The film focuses on an unemployed construction worker played by Simon Yam – his distrust of his significantly younger Szechuan wife ultimately leads to the tragic slaughtering of his wife and two children. Although Yam has really blossomed into a subtle actor in many of Johnnie To’s movies, here he is reverting back to the “madman pervert” role he played so often in exploitation movies back in the 1990s.

Hidden Charms : Willie Dixon’s aptly titled final CD

Willie Dixon’s 1988 Hidden Charms was one of the first non-compilation blues CDs I bought and I have a great fondness for the album. Although a prominent bassist and producer at Chess Records, Dixon is more remembered as the composer of many blues classics like I Can’t Quit You Baby, Little Red Rooster, Hoochie Coochie Man, I Just Want To Make Love To You and many more tunes covered by late 1960s bands from Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones (check out Wikipedia’s article on Willie Dixon).

Generally not considered an essential or great blues album by diehard blues fans, the music on Hidden Charms is nonetheless very listenable and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Recording in 1988. The songs on the album aren’t of the more popular blues rock variety but all the tracks offer a groovy sound. Featuring an all star band of Chess session musicians Dixon had worked with from the 1950s and 1960s mixed with some newer talents like Sugar Blue (on harp), the performances on the songs are understated but very tasteful. In particular, one can hear great rapport between guitarist Cash McCall, pianist Lafeyette Leake and Sugar Blue on I Cry For You (the highlight of the CD for me) and I Do The Job.  Jazz bassist Red Callender provides classy bass lines that provides tracks like Don’t Mess With The Messer and I Don’t Trust Myself with an old school swinging big band sound.

It is also worth mentioning that the sound quality on the Hidden Charms CD is excellent. Highly recommended.

Gothic metal version of 將冰山劈開

Sandra’s In The Heat Of The Night was a big hit in the 1980s – the Cantonese version of the song 將冰山劈開 was sung by Anita Mui and was extremely popular in Hong Kong. Recently I came across a cover of the song by a Finnish gothic metal band called To Die For. Enjoy.