#david chung

[separateways]

Brigitte Lin in WEB OF DECEPTION (1989) dir. David Chung

[of-fear-and-love]

[theersatzcowboy]

An Autumn's Tale 秋天的童話 (1987)

This undeniably sweet New York Love Story from Hong Kong New Wave filmmaker Mabel Cheung (who studied film at New York University) stars a particularly adorable Chow Yun-fat as a streetwise guy who comes to care for his (distant) cousin (a beautiful Cherie Chung) after she moves to New York City for school and struggles to adjust to her new environs. Their romance unfurls against a texturally rich city landscape, making it a true love letter to the Big Apple from an outsider's perspective.

Director: Mabel Cheung

Cinematographers: David Chung and James Hayman

Starring: Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, and Danny Chan

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Magnificent Warriors (Chung, 1987)

As far as Indiana Jones ripoffs go, this is a lot better than Firewalker. Mostly because it does a great job imbuing the period adventure setting with classic Hong Kong style action. Old timey machine guns, ropes as whips, etc. And it avoids the tonal whiplash common in Hong Kong cinema, something I’ve acquired a taste for, but might mesh poorly with this kind of movie. 

Michelle Yeoh looks really cool in all her adventurer outfits, and this is one of Richard Ng’s more dignified, digestible roles. There is no attempting to creep on female characters while mistakenly thinking he’s nude from a spell he cast, no scheming to grope a female character in any seemingly interminable scenes. None of that here. For those you’ll have to watch the Lucky Stars movies. And shake your head as you watch them lest someone think you’re endorsing all the hilarity onscreen. 

I will say that aside from those two I found the other characters pretty forgettable. Actually I did like Lau Chin-Dai, but mostly because she’s cute as a button. I’ll also say that the score is a tad repetitive and depending on your mood might end up driving you up a wall. And the rural environment and pacing mean that it lacks the tightness and claustrophobia of David Chung’s Royal Warriors, but it still has plenty of character.

[hotpotdragon]

Royal Warriors (1986)

[zaat]

I Love Maria (鐵甲無敵瑪利亞) aka Roboforce (1988) dir. David Chung & Tsui Hark

[genkinahito]

Royal Warriors 皇家戰士 (1986) Dir: David Chung

[bens-things]

Magnificent Warriors (1987) dir. David Chung

[clairewritesandrambles]

Currently watching Twisters with headphones and subtitles (as it should be experienced). If you had a hard time hearing some of the quieter dialogue like me, here is a list of little details I didn't notice the first time:

Scott's driver tells to Boone to blow him when the Tornado Wranglers arrive at the first gas station.

Ben telling Tyler to keep his eyes on the road when he is staring at Kate as she and Javi pass them.

As Boone is hanging out the window loading rockets, he sings 'Dead End Road' by Jellyroll and then when the camera pans out he yells "SING IT BEN!" (Honestly this rewatch caught a lot of background dialogue for him, made me love Boone even more).

The cause of the broken trigger during the second tornado is melted chocolate and Tyler is lecturing Boone about eating chocolate in the truck.

In the background after the Stillwater tornado you can see the StormPAR guys digging the truck out of the wreck of the motel. (Still find it hilarious that it survived, considering we see a - slightly smaller - truck get sucked straight into the tornado in the same area).

Scott 100% calls Riggs his uncle. I already was pretty sure that was what he said, but subtitles confirmed it.

You can barely hear the dialogue, but the entire time during the EF5 that hits El Reno Scott is the one talking in the truck with Javi. It's all super quiet because of the music and sound of the tornado, but throughout the entire thing it is Scott who is showing fear and Javi is the calmer one (while still being realistic for the scene). I think it just adds an interesting take on how calm he is later and wanting to go back to the tornado. Maybe a bit of a pride thing?

Not so much something that I *just* noticed, but I find the inconsistency with Tyler's truck damage at the end hilarious. The thing just got rolled by an EF5 and a few days later (StormPAR truck is still covered in mud, so it can't be a big time gap) it seems fine at the airport. I can totally see him being the type of guy who would absolutely run it to the mechanic as soon as possible, that is HIS BABY.

This has been Live Watching with Claire.

[of-fear-and-love]

Tony Leung in 鐵甲無敵瑪利亞 / I Love Maria (1988)

[brotherconstant]

Slow Horses | 4.02 "A Stranger Comes to Town" ↳ A Comedy

[flashfuckingflesh]

A Pact Plans EVIL Revenge on Crime Fighting Heroes! "Royal Warriors" reviewed! (88 Films / Blu-ray)

“Royal Warriors,” a Revenge Tale, Now on Blu-ray from 88 Films! Hong Kong police inspector boards a Hong Kong bound plane on return from her vacationing in Japan.  She meets Michael Wong, the plane’s air marshal, as well as her across the aisle seat mate, Japanese native, Yamamoto, a retired cop returning to Hong Kong to retrieve his wife and daughter and retreat back to Japan to start their new…

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Royal Warriors (Chung, 1986)

This starts off with the worst possible Japanese tourism ad where Michelle Yeoh dispatches a couple of Yakuza types while taking in a street festival, followed by an extremely eventful flight with a bit more turbulence than usual. The movie offers good advice on the latter in that if you ever find yourself in a hostage situation, it's good to have an old lady around who needs to use the bathroom, because your captors will be totally unprepared for such a situation. If you don't have an old lady around, pretend you have a weak bladder. Having the upper hand is a matter of psychology. The bad guys will not be prepared for you threatening to piss your pants. Unless it's David Hess in The Last House on the Left, that guy was pro pissing your pants.

This one rules because it has three pretty appealing leads and a plot that plays like a change reaction of bloody vengeance on top of all the great, jittery, dangerous looking action you can expect from a Hong Kong action movie. Aside from the aforementioned action scenes, there's a car chase through some especially crowded looking streets and alleys, a nightclub shootout full of neon lights, shattering glass, gunfire and squibs that was likely influenced by the Tech Noir shootout in The Terminator but I'd like to think influenced the climax of Another 48 Hrs., and a climax with an armoured car, a chainsaw and a series of explosions that the heroes narrowly escape in what looks like the world's most dangerous amusement park ride. Plot-wise I do think it's interesting the extent to which the heroes are unexpectedly pulled into the chain of events, and I do think the movie displays a decent amount of empathy even if it's totally ruthless in the way Hong Kong action often is. The positive portrayal of Hiroyuki Sanada's Japanese cop is also novel given that Japanese villains were a common trope in Hong Kong cinema. I assume some of that was for commercial reasons but it's nice to see in any case, and he's good in the movie.

Anyway, I think it's neat that they gave Michelle Yeoh a Best Actress Oscar for this movie twenty-six years after the fact. Now if only they'd give Michael Wong a Best Supporting Oscar for playing "Micheal Wong". Also, I'd totally forgotten that Kenneth Tsang was in this, but I guess I've seen enough of these that I recognized the back of his head even before we see his face.

[ursidanger]

Some OC redesign work from earlier in the year, goal was to specify their individual eye shapes and upper body areas

[djkerr]

The Slow Horses crew at the 2025 SAG Awards, nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. 🐌🐎

(February 23, 2025)

📷 @giseleschmidtofficial IG

[anyasanyatt]

the Alexa Chung of it all.