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January 4th, 2001 Issue #39

Hong Kong Digital is a recurring series of movie reviews by John Charles -- a film reviewer for Video Watchdog magazine and the author of The Hong Kong Filmography.

2000 Year End Round-Up

It is customary for critics to provide Top and Bottom Ten lists this time of year but, as there are a few important films that I have not had the chance to catch yet (like JIANG HU: THE TRIAD ZONE), I'm going a different route. Below is a list of the 2000 HK releases that I saw, grouped under various headings. The films are presented in the order that I happened to see them in, not by quality within that category. For those wondering, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON is a HK / China / Taiwan / US co-production so, technically, it qualifies. Besides, I had to include the movie simply because it was the best film I saw in 2000 from any territory.

          

Spacked Out (left). A War Named Desire (centre). Conspiracy (right).

Highly Recommended

CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON
SPACKED OUT		 JULIET IN LOVE
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

Recommended

TOKYO RAIDERS
THE DUEL
PARAMOUNT MOTEL
THOSE WERE THE DAYS

 BORN TO BE KING
A WAR NAMED DESIRE
CONMAN IN TOKYO
DOUBLE TAP

Marginal Recommendations

PHANTOM OF SNAKE
FIST POWER
CONSPIRACY
NEEDING YOU
NAKED POISON
AND I HATE YOU SO		 UN BAISER VOLE
LOVE PARADOX
KILLER
MY NAME IS NOBODY
RETURN TO DARK


     

Violent Cop (left). Winner Takes All (right).

Not Recommended

RAPED BY AN ANGEL 5: THE FINAL JUDGMENT
HOROSCOPE II: THE WOMAN FROM HELL
2000 AD
RESORT MASSACRE
UNTOUCHABLE MANIA

 QUEENIE & KING THE LOVERS
HELP!!!
HIGH K
VIOLENT COP*

Definitely Not Recommended

PROSTITUTE KILLERS
THE TEMPTATION OF OFFICE LADIES
SAUSALITO		 LET IT BE
WINNER TAKES ALL
CHINESE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS II

* Two films named VIOLENT COP were made in 2000. The VIOLENT COP referred to in this list is called BO LIK YING GING in Cantonese and is directed by Steve Cheng Wai-man. It stars Michael Wong and Anthony Wong. The other VIOLENT COP, FOH BAU YING GING, is directed by Kant Leung Wung-fat and stars Patrick Tam and Pinky Cheung.

Copyright © John Charles 2000, 2001. All Rights Reserved.
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