The Age of Commercialism

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

I watched this movie expecting a rather fun martial art movie. I saw Sammo Hung in many Chinese kung fu movies and although he was always somewhat fat he always delivered decent stuff. Was it always believable? You decide. But this movie ... Well OK let me start by the beginning.I understand a movie has to set up characters and development. But nothing happen for over 30 minutes. Then we have a very short action scene and nothing happen again for another 30 minutes. There is only one big action piece in the movie and although its better filmed than an usual Steven Seagal action scene, you can clearly see the guy is overweight and can't match with these peoples. Some decent camera work and wire stuff hide the obvious, but the action is plague by a weird looking slowmo effect way too present.Is the story any good? Well not really... The acting is OK from the little girl i supposed but Sammo is wooden as a 2x4. I guess this movie want to be more of a drama than an action movie but even there i had trouble getting into it. Maybe its cause I'm not Chinese...Overall i was very disappointed by this. To me it compare to the bad Steven Seagal movies when nothing happen but even worst. Usually with Seagal you have half decent gun fights and Seagal being the smart ass and pulling a few good lines, but here nothing.I am giving a 4 by compassion for the attempt at a touching story and i am being very generous.

I am really at a loss as to why this movie gets such bad critical reviews. I found it to be a very enjoyable movie.Sammo Hung is a long-time mainstay of Hong Kong cinema and it is good to see him directing again after two decades.The leads in the movie all do an excellent job. The relationship between Sammo Hung's old man, suffering dementia, and Jacqueline Chan's mischievous young girl is beautifully played. Andy Lau manages to make his character almost likable, even though he is a wife-beating ogre.The supporting cast are also very good. The three old guys who make fun of Sammo's character are hilarious. Tsui Hark makes a welcome cameo as one of the three old guys.The action scenes are very well filmed, with Sammo in typically good form, despite his advancing age. All in all, I can thoroughly recommend this movie to all fans of the genre. You'll have an enjoyable 98 minutes of viewing!

Sammo Hung has gotten old.And agreed to do this slow cooking movie.(For reasons way beyond me)Some people has pointed out,that maybe it's more philosophical.That it's about Sammo coming to terms with his old age at 61, and wanting to show that he still got it. Which he do and don't in many ways.You can clearly see that the fights isn't the same anymore.Though I have no doubt he fakes heavy breathing (at times) The people he fight screams out of his league.Most of this movie focuses on Sammo as Ding,and old retired palace guard, walking around being old and forgetful,in a suburban neighborhood. Believe me it's as boring as it sounds. There a old female sphincter neighbor, who has taken the liking to him.But he is either not interested or don't understand her advance.Hard to make out which.A little bit of both I think. Than there's a girl next door who have a dad with a gambling debt,who enters into his life,who he seem to feel is both a nuisance and pleasure. And he somewhat feels protective of her,over her abusive dad.The fight scenes with x-ray cut in, like in Romeo must die, are great and neatly choreographed.But you can't help seeing that Sammo is to old, for the people he suppose to beat up so easily. Jackie Chan often hides his disadvantages behind acrobatics,and by using his surroundings against his opponents.A chair here, a table there. But Sammo goes toe to toe ,with the bad guys in the movie,and you clearly get the impression they holding back big time.The biggest problem is the slow pace and Sammo's moping blank expression. The story isn't all that interesting either.I give it a 3 I still think sammo has a lot of talent left in him. But he should put it to better use

My Beloved Bodyguard (2016): Apart from martial arts and Kung Fu,China also has good drama and comedy films which are entertaining.My Beloved Bodyguard is action drama film directed and starred Sammo Hung in lead role.Plot: A retired bodyguard Ding (Sammo Hung) who has settled into a corner of the world where China, Russia and North Korea meet as he suffers from early dementia finds a new friend in a young girl Cherry Li (Jacqueline Chan). When her life is threatened by her father's connection with a local crime lord, .the bodyguard must call upon his long forgotten skills to save her.Plus Points: 1)Performances: This movie has brilliant performances by both the lead roles which stands out as major highlight of this movie.The relationship between Ding and Cherry is adorable and they both did their parts perfectly.2)Good Moments: This movie has some good moments which are highly entertaining.We can thoroughly enjoy this movie without getting bored.3)Music: BGM is very good and really helped this movie a lot.Minus Points: 1)Plot similarities: This movie has huge resemblance to Korean gangster film The Man From Nowhere, but in a more family-centric, grandfatherly format.So My Beloved Bodyguard is decent one time watch entertainer with brilliant performances.My rating 6.5/10