KFCC Awards movie review listing page 3

(110 min)

2002 - Comedy, Drama - Singapore

Kok Pin, Boon Hock and Terry are classmates in EM3. In Singapore, that means that at the age of 12, the government has decided that they are not as academically inclined as their peers who have been placed in an express or normal stream. Kok Pin is creative and a born artist but his parents would rather he focus on his Math and Science. Boon Hock comes from a poor family and needs to balance school and helping out at his parents’ restaurant. Lastly, there’s Terry, a rich kid who’s been brought up to just ignore others and hasn’t been required to do anything for himself. Much misunderstanding occurs amongst the friends because Terry has been brought up to mind his own business and not stand up for his friends. While the three children suffer from the pressure of school, their parents have another set of problems.

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Director : Jack Neo

Cast : Huang Po Ju, Shawn Lee, Joshua Ang, Cheryl Chan, Jack Neo, Xiang Yun

Ichi The Killer

(128 min)

2001 - Horror, Gangster - Japan

In a yakuza syndicate, the Anjo clan has suffered the loss of their head leader. Kakihara, Anjo's right hand man, sets out on a quest to find his boss (regardless of the evidence that says he's dead). Things begin to turn for the worst when a group of men that was once affiliated with their syndicate but kicked out set their eyes on seeing the Anjo Clan's complete annihilation. To make thing's worse, they've got the mysterious and extremely deadly killer Ichi on their tales. Will the Anjo Clan survive through Ichi's slaughter? Can they defy their gloomy fate? A sick and twisted fantasy about sadism and masochism with an ending so puzzling that it'll drive you to watch this nihilistic ride into the deepest trenches of the human psyche a second time, a third time, hell, maybe even a fourth. A film based on the extreme manga with the same name, Miike Takashi brings the panels of ink to life in this controversial film.

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Director : Takashi Miike

Cast : Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shinya Tsukamoto, Paulyn Sun, Susumu Terajima, Toru Tezuka

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In The Mood For Love

(98 min)

2000 - Drama - Hong Kong

Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen move onto neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are polite and formal - until a discovery about their respective spouses sparks an intimate bond. At once delicately mannered and visually stunning, Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love" is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments in time.

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Director : Wong Kar-wai

Cast : Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Ping Lam Siu, Tung Cho Cheung, Rebecca Pan, Lai Chen

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Infernal Affairs

(97 min)

2002 - Drama, Thriller, Crime - Hong Kong

Two men. Two moles. Yan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) is your typical undercover cop, tough, smart, and extremely hard-boiled. Before graduating the police academy, Yan is sent by his official to infiltrate the triads. Ming (Andy Lau) is one of Hong Kong’s most decorated cops. However, his awards and promotions are only illusions. Sam, his triad boss, sent him to join the academy to become an officer. With tips from Sam against their triad rivals, Ming steadily becomes one of Hong Kong’s elite. But all things, no matter good or evil, must come to an end. So begins the face-off. Only one man, one mole will survive.

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Director : Alan Mak, Andrew Lau

Cast : Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Sammi Cheng, Kelly Chen

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Intimate confessions of a chinese courtesan

(86 min)

1972 - Swordplay, Drama - China

Ainu is among many new girls that are kidnapped and taken to a nearby brothel to be coerced into prostitution. Completely rebellious, Ainu is subjected to the four wealthiest officials and their lustful cruelty. The lady of the house, Lady Chun, falls for Ainu and immediately begins a relationship with her. As things heat up between them, Ainu begins her plan to exact revenge on the four officials that had their way with her. As she murders them one by one, Lady Chun becomes even more blinded by her love for Ainu, and a local cop investigates all of the devious happenings.

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Director : Chu Yuan

Cast : Lily Ho, Yuen Hua, Betty Pei Ti

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Iron monkey

(86 min)

1993 - Kung Fu - Hong Kong

In a small village of China the local governor is corrupt and exploits the population. In response to the cruel governor there is a bandit called the Iron Monkey who goes around stealing from the rich and the corrupt so that he may give to the poor. The governor receives word that an official from the emperor is coming for a visit, to avoid loosing face he orders his soldiers to capture the Iron Monkey at all costs. The soldiers round up anyone suspicious or anyone who knows Kung Fu, one of those who is arrested is Master Wong Kay-Ying and his son Wong Fei-Hung. During the trial the Iron Monkey makes an appearance and Wong Kay-Ying decides to fight him. After a powerful display of Kung Fu the governor orders Wong Kay-Ying to hunt down this Iron Monkey, to insure the job is done right Wong Fei-Hung is taken prisoner. Wong Kay-Ying has seven days to find the Iron Monkey or he will never see his son again.

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Director : Yuen Woo Ping

Cast : Cheung Fung-Nei, Lee Fai, Leung Ka-Yan, Siu Hou, Tsang Sze-Man, Jean Wang

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Jam Films

(109 min)

2002 - Action, Science Fiction, Comedy, Drama - Japan

JAM FILMS is a collection of seven unique, short films from Japan.

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Director : George Ida, Shunji Iwai, Ryuhei Kitamura, Rokuro Mochizuk, Tetsuo Shinohara, Yukihoko Tsutsumi, Isao Yukisada

Cast : Ryoko Hirosue, Kazuki Kitamura, Akaji Maro, Takao Osawa, Ryoko Shinohara, Satoshi Tsumabuki

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Japanese Hell

(101 min)

1999 - Horror - Japan

A young female member of the AUM cult (responsible for the sarin gas attacks on Tokyo's subway system) gets a chance to evaluate her path when she's offered a brutal and personal glimpse of Hell and what happens to those unfortunate enough to end up there.

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Director : Teruo Ishii

Cast : Miki Sato, Nozomi Saito, Michiko Maeda, Tetsuro Tamba

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Joint Security Area

2000 - Drama, Thriller - South Korea

Two North Korean soldiers are shot dead along the lines of the Joint Security Area. A Neutral Nations Officer is called in to investigate the matter and discovers that there is something much bigger than what may lie on the surface.

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Director : Chan-wook Park

Cast : Yeong-ae Lee, Byung-hun Lee, Kang-ho Song, Tae-woo Kim, Ha-kyun Shin

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Ju-on

(92 min)

2002 - Horror - Japan

“JU-ON: a curse born of a grudge held by someone who dies in the grip of powerful angers. It gathers in the places frequented by that person in life, working its spell on those who come into contact with it and thus creating itself anew.” Nishina Rika is a social worker sent to a home in order to check up on its inhabitants. There she finds an old woman wrought in silent terror amongst disheveled, stained sheets. While attempting to clean up the house, Rika hears noises coming upstairs and discovers a boy named Toshio duct taped inside one of the room closets. This starts off the chain of events that would soon be known as the JU-ON curse, passing through those who would come into contact with this mysterious, dark residence.

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Director : Shimizu Takashi

Cast : Okina Megumi, Ito Misaki, Uehara Misa, Ichikawa Yui, Valerie Chow

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King Of Comedy

(92 min)

1999 - Comedy, Drama - Hong Kong

Stephen Chow plays a struggling extra that only wants to rise to the top and become the leading man in the brutal world of film-making. Of course, everyone else seems to be in his way, and his sometimes clumsy actions keep him on their bad side, preventing his rise to fame. He meets a young nightclub worker (Cheung) that needs help acting so she can please her unsavory customers. A romance blossoms, but is interrupted when Chow meets the famous actressKuen-Yee, who sees his potential. Nothing seems to go right for Chow in this hilarious and charming comedy.

[more]

Director : Lee Lik Cheen, Stephen Chow

Cast : Stephen Chow, Karen Mok, Cecilia Cheung, Ng Man Tat

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Kung Fu Hustle

(95 min)

2004 - Kung Fu, Comedy - Hong Kong

The streets of early '30s Shanghai is ripe with corruption and greed. The Axe Gang has run a monopoly in all affairs gang-related. The only places that have escaped the grip of their control are the slumps that house lower-class citizens. Although they lived in awful conditions, they were happy. That all changed when the act of a single man starts a war between the simple people of Pig Sty Alley and the ruthless criminals of the Axe Gang

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Director : Stephen Chow

Cast : Stephen Chow, Kwok Kuen Chan, Dong Zhi Hua, Chiu Chi Ling, Yuen Qiu, Huang Sheng Yi

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Lady Vengeance

(118 min)

2005 - Drama - South Korea

After being released from jail after serving a sentence from 1991-2004 for kidnapping and murdering a little boy, Lee Geum-ja rejects reformation in favor of vengeance. Her plan is meticulously crafted through the aid of other women she served with in prison, and it's time for the true killer that had her put behind bars to atone for the sins he has committed.

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Director : Park Chan-wook

Cast : Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-Sik, Oh Dal-su, Kim Si-hu, Lee Seung-shin, Kim Bu-sun

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Last Samurai, The

(154 min)

2004 - Swordplay, Drama - USA

Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a United States military captain who is sent to Japan to train troops in the art of American warfare against Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe): the leader of a group of Samurai trained in the old ways. As Captain Algren trains the Japanese troops in preparation for battle, Katsumoto watches as his way of life is threatened to vanish from a modernizing Japan. Neither knows their fates lie entwined with each other as politicians and US ambassadors work behind the curtains to remove the ways of the Samurai from the empire of Japan.

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Director : Edward Zwick

Cast : Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Timothy Spall, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki

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Legend Of Zu

(104 min)

2001 - Swordplay, Fantasy - Hong Kong

The Zu mountain ranges carry in itself another world. Poetic and beautiful in creation, Zu carries the burden of having a never ending war rage along her steeps and hills and among her clouds. On the darker end of this conflict, the evil Insomnia slowly moves along in an infectious state, destroying all and everything that stands in his way. The last clan that has the power to stop this tortuous lord is Omei. With the support of Zu's mightiest warriors, the Omei Clan will risk their lives to bring back the peaceful and serene nature of the Zu Mountains.

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Director : Tsui Hark

Cast : Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, Cecilia Cheung, Kelly Lin, Zhang Ziyi, Jacky Wu

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Libera Me

(120 min)

2000 - Action - South Korea

After twelve years since he has been put into prison, Hee-Soo is released. Soon after he is emancipated, the boiler room of the prison explodes and the entire building is engulfed in a scorching inferno. Following the days after Hee-Soo is released, the team members of 85th station face numerous well-planned fires, while attempting to cope with losses and finding the culprit behind the chaos.

[more]

Director : Yang Yun-Ho

Cast : Cha Min-Soo, Cha Seung-Won, Yoo Ji-Tae, Kim Kyu-Ri

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Linda Linda Linda

(116 min)

2005 - Drama - Japan

LINDA LINDA LINDA is the story of three girls in search of a singer so they can perform at their high school’s yearly talent show. After a recent friendship goes bust, the girls do the unthinkable and choose Korean foreign exchange student, Son (played by Bae Doo-na), as the unlikely tent pole. The power of both music and friendship draw them closer together but will they be ready to take the plunge and make their way on stage with out utter and complete embarrassment…

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Director : Nobuhiro Yamashita

Cast : Bae Doo-na, Aki Maeda, Yu Kashii, Shiori Sekine, Masahiro Komoto

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Memories of Murder

(130 min)

2003 - Drama, Thriller - South Korea

In 1986, two female bodies were discovered in the Gyunggi Province. Both had been brutally raped and murdered in similar circumstances. Korean police now faced the first serial killer case in their country. Detective Park Doo-Man is leading the case and with the help of his aggressive partner, they will try to figure out who the potential killers are, but without much success. However, things change when Seo Tae-Yoon, a member of the Seoul metropolitan police department, volunteers to help the investigation. With his meticulous approach to the case, it won’t take long for Seo Tae-Yoon to come up with strong evidences and clues about the identity of the murderer. But they need to act fast as they think that other murders might occur very soon. Unfortunately, the poor police methods of the time and the unavailability of high technology for blood-identification resulted in a disastrous conclusion for the case.

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Director : Bong Joon-ho

Cast : Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-Kyung, Byun Hee-bong, Song Jae-Ho, Kim Rwe-Ha, Koh Seo-Hee

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Men Suddenly In Black

(99 min)

2003 - Comedy - Hong Kong

The location: Hong Kong. The number of men: 4. The situation: The wives are out of town. The mission: To get laid.

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Director : Ho Cheung Ping

Cast : Jordan Chan, Eric Tsang, Candy Lo, Ellen Chan, Tat-Ming Cheung, Stephanie Che

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Millionaire's Express

(98 min)

1986 - Kung Fu, Comedy - Hong Kong

Chin, a man on the run because of a mistake he made in his hometown when he was young, in order to redeem himself he comes up with a plan to help is hometown. The town was recently robbed by the old police chief and when Chin shows up the new police chief suspects him of some wrong doing. Meanwhile a train filled with wealthy passengers is headed near the town but a group of robbers have their eye on what the train holds. Due to some misfortune everyone end up in the small town, the robbers, the passengers of the train, a bounty hunter, the old police chief who robbed the town and some Japanese guys. Chaos soon follows and Chin will try to save his home town with some help from some unlikely sources.

[more]

Director : Sammo Hung

Cast : Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Olivia Cheng, Rosamund Kwan, Kenny Bee, Eric Tsang

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