25th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 08 Apr 2006, 21:51

25th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards

http://www.lovehkfilm.com/features/hkfa_2005.htm

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 08 Apr 2006, 22:07

What a joke. The choice of mediocre nominees and winners highlights the sorry state of the HK film industry. Come on... Divergence, House of Fury... 2 Young? LMAO!

Quality of HK cinema (imo) has declined a lot. Used to be an entertaining industry but not anymore.

the68monkey · Post by **the68monkey** » 08 Apr 2006, 22:25

I don't know. Sha Po Lang is a worthy film.

I haven't seen Election, but with that talent involved, surely it can't be tHAT bad. Also, I've never seen Perhaps Love, but the screenshots there look lavish. Looks like it would be worth seeing simply for the visual treat.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 Apr 2006, 22:31

hey,

IMO, much to be appreciative of, even if it's the old guard still winning the awards. I think Election will grow into a better film (hopefully) come sequel time but Johnnie To delivered to his fans (not to those who thought they were getting gore, rape and mayhem via the Cat III rating though) something that spoke of something greater beyond the triad genre framework.

Would say Tony Leung should've had the acting award for Everlasting Regret, one of the better things about that film. Fiona Sit so deserved the Best New Artist award as that was truly a fine, new performance. Doubt Jay Chou's was.

The acknowledgement of Kenneth Bi surely will lead to a purchase of Rice Rhapsody for me but Hong Kong cinema better soon start appreciating Edmond Pang a whole lot more. Hopefully next year through Isabella.

In short, I go everywhere in Hong Kong cinema and I still see huge positives in smaller numbers. But I won't argue against anyone else's opinion. It's ok.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 08 Apr 2006, 22:54

Huh? Why is "House of Fury" nominated? Wasn't that one already nominated at the last year's awards?

My choices:

Best Film:
Haven't seen "Perhaps Love", yet as my ordered YesAsia-package has STILL not arrived, whihc is so unusal of them. They have sent out another package to me. Sadly, "The Myth" and "Seven Swords" both had flaws and "Initial D" was a complete mess. It would be "Election" then, which I liked with a rating of 3/5. I think it is a film that is ahead of its time. Will re-watch it some time in the future and I'm sure I'll love it. It has a very strong ending in my opinion. I hope "Perhaps Love" will be able to compete as it seems to be quite good.

Best Director:
Wislon Yip wasn't even nominated for this one, so I agree to the Johnnie To decision. However, I have to say again that I haven't seen Peter Chan's musical that is "Perhaps Love", yet.

Best Actor:
Andy Lau was really good in WTYO. However it is a tough decision here as there weren't really any OUTSTANDING films from HK in 2005. If I look at SPL though, I think that Donnie Yen did a very good acting job in this one. Unfortunately, the character didn't have enough depth, but did Leung Ka-fai's character in "Election"?

Best Supporting Actor:
Should have gone to Liu Kai-chi from SPL. Haven't seen "Everlasting Regret" or "Drink-Drank-Drunk", but with all due respect to Anthony Wong, I think that he didn't deserve that award. When will he realize that his fans want to see him play characters with depth again and not these kind of superficial stereotypes he has recently been playing so often.

Won't comment on the other categories though, as I have just noticed what kind of a joke they are. SPL is only nominated in the action department. It's sad, but this kind of attitude towards great action films might be another reason why people in HK have stopped making them, fearing that they won't be well received.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 Apr 2006, 22:58

hey,

the character didn't have enough depth, but did Leung Ka-fai's character in "Election"?

Yea, as cool as Leung is, Big D was really just a loud, obnoxious presence that you see in these films but it wasn't a performance I had a problem with. However as the longtime friend of Sammi Cheng's in Everlasting Regret, here was a performance with more subtle depth and award worthy.

but with all due respect to Anthony Wong, I think that he didn't deserve that award

I don't think Anthony cares for the award either!

Turn to 2 Young for a performance where it's clear he cares and it's also comes with enough depth to warrant a HK Film Award.[/quote]

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 08 Apr 2006, 23:05

Knetan wrote:Turn to 2 Young for a performance where it's clear he cares and it's also comes with enough depth to warrant a HK Film Award.

So is this one any good? Because as much as I would love to give Jackie Chan's heir a chance, I always tend to think that he only appears in silly teenager comedies.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 Apr 2006, 23:12

hey,

this was Jaycee's second film and Derek Yee clearly did not set out to exploit the market value of Jaycee as such. This was a drama and Yee has a knack for taking untested talent to unexplored heights (Chin Ka-Lok in Full Throttle for instance). With Jaycee and Fiona Sit, he perhaps got them to stretch their acting abilities to the outermost limit (and they have LIMITED range), basically playing themselves but within the serious framework, I think this worked very well. Especially since they're also backed by the veterans that also includes Eric Tsang. But that's just me, I'm easily affected!

http://www.sogoodreviews.com/reviews/2young.htm

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 08 Apr 2006, 23:22

You? Easily affected? Man, I happened to enjoy all the films you like and "2 Young" is already on my next YesAsia order. Looking forward to seeing it, thanks. Totally missed that Derek Yee is the director. I really enjoyed all the films I have seen by him so far (guess they were only "Full Throttle", "Lost in Time" and "One Nite in Mongkok"). But I also liked his producing efforts alà "Crazy N' the City" or "Inner Senses" (and we all know producers DO have a lot to say).

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 Apr 2006, 23:27

hey,

indeed. Yee put his producing skills to fine use when approaching and during his directing hiatus back in the late 90s. Also was behind Till Death Do Us part which is still a fucking haunting movie to this day. And can you believe Daniel Lee really doesn't like that filmmaking style he so greatly put forth in that film?! He wants more action yet his best films are sans a lot of that.

Derek also seemed to support the career of Law Chi-leung as well by having him as co-director on Viva Erotica and subsequently producing Inner Senses and Double Tap. Glad Yee wasn't associated with Bug Me Not! as I don't think Law wants to either anymore!

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 08 Apr 2006, 23:36

Wait... so Derek Yee was actually responsible of what is one of the most awesome female-lead films ever? This explains quite a lot about the huge quality differences of Daniel Lee's films. I loved "Black Mask", "A Fighter's Blues" etc. But although "Star Runner" is supposed to be a good film, I couldn't continue watching it after 15 minutes or so.

"Dragon Squad" is unfortunately a proof of wasted talent. It is obvious that Daniel Lee wasn't decisive enough with the writing of his story. The background stories of the single characters were far more interesting than the main plot. Technically (visually etc.) everything was there. Unfortunately, the movie suffered of bad editing.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 Apr 2006, 23:45

hey,

he did produce "Till Death..." yea but if you look at Moonlight Express, Lee is clearly capable on his own. Problem there is that the film suffers from having a thriller/action oriented subplot with Leslie as an undercover cop. Lee has gone on record saying he would've liked more action to less his story and less of the felt drama. Shame he sees it that way and that his sense of style only has been utilized well once (again Till Death Do Us Part).

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 09 Apr 2006, 00:27

I think Tsui Hark was quite influential in the production of Black Mask.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 09 Apr 2006, 05:55

hey,

wouldn't be the first time Tsui has "interfered" and he has been talking about in the past not being able to separate his work as producer from director I believe.