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Went to see Red Cliff today with the aforementioned friend. We were gonna see The Hangover, but we were too late. Needless to say he loved it. It was "excellent" as he put it. He actually enjoyed it more than I did and he's gonna recommend it to a few people. He's a big history fan whilst I'm not (I'd rather see gun play then sword play) but I must admit I did really enjoy it. I felt at times it was a bit hit and miss...some exposition scenes felt overly long and some character development felt needless. Was it really necessary to have an extended montage of the two guys playing music near the start? Perhaps, but I got a bit bored. Also the amount of fades the editer used became almost self-parodic by the end. The battle sequences however were fantastic as were the performances by Leung and Kaneshiro. My mate and I were both surprised at the high production values and the CGI, which, although heavily used, was never 'cheap' looking. I think some of my favorite scenes, aside from the battles which were fantastic, were the parts where each army planned out their attack. Overall, a great film marred by a few overly long sequences - 6/10 (That may seem harsh but I said I'm not a big fan of historical films. It's defiantly the most enjoyable historical 'epic' I've seen but if I was into that genre I don't doubt that I would have enjoyed it more).

Edit - Okay I'm a little confused here. The film I went to see was named Red Cliff (not part 1 or anything), but it didn't end on a cliffhanger, as I'd been told. The total running time was roughly 2hrs 30mins (subbed but with a cheesy-ass 'Hollywood' voice over at the start explaining things). Is this an international version or something?

Haven't watched many Asian films over the past few years so thought I'd revisit a few and check out some ones I haven't seen yet.

Full Contact - As much as I enjoy the action in this film, it really drops a gear when Chow is screwed over by Siman Yam's gang. Found myself pretty bored during the scenes in which he taunts Anthony Wong's character. Picks up in the last 30mins though. The subtitles for this film are atrocious on most releases, which certainly doesn't help things. 6.5/10

God of Gamblers - Always liked this one, but never really appreciated it. Man, what a performance by CYF. Probably his best in my eyes. When playing the child-like GoG he could have easiler gone 'full retard' and fucked it up, or became very annoying. He was totally endearing, however. The action scene in the car park feels a bit out of place, but then again it's a Wong Jing film. Great stuff 8/10

God of Gamblers 2 - I've owned this film for 3 years but never had the time to watch it. Good sequal which would certainly have benifitted from CYF. The constant references to Chow were pretty annoying - why not just try and move on from him? Well, thats Wong Jing for you I guess. Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat were entertaining as always, although, as a honky I feel like I miss a lot of the gags due to the (generally) sub-par subtitles in his films. His precence is always appriciated though - even if I don't understand his canto-puns his physical comedy and translated gags do it for me. Andy Lau was so-so in this I thought. SC had more of the limelight until the final gambling scene where Andy was albe to shine. 7/10

Shaolin Soccer - I'm late to the party on this one. Saw it for the first time on Saturday. What else can I say that hasn't already been said? Wasn't keen on the dance sequence at the start of the film but otherwise loved it 8/10

60 Million Dollar Man - Second time I've seen this film. Wasn't too keen on it the first time (it was my first Stevie Chow film) and didn't get much of the subtile humor due to the awful subs. Nevertheless, I watched it again and really enjoyed it. It's pretty (ok, very) uneven and Chows character has a massive shift mid-way through the film, but the humour and the effects, although pretty awful, are fun. I must admit, I disagree with Neil's view (which appears to be the popular opinion, so maybe I'm just weird) on the sfx - they are bad, but for a 1995 low budget HK film I thought they were pretty good. Actaully, in hindsight, I enjoyed this more than GoG 2. 7/10