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| | Publisher: Powells Books Wholesale Remain
Salesrank: 1699067
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| Used Price: $1.41 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
A movie-by-movie guide to Hong Kong cinema. This book examines nearly 200 examples of the best and worst that it has to offer, and explains plot, characters and rates each movie. It includes stories from the Hong Kong movie scene and gives a listing of video stores that carry some of the titles.
Sex and Zen and a Bullet In the Head Reviews:
Sex & Bullets 
2009-02-21 - A book for those with an interest in the far-out from the farside of the globe. A well-written guide to films that are action-packed, sexy, and in several cases, just plain odd. Well worth the read for anyone looking for an introduction into the world of Hong Kong Cinema.
Read, enjoy, learn, then start trying to track down these films that range from classic to trashy.
Buy the book - No Need To See The Movies1 
2003-06-01 - I just dont get the appeal of this book, I'm sorry. For the most part, all it contains is a bunch of detailed plot information (yes Virginia, including key plot twists and endings) and very little information as to if the movies were any good! Yes, he has some special lists ("movies that rip"), but just not enough. I wanted this book as a reference to all of the HK movies out there, so I could see what was good before plunking down my cash on them - after reading about a few movies, I felt I no longer needed to buy them because I had already seen them. There are much better options.
A good enthusiastic intro to Hong Kong movies! 
2001-03-14 - This is an excellent book for someone just getting into HK movies- it's populist and unpretentious, but it doesn't just dismiss the movies as 'fun trash.' It covers most of the classics, like Peking Opera Blues, The Bride with White Hair, Chungking Express, etc. and includes capsule reviews of slightly more obscure movies. There's also a good glossary explaining the durian (among other things) and compilations of choice bad subtitles. My main qualm about it is that it more or less neglects HK comedies- the authors even warn non-Cantonese speakers not to see them, because they won't understand 'em. This is NOT TRUE. But buy the book anyway and seek information about HK comedies elsewhere.^^
A look at the cult side of HK films 
2001-01-26 - This book is only helpful for those with little knowledge of Hong Kong films. It's more playful than artistic, yet there are some helpful film reviews included. Some of the information is outdated: Web sites, where to buy HK films, etc..., but if your new to HK films and are interested in the pop culture gems that come out of Hong Kong, then check this book out. For those interested in a more in-depth look at Hong Kong films, I recommend City on Fire, by Lisa Stokes and Micheal Hoover.
a fun introduction of Hong Kong cinema
2000-08-22 - Memo to the reader from Denver: did you read the same book I did? Yeah, I'll admit that I wish the authors hadn't gone into quite so much detail about the plots, but how can you say they didn't review any of the films? The authors' enthusiasm for this exhilarating subsection of filmdom permeates every sentence herein; everything they write is filtered through their opinions, which are mostly positive, because, as they explain in the intro, they put the spotlight on the films they loved the most. With the exception of the informative sidebars, there's nothing BUT reviews here.
I love this book. It's not meant to be an HK film encyclopedia, just a feet-wetting introduction to an unjustly overlooked body of work. As that, it's nearly perfect.
