Maybe tangram – rush forward

Then I’m sure they’ll all flock to his remake of Baby Geniuses. 💀

“Unrelated, but I wonder who the audience was supposed to be. It can’t be kids because of the violence and Mike saying “fuck” all the time, and it can’t be adults because of the corny scenes. I was a bit at a loss.”

That one’s easy – Donnie Yen fans (aka the whole of China) 😛

Haha! I didn’t necessarily mean that Donnie forced it before. I was just referring to how this was a different character for him, and I don’t know if he would have pulled it off in the 90’s.

Big Brother and Chasing the Dragon show that Donnie has learned a lot since then.

I certainly know that melodrama and sentimental “mush” is a staple of HK cinema, but I didn’t mind it before since I thought the acting was good in many of those films. The sequence in SPL had good acting, and I bought into it because a lot was at stake in the plot.

With Big Brother, it felt like soap opera caricatures invaded and they weren’t convincing.

I don’t know anything about the actors who played the students, but they looked too inexperienced for a major film.

Unrelated, but I wonder who the audience was supposed to be. It can’t be kids because of the violence and Mike saying “fuck” all the time, and it can’t be adults because of the corny scenes. I was a bit at a loss.

“Whenever he smiles, it felt genuine instead of forced.”

You mean to say that shots like this feel forced? 🙂

I get your points, but for me I could forgive them, and almost expect scenes like you describe from HK cinema (and this really did feel like a slice of HK cinema – a Cantonese speaking HK cast, HK locales, and a cheesy soundtrack, just with less synthesizers). The back-to-back scenes with the parents was really no different from the scene in ‘SPL’, when each supporting cop character consecutively receives a call from their loved one, ready to be killed off by Wu Jing. Subtlety has never been a prominent feature of HK cinema, and it certainly wasn’t anymore glaring here than it was in any of the classics we hold near and dear.

You have my sincere apologies.

I was ok with the movie not being full of action, but the dramatic scenes had a lot of issues. For one thing, most of the students were not good actors. Whenever they would cry or scream, it looked incredibly fake, and undermined the movie’s message.

And while I think it’s great to make a movie about helping and encouraging others to succeed, there was way too much mushiness.

It didn’t help to have back to back scenes of fathers crying over their children, and he subplot of the brothers with the alcoholic dad was handled poorly. The fact that issues like alcoholism and suicide were solved almost immediately was incredibly stupid.

I liked the action, but was upset that Donnie was only able to handle Jess because the latter was drugged. The final fight with Donnie and Yu Kang was good, and I liked the scrappiness of it, but I never felt they were evenly matched.

Yu Kang’s character was hardly showcased as a capable fighter and spent a great deal of the fight on the defensive with almost no technique. It seemed like he only gave Donnie trouble because of his strength. Colin Chou and Andy On are still better opponents in this regard.

Although Donnie was never a master thespian, I liked how he acted outside of his comfort zone, and was believable as someone who wanted to do good. Whenever he smiles, it felt genuine instead of forced.

With less mushiness and more structure, Big brother could have been an 8.

Dear Mike, yeah, same as the dude above me said (I don’t feel like typing all those words- my time is too important), except I’m better. Donnie wanted to fight me, but I thought that wouldn’t be good for my image. Call me. I’m important enough that you can just do a search for my number.

BTW, I turned down the lead in BRAVEHEART (I don’t look good in blue makeup).

“I played the main bodyguard to the bald bad guy in the car park scene….why are you laughing? ” Well i played the bald bad guy in that scene and my main bodyguard was Semi…..(beat) ” LOL!

I am preparing a new version of the casting article, including some of my favourite new additions of the last year or so including the “hey, i saw you hired Jess for BIG BROTHER< he's no good you must be shit at your job to hire him! If you want a star for your next movie, you should call me! Former Belator Champion soon to be Champion again!" (yes thats always a good way to make a first impression, slag off someone i've hired, slag off me and tell me you used to be a champion while offering no reel or anything…guess i should search you out to see your greatness!)….the "Hi Mike, just letting you know I am a Hollywood actor in Beijing (no credits, no showreel, no resume!)….the just happened this week "Hi, i do a lot of interviews about how I am a big star, and the future of cinema and how to be a star in China/Hong Kong, i just got hired to work on my first project, a Jackie Chan movie, and I didn't bother to turn up when I was supposed to because you know BS'ing about my credentials is more important than doing the job" or the classic on Abduction when an Extra starts telling me how he is not really an extra, he's not even an actor, he is actually a STAR in China and Hong Kong……wow I say, what are some of the projects you've done? and he tells me amongst other projects he was one of the stars of HELIOS with Nick Cheung & Jacky Cheung…..wow what role did you play in Helios? This is where it gets really interesting,,,,,"I played the main bodyguard to the bald bad guy in the car park scene….why are you laughing? " Well i played the bald bad guy in that scene and my main bodyguard was Semi…..(beat) "oh sorry, not that scene, the other scene in Macau at the dog track"…..where i played the twin brother of the character in the garage scene and all my bodyguards were guys i know and not you? PLEASE get off the set now

The joys of movie making!

Ooooooohhhh, you’re asking for lots and lots of trouble! (Don’t kill him, Mike!)

Mike Leeder – can you help me break into the action film industry? I’ve co-starred in a number of top martial arts films with big names that are comparable to Bruce Lee and Jacky Chan. I don’t have a fight reel, but you gotta believe me: I’m the best there is! Please email me when you get a chance! If you don’t contact me, you’re making the mistake of a life time. I’ve written my first action script. It takes place after an alien attack by Karate-fighting creatures. It’ll have all sorts of huge explosions and big fight scenes. The star of THE RAID already agreed to be in it. So maybe you can get Maria Tran and Mark Dacascos to co-star with me. They can be my sidekicks hehehe P.S. I love your book “Hong Kong Action Cinema”

Good stuff Mike, thanks for the insights. Now when are we going to get a third round of Yu Kang vs Donnie Yen goodness in ‘Ice Man 2’!?

The locker room fight was a bit longer and a lot more lewd! But its a very good sequence as you pointed out, and yes that was an Afro Ninja reference, he thought it was funny as hell when he saw that clip and has tried sneaking it into other projects

One of the naked dudes was Scottish stuntman Craig MIller who gets one hell of a nut shot! And originally Daniel Whyte was supposed to join us, but unfortunately tore his ACL during a stunt rehearsal but was with us in spirit

Great line! Can we expect an unrated Blu-ray? 😛

Don’t think I didn’t notice either that you’ve formed an alliance with Semiquaver Iafeta as ‘The Helios Boys’ gweilo package deal.

& was it just me, or did Yu Kang throw in a subtle homage to the Afro Ninja?

I was hoping for a lengthy one on one with Donnie and Brahim. I guess he’s one of the many bodies in the first fight.

I can’t belive Donnie is 55 already. I hope I’m in that kind of shape when I’m his age.

Come on, I think i only say First Round three times, and Easy Money a few times, there is a “I’m gonna make you some money!” in there too

Trust me the original audio for that scene, the air was quite blue including Donnie responding to my now deleted “who’s that Ip Man looking mothafucka?” with a few choice words!

I had a great time working on the movie with Donnie, Kam kar-wai, Kenji and the boys and give it up to Donnie for stepping outside the box and putting the focus on some very relevant HK issues, and yes of course he had to have some kick ass in there, he’s Donnie Yen!