Andy On Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In a perfect cinematic world, you'd be able to watch every movie you wanted to watch as soon as it was released on a big screen with good sound and projection and an appreciative audience. In the real world, we're always making compromises: my friends don't want to see what I want to see tonight, that new indie movie is only playing in New York and may never play in my town, the woman sitting next to me in the theater keeps talking to her friends.

Mad Detective opened on Friday, but as noted by Eric D. Snider in his latest Indie Spotlight, only in New York. I have no idea if it will ever play in Dallas, where I live, but based on recent history, chances are, it won't. I'm a huge fan of Hong Kong filmmakers Johnny To and Wai Ka Fai, who co-directed, and Lau Ching Wan, a great, underappreciated actor (Beyond Hypothermia, Big Bullet, A Hero Never Dies), but I've been reluctant to spring for the import DVD, which would set me back nearly 20 bucks. (The trailer's available to watch at Moviefone.)

So I compromised and spent $5.99 to watch Mad Detective via the "IFC in Theaters" video on demand (VOD) service on my cable system. That's comparable to a matinee showing at a local arthouse -- I paid $6.75 to see The Wackness on Saturday afternoon -- but the experience is, obviously, not the same. For one thing, "IFC in Theaters" is only available in standard definition, so the picture looks only so-so, even on my 26-inch high-def monitor.

When I saw The Incredible Hulk yesterday at a matinee screening, I was entertained. (My feelings were very similar to what Scott Weinberg wrote in his review, so no sense repeating them here.) But, truthfully, the CGI-to-death battle scenes made me long for hard-core, physical action sequences involving real people, an itch that was easily scratched by watching Invisible Target, which came out on DVD earlier this week.

Directed by veteran action maestro Benny Chan, Invisible Target is a very basic Hong Kong "cops and criminals" tale with a couple of deeper psychological layers thrown in for good measure. As I wrote in my review when I saw it at Fantastic Fest last fall, "Invisible Target may not be strikingly original in either its plot or action choreography, but there's definitely something entirely positive to be said for a film that intends to be nothing more than a delivery system for adrenaline and keeps its promise in a very satisfying fashion."

Last year, there was a little show called Raines. It starred Jeff Goldblum as a detective who solved crimes by talking to himself. However, instead of just muttering inwards, he'd hallucinate and see the slain people he was investigating. When he saved them, so to speak, by finding their killers, the hallucinations would go away until the next murder was discovered.The show might not have made it to its second season on TV this year, but we're about to see some similar cinematic treatment.

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that IFC Entertainment is about to score the distribution rights to Hong Kong directors Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai's Mad Detective, which they call an "offbeat cop thriller." The film stars Lau Ching-wan as "a loopy police inspector who solves cases by seeing a suspect's inner 'ghosts.' After a long absence from the force for mental-health reasons, he is brought back to track down a missing officer." So it isn't quite murdered people, but the same general idea. The film has screened in Venice and Toronto, and Variety described one scene as such: "Lau Ching-wan plays Inspector Bun, who, in a witty intro, solves a murder by getting his sidekick, Ho Ka-on (Andy On), to zip him up inside a suitcase -- like the victim -- and chuck it downstairs. 'It was the ice cream seller,' he proudly announces as he's pulled out." If this sounds like your cup of cop tea, IFC is releasing it in theaters and VOD, if they seal the deal.

Crunch! Bam! Ouch! Wow! Great action movies make you want to express yourself in exclamation marks. As evidenced by Invisible Target, the Hong Kong film industry has forgotten more about making action films than Hollywood will ever learn. Invisible Target may not be strikingly original in either its plot or action choreography, but there's definitely something entirely positive to be said for a film that intends to be nothing more than a delivery system for adrenaline and keeps its promise in a very satisfying fashion.

A gang of thieves led by Tien (Wu Jing) and Yeng-yee (Andy On) blows up an armored truck so they can steal the millions of dollars that are secured inside. The explosion is so huge and fiery that it wipes out nearby cars and stores, including a jewelry shop where a woman is shopping for wedding rings. The woman is the fiancee of police detective Chan Chun (Nicholas Tse); six months later, he is still grieving her loss and aching for a chance to avenge her death.

Having fled Hong Kong after the robbery, Tien's gang is forced to return in search of their share of the booty, which was not paid as promised by their "invisible" boss. They cross paths with another police investigator, Fong Yik-Wei (Shawn Yue), who is as arrogant as Chan is brooding. Fong and his squad are in the process of making a drug bust when Tien's gang bursts in, displaying a brazen defiance of police authority. Fong suffers further when he is forced to (literally) eat lead. He aches for the chance to avenge his humiliation.