Review of "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai 新上海灘 "

This series is currently airing on TV and even though it will be a couple weeks before it finishes, I am going to proceed with my review of the series, since I've already seen it several times (obviously, I own this series on DVD).

This series is actually from 1996 and is a remake of the classic series "The Bund". For those of us who are old enough to remember, "The Bund" was the immensely popular TVB series from 1980 that made Chow Yun Fat, Ray Lui, and Angie Chiu household names. In fact, the series had such an impact that for alot of us, whenever we hear about Shanghai in the early 20th century, this is the series we think about. Plus the powerful theme song for the series (sung by veteran songstress Francis Yip) is so famous in Asia, even people who can't speak Cantonese know how to sing this song (and Francis has mentioned in interviews that even now, 30 years later, this is still the most requested song of her career -- in fact, it's even been translated into several different languages!).

So anyway, with the overwhelming popularity of "The Bund" and its 'legendary' status in terms of TV series, attempting to do a re-make of the series is definitely no easy feat, especially since the original artists were so memorable in their roles. And for me personally -- well, I've never really been a fan of re-makes, since most of the time, they are not able to live up to the original. That's why when I first watched "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" years ago, I didn't think I would actually like it, since 1) "The Bund" was one of the first series that I watched as a girl and it had a lasting impression on me, 2) I'm a huge fan of Chow Yun Fat and he pretty much immortalized the role of Hui Man Keung (the lead character in the series), so it's hard for me to imagine anyone else in that role, 3) the Chow Yun Fat / Ray / Angie trio was so classic that even now, many audiences -- including me -- still associate them with the characters they played (Hui Man Keung, Ting Lik, and Fung Ching Ching, respectively).

I guess you could say that "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" was already at a disadvantage from the beginning, since it had big shoes to fill as a re-make. But, if you watch the series, you'll find out that it is not actually a true re-make of the original series -- I would say that only about 50% of the series can be called a remake because the rest of it is a completely different storyline that is ‘blended’ in with the original storyline (plus alot of characters were added that were not part of the original series)....the result is a series that is similar, but different.

Let's start with a quick run-down of the main characters....

These are the main characters that were also in the original series and the artists who portrayed them in the current series (I also listed the artists who portrayed the original character in "The Bund" as well, just as a point of reference):

>> Hui Man Keung (Sunny Chan) / (Chow Yun Fat)
>> Ting Lik (Gordan Lam) / (Ray Lui)
>> Fung Ching Ching (Nnadia Chan) / (Angie Chiu)
>> Fung King Yiu (Pat Poon) / (Lau Dan)
>> Cheung Kwai (David Lui) / (Liu Kai Chi)
>> Fong Yim Wan (Florence Kwok) / (Victoria Lam Kin Ming)
>> Wang Yuet Kei (Shirley Cheung) / (Chong Man Ching)
>> Chan Hon Lam (Patrick Tam) / (Kent Tong)
>> Kong Tsi-Kwan (Noelle Leung) / (King Toi Yam)**
**Note that Noelle's character had a different name in the original series (more on this later)

These are the 'added' characters in "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" (I only listed the main ones)

>> Yu Chun Hoi (Adam Cheng)
>> So Tsat Hau (Carol 'Dodo' Cheng)
>> Lok Tin Yau (Dickson Lee)
>> Henry (Law Kar Ying)
>> Koo Ching Wah (Maggie Cheung Hor Yee)
>> Tse Dong (Bowie Lam)
>> Chin Lai Hei (Emily Kwan)
>> So Chor Ng (Eric Tsang)*
>> Kwok Sei Wai (Gallen Lo)*
*Eric and Gallen only appeared as cameos in the series, as they were only in the first few episodes

I took the time to list out the cast because for me, this was an important element as to why I decided to watch the series for the first time years ago -- if it wasn't for the appealing cast, I probably would not have bothered to watch the series, since so much of the original story was changed.

After watching this series, I have to say that I still love “The Bund” and it will always be a classic in my book, but I also like “Once Upon a Time in Shanghai” as well, primarily because of the performances of the main leads (of course, the performances pale in comparisons to the original actors / actresses, but each have their own “flavor” and I like both). True, I definitely have an issue with some of the plot differences between the 2 series (which I will complain about later in this review), but overall, I still think the series was well made.

Obviously, there is a lot to talk about this series (I could go on forever about the plot differences alone), but for the purposes of this review, I am just going to cover some of the highlights, with a primary focus on a few of the main characters and the various relationships.

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The characters / casting / relationships

Sunny Chan as Hui Man Keung – First off, I have to applaud whoever did the casting for this series because Sunny is absolutely PERFECT for this role. Sunny is one of my favorite 90s actors and it wasn’t until I watched this series that I realized why I like him so much – he totally reminds me of Chow Yun Fat and I really feel that he has the potential to be the next Fat Gor in terms of his acting (plus their mannerisms and personality are very similar)! He definitely has that ‘look’ that fits ‘pre-modern’ series such as this perfectly, but regardless, he did an excellent job in this series, especially in the emotional scenes – he gave a very convincing performance as Hui Man Keung and IMO, you can’t help but fall in love with his character in here.

There is this one scene I always talk about when discussing this series where Sunny’s demeanor and mannerisms (and even his voice) is SO similar to Chow Yun Fat that if you were to tell me Fat Gor filmed that scene, I would totally believe it. It’s hard to describe the scene (I probably wouldn’t do justice to it), but when it comes up again, I’ll make note of what episode it’s in so that those who get a chance to watch this series can see what I’m talking about.

Gordon Lam as Ting Lik – Not sure how I feel about Gordon’s performance in this series. He did a pretty good job actually, but I think Ray Lui was way more suited to play this role -- in the original version, Ray’s performance really stood out at the time (he almost stole the show from Fat Gor). I actually found Gordon’s character a bit annoying at times with his impulsiveness, but I understand that it was supposed to be part of the character’s personality, so it makes sense. I found it interesting that in the series, Ting Lik constantly lives under Hui Man Keung’s shadow (because honestly speaking, Keung is a natural leader) and in real life, Gordon’s acting was overshadowed by Sunny’s. I honestly feel that the writers were trying too hard to make Gordon’s Ting Lik different from Ray’s version of the character (right from the start, the biggest sign was the signature mustache that Ray had in the original series, which was conspicuously missing on Gordon)…..to the point that they overdid it and the character ends up being almost ‘bland’ and not memorable (in my opinion at least).

Nnadia Chan as Fung Ching Ching – Nnadia is just an overall great actress and casting her as Fung Ching Ching in this series was another perfect choice…but to be honest, I just don’t like the character of Ching Ching that much (nothing to do with the acting though). Even in the original series (where Angie played Ching Ching), I would get annoyed at how wishy-washy the character is – I mean, if she truly loved Hui Man Keung, she should have just defied her dad to be with him – especially since she knows that her dad is a bad guy. Instead, she marries someone else and when that relationship doesn’t work out, she goes running back to Hui, only to leave him for good when she finds out he killed her dad. I personally think that the character of Ching Ching is quite weak and a bit naïve (and we all know how much I dislike those types of characters) – I got so annoyed at the end that I actually wanted Hui to be with someone else instead.

Adam Cheng as Yu Chun Hoi – Um, ok, what was the point of Adam’s character? I know they were trying to “beef up” the series by adding more characters and different storylines and such, but really, how necessary was it? I disliked Adam’s character from the get-go because he’s just way too ‘gullible’ and doesn’t have that ‘leadership’ element that I expect from a character that is supposed to have huge influence and power in Shanghai. And goshdarnit, I hated how his character kept trying to protect and ‘reform’ Dickson Lee’s character – whom he viewed as a ‘nephew’ of sorts because Dickson’s father was his close friend / brother and mentor – even though he knew how bad the dude is. I mean, really – after all the bad things Dickson does, Adam keeps forgiving him over and over again and keeps trying to make him into a ‘better person’, even sacrificing his relationship with Dodo and his friendship with Sunny….and what does he get in return?....Dickson backstabs him of course and causes him to lose his memory as well as everything he has (not to mention a lot of innocent people die in the process). Sorry, but Adam’s character totally brought all of that upon himself – I felt no pity for him whatsoever!

To be honest, I’ve never really liked Adam (both as an actor and on a personal level) and I generally refrain from watching his series because he just bores me to death – unless I like the rest of the cast, in which case I’ll usually watch and just try to ignore him. This was definitely one of those situations, as his performance was so-so in this series (and it’s not just because I didn’t like the character either). Throughout the series, I felt that Adam looked tired and worn out, plus his voice sounded really weird – for some reason, it sounded really soft (there were some scenes where I could barely hear what he was saying) and hoarse (like he had a throat issue the entire time)….it felt like he lacked energy and was constantly out of breath. I think this is why Adam’s performances usually bore me – but I have to say that I only noticed it in the last few series that he did (like from the mid-90s and on)….it seems to me that he doesn’t have the “fire” and the passion that he used to have in the 70s/80s (and even early 90s) and it’s really affecting his performances.

Dodo Cheng as So Tsat Hau – now here’s a character that I’m glad they added because she is actually one of my favorite characters on the female side. Of course, it helps that Dodo has always been one of my favorite actresses from the 70s/80s (it’s such a shame that she doesn’t do series anymore – awesome actress!). Dodo’s character is actually the ‘strong woman’ type who is independent-minded and assertive, but at the same time, still able to be feminine. The thing I like most about her character is that she is strong-willed (and so able to pull through adversity) but not rigid or stubborn. This is definitely another great role for Dodo – true, it’s very obvious she has aged in this series and she no longer looks as pretty as she did back in the 70s/80s, but that’s ok because her acting is still awesome – in fact, I really feel that Dodo is the type of actress whose acting gets better with time (that’s why I say it’s too bad that she doesn’t film series anymore because she can definitely still give Liza Wang a run for her money – plus I absolutely prefer Dodo’s acting over Liza’s).

Bowie Lam as Tse Dong -- Bowie plays one of the workers at Dodo and Eric’s shipping company (Eric has a cameo as Dodo’s older brother in the series). He is a good friend of Dodo’s and is also her closest confidante – he’s very devoted / loyal to her and the family and also has a crush on her. I have a lot of respect for Bowie’s character because he is always by Dodo’s side no matter what happens and even though he has feelings for her, never once does he try to cross the line with their relationship being anything more than good friends (even though there were certainly opportunities when he could have, such as when her fiance – played by Gallen – leaves her or when she and Adam break up later on in the series). So in essence, he is perfectly happy with just being by her side and protecting her, even until the end when he does the most admirable thing by sacrificing his life in order to save her and the man she loves (Adam). Bowie was my second favorite character on the male side (after Sunny’s Hui Man Keung of course).

Noelle Leung as Kong Tsi Kwan – One of the biggest differences (other than the obvious added characters and storylines) in terms of existing characters in the series is Noelle’s character. In the original series, Noelle’s character is actually called Ah Tai and is played by 80s actress King Toi Yam – if I recall correctly, the character had a very minor role in the series at the time (she is the woman Hui Man Keung marries when he flees to Hong Kong after a fall-out with Ching Ching’s dad Fung King Yiu). That’s why I don’t have much memory of her character in that series because she pretty much shows up, marries Hui, then is killed by Fung King Yiu’s people (ok, that’s a very streamlined version of what happened, but you get the picture)….I’m ok with this in the original series because I’ve never been fond of King Toi Yam (she used to always play those annoying, bxxchy roles in the 80s) and plus she had zero chemistry with Chow Yun Fat anyway. Interestingly though, Noelle’s character has a bigger role in the re-make – she’s supposed to play the same character, but I think they changed the character’s name on purpose because technically, it’s not the same person (the background of the 2 characters is different).

Though Noelle technically does not have a whole lot of screen time (if you compare to the other female artists in the series, such as Dodo, Nnadia, and even Maggie), it’s actually pretty significant taken on it’s own (her role would definitely qualify as supporting). I totally prefer Noelle’s character in this series over Nnadia’s character because even though she is poor and less educated than Nnadia, she is a lot more noble and respectable in that she was true to her feelings but also understood that things won’t always go according to what she wants – IMO, she was a much better match for Sunny (in terms of character) than Nnadia was. I was absolutely rooting for Sunny and Noelle as a couple in this series – to the point that I was actually a bit bummed out when Noelle’s character dies (even though I already knew it would happen based on the plot from the original series).

Maggie Cheung as Koo Ching Wah – Maggie’s character is another example of an unnecessary character added just for the heck of it. The storyline involving her is really dumb first of all and second the character does not appeal to audiences because of the way it is written. Pretty much, Maggie’s role in the series is that of Pat Poon’s mistress and Adam Cheng’s former girlfriend. Not sure if her role was added to ‘further’ the rivalry between Pat and Adam in the series, but to be honest, it wasn’t really necessary because there is already enough animosity between them, even without her. Plus the whole ‘love triangle’ thing they tried to do in the beginning was dumb because honestly, no one really cares (we already know Adam is going to end up with Dodo anyway and I would much rather they have spent more time on the relationships between Sunny, Noelle, Nnadia, and Gordon). They definitely should have just taken Maggie’s character out completely and used all those scenes with her in them to further develop the plot instead!

Pat Poon as Fung King Yiu – As far as older veteran actors go, Pat isn’t really one of my favorites, but he is a good actor, so I don’t mind watching his series. In most of the series that I’ve seen of his, he usually plays the villain role (maybe because he has that ‘look’?), so not really surprised that they gave him the big villain role in this series. To be honest though, I prefer Lau Dan in this role because Pat just wasn’t convincing enough – in a way, it’s sort of hard for me to blame Pat though because the way the series was written, so much ‘stuff’ was added and changed that in a sense, the role of Fung King Yiu was greatly diminished…for example, in the original series, he was the only ‘villain’, but in this one, Dickson’s character is also a villain. This is significant because some of the ‘evil’ things that Fung King Yiu does in the original series, he doesn’t do in the remake (perhaps because there were more characters and so they had to give some of his ‘tasks’ to someone else?). I’ll talk more about this later….

Dickson Lee as Lok Tin Yau – Dickson plays the son of Adam’s friend / mentor / business partner, who entrusts his wayward son (and his casino) to Adam’s care when he dies. Though on the surface, Dickson’s character is obedient to Adam and appears to respect him and such, on the inside, he actually hates Adam and is upset that his father would rather give the casino to Adam to look after instead of himself (um, that’s because his father is smart and knows how his son is like). So throughout the series, Dickson is pretty much trying to chip away at Adam’s power and get his casino back (most of the time behind Adam’s back) – which is why he becomes the other ‘villain’ in the series, since he does a lot of bad things in order to meet his selfish needs.

I totally think that it was a bad idea to add Dickson’s character into the series because it completely takes away the significance of Pat Poon’s character Fung King Yiu. Fung was central to the original series but in the remake, his character was less significant because they had to make room for Dickson’s villain character. As I will talk about later on in this review, most of the stuff that I feel ‘doesn’t make sense’ actually revolves around Dickson’s character….basically, this was another pointless character that was totally unnecessary in furthering the plot.


Though there were way more characters than the ones I described above, the rest of them are not really worth talking about because they have such insignificant roles in the series (either their original roles were reduced or the character ends up dying near the beginning anyway).

One last thing regarding the characters – I really think that when TVB made this series, their point was to get as many ‘big name’ people in the series as they could, even if they play small roles in the series because half the characters in there were really insignificant…such a total waste of talent! Even though I like this series overall, I definitely think they should have done something with some of the characters (either take them out or develop them further)…this is probably why this series is only a ‘like’ for me and not a more enthusiastic ‘really like’….


The ‘inconsistencies’ and ‘What the Heck?’ moments….

With so many characters and additional storylines added, of course there is going to be a lot of inconsistency with the original series. Even though most of the summaries I read about the series ‘claim’ that the plot involving the original characters is pretty much the same and the primary difference is they ‘added’ stuff (implying that they didn’t really ‘change’ anything relating to the original characters / storyline), this is obviously NOT TRUE – they definitely CHANGED a lot of stuff because they had to find a way to work the new characters and storylines into the original ones….

I’m not going to talk about all of the differences, since there are too many, but I do want to touch on the one that I had the most issue with….

One of the ‘differences’ (between the original series and remake) that I had the most issues accepting was Dickson’s role. If they had just added his character and kept his storyline limited only to the parts that involve Adam and Dodo (since their characters were also ‘additions’, so it would not have affected the original plot), I probably would be ok….but unfortunately, they mixed the storyline involving Dickson’s character into the ones involving the original characters (namely Sunny, Noelle, and Pat), which changes things significantly.

In the original series, the character Fung King Yiu is the ‘root of all evil’ and the ‘battle’ is really between him and Hui Man Keung. In order for Fung to maintain power and control over his area of Shanghai, he does everything possible and ‘removes’ anyone or anything that gets in his way. In the original series, one of the significant justifications for Hui Man Keung to kill Fung King Yiu at the end was to avenge the death of his wife and unborn child (whom Fung had mercilessly killed just because she was Hui’s wife). This was also the primary reason why Hui decided to return to the triad society again after he had been set on getting away from that type of life in the beginning. This part is also significant because near the end of the series, Hui knows that by killing Fung, he would probably lose Ching Ching (since it would be hard for her to forgive him for killing her father), but he was willing to make that sacrifice to seek justice for his innocent wife and child.

In the remake, Fung King Yiu is not the one who kills Hui’s wife and family – it’s actually Dickson’s character Lok Tin Yau who does it. This is the part that doesn’t make sense because we know that Hui is still going to kill Fung at the end (just like in the original) – so what is the justification going to be then, since Fung isn’t the one who kills Hui’s wife? Even though the writers ‘try’ to pull Fung into it (by saying that Fung was the one who put the idea into Lok’s head), it was too much of a stretch if you ask me….Fung may have ‘suggested’ the idea, but if Lok didn’t already have a bone to pick with Hui (and there was already animosity between the 2 based on the way the storyline develops in the remake), it would not have made a difference (plus let’s not forget that Fung wasn’t the one who ‘told’ Lok to do the evil deed, so in a sense, we can’t really say he was the one conspiring behind the scenes).

This was really the WTH moment for me because it really ‘negates’ the second half of the series then (it was like a domino effect – for instance: they are no longer able to ‘properly’ justify why Hui is reluctant to get back in a relationship with Ching Ching and has to watch as she marries someone else, why he becomes so ‘conflicted’ when he has to choose between being with a woman he loves or avenging his wife’s death, etc.)….

So in conclusion (sorry for the LOOONG review), even though “Once Upon A Time in Shanghai” was a fair attempt at remaking “The Bund”, it definitely falls short of the original series in many ways. I think that if they had not added so many characters and changed the storyline so significantly, TVB probably would have had a decent shot of the remake living up to the original’s standards (I, for one, totally buy Sunny Chan as Hui Man Keung and am ok with Gordon and Nnadia as the ‘newer generation’ Ting Lik and Fung Ching Ching as well).

My honest opinion – some of the new stuff is ‘cleverly’ worked in, but some of it isn’t and it actually causes some parts of the series to not make sense….I would have much rather they stuck with a pure remake and use the added characters / storyline to make a completely different series -- that way, it’s less confusing for the audiences.

I still recommend this series to anyone who is interested in that particular genre (early 20th century Shanghai + theme of triad gangs fighting for power) and I actually liked the series (as I mentioned earlier) primarily because of stellar performances from some of the cast…but for die-hard “The Bund” fans, this may not be a good choice – all the changes that they make will probably annoy fans to no end….

My ‘TVB Rant’ #7: New 'phenomenon' with TVB?

I wouldn't really call this a "rant", but rather something that I noticed recently about TVB programming that I felt was worthy of blogging about.

There has been an interesting phenomenon with TVB lately -- they've been premiering a few of their new series in HK and overseas (i.e. in the U.S.) at the same time -- which means that audiences in HK and overseas are able to watch the same series at the same time (well, same date, but not exactly same time slot, which makes sense due to time differences).

To understand why the above is so "interesting", let me give a little bit of background on how TVB works in terms of programming in HK and overseas. (Note that when I say "overseas", I am referring specifically to the U.S., since that is where I live).

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HK's TVB channel (Jade):

TVB is a free-to-air television station in Hong Kong -- which means that it is a free channel that all households in HK can watch as long as they have a television. There is programming pretty much 24-7, with all the "brand new" series airing on weeknights and mostly news programs / variety shows / old series airing the rest of the time (throughout the day and late night). I've watched the TVB channel in HK many times and in my humble opinion, it's a really boring channel -- during the day, there is pretty much nothing to watch unless an old series that I like happens to air....plus the amount of news programs that comes on is extremely annoying (they intersperse news programs in there pretty much once every other hour). Of course, there is the occasional "special" program that comes on (such as awards shows or music specials) which may be of interest, but other than that, the "meat" of the programming is really between 8pm to 11pm HKT (approximately) on weeknights, since that is the timeslot where the new series usually air.

The way it usually works is that they start off with a sitcom at 8pm (I believe "Show Me the Happy" is on right now), then 2 new series usually air after it -- one at 8:30pm (currently, the series airing in this timeslot is "Only You") and another at 9:30pm (currently it's "The Rippling Blossom"). Sometimes, there is another series that may air at 10:30, but this is usually due to a special occasion (i.e. the miniseries "Dropping by Cloud Nine" aired last week in this timeslot for Valentine's Day).

So pretty much, prior to 8pm and after 11pm, there is not much to watch...and honestly speaking, with the declining quality in TVB's series the last couple years, it's possible that even the 8pm to 11pm timeslot is not worth watching either (depending on the series that happen to be airing during that timeslot, of course)......

If you want to see some of the special programs (such as those interview shows that were on previously -- i.e. Be My Guest or Big Four Up) and other specially designed programming, you would have to subscribe to TVB's pay channels (sort of like subscribing to Cable channels here in the U.S.).


TVB's satellite stations in the U.S. (JadeWorld):

If you live in the U.S., you can still get TVB's channels via satellite (you would have to pay for it of course) -- the one we subscribe to is the Jadeworld package, which includes 6 channels that are specifically designed for TVB's overseas audience. I actually think these satellite channels are WAY BETTER than the free TVB channel that HKers get, as there is so much more programming available -- plus we get to watch programs that are usually only available on TVB's pay channels in HK (so those who only have the regular "free" channel don't get to watch these programs).

With the satellite package, there are pretty much 3 regular TVB channels, 2 Mandarin channels, and 1 channel with content from Taiseng (TVB's distributor here in the U.S.). On the 3 regular channels, there is a good variety of old (like 80s/90s) and semi-old (after 2000s) series that come on throughout the day (I think the last time I counted, there were approximately 10 series airing in 1 day) -- so there are definitely ALOT more choices than the HK TVB channel has. We do get to watch the 'newer' series as well, but usually we have to wait a year for those (for example, 2009's anniversary series "Beyond the Realm of Conscience" and "Born Rich" just finished airing here at the end of last year, around November/December 2010). There are also news programs and variety shows, etc. interspersed throughout the day, but not as much compared to HK's channel -- plus we get the choice of 3 channels, so if a news program happens to be airing on 1 channel, we can flip through the other 2 channels and watch the series or variety show that may be airing on those channels. And I love how we get all the HK pay channel programs (i.e.: Entertainment News, interview shows, etc.) as part of the package, without having to pay anything extra.

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So back to my original statement about the "interesting" phenomenon with TVB lately -- based on the above, it makes sense that the series currently airing in HK right now (2011) wouldn't be available for us overseas audiences until 2012....BUT much to my surprise, TVB started a new thing this week by premiering certain series simultaneously in both HK and here in the U.S. (I say "certain" because I'm not 100% sure if they are going to do this with all new series going forward or just with select ones). So on 2/21, when the series "Only You" premiered in HK, it also premiered simultaneously here in the U.S. same day. And it looks like they are doing the same thing with the series "Grace Under Fire", which is scheduled to premiere on 3/7 (I just saw the trailer for it on the channel that will be broadcasting it here). This means that we will be watching these series at the same time that the HK audiences are watching them (give or take a day due to the time zone differences)....now this is definitely a FIRST for TVB, as they usually only do simultaneous broadcasts like this for special shows such as anniversary galas, singing contests, awards shows, holiday specials, etc., but definitely NOT for series....

I actually have not heard anything specifically from TVB on why they decided to simultaneously broadcast series now, but I have my "speculations" on why they probably went this route (again, these are purely my speculations based on what I know about TVB and the trends nowadays)....

The main reason (I think) is because the overseas / international market is not as lucrative for TVB anymore as it once was, since there are so many choices nowadays in terms of series (i.e. TV series from Korea, Taiwan, Japan continue to increase in popularity), plus the on-line streaming of TVB's series is so commonplace now (I personally can't stand watching TV series and movies on a computer, so I'm probably one of the few who actually still watches stuff only on TV or on DVD/VCD/video tape). Also, the illegal pirating of TVB's series continues to be extremely prevalent here (just take a stroll in the DVD shops in Chinatown or Monterey Park and you will see exactly what I mean)....those who know me know that I hate watching "bootleg" versions of stuff, so I actually have to go very much out of the way to find original versions of the series to watch (lately, I've had to resort to buying directly from the distributor Taiseng...but that's another story altogether).

Also the advances in technology (specifically the popularity of the Internet) have given rise to many on-line forums and websites dedicated to discussing TVB’s series. Of course, very few of these sites are dedicated to talking about “old” series (meaning from the 80s/90s), which is understandable, since we ARE in the 21st century now – plus most of the younger generation (those born in the 90s and later) living overseas (outside of HK) nowadays rarely watch the “old stuff” – it’s the new series starring the current idols that they are primarily interested in.

So if the “new” series are only available to watch in HK (either on TVB’s Jade Channel or on their website), where are the overseas audiences going to go to watch these same series (and subsequently discuss them with friends on-line)? Well, unless they physically move to HK (which is definitely not going to happen), the only other options (I would think) are watching via various (usually unauthorized) websites on-line or buying a cheap bootleg version at their local Chinatown.

To be honest, there is really no way for TVB to stop people from doing the above (downloading / watching on-line or buying bootleg versions), since it’s so prevalent and widespread (it’s pretty much an everyday occurrence in society now)…..so what is the most logical thing to do? IMO, the most logical thing is for TVB to voluntarily make the content available to as many overseas audiences as possible via their own legitimate sources and therefore hopefully discourage people from going the ‘unconventional’ route. And this seems exactly like what TVB is trying to do with the simultaneous airing of new series recently…

So in conclusion (sorry for the long “rant”), it does seem like TVB is starting to change their marketing strategy and reach out to more overseas audiences. In terms of their reasons for doing this – well, I could sit here and speculate all day about it, but then that would be overkill…so pretty much I am just going to sit tight and see what happens.

Lastly, the ironic thing is that I am blogging about this ‘phenomenon’, yet it actually doesn’t affect me much because I’m already a member of Taiseng’s DVD club – which means that I already get all the new series sent to me on DVD directly from TVB’s distributor at the same time the series air in HK…..so in a sense, whether the new series air on TV simultaneously or not doesn’t matter to me, since I’ll get the series on DVD within a week and can watch it later on my own time if I want….

P.S.:

I’m currently watching “Only You” and to be honest, it’s a bit boring….yes, there are a lot of “guest stars” and it’s interesting to see who the story is going to be about next, but unfortunately, that’s really not enough to spark my interest. Hopefully the series gets interesting soon because if not, I may abandon it altogether.

As for the other series that will be airing simultaneously – “Grace Under Fire” – I actually have no interest in watching it. I’m not too keen on the cast first of all (except for maybe John Chiang) and second, it’s about martial arts legend Wong Fei Hung again – honestly, there have been so many WFH series and movies over the past 3 decades that I am so sick and tired of it. Lastly, the female lead is gymnast Liu Xuan and in watching the preview, looks like her voice is dubbed…the series doesn’t look appealing at all.

Review of "The Stamp of Love 肥婆奶奶扭計媳"

This series came on TV recently and since there hasn't been much worth watching (on TV at least) lately, I decided to give this one a try (plus I like some of the cast anyway, so figured this would be better than sitting through some of the recent junk that TVB has been putting out). I have to make it clear though that this is technically considered an "old" series because it's actually from 2001 -- most of the cast from the series are no longer active in the TV industry and 2 of them passed away already within the last 2-3 years (I mention this because it really affected my decision to stick with the series despite some of the 'issues' I had with the plot and such).

Anyways, this series was quite entertaining as a comedy and I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's a "bad" series, but definitely not one of the best -- in fact, it was a very disappointing series for me and the only reason I kept going with it was because of the cast and also the entertainment value. I'm actually glad that this series was only 20 episodes because to be honest, I don't know if I would have been able to sit through it if it were longer -- but at least I didn't give up on watching it, which is already saying alot (since I usually stop watching if a series gets overly boring or just plain sucks).

So what was disappointing about this series? ALOT....but also depends on the way you look at it (you'll see why after reading this review)....

Here are some of the highlights (and "low"-lights)....

First and foremost, the Chinese title of the series was completely misleading! Literally translated, the title means "Fat mother-in-law, incorrigible daughter-in-law" and the poster for the series features Lydia Shum, Anne Heung, and Kwong Wah as the leads. So based on the above, I expected this series to be about Lydia as an opinionated mother whose son Kwong Wah marries Anne against her wishes and so the battle erupts between mother-in-law (Lydia) and her son's wife (Anne) -- if this were truly the premise to the series, I actually wouldn't mind watching (even though this is an age old theme that has been used and re-used many times by TVB) because I like both Kwong Wah and Lydia and can tolerate Anne. BUT.....after the first few episodes, I could already tell that the plot would be nowhere near what I thought it would be -- Lydia is technically not a mother in this series (well, she's a step-mother who "inherits" 2 good-for-nothing sons when she marries the owner of a sauce factory) and she is not related to Kwong Wah at all (Kwong Wah is just some guy who went to school with one of her step-sons and whom she has a good relationship with). As for Anne -- well, her character is a mail-order bride who comes to HK to marry an old man (Lau Dan) due to her family's financial situation, then when he dies (on their wedding day), Kwong Wah agrees to marry her even though he didn't love her (at that time) because he's a nice person and wanted to help her out....but then when Kwong Wah 'disappears' after he loses everything in a bad investment, she moves in with Marco Lo (one of Lydia's step-sons)....so technically, Anne was never Lydia's daughter-in-law to begin with (and despite what the title may say, Anne doesn't become Lydia's daughter-in-law at any point in the series). So WTH??? The plot is a FAR CRY from what is implied in the series title.....

In terms of performances....well, in my opinion, no one really 'stuck out'....a few characters were "likable" but other than those 2-3 people, everyone else's characters were downright annoying!

Let's start with Lydia....her character is very 'misunderstood' in the series. She's actually a good woman who has a very strong personality and can come across as bossy, but at the end of the day, she definitely has a good heart....her goal in life is to take care of her husband (who is paralyzed and can't speak), continue to run the family business (a soy sauce factory), and try as best she can to keep the Bao family together -- including trying to "reform" her husband's 2 bastard sons who are constantly scheming to kill him so they can get their hands on his wealth. Lydia is constantly battling these 2 step-sons (played by Anderson Junior and Marco Lo) as well as the older son's wife (played by Jo Jo Cho), all of whom hate her because she is "in their way" and is always trying to prevent them from hurting their father and messing with the family fortune. Even though Lydia's character is annoying at times with her prejudice against Anne and the sometimes unreasonable / overbearing demands that she imposes, I actually liked her character because of her underlying strength and virtue -- plus everything she does is for the good of her husband's family, which shows how much she truly loved him. Lydia definitely puts in a respectable performance in this series and though I wouldn't call her acting "awesome", I really did enjoy watching her! Plus, let's face it -- who is able to portray the bossy, loud-mouthed, overbearing housewife with the "natural" arguing skills better than Lydia? She was definitely the highlight of this series for me, as her performance was very natural and watching the interaction between her and some of the other characters was hilarious! Reflecting on this series now makes me realize how much I miss Lydia (she passed away in 2008)....

Lydia's husband is played by Spencer Lam [Sheung Yee] (known as "Uncle" in the entertainment circles, he is actually a sportscaster who rarely participates in TV series). Though he doesn't do a whole lot because his character is paralzyed and can't speak, we (the audience) do get to hear his thoughts and see his facial expressions, which gives us insight into his character (plus he has a significant role near the end of the series, which I will refrain from talking about in efforts not to spoil the ending). There's really nothing much to 'dislike' about Uncle's character, except how 'helpless' he is in preventing his sons from doing all those bad things. He's actually the wisest and most righteous character in the entire series and even though he's in a wheelchair or lying on a bed most of the time, that doesn't prevent us from learning alot about what he thinks. His character has a little bit of a comedic element to it because of how he reacts to things that Lydia's character tells him.....also I found it hilarious how the 2 characters are so compatible on all levels EXCEPT the attitude toward the sons – Uncle actually wants Lydia to let the bastard sons have the money so they will leave him and Lydia alone to live their lives together in peace and quiet, yet Lydia thinks that he wants her to "reform" the sons and protect the family business (unfortunately, since he can't speak, he can't tell Lydia's character this and can only watch / listen helplessly). I feel that Uncle also put in a good performance in this series -- especially given the fact that he is not an actor but rather a sports commenter (sadly, Uncle also passed away in 2009).

On to Anne's character....

I already talked a little bit about her character earlier, so I won't elaborate too much -- to be honest though, I found Anne's character to be quite annoying to the point that I really disliked her. For most of the series, she plays the usual "naive nice girl" character, except for whenever she encountered Lydia's character, then she would turn into a screaming mad woman trying to "out-yell" or "out-argue" Lydia. I've never been a fan of Anne's acting and I absolutely cannot stand the "drawl" in her voice when she speaks (especially in dramatic scenes), but at least she was tolerable in this series, probably because she does alot of arguing and yelling (which makes the "drawl" less noticeable). The reason I don't like Anne's character though is because I've always disliked weak, naive, gullible characters and for most of the series, Anne's character was definitely that way....plus I didn't like how her character would always act so virtuous and nice to everyone, yet turn into a different person when she was around Lydia's character. True, Lydia was definitely prejudiced against her because she felt that Anne was a golddigger and had 'complicated' relationships with men (which isn't entirely untrue), but the changing back and forth from "naive and virtuous" to "bxxchy and loud" sort of came across as fake and annoying to me. Plus I was totally disappointed that she actually believed Marco's fakeness and insincerity (he was just using her to get back at Lydia) and ended up moving in with him despite how adamant she was previously about waiting for her "husband" Kwong Wah to come back (not to mention that it absolutely does not make sense for her to move in with another man when she is still legally married). Basically, her character was too wishy-washy and fake, which really annoyed the hell out of me....though she does redeem herself in the last few episodes of the series when she actually becomes friends with Lydia after resolving their misunderstandings, it was too late by then because of how her character was portrayed for majority of the series....

The biggest disappointment of all had to be Kwong Wah's character (I'm talking about his CHARACTER, not his ACTING). I'm sorry, but I thought he was supposed to be male lead in this series, yet he has so little screen time that I don't even know if I can call his role "supporting", let alone "lead"! Not only that, but his character BARELY DOES ANYTHING in this series -- I mean, his character is nice and helps out Anne's character and such, but that's about it....the character is so boring that anyone could play the role. In fact, the impression I got after watching this series is that Kwong Wah's role was primarily to be by Anne's side and "look pretty" -- such a waste of talent! And even though Kwong Wah and Anne are paired up (again) in this series, they technically aren't "truly" together until the end, so there really isn't a whole lot of chemistry between them. Honestly speaking though, I'm sort of sick of seeing Kwong Wah and Anne paired together in yet another series, as I don't feel they match THAT much, especially in modern series -- their pairing in ancient or pre-modern series is ok, but I actually prefer him with Melissa Ng instead (that's a different topic though, so I won't get into it here).

Suprisingly, Anderson Junior [On Tak Juen] and Marco Lo [Hing Fai] actually had pretty significant roles in this series (I personally think that they had more screentime than Kwong Wah, but I didn’t keep track of the amount of time, so I don’t know for sure). I guess you could say that they were the “villains” in the series, though Marco was the truly ‘evil’ one (Anderson was just pitiful and stupid, but not really ‘evil’). I’m not going to go into details on what their characters were like but rather, I prefer to talk about their performances….

Anderson Junior – sorry, but he really should keep his day job (hosting) because his performance was horrible! His acting was so exaggerated and silly, I couldn’t help but cringe at certain parts….plus he wasn’t convincing at all! I’m actually not the type to concentrate on looks because I firmly believe that as an artist, there's more to it than just beauty and physical attributes (i.e.: having talent is more important and as long as you are good in what you do, I could care less how you look) – but I have to say that Anderson has neither the looks nor the acting talent (and THAT’s putting it mildly). His role was actually not too difficult to play -- there are so many people that TVB could have put in that role and they would have done a better job….bad casting choice right there!

Marco Lo – I didn’t like his character much either, but got to admit that he did way better than Anderson Junior. I remember Marco from the “Kindred Spirit” days and was really impressed with his performance in that series, so I was really wondering if he would be able to do as good a job as he did there….the conclusion I came to is that he was okay in this series, but not great. I definitely would have preferred to see much more of Kwong Wah and less of both him and Anderson!

The rest of the cast includes Maple Hui as a conniving golddigger who uses Anderson for his money; Celine Ma as Lau Dan’s sister and a truly loyal friend, even though she portrays herself as bad-mouthed and obnoxious; Ha Ping as the Bao family nanny who may be old and senile, but ultimately 100% loyal and dedicated to the family (Ha Ping actually did a great job – I was laughing so hard at her scenes!), and Liu Kai Chi as one of Kwong Wah’s business associates…which brings me to the second biggest disappointment of all (ok, this may even top the Kwong Wah one for me) – WTH was the point of Liu Kai Chi’s character? I mean, he pretty much only had a minor speaking role in the series! He is one of my favorite veteran actors and a truly talented one at that, yet he is relegated to such a minor role in this series, it’s ridiculous! Of course, he did his part absolutely well (being the fine actor that he is), BUT such a small role???? And they gave people like Anderson (who can’t act to save his life) a bigger role than him?? Ugh!!!

In terms of whether I would recommend this series….well, that’s a tough question. Whether to watch this series or not really depends upon whether you are a fan of any of the artists because to be honest, parts of the plot don’t really make sense and some of the scenes are draggy. If you’re a Lydia or Anne fan, then yes, this would probably be a series worth watching; if you’re a Kwong Wah fan though, maybe not (though his acting is not bad in this series, it’s just the character is sort of useless) – unless you’re attracted to his suaveness and looks, in which case this series would probably be an okay choice.

Though I didn’t “dislike” this series persay, I probably wouldn’t re-watch it again, at least not any time soon….there are some good qualities to it (some parts were genuinely funny and part of the ending was not really typical of a comedy and came as a bit of a shock to me), but overall, I would say that this is an “okay” series only….

More shows added for Jacky's HK concert!

Jacky Cheung adds 3 shows to Hong Kong concert

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 Hong Kong

Source: Mingpao, Oriental Daily

Translation: llwy12@ http://asianfanatics.net/

Picture credits as listed

 

God of Songs Jacky Cheung started his career several decades ago, yet today, he is still as popular as ever !
In April of this year, Jacky will kick off the Hong Kong leg of his « ½ Century Tour » with 17 shows at the HK Coliseum. It was recently reported that the tickets for all 17 shows have been completely sold out – not even individual or corner seat tickets left ! Despite all tickets being sold, there were still many Jacky fans who were not able to get tickets and requested if more shows could be added.

After much discussion, Jacky’s concert manager Florence Chan announced yesterday that they will add 3 shows to the HK leg of the concert (4/14, 5/9, and 5/10), bringing the total count to 20 shows.

With his usual high standards and insistence on maintaining utmost quality to his performances, Jacky refused to give up his ‘rest days’ for additional shows, so after much negotiation and discussion, the team was finally able to come up with 3 days to add. Mrs Chan explains : “Jacky has a few ‘rest days’ interspersed between the 17 shows – at first we were thinking about adding the shows on these ‘rest days’, but Jacky rejected the idea because he wanted to maintain the quality of the performances, so in the end, we agreed to add the 3 shows before and after the original dates. These dates are final and no more shows will be added, so hopefully this will accomodate fans who were not able to get tickets. Plus ‘20’ is a nice round number !” Tickets will officially be available for sale to the public tomorrow (2/17 HK time).

Entering into the new year, Jacky has been repeatedly breaking records with his concert. Starting with the opening show at the Shanghai Exhibition Center at the end of last year to the just finished U.S. leg of his concert tour, Jacky has already put on 19 performances in a short 1 ½ months time. Earlier, he held 5 consecutive performances in both Shanghai and Beijing, breaking the record for number of consecutive shows by a Chinese artist in those cities. In addition, Jacky just returned from the U.S. last week, where he held 3 consecutive performances at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, becoming the first Chinese artist to do so [hold 3 consecutive shows there]. Breaking so many records in 1 month outside of his hometown, Jacky is truly the ‘pride of Hong Kong’ !

*********

My comments:

Again, I usually don't post articles (even those translated by me), but this one was just too good to pass up! I especially love the part of the article that talks about Jacky's concert "breaking records" -- definitely very exciting to see!

Hope you enjoy this article as much as I did!!

Lastly, 15 years ago today (well, technically yesterday if you look at HK time) -- February 15th, 1996 -- Jacky Cheung and May Lo got married in England!

HAPPY 15TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO
JACKY AND MAY MAY!!!!!

Weibo Fever #3: More Jacky Sightings (Las Vegas concert)!

I was just catching up on Weibo after being off-line for a couple days (since I was in Vegas for Jacky’s concert) and saw a bunch of postings by Florence Chan’s son Ka Ho related to Jacky’s concert in Vegas. For those who don’t know, Florence Chan is Jacky’s manager and she is responsible for arranging Jacky’s concerts, so of course she would travel with him to Las Vegas for his 3 shows there. Coincidentally, the Chans were in Vegas around the same time that I was there and Ka Ho actually sat in the section next to ours for the Sunday night show (omg, I wish that I had checked Weibo prior to going because I would have kept an eye out for Jacky and the Chans and maybe have gotten a chance to bump into them?!)

Anyway, Ka Ho posted a lot of behind the scenes stuff related to the Las Vegas leg of Jacky’s concert, so I thought I would share on my blog.

(P.S.: I tried looking for myself in some of the pictures, but no such luck – guess I just missed them…darn!).

.***

**** Note: For all pictures, credit as listed ***

Feb. 7th @11:26: KaHo’s weibo

張學友1/2世紀演唱會Las Vegas站快開始，之前收到張先生俾我開工利是，多謝，今晚Good Show.

Translation (by me): Jacky Cheung ½ Century Tour Las Vegas leg starts soon. Earlier, I received a ‘starting work’ red envelope from Mr. Cheung, thank you! Good show tonight.


Feb 7th @7:44pm: KaHo’s Weibo

今晚入場前, 好多人排隊入場

Translation: Right before the show tonight, a lot of people are waiting in line to enter the venue.



Feb 7th @7:45pm: KaHo’s weibo

開場前。。

Translation: Right before the show….
(My note: this is the stage where Jacky would be performing)


Feb 7th@7:45pm: KaHo’s weibo

有Caesars Palace負責人上台

Translation: The president of Caesars Palace goes on stage.



Feb 7th @7:46pm: KaHo’s weibo

唱"吻別"

Translation: Singing “Goodbye Kiss”



Feb 7th @7:47pm: KaHo’s weibo

My note: This was during the “Private Corner” segment




Feb 7th @7:47pm: KaHo’s weibo

Encore唱金曲回顧

Translation: Encore segment – “Golden Hits” review



Feb 9th @5:48pm: KaHo’s weibo

Dancers 同張學友合照

Translation: Dancers posing for a picture with Jacky

Jacky Cheung ½ Century Concert – Live from Las Vegas!

I just got back from watching Jacky’s concert in Las Vegas (the above picture was taken by me right outside the inner entrance to The Colosseum, where the concert was held).

Needless to say, as a huge Jacky fan, I was very excited about this trip – to tell you the truth, I rarely ever go to Vegas unless I’m going to see a show or concert (the last time I was there was in 2007 for Jacky’s concert). Even now that it’s over, I’m still excited that I got to see Jacky again and experience his always awesome concert once again.

Of course, now that I started this blog, I definitely want to share the highlights of my trip with everyone (both fellow Jacky fans as well as non-fans alike). So here it goes….


I have been looking forward to this trip since last year, when I found out that Jacky would indeed be doing a World Tour this year – of course, as a fan, I kept my eyes and ears open for any information whatsoever about the concert (and any other information / articles about Jacky himself for that matter). This definitely paid off, as I was able to purchase Front Orchestra tickets almost immediately after the official release date, which means that I would finally be in the front section close to the stage (though not as close as I would have liked, but way better than the seats we got for his previous concert in 2007).

I will admit that at first, I was a little bit jealous of those who actually got front row (or first 10 row) seats and how lucky they must be. But then, as I sat in my 15th row seat and saw all the stuff going on in front of me (before, during, and after the concert), my ‘jealousy’ turned into ‘annoyance’ and ‘anger’ – I realized that most of the people who sat in the rows in front of me weren’t even Jacky fans…they were just “there” because they had gotten free tickets from their company or some sponsor and so figured they would just go (some of them didn’t even know who Jacky was and didn’t even care!). This is why quite a few of them ended up leaving before the concert was even over – if they were truly die-hard fans like me who actually paid $300+ per ticket to watch the concert, there is no possible way that they would have left instead of waiting for the concert to end (hey, I even stayed for the ending credits when most of the other people were already leaving)! Not to mention, there were people playing with their phones and stuff throughout the entire concert plus others who kept leaving their seats and coming back (if those people were “coming and going” because of bathroom breaks, then they must have very active bladders…lol!) Oh, and how about those people who brought their infant children to watch the show? I’m sorry, but who in their right minds would pay $300+ to come watch a concert (these people sat in the rows in front of me) knowing that they wouldn’t be able to watch the entire show because their infant children would burst out crying like 10 minutes into it and they would undoubtedly need to run out with the child to feed them or change their diaper? Hello? Is it just me or is that a totally stupid move? (Now, don’t get me wrong – I love children, as we have an infant in our family and I love him dearly, but I know better than to bring him to watch a concert that he is totally not old enough to understand). This is another reason why I say that most of the people who sat in front of me got free tickets and weren’t true fans…

The biggest annoyance of all (and this is a big pet peeve of mine in general) was that more than half the audience showed up late. Um, doesn’t the word “punctuality” mean anything to these people, or am I the only one who cares about being on-time? The tickets (and all the advertisements) indicate that the concert starts at 8pm, yet ¾ of the audience didn’t even arrive until after that time (the show ended up starting around 8:30pm or so). I was the most annoyed with this because I’ve always been a punctual person my entire life, since I equate “punctuality” with “respect” – so when people are late, I view it as being disrespectful.

Sorry about the above “rant”, but I just had to vent, as I felt that it was very disrespectful to Jacky and to the rest of the crew (as well as to his fans and those who are truly trying to watch and enjoy the concert) when people do that kind of stuff -- especially an artist like Jacky, who likes to sing for people who like to listen to him sing or who enjoy his music.

Ok, now that I got that off my chest, onto the actual concert itself….

The format of the concert was very similar to what I had read about in various articles and such (yes, of course I did my research beforehand and read up on the shows he already did in other countries up to that point), though there were a few differences.

The concert kicked off with a “mini-movie” directed by reknown HK director Andrew Lau (of “Infernal Affairs” fame) and starring Jacky as well as actress Shu Qi. Instead of doing an excerpt from his musical this time around (which is what he did for his 2007 concert), Jacky incorporated a short film this time around to accompany his performance on stage. The film basically told the story about how a fictitious couple played by Jacky and Shu Qi meet, fall in love, marry, separate, and reconcile – pretty much an illustration of the various stages of a love relationship. To accompany each “stage” of the relationship, Jacky would sing various hits and play out some of the scenes live right on stage (the ‘female lead’ for the stage performance wasn’t Shu Qi of course – she was just a member of the crew, probably one of the dancers). I really enjoyed this first part and felt it was very clever the way that the film clips and the stage performances complemented each other so well – my only complaint would be that having both the film and Jacky’s on-stage performance going on at the same time made it difficult for me to choose which to watch. I somehow was able to adjust my eyes so that I was able to watch the film clips and Jacky at the same time (don’t ask me how – I guess when you’re as big a fan as I am, you would probably find a way as well…LOL!).

The rest of the show consisted of a tribute to Lydia Shum (Jacky’s godmother), a “salute” to rock (which is a very important component of Jacky’s music), a part entitled “Jacky’s Private Corner” where Jacky shares some of his personal life (rare treat) and also sings a few specially selected songs that he likes, and lastly, a look back at Jacky’s “Golden Hits” (where he sings many of his classic hits from the 80s and 90s that made him famous, including: 每天愛你多一些, 只想一生跟你走, 月半彎, 李香蘭, 分手總要在雨天, 餓狼傳說, 祝福, etc. The format was awesome, as Jacky was able to incorporate his newer hits (i.e. songs from his newest album “Private Corner” as well as his new Mandarin single 三分拍 and everything else in between, from his older classics to his other lesser known albums). Reviewing the song list in my head, I think this is Jacky’s only concert so far where he is able to incorporate songs from such a variety of albums spanning the 80s, 90s, and 00s. It’s certainly a fitting format given that the theme of his concert this year is “half a century” of life.

Anyway, after the tribute to Lydia, Jacky finally spoke to the audience (I love Jacky’s sense of humor so I was just waiting for him to address the audience as he does with each of his concerts). And in typical Jacky fashion, he was absolutely charming with his perfect choice of words, his friendly personality, and his natural humor. One of the biggest highlights of the show was when Jacky did the “splits” at the end of his tribute to Lydia – definitely a daunting task for a 49 year old! As the audience broke out in applause and cheers, Jacky looked up (his face was nearly touching the ground, which made the move even more difficult), sat in a semi-cross legged position, and while rubbing his thigh, he stuck his tongue out, then, smiling, he apologized to the audience, saying: “I know this action [rubbing his thigh] is unsightly, but it REALLY hurts!” At that moment, I couldn’t help but applaud Jacky for his professionalism and his perseverance!

Right before the start of his “Private Corner” segment, Jacky showed an animated clip (also directed by Andrew Lau) that recounted his life from when he was born to now – it showed the various “highlights” of his life (including how he was a mischievous kid always getting into trouble, how he got the scar on his face, his participation in the singing contest that launched his career, the awards he got, his bout with alcoholism, his marriage and his kids, etc.) in a cute, cartoon-like fashion (accompanied by Jacky singing “Life is Like a Dream” live on stage). At the end of that segment, the “real” Jacky showed up on screen and we watched as he slowly transitioned into “elderly” Jacky – that part was really funny (I have to take this opportunity to praise the makeup artist for doing such a great job of transforming Jacky into an “old man” in the clip).

Oh, and of course, I have to mention the “Golden Hits” segment. In the first half of this segment, Jacky sang a few of his popular fast songs (餓狼傳說, 這個冬天不太冷, 頭髮亂了, etc.) – the great thing about this part of the performance was that Jacky’s old MVs of the same songs were playing on the big screen in the background and he did almost the exact same dance moves as he did way back then (for those who have been following Jacky’s music all these years, you’ll notice that most of these songs go back to the early / mid 90s, more than 15 years ago)…again, for someone who will be turning 50 years old this year, to be able to hit those exact same dance moves is not an easy feat (after the fast songs were over, Jacky commented that Aaron Kwok isn’t the only one who knows how to dance…LOL!). During the second half of the “Golden Hits” segment, Jacky sang many of the romantic ballads from the late 80s/early 90s that made him famous (the songs I listed above). Throughout this entire segment especially, most of the audience was singing along with Jacky (me included) and waving our glow sticks enthusiastically.

Obviously, I could go on and on about the show, but I actually would like to save some material for another post, as there is some deeper analysis that I would like to write about, including posting the song list from the concert (which will take a little while to compile, since I would be doing it from memory).

Overall, the concert was definitely well worth the wait (technically, I waited 4 years if we start counting from the time of his previous concert in 2007 until now) and absolutely worth the price! If I had the money (and circumstances permitted), I would not mind watching his other 2 shows in Vegas as well (he did a total of 3 shows in Vegas). The concert was definitely well put together and was very fitting of a half century celebration of life!

My Thoughts on "Gun Metal Grey 刑警"

This series was definitely my most anticipated series of 2010 – BUT I learned my lesson with “Born Rich” in 2009 so even though I was really looking forward to watching this series, I had some reservations with what to expect. I didn’t want to get my hopes up like I did with BR, only to be bitterly disappointed…so I definitely made an effort to watch the series with a clear mind.

Luckily, GMG turned out to be way different from BR – it was definitely worth waiting for and absolutely did not disappoint! I really enjoyed the series and it was actually one of the few series from 2010 that I was able to sit through completely (without giving up halfway through) – that definitely says a lot about what I thought of the series.

Also, I have to say that GMG was definitely one of the better series that TVB has made over the past several years. The cases were suspenseful and interesting – but to be honest, some of the cases were downright scary and actually gave me the creeps…I had to avert my eyes at certain scenes because I didn’t want to get too grossed out. But I’m actually not too surprised that some of the cases were so gruesome, since the blueprint of the cases were based on the top criminal cases in HK’s history.

As usually happens with cop-themed series, especially ones that revolve around a bunch of cases, there is of course a lot that can be covered in a review. But for the purposes of this particular review, I wanted to explore the different characters in the series as well as the relationships and storyline outside of the cases (plus some of the cases were way too freaky, so I would prefer not to dwell on them too much).


So here are the highlights:

1). Characters and Artists’ performances:

Michael Miu (Mad Sir): Of course, as the leader of the team, it is necessary for Michael to have a presence and be the ‘boss’ so to speak. His character has a very suave and cool personality, but yet gets along well with his colleagues. I actually think that Michael’s character is kind of cute and provides some much needed comic relief to the series. I don’t know how many people noticed, but I found it interesting that his character is supposed to be in such a high position (and leader of the team), but yet there are some parts where he is portrayed like a little kid – for instance, the scenes when he is sucking on a lollipop or eating ice cream on the rooftop). I’m not sure if this was done on purpose or inadvertently, but I actually got quite a kick out of it (I couldn’t help laughing at the sight of Michael eating ice cream out of a cup with an itty bitty spoon while Felix is standing next to him sipping coffee…lol!).

I also found it interesting how Michael’s character always acts so nonchalant and gives off the impression that he doesn’t care or takes his sweet time with stuff, but in reality, he is extremely smart and actually takes his responsibilities as a cop very seriously (not to mention that he is very efficient). There will be more analysis of Michael’s character later on in the review when I talk about his relationship with Jessica as well as his friendship with Felix.

Felix Wong (Stone Sir): Felix’s performance was excellent. Yes, he has done villain roles before, but somehow, those pale in comparison to his character in GMG. Maybe because Felix’s character in the series is pretty well-developed, so there is plenty of opportunity for Felix to utilize his great acting skills to bring out the depth of the character.

And the big question with Felix's character is whether his actions throughout the series can really be considered "wrong"? In my opinion, this is a difficult question to answer because it really depends on which perspective you're looking at it from....I'm actually not even going to try to answer the question in this review, because this topic would trigger a long debate in and of itself.

Again, there will be a deeper analysis of Felix’s character later on in the relationships section, so I will refrain from repeating myself in this section.

Jessica Hsuan (Kim Hui): If I had to choose a least favorite character among the main leads, I would have to choose Jessica’s character. It’s not that I don’t like her character, but I just feel that her character in this series was very similar to the characters that she normally plays – the typical strong woman character who at times can become a bit annoying with her overpowering nature. One redeeming factor to her character though (in my opinion at least) is that she does act ‘silly’ at certain times throughout the series – it’s almost as though the writers are trying to balance her “strong” nature by putting in some ‘schoolgirl type’ traits (which coincidentally matches perfectly with Michael’s “playful” personality). Even though I was not too fond of Jessica’s character, I actually loved her chemistry with Michael in the series (which I will touch on more later on).

Nancy Wu (Hui Man Sze): Ok, I really have to compliment Nancy’s performance in this series – she definitely put herself out there and gave an excellent performance. I’ve seen quite a few of her series in the past and up until this point, none of her other performances really had much of an impression on me. Don’t get me wrong – I think that her acting has always been pretty consistent and she is definitely one of the newer generation actresses with the most potential – but I just never really got “into” her performances in the past. It could be perhaps that her character in GMG was quite well written, so that helped her performance stand out. I personally was quite impressed with her performance – even though Nancy’s character was tough and strong, there was a good balance to the character and so I ended up liking Nancy’s character way more than Jessica’s. To summarize, Nancy’s performance came across very natural to me and I was really able to see the maturity in her acting.

Vincent Wong (Carson Yeung): I must say that I was quite impressed with Vincent’s performance in this series. Yes, he is a newbie and has not been in many series, plus his acting skills still need some work, but I was drawn to his character for some reason. Personally, I find his acting and mannerisms are very similar to Joe Ma (which means that his acting is a bit stiff and not very ‘natural’ looking), so I was surprised that I actually like Vincent’s performance in this series – again, just like with Nancy’s performance, I think part of the reason why I was drawn to Vincent’s performance was because his character was well-written in the series and was very appealing. To be honest, in the beginning, his character was a little annoying because the impression he gave off was that of a rich young kid who is only concerned about getting attention and doesn’t take anything seriously, but later on, when we find out that his character is actually very righteous and serious about his job, plus how he is toward Nancy’s character, he actually becomes quite endearing.


2). Relationships and Chemistry in the series:

I do have to compliment the writers (and producer) on how they handled the relationships in this story, as I feel that the various relationships – whether it’s romance, friendship, or family – were very well done. In this section, I am going to focus primarily on the romantic relationship between Michael / Jessica and Vincent / Nancy as well as the brotherly friendship between Michael / Felix.


Michael / Jessica relationship:

Though the Michael / Jessica relationship was somewhat 'typical' of what TVB usually does in their series, I actually didn't mind this time around because I found the relationship to be quite witty and clever the way it develops. IMO, Michael and Jessica matched quite well -- though they had alot of opposite qualities (i.e. Michael's personality is very suave and nonchalant, giving off the feeling that he is always playing around and doesn't take things seriously whereas Jessica is very rigid, hardworking, and takes her responsibilities too seriously to the point of going overboard)....maybe that's why they end up together (as the saying goes, 'opposites attract'). I read in a few forums that some people who watched the series felt that Michael and Jessica had zero chemistry – I actually disagree….their chemistry may not have been “the best”, but it was definitely there.

The bickering scenes between Michael and Jessica throughout the series were absolutely hilarious!! I got many good laughs out of seeing the two of them going at it, probably because most of the time, they were arguing over silly, childish things (the two of them actually provide a lot of ‘comic relief’ in the series without even intentionally doing so).

I especially love the scenes where Michael 'plays' Jessica and gets her ticked off on purpose, knowing that she has a certain impression of him and rather than trying to 'correct' that impression, he purposefully 'misleads' her, just for fun. That one scene where Jessica is discussing one of the cases with both Michael and Felix at a cafe had me cracking up so hard -- how Jessica would speak to Felix in a soft, 'womanly' way but then she would turn around and speak to Michael in a curt, short-tempered manner. Then, when Michael playfully asks her why she gives him an attitude but speaks to Felix in such a soft way, she snaps at him that he should reflect on why she treats him that way -- Michael's facial expressions during that scene were very funny (almost like the 'innocent little child' look....which is in line with some of the previous 'child' imagery of him sucking on a lollipop and eating ice cream).


Vincent / Nancy relationship:

Surprisingly, I really like this couple and was rooting for them throughout the series (those who know me will understand why I use the word ‘surprisingly’). The way that the relationship developed between Vincent and Nancy was really well-done -- I liked how the relationship wasn’t “rushed” and was allowed to take its natural course.

From the beginning, Vincent obviously had a crush on Nancy and he was very open about it when he realized he had feelings for her. I like how he had no qualms about letting her know early on that he likes her and wants to pursue her – the directness of it was refreshing because normally, these relationships are handled in a way that makes the guy out to be very wishy washy or not sure of what he wants. Even though Nancy didn't like him in the beginning and sort of 'hated' him about a quarter of the way through because his dad was indirectly responsible for the deaths of her biological parents, he never gave up on his love for her. And I like how their relationship didn't follow the 'typical' formula -- for instance, after that huge car accident scene halfway through the series (when Nancy is captured by the photographer and Vincent goes to save her), my expectation was that Nancy was going to 'accept' Vincent's love because she was so touched by how he saved her life and so they would become a couple after that. But it turns out not to be the case -- instead, Nancy symbolically 'forgives' Vincent for what his father did and they become good friends and colleagues again -- in other words, she sees how sincere he is and so can't find it in her heart to hate him, but yet knows that she doesn't 'love' him (at least not yet), so doesn't even try to 'repay' him by being in a relationship with him when she knows she's not ready. Of course, the two of them end up getting together later on (obviously), but only when the timing was right and Nancy realized she truly did have feelings for Vincent.

I also liked how there were alot of "sweet" moments between Vincent and Nancy, even before they ‘officially’ got together as a couple – but the 'sweetness' was done in a way that wasn't cheesy or totally obvious….pretty much, these “sweet” moments were “nuances” throughout the series that were perhaps a hint of the relationship to come, but not ‘in your face’ type stuff.

One of my favorite “sweet moments” was in episode 18 (or was it 17?) when Nancy had gotten into an argument with Jessica earlier and so went to do some kickboxing to relieve her anger. Vincent shows up (he ‘says’ that he happened to go there to work out, but in reality, he knew Nancy goes there often so wanted to keep her company) and tells her that if she is upset, to ‘fight’ with him. She takes on the challenge and ends up giving him a bloody nose (not on purpose though). When he’s driving her home afterwards, she asks him to stop by the 7-11 to buy some stuff – when she gets back in the car, she gives him a band-aid for his nose. When he puts the band-aid on, he realizes it’s one of those ‘kiddie’ kind with like cartoon characters on it, yet he keeps the band-aid on – not only that, but he has this really happy, smiling expression on his face (probably overjoyed that Nancy cared about him enough to give him a band-aid for his sore nose, even though part of the motive on Nancy’s side was guilt over giving him a bloodied nose in the first place). This scene was quite funny and cute (I couldn’t help saying to myself – aww, how sweet!).

From the beginning of the series until they officially got together, Vincent was definitely Nancy’s “guardian angel” – constantly concerned for her and watching out for her. Seeing how much I liked their relationship, needless to say that I was saddened when Vincent’s character dies near the end.


Michael / Felix friendship and chemistry:

Ok, I admit it – I’m a huge 5 Tigers fan (it’s hard not to be growing up in the 80s), so of course, I was looking forward to the chemistry between real life Tiger brothers Michael and Felix. As I said earlier, I was unsure of what to expect of the series itself and didn’t want to put my hopes too high, but one thing I was definitely sure of from the beginning – the chemistry between Michael and Felix would be awesome, no matter how the rest of the series turns out.

I absolutely loved seeing the interaction between Michael and Felix – each of the scenes where there was just the two of them either talking (discussing a case, for instance) or arguing (Michael reprimanding Felix for ‘crossing the line’ and Felix defending his actions as justified) were so satisfying…it was definitely a real treat for a Tiger fan like me!

All those rooftop scenes (where Michael and Felix go to talk about the cases or if they don't want the others to hear what they are saying) were quite defining -- it's as though that's Michael and Felix's personal "space"....what I found really interesting though was how the setup reminded me of the whole 'rooftop' thing in the movie "Infernal Affairs" (coincidentally starring their fellow Tiger Buddies Andy and Tony). I'm wondering if that 'imagery' was done purposefully or not?

Of course, how could I do a review on GMG and not talk about the ‘conflicts’ that Michael and Felix encounter (the core of the series)? Obviously, Michael's character and Felix's character are complete opposites in the series: Michael is a righteous cop who may not necessarily follow the rulebook 100%, but knows very clearly where the line is and does not cross it; Felix, on the other hand, can also be seen as 'righteous' in a sense, but his definition of 'righteousness' is different from everyone else's, due to his own experience spending 15 years in jail for a crime he did not commit -- he ends up crossing that 'line' and doing things that are "wrong" and even criminal, but to him, are completely justified (basically carrying out justice on his own rather than trusting the legal system).

Surprisingly, I actually liked Michael's character -- even though he was an 'enabler' in a sense because he didn't 'rat' Felix out when he suspected him of crossing the line and also covered up for him a few times (partly because he felt guilty that his testimony contributed to Felix going to jail), he didn't do "stupid" things such as blindly defending Felix or being in denial that Felix had issues. He was smart enough to suspect that Felix may be 'crossing the line' and knew that he didn't have any proof (so he kept his suspicions a secret until he gathered evidence) and also asked Vincent to help keep an eye on Felix behind the scenes. For me, this was very refreshing because TVB is notoriously bad when it comes to handling these types of characters (they usually make the lead character overly righteous to the point of being naive and stupid and allowing the bad people to walk all over him/her) and I usually end up hating the character(s) rather than liking them. Once again, I really have to compliment the writers this time around for doing a good job in terms of character development (for Michael, Felix, Nancy, and Vincent, at least).


3). The flaws and ‘low-lights’

Of course, every series has its flaws and this one is no exception. No matter how much I like or enjoy a series, I will undoubtedly always find fault with it because the fact of the matter is that no series is perfect. Despite the flaws, my enjoyment of the series will not change and I still feel that the series was well-made – especially in comparisons to the crappy stuff that TVB has been putting out as of late.

In GMG, I did notice quite a few ‘implausible’ and ‘cheesy’ situations that occur in the series which definitely could be improved. Here are the main ones that come to mind right away:

>> The fact that Felix was able to get his old policeman job back without much difficulty (even after he was in jail for 15 years) and then to be promoted not too long after that (keep in mind that his name isn’t actually “cleared” until later on) -- not very realistic if you ask me. Logic tells me that even if they allow him to be a cop again (which is already rare), they would wait until his name is completely cleared and he is truly proven innocent before doing so…right?

>> I totally did not get that part about Michael having 'extraordinary' hearing abilities (he can hear people's heart beating and such) due to the tumor in his brain…was that supposed to be a way of incorporating some ‘supernatural’ element to the series? Whatever the case, I don't think that was really necessary.

>> It would have been better if they did not have that one scene where Felix is in the storage room holding a gun and you see the "evil Felix" on the wall, then all that fire sprays out like in a comic book or something...that was totally unnecessary and pointless. My hunch is that the producer put that part in to show Felix's 'official' transition to 'villain' so to speak in terms of him doing something a righteous cop should not have done. But to be honest, it wasn't necessary because this was already obvious from the previous scenes (when he 'shot' the evil Sau Dai Fu with another cop's gun and lied about it) -- to me, they were "trying too hard" with the 'fire imagery' scene.

>> Vincent’s role as one of the Senior Inspectors on the police squad who is actually on the same level as Michael does not seem very plausible. First of all, he seems too young to have that high of a position. Second, if I remember correctly, he had become a cop because of his father and actually liked his previous job (as a stock broker??) better at first – with his age, how could he have been promoted to such a high level position so quickly? Third, Vincent’s character is not mature enough to be the team leader of a police unit in the same capacity as Michael – it’s just not convincing given his age and the development of the character.


Concluding comments:

This series is definitely on my “favorites” list for the ‘after 2000’ era – not only because I liked the series itself, but also because I really liked the chemistry of the cast as well. I truly enjoyed following the cast on Weibo as the series aired in HK and seeing the various commentary as well as behind-the-scenes ‘tidbits’ about the filming, the artists, the series, etc. From everything that I’ve read about the dinner gatherings of the cast, various interviews, etc., I could definitely tell that the GMG cast really enjoyed working together on this series and were able to develop a genuine friendship outside of work as well.

Overall, awesome series, awesome cast, awesome chemistry! Definitely a keeper!