Epinions Recent Reviews for FlyBear

Sweden by Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Fri, 5 Jan 2007 17:35:54 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - For many years, I dreamed of visiting Sweden. I have made a lot of friends from the country, have taught myself the written language (over the course of ten years), and love the hockey culture. So when I had the chance recently to take a working...

Rock in a Hard Place: Take it or a-leave it on any night

Fri, 12 May 2006 18:27:26 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Lost in the dark ages of Aerosmith's drug-fueled breakup and rapid decline in popularity during the late 1970s and early 1980s is perhaps the most eclectic and experimental effort of the period, "Rock in a Hard Place." Often unfairly maligned as the...

The Blackout Album

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 16:56:28 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - When Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry was asked years later to describe the "Draw the Line" album, he said, "the Beatles had their White Album. This was our Blackout Album." Album background With two wildly popular and successful albums...

The Father of Russian Hockey

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 19:41:43 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Yesterday, as I sat watching Team Canada fall to Team Russia in the quarterfinals of 2006 Olympics, I couldn't help but think of the late Anatoli Tarasov. Tarasov painstakingly built the hockey program in the former Soviet Union from a second-rate,...

Trash as art

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 20:12:37 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - In previous Epinions, I have reviewed many of the top action films produced by some of Hong Kong cinema's most-respected action directors-- Liu Chia-Liang, Chang Cheh, Yuen Woo-Ping, Tsui Hark, and John Woo. Those men are the cream of the crop. At...

Lufthansa: Efficient air travel

Wed, 1 Jun 2005 19:28:06 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Many airlines could learn a lesson from Lufthansa's business model. Efficiency and attentive service make for happier customers, especially on long transatlantic flights that didn't go off seamlessly. My wife and I recently took a trip from...

Prague: A City of Contrasts

Wed, 1 Jun 2005 17:53:53 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Prague is one of the world's most beautiful, if enigmatic cities. Marked by its parallel histories of representing mankind at its best and worst, Prague captivates you one moment and leaves you shaking your head the next. On the one hand, it's...

Two nights on Bourbon St.

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 21:13:19 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Everything you've ever heard about New Orleans' (in)famous French Quarter is true. Anyone who doesn't know why the city is nicknamed the Big Easy has never been to the French Quarter. It's just about the easiest place on earth to find whatever...

To Be the Man

Sat, 10 Jul 2004 13:04:30 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - In over three decades at or near the pinnacle of the often bizarre, just as frequently heartless but undeniably fascinating world of professional wrestling, Ric Flair has seen and done it all. Surprising insecurity lays just beneath the surface of his...

Villablanca Garden Beach Hotel: A Qualified Thumbs Up

Sat, 28 Feb 2004 13:17:06 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - During my recent five day vacation in Cozumel, my fiancee and I stayed at the Villablanca Garden Beach Hotel. Located a short drive away from the center of town and about 5 miles north of Chankanaab Park, the hotel is across the street from Villablanca...

Cozumel: A Relaxed, Beautiful Island

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 01:00:04 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Less than 48 hours after five days of snorkeling, sunshine, seafood, stargazing and scooter-riding with my fiancee on the picturesque Mexican island of Cozumel, we're already longing to return. The warm glow of still-fresh memories of the trip can't...

Chang Cheh's Ten Tigers of Kwangtung

Thu, 19 Feb 2004 00:50:14 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - The historical "Ten Tigers of Kwantung" (Canton)were a band of anti-Ching rebels who traced their kung fu roots to the students of the Shaolin Temple. Among their ranks was one Wong Kei-Ying (Wong Chi-Ying), the father of the fabled Wong Fei-Hung. In...

A Mighty Enjoyable Soundtrack

Sat, 7 Jun 2003 14:45:59 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Even if you haven't seen the film, the soundtrack to A Mighty Wind is an excellent stand-alone testament to the comedic brilliance-- and surprising musical credibility-- of Christopher Guest and his ensemble. All songs but one are not only...

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo: Blind Swordsman Meets The Bodyguard

Tue, 27 May 2003 02:51:52 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Zatoichi, the blind swordsman, and Yojimbo (the Bodyguard) are two of the most famous cinematic Japanese swordsmen. In the 1970 film "Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo" director Kihachi Okamoto brought the two characters together in one of the most memorable...

Liu Chia Liang's "Legendary Weapons of China"

Thu, 15 May 2003 23:58:01 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Liu Chia-Liang (aka Lau Kar-Leung, among other variations)is arguably the best martial arts movie director that the Hong Kong cinema has ever produced. There is perhaps no other director who has had a deeper understanding of the Chinese martial arts--...

Fist and Guts: Decent, Formulaic Old-School Kung Fu Film

Sat, 19 Apr 2003 14:43:27 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Liu Chia-Yung (Lau Kar-Wing) is sort of the Vince DiMaggio of the old school kung fu movie. A solid journeyman performer, his lengthy career was not without its highlights but his accomplishments pale in comparison to those of his more famous siblings...

Three Evil Masters, One So-So Movie

Fri, 29 Nov 2002 16:51:52 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Despite what some "old school" HK action nostalgists want to believe, not all the Shaw Brothers kung fu vehicles were winners. In fact, the majority of the studio's output fell somewhere between just okay and horrible; how many by-the-numbers movies can...

Liu Chia-Liang's look at the origins of Hung Gar

Mon, 2 Sep 2002 14:43:41 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - This movie was yet another highlight in the string of groundbreaking movies that Liu Chia-Liang made for Shaw Brothers between 1975's "Spirtual Boxer" and 1983's "Eight Diagram Pole Fighter."

"Executioners From Shaolin" is a highly...

Treading Water in a Sea of Retarded Sexuality and Bad Poetry

Wed, 24 Oct 2001 20:36:43 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - It takes people with special talent to create something so witty, so dead-on as "This Is Spinal Tap." A largely-improvised "mockumentary" created by director Rob Reiner and stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer, with able helping...

The U.S. Theatrical Release of Iron Monkey

Mon, 1 Oct 2001 20:26:02 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Yuen Woo-Ping's "Iron Monkey," is about to released on the big screen in the United States (it is scheduled to open on October 12, 2001). Although the film's U.S. advertising makes it sound as though it is the latest work from Yuen (the choreographer of...

The Chinatown Kid

Fri, 21 Sep 2001 18:46:21 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Before there was John Woo, there was his mentor Chang Cheh. The prolific HK action director specialized in bloody, emotional, if overwrought (and sometimes over-the-top) male bonding actioners. The common thread to most of Chang's movies was that they...

Raising the bar of HK cinema

Tue, 18 Sep 2001 13:23:16 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Ching Siu-Tung's "Duel to the Death" was a vital transitional movie in between the "old school" style of making martial arts movies and the visually splendid wire-fests of more recent years. Although Ching and Tsui Hark would later take the wu xia genre...

Old school HK kung fu mayhem at its best

Mon, 10 Sep 2001 18:47:23 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - Lo Lieh is one of the most recognizable faces from "old school" Hong Kong kung fu cinema. He was the star of "The King Boxer" (better known in the west as "Five Fingers of Death"), which is widely reported to have been the first kung fu movie that was...

Another Godfrey Ho Travesty

Fri, 7 Sep 2001 01:25:15 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - In previous Epinions, I have reviewed many of the top films produced by some of Hong Kong cinema's most-respected action directors-- Liu Chia-Liang, Chang Cheh, Yuen Woo-Ping, Tsui Hark, and John Woo. Those men are the cream of the crop.

At...

Family Feud...Martial Arts Style

Mon, 27 Aug 2001 18:39:55 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author FlyBear - It's a shame that a movie this important to Chinese action cinema has become such a chore to find. One of the great frustrations with trying to find Hong Kong movies-- particularly of the "old school" variety-- is how often their titles get changed in...