Can anybody remember the last time Ross Chen actually helped out at the HKMDB?
I can't.
But I've subjected myself to several years' worth of Chen's "meh!" appraisals of nearly every Hong Kong movie he sees, and his habitual pooping on the splash page about how readership is down, the local movie scene sucks, the site contributors all quit (gee, I wonder why?), how he's on the verge of throwing in the towel, blah, blah, blah. The site's an invaluable resource, but not unlike HKMDB it has driven a lot of good people away over the years, and you don't have to read too narrowly between the lines to feel that downer vibe. I just viewed the main page and cracks like these (no matter if they're intended as ironic) . . .
This little HTML website now has updated blog feeds on the right but as you can see they're chunky and ugly. We would ask the numerous site contributors to help out, but they all quit.
Hong Kong/China films explode at the box office in September, a good thing for this typically content-starved website. However, it's a bad thing because there's only one guy working on this website. We'll see what gives first: his health or his sanity.
Somewhere in there, we'll see a small release for Scud's long-delayed Love Actually...Sucks. We'll see it depending on how much we hate ourselves.
. . . don't inspire confidence in what I'll find when I click through on the review links.
I'm certainly not advocating that he start loving everything that comes out of the city -- I've ultimately agreed with many of his assessments -- but I really, really, really think his sliding scale needs readjustment after too many years in trenches. Granted, he's been surprisingly kind to a few 2011 releases, so perhaps I'll eat my old words before the end of the year.
In his most enviable favour, Chen's pretty much the only guy reviewing Hong Kong cinema with regularity
from Hong Kong, so his reviews are often flecked with interesting background info that only a local would know offhand, not unlike Paul Fonoroff in his prime, another reviewer who generally disliked a great deal of the city's cinema.
I'm eager to see his reviews of LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE and A SIMPLE LIFE, my two HK films at TIFF this year. I liked one, loved the other, but I'm curious to see if either can withstand the Ross Chen wringer!
ewaffle wrote:The first thing I thought was that there aren't any personnel at HKMDB anyway. Just one of those odd internet non-issues I guess.
A few good souls still toil away there, thank goodness. The "images added" counts on the main page do rise on occasion, if that's any indication.