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Hit 'n' Fun, originally known as Lam Si Kyut Dau, is an action comedy film set in present-day Hong Kong and Macau. It tells the story of a financially unsuccessful and old-fashioned Muay Thai training centre owned by coach Chung Lei. He has to take care of his wife who struggles to rekindle her acting career and their intelligent daughter who is unafraid to tell her parents harsh truths they tend to ignore. One day, ambitious advertising executive Lin Xue shows up and is willing to pay a very generous sum to undergo exhausting training sessions. She has just learnt that her naive boyfriend Daniel is having a romantic relationship with boxing champion Sun Yayun. She wants to challenge her competitor to a duel. The boxing champion has left coach Chung Lei and is now training with another former student of Chung Lei who decides to challenge his former master to show him how much he has grown as a martial artist. The movie follows the initial conflicts, long-winded training sessions and final two fights.

This film has a few noteworthy strengths. The initial conflict between Lin Xue and Sun Yayun is wonderfully acted and starts the film on a high note. The film's greatest scene is the confrontation between the two ladies in the boxing champion's apartment. The characters are fleshed out and overall sympathetic which will lead to viewers sympathizing with the underdogs. The final fighting sequences feel liberating as they don't only offer intense Muay Thai techniques but also clever elements of philosophy.

However, this movie also has some significant downsides. The entire middle section overstays its welcome and feels exhaustingly repetitive. This movie would work so much better if it had been cut by twenty to thirty minutes. The movie also suffers from an overdose of melancholy and at times feels like a cheap tearjerker. The film fails when it enters drama territory portraying miserable careers, choices and lives. At least the film's ending feels hopeful and optimistic to the audience.

At the end of the day, Hit 'n' Fun, originally entitled Lam Si Kyut Dau, is an average action-comedy film with interesting characters that suffers from overtly melancholic passages and failed attempts to introduce dramatic genre elements. This movie is thus only recommended to avid fans of contemporary Hong Kong action cinema who don't mind their favourite genre being mixed with soap opera stereotypes.

Detective Chinatown 1900, originally known as Tang Ren Jie Tan an 1900, is the fourth entry in the commercially successful comedic investigative franchise. The story takes place in San Francisco's Chinatown where a young Caucasian woman and an elderly First Nations man are found dead in a back alley. The main suspect is the son of a Chinese businessman who cannot provide an alibi for the time of the crime. The father thus hires a quirky, naive and inexperienced Chinese medicine physician as well as the son of the murdered elderly man who happens to be an orphaned Chinese man who had been adopted by a First Nations tribe and who has developed particularly sharp senses.

This movie initially does many things very well. The colourful, detailed and diversified settings look astonishing throughout even though they obviously represent a much more beautiful version of the actual San Francisco's Chinatown. The costumes and make-up also deserve much praise and bring viewers back to a time set between traditional manners and modern perspectives. The quirky characters are introduced step by step which helps the audience to warm up with them when additional information is delivered in a prologue as well as in several flashbacks. The story itself is quite compelling as well since the body count quickly rises and economical, political and social aspects come into play.

However, the film loses its entertaining structure halfway through the rising action. Comedic moments are awkwardly intertwined with investigative passages. Critical comments about the treatment of Chinese immigrants to the United States of America are intertwined with a vapid love story pulled out of thin air. The most important First Nations member in this whole film is played by a Chinese actor who essentially plays a shameful caricature of a truly fascinating culture and even the supporting actors are portrayed as people who constantly misunderstand situations on an almost shockingly stupid level. Criticizing the way Americans have treated Chinese immigrants is indeed important but this film loses itself in racist stereotypes that can be summarized as all important American characters being rotten to the core and all important Chinese characters being inherently heroic. The film goes even further by justifying a violent revolution against monarchy that will ultimately establish a socialist country. As if that weren't enough, the movie even concludes with the megalomaniac statement that one day China will become the most powerful country in the whole wide world. What started as a very good movie develops a very bitter aftertaste due to its aggressive, brainwashing and omnipresent political propaganda. The director, scriptwriters and political influencers behind this film really seem to be taking its audience for complete idiots who can easily be manipulated. To me, this propagandistic movie feels like a desperate cry for help, nationalism and pride in a desperate time when China suffers its most dreadful economic crisis following a long-winded deadly pandemic and numerous particularly outspoken protests against the state system itself.

Now, don't get me wrong at all, I'm positively amazed by Chinese culture, history and society and even share many of the country's economical, political and social values but this movie's radical propaganda show will even drive off people who actually sympathize with the People's Republic of China. This is what must be called a disastrous political own goal.

At the end of the day, let's try to be perfectly fair with our final verdict. This movie is a very entertaining crime comedy that entertains throughout. Its disturbing, extremist and unnecessary propagandistic elements however slow the enjoyment of this film down significantly. Recent reviews by Chinese members of the audience who have found a way to express themselves freely seem to confirm this analysis time and time again.

Sleeping Dogs is an action-adventure video game that was originally supposed to be entitled True Crime: Hong Kong and to be the third part of this franchise. The initial development was canceled due to budget restraints and numerous delays. Multinational holding company Square Enix stepped in and initiated a few changes before finally releasing the game under its new title. The game is available on macOS, Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Sleeping Dogs is comparable to games such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption and Yakuza IV due to its combat style, open-world setting and length.

The game's story revolves around undercover cop Wen Shen who has infiltrated Hong Kong's triads. His goal to bring down organized crime in Hong Kong isn't only motivated by professional ambitions but also by the depressing fate of his sister. However, Wen Shen soon starts questioning members of the police squad and sympathizing with members of the triads. He is thus walking on a very thin line between illegality and professionalism throughout the story.

Players will be doing a multitude of interesting things throughout the game such as car chases, computer hacking and martial arts combats to only name a few elements.

The characters are also well-developed regarding Wen Shen's shifting moral compass as well as a series of interesting side characters such as his naive old friend Jackie Ma, arrogant superintendent Thomas Pendrew and brutal criminal mastermind Henry Lee.

As for the locations, players get to discover religious temples, martial arts schools, isolated islands, busy industrial ports, elegant mansions, downtown discotheques and construction sites.

Players also get to use different vehicles such as cars, motorcycles and trucks among others.

The changes in weather are also quite interesting from rainy nights to relaxing mornings and hot afternoons.

The game's atmosphere is enhanced by a realistic depiction of contemporary Hong Kong and a wonderful soundtrack covering diversified genres such as classical music, heavy metal and jazz.

The main story of Sleeping Dogs takes about thirty hours to complete but dedicated players can easily spend another ten hours on completing numerous side missions. This game also includes three expansions. Nightmare in North Point tells the story of a dead triad member coming back as a demon and haunting the suburb. Zodiac Tournament explores an illegal fighting tournament on an isolated island. Year of the Snake focuses on a radical cult focusing on terrorist attacks. With all these different expansions, the game might offer up to fifty hours of entertainment to dedicated players and gives much replay value.

In my humble opinion, Sleeping Dogs can easily compete with similar games and might even outclass them if you are interested in Hong Kong's culture, history and location. Fans of martial arts cinema from the eighties and nineties in particular should really dig this game. Even thirteen years after its initial release, this game has aged quite well in terms of gameplay and graphics.

Things one could criticize regarding this game are that its concept rehashes ideas of the True Crime franchise, that some activities such as car rides are quite repetitive and the fact that prolonged fighting sequences lack diversity.

At the end of the day, Sleeping Dog is still worth to be played in the here and now if you like contemporary action-adventure games. It might be an outstanding discovery for anyone who appreciates martial arts cinema set in Hong Kong. This game has its very own atmosphere that separates it positively from similar games taking place in the United States of America or even in imaginary locations. Don't hesitate to give this wonderful game a dedicated try.