July 5, 2009

Foolhardy Tiger Wong (Chin Kar Lok) is annoyed with his mother Lau Bing Tai (Gigi Wong) for consistently pressuring him to get married. He therefore snatches Chow Man Bun (Sammul Chan) who is in female disguise to be his bride and arranges for Bun to stay at his younger sister Wong Sau Ying (Nancy Wu)'s chamber for the night. After this, Tiger has no choice but to marry Ying to Bun while setting up strict rules to torture Bun in the house. Clever Bun makes use of the chivalrous woman Mo Sam Leung (Louisa So) to control Tiger and misleads Leung that Tiger is her long lost rescuer. Using tricks to upset Tiger, he makes Tiger marry Leung. Since then, Leung tries every means to domesticate her husband and that almost drives him insane. Bun is relieved to escape from Tiger's manipulation but he carelessly causes lots of troubles elsewhere. "A Bride for A Ride" brings you a modern perspective of this traditional tale and you'll surely be surprised with its astonishing approach.

Credits: Astro On Demand

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This series looks really cute. I can definitely use some humour right now. Casting Chin Kar Lok as Tiger Wong should do the trick. The rest of the cast seems right for a comedy as well. Rain Lau and Mimi Chu should make a good combination while Sammul looks so adorable in his female disguise. He almost looks like a girl except for his facial structure. I think if you covered his nose down, he would look exactly like a girl. And look at Louisa! Her expression is priceless. I just can't wait to get a good laugh!

July 4, 2009

In this much-awaited third instalment of "Burning Flame", a team of firefighters continue to strive for the safety and well-being of local citizens under extreme conditions. Through rescuing the victims, the beauty of human nature and the importance of life are realized. Encouraged by the fireman leader Chung Yau Shing (Wong He), young and playful Fong Lei On (Bosco Wong) joins the team and gets to know Cheuk Pak Yue (Kevin Cheng). Unfortunately, the two of them are having lots of misunderstanding at work. On believes that Yue has stolen Shing's lover Ko Wai Ying (Myolie Wu) and causes the serious injury of Shing. However, a gruesome fire accident has drawn everyone into a twist of fate that has led them to find a deeper sense of awareness.

Credits: Astro On Demand

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At last! This series is finally coming out! I am really looking forward to this series because I miss Wong He in his firefighter role. It's disappointing to hear that TVB cut a lot of his scenes. I hope that's not the case because Burning Flame means Wong He to me. The poster looks pretty nice, if that's the poster that is. I think the pairings are kind of weird though, hopefully they'll have chemistry.

June 29, 2009

General Information
Title: The King Of Snookers
Number of Episodes: 20
Year: 2009

Cast:
Adam Cheng as Yau Yat Kiu
Patrick Tang as Kan Tze Him
Niki Chow as Yau Ka Kan
Derek Kwok as Lui Kin Chung
Joyce Tang as Chin To To

Warning: May contain spoilers. Read at own risk.

About the Series
The story revolves around the game of snooker. The snooker king, Yau Yat Kiu suddenly retires from the snooker world but sets up a snooker challenge, the purpose being to find someone that can solve the game. Meeting Kan Tze Him, Yau Yat Kiu decides to teach him all he knows about the game of snooker. The master and disciple then come face to face at a snooker competition.

Characters and Performances
Adam Cheng as Yau Yat Kiu
Yau Yat Kiu is famous for his numerous wins in snooker competitions. However, he leaves the snooker world due to personal conflicts. Upon meeting Kan Tze Him, he is forced to face reality and once again, he steps into the snooker world. Adam has not been in a series for a very long time and I’m glad he’s back. He did an amazing job with this role and I can say that it’s near flawless. I love it when he gives Patrick or Niki life lessons because he manages to bring them through really well.
Rating: 5/5

Patrick Tang as Kan Tze Him
Kan Tze Him has a passion for snooker. He can think quickly but his abilities are limited. He manages to solve the difficult game set up by Yau Yat Kiu and therefore, learns from him as a teacher. He becomes really weak when dealing with unexpected difficulties and when he finds out about the relationship between Yau Yat Kiu and his father, he loses himself. This is one of the biggest roles Patrick has got from TVB. I have to disagree with people who said that Patrick did a horrible job. I think he portrayed his role pretty well and I find him really cute at times. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement and I would love to see more of him in the future.
Rating: 3.5/5

Niki Chow as Yau Ka Kan
Yau Ka Kan wants to follow her father’s steps to become the next star in the snooker world. She tries really hard when playing snooker and doesn’t like to lose. She gets really disappointed when her father points out that she does not have the natural talents to become big in the world of snooker. I am rather disappointed with Niki’s role. It wasn’t because her acting was bad, but it was too typical. She had no room to shine and therefore, I found her character to be just average. Sometimes I find that Niki needs to work on her expressions more. Her relationship with Adam and Benz was really fun to watch.
Rating: 3.5/5

Derek Kwok as Lui Kin Chung
Lui Kin Chung, Ray will do anything to win. He is more concerned about winning than playing a good game of snooker. He has high self esteem and can sometimes be very egotistical. Not only is he overconfident with his abilities but also in the game of love as well. Derek was really funny as Ray. I loved watching his character from the beginning till end. He had great chemistry with Joyce. Derek deserves more recognition. I hope he’ll get more interesting roles in the future.
Rating: 3.5/5

Joyce Tang as Chin To To
Chin To To, Tony will do anything, whether right or wrong, as long as it gets her to her destination. She plays with Ray’s feelings to keep him signed under her company. She slowly changes when she sees that this can harm others. Joyce was stunning here. I loved her style and everything. She is definitely doing a better job in acting now than before. I think this type of character suits her and I can’t think of anyone to play it better. I found that she was one of the more interesting characters in the series.
Rating: 4/5

Favourites
Snooker
I really like the concept of snooker. I love playing pool and watching it on a TVB drama was really exciting for me. It was interesting how the story revolved around the game of snooker.

Benz Hui
Benz didn’t have much to do with the overall storyline but his scenes were really enjoyable to watch. I found it funny how he decided to commit suicide because he didn’t listen to his brother’s words. It was also really funny when he and Patrick were singing and dancing at Cue Power.

The Bad Factor
Ray Lui’s Ending
I shouldn’t really consider this a bad factor but I can’t believe they did that to Ray. I wish they could’ve given him a better ending. And it would’ve been better if he ended up with Joyce. I didn’t really understand the ending. Did Joyce end up with Adam? If she did, I find that really weird.

The Ending
The ending was pretty good, it wasn’t too rushed. I’d prefer if Adam’s character won the last game instead of Patrick. I thought he had already trained to play even though his eyes had problems. I don’t see how Patrick would suddenly be able to win over Adam. Besides that, everything was wrapped up with Patrick travelling around the world to enter snooker competitions.

Last Words
I’d say that I enjoyed watching this series. At first I chose to watch it because of Patrick but then I found that I was really into Derek and Joyce’s storyline as well. The cast was a good choice and no one really spoiled it in anyway. I also learned the rules of snooker!
Overall rating: 3.5/5