Tripping (Gen yu den / Shen you qing ren-2006)

Starring:
Bo-lin Chen
Jimmy Hung
Lichun Lee
Tzu-chieh Miao
Ren Osugi
Rena Tanaka

Shaodea is a Japanese girl, living in Taipei with her father. He moved to Taiwan with his wife to start a Chinese herbal medicine shop. Ever since her mother died, Shaodea wants to return to Japan, but her father refuses to give up his dream. One day, after an argument with him, Shaodea goes out with her friends. While breaking in into a museum, the girl is transported back in time to feudal Taiwan. Thinking she’s on a movie set, the girl gets involved in a bank robbery and soon has to run from the authorities. She teams up with Haishon, an attractive young man who became a thief to save the economic crisis of his hometown. Together with a Tao-master, who is transporting 2 zombies back to their ancestral lands, they set off on a fantastic adventure.
Tripping is an exciting cross-cultural collaboration, combining talent from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. There’s something for everyone : a sci-fi love story, hopping corpses, costume drama, evil sorcery and exhilarating kung fu battles. Rena Tanaka (Nin x Nin: Ninja Hattori-kun, the Movie, Summer of Ubume) pulls off an engaging performance as Shaodea. Veteran actor Ren Osugi (Sonatine, Loft, Nightmare Detective) plays her father. And Bo-lin Chen (The Huadu Chronicles : Blade of the Rose, A Chinese Tall Story, Silk) shows off his martial arts skills as Haishon.



I was pleasantly surprised that this movie was as good as it was. I'm not usually fond of Taiwan or Chinese movies. This wasn't the best of movies but it was fun to watch.

Wilson (Bo-lin) Chen isn't gorgeous or extremely handsome. His cinematic charm though makes him something worthwhile to see. His kind face with the athletic body make him more than enough for most teenage girls to fawn over. Okay, I'm waaaaaay passed the teenage years but my heart says different. So I'm fawning over him.

This movie started out well. No skipping in story lines or idiotic ploys to keep you hooked. Some funny moments but not so overly obnoxious that you turn your head out of embarrassment. The follow through of this movie never left me hanging and the sweetest moment at the end tugged my heart. Let's just say that I, for one, really felt the longing of Butterfly's heart for her sweet "thief." The moments between the two were very poignant and sad because we knew she would have to go back to her real time in the end. *I can actually feel my heart getting heavy just thinking about it............*

Waiting in the Dark (Kurai tokoro de machiawase / 暗いところで待ち合わせ -2006)

Starring:
Rena Tanaka - Michiru Honma
Bo-lin Chen - Akihiro Oishi
Haruka Igawa - Harumi Mishima
Koichi Sato - Toshio Matsunaga
Mao Miyaji - Kazue Futaba
Shiro Sano
Fumina Hara
Ittoku Kishibe - Michiru's Father

Michiru has recently lost her eyesight. To make matters worse, her father dies shortly afterwards. She is now all alone and spends most of her day isolated in her home.

Akihiro is a Chinese-Japanese immigrant, that has had to deal with racism all throughout his life. He is now tormented at work by one of his older co-workers named Toshio.

One day at a train station in front of Michiru’s house, Toshio is thrown into the path of an oncoming train. The only person seen at the train stop was Akihiro. Akihiro frantically flees from the scene and manages to enter Michiru’s house without her knowledge. After a few days, Michiru starts to sense the presence of another person in her home. -- Lunapark6



I'm so glad I watched this movie. Okay, it's waaaaaaay slow but the story is so sweet that it was actually nice.

Okay, I admit that I was surprised to see Wilson (Bo-lin) Chen in this movie since it's a Japanese movie. He actually spoke the language well for the time given. Lucky him though since most of his acting was sitting in a corner not speaking at all.

I have to admit I would think that it would be scary to have someone in my home watching me if I was blind. But lucky her, he's cute and he's not malicious at all...but helpful to her. A little twist comes into the story and a relief it was for me. I had prepared myself for the worst but was surprised and elated at the end.

As I got to know the characters, I melted and yearned for their happiness. Not just as a couple but as they grew out of their shells. Even though they were different people, different backgrounds, they both shared a common bond....a personal prison that kept them from showing their true natures and their will to communicate without chains that held them to theirselves.

Really a good movie. I know most wouldn't like the movie because of how slow it moved but I thought it refreshing and meaningful to their characters.

About Love (Guan yu ai -2005)

Starring:
Bo-lin Chen - Yao (segment "Tokyo")
Mavis Fan - A-Su (segment "Taipei")
Yui Ichikawa - Yuka (segment 'Tokyo')
Misaki Ito - Michiko (segment "Tokyo")
Ryo Kase - Tecchan (segment "Taipei")
Lu Lu - Yun (segment "Shanghai") (as Xiaolu Li)
Ren Osugi - Shop owner (segment 'Tokyo')
Takashi Tsukamoto - Shuhei (segment "Shanghai")
Rui Yang - Min



Consisting of three vignettes about cross-cultural love set in three different cities (Tokyo, Taipei, and Shanghai), 'About Love' is a film made by three directors with six idols from Japan, Mainland China, and Taiwan. In each vignette, a foreigner and a resident, both in their twenties, try to transgress cultural and language barriers and explore something 'About Love'.
TOKYO
Cast: Ito Misaki, Wilson Chen Bo-lin
A Taiwanese student in Japan yearns to become a successful digital cartoonist. One day he passes by a heartbroken young graphic artist who possesses a quality that intrigues him...
TAIPEI
Cast: Kase Ryo, Mavis Fan
A newcomer from Japan in Taipei who eagerly hopes for a one-night-stand receives a call from a local girl for help. He speeds to her place only to find that his task is merely to help A-Su assmemble a bookshelf...
SHANGHAI
Cast: Tsukamoto Takashi, Li Xiaolu
A young Japanese student lives on the second floor of a general store in Shanghai. The landlady's daughter falls in love with him at first sight, but he is still filled with thoughts of his sweetheart in Japan...

I think I watched this backwards. Didn't mean to. Just didn't know which order was what. Anyway, to an extent it was probably for the best. It made the Tokyo segment more understandible but yet the other two less. I guess if I watched them now in the right order it would all make more sense. LOL!

The other two segments contained a little something that dealt with the Tokyo segment and vice-versa.

I think my favorite segment was Shanghai. It seemed more innocent BUT I was totally lost at the end. I didn't understand what happened to Yun and her building. And I wanted closure between Shuhei and Yun. It was so sweet and poignant when Shuhei discovered what "Te Quiero!" meant. They translated it as "I love you," which surprises me because the literal translation is "I want you." Either way.....it was so sad and sweet at the same time.

Tsukamoto Takashi


Wilson Chen

Kung Fu Dunk (功夫灌篮-2008)

Starring:
Jay Chou~Fang Shi-jie
Charlene Choi~Li-li
Wilson Chen~Ting Wei
Eric Tsang~Wang Li
Baron Chen~Xiao Lan
Will Liu~Lee Tien

Chou stars as Fang Shi-Jie, an orphan who was abandoned next to a basketball court while still a baby. Raised in a martial arts school, Jie becomes skilled at kung fu, but he unfortunately falls in with sleazy con man Zhen Li (Eric Tsang), who discovers that Jie has amazing accuracy with throwing objects and decides to use him to hustle people at darts. The gambit works, until it raises the ire of local gangsters - but that's okay, because Jie trashes them convincingly in a bar-set brawl choreographed with routine pop kung-fu flair by Ching Siu-Tung. Sadly, Jie's Road House impression gets him kicked out of school. However, Wang Li has a better idea: use Jie's object-chucking skills on the basketball court! In record time, Wang Li gets Jie enrolled at the imaginatively-titled First University, where he's supposed to be their new star player. But Jie only has the ability to shoot, and can't necessarily pass, steal, dribble, dunk, or play defense. Will he learn all these abilities in time to help the team win the championship in rousing sports movie fashion?
Well, partly. Jie does learn some of the necessary skills (dribbling and dunking, mainly) in a quick montage. Before you know it, Jie is tearing up the court along with team captain Ding Wei (Wilson Chen, in an unnecessarily intense performance) and star player Xiao Lan (Baron Chen, no relation to Wilson). Kung Fu Dunk steals some concepts from seminal manga/anime Slam Dunk, including some character traits and relationships, plus a few minor story details. Jie is taught that his leaping ability is most important because he can rebound, and "he who controls the rebound, controls the game". That bit of wisdom is a direct lift from Slam Dunk and is indeed very sound basketball advice, relating to how defense and team play can actually make the difference between winning and losing. This lesson also turns up in Kung Fu Dunk during a moment where Jie admits that learning to pass - and not shoot - is his true lesson on the basketball court.



LOL! I really loved this movie. I've read bad reviews for this movie but too many people take some of these movies too damn seriously. This movie was made for fun. I enjoyed all the "kung fu" action especially at the beginning in the club. OMG! That was some seriously awesome stuff. My oldest son and I just had a riot with this one. It might not be for the older discrimating fan but perfect for kids ages 9-16. I might be 30-something but I love this kind of stuff. I do believe the ending of the movie was too rushed. We don't really know what happened with Shi-jie's relations wth Li-li. Dang! I wanted more of Baron Chen (Dylan in Fated to Love You). He's so cute! *sigh* Wilson Chen wasn't half-bad either (no relation to Baron).

Baron Chen

I had to dig for pictures of this Taiwanese hunk. I'll admit he's cute. Other than Kung Fu Dunk, I've only seen him in Fated to Love You. And I'll admit that at this time it's my favorite drama this year. I will do a review of that once it's finalized. So far, it's very GOOD!

Wilson Chen