Asian Cult Cinema by Thomas Weisser Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Asian Cult Cinema
Book Review: This book is AWFUL!
Summary: 1 Stars
Asian Cult Cinema is a font of factual misinformation. Every word Weisser writes is a lie, including "and" "but" and "the." Almost all of his plot synopses, dates, and casting information are incorrect in some way. Plus, he seems to value gratuitous nudity and maggot scenes more than good photography, acting, or plot. He is so unfair to certain HK actors (especially the great Stephen Chow) that I wonder if he even watched their movies. He gives Chu Yen Ping's GOLDEN QUEEN COMMANDOS an incredible four stars even though it could have been made by Ed Wood. You will not learn ANYTHING from this book!Book Review: This book is AWFUL!
Summary: 1 Stars
Asian Cult Cinema is a font of factual misinformation. Every word Weisser writes is a lie, including "and" "but" and "the." Almost all of his plot synopses, dates, and casting information are incorrect in some way. Plus, he seems to value gratuitous nudity and maggot scenes more than good photography, acting, or plot. He is so unfair to certain HK actors (especially the great Stephen Chow) that I wonder if he even watched their movies. He gives Chu Yen Ping's GOLDEN QUEEN COMMANDOS an incredible four stars even though it could have been made by Ed Wood. You will not learn ANYTHING from this book!Book Review: UH, NO
Summary: 1 Stars
On page 222 he attributes a starring role in "Ninja Strikes Back" to Bruce Li, uh no, sorry. That's a Bruce Le actioner. If he can't get his Bruce Lee clones straight, what does this say about his expertise? I wrote my matser's thesis on Bruce Lee clones so maybe he should have called me for help on this one!Book Review: Unbelievably Bad
Summary: 1 Stars
I had high hopes for this but but was bitterly dissapointed when I finally got it. This book has more errors in it than I have been able to count, and I did start to count. The picture captions are incorrect, the movie information is incorrect, the plot summaries are incorrect! I can't believe he even watched some of the films the information is so wrong! I have been an HK fan since the late 60's and I have seen or own many of these films, so I know what the plots and casts and years of release are... Believe me this book is the _worst_ I have ever seen.Talented actresses are insulted, he just describes their decorative value and whether or not he likes them. This is fine on a personal web site but I can't condone it for a supposed reference work. Major players and stars are blown off, like Chow Sing Chi, just because he doesn't like their films... The worst part is that the print reviewers give this junk a glowing review! What's wrong with them??? Just because this! guy claims to know what he's saying doesn't mean he does.
If you can, buy The Essential Guide to Hong Kong Movies by Rick Baker and Toby Russel. These guys get it RIGHT! Other good choices are, Hong Kong Action Cinema by Bey Logan, and Sex and Zen and a Bullet in the Head by Stefan Hammond & Mike Wilkins. They are well written and have correct information.
Book Review: Worth a look
Summary: 3 Stars
As has been pointed out by multiple reviewers, this book does have some errors, but, despite that fact, it is still a valuable source for information and reviews you will not find elsewhere; if nothing else it will at least provide the names of movies you can research on your own time. For this reason alone, I recommend this book.
Also, I would like to address some of the criticism levied against this book by Amazon.com reviewers. Firstly, to the person who claimed Mr. Weisser's "opinions are wrong": how exactly can an opinion about a movie be "wrong"? Certain individuals have certain tastes; that he likes different movies than you does not make him wrong. Secondly, if I wanted to read the umpteenth review about how great Seven Samurai is or how brilliant Ozu or Ichikawa are I could pick up virtually any book on movie criticism. One would have thought the presence of the word "cult" in the title would have tipped off a semi-discerning reader to the fact that this tome addresses more obscure and trashy films (Category III , pinky and roman porno movies being perfect examples), rather than the same old art-house fare that poseurs cite when they try to seem erudite when it comes to Asian cinema.
As for his website, I do not understand why reviewers have mentioned it, as it is totally irrelevant to the quality of this book. However, since it was mentioned, I feel the need to correct the outright falsehoods written about his site. The site does not require a membership; it requires an individual to register by providing an email address and password so that personal info can be more conveniently recalled. In this respect it is no different than Amazon.com.