Posted by logboy at 11:40pm.
Instinct and trailers, that’s what drives my choices of films. Not always following any particular Director for too long, although I do occasionally latch onto certain Directors or Studios and follow them - that sort of buying making up probably half of my DVDs - this is my first Johnnie To movie, and a rare experience of a HK film. It’s a great, modern-looking Triad movie that’s very well filmed, but a little confusing for some sections of the narrative, there being a relatively large cast in a world that looks a little too isolated from Triad life at large.
Maybe it’s in order to give a more intimate, insular or important record of a world about which I can imagine many only having the slightest sense of - Mr.To says as much on the interview supplied on the disc, that this is his record of Triad life, intended for local audiences. Maybe it’s the only structure that’s possible to tell in a fashion that gives a strong sense of reality? Who knows, but I will pass along my thoughts, and I would appreciate some more background on other HK / Triad movies, how this one relates to those, and what is potentially known of that world in actuality.
Continue Reading "Election. by Johnnie To. Review from the R3 HK DVD."...
Posted by X at 9:42pm.
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Posted by X at 6:26am.
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Out with the old, in with the new, they say. But did TV Dramas really do that in 2005, or was it more of the same? A once tiny little niche only enjoyed by Koreans, the industry has expanded into a monster whose import sales rival those of Korean movies. Often embraced by the same people who labeled them syrupy soap operas, Korean TV Dramas have been able to show to an overseas audience that’s it’s not all a game of love triangles and ridiculous tearjerkers. With the success of Historical Dramas like 대장금 (Dae Jang Geum: Jewel in the Palace) and 해신 (Emperor of the Sea), several Family Dramas in China and Hong Kong, and the usual strong performances by shows tailor made for the Korean Wave, the big three stations in Korea have finally learned there’s a growing overseas audience ready to enjoy and appreciate what they’re producing. But money creates problems, and those problems are starting to show more and more across several TV Dramas.
Continue Reading "[2005 YEAR IN REVIEW] Part 1: Korean TV Dramas"...
Lee Joon-Ik strikes again? Too early to tell, but it seems his latest work 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown) set the box office on fire on its first day of release. After doing great in pre-order sales all week long, the film debuted yesterday along with Yoon Jong-Chan’s 청연 (Blue Swallow), and its result raised quite a few eyebrows: 200,000 tickets in one day. Not too impressed? OK, let’s see: Kwak Kyung-Taek’s 태풍 (Typhoon) was released on 540 screens and sold 280,000 tickets nationwide on its opening day; ‘The King and The Clown’ had less than HALF the screens to sell all those tickets, with a mere 255. ‘Typhoon’ cost 20 Billion, and Lee made this film for 4.4 Billion Won… so that should tell you something.
Now, you could envision two possible scenarios: the film gets more screens after its first weekend (which should be around the Million tickets, if things continue this way) and goes on to become a big hit, or it continues to do pretty well despite having a ‘normal’ release. All this is thanks to word of mouth, which has sky-rocketed after the first day of release, fueled in part by extremely positive reviews. Another small factor which could make this film a big hit is the newfound popularity of one of its stars, Lee Joon-Gi, whose homepage scored 100,000 hits yesterday, and has been the most searched name on various Korean portals for the last week.
So the underdog is winning alone against the big ape, the 20 Billion Korean potboiler, and even a well received biopic. Those three takes per scene didn’t go in vain, Director Lee…
[Source: Maxmovie, YTN Star]
Posted by logboy at 2:57am.
Think I’ve got it now, the trailers a RealPlayer file and I had to work out how to strip the URL for it. Anyway, the trailer takes a swipe at (or just plain uses) the Pussycat Dolls single ‘Don’t Cha’ in great style and puts their own gaggle of comparatively unattractive characters to the music in their own new video. The show (originally ‘Titty Titty Bang Bang’ when announced) is an all-female (well, 99%) comedy series for 2006, first episode should be available to watch at the BBC3 site as from January 3rd 2006, just as the recent ‘Man Stroke Woman’ was. Stars amongst the mostly unfamiliar faces, Debby Chazen (far left of the pic here) of ‘The Smoking Room’, another tip for an upcoming comedy star. For now, there’s some more info, including pictures and character profiles, in the subsite below. Enjoy the funny clip, hope it works - seemed to when I tried it just now.
‘TittyBangBang’ RealPlayer Trailer. If that doesn’t work, try ’TV Trails and Highlights‘ and click the relevant option.
‘TittyBangBang’ BBC3 MiniSite. BBC3 Official Website.
Posted by Mack at 7:11pm.
We reported back in November that word about a sequel to Johnnie To’s film The Mission was in the works. Titled Exiled filming began in Macau in November. ‘...To chose Macau as the setting for the film because of its strong European flavor. The alleys, the streets and the architecture have retained their Portuguese and Spanish influences, he said’.
The Cast: To is reuniting with a few former cast members of his other films; Richie Ren and Nick Cheung worked with To on Breaking News, Nick also starred in Election. Anthony Wong and Francis Ng, Roy Cheung, Lam Suet were all in The Mission. The only one in the main cast who hasn’t worked with To is Josie Ho [House of Fury and Twins Effect]
The Story: Nick Cheung and Josie Ho play a couple. He wants to leave the triads to start a new life with his pregnant wife but finds it isn’t so easy. Two gunmen from Hong Kong who are sent to execute a renegade member trying to turn over a new leaf in Macau. They are thrown into a dilemma when two of their former comrades also show up, intent on thwarting their mission. It turns out the five of them used to be buddies-under-fire in another mission years ago. When the mission appeared to be accomplished, one of them was discovered to have betrayed their boss and the others were asked to eliminate him. They let him escape in the end. While the four former comrades are reminiscing and negotiating what to do with the buddy whose life they have spared once before, a fifth gunmen suddenly appears out of nowhere and takes the renegade out instead. A final showdown ensues amongst the five gunmen.
Source: CRIENGLISH
Posted by Al Young at 5:01pm.
Anyone who enjoy disaster movies like Day After Tommorrow should check this out. From what I’ve seen in the trailer, this looks like a big budget production with a lot of cool special effects. Nihon Chinbotsu (translated as Japan Sinking or Submersion of Japan) is a remake of a 1973 movie of the same name in which Japan sinks into the ocean after a massive earthquake. The release date has not been determined yet. Currently, the official site has a trailer and two TV spot.
The movie is directed by Shinji Higuchi who directed Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean and worked on the Special Effect/Art Department for Casshern, The Princess Blade and Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Daikaiju Sogougeki. The cast includes Etsushi Toyokawa, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Kôji Yakusho.
Official Site Nihon Chinbotsu website
Trailer and two TV Spot (quicktime)
A teaser trailer (tokuhô) for Hiroshi Nishitani’s The Star of Prefecture Government (Kenchô no hoshi) has been added to the official website for the movie.
As was previously reported here on Twitch, the screenplay for The Star of Prefecture Government (Kenchô no hoshi) was written by Shinsuke Satô, based on the eponymous novel Kenchô no hoshi by Nozomi Katsura. The movie’s principal cast is as follows: Yûji Oda, Kou Shibasaki (a.k.a. Kô Shibasaki), Kuranosuke Sasaki, Sôkô Wada, Mahiru Konno, Hisashi Igawa, Tôru Masuoka, Kaoru Okunuki, Bengal (Bengaru), Wakako Sakai, and Kôji Ishizaka.
Tôhô K.K. is scheduled to release The Star of Prefecture Government theatrically in Japan on February 25th of next year.
The Star of Prefecture Government teaser trailer (streaming Windows Media)
The Star of Prefecture Government official website
Posted by Al Young at 2:18pm.
The Official Fist of the North Star movie site has been updated with a teaser in flash at the trailer section. The Japanese title “真救世主伝説 北斗の拳 ラオウ伝 殉愛の章” (Hokuto no Ken - Raoh Gaiden Junai-hen Arc ) is translated as Fist of the North Star - Raoh Side Story Junai Arc. As reported previously here, this movie is part one of the Hokuto no Ken - Shin Kyûseishu Densetsu (Fist of the North Star - New Saviour Legend) trilogy. It will be theatrically released nationwide in Japan by Toho in the March of 2006.
As a long time fan of this series, I’m very excited to check this badboy out. The animation looks better than ever. Anybody who is clueless about this anime/manga, go here for a detail explanation about the plot but just so you know, this site contain spoiler.
Official Fist of the North Star Movie site
Posted by Todd Brown at 9:37am.
By any right way of thinking Negotiator Mashita Masayoshi should be a very bad film. Horrible, even. Films based on television shows are seldom very good. Take that basic rule and combine it with the law of diminishing returns on sequels and you have a recipe for something truly odious. NMM is, after all, the fourth film to be spun out of the popular Bayside Shakedown television series but rather than showing signs of imminent collapse the film franchise continues to be a box office juggernaut in its native Japan. However while the first two films in the series – direct translations of the television show to the big screen, which I have unfortunately not yet seen – both exported well and the first of the spin off films apparently stands quite well on its own - Peter Martin’s review here - my hunch is that Negotiator may prove a touch culturally specific to really resonate outside of Japan.
Continue Reading "Negotiator Mashita Masayoshi Review"...
Posted by Todd Brown at 9:32am.
Other than Disney, which keeps its army of animating drones constantly at work churning out low grade direct to video sequels, commercial animation is the lifeblood of all the world’s animation studios. Thing is most of this work just disappears after being put to its original use which is a shame as commissioned work not only pays the bills but it allows the studios to identify new talent and develop new directions. In short it allows the studios to experiment on someone else’s dime. And now those clever folks at Studio Ghibli have gathered up a healthy collection of shorts, tv spots, commercials and music videos in one handy place. Collecting output from 1992 – 2005 this is the only place for most fans to ever see the vast majority of this material and it is absolutely must-have for fans of Studio Ghibli or animation in general.
Continue Reading "Studio Ghibli Shorts DVD Review"...
One the most unlikely ‘star directors’ this new era of prosperity brought to the Chungmuro shores is certainly Lee Joon-Ik. Not because he didn’t pay his dues, or because his films don’t deserve the acclaim they received (at least locally, abroad he’s still unknown). No, it’s just that he seems to go against every single rule of the star director. For starters, he didn’t graduate from a prestigious foreign film school, quitting Sejong University to start working on his company from the late 80s. It was just a marketing company, making CFs and magazine ads, but he eventually used that as a launchpad for an expansion into the film market. He did direct the comedy 키드캅 (Kid Cop) in 1993, but I’d safely say he’d rather forget about that. What’s important is that, from the early 90s, Cineworld started operating in Chungmuro, producing films like Jang Jin’s 간첩 리철진 (The Spy), the Park Chan-Wook co-written 아나키스트 (Anarchists) and the hit comedy 달마야 놀자 (Hi, Dharma). But more than producing local films, the company has always been known for importing and distributing foreign films, like Memento and Velvet Goldmine.
Continue Reading "Lee Joon-Ik Talks 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown)"...
Posted by Mack at 8:05pm.
Jackie Chan’s new film “Project BB” began shooting in Hong Kong a week ago Thursday under the direction of ‘New Police Story’ director Benny Chan. According to a source within one of the production companies [Huayi Brothers & Taihe Film Investment Co, Ltd.] shooting began in secret and is expected to finish shooting in March 2006 and be released in October.
We reported about this project a while back [here]. “Project BB” reportedly continues Chan’s kung fu comedies, with three robbers who kidnap a baby. A familiar face from other Chan movies, Yuen Biao [Project A, Wheels on Meals and Dragons Forever] is on board. Despite earlier reports it seems that Eric Tsang and Sammo Hung will not be in the cast.
UPDATE There was an official announcement on Friday [Dec. 30]. Jackie was present at the announcement along with the cast: Michael Hui, Louis Koo, one of the Twins Charlene Choi, mainland starlet Gao Yuanyuan, Zhang Tielin, Theresa Carpio, Terrence Yin, Andrew Lin, Hiro, Kenneth Low, Cherrie Ying, and Matthew as the Baby.
Source: Xinhua.net [1] [2] and CRIENGLISH
Posted by Mack at 7:41pm.
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Not too long ago statues of Bruce Lee were erected in Bosnia and Hong Kong [Twitch report here]. Now, word is getting around that Seattle also wishes to erect a statue in honor of the martial arts legend. Lee lived in Seattle from 1959 to 1965.
The campaigners hope to collect $25,000 in donations by the end of 2006, which would afford a life-size bare-torso bronze figure of the 5-foot-7 Lee in a prominent Jeet Kune Do pose to represent the nonclassical martial art he developed and taught in Seattle. “I would like a statue that represents the man,” LeFevre [co-director Seattle Museum of Mysteries], who is part-Japanese American, said. “That’s why I want it life-size. … I want future generations to recognize that Bruce Lee was a living, breathing person, that he was a student here, to recognize that he started out here in Seattle.” A call for design entries has been issued by the Museum of the Mysteries. The top three designs will be chosen by the museum board and be posted on the Internet for a public vote. All entries must be submitted by Jan. 30, 2006.
Read more about the Museum of Mysteries’ campaign here.
Source: CityonFire, Northwest Asian Weekly & Seattle Museum of Mysteries.
Lee Myung-Se has always been one of the most controversial directors in Chungmuro, ever since his debut in 1988, the genial 개그맨 (Gagman). Even longtime critics kept misunderstanding his work, which has granted him the dreaded ‘love or hate’ moniker, something he had to carry for his entire career. As for yours truly, I think he’s one of the most creative and talented Korean directors of the last 30 years, one of the pioneers of that ‘back to basics’ trend which is catching fire this year in Korean Cinema. Using motion, visuals, sound and emotional power, he has re-written how you present a story, and his latest work 형사 (Duelist) is still at the very top of my ‘to see’ list. Well… here’s our chance, folks.
I don’t think I mentioned it, but the usual barebones rental version of the DVD was released a few weeks ago, and even though I did expect a big 2 Disc Special Edition, what we’ll get actually is a jam packed three disc set - available for pre-order here now - that sounds like a no-brainer purchase. So here’s what we get:
Continue Reading "Details About the 형사 (Duelist) DVD"...
