[The Kiru ~ Kill trailer has now been added to the Twitch Player and is available below the break.]
Okay, for those who haven’t been paying attention, here’s the score: Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii is currently overseeing a four part anthology film titled simply Kill. In it four directors, including Oshii himself and Kenta Fuksasku, present the climactic final battle scenes to films which do not actually exist. So, you know, you get all of the violence without any of the tedious plot or character development. The film is about to have its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival and if you can find the trailer below the break in the Twitch Player.
Continue Reading "First Trailer Arrives For Mamoru Oshii-Supervised Anthology Film KIRU ~ KILL!"...
Freshly off a screening of Fumihiko Sori’s Ichi - a partial re-envisioning, partial continuation of the classic Zatoichi saga - I feel quite confident about two things.
First, though he now has only three feature films to his credit Sori is arguably Japan’s most wildly diverse director. Thus far he has made a charming indie comedy (Ping Pong), an animated scifi spectacle (Vexille), and now a traditional swordplay drama. All are impeccably crafted and all vary so wildly in style and approach that you’d never guess that the same man directed all three if not for his name in the credits.
Second, if there is any man on the surface of this planet with a fighting chance to out-do Riki Takeuchi in the crazy-face department then that man must surely be Shidou Nakamura. Yes, both are in this film and, yes, both break out the crazy-face on a regular basis.
Continue Reading "Sitges 2008: ICHI Review"...
The international trailer for Transporter 3 has arrived online via Allocine.fr. In the third installment of the Transporter series, Jason Staham is back to reprise the role of Frank Martin, the high risk delivery driver and the new baddie he must contend with is played by Robert Knepper of Prison Break fame. Taking over the director chair is Olivier Megaton while Corey Yuen returns as the Martial Arts choreographer. This sure as hell ain’t going to win audience over with character depth or compelling storyline but for those just looking for a mindless thrill ride, then look no further. Here’s the official synopsis:
Frank Martin has been pressured into transporting Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for the Ukraine, from Marseilles through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. Along the way, with the help of Inspector Tarconi, Frank has to contend with the people who strong armed him to take the job, agents sent by Vasilev to intercept him, and the general non-cooperation of his passenger. Despite Valentina’s cynical disposition and his resistance to get involved, Frank and Valentina fall for each other, while escaping from one life-threatening situation after another.
The US release date is on November 26th. You’ll find the original teaser and the new trailer below the break in the Twitch Player.
Continue Reading "International Trailer for TRANSPORTER 3"...
Not too long ago, we reported the launched of the official site for Wilson Yip’s martial arts biopic Ip Man with a teaser and a gallery of stills lurking within. The teaser was actually more of a behind a scenes video which hardy contain any footage of the film, leaving us hungry to see more. Lo and behold, a trailer has been added to the site and holy cow, Donnie Yen really cut loose. Just look at his rapid Wing Chun straight punches go! To say I’m very excited to see this film is a gross understatement.
The theatrical release date in Hong Kong is December 18th. Hurry over and catch this bad boy trailer after the jump!
Continue Reading "Donnie Yen Throws Barrage of Punches! Kick ass Trailer for IP MAN!"...
This is something we should be keeping an eye on. I found this poster over at CRIENGLISH and I was browsing the forums over at KFCC [What? You don’t browse there?] and I found a smack of behind the scenes pics for an upcoming actioner from China, The Underdog Knight. The poster features Chinese actors (from L to R) Sun Hong Lei, Yu Rongguang, Liu Ye, Wong Chau-Sang and Liu Yang. The movie played at South Korea’s Pusan International Film Festival a couple days ago.
What caught my eye? In the forum it is noted that mainland actor Liu Ye’s character has been dubbed ‘the violent Forrest Gump’. Suddenly you count me in as interested. Life is like a box of fists! Let alone Chinese acting staples like Anthony Wong and Liu Yang are in the mix. But you need to get to the forum and have a look at those photos, this movie looks rough! Sure, there are a few wires here and there but Lin Ye looks solid in the lead role handing out beatings.
So what is the movie about? Liu Ye’s character suffered brain damage during marine training, and has remained an optimistic innocent. The Underdog Knight revolves around the story of a retired army man who is not intelligent but finds self-worth in battling the dark side of the society. By chance he thwarts a robbery ordered by HK gang boss Brother Rong (Anthony Wong), and gets involved in a battle of wits and fists between cops and robbers.
We’re keeping an eye out on this one.
Thai martial arts flick, and much mulled-over Twitch favourite, Chocolate is coming to ‘selected’ cinemas in the UK on the 24th October. Realistically this will be a handful of art house theatres in London and, if we’re lucky, a smattering elsewhere. The female led action from the director of Ong Bak (Prachya Pinkaew) is also coming to our lovely island courtesy of Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-Ray from the 3rd November.
Special features on the DVD will include: Breaking The Mould featurette; Step By Step featurette; A Star Is Born featurette; Fighting Talent featurette; The Stars Of Chocolate featurette; Real Fighters featurette; Deleted Scenes; Outtakes and Highlights; Training Workshop; Power Moves (Easter Eggs); TV spots; Trailer Gallery.
Evidently no longer content with simply being Korea’s Action Kid, director Ryu Seung-Wan has now taken it upon himself to become Asia’s Blake Edwards as well, or perhaps an adopted Zucker Brother, with his new comedy Dachimawa Lee playing like the demented spawn of The Pink Panther and Spies Like Us with pudgy Im Won-Hee filling in for Peter Sellers. A head-spinning comic riff on just about every action or spy movie Ryu has ever seen Dachimawa Lee arguably gives just a little too much bang for the buck. There is no joke too obvious, no performance too broad, no gag too - dare I say - salivary for Ryu to include here. Kitchen sink? He’s got the cabinets and light fixtures in there, too. Like all films of the type how much enjoyment you get from it will depend entirely on whether you share Ryu’s particular sense of humor and film reference library - and there were a number of walk outs from those who evidently shared neither - and the gags definitely reach a saturation point before you get all the way through, but man ... when this thing works it positively soars.
Continue Reading "Sitges 2008: DACHIMAWA LEE Review"...
If you’re thinking you’ve seen a post about this trailer before, you are correct. The director of the film provided an early, rough version of the trailer a while back so that something would be out there prior to the Toronto International Film Festival. But he was never happy with that one, asked to have it taken down shortly thereafter and has now replaced it with a brand new, extra shiny version. Enjoy.
The Shaolin Temple. Just naming the place immediately conjures up images in the minds of any martial arts fan, the legendary birth place of Chinese kung fu featuring large in scores of films. Even casual fans know of it, and yet it’s easy to forget that the Shaolin Temple is a real place, populated by real people learning the ancient arts. Just announced as part of the Toronto International Film Festival, Alexander Lee’s The Real Shaolin tracks the lives of four people entering the temple to train, following the demands of the ancient way of life. It’s compelling stuff, fascinating both as history in action and human drama and it’s amazing to see the lengths people are willing to go in pursuit of their dreams. Check out the trailer for the film below the break.
Continue Reading "REAL SHAOLIN Trailer!"...
The official website for Wilson Yip’s martial arts biopic Ip Man with Donnie Yen in the title role has just been launched. Only the Chinese section is active at the present and lurking within is a teaser trailer and a gallery of stills. The teaser is essentially a behind the scenes video with historical background on the man who trained Bruce Lee in Wing Chun. It also contain footage of some Kung Fu demonstration in this style. I’ll keep you posted when new contents will be added.
The theatrical release date in Hong Kong is December 18th. You’ll find the teaser below after the break.
Continue Reading "Official Site, Teaser and Stills for Martial Arts film IP MAN"...
I tried to resist. I tried to avoid. Really, I did. But, you know ... train wreck, rubberneck, it’s that sort of thing. It’s the two teasers for the Dragonball movie, a movie that Fox reportedly considered shutting down in mid-production and simply eating the financial loss on because they had so little faith in it. Remember when Chow Yun Fat made good movies? I miss those days.
Check two versions of the trailer - if you dare - at the link below.
The world is a better place because of films like Taiwan’s Thrilling Bloody Sword and better still because people like Colin Geddes - who owns and has preserved the print screened here in Sitges - and Mondo Macabro’s Pete Tombs and Andy Starke - who presented it to audiences - are here to point the way to find them. A ludicrously unauthorized remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Thrilling Bloody Sword has everything you could possibly want in a cult film: technicolored painted backdrops, evil magicians, a beautiful girl hatched from an egg, palace intrigue, a talking chicken, one-eyed demons, fire breathing nine headed serpents, dwarfs that are nothing but adult men walking on their knees and an invulnerable villain that can be killed only by stabbing him up the bum. I can’t say conclusively that director Cheung San-Yee was consuming large amounts of acid while making this film but it certainly seems that way.
Continue Reading "Sitges 2008: THRILLING BLOODY SWORD Review"...
Some may remember director Chee Keong Cheung from his work on independent and fiercely low budget fight flick Underground which hit DVD last year and won a good amount of attention for what Cheung and company managed to accomplish on a tiny budget. Underground certainly wasn’t breaking any new ground and it had some significant weaknesses but there was clearly some talent at play there and a good amount of promise for the future. Well, the future is now and we’ve just been passed the brand new trailer for Cheung’s new film - the martial arts drama Bodyguard: A New Beginning.
‘A New Beginning’ focuses around the story of Leung, the bodyguard of a Chinese Triad boss, Wong, to whom his loyalty is unrivaled. Living in Hong Kong, Wong requests that his bodyguard travel to the UK to protect a young British woman, whose true identity is known only by Wong himself. Even his own errant son, Yuen, is kept in the dark, which leads to a betrayal that threatens to destroy the family and all that his father has worked hard to protect.
Fight fans are going to recognize a few familiar faces in there and the fight work is obviously very good but what’s really going to stand out are the huge strides forward in story telling and cinematography. There has obviously been more attention paid to story this time out and DPs Matthew Beecroft and Henry Chung obviously know what they’re doing behind the camera. This thing looks absolutely gorgeous. Very, very nice. Check it out below the break in the Twitch Player.
Continue Reading "A Trailer For Chee Keong Cheung’s BODYGUARD: A NEW BEGINNING"...
Based upon the classic Chinese literature Liao Zhai, Painted Skin is an adaptation of one of the stories that dwell on fox spirits. If you’re someone expecting either a supernatural spook fest, or an amalgamation of ghosts and kung fu, you might be disappointed to find out that it’s actually a romance through and through, with complicated relationships all around that you can weave a complex web of love and lust amongst the players involved.
Continue Reading "Review of PAINTED SKIN"...
At the end of the festival my tally stands at:
26 feature films
2 barbecue runs
1 shotgun range
1 opening night party
1 party at Bill Pullman’s suite
1 100 best kills party
1 Fantastic Feud/Karaoke Party
1 Fantastic Debates
9 very late nights
Unknown numbers of beers consumed
It seemed fitting that my last night at Fantastic Fest was spent enjoying the fine work of our Aussie brethren. I caught the much lauded Ozploitation documentary Not Quite Hollywood and then one of the fine examples from the era of filmmaking, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Turkey Shoot, at the Ritz at midnight. Bango Kablooie! I got my fill of booze, blood and boobs in only a couple hours. Something I’d never thought possible.
What we witness is a young generation’s response to a cultural absence. Up until the 70s Australia did not have their own film commission. When they did get started they certainly weren’t going to fund films with naked women, excessive violence and all sorts of promiscuity. Still, there was a void to fill and as soon as the first R-Certificate in the world was issued many young upstart filmmakers like Brian Trenchard-Smith and producers like Antony Ginnane began banging out every type of genre film, answering the call to fill this void of genre cinema. Their films spanned the spectrum: booze, blood and boobs. They were low budget but the body and booty counts were high. They laughed in the face of their well-mannered contemporaries then shoved their faces into the ‘chunder’ [vomit].
Continue Reading "Fantastic Fest 2008: Not Quite Hollywood"...
Mine is the Latinbeat for this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival. Ever since running into Kiltro director Ernesto Diaz and Chilean martial artist Marko Zaror at the 2006 November American Film Market (where he was given the opportunity to view early footage of the duo’s latest vehicle Mirageman), Todd has been unabashedly enthused about the project. In his first dispatch, Todd wrote: “Zaror, impossibly, seems to have gotten even faster since shooting Kiltro in which he was already far too fast and agile for such a big man. There are zero wires in this, zero CGI, so the action is much more raw. According to Zaror they often didn’t even pull their punches. It’s a bit of an unusual beast style wise, fusing the typical South American verite style with a bit of a 70’s low budget Hong Kong chopsocky feel and, yeah, the mask and premise are pretty goofy but in pretty much exactly the right way.”
Continue Reading "2008 MVFF31 Latinbeat: Chile—MIRAGEMAN"...
