Street Fighter Trailer

STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN LI has been one of those projects that started out with a lot of attention, a blog and high fan anticipation back in Spring '08 and then...silence. Their blog hasn't been updated since June and news has barely trickled out about the film which is of some interest to Asian film fans since it features Josie Ho, Robin Shou and was shot in Bangkok and Hong Kong. Now, the Japanese trailer is up on the official Japanese site and the film is scheduled [...]

Silver Medalist Trailer

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Ramen Girl Trailer

Q: What started shooting back in September, 2006 and now, over 2 years later, is finally announcing some (non-American) release dates?

A: If you guessed, "Brittany Murphy's new movie" you're right!

�

Actually, not filming in Tokyo

anymore.

�

In THE RAMEN GIRL, Murphy plays a young Ameri [...]

Media Asia Update

Media Asia, the massive Hong Kong distributor, has hit a few snags with its upcoming films. Rumor was that they were having problems getting SNIPER passed by the Mainland Chinese censorship authorities due to the fact that the movie was headlined by Edison Chen, best known these days for being an amateur photographer. Then came word that the thriller, LADY COP AND PAPA CROOK, which was getting great word of mouth was held up also due to problems getting passed by the Mainland censors.

The Forbidden Door

It's probably fair to say that JOKO ANWAR is the best-known Indonesian director overseas. His first feature, JONJI'S PROMISE, was a film festival fave, as was his heavy metal future noir follow-up film, KALA. Now he's opening his latest thriller, THE FORBIDDEN DOOR (aka PINTU TERLARANG), in January, 2009 so expect it to start showing up at film festivals soon, beginning with its international premiere at Rotterdam.

The film is about a guy who has it all, but then di [...]

Women!?!?

Women - can't make a movie with them, can't make a movie about them. Right now, as you read this, directors in Hong Kong and China are trying to unravel the mysteries of the female mind by making movies about women that they hope will not only appeal to women, but also their dates. One of these is Tsui Hark whose struggle with the English title of his latest movie speaks volumes. First it was SHE AIN'T MEAN, but that sounded kind of harsh so then he went to NOT ALL WOMEN ARE BAD [...]

Horsemen Trailer

Zhang Ziyi went to Canada and starred in a movie called THE HORSEMEN with Dennis Quaid. Would you like to know more?

"The story of hardened detective Aidan Breslin, (Dennis Quaid) who, having grown increasingly distant from his two young sons since the death of his wife, now finds himself thrust into an investigation of perverse serial killings rooted in the Biblical prophecy of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. As Breslin grapples with each new revel [...]

New Johnnie To

A while back, a television series spun off of Johnnie To's film, PTU, began to screen episodes and trailers at film markets. The five shows kept a low profile but one of them, TACTICAL UNIT - THE CODE, was reviewed on LoveHKFilm and barely got a pass. Johnnie To is producing these, and the actors are familiar faces from his films, including Simon Yam, Maggie Siu and Lam Suet. There was briefly word that Universe, the distributor, was planning for the last of the five TACTICAL UNIT films [...]

Kung Fu Cyborg Attraction

2009 is shaping up to be the year of the cheesy Chinese sci-fi, what with Andy Lau's dodgy-looking FUTURE COP in production and now Wong Kar-wai's producing partner, Jeff Lau, directing ROBOT (aka KUNG FU CYBORG ATTRACTION). The film is Lau's semi-crazed response to the box office busting TRANSFORMERS but with his own uniquely Hong Kong spin on things, and since Lau�sometimes appears�insane (witness any movie he's ever been involved with) this promises to be bonkers. Allow m [...]

Bandage: slowly but surely

Three years ago there was an exciting new project announced by Japan's master auteur of adolescence, Shunji Iwai, called BANDAGE. Iwai was supposed to write the script and Ryuhei Kitamura (GODZILLA: FINAL WARS, VERSUS) was going to direct. According to the IMDB the plot was:

"BANDAGE tell a fictional story four boys whose friendship and musical talents are tested in the ever changing world of music industry and their experience in love and hardship in real life."
[...]

Sex in China 2008

Film fans feel proud! EastSouthWestNorth has translated and published the list of the Top Ten Sex-Related Incidents in China for 2008 (via China Economic Net and Xinhua) and Edison Chen Sexy Photo Gate is Number 1!!!

"I AM number one!"

But it doesn't stop there. The LUST, CAUTION Ban is Number 2!!!

[...]

Japanese trash/Japanese treasure

It's the live action DRAGONBALL movie adapted loosely from the hit Japanese anime and manga series! Stephen Chow is producing, Chow Yun-fat is starring, James Wong of the BLACK CHRISTMAS remake is directing and fans are tearing their hair out over the first full trailer to hit the internet. They're not sure if it's the bargain basement costumes, the blech-tacular special effects or just the general air of "sigh" that hangs over the footage that's making them feel t [...]

Finale in blood

Korean K-pop star, Bae Seul-Ki, has been over in Germany since the beginning of December working on an international, independently financed action film called FINALE. Set against the backdrop of the Italy vs. Korea soccer match in 2002, Bae plays a schoolgirl killer who takes on the Italian mob. Music is by the music supervisor from OLD BOY, the director hasn't been named yet although we're assured he's well-known. The movie also stars� Jeannette Hain (THE READER), Sergio Albel [...]

Battle of Red Cliff: The Opera

A lot of movies get made into cartoons, t-shirts, lunch boxes and games, but not many become operas, let alone Chinese operas. But John Woo's BATTLE OF RED CLIFF has been turned into a Chinese Opera, and it'll hit the stage in Beijing on December 22. The director, Zhang Jigang, says that he'll be putting more focus on the female role of Xiao Qiao, played by Lin Chiling in the movie, since her role is often over-shadowed by the male actors in the story. The show is dedicated to t [...]

Love Exposure: Movie of the Year?

Sion Sono's four-hour feature, LOVE EXPOSURE, about an upskirt photographer and Catholicism, has a trailer over here and it got a world premiere at Tokyo Filmex where the general reaction was: bow down to Sion Sono. Against all expectations, he's created a masterpiece. One audience member sums up his reaction:

"First of all, believe the hype about Sono Sion's special invitation film, AI NO MUKIDASHI (LOVE EXPOSURE)...not only is it a priapic hot beef inoculatio [...]

Mind Melter

This new trailer is up on Apple trailers and all I have to say is...

What.

The.

Frak.

(Someone attempts an explanation, but nothing will ever explain what I just watched)

RGV Upcoming Two-fer

Two projects coming from embattled Indian director Ram Gopal Varma. Over the years, Varma has enjoyed his biggest success moving between crime films and horror movies and it looks like he's not straying from what works for him. First up is RAAN, a thriller about the godless media hounds and what they'll do to survive. Despite what sounds like a nuisance lawsuit pecking at the project, the cast is made up of heavy hitters like Amitabh Bachchan, Manisha Koirala, Riteish Deshmukh (poor [...]

Storm Riders 2 Teaser

The Pang Brothers' sequel to Andrew Lau's STORM RIDERS, called STORM WARRIORS, has been shooting for a while in Mainland China and now Hitman Reloaded on the Kung Fu Cult Cinema boards has dug up the teaser for the film, coming next year from Universe. Not much to judge it by so far, but that's never stopped the internets before.

(STORM WARRIORS teaser)

Hollywood Hoe Down

I know everyone's super-bummed that there hasn't been a peep from LAUNDRY WARRIOR, the Kate Bosworth/Jang Dong-Gun Hollywood flick in a long time except for a tentatively announced 2009 release date (the film's backer, Continental Entertainment Capital, still doesn't seem to have a US distributor lined up and probably have their hands full with their upcoming SPIRIT movie and with fact that their parent company, Citigroup, is being bailed out by the US government right now) [...]

DVD Round Up

One of the best animated movies of all time (yes, OF ALL TIME) is Studio 4C's MIND GAME and while it's long been available on a Japanese Region 0 DVD with English language subtitles, it's now finally been licensed to another country: Australia! The first English-language deal for the film, four years after it was released. It's expensive, out of stock at some places, but it's a nice two-disc set (albeit one that's Region 4 and PAL).