New! Trailer for Stephen Chow's Upcoming Film CJ7

Hot off the press! The trailer for Stephen Chow's much anticipated new film CJ7 (长江七号) has just been released on this Yahoo website 30 minutes ago:

http://tw.movie.yahoo.com/videoplayer.html?id=2457&type=movie

Seems to be a cool comedy + sci-fi pic... Very Stephen Chowish in style ;-)
Btw the actress who plays his son in the trailer (yes you read right - actress) is a 10-year old little girl called Xu Jiao...

Tags: CJ7, Chang Jiang 7, Stephen Chow, trailer.

Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis? Sports In Drama Serials

Basketball anyone? Get ready for a sharp spike in interest in basketball in early 2008 when a movie and two drama serials on basketball starring the hottest stars in Taiwan are released late this year to early next year. The movie Kungfu Dunk (灌篮) stars multi-talented Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou as a basketball player who uses kung fu to play basketball (a basketball version of Shaolin Soccer?) and is scheduled for general release during Chinese New Year. The movie also stars Hong Kong singer/actress Charlene Choi from the popular group Twins and up-and-coming Taiwanese actor Chen Bolin. The two idol drama series are just as star-studded, Basketball Fire (籃球火) has a dream team comprising of three hot hunks: Jerry Yan, Wu Zun and Show Luo and is set to start shooting in December; Bullfight (鬥牛。要不要) has Mike He, Li Wei and S.H.E's Hebe and will be shown in Taiwan this month.

Why the sudden interest in basketball? Actually I am not sure... but fads come and go in East Asian dramas and movies, and the latest fad could be sports-themed dramas. If you are as old as I am (uh-hm) you may remember that a long long time ago (late 70's), sports themed dramas were all the rage in Japanese drama serials, the most popular of these dramas was arguably a volleyball drama called Moero Attack! (燃えろアタック) which starred Araki Yumiko as a volleyball player who must have been a kungfu expert like Jay's character in Kungfu Dunk as she can execute the most fantastic spikes whilst somersaulting in mid-air. Ah, loved that show... Another popular drama was the tennis series Court ni Kakeru Seishun, about two sisters' road to tennis victory, it's shot in an over-the-top style somewhat similar to Moero Attack.

And for some nostalgia, here is the theme song of Moero Attack from YouTube. Great song huh, can't find such catchy theme songs anymore these days ;-)



Source: http://hutdugaikarsui.blogspot.com/2007/03/japanese-drama-blast-from-past.html
http://www.incinemas.com.sg/incinemas/news/news_comments.asp?newspostid=399
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/071111/78/o161.html
http://www.settv.com.tw/metro/m114

Tags: Kung Fu Dunk, Jay Chou, Basketball Fire, Bullfight, Jerry Yan, Hebe, Moero Attack, 70s drama series, sports-themed dramas, Basketball, Court ni Kakeru Seishun, Volleyball, tennis.

Golden Horse Awards Updates

Following my last post in October on the upcoming Golden Horse awards to be held on December 8, there have been even more changes in the lineup of nominated films. Besides Tuya's Wedding (nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress), the other mainland Chinese film Blind Mountain (nominated for Best Director) has also withdrawn from the competition. However, this does not mean that it will be easier for the remaining films to win in their respective categories as the Golden Horse organizers have decided to replace the withdrawn films with other contenders...

In the Best Picture category, Hong Kong cops and robbers thriller Eye In The Sky replaces Tuya's Wedding. In the Best Director category, The Sun Also Rises's Jiang Wen and Protege's Derek Yee replaces Blind Mountain's Li Yang. And Rene Liu who starred in Kidnap takes over Yu Nan's (from Tuya's Wedding) position in the Best Actress nominations.

So the final list of nominations for the major awards of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress are as follows:

Best Picture
What On Earth Have I Done Wrong?!
Getting Home
The Home Song Stories
Lust, Caution
Eye In The Sky

Best Director
Yau Nai Hoi (Eye in the Sky)
Ang Lee (Lust, Caution)
Jiang Wen (The Sun Also Rises)
Derek Yee (Protege)

Best Actor (no changes)
Gurmit Singh (Just Follow Law)
Zhao Ben Shan (Getting Home)
Aaron Kwok (The Detective)
Tony Leung Chiu Wei (Lust, Caution)

Best Actress
Joan Chen (The Home Song Stories)
LI Bing Bing (The Knot)
Tang Wei (Lust, Caution)
Rene Liu (Kidnap)


Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/13/arts/AS-A-E-MOV-China-Taiwan-Movie-Politics.php

Tags: Golden Horse Awards, Lust, Caution, Tuya's Marriage, Getting Home, The Home Song Stories, Ang Lee, Eye In The Sky, Protege, The Sun Also Rises, Rene Liu, Blind Mountain, Chinese movies, Chinese films, Film awards.