The Chinese movie industry has been abuzz with news on various big-budget films these last couple of days.
1. Jay Chou's new movie as a white haired gongfu expert.
Who would have thought that pop star Jay Chou (star of Iniial 'D' and Secret) will act as a white-haired highly skilled gungfu expert that teaches Once Upon A Time In China star Vincent Zhao, a highly trained martial arts exponent in real life, gongfu in Yuen Woo Ping's new movie True Legend. Check out this link for pics of Jay's new look in the film(gulp!). True Legend is about the life story of Beggar Su, a martial arts master who lived like a beggar and created the "Drunken Fist" style of martial art (popularised in the Jackie Chan classic movie Drunken Master). Jay will play the role of the er "Martial Arts God" in the film. Well, with special effects, anyone can be a gungfu expert and Jay Chou's gungfu moves were not all that bad in Curse Of The Golden Flower so... The film also stars Michelle Yeoh and Zhou Xun and is scheduled to be released in the middle of next year.
2. New Mei Lanfang Trailer
A new trailer on the much anticipated biopic of Chinese Opera legend Mei Lan Fang by Chinese director Chen Kaige and starring Leon Lai and Ziyi Zhang was released recently. Previously simply titled Mei Lanfang, it is now known as Forever Enthralled in English. I managed to find the trailer for this film on YouTube and it just has "epic" written all over it. The film will be released in China on December 12 this year. This should be good.
3. Andy Lau's Latest Project
Hong Kong star Andy Lau will star in a new Wong Jing sci-fi movie titled Future Cop. Co-stars include Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu, Xu Jiao (the cute kid in Stephen Chow's CJ7) and Taiwanese idol drama regular Mike He. According to this site, Andy Lau stars as a cop from the year 2085 who returns to 2010 to investigate crimes. Wow, a Chinese sci-fi film that is set in the future, we have not had this kind of film for a very long time. The movie is set for release in 2009 and there will also be on-location shoots in Dubai and Hong Kong.
More Chinese movie news next time...
Tags: Jay Chou, True Legend, Yuen Woo Ping, Vincent Zhao, Leon Lai, Ziyi Zhang, Mei Lanfang, Forever Enthralled, Andy Lau, Barbie Hsu, Future Cop, Chinese Movies.
Latest News On Chinese Movies
Trailers of Upcoming Kungfu Films
It's 2008 and great to be back :-) Here are the latest trailers of 2 highly anticipated kungfu related films to be released in 2008 that I found on YouTube.
First up is the the Jackie Chan, Jet Lee kungfu blockbuster film - The Forbidden Kingdom which is set to be released in April 2008.
Well... all I can think of after watching this trailer is how did people in ancient China thousands of years ago learn to speak American English so well??? Strange...
And here is the trailer of another kungfu movie, this time in the unlikely setting of a basketball court - Kung Fu Dunk starring Jay Chou.
After watching this trailer, I think all martial arts exponents should seriously consider a career in professional sports. They will definitely beat all the non-kungfu trained competitors hands down in gymnastics, sprinting, high jump, long jump, volleyball, soccer, basketball etc etc... ;-P
Tags: Kungfu Film, Forbidden Kingdom, Jackie Chan, Jet Lee, Trailer, Kung Fu Dunk, Jay Chou, Basketball, 2008 Movies.
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.
Flash Point and The Secret Do Well At The Box Office
Donnie Yen's exciting new action thriller Flash Point (导火线) and Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou's directorial debut Secret (不能說的秘密) have both done pretty well at the Chinese box office. Flash Point starring Donnie Yen, Louis Koo, Colin Chou and Fan BingBing grossed RMB 20 million (US$2.63 million) in its first six days of release. Jay Chou's Secret a romantic drama with a mysterious twist at the end, stars Jay Chou, up and coming Taiwanese actress Guei Lun-Mei and Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong, grossed US$2.44 million in its first week of release.
Check out the trailer for Flash Point inYouTube. Wow, the action is simply exhilerating .... a must watch! And do catch Secret as well for Jay Chou and Guei Lun-Mei's great performances in the film.
Source: http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2007-08-09/15301670119.shtml; http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/1835/1/
Tags: Jay Chou, Secret, Guei Lun Mei, Donnie Yen, Flash Point, Louis Koo, Chinese Box Office, Action Movie, Gong Fu movie, Romantic drama, mystery.
Curse Of The Golden Flower - My Thoughts
Just watched Curse Of The Golden Flower... Well what can I say, the sets and costumes were truly made of "gold", practically everyone and everything were nicely color coordinated BUT I admit that I don't like the movie that much...
Why? Actually I don't really know why just that at some places where I am supposed to be terrified or touched I just had the urge to laugh instead. Its not that the acting was bad, on the contrary it was really good for the most parts (Chow Yun-Fatt and Gong Li were truly amazing). But the movie just feels emotionally empty. Most of the time I was admiring the actors' clothes and the lovely scenery instead of being focused on what the actors were actually saying.
But still ... although the sets and costumes look gorgeous, I kept thinking that the palace looks more like some swanky Vegas casino hotel since everything was so bright and shiny, honestly I did not know that the Tang dynasty had spotlights haha. And not forgetting the "unbelievably" buxomy palace maids. Whew... how can any guy (even eunuchs!) work in a place like that without going a little ... :-P In other words, I think in trying to create a gorgeous and elaborate palace setting, the director seemed to have forgotten that a touch of realism would have helped a lot.
And the storyline... the familial breakdown and the violence that ensued could have made for a impactful and absorbing story .. if only it was handled a little better. I felt that more scenes should be given to explaining what the main characters were feeling and how the events happened instead of focusing so much on the scenes of the palace staff getting ready for the day etc... although these scenes were interesting too in their own way... seeing how efficient the palace staff were really puts me to shame ;-)
All in all, I feel that the movie is worth watching for 3 things: the costumes, the sets and Chow Yun-Fatt's and Gong Li's superb acting.
Tags: Curse Of The Golden Flower, Chinese Movie, Zhang Yi-Mou, Chow Yun-Fatt, Gong Li, Jay Chou.
Curse Of The Golden Flower Makes It To Time Magazine's 10 Best Films Of 2006
The Chinese hit movie Curse Of The Golden Flower has made it into Time Magazine's 10 Best Films of 2006 sharing the honour with prestigious films like Borat and Letters from Iwo Jima. It is the only Asian film to have made it to this prestigious list.
However, reviews for the movie have been mixed. The movie only managed to obtain a 57% rating in the Rotten Tomatoes critic ratings. This is very much lower than other recent Zhang Yimou movies with similar themes like House of Flying Daggers
The harsh reviews did not seem to have any adverse effect on the movie's box office though... Golden Flower broke the opening week box office record previously set by super blockbuster Titanic in China. Till date, its box-office takings in China alone have exceeded the $200 million renminbi (approximately US$13 million) mark and the movie also performed above expectations in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
I have not watched the movie yet.. will post my thoughts on the movie here once I have watched it. Check out my earlier post for more interesting info on this hotly debated film of the moment.
Tags: Curse Of The Golden Flower, Chinese Movie, Zhang Yi-Mou, Chow Yun-Fatt, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Time Magazine, Best Film, Time Best Films Of 2006.
