Tuesday, January 06, 2004
ASIAN FEVER | First week!
YELLOW IS THE COLOR OF OUR TRUE LOVE’S SKIN
Hey folks. This section represents Cinema Eyes views and opinions on all Asian thingies. ***censored*** right. As you all know by now from Tarantino’s homage to the coolness of Japan, to Tom Cruise dancing with Samurai. Asian fever is getting bigger than ever. So you ask what will be mentioned here? Basically I will rant about anything I feel that deserves to be acknowledged and rave about Asian cultural phenomena.
The NEWS section will be coverage of somehow up-to-date news from the energetic world of Asian cinema. The REVIEWS section will be, you guessed it right, my reviews of previous and recent films from the super cool world of Asian cinema. And EVERYTHING ELSE, well, I will mention everything else that’s dandy (Mandy Moore and such). Enough said, let’s get this rolling.
NEWS
• I just got a word that Japanese theatrical release date for Miyazaki’s latest film Howl’s Moving Castle has been pushed back to November 2004 from Summer 2004. Doesn’t really matter when they are releasing it because it will rule the box office in Japan anyway. And for the folks in the US, let’s pray that MiramAXE will release it.
• Princess (Hime) is the latest web theater series of film. Each episode is about wacky beautiful girls doing some psycho ***censored***. How can you go wrong with that? It costs 300yen (roughly $3.00) for an episode and you have 7 days to view.
• Japanese R2 DVD release date for Battlefield Baseball (Jigoku Koushien) has been announced. It will be released on 2-26-04. It is a crazy ***censored*** baseball version of Shaolin Soccer with zombies. Produced by Ryuhei Kitamura (director of Versus and Azumi). It contains English subtitles. Easily this is a must own DVD.
• The Uninvited, the latest film starring Jeon Ji Hyun (My Sassy Girl), now have expected release date 1-15-2004 for Korean R3 DVD.
• Warriors of Heaven and Earth will hit stores in Hong Kong sometime around 1-15-2004. This is a sword fight epic takes place during Tang Dynasty starring Zhao Wei (Shaolin Soccer). Expect no wire-fu action, all the action supposedly obey the rules of physics.
• And this is a big news folks. Last installment of Infernal Affairs will be released on DVD in Feburary!
REVIEWS
What is cooler and hotter than Karena Lam right now? She is the starlet of Hong Kong cinema and will be for long time to come. Her unaffected natural charm and intrigue performance makes her so enchanting to watch. I can’t watch her films or I should say watch her on screen without constant smile on my face. So here are my reviews of her films:
• Tiramisu
• Truth Or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat
• Floating Landscape.
EVERYTHING ELSE
Rahxephon
I don’t consider myself as an amine fan. Sure I don’t miss Miyazaki or Oshii films but if you are a film geek like me, you don’t either. Recently I was so bored with nothing to watch, I borrowed this anime series from my friend. It is called Rahxephon. I immediately fell in love with it. It is the greatest anime series since the classic Gundam (I know you must be thinking EVA is the bomb but my ignorance in anime kept me from watching it until after Rahxephon). Yes, it has robots in it as you suspect it. But it is a time traveling love story. What amazed me is how they treated and dealt with time and music. How one and the other effect and associate.
After watching 26 episodes and found out there is a theatrical movie Rahxephon: Pluralitas Concentio on DVD available in Japan, I had to get it. It was re-edit of the show with about 30 mins of new stuff. Rarely those theatrical version of the series give me the same satisfaction as the series itself or more. This sure did. If you are a fan of the series, it is interesting to see the other character’s point of view through out the event. If you haven’t seen the series, you still understand the story by just watching the movie. ***censored***, even my mom enjoyed it even though she didn’t completely get it. I am sure my DVD player is sick of it now. So if you have any extra cash in your hand, don’t be spending on your favorite stripper, get yourself Rahxephon. I guarantee your money will be well spent.
Chasing Liberty
Cool thing will happen here in the US this weekend. Chasing Liberty comes out in theater. That’s right. Why it’s cool? Two words, Mandy Moore. I truly believe Mandy Moore has talent. She is one American actress whom you can see her growth of talent each film. I cried my eyes out watching A Walk To Remember. I must tell you seeing Mandy Moore film in theater is a bit tricky. If you are a grown ***censored*** man like myself, I suggest not going alone unless you don’t mind people giving you eyes. Screening room will be packed with younglings, I mean girls. You are more than likely only grown man there. I am telling you from my experiences. It was that way for Princess Diaries as well as How To Deal. I must say I didn’t mind surrounded by all those young girls. But be strong because atmosphere tries to lead you to the dark side, if you know what I mean. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this. There will be some shady man going to see this film because of the girl factor. If you do go to see this for the girl factor, make sure you have someone who can bail you out before you go. I won’t be held responsible for it.
Visit the Asian Fever discussion forums!
Shogo is an award-award winning filmmaker currently hard at work on a new project. Asian Fever is his weekly column devoted to Asian cinema and related topics.
Posted by . :: Filed under: :: :: Permalink
Monday, January 05, 2004
Hugh Jackman on VAN HELSING
For a big genre movie, there has been surprisingly little advance information on Universal’s Van Helsing. Finally, we get to hear a little bit about the movie from Hugh Jackman himself courtesy of Australia’s Daily Telegraph.
He describes the character as a disgruntled 20th century black ops."Van Helsing is basically a mercenary for the Catholic church and he’s hired by them to kill posessed souls,” said Jackman. “He’s not really happy in his job and his job is kind of an admission of failure.”
The film is set in Transylvania and according to Jackman, there are plenty of monsters to contend with. “There is Dracula, vampires, werewolves,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun and a little bit spooky. Van Helsing is not just a cool James Bond where he shoots the villain, and has a bit of a snigger and a laugh and moves onto the next one, Van Helsing is psychologically very interesting.”
Although playing Wolverine in the X-Men movies definitely had it’s share of physical challenges, Jackman describes the role of Van Helsing as even more physically difficult. “I’ve just come off the X-Men and I’m pretty fit, in good nick. But it’s funny what brings you down,” he said. “We’re jumping through glass, jumping out of windows, riding horses and flying off rigs and there we are for the last two days sitting in water and I get a rabid ear infection. It’s a little thing, but not great. Kinda funny.”
The full interview is reprinted on the Hugh Jackman fan site Jackman’s Landing.
Posted by Cinema Eye. :: Filed under: :: :: Permalink
Sunday, January 04, 2004
WEEKEND REPORT :: January 2 - 4
1. Return of the King ($30.8 Million/ $292.0 Million)
2. Cheaper by the Dozen ($21.9 Million/ $86.0 Million)
3. Something’s Gotta Give ($12.5 Million/ $81.7 Million)
4. Cold Mountain ($11.7 Million/ $43.9 Million)
5. Paycheck ($10.0 Million/$38.8 Million)
6. Mona Lisa Smile ($8.7 Million/$50.2 Million)
7. Peter Pan ($8.5 Million/$33.8 Million)
8. The Last Samurai ($7.5 Million/$90.1 Million)
9. Calendar Girls ($4.6 Million/ $7.1 Million)
10. Bad Santa ($3.0 Million/ $57.0 Million)
Not much movement on the charts this weekend. Return of the King continued to absolutely dominate the box office with it’s third weekend in first place. All the other relatively new films on the charts enjoyed very minor dips. Cheaper by the Dozen continues to rocket it’s way to $100 million.
Next Weekend: Unless you are a Mandy Moore fan, there’s not much to look forward to. In fact, get ready for two months of sheer mediocrity to be shovelled onto your neighborhood theater screens. However, if you don’t live in one of the major markets, you might not have seen Tim Burton’s Big Fish yet. In that case, you can look forward to that next weekend as it expands its release to 2500 screens.
Posted by Cinema Eye. :: Filed under: :: :: Permalink
P.T. Anderson interviews Lars von Trier
P.T. Anderson.com has archived this great interview that originally appeared in Black Book. P.T. Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) paid a visit to Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dogville) at his Copenhagen studios and conducted and informal interview. What results is a casual and rambling interview between the two filmmakers in which they discuss everything from their differing opinion on actors to U.S. presidents. Check out the following excerpt or read the full interview here.
PTA: If Bush invited you to the White House, would you go?LVT: It wouldn’t make it easier for me to sit in a plane.
PTA: But we knock you out, give you a couple of pills, everything’s over, we wheel you into the car.
LVT: I’m sure Bush has the power to bring me to the White House if he really wants to.
PTA: But if Bush called you and said, “I want you to come to the White House, talk to me about what you’re saying,” would you go?
LVT: Uh, no. [laughs] You?
PTA: Absolutely. I heard that Clinton loved Boogie Nights, and that really made me excited. It made me like him very much. And then they actually requested a print of Magnolia.
LVT: We sent Breaking the Waves, I think.
PTA: To the White House?
LVT: For Clinton, or his daughter, whatever. They just can’t go down to a video store; it’s just impossible--it’s too far from the White House.
PTA: I don’t know though. Clinton used to like to get out of the White House a lot. He would take night trips to McDonald’s, and stuff like that. I think he wanted to get out of the house.
LVT: Compared to Bush, Clinton seemed like a good guy, right? He was playing saxophone.
PTA: He was playing saxophone, he was chasing ***censored***, I mean that’s the kind of president you’d like.
Posted by Cinema Eye. :: Filed under: :: :: Permalink
Saturday, January 03, 2004
STARSKY AND HUTCH photos
The big-screen version of Starsky and Hutch could have easily turned into another crappy adaptation of something that should have remained in the 1970’s. However, since this film comes from essentially the same creative team as Old School (one of my favorite movies of 2003), I’m really looking forward to it. Supposedly the Will Ferrell cameo alone, is worth the price of admission.
The official website has just launched and although the trailer is still missing it features a lot of photos and some cool downloads. Here are just a few of the pics you’ll find on the site.
Starsky and Hutch opens March 5th.
Posted by Cinema Eye. :: Filed under: :: :: Permalink
Recent News
