Review: HERO (Positive, Very Minor Spoilers)

Review: BULLETPROOF MONK (Negative, Minor Spoilers)

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Review: SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (Positive, 3 1/2, Minor Spoilers) by Pat

One night, one restaurant, one murder was committed, three units of Hong Kong police, PTU, Organized Crime Unit and CID, and two gangs have to make a decision and come out a solution before dawn...

According to Nanfang Daily, this is the setup of PTU, a new thriller by director Johnnie To. PTU is a mind-bending suspend and you will not understand the whole thing until the last moment. Johnnie To said though looked like a cop/crook action, it was actually a drama focusing at the characters. Life is unpredictable and any second could be the switching point for a different faith - this is the subject has been featured in many Johnnie To's films, like CHEONG FENG (THE MISSION).

Starring Yam Tat-Wah (Simon), Lam Syut, Siu Mei-Kei and Wong Cheuk-Ling, PTU has been in and out of production for two years before wrapping up. The world première will be held during this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

Official Site

Review: SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (Positive, Very Minor Spoilers) by Dean Kish, The Z Review
Review: SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (Positive, No Spoilers) by Jay Tierney, Moovees.com

Description of the upcoming vampire-slaying action is up at the site of Emperor Multimedia Group:

Ace vampire slayer Reeve (Ekin Cheng) tracks his arch-enemy, the Duke Dekotes (Mickey Hardt) to Hong Kong. The Duke is hunting for Kazaf (Edison Chen), the fifth prince of the vampire nation. With Kazaf's blood and the ancient vampire bible, the Duke will bring a new age of darkness. On arrival, Reeve learns that he has a new partner, a feisty but inexperienced young beauty named Gypsy (Gillian Chung). Matters are further complicated when Reeve's innocent younger sister, Helen (Charlene Choi), develops a romantic relationship with Kazaf. With all the odds against them, our heroes get some unexpected help in the form of high-kicking paramedic Jackie Fong (Jackie Chan). In a high impact final reel, Reeve, Gypsy and Helen join forces to fight the Duke and his minions.

THE TWINS EFFECT Official Site

Production stills: A B C

Yesterday at an event promoting the video release of Show Brothers' films, action star Liu Chia-Hui (Gordon) told Hong Kong papers he had been asked to go to the States to shoot more scenes for KILL BILL. Gordon Liu played two roles in the film, the over-a-hundred-year-old Chinese kung-fu master master Pei Mei and the leader of Japanese gang called Crazy 88 (thanks to Jason Powell for reminding me this). Scenes of bother characters were done last summer in Beijing, but somehow Quentin Tarantino has decided more scenes of Gordon Liu is needed. However, Gordon Liu has signed up for three TV productions with Hong Kong's TVB. Though he has not talked with TVB yet, he is hoping he can be let go.

Photo: Sing Pao

Trailer: THE HULK (ASF File, 1.7MB) (right click and save)

Super Hero Hype's THE HULK section

Photo: Super Hero Hype

According to Shanghai Youth, cinematographer director Hou Yong said Jiang Wen has basically agreed to take the male lead in MO LI HUA KAI (lit.: BLOOMING JASMINE), based on a novel by Su Tong. Also, according to Tianjin Daily, Jone Chen is in talk for playing a role in the film. Jiang Wen just quit from the production of LI FA SHI (BARBER) due to disagreement with director Chen Yifei and/or some other reason.

Related Stories:

Zhang Ziyi Will Play Take Three Roles In Her Next Film (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) January 9, 2003

Zhang Ziyi Signs Up For Cinematographer Hou Yong's Untitled Directorial Début (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) January 8, 2003

According to various reports, prequel of the recent blockbuster INFERNAL AFFAIRS is in development. Both Anthony Wong, playing inspector Wong, and Eric Tsang, playing crime boss Sam, will return. However, because it is a prequel about things happened many years earlier, neither Andy Lau nor Leung Cheu-Wai will return. Instead, Edison Chen and Shawn Yu, who played the younger versions of Lau and Leung's characters, will take the leading roles. According to Nanfang Daily, Chun-Yu (Francis) may be cast to play a cop/crook double-life type of role. INFERNAL AFFAIRS will be shown during this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

According to Hong Kong's THE SUN, Jackie Chan said he wanted to make one more POLICE STORY. In the fifth, also will be the last installment of the series, he will get married with his girlfriend played by Maggie Cheung. According to him, the script is ready. The first POLICE STORY, released in 1985, features some of Jackie Chan's best stunts.

Review: SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (Positive, B, Minor Spoilers) by Sean Conover, JaxMovies

Review: SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (Positive, Median Spoilers) by Bob Patterson, Delusions of Adequacy

Review: SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (Slightly Positive, Rating - 3, Major Spoilers) by Justin Curtis, My Reel Review  

Review: SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (Positive, Median Spoilers) by PoleOfJustice 

Review: SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (Positive, Median Spoilers) by Rhavokk

The SHANGHAI KNIGHTS Official Site just had a complete redesign. More pictures can be found here and  here

Thanks to Marie M, "pinoy" and Seung Ho

A new action by Johnnie To will be premièred at the coming Berlin International Film Festival.

Click here for detail

Thanks to Francois.Tissandier, Cinemasie.com

Zhang Ziyi CSC has discovered two HERO franchise products in Taiwan.

(Left) An 184-page HERO picture book detailing the making of the film.

(Right) TV dinner with four shrunken HERO poster. You have two options - ribs or chicken drumsticks. The picture show the rib box.

Thanks to Southern Crane

Zhang Yimou has said his next project would be another martial-art film. We know little about it except rumors:

Rumor 1: Qin Shi Huang - a film about the early life of the soon-to-be first emperor of China, who is also the assassinating target in HERO. Cast may include Zhang Ziyi and Korean actress Kim Hee Sun. Korea Picture has reportedly promised to finance the film if Kim was cast. However, Beijing New Picture, which produced HERO, has dismissed the rumor.

Rumor 2: HERO 2 - The sequel of HERO. According to Shanghai Evening Post, Huo Tingxia, the art director of HERO, said Zhang Yimou will make a HERO sequel. Huo is currently working on restoring the interior sets of HERO at Hengdian Film and TV City, where HERO was shot.

Rumor 3: A story about the ordinary people - Also according to Shanghai Evening Post, someone from Beijing New Picture said, it would not be as epic as HERO and would be a real wuxia story about ordinary people. Li Feng, one of the writers of HERO, is working on the script and shooting will likely start this summer. No one has been cast yet.

According to China News Agency, Jackie Chan is about to make an action-free pure drama with director Yang De-Chang (YI YI). To fulfill his dream of making pure drama, Jackie Chan said, he has talked with Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou. Ang Lee told him CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON was not right for him. Then he sent a script called MONK, THIEF, PROSTITUTE to Zhang Yimou and even persuaded Gong Li to play the prostitute, but the story failed to win Zhang Yimou's favor. Later he concluded Jackie Chan was not suitable for HERO either.

Leung Chiu-Wai	Zhang Ziyi

The mysterious iceberg called 2046 has shown its tip today. Hong Kong's Oriental Daily just posted two spy photos showing Leung Chiu-Wai and Zhang Ziyi on the set of 2046. Nobody knows why everybody looks like from the 1950's and what exactly the relationship between 2046 and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is. Everyone, Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, Faye Wong, Lau Kar-ling and Kimura Takuya has shown up, everyone except Kimura Takuya. Rumor has suggested he was no longer on the list. Earlier the cast members have received training of dance, yoga and Chinese martial-art. Why? Nobody knows. 2046 is continuously surrounded by mysteries, which cannot be solved until May, in which it will be premièred at the Cannes Film Festival. Will it make it? It's another mystery.

Here are eight scans from the HERO comic book by Ma Wing-Sing.

Leung Chiu-Wai	Zhang Ziyi

The mysterious iceberg called 2046 has shown its tip today. Hong Kong's Oriental Daily just posted two spy photos showing Leung Chiu-Wai and Zhang Ziyi on the set of 2046. Nobody knows why everybody looks like from the 1950's and what exactly the relationship between 2046 and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is. Everyone, Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, Faye Wong, Lau Kar-ling and Kimura Takuya has shown up, everyone except Kimura Takuya. Rumor has suggested he was no longer on the list. Earlier the cast members have received training of dance, yoga and Chinese martial-art. Why? Nobody knows. 2046 is continuously surrounded by mysteries, which cannot be solved until May, in which it will be premièred at the Cannes Film Festival. Will it make it? It's another mystery.

We know HERO has been scheduled for a DVD / VCD released one month from today. But giving the incident of the "official bootlegged VCD", I am not so sure the release is 100% guaranteed. Last year, two companies Weijia and Feishi, paid big bucks for the Chinese video distribution rights at an auction (a third company, TCL, jointed their bid but later quit the deal). With HERO's popularity soaring up to the ceiling, managers of these two companies have started to feel the heat. In China, to counterstrike the piracy, a movie is usually released on video only weeks after the first day of theatrical release. But for HERO, there are two full months between the first day of theatrical release and the first day of video release, more than enough for the market being flooded with pirated CDs. The two companies has asked Beijing New Pictures, the Chinese distributor of HERO, for an early video released but was refused. Then quietly, 800,000 set of VCDs containing a bootlegged HERO video, camcorded at a theater, being shipped out of these two companies. Days after the "official bootlegged VCD" showed up, the Ministry of Culture ruled that the VCD is pirated product because before February 20, Beijing New Picture owns all copy rights of HERO. While a forced recall of the VCDs is underway, the two companies have suffered a loss of millions due to the incident. Will the official DVD and VCD being released on time? That is the question.

By the way, neither HERO nor BALZAC ET LA PETITE TAILEUSE CHINOISE won the Golden Globe. Spanish film TALK TO HER got the Best Foreign Language Film Award.

I960's China, millions of young men and women were sent to the countryside. Two boys Luo Ming (Chen Kun) and Ma Jianling (Liu Ye) were sent to a small village where they met a seamstress (Zhou Xun). While a banned book by Balzac became the only offered them the only break of their boring daily routine, both men fell in love with the little seamstress. One day, the seamstress told them she wanted to leave the mountain to the outside world...

Chinese writer Dai Sijie, now lives in France, adapted and directed the film based on the same name novel he wrote in French. It was produced by France with a full Chinese cast. As a French film with cast speaking in dialect from China's Sichuan Province, it has been nominated for this Golden Globes' Best Foreign Language Film Award along with HERO.

Writer director Dai Sijie on location

Other stills

Photo: Sina.com

Review Hero (Positive, 4/4, Minor Spoilers) by "Despair"

Review: KILL BILL (early rough cut) (Negative, Major Spoilers) by "The Facer"

It is a fake review, thanks to the webmaster THE QUENTIN TARANTINO ARCHIVES

Review Hero (Positive, Minor Spoilers)

According to Variety, MiramAxe has planned a May release for HERO. (Thanks to Puubs Hiddengarden and Jason Lin) If so, HERO will have a tough battle against movies like the second X-MEN, the second MATRIX and the remake of THE ITALIAN JOB. However, MiramAxe has no longer deserve my trust and I will wait until May.

Meanwhile HERO has been invited to the coming Berlin International Film Festival. (Thanks to Hy Phuong for this one)

According to Chinese media, Korea Picture has promised to finance QIN SHI HUANG if director cast Korean actress Kim Hee Sun. While in Korea promoting HERO, Zhang Yimou has met the manager of Korea Picture and Kim Hee Sun. Zhang has made a TV commercial with Kim before.

But according to a lady working at Zhang Yimou's office, QIN SHI HUANG is only one of several projects Zhang Yimou is developing right now. He has not chosen it as his next film and there is no script. Casting Kim Hee Sun and Zhang Ziyi is just a proposal.

According to an anonymous informer, there will be a lot of similarities between HERO and QIN SHI HUANG. There are all about The First Emperor, but the former focused at the assassins and the latter is about the target of the assassins. Also, one is about first half of his life and the other one is about the second half of his life. "QIN SHI HUANG should be count as a prequel of HERO," said the informer.

Southern Daily reports LONG DE SHEN CHU - SHI LUO DE PIN TU (lit.: DEEP OF THE DRAGON - THE LOST PUZZLE PIECE), a Jackie Chan bio-documentary will be premiered at this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Director Mabel Cheung said It was originally Jackie Chan's idea to make the documentary. Three years ago, Jackie Chan called her and said, "my dad is going to tell me my root. Are you interest in recording it?" Then she followed Jackie Chan to Australia, Anhui Province, Hong Kong and many other places. After shot Jackie Chan's homes and interviewed many people, she went to Beijing to start working on BEIJING ROCKS.

"Jackie Chan is pretty satisfied (by the documentary). He said it was not just about himself, but about the stories of many Chinese families and showed the more recent history of China" said Cheung, "you will know (what Jackie Chan did not know about himself) once you saw the film, such as he thought he was the only child of his family, he though his family name is Chan, and he thought his parents were... Turns out, they were all not what he thought they were. In the film, "Big Brother" (Jackie Chan) is totally different from what we normally known. He is just like a little kid. There are many interesting stuffs in it."

According to Hong Kong Media, MGM has decided to maKe a new ending of BULLETPROOF MONK as part of the damage control. A bootlegged video shot during a screen testing in the US has been made to VCD. But the VCD, being sold as low as US$1.3, does not contain the beginning and the ending. Chow Yun-Fat is already in the States working on the film's post-production.

Related Story:

Review: HERO (Positive, 9/10, Minor Spoilers) by "Equinox21"

This one really sounds too good to be true, but it is my duty to report it. According to Shanghai Youth, QIN SHI HUANG is the working title of director Zhang Yimou's next project and he wants to cast Zhang Ziyi again. Someone from Hengdian Film and TV City told the paper that HERO's production manager Zhang Zhenyan said they would return to Hengdian in March or April to shoot this new film. Zhang Yimou has confirmed that he is preparing his second martial-art film and it will not be the HERO sequel.

QIN SHI HUANG's name is Ying Zheng. As the ruler of the kingdom of Qin he conquered the other six kingdoms and unified China for the first time in 221 B.C. Later he proclaimed himself as SHI HUANG DI, meaning The First Emperor. Historians call him QIN SHI HUANG DI or QIN SHI HUANG. In HERO, he is the target of assassins from Zhao, the country is about to be conquered by the king.

The palace scenes and all internal scenes in HERO were shot at Hengdian, a gigantic combo of filming facilities and scene park filled with ancient architectures from different periods of China's five thousand year history.

Review: HERO (Positive, Very Minor Spoilers) by "Wang Yi, The Idiot"

Beijing Morning Post reports Beijing New Picture, one of the film's production studios and the Chinese theatrical distributor, has claimed that the DVD and VCD recently released by Wei Jia and Fei Shi are pirated products. Beijing New Picture has announced seeking legal action against these two companies, which purchased the video distribution rights but only paid 70% of the 17.8 million yuans (US$ 2.15) purchasing fee. According to Information Times, an official from the Ministry of Culture said they had ordered the pirated DVD and VCD being confiscated.

In another article by Beijing Morning Post, a clear version of pirated HERO DVD has appeared. The images were duplicated directly from the film rather than from a camcorder.

Tianjin Daily reports the first official VCD has been released in China by Fei Shi, one of the official video distributors. The quality is slightly better than that of other pirated versions but it was still a bootleg shot at a theater, because coughing and other noises can be heard in the background. It got English subtitle (might be recorded in Hong Kong because only Chinese subtitle is attached to the film in the Mainland China) but is still 98 minute long rather than the 2-hour extended version has been promised. Someone from Fei Shi said this was because they had not receive the master copy of the film from Beijing New Picture, the Chinese theatrical distributor. Manager of the other distributor Wei Jia said they were not aware of the release of the VCD. The official DVD and VCD with additional 20 minutes footage are scheduled for a release on February 20th. (Thanks to Max Von Steiner for the tip)

The effect house DFreedomZone, Inc., created by ex-member of ILM, Ellen Poon, did over 250 2-D and 3-D effects for HERO. Here are six examples:

	Soldiers created by cut 'n' paste and shadow of production equipments was erased.
	CG flying arrows and cut 'n' pasted archers.
	Flying arrows and additional buildings were added. Flying Snow (on the back) was made more motion-blur.
	Raindrops were inserted between Nameless and Sky.
	Shots were transformed to black and white and weapons were made brighter for purpose I am not going to reveal right here.
	Real flames were replaced by bigger, brighter and moving CG flames. Shadows were added accordingly.

Two other effect houses The Orphanage and  Animal House also did CG works for HERO

Even though BULLETPROOF MONK will not be seen on the big screen until April, even though the film is still in post-production and even though shooting of a few additional scenes has just been scheduled, pirated DVD of this Chow Yun-Fat comic adaptation has hit the market in Asia. Believed to be recorded during a test screening in the US, the video is in inferior quality with the beginning and ending missing. Malay Mail reports a copy of the DVD is sold as low as US$1.3 in the street of Malaysia. According to The Hollywood Reporter, MGM has hosted "a couple of press screening without the ending to the film." According to Hong Kong's The Sun, a spokesperson of Motion Picture Association said they had started to investigate. Meanwhile, Golden Screen Cinema, the movie's distributor in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore, is currently talking with MGM over the possibility of an earlier released.

Related Story:  Pirates Capture MGM's "Monk"

HERO -                     Tuesday, January 14, 2003 (North American Première)

SHAOLIN SOCCER - Saturday, January 11, 2003

                                Saturday, January 18, 2003

Thanks to Sheila Carrington and Ardent Quach

Here are three clean shots of Angelina Jolie and Gerard Butler: A B C

Review: HERO (Positive, Minor Spoiler), by Andrew Sun (Thanks to Nathan Layman and iRon|(V)oNK|eY)

Review: HERO (Positive), by Derek Elley

According to Shanghai Youth, the film is based on Su Tong's novel FU NÜ SHENG HUO (lit.: LIVES OF WOMEN). It is about the story of three generations of a Shanghai family, actress Xian in the 30's, her daughter Zhi in the 50's and her granddaughter Xiao in the 70's and 80's. Well, I was right - Zhang Yimou will play all three characters in the film. This untitled film will not be cinematographer Hou Yong's directorial début, because he has already directed a film called TIAN CHU XUE (lit.: HEAVEN IS BLEEDING). If Su Tong does not sound familiar, you have probably heard the title RAISE THE RED LANTERN before. This novel (original Chinese title: Wife and Concubines in Groups) written by Su Tong became well-known after director Zhang Yimou adapted it to a film.

According to an article from Nanfang Daily, Zhang Ziyi has agreed to take the leading role of cinematographer Hou Yong's directorial début, an untitled film set in the 30's, 50's and 70's Shanghai. However, the paper did not say whether Zhang Ziyi will play the same character in three decades or three different characters. Adapted from a novel, this project has been in preparation for three years. Shooting of the film will start during the first half of this year, with a budget of 10 million yuans (US$ 1.21 million). Hou Yong has worked with Zhang Yimou in HAPPY TIMES, THE ROAD HOME and NOT ONE LESS. His other works include THE OPIUM WAR, THE DAY THE SUN TURNE DCOLD, THE BLUE KITE, THE HORSE THIEF and EVENING BELL.

The same article reports has not signed up to play Hua Mulan even though she is the one being wanted the most. Michelle Yeoh and director Stanley Tong are planning each one's own Hua Mulan.

Photo: HERO Official Site

Shooting of TOMB RAIDER 2 continues in Hong Kong. According to local papers, scenes being made yesterday include:

Bell tower of Time Square - Lora Croft found a place to parachute.

Time Square - a scene with Lora Croft, Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler) and over a hundred extras.

Time Square - Terry Sheridan making a call at a phone booth.

Harbor - Lora Croft was parachuted from a crane and landed on board a ship, then shook hands with the crew. Later Terry Sheridan landed on the ship as well.

Another shot of Angelina Jolie doing parachuting

Photos: The Sun and Sing Pao

Hong Kong media report shooting of TOMB RAIDER 2 has restarted in Hong Kong yesterday. There was no action during the first day. Just a few shots at Time Square, a mage-size shopping center.

Left: Lora Croft's new suit

Right: Cutting the pig, a Hong Kong tradition on the first day of production

Photos: Oriental Daily and Sing Pao

Review: HERO (Mixed, Major Spoilers) by Mike Goodridg - the reviewer has tried tirelessly to find some political content in the film and used CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON as the benchmark.

Thanks to Nathan Layman

We know little about the other hero, HEROES OF THE HEAVEN AND EARTH, except a brief description of the plot and a few shots taken on locations. According Business Times, even though it was shot during the same time HERO and THE TOUCH were made, the film is not coming soon to the theaters. Some additional scenes will be shot this month.

Q: Why is the plane flying so low?

A: The city looks like Tokyo but the shot was probably inspired by what used to happen in Hong Kong. Back then the old airport was surrounded by buildings and planes were flying just above those buildings when landing and taking off.

Q: What is the name of the club?

A: House of Blue Leaves, a high-class Japanese club. Uma Thurman is fighting with a gang called "Crazy 88". The set was built inside Beijing Film Studio.

Q: Who is the man pulling out of his sword?

A: Sonny Chiba. He is playing Hattori Hanzo.

Q: Why there is a tractor behind Michael Jay White?

A: I don't know. But since the film was partially inspired by the old Shaw Brothers' kung-fu flicks, Quentin Tarantino might throw all kinds of old stuffs into this film. By the way, it was shot at Beijing Film Studio as well.

Q: Who is the long white beard man fighting with Uma Thurman?

A: Liu Chia-Hui (Gordon), who is playing Pei Mei. His beard, eyebrows and hair are just as fake as those of the original Pei Mei from the old Shaw Brothers' films. The scenes were shot at Qi Wang Fen (Tomb of the Seventh Prince - the seventh son of Emperor Daoguang (1840-1891)). It was used to double Pei Mei's temple and the dome like structure behind those trees is the tomb of one of the seventh prince's concubines.

Hong Kong media report Angelina Jolie and the crew of TOMB RAIDER 2 have arrived in Hong Kong on Friday. Shooting will start tomorrow in this city and will last about one week. Hong Kong actor Yam Tat-Wah (Simon) is playing a valiant in this movie but he has no share of the scenes will be made in Hong Kong.

(Left) Angelina Jolie and her adopted son Maddox at a Hong Kong toy store.

(Right) Yam Tat-Wah (Simon)

According to Yangtze Evening News, when being released on DVD and VCD, HERO will be extended to about 2 hours from 98 minutes, the theatrical length.

Sina.com reports, by yesterday, HERO has collected 16.3 million yuans (almost US$ 20 million) in China, including Hong Kong. This record was made by just over 300 theaters in dozens of major cities in less than two weeks. In China, a film is usually released in the majors cities first and smaller cities will have their luck later. The first round of released usually last no more than two weeks, during which the film is only shown on big screens. Then it will be moved to small screens to make way for newer release. But since the beginning, HERO has been shown on big and small screens simultaneously, theater managers have refused to remove HERO from the big screens this early.

Check out this KILL BILL teaser. It speaks for itself.

In the Premiere magazine article (written by Takeshi Oka and Greg Starr), Zhang Ziyi has become the center of the film even though she only played a supporting role:

Article by Premiere (Thanks to Cass Fung)

According to the Wall Street Journal article (written by Karen Mazurkewich), MiramAxe helped financing HERO and a senior VP from MiramAxe is doing publicity for HERO. What an Irony:

Article by Wall Street Journal (scroll-down)

The New York Times article (written by Joseph Kahn), was written based on at least two premises: the real king of Qin is a ruthless conquer who brought nothing but terror to his subjects, and Zhang Yimou gave in to the Chinese government: