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Hou Hsiao-hsien Needs More Men for NIE YIN NIANG, His First
Martial-Art Film
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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March 30, 2008 |
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Hou Hsiao-hsien (R), Shu Qi (M) and Chang Chen (L) at Three Times'
Cannes première in 2005. (Image: Reuters) |
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Taiwanese
director Hou Hsiao-hsien wants to make his first martial-art movie,
Nie Yin Niang, based on the same title short fantasy
story written by Pei Xing in China's Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). This
is, of cause, a two year old news. He would cast Shu Qi, his
favorite actress, and Chang Chen, his favorite actor, to play the
leading characters. This is, of cause, also a two year old news. But
what's new? According to an unknown source, Hou is also asking
Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tadanobu Asano to join the cast.
Nie Yin Niang is believed to be
one of the first wuxia story, it begins with Nie Yin Niang,
the 10 year old daughter of an army commander, being taken away by a
nun. Five years later, she has become a skilled assassin. An earlier
story said mainland Chinese writer A Cheng (The
Go Master,
Springtime in a Small Town,
The King of Chess,
King of the Children) had completed the first draft of the
script.
Related Story:
Hou Hsiao-hsien Will Shoot His First
Martial-Art Project Next August?
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
December 24, 2006 |
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Opening This Week: February
22 - 28
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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March 28, 2008 |
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This week, absolutely nothing comes out except
foreign imports. In the mainland side of China, Hollywood children's
fantasy The Golden Compass is theatrically released on
Friday, months after becoming available on DVD and download.
In Hong Kong, the new releases are Leonardo
DiCaprio produced documentary The 11th Hour,
Belgium-France-UK made Lady Chatterley, the latest adaptation
of the controversial novel, and British comedy Miss Pettigrew
Lives for a Day.
Movies arrive at the island of Taiwan this week
are UK-Canada-USA co-produced romantic drama Closing the Ring,
Japanese manga adaptation Eiga: Kurosagi, France-UK produced
documentary My Enemy's Enemy, South Korean comedy Le Grand
Chef, Stephen King's The Mist, Hollywood comedy
Semi-Pro, and German-Austrian children's story Das Wunder von
Loch Ness.
Click here for detail.
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New FORBIDDEN KINGDOM Videos
(...) |
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March 26, 2008 |
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(Images: Casey
Silver Productions, Huayi Brothers, Relativity Media.) |
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More video lips have popped up on the net recently. Take a look. The
first one is a behind-the-scene video. The second one is for the end
credit theme song "Heroes" (for the Chinese version only? I
suppose.) New footages from the movie are included in the video. It
is sung by Zhang Liangying, who also provided her voice for Feng
Xiaogang's
The Banquet
(retitled to
Legend of the Black Scorpion
in the US).
Behind-the-scene video
End credit theme song video
(Thanks to
Twitch.) |
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THE STORM RIDERS II Character Designs
(Sina.com) |
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March 26, 2008 |
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Ekin
Cheng as Whispering Wind |
Aaron
Kwok as Striding Cloud |
Nicholas Tse as
a
villain |
Tang
Yan as
Muse |
Charlene Choi |
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(Images: Golden Harvest Company, Chengtian Entertainment,
Universe Entertainment.) |
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13
character design sheets, suspected to be the works of designer Yee
Chung-Man, just appeared online. Storm Riders II, sequel to
the original hit Hong Kong comic-book adaptation released in 1994,
is now in production in Thailand. Directors the Pang Brothers are
making it will full indoor sets plus blue screens. The original was
shot more traditionally with indoor sets and landscapes in China.
The story of the sequel is not related to the first one though major
characters, except Sonny Chiba’s character Lord Conquer, return to
the sequel. This time, the story will be:
Spoiler Alert! Highlight to read.
An
evil force invades (led by Simon Yam and Nicholas Tse) and defeats
Whispering Wind (Ekin Cheng) and Striding Cloud (Aaron Kowk). To
stop the evil force’s plan of conquering all clans, Whispering Wind
starts learning a powerful but dangerous new skill, which eventually
led him to the dark side. To turn the tide, Striding Cloud is forced
to fight against Whispering Wind.
Alert ends here.
This
US$14 million (rough number) movie will be released in Asia toward
the end of 2008.
Click here for all 13 character design sheets. |
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RED CLIFF Character Posters
(Sina.com) |
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March 21, 2008 |
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These
posters are displayed at the Hong Kong International Film Mart by
the film's Hong Kong distributor Mei Ah Entertainment. Part 1of the
2-part Asian edition of the historical war epic will be released in
Asia starting July 10, 2008.
More about
Red Cliff. |
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Opening
This Week: March 15 - 21
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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March 21, 2008 |
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An Empress
and the Warriors |
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(Image:
BIG Pictures, Poly-bona Film Publishing Company,
United Filmmakers Organization.) |
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This Thursday, Hong Kong action director Ching Siu-Tung's period,
but not historical, actioner
An Empress and the Warriors
was finally released in Hong Kong, after doing okay in the mainland
during the past two weeks. Despite some good fight scenes,
especially the ones involving Donnie Yen, and fancy costumes by Yee
Chung-Man, the weak story makes the movie very hollow.
A long line of new releases are competition for the box-office money
against
An Empress and the Warriors
in the city. They are Taiwan-made drama
The Most Distant Course,
Hollywood
animations
Arctic Tale
and
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!,
political light comedy
Charlie Wilson's War,
and Children's fantasy
The Spiderwick Chronicles.
In the mainland China, two new releases are all from Hollywood.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
was released on Monday and
10,000 B.C.
is opening on Friday. Looks like a new tactic to reduce
box-office revenue of the Hollywood products in attempt to help
creating an illusion that the domestic movies are gaining market
share, some Chinese film officials have been quietly letting more
than one Hollywood movies to be released either on the same day or
on the same week. Last year,
Die Hard 4.0
and
Bourne Ultimatum
were released on the same day in China, months after both movies
were available through piracy. In the end neither did very well at
the box-office. Though this time,
National Treasure:
Book of Secrets
and
10,000 B.C.
were not released on the same day, they were still pushed into a
cannibal arena.
In
Taiwan, the recession of local movie industry continues as usual. On
the bright side, the islanders get to see a variety of imported new
movies -
An Empress and The Warriors,
British-Belgian-French made drama
Angel, US indie
film
Half Nelson,
two Thai horror flicks,
Body #19
and
Train of the Dead,
and the Hollywood remake of same title Hong Kong horror
The Eye.
Click here for detail.
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The 8th Chinese Film Media Awards Nominations
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
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March 20, 2008 |
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(Image:
Southern Metropolitan Daily.) |
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Chinese newspaper Southern Metropolitan Dailey just released
the nomination list for the 8th Film Media Awards, the only one
which makes all Chinese language films eligible with little bias.
The nominees are picked by a committee formed by dozens individuals
from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Among the nominees,
there are
Lust, Caution,
director Ang Lee and all four major cast of the film, Leung Chiu-Wai,
Tang Wei, Joan Chen and Wang Lee-Hom. Ironically, Tang Wei has just
been "unofficially" sanctioned by the Chinese government (with no
legal basis), for her performance in
Lust, Caution,
which has been accused of "glorifying national traitors" by some
powerful people in China. The final winners will be picked by
another committee later.
Lost in Beijing,
just banned in China for "promoting the film with indecent
materials" and a few other excuses, also released multiple
nominations. Oddly enough, Zhang Jingchu is nominated for Best
Actress and Best Supporting Actress for the same role in
Protege.
Related Story:
The 7th Chinese Film Media Awards
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive)
May 21, 2007
The 6th Chinese Film Media Awards
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)
April 18, 2006
Complete Nomination List:
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Best
Film |
Lust, Caution
- Taiwan /
The
Chinese Mainland / USA |
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The Sun Also Rises - The Chinese Mainland / Hong
Kong |
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The
Warlords -
The
Chinese Mainland / Hong Kong |
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Tuya's Marriage
-
The
Chinese Mainland / USA |
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The Postmodern Life of My Aunt - The Chinese
Mainland / Hong Kong |
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Best
Director |
Ann HUI
(The
Postmodern Life of My Aunt - The Chinese Mainland /
Hong Kong) |
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Ang LEE
(Lust, Caution
- Taiwan / The Chinese Mainland / USA) |
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JIANG Wen (The
Sun Also Rises
- The Chinese Mainland / Hong Kong ) |
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Peter
CHAN (The
Warlords - The
Chinese Mainland / Hong Kong) |
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WANG
Quan'an (Tuya's
Marriage
-
The Chinese Mainland) |
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Best
New |
Jay CHOU
(Secret
- Hong Kong
/ Taiwan) |
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Director |
YAU Nai-Hoi
( Eye in the Sky
- Hong Kong) |
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CAO
Baoping (Guang Rong De Fen Nu
- The Chinese Mainland) |
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CHEN
Huai-en (Island Etude
- Taiwan) |
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