It is a fairy tale of a thousand-year-old White Snake (Eva Huang) who falls in love with a young herbalist (Raymond Lam). A very pious and powerful master monk (Jet Li) who is committed to save humans from demons finds out about it and shows mercy to let her go with the condition that she leave the herbalist. But her love is as true as the monk’s convictions.

The movie has impressive CGI, some martial arts action and beautiful scenes. For those who like fantasy love stories, this movie is a real treat.

I can’t turn down a movie with my 90′s action heroes Jet Li and Andy Lau when a movie crosses my path on Netflix… even tho I’ve seen this movie once before, it’s hard to turn down. Warlords feels a bit long, in fact I don’t think I took as many breaks the first time I watched it… but the action sequences are really good when they do appear.

I like the job of the camera crews on this one, the filming throughout the fight scenes are very good… I probably reviewed this in my previous blog as well and ended it by saying that this isn’t the type of movie one watches over and over. It’s a lot of movies that has the same type of story that has come out of asia the last 10 years and it’s really easy to mix them up… Warlords doesn’t really stand out among them … but I enjoyed seeing my heroes again.

..I rate this movie 7/10 stars..

Survei ini diadakan oleh Akademi Komunikasi Internasional – Budaya Tionghoa , sebuah lembaga riset yang didirikan Beijing Normal University dan International Data Group dari Amerika Serikat.

Survey ini didapat dari 1117 responden netizen dari 107 negara diseluruh dunia.

Jackie Chan yang baru saja meluncurkan film terakhirnya “Chinese Zodiac” berada dijajaran aktor paling difavoritkan menyusul mendiang Bruce Lee dan Jet Li. Ketiganya adalah aktor laga yang memang sudah dikenal luas.

Zhang Ziyi yang melejit sejak membintangi “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” terpilih sebagai aktris favorit. Sementara itu Gong Li dan Fan Bingbing yang baru saja tampil sekilas dalam “Iron Man” berada diperingkat kedua dan ketiga.

Zhang Yimou dianggap sebagai sutradara paling favorit karena karyanya “Hero” (2002) dan “House of Flying Daggers” . Ang Lee yang baru saja sukses dengan “Life Of Pi” (2012) dan Chen Kaige berada diposisi kedua dan ketiga. (sinastar/bentara.asia)   (Photo/Xinhua)

Did some laundry back at the hostel. My girlfriend likes to split the washing into like 8 piles, depending on what shade of blue the item is -she takes the whole “wash the colour separately” to an entirely new level. I got 8 piles down to 4.  

Played a good bit of pong downstairs in the hostel – which was the highlight of my day. 

Ate some more food at the hostel and grabbed a movie from a rack of DVD’s to watch in bed. After an hour of War I realized I’d seen it before ha ha.

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Woke up at some forgotten hour, the room was dim and I wondered if it were an obscure hour in the morning.  Later found out that it was just grey and raining outside.  Honestly, I did not see the sun in ChengDu.  It rained the entire time when we were there!  Wondered about whether we could go see the pandas and decided to eat first and see how the weather went.  Again, the hostel food was amazing.  If I ever went back to ChengDu again, I’d go there for every single meal. 

It was still raining when we got back to our room from the restaurant.  Obviously the pandas were going to have to wait!  However, we did not want to sit in our room for the entire day!  In the end, we decided to go take a look around city centre and do some shopping. 

The rain was horrendous.  I got soaked even with two umbrellas!  To be fair, the umbrellas were shit.  A little breeze came by, and it flipped inside out.  Anyways, got on the bus and went to the area where the Pizza Hut was.  We descended into the underground market thinking that it would be the same as ChangChun.  Nope, it was empty and slippery because of the water.  Truly disappointing. 

In the end, we ascended back onto ground level and sat in Starbucks for a couple of hours.  The Internet was slow, so we waited and waited.  My shoes were soaked, my feet were cold.  Even though the temperature was mild, prolonged exposure to rain water was still uncomfortable!  While in Starbucks, my boyfriend discovered a sign in the bathroom that listed rules for using the bathroom.  One of them was not to squat on the toilet!  You know what they say, they only make rules because someone’s tried it before.  Gross. 

Around early dinner time, we went back to the hostel and did laundry.  It was raining buckets outside, but thankfully the laundry area was enclosed and allowed our clothes to dry a little.  We were given keys to one washing machine, but did not realize that we were only allowed to use one.  In our defense, the keys worked for every washing machine, so we loaded all of them up.  By the time they realized, we’d already gotten our washing done. 

This was the first time we played table tennis together.  In the little recreation room attached to the restaurant was a foosball table, a pool table, and a ping pong table.  It was also the first time that my boyfriend tried to kill me.  I bent down next to the foosball table to retrieve our ping pong ball and as I was getting up, he pushed a pole into my throat.  Yep, right into my throat. 

I’m sure he’s still kicking himself for failing to murder me. 

We carried on playing table tennis. 

After laundry, we borrowed a DVD to watch.  I could live in this hostel, honestly!  It was something called “Rogue Assassin” with Jet Li and Jason Statham.  It was only at the end of the movie did my boyfriend tell me that he’s watched it before. 

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” 

Because he had just realized.  Yes, it made complete sense because the credits were the most memorable part of the movie. 

Much later, we discovered that the movie was actually called “War”.  It went from English to Chinese and back to English, and somewhere along the way, the original title got lost.

Once he knew the truth he swore vengeance. He trained obsessively to perfect the skill “Death within 10 paces”. Nameless can deliver a death blow with 100% surgical accuracy. He means to kill the King of Qin (Chen Daoming).

Read the entire review, http://www.examiner.com/review/zhang-yimou-s-hero

Jet Li, as General Pang, quietly, powerfully, mastering the screen

Jet Li is General Pang, a complex man, who survives on the battlefield by playing dead amongst his massacred company. He makes his way to a village, where he meets a girl whose love and compassion restore him to life.

Determined to regroup his army, he joins forces with a group of bandits led by Er Hu (Andy Lau). and Wen Ziang (Takeshi Kanesiro). The three become sworn blood brothers, but Pang learns that the girl who saved him is Er Hu’s wife.

Andy Lau as Er Hu, from bandit to Warlord

With his new army, Pang grows ever more ambitious, and ruthless. The actions he takes causes a rift with Er Hu – Pang is driven by karma, often taking ruthless action to ensure the greater good. Er Hu is driven by honor and compassion. When he promises life, and Pang brings death, he is unable to come to terms with Pang’s vision of a better world for all, and the sacrifices he believes are necessary to achieve it. Caught between the two, Wen Xiang becomes more and more disillusioned until he is finally forced to confront his own karma.

Takeshi Kaneshiro as Wen Xiang

Was Pang (or Ma Xinyi, on whom the character is based) a visionary, a good man, or a ruthless power-hungry despot? Jet Li draws a complex portrait of a remarkable man and he is ably supported by two fine actors. Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau were impressive in The House of Flying Daggers, and  are completely at ease with each other – and the powerful presence of Li – in this.

Jing Lei Xu as Lian

Jing Lei Xu, as Lian, the woman loved by Er Hu and Pang, is the catalyst that strains the blood oath to breaking point, setting Wen Xiang on his personal path to perdition. This is a deeply absorbing movie, gorgeous to behold, with the faces of the three leads telling their own stories, especially Li and Lau, whose decades of life experience infuse every moment on screen. They are men, who have so much to bring to the screen it can barely contain them.

For pure escapism and a plot that has more holes in it than a hunk of Swiss cheese, you cannot beat The Expendables 2. But damn it, it’s  entertaining and fun and who can complain about that?

Is it realistic? Hell no, no more than The Guns of Navarone or The Wild Geese was.

Are they similar? You bet.

All three films feature heroes past their prime facing outlandish, impossible odds…and winning. Sure the big bad has changed. In Navarone it was the Nazi’s and in Geese it was an African government; in each case though the bad guys were bad.

To the bone.

So are the bad guys in both The Expendables and The Expendables 2. The first film featured a villainous Eric Roberts and the second one featured Jean-Claude Van Damme as an egotistical greedy and downright nasty villain. Both men had an equally nasty cohort and a plethora of arms toting men.

Van Damme as the Vilain…

But despite the similarity in plot and the difference in directors – Sly directed the first one and Simon West directed # 2 – the film covers familiar territory and features almost all of the guys from the first film.

Conspicuous in his absence is Mickey Rourke (who says he only did the first film as a favour to Stallone anyway) and Jet Li is missing for 99% of the film – a massive disappointment as I adore Li – and Charisma Carpenter has an even smaller cameo than in the first film, but none of these things take away from the enjoyment of the actual film.

Instead we have both Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in bigger cameo roles and they both get to shoot copious amounts of ammunition and kill absolute legions of baddies. Chuck Norris shows up for the party and it just doesn’t get any better than that.

I could almost forgive Chuck for endorsing Mitt Romney (almost but not quite) and it would have been nice to see more Jet Li, but hey; we got Nan Yu to represent the Asian member of the team and a “new” member in Liam Hemsworth as the ultimate eagle-eyed sniper “Billy the kid.”

Now for the plot, did I say, plot? Do you really care? Of course you do, no matter how ropey and loose it is, plot is important. But before we go there let’s talk about the opening of the movie.

New temporary Expendable member Maggie.

Expendables 2 opens just like Expendables did, with a hostage being rescued by the guys. Everyone infiltrates a terrorist hideout that is heavily armed and looks to be pretty impregnable. Except that these are the Expendables and they can go anywhere they like.

This time the hostage is a Chinese fellow who was supposed to be protected by Trench (Schwarzenegger) who is also a hostage. Just like the first film, our heroes kill all the bad guys and release Trench and they take the Chinese chap back home. Mid-air they put Yin Yang (Li) in charge of him; he attaches the man to himself and his parachute and they leap out of the plane. Li says that he may or may not return.

Once they get home and are celebrating in their old watering hole, Billy (Hemsworth) tells boss man Barney Ross (Stallone) that at the end of the month, he is quitting and going back to his French girlfriend. Barney leaves and heads back to his plane where he finds Church (Willis) who tells him that he has not forgiven him for stealing 5 million dollars from his organization and that Barney owes him one last mission.

Barney also finds out that he has to take a woman on board for this mission, Maggie (Yu) and over his objections that is just what he does. Their mission is to retrieve a valuable object from a plane that has been shot down in hostile territory. They accomplish this but get the object stolen by Vilain (Van Damme) – villain get it – but the bad obvious joke aside, Vilain is not a joke and he kills one of the Expendables to prove a point.

With the smell of revenge thick in their nostrils the guys and Maggie go to take down Vilain.

There are enough bullets shot and cartridges expended that the lead and brass companies could retire from the weapon’s business. There is enough blood spilt to sink the Titanic and while the violence is slightly over the top (a sniper bullet can take a man’s head right off) it is not in your face; hence the rating of 15.

With everyone making fun of their own acting careers (with the possible exception of Chuck Norris because really it is hard to tell with him) the chuckles keep coming. The cast do their usual good job in their interaction with one another and the “new girl” Maggie.

For the record the “guys” are: Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Terry Crews and Randy Couture. I just thought I’d mention it, you know, in case you forgot.

Bruce and Arnie, car-pooling.

The film is a great big bundle of action-man (and action-woman) fun. The nods and the winks keep coming and the action is practically non-stop. Even though the aim of the film was to do a pastiche of the 80′s action films that made all the big names in the film famous, Sly and director Simon West have gone back even further.

Years ago, when silent films were all the newest rage, there was a cowboy star who would kiss his horse rather than kiss his leading lady (nothing strange, trust me) and Stallone does something similar at the end of The Expendable 2. Well in spirit at least.

It is not often these days that a sequel is just as good as, or better than, the original but that is this case here. Maybe the secret is in not having a too cohesive plot or not caring too much about plot; either way it works and it is pure entertainment.

Just don’t take the film seriously and you will love it.

The “Lone Wolf” aka Chuck Norris. Seriously though, how old is this guy?

Related articles

• The Expendables 2 (canadiancinephile.com)
• Film Review: The Expendables 2 (2012) (ddmboss.wordpress.com)
• John Woo Would Be Happy To Direct EXPENDABLES 3 (badassdigest.com)
• The Expendables 3: Jackie Chan Jumps On Board (g4tv.com)
• Jackie Chan Cast in THE EXPENDABLES 3! (geektyrant.com)
• Expendables 2 (release 2012) (suzannehayesblog.wordpress.com)
• Expendables 3 Still Going After Wesley Snipes And Jackie Chan (cynsworkshop.wordpress.com)

Screen shot of a scene from 英雄 (Hero) after a battle takes place in the forest.

I have watched quite a few martial arts movies produced in Hong Kong so I was already quite familiar with the genre and the spectacles that usually accompanied it. When I switched to the movie channel on my TV, it had already started half an hour of 英雄 (Hero), and at the scene where the main character, Nameless, faced Long Sky in a martial arts battle. It took a few minutes before I realized that this was something special, something that can’t be compared to what I’ve seen before. In a general sense, I was struck by the beautiful cinematography. In this scene, there were moments cut back and forth between the movements of the weapons, the concentration of the martial artists, the old man playing his instrument, and the movement of rain drops. All these shots compiled together in a perfect harmonic sequence with the background score. Throughout the film, I watched with an admiration of the visual composition of the scenes.

The plot of 英雄 involved Nameless telling the emperor about his battles with three assassins in flashback scenes. As the story continued, different versions of the what really happened between Nameless and the assassins were revealed. In these scenes, 英雄 heavily incorporated the use of colour in differentiating the different versions of truth. In the version that depicted envy, jealousy and betrayal of lovers, red was the prominent colour. All the characters were dressed in red, and the surrounding interior was red. The red sequence ended in a red forrest where two martial artists battled each other surrounded by red leaves moving to the flow of the weapons (see here for a Youtube video of the scene). A version that depicted sacrificial love and romance had a sky blue hue that consumed the clothes and surroundings. Finally, in the true version, white was used as the prominent colour. In a different flashback, green was used at the turning point of the story, involving an epiphany about peace. The usage of colour greatly contributed to the audiences’ understanding and interpretation of these different versions of the same event. Furthermore, it added to the artistic rendition of the themes presented in each version. Of course, it also contributed significantly to the overall cinematography.

I have focussed a lot on the cinematography of this film, and the reason is because that was what captivated me to continue watching the film. Initially, it felt like the plot was a secondary aspect, being more slow near the beginning, and having fake flashbacks didn’t help me understand what was going on. However, upon reaching the second half of the film, a lot of the pieces came together. I was impressed by all the twists and turns in the film and ultimately, the display of virtue in warriors. In the end, I sat there for quite some time just thinking about all the conflicting emotions and morality while staring at the credits scrolling on the screen.

Unexpectedly, this has quickly become one of my favourite movies, and if I haven’t convinced you to watch it, heres what  critics have said,

“beautiful and beguiling, a martial arts extravaganza defining the styles and lives of its fighters within Chinese tradition” – Roger Ebert
“it employes unparalleled visual splendor to show why men must make war to secure the peace” – Richard Croliss

英雄 (Hero) is a truly admirable, impressive, thought-provoking, and beautiful film.

This is a Chinese blog of mine, so if you could read Chinese welcome to visit my page.

The link to my second blog: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/BerryZu

I know many don’t but I kind of miss those days when I needed to write essays and essays in Chinese, so I thought this is a PERFECT time to start a blog to fulfill my desire to write again.

With that, to add to the Chinese New Year atmosphere, here I have the MTV clip of a song from Jay Chou titled ‘霍元甲‘ from the movie ‘Fearless’ (Jet Li is so cool there), enjoy:

Orange blossom (Photo credit: Shakespearesmonkey)

I saw a martial arts movie (starring Jet Li…I forget the name of the movie though) where the protagonist, an insanely awesome martial artist (that would be Jet Li), somehow finds himself away from his home; on a farm.  A humbling experience for the protagonist for he is not originally poor.  Nevertheless, on this farm, the protagonist, via farming and his new friend, learns profound lessons about humility, responsibility and honor.  At any rate, the reason why I mention this movie (whose name I can’t remember) is because in one of the scenes, the farmers; who are busy farming, stop their activities and in unison stand up extending their arms to the wind.  Why? Because the wind was blowing.  Seriously, they

English: Jet Li at Fearless Premiere taken myself (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

stopped everything they were doing, extended their arms in the air and stood there, motionless for about 5 minutes, just because the wind was blowing.

This event may seem simple (and weird), but I believe it speaks to a great principle that we seldom employ (actually many principles but I will articulate one in particular).  You see, the farmers stopped their work (needed to survive mind you) in order to experience the wind, something so relatively insignificant, but beautiful at the same time.  Those farmers understood that life has to be lived.  Ultimately, the calling to live is higher than the calling to work.  Don’t get me wrong, work is important, but in the list of priorities, life comes before work.  There is a great quote from the Dali Lama that states “The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man…. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” We work so hard to be able to live, yet work so little to enjoy life.

What is life (oh the philosophical answers that can be given here)?  I believe life is about the little things: The rose sprinkled with the dew of dawn; the fragrance of

Orange Blossom on the beginning of Spring; the breeze’s gentle caress; the innocence of a puppy; the sight of a soaring eagle; the sound of a glass harmonica (best instrument ever); the call of a happy Mockingbird…  Life is really not expensive.  But in our greed and insatiable desire to forget life, we spend our hours trying to obtain paper in order that we may exchange it for items that will help us forget the simple joys in order to replace them with complications; confusions; and stress.  In the end, we are left with a fear of losing these possessions, a heightened danger for our lives because of these possessions, and a neglect of peace.  Does this mean we need to forgo buying items such as TVs, Radios, IPods, Laptops, etc?  Maybe, but then again, maybe not.  The answer to this does not lie in the items themselves but rather how we use these items.  I for one am addicted to my IPod.  Yet recently, I have started using my IPod less and I have been able to hear and enjoy the call of the birds, the sounds of the bees, etc.

Old People Crossing (Photo credit: schnaars)

We are on this planet for 80-100 years on average….that’s not a long time.  Moreover, we have roughly 14 to 16 workable hours in our day, nine of which (and for some more) are spent in an office, truck, car, field, etc.  In other words, are lives are at work, to make money to support ourselves.  So, should we all quit our jobs and demand to live? Maybe, but then again, maybe not.  I think that it boils down to being adamant to separate work and life.  Don’t waste your weekends, do something you enjoy.  Chores?  Should be done during the weekdays (the days already marred with work).  I am not an expert, but I think we let too many things destroy our lives.  There is a reason why God was so adamant about taking a Sabbath.  Moreover, studies show that if we allow ourselves one full day of rest, we are more productive during the week.

I think it’s important to sprinkle our lives with our happiness (what?): this is what I mean.  I don’t think is realistic to quit your job.  But during lunch break, make sure that your food is coupled with something you enjoy.  For example (again I’m not an expert), while I worked in a planning office here in Gainesville, I would use my lunch breaks to eat and also to go around and take photos of things I found beautiful and/or interesting (some I’ve

Park (Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn)

posted on my picture blog).  When I returned to work, not only was I satiated physically, but my mind was also more relaxed and more engaged.   So the question is, what do you enjoy?  Do you like reading? What’s your favorite book? Bring that with you to lunch.  How about drawing, how about walking? Is there a nature trail near your job?

Also, what’s on your desk, or in your wallet, or even on the screen saver of your phone?  My phone has a picture of my dog Tia on it.  When I look at it, it makes me smile (because Tia is the most awesome dog ever).

In a nutshell: find opportunities in your life to reclaim your life with the things that add to your life.  These things are usually (from my experience) small.  It could be a flower, or time at a park.  Ultimately, is your life and we have lived long enough with technology to know that it does not bring happiness, rather, that which is natural, free and abundant is what brings happiness; and only One who brings everlasting joy.

At any rate, I hope that we can go forward and take time to stop for the wind, or even take time to listen to the birds.  Life is simple.  We are the ones who complicate it.

Juan

Jet Li joined forced with Hublot and came up with this fresh wrist wear!

Hero (2002)

A warlord is trying to unite the seven warring kingdoms of China. Jet Li is the nameless warrior who defeats the three legendary assassins who threaten the warlord’s life, only his victories appear to be part of a conspiracy against the would-be emperor. Except it’s not quite that simple, and as the warrior reveals to the warlord the truth behind his victories a picture emerges of true heroism, of people willing to die for a greater good even though it costs them the love of those they care most for. As the overture to the story states, in any war there are heroes on both sides. But of course this isn’t just a story, but also a magnificent spectacle, as is the case with most Chinese films in this genre. We get some truly spectacular fights, with the combatants sailing through the air, and each scene is carefully constructed, with vibrant colours and a painterly sense for composition, so that what appears on the screen is ravishing to the eye. The larger than life characters are memorable, almost archetypal, and the love affair between Broken Sword and Flying Snow, is heartrending in its potential for tragedy. A beautiful film.

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

Hero‘s director Yimou Zhang returns to the themes touched on in the first film. Yun-Fat Chow, the heroic and wholly admirable warrior in Crouching Tiger, Floating Dragon, here plays the autocratic and unforgiving Emperor Ping, returning home after many years’ absence to put his bickering family to rights. But best laid plans go awry, and in a bloodthirsty finale even those he loved are butchered. Matching Chow every step of the way is the magnificent Li Gong as Empress Phoenix, administered medicine that slowly turns her mad by her loving husband, as punishment for an affair with his eldest son. Add on to that some family secrets and a subtext involving incest, and what takes place has all the potential for bloodshed of a Greek or Jacobean tragedy. The final scenes, with Ping outwitting his enemies and then calmly presiding over their execution, are simply masterful, and whereas Hero concentrated on duels here we have mass combat, with ignorant armies clashing by night on an epic scale. In fact ‘the masses’ could almost be taken as a theme of the film, with a conveyor belt feel to much of the action, and the rigidity of court etiquette underlined (each character of royal lineage is ‘announced’ and the hours of the day are shouted by court functionaries). Again, the scenes are beautifully shot, with sumptuous sets and costumes, most impressively in the final battle, where gold armoured warriors trample on a field of chrysanthemums (the golden flower of the title), and yet afterwards all is made new again, as if the lost lives signify nothing. I loved every minute of this film.

The Banquet (2006)

A Chinese film loosely based on Hamlet. The conniving brother murders the emperor and takes his throne. Assassins are sent to dispatch the Crown Prince, in self-imposed exile at an artists’ retreat, but fail. The young empress, who loved the Crown Prince, marries the new Emperor to save his and her own life. Various court intrigues ensue, and at the end, after sundry alarums and excursions, everyone is dead, except the cunning Empress, who has become a somewhat less sympathetic character over the course of the story. And then somebody kills her, but we never know who, and I guess as everybody else of significance is dead we’re meant to think ‘vengeful spirit’. It’s a combination of individual duels and large scale fights (though not on a par with Curse), but with more of an emphasis on bloodshed – in the other films everything appears choreographed, so that the fights are like ballet, with nary a drop of blood spilled, but this is somewhat more earthy, with scenes of blood raining down to the ground and severed heads twisting through the air, albeit still every bit as stylised, simply more graphic and with the suggestion that this too is part of the colour scheme (those reds go so well with the black armour). The emphasis is more on love, with two women competing for the Crown Prince and the lonely boat girl refrain throughout, and power politics, with the plot driven by treachery and megalomania, particularly that of the Empress, her will to power introducing an element of feminism. I didn’t like it as much as the other two films, perhaps because it obviously had less of a budget and also because it was rather slow at times, but the overall story arc was compelling and the acting superb.

I love these films, and others such as House of Flying Daggers, but it’s an affection that gives me concern when I reflect on it, in that they suck all of the horror out of combat, even in scenes such as the massacre at the end of Curse, so that instead of human suffering and genuine pain we are presented with athleticism and grace, a jade riposte to the war is hell epithet. The stories are hero-focused, with the little people simply as crossbow fodder, and all the talk of honour, all the attendant beauty and carefully calculated ceremony, don’t really distract from the stupidity and arrogance of that. The eye falls in love with these films, but the mind interrogates that love and finds much in it that is wanting.

Favourite Chinese movies anyone?

Not all the great visuals are CGI.

(2011) Martial Arts Fantasy (Magnet) Jet Li, Raymond Lam, Eva Huang, Charlene Choi, Zhang Wen, Vivian Hsu, Miriam Yeung Chin Wah (voice) Kar-Ying Law, Suet Lam (voice), Chapman To, Wu Jiang (voice), Gao Hai Bo, Yin You Can, Li Dan, Han Dong. Directed by Siu-Tung Ching

China has a rich and varied history of lore and legend from which they periodically draw inspiration for their films. Fantasy is huge in China, and with a whole pantheon of demons, monsters and God-like creatures to choose from, it’s no wonder that some of the best fantasy films in recent years have come from there. So where does this one stand.

A young herb-gatherer with ambitions of one day becoming a doctor named Xu Xian (R. Lam) is observed picking herbs in the bucolic mountains by White Snake (Huang), a thousand-year-old snake demon who is curious about humans. Her mischievous sister Green Snake (Choi) decides to play a trick on poor old Xu, appearing to him as he climbs up a particularly treacherous section of the mountain which startles the would-be physician so badly that he falls off the mountain and into the lake below. White, realizing that the herb gatherer will drown because of her sister’s prank, goes down into the lake in human form and kisses Xu, not only imparting oxygen to the young man but also part of her vital essence.

Xu can’t stop thinking about his savior nor can White stop thinking about Xu much to Green’s amused disgust. With the dragon boat festival in full swing, White decides she needs to see Xu and Green somewhat bemusedly agrees to help.

Fahai (Li), abbot of the Lei Feng Pagoda, has spent his life tracking down and capturing demons. His apprentice Neng Ren (Wen) is a little bit impetuous and not nearly as strong as his master. While chasing a group of bat demons, Neng meets up with Green without realizing she’s  a demon. White at last with Green’s help finds Xu and decides to reveal to him that she is the one that saved him that day. The two wind up getting married.

This is something Fahai cannot allow as it violates every principle of human-demon relations. Only ill can come of this and he does everything in his power to prevent the union from continuing. White’s love for Xu will have devastating consequences both for him, the Pagoda and possibly for all of China unless Fahai can make things right.

Ching is best known for directing Chinese Ghost Story along with being an action choreographer on several well-known Chinese films. Here he pulls out all the stops in a movie that is drenched with CGI as animated demons, sometimes in the form of their animal totems and sometimes in human shape (the Asian cut of the film features much more of the latter; the American cut has more of the former which is a bit jarring as they come off as kind of Disneyesque creatures with juvenile voices).

Li has progressed into more gruff old man kinds of roles – a decade ago he would have been the herbalist. Although he is no longer as youthful as he once was, he is still as graceful a martial artist as has ever been on the screen and his moves are still just as fluid and economical as they ever were. Plus he has the experience of decades of screen time not to mention his own natural charisma that you just can’t teach.

Lam is a big star in the East but little known here, but he makes for an engaging Xu. His character is a bit naive, a bit unobservant and a bit of a bumbler but fiercely loyal and remarkably brave and selfless. Lam conveys all of that with an easygoing charm. He doesn’t have quite the martial arts proficiency of Li (but in all fairness very few people on the planet do – including those who are martial arts masters) but he pulls off his fight scenes pretty well.

Like most Chinese heroines Huang has an ethereal beauty that is breathtaking. Her sensuality is more coy than overt, a bit schoolgirl-ish at times but there’s no denying her emotional intensity, particularly in her last scenes of the film. I’ve always been partial to Michelle Yeoh among Asian actresses but Huang certainly is one to watch.

Nearly every scene is laden with special effects of the CGI variety. They are less concerned with the realistic nature of CGI in the east than they are here so in some ways the effects look less practiced than they do on major Hollywood films but they get the job done. The fight scenes, surprisingly, are less compelling; the choreography is almost an afterthought and there isn’t a lot of care given to those scenes seemingly, which is extremely disappointing.

Still, this is a movie worth seeing. It’s available on VOD right now and in theaters in selected cities. Martial arts fans will no doubt be making a beeline to see anything with Li in it to begin with but to see a major production such as this with such a venerated director. This isn’t the best work by either of them, but it’s good enough to take the time to find it.

REASONS TO GO: Somewhat sweet-natured and inventive. Always good to see Li.

REASONS TO STAY: Fight scenes are disappointingly banal. Special effects not up to Western standards.

FAMILY VALUES:  Action of a fantasy variety, a few images that might be too disturbing for the very young and a bit of sensuality.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Li complained later that this was one of his most tiring roles because most of his fighting opponents were women for whom he’d have to hold back some but who would go all out on him.

CRITICAL MASS: As of 2/10/13: Rotten Tomatoes: 21% positive reviews. Metacritic: 41/100; the reviews are pretty dismal.

COMPARISON SHOPPING: Hero

FINAL RATING: 6.5/10

NEXT: Cinema of the Heart 2013 Day One

In a nutshell, this legend tells the story of two snake sisters, White and Green, who take on human form after several centuries of training (a full millennium for White, only half that for Green), with the White sister falling in love with a young wandering scholar, Xu Xian, and setting up housekeeping with him, while Green sets out to explore the human world on her own. Fahai is a Buddhist monk who seeks to rid the world of demons and sets out to send the snake sisters back to their world. At some point, one of the two lovers, depending on which version you see, dies or is seriously wounded, and the other one has to climb an island cliff to find a special herb that will cure their partner. A spectacular battle with Fahai ensues, involving mountains of sea water, with the two lovers eventually being reunited (or not, depending on which version).

The previous film versions that I own copies of are the following:

MADAME WHITE SNAKE (1956/Japan) Director: Shiro Toyoda. Star: Shirley Yamaguchi.

HAKUJADEN (1958/Japan, aka LEGEND OF THE WHITE SNAKE, aka PANDA AND THE MAGIC SERPENT—U.S. release title) Animated. Director: Taiji Yabushita.

MADAM WHITE SNAKE (1962/Hong Kong, aka BAI SHE ZHUAN) Director: Yueh Feng. Stars: Linda Lin Dai, Margaret Tu Chuan. Producer: Shaw Bros.

GREEN SNAKE (1993/Hong Kong) Director: Tsui Hark. Stars: Joey Wang, Maggie Cheung.

As I recall, the two earlier live-action versions (1956 and 1962) are notably short on special effects and focus entirely on the two lovers and their story. I don’t recall much about the 1956 version, which stars Shirley Yamaguchi, the co-star of Sam Fuller’s HOUSE OF BAMBOO from the previous year, which I wrote about here on August 12, 2012, but it was pretty low-key, despite being one of Japan’s earliest color movies. The 1962 Hong Kong version with Lin Dai is done in the “Huangmei Opera” style, in which much of the dialogue is sung. I reviewed it on IMDB and my views were decidedly mixed. Here’s the link:

Madam White Snake

I have the animated film HAKUJADEN in two versions: a Japanese-language-only DVD of the original Japanese print, and a VHS copy of PANDA AND THE MAGIC SERPENT, the cut, English-dubbed version. This was the first true Japanese animated commercial feature film and is generally considered the beginning of anime as we know it and was certainly the start of the animation industry in Japan. This version has songs and comical talking animal characters, including a panda and a red panda, the devoted pets of the young scholar, and a pig who runs an animal gang that the pandas eventually join. It’s all quite beautifully animated and designed but, in a bid by the animators to slavishly copy the Disney style, the animal characters tend to dominate the proceedings and shift the story away from the lovers for long stretches. The English dub used Asian-American performers, including Lisa Lu (see my blog entries of Jan. 8, 2013 and June 30, 2012) and Miiko Taka (SAYONARA).

Arguably, the best version of this story, at least among these five, is Tsui Hark’s GREEN SNAKE (1993), which is filled with imaginative special effects, achieved largely through wire work and mechanical methods, in real time and in front of the camera. It also features two decidedly more sexually aggressive snake sisters, as portrayed so vigorously by Joey Wang and Maggie Cheung, which adds a distinctly erotic flavor to a number of scenes. This is easily the most exciting and entertaining of the versions I’ve seen.

Maggie Cheung as the title character in GREEN SNAKE

THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE focuses on the love story between Susu (White Snake) and Xu Xian, a young man who is not exactly a scholar here, but more of an itinerant herbalist, who is called on to treat victims of a plague at one point and is given crucial aid by Susu, who has become his wife. Green Snake has a romance of her own with Neng Ren, a young monk who’s the sidekick of Fahai. In a novel touch, Neng Ren gets bitten by a bat demon (who looks like something out of European horror lore) and slowly transforms into demon form himself, which only encourages Green Snake’s affections even more. (This subplot is treated comically.) When Susu lies sick and dying, from a dagger wound delivered to her while in snake form by her unsuspecting husband, Xu Xian goes to the island pagoda where a special “spirit herb” is found and must retrieve it to treat his wife. Fahai and his disciples follow him and continue the battle with demons there.

The film contains several action and special effects sequences, including a lively one early on in the midst of a lantern festival where Fahai leaps along a string of boats and bridges in a canal to pursue with great speed the aforementioned winged bat demon and rescue Neng Ren from his clutches. There’s a group of female fox demons later on who have begun killing residents of a village by sucking out their life force, forcing Fahai and his army of disciples to chase them into a bamboo forest and battle them with magical tools. The big climactic finale involves the flooding of the pagoda and a battle between various forces there over the soul of Xu Xian.

Interestingly, this version includes a number of CGI-created talking animal characters, harking back to the cartoon animals in PANDA AND THE MAGIC SERPENT. In one clever scene, Susu recruits her animal friends to take on human form and act the roles of her parents and family to give Xu Xian the permission he needs to court and marry Susu. The turtle and white rabbit play the roles of her parents, and a monkey, a frog, and a chicken become other family members, with all the roles played as cameos by prominent Hong Kong actors. It’s an amusing scene, but it could have been played for laughs rather than chuckles, if only a little more comic imagination had been put into its creation. Instead, the filmmakers seem to think the idea alone is all that’s needed and fail to develop any real gags out of it.

Later on, a helpful rat, joining Xu Xian on his mission to find the spirit herb, leads an army of rats to break the human chain of monks keeping the now-demon-possessed Xu Xian a prisoner. As a New York resident, I take a dim view of rat behavior, no matter how “heroic” their antics may be deemed.

The special effects are largely done with CGI. If you watch the “Making of” feature that is included on the DVD, you’ll see numerous scenes of actors suspended on cables in front of green screens. (Jet Li seems to have done most of his role this way.)

The CGI is generally well done and some of the images are indeed quite spectacular, such as the early scenes showing the snake sisters.

The big problem for me is that there was no real imagination at work in most of these sequences. The effects served their function, but I never got the sense that I was seeing anything new or exciting. These sequences didn’t seem to have the emotional content these scenes used to have in Hong Kong film, a sense of characters being challenged, transcending their limitations, and accomplishing something in their battles. There was no feeling of relief or satisfaction at the end of these sequences. There was also way more CGI than was necessary. For instance, we see White Snake in full-on snake form much more than we needed to. The snake form was always subtly suggested in past versions rather than explicitly shown, creating more magic in the viewer’s mind that way.

I kept thinking back to all those Hong Kong “wire-fu” extravaganzas of the early 1990s, many of which also starred Jet Li and many of which were directed by this film’s director, Tony Ching Siu-Tung. These include KUNG FU CULT MASTER, SWORDSMAN II, SWORDSMAN III: THE EAST IS RED, DRAGON INN, ROYAL TRAMP II, and, of course, the aforementioned GREEN SNAKE. The effects in those films were generally done by mechanical methods, in front of the camera, in real time, usually with life-sized props, but occasionally using miniature sets. When the actors flew across a courtyard in Ancient China, you knew that that actor was really flying across that set (suspended on unseen wires, of course) and really landing on that pagoda terrace. When characters in SWORDSMAN III leap up and remove the sails from Japanese and Spanish warships to fly across the water, the result was breathtaking. I’d never seen anything like that before. In film after film, there was something that made my jaw drop. There’s nothing comparable in THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE. And I suspect that’s the case with a lot of CGI fantasies coming from Hong Kong/China these days.

Brigitte Lin as Asia the Invincible in SWORDSMAN III: THE EAST IS RED:

Thankfully, though, the film concentrates on the love story between Susu and Xu Xian and in this regard it succeeds admirably. I believed in this couple and was enthralled by their tender love scenes together, something that was not always convincingly portrayed in past versions. The dialogue in these scenes is quite eloquent as well.

Eva Huang, who plays Susu, is very beautiful and looks truly enchanting in closeup when she smiles lovingly at Xu Xian. (Today, Feb. 11, is her 30th birthday.) To the film’s credit, the makers seem to have understood how charismatic she is and give her a lot of closeups. I’m not familiar with the actress, although she appeared in KUNG FU HUSTLE (2004). If she’s the one who played the object of Stephen Chow’s affections in that, then I remember her quite well and was impressed with her in that one as well. This is the first film I’ve seen with Raymond Lam, who plays Xu Xian, and he’s quite good. One of the things that makes their relationship work so well in the film is that we see them doing things together, such as the scene where he mixes herbal potions to administer to plague victims and Susu secretly breathes some of her own life essence into the potions to give them added power and help her husband out, at great cost to her own health. This is also a novel touch and adds something to the emotional core of the film and the whole concept of sacrifice for love. The ending is more tragic here than in some of the other versions.

The subplot involving Green Snake and Neng Ren (Zhang Wen) is not given as much attention and is not as well handled. There are long stretches without these characters. (I’m a fan of the Twins and was eager to see more of Ms. Choi.)

There’s a lush romantic soundtrack by Mark Lui, who’s scored other films I like, including Tsui Hark’s THE LOVERS (1994), a remake of the famed “Butterfly Lovers” tale. Lui’s score in that one reworks the famous “Butterfly Lovers” concerto by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao to great effect.

Jet Li is starting to look his age here (he turns 50 on April 26 of this year), which suits the role of the dour monk quite well. It’s funny watching him laughing in the “Making of” footage as he contends with the cables and flying scenes that are old hat to him by now.

I enjoy the story of the Legend of the White Snake and the different film versions, with my greatest affections going to GREEN SNAKE and HAKUJADEN. It’s always nice to see a new take on this classic tale. I just hope the next one brings something fresh and imaginative to the table. I’m now eager to re-watch the other versions and do a full-scale comparison.

“Gong hay fat choy!”

Yes. Disneyland HK. It cost around 399HKD. Honestly, it’s my first time to go to a Disneyland. When I was younger, I would just hear stories about it from my cousins from the USA. Close enough.We had to ride a train from Sunny Valley to the Disneyland. It was a short ride but look how cute their window is!!!
From the outside. We went around 12 noon and we thought that we will have all the rides to ourselves since it’s a weekday. But hell hath no fury like a young adult scorned! People are running towards the gate, kagulo much.
Hot and Cold, but it is hotter during midday
Ticketing counter. I always wanted to have the Mickey mouse headband but went with a sun-visor instead, wrong move.  That’s what she saidHere, you can learn how to draw/sketch Disney cartoon characters. Pooh was our subject that time. Cool buildings, by the way. In preparation for Chinese New Year.
Mickey Waffles!!! Too cute to eat. The taste was okay. Nothing special. But hey, Mickey is so fine.
I wanted this to be my house when I move to London!  The Castle, where all the magic happensSEEING DOUBLE? Twins! Queuing with them to have a photo opportunity with Pluto Lion King! Mad.Great singers/performers Tarzan’s tree house

DAY 3. This is the Hang Tau Village in Sheung Shui. Just 2 MTR station away from Shenzhen, China! I want me some Orange. But this lady is watching her oranges quite well.  Lines!!! Love the bridge. It kind of look like the Golden Gate bridge.Chi Lin Nunnery. A peaceful place in between of hustle and bustle of HK city. OH DI BA! If you want to just relax and feel like you are outside of the city. This is the place to be. This is their place of worship, so be quiet and respect their privacy. They don’t like the idea of taking photographs of their idols. Diba, they love gardening.  Nan Lian Garden. view from the Nunnery
Sooo syempre Tom Jones/Hunger Games na kame. We decided to try something from Mong Kok. Minced pork with Egg+ Nai Cha= 35 HKD!!! HK by day  HK by nightgolden gate bridge???   DAY 4 We ate t Eat Together! Repetitive much? It is really cheap to eat at Mong Kok. The meal is around 35 HKD plus the Milk Tea. Pan grilled chicken. Wagas sa rice. Push mo yan Avenue of the Stars Symphony of Lights starts at 8PM! But be there early because a lot of people are swarming there by 7:30 pm. The peak!!! Victoria’s Peak.

Floating Pasta
Day 5. Architecture porn. Food at the airport. Ham, Fish fillet, bun, Ham and Macaroni soup, and milk tea.  Avenue of the Stars by day.I just wanted to see the Avenue at midday. I appreciate it more.  WATTATim Ho Wan!!! at MTR station near the IFC Mall. There were some directions that lead us to IFC Mall. Good thing, the concierge lady helped us to get to this place. HEAVEN!!! Though we had to wait and eat with people at the same table with touching elbow distance, the food was GREAT. White paper for the foreigners for English menu. And for Cantonese speakers, green card is given. Just tick the box of what you wanted to order and then wait for your number to be called and to be seated accordingly.
I forgot to list the food that we ordered. But order away anyway, our cravings was satisfied and more.SLEEPING AT THE AIRPORT because we are on a budget. HAHAHAHA. :3Hong Kong is a very organizecd city, by means of transportation, to the MTR. You can never get lost. You can take the train or bus, buy something from 7 11 and use Octopus card. You can watch the symphony of lights for FREE, and get to see what the City of Skyscrapers meant.

WHAT I WANTED TO TRY WHEN I GET BACK!!!

• Island Hopping 
• Macau and Shen Zhen trip
• Ocean Park
• Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum

Happy travels! -G

I needed something I knew would entertain me after watching two movies in the mediocre range. You never go wrong with Jet Li when it comes to action. Even tho I’ve seen this movie 4-5 times I keep forgetting Jason Statham being in it … weird. I must admit I find the policebike scene with Doug Savant kind of uhmm awkward but the rest of the movie I love. I just think that when he lifts them motorbikes it looks stupid. Nice tiny cameo appearance by the way Doug *lol* such a recognizable actor.

Lots of nice action scenes in this movie, in all the times I’ve seen this movie I’ve never thought any less of it … I enjoy it just as much every time I watch it. I think the whole plot/story is awesome and the movie has a cool soundtrack, cast and the cinematography is great. Jet Li has a pretty cool rating average on his movies which are produced in the western hemisphere compared to most actors/actresses from Asia. In fact I can’t come up with even one I don’t like. This is one of my favorites tho … For the record, the universe with the Swedish Jet Li (Sven) always makes me laugh my arse off every time I watch the movie even tho it’s just a picture …

..I rate this movie 8/10 stars..

The Expendables 2. 2012. Estados Unidos. Dir: Simon West.

Les cuento. El cine hasta la bandera, la cola en el vestíbulo al borde del vahído a causa del calor pegajoso, un tipo en traje militar de camuflaje, casco incluido; por un momento recordé la matanza de Colorado… Encontrar el cine atestado se está convirtiendo en algo cotidiano –al menos los días de estreno-, no sé si porque la gente está aprovechando el tiempo antes de la inminente subida del IVA o quizás se deba a que, efectivamente, los años cincuenta están volviendo no sólo en su versión político-separadora de sexos y económico-subsistente, sino que también sus mecanismos de ocio reaparecen. Justo ahora que ir al cine se había convertido en algo tan residual como comprar heroína y ya le estaba empezando a coger el gusto a ver películas de grandes directores sólo, o levemente acompañado, como si estuvieras viendo El fontanero, su mujer y otras cosas de meter o alguna película prohibida. También puede que la razón sea más sencilla que todo esto; es de lo pocos sitios del centro que tienen un buen aire acondicionado y puede salvarte en un momento dado de la canícula veraniega. También el cierre de Megaupload ha hecho de las suyas, no hay nada como prohibir. Sea como sea, el caso es que algo –parece- está cambiando y los empleados del cine -que son cada vez menos y se han transformado un una única figura que vende las entradas, limpia la sala después de cada sesión y proyecta la película- han inmortalizado estos instantes propios de otro tiempo con sus cámaras de fotos. Sucedió también este verano en el estreno de El Caballero Oscuro: la leyenda renace; antes de la proyección de la misma, observé cómo –discretamente- los trabajadores se situaban en lugares estratégicos de la sala, cuales francotiradores, estupefactos, como si hubiesen esperado ese momento durante años y ahora les pillara desprevenidos. La expectación ante el regreso de Batman era mucha después de su anterior entrega marcada por la muerte de Heath Ledger y aún así me pareció desmedida la afluencia de público. Pero Batman es historia para otro momento -yo también creo, como Santiago Roncagliolo, que Bane es el mejor alcalde de la historia de Nueva York- y no es el porqué de este texto que ya ha empezado demasiado desviado.

La razón de tanta fila condenada y del cartel –inédito en los últimos diez años- de “no hay billetes” es el estreno de la pirámide de testosterona llamada The Expendables 2. Vi la primera parte en su día y mi cerebro ya la había borrado por completo así que esta secuela puede decirse que es algo nuevo. Del museo de cera han retirado a Mickey Rourke y en su lugar han colocado las estatuas de Chuck Norris y Jean-Claude Van Damme, otorgando más horror –si cabe- al plantel de mercenarios. Otro cambio es la sustitución de Jet Li por su compatriota Yu Nan, una aguerrida fémina que también se une a la fiesta de mamporros. La película es absolutamente ridícula pero entretenida; da vergüenza ajena constantemente y te ríes si sabes a lo que vas. El comienzo es trepidante, los mercenarios gastan una cantidad de balas de fogueo que seguro supera el PIB de algún país, la sangre está digitalizada al estilo del cine Hong-Kong porque sería muy tedioso transportar la cisterna que gastan por escena, y en un momentito convierten el montañoso Nepal en un descampado lleno de chatarra. Me ha sorprendido que al final de la película, en el apartado del Story by aparezcan tres fulanos para escribir semejante chorrada. En fin. Lo grotesco emerge prácticamente en cualquier plano que escojamos aunque sea al azar, todo en The Expendables 2 es penoso y la auto-parodia de musculosos sesentones en declive es de lo poco interesante de la cinta. El otro interés residía en saber a quiénes iban a hacer pedazos los mercenarios; en esta ocasión, además de los nepalíes, los malos son una especie de mafia georgiana o de algún país cercano que –por supuesto- quiere vender plutonio a enemigos potenciales de los Estados Unidos.

Eastern Film Fans Presents : The top 13 films of 2013

Welcome to a preview of the best Asian films of 2013 that you don’t want to miss.

Number 13: The Assassins

Shu Qi stars in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s much talked about martial Arts epic which centres around Shu Qi who is trained by a Taoist Nun to become an assassin and then asked to kill her lover.

The Assassin will be a wuxia film and filmed in China, Taiwan and Japan the film also stars Chang Chen and Satoshi Tsumabuki.  The film may not make the end of 2013 but its defiantly a film that will both excite and be a visual treat.

Number 12: Once Upon a Time in Shanghai

Philip Ng, Sammo Hung and Andy On head this line up which sees Philip Ng move to Shanghai in the 1920′s as a labourer but end up using his fists.

There is a buzz growing for this movie with Philip Ng looking to take a lead role, need more persuasion, a certain Mr Yuen Woo-ping is choreographer.

There is no footage as yet but there is a great looking trailer which you can see HERE that reminds  me of the old Shaw Brother classics from yesteryear.

Number 11: Ip Man The Final Fight

Herman Yau brings us the Life of the grandmaster with Anthony Wong taking up the title role.

You know that your going to get a story with Herman Yau steering the ship and I’m excited to see what he brings to the story with Wong playing Ip man from his 40′s onwards.

Alongside Wong there is Eric Tsang and Jordan Chan and the action packs a punch in the Trailer HERE.

Number 10: Badges of Fury

Jet li will star along side Colin Chou and Wu Jing in this modern action movie.   With that line up and plenty of films set in the past it will be nice to get a modern day action genre movie.

Previously this movie was entitled The One Detective and will see two cops investigate a series of murders that will see one cop go undercover to find out who the killer is.

Jet li taking on Colin Chou again, yes please

Number 9:  Fist of Legend

Not the Jet Li film but a Korean film from Kang Woo-suk .  This sees a group of guys formerly legends take to a reality TV series to fight for a cash prize.

You know when you watch a Korean movie your going to get gritty this one looks like its going to shine with it based on the popular webtoon.

Hwang Jung-min, Lee Yo-wan and Yoo Jun-sang star in this fight fest and you can check out the trailer HERE

Number 8: MMA

Dante Lam has been churning out solid action flicks for several years and also has The Demon Within due this year but MMA looks set to bring the action.

Nick Cheung stars as an ex boxing champion who flees to Macau and trains up an up and coming boxer and in the process finds his spirit.

Number 7: Drug War

Can you have a top 13 without a Johnnie To movie, answer no.  So Drug war will bring the gun totting style.

Louis koo  and Sun Honglei star as drug lord and police captain in this tale of drugs and war, well clue was in the title.

Expect the same bold story and character arcs as he re-teams with screenwriter Wai ka-fei.  Early word suggests another hit in the making and you can catch the Trailer HERE

Number 6: Special Identity

Special Identity is a modern day action film that has Donnie Yen go toe to toe with Andy On and early reports say a 10 minute fight scene where they really go hard.

Zhang Hanyu , Jiang Tian and Colin Chou make up the cast and if this is anywhere near the heights of Sha Po Lang and Flashpoint action movie fans are gonna be very happy indeed.

Number 5: Iceman Cometh 3D

Donnie Yen will thrill us again in the remake of this Yuen Biao classic, with a support cast of  Wang Baoqiang, Simon Yam and Eva Huang.

The story tells the tale of a of an Imperial Guard from the Ming Dynasty wrongly accused of murder, when the guardsmen try and stop him they get caught in an avalanche only to be woken 300 years later in modern day Hong Kong.

Im hoping that Yuen Biao gets a cameo be also nice to see Yuen Wah pop up, the original was a classic and had some great fight scenes heres hoping Donnie Yen can bring it to the sequel.

Number 4: Tom Yum Goong 2

Tony Jaa is back with his follow up to The Protector and shot in 3D.  So will the no CGI and Wire work being a key sell point on his previous projects now at the forefront of his latest venture put anyone off ?  Word is that he’s also in talks to star in a Sammo Hung feature along side none other than Jean Claude van Damme.

Number 3: Police Story 2013

Jackie Chan returns to the role that made him with what’s set to be another gritty slice of Police life.  Jackie Chan will hook up with Director Deng Sheng from Little big Soldier which sees Jackie take on criminals that take hostages in this thriller set in Beijing.

With Jackie having given us a crowd pleasing stunt fest thrill in A Chinese Zodiac I suspect that this film will see more of a gritty cop thriller with the story being the driver of the movie rather than the stunts. Expectation is high and Jackie needs another hit.

Number 2: Berandal

The sequel to The Raid has started with Gareth Evans promising a bigger film with some epic fight and stunt scenes.  This one will be high on films to look out for as The raid really did deliver and was the surprise hit of 2012.

News coming through suggest Matsuda Ryuhei , Endo Kenichi and Kitamura Kazuki will join the cast with Evans citing that Japanese cinema was a major influence growing up.

NUMBER 1: THE GRANDMASTER

There can only be one and early buzz is that this is gonna be a visual explosion.  Kar Wai-Wong brings his long awaited story of Martial Arts Master Ip Man to the big screen.  Tony Leung takes up the Ip man role with Ziyi Zhang, Cung Le and Chen Chang.

Actions scenes are plentiful and with the master of cinema bringing the Grandmaster to the screen is reason enough to make this your number one priority for 2013. Trailer HERE

from left: ADMU Ricardo Leong Center Dir. Sidney Christopher Bata, Shangri-la Plaza Mktg. Div Head Marline Concio-Dualan, ADMU Editor and Publications Head Julie Javellana-Santos, Confucius Inst. Coordinator Cris Gilbert Garcia and ADMU Ricardo Leong Center Coordinator Marianne Ho. Photo was taken during the press preview of PIANO IN A FACTORY. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which will be held from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Written and Photographed

By Jude Bautista

Now on it’s 7^th edition the Spring film fest has grown to other cities.  What has become a yearly tradition of the best Chinese films screened for free at the Shang Cineplex running from February 1-10, 2013 has now expanded to Cebu, Davao, Ilo ilo and Cagayan De Oro. Moviegoers last year got to watch Chinese stars like Jet Li, for free. This year JASMINE WOMEN stars Zhang Zi Yi of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame. All the screenings are free admission and seats are on a first come-first served basis.

Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) Ricardo Leong Center Dir. Sidney Bata said, “We’re setting our goal at 20,000 apart from Cebu and Davao we’re adding Ilo ilo and Cagayan De Oro. This year we’ll be having 6 films. Its still free to the public. The films will be PIANO IN A FACTORY, THE STORM WARRIORS, GOLDEN TIMES, JASMINE WOMEN, 2 BECOME 1 and SPACE DREAM.”

Bata explained that because of their new partnership with the Film Development Council of the Phil (FDCP) they are able to extend the screening to more cities, “Last year we got 12,000 in total viewers, for Manila, Cebu and Davao. This year’s goal is to have 20,000. FDCP will add four other venues, so fingers crossed, we will achieve the target.” He also thanks Phil Daily Inquirer writer Bayani San Diego for referring them to the FDCP, which used their venues, the Cinematheque in key cities: Cebu (Feb 10), Ilo-ilo (Feb 4), Cagayan De Oro  (Feb 7-Limketkai center) and Davao (Feb 7).

Bata added, “Kaya naming na pili yung film festival dahil a lot of Filipinos are movie goers. Moviegoers talaga ang Pinoy. To see a movie you can see a lot of aspects of a culture. In an hour and a half marami ka na mapapanood. There’s history, politics, current events and society marami na. And na feature natin dito na films about the migrants, about the technology in China medyo na covered na a lot of aspects na Chinese. As we all know Chinese really don’t know the Filipino culture and vice versa. We’re thinking through films we’d really be bridging the gap faster than reading a book or traveling to China.”

Sponsors according to him really helped with the fest, “We started last year. We believe that with Shangrila (Plaza) helping us we’d be fine with Manila. We are giving it free for the public. Last year nag start yung free admission, which came about through the help of sponsors. We’d like to thank: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Confucius Institute, Ateneo Celadon, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Credit Suisse, Film Development Council of the Philippines, Limketkai Center, Cha Time, Richprime Global Inc., Citisec Online Financial, Chevrolet, Flexo Marketing, Raphyten Marketing, Lyric Piano, Baby Mossimo Kids, First Estan Trading, Teresa Marble and Footzone Greenhills.”

From left: ADMU Ricardo Leong Center Dir. Sidney Christopher Bata and ADMU Celadon Proj. Head George Pang. Photo was taken during the press preview of PIANO IN A FACTORY. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which will be held from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Cooperation from educational institutions like Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan University, Sacred Heart School, Ateneo de Cebu, Ateneo de Davao University, University of San Carlos, Ateneo de Ilo-ilo, Santa Maria Catholic School also helped in bringing the fest to other cities.

He also credits media sponsors like Business World, Chalk Magazine, HerWord.com, RX93 and Chinoy TV help promote their event grow.

Simultaneous with the film fest is the launch of Chinese Painting in the Philippines, a 180-page art book featuring the works of notable Chinese-Filipino artists. The compilation celebrates the past and present generations of painters who have passionately devoted themselves to enrich the practice of Chinese painting in the Philippines.

Finally, happening at the same time at the Grand Atrium is the 2013 Spring Festival Chinese Painting Exhibit, which aims to promote Filipino-made Chinese paintings and encourage the emergence of new talents that will continue the rich legacy of the ancient art in the country. Meanwhile, the On the Wings of Culture Chinese Photo Exhibit at the Shang’s 4th level, features images and scenes that depict the new wave of cultural reform now taking place in China.

PROVIDED SYNOPSES of films:

Catch 2 BECOME 1 and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

All the screenings are free admission and seats are on a first come-first served basis.

2 Become 1 opens the film fest on February 1. Here, advertising executive Bingo Leung finds new meaning in her once carefree life after discovering a lump in her breast and begins a close relationship with Doctor V and teenage friend, Sing. Screening shortly after is Piano in a Factory, a multi-awarded family drama on a father’s struggle in going through divorce and fighting for custody of his daughter, while trying to pursue his passion in the low-paying music industry.

PIANO IN A FACTORY stars Tokyo Intl Fest Best Actor Wang Qianyuan. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

THE STORM WARRIORS stars Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Storm Warriors, special effects-laden, Hong Kong fantasy action film that chronicles the war between Lord Nameless and his battle against his nemesis Lord Godless, who imprisoned his soldiers, raided and took over his land. Award-winning film Jasmine Women, starring Zhang Ziyi and directed by Hou Young. The film tells the story of a family’s struggle to overcome its tragic history, as each daughter repeats the mistakes of her mother.

JASMINE WOMEN stars Zhang Zi Yi and Joan Chen. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Catch SPACE DREAM and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Space Dream, follows the story of Zhang Tiancong, a veteran member of the first generation of Chinese astronauts, who—despite now being in his 40s—has never been given a space mission yet. Golden Times, a touching story about teacher Fang and police officer Sun Dayang, who put up “Home for the Left-Behind children”, to care for those whose parents have migrated to find work in the cities.  

For inquiries, contact 633-7851 loc.113 or log on to http://www.shangrila-plaza.com. Add Shangri-La Plaza on Facebook: shangrilaplazaofficialfanpage.

Catch GOLDEN TIMES and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

from left: ADMU Ricardo Leong Center Dir. Sidney Christopher Bata, Shangri-la Plaza Mktg. Div Head Marline Concio-Dualan, ADMU Editor and Publications Head Julie Javellana-Santos, Confucius Inst. Coordinator Cris Gilbert Garcia and ADMU Ricardo Leong Center Coordinator Marianne Ho. Photo was taken during the press preview of PIANO IN A FACTORY. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which will be held from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Written and Photographed

By Jude Bautista

Now on it’s 7^th edition the Spring film fest has grown to other cities.  What has become a yearly tradition of the best Chinese films screened for free at the Shang Cineplex running from February 1-10, 2013 has now expanded to Cebu, Davao, Ilo ilo and Cagayan De Oro. Moviegoers last year got to watch Chinese stars like Jet Li, for free. This year JASMINE WOMEN stars Zhang Zi Yi of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame. All the screenings are free admission and seats are on a first come-first served basis.

Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) Ricardo Leong Center Dir. Sidney Bata said, “We’re setting our goal at 20,000 apart from Cebu and Davao we’re adding Ilo ilo and Cagayan De Oro. This year we’ll be having 6 films. Its still free to the public. The films will be PIANO IN A FACTORY, THE STORM WARRIORS, GOLDEN TIMES, JASMINE WOMEN, 2 BECOME 1 and SPACE DREAM.”

Bata explained that because of their new partnership with the Film Development Council of the Phil (FDCP) they are able to extend the screening to more cities, “Last year we got 12,000 in total viewers, for Manila, Cebu and Davao. This year’s goal is to have 20,000. FDCP will add four other venues, so fingers crossed, we will achieve the target.” He also thanks Phil Daily Inquirer writer Bayani San Diego for referring them to the FDCP, which used their venues, the Cinematheque in key cities: Cebu (Feb 10), Ilo-ilo (Feb 4), Cagayan De Oro  (Feb 7-Limketkai center) and Davao (Feb 7).

Bata added, “Kaya naming na pili yung film festival dahil a lot of Filipinos are movie goers. Moviegoers talaga ang Pinoy. To see a movie you can see a lot of aspects of a culture. In an hour and a half marami ka na mapapanood. There’s history, politics, current events and society marami na. And na feature natin dito na films about the migrants, about the technology in China medyo na covered na a lot of aspects na Chinese. As we all know Chinese really don’t know the Filipino culture and vice versa. We’re thinking through films we’d really be bridging the gap faster than reading a book or traveling to China.”

Sponsors according to him really helped with the fest, “We started last year. We believe that with Shangrila (Plaza) helping us we’d be fine with Manila. We are giving it free for the public. Last year nag start yung free admission, which came about through the help of sponsors. We’d like to thank: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Confucius Institute, Ateneo Celadon, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Credit Suisse, Film Development Council of the Philippines, Limketkai Center, Cha Time, Richprime Global Inc., Citisec Online Financial, Chevrolet, Flexo Marketing, Raphyten Marketing, Lyric Piano, Baby Mossimo Kids, First Estan Trading, Teresa Marble and Footzone Greenhills.”

From left: ADMU Ricardo Leong Center Dir. Sidney Christopher Bata and ADMU Celadon Proj. Head George Pang. Photo was taken during the press preview of PIANO IN A FACTORY. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which will be held from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Cooperation from educational institutions like Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan University, Sacred Heart School, Ateneo de Cebu, Ateneo de Davao University, University of San Carlos, Ateneo de Ilo-ilo, Santa Maria Catholic School also helped in bringing the fest to other cities.

He also credits media sponsors like Business World, Chalk Magazine, HerWord.com, RX93 and Chinoy TV help promote their event grow.

Simultaneous with the film fest is the launch of Chinese Painting in the Philippines, a 180-page art book featuring the works of notable Chinese-Filipino artists. The compilation celebrates the past and present generations of painters who have passionately devoted themselves to enrich the practice of Chinese painting in the Philippines.

Finally, happening at the same time at the Grand Atrium is the 2013 Spring Festival Chinese Painting Exhibit, which aims to promote Filipino-made Chinese paintings and encourage the emergence of new talents that will continue the rich legacy of the ancient art in the country. Meanwhile, the On the Wings of Culture Chinese Photo Exhibit at the Shang’s 4th level, features images and scenes that depict the new wave of cultural reform now taking place in China.

PROVIDED SYNOPSES of films: 

Catch 2 BECOME 1 and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

All the screenings are free admission and seats are on a first come-first served basis.

2 Become 1 opens the film fest on February 1. Here, advertising executive Bingo Leung finds new meaning in her once carefree life after discovering a lump in her breast and begins a close relationship with Doctor V and teenage friend, Sing. Screening shortly after is Piano in a Factory, a multi-awarded family drama on a father’s struggle in going through divorce and fighting for custody of his daughter, while trying to pursue his passion in the low-paying music industry.

PIANO IN A FACTORY stars Tokyo Intl Fest Best Actor Wang Qianyuan. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

THE STORM WARRIORS stars Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Storm Warriors, special effects-laden, Hong Kong fantasy action film that chronicles the war between Lord Nameless and his battle against his nemesis Lord Godless, who imprisoned his soldiers, raided and took over his land. Award-winning film Jasmine Women, starring Zhang Ziyi and directed by Hou Young. The film tells the story of a family’s struggle to overcome its tragic history, as each daughter repeats the mistakes of her mother.

JASMINE WOMEN stars Zhang Zi Yi and Joan Chen. Catch it and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Catch SPACE DREAM and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

Space Dream, follows the story of Zhang Tiancong, a veteran member of the first generation of Chinese astronauts, who—despite now being in his 40s—has never been given a space mission yet. Golden Times, a touching story about teacher Fang and police officer Sun Dayang, who put up “Home for the Left-Behind children”, to care for those whose parents have migrated to find work in the cities.   

For inquiries, contact 633-7851 loc.113 or log on to http://www.shangrila-plaza.com. Add Shangri-La Plaza on Facebook: shangrilaplazaofficialfanpage.

Catch GOLDEN TIMES and many more Chinese films for free at the 7th Spring Film fest, which runs from February 1-10, 2013 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Plaza Mall.

The retrospective mix is the first of 5 and features 19 of the biggest Grime tracks from the golden era of Grime, with songs by pioneering artists including Dizzee Rascal and Wiley amongst others.

Download Pure Grime Vol.1 here.

Tracklisting:

01  Jammer – Destruction feat Wiley, D Double E, Kano & Durrty Goodz

02  Dizzee Rascal – Ice Rink [Freestyle]

03  Dizzee Rascal – I Luv U

04  Ruff Sqwad – Tings In Boots feat Rapid, Slicks & Tinchy Stryder

05  D Double E – Birds In The Sky

06  Big-E-D – Frontline feat D Double E

07  Demon – Gangsta Toyz feat Kano

08  Napper – Sick Hungry Mad Thugs feat Lethal B & Jookie Mundo

09  East Connection – Cock Back feat Jookie Mundo & Demon

10  NASTY – Cock Back feat Hyper, Crazy Titch, D Double E & Riko

11  Demon – Armshouse

12  Spider B – Ring Ring feat Shizzle & Fresh

13  NASTY & Jammer – Good U Know feat Stormin, Sharky Major & Armour

14  Flowdan – Big Mic Man

15  Roll Deep – Regular feat Jamakabi, Flowdan, Dizzee Rascal & Wiley

16  More Fire Crew – Lockdown

17  Roll Deep – Bounce feat Dizzee Rascal, Biggie Pitbull, Scratchy, Breeze, Jet Li, Jamakabi, Bubbles, Flowdan & Wiley

18  NASTY – Take U Out feat Sharky Major, Bigga-Man, D Double E, Hyper & Kano

19  Kano – Vice Versa (Boys Love Girls)

Look out for Pure Grime Volume Two due for release in March.

Last night my dream consisted of various mundane happenings occurring as I made many dimensional jumps. Each dimension was slightly off, slightly darker than the last. The mundane turned into adventurous, the adventurous turned into slightly life threatening. I started to feel like my surroundings were beginning to take on the features of Skyrim!

The last of my interdimensional shifts brought me to a post-apocalyptic United States. Many parts of the United States were still intact and largely untouched, but some were breathtakingly void of light or life.

I found myself in a military helicopter, with just the pilot and Will Smith circa Independence Day as companions. We were moving north up the coast of California. Our destination was San Francisco. We had a job to do there; what it was, I have no idea.

The sky was pitch black, but not from the darkness, but from a thick, black, toxic cloud hanging low over the city. The sun was setting, casting a burnt orange wash of color against the western faces of the buildings.

We maintained a low altitude, getting a good look at how desolate the city had become. The buildings were all hollowed out from fire or looting. Windows were smashed, doors missing, everything charred and filthy. Most striking to me was the complete lack of life or even movement. There were no birds, no rats, no squirrels. There were definitely no people. I knew there were zombies down there, but the pilot told us that she’d heard they were all underground now.

I still had no idea what we were going to be doing.

Suddenly, the scene shifted.

ID4 Will Smith, the pilot, and I were in a clothing warehouse that looked miraculously untouched. He wielded dual katanas, and was high alert as we inched forward through racks and racks of clothing. My sense of fear was heightened, and I wasn’t ready to face what I knew was to come. I desperately willed myself to be elsewhere.

Suddenly, charred human remains busted out from behind closed doors and started attacking us. ID4 Will Smith decapitated most of them, and I hid under a pile of clothing, hoping the next dimensional shift would occur right then.

After what seemed like seconds, the mass of zombies fell silent, and I peeked out from the clothing to see ID4 Will Smith still hacking away at headless and limbless ambling masses. They weren’t going down, not even without a head. At least the threat of bites were gone, but that didn’t diminish the horrific nature of the scene any less.

ID4 Will Smith finally led us over to double doors and pushed us through and up a ladder. Suddenly I knew what we were there for. One man remained in San Francisco, but he was an evil man, only interested in taking the city as his own and killing anyone who tried to reclaim the city. It was our job to disarm him, kill him and his henchmen in order to give the government a clear path to the city.

As we stepped up the ladder, we passed several windows through which I saw armed henchmen. They watched us, but didn’t shoot until we got to the end of the ladder, over which was a hatch type door leading to the roof of the building. Just as ID4 Will Smith threw open the hatch and stepped up through it, one of the henchmen shot our pilot clean through the forehead. The pilot refused to die, however, and remained behind me, determined to reach the roof. Her face began to swell up until she lost consciousness and fell back into the darkness, hitting the floor with no sound at all.

I was alone, and the only safe path was up. Sticking my head up through the hatch, I saw ID4 Will Smith standing off against the evil overlord, Jet Li circa Fist of Legend. This was going to go badly. No one could defeat Jet “Chen Zhen” Li.

ID4 Will Smith knew this, and he then morphed into Jackie Chan. I’m not a fan of Jackie Chan’s American movies and I’m not familiar with his Hong Kong film (except for maybe Drunken Master)…so…just imagine whichever Jackie Chan you’re familiar with. Suddenly, the scene became an acrobatic circus of death defying feats and sparring. Just as I watched Will “Jackie Chan” Smith leaning off the roof showcasing his gravity defying mastery, I woke up.

Curses!!

Overall, I do think there was a lot of action in it. And finally, it was nice to see a girl get in the action. It is sad that most action movies feature men which is just plain sexist. Of course, we got “Suckerpunch” but nothing is that hard-core about. All I saw in that was pretty girls like Vanessa Hudgens shooting a gun and supposedly she is becoming a “bad ass.” It was sad to see a character dies towards the beginning somewhat but, someone had to die. Why the character they chose? No idea. But it was nice to see he had bravery until the day he died. A true solider never the less.

Sure we got the fighting Jet Li exiting out early to help another Asian character go back to China to introduce the Asian girl, but seriously…Jet Li would be amazing if he continued his fighting skills after all the blood pouring with punches and guns. Who was supposed to take his place as a material arts genius? No idea…

Okay, so action was great and nice to have some movie referencing here and there. But seriously? Why Chuck Norris has to be in this film? Sure he can fight, but damn…I am not a big fan of him and yes, I may get my ass whoop for it but I am standing by my word.

We see a lot of faces that can really whoop ass and that is always good. Acting, I am surprised Stallone does not sound all mush mouth. Thank goodness his voice changed from Rocky. I had a hard time understanding him there. The storyline was okay, typical bad guy wants power or something that can make him greedy, calling the leader a man or a sheep and the good guys come in to kick some ass. Typical.

Overall, a 8/10. If I watched the first one, I bet I will understand a bit more who was who instead like “Why is Jet Li called Yang?” and… “Why tap Chuck Norris and use his cobra references?” So tell me what you think and enjoy all heroes kick ass.