Hope everyone is having a great holiday.  I am currently on my last day in (extremely hot) Florida and will be heading back to Hong Kong on Sunday.  This vacation has gone by much too quickly but I passed the time watching a boatload of movies and DVDs as well as burning through a few rented Xbox games.  Needless to say I have a ton of Hong Kong films to catch up on when I get back as well as a pile of work waiting for me.  Of the films I have seen while here,

The Road – tense, dour and a bit depressing

The Princess and the Frog – Great music and good re-take on a classic story.

Twilight: New Moon – Bella was a drag on the story, definitely belong to camp Jacob…go wolves!

Avatar – Incredible visuals, lackluster narrative.

As mentioned a few weeks ago, there was a special Storm Riders II (Storm Warriors) podcast set to be released for episode 17.  Unfortunately, the remote recording did not work as well as I had hoped and as such the audio quality is not very good.  I am debating whether to release it on its own or incorporate it into the next recording.  Once I am back and have a chance to clear my head of jet-lag, I will have a new recording schedule up.  In the meantime, happy viewing all.

Why isn't my future this cool???

With the holidays here and both myself and Kevin heading overseas at various times in December, I just thought I would post a brief update of what shows are currently planned for East Screen West Screen.

Episode 15 (planned recording date Dec 2, 2009)
ES: Love at Seventh Sight (HK/China)
WS: Ninja Assassin (US)

Episode 16 (planned recording date Dec 9, 2009)
ES: Mulan (China), Jump (HK/China)
WS: 9 (US)

Episode 17 (planned recording date Dec 10, 2009)
Special: Storm Riders II (aka. Storm Warriors) (HK)*

* Episode 17 is currently being planned as a special ‘on location’ recording (provided I can work out the technical aspects).  This is because I will be on a plane heading state-side on Dec 11th, and Kevin will be heading to Japan not too long after that.  We have plans to try and do some recording of some sort while we’re both overseas , but we will wait to get the next three shows out of the way first.  Not sure if things will go as planned…but we will keep our wires crossed….or wait, that might be bad.  In any event, Kevin and I hope you will listen in.

This week, Kevin and I look films all based on numerical titles.  Coincidence, conspiracy or just plain corny…we’ll let you decide.  We also talk briefly about Obama in China, the trailer for the upcoming film Jump, and Thor casting news.  (Kevin has also been getting some critique writing gigs over at this site. You can see his written review of 2012 here.)

NEWS:

Thor casts Tabanobu Asano as Hogun (Variety/Film School Rejects)

EAST SCREEN:

Seven2One (Hong Kong 2009)

WEST SCREEN:

2012 (US 2009)

FLYING BUDDHA (賣飛佛):

2002 (Hong Kong 2001)

K-20 (Japan 2009)

iTunes Page

Running Time (01:01:33)

Click to Play

Download (right click and save)

As mentioned by Kevin in ES/WS #13 (to be posted as soon as I finish editing), the trailer for Stephen Fung’s (馮德倫) new film Jump has been released to the internets.  I have really liked Fung as a director and think he has displayed enough talent to go farther than he might as an actor (or singer).  While I do get a strong Step Up vibe from this (and cannot say I am a fan of dance genre films), I will still give it a shot.  Click the link below to get a taste…

This was posted on Kozo’s blog over at LHKF since it features his website in two points of the segment, but I thought I would post it here as well, since Nick’s story mirrors my own so closely (right down to the tiny apartment I was initially living in back in 2000…though mine was about 70sq ft.)

What I find striking is the ability for Hong Kong films to still have a very strong ‘pull factor’ as a cultural property for foreigners, whereas many of my local friends (and even my significant better half) feel next to no connection to their home cinema these days.

While the industry remains very a very closed clique to all but the most dilligent, one can look to people such as Gregory Rivers (河國榮) and a few select others who managed to work their way in.  Best of luck to you Nick.

(For the non-fluent, the Chinese sections just discuss Nick’s passion for film and his diligence in finding famous movie locations as well as learning Chinese (Cantonese).)

The film Turning Point (Laughing Gor之變節) opens next week and the SCMP recently released a promo and interview with the lead actor Michale Tse (謝天華).

The film as I understand it is a prequel to the Hong Kong TV drama Emergency Unit(學警狙擊) and Tse’s character from that series takes the focus in the film’s story.  The character of Laughing has received so much audience attention that to try and cash in on the popularity, an earlier direct-to-video film starring Tse (The Princess of Portland Street – 2003) has been repacked and retitled under the name of Laughing Lover (我愛Laughing).

 Having not seen the series as yet, it will be interesting to see how the film stands on its own.   Here is hoping that it is not just another rushed production with distributors laughing, all the way to the bank…

You can see the SCMP interview below:

The fifth and final Fallout 3 add-on hits the DL store this week.

As a huge fan of Fallout 3, I just have to pop in a reminder to any gamers out there (as if you did not already know) that this week is the drop date for the final expansion for the game (Mothership Zeta).

Having just cleaned out the hillbilly mutants of the Point Lookout expansion, I am very eager to jump in to this new expansion.

I can recall earlier this year, being royally ticked when the first expansion, Operation: Anchorage, would not work for players in Asia because of patch issue.  Fortunately the powers that be have since resolved that issue and I have not had any trouble with the 3 subsequent expansions that have followed.  Let the xenophobic carange begin…

On His Majesty's Secret Service (Mainland China Poster)

After last weeks Overheard, another Louis Koo (古天樂) venture takes to the screens this Thursday in the form of On His Majesty’s Secret Service(大内密探灵灵狗).  While this film’s theme and title appears similar to Vincent Kok’s 1996 film Forbidden City Cop (大內密探零零發) which starred Stephen Chow (周星馳), it is unlikely to have much of a relation beyond the Chinese title.  And much like George Lazenby in the British film of similar name, it is doubtful that this will in any way be a recurring role for Mr. Koo.

More interesting with regard to this film is the fact that it has gotten earlier release dates in mainland China, than in Hong Kong (approximately 1 week according to the poster above).  A trend which is troubling among some circles of film-goers here in the region.

Former Twins starlet Gillian Chung (鍾欣桐) is set to make a comeback.  She discusses some of her feelings in a recent SCMP interview (below).

Regarding the incident that led to her downfall, I personally never felt she had done anything so very wrong as to deserve the ostracizing she received from the public, and while I was never a big fan of Twins, I did enjoy her film roles.  Here’s hoping she can find her way back in a rather fickle industry.

If you are unfamiliar with her film work, allow me to recommend Beyond Our Ken (2004) and House of Fury (2005)  [both available on Netflix for those in the US].  For those feeling a bit more culturally adventurous you can dig up  If You Care (2002), and Trivial Matters (2007).