Kaiju Shakedown - December 2007

Mad Detective US release

A quick holiday note to let people know that MAD DETECTIVE has an official US release date from IFC First Take.

June 25, 2008.

Have a happy holiday!

(And a happy non-denominational holiday to the sharp-eyed reader who sent this in!)

Holiday vacation time

Time to take a ride with Soviet Space Santa!

Kaiju Shakedown is going to get its oil changed, its gears lubed and its pores cleansed. Also, all the discolorations and filth that have accumulated on its soul will be bleached out and chipped away. This process will take some time and so this blog will be on hiatus until January 3rd when it will burst out of its [...]

Hong Kong: Winner of the year

Ten years ago, in 1997, the Western press caught handover fever. "Tanks will roll in the streets!" "The PLA will storm Hong Kong and kill everyone they see!" "There will be no more freedom!" Then the handover happened, nothing changed and everyone went away. Now, the Hong Kong film industry is going strong. There have been economic ups and downs, the production bubble has burst, and there are less films being made than ever but 2007 has presented a grab bag of [...]

Thailand: Loser of the year

I love Thailand. I love Thai food. I love Bangkok. I love Thai directors like Wisit Sasanatieng. I love Thai action stars like Tony Jaa. I love Thai comedians like Mum Jokmok. But Thailand has spent 2007 screwing over its film industry, ravaging it from top to bottom.

First there was the flap over SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's artfilm commissioned for the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna. It's not my particular cup of tea, being very slow and [...]

Top jokes in China 2007

EastSouthWestNorth has translated and posted "The Top 'Jokes' in China 2007 " originally posted on Tianya by a user named Laome2018. They're not really jokes, but...well, maybe it's better if ESWN explains, "These jokes are not funny at all; in fact, they are solemn and dismal. But these are extraordinary times in China. If you can't laugh at them, then life is really grim." Or, as another poster says, "If there is something that you don't [...]

Bangkok bribery scandal

I never met anyone who took the Bangkok International Film Festival seriously. It was an excuse for the well-connected industry folks to get flown to Bangkok, eat great food, do some shopping and go out with other people on the film festival circuit all on the Thai government's tab. (I was never invited. Can you tell I'm a little bitter about it?)

From beginning to end it was something of a joke, with few foreign films being subtitled in Thai for local viewers and a lin [...]

Casting alert!

Twentieth Century Fox has reportedly just added Chow Yun-fat to the cast for their upcoming DRAGONBALL Z live action movie which is being produced by Stephen Chow (who says, "I only direct original movies composed by myself. This is my principle.") Directed by James Wong (FINAL DESTINATION 3, THE ONE) DRAGONBALL Z will see Chow Yun-fat take on the role of Goku's mentor, Master Roshi. Remember when Chow Yun-fat used to do this neat thing called acting? I imagine he's prepar [...]

Finally: a new Sylvia Chang movie!

Sylvia Chang is right up there with Josephine Siao Fong-fong in terms of Great Motion Picture Superheroines, and it's about time she had a new movie come out. RUN PAPA RUN stars Louis Koo as a triad boss who has a kid with a lawyer and decides that he's going to settle down and make it work. While some filmmakers would play this solely for laughs, Chang is going for a bigger and better lump-in-your-throat experience. She follows Koo's life, from young thug to old geezer, trackin [...]

My Sassy Girl remake(s)

Whatever happened to the American remake of Korea's hugely popular 2001 romantic comedy, MY SASSY GIRL? Originally announced in 2005 with director Gurinder Chadha attached, director Yann Samuell was officially attached to the project in May of 2006. The film started production in December of 2006 and on February 14, 2007 (awwww...) clips of the film being shot were televised but here we are in December of 2007 and there's still no release date. Star Elisha Cuthbert has done a full s [...]

Mighty river of cheese

Malaysia and the Philippines have turned out their fair share of movies that drip with thick, delicious cheese. GAGAMBOY springs instantly to mind, as does its director's big budget fantasy film, EXODUS: TALES FROM THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM. Homemade costumes, Renaissance Faire combat, face paint, rubber monsters - it's all charming in an enthusiastically corny way. These films are cheese tributaries feeding into the great big river of processed dairy food running into an endless ocean [...]

China and the WGA strike

Hollywood is facing two stalemates right now, both of them having to do with the future of technology. Technology, as anyone who worked on the Manhattan Project could tell you, moves forward not backwards, it does so without caring a jot for morality or the old way of doing things and it moves fast. Giant corporations, as anyone who has worked for one could tell you, move slowly and deliberately, exercise extreme caution about future technologies, and are suspicious of change. Technology re [...]

Synapse DVD news

Don May Jr. has updated the Synapse blog with a round-up of what his scrappy little label of love pulled off in 2007 and what they have coming up in early '08 and it's an impressive round of achievements. Upcoming news of interest:

"- We are currently in authoring on PARTY 7 and KARAOKE TERROR. They should be done soon. MADAME O is headed to authoring this week. P7 and KARAOKE TERROR should be out April 29, 2008.

- SCHOOLGIRL REPORT #3 is fi [...]

Late bloomer blooms late

LATE BLOOMER just hit Japanese screens on December 1st of this year and if you haven't seen LATE BLOOMER you've missed one of the best Japanese movies...of 2004. It took director Go Shibata almost four years to make this indescribable film, and a further three years to get a theatrical release, and it's one of the densest, most disturbing things you'll ever see with a final scene that truly blows your mind both emotionally and aesthetically. A handicapped version of TAXI DR [...]

New Wai Ka-Fai flick

A sharp-eyed reader sends word that after the smash hit success of MAD DETECTIVE in Hong Kong (over HK$10 million at the box office and counting), co-director and writer Wai Ka-fai and star Lau Ching-wan are working on a second film together. This time around, Wai will direct on his own, without Johnnie To. In the film, Lau plays a blind man who somehow travels into the future and meets his daughter, now a grown woman, who is also blind. She doesn't know he's her father, he doesn [...]

Orlando Bloom & Johnnie To?

The local Hong Kong press is running with the news that Orlando Bloom supposedly snuck into town a few days ago to discuss starring in a Johnnie To movie. Bloom has said he admires To's films, and it's only a matter of time before To tries an English-language action vehicle but no serious people have commented on this story. So it's probably false, but you never know.

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Empress and the Warriors trailer

Guy wailing on a big drum? Check. A cloud of arrows streaking to their targets? Check. A female warrior on the battle field? Check. It must be the trailer for AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS, the new period martial arts film from China/Hong Kong. This time around it's starring Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen and Leon Lai. Ching Siu-tung (HERO, A CHINESE GHOST STORY) directed and Peter Chan (THE WARLORDS) produced and I have to say, it looks like there's going to be maximum action and minimal dra [...]

Red Eagle is go!

Wisit Sasanatieng's RED EAGLE is a go! The latest project from the director of TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER and CITIZEN DOG is being officially announced in a December 17th press conference. It's had so many directors previously attached to it that Sasanatieng wants to make sure the Thai press knows that he's 100% on board to shoot the movie, as is the star, Ananda Everingham (QUEEN OF LANGKASUKA, SHUTTER). There's more info on the film here (scroll down) and even more info, in [...]

The other 13 billion: Third Window Films

The US DVD market is cruel and wintry, as barren and unforgiving as one of Joan Crawford's hugs. But are things better in the United Kingdom? After all, they have many amazing things over there like the fried Mars bar, the BBC and FOOTBALLER'S WIVES.

To answer this question we went to Adam Torel, founder of Third Window Films, a DVD company he l [...]

Louis Koo...exposed!

Although he sometimes comes across as a Cantopop princeling, Louis Koo (ELECTION, TRIANGLE) is known to everyone who reads his blog as a total geek. Now, Hong Kong's Milk magazine has started publishing a Mainland edition and in its first issue they've done a STAR WARS themed photo shoot with Koo and exposed his geekiness for the world to see. Below, find pictures from his blog and random Louis Koo blog quotes confirming his nerd credentials:

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