Linger trailer

Johnnie To's romance, LINGER, slated for a 1/10/2008 release in Hong Kong has a teaser trailer. Many thanks to the sharp-eyed reader who sent it in. It's too short to judge anything by, but at least the music is nice.

�

�

Newsflash: Paris Hilton pushy, cheap

Paris Hilton was in Japan recently and, dressed in a black sweatsuit like some kind of horrible celebu-ninja, she slunk into a branch of Daikokuya in Tokyo, a pawn shop that does big business in second hand luxury goods. The star of THE HILLZ bought 28 items, but after getting a 5% discount for a tax reduction she asked for another discount. The store gave her another 5%. Then she asked for another discount, which the store refused because it's straight up ghetto to go in a pawn shop a [...]

Hey, Thailand...

Hey, Thailand! While you were out, your government totally screwed you.

�

Your democracy has a flavor.�

Who rocks today?

Can Singapore's Media Development Authority kick it old school? Check out their hip hop video and then come back and riddle me this: I know that the press loves this outfit but here in the more democratic environment of cyberspace I can say I don't think they're all that. They don't like it? Then they should've stayed out of the kitchen. This is just blatantly stealing beats from Hong Kong's Institute of Chartered Public Accountants. These fools are going to be scho [...]

Mad Detective opens!

Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai have always done well in Hong Kong with their co-directed films, but after their latest collaboration, MAD DETECTIVE, got slapped with an adults-only Category III rating and the Pang Bros. film IN LOVE WITH THE DEAD and Hollywood flick 30 DAYS OF NIGHT were scheduled to open on the same day (11/29) it looked like this flick might continue Milkyway's recent string of box office under-performers like EYE IN THE SKY and EXILED.

Opening day box office f [...]

Trivial matters

The year's funniest movie trailer. Now with English subtitles.

Who's got a quilt? Grandma!

That's who!�

Dub-a-dub-dub

A secret source lurking in Hong Kong informs us that Li Bing Bing will be dubbed by Panda Ivy in the Cantonese version of Johnnie To's LINGER, but that the film will be released theatrically in Hong Kong in Mandarin, which is the director's preferred version of the movie. Needless to say, Li's own voice is used in the Mandarin cut of the film.

< [...]

Panda Ivy and Johnnie To

LINGER is the Johnnie To romance coming out on January 10, 2008, and only in Hong Kong would the lead actress have her voice dubbed. The story takes place in Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong but Mainland actress Li Bing-bing plays the lead role and her Cantonese is shaky. So newcomer, Panda Ivy (bestnamever!) came to the rescue. A veteran of TV, stage and film, Panda Ivy previously dubbed the voice of Louis Koo's wife in ELECTION 2, also directed by Johnnie To.

�

Korean film quota cut - Korea stumbles

In 2006, after years of pressure from America's Motion Picture Association, the Korean government agreed to cut their screen quota system in half, reducing the number of days local cinemas must devote to Korean films from 146 days to 73 days. Filmmakers protested, but the law was passed and people who supported the cut pointed to Korea's incredibly strong local box office performance as proof that Korean movies were doing well and didn't need these protections.

But [...]

Star of David comes 2 USA?

Marc Walkow of Outcast Cinema (crimes: producing HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN DVD for Synapse; organizing the Nikkatsu Action retro currently touring the US of A) has sold his left kidney to pay for a trip to Japan. Why? Because more crazy old Japanese movies are crawling out of their dusty vaults and coming to America to suck up our dollars.

He's focused his efforts on shooting interviews with Norifumi Suzuki who has been an instrumental part of more exploitation movies tha [...]

Is Jet Li worth $13 million?

The Chinese press has been all over the story of Jet Li's paycheck on Peter Chan's upcoming THE WARLORDS like ants on a sugar cake this week. Revealing that approximately half of the movie's $40 million budget went to the cast, it was also announced that Jet Li's slice of that pie was $13 million. After shedding a tear for Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro and the hundreds of extras who have to split a measly $7 million between them, move on to the fact that this is an acknowl [...]

Dragon Tiger Gate on DVD

What happened to DRAGON TIGER GATE, the Wilson Yip directed follow-up to SHA PO LANG? This slick flick based on a 70's comic book about super powered martial artists did respectable business in China and Hong Kong, was widely disliked by fans, and was trumpeted as a new acquisition by the Weinstein Company both on their Dragon Dynasty site and in Variety.

Now, over a year after the Hong Kong DVD with English subtitles came out, a DVD of the movie is hitting American store [...]

More fun with United Red Army

Koji Wakamatsu's latest flick looks face-scaldingly good. UNITED RED ARMY, a super-realistic movie about the 1970's Japanese terrorist group, just won the "Japanese Eyes Best Japanese Picture" award at Tokyo Filmex, and judging by the rave reviews here and here, this scathing, 3 hour look at terrorism is going to start popping up at other festivals soon.

(You can see the trailer here)�

Mad Detective TV spots

Yep - what it says in the title. Nice looking TV spots for the 11/29 release of Johnnie To's reunion film with Lau Ching-wan, MAD DETECTIVE.

(Thanks to Little Sam and ngsiusum for the link)�

Trivial Matters trailer

Pang Ho-cheung, director of ISABELLA and the excellent EXODUS, has released the trailer for his latest flick, TRIVIAL MATTERS. Based on 7 short stories written by Pang himself, this movie's trailer features Edison Chen sending up his bad b-boy attitude, Gillian Chung doing bad karaoke with Isabella Leung and Chapman To having hilariously bad sex. It's hitting Hong Kong screens on December 20 and is a late candidate for "Best Soundtrack of the Year."

Obligatory Thanksgiving post

Today is Thanksgiving in America, a day when people eat too much, see relatives they don't like very much and pretend to enjoy eating turkey, an ugly bird that really doesn't need any more problems. So what is Kaiju Shakedown thankful for?

Day and date, mama!�

I'm thankful that Shochiku is taking a chance on day and date distribution i [...]

Sonny Chiba sort of retires

Sonny Chiba has retired! At least that's the news that spread across Japan this past summer when Shinichi Chiba announced he was retiring. That's the Japanese action legend's Japanese name, and after he hinted on TV that "Shinichi Chiba was quitting the movie biz" a media maelstrom broke out and Chiba had to hold a press conference where he clarified his announcement, saying that since he was slowing down in his old age he was no longer capable of doing justice to the [...]

Wild Ultraman found in China!!!

In some very exciting news, a wild Ultraman has been photographed by a farmer in Guangdong.

Danwei has been translating the news and covering the ensuing controversy. The photos were first displayed at a press conference held by the Guangdong Forestry Department after careful verification by experts:

"The photos are valuab [...]

Inside the vaults

Warner Brothers and the Weinstein Company have picked up big packages of Asian films over the years and now they're slowly creeping out onto DVD. Warner Brothers mostly seems to be issuing discs like this:

Whereas the Weinsteins are issuing discs like this:

Monday is Fun-Day!

Ugh. Monday morning. You drag yourself into your office and are instantly depressed to find that over the weekend no one installed a bar, or brought in robot clown rabbits who sing and dance all day long to keep you entertained, no one put a pile of gold on your desk, no one found a portal into another, funner dimension in the copy room. It's just more of the same for five more days until the weekend.

But it could be worse.

You could be one of these hideous peopl [...]

Kaiju Shakedown - November 2007