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Venice Film Festival line-up revealed, including Takashi Miike’s new samurai film

Andrew Heskins — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:00:11 +0000

The full programme for the Venice Film Festival has been announced, including new films by Takashi Miike and Tsui Hark, and the adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood

There are several upcoming treats in store at the Venice Film Festival, which is often host to a first glimpse of some of the more interesting Asian films (and, in some cases, the nearest to the mainstream that they get).

There’ll be a lot of interest in Takashi Miike’s latest film, a (doubtlessly very personal) take on a samurai tale, 13 Assassins, which also happens to be a co-production with the UK. Also on show will be the highly-anticipated version of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood by Tran Anh Hung, the first full length novel Murakami has allowed to be adapted.

Hong Kong stalwart Tsui Hark is also in competition with Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame. I, for one, have fingers crossed that we see a true return to form.

Out of competition there’s more from Miike, Zebraman and Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City; the latest from Infernal Affairs director Andrew Lau, The Return of Chen Zhen; The Child’s Eye 3D, the first Chinese/Hong Kong 3D film(?) from (who else but) the Pang Brothers; Reign of Assassins by John Woo and Su Chao-Pin starring Michelle Yeoh; Shock Labyrinth 3D by Ju-on: The Grudge director Takashi Shimizu; and Space Guy by Zhang Yuan.

The festival runs from 1 to 11 September, and hopefully we should get to see some of the fallout soon afterwards…

See the official Venice Film Festival site »

Venice Film Festival

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:08:18 +0000

The full programme for the Venice Film Festival has been announced, including new films by Takashi Miike and Tsui Hark, and the adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood…

Hong Kong stalwart Tsui Hark is also in competition with Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame. I, for one, have fingers crossed that we see a true return to form.

Out of competition there’s more from Miike, Zebraman and Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City; the latest from Infernal Affairs director Andrew Lau, The Return of Chen Zhen; The Child’s Eye 3D, the first Chinese/Hong Kong 3D film(?) from (who else but) the Pang Brothers; Reign of Assassins by John Woo and Su Chao-Pin starring Michelle Yeoh; Shock Labyrinth 3D by Ju-on: The Grudgedirector Takashi Shimizu; and Space Guy by Zhang Yuan.

The festival runs from 1 to 11 September, and hopefully we should get to see some of the fallout soon afterwards…

See the official Venice Film Festival site »

The Storm Warriors

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:00:32 +0000

A decade on Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok return as Wind and Cloud in this highly-anticipated sequel to The Storm Riders by The Pang Brothers, directors of The Eye – but if special effects have come a long way in that time, the art of narrative seems somewhat lacking…

Back in 1998 The Storm Riders was a pivotal moment in Hong Kong filmmaking. Directed by Andrew Lau and co-produced by digital effects company Centr0, it was one of the first HK films to use CGI to great effect. Based on the popular manhua or comic book by Ma Wing-Shing, Fung Wan, it reinvigorated the wuxia / swordplay genre – just in time for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But whereas Ang Lee would play up far more traditional influences of the 60s and 70s, Lau pulled heavily his own popular Young And Dangerous to appeal to a post-MTV generation.

(And arguably it helped the comic book movie makeover boom of the late 90s, early noughties, too.)

Now the Pang Brothers (whose Danny Pang co-edited the original) have brought together the original leads Cheng and Kwok for a spectacular, dazzling follow-up.

Many years on from the events of The Storm Riders, China now finds itself in the grip of an invading army led by ruthless Japanese warlord Lord Godless (Simon Yam, Vengeance, Election) and his son Heart (Nicholas Tse, The Promise, Bodyguards And Assassins), both hell bent on ruling the nation. Wind (Ekin Cheng, Tokyo Raiders, Forest of Death, Heroic Duo) and Cloud (Aaron Kwok, Murderer, Divergence, Saviour Of The Soul) are not a match, and even legendary martial artist Nameless can not defeat him.

With time running out for China and the captured royal family, both Cloud and Wind try desperate measure to turn the tables: Cloud becomes Nameless’ new disciple, creating a new sword fighting style; Wind decides to learn evil martial arts, but can he keep his dark side in check? Soon these old friends find themselves pitted against each other for the future of China.

I rather liked the idea of picking up the story so long after the original timeline, consciously echoing the passing of time between films in the real world, rather than trying to make a direct sequel and have the actors pretend they’re the same age. (Mind you, not that Kwok looks any different other than appearing to have spent all that time in a gym!)

So there’s no need to worry if you’ve never seen the original. Trouble is, even if you have seen Storm Riders you may well feel like you’ve walked in halfway through the film. Never ones for overdoing expositions, the Pang Brothers drop you straight in the action, and never let up, taking us from one conflict to another. Sure, it’s exciting and definitely keeps the attention levels up, but it’s not, well, you know, a movie, is it?

The cast do the best with what they have, but there’s little for them to get their teeth into. Kwok, in particular, is engaging as Cloud, with his character finally learning to care about something or someone other than himself. But there are subtleties in their portrayal and subplots that are lost on all save the most devoted of the original comic books.

Visually the film is stunning. The quality production of sets and costumes, mixed with seamless compositing of CGI effects is superb. All of which goes to show just how far computer graphics have come since the original film (which itself didn’t look bad considering the undoubtedly limited budget available).

One sequence in particular, when Heart is shown cruelly pursuing Nameless and destroying every martial art school he comes across in the process, however, hints at an even more striking visual route. Taking it’s cue from the Frank Miller style of Sin City and 300, reflecting the comic book roots of the story. It would have been great to see much more of this in the film, even if it might have brought comparisons with the latest from the green screen king, Casshern director Kazuaki Kirita, Goemon. (Though there are intimation’s that would have just proved too expensive.)

Storm Warriors is a highly enjoyable, quality action production. I just wish they’d paid a bit more attention to the script.

The Storm Warriors is released Monday 12 July on Blu-ray and DVD by Cine Asia.

Coming soon: Storm Warriors on DVD and Blu-ray

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:00:41 +0000

UK in shock release of Hong Kong film really, really, really close to it’s original debut on DVD and Blu-ray. Yes, that’s right – only a couple of months since its release, Storm Warriors, the highly-anticipated sequel to Storm Riders, directed by the Pang brothers (The Eye, Bangkok Dangerous, Re-Cycle), will be released in the UK by Cine Asia.

Directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Initial D, Confession of Pain), the original The Storm Riders marked the first major use of CGI effects in a Hong Kong film, a watermark point in cinema. (Whether those effects stand up to close scrutiny now is largely inconsequential.)

Reuniting the original stars Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok as Wind and Cloud, Storm Warriors promises to be a visual feast…

(..I know I can’t wait!)

Storm Warriors is released by Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-ray on 12 July.

Blood: The Last Vampire – the original Anime

Andrew Heskins — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:00:24 +0000

With the upcoming release of the live-action version, what better time to revisit the original that started it all…

In retrospect on the original anime of Blood: The Last Vampire, it’s still an impressive looking piece of film. Essentially a follow-on from Production I.G.’s Ghost In The Shell, both in terms of themes and production, Blood broke new ground in the film was entirely digital – being inked, coloured and animated on computer rather than using animation cells – yet without losing old-fashioned quirks. A revelation that garnered praise from mister CGI himself, James Cameron (who was also a very public fan of Ghost too). It was also one of the first series to be filmed almost entirely in English, no doubt spurred on by the success of Ghost and the financial involvement by UK/USA distribution company Manga Entertainment.

Working for a dubious US government agency, the eternally young Saya hunts down demonic bat-like creatures intent on causing some, undisclosed, havoc on the world. Tensions raised between her and her employers – they refer to her as the last ‘original’ – she is sent undercover as a schoolgirl on an American Air Base in Japan shortly before the start of the Vietnam war. Armed with just a samurai sword that has seen better days, Saya must flush out and destroy these creatures before they fulfill their nefarious plans – but Saya’s allegiances seem strained – she has more in common with them than her human employers…

At less than 50 minutes long, Blood: The Last Vampire was something of a deliberate tease for audiences. Intended as something of a multimedia release, with the story continued in a light novel, and a two-part video game – with hindsight an extremely savvy and forward-looking concept. Of course, for most of those of us unaware of those other release, or even just unable to get hold of them, it was hard not to be somewhat disappointed…

I remember its DVD release coming at quite an opportune moment. I’d just gotten round to watching the original Ghost In The Shell, and spurred on by a love of that film (as well as a new-found knowledge of how much of a rip-off The Matrix was!) I was keen to absorb any similar cutting edge Anime I could lay my hands on, particularly from the same producers. That was in the days when DVD releases were easily over £15 in retail price. Honestly for less than an hours worth of film, however beautiful the animation, that seemed a little steep.

(It’s notable that the original trailer, which we’ve included above, includes several shots that weren’t only not in the finished film, but don’t even appear to be from the same situations shown.)

But the animation itself is truly stunning. It inhabits a murky gray/brown world of golden tints, not unlike Production I.G./ Hiroyuki Okiura’s earlier Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (except without the Hitchcock-styled soft focus). The studio had used a mix of CG and old-fashioned animation styles for years, but despite the digital conception kept the style full of character, and avoiding the soulless flaws of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Unlike other films of the time, here the 2D and 3D techniques don’t jar against each other, despite some of the backgrounds and objects almost looking too real.

The style is as reminiscent of artist Gene Colan’s work on Marvel’s Tomb Of Dracula in the 70s as it is of previous Vampire-themed Animes like Vampire Hunter D. Perhaps that’s not coincidental, considering that series originally launched the Blade character, which had only recently been turned into a successful movie franchise. Half-human, half-vampire, intent on wiping out vampire-like creatures, the characters have a lot in common. Dressed as a schoolgirl, you could also argue the influence of Buffy. (Director Guillermo del Toro returned the ‘compliment’ by referencing Blood in Blade II.)

The scenes within the school have a superb, tangible tension, as Saya waits for the creatures to expose themselves. Indeed, considering the length this section could have been longer. Like most of the Anime coming from Production I.G. at the time, the pace neither rattles along nor brakes, finding a natural rhythm within the simple, effective plotline. Here the unresolved aspects of Saya’s origin, the government agency she works for and the creatures she hunts down help to cover the flaws in the script.

The action is well shot, if lacking the speed or surprise you might expect from an action/horror. Possibly the most memorable scene is where we first meet Saya, in a subway train leading up to a kill, (fairly) faithfully recreated in the new live-action movie. It obviously left a mark on the Pang Brothers, borrowing much the style and look for an assassination scene in the original Bangkok Dangerous. Elsewhere the Halloween party has obvious potential, but again doesn’t seem fully explored.

Despite the English language the acting in generally good, if occasionally stilted. Its greatly helped by Youki Kudo’s performance as Saya, her career far outstretching the occasional Anime voice-over, previous roles had included Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train and Snow Falling on Cedars, she’s gone on to appear in L: Change the World, Memoirs of a Geisha and, ahem, Rush Hour 3. Joe Romersa, voice of lead agent David, also has had a somewhat unexpected career, an engineer, singer and songwriter for over 30 years, he’s more recently become known for his Anime voice-over work. (And his singing can be heard on Silent Hill.)

There’s a promise of so much more in Blood: The Last Vampire, that without any sort of resolution in its Anime form, doesn’t quite deliver. Fans of Ghost In The Shell should perhaps look first to the earlier Jin-Roh. However, it’s easy to see the enduring attraction to Blood, having inspired mangas, an Anime series Blood+, and now a live-action film. Perhaps we might finally get that decisive conclusion we’re been waiting for…

The new live-action version of Blood: The Last Vampire is released around UK cinemas on 26 June 2009 by Pathé. We also exclusively interviewed director Chris Nahon and lead star Gianna Jun.

**There’s still time to enter our competition and you can win an exclusive Blood t-shirt and this original Anime version on DVD! Click here…**

Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2009 starts today

Andrew Heskins — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:00:30 +0000

The Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2009 runs at London’s Prince Charles Cinema off Leciester Square from today until Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracota Distribution, the festival some of the best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.

Opening the festival is Eye For An Eye, the eagerly awaited crime-thriller from directors Ahn Kwon-tae (My Brother) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Typhoon). Starring Han Suk-kyu (A Bloody Aria; The President’s Last Bang) and Cha Seung-won (Small Town Rivals; Ghost House), this Heat-style thriller concerns a soon-to-retire police detective who is drawn into an elaborate plot of robbery and revenge when he begins to investigate a heist during which one of the perpetrators impersonated him in order to pull off the crime.

Among the festival’s many highlights are: The Detective, the latest mystery-thriller from co-writer and director Oxide Pang Chun (Bangkok Dangerous; The Messengers; The Eye trilogy; The Tesseract); director Johnnie To’s (Mad Detective; Triangle; PTU) Sparrow, starring Simon Yam and Kelly Lin; the Malaysian horror-comedy, Zombies From Banana Village; and the martial arts action-thriller Legendary Assassin, which marks the co-directorial debuts of star Jacky Wu (Fatal Contact; The Legend of Zu; Drunken Monkey) and Jackie Chan’s longtime stunt coordinator Chung Chi Li. The festival’s programme will also include the films Muay Thai Chaya, Kim Ki-duk’s Dream, Keeping Watch, Ghost In The Shell (2.0), Me… Myself, After School and God Man Dog, the winner of the “Tagesspiegel” Readers’ Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Tickets are available for separate screenings, or you can get a festival pass for the whole weekend. Full details of the Terracota Far East Festival can be found at the official website »

Festival: Terracotta Far East Festival

Andrew Heskins — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:30:33 +0000

Full details of the TERRACOTTA FAR EAST FESTIVAL can be found at the festival’s official website »

Terracotta Far East Festival

Andrew Heskins — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:00:23 +0000

The UK’s premier annual Asian film festival, the Terracotta Far East Festival, will be held over four days this year at London’s Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday 21st May to Sunday 24th May. Presented by Terracotta Entertainment Group, the festival will feature 13 handpicked films representing the very best of contemporary Far East cinema, including titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.

Opening the festival is Eye For An Eye, the eagerly awaited crime-thriller from directors Ahn Kwon-tae (My Brother) and Kwak Kyung-taek (Typhoon). Starring Han Suk-kyu (A Bloody Aria; The President’s Last Bang) and Cha Seung-won (Small Town Rivals; Ghost House), this Heat-style thriller concerns a soon-to-retire police detective who is drawn into an elaborate plot of robbery and revenge when he begins to investigate a heist during which one of the perpetrators impersonated him in order to pull off the crime.

Full details of the TERRACOTTA FAR EAST FESTIVAL can be found at the festival’s official website »

Missing

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:00:13 +0000

Oh dear, Angelica Lee’s (The Eye, Re-cycle) seeing dead people again. Again. This time Tsui Hark’s at the helm in this rather convoluted psychological thriller…

Some people never learn, do they? Take Angelica Lee (also known as Lee Sinje, Divergence, Koma, The Eye, Re-cycle), if you’ve told her once, you must have told her a million times – try to avoid situations where-in you might see apparitions of one kind or another. Does she listen? Does she heck…

Take the latest state of affairs. Angelica stars as Dr. Gao Jing, a psychologist still trying to come to terms with a tragic diving accident that took her fiancé, successful photographer Dave Chen (Guo Xiao Dong, An Empress and the Warriors, The Warlords) when he tried to show her the mythical ancient city of Feng Lai. Unconvinced that the headless body found by the authorities is really him, despite his sister and close friend Chen Xiao Ka (Isabella Leong, The Eye 10, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) being convinced otherwise.

Gao desperately wants to find out what really happened, and befriends patient of hers, Simon (Chang Chen, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Three Times, Red Cliff) who believes he can see her departed lover, as well as his own wife. It seems the drugs meant to subdue his condition allow him to see these ghosts, and Gao wonders if it can help her – but she’s in no way prepared for what she sees. Particularly a white-haired girl also lost at sea who seems to want revenge on Gao.

And (of course!) nothing is as it seems…

Sound familiar? There’s even a creepy scene in a lift! Produced by Peter Chan, this even had a working title of The Eye 3 before the more inventive Sam hoi tsam yan (which roughly translates along the lines of ‘The deep sea looks for missing persons’) was coined.

But the films problems go way beyond the uninspiring casting of Angelica Lee – it’s the convoluted plot that takes in psychological thriller, with fleeting appearances by Tony Leung Ka-fai as Gao’s boss (you always know there’s going to be trouble when the psychologist is seeing a psychologist), horror and then, for the last third of the film, an über-mushy version of Ghost – as if that wasn’t mushy enough.

It shares the Pang brothers’ interpolation of Buddhist beliefs into the horror, but this isn’t the Pangs, it’s director Tsui Hark, the godfather of modern Hong Kong cinema, creator of Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Time And Tide and Peking Opera Blues, and however much he may have ‘dropped the ball’ over the years he’s not brought us anything quite as lame as Forest Of Death or Bangkok Dangerous (the ‘what were you thinking?’ 2008 version). Until now…

It’s a beautiful looking film. It’s no surprise to find this released on Blu-Ray as well as DVD, Japanese cinematographer Yoshitaka Sakamoto‘s work is wonderfully sharp and picturesque, and you can’t help but wonder if Hark hides yearnings to be David (not Richard!) Attenborough on the next series of The Blue Planet. (And that’s on the DVD – god knows how good the Blu-Ray looks!) The sound design is full of atmosphere, the production slick. If only that was all it took…

It’s not just that the film doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be – thriller, horror, mushy romantic-mush – it that it doesn’t do any of them well! At all but two hours long, the film lacks the tightness of the Pang Brothers, it also lacks their lasting impact – if Re-cycle fell into a flawed fantasy, at least the first half hour was taut horror, the horror here is at points almost laughable. And just when you feel like going along with it, suddenly it’s gone all Ghost for the last third and you’re dreading a potters wheel turning up. (Thankfully it doesn’t!)

Most of the performances are fine, but somehow Angelica Lee never convinces you that she’s really, in any way, a professional doctor. Tony Leung is horribly under utilised. Isabella Leong does what you’d expect. But it’s Chang Chen who truly shines as Simon, making a potentially ridiculous character sympathetic and believable (as much as he can with the script).

Any film that looks this good is never a complete waste of time, but it’s hard not to be disappointed by such a misfire.

Everybody was kung fu fighting ’08

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:00:33 +0000

There’s something in the air all right… but Beijing Olympics or not, haven’t we seen it all before?

No prizes for guessing what that is in the air. It’s the whiff of Beijing smog, carried by the frenzy of excitement over the 2008 Olympics, and before you can say ‘what human rights record?’ or ‘where’s Tibet?’ reached choking point as all things Chinese clog up every part of our culture. It’s a (mainly) welcome wave of interest, well matched by some perfectly timed touring exhibitions, such as the First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army exhibition at the British Museum and China Design Now at the V&A, all helping to wet our appetites for the coming athletic throng. All 15 days of it.

Of course marketers and distributors, hardly known for their inspiring imagination or thorough knowledge of Chinese culture, first turn to martial arts and all things kung fu…

Not that I’m complaining by any means, but isn’t it all rather familiar? Remember when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became the must see at the motion pictures, getting a wide release despite the often unmitigated handicap of being in a foreign language? The underlying interest in Asian movies we’ve always had over the years, Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven, Yojimbo/Fistful Of Dollars, etc etc, suddenly turned into overdrive. And thanks to the action director’s (Yuen woo-ping) work on another recent iconic film, The Matrix, suddenly everyone was kung fu fighting. And if Woo-ping could make most bodacious Keanu look good, then who wouldn’t want to give it a go? Charlie’s Angels, X Men, seems everyone had spent an inordinate amount of time stuck in a Shaolin Temple, waiting to get into that 36th chamber. Now it’s just part of our screen language.

What resulted in the most constant flood of Asian talent in to Hollywood, both actors – like Chow Yun-fat, Jet Li and Jackie Chan – and some directors – such as Hideo Nakata, Takeshi Shimizu (albeit both on remakes of their own films) and Ronny Yu, joining John Woo, Tsui Hark and others behind the camera – also resulted in some of the worst vehicles to date: Replacement Killers? Bulletproof Monk? Shanghai Knights? The Tuxedo? Just about any Jet Li movie made in the West except Kiss Of The Dragon. (Oh, and The One, I’ll let you have that but for all the wrong reasons.)

But there was a positive side effect. Suddenly an awful lot of Asian films were being released in their own right. Small independent distributors thrived on the scene, taking advantage of the budding DVD market. Ong-Bak re-invigorated martial arts with death-defying real stunts that literally made you hold your breath in the cinema. Infernal Affairs was even given a minor release before Scorsese had revealed his interest in remaking it as The Departed. (No one seems to have quite gotten round to the much mooted remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy.) An Japanese animation even won an Oscar, all be it perhaps one of the best ever made – Spirited Away. (Though it did benefit from a Disney release!)

Then 18 months ago it all went wrong…

It wasn’t so much in Hollywood, still happy to look eastwards for inspiration. There just didn’t seem to be enough room for Asian releases anymore, and retailers were quickly losing a grip on their market. Whether that was really the effect of peer-to-peer downloading, or just a fickle loss of interest that led to a lack of promotion for what Asian release there were, is hard to tell. But there just weren’t as many films being released, not just at the cinema, but also on DVD. Truth is, if the internet is to blame for anything, it’s that we can all get much better editions of Asian films directly from the East, and long before they come out here.

Before too long companies were going out of business. First Hong Kong Legends, which had built up a strong reputation throughout the world for good quality releases. couldn’t keep up with distributors in Hong Kong that were starting to release remastered versions of the same classic movies at a quicker rate. In their last few months of trading, industry contacts said they could hardly give their releases away, being lucky to move 80 units throughout the UK.

More recently Tartan Films, based in the UK and US, has followed suit. One of the longest surviving independent distributors, Asian films were certainly just a small part of their output, and had been greatly reduced over the same period. Considering the intelligent, bizarre and outstanding films they’ve helped bring to the UK, including notable US independent and horror releases, this is a real shame for all of us.

Things did not look good. According to those in the industry, all things Asian were pretty much dead… until now…

Once again, if anything Hollywood is leading the charge. The past few months have seen some several films cash in on Olympic-mania – the surprising part being if anything they’ve done it quite well. The Forbidden Kingdom united Jet Li and Jackie Chan for the first time, but with Yuen Woo-ping on board – who worked with both actors in the past – and a largely Chinese crew, combined with scriptwriter John Fusco’s obvious love of Hong Kong movies, the result was a warm-hearted kids film with some kick-ass fight scenes. Then there was Kung Fu Panda. Again drawing on those same Yuen Woo-ping/Jackie Chan movies, Dreamworks latest turned all those animal themed martial art moves in to, well, animals.

And once again, we’re seeing distributors (or at least, those that are left) a lot more open to releasing Asian movies. In the coming months Chocolate, from Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew, finally reaches our shores, and we’ve seen Mad Detective given a small scale release, soon to be followed by Triangle. Let’s hope the interest sticks – at least for a while…

Of course it’s not all good. The latest installment of The Mummy franchise has taken a neat idea to spin put another yarn and missed the mark. The Pang brothers follow their disappointingly received Hollywood debut The Messengers with a Nicholas Cage vehicle Bangkok Dangerous – a remake (of sorts) of their own first collective effort. Gorillaz creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have made a musical about that irrepressible Monkey. And right now every advert under the sun is using Crouching Tiger style moves to sell their wares, from McDonalds to Frosties, and you know you’re in trouble when even Tony the Tiger is pulling some Shaolin monk moves. (Pretty soon we’ll all be sick of Chinese-themed anything!)

Ho hum, let’s see how much interest there is in a month’s time…?

easternkicks.com » Pang brothers

Venice Film Festival line-up revealed, including Takashi Miike’s new samurai film

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The Storm Warriors

The Storm Warriors is released Monday 12 July on Blu-ray and DVD by Cine Asia.

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Coming soon: Storm Warriors on DVD and Blu-ray

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Blood: The Last Vampire – the original Anime

The new live-action version of Blood: The Last Vampire is released around UK cinemas on 26 June 2009 by Pathé. We also exclusively interviewed director Chris Nahon and lead star Gianna Jun.

**There’s still time to enter our competition and you can win an exclusive Blood t-shirt and this original Anime version on DVD! Click here…**

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Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2009 starts today

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Missing

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Everybody was kung fu fighting ’08

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