Father Geek here, blurry eyed, after a late night film fest in the AICN screening room out back of Geek Headquarters here in Austin. We threaded up some "real" classics of the horror genre from both Universal and Hammer like SON OF FRANKENSTEIN and BRIDES OF DRACULA in glorious 16mm along with about 100+ old horror trailers like: Creeping Blood, Blood & Lace, Cat of Nine Tails, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Count Yorga Vampire, Scream Blacula Scream, Creeping Flesh, The Devil's Bride, The Tingler, Blood Splattered Bride, Phantom of the Paradise, Night of the Bloody Apes, Jaws, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf, Night of the Blood Beast, I Dismember Mama, Shock, Food of the Gods, The Killer Shrews, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, Rattlers, SSSSSSSS, Destory All Monsters, King Kong Escapes, Rodan, Etc...Etc... Nothing like sipping wine with friends and slipping into these clips of past horrors... but enough of that... here's some cool info that ol' Father Geek received yesterday...
Here are 4 reviews of a couple movies coming stateside in the next year or so... post them if you like, if you don't, you don't have to.
Shiri
First up is Shiri, the Je-Kyu Kang directed (and written) action/love story. I read a review of it on your site and subsequently went to the home site of that review(www.bulletsnbabesdvds.com) and read that it apparently was coming to our side of the globe at some point or another.. i suppose this year? next year? not sure... How about a little story? This movie is about a north korean special forces division named "Shiri" whom has a diabolical scheme to hijack a volatile chemical called CTX that, suffice it to say, can blow up a lot of things. Basically the shiri, or the 8th special forces division, are going to use this at the world cup game between north and south korea to blow up both prime ministers of both countries at the same time, therefore begining a war between the two sides as both would obviously blame each other for the incident. Put into the mix to stop them is the south korean intelligence agency O.P... more specifically agent's Ryu and Lee.... will they find out who is trying to take the ctx, and why in time? well, you should watch and find out....
I know i said it was an action love story, but to get into the whole love aspect of the story would be to ruin a large chunk of the storyline and spoil most everything that is great in the tension of the movie. This is a great movie, one of the best action movies i've seen in a long time.. much better than the trite american faire that we seem to be getting now.... very original and very very stylish and cool.... also the love story is horribly tragic and plays out beautifully... This movie, i'm told, is like the titanic of korean cinema, it's made the most money or some such thing... and i can see why, it's got high production values and great performances all around... plus, what i liked i think, was that it sort of gives us a look at modern korea, it looks to be a beautiful place, a strange mix of old and new, yet still clean and pleasing to look at.... You can really see a lot of the western influence in the korean architecture and a lot of hk influence in the way the film and shootouts are filmed, i ramble though, so i'll just get down to it..
Shiri is one hell of a movie.. if you're sick of how stale the american action genre has gotten, check this movie out, you shall not be disappointed. If you can't wait for it to come to the US... or if it has and i'm not aware and you can't find it playing near you, then you should order the international R0 special edition, it's 2 discs and it's superb, the transfer is great and it has tons of extras.. none of them are in english, but it's still cool to watch them anyway. you can order the special edition at www.pokerindustries.com (my favorite site to get asian movies.)
Brother
Next up is Takeshi Kitano's Brother, a movie i was waiting for with bated breath... Till i found out that the american distributor was fucking around with it and basically censoring it for it's US release... So i went ahead and got the VCD of it... I must say, wow... this is the best gangster movie i have seen.. scratch that, this is one of the best movies i've ever seen... The word genius comes to mind and that's because it is a deserving word for this movie. The story revolves around Beat Takeshi's character of Yamamato, a big fella in a yakuza family that is currently at war with another yakuza family. Yamamato is backstabbed by one of his "brothers" and his boss is killed, and so his now leaderless family is forced to merge with the family they are at war with... Yamamato does not wish to do this and so the leader of the other yakuza family orders him killed... But the loyalties of his former brothers run deep they kill a bum they find and disfigure him so he isn't identifiable as yamamato, they then forge passports and send him off to los angeles where his younger half-brother, ken, lives... ken disappears every night and says he'll be back and leaves him with denny (omar epps), yamamoto can't speak any english and so he and denny communicate through the international language of gambling... one night yamamoto follows ken and sees his brother dealing drugs, the dealer he works for is a mexican gangster and comes to collect his money from ken. Ken does not have his money, so the dealer hits him, this was a mistake as yamamoto beats the guys ass.. The guy then leaves and sends some of his people back to get yamamoto... suffice it to say that yamamoto ends up killing the mexican gangster and his higher-ups and takes over their turf and so the cycle begins anew as he reclaims his position as a crime boss in america... This is a great film.. a film about greed, betrayl, lies and ultimately family... but not family like flesh, something deeper, the family that exists between friends... the family that makes you wanna die for them, the kind of relation that would make you kill for them... make you do anything for them... this is a great movie in that it seems as though the actors are really friends... the relationship that develops between denny and yamamoto is really touching, especially towards the end of the film.... All around the performances are very good and very natural. The movie itself is everything that american mobster movies wish they could be, but aren't... it's all about realism, that's what i love about these kinds of movies from asian cinema, the realism of the violence and the portrayl of it... it's not nice, it's not sweet, it's horrific and evil and in the realm of this movie, necessary.
I highly reccomend seeing this movie, even if it's got some stuff removed and such, that shouldn't stop you from seeing the movie and if it does then you can order the vcd from pokerindustries.com, sanitized or not, the movie's message still rings true: the ties that bind you to your friends are thicker than anything.
Legend of Zu
Next up is Tsui Hark's action/adventure/crazyassed kung fu fantasy The Legend of Zu....
The story of the legend of zu is that there is a great evil called "insomnia" that is sweeping through the land and threatening to destroy all of the various floating island schools of martial artistry in zu... King Sky (ekin cheng) and Red (Louis Koo) must attempt to destroy it.... with the help of longbrows (sammo hung), chief of the zu warriors, they almost destroy insomnia, but through a small mishap they end up allowing her/him/it entrance to "the blood cave" which could actually make insomnia the ultimate evil in the world and allow it to turn the world to darkness...
This is a great movie... it's so crazy and just what i needed right now, i've been down and out for several weeks (girl troubles and all that, but when isn't it?) and this movie brought a huge smile to my face... Be warned.. if you see this movie, don't expect anything to make an inordinate amount of sense, nor should you expect great kung fu action or anything... what you should expect is awesome special effects and insane fights using supernatural powers of which you must shout out the name of before sending it your opponents way... this is eye candy to the extreme. I reccomend this movie fully and whole heartedly, it's fun, it's funny, and it's just soooo cool, what i wouldn't give to have the heaven strike (watch the movie and you'll know why)...
I guess this movie is coming over here ... last I heard, december... prolly next year though... You can get the vcd at pokerindustries.com and if you wait til November 2nd, you can get the DTS R0 DVD.. possibly it'll even be anamorphic, OOOH!!!!
Shaolin Soccer
I have saved the best for last, Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer!!! This is the story of the greatest soccer player china has ever seen "The Golden Leg" whom was robbed of his career by a corrupt teammate.. when The Golden Leg misses an important kick, the fans rush the field and a few of them take to breaking his golden leg.... We flash forward from that scene to find the golden leg as nothing more than a washed up water boy, instead of a famous coach like his corrupt teammate whom engineered his injury.... He soon happens upon a feisty shaolin monk called The mighty steel leg, whom proceeds to kick a pop can apparently into the stratosphere.... and then through chance again watches the mighty steel leg kick some gangster ass using nothing but a soccer ball, because he says he won't use his shaolin style to hit another human being... so this give the golden leg an idea, he soon approaches the mighty steel leg about playing soccer... the steel leg agrees and convinces his other monk brothers to join the team....
What is to follow is one of the best sport/action/kung fu comedy's i have ever seen... It's such a great movie, this movie would put a smile on anyone's face, no matter who they are... from the great performances by stephen chow as mighty steel leg to the great script, to the awesome awesome special effects and soccer matches.... It's beautiful, i loved every single second of this movie. This is a fun movie, one i'll probably watch a million times after this and another million after that.... This movie comes out soon in the US.. i hear in april of next year.. but there is a superb, and when i say superb i mean superb, R0 dvd out with all kinds of cool stuff, making of features, effects features, great film transfer, DTS and dolby 2.0 out right now... pokerindustries.com has it...
See this movie, see it a million times and love it, it's the kind of cinema that doesn't come around very often, it's the kind of cinema that makes you get up and cheer and say "this is the reason i watch movies"... who couldn't love a movie that has an evil soccer team whom are actually called "evil team"... and also, to have little brother weight vest whom is the very large and over weight monk with an affinity for raw eggs who can fly through the air with the greatest of ease.... and harry is right, the goalie truly does look dead on, DEAD ON, bruce lee in game of death.
Well, i must be off to bed... but i must ask a question, does anyone know where to get a dvd or vcd of Versus, the japanese yakuza zombie flick... no one seems to have it except some crazy british fella on ebay whom keeps selling his for 60 bucks... i wanna find it for cheaper than that, hopefully quicker than ebay sellers offer also, so if anyone knows where to get it i would be much obliged, if you know email me at djbigsex@vbdsucks.com
Thanks... hope you can use these reviews... Just call me TheSchnoo
Father Geek back again with some really GREAT news about an uber cool little independant Indian film called "ABCD" that I saw at a festival about 2 years ago... They have finally scored North American distribution and I couldn't be happier. This was a beautiful, very meaningful, and fun flick folks, I enjoyed the hell out of it, even saw it a second time. Its a fantastic date flick too, sooooo make sure to go see it when it shows in your Neck-of-the-Woods...
Here is the lowdown on the ABCD release schedule. The release date is November 30th. We will open on 40 screens in the top 15 markets in US and Canada. The PR agency is MPRM who have handled everything from Memento to You Can Count on Me to most Miramax films.
The film's website is at abcd-themovie,com and the trailer is now online at http://www.abcd-themovie.com/trailer.html
Here is the initial list of cities it will be playing: NY, LA, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Wash DC, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Francisco, San Diego, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary.
Thanks,
Krutin
Well thats enough from Father Geek, now on to pigmon and Darius25 and their part of this week's 80th Thursday Asia-AICN Column...
Hey all, hope you’ve had a great Halloween!!! This week you can sit back, relax and chow down on various sweets while you enjoy our latest column. We have tones on info including news on director Ramgopal Verma’s new film, “Deewanapan (Craziness)”, “Warm Water Under a Red Bridge”, “6 Weeks: Private Moment”, and “Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah : Giant Monsters All-Out Attack". Now here’s the latest from Asia.
INDIA
- After “Company”, director Ramgopal Verma’s next film will be “Rock”. The film will star newcomer Vivek Oberoi (who makes his debut in Company) and Manisha Koirala in the leading roles. Despite the gimmicky title the film will be a comedy, allowing the director to take a breather after filming such a hard-hitting film. Verma will be also be busy producing a thriller titled “Road”, which stars Manoj Bajpai and Neha in the leading roles. Both “Road” and “Rock” are slated for release next summer while “Company” is due Dec. 14.
- Producer Vashu Bhagnani has moved on from his latest release (“Rehna Hai Terre Dil Me – Living in your Heart) and is very busy hyping up his next film, “Deewanapan (Craziness)”. The comedy stars Arjun Rampal and Diya Mirza in the leading roles, and is directed by newcomer Asoo Trikha. The film has literally come out of nowhere and is slated to release this November.
- Jackie Shroff has signed director Ketan Mehta for his next home-production, titled “Katputli (The Puppet)”. No casting details were given except for the fact that Jackie would take on the leading role. The film is still very early in the production stage and the casting remains to be complete.
- Last week marked a pretty big showdown between two big stars in Bollywood when action-fave Sunny Deol’s home-production “Indian” clashed with Santosh Sivan’s historical epic, “Asoka”, starring the megastar Shahrukh Khan, along with Kareena Kapoor, Rahul Dev, Danny Denzongpa, Hrishitaa Bhatt and Ajith Kumar. I’ve already reviewed “Asoka” while it was playing at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, but here’s my thoughts on the second viewing (my original review is located here: http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=10259).
Briefly, the film is “based” on the life of India’s most notorious emperors, Ashoka the Great. The king was known to be ruthless conqueror whose monstrosity grew to new heights when he invaded the peaceful country of Kalinga. At the same battle, the emperor underwent a philosophical transformation and eventually became one of the biggest advocates of peace and tranquility. The film doesn’t do this real-life tale any justice and uses only a few brief facts to tell tale a fictional tale of romance and obsession.
The film’s original problems still remain. The first half has even been made longer with the addition of some new songs which only make the pacing even messier. While the plot isn’t boring at any given time, one only wishes for the film to move along with its story rather than have the usual romantic scenes. For a supposed epic, the first half moves at a very sluggish pace and almost feels to be a different film than the second half. The story picks up in the second half (when Ashoka becomes the king) and that’s when we get to the real good stuff. Shahrukh is great here and he really gets under the skin of the “evil” Ashoka, making us truly despise him yet somehow feeling sympathetic for him at the same time. The battle scenes are ok yet pale in comparison to Hollywood blockbusters like Gladiator and Braveheart. The set design is also very poor therefore really underplaying the majestic scope of the film. It just doesn’t feel like you’re watching an epic.
Yet despite these problems, “Asoka” is worth watchable, if only for Shahrukh Khan’s performance. It is a moderate budget period film, a rarity in Bollywood, that only redeems itself with the help of a fabulous ending and some decent acting from the cast.
Here’s a pic of Shahrukh Khan and Ajith Kumar: Just Click Here
Here’s pic of SRK and Hrishitaa Bhatt: Click Right Here
And of course, here’s a fabulous pic of Kareena Kapoor: Click
- In direct comparison, “Indian” was a more entertaining film, even though it’s not great cinema. Directed with some visual flair by N. Maharanjan, the movie stars Sunny Deol, Shilpa Shetty, Danny Denzongpa, Raj Babbar, and Mukesh Rishi. Like typical Sunny films, this one also features him as a ruthless cop who shoots first, asks questions later. Here he’s one-upped himself by taking on several terrorist organizations at once and single-handedly defeating the only way he knows how – by shooting them ofcourse. While sounding at first like a typical action shoot’em up, the film wisely deviates from the rest (if only by a little) by focusing the story on several different criminals rather than just one main crimelord. The film’s also packed with some heavy-hitting drama scenes which require our hero to use his brain more than his gun. Of course, you get some really good action scenes including one in particular where Sunny takes on 20 guys and proceeds to fight them using his fists rather than his gun. The scene is just brutal to watch yet very effective, thanks to the AWESOME sound effects. There are also shoot-out galore, and ample blood is splattered. The acting is decent and Sunny Deol is again sensational in his type-casted role. The main baddies, played here by Mukesh Rishi, Danny Denzongpa, and Raj Babbar, are effective in their limited scenes and prove to be somewhat worthy opponents of our hero. Shilpa Shetty is wasted in a limited role as Sunny’s wife. The songs are limited and far-between while the pacing is just right. The direction is decent, displaying high energy in the action scenes while packing some serious wallop in the more emotional scenes. All in all, “Indian” is a little above the average action film but Sunny Deol fans will go crazy over it nonetheless.
Here’s a pic of Sunny Deol in action: Go Here Now
Sunny looks pissed while Shilpa Shetty looks worried: Click Here
Here’s a better picture of Shilpa: Just Click
JAPAN
Here’s the weekly report from “Pigmon”:
- The 14th Tokyo International Film Festival is now under way but there are no world premieres this year. They tried to get "Gangs of New York", "Harry Potter", or "The Lord Of The Rings", but none of them are finished at this moment. Truly the only world premiere is " Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah : Giant Monsters All-Out Attack". I will review it next week.
- I just saw the surreal drama "Warm Water Under a Red Bridge" (Nikkatsu release) from Shohei Imamura. Already shown at various film festival all over the world, including Cannes, Toronto,and Venice. Imamura's newest adult fantasy film will be opening in Japan next week. This is the one of weirdest film in years. Yosuke (played by Koji Yakusho) who just got laid off, meets an old homeless guy. He said that he hid lots of gold at the bottom of the house near the red bridge in Noto Hanto (north west of Japan). The hero then goes to look for it and finds a woman (played by Misa Shimizu) living in the house. But this is no ordinary person – her body is full of mystical water which she can only exert through intercourse. Of course the two leads proceed to make love and the woman releases water all over the place!! The ending gets even more weirder as Yosuke eventually finds the “treasure”. The film, despite its offbeat story, turned out to be quite charming and wholeheartedly entertaining. Watch out for its international release really soon.
- I also saw "Kewaishi" (Toei release), the latest from Mitsutoshi Tanaka. Set in early 1900's Tokyo, its story is about a makeup artist named Kosannba (played by Kippei Shina-superb acting). All the women desire to have their make up done from Kosannba because he is the best. He also manages to get intertwined into the lives of many women and proceeds to work out their various problems. This movie is in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival right now.
- ActorYosuke Tubozuka is on the rise right now. After the smashing success of “Go”, his future is getting brighter by the minute. He already has 2 more films ready to release. "Ping Pong" is based on popular comic of the same name which follows the exploits of Peko(Tubozuka), a high-ranking Ping Pong player in High School. There are lots of digital shots in this movie (like the ones in "Forrest Gump"). It will be released early next year. Another film for Tubozuka is "Laundry". The film follows the terminally-ill Teru (Tubozuka) who becomes a mysterious healer for the local visitors at a laundry mat. It’ll also be released early next year.
- Just got in, "GO" has been chosen as the Japanese representative for next year’s Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category.
- Actor Toshi Shioya (“Mr. Baseball”, “Blood Oaths”) has made an impressive directorial debut with “6 Weeks: Private Moment” (Hori Productions). The film focuses on a local dancing competition and boasts a large cast mainly made up of newcomers. Some young blood is highly needed in the industry and the film is generating some rave reviews. It opens in Tokyo next week.
- A Toho rep has stated that “Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah : Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" will be the last Godzilla film from Toho until Columbia's Godzilla sequel is completed. I wonder when will Columbia start production on the sequel…
