Father Geek here along with Darius25 to bring you this Thursday's Asia-AICN Column. Tons of pics this week... but first I've got this that came to Geek Headquarters in Austin this morning...

Just wanted to let you know that the trailer of the Steve Oedekerk film "Kung Pow!: Enter The Fist" is now available on the web.

Here's the link: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/kung_pow/

Call me...

Lazarus

Then there was this bit that crossed ol'Father Geek's antique roll top desk...

I'm a virgin at this. But what the heck. Johnnie To at the Oscars is news for a bigtime fan of his like me. And I've seen "Fulltime Killer" several times (once in a HK theater in Taikoo and several times on the nicely-packaged HK DVD). So here goes, a review of sorts:

Johnnie To, Oscar nominee? What's a fan to do? Get ecstatic or bury my head in my hands? I mean, what if he wins? Does he migrate to the Hollywood A-list and make soulless action movies with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon? Oh God. The thought's scarier than the last ten minutes of "The Ring". (The Hideo Nakata original, not Gore Verbinski's bound-to-be-half-assed-though-not-as-dull-as-Affleck remake).

First things first: Johhnie To is NEXT. If he isn't there already. As far as HK cinema is concerned, of course. Sure you've got your Wongkarwais and Fruit Chans and Wilson Yip will be doing wonderful things in the future, just watch. But , To. He's the MAN. Better than Woo, really. Cooler than Tsui. And I love Woo and Tsui.

To's Milkyway Images is the nexus of some of the most haunting, haunted, gorgeously fatalistic action movies since 1997. Bleak but handsome, cash cows all but possessed of an intense personal vision. Whether he's hauling megaphone ("The Mission", "Running Out of Time") or pulling the puppet strings on cronies Patrick Yau ("The Longest Nite", "Expect the Unexpected") and Wai Kai Fai ("Too Many Ways To Be Number 1"), he's burning the architecture, kicking against the pricks. This is vital stuff. Gone is the hyperkinetic bloodbaths. It's still about good cops, bad cops, sensitive gangsters, sensitive cops, cops in love, hitmen in love, gangsters in love, terminally ill jewel thieves, hairdressing gangsters,legless assassins, beyond-hypothermic hitwomen, what have you. But. These movies are sleek, spare, soulful even and rather serene, though no less bloodcurdling and the action no less adrenalizing even if it sometimes fills up all of half a minute screen time tops. To's work reminds me less of any other HK director but more the brooding cadences of Takeshi Kitano and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the misift poetry of Jean Pierre Melville, the no-frills literalism of Howard Hawks, the sinuous camera of Michael Mann.

So, "Fulltime Killer", then. Why it works. And why it's merely almost-there,

Surplused by a roman a clef by Pang Ho Cheung, a sordid tell-all about the gun-for-hire biz, the novel seems like ripe stuff for a Fruit Chan movie. Fruit Chan , of course, is the man behind such raw, grimy, gritty HK melodramas as "Made In Hong Kong" and "The Longest Summer". But from the get-go, with that amazing crash zoom into a fresh cemetery grave, it's clear what To's and Wai's spin is going to be. And it isn't Fruit Chan.

Andy Lau is Tok. Preening, narcisstic, flambuoyant and pissed off. A movie buff hitman getting runt jobs because of his style. Too much flash. Too much noise. Too much profile. Bad for business. Takashi Sorimachi is who's getting thebig money gigs. Guy named O. Diametric opposite. All slo-mo smooth and piercing eyes . All business. All ice. He even guns down a high school friend after the later scopes him during a hit. Then there's the girl that comes between them (Kelly Lin). And the Interpol agent hot on their tail(the amazing Simon Yam).

It's all very Hawksian, really. Which is always good. But it's also on the verge of being oh-so been there-done that. It's that siege menatlity/male bonding trope. To kissed that cliche goodbye with an ultraviolent bang in "A Hero Never Dies", the last word in Heroic Bloodhsed. Look no further. "Fulltime Killer" isn't so much "Johnnie To's Assassins" as it is "A Hero Never Dies Eviscerated", thrashing it up and pumping it up. It's a hitman movie about hitman movies. And Tok and O are its twin pulses. "Fulltime" is smug and dapper, low-key and flashy, hyperbolic and ultracool, all at the same time. It's closer to To and Wai's hospital farce "Help!" than any of his actioners, a thriller about destructive obsessions and hitman penis envy played out as a self-referential, self-deprecating satire cum tribute to the majesty of the set piece and the essential vacuity of the action movie. And how much fun that vacuity can be.

And it is vacuous fun. The pop referencing alone can get so giddy, it's a trip. It's never been this upfront. It's never been this barbed. It's never been this fun. Everything from "Point Break" to Wongkarwai to Hitchcockto "Face/Off" to Milkyway's own back catalog gets skewered or sampled, one way or the next.

And the action. Man! Save for the underwhelming climax at a fireworks warehouse, every set piece- - - from the double-barrel opening (an assassination at a Malaysian train station and a siege at a River Kwai jail) to Lau's close encounter with a subway train- - - bristles with spark and vigor. No recent HK action movie, except maybe "A War Named Desire", has racked up momentum this intense.

What fails "Fulltime Killer" is what sometimes fails Alan Moore's ABC stuff. It's fun. And that's more than can be said for 99% of Hollywood product. But it's clearly beneath To and Wai. You watch it. You get off. But in the end, you just remember how long it's been since "Running Out of Time". Minor quip, I suppose. Fanboy gripe. But it's the same feeling I got with Besson's "Messenger", Scorsese's "Bringing Out The Dead" and R.E.M.'s "Reveal".

But, a reactor-hot movie still, "Fulltime Killer". Oscar material? Why the hell not? They're forking over statuettes for crap like "Gladiator" anyway. But "Fulltime" will be up against a movie I haven't seen by a director I love just as dearly, "Amelie". Who to root for? Ah, the dillemas of a geek.

Whether it wins or not, though, "Fulltime Killer" and Johnnie To, not to mention a gaggle of other SAR filmmakers - - -whose home movies will always be infinitely better than the careers of Brett Ratner, Jan De Bont, Michael Bay, Simon West, Gore Verbinski and Dominic Sena and whoever else is there with them in Hollywood hack steerage (I hear they're saving a place for James Wong if he doesn't get his mojo back soon) - - - is the fuck-you to all the doomsday prophets trumpeting the death of the HK movie industry.

It's alive,man, and it's going to kick your ass!

Who needs Woo, indeed... Peace!

Just call me ASKAL

dododayao@netasia.net

Father Geek back, this time simply to introduce Darius and his report from Bollywood...

Asia-AICN

Hey all, hope your week went well. We only have have Bollywood news this week but don’t worry, the HK and Japanese news will return soon. Nonetheless, we still have info on director Madhur Bhandarkar’s next film, “Company”, “Talaash (The Search)”, and much more.

We also have pics from “Talaash (The Search)”, “Company”, “Ehsaas (Realize)”, and “Moksha (Salvation)”.

Now here’s the latest from India.

INDIA

- Director Madhur Bhandarkar (China Bar) is currently writing the script of his next film, which will focus on female inmates at a major Indian prison. Raveena Tandon has signed on for the main lead while Bhandarkar is also negotiating with Karisma Kapoor for a role in the film. The director is planning to shoot in the spring and release the film next winter.

- Some new behind-the-scene stills were released from director Suneel Darshan’s “Talaash (The Search)”. The action thriller stars Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, and Pooja Batra. It will be released next fall.

Kareena Kapoor, looking fabulous as ever: Check Her Out Here

Pooja Batra, looking almost as fine as Kareena: Click Here

Another pic of Kareena, with Akshay Kumar: Click Now

- Some new stills were also released from director Ramgopal Verma’s “Company”. The gritty thriller has been shot in various locations all over Asia (including HK) and marks the Bollywood debut of Southern superstar, Mohan Lal. It stars Ajay Devgan (whose character is based on kingpin Dawood Ibrahim), Vivek Oberoi (supposedly as Ibrahim’s partner-in-crime, Chhota Shakeel), Manisha Koirala, and Antara Malli. It is slated to release this January.

Vivek Oberoi threatens while Ajay looks on (background): See It Here

Manisha Koirala: Click Right Here

Ajay in a bad-ass gangster getup: Go Here

Southern actor Mohan Lal (center) as an Indian Police Chief hot on the trails of the notorious gangsters: Click...

- The major release last week was director Mahesh Manjrekar’s third “Ehsaas (Realize)”. This is the director’s second film in two weeks, both featuring action heroes in a more subdued roles and a child actor performing better than expectations. Unlike “Tera Mera Saath Rahen (We Should Stay Together)”, this film is a sports-drama, focusing on the relationship between a middle class man and his young son. Sunil Shetty is at his best here, as the aggressive father who tries extremely hard to make an athlete out of his son (Mahank Tandon). The son, on the other hand, feels that his father makes him work TOO HARD, and starts to develop an animosity towards the man. Kiron Kher and Neha are equally good as the friendly neighbours who provide ample support to father and son, respectively. With a short running time (just under 2 hours), the script doesn’t develop too much a story and focuses on the father-son plot most of the time (a good thing!). There are no annoying comedy relief scenes, and the drama is well-developed. There are 4 songs, but they are handled with maturity and are not just included to pad-up the running time. All in all, “Ehsaas” is a good slice-of-life drama best suited for the smaller screens.

Sunil Shetty (in glasses), yelling REALLY hard: Click Right Here

Neha, Sunil and the kid: Just Click

- Director Ashok Mehta’s “Moksha (Salvation)” was also released last week. The long-in-the-making film was rushed to a hurried release to cash-in on star Arjun Rampal’s success, but it was plagued with many financial problems and opened to pretty disastrous reviews. Nonetheless, “Moksha” is a very high budget art film that just DESERVES to be seen on the big screen. The film is full of sumptuous B&W cinematography not seen in India for several decades, and the plot itself is mind-bender intended to be watched more than once. The plot on the surface is pretty simple: Vikram (Arjun Rampal) is an aspiring lawyer fed up with the corrupt justice system. He wants to open up his own law-firm which would serve the needs of any client, rich or poor; but fails to gather funds for such a business. He desperately tries to gather funds from any source possible, but fails at every turn. Even his girlfriend, Ritika (Manisha Koirala), tells him to give up on his (seemingly) impossible dream. The plot takes a bizarre twist here, and it is virtually impossible for the viewer to figure everything out before the credits are over. The acting is incredible, with Arjun Rampal proving he’s one of the most talented newcomers in the industry. With this film, he has shown enough potential to be in the big-leagues. Manisha Koirala is at her arty best here, providing good support (and motivation) for Rampal’s actions. There are also several appearances by some major character actors, but I won’t reveal them for your benefit. Just keep in mind that each actor is very memorable in his brief role. As I’ve said before, the cinematography is just breathtaking and the black&white book-ends feature some of the most beautiful scenery ever featured in Indian cinema. The film’s script is leisurely paced in the first half while really making you sit up during the second half. The direction is superb – every single element of the film is of the highest grade possible - story, acting, music, and set design. “Moksha” may not be for everyone’s tastes, but it is definitely one of the best films released this year.

Arjun Rampal – brooding psycho?: Click Here Now

Manisha Koirala: Click To See

We have now reached the end of this week's column. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices at atshrivas@rogers.com. See you all next week.

Darius25