Father Geek reporting with a brand new 30th edition of Asia-AICN along with Darius25, Pigmon, and Accidental Spy. And as usual they have tons of new info for you and some really nice pictures also. Buuuuuuuut first this bit that arrived on my laptop this morning...

Just thought you might like to know that we saw Ang Lee and James Schamus tonight at the NFT as part of the London Film Festival. They were specifically asked about the rumours about a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Prequel/Sequel and they confirmed they aren't working on one at the moment - Ang Lee expressed a desire to do "a couple of English language films next, for a rest" and he is toying with the idea of doing a musical next. However, CTHD is based on the fourth novel in a series of five, so there is always the possibility of going back to the source material later - if the script is right.

I know you've had a ton of reviews of the movie, but I'd just like to chip in to say that it is absolutely fabulous - I went in with high hopes expecting a kick ass action movie, but the film I saw was so much deeper than that. It is a truly beautiful film, the acting is incredible and it is a deeply moving story, ah yes, and by the way, the fight scenes are like nothing you've ever seen.

Anyway, hope you find this interesting

Dalek

Well thats all Father Geek has to add to this week's Thursday column, here's Darius with his full report...

Asia-AICN #30

Hey All. Hope you all had a great week with the election and all. It's been a pretty tense week with the ups and downs. Hopefully by the time you read this, Gore will be the new President. But that's just my wish. Anyway, we have a packed column for you this week. Unfortunately, AznFob55 didn't report any Filipino news because he's on a (well-deserved) vacation. But he'll be back soon. Now here's the latest from Asia.

INDIA

- One of director Sanjay Chhel's upcoming films will be titled Yahoo. The comedy will star Govinda, Saif Ali Khan, Juhi Chawla, Amisha Patel, and Pooja Batra. Chhel will also write the screenplay for the film.

- One of director Priyadarshan's upcoming projects will be Jo Chaahe Ho Jaaye (Let Whatever Happens Happen). The murder mystery will star Tabu, Jyothika, and Sharbani Mukherjee.

- Another of Priyadarshan's films will star Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai. Aish will play a doctor in the romantic comedy while SRK plays her patient. The film does not yet have a title. Principal photography will commence sometime in November 2001.

- Principal photography for Khiladi No. 1 (Player No. 1) has now been completed. The film, directed by actor/writer Neeraj Vohra, stars Akshay Kumar, Mahima Choudhary and Gulshan Grover.

- Rajshree Productions have announced that Hrithik Roshan will star in their upcoming film, tentatively titled Main Prem Deewani Hoon (Foolish Girl). Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor are in talks right now to round out the lead cast.

- Producer Saawan Kumar Tak is also hoping to rope in Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan for his new film, Aur Kitne Pakistan (How Many More Pakistans ? -There is a plural in Pakistan, it's not a misprint). If the actors don't agree then Tak is looking at the Deol brothers (Sunny and Bobby) as their replacements.

- Raveena Tandon will make a special appearance in producer Shyam Bajaj's Kahin Pyar Ho Na Jaaye (What if there is Love ?). The film stars Salman Khan.

- Actor Anupam Kher will direct a film for producer Vashu Bhagnani. The film (which remains to be titled) will focus on a bunch of Indians living in New York City. Kher claims that it will not be an action film or a romantic comedy. The cast has yet to be finalized but Kher said that they are looking for younger people with little experience (but not totally newcomers). My guess is that he will be able to rope in either Hrithik Roshan or Abhishek Bachchan.

- Finally, Aish will also star in film called Sanam Tere Hain Hum (I am Yours). The film will also star South Indian actor Nagarjuna, Kirti Reddy, and Anjala Zhaveri.

- There were no new releases this week as no one would dare to enter the market with Mission Kashmir and (esp.) Mohabbatein (Love Affairs) kicking ass at the box-office. This week's recommendation is a small little comedy-thriller named Kaun (Who is it ?), which was directed by Ramgopal Verma. The film stars Urmila Matondkar as an extremely paranoid woman left home alone at her parents house, during a massive manhunt for a serial killer in the surrounding area. Things get complicated when a man (Manoj Bajpai in a brilliant performance) shows up at her doorsteps claiming to be a friend of her father. She doesn't let him in, but he consistently tries to get in the house while continuously harassing her (but not in a threatening manner). After he finally gets in, another man shows up claiming to be a cop. The film continues to build suspense and the interaction between these three characters until the end, when the identity of the serial killer is finally revealed. All of the three leads did a commendable job, especially Manoj Bajpai as the creepy yet hilarious visitor. But the real star of the film is director Ramgopal Verma, who is able to keep the audience guessing till the final scene. Kudos to him for making a brilliant film that is miles ahead of the post-Scream generation of slasher films that breathes new life into the genre. With no songs, and a short 90-min. running time, this film will keep you on the edge of your seats while leaving you with a disturbing smile at the end.

Here is a picture of Urmila Matondkar in Kaun:

Also, here's a picture of a totally unrecognizable Manoj Bajpai, (creepy yet hilarious):

CHINA / HK

The following was reported by "The Accidental Spy":

- Jackie Chan didn't deny that both Faye Wong and Zhang Ziyi are in consideration for a leading role in Rush Hour 2. Both of them will be tested sometime this month. However, Chan confessed that even though the final decision is not up to him but Brett Ratner and Newline, he does not favor either one of them to join the film (uh-oh).

- This coming Christmas is claiming the busiest holiday season in HK since early 90's "Two-Chow, One-Chan Era" ( One Chow Yun-Ft movie, one Stephen Chow movie and one Jackie Chan movie were regularly released during the holidays). Instead of pushing back the release dates as I earlier reported, this holiday season will be extended to start from late November to mid-January next year. Kicking off the season at the end of November is "Skyline Cruisers"(aka Downtown Torpedos 2). The film is being directed by Wilson Yip ("Bio-Zombie", "Bullets over Summer") and stars Leon Lai, Shu Qi, Jordan Chan, Sam Lee and Michelle Saram. With the star power and a moderate budget to back-up the film, critics predict that Wilson Yip will bring this action thriller to a more emotional and dramatic level. Click here to go to the official website of the film: Here's Their Site

Five more movies will be released this Christmas. They are "For Bad Boys Only", "Lavender", "China Strike Force", "A Fighter's Blue" and "Gen-Y Cops". Insiders predict that the primary BO contest is between Stanley Tong's high-budgeted "China Strike Force" and Andy Lau's boxing tragedy "A Fighter's Blue. Takeshi Kaneshiro's "Lavender" might just be the darkhorse to win big bucks since it's the only romantic film among the six. There's a bold prediction in HK that Ekin Cheng's "For Bad Boys Only" could be this season's flop, despite the star's usual dominating-power at the box office in recent years. "Gen-Y Cops" could be the teenagers' event film, which stars the popular newcomer Edison Chan who debuts in the film (replacing Nicolas Tse from the original), Stephen Fung, Sam Lee, model-turned-actress Maggie Q, Rachel An, and American actor Paul Rudd. Also, "Hollywood Reporter" has just named "Gen-Y Cops" as one of the nine grade-A movies in 2001, which won't hurt the film's selling power in the international market.

- "In the Mood for Love" opened in UK two weeks ago, releasing only in 13 theatres, while surprisingly landing at no.14 at the UK box office chart, with a stunning approx $10 000 USD screen average. Here's some local reviews of the film from England: Just Click Here ,and then again Right Here , and finally Go to Here

- And did I mention that Tony Leung Chiu-Wai was just named "The Sexiest Newcomer of 2000" (newcomer? weird...) by People Magazine? Here's the link: Right Here

- The 37th Taiwan Golden Horse Awards' nominations were announced last week. Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" scored 13 nominations, while Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love" received 9 nominations. The Best actress category seem to be the toughest battle of all. Here's a list of some important categories:

Best Film: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"(Taiwan); "Foreign Mirror(literal title)"(China); "In the Mood for Love"(HK); "Little Cheung"(HK); "Lucky Hands' Love"(Taiwan); "The Mission" (HK)

Best Director: Ang Lee - "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"(Taiwan); Johnnie To - "The Mission"(HK); Wong Kar-Wai - "In the Mood For Love"(HK); Ang Wu - "Foreign Mirror(lit. title)"(China)

Best Actor: Leslie Cheung - "Double Tap"(HK); Tony Leung Chiu-Wai- "In the Mood for Love"(HK); Francis Ng - "The Mission"(HK); Qu Chung-shin - "Just an Accident(lit. title)"(Taiwan); (For crying out loud, NO Chow Yun-fat???- Acc. Spy)

Best Actress: Sammi Cheng - "Needing You..."(HK); Maggie Cheung - "In the Mood for Love"(HK); Michelle Yeoh - "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"(Taiwan); Zheng Ziyi - "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"(Taiwan)

Best Fight Choreography: Hung Yan-Yan - "Time & Tide"(HK); Kwok Chun-Fung - "Double Tap"(HK); Sit Chung-Wai - "Tokyo Raiders"(HK); Yung Woo-Ping - "Crouching Tiger, HIdden Dragon"(Taiwan)

Best Visual Effects: Cinefex Cubists Ltd. - "Time & Tide"(HK); Leo Lo, Rob Hodgson - "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"(Taiwan); Yau Chun-Lin, Hsu Shin-Tai, Su Yu-Min - "The Legend of Scared Stone"(Taiwan); Dang Yuen-Dai, Tang Wai-yuk - "Double Tap"(HK)

Best Original Screenplay: Fruit Chan Gor - "Little Cheung"(HK); Su Zhao-Bin - "Lucky Hands' Love (lit. title)" (Taiwan); Wong Kar-Wai - "In the Mood For Love"(HK); Yueng Sin-Ling, Au Shu-Lin, The Rat - "Spacked Out"(HK)

Overall, CTHD seems a sure-bet for the Best Film and Best Director awards. Tony Leung will probably go home with the Best Actor award, but I really want Francis Ng to win, despite his lack of screen time in "The Mission". The Best Actress is damn hard to predict: Sammi Cheng's breakthrough performance is adorable, Maggie Cheung is great as usual while Zheng Ziyi's complicated character was handled undeniably great by the newcomer. My guess: Zhang Ziyi. What do you think, guys? (100% agree with you on Zhiyi, man - D25)

- Last weekend at the HKBO, "The Exorcist: the version you've never seen" debuted strongly at no.1; the surprise hit "Clean My Name, Mr. Coroner!" landed at no.2 while "The Cell" and "Road Trip" both slipped two spots to no.3 & 4. "Big Momma's House" debuted at the fifth place. In the meantime, "In the Mood for Love" was still in top 10 at the seventh place.

"Clean My Name, Mr.Coroner!", a Brilliant Idea Group (BIG) production, was directed and written by James Yuen. It's an old school HK action/comedy which stars Nick Cheung, Francis Ng and Ti Lung. Despite the usual framed-undercover-trying-to-clear-his-name formula, critics found the film to be decently scripted. Nick Cheung and Francis Ng have a wonderful comedic chemistry as the odd-couple while the audiences also find it highly entertaining in an old-fashioned way. It's a rare film among the new wave of Americanized HK films in recent years. Here are some pictures from the film.

Francis Ng (right) as a geeky coroner, with Jerry Lamb:

Nick Cheung as a framed undercover cop:

Ti Lung as Nick's superior:

JAPAN

"Pigmon" has more news this week from the Tokyo Film Festival:

I spent a very productive week and was extremely lucky to see the world premieres of "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus", "Avalon", and "The Legend Of Gingko."

"Godzilla vs Megaguirus" (2000)

Forget about "Godzilla 2000" which was one of worst Godzilla films ever. Everybody was surprised by the fact that this new Godzilla film is so damn good!!"Godzilla vs Megaguirus". It was damn good!! This is a completely new Godzilla story, having no relation to "Godzilla 2000" This film features a Godzilla who has been attacking Japan because he was attracted by the nuclear energy created by Japan. Godzilla had destroyed Tokyo in 1954 so Osaka was named the new capital of Japan. In 1996, a new source of energy (plasma) was invented but Godzilla came and destroyed Osaka as well. The film in set in the year 2001, in which the government has created a technology called "Dimension Tide" which is used to create a black hole and send Godzilla to a parallel dimension. The first attempt of "Dimension Tide" is successful but an ancient bug named Meganuron comes to our world from the other side. The bug replicates itself into many bugs and all of them attack Godzilla. Eventually all of the bugs combine and evolve into one giant bug called the Megaguirus. You know the rest. Godzilla fights this monster while havoc breaks loose everywhere else. I won't reveal the rest, but the climactic fight scene MUST be seen!! I just found out that Columbia Tristar is releasing this in the US in Summer 2001. Don't miss it.

Avalon (2000), directed by Mamoru Oshii

This was the hardest film to get tickets for during the film festival. Avalon is a complete winner. The live-action film was directed by Mamoru Oshii, who brought us "Akira" and "Ghost in the Shell". This is one of the most visually stunning films ever made. The live-action footage was combined with traditional handdrawn animation and computer generated imaging. The story focuses on a female fighter/soldier named Ash who must defeat an evil villain (Bishop) by entering and completing a virtual reality game named Avalon. The story is hard to understand, but the film is absolutely mesmerizing. Mr. Oshii was entirely successful in drawing the audience into his virtual reality world. In fact, James Cameron calls Avalon "the most artistic, beautiful and stylish [film] in Science Fiction history". Mr. Oshii compares this film to be on the same level as his earlier masterpiece "Ghost in the Shell".

The Legend Of Gingko (2000)

This is a Korean version of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", without Kung Fu. Produced by the director of "Shiri", the film is about a girl named Pi, who is born to couple from two warring tribes. Her father's tribe (Volcano) eventually wins the war. As a result, Pi's mother (who is now the leader of the other tribe) comes to sacrifice her daughter. The (incomplete) version that I saw needed more VFX work I found that the film had acting but the many fighting scenes made the film too long and boring at time. I can't really judge this film until I see the final cut.

Now here is this week's news:

- Wong Kar Wai announced at the Tokyo International Film Festival that his upcoming SF epic,"2046", is in trouble. The production of the film will be delayed due to singer Takuya Kim (a member of SMAP, a Japanese pop group)'s extremely busy schedule. Kim will be making an appearance in the film. Wong announced that it will take a long marathon shoot to complete the film.

- Kinema Junpo (a film magazine) selected Akira Kurosawa as the Best Japanese director for the 20th century. Other directors in the top 5 spots are as follows (in their respective orders): Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Keisuke Kinoshita, and Mikio Naruse.

- Director Shohei Inoue's new film will be "Akai Hashi No Sita No Nurui Mizu". Mr. Inoue is the director of the internationally acclaimed films, "The Eel" and "Dr. Kanzo".

- A film named "Ame Agaru" is the Japanese consideration for next year's Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The warm samurai film was written by the late Akira Kurosawa.

- Here are the results of the films running in Official competition at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival:

Tokyo Grand Prix: "Love's a Bitch"

Special Jury Prize: "Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors"

Best Director: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu for "Love's a Bitch"

Best Screenplay: Stuart Blumberg for "Keeping the Faith"

Best Actress: Jennifer Jason Leigh for "The King is Alive"

Best Actor: Moussa Maaskri for "Mondialito"

Best Artistic Contribution: "One More Day Ritual"

That's about it for this week. Remember, if you have information regarding any movie industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices . See you all next week.

- Darius25