Here's a report on a film that we have been looking at all thru its production in our Asia-AICN columns, AccSpy has sent us many behind the scenes snapshots and it has really sparked Father Geek's interest in the film. I'm happy to get the good word from the Premiere, we'll probably have photos of it in the regular weekly column on Thursday...
I just attended the premiere of Stephen Chow's SHAOLIN SOCCER in Hong Kong. It was a lot of fun. So often now we all go to films, and, well, we think some of it is OK, but we leave and think to ourselves, my god, ... when am I going to go to a film and just be entertained from beginning to end. The answer is SHAOLIN SOCCER. Most people consider GOD OF COOKERY to be Stephen Chow's best film, and they were right until 9:00 p.m. last night Hong Kong time.
The film moves, it never seems to slow down. It's F***ing Great! It's really funny. I think that after CROUCHING that most people will get the Gung-Fu references and "inside" jokes. The other thing that I will say is that this is the first time I've seen a Hong Kong movie use visual effects in a manner that doesn't say "Hey, look at what I can do", more that these effects are actually pretty cool, they look good and help to move the story.
I think that most people will be very surprised at how much they like this film overall (story, acting, humor, action, effects, sound work, everything). I hope that Miramax releases it in the U.S. soon in the same manner that Sony released CROUCHING TIGER last December.
You can call me...
Wong Fei Hung
