Archive for December, 2009
Mulan
Hollywood beat the Chinese to the punch by bringing the legendary story of Mulan to the big screen first, but China isn?t just going to sit idly by and watch their legends be co-opted by the Western dogs. And thus, they?ve done their own version of the Mulan story, this time live-action, and with lots and lots of battle scenes and guys in armor running at each other. I.e. it?s time for another historical battle epic from China! And as most Chinese epics are wont to do, this one also stars Vicky Zhao. The girl has been in so many of these things in the last five years it?s ridiculous. The film?s Cannes trailer (via Twitch) and some images of Zhao as Mulan (via Sina) below.
The Storm Warriors
The Storm Warriors is a 2009 Hong Kong martial arts/wuxia film, produced and directed by the Pang brothers. It is the second live-action film adaptation of screenwriter Ma Wing-Shing’s manhua Fung Wan, following the 1998 film The Storm Riders. The Storm Warriors is based on Fung Wan?s popular Japanese invasion story arc The Death Battle. Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok respectively reprise their roles as Wind and Cloud, who this time find themselves up against Lord Godless (Simon Yam), a ruthless Japanese warlord bent on invading China. The film is a co-production between Universe Entertainment and Sil-Metropole Organisation.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
There’s a deranged grandeur to Nicolas Cage’s performance in “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” in which he plays a police officer who plunges into drug addiction after a heroic on-the-job accident. Cage throws himself into a role of a man not so much battling as fervidly dancing with his demons, allowing him to indulge in his most manic, unhinged mannerisms. Like a jumpy, coke-fueled Pied Piper, Cage takes viewers to the very precipice of depraved self-abasement, while preserving just enough self-conscious humor to keep from tumbling in.
In a season featuring an exceptional number of films about characters going rogue — from “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Antichrist” to the upcoming movies “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Road” — “Bad Lieutenant” may be the most true to its own anarchic, subversive impulses. Director Werner Herzog, a filmmaker never known for half measures, has taken the basic character, plot points and leitmotifs from Abel Ferrara’s 1992 “Bad Lieutenant,” and given them more heat, humor and stylized action.
Dante 01
Plot 
Deep space, at the edge of the galaxy. The future. A new prisoner arrives on top security prison ship and psychiatric research unit Dante 01. Sole survivor of an encounter with an alien force beyond imagining, Saint Georges is a man possessed by inner demons, caught up in the battle to control the monstrous power within him. It’s a power that will infect the other highly dangerous occupants of Dante 01, gaolors and prisoners alike, unleashing a violent rebellion that turns this terrifying, labyrinthine world upside down. In the otherworldly hell of the ship’s depths, through danger and redemption, each must journey to his very limits… each must confront his own Dragon.
Avatar
When his brother is killed in battle, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge’s intentions of driving off the native humanoid “Na’vi” in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na’vi people with the use of an “avatar” identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora
Pai in Love
Now there’s Pai in Love , an anthology of six short films set in Pai, a tiny town in the mountains of northern Thailand that is a draw for foreign backpackers and Thai hipsters.
The directors are Prachya Pinkaew, Thanit Jitnukul and Sakchai Deenan (Sabaidee Luang Prabang), plus Dunyasit Niyomkul (Cadaver), Bandit Tongdee (Mercury Man), Tittipong Chaisati?dee and actress Bongkot Kongmalai, making her directorial debut.
Leo Putt and Kanya Rattapetch star in Prachya’s segment, Rak Ter Tee Soon.
Thanit directs Pai Postcard with “Guitar” Chayanun Ardpru and Sutti?rak Putsoonrot.
Tak Bongkot directs Ray MacDonald and “Kratae” Supaksorn Chaimongkol in 3 Days of Hers, 3 Days of His, 3 Days for Us.
Avatar
Plot 
The storys protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a former Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. Jake is selected to participate in the Avatar program, which will enable him to walk. Jake travels to Pandora, a lush jungle-covered extraterrestrial moon filled with incredible life forms, some beautiful, many terrifying.
Dreamaholic
Story 
Ping Lumprapleung, the acclaimed director of Khon Hew Hua and Loveaholic (Kod Rak Eang Lei) comes back with his new project in Dreamaholic (Fun Kod Kod), a drama-romance story that tells the different perspective of love between two persons.