Monday, July 23, 2012

The Four (Hong Kong, 2012)

Gordan Chan and Janet Chun's The Four is the first of a proposed trilogy of kung fu films adapted from the novels of Wen Rui-An. Gordan Chan's best films were in the mid 90's, Fist Of Legend and King Of Beggars. Janet Chun was one of the writers of John Woo's Bullet In The Head and she has been an assistant director on several recent blockbusters, including True Legend and CJ7. The cast features Anthony Wong, Colin Chou, Ronald Cheng and Deng Chao (the albino from Detective Dee). The buzz surrounding the film was that it was going to feature kung fu versus zombies. I had my hopes that we would see "Romero" zombies and it was hard to tell from the trailer. Instead the zombies are reanimated kung fu warriors controlled by needles in their heads. The heroes discover that they cannot defeat the zombies unless they hit them in the head hard enough to knock the needles out and then they promptly forget that nugget of information until 5 minutes into a fight with an army of the undead. The action is good and the zombies are henchmen/cannon fodder for the big boss, but I was hoping for kung fu versus flesh hungry zombies. They are currently filming the sequel.

Friday, May 11, 2012

The Raid: Redemption claymation

The Raid: Redemption is probably going to be one of my favorite films of 2012. The movie is pretty much one set piece after another of crazed action and bone breaking stunts. Here is a tribute to the film, made in claymation using kittens.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Alamo screening of Blazing Saddles 4/19

The Alamo is having an open air screening of Blazing Saddles with an incredible list of beers available to drink for $3 each. Details of the event are here.

http://drafthouse.com/movies/ocff_blazing_saddles_quote-along_rolling_roadshow/austin

(512) BREWING COMPANY IPA
(512) BREWING COMPANY A firkin of Pecan Porter with Toasted Coconut and Dried Cherry
ADELBERT'S Dancin' Monks Dubbel Ale
ADELBERT'S Tripel B Tripel Ale
AUSTIN BEER WORKS Black Thunder
AUSTIN BEER WORKS The Number 6 (blend of Golden Fist Belgian Style Golden Ale and Battle Axe Imperial Red)
CIRCLE BREWING COMPANY Alibi Blonde
CIRCLE BREWING COMPANY Special TBA Beer
DOGFISH HEAD CRAFT BREWED ALES Indian Brown Ale
HOPS & GRAIN Pale Dog Pale Ale
HOPS & GRAIN Greenhouse Belgian Imperial Stout
INDEPENDENCE BREWING COMPANY Stash IPA
INDEPENDENCE BREWING COMPANY Lupulust
JESTER KING CRAFT BREWERY Cask of Noble King Hoppy Farmhouse Ale
JESTER KING CRAFT BREWERY Gravity keg of Jester King/Mikkeller Beer Geek Rodeo
LIVE OAK BREWING COMPANY Gravity cask of Hefeweizen
LIVE OAK BREWING COMPANY Smoked Big Bark Amber Lager
RANGER CREEK BREWING AND DISTILLING Lucky Ol' Sun Belgian Ale
RANGER CREEK BREWING AND DISTILLING Strawberry Milk Stout
REAL ALE BREWING Devil's Backbone
REAL ALE BREWING Special TBA Beer
ROGNESS Ost London Porter
ROGNESS Rook Scotch Ale
SOUTH AUSTIN BREWING Saison D'Austin
SOUTH AUSTIN BREWING Belgian Style Golden Ale
THIRSTY PLANET BREWING Buckethead IPA
THIRSTY PLANET BREWING Jittery Monk Smoked Coffee Dubbel
TWISTED X Twisted X Premium Lager Fuego Jalapeno Pilsner

Each will be available for $3. Note: many of the more rare/special brews might go fast so be sure to come early!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Catching up on what I've watched

I've fallen behind on review my netflix instant viewing so I am just going to give brief reviews on a bunch of films and not post any youtube trailers.
The Lost Son - England, 1999. Daniel Auteuil is a private detective that gets involved in a missing person's case that ends up in something much worse. Not much action but the plot moves fast and twists. Good cast.

Lilyhammer - Season 1 USA/Norway 2011. Little Steven takes his mafia character to Norway. I liked that there was a fair amount of subtitled dialog. 8 episodes was the right length. Anymore and it would become to familiar. Nice showcase for Norwegian rock bands.

Who Took The Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour USA, 2010. Nice tour documentary and live footage. Not much new information about the band if you've read any interviews. Go buy their records.

Salvage England, 2009. Effective low budget horror film about a mother trapped in her house while a SWAT team searches her housing estate for an escaped monster. Definitely worth checking out and only 73 minutes long.

My Kingdom China, 2011. Mainland film about Peking Opera and kung fu. Some good action choreography from Sammo Hung and it is always nice to see Yuen Biao on screen. The plot seems to condensed with characters that you would expect to have more time or fights left to the wayside.

1911 China, 1911. Jackie Chan's 100th movie. Most of the action in the film is gritty war battles/gunfights filmed in a "Saving Private Ryan" dirty, bloody sheen. The film covers a lot of important Chinese history but will probably be too confusing to most western viewers. For example, half the movie is devoted to Sun Yat Sen's role in founding the Chinese Republic but the Imperial government refers to him as Sun Wen. Jackie Chan co-directed the movie and it is nice to see him branch out.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

My favorite films of 2011

Each year I am later than I want to be in posting a top ten films of the year. Partly because I still haven't seen most of the films released in 2011 that I want to see. This year I picked 9 films and then a list of films that I am still waiting to see.

1. The Yellow Sea (Na Hong-Jin, South Korea)
The story of a North Korean man living in China who is sent to South Korea to assassinate a South Korean gangster. Lots of twists and plans being shot to hell. Good stunt and chases, the director's first film was The Chaser. Saw this at the Alamo under the title "The Yellow Sea" but it is listed on netflix as "The Murderer"


2. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, USA)
I didn't think that the director of the Pusher trilogy would make a better crime film, but he did.


3. Reign Of Assassins (Su Chao-Bin, China)
John Woo produced this martial arts film. Michelle Yeoh finally has made a good action film since breaking out in the West with Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. No US release scheduled.


4.The Unjust (Ryoo Seung-Wan. South Korea)
Cops and prosecutors search for a child murder. From the director of City Of Violence. Much more of a police procedural than an action film. If you liked Memories of Murder you'll probably like this. On Netflix streaming.


5. Wu Xia (Peter Chan, Hong Kong)
Donnie Yen and Takeshi Kaneshiro star in this period martial arts film with a touch of the CSI police series thrown in. Not action packed but the fight scenes are really good. Might get a US release this year but I wouldn't hold my breath.


6. 13 Assassins (Takeshi Miike, Japan)
Samurai action. On netflix streaming.


7. Haunters aka Psychic (Kim Min-Suk, South Korea)
One of the problems I have with most superhero films is that the villain never figures out how to use his powers that well. Most of the time the villain is bigger, stronger and faster and yet he will still loose to the hero because of poor script writing. Haunters is the story of a crippled villain who is able to freeze time and people. On one of his thefts he encounters someone who is able to resist the time freeze and from that point they are mortal enemies. Might get released as The Psychic.


8. I Saw The Devil (Kim Ji-Woon, South Korea)
Kim Ji Woon, Bong Joon-Ho, and Park Chan Wook battle it off in my mind as to who I think is the best Korean director. Kim Ji Woon is currently at the top as every movie he has made is completely different from the rest. I Saw The Devil is his revenge film and it pushes the limits (the Korean film ratings board asked for 7 cuts to the film). Kim's next film is Arnold Schwarzenegger's comeback film "The Last Stand".


9. Man From Nowhere (Lee Jeong-Beom, South Korea)
Yet another South Korean crime film. Ex special agent tracking down a gang that specializes in children's organ trafficking.



Movies that I've yet to see from 2011. Ra.One, Punished, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Flying Swords Of Dragon Inn, The Great Magician, Life Without Principle, Overheard 2.

Thanks for reading and watching the trailers.
Mark

Wheels On Meals (Hong Kong, 1984)

Sammo Hung directs himself, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao in Barcelona set martial arts comedy. The first hour has some short action scenes and some stunts that definitely hurt the performers, but the last 45 minutes of the film is one chase after another with lots of fights. The highlight is the final fight between Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. Features some good car stunt work. The netflix streaming has easy to read subtitles.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (Hong Kong, 1985)

In the 1980's there were a series of Hong Kong movies with "Lucky Stars" in the title. They featured a core group of actors, Sammo Hung, Eric Tsang, Richard Ng, Michael Miu, and Stanley Fung. They would get up to Stooges level of slapstick hi-jinks with some painful physical comedy stunts fight over pretty girls. If your not a fan of over the top Hong Kong comedy the Lucky Stars movies can be hard to watch. Fortunately this one is packed to the gills with guest stars and tons of action, courtesy of director Sammo Hung and his stunt team. HKMDB.com also lists Yuen Biao, Lam Ching Ying, Chin Kar Lok and Yuen Wah as co-action choreographers. Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Andy Lau show up frequently as cops after a group of assassins led by Richard Norton, Yatsura Kurata and Chung Faat. The action is more than enough to make me recommend the film. It is on netflix streaming. Here is part of the final fight sequence.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

LoveHKFilm.com 's top films of the 80's

One of my favorite Hong Kong film sites is having a reader's poll of the top films of the 1980's, which was the heyday of Hong Kong cinema. There were tons of great movies released and it was tough to put together a top 20. On any given day I would probably change the order of these films, but they are all great movies and highly recommended.
1. The Killer
2. God Of Gamblers
3. Dragons Forever
4. Eastern Condors
5. Chinese Ghost Story
6. Peking Opera Blues
7. Police Storyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
8. Duel To The Death
9. Project A
10. A Better Tomorrow 3
11. A Better Tomorrow
12. Prodigal Son
13. Mr Vampire
14. Pedicab Driver
15. Iceman Cometh
16. Long Arm Of The Law 3
17. Long Arm Of The Law
18. City On Fire
19. We Are Going To Eat You
20. Tiger On Beat.

You can vote for your choices at lovehkfilm.com

Another short film by Park Chan Wook

Here is another short film by Park Chan Wook called "If You Were Me (NEPAL)". It is the true story of a Nepalese woman who was locked up in a Korean insane asylum because nobody could understand her. She was there for 6 years before they found someone who could speak Nepalese.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Odd shark movies

I thought that the trailer for Two Headed Shark would be the weirdest shark movie I discovered today. But Gyo PV is an anime about farting cyborg sharks attacking people on land. Originally seen on io9.com

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Park Chan Wook's iphone film

In 2010 Park Chan Wook shot a 30 minute film using 8 iphones as the only cameras. He had a professional crew and so the film looks great. There are no subtitles but basically the movie breaks down to two stories. The first is about a fisherman who hooks a fish that turns out to be a woman. Then it switches to the fish/woman at a funeral for the fisherman.

iPhone Film Festival - Paranmanjang from iPhone Film Festival on Vimeo.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

36th Precint (France, 2004)

In the last decade France has been making some of the best crime films in the world. But they don't get much distribution in the US. Seven years after its French release we are finally able to see Olivier Marchal's 36th Precinct. It is a gritty, police procedural film staring Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu. One of the reasons for the delay in releasing the film was that it was scheduled for a US remake, to star George Clooney and Robert DeNiro but that never got off the ground. 36th Precinct is recommend for fans of Michael Mann's movies or Michael Connelly's novels. It is streaming on Netflix.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Radio Soulwax punk mix

Radio Soulwax is back with another great mash up compilation. This time of punk and hardcore. As with their recent mixes it is worth watching for the manipulation of the cover art.

Hardcore or die from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.