Father Geek back again along with AccSpy, pigmon and Darius25 to present a new edition of our popular Asia-AICN column for this Thursday. Lots of cool news, reviews and pictures in this week's regular report, buuuut first Father Geek has a couple of interesting related items for you that were awaiting me when I awoke this morning at Geek Headquarters here in ol' Austin Texas...
Call me "Astrotrain" I'm a regular reader of this site and also a major Transformer fan. I know there are a lot of people who think Beast Wars was dumb, and the new Robots In Disguise show pales in comparison to the 1984-1987 series.
Well this should be of GREAT interest to those very people. A lot of shaking sources in the fan community has revealed that Hasbro has copyrighted the name "Transformers: Armada" for the 2002 line. The show is to be produced by the CGI studio Mainframe (who also did Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Reboot, and will be tackling a new SPIDERMAN series). The voice cast they normally use will be tapped for this new show as well.
Its going to feature characters from all over the Transformers history, and a good deal of time travel and/or dimensional crossovers to get them together. Optimus Prime will be back to lead the Autobots, and will be joined by old favorites Prowl and Ironhide, but will also have Cheetor, Rattrap, and Silverbolt from Beast Wars. The bad guy side is shaping up to be even more diverse with Galvatron, Shockwave, Starscream, and Tarantulas forming some kind of alliance...under the direction of UNICRON. yes, the giant planet-eating robot made famous by Orson Welles in Transformers The Movie over 15 years ago will be making his grand return.
There was a prototype of Unicron made by Hasbro's sister company Takara that you can see pictures by Clicking Here Right Now that was made a number of years ago, and Hasbro is working on retooling, altering and IMPROVING the mold to modernize it. its about a foot tall, so its not the tallest transformer ever, but the bulk should make him pretty close.
The name "Transformers: Armada" probably implies more than I can see. Picture a fleet of ships like the one the Autobots crashed onto earth years ago, all packed with Transformers from all over the galaxy looking to end the war with the Decepticons once and for all!
There is still much to finalize with this series, but it should be what fans past and present are waiting for. if this line is as successful as Robots In Disguise is, then you can COUNT on another movie being made.
-Astrotrain
Father Geek here again with this bit...
I just had the great fortune to get a spur of the moment review assignment from my newspaper editor - preview the Old School Kung Fu Fest coming up this month in NYC (November 8th through the 15th). Post-screening, I am only now recovering from a state of semi-retarded bliss. DAMN! Poorly dubbed voices, even moor poorly glued-on wigs, and the most wonderfully cheesy action sequences of the past 20 years. THESE MOVIES ARE GREAT! Shogun Assasin, Taoism Drunkard, Brothers Meet Dracula, Martial Arts of Shaolin - chop-shlocky action at its very best.
The festival's subjects are perhaps best summed up by Crippled Avengers (also known as Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms). A powerful feudal lord's children become parapalegics after a vengeful attack by rivals, so therefore...he makes them metal gloves that shoot darts, schools them in the ancient arts of ass-kicking, and much slow-mo eye gouging, decapitation, and general mayhem ensues. PLUS, this one has a bunch of the sampled dialogue and sword sound effects used by the WuTang Clan on many of their albums "You think your Tiger Style can defeat me?!". Genius material.
This is a reaaaaaaally dope event that probably is not going to get too much attention, so I just wanted to let the fans know about it - so that all of us who APPRECIATE this incredible junk get a chance to see it on the big screen. Subway Cinema has the full schedule here - Click Here To See It All - if you can make it down to NYC, this event is definitely worth checking out. WHEEEEYAAAAAAKKAAA!
Nick
That's all Father Geek has to add this week... Now on to Darius and his crew...
Asia-AICN
Hey all, hope you’ve had a great week. We have a jam-packed column for you filled with lots on info on the latest films from Asia, including news on India’s official entry for next year’s Oscars, Subhash Ghai’s future plans, the HK Chinese New Year films, “Running Out of Time 2”, “Godzilla, Mothra, King Gidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack”, director Takashi Miike’s “The Happiness of the Katakuris” and director Peter Cattaneo’s “Lucky Break”. Now here’s the latest from Asia.
INDIA
- Actor Aamir Khan’s highly-praised film “Lagaan (The Tax)” has been selected as India’s official entry for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Film Category. The popular film has won over many more “arty” choices as Mira Nair’s “Monsoon Wedding”, Rakesh Mehra’s “Aks (Reflection)” and Santosh Sivan’s “Asoka”. “Lagaan” will also participate in next year’s Sundance Film Festival and is rumoured to get a mainstream theatrical release from Columbia Tristar.
- Subhash Ghai’s film with director David Dhawan and actors Sanjay Dutt and Govinda has been titled “Ek Aur Ek Gyarah (One and One equals Eleven)”. The film will start shooting this winter. In other news, Ghai has also announced that his Mukta Arts company will produce two more films – the first one will be directed by Abbas-Mustan and the second one will be directed by Ghai himself. The director is planning to start working on his next film (as a director) early next year with principle photography to start sometime in June. Early rumours indicate that Ghai is looking for a surefire hit to cover the debacle of “Yaadein (Memories)” and is possibly considering teaming Anil Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan for his next film.
- Sunny Deol has joined the cast for director Akashdeep’s next film titled “Aur Phir Ek Din (On One Day)”. The murder-mystery is already shooting and Deol will start filming his scenes later on in the month. With the presence of the high-profile actor, the film might get a significant boost (and probably a script revision) and will overall help its box-office prospects. The film stars pretty low-actors Chandrachur Singh and Sharad Kapoor.
- Producer Vashu Bhagnani has announced the cast for his next film, to be directed by choreographer Ahmed Khan. The extremely high-profile lineup includes Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Tusshar Kapoor, Vinod Khanna and Jackie Shroff. The filmmakers have yet to cast the leading ladies. The film is slated to go on the floors early next year.
- Some new pics were released from the sets of director Vikram Bhatt’s “Awaara Paagal Deewana (The Punk, the Fool and the Lover)”. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Aaftab Shivdasani, Jackie Shroff, Preeti Jhangiani, and Amrita Arora. Here’s the pics.
Vikram Bhatt (left) and Aaftab Shivdasani: Click Now
Preeti Jhangiani (left), Aaftab, and Amrita Arora: Click Here
A really cute picture of Amrita Arora: Click
Vikram Bhatt, with Preeti, Amrita and actress Aarti Chhabria (right): Click Right Here
CHINA / HK
Here’s the latest report from “AccSpy”:
- Three films are among the line-up of next year's Chinese New Year releases. First of all is director Jeff Lau's bizarre period comedy similar to his 1994's Chinese New Year film "Engles Shooting Heroes". The cast includes Lau's long-time favourite Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Faye Wong and Shaolin Soccer's Vikki Zhou. Johnnie To will also direct a romantic comedy for Chinastar. Andy Lau, Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Cecilia Cheung are in talks to star. Last but not least is the "Summer Holiday" stars’, Sammi Cheng and Richie Yin, reunion film for Golden Harvest, produced and directed by Gorgeous's Vincent Kuk. Candy Lo (“Time & Tide”) is also in talks to star. That said, Jackie Chan's "The Highbinders" may not be finished in time for the Chinese New year slot. None of these films have started filming, but the shooting of Jeff Lau's period comedy will take place in China soon.
- Michelle Yeoh's "The Touch" has almost finished the shooting on location, here's a couple pics from the set.
Here’s a pic of Michelle doing the Cowboy thing: Click Now
A clearer pic of the same scene: Click Here
- "Running out of Time 2" is still filming in HK. When asked about the script (and a lack of it) controversy, Lau Ching Wan said there was never a complete script for him in any Johnnie To film, but each time To gave him a basic plot summary and he went along with the flow. So far Lau Ching Wan has finished a scene opposite Ekin Cheng. Here's two pics from the shooting.
Here’s a pic of Ekin in his new get-up: Just Click Here
Ekin with Johnnie To: Click to See
- Michelle Reis has joined Francis Ng in Wong Jing's gambling action film which takes place in the Sin city.
- Nicole Kidman has stunned audiences with her new film "The Others", which earned estimated $4.6 million and debuted on top of HKBO last weekend. "Don't Say a Word" came second with about $1.5 million. "The Princess Diaries" entered at third with $1 million. Last week's champion, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Shu Qi's "Love Me, Love my Money" fell to no.4. Korean horror flick "The Record" and French crowd-pleaser "Amelie" debuted at no.5 and no.6 respectively, but the latter film is only showed in 4 theatres while the former 19 theatres. Finally, director Maybo Cheung's new film "Beijing Rocks", starring Daniel Wu and Shi Qi, debuted poorly at no.8. Mariam Yeung and Edison Chan's re-make comedy "Oh Mother" opens next week. [This box office is covering collections from the weekend of Oct. 26-29.]
JAPAN
Here’s the weekly report from “Pigmon”:
- Director Masato Harada’s (“Kamikaze Taxi") next film will be “Asama Sanso”, based on event surrounding the hostage situation at the Asama Sanso resort hotel in 1972. Actor Koji Yakusho has been signed to portray the lead.
- "Slogans", directed by Gjergi Xhuvani, won the Tokyo Grand Prix at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival while "Canon on Tuesday" directed by Shiori Kazama, won the Best Asian Film Award. Here is the complete list of winners from this year’s competition.
- Tokyo Grand Prix - Slogans
- Special Jury Prize - Under the Moonlight
- Best Director - Reza Mir-Karimi for "Under the Moonlight" and Gjergj Xhunvani for "Slogans"
- Best Screenplay - Yoshi Yokota for "KEWAISHI"
- Best Performance by an Actor in a leading role - Andrew Howard for "Mr. In-Been"
- Best Artistic Contribution Award - One Fine Spring Day (The Governor of Tokyo Award was also presented to the winner of Tokyo Grand Prix and the Best Director awards).
- Best Asian Film Award - Shiori Kazama for “Canon on Tuesday"
- Special Mention - Asoka Handagama for "This Is My Moon"
Here are my reviews of some of the better films at this year’s festival.
"Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah : Giant Monsters All-Out Attack"
Director Shusuke Kaneko’s Godzilla film packed in more than 2000 people proving the giant reptile still reigns supreme in Japan. To tell the truth, I was a bit disappointed with the effects, particularly Baragon's suit. Moreover, Godzilla has changed shape again (more fatty now), but eyes are really scary. The story is typical of these monster flicks. Godzilla appears in north Japan and starts attacking while Baragon, Mothra and King Gidorah come back to life in order to stop the “evil” creature. All monsters then proceed to engage in some pretty awesome battles. The film may be picked by some US distributors really soon while it opens in Japan on December 15. My grade would be a C-.
“The Happiness of the Katakuris”
Director Takashi Miike’s (“Dead or Alive”, “Audition” and “Ichi the Killer”) bizarre horror/comedy/musical is my favourite film at this year’s fest. The film follows the lives of an eccentric family who decide to open up an inn in the countryside. Of course this being a Miike film, all the guests who come to the inn end up committing suicide! The family buries the dead bodies, which eventually come back as zombies. They even start singing and dancing. (LOL, I am having a fit editing this!! – D25) Things get even more hysterical when a nearby volcano erupts destroying everything except the inn itself. The songs are quite amusing to watch and people were going crazy during the screening. The zombies were quite crudely animated (using clay figures) which perfectly fit the style of the film. The American and European visitors were going absolutely crazy during the screening and ended up being in tears!! Expect this film to be a big hit when it opens in Japan next February. My grade for this film would be a B.
“Vidocq”
I was a bit disappointed with this heavily hyped film but the special FX was amazing!! Set in 1830, the film plays like a classic noir mixed with some snazzy visuals. Vidocq is our hero, a resurrected detective in search of the man who killed him. He eventually solves the mystery and ends up fighting a unique killer – a masked man with a mirror for a face!! It’s pretty bizarre but still ended up being decently entertaining. The film was shot with Sony’s new digital camera and looked way better than any previous digital films so far. My grade for this film would be a C+.
“Lucky Break”
Director Peter Cattaneo’s follow-up to “The Full Monty” was another delightful film much like its predecessor. Instead of working class residents, this new film follows the story of local prisoners who decide to stage a musical event (and hatch a plan to escape during this show). It wasn’t as funny as the director’s last film but is still full of great humour. My grade for this film would be a C.
