Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

One of the great things this time of year is when people start looking forward instead of looking back, and one reader sent us a rundown on what he’s excited about in Thai cinema this year that I thought was worth sharing. Check this out:

Hey Harry!

Love the site, keep up the good work. Just wanted to give you a head's up on a few upcoming Thai movies this year that is bound to garner the interest of those that appreciate Thai cinema. In no particular order:

1. ONG BAK 2 - The sequel to one of the most awesome action movies in a long time is being directed by none other than Tony Jaa himself. Coming in the second half of 2007, here;s how the story goes:"A young man in the Ayutthaya period grows up among villagers who preserve the legacy of the traditional khon masked dance. He becomes an outcast when he finds that his firm limbs weren't made to pursue the specialty of his ancestors, but with the advice of a mysterious guru he's able to develop a new style of fighting which mixes the strength of martial arts with the regal elegance of khon dance. Then he's ready to go out and fight the enemy."

Obviously, the story is just an excuse for Tony Jaa to kick some serious ass and obviously training even harder for this to elevate his status to that of a genuine global action star.

2. CHOCOLATE - This one's being directed by the Prachya Pinkaew, director of Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong. Word is that he wrote the script specifically for Nicharee Wimistanant, a 23-year-old martial arts talent who had received hard-core training from stunt maestro Panna Rittikrai for three full years before the shoot. The film has attracted the interest of European and American distributors since it was announced - and before the production had actually started - in Cannes last May
The Story: A yakuza thug sires a daughter with his Thai wife, herself the ringleader of a mafia clan. After dad returns to Japan, the teenage daughter witnesses her mum being beaten to pulp by a rival gang who refuse to pay off their debts. So the girl - an autistic, chocoholic who possesses formidable kickboxing prowess - sets out to collect the bills from those baddies who owe her poor mother.

3. MUAY THAI CHAIYA - For this time, simply the story will do. Three friends from childhood become arch-rivals when each of them is trained at different boxing schools. The main protagonist is a vigorous prize-fighter who inherits the renowned Chaiya fighting style from his master. It is said to be in the same vein as Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong, obviously. Time will tell how it fares.

4. THE LEGEND OF KING NARESUAN: THE TRILOGY - Following the Hollywood tradition of filming trilogies all at the same time, this is the biggest movie of the year, complete with epic battle scenes and is set to be the film event of the year. Apparently, the impact of this movie has been such that it caused the Bangkok International Film Festival to postpone itself because multiplexes would rather show this movie to full theaters rather than some movies from some film festival. In the first movie, the Burmese demand that Ayutthaya sends the young prince Naresuan to live in the Hongsa court as a royal hostage. The second movie chronicles King Naresuan's military campaigns in his quest to liberate Ayutthaya from Burmese rule. The third movie will feature the historic, photogenic elephant battle between King Naresuan and Phra Maha Uparacha. The question remains: Will this movie be the one to overtake Suriyothai's takings at the box office? ( Suriyothai was released in the US by Francis Ford Coppola who is a good friend of the director of the movie and helped in editing the movie itself.)

Looking forward to another great year of movies. If you decide to use this, call me MackDaddy.