Fantastic Fest 2010: THE MAN FROM NOWHERE Review
Laced with black humor and some truly impressive action sequences, The Man From Nowhere is a quietly building slow burn of a film, one that arrives at a point of bleak ultraviolence so subtly that you hardly realize you've gotten there at all until the knives and guns come out and the blood sprays across the screen and you're left thinking, "Oh, of course. That makes perfect sense." Writer-director Lee is clearly a student of the heroic bloodshed film and though his picture is arguably a touch longer than it needs to be with a script more convoluted than it needs to be and with certain elements that are a touch overly familiar, his command of character and genre conventions make this the best, most satisfying entry in the genre from any nation since A Bittersweet Life.
The Man From Nowhere is one of those rare things: A blockbuster that became one because it deserves to be.
Better trailer
Rejoice, Men! Kate Beckinsale Confirms Underworld 4 Return
Alex Winter Confirms Bill & Ted 3 Rumors
First Trailer for All-Star Superman Swoops Online
First The Avengers, Then Probably a Black Widow Movie for Scarlett Johansson
First Official Scream 4 Image Features a Little Slasher Stalking
Donnie Yen’s Legend of the Fist, Ip Man Films Get Stateside Theatrical Dates
Well Go USA and Variance Films announced that they are expanding their partnership by releasing three of the top Asian action films into theaters in their original, uncut and un-dubbed versions. In addition to the previously announced theatrical release of “Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster” in the top ten markets on January 28, 2011, the companies will partner to bring “Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen” to theaters across the US and Canada on April 15, 2011. Variance Films’ President Dylan Marchetti and Well Go USA’s Vice-President Jason Pfardrescher also announced that due to overwhelming demand from martial arts fans, the companies will bring the original “Ip Man” film to select theaters across the country beginning October 1, 2010 with a exclusive run at New York City’s Cinema Village theater, to be followed by a combination of traditional one-week runs and special one-off screenings for fans. Additional markets will be added solely based on fan demand via the “Ip Man” Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/IpManNAmerica.
Directed by acclaimed director Andrew Lau (the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy, the basis for the Academy Award-winning film “The Departed”), “Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen” premiered as an official selection at the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festivals, and is making its U.S. debut this weekend at Austin’s Fantastic Fest 2010. The film stars Donnie Yen as the legendary martial arts hero Chen Zhen (first played by Bruce Lee in “Fist of Fury,” and later by Jet Li in “Fist of Legend”), who returns from fighting in France in WWI to find his hometown of Shanghai a very dangerous place, with the Chinese Mafia, Japanese military, and UK governments fighting for control. With seemingly nobody on the side of the Chinese citizens, Chen Zhen takes to the streets as a masked avenger, doling out justice using his incredible martial arts skills. The film will release in the top ten markets on April 15, 2011, with expansion across the country to follow.
Even though “Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster” is a stand-alone film (you do not have to know anything about the first film to fully enjoy it), when fans heard Variance and Well Go were debuting it in theaters, they began requesting a way to see the first film, “Ip Man” on the big screen. Even though “Ip Man” was released to DVD and Blu-ray in late July, the demand has been so loud that Well Go USA and Variance have decided to throw convention out the window and make it happen. In a very unorthodox release plan, a series of “fan-demanded” screenings will take place through October and November in select markets where fans have been the loudest. Some runs will be traditional “Friday-Thursday” weeklong affairs, where others will be one-off screenings in partnership with local fan groups and organization, often for reduced (or even free) admission. Fans can visit the Ip Man Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/IpManNAmerica to request screenings in their hometown. .
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My advice? IP man 1 and 2 are on dvd right now, import from yesasia.com. By April 2011 Legend of the Fist will be on dvd too.
Screen Actors' Guild Boycotting THE HOBBIT
Enormously Impressive Trailer For Benny Chan's SHAOLIN
This is the guy who directed Future X Cops, I don't see what's so impressive.
To be blunt, if Benny Chan's Shaolin turns out to be half as good as the full theatrical trailer that was just released promises it will be, then Benny Chan has just created the film of his lifetime. There is nothing else, absolutely nothing else, in his filmography that is even close to the level that this promises. Cross your fingers fans because we may be nearing the arrival of a gorgeous martial arts picture that honors the old school style while also maximizing all the modern tools of the trade with a cast that can really deliver. I'll shut up now, you just watch.
"This is one of the few films of true brilliance I've seen in 2010, but agreeing to see may result in eliminating some of the good parts of your soul."
Fantastic Fest 2010: Capone loves the rip-roaring Hong Kong police actioner FIRE OF CONSCIENCE!!!
FIRE OF CONSCIENCE, from director Dante Lam, whose more recent works SNIPER and THE BEAST STALKER I am unfamiliar with, so his latest was my first exposure to his hyper-stylized-but-still-gritty work. That said, with FIRE OF CONSCIENCE, Lam has constructed a twisting, intelligent, hardcore piece loaded to the gills with deafening explosions, messy hand-to-hand combat, and ferocious gunplay that seems to relish every time a bullet splatters through a body. I loved that this is not one of those films where thousands of rounds of ammunition are spent without a single person getting hit. Nearly every pistol shot, every automatic weapon's burst connects with an alarming frequency.
In many ways (perhaps a few too many), FIRE OF CONSCIENCE reminded me a lot of INFERNAL AFFAIRS.
Director Lam does an admirable job ramping up the action during the course of the film--starting with grander and grander gun battles in very public places (like a restaurant), resulting in high body counts, to more sprawling and occasionally insane battles involving grenades, suicide bombers, and, my favorite, gunplay in the middle of a building fire while a woman is giving birth. And they don't spare us seeing the birth in graphic detail.
FIRE OF CONSCIENCE is a roaring, body-ripping, bloody mess of a great time.
"While it had seemed that the picture was getting back on track with Peter Jackson taking over the director's role and MGM showing signs of sorting out their financial difficulties, the film has just been dealt a major blow."
Lol, it's been downhill ever since Jackson was directing it.
Shut it^
Fantastic Fest 2010: I Saw The Devil Review
Revenge is a dish best served cold, someone once said. In Kim Ji-woon's I Saw The Devil, revenged is served so fucking cold it's like a block of ice smashed across your face. Kim Ji-woon takes the tried and true serial killer formula and flips it on it disturbed head with fantastic results. Korean superstars Lee Byung-hun (Bittersweet Life, The Good, The Bad and the Weird) and Choi Min-sik (Old Boy) headline this sucker punch of a movie that one wasn't expecting from the man who delivered Tale of Two Sisters and most recently The Good, The Bad and the Weird. Lee plays a secret service agent who's wife has been brutally slain by a sick and twisted serial killer played by Choi. With the help of the girl's father, who's a retired police chief, Lee is able to track down the closest suspects and delivers a swift beat down before moving on to the next in line. Finally he's able to track down Choi at his slaughter house and figure out that he is indeed the killer he's been looking for. But instead of killing him right there and then he beats the living shit out of him and lets him go, but not before inserting a small GPS unit in to him. After that a demented game of catch and release takes place where Choi, who has no idea why this man is after him, gets his ass handed to him and then patched up to be ready for the next round. But while Choi is a demented and a disgusting person he's not stupid and later on he's on to what's going on and things turn around for the worse for Lee.
It's not often that you sit in a movie theater and every single person in there winches and groans because of what is on the screen. It's no wonder that South Korean authorities wanted extensive cuts to be made to the film, it's pretty damn violent and mean spirited. But it could be very easy to do those cuts and not lose the power of the film and Ji-woon manages to infuse pitch black humor in to the story as well that balance things out. The film also caters to the viewers who want to see harm come to Choi's character as it revels in the torture that Lee performs on him. They might just not be ready to the excesses of violence that the film portrays.
The performances in the film are top notch, Choi might be hamming it up a little bit but it sort of fits. Lee is cool as a cucumber, totally set on horrible and slow murder.
I Saw The Devil is a nut kicker of a film, powerful and brutal, funny and sad and not the torture porn that it might sound like it is.
Fantastic Fest 2010: True Legend
True Legend is a welcome return for Yuen Woo-ping behind the camera. Though plagued with an over ambitious and unbalanced script Yuen gave himself plenty of opportunity to create some awesome action sequences and prove once again why he is the Master and why we should tremble in his wake.
Nolan pretty much confirms he will be directing his third Batman film
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=29062
A Few Set Pics From X-MEN: FIRST CLASS!! See Young(er) Charles Xavier With Hair Still Intact!
Donnie Yen is incredible in LEGEND OF THE FIST @ Fantastic Fest!
Yen is incredible in the film, both in his Bruce Wayne-ish playboy role and as a martial artist. He rains blows on his opponents, delivering what seems like hundreds of hits in seconds. He's certainly trying to ape some of Bruce Lee's style (and when he pulled out nunchucks at the final dojo fight the crowd went wild), but he's also coming with an almost mathematical precision of brutality. Yen delivers superb action again and again.
The problem is that the middle part of the film is mostly action-free, and much of the Masked Warrior's career is told in montage. I enjoyed the political tension building in the film, but I still wanted more hitting. The opening and closing fights make Legend of the Fist great, but an equally epic battle in the second act might have made it insanely great. Still, there are enough great character moments and bits of intrigue to keep me engaged. The sets are beautiful, and the Shanghai of the film looks like one part reality and one part a place where you might find Club Obi Juan.
I watched a bit of the Dark Knight on television. Fucking hell the editing was television type shit. Every cut the same length of damn time. Now I don't want to see it. 
Fantastic Fest 2010: 13 ASSASSINS Review
13 ASSASSINS should delight fans of Miike's work, samurai aficionados and lovers of Japanese Cinema in general as it consistently delivers expertly crafted thrills and resonating pathos from the opening ritual hara-kiri to the closing shot of pyrrhic victory. This is not only Miike's best work in quite some time but almost certainly the best samurai film to emerge in the last decade. Simply put, it is a masterpiece
Official Trailer for Sngmoo Lee’s The Warrior’s Way Slices its Way Online
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/official-trailer-for-sngmoo-lees-the-warriors-way/
Ummmmm
Capone continues his Donnie Yen tear with the epic LEGEND OF THE FIST!!!
Fantastic Fest's unofficial sidebar this year were three awesome new films starring martial arts legend Donnie Yen (IP MAN 2 and 14 BLADES were the other two), but I think my favorite of the them all was LEGEND OF THE FIST Part of the reason I loved it so much was the opening sequence set in World War I, during which China sent 100,000 men to Europe to act as laborers and workhorses for the various Allied armies. Chen Zhen went to France to deliver ammo and dig trenches, and did so proudly. But when his group of workers begins taking on fire, Chen Zhen leaps into action in one of the most dazzling action sequences I have ever seen. There is something so unbelievable about watching Yen leap around a leveled city to take on machine guns, snipers, and other attackers. The opening alone is worth the price of admission, but the rest of the film makes you feel like you got a great deal on the ticket price.
Chen Zhen decides to assume the identity of a dead comrade before returning to China, in an effort to become anonymous and work for the resistance against Japanese occupation in Shanghai under the guise of a rich man named Qi. He comes into the top club in the area, Casablanca, and makes friends with its owner, played by the great actor Anthony Wong. Before the night is out, Qi is a part owner in the club and making his move on the establishment's hostess Kiki (the talented and beautiful Shu Qi). With the mixed cultures (British, Japanese and Chinese) all jockeying for power in Shanghai, it isn't long before strife and violence become commonplace. In order to stop an assassination attempt on a Chinese general, Chen Zhen swipes a Masked Warrior costume from a nearby store, and gives birth to a new hero to the population.
LEGEND OF THE FIST builds up to an inevitable battle between Chen Zhen and the purely evil Japanese general who runs a nest of spies that have infiltrated all areas of Shanghai, including the club, law enforcement, and pretty much any other established business where resistance pockets exist. The fight sequence is so brutal, it's sometimes hard to watch, but it's also beyond awesome. There's another action scene in a newspaper office that has Yen literally walking on the walls, and I'm pretty sure special effects are not involved. Yen continues to impress me in his recent works, not only because of his athleticism but also because the guy can act. Here, he's called upon to be charming, dapper, angry, and grieving, and he pulls it off without embarrassing himself. I love that often blatant Chinese nationalism messages inserted periodically in the film, but that makes it all the more fascinating a work. What else can you say about an action movie like LEGEND OF THE FIST? It either kicks ass or it doesn't, and this one does more than most.
13 ASSASSINS is not only Miike's best film, but one of the best films of the year!
13 ASSASSINS is hands down the single best film Miike has ever made. His career casts a wide net, ranging from the serious to the weird to the downright messed-up, and this film is everything he does well put into one, perfectly assembled, absolutely flawless film. Anyone who thought they had Miike figured out has to completely re-examine his career. This is his masterpiece, the CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON of samurai films that not only serves as the best movie he’s ever made, but as one of the best movies ever made in the sub-genre. You might be expecting a Miike samurai film to be good; but transcendent? This isn’t just good; this is best of the year good, easily my favorite film of this year’s Fantastic Fest.
Incredibly effective, this is the film that could make Miike a household name here in the states and is the first Asian epic in a long time with a real chance of breaking into the mainstream. I cannot stress how much I love this film. It is everything we love about men-on-a-mission movies, samurai films and Miike, all rolled into one, breathtaking experience. See this early, see this often and delight in one of the greatest films you will see all year.
gamingeek said:
Oh good god.
darthhomer said:gamingeek said:Oh good god.
Vader will love this. Whatcha talking about?
gamingeek said:Vader will love this. Whatcha talking about?
I'm already in line.
I saw the Social Network, very good movie, not sure about the whole best movie of the year buzz but very very entertaining.
So it would be fair to say that for you, Harry Potter is the Cursed Mountain of the film world?