From: NO TOP TEN CENTRAL Newsgroups: alt.asian-movies,soc.culture.hongkong.entertainment Subject: [TAKE OVER] HKSAR Film No Top 10 Box Office (January 24 2008) Organization: Chaffing Heart Club (TM) The following publication contains material that might be objectionable to some readers. Parental guidance and reader discretion are advised. [FLUFF OF THE WEEK] Courtesy of Ming Pao, Sing Tao Daily, Apple Daily, Oriental Daily, and Ta Kung Pao * (1/29/2008) Recently, Shanghai's weather has been terrible but the Lunar New Year film market has been extraordinarily cheery as heroes from everywhere landed in Shanghai to present gifts to the general film audience. After CJ7 (CHEUNG GONG 7 HO), KUNG FU DUNK (GONG FU GUOON NAM) also held a press conference on the 27th. Director Chu Yen Ping, action director Ching Siu Tung led stars Jay Chou (Chow Kit Lun), Eric Tsang Chi Wai, Charlene Choi Cheuk Yin and Chen Bo-Lin (Chan Pak Lam) in attendance. At the press conference, Ching Siu Tung expressed that he did not know about Chow Kit Lun's waist infection. During the fight scenes, some action was shot over 30 to 40 times. Chow Kit Lun never complained about the pain. To make the shoot smoother he had 5 to 10 painkiller pills daily. As for the upcoming release CJ7, Chow Kit Lun dared not compete with Stephen Chow Sing Chi and even humbly said, "I grew up watching Sing Yeh's movies, I would also see CJ7. I feel I don't need to compete with other movies but I need to compete with myself. However I hope Sing Yeh would have time to see KUNG FU DUNK." At this time, Tsang Chi Wai arrived in time to cheer on Chairman Chou. Tsang Chi Wai said, "Our competition is very strong, but my friend has already seen the movie. When he got back he told me to relax and said that our movie was even more touching and funnier." * (1/28/2008) Jay Chou (Chow Kit Lun)'s new film KUNG FU DUNK (GONG FU GUOON NAM) has already been scheduled for an all Asian simultaneous Lunar New Year release next Wednesday (February 6). Earlier, director Chu Yen Ping and action director Ching Siu Tung along with cast members Chairman Chou and Chen Bo-Lin began their Asian promotional tour. They two days ago arrived in Shanghai for two days and one night of promotional events, including the global premiere two nights ago, the press conference yesterday and the CCTV program taping. Charlene Choi Cheuk Yin and Eric Tsang Chi Wai due to work could not attend but still made time to appear at the press conference. Two nights ago the premiere took place in Shanghai with over 100 media outlets and nearly 1200 fans and onlookers. Guests first appeared on the red carpet. After the premiere a fan meeting was held and the audience responded overwhelmingly. When the actors and the director appeared onstage, they received a five minute long applause and cheer that made everyone very happy. Chairman Chou hoped that everyone would be able to pay more attention to the team spirit that the movie brought out. With the upcoming Beijing Olympics, such an experience was rather deep for him. Chairman Chou's recent song and movie selections have been "cute", did he plan to change his style? He stated that lately he liked children a lot and thus hoped that his music and movies would be able to cheer up children. He absolutely did not want to change his style. Chen Bo-Lin played a drinking basketball player. For realism before each shoot he would drink a little beer, but he could not hold his liquor as he would fall asleep if he drank too much. Thus whenever he started to get into the state he would drink water instead. Yesterday the press conference originally included a film still collection autograph session, but the fans were too passionate at the premiere. For everyone's safety the autograph session was changed to a press conference. The film's only actress Ah Sa also finally appeared. Because she could not tolerate the five degree Celsius below zero temperature she caught a severe flu. After the event she rushed back to the hotel as her assistant called a local doctor for her. * (1/28/2008) The Shawn Yue Man Lok starred film SHAMO (GWUN GAI) will be released on March 6 in Hong Kong and mid April in Japan. In the film Ah Lok's character originally was a top student, but due to his parents' murders he was sentenced to a correctional facility. The inmates and the warrant all treated him like a top criminal and abused him. Not only did they shave his head but also put a muzzle on him for his to suffer both starvation and thirst. For this scene, Ah Lok's hands were not only tied up his mouth also wore a leather muzzle like in SILENCE OF THE LAMB. When the facility's employees put food on the floor, Ah Lok could only eat through the muzzle. According to prop team the muzzle was second hand so it stank so much that even now Ah Lok wants to vomit just from thinking about it. The hot food actually had several cigarette butts in it for the smoking effect. Director Soi Cheang Po Shui came up with this dish. Since they were shooting in Bangkok country side all the rice boxes have become cold. For the piping hot effect the director asked the team to put cigarette butts into the rice. Ah Lok honestly said that this film was one of the most difficult in his film career, not only physically but also emotionally. He said, "Every character needs to go through this to become someone who would give up all moral in order to survive. In the acting process I too must give up myself to bring live to the character." To maintain the original work's soul, the film of course had many violent scenes. Ah Lok was not afraid of damaging his image because the film also reflected a part of reality. He has thrown out all of his bottom line. * (1/27/2008) Stephen Chow Sing Chi earlier brought his three year long production CJ7 (CHEUNG GONG 7 HO) to promote in Shanghai. Coming along were his on screen "son" Xu Jiao, "Sing Girl" Kitty Zhang Yuqi and child actors like Huang Lei. The screening before the press conference also gave Shanghai reporters a glimpse of the film's "true face". Always known for his nonsense comedy, Chow Sing Chi this time played with "family warmth". Although the film did not lack the traditional "Chow style comedy", many tear jerking scenes also won a lot of tears from the audience. Some said that CJ7 was different from Sing Yeh's previous work. In the past Chow Sing Chi movies made people want to cry when they laughed, this time the audience laughed and cried along with the actors. As for the subject change, Sing Yeh seemed to lack a little confidence and kept asking reporters, "Do you think it is good?" Sing Yeh honestly stated that comedy to him was very simple, the challenge lay with touching people. Sing Yeh's performance made people feel that "he aged overnight". A reporter asked Sing Yeh that his hair color was not dyed. The white hair came from too much stress as the director. Chow Sing Chi said, directing indeed had a lot of pressure as each film had to go through a lot of experience. CJ7 not only had a "son" who was more important than the "old pa" but also an alien dog that constantly stole Sing Yeh's thunder. Sing Yeh was not mad though as he looked at his "son" Xu Jiao's smart and well honed response to the press and looked very pleased. With a head full of white hair, Sing Yeh joked that he was old. Seemingly after becoming a "master" truly made him consider a lighter job change to reduce stress. The only ten year old Xu Jiao in the film played Chow Sing Chi's son. Xu Jiao naturally had her own specialty to be able to catch Sing Yeh's eyes. At such a young age her conversation ability was very mature and she had a lot of performance talent. No wonder she had Sing Yeh's deep love. Now Xu Jiao was still very familiar with one "old pa" after another when she addressed Sing Yeh. She even expressed that although she dreamed of becoming a music teacher while in kindergarten, after this experience she discovered that she also liked to become an actress. "I still have to complete my education first and build a good base, then gradually develop. I hope in the end I can be a director like Old Pa." * (1/26/2008) The film CHING TOI (MOSS) two nights ago held a banquet. Attendees included Shawn Yue Man Lok, Sin Sik Lai, Liu Kai Chi, Terry Fan Siu Wong, Jan Lam Kam Ling, Shaun Tam Yin Chun, and Shao Yam Yam. Eric Tsang Chi Wai was absent. The event held a "snake release" as director Kwok Chi Kin led the snake release. Lead actor Yue Ma Lok was so scared that he snuck in the back. He even admitted that he indeed was very "chicken". After awhile Ah Lok finally was willing to pose for a picture with the snake. On the other hand the female lead Sik Sin Lai was more daring. Ah Lok revealed that this film has already applied for Cannes participation and he also would like the film to qualify. In it he played a bad cop who constantly used foul language and not pay for prostitute services. When asked whether he was afraid that such a bad character would get him hit on the street, he expressed that he was not. The director asked him to be like that. He honestly said that the director's requests sometimes were rather excessive. Was foul language usage very easy for him now? He honestly said that it was rather fluent. Earlier when he made EXODUS (CHOOK AI CUP GEI) he already has sacrificed his first time for the "revolution". He felt that on the set foul language usage was very ordinary. This character required it, which did not represent that the actor himself lacked class. Last year Ah Lok accepted seven roles but was accused of excessive production in order to buy a mansion. Ah Lok expressed that last year he has worked with directors Chan Ying Wai, Joe Ma Wai Ho, Benny Chan Muk Sing, Pang Fat, Soi Cheang Po Shui. He did not feel that their movies were poor. If they made rotten films he felt that magazine should watch more movies. Ah Lok said that now the film market was less than great, if the film itself was rotten the film company would not make it. Ah Lok laughed off the accusation that he was only working to buy a mansion and pointed out that his property was bought for his parents. He has been paying for two years now and has almost paid it off. Sin Sik Lai in the film played a prostitute but would not have any sexy performance. As for the bed scene with Ah Lok they only chatted in bed. She explained that she was willing but the screenplay only had such an arrangement. * (1/26/2008) Mei Ah television starting March 28 through Asia Pacific Media will provide the first Japanese subtitle Chinese film and television channel through Japan's live satellite broadcast television platform Sky PerfecTV. Aside from Mei Ah group's film and television, its new investment like the Leon Lai Ming, Kelly Chen Wai Lam and Donnie Yen Chi Tan starred THE EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS (GONG SAN MEI YUN), Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing Mo)'s RED CLIFF (CHET BIK) might have a chance to enter Japanese viewers' homes and replace the "Korean fever" influence on Japan. Asia Pacific Media CEO yesterday at the press conference that Japan several years ago has been under the "Korean fever" influence. Due to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Japan would have even more people who would be interested in China's culture and art. Thus now would be a great time and opportunity to launch a Chinese channel. He expressed, their contract was for long term collaboration. Mei Ah Group's biggest investment was its film archive and its Brilliant Idea Group's future five year 100 film investments. Mei Ah chief stated that Japan pay television market was rather sizable. According to Hong Kong experience, pay film channel could reach 20 to 30% and have a lot of potential. He pointed out, currently Mei Ah and Asia Pacific's agreement was a complete collaboration plan. They would continue to discuss what film and television products to air on the new channel. * (1/26/2008) Two nights ago the film TRUTH OR DARE: SIXTH FLOOR REAR FLAT 2 (LOK LAU HAU JOR 2) shot its trailer on the Temple Street. Director Barbara Wong Chun Chun and a group of young idol actors like Elanne Kong Yeuk Lam, Stephanie Cheng Yung, Fama, Law Chung Him, I Love U Boyz and Tian Yuan all appeared. The set was decorated like a carnival, but the scene actually was a "happy funeral" for the landlady Susie. Kong Yeuk Lam was very happy during the shoot, she said, "In one drinking scene we really drank! I normally don't drink a drop, this time four cans of beer was already the record, I was drunk while acting! Once I even fell asleep from a drinking scene and the crew had to wake me up!" Cheng Yung expressed that she was only guest starring. She had a romance with Donald. Earlier they worked on an intimate scene they had bad takes. She said, "In one scene Donald and I lay on the roof. Our relationship just clicked and I had to turn around, 'mount' and kiss him. Finally my knee hit his nether region, I at the time didn't feel it! He told me later." * (1/25/2008) After three years, Stephen Chow Sing Chi's latest CJ7 (CHEUNG GONG 7 HO) was finally released. Two nights ago its global premiere took place at the Causeway Bay Times Square. Chow Sing Chi, god daughter Xu Jiao, lead actress Kitty Zhang Yuqi arrived in three vehicles and attracted over 500 onlookers. Earlier Zhang Yuqi was rumored to be upset at Sing Jai for only taking care of his god daughter Xu Jiao and overlooked her. Two nights ago she clarified that she absolutely was not upset. Sing Yeh also pointed out that he was not upset at Zhang Yuqi either. He also pointed out that after making this film he had much more love. This time Sing Yeh served as actor, director and producer, naturally he was extra nervous. Two nights ago he invited many friends like Chief Executive Donald Tsang who after the show raised his tumb. However, the leads were veyr late and made everyone wait for over half a hour. When they arrived, host Heidi Chu Hoi Ting urged to welcome them with applause but the response was lukewarm. She could only ask again. Earlier Zhang Yuqi was rumored to be upset at Sing Yeh for overlooking her and skipping Mainland promotions. Two nights ago she was overlooked again. Sing Yeh went on stage with Xu Jiao while she only followed. As for the tardiness, Sing Yeh expressed that he lost Xu Jiao and could only find people to find her. He admitted that was inappropriate arrangement and he felt very sorry. Zhang Xuqi explained that was due to traffic. Earlier Sing Yeh was rumored to be upset at Zhang Yuqi and that he would omit her from his new film LUNG WAI SIU JI (DRAGON MIGHT KID). Sing Yeh immediately denied the rumor and admitted that he had an idea but has not decided on the execution. Were rumors of them at odds made up to promote the film? He immediately looked at his manager and they blamed each other. Zhang Yuqi denied that Sing Ye has overlooked her and even stated that Sing Yeh took the initiative to pick her up. She explained that she missed the last promotion due to illness. She never imagined that the news could become so terrifying and surprising. She denied that she was being arrogant and claimed that she was only sick. Sing Yeh expressed that he originally wanted a category I rating for this film in hopes of more family could attend, but finally it received a IIA rating. He pointed out that this film was dedicated to the children of China and the parents who worked hard to raise them. He said that after making this film he had more love. As for his god daughter's acting, he joked that it was a little better than his. As for the film's three years of preparation, he joked that actually it only took a year because he slacked off for two. Stephen Fung Tak Lun pointed out that the film was worth the full score. Reporters claimed that he was working with Sing Yeh and was not too objective. He praised that Xu Jiao performed the best because her acting ability could be felt at such a young age. Sing Yeh's role instead was less than Xu Jiao's; but he felt Sing Yeh has reached a new level and this time was a big break through. He pointed out that for only a few dollars he got to laugh and cry, and also had computer generated special effect and pretty girl. It absolutely was suitable for the whole family. Fung Tak Lun actually has seen it once already. Two nights ago he saw it a second time. He expressed that when he watched the premiere his eyes were a little watery. Vincent Kuk Tak Siu felt that two nights ago the audience reaction was decent. At the touching parts he was tearing up. * (1/24/2008) Jay Chou (Chow Kit Lun) in KUNG FU DUNK (GONG FU GUOON NAM) was not only a basketball expert but also a skilled fighter. In terms of martial art and traditional gong fu training, he also had to be able to show a few hands. In the film he played Fong Sai Kit who came from the new Shaolin Temple and has been training since childhood. In one scene bad people came to disturb the New Shaolin Temple. Chairman Chou started to fight four people who were martial art masters. They attacked him in full force but in less than two minutes Chairman Chou was done with them. During this scene's shoot, summer was raging and Chairman Chou wore 15 pound armor like costume in battle. With all the sand and dust on the set, when his opponents kicked sand went into Chairman Chou's eyes and led to many bad takes. On the other hand, Chairman Chou under a staff attack injured his calf as his eyes teared up due to the pain. In order to keep from hindering the progress, he insisted on continuing on despite the pain. In the same New Shaolin Temple scene young Chairman Chou's training appeared. The film company organized over 100 children who studied martial arts from temples in Sichuan and Wuhan mountain areas for this scene. Chairman Chou was on the set to pick up a few hints. He praised that group of young actors' amazing martial art background. At the same time, Chairman Chou's theme song for the film BIG HERO CHOU (CHOW DAI HUP) used a lot of film footage in its music video. * (1/24/2008) The 32nd Annual Hong Kong International Film Festival will take place between March 17 and April 6 this year. This year's Hong Kong Filmmaker in Focus will be Eric Tsang Chi Wai. Tsang Chi Wai has built a deep comedy actor image in the hearts of the public. Since writing and starring in the 1981's THE LEGEND OF THE OWL (MAU TAU YING) he has created a nonsense style and been a comedy pioneer in the Hong Kong film industry. With over 30 years in the film industry he has won the Best Actor awards. "When I was young I never thought about becoming an actor. In my impression actors are handsome and stylish like Chow Yun Fat, why would any actor be like me?" Tsang Chi Wai has been very active in behind the scene film participation. Over the years he has not only directed, produced and acted but also carried on the duty to cultivate the younger generations. Chi Wai felt, "Now the film industry lacks a new generation of film workers but viewers are always the young ones. I want to make more youth films. As a veteran film person, the time has come to give young directors more chances." Tsang Chi Wai's latest project GAU GONG FUNG (NINE DECLINING WINDS) handed the same screenplay to new directors in Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong to make into a trilogy of films with different styles. * (1/24/2008) The Leon Lai Ming starred film MEI LANFANG earlier completed a "New York" scene. Director Chen Kaige in order to bring to life the 1930's Broadway style New York street had a 9 day road block in Shanghai. The production even arranged for 10 snow machines to create an artificial snow effect for as long as 7 hours. Even Lai Ming who originally did not have a scene asked the director for two more scenes. Lai Ming expressed, this New York street after the shoot had to be taken down completely. He liked this set too much and believed that everyone in the film would have the same experience. * (1/24/2008) In 2006 the popular fighting video game TEKKEN has been rumored for film adaptation with Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing Mo), Vicki Zhao Wei, and Gordon Liu (Lau Ka Fai). Most recently, a film company has expressed interest in TEKKEN and would officially start production on the 5th. The male lead would still be Gum Sing Mo, but the female lead would be Chiaki Kuriyama. The director would be television series 24 and PRISON BREAK's Dwight Little who has made many intense adventure movies as well. [ BLAH OF THE WEEK ] Columns, Reviews, Interviews 1. MING PAO DAILY, JANUARY 30 2008, FILM AND TELEVISION OBSERVATIONS THE FIRST CHOICE BECOMES THE ONLY CHOICE If you cannot be the first choice, then you have to be the only choice. This is the rule of the film market. No matter what the slot is, the first choice movie definitely makes the most. Big slots of course need big movies. They not only have to be big but exceedingly big to leave other films further behind. Then they would have the chance for certain victory. A close race is extremely dangerous because if the word of mouth is poor or the other one's word of mouth is excellent, the final box office can have a rather tremendous distance. No box office is certain to be even. Certainly even box office mostly appears with similar films. Rarely two great word of mouth movies would have similar box office. The audience psychology is very strange. Even when two to three movies have similar receipts in the beginning, later the flock mentality would definitely appear to tend toward one. With a light film market, some feels that only one movie can succeed in each slot. Thus, they have to be the first choice in order to be able to make money. If a movie cannot be the first choice, it would rather change its release date -- a way to protect itself indeed. During busy slots a movie should want to be the first choice, during not so busy slots it should be the only choice With the poor film market, light slots are growing. Hong Kong film actually has already coordinated long ago. With the light slots, perhaps only one movie is released that week and becomes the sole success. However, cinema competition is enormous. If most film companies do not see a Hong Kong film favorably they would act on their own. Competition would still take place during the light slots and low to mid budget Hong Kong films would still slaughter each other. Light slot Hong Kong film competition is mostly foreign film. Luckily Hong Kong viewers are not too interested in non super films from the West during the light slot. Better performers would be horror or second class science fiction with visual effects. Although the light slot is beneficial to Hong Kong, due to the viewer shortage the box office would be limited. Becoming the only choice is not hard. To be a hit during a light slot, the movie would need controversy to bring in viewers who normally do not go to the movies. This is harder. Another way is to completely attract the group that normally must watch movies in its entirety. If successful, the movie's momentum would grow stronger. - KWOK HIN CHING 2. MING PAO DAILY, JANUARY 28 2008, FILM WORDS THE SILLIER SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE IS THE MORE IT MAKES? Childish and silly with pranks galore, SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE (OI DAU DAI) has become a recent Hong Kong film hit as it heads for 4 million. In Hong Kong it has defeated many foreign films, including the multiple award winning ATONEMENT and Wong Kar Wai's MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS. The sillier a movie is the more it makes, serious films are no match for silly films. This is an exception. The Pang Shun produced, seven directed and written SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE is a small budget madcap youth comedy that welcomes the YouTube era. It resembles a student film and the story is exactly young students producing silly videos. The leads are childhood rival beauties Elanne Kong Yeuk Lam and Janice Man Wing San who both enroll in an university film training class. They are divided into teams of five with "director" Law Chung Him coming up with the subject and recording the competition. The competition consists entirely of very silly pranks, like singing birthday song in a funeral home, shopping in a jewelry store in the guise of robbers, and messing around in mahjong parlor and cemetery. The most nonsensical is dressing up in a fast food restaurant and stealing food. The entire film is piecemeal like this, playing silly and dumb. Parts of it are made with agility. More wonderful is when the actors walk around the masks and guns and attract onlookers' attention. The film also uses night vision to shoot the night cemetery fright. Everyone's eyes are glowing and have some haunting atmosphere. Overall it seems like the new generation has nothing better to do and compete in a meaningful game. The two teams play tug of war on the edge of the roof, finally Race Wong Yuen Ling appears and cooks up a terminal illness game of death. In the end the film states clearly that rivalry is bad, pranks are wrong, after all the competition tests "love and kindness"! More serious are the actors' monologue, especially the two young men's crush revelation that has somewhat helpless realism. This type of film is not suitable to my taste, feeling that the generation gap is too large. I can only say that actually each generation has many silly films. The Hong Kong film industry over several decades from Sun Ma Jai, Leung Sing Bo to Chow Yun Fat and Stephen Chow Sing Chi all have performed in very vulgar but very successful silly films or even mentally deficient films. Viewers can only forget them as soon as they see them and remember only their outstanding representative work. SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE is also considered inheriting Hong Kong's nonsense style. As for new specialty, aside from the prank trend, it also accommodate the common video age. Private video resemblance can also succeed on the big screen. Recent U.S. hit CLOVERFIELD and French award winning film DIVING BELL AND BUTTERFLY both play with video style shots but are much more adult. Now Hong Kong films have too many deaths. This one luckily is only joking around, not too dark and not too tragic. Actually Hong Kong needs to have new comedy with brains and fun, unfortunately it is very hard to make. - SHEK KEI (http://www.cultureshot.net/sekkeiluklei) 3. MING PAO DAILY, JANUARY 28 2008, FILM AND TELEVISION OBSERVATIONS THE MYSTERY OF SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE'S SUCCESS Pang Shun led many new directors in the youth film SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE, which after a week in release has already made 3 million at the box office and performed better than other films of the same period. SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE (OI DAU DAI) was shot in High Definition Video. Most the entire film has no lighting, after working on the contrast during editing it is transferred onto film. The cost is very light and the audience does not seem to mind. This movies that uses new comers on and off screen and resembles secret camera shoots is full of experimental film elements. Its release in the light schedule between the New Year and the Lunar New Year yields such a performance, which is worthy of discussion. By ordinary logic, a low budget new comer film can only open to 2 to 3 million or perhaps even lower. The film does not have any overwhelming promotion, how can it defeat other movies with better casts and bigger budgets? Although 3 to 4 million box office is not considered very high, how can it better other competition of the same period? The explanation is not hard, let's first look at the environment! A day before SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE happened to be a very low film box office day as no one movie made more than 100,000. Even without saying whether the movies in release were good or bad, most viewers felt that they were not worthy them going to the movies. The temperature remained chilly. What kind of people would go to the movies? Young viewers. Originally ticket price increase should benefit big movies, but big Christmas films have already been released for weeks. Any that should have been seen have been. When the new releases do not have suitable subjects that meet these young viewers' taste, we should see whether other than SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE the would have other choices. There does not seem to be any. The only choice in an extremely light market of course is benefited. Because viewers other than young viewers do not go, the box office is only 3 to 4 million. Last year had a similar example, but the market condition at the time was better than last week's and the temperature was not cold. Between the Easter holidays and May's SPIDER MAN 3 release, a youth romance, Yip Lim Sum's LOVE IS NOT ALL AROUND (SUP FUN OI) was the only choice at the time. With the previous MARRIAGE TO A FOOL (DUK GA SI OI) success, the box office could easily exceed 10 million. Youth subject without competition always performed surprisingly. - KWOK HIN CHING 4. MING PAO DAILY, JANUARY 27 2008, FILM AND TELEVISION OBSERVATIONS MALE STAR WHO HONES ACTING WITH FILM QUANTITY Shawn Yue Man Lok in these two years indeed has worked on many movies so some criticized him for being the rotten film king. Accepting more roles naturally can be both good and bad. If he only works on one or two movies per year and coincidentally runs into poor quality he would not be called rotten film king. Due to low quantity, he does not have enough to be called king. Yue Man Lok's movies can only be called mixed. He can work on one movie after another amid the light market for a reason. Other actors would probably like to make the money too, but they do not have so many offers. The film industry's male lead actor shortage is an iron clad fact. Outsiders may say, "No, many actors seem not to have any offer." A movie's male lead is not just as simple as an actor, the film company has a lot of other conditions to consider. Past performance of course is important, but good past box office at the same time would pull high his salary. Current male leads in terms of salary can be divided into several classes, one is above 10 million, Jackie Chan, Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit), Andy Lau Tak Wa, Tony Leung Chiu Wai all are. Hiring these male leads would require near 100 million in investment. The next class down is from 3 to 10 million, with more in 3 to 5 million. These male leads would make action films with total budget between 30 to 50 million and drama above 15 million. With this group of male stars, action films are more stable than other genres because they can sell to more markets. Then is the ones before 2 million. Yue Man Lok is this type. He has competition, many male stars of this salary level are singers. Because they have to sing, they do not have that much time to make movies and also have to mind their image. They would not work on certain genre. Naturally their production rate cannot match Yue Man Lok's. Among actors of the same class, Yue Man Lok has better balance between price and performance. His look and range are also wider so many directors enjoy casting him. Instead of saying that he values quantity and not quality, one may as well say that he is the beneficiary of a light market. In the past those who use film quantity to hone their acting include Tony Leung Ka Fai, Anthony Wong Chau Sun, Francis Ng Chun Yu, Simon Yam Tat Wa and others. - KWOK HIN CHING 5. TA KUNG PAO, JANUARY 27 2008, WEEKLY STAR STEPHEN CHOW CJ7 TEARS INTO LAUGHTER Science Fiction Package, Father and Son Love Theme When viewers watch Stephen Chow Sing CHi movies, most want to go for laughs. Yet when you see CJ7 (CHEUNG GONG 7 HO)'s footage, in which Chow Sing Chi searches through a garbage dump for a toy for his son then you recall the daily poverty stricken tragedy that appears in the papers, has your heart soured a little? Chow Sing Chi specializes in playing little city people. Three years after KUNG FU HUSTLE (GONG FU) he finally brings the talk of the town CJ7. As expected, with its content kept confidential, CJ7 since its official promotion has anticipation from thousands. Any random online search would yield a big pile of internet and media commentaries like THREE BIG REASONS TO LOOK FORWARD TO CJ7, FOUR MAJOR VIEW POINTS OF CHOW SING CHI NEW FILM CJ7 IN DETAILS, ANALYZING SEVEN GREAT CHALLENGES OF CHOW SING CHI'S CJ7, FOUR BIG MUST WATCH TEMPTATIONS OF CJ7. Some even have already shouted EVERYONE UNITE TO SUPPORT CJ7. Recently Sing Yeh has been galloping nonstop to promote the new film and his effort has not been wasted. A Salute to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial The March 31 release CJ7 is about the Chow Sing Chi played Tie who makes a living picking garbage. He and the Xu Jiao played son Xiaodi live in a half demolished home. They have been living hand to mouth. Xiaodi is often bullied and has no way to fulfill his dream of having one toy. One day, Tie in a garbage dump finds a "toy" for his son and later discovers the "toy" is an alien life form that looks like a puppy. Xiaodi names it CJ7 and hopes its superpower can resolve all problems for them. Instead CJ7 creates even more trouble. Finally the father and son understands the importance of "home" and the lesson that money is not all powerful. Sing Yeh honestly says, the inspiration of CJ7 comes from his idol director Steven Spielberg's classic E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTIAL. He says, "I watched E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTIAL many, many times. This science fiction film truly has opened my eyes. At that moment, I was determined to make a movie that would be just as exciting. So you can say, Steven Spielberg has inspired me to become a director." From years in film and in recent year turning from acting to directing, he has created many classic comedy and lines that have been widely spread in the society; yet in CJ7 some very "familiar" scenes could be seen, especially when he was "treasure hunting" in the garbage dump the flying saucer slowly rose behind him. He explained, CJ7 was considered his salute to E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL. Thus he used E.T.'s classic scene in the film. "This subject to Chinese film viewers may be stranger, but I believe they would like it." Vermicelli Accepts The Genre Change With science fiction elements, visual effects, crazy comedy, CJ7 actually in its bones is a movie about father and love relationship. If Aaron Kwok Fu Sing and Ian Gouw Iskander (Ng King Toh) played an extremely tragic example of a father and son relationship in AFTER THIS OUR EXILE (FU JI), Chow Sing Chi and Xu Jiao's situation would be the type that happens everyday in every corner of the world. It is so ordinary that it does not catch any attention, whether it is tragic or comic the viewer's mentality would determine. From "the creator is dead" angle, viewers can watch this film like a Chow Sing Chi comedy and leave with a smile but they can also be provoked to think about the father and son's encounter in the film and experience what is called tears within laughter. In the film, father Chow Sing Chi although is debt ridden still has hopes for his son to succeed, still works hard to make money for his son to go to a famous school and hope that his son would not have to rely on hard labor like he does to make a living. Yet, his son is constantly looked down upon because they wear torn shirts and old shoes. He is bullied not only by classmates but also by the disciplinary supervisor who believes in elite education when he is constantly nitpicking his school uniform and family background. He himself is also constantly made fun of by the supervisor and other co-workers, all because they are poor. Poverty with dignity seems to be a message that often appears in Chow Sing Chi movies. Sing Yeh says, "In the film although the father and son are poor, Xiaodi is very proud of his background and his father's teaching. One of their family motto is 'although we are poor, we don't steal or rob, take what doesn't belong to us.' This actually was my parents' teaching to me." Having experienced poverty, he feels that people must have hope. Actually CJ7 has considered different titles early in its production, one of which was called A HOPE. He hopes that this movie would be able to move everyone and then makes everyone realize that CJ7 not only has an official Chinese site, but also an official English site. The alien puppy and the poor father and son's influence would reach as far as the English language world. Many foreign film magazines and sites have covered it and some even describe this as the film that changes Chow Sing Chi's genre. The fact is, CJ7's Sina official site recently has conducted an online survey. As of this article's deadline, on the question of "how do you feel about Sing Yeh's change?" out of nearly 20,000 votes 70% feel "Sing Yeh does not belong to anyone and only belongs to himself. He can be however he likes to be." On the question "What anticipation do you hold for CJ7?" out of the nearly 30,000 votes 42% express "hope that he would bring a pleasant surprise, this is the biggest anticipation." Almost 35% express, "I love to watch anything that he performs in". Obviously, this movie that Sing Yeh has written, produced, directed and starred in may be the most "Chow Sing Chi movie". "Vermicelli" also accepts his change and looks forward to another pleasant surprise from him. Praising Xu Jiao as natural actress Sing Yeh due to CJ7 adds this "god daughter" Xu Jiao. Most of the film fell on Xu Jiao. This was the first film that he has directed with a child star in the lead. When asked how was working with children he says, "When I first got into the business I hosted a children television program and actually I have a lot of experience working with children." In order to find the right child actor, the team has been to big and small cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hengzhou, Ningbo and auditioned with nearly 10,000 children. After a year and half they finally confirmed Xu Jiao for the boy role of Xiaodi. Chow Sing Chi says, "Auditioning with children is no different from casting an adult actor, I am still looking at their acting. In addition I still have to see whether they know how to grasp the character." As for why he would choose Xu Jiao, he says, "When I first saw her, I knew that she would be able to bring life to this role of Xiaodi. She is a natural actress, with both great demeanor and acting abilities." Of course some would also say that Sing Yeh has chosen Xu Jiao at first sight because Xu Jiao resembles him when he was little. - SIU () 6. TA KUNG PAO, JANUARY 27 2008, LIGHT SHADOW PATH ABOUT FILM INSPECTION OFFICE The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority and the Obscene Articles Tribunal last year handled many cases that led to controversy. They include the Chinese University student newspaper's "erotic" page incident, and Radio and Television Hong Kong's homosexual documentary decision. Several internet users have even demanded inspection for the Bible to demonstrate the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority's confusing obscene material definition. Thus the film censorship office has begun examination, including increasing Obscene Articles Tribunal membership, publicizing enforcement process, and the most eye catching one is strengthening employees' knowledge of art in hopes of reaching even more reasonable verdicts. The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority's courses have university professors introducing Eastern and Western art academia to them along with instructor student discussions to increase student (employee" art knowledge. Yet the film censorship office chief states, "We are not artists, but we have no intention of classifying art as obscene material." Since they are not artists, why would they have the right to determine art as obscene? Can some courses determine whether art is so-called obscene? Why do they not consult experts? Like in the average film inspection process, with scenes with mob language or gesture the film censorship office would consult the film censorship regulation. Without any written regulation, the office would consult mob "experts" then make a decision. Although this method has areas that are worthy of study, even with "expert" comment it definitely would not classify Renaissance artist Michelangelo's David statue as category II obscene material. The film censorship office chief also states, the Obscene and Indecent Material Regulation's obscene and indecent standards are "flexible and not written in black and white" and that "whether nudity is obscene or not definitely is controversial." He has stated the fact. Each era's standard is different. Yet strangely the obscenity standard now is stricter than it was in the 70s. Over 30 years ago television news would have nude beach footage and introduce nude African tribal life. According to the current inspection standard they would either be cut or censored. This type of "improvement' conceivably is meaningless and has stripped people's knowledge of the world. Flexible standard changes with the times, but what if the same era has created double standard? The Film Censorship Office before last year's EXODUS (CHOOK AI CUP GEI) has established double standard. Foreign films like THE DEPARTED had massive amount of foul language and received a IIB rating, but Chinese films with a lot of strong language it definitely would be category III, perhaps English foul language is more "decent" or has better meaning? EXODUS with strong language received a IIB rating was avenged the Chinese film discrimination, which must be said as an improvement. This is the only incident that the film censorship office has been praised for. Let us hope that from now on the film censorship office can consider more professional opinions and no longer have jokes of verdicts like with AN AUTUMN'S TALE. - TIN LIK 7. MING PAO DAILY, JANUARY 25 2008, FILM AND TELEVISION OBSERVATIONS FROM UNDER THE LION ROCK TO UNDER MOUNT FUJI With James Wong Jim's lyrics UNDER THE LION ROCK (SI JI SAN HA) once was considered a popular song that has written out the Hong Kong spirit. UNDER THE LION ROCK was a popular Radio and Television Hong Kong television series. This song of the same title is the show's theme song that is about Hong Kong's emotions back then. This year at the four stations' award shows the song that has won the most awards and the highest honor is UNDER MOUNT FUJI (FU SI SAN HA) with Lam Jik's lyrics and Eason Chan Yik Shun's performance. UNDER MOUNT FUJI is about tragic romance. The scenery is no longer under the Lion Rock where the Hong Kong general public has lived, but under Mount Fuji outside the popular culture city Tokyo that young couples love to go to. Why today's Chinese popular music is no longer written about the Hong Kong spirit that is written in sighs and tears but Tokyo's tragic romance? Popular music is the most able to reflect local life. Sam Hui Koon Kit's HALF POUND EIGHT OUNCE (BOON GUN BAT LEUNG) captures the working class' voice back then. MAHJONG HEROES (DA JEUK YING HUNG JUEN) reflects Hong Kong's general mahjong playing for fun. His TWIN STAR LOVE SONG (SEUNG SING CHING GOR) is about love that is simple. Roman Tam (Law Man) has UNDER THE LION ROCK. He also has sung the Japanese television series theme song adaptation BRILLIANT FUTURE (CHIN CHING GUM SAU), which back then young people loved. Working for an ideal was a social value that the age recognized, as everyone believed that success definitely came from hard work. Now the Heng Sang index dropped over 2,000 points on one day, some university students skip classes to invest in the stock market professionally. How can they possibly relate to UNDER THE LION ROCK and BRILLIANT FUTURE lyrics? As the society becomes materialistic and opportunistic speculation is the fastest way to wealth, hard work instead has a harder time achieving success than before. Because the previous generation has occupied the position, the next generation has no way to move up. Hard work is useless. Young couples can only find satisfaction in love, love has become the best popular song theme. With the popularity of karaoke, every night blasting in thousands of karaoke rooms is one love song after another. Facts that develop in front of us are no longer those famous lines that everyone has written under the Lion Rock, but "I absolutely am not rare, I walk a lap around the streets, I then vanish". The voice of Hong Kong has changed. - KWOK HIN CHING 8. MING PAO DAILY, JANUARY 24 2008, FILM AND TELEVISION OBSERVATIONS WHY IS MUSIC DEVELOPMENT FUND IMPOSSIBLE? Lam Jik at the Top Ten Chinese Gold Song Awards says that the government has financially assisted film and should also financially assist popular music too. He is right. Conceivably he knows that his comments would definitely attract a lot of criticism, but he still speaks up. He definitely has gone through thorough consideration. Lam Jik does not speak much. He has been on stage countless times to accept awards. Mostly he would only say thank you. This time he actually urges in the public, of course he has his reasons. He definitely is not someone who has no lyrics to write and hopes the government to financially assist him to work. Anyone who is familiar with the business knows that in recent years so many have approached him that he has to turn down invitations. Only he chose to select singers that he liked to write lyrics for. In addition his creative area has not been limited to Cantonese songs. Today if he retires he would not have any problem with the rest of his life. Yet with the music scene crisis, if he does not speak up no one can tell from the surface. The writer has said, film professionals still know to ask the government for help. The record industry has always preferred to report good news and not the bad. We can only through IFPI's announced numbers or study the further lowering of gold and platinum record sales to know about the local record industry difficulties. The government has allocated 300 million for the film fund. From lending money to funding film production the investigation study took a very long time. Many nations' similar methods have been studied and only when it is considered reasonable has it taken effect. Government assistance for cultural and entertainment businesses is not exclusive to Hong Kong. Any method in addition would require detailed study before being suggested. It does not randomly take place due to some comment before any understanding of the industry. Hong Kong film's past success has helped promoted Hong Kong's image and is the pride of Hong Kong. Local popular music then also has had the same achievement. Since the government can financially assist the film industry, why is music industry assistance impossible? The method awaits industry insider suggestions and cannot be mixed with the film financial assistance discussion. Hong Kong actually is a good place to develop creative industry. If the record industry can shake off its current crisis, like film, it can make Hong Kong into the Greater China popular music base. Without local popular music, local music professionals may not necessarily be the ones who truly suffer the damage. - KWOK HIN CHING [ In Production Now/Soon ] Can : Ching Toi Lit : Moss d. Kwok Chi Kin Shawn Yue Man Lok, Sin Sik Lai, Eric Tsang Chi Wai, Liu Kai Chi, Terry Fan Siu Wong, Jan Lam Kam Lin, Shaun Tam Chun Yin, Shao Yam Yam Can : Ngor Dik Jui Oi Lit : My Most Beloved d. Yip Lim Sum Alex Fong Lik Sun, Stephy Tang Lai Yun, Miki Yeung Oi Kun, Hu Qingnan (Wu Ching Nam), Alice Tsang Hoi Won Can : Bo Chi Tung Wa Lit : Keep In Touch d. Benny Chan Muk Sing Louis Koo Tin Lok, Barbie Shui (Tsui Hei Woon), Liu Ye Can : Ngor Lo Por Hai Doh Sing Lit : My Old Lady Is Gambling Saint Nick Cheung Ka Fai, Meng Yao Can : Ching Tai Lit : Moss d. Kwok Chi Kin Shawn Yue Man Lok, Terry Fan Siu Wong, Shaun Tam Chun Yin Can : Oi Ching Man Shui Lit : Love Hail Yumiko Cheng Hei Yi, Ken Hung Cheuk Lap, Yan Ng Yat Yin, Chow Pak Ho, Sherman Chung Shu Man Can : Cha Ji Nui Lit : Woman of Investigation d. Alan Mak Siu Fai Sammi Cheng Sau Man, Eason Chan Yik Shun Can : Si Lim Lit : Reminisce d. Wai Ka Fai Lau Ching Wan, Kelly Lin (Lam Hei LUi), Yan Qing, Jo Kuk Cho Lam RUN PAPA RUN Can : Hak Ba Ba Lit : Black Papa d. Sylvia Chang (Cheung Ngai Ga) Louis Koo Tin Lok, Rene Liu (Lau Yeuk Ying) Official Site : www.emp.hk [ OFFICIAL SITE ] Raised by a single mother in a crime-ridden neighborhood, Lee has risen from street punk to successful syndicate crime boss. Fast money and women have always come easily to Lee, but Lee unexpectedly falls in love with a lawyer named Mabel. When Mabel becomes pregnant, Lee panics. Determined to make the relationship the work, Mabel moves into his apartment uninvited. Mabel's persistence pays off when their child Heiyi is born - Lee's paternal instincts are awakened and he is transformed into a doting father. Desperate to protect his new family, Lee conceals the true nature of his business. His gang members undergo an image makeover and to all outward appearances Lee is now legitimate businessman. Lee is selected to be the next kingpin of the underworld, and he is torn between family and brotherhood. His relationship with the three women in his life: his mom, his wife and his daughter, changes his life perspective, and he is determined to make things right once and for all. Can : Giu, Won Lit : Call, Soul Grace Ip Pui Man, Carl Ng Ka Lung, Jolie Chan Yuen Kei, Raymond Wong Ho Yin, Chucky Wood Gei Lan, Kwok Hoi San Can : Duet Shui d. Law Sau Yiu Sammo Hung Kam Bo, Danny Lee Sau Yin, Simon Yam Tat Wa, Maggie Siu Mei Kei, Pinky Cheung Man Chi, Jason Wu Jing, Ken Low Wai Kwong, Heung Jor, Tian Niu, Yen Wing San Can : Ang Hong Lit : Tough Guy Anthony Wong Chau Sun, Ellen Chan Nga Lun, Liu Ye, Sun Honglei THE J AND J PROJECT Can : Gong Fu ji Wong Lit : King of Gong Fu Jackie Chan, Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit), Crystal Liu Yifei, Li Bingbing FANTASTIC WATER BABES Can : Chook Shui Fu Yung Lit : Out of Water Hibiscus d. Jeff Lau Chun Wai Gillian Chung Yun Tung, Alex Fong Lik Sun, Stephen Fung Tak Lun, Tian Liang, Eva Huang Shengyi, Official Site : www.emp.hk [ OFFICIAL SITE ] A beautiful and cocky swimmer Jill and her teammates kidnaps Alex, Hong Kong's champion swimmer, in order that he can train her to win a duel against her rival in swimming and in love. All hell breaks loose when hate at first sight inadvertently becomes something else... Can : Kit Ji Lit : Scorpion d. Joe Ma Wai Ho Sam Lee Chan Sam, Emme Wong Yee Man, Leung Siu Lung, Miki Mizuno (Shui Yeh Mei Gei), Nana Natsume (Ha Muk Noi Noi) Can : Hat Sei Nei Lit : Scare You To Death Sam Lee Chan Sam, Elanne Kong Yeuk Lam, Tommy Yuen Man On Can : Hok Hau Hak Sai Lik Lit : School Mob Power Jordan Chan Siu Chun, Lee Si Pui, Annie Man Chung Han, Lui Hoi Yun Ada Wong Chi Hom, Timmy Hung Tin Ming Can : Goo Mo Mui Ying Lit : Ancient Tomb Phantom d. Chan Kwoon Wai Chin Kar Lok, Yuen Wah, Candy Lo Hau Yam Can : SI GUONG DOI LAU DIK WA Lit : IF TIME FLOWS BACKWARD d. Mak Kai Kwong Fiona Sit Hoi Kei, Kenny Kwan Chi Bun, Yan Ng Yat Yin, Ken Wong Hap Hei, Karen Tong Bo Yu NEW PERFECT EDUCATION Can : Sun Gum Sut Pui Yuk ji Oi Dik Fu Lo Lit : New Chamber Cultivated Desire: Captive of Love d. Ng Man Lik Kaori Sakagami (Ban Seung Heung Jik) Tony Ho Wa Chiu, Vonnie Lui Hoi Yu Can : Jin Fu Lit : War Tiger Eric Tsang Chi Wai, Kristy Yang Kung Yu, Julian Cheung Chi Lam, Lam Ka Tung, Candy Yu On On, Guo Xinqi (Kwok Sam Kei), Jason Chu Wing Tong, Koey Leung Shuet Mei, Iris Wong Yat Tung, Pavarit Mongkolpisit Nahatai Lekbumrung, Yunee Can : Mo Yau 24 Siu Si Lit : Worry Free 24 Hours Chiu Chung Yu, Natalie Ng Man Yan, Simon Loui Yu Yeung, Siu Chuen Yung, Carl Ng Ka Lung, Libby Lao Kuai Ieng Can : Nui Kuen Wong Lit : Female Fist King Diana Pang Tan, Angie Cheong Wei Yee, Lai Yiu Cheung, Emi Tojo (Dung Sing Gong Mei) Mizuho Ishikawa (Shek Chuen Mei Jung Shui) --- [ NOW SHOWING ] Info from Mov3.com (http://www.mov3.com), Ryan's Hong Kong Movie DataBase (http://www.hkmdb.com), Korean Movie Database (http://www.krmdb.com), Cinema Thai (http://www.cinemathai.com), Hong Kong Entertainment News In Review (http://www.hkentreview.com), Internet Movie DataBase (http://www.imdb.com) TWO STUPID EGGS Can : Dai Din Ying 2 Leung Gor Sor Gua Dik Fong Tong Si Lit : Big Movie 2 Two Idiots' Outrageous Affair d. A Gan Guo Tao, Annie Liu (Lau Sum Yau), Cheung Tat Ming, Sam Lee Chan Sam, Lam Ka Tung, Yao Chen Opening January 25 2008 A former photographer turned a book salesman with average sales has an undying heart for art that inspires him to turn the new book NEWLYWED GUIDE into an "educational film". His wife after learning her husband due to his livelihood is forced into making the sex education film volunteers to be the film's lead actress, writes, directs and stars with her husband to personally instruct newlywed couple sex knowledge. Their quiet life thus begins to change...... [ COMING SOON ] THE SPARROW Can : Man Jeuk Lit : Cultured Bird d. Johnnie To Kei Fung Simon Yam Tat Wa, Kelly Lin (Lam Hei Lui), Lam Ka Tung, Lam Suet, Kate Tsui Tsz Shan [ GOLDEN SCREEN CINEMAS ONLINE ] They are known as the "sparrows", Hong Kong's street slang for "pickpockets". They work in groups, lifting wallets from unsuspecting tourists until one day an irresistible woman of unknown origin appears before them and requests the gang to steal a key for her. The set up begins to unravel itself when the mission completes. The pickpockets realize this exotic beauty has been slowly leading them onto a path of no return. BREATH d. Kim Ki-Duk Chang Chen, Zia, Ha Jung-Woo [ BROADWAY CIRCUIT ] On a cold winter day, after learning her husband has found a new woman, Yeon absent mindedly heads for the prison where Chen is confined. Although she does not know him personally, repeated news of his suicide attempts on TV has subconsciously grown in her mind and now is leading her to seek him. Jin has no visitors and normally would not agree to meet with a complete stranger, but hearing that it is a woman he accepts her meeting request out of curiosity. Their first meeting is as awkward as it can get. Yeon treats Jin like an old friend whereas Jin does not open up so easily. CJ7 AKA : SEVEN AKA : YANGTZE RIVER 7 Can : Cheung Gong 7 Ho d. Stephen Chow Sing Chi Stephen Chow Sing Chi, Xu Jiao, Kitty Zhang Yuqi, Lam Tsz Chung Opening January 31 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] A down on his luck father takes his son to a broken down home as the entire family relies on his father's physical labor for a living. He also constantly picks up trash for home use. Papa has high hopes for his son to get into a star school and risks his life to pay the high tuition; the son due to his poor family background is often the subject of ridicule for teachers and students alike. Only the pretty and kind teacher Ms. Yuen never gives up on him and takes great care of him. Watching his classmates with the new technology toy dog CJ7, the envious son constantly asks Papa to get one for him. The empty pocked Papa can only bring up a plastic ball from the dump as a gift. Unexpectedly, this ball turns into a lovably alien with extraordinary abilities! The son names this new friend CJ7 and even brings it to school as his companion behind his father's back in hopes of teaching bullying classmates a lesson and resolve all difficult problems at school. KUNG FU DUNK Can : Guoon Lam Lit : Slam Dunk d. Kevin Chu Yin Ping Jay Chou (Chow Kit Lun), Charlene Choi Cheuk Yin, Chen Bo-Lin (Chan Pak Lam), Eric Tsang Chi Wai, Opening February 7 2007 [ CINEMA ONLINE MALAYSIA ] Shi-Jie, grew up in a martial arts school and is well-trained in kung-fu. With his kung-fu skills and good reflexes, Shi-Jie excels in basketball by mastering the slam dunk technique. Wang-Li, who is trying to locate Shi-Jie's real family, invites him to join the university's basketball team in hope of making some money. Shi-Jie faces new challenges while trying to blend in with the basketball team members Ting-Wei and Xiao-Lan. With the upcoming basketball championship and the appearance of Li-Li, will the team members set aside their differences and personal feelings for the love of the game? L: CHANGE THE WORLD d. Hideo Nakata (Jung Tin Sau Fu) Kenichi Matsuyama (Chung San Yin Yat), Youki Kudoh (Gung Tung Jik Gwai) Opening February 9 2008 THE EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS Can : Gong San Mei Yun Lit : Kingdom Beauty d. Ching Siu Tung Kelly Chen Wai Lam, Donnie Yen Chi Tan, Leon Lai Ming, Guo Xiaodong, (Kau Jun Hoi) Opening March 1 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] Amid a war, Princess Feier whose father died in battle took over the duty of protecting her nation with General Xuefu. Later traitor Hu Ba assassinated and injured the princess, who luckily was saved by Duen Lanchuan. They fell for each other; but with trouble inside and outside how would Feier choose? PLAYBOY COPS Can : Fa Fa Ying Gaing Lit : Flowery Cop d. Jingle Ma Chor Sing Shawn Yue Man Lok, Linda Chung Ka Yun, Chen Kun, Wong Yau Nam, Carl Ng Ka Lung Opening March 6 2008 RULE NUMBER ONE Can : Dai Yut Gai Lit : First Sin d. Tong Wing Kin Dior Cheng Yi Kin, Shawn Yue Man Lok, Fiona Sit Hoi Kei, Stephanie Che Yuen Yuen Opening March 13 2008 in Malaysia [ CINEMA ONLINE MALAYSIA ] Rookie Sergeant Lee is assigned to the dubious-sounding Miscellaneous Affairs Department (MAD), where he is paired with Inspector Wong who explains that MAD's role is to answer to supernatural calls and its Rule #1 is that there are no ghosts; for every seemingly-inexplicable phenomenon, there is a scientific and rational explanation. MAD then begins investigating a string of bizarre teenage suicides. As Lee and Wong follow the clues, they realize that something sinister is heading their way. SHAMO Can : Kwun Gai Lit : Military Chicken d. Soi Cheang Po Shui Shawn Yue Man Lok, Francis Ng Chun Yu, Annie Liu (Lau Sum Yau), Dylan Kuo (Kwok Bun Chiu) Opening March 2008 SNIPER Can : Sun Cheung Sau Lit : Godly Gunslingers d. Dante Lam Chiu Yin Richie Jen (Yam Yin Chai), Edison Chen Koon Hei, Huang Xiaoming Opening March 27 2008 in Malaysia [ CINEMA ONLINE MALAYSIA ] Ming is renowned as the top shooter in the police force. However things get complicated after the release of his former teammate and superb marksman Ching from prison. With only vengeance on his mind, Ching wants to take on Ming and the police, believing that they are the ones who put him in jail. When a mysterious sniper sabotages a high-security prisoner transfer and a convict escapes, Ming and his team are dispatched to profile the suspect. THREE KINGDOMS : RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON Can : Sam Gok Gein Lung Seh Gap Lit : Three Kingdoms See Dragon Remove Armor d. Lee Yan Kong Andy Lau Tak Wa, Maggie Q, Sammo Hung Kam Bo, Vanness Wu (Ng Kin Ho), Ti Lung Opening April 2008 RED CLIFF PART I AKA : BATTLE OF RED CLIFF Can : Chet Bik Lit : Red Cliff d. John Woo (Ng Yu Sum) Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing Mo), Janny Lin Chiling, Vicki Zhao Wei, Chang Chen, Zhang Fengyi, Hu Jun, You Yong Opening July 3 2008 [ CINEMA ONLINE ] In the early third century, the warlord Cao Cao and his soldiers invaded the land of Wu. The ruler of Wu, Sun Quan called on the rival warlord Liu Bei for help, but their two armies were still badly outnumbered. However, strategists Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang see that Cao Cao's army was not used to battling at sea. With 200,000 men, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang defeated Cao Cao's army at the Yangtze River. --- [ Entertainment URL ] EMPEROR MOTION PICTURES http://www.emp.hk GOLDEN SCENE http://www.goldenscene.com SING PAO http://www.singpao.com THE HONG KONG FILM ARCHIVE http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/hkfa/ CHANG CHUN CHINA FILM FESTIVAL http://www.cc-film.com GOLDEN HARVEST http://www.goldenharvest.com STAR EAST http://www.stareastnet.com CITY ENTERTAINMENT http://www.cityentertainment.com.hk Commercial Radio http://www.crhk.com.hk Television Broadcast Limited http://www.tvb.com.hk --- [ NORTH AMERICA AREA CONCERTS ] Courtesy of our neighbors at : High Level Entertainment's Concert & Event News Center http://www.levelhigh.com http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/1721/hlecaen.htm * RAYMOND MIU PRODUCTIONS AND TRUMP TAJ MAHAL CASINO RESORT PRESENT LIZA WANG LIVE IN CONCERT 2008 DATE AND TIME : Saturday night / Sunday morning, February 24 2008 @ 1AM Sunday, February 24 2008 @ 2PM VENUE LOCATION : Mark G. Etess Arena Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort TICKET PRICCES : $118, 78, 48 EXCLUSIVE BOX OFFICE LOCATION : Raymond Miu Productions 195 Canal Street, Suite 201 New York NY 10013 212.966.0800 www.rmpny.com * DANIEL CHAN HIU TUNG AND NIKI CHOW LAI KEI IN CONCERT 2008 DATE AND TIME : Saturday night / Sunday morning, February 17 2008 @ 2AM VENUE LOCATION : Caesars Maximus Theater Caesars Atlantic City Atlantic City NJ TICKET INFORMATION: Caesars Atlantic City 877.284.8786 Harrahs Atlantic City 609.414.5948 Bally's Atlantic City 888.833.3269 Showboat 800.756.8752 * THREE STAR LUAR NEW YEAR CONCERT SAMUEL TAI JING SIU, ELIZA CHAN KIT LING AND CHU MING MING DATE AND TIME : Saturday night / Sunday morning, February 10 2008 @ 2AM Sunday, February 10 2008 @ 2PM VENUE LOCATION : Fox Theatre Foxwoods Resort Casino TICKET PRICES : $98, 78, 48 TICKET OUTLET LOCATIONS: CHINATOWN P & M Music 2 Elizabeth St. 212.732.3828 BROOKLYN 5516 8th Avenue 718.666.0740 QUEENS Jessica Holdings 135-27 40th Rd. Suite 301 Flushing 718.460.2628 BOSTON Trans-Pacific Travel 11 Tyler St. Boston MA 02111 617.451.3478 * INTERNATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT MARKETING AND MOHEGAN SUN PRESENT EASON CHAN YIK SHUN EASON'S MOVING ON STAGE 3 DATE AND TIME : Saturday night / Sunday morning, February 10 2008 @ 2AM Sunday, February 10 2008 @ 1PM VENUE LOCATION : Mohegan Sun Arena Mohegan Sun 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard Uncasville CT 06382 (860) 862-4002 TICKET PRICES : VIP$138, 108, 78, 58 TICKET OUTLET LOCATIONS : ONLINE : www.iemshowplace.com CHINATOWN 89 Bowery 212.925.1098 FLUSHING International Entertainment Marketing 135-05 40 Road 2/Fl 718.888.3113 BROOKLYN International Entertainment Marketing 5609 8th Avenue 718.437.777 EDISON 1681 Rt. 27 Suite 3 732.819.8883 BOSTON 12A Tyler Street 617.695.1989 * SUPER KEY PRODUCTIONS PRESENT SHARON CHAN MAN CHI AND RAYMOND LAM FUNG LIVE Special Guest: Ma Chin DATE AND TIME : Saturday night / Sunday morning, February 10 2008 @ 1AM VENUE LOCATION : Grand Theatre Hilton Casino Resort Atlantic City NJ TICKET PRICES : $118, 78, 48 BOX OFFICE LOCATION : Chinatown SuperKey Production 16 Bowery 4/FL 212.619.2628 www.superkeypro.com 2 Elizabeth Street 212.732.3828 133 East Broadway 212.513.7898 Brooklyn 778 60th Street (8th Avenue) 718.238.1228 Flushing 135-17 40 Road, 3/FL 718.886.8294 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Box office info : What Box Office Info? The usual suspects : MOV3.COM, Internet Movie Database, Yahoo! Hong Kong Erors : ye olde chaffing editor For Tuesday January 29 2008 10 AUGUST RUSH d. Kirsten Sheridan Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Robin Williams 9 RENDITION d. Gavin Hood Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon 8 13 BELOVED d. Ma-Deaw Chukiatsakwiraku Krissada Terrence, Chita Wuthiounsurasit, Sarunyu Wongkrachang, Nattapong Arunnate 7 MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS d. Wong Kar Wai Norah Jones, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman 6 ELIZABETH : THE GOLDEN AGE d. Shekhar Kapur Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush 5 ATASHIN'CHI THE MOVIE d. Tetsuo Yasumi (Bak Gok Jik Fu) Japanese Animation 4 KITE RUNNER d. Marc Forster Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni, Shaun Toub 3 CLOVERFIELD d. Matt Reeves Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Lizzy Caplan 2 SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE Can : Oi Dau Dai Lit : Love Big Competition d. Chut Tiu Elanne Kong Yeuk Lam, Janice Man Wing San, Law Chung Him, Zoie Tam Hoi Kei, Maggie Lee Man Kwan, Siu Fei, Tommy Yuen Man On 1 27 DRESSES d. Anne Fletcher Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Edward Burns, ------ Summaries for some of the films above. Some contain SPOILERS 13 BELOVED Rating : IIB Opening January 24 2008 Pusit is a sound system salesman. His dream is to become a famous musician with a warm family, but his current condition is nowhere near his dream. His biggest burden is sending money home to his mother and sister every month with a huge debt to pay back; he is the worst performing employee at the company and finally he is fired, unemployed and faces debt pressure. As times could not get any worse, he receives a mysterious call that claims as long as he participates in a game and completes 13 assignments he would have a chance at the 100 million cash prize. He easily completes the first second assignments and decides to continue on, but he does not know that the following assignments are... ATASHIN'CHI THE MOVIE Rating : I Length : 95 mins. Opening January 17 2008 SEE YOU IN YOU TUBE Opening January 17 2008 [ BROADWAY CIRCUIT ] Ling and Janice have been friends since childhood. Although they are close, they have a habit of competition to death in school, sports, astrology, botany and dreams. No matter how competitive they get they cannot harm their friendship. When they get to the university, they under different circumstances fall for Chung Him...... ------ GLOBAL CHINESE SONG CHART For Saturday, January 26 2008 15 NOT THE SAME Can : But Yut Yeung JNK 14 EXPIRATION DATE OF LOVE Can : Oi Dik Kei Han Jacky Xue (Sit Ji Him) 13 DOVE Can : Gat Ji Aska Yang (Yeung Chung Wai) 12 MY HEAVEN Can : Ngor Dik Tin Hins Cheung King Hin 11 CONCERT Can : Yin Cheung Wui Eason Chan Yik Shun 10 WEDDING MARCH Can : Fun Lai Jun Hung Kuk Anson Hu (Wu Yin Bin) 9 MAN WOMAN Can : Nam Yun Nui Yun Valen Hsu (Hui Yu Wan) 8 RED CARPET Can : Hung Dei Jin Justin Lo (Juk Tin) 7 CONNECTED RELATIONSHIP Can : Nin Dai Guan Hai Twins 6 WOW Bibi Zhou Bichang 5 I DON'T MIND YOU HATE ME Can : Ngor But Gai Yin Nei Hung Ngor Hua Er 4 HEART Can : Sum Wor Fahrenheit, S.H.E 3 INNOCENT Can : Mo Gu Gary Cao (Cho Gat) 2 SMOKE SPARK Can : Yin For Michael Kong (Guong Leung) 1 LOVE SONG Fong Datong ------ [ Yakety Yak ] The views and opinions expressed here are purely those of the writer and in no way reflect those of Hong Kong Film Top 10 Box Office, its contributors and affiliated web sites. IGNORE ME IF YOU SEE ME 'CAUSE I JUST DON'T GIVE A SH!* "You're mean." All Your Chaffing Editor has heard from women around him all week long was that. These women are no strangers; they have known Your Chaffing Editor for awhile. Yet somehow Old Chaffy has changed in their eyes. Perhaps all the changes have changed him, or more likely, perhaps the fairer sex or better yet Your Chaffing Editor himself does not know who he truly is. Does any one of us know who we are? Questions like those though do not help Your Chaffing Editor's depression. As he is trying hard to live up to his resolution to give more love, in recent months he has been dwelling on what could have been and what has been lost. Luckily, on occasion moments of clarity strikes and Your Chaffing Editor is reminded of the ability and capability to love is something to be proud of. While Your Chaffing Editor is fortunate enough to have clear blue sky over Top Ten Central to lighten his mood, California has been at the mercy of severe weather -- from snow in NoCal, "cats and dogs" rainstorm (thanks Tiff) in the valley or mudslide in SoCal. Hang in there, Bears, Bruins, Cardinals, Banana Slugs and the rest. Fairer days will be on the way. At least you are not at Top Ten Central with delusional Giants fans who feels the same way about their Superbowl chances as they do about Your Chaffing Editor's love life (or the entirely deliberate lack thereof). "We have a chance." "Whatever, dude. Here, have a little love." For someone who is "mean", Your Chaffing Editor's lust for violence seems to have subsided. Instead of rushing out to see RAMBO, his appreciation is growing for "substitute violence" like in Honda's Water Gun Fight ad and Cobra Starship's THE CITY IS AT WAR music video. On top of that, the Cobra Starship song is pretty catchy too. Check it out. Honda - Water Gun Fight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tiyauo9_YcY Cobra Starship - THE CITY IS AT WAR http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1518072&vid=201156 Speaking of THE CITY IS AT WAR, you know, Your Chaffing Editor still has not seen CLOVERFIELD yet. Should he even bother now when LOST will be back on television? While you sit there contemplating you'll wind up left for dead, Jer Jer Stinks, Your Chaffing Editor Top Ten Central --- [ WHAT IS YOUR CHAFFING EDITOR LISTENING TO? ] WHEN I'M GONE Simple Plan I look around me But all I seem to see Is people going nowhere Expecting sympathy It's like we're going through the motions Of the scripted destiny Tell me where's our inspiration If life wont wait I guess it's up to me Whoahh No we're not gonna waste another moment in this town Whoahh We wont come back, the world its calling out Whoahh Leave the past in the past gonna find the future And misery loves company Well so long You'll miss me when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone Procrastination running circles in my head While you sit there contemplating you'll wind up left for dead (left for dead) Life is what happens While you're busy making your excuses Another day, another casualty But that won't happen to me Whoahh No we're not gonna waste another moment in this town Whoahh We wont come back, the world its calling out Whoahh Leave the past in the past gonna find the future And misery loves company Well so long You'll miss me when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone When I'm gone Let's go...! Won't look back When I say goodbye We're gonna leave this world behind me Gonna take what's mine tonight 'cause every wasted day Becomes a wasted chance You're gonna wake up feeling sorry 'cause life won't wait I guess it's up to you Whoahh No we're not gonna waste another moment in this town Whoahh We wont come back, the world its calling out Whoahh Leave the past in the past gonna find the future And misery loves company Well so long You'll miss me when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone ---------------------- HK Top Ten Central hktopten@hotmail.com | http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/2038