From: NO TOP TEN CENTRAL Newsgroups: alt.asian-movies,soc.culture.hongkong.entertainment Subject: [TAKE OVER] HKSAR Film No Top 10 Box Office (NOVEMBER 20 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. THIS TOP 10 IS DEDICATED TO A. Michelle Reis (Lee Ka Yun) who wed on the 23rd B. Charlene Choi Cheuk Yin who celebrates her birthday on the 22nd C. William Chan Wai Ting who celebrates his birthday on the 21st 2. MISCELLANEOUS * (11/26/2008) The Alan Mak Siu Fai and Felix Chong Man Keung written and directed, Derek Yee Tung Sing and Fong Ping produced film KAU? TING FUNG WON (EAVESDROPPING SITUATION) yesterday held a press conference. Attendees included actors Louis Koo Tin Lok, Lau Ching wan, Daniel Wu (Ng Yin Cho), Alex Fong Chung Shun, Zhang Jingchu, Lok Sze Wan and William Chan Wai Ting. With his facial hair Goo Jai's appearance caused an uproar in the audience. He looked just the revolutionary Che Guevara. The film has been in preparation for the six months, its production budget reached more than ten million, Goo Jai for the film in particular grew a two-week beard and changed from his past handsome image. He however was still uncertain whether the director would accept this look. He was referring to the last two weeks with their parents to travel in Europe, the fork only enough electricity to come back; however, is still unknown whether or not to accept his directing style. He joked that not needing to shave was very convenient. Mak Siu Fai still has not decided on whether to use Goo Jai's facial hair look but honestly said that this look was truly very explosive as he jokingly called him "Second Elder Brother" (Guan Yu). Chin Wan was shocked to see Goo Jai. If he had to keep two weeks of facial hair, it definitely would not be longer than his. Did he feel Goo Jai has stolen the show? He said that Goo Jai was truly very cool so just let him. This time Ching Wan would be between Fong Chun Shun and Zhang Jingchu. Zhang Jingchu worked with these four hunks for the first time and cited that they all could act and liked all four; Fong Chung Shun and Ng Cho Yin played Criminal Intelligence Bureau interception elite corps. This time Chan Wai Ting and Lok Sze Wan had an older woman, younger man relationship. * (11/26/2008) The movie NOBODY'S PERFECT (JUET DOI SEUNG GIU) two nights ago held its premiere ceremony held at Olympian City, the two leading actresses Kary Ng Yu Fei and Stephy Tang Lai Yun appeared in a black and a white dress respectively and performed their new songs on the spot. In addition to the two female leads, the actors such as Chow Sau Na, HotCha, Chubby (Siu Fei), Tong So Kei, director Patrick Kong (Yip Lim Sum) and boss Paco Wong attended. Alex Fong Lik Sun and Justin Lo (Juk Tin) also came in support. However, rumored to be at odds with Stephy, Theresa Fu Wing could not attend because she was out of the town. Stephy had expectations for this film but feared that the audience would not laugh. Releasing her record this week, Stephy frankly said that she had some worries due to the recently poor market. Earlier she has mentioned a release delay to the company. However, the company felt that the film and the record could complement one another. In addition December would have many record releases. Kary said that in the film she had a lot of exaggerated expressions so she worried about the audience reaction. She also invited her parents and friends to attend. She was not worried about her parents seeing the ugly scenes, but she was not afraid that her father could not accept the sexy look. In addition, Chow Sau Na two nights ago she dressed more conservatively. She joked that she was showing legs. Mainly because of the cold she dressed warmer; she was also afraid that everyone would be tired of her provocative side. In the film she had a bikini scene. her boyfriend was also in attendance, would he mind her sexy performance? She said that he would not as it was all just work. * (11/26/2008) The Nicholas Tse Ting Fung, Zhang Jingchu, Nick Cheung Ka Fai, Liu Kai Chi starred, Dante Lam Chiu Yin directed Emperor movie BEAST STALKER (JING YUN) two nights ago held a premiere at the Ocean Theater, Albert Yeung Sau Sing and his wife, Cheung Ka Fai's wife Esther Kwan Wing Ho, Vincy Chan (Wing Yi), Sherman Chung Shu Man, Ada Choi Siu Fun and her husband, Dicky Cheung Wai Kin, Josie Ho Chiu Yi and Bobby Auyeung Chun Wa were among the guests. The film even made special cake-cutting ceremony to celebrate Cheung Ka Fai's 43th birthday on the 2nd of next month. Tse Ting Fung and his father Patrick Tse Yin were rather well matched two nights ago. Both were gray suits with sun glasses, however Sei Gor said that they did not plan that in advance. Were they wearing father and son clothes? Sei Gor joked, "More like brothers." Sei Gor expressed that he did not bring his grandson to avoid his thunder being stolen, while Ting Fung explained that his son was too young for his mother Cecilia Cheung Pak Chi to permit him to come. Pak Chi meanwhile stayed at home to take care of the child. Ting Fung also said that because the film was category IIB, it was not suitable for children. He said: "Pak Chi says that later she would watch it again with me quietly." Ting Fung said that many people used to make offers to him to work with his father. More than three directors have approached him about playing his father's role. He said, "I am in preparation now. Maybe not in the movies, but I can in a large scale music video." Ting Fung said that for so many years he has tried his best to get out of Tse Yin's shadow and now he is out his father should be happy. He said, "Now people would say that Tse Yin is Tse Ting Fung's father, but I don't resemble Tse Yin' son anymore. So I would like a father and son cooperation as soon as possible, since Dad's age is getting up there." Ting Fung said, to complete this wish he would ignore box office and rating. When asked whether he felt Sei Gor was a good actor, Ting Fung joked that he not only was a good actor but also was very long-winded. Tse Yin was asked whether he would work with his son? He joked that would depend on his son' sincerity and salary offer, so far he felt a lack of good faith. Would Sei Gor ask his son for female characters? Sei Gor said that he has always been very faithful and that the press was undermining his image. He used to play a playboy. Cheung Ka Fai said all along that he has never tried to invite his wife to his movie premiere, but this movie truly was good. Ka Fai said that he did not want any special birthday gift because he already had his family, his wife, child, home and car, which he thought was very adequate. He said, "As long as God stops treating me like a dark horse, like an underground worker then I am already great." Did he want to be Best Actor? He said, "Of course I want to." Kwan Wing Ho was asked what gift would she give to her husband. She said that she was planning it. Would she and her daughter draw for her husband? She joked that she would discuss the matter with her daughter. Zhang Jingchu came from Beijing to Hong Kong. As for the Mainland box office the film already received 40 million yuan, which she was happy about and hoped that the Hong Kong box office would also be ideal. Zhang Jingchu two nights ago ran into a pair of child actresses in the film and took pictures with them. She said, "This pair of little girls is very cute, thanks to them I was able to get more into the role." Has Zhang Jingchu seen Ting Fung' son? She said that she did not, not even in photos. She said that she never looked at entertainment news and thus asked Ting Fung a silly question the first time she saw him. She said, "I asked Ting Fung how his daughter was and Ting Fung said with a smile that he had the son." * (11/26/2008) Earlier Leon Lai Ming was a guest on a Mainland talk show. Lai Ming has finished filming the Chen Kaige directed MEI LANFANG. Lai Ming stated that he was very nervous about working with this big director and that 10 years ago he missed an opportunity. Ten years ago, Chen went to Hong Kong to meet and to discuss co-operation with Lai Ming. Yet due to a variety of reasons it did not come through. He never expected that after 10 years fate came again. In order to bring Mei Lanfang's on stage brilliance Lai Ming worked very hard. He not only learned from Mei Lanfang's Mei Baojiu about Mr. Mei's lifestyle but also studied posture and singing with Mei student Li Fu-Mei. In addition, during the shoot Lai Ming went to the Sinorama Grand Theater for the play MEI LANFANG several times, trying to figure out the role and working hard to interpret the role of Mei Lanfang. Although the film has not yet been released, from the small initial sample, Lai Ming's wonderful performance already has earned the Mei family's high praise. * (11/25/2008) The movie BALLISTIC a few days ago held a special screening at Baptist University, attracting the school's professors, lecturers and students, a total of hundreds of people to attend. After the screening a forum was held. The film's director Lawrence Ah Mon (Lau Kwok Cheung) and screen writer and executive producer Ho Ji Ping went on stage with the moderator, Department of Film and Television Associate Professor Dr. Lo Wai Lik to interact and converse with students. Baptist Alumni and the film's executive producer Chan Fuk Sun spoke before the screening. She not only introduced the film's production process but also shared with students the film investor's vision and the responsibility of media workers. She revealed that the film was based on the assassination at Taiwan's "election" as the subject matter, two bullets have changed the election and altered the fate of Taiwan. With Taiwan's complex and bizarre political situation today, the film expressed a thought-provoking message. The film will be released Thursday (the 27th) in Hong Kong first. Early next year it will be released in Taiwan and Mainland. * (11/24/2008) Nicholas Tse Ting Fung, Zhang Jingchu, Liu Kai Chi, Nick Cheung Ka Fai, and director Dante Lam Chiu Yin attended yesterday a movie BEAST STALKER (JING YUN) campaign. Ting Fung and director Lam Chiu Yin appeared with a little girl, Zhang Jingchu, Liu Kai Chi and Cheung Ka Fai arrived in a convertible. The actors enjoyed the movie trailers and played games with the audience. Ting Fung said that as the movie would soon open, he felt a bit nervous. This time they insisted against voice dubbing as much as possible to use the original sound. When asked Ting Fung whether he would bring his wife Cecilia Cheung Pak Chi to the premiere, he said that he would not. Did he not want to share the results of this film with her? He did not know, but she would not attend. When asked whether his wife would in private enjoy the film? Ting Fung only said that maybe later. Ting Fung said that he had a bit of confidence in the film because the script was rare. Was he confident about winning an award? He said that it was too far he did not want to work just for awards. Ting Fung said on the stage when the film was shown in Mainland, one of the theaters broke QUANTUM OF SOLACE's one-day box office record. He was extremely happy and encouraged. As for confidence in the Hong Kong box office, he said that he has already done his duty. Was he worried about the poor market's impact on the box office? He stated that he would. Cheung Ka Fai said that he would invite his wife to the premiere tonight. He said that he invited his wife to the premiere of his movie because this was a very good script. Would he ask Ting Fung to ask his wife? He said that Ting Fung would decide. He said that he also invited Bobby Auyeung Chun Wa to the premiere because Bobby said that he has left TVB for awhile but has never invited him to a premiere. Thus he had to. Zhang Jingchu said that a few days before starting work on this film, his father passed away due to stomach cancer. She said that at the time BEAST STALKER due to location issue delayed its start so she was able to return hom to send her father on his final journey. She said that during the production the pressure was enormous and she was sad, but her father has been sick for a year and she was already psychologically prepared. * (11/24/2008) Stephy Tang Lai Yun, Kary Ng Yu Fei, Eric Suen Yiu Wai and Linda Chung Ka Yun yesterday attended a Radio Television Hong Kong event to spread the message of equality. Stephy and Kary's new film NOBODY'S PERFECT (JUET DOI SEUNG GIU) recently held its premiere. Fans criticized that their onscreen feud was very boring, but their fight scene was very entertaining. Reporters asked if they had a kiss scene, the movie might be even more entertaining. Stephy immediately said, "No way! We are too familiar! She is like my younger sister, it's like incest. (You are not too familiar with Theresa Fu Wing, you can work with her on a kiss scene) Maybe, but the best kisser is still Kary, every year on our birthdays we would have a Birthday Kiss, Even Juk Tin (Justin Lo) said Kary was good to kiss." * (11/22/2008) The Wilson Yip Wai Shun directed, Donnie Yen Chi Tan starred IP MAN will be released in the middle of next month. Although the film has not been released, film company boss Raymond Wong Pak Ming announced yesterday IP MAN 2 will begin shooting next year and will add Bruce Lee as a character. Yet Lynn Xiong (Hung Doi Lam)'s participation has not been confirmed. Actor Yen Chi Tan at the event criticized some film's "real gong fu" promotion as he also derided cooking skills really would count as real gong fu. He felt "real gong fu" first and foremost should have an actor with a martial arts foundation. He appeared to be referring to the Dicky Cheung Wai Kin starred, "real gong fu" promoting CHAMPIONS (DUET BIU). The movie IP MAN yesterday held a press conference, film company boss Raymond Wong Pak Ming, director Yip Wai Shun and actors Yen Chi Tan, Hung Doi Lam, Wong Yau Nam, Lam Ka Tung and Master Ip Man's son all attend. Tang suit wearing Chi Tan appeared with the orchestra accompaniment and gave an impromptu wooden men demonstration. Wong Pak Ming praised that the film could be Chi Tan's representative work, but Chi Tan dared not agree and only admitted that they have spent a lot of effort. Wong Pak Ming announced at the event that IP MAN 2 will begin shooting next year. Ip Chun after watching the film praised the movie's Wing Chun as great, and Chi Tan also resembled his father. He said, "Hung Doi Lam had a lot of my mother's shadow, I never spoke with her before so I don't know why she would resemble my mother so much. She brought back many memories." The audience laugh. First time actress Lynn thanked the director, the boss and Chi Tan's help. She was satisfied with her performance. When Chi Tan spoke at the event about Hong Kong action films, all of a sudden he was overcome with emotions and claimed that Hong Kong film sold "real gong fu". He said, "What's called real gong fu, what's called every punch hit flesh, could cooking be real gong fu too? Pointing fingers could be every punch hit flesh? The most important to a gong fu film was whether the gong fu actor himself has any real gong fu background. If not it shouldn't claim to use real gong fu, it could be called an action films. When Chow Yun Fat and Zhang Ziyi made CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON they didn't know how to fight, but the action was well designed." Later, when asked if he is afraid of offending people, Chi Tan said, "I never said anything negative about people, ultimately in films to each its own, only with competition would there be progress." However, he stressed that he would not engage in packaging gimmicks. He has looked forward to this movie because for the film, he deliberately lost weight and picked up smoking again. Yip Wai Shun has been in preparation for next year's IP MAN 2, Bruce Lee's role has not confirmed any candidate yet. He did not know if he should look for resemblance or a real martial artist. The film would have Ip's four great disciples. Chi Tan revealed that a worldwide recruitment would be held for the actor to play Bruce Lee. Will Hung Doi Lam be in the second installment? Yip Wai Shun said, "I don't know yet, but the film is bound to have an actress, maybe a new character addition." * (11/22/2008) The movie BEAST STALKER (JING YUN)'s Mainland promotional tour has already reached its last stop -- Guangzhou. After days of nonstop publicity, all the actors including Nicholas Tse Ting Fung, Nick Cheung Ka Fai, Zhang Jing Chu, Miao Fu and director Dante Lam Chiu Yin frankly said that they were beyond exhausted. Over three days, the actors visited Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, more than 10 cinemas to meet for the audience. At the meeting after the screening, each person received flowers, all from Ting Fung's fans who took turn to hug Ting Fung for more than 2 minutes. Because each morning they had to get up as early as 6:00 AM, from Beijing to Guangzhou they had to get up earlier than 5:00 AM, and they had to visit multiple cinemas until early morning, everyone felt tired. When the Guangzhou promotion completed it was 9 PM, when all the actors and the director returned to Hong Kong it was already early morning. On this three-day promotion, everyone everyday worked more than 20 hours, Ting Fung even caught the flu. He and Ka Fai expressed that their wish was to go home and properly sleep. * (11/21/2008) Simon Yam Tat Wa, Sammo Hung Kam Bo, Andrew Lau Wai Keung, Anthony Wong Chau Sun, Ken Low Wai Kwong two nights ago attended the Hong Kong Stuntman Association's 15th anniversary banquet in Tsim Sha Tsui, executive chair Yuen Bun gave a speech and to pay tribute to stunt professionals, chair Jackie Chan spoke through video. Speaking of some film companies' proposal for actor pay cut to help the market, Wa Jai felt that it was not necessary as ultimately someone would appreciate good movies. Hung Kam Bo expressed that this was his first year of participation in this event. He said that his new film script was being written and would expect to start production next year. Would Sammo need to lose weight? He laughed and said that originally he had to 20 pounds, but finally ended up gaining 20 pounds. Would he have to lose 40 pounds? He laughed and said that not he could not, he would just lose 20 pounds and be done with it, he said that currently he weighed 230 pounds. He was the thinnest when he was making the film EASTERN CONDOR (DUNG FONG TOOK YING) with only 180 pounds, at the time his waist dropped from 41 inches to 34 inches, but now it is 43 inch waist. At that time he only relied on exercise and cutting out starch from his diet, he said, "My wife complained about me not being able to drop it, but she only hopes for my good health." Sammo frankly said that he had eight doctors for check ups because he had eight different health problems. He had no need to panic yet though because no disease has appeared. Low Wai Kwong said that because Jackie Chan was working on a movie in the United States he could not attend, but he has contributed money to help the Association. Low Wai Kwong expressed that his son has been studying gong fu with him but would not used it to fight. At seven year old his older son received a teacher complaint about hitting a student, but the other students was the one who asked his son to try to hit him. They never expected his son would be so strong. He was asked if his son became a martial art or stunt professional would he be in favor of it? He said that he would not mind, but his son has never said that he wanted to, now his interest is in playing basketball and tennis. * (11/21/2008) The movie MAINTAIN LOVING YOU (PO CHI OI NEI) yesterday held a production start ceremony. Attending actors were Stephy Tang Lai Yun, Miki Yeung Oi Kun, Justin Lo (Juk Tin), Hu Qinglan and female model Zhuge Tsz-qi, and so on. Stephy and Juk Tin will play lovers in the film, Juk Tin joked that he woudl have to ask the director for intimate scenes and stated that for Stephy he was willing to make time form making music to make a movie. Reporter pointed out that Director Patrick Kong (Yip Lim Sum) definitely would not arrange for intimate scenes and Juk Tin immediately lost interest. Juk Tin and Stephy had a height difference, he honestly said that his former girlfriends were all taller than him. Reporters claimed that his previous girlfriend was around his height, have they broken up? Juk Tin immediately said that he would not talk about that. Stephy said that if the script required intimate scenes, she would accommodate. This time she would play a girl with language deficiencies, before the shoot she has met with patients in hopes for more understanding. This film would be divided into five stories, Stephy would play in. Did she only charge 1/5 of her salary? She frankly said that she did not deliberately charge less and the company has not taken any discount from her paid. Miki would develop a love triangle with I Love U Boyz. I Love U Boyz revealed that their contract with the company would end on January 8 next year. As for signing with Gold Label, they said that they were not at liberty to discuss too much. Stephy and Kary Ng Yu Kei's film NOBODY'S PERFECT (JUET DOI SEUNG GIU) will be released Saturday, they felt happy and nervous and even decided to disguise themselves to observe reaction in each district's cinemas that day. Earlier they have already watched the screening. Although the shoot shed some light on the story, but after the director's editing and add sound effect, they felt it was very funny and were full of confidence in the film. In the film, despite their idol status, they not only had hot pot casserole on the streets on a hot day, but Kary also wore a dress coat dress to hand out leaflets. They even had scenes in which they carried two dim sum steamers on their heads. As for their junior colleague Tong So Kei she held her own as a bold and vigorous brat, and Chrissie Chow Sau Na gave a sexy performance. * (11/21/2008) Chow Pak Ho and HotCha yesterday attended a Hong Kong computer event 2008 and were appointed IT ambassadors. Recently he worked on the film WAN DAI JOR (PLAY TOO BIG). Two nights ago he and William Chan Wai Ting shot a fight scene in a convenience store. In the story he wanted to rob Chan Wai Ting's watch. Because they did not have any fighting scene experience, their arms were all injured. Also due to the cold, Chrissie Chow Sau Na was shivering. * (11/20/2008) Although Aaron Kwok and Lynn Xiong (Hung Doi Lam) have been recognized as a couple, they still have refused to publicize their relationship. Sing Sing earlier continued to clarify that he did not silently recognize the relationship, and only recognized Hung Doi Lam is a friend. Yesterday he attended the new film SAT YUN FAN (MURDERER) press conference, when he heard the name Hung Doi Lam he got serious and immediately clammed up. Aaron Kwok Fu Sing, Zhang Jun ?, Josie Ho Chiu Yi, Chin Ka Lok, Eddie Cheung Siu Fai and director Zhou Xianyang attended yesterday's press conference, Sing Sing this time would play the inspectors and pair up with Zhang Jun ?. They would also have intimate scenes, but whether it would be more passionate than his with Charlie Yeung Choi Nei's in AFTER THIS OUR EXILE (FU JI), he smiled and said that everyone would have to wait and see. He felt the most important is that the couple feeling then he said with a smile, "Do we have to perform it for you? (Great.) You don't mind, but I do." As for the director's comment that some intimate scenes have already been cut, was he afraid that his rumored girlfriend would be mad? Sing Sing said, "I have never been, today or later I wouldn't, in the future even if I get married and have children, I believe that my wife wouldn't mind because I am an actor." A reporter mentioned Hung Doi Lam again, as soon as he heard the name he gave a serious look and expressed that he would only talk about movies, he has already give an account of his love life. He said that the he would not answer any question about his life. When asked why he was so cold, he pointed at the reporter and said, "You don't respect me, I can only be indifferent." As for working with Hung Doi Lam, Sing Sing pointed out that he would consider when a good script is present, but he also would have to ask the manager. Zhang Jun ? would work with Sing Sing for the first time and felt very nervous. However, she said that Sing Sing has taken good care of her. During the bed scenes she felt very shy. When asked whether he would take Jun ? to have hot pot casserole, he said that her company had a lot of people and probably would not have enough room to accommodate them. However he certainly would take her to eat because that was an issue of being an gentleman. He would not be afraid of gossip. Would he feel closer to girls who spoke Mandarin? He joked that perhaps English would be better. Chiu Yi would play Sing Sing's younger sister, * (11/20/2008) Emperor Motion Pictures' BEAST STALKER (JING YUN) after completing its Shanghai promotion headed to Beijing to attend the news conference, boss Albert Yeung Sau Sing personally appeared in Beijing in support and with actors Nicholas Tse Ting Fung, Nick Cheung Ka Fai, Zhang Jingchu presided over the ice-breaking ceremony in hopes of breaking 50 million at the box office. Ting Fung in the drama played a police officers and had a lot of action scenes, but dramatic scenes also increased. However, to play this character he has offended his wife Cecilia Cheung Pak Chi. He pointed out that from the start he accidentally killed a child and has been living in self-blame, depression and low self-esteem. During the shoot everyday he showed grave strain, a sentiment that remained with him when he returned home. Finally his wife got upset and claimed that he has been like this for several months. In order not to look depressed with his son and his wife, after he returned home he would lock himself in the washroom for half a hour to calm down. Cheung ka Fai also said that this time he had a lot of space to demonstrate his ability, unlike past comedy. Tse Ting Fung also pointed out that he hoped to get the director's recognition with every shot and at the same time thanked the coordination of the film's girl Huang Xinyan, who has made every scene smooth for him. [ BLAH OF THE WEEK ] Columns, Reviews, Interviews 1. MING PAO DAILY, NOVEMBER 24 2008, FILM WORDS CAPE NO. 7 HAD A CORDIAL ATMOSPHERE CAPE NO. 7 created Taiwan film box office miracle, reportedly the all Taiwan revenue has broken through NT$400 million. Many Hong Kong people felt strange because it was only a band comedy with Taiwan and Japan's romance, nothing rare. Taiwan originally was not optimistic, who knew that it would turn out to be a big surprise hit. The box office success and failure are difficult to predict, one could only said that the Taiwan people have been "starving" for a film with local popular intimacy for a long time (the international award-winning Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, and so are too stuffy or too strange), this time the 39-year-old director Wei Te-Sheng made his first film that fortunately was light and interesting, full of country and neighborhood flavor, and some of the collective memories of Taiwan. Bizarrely it grew stronger and stronger. As for the sustainability of the Taiwan film recovery? everyone would have to wait-and-see. In short, CAPE NO. 7 was not a work of an era, it was not even great. The film actually was fortunate that it was not talking big, not pretending to be art, not cooking up tragedy; it was made into a lively and funny comedy of the civilian population, but without any vulgar nonsense. The film's lead actor was a rock singer who was frustrated in Taipei and angrily returned to his hometown at the southern tip of Taiwan, the town of Hengchun, all of a sudden he has temporarily become the folk band's main force. The band was quite a mix, with members like the indigenous traffic police, church girl, a Hakka salesman, neighborhood drummer and the Yueqin grandfather. They constantly bickered, and with a variety of "bosses" interfering, the female Japanese translator who was responsible for the concert could not be more exasperated. Wonderfully all the infighting was full of country flavor, family love and romantic relationships. These happy feuds often made people snicker. All of the actors were very natural and did not feel like they were acting at all. The most outstanding was the Mandarin speaking Japanese female lead Chie Tanaka, who was very upset, enraged, but also kind and pretty, very lovable. Actor Van Fan Yichen was an angry youth, an irresponsible mailman who luckily gradually changed for the better. The concert was rather exciting. Later when the neighbors delivered mail for him, the film showed encouraging civic-minded spirit and unity. As for the two old and new Taiwan and Japan relationships, they undoubtedly touched on the Taiwan Province people's feelings for their former colonial master Japan, especially after Japan's defeat the couple's separation. With all the entangling treads of nostalgia, the film was obviously very pro Japan. However this film intelligently used subplots to describe nostalgia and avoided politics. The main story was the new generation Taiwan man Japanese woman romantic comedy, which was innocent. Taiwan's history was very complex, CAPE NO. 7 took the easy way out and paid attention to human kindness. The supporting relationships were simple and implicit, the Hakka kid and the hotel girl was particularly interesting, the indigenous tribes traffic cop was the most faithful. Everyone had love and no hate. - SHEK KEI 2. MING PAO DAILY, NOVEMBER 24 2008, FILM AND TELEVISION OBSERVATIONS MEDIUM-SIZED FILM HAS DEVELOPMENT IN MAINLAND The author believes that only when the small and medium-sized movies boom is the market really healthy. Super big films scramble in the big slots for the box office, even Hollywood films cannot just rely on home receipt, in case of misses they may have lose money. Medium film is often the most profitable. When the market is good, the film has already broken even (overseas sale and other copyright). In addition it may have the possible for a box office explosion. Small budget films often are used for new attempts, including new subjects, new directors, new actors, and new audience exploration. When the film market is not good, it polarizes to either large or very low-cost film, medium-sized piece is the most dangerous. The increasing number of Mainland cinemas in fact benefits the medium-sized films, which is different from Hong Kong. The number of Hong Kong cinema is almost saturated. In this densely populated areas, to strive for the greatest profit the current method of flexible film schedule is needed so that the audience can have the most choices at the same time. Every film is treated with the most ruthless of the fastest elimination approach, the winner in a short period of time can have the most showing to accelerate the demise of the loser. Word-of-mouth does not help the film revenue, it has to wait for the next film. Mainland modernization has brought cinemas a better chance of surviving. If the market fully opens up, in the non-essential schedules medium-sized pieces have even greater competition space. CRAZY STONE is not the only example of the success, this year a martial arts film spoof as SHI QUAN JIU MEI, a non super-large film that cost an estimated ten million or so. Yet it made 47,000,000 at the box office. CRAZY STONE made more than 3,000,000 and was a small budget production, SHI QIAN JIU MEI was a medium-sized film that also confirmed the value of medium film. Film trend is changing everyday, the past way of relying on Hong Kong movie stars alone to make money no longer works. A number of co-production films' Mainland box office can be as low as two million. Too low budget productions have more difficulty with Mainland release than Hong Kong release. Mid sized film at least has a chance but also very hard to make. The ones with excellent performance almost all seem to be comedy. - KWOK HIN CHING 3. MING PAO DAILY, NOVEMBER 23 2008, FILM WORDS CAPE NO. 7 (1) Please do not be cynical. I say this because more and more people seem to ask the following similar question, is CAPE NO. 7 really this good? Is this movie worth its tremendous success? Is it just a Taiwan audience overly sensitive (excessive?) reaction? Even my students asked its director Wei Te-Sheng, "Do you feel your film is a commercial film or an art film?" Obviously, he did not see the paradox behind the question: if not for the film's current success (in addition success beyond any expectation), would he consider the film to be a commercial film? For me, no matter from which point of view, CAPE absolutely deserves its current success (even if it exceeded the proportion - - but do we need to have everything measured to its end principle? Or is the success, In particular, success that has always been desired but never achieved, has made us could not help but be jealous here and there?). A very simple (but the most important) reason is the price that the filmmakers have paid has been carved on each frame of film. More specifically, every one of its visual was filmmakers' most loyal performance (worthy of the film, but also worthy of the audience) and all of its have been shown. You might say, should the film not be made like this? Yes, but the fact is not the same. In the past for a long period of time, not only in Taiwan, but also including Hong Kong at least a large number of movies, with or without resources, were not properly made. CAPE's biggest advantage was that even in the most resource-poor situation, it insisted on its own demand and refused to yield. It does not have any particularly great ambition, but it also made concessions everywhere due to objective condition restrictions or even cutting the feet to fit the shoes. When I first heard of the film production costs of up to more than NT$40,000,000 (more than HK$10,000,000, most of which were also borrowed), I was already shocked (Wei Te-Sheng later would like to confirm the total cost of 50,000,000) -- even in Hong Kong, tens of millions of film production costs were few and far between -- in addition it was a non-action, no star power piece of literature and art (I gladly classified it as such). After I first saw the film (in Taiwan), this idea was even stronger; this actually is a film with rather complicated production and filming (People who treat it "only" as a simple and easy art film and did not see it Complexity were excluded). However, producers from beginning to end gave their all and controlled suitable. This is not a simple task. Wei Te-Sheng said, every time the film appeared in the most serious (financial) crisis, my number of camera takes were the most, I would not rest until I got the most satisfying take because I had to bring the best to show other people in order to prove himself. If the film made poorly due to condition restrictions, then did you not prove others right for looking down on you? In fact, the inspiration comes from himself. - SHU KEI 4. MING PAO DAILY, NOVEMBER 23 2008, FILM AND TELEVISION OBSERVATIONS MAINLAND AUDIENCE TASTES CHANGE Mainland does not have daily announced official box office like the Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association's, many box office figures came from film publicity, the authenticity of which has been questionable. Internet search would yield many results, I do not know what to believe. Some box-office figures are true because the distribution system's gradual growing maturity and ticketing is also computerized. Box-office figures that allegedly came from Mainland distribution would be more credible because the figures even had copy quantity that could be used to analyze market trends. This year, Mainland's two most popular films are all Chinese films. They were RED CLIFF and PAINTED SKIN, the former made 320 million and the latter 270 million. from an economic angle, PAINTED SKIN was higher than RED CLIFF. Their box office numbers were only a difference of hundreds of thousands, but cost-wise, at least one cost 300 million and the other cost tens of millions. PAINTED SKIN did not have much fighting, the epic scenes were no match for RED CLIFF and CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER as it boldly focused on love. Just the same it attracted a large number of viewers with substantial word-of-mouth. This reflected that the Mainland audience has shown viewing fatigue for large armor films, the general pattern of star packaging has remained a necessity, but the powerful army and the call to fight could be reduced; a little love and romance were enough. Two superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit)'s THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM made 180,000,000, still no match for Stephen Chow Sing Chi's CJ7 and its 200,000,000. Needless to say, the biggest problem was that THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM was a foreign film. Although it had a superstar combination, martial arts and computer generated special effects, it was still inferior to the family oriented, comedy and cute special effect driven CJ7. The two markets of course were different. THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM in the international market would be better, but in targeting just the Mainland market, obviously the bigger was better concept was not feasible and a bit stupid. The Mainland audience is gradually changing, but the target of 100 million at the box office still requires a star power big packaged films; the change is the requirements of the material inside. It does not need to fight, fight, fight, and the computer graphics to change, change, change, it can rest assured with just telling the story. - KWOK HIN CHING 5. TA KUNG PAO, NOVEMBER 23 2008, SANDRINE PINNA AND KE JIA YAN'S CAKE DESTINY A new Taiwan director who is making his first full length feature film and two fresh young faces of the film industry create a description of young romantic film MIAO MIAO and earn two Golden Horse nominations. The new director and new actors have brought a fresh climate, but their acting is not necessarily as green. The two female leads have their own set of methods on how to interpret the role with emotional strengths. The Stanley Kwan Kam Peng produced, Cheng Hsiao-Tse directed MIAO MIAO will be released Thursday, the story is about the Sandrine Pinna (Cheung Yung Yung) played Ai, a lively and cheerful 18-year-old high school girl with a preference for baking cakes but always fails; on the contrary, the Ke Jia-Yan played the Japanese exchange student Miao Miao is a shy "cake person". Thus they become friends due to cake. In that summer, Miao Miao falls in love with a melancholy second-hand CD shop owner Chen Fei (Wing Fan Chih-wei) but has no way to make her feelings known, Ai discovers that her friendship for Miao Miao is deeper than imagined. MIAO MIAO is Jet Tone's first film that is shot in Taiwan, the film production team comes from Mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan; following success at Pusan film festival in Asia and the Hong Kong film festival, MIAO MIAO has also been nominated the current Golden Horse Award for Best Original Film Song, Cheung Yung Yung has received a Best Actress nomination. Yung Yung Controls Emotions To Yung Yung, her most memorable and challenging is the final scene of catching the flight. She not only runs back and forth dozens of times, but also on the roof screams out her feelings to the plane that is carrying Miao Miao far away. The whole process is just like her own solo performances, her emotional flow directly affects the whole film as the key to its climax. "That final confession is a complete emotional release. The storyline requires me to cry, so the production crew has hired a performance instructor to chat with me, let me into the situation, but after the teacher left I had to rely on myself; so I went aside to listen to music and through imagination cultivate that sentiment, the director also help me with getting into character." she adds, "I feel the emotional cultivation is the hardest, for me, the most difficult is to fill up with emotions and then stop it there until I hear 'action' when I can release it; when the director shouts 'cut', I have to recover quickly because if it breaks out at that time, later when we shoot the real emotional explosion it might not come out. In addition, the film has light restrictions that day, when we arrived at the location it was already 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun about five or six would set. In other words, I have to fill my emotions in the two hours fully, otherwise without sunlight we can't shoot." Starting as a child star at 10, Cheung Yung Yung has Sino-French heritage. She said frankly that Ai's naive and foolish personality is one of the major reasons that attracted her to the script. She said that in addition to the challenge of cultivating sentiments, how to treat the eyes that are staring at her as "transparent" so she can concentrate on her performance is also a problem to overcome. "Before Miao Miao leaves she gives a cake and a small card to Ai to encouraged her to be courageous, in that scene Ai is looking at the card on the bus. A bus is a more difficult place to act, bus space is small, to my right is the camera and the rest of the seats are almost full. Everyone is looking at me, Costume is looking at my clothes, Make-up is looking at how I look, and lighting, photographers, the director, about a few dozen right eye in total! So when I am cultivating my emotions I have to deliberately look towards a place where no one is looking, and listen to music as soon as possible to cover all the sound." "When the official shoot starts, I turn everyone into air and 'blur' them out in my eye, create my own 'depth of field' that makes everyone in the back blurry, just like that I am performing alone, I feel the most difficult is actually with all the interference I have to play very quietly." She added. Jia Yan Cried For Three Nights In A Row As Miao Miao Ke Jia-Yan originally is kindergarten teachers with a her own fresh and unique temperament, in the film whether personality or impression she is obviously different from Cheung Yung Yung's Ai. She who once the director praised as being able to bring to life the kind of strong and confused high school girl emotions, she too has the deepest impression from the film's several crying scenes. "In one scene Miao Miao is crying while running in the streets, this is her kind of angry roar and crying, her tears contain a lot of things that only she knows about. When acting, I have to pump up the feeling to a certain extent then released it again; but the director divided this scene to shoot over three nights in a row, so I have to return my emotions to that place before in order to start again. Shooting like this continuously, I cry on the three nights. The feeling is hard to take so it is particularly memorable. I have secretly asked the director whether I have offended someone, ha ha!" About Miao Miao and Ai's delicate relationship, she said: "I feel that they get together because of cake, Ai originally likes to bake cakes but always fails, Miao Miao coincidentally has just baked in Japan, so Ai happily pulls her in and they begin to get closer and closer. I still remember the interesting cake baking contest scene, in the original story Ai is lighting the cake but because the fire gets too big it burns the cake and the contest is a failure, but during the official shoot, the fire gently burns around the cake. Everyone seem to feel it looks so beautiful, some even propose making two versions." Director Has A Way of Directing MIAO MIAO's director Cheng Hsiao-Tse has directed television series, single episode shows and short films. His work has qualified for many international film festivals. He said frankly that both female leads are new and have to face many challenges, such as the crying scenes. In one scene they are cutting an onion, Miao Miao tells about her heart break in tears, which was particularly difficult for Ke Jian Yan. "Yung Yung's emotions fill up relatively easily, so when she shot the onion cutting scene she can easily enter the state, but for Jia Yan it is a little difficult. In addition the day we run into the onion that doesn't make people cry for the first time, I even wipe it on my eyes and I can't cry, it's really miserable! In fact, at the first take Jia Yan has tears, but then they are gone. Oh well, so many people are there and that was her first crying scene. So I go to chat with her, after that her tears begin to flow." As a result, after that scene Ke Jia Yan still cannot control her emotions and continue to cry, then Cheung Yung Yung approaches her, hold her and continue to comfort her and she gradually calms down. After this incident, Ke Jia Yan slowly learns about emotional strengths, later when she shoots the crying while running scene, she has been able to handle these feelings. The director says, "I feel actors or we in artistic creation have to open up our hearts. I feel she truly has opened up so she can very quickly integrate into the act. Later when we make the running scene, due to timing we have to divide up the shoot over three days, I feel she should be able to, and finally the result is rather decent." - SIU O 6. TA KUNG PAO, NOVEMBER 23 2008, LIGHT SHADOW PATH THE MISCONCEPTION OF FILM PROFESSIONALS' GOOD COMMUNICATION A well-known television producer was asked about the reasons for not making movies. He said, because he did not know how to engage in personal relationships. The writer after reading this interview felt the need to analyze it. Among Hong Kong's well-known directors, aside from Peter Chan Ho Sun and Andrew Lau Wai Keung who were more talkative, good at communication and very popular with the industry, others were not good at all in engaging in human relations. A few directors even put their "foot in their mouths", often quarreling with the people. Some are vicious directors who everyone is terrified to see. As for the few directors who the writer has been able to get along with, their lives are closer to the reclusive type. our big local producers Bill Kong Chi Keung is not someone who is in the social circle, anyone who does not know him would think he is just a honest small employee. Several major film companies' bosses are not social people, most give a quiet and even stiff and shy impression. Why can this group of film directors and key workers survive in the ring? There is only one reason, they can produce good work. Television producers and film directors are really different job types with different treatment. Television pays monthly income, investors (television stations) have a stable income and the ratings (in general) so the risk of investment in film series can be predicted. Earlier series can be sold to Mainland and Taiwan so that producers have return assurance and are much safer than film. Film director is a "on your own" job, you make a film at a time, and when you do not there is no income. The tempting part of film is an opportunity to become famous overnight, John Woo (Ng Yu Sum) and Lau Wai Keung are the best examples. Famous film directors not only are paid handsomely, but also have make quick buck making advertising opportunities. Some people have the wrong impression that the film director is superior to the teleivision director, film work is even more popular with young people. However, successful film professionals account for a small number of people (in any industry alike). Film and television's revenue models are very different, film people have the opportunity to triple jump, while the television is a steady progressive growth. In the meantime, more film professionals are starving than television people. We have this group of university graduates who entered into the community in the 80s, many of whom have ideals or do not want to live a "rigid" life; they are willing to do without government or teaching work. Some people get into the business world, and some entered the entertainment business. Two or three decades later, most of the non-government workers have a little remorse because business success has always been the minority, the government workers have pension and retirement benefits. Mature people all want a stable living, government work obviously is more stable. Looking back, no one can change the results now and can only live with what they have. Regardless of any industry, be it television, film or education, no one should sell ourselves short, or defame others. The idea of not wanting to get into a certain industry because of poor social skills is equivalent to "because I am too nice, have too much of a conscience I cannot be successful", both are evidence of an immature personality. - TIN LIK 7. MING PAO DAILY, NOVEMBER 21 2008, FILM AND TELEVISION OBSERVATION FILM DEVELOPMENT FUND SHOULD HELP STUDENTS The government supports the Hong Kong Film, in theory all government premises can be applied for filming, but approval is another question. Individual departments will use a variety of reasons to refuse the application, most object to the content of the shoot. Another approach is subject to numerous restrictions so that applicants have not way to shoot. Charges are neither expensive nor cheap, to shoot one day with surcharge the shoot may be over 10,000. Students film production is free of charge. Hong Kong has a number of universities and tertiary institutions with a film course, students must make film as assignment. The government in this area is considered helpful, when students use government premises to shoot they do not have to pay any rent. However rent-free does not mean free of charge because when filming on government premises, rent is not the only expense. Another category that students can ill afford is called the insurance premium. When the government provides you with a place to shoot, in the event of damage to the facilities what would it do? When film companies make movies, insurance is purchased for the entire film including a variety of losses, except a number of special venues that require additional insurance to be purchased separately such as airports. Students exercise has limited budget. If several thousand dollars were spent on insurance, it would account for a certain percentage. In additional the procedures are cumbersome. The government's site lending of course would have risks, in case something is damaged and students were unable to compensate, what can anyone do? The writer believes that the Film Development Fund in this regard can help. In any case few people have applied any of the 300 million. Hong Kong film investment without any change to the current system must have a lot of money left, why not be a little more real, give a little to financially assist these film students, to discuss with insurance companies to calculate a number for the insurance of their exercise shoots on government grounds. The Film Development Fund applications are usually the easiest in the names of education and promoting films, most are not very practical and only sound nice. Students film production's insurance cost is a big headache, the Fund can provide some real help. - KWOK HIN CHING [ In Production Now/Soon ] Can : Kau? Ting Fung Won Lit : Eavesdropping Situation d. Alan Mak Siu Fai, Felix Chong Man Keung Louis Koo Tin Lok, Lau Ching Wan, Daniel Wu (Ng Yin Cho), Alex Fong Chung Shun, Zhang Jingchu, Lok Sze Wan, William Chan Ting Wai Can : Wan Dai Jor Lit : Play Too Big d. Pang Fat Elanne Kong Yeuk Lam, Stephanie Cheng Yung, Chow Pak Ho, William Chan Wai Ting, Wiley Chiu Shek Chi, Kung Yun Chi CLAUSTROPHOBIA Can : Chun Muk Lit : Intimate d. Ivy Ho Dior Cheng Yi Kin, Karen Lam Ka Yun, Andy Hui Chi On Length : 100 mins. Opening October 26 2008 at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival Opening March 23 at the Tokyo International Film Festival Site : http://www.tiff-jp.net/en/lineup/works.php?id=4 [ BROADWAY CIRCUIT ] Pearl has quietly fallen in love with her boss Tom, who’s married with a family. Without warning, Tom asks Pearl to interview for another job. Wounded, Pearl demands that Tom terminate her. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Screenwriter Ivy Ho (JULY RHAPSODY) makes her directorial debut with CLAUSTROPHOBIA, using eight scenes and multiple characters to explore the complications and the irony of workplace romance and politics. In a space as small, crowded and claustrophobic as the office, love doesn’t grow - it incubates and breeds, like a virus. LOOKING FOR A STAR Can : Yau Lung Hei Fung Lit : Swimming Dragon Acting Phoenix AKA : Sing Mung Kei Yuen Lit : Star Dream Fantasy Destiny d. Andrew Lau Wai Keung Andy Lau Tak Wa, Shu Qi, Denise Ho Wan Si, Zhang Han (Cheung Hom), Ella Koon Yun Na, Elle (Siu Shuet), Pei Wei Ying, Pu Pu, Lam Ka Wa Can : Oi Dut Hei d. Joe Ma Wai Ho Gigi Leung Wing Kei, Chen Bo-Lin (Chan Pak Lam), Shaun Tam Chun Yin, Terry Fan Siu Wong, HotCha Can : Yau Jet Geung Si Um Luen Nei Lit : A Zombie Has a Crush On You Roger Kwok Chun On, Natalie Meng Yao, Jo Kuk Cho Lam, JJ Jia (Ga Hiu Sun), Maggie Lee Man Kwan, Tanya Wu (Ng Ka Yun), Anke Bei, Angel Ho Cheuk Ying Can : Um Sat Lit : Assassination d. Soi Cheang Po Shui Louis Koo Tin Lok, Richie Jen (Yam Yin Chai) Can : Tung Moon Lit : Classmate d. Herman Yau Lai To Shawn Yue Man Lok, Ada Choi Siu Fun, Ella Koon Yun Na, Elanne Kong Yeuk Lam, Chapman To Man Jat, Jun Kung Shek Leung STORM RIDERS II Can : Fung Won II Lit : Wind Cloud II d. Pang Brothers Aaron Kwok Fu Sing, Dior Cheng Yi Kin, Nicholas Tse Ting Fung, Charlene Choi Cheuk Yin, Can : Si Lim Lit : Reminisce d. Wai Ka Fai Lau Ching Wan, Kelly Lin (Lam Hei LUi), Yan Qing, Jo Kuk Cho Lam 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 : Ang Hong Lit : Tough Guy Anthony Wong Chau Sun, Ellen Chan Nga Lun, Liu Ye, Sun Honglei 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, Opening October 23 2008 in Malaysia 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 : 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) THE BEAST STALKER Can : Jing Yun Lit : Witness d. Dante Lam Chiu Yin Nicholas Tse Ting Fung, Nick Cheung Ka Fai, Zhang Jingchu, Liu Kai Chi, Sherman Chung Shu Man, Miao Pu Opening November 27 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] A car accident thoroughly changes their lives. Cop Tong fei while chasing a wanted criminal Cheung Yat Tung has a severe car accident. Later he even accidentally kills a girl. He spends his days in darkness; prosecutor Ko Man witnesses her daughter's death in the hands of Tong Fei and can only give all of her love on her young daughter Ting Ling. Three months after the accident, the comatosed Cheung Yat Tung finally awakes. Ko Man immediately wants him in the court. Criminal Hung Gaing is ordered to kidnap Ting Ling and runs into Tong Fei, who cannot save Ting Ling in time. Ko Man receives a threatening call to recall the charges against Cheung Yat Tung to save her daughter; if she calls the police her daughter is dead. Tong Fei swears to save Ting Ling to make up for his past mistake...... NOBODY'S PERFECT Can : Juet Doi Seung Giu d. Yip Lim Sum Stephy Tang Lai Yun, Kary Ng Yu Fei, Chubby (Siu Fei), Sammy, Tong So Kei, Hotcha, Length : 99 mins. Opening November 27 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] Lam Fung Giu and Tsui Giu have been rivals since childhood. As adults, Lam Fung Giu has become a famous fasthion columnist. Vicious, she loves criticizing city celebrities' clothing the most. Yet due to some outstanding comments she has the love of the readers and remains popular; On the other hand Tsui Giu does not have too much career ambition. She and her family operates a traditional dress store in the old district. Although her life is simple, she is optimistic and has no worry...... MIAO MIAO d. Cheng Hsiao-Tse Sandrine Pinna (Cheung Yung Yung), Wing Fan Chih Wei, Ke Jia Yan Opening November 27 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] The 18 year old Ai is an energetic and happy high school student. Her grades are average. Everyday she only focuses on baking ugly and hard cakes. She feels that in life nothing is happier than making the perfect dessert until she runs into a new firends who makes her realize that some things are even sweeter than cake...... BALLISTIC Can : Dan, Doh d. Lawrence Lau Kwok Cheung Simon Yam Tat Wa, Joseph Chang Hau Chuen, Alice Tzeng Hoi Won, Lam Ka Tung, Liu Kai Chi, Ko Chun Hsiung, Zhang Guozhu Opening November 27 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] The story opens with an election assassination. Each side with its own agenda struggles for power. Siblings like cops originally are about to uncover the fog after danger after danger. Yet instead they fall in further and are swept into the power storm between the mob and those in power. The duo is forces to make a life and death choice between good and evil, ahead of them remains dead ends at every turn...... 1ST 7 DAY Can : Tau Chut d. Herman Yau Lai To Michelle Ye (Yip Shuen), Lam Ka Tung, Julian Cheung Chi Lam, Eddie Cheung Siu Fai, Fung Hak On, Tony Ho Wa Chiu, Chiu Yu Nung Opening November 20 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] A depressed driver, a mysterious passenger, a poor woman, a touching past and an unknown forbidden land......like one piece after another of a lost puzzle, together it creates a suspenseful and touching story that is full of twists and turns. Taxi drive map King accepts an order that no one is willing to take. The destination is a Spring Thunder Hotel that has been abandoned for 33 years. Mysterious passenger Siu Ma drives his light truck and asks Map Wong to be his guide with a high offer. When they successfully arrive at the destination he would pay Map King even higher salary. Siu Ma is surprised that Map King is rather familiar with the direction of Spring Thunder Hotel. On the way Map King and the just as strange Siu Ma have too much knowledge of what happened then at the Spring Thunder Hotel. Yet they are unwilling to talk about it freely. After arriving Siu Ma says that the mission has been completed and gives the goods on the truck to Map King. When Map King opens the merchandise...... LEGENDARY ASSASSIN Can : Long Nga Lit : Wolf Fangs d. Nicky Lin Chungzhi Celina Jade, Jacky Wu Jing, Ronald Cheng Chung Kei, Ken Lo Wai Kwong Opening November 20 2008 in Malaysia [ CINEMA ONLINE MALAYSIA ] When Bruce helps capture four runaway convicts hiding in an island, cop Holly believes that Bruce is one of the good guys. When a body of a decapitated ruthless criminal was found, Bruce disappears without a trace. His departures makes him the apparent killer. The arrival of the mobsters forced Bruce to come out of hiding when Holly is taken hostage. As the smoke clears, Holly is faced with dilemma; her feelings toward Bruce and her duty as a cop. HIGH NOON Can : Lit Yut Dong Hung AKA : WINDS OF SEPTEMBER - THE HONG KONG CHAPTER Can : Gau Gong Fung d. Heiward Mak Hei Yun Lam Yiu Sing, Sham Ka Kei, Anjo Leung Hiu Fung, Venus Wong Man Yik Length : 100 mins. Site : http://www.hkiff.org.hk/eng/programme/show_detail.php?fi_id=683 Opening November 6 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] In 2007, as the world was busy to welcome 08 Olympic events, Hong Kong students' most important battle, the HKCEE, was around the corner. Nine male and female adolescents are at a loss between adulthood and childhood, caught in a dilemma between the internet, SMS, the materialistic and virtual world and the cruel reality; their restless and fragile souls cherished each other, under the scorching sun they found love and freedom that was exclusive to youth. While nothing new was under the sun, time after time an absurd little story has quietly occurred in balance. Starting with phone video, everyone turned from relying on each other to having a chip on their shoulders, from protecting each other to mutually suspicious of each other; the gradual disintegration of the friendship, fragile love, family fetters, death and life impacts...... WUSHU Can : Mo Shook ji Siu Nin Hung Lit : Martial Art : Youth Journey d. Anthony Szeto Wing Wah Sammo Hung Kam Bo, Wang Wenjie, Liu Fengchao, Mak Wai Cheung, Wu Ma Opening October 23 2008 [ YAHOO! HONG KONG MOVIES ] 9 year old Li Yi and brother Li Er after their mother's passing followed their father to a no name small town martial art school. Their father is this school's instructor. The children are full of curiosity about their about to start new lives... [ COMING SOON ] 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. WINDS OF SEPTEMBER - THE MAINLAND CHAPTER Can : Gau Gong Fung d. Han Yan Tai Junjie, Wu Xiaoliang, Liu Shuhan, Chi Jia Rating : 105 mins. Opening March 21 2008 at the Hong Kong International Film Festival Site : http://www.hkiff.org.hk/eng/programme/show_detail.php?fi_id=682 [ THE HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ] Some time before the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China, a Mainland high school stages a variety show to celebrate the occasion. One of the most brilliant openings among the many recent Chinese high school titles, it introduces the unfolding drama of rival groups of "good" and "bad" students and their "internal contradictions", and serves as a continual mental backdrop for the audience: of youth caught in a society whose founding ideology has become obsolete and absurd. 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 November 6 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. THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT Can : Sun Juk Goo Si Lit : Shinjuku Story d. Derek Yee Tung Sing Jackie Chan, Ken Watanabe, Daniel Wu (Ng Yin Cho) Opening APRIL 2 2009 [ CINEMA ONLINE MALAYSIA ] In the early 1990s, a tractor mechanic from China nicknamed Steelhead illegally enters Japan to search for his girlfriend. To make ends meet, he joins his friend in Shinjuku in doing menial labor. Steelhead finds out that his girlfriend has married Eguchi, a Japanese Yakuza leader. Steelhead decides to stay in Japan and work for Eguchi as a hitman. Soon, Steelhead gets used to the power and find himself embroiled so deeply in the ways of the underworld that there is no turning back. 9 WINDS AKA WINDS OF SEPTEMBER - THE TAIWAN CHAPTER Can : Gau Gong Fung d. Lin Shu Yu Rhydian Vaughan, Chang Chieh, Wang Bo Chieh Length : 113 mins. Opening December 4 2008 Opening March 21 2008 at the Hong Kong International Film Festival Site : http://www.hkiff.org.hk/eng/programme/show_detail.php?fi_id=684 [ HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ] The winds of September are the wind of Hsinchu, a strong wind that visits the county and city between September and November. The film takes us back to 1996, during the time of the tragic Taiwan baseball scandal, an event that devastated many teenage boys. The story follows Yen and Tang and their gang through the last year of their high school life. From chasing girls to midnight skinny dipping to rooting for their favorite baseball team, they do everything together. When an accident throws Yen into a coma, their world starts falling apart. A cruel reality has announced itself, can the boys grow up quickly enough to face it? IKIGAMI: THE ULTIMATE LIMIT d. Tomoyuki Takimoto (Lung Boon Ji Hung) Shota Matsuda (Chung TIn Cheung Tai), (Sing Mei Lei Ji), Takayuki Yamada (Tin San Hau Ji), Koji Tsukamoto (Chung Boon Go Si) Opening December 4 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] A place with similar history and environment as Japan has a law called "national vibrancy maintenance law". Its goal is to created a reduced national crime rate, highly productive utopia. As each new student enrolls in an elementary school, he or she would receive an immunization shot. One among a thousand would be injected with any extremely small pouch that would stick to the heart. Between the ages of 18 to 24 the poison would be released and killed the person. The government can accurately calculate the poison release time so the 1/1000 person who is selected to die can be assigned a death notice 24 hours before so he or she can make preparations...... ALL ABOUT WOMEN Can : Nui Yun But Wai Lit : Women Not Bad d. Tsui Hark Zhou Xun, Kuei Lun-Mei, Kitty Zhang Yuqi, Alex Fong Chung Shun Opening December 11 2008 [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] A drop of love panacea "pheromone" connects the love lives of three women under the same city sky; three appeared to be fruitless romances weave a series of bursting love chronicles? Fanfan is a medical center examiner who looks not only ordinary but also a big short-sighted. Her human physical examination skills are ten thousand times better than her romance with men. She is insulated from the men of the city. Longing for love, she uses the professional convenience and her understanding human physical structure, coupled with the spirit of scientific experiments, finally invents a series of pheromone patches and uses them to successfully capture a band guitarist Xiao-gang's heart. Carried away wiht "love" Xiao-gang is busy all day with accompanying Fanfan that he has missed a series of performances. Band mate Rail Link becomes upset. Rail Link is the lead vocalist and a boxer. Her tough and tender unique personality deeply attracts Mok Kai Yan. However, Rail Link had a strange view on love, she would prefer to invest in with the feelings of the superstars X fantasy love than take a glimpse at another... IP MAN d. Wilson Yip Wai Shun Donnie Yen Chi Tan, Simon Yam Tat Wa, Lynn Hung Opening December 2008 [ CINEMA ONLINE MALAYSIA ] Adapted from the life story of Ip Man - the grand master of the Wing Chun style of kung fu and sifu of legendary kung fu superstar Bruce Lee. This movie will be the first important record of the master's life. Ip's persistent devotion to Wing Chun is a classic example of the love and respect shown to wushu and the freedom and spirit it represents. Ip Man is a concept, a spirit, a way of thinking - and it exemplifies a new peak in Hong Kong's wushu movies. RED CLIFF PART II 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 December 18 2008 LADY COP AND PAPA CROOK Can : Cha Ji Nui Lit : Woman of Investigation d. Alan Mak Siu Fai, Felix Chong Sammi Cheng Sau Man, Eason Chan Yik Shun, Zhang Guoli, Chapman To Man Chat, Wilfred Lau Ho Lung, Kate Tsui Tsz Shan, Michelle Ye (Yip Shuet), Liu Kai Chi, Lok Ying Kwun, Lo Mik Shuet, Chan Bo Yuen Richie Jen (Yam Yin Chai) Official Site : www.mediaasia.com/lcpc Opening January 1 2009 [ CINEMA ONLINE MALAYSIA ] When an oil tanker explodes, John Fok becomes the focus of investigation by the Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese police and is forced to put on hold his business to settle things out. Just as John is planning on a comeback, his son is kidnapped. Doomed in love, Senior Inspector Molline Szeto is fed up with her 10-year relationship with her boyfriend. With no prospect of an imminent wedding, she ends the relationship. Excited with her new crossroads in life, she is thrilled to be assigned to investigate the case of John's kidnapped son. MEI LANFANG d. Chen Kaige Leon Lai Ming, Zhang Ziyi Opening January 1 2009 ALL'S WELL ENDS WELL 2009 Can : Ga Yau Hei Si 2009 Lit : Family Has Joyous Event 2009 d. Vincent Kuk Tak Siu Sandra Ng Kwan Yu, Louis Koo Tin Lok, Ronald Cheng Chung Kei, Raymond Wong Pak Ming, Lee Heung Kam, Ha Chun Opening January 22 2009 in Malaysia [ GOLDEN SCENE CINEMAS ONLINE ] Kei's eldest sister Sandra is a hot-tempered magazine editor and her temperament has left her single all this while. They have a traditional family and one of the rules is that none of the siblings could get married before their eldest sister. In view of this, Kei sort help from the famous “Casanova”, Koo Chai (Louis Koo), who is the new journalist in Sandra’s firm to pretend to court his eldest sister and lure her into the mood of love. With Sandra falling in love with Koo Chai, she decides to introduce him to her parents (Lee Heung Kam, Ha Chun Chou). However, Koo Chai fell in love with another girl, Mun during an assignment and this broke Sandra’s heart. To avoid the disappointment of her parents, Sandra asks Mr. Wong a private investigator to pretend as her boyfriend. With Sandra love life going nowhere and her career plunging low, will she get what she wants? Will Kei find his true love and marries her sister off? Who will Koo Chai choose? Will all’s well end’s well? --- [ 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 * INTERNATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT MARKETING AND MOHEGAN SUN PRESENT JAY CHOU WORLD TOUR 2008 CHRISTMAS CONCERT DATE AND TIME : Saturday night / Sunday morning, December 21 2008 @ 2PM Sunday, December 21 2008 @ 2 PM VENUE LOCATION: Mohegan Sun Arena Mohengan Sun Uncasville CT TICKET PRICES : $ 268 VIP, 188, 138, 88, 68 TICKET OUTLET LOCATIONS: ONLINE : www.iemshowplace.com/html/jaychou.html CHINATOWN : 89 Bowery 212.925.1898 FLUSHING International Entertainment Marketing 135-05 40th Rd., 2nd Floor Flushing NY 11354 718-888-3113 BROOKLYN International Entertainment Marketing 5609 8th Ave., 2nd Floor Brooklyn NY 11220 718-437-7717 ELMHURST 85-08 Queens Blvd. 2/F 718.803.3326 EDISON, NEW JERSEY: 1681 Rt.27 Suite 3 732.819.8883 BOSTON : 12A Tyler Street 612.695.1989 * MGM GRAND AT FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO PRESENTS SALLY YEH CONCERT DATE AND TIME: Saturday night / Sunday morning, December 20 2008 @ 2AM Sunday, December 20 2008 @ 2PM VENUE LOCATION: MGM Grand Theatre MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino PRICE: $108, 78, 48 TICKET OUTLET LOCATIONS: P & M Music 2 Elizabeth Street 212.732.3828 Jessica Holdings Group 135-27 40th Rd, Suite 301 Flushing 718.450.2628 Trans-Pracific Travel 11 Tyler St. Boston MA 617.451.3478 * RAYMOND MIU PRODUCTIONS, INC. AND TRUMP TAJ MAHAL PRESENT MOONLIGHT RESONANCE CONCERT 2008 with Linda Chung Ka Yun, Raymond Lam Fung, Lee Sze Kei, Ha Yu DATE AND TIME : Saturday night / Sunday morning, December 20 2008 @ 1AM VENUE LOCATION : Mark G Etess Arena Trump Tah Mahal Casino Resort Atlantic City NJ PRICE : $118, 88, 68, 48 TICKET OUTLET LOCATION: Raymond Miu Productions 195 Canal Street, Suite 201 New York NY 10013 212.966.0800 www.rmpny.com * Jolin Tsai live in San Jose,CA Nov 30,2008 Special Guest : Energy Date & Time: Sunday night, November 30,2008 @ 7:00pm Venue Location: San Jose State University Event Center 290 S. 7th Street San Jose, CA 95192 Ticket Prices: $58, $78, $98, $138, $188 (VIP) Info & online ticket: http://www.usastarimage.com http://www.usastarimage.com/EventDetail.aspx?id=29 concert info hotline: 510-651-6888 concert info email: concert@usastarimage.com ticket outlet locations: Ng Hing Kee: San Francisco: 415-781-8330 Sunset SF: 415-759-1999 Millbrae: 650-692-8922 Mountain view: 650-969-2034 Oakland: 510-272-0822 Milpitas: 408-433-5188 World Journal Bookstore (San Francisco) 415-397-8473 Evergreen Books (Milpitas) 408-383-9798 Mo Mo Bookstore (Cupertino) 408-863-1288 Tara Books (Newark) 510-818-9666 Nan Hwa Group (San Jose) 408-453-3330 free roundtrip bus for concert ticket holders in: san francisco chinatown (contact ng hing kee sf & world books), san mateo & millbrae marina food call 650-212-3988 & 650-692-8922 for details http://www.usastarimage.com http://www.usastarimage.com/EventDetail.aspx?id=29 concert info hotline: 510-651-6888 * HARRAH ENTERTAINMENT AND AND FUNG'S ENTERTAINMENT PRESENT HARLEM YU AND CHAN PAK YU THANKSGIVING CONCERT DATE AND TIME : November 30 2008 @ 1 AM VENUE LOCATION : Caesers Circus Maximus Theater Atlantic City NJ INFORMATION : www.fungshow.com * INTERNATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT MARKETING AND MOHEGAN SUN PRESENT RICHIE JEN "LOVE & BELOVED" CONCERT with Special Guest Huang Pin Yuan DATE AND TIME : Wednesday night / Thursday morning, November 27 2008 @ 2PM Thursday, November 27 2008 @ 2 PM VENUE LOCATION: Mohegan Sun Arena Mohengan Sun Uncasville CT TICKET PRICES : $ 138, 108, 78, 48 TICKET OUTLET LOCATIONS: ONLINE : www.iemshowplace.com/html/richie_jen.html CHINATOWN : 89 Bowery 212.925.1898 FLUSHING International Entertainment Marketing 135-05 40th Rd., 2nd Floor Flushing NY 11354 718-888-3113 BROOKLYN International Entertainment Marketing 5609 8th Ave., 2nd Floor Brooklyn NY 11220 718-437-7717 ELMHURST 85-08 Queens Blvd. 2/F 718.803.3326 EDISON, NEW JERSEY: 1681 Rt.27 Suite 3 732.819.8883 BOSTON : 12A Tyler Street 612.695.1989 * RAYMOND MIU PRODUCTIONS, INC. AND TRUMP TAJ MAHAL PRESENT ADAM CHENG SIU CHAU LIVE IN CONCERT 2008 Special Guest : Fala Chen DATE AND TIME : Wednesday night / Thurday morning, November 27 2008 @ 1AM Thursday, November 27 2008 @ 2 PM VENUE LOCATION : Mark G Etess Arena Trump Tah Mahal Casino Resort Atlantic City NJ PRICE : $98, 68, 38 TICKET OUTLET LOCATION: Raymond Miu Productions 195 Canal Street, Suite 201 New York NY 10013 212.966.0800 www.rmpny.com * BALLY'S ATLANTIC CITY PRESENTS GALLEN LAW KA LEUNG AND JOYCE LEE LOK SI LIVE 2008 DATE AND TIME: Wednesday night / Thursday morning, November 27 2008 @ 1AM VENUE LOCATION: Bally's Grand Ballroom Bally's Atlantic City Atlantic City NJ * CHEUNG MING MAN AND YOU YA LIVE DATE AND TIME: Wednesday night / Thursday morning, November 27 2008 @ 2AM Thursday, November 27 2008 @ 2PM VENUE LOCATION: Fox Theatre Foxwoods Resort Casino PRICE: $98, 68, 48 TICKET OUTLET LOCATIONS: P & M Music 2 Elizabeth St. 212.732.3828 Jessica Holding Group 135-27 40th Rd., Suite 301 Flushing 718.450.2628 Trans-Pacific Travel 11 Tyler St., Boston MA 02111 617.451.3478 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 November 25 2008 10 THE MAGIC HOUR d. Koki Mitani (Sam Guk Hung Hei) Satoshi Tsumabuki (Chai Fu Muk Chung), Toshiyuki Nishida (Sai Tin Mun Hung), Haruka Ayase (Ling Lai Yiu), Koichi Sato (Jor Tung Ho Si), Eri Fukatsu (Sum Luk Wui Lei) 9 SCAR 3D d. Jed Weintrob Angela Bettis, Kriby Bliss Blanton 8 BELLA d. Alejandro Gomez Monteverde Eduardo Verastegui, Tammy Blanchard, Manny Perez 7 NIGHTS IN RODANTHE d. George Wolfe Richard Gere, Diane Lane, James Franco 6 TROPIC THUNDER d. Ben Stiller Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr. 5 BURN AFTER READING d. Joel and Ethan Coen George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton 4 CHAMPIONS Can : Duet Biu d. Tsui Siu Ming Dicky Cheung Wai Kin, Xie Miu, Priscilla Wong Chui Yu, Debbie Goh (Ng Tin Yu), Ronnie Yu Rong Guang, Xu Xiangdong, Li Fai 3 BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA d. Raja Gosnell 2 QUANTUM OF SOLACE d. Marc Forster Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric 1 CAPE NO. 7 ------ Summaries for some of the films above. Some contain SPOILERS THE MAGIC HOUR Length : 136 mins. Opening October 30 2008 [ BROADWAY CIRCUIT ] Bingo has stolen away the girlfriend of his crime syndicate boss, and now he faces an ultimatum: find him a legendary assassin named Della Togashi, or die. But time is running out and Della’s whereabouts remain moot. As a desperate measure, Bingo decides to hire a failing actor, Taiki Murata to play the part of the elusive assassin. Believing he’ll be starring in an epic gangster film in the role of his life, Taiki comes to the port town of Sucago, where the film is to be shot. In his attempt to convince his boss that he has found Della Togashi, Bingo inadvertently winds up indenturing Taiki into the service of the town’s crime syndicate just as it prepares for a major gang war. DETROIT METAL CITY Rating : IIB Length : 103 mins. Opening October 30 2008 Site : http://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/detroitmetalcity [ TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2008 ] Souichi is a timid, sensitive and innately polite music geek who moves from the Japanese countryside to Tokyo with big dreams: he aspires to sing sugary love ballads and become a chart-topping sensation. But life does not turn out the way Souichi had hoped, and the only gig he can get is that of front man for the notorious band Detroit Metal City (DMC). Wearing a cape, tights and ghostly demon makeup, Souichi storms the stage each night as Johannes Klauser II, smashing guitars and spewing verbal filth in songs about murder and rape. The band's crazy getups and destructive performances have earned them a legion of devoted, maniacal fans, who believe that Klauser is a drug-gobbling demon from hell. To make matters worse, this reluctant rocker runs into his college crush, the demure and adorable Ms. Aikawa, who is now a magazine pop critic. Soon he is struggling to keep his wild metal stardom a secret. After defeating rival bands and winning recognition as one of Japan's top acts, DMC is challenged to a duel by death-metal icon Jack IL Dark. Souichi finds himself locked in a battle of satanic guitar riffs for the title of ultimate death-metal king, all while keeping Ms. Aikawa sweetly ignorant of his alter ego. CHAMPION Rating : IIB Length : 117 mins. Opening November 13 2008 Official Site: http://www.champions.com.hk [ YAHOO! MOVIES HONG KONG ] China officially sends a team to participate in the World Games for the first time and announces that wushu will be its performance. Each school and style actively participate in private duels. Central martial art hall chief Zhang Zhijiang decides on a national recruitment for representatives...... ------ GLOBAL CHINESE SONG CHART For Saturday, November 22 2008 15 LIFE SAVER Can : Yau Wing Huen (Wong Chun Yuen), (Tse Man Nga) 14 TAKE ME AWAY Can : Dai Ngor Jau Rainie Yang (Yeung Sing Lam) 13 LOVE Can : Oi Xu Yi (Hui Ngai) 12 MISSING YOU Van Fan (Fan Yat Sun) 11 NA NA NA Wu Kequn, Cyndi Wang (Wong Sum Ling) 10 DEEPLY LOVING YOU Can : Sum Sum Oi Gor Nei Jacky Xie (Sit Ji Him) 9 WE ARE RIGHT HERE Can : Ngor Moon Jau Jor Jeh Lui Jasmine Leong Jing Yu 8 LIVE FOR YOU Can : Wai Nei Yi Woot Y2J (Sun Muk Yu Tung) 7 IF CONTACTED YOUR FACE Can : Yu Gor Pung Doh Nei Dik Lim Vincy Chan (Wing Yi) 6 AT PEACE Can : On Jing Liu S.H.E. 5 PROMISED FORTUNE Can : Shuet Ho Dik Yun Fok Jay Chou (Chow Kit Lun) 4 RAIN REMINSCENCE Can : Yu Lim Liu Liyang (Lau Lik Yeung) 3 EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU Can : Yun Yun Doh Shuet Ngor Oi Nei Yu Fei Men 2 YOU ARE NOT TRUE HAPPINESS Can : Nei But Si Jun Jing Dik Fai Lok MAY DAY 1 LITTLE DIMPLE Can : Siu Jau Wor JJ Lin Junjie, Charlene Choi Cheuk Yin ------ [ 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. FULLY AWESOME!!! The holidays are upon us again. While the holidays are a time for family, unfortunately life goes on even during these times. This column is dedicated to members of our family who have been passed away. While Your Chaffing Editor mostly likely will not learn to cherish or even live his life from their passing, please say a prayer for the families and be thankful with the one you got, no matter how annoying they may be. Like T.I. says, Stop lookin' at what you ain't got, start being thankful for what you do got Back to business, Your Chaffing Editor finally returned to the cinema last weekend as two movies managed to draw him there. Since he was not about to contribute to the epidemic hype of TWILIGHT, Old Chaffy opted to see BOLT first. Your Chaffing Editor's friends joked that he only went to see BOLT because Miley Cyrus provided her voice. Truth be told, from the trailer alone Your Chaffing Editor already knew who the real star of the film was going to be -- Rhino the fanboy hamster. The side effect of watching the film though was Your Chaffing Editor spent the week screaming FULLY AWESOME at Top Ten Central, to the annoyance of everyone else. Otherwise, the film was entertaining but nothing spectacular. Both songs from the movie were catchy, but Jenny Lewis' BARKING AT THE MOON (see below) suited the movie better. Oddly enough, Your Chaffing Editor enjoyed the end credit cell animation more than the computer graphics. Considering that so far Your Chaffing Editor's favorite Disney film remain LILO AND SNITCH, both Disney Digital and Pixar have a lot of work to do. Does anyone else find the Waffle King logo seem an awful lot at a certain Nickelodeon character who lives in a pineapple under the sea? The studios seemed to be gearing toward an all digital animation blitz early next year from the looks of the trailers. Unfortunately none looked all that great. Pixar's UP was actually the only one that was entertaining. Does CORALINE remind anyone else of a Tim Burton movie before BATMAN? Also, thanks to RATATOUILLE and the upcoming THE TALE OF DESPEREAU trailer, Your Chaffing Editor is absolutely convinced that Paris is completely overrun with rats. Your Chaffing Editor has even less to say about TWILIGHT. His favorite moment was when the HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE trailer came on. Somehow, it did not look like it was going to live up to the book itself. For all the hoopla the media have generated over the movie, Your Chaffing Editor saw it in a near empty theater. MADAGASCAR 2 had a more packed house than it. All kidding aside, TWILIGHT has its moments for its target audience. Clocking in at a near 2 hour running time, the film felt a little long at times (the 12 year old girl inside Your Chaffing Editor disagrees), and Your Chaffing Editor could not decipher whether the awkwardness between the stars early in the film was intentional or just bad chemistry. The cast was relatively well cast. At times when Robert Pattinson and Peter Facinelli showed up, they reminded Your Chaffing Editor of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE. (Your Chaffing Editor never quite shook off Peter Facinelli's Tom Cruise clone performance on TV.) The Pacific Northwest scenery and the Native American presence were intriguing to Old Chaffy, but he could not help but giggle at the almost love scene. Overall, the movie is what it is and may not have enough for the audience outside its target. "I never gave much thought to dying, but dying for someone you love seems like a pretty good way to go." Your Chaffing Editor almost wished that he could. THERE IS NO HOME LIKE THE ONE YOU GOT, 'CAUSE THAT HOME BELONGS TO YOU! Jer Jer Stinks, Your Chaffing Editor Top Ten Central --- [ WHAT IS YOUR CHAFFING EDITOR LISTENING TO ] BARKING AT THE MOON Jenny Lewis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBqpqg16b-4&fmt=18 I have got so much to give I swear I do I may not have nine lives But this one feels brand new Yes I’ve lived a good one I've tried to be true There are some things I never realized ‘Til I met you How the wind feels on my cheeks When I’m barking at the moon There is no home like the one you’ve got ‘Cause that home belongs to you Ooh ooh Here I come Ooh ooh Back to you There is no home like the one you’ve got ‘Cause that home belongs to you Well I was in trouble bad I was so confused I may not see in color, babe But I sure can feel blue I have been a lot of things They may not all be true My experience was so mysterious ‘Til I met you Now the sun will rise in the east But I’m barking at the moon There is no home like the one you’ve got ‘Cause that home belongs to you Ooh ooh Here I come Ooh ooh Back to you There is no home like the one you’ve got ‘Cause that home belongs to you There is no home like the one you’ve got ‘Cause that home belongs to you There is no home like the one you’ve got ‘Cause that home belongs to you ---------------------- HK Top Ten Central hktopten@hotmail.com | http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/2038