Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 5th, 2018
As some of you might know, I have a son, a three-year-old toddler. Since we live in the suburbs, we unfortunately don't get out as often as we like to places like the beach or any other places where we might be able to explore the animals and creatures that inhabit the wondrous ocean. As a result, we have a tendency to watch plenty of underwater nature documentaries or whichever Pixar animated Nemo or Dory show we can find. Today, we have for review an animated tale about creatures who can turn into beautiful red dolphins so they can be a part of the human world. Is the movie as beautiful as it seems, or much like the dolphins, is it something else in disguise?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 1st, 2011
His troops defeated and massacred, General Pang (Jet Li) staggers away from the battlefield, more dead than alive. After a brief by intense overnight encounter with a mysterious Lian (Xu Jinglei), he falls in with bandits headed up by Er Hu (Andy Lau) and Wu Yang (Takeshi Kaneshiro). He finds a renewed purpose in life with this group, and forges the band into a formidable fighting force, one that will play an ever greater role in shaping the conflicts that are dividing China. But the fellowship he forms with his blood brothers has a fatal flaw: as fate would have it, Lian is promised to Er Hu. Betrayal and tragedy lurk in the wings.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2010
"The year is 208 AD. After 30 years of civil war, a deathly calm has fallen over northern China. One by one the rebel warlords have met their end under the sword of Prime Minister Cao Cao. Now even the Emperor bows before his power. Yet, from the south a challenge is heard. Two leaders rise against Cao Cao's tyranny. The aging Liu Bei and the inexperienced Sun Quam. So Cao Cao petitions the Emperor to brand these men as traitors and declare a new war against the peaceful southlands."
And so the stage is set for John Woo's enormous epic Red Cliff. The scale of this film is simply one that must been experienced to quite understand. It has the grandeur of any of the largest films in Hollywood's history
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2009
“The Magic Gourd has magical powers. He can carry you high up to the sky, right up to the clouds, where they feel just like cotton candy. Stick out your tongue and they taste like cotton candy. That’s the power of The Magic Gourd. If you become the Gourd’s master, he can grant you anything you wish for…”
Disney films have always had a world wide appeal. Children everywhere on the planet have grown up with the same classic images that we have in the United States. The language might not be the same, but the message and the magic has always been there to discover.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 10th, 2008
Tang Wei plays a student who is a member of a radical theatre troupe during the Sino-Japanese War. She and her cohorts determine to assassinate a prominent collaborator (Tony Leung). In order to get create the opportunity for the killing, our heroine must infiltrate Leung's household. She is on the threshold of becoming his mistress when he leaves Hong Kong for Shanghai. Three years later, now backed by the Resistance, she makes a new attempt. But she hasn't counted on the entanglements of passion in the affair she has embarked on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 1st, 2008
Retelling of classic tales has been a fodder for movie scripts for years. Take something that has worked for ages, spin it just so and you got a movie that might be gold. They have been doing this with Romeo & Juliet for years. The results can be great or sometimes they are one step of having the creator roll around in his grave with pain and anguish. Take Hamlet for example, the classic Shakespearian tale about a prince who takes revenge on his uncle Claudius who has murdered his father the King and taken the throne and the king's wife too. It has treachery, corruption and a little good ole fashioned incest to wet the palette. Now take that piece of journalistic tragedy and set it after the fall of the Tang Dynasty in China. Insert popular Asian actors like Ziyi Zhang & Daniel Wu and you might just have something.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 2nd, 2007
On its surface, The Promise seems to have a good pedigree backing it up. You've got the guy who directed Farewell, My Concubine and the cinematographer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, combining forces for a Chinese film that is epic in scope, similar to the Zhang Yimou films Hero and House of Flying Daggers.
The problem with The Promise is that the story rambles a bit, and the characters are ones that you don't care about. The stunts aren't even breathtaking either, as the visual effects are apparently done with wires and green screens, and can be made out so obviously, they lack the magic and wonder of the Yimou films, or even other films like Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 28th, 2006
Jet Li's Fearless is reportedly the star's final martial arts epic. Since we're talking about the guy who did Once Upon a Time in China, Twin Warriors and Hero, that fact alone makes this is a significant film for martial arts fans.
Fearless tells the story of Huo Yuanjia, who in 1910 helped found the Jin Wu Sports Federation (Chin Woo Athletic Association), the first civil Kung Fu organization in China. Li plays Yuanjia, who is a Chinese folk hero. The film follows Yuanjia's life from early childhood until his last days, showing his journey from a weak, little boy to a cocky, selfish bully, and finally to a respected martial arts master and Chinese patriot.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 1st, 2006
Synopsis
Hot on the heels of the success of the Martin Scorsese film The Departed, I figured why not take a look back at the Hong Kong crime film that inspired it. Better yet, why not explore the trilogy that is the Infernal Affairs crime films, and how they hold up now. And I’ll try to minimize on the redundant stuff.
Written and directed by Siu Fai Mak, the first Infernal Affairs film is where The Departed finds its roots, as Yan (Tony Leung, Hero) is the Leona...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 17th, 2006
Anthology films are a good training ground for young filmmakers to flex their muscles and really get creative. However, with Eros, the three filmmakers have already been around the block a time or two, and on the surface, that could be considered a good thing. But when you consider what Michaelangelo Antonioni, Steven Soderbergh, and Kar-Wai Wong, are already capable of, these shorts seem a bit of a letdown. The best segment is Soderbergh’s “Equilibrium,” with its symbolic stylistic effects and wry sense of hu...
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