Monday Movie News

CRI: Donnie Yen Is a Royal Spy in New Martial Art Film 14 Blades

Yen will continue his action hero routines to play the head agent of the royal espionage network during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a relatively dark period in China's history when the feudal court made unprecedented use of a spy system to run the ruling machine...

Peter Ho Yun-Tung - Once Upon A Time In Tibet

(Xinhuanet.com)

Variety: The Warrior and The Wolf review

A semi-mythical yarn that too often ends up being borderline incoherent...

Variety: Fireball (Thailand) review

Basketball becomes an underground bloodsport in "Fireball," a lively Thai actioner in which Bangkok's toughest street gangs smash each other senseless in the quest for championship honors.

Screen Daily: Paju (South Korea)

Korea’s Park Chan-ok takes a big step forward with her second feature Paju, a richly layered drama about the complicated relationship between a young girl and her brother-in-law.

Glenn offers us his thoughts on Francis Ng's Tracing Shadow

Imagi hitches rocket to 'Astro Boy'

“Astro Boy II” could soon be in the works if all goes well with this week’s release of the animated superhero movie “Astro Boy.” That would also spell a new lease on life for its production house Imagi and could redefine the concept of co-production in Asia.

Chinese directors pay tribute to quake-hit city
In the same style as the anthology films "New York, I Love You" and "Paris, I Love You," two Chinese filmmakers have profiled a Chinese city that was hit by a massive earthquake last year.
"Chengdu, I Love You" was conceived as a tribute to the southwestern city in Sichuan province that was decimated by a 7.9-magnitude quake in May 2008, leaving nearly 90,000 people dead or missing, Hong Kong director Fruit Chan said.

OCRegister: Red Cliff West Coast Premiere

The Regency South Coast Village Theater will screen, in its West Coast premiere, John Woo's latest epic, "Red Cliff" (Oct. 15), the most expensive Chinese film ever made, followed by a Q and A with the director. In collaboration with the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, a series of ping pong tournaments will be held in South Coast Plaza to commemorate Nixon-era Ping Pong Diplomacy (Oct. 17-18). The Bowers Museum, South Coast Repertory, and the Orange County Museum of Art will also present "Ancient Paths" events.

Two Hollywood projects lined up for John Woo

THR: 'Ong Bak' team ready for English-language 'City of Angels'
Dwayne Johnson and Robin Shou to costar

THR: Disaster director ready for America
'Haeundae' helmer writing English comedy with Korean story

Fan Bingbing

With Wilson Chen Bo-lin

Fan Bingbing has started work in Chengdu on Li Yu's Guanyin Mountain which also costars Sylvia Chang. (Xinhuanet.com)

Ge You to Chair Macao Int'l Film Festival

Li Feier - newcomer in Wang Xiaoishua's Mosaic/Sunshine in Chongqing

Visitors From the Sui Dynasty - slide show
A time travel comedy.

China's Hottest Entertainers for 2009
Xiao Shenyang, Liu Qian, Li Yugang

Spy drama Happy Autumn(?) set in 1949 Guangzhou features Guo Xiaodong and Sun Chun, opens Oct.14. (cri.cn)

Guo Xiaodong

Sun Chun, Guo Xiaodong (Sina.com)

The Message has been on whirlwind media tour around the country. At one enthusiastic meeting with fans Huayi Brothers CEO Wang Zhonglei has promised that if The Message broke $300M at the box office he would release a 3 hour DVD version! The theatrical version runs 122 minutes. According to reports, the footage shot for the Li Bingbing-Huang Xiaoming 'medical checkup' scene is almost equal to that alone. (cri.cn)

(Sina.com)

Fan Bingbing

Huang Jue

Du Jiayi

Director He Ping

Wheat arrives in Beijing (Sina.com)

Huang Jue Exposed in 'Wheat'

Known for his relationship with actress-director Xu Jinglei, actor Huang Jue has stepped out of his comfort zone to reveal his true colors in the film "The Wheat".

"The Wheat" tells the story of two Qin soldiers fleeing from war and taking refuge in the small town of Zhao, where all of the adult men of the village have gone to war. To survive, the fugitives change their identities into Zhao soldiers who had won the battle against Qin.

Rene Liu, Jacky Cheung

With production moving from Beijing to Shenzhen, Jacky Cheung and Rene Liu were in Shenzhen to promote their upcoming New Year's/Valentine's Day film Hot Summer Day (formerly Yit Lat Lat). The film is a Huayi Brothers and Fox joint venture. The stellar cast will include Nic Tse, Daniel Wu, Barbie Hsu, Vivian Hsu, and Duan Yihong. When Jacky was asked about the difference between Rene and his recent costar Tang Wei (Crossing Hennessy), he replied that Rene was more experienced and Tang Wei needed more time as she was still new. (Xinhuanet.com)

Visitors From The Sui Dyansty from director Zhang Yuxin (Teeth of Love) features time travellers in this new comedy.  Trailer (Sina.com)

3D 'Deer' Premieres

"The King of Milu Deer", which claims to be China's first animated 3D blockbuster, premiered on Saturday in Beijing.

Chow Yun-Fat 'Dancing with Strangers'
Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat's next film will be a Spanish-American-German-Chinese cooperation, Screendaily.com reports.

Huang Xiaolei

Da Zhang Wei

Director Liang Chao

Royal Tattoo red carpet photos (Sina.com)

Astroboy opens Oct.23

Astroboy mosaic made of 138,000 recycled subway tickets on display in a Shinjuku department store. (Sina.com)

China picks 'Forever Enthralled' for Oscars

Emperor hires Ivy Ho for marketing
Former HKIFF awards director joins after 15 years in industry