Friday, July 3

Movie review: Police Woman

Thrown onto cheap SLP VHS tapes and DVDs and retitled Rumble in Hong Kong to try and take advantage of Jackie Chan's success in the US after the premiere of Rumble in the Bronx, Police Woman is an exercise in tedium that even the strongest of viewers might not be able to survive without resorting to a handful of asprin and the fast-forward button.

Full review here

Special feature: Bill Kong interview

Bill Kong is a producer who has been involved on many of the biggest Hong Kong and Chinese pictures in recent years. As part of our preview for his latest project, Blood: The Last Vampire, he recently sat down with us to talk a bit about the challenges of international film-making.

Full interview here

DVD giveaway: An Empress and the Warriors

Helmed by the outstanding director Ching Siu-Tung and starring Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, and Kelly Chen, An Empress and the Warriors is a fast-moving and exciting film that should satifsfy fans of epic costume action/dramas. Dragon Dynasty will be releasing the movie on July 21, and to help spread the word, they have generously donated five copies of the DVD, which we will be giving away to some lucky surfers. To enter, simply send an email with the subject of "empress" by midnight on July 24. The winners will be chosen at random, and then notifed via email. US and Canadian readers only, please.

Wednesday, July 1

Upcoming release: Thirst

Thirst is the new film from director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy). Starring The Host's Song Kang-Ho in a unique take on the vampire genre, the movie was honored with the Prix du Jury at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival, and will be coming to select US theatres on July 31st. For more information, you can visit the film's official site or its' Facebook page.

Movie review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

The final film in the popular Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, At World's End thankfully brings back some of the whimsy and humor that made the first movie so fun to watch. Unfortunately, though, it retains a lot of the overbloated plot and characterization that made the second entry such a terrible mess. But, hey, you get to see Chow Yun-Fat as a swashbuckling pirate, which is pretty cool, right? Right?

Full review here

Saturday, June 27

Movie review: The Sniper

Oh, joyous day! It's the return of Edison Chen! Well, not really. The Sniper was scheduled to come out around a year ago, but was shelved and edited after the whole cell phone nudie pictures scandal. But it's probably a good thing that Edison's still hiding out in Canada, because his fans (if he has any left) would probably want their money back after checking this snoozer out.

Full review here

Movie review: Champions

Champions is a case of "good idea, bad execution". Starring several real-life martial arts champions in a story about Chinese athletes trying to make it to the Olympics, the film would seem to to have the ingredients for success, or at least a decent night's entertainment. Unfortunately, the hammy acting and heavy-handed nationalistic overtones throw up big stumbling blocks.

Full review here

Monday, June 22

Upcoming release: Gamer

300's Gerard Butler stars as Kable, a contestant on the futuristic game show Slayers, who is actually being controlled by a young gamer named Simon. Gamer will be coming to theatres September 4, but until then, you can check out a special remix of the trailer done by DJ Mike Relm.

View the trailer here