I know, I know.  Three posts in a week.  You’re probably thinking: “What gives?  Why the sudden burst of activity?”

Well, I’m entering a contract year with LoveHKFilm so I’ve shot myself up full of steroids and HGH in the hope of raising my performance to the point where I can get some fool (I’m looking at you, owners of the Kozo Entertainment Group) to sign an aging veteran like me to a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract.

OK, OK.  The truth is I’m trying to give up laziness for Lent this year.  I know that upping my activity here on the blog for Lent goes in direct contradiction with church leaders urging the flock to eschew technology during the Lenten season but, hey, you gotta do what ya gotta do.

I can’t say if I’ll be posting news links on a regular basis.  Let’s just enjoy today and let tomorrow take care of tomorrow.  However, I will be back next week to add my noise to the ongoing Sexy Photos Gate cacophony.

GENERAL NEWS:

Reluctant action hero: Chow Yun Fat is resigned to being typecast in Hollywood

Picture Perfect: HK Magazine previews the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival

Taipei Times Pop Stop: Jill Vidal and Kelvin Kwan busted for drugs, Sexy Photos Gate, Niki Chow and Jay Chou

More Jill Vidal and Kelvin Kwan: Arrested HK pop stars hope for deportation, HK stars in Tokyo drug bust

Andy Lau: Andy Lau clarifies wedding news on official website, Not Married, No Kids, No Plans to Work with Gillian Chung, Andy Lau to Marry Carol Zhu in April?

Karen Mok offers free service as ambassador of Hong Kong Film Fest

Vivian Chow Wai-Man: A perfectionist in life , Vivian Chow Two Months Pregnant?

Zhang Ziyi’s latest Hollywood film THE HORSEMEN opens on March 6th

Jackie Chan returns to Chinese film with gang thriller

World’s first Jackie Chan museum to open in Shanghai

Movie and media empire Shaw Brothers’ privatization deal approved

Painted movie stills are a reflection of the times

MOVIE REVIEWS:

James Marsh of bc magazine reviews the Love films quartet: LOVE CONNECTED, GIVE LOVE, BASIC LOVE and L.O.V.E.

James Marsh reviews Wayne Wang’s latest A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS and Zhou Xun’s latest THE EQUATION OF LOVE AND DEATH

IN PRODUCTION:

Chow Yun-Fat to play Confucius in biopic: CRI English article, Yahoo! News Singapore article

Feng Xiaogang’s next film will be about the 1976 Tangshen earthquake: CRI English article, China Daily article, Associated Press article

Zhang Yimou to direct movie dedicated to New China’s 60th anniversary

Zhang Ziyi to co-star in new film with Fan Bingbing and Peter Ho

SEXY PHOTOS GATE NEWS LINKS:

Reopening the Edison Files

Cecilia Cheung: Cecilia Cheung Talks about Her Sex Photo Scandal on TV, Cecilia Cheung lashes out at Edison Chen, HK actress Cecilia Cheung lashes out at Edison Chen over sex photos, Cecilia to Ed: You’re lying, Cecilia Cheung writes diary to educate son on her misdoings

Edison Chen: Edison Chen wants to return as film producer, not actor, Edison Chen avoids commenting on return to showbiz, Chinese pop star hopes to move on from nude photo scandal,  Lights, camera,… Edison!, Edison Chen in court over sex photos, Stalking Edison Chen, Edison’s past no issue for some, ‘We don’t want him’

Gillian Chung: Unaffected Gillian Chung Plans Comeback after Edison’s Hearing, Gillian Chung to talk about Edison, Gillian finally at ease with cameras again, Gillian earns seven-figure paycheck for first assignment, Gillian Chung’s Comeback to ‘Be Tough’

PHOTO GALLERYS:

Zhao Wei’s Portrayal as Mulan Unveiled

Lin Chiling Takes A Bike Ride for Charity

Karena Lam Ka-Yan

When I launched the What’s Sanney Watching? feature just before the Lunar New Year,  I figured that it would be easy to maintain.  Just write my brief comments in a text widget then cut and paste old entries onto an archive page when I write new entries.  Well, it turns out that there are some annoying formatting issues with WordPress and maintaining the feature as I originally envisioned was more trouble than Cherie Chung in AN AUTUMN’S TALE.  As I am, like Krusty the Clown, a “lazy, lazy man”, I’m turning What’s Sanney Watching? blurbs into blog entries with their own blog category.

Back when I did my old site, I resisted such automated archiving but that was when I had youthful vigour fueled by pills and cheap cocaine.  Now, I’m just an old fart who doesn’t care if automated archiving brings society one step closer to Judgment Day and Skynet taking over humanity.

Here is the latest addition to What’s Sanney Watching? followed by the previous entries (in the future, you can access the feature by clicking on its blog category link):

March 4th, 2009: RUN PAPA RUN

A decent middle sandwiched in between an awkward opening and a highly questionable ending.  I wonder if the film would have been better served if Sylvia Chang kept a consistent tone by either playing it straight or going totally surreal a la MEMORIES OF MATSUKO.  The film requires some good will on the part of the audience so it’s probably only for fans of Sylvia Chang/Louis Koo/Rene Liu.  General audiences may be put off by the offbeat opening and the muddled climax.

Nice to see veterans like Nora Miao, Max Mok Siu-Chung and Kent Cheng Jut-Si make appearances.

HKFA Watch: Louis Koo gives a nice performance but Nick Cheung is still, for me, the leader in the clubhouse for the Best Actor prize.  We’ll see if he can hold on after I watch Donnie Yen in IP MAN later this week.

(SPOILER WARNING: Skip this section if you don’t want the ending of the movie spoiled.) Clearly, the silly, ambiguous, frou-frou ending was tacked on to appease Mainland censors and their “crime doesn’t pay” edict.  If you’re going to go to such lengths to imply a happy ending, why not go a little further and have a scene where Rene Liu’s character gets a SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION-like blank postcard from some Thai beach town.  Wouldn’t a hint like that offer a more satisfying conclusion than the “vision bestowed by God someplace, sometime, somewhere” ending?  In both cases, you’re strongly implying a happy ending without explicitly showing it.

* * * * *

February 28th, 2009: LEVERAGE Season 1, Episode 1 “The Nigerian Job”

A fun “honourable thieves” show that features amusing cons and capers. It has a very likeable cast that includes Gina “Crazy Jane” Bellman from COUPLING. This first episode has one of the best premise establishing lines I’ve heard in a while: “People like that, corporations like that, they have all the money, they have all the power. And they use it to make people like you go away. Right now, you’re suffering under an enormous weight. We provide leverage.”

A big thanks to reader Alex L. who recommended this show to me and generously sent me his DVD recordings of the first eight episodes because I mentioned previously that I liked BBC’s HUSTLE.

February 16th, 2009: TRUE WOMAN FOR SALE

While it has a smaller budget and a less glamourous cast than its predecessor WHISPERS AND MOANS, TRUE WOMAN FOR SALE is also less preachy and more enjoyable. Unlike the first film, it effectively shines a spotlight on some HK social issues without going overboard and making the audience feel like they are attending a lecture instead of watching a movie.

If I was the benevolent dictator of the HKFA, I would have nominated it for Best Film instead of CJ7. After all, the film is actually about HK so you think you might want to show it some love at the HONG KONG Film Awards. But then, you might not get Stephen Chow to show up for the ceremony.

February 15th, 2009: THE AMAZING RACE Season 14, Episode 1 “Don’t Let A Cheese Hit Me”

My favourite reality show is back for another season with a cast that seems mostly likeable. Based solely on the first episode, I think I’ll be cheering for the Asian-American brother-sister lawyer team, the stuntmen brothers and — because I’m a “mature” heterosexual male — the “mature” blonde flight attendants.

February 3rd, 2009: THE WRESTLER

I outgrew following professional wrestling long ago but, like a health conscious person who indulges in an occasional visit to Burger King, I’ll still watch WWE once in a while. After seeing this film, I think I’m done. With its brutal depiction of what the business does to its stars (I had to turn away from the screen a couple of times during the hardcore match sequence), the movie gives you insight on why so many wrestlers have died way before their time.

Mickey Rourke gives a good performance but it doesn’t feel like an outstanding, blow-your-mind, award-winning type of performance. If he wins the Oscar, it’ll probably be because of his “comeback” story more than anything he did in his portrayal of Randy The Ram.

February 2nd, 2009: ROLE MODELS

Saw this for $3 at the second-run theatre. Amusing comedy. Not as good as THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN or SUPERBAD but it still offered some laughs and, for the guys, some eye candy. A decent salve for the emptiness caused by the NFL season concluding with yesterday’s Super Bowl.

January 23rd, 2009: THE WAY WE ARE

Wonderful, wonderful film. I hope this picks up a bunch of hardware in April though God forbid the Hong Kong Film Awards recognize a film that’s actually about Hong Kong. I’ll probably be writing a post about this movie as the awards approach.

January 16th, 2009: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Season 3, Episode 1 “I Knew You When”

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose! FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is back without the murders and Guatemalan home care nurses that marred the second season. It’s great to see Coach and Mrs. Coach again. Go Panthers! Let’s go to State!

January 9th, 2009: HUSTLE Series 5, Episode 1 “Return of the Prodigal”

Mickey Bricks is back in London and the con is on once again. Kelly Adams is H-O-T and, to my great surprise, making me forget all about Jaime Murray/Stacie Monroe. Though I miss seeing Marc Warren/Danny Blue, the two new members of the crew are an improvement over Billy who served basically to just reverse the Danny-Mickey dynamic.

January 2nd, 2009: THROWDOWN

I had this on my “to watch” pile back in 2004-2005 but I got sick so I didn’t get around to watching it until now. What a treat. I wished that I would have seen this great movie about having a positive attitude in life (積極人生) before my cancer. Hearing Paula Tsui Siu-Fung belt out that theme song from SUGATA SANSHIRO again brought back some fond memories and had me going through my late Uncle Kwok-Hung’s old tapes looking for it.

Having completed the arduous task of sorting all of my pills according to colour, I’m ready to share some thoughts on THE BEAST STALKER.

THE BEAST STALKER
証人
Official Site: http://thebeaststalker.emp.hk/en_main.html
Director: Dante Lam Chiu-Yin
Cast: Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung (Sergeant Tong Fei), Nick Cheung Ka-Fai (Hung Kin), Zhang Jingchu (Ann Gao), Liu Kai-Chi (Sun), Miao Pu (Hung’s wife), Derek Kwok Jing-Hung (Michael)

Synopsis (from Yahoo! Movies): A traffic accident brings together the lives of a wanted criminal, a police sergeant, a public prosecutor and her daughter.

PRE-CONCEIVED NOTIONS: Kozo gave this movie a positive review and YTSL from Webs of Significance recommended it to me so I’m expecting to see a good film.  I’m also watching it as part of my quest to see all of the Hong Kong Film Awards nominees (Nick Cheung is nominated for Best Actor, Liu Kai-Chi for Best Supporting Actor plus the film nabbed a Best Screenplay nomination).  In addition, I’m curious to see the continuing evolution of the Crown Prince of the HK entertainment circle Nic Tse.

AFTER THE MOVIE: An enthralling film that held my attention from the moment the Emperor Motion Pictures logo dissolved to the moment the credits began to roll.  It reminded me a lot of PROTEGE in that a handful of off key moments tainted what was otherwise a fine film.  That said, it’s a better, more compelling film than PROTEGE and an eminently satisfying Hong Kong movie experience.

MORE THOUGHTS: Two aspects of THE BEAST STALKER keep it just a shade under the “great movie” category.  The first is the flashback ending that detracts rather than enhances what happened in the rest of the movie.  The second is a couple of instances of overacting by Nic Tse.

When I rated the HKFA nominated best films last year, I put Johnnie To’s EYE IN THE SKY at the top.  Other HK movie buffs derided the movie and rated it lower because they felt it was too contrived and relied too much on coincidence to move its plot forward.  Well, the contrivances in EYE IN THE SKY pale in comparison to the contrivance at the end of THE BEAST STALKER.  The “needle in a haystack” contrivance at the end of EYE IN THE SKY is easier to swallow than the “one stone, many ripples” contrivance at the end of THE BEAST STALKER.  Sure, the flashback in the closing minutes of THE BEAST STALKER ties a bow on the package.  Unfortunately, it’s an ugly-looking bow that distracts from an otherwise neatly-wrapped package.  In fact, the film probably would not have been hurt one bit if the characters weren’t bound together by a strange twist of fate.

Maybe my perspective has been skewed by watching 16 out of the 19 seasons of LAW & ORDER (I didn’t start watching until the third season and I missed one season because of cancer treatments) but there’s no way in real life that the Secretary of Justice would let Ann Gao continue with the prosecution of chief bad guy Cheung Yat-Tung.  Having conducted all of my criminal enterprises here in the West, I’m not intimately familiar with the Hong Kong legal system but letting Ann Gao prosecute a man who was involved in the death of her daughter screams “conflict of interest”.  Also, one of the reasons the Secretary of Justice lets Ann Gao continue is because it’s a cut-and-dried “slam dunk” case.  Well, wouldn’t that be a good reason to let another prosecutor handle the case?  If it’s such an “open and shut” case, couldn’t any semi-competent prosecutor take over?  Just another contrivance that bugs about the film.

Before I begin slamming Nic Tse’s performance, I want to make it clear that I think he’s come a long, long way from the first time I saw him in a major production: the 1998 TVB series AIMING HIGH (撻出愛火花).  He’s matured quite a bit and has added an air of gravitas to his screen charisma.  Back when I ran my old site — especially during the weeks I did daily translations of the coverage from his perversion of justice case — I pegged him to be just another pretty-boy idol who’d get a longer run than he deserved because of his pedigree.  After watching his work in THE BEAST STALKER, I’m convinced that he can, if he wants, have a long career as a respected actor.  However …

… there are moments in THE BEAST STALKER where his acting is so over-the-top, it’s unintentionally funny.  The first instance happens early in the film when he chews out a subordinate for screwing up during a raid.  Tse’s sergeant-in-charge-of-a-squad is supposed to command respect because he’s a good cop but the way Tse does the screaming scene makes him seem like the type of boss that underlings roll their eyes at instead of one they respect.  I actually started laughing during that scene because it reminded me of the comic-relief angry superiors that were staples in ’80s era cop movies like BEVERLY HILLS COP and LETHAL WEAPON.

The second instance happens near the end of the film when Tse’s character is weeping and we learn that he’s suicidal.  Tse gets the physical mechanics of crying right but it feels empty — there isn’t, as Bruce Lee would say, “emotional content” in the weeping.  I watched the movie with my friend Steve (I supplied the DVD, he supplied a bacon, cheese and mushroom pizza and a vegetarian pizza).  Halfway through Tse’s weeping scene, Steve starts laughing and doing the Nancy Kerrigan “Why? Why?” bit.  A more accomplished actor like my cousin Tony or my other cousin Tony would have found the right register for the scene and kept the momentum going instead of derailing it by going over-the-top.

I’m not saying Tse is a bad actor.  I think he just needs more experience to fine tune his acting abilities.  Actors like Chow Yun-Fat, Simon Yam Tat-Wah and my cousin Tony perfected their skills by doing hundreds of hours of acting in TVB dramas before they made the transition to the big screen.  Tse doesn’t have that depth of experience yet and it showed in those two scenes.  He’s well on his way, however, to being a top actor.  As Kozo pointed out in his review, Nic Tse is aging well.  I don’t think Nic Tse circa 2004 pulls off the “I’m sorry” scene with Derek Kwok Jing-Ying.

MISCELLANEA: 

-  In my review of the BANGKOK DANGEROUS remake, I squeezed my friend Keri’s shoes for being annoyed by Charlie Yeung Choi-Lei’s visible panty line.  Now, the shoe is on the other foot as I was annoyed by Miao Pu’s pristinely manicured fingers.  They just seemed so out-of-place for Miao’s character.  How does a woman in her condition end up with such well-maintained finger nails?  It’s not like she can do it herself and it’s not like her almost blind husband is going to do it for her.  I suppose that Nick Cheung’s character could have hired a manicurist to come over and do it but that seems unlikely since he was keeping his wife in a hidden room and hostages in another part of the flat.

- Speaking of Nick Cheung, he’s the leader in the clubhouse for my Best Actor pick.  I haven’t seen Donnie Yen in IP MAN or Louis Koo in RUN PAPA RUN yet (DVDs are in the mail) but I think Cheung’s work in THE BEAST STALKER is superior to my cousin Tony’s performance in RED CLIFF and Simon Yam’s performance in SPARROW.  Not only did Cheung show touching and compassionate sides in the way he dealt with his wife and his little kid hostage, he easily transformed, with his cloudy eye and marked up face, into a relentlessly menacing Terminator-like presence.  An excellent, taut performance that demonstrated Cheung’s diverse skill and great range.

- As for Liu Kai-Chi’s prospects in the Best Supporting Actor category, I think he’s in tough going up against the likes of Stephen Chow in CJ7 and Zhang Fengyi’s Cao Cao in RED CLIFF.

- Flaws and all, I think THE BEAST STALKER could have easily taken CJ7’s place in the Best Film category.  PROTEGE got nominated last year and it has more holes and bad moments than THE BEAST STALKER.

Image credits: NBC Universal (LAW & ORDER graphic), TVB (AIMING HIGH graphic), ABC (Nancy Kerrigan), Emperor Motion Pictures (THE BEAST STALKER screen grabs)

Though I am a man of science and reason, I do carry Chinese DNA so I can be guilty, on occasion, of being “Chinese superstitious”.  I don’t believe in ghosts and spirits but I still do things like cleaning before Lunar New Year (and, for that matter, the Gregorian New Year) because I can understand the reasoning behind the notion of sweeping out the “bad things” of the passing year and starting the new year with a clean slate.  I know it’s silly and has no bearing whatsoever on the future but the Chinese DNA in my cells started developing 8,000 plus years ago on the banks of the Yellow River so the superstitious urges that the DNA dictates is a mighty hard thing to resist.

As this is my first post in the Year of the Ox, I’m loathe to make it a negative one.  My “Chinese superstitious” side is screaming for me to start off the new year on a positive note but the Hong Kong Film Critics Society’s jaw-dropping decision to name THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON as one of its recommended films of 2008 has my head shaking in bewilderment and my mind screaming: “Are you KIDDING me?  Did you guys actually SEE the movie?”.  I was able to overcome the urge to denounce the move when the Society announced their award winners last month.  However, when I read in the paper that they are presenting their awards today at 3 pm with a ceremony at the Hong Kong Film Archive, it stirred up the old grievance so I’m setting my Chinese superstitions aside to rail, once again, about the Hong Kong Films Society Awards.

In recommending THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON, the Society praised director Daniel Lee Yan-Kong for using ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS as a backdrop for insights into the notions of destiny and karma.  When I read that, I went to check my DVD of the film to make sure that I didn’t get sold an illegal, pirated copy because the version of the movie that I saw didn’t have much thematic depth.  The movie that I saw looked good and had solid production values but it handled the philosophical aspects of war, life, destiny and karma in a very cursory and superficial way.  To argue that THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON was insightful about destiny and karma is like arguing that PLAYBOY COPS was penetrating social commentary on the nature of the rich and poor in Hong Kong and gave insight on the father-son relationship.  Both were slick productions but neither film offered profound wisdom about anything.

Besides taking issue with the Society’s opinion of the narrative depth of THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON, I think the film has many other problems that would make me hesitate to recommend it as one of the best films of 2008.  The way it changes history is at the top of the list.  It’s fine in a piece of historical fiction to tweak historical details but to change history wholesale by suggesting that Zhao Yun died heroically during a seige rather than, as happened in real life, dying of illness in old age not only annoys historical purists, it kills the film’s credibility with its core audience — ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS fans.

Having Sammo Hung’s character narrate the film was also an odd choice.  The Three Kingdoms saga is filled with larger than life personalities like Zhao Yun, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei so why tell the story from the perspective of a low-level soldier like Hung’s Pingan? Not only is he a virtual no-name, he’s presented as a bit of a stumbling, bumbling buffoon.  So why would anyone expect the audience to give two cents about this character much less anything this character has to say?  An odd narrative decision.

Like I said earlier, the film has solid, slick production values, but it’s marred by clumsy storytelling, inconsistent pacing and action sequences edited with the herky-jerky, murky style that filmmakers continue to use despite the fact that 95% of moviegoers are annoyed by it.  Add that all together and THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON is closer to being one of the worst movies of 2008 than one of the best.  As I said earlier, you have to wonder if the Hong Kong Film Critics Society saw a different version of the movie.

FOR THE RECORD: The Hong Kong Film Critics Society gathered on January 4th to determine the winners for their 15th annual awards (click here for the winners list). They spent eight hours and used three rounds of voting to sift through fifty-five eligible films. While the number of films under consideration was up four from 2007, most of the films from 2008 were deemed “poor quality” and only eight to twelve films were seriously considered for awards.

By a wide margin, Ann Hui On-Wah’s THE WAY WE ARE was named Best Film of 2008.  HIGH NOON, SPARROW, THE BEAST STALKER, RUN PAPA RUN, CITY OF BASEBALL, IP MAN, FATAL MOVE and CLAUSTROPHOBIA were also considered but the overwhelming support for THE WAY WE ARE made a final vote moot.

The following is a list of candidates nominated for voting, the finalists and the winners for the remaining categories: Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Actor.

Image credits: Beijing Poly-bona Film Publishing Company (THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON poster), BIG Pictures (PLAYBOY COPS poster)

恭喜發財﹗ 恭喜發財﹗Kung Hei Fat Choi!  Kung Hei Fat Choi!  Welcome to Year 4707 and the Year of the Ox!

With the tough economic times in mind, here’s my Lunar New Year wish for all of you:

That’s all for today.  I do have some thoughts about the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards and its decision to list THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON as one of its recommended films but today is Lunar New Year not Festivus so I’ll leave the “airing of grievances” for another time.

Something new for the new year … I added a “What’s Sanney Watching?” widget to the sidebar.  Just trying to add a little more nonsense to the blog.

新年快樂﹗ Happy New Year!