The Layover: Taipei Episode came out a few months ago, but I finally caught up to it during a rerun recently. Anthony Bourdain is a world traveller and usually survey's the land of culture through its food. A recent show, The Layover is spent checking out quick things to do in a 2-3 day layover, including sleep. If you've watched the other episodes in the series, you'll notice that time is often mentioned during the show. In the Taipei episode, Anthony is so busy, time is not an issue. From one night market to the hot springs to shrimp fishing (shrimping?), there was no lack of things to do. Anthony's shows usually shows a great deal of respect to the local culture and how someone from the outside can get a glimpse and still appreciate it.
Django Unchained (決殺令/黑殺令/被解救的姜戈) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz. The supporting cast include Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Walton Goggins. The film is also directed by Quentin Tarantino, the modern day pulp director. The movie is based a couple of years before the start of the American Civil War.
Django is a slave. Schultz is a bounty hunter. Django is the last person to have seen three brothers Schultz is after. Schultz takes Django from his captures and makes him a free man if he helps him get his bounty. Schultz feels compassion for Django and teaches him the bounty hunter trade. Django however wants to get his wife back, who has been sold to the Candyland plantation. Django and Schultz will need a great game plan to get his wife back from Candyland.
The movie was bloody and seemed very authentic to the era. Even though True Grit takes place decades after, this movie had the same "western" realism. Django does a little more showboating, but it moves the story along. The movie includes both joy and tragedy at the same time. The hyped use of the "n" word was not exaggerated. I was a little taken back by its heavy use, but I did expect it to happen.
A bloody, violent, and typical QT film. Watch it for the gritty western realism and its historical take.
Keanu Reeves has long been one of my favorite actors. I saw him in a TV movie on ABC called "Brotherhood Of Justice". From that point on, I've been a fan.
When Man Of Tai Chi was announced long time ago, I though it was a joke. Mainly because it was so long ago. But now, its a finished product, showed at Cannes, and is being released in Zhong Guo first, before making its way to the good ol' USA.
38 year old Kenichi Ebina from Tokyo recently appeared on the Chicago edition of America's Got Talent. Man has some serious skills. AGT also subtitled him too! Nice.
The reaction of the judges was pretty epic. And I think Kenichi is younger than all of them.
World War Z (末日之戰) is an 2013 film. The movie stars Brad Pitt. The supporting cast include Mireille Enos, Matthew Fox, Daniella Kertesz, and Fana Mokoena. The movie is based on a fiction novel of the same name by Max Brooks. The zombie "rules" in the film are different than that of the book.
The film starts with Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a retired UN officer playing homemaker in Philadelphia. While on the way to school, the city starts to go into a panic. Gerry senses that there something sinister happening and focuses on getting his family to safety. With his UN connections, they get to a navy ship. Initially reluctant, Lane sets out with a neural scientist to find a "cure" on a US base in South Korea. When they get there, things go wrong from the get go when the scientist dies. From there, Lane gathers clues to try to stop this pandemic.
This movie was pretty awesome. I haven't been at the edge of my seat in a movie since The Avengers. Iron Man 3 was pretty awesome too, but it didn't have the same suspense level. World War Z did well by giving us times of calm followed by a blitzkrieg of "will they survive" moments. The emotional connection he has for his family made his desperation all the more compelling. Why is he trying so hard to find a "cure"?
This movie has been written to death these past few months. From Entertainment Weekly, to movie blog sites, to other news sites. World War Z was heavily covered. I hope it does well enough at the box office for Parts 2 and 3 to be made. Pitt's production company planned to make this a trilogy. I think they have a good chance to make their money back and than some.
As I've read in articles, the book's zombie's are more like The Walking Dead type zombies. Slow. The movie zombies are like things from mother nature, such as ants. They swarm and act like insects. At this point, any new "zombie" film will try to add their own zombie rules. It's up to us to figure it out.
The Assassins (銅雀台) is an 2012 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Chow Yun-fat and Crystal Liu. The supporting cast include Alec Su and Annie Yi. The movie is based on Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms era.
Chow plays Cao Cao, a successful warlord of the Han Dynasty. Liu plays a mistress to Cao Cao. But Liu is trained at an early age by men of mysterious origin to assassinate Cao Cao. During her time with Cao Cao, she questions his ambition and its affect on the people. Conflicted, she doesn't really try to kill him. However, others in the imperial court have other plans. Cao Cao seems to have to defend himself from constant assassinations. The struggle of power between Cao Cao and the imperial court, including the Emperor of the time goes back and forth.
This movie was a hard watch. The lingo is basically Zhong Guo Shakespeare. The language is a mix of modern, but mostly in old style. Very hard to understand and follow. Especially when the volume is down. The story of Cao Cao and a girl has been told numerous times. This time around, the breed from small to assassinate concept is unique to Cao Cao (not to movies). Liu is starting to look like an adult now. Playing a sultry mistress wasn't a stretch. Funny how 2 to 3 years makes.
I am a borderline recommend on this. I believe the acting to be awesome. From Chow to Alec to Annie Yi, the acting was a well balance attack that didn't stray into the cheezy. The story was not as cohesive as I would have like.
Warm Bodies (殭屍哪有這麼帥) is an 2013 film. The movies stars Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. The supporting cast include Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, Analeigh Tipton, and John Malkovich. The movie is based on a novel of the same name written by Isaac Marion. The movie did well enough that Summit Entertainment is starting pre-production on a prequel.
Nicholas Hoult plays "R" a zombie. Teresa Palmer plays Julie Grigio, part of the remaining human race. While on a medicine run, R and his group find this human group and proceed to eat them. R actually eats Julie's boyfriend at the time. While eating the brains of his victim, R gains flashes of the memory left in the brain. As such, Julie's images flash before R, prompting him to save Julie from the other Zombies. When Julie gets back to the human camp safe, she tells of how this zombie is starting to become "human" again.
This movie was really really entertaining. Based on the current Zombie mythos, this version of zombies flips some conventions on its head. First is that while eating the brain, the zombie gains memories of its victims. Second is that zombies can be cured through love. Not some cure as we see in other inclinations (pertaining to vampires as well). Third is that zombie's can dream.
Add to it the extremely beautiful Montreal backdrop, Analiegh Tipton, and Theresa Palmer. Wow. Blown away. However, I find it hard to convince myself that I would re-watch this a second time. Definitely worth a watch though.
Two weekends ago, the 626 Night Market came back to life. With two more weekends for the summer, it's something to put on your to do list for 2013. If you're a local or visitor, there will be something for you.
With over 160 food vendors, ppl got their street food on.
It's not too late for both you and I. I will try to join the masses and make my first trip out to the 626 Night Market later this summer. You've got the first weekend of both July and August left in the Santa Anita Park of Arcadia, California.
Here Comes the Boom (肉腳擂台) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Kevin James, Henry Winkler, Salma Hayek, and Bas Rutten. The supporting cast includes Reggie Lee and Charice. MMA fighters making cameos include Mark Muñoz, Jason Miller, Satoshi Ishii, Wanderlei Silva, and Chael Sonnen. There were lots of others from the MMA world as well, too numerous to name.
James plays Scott Voss, an High School biology teacher. When school cuts are made, he makes a promise to the music teacher to help the school raise funds. After a bake sale and some other activities, Scott soon realized that he needs to do something else. While watching a UFC fight, he's told the the loser of the fight gets $10K. Needing only $50K to help the music program, he starts to train for and fight with the purpose of losing. Along the way, he gets better and actually wins. Drawing the attention of the UFC, he's given a shot to help save the music program.
This movie was awesome. I was laughing for much of the movie. It also has nice touches of sensitivity. On a recent plane trip overseas, I must have watched bits and pieces of this film like 10 times. I liked it that much. And you should too. Watch it.
James does his lovable teacher gag to perfection. Add in some family, school, and personal drama, you've got a great compelling story. Throw in the UFC and MMA in general as the backdrop, it adds so many more layers. From trying to save the USA's music programs, the legitimacy of MMA/UFC in general as an acceptable sport, national school cut backs, immigrants trying to become naturalized in the US, and real life economic hardships. It touches more, but those were the main themes I picked up.
分手合約 (A Wedding Invitation) has been slowly getting limited released in major US cities with many Asians. New York in May, working its way to Los Angeles this weekend in Monterey Park. Eddie Peng stars in this movie about moving on up to get married. The title of the film in Zhong Wen translates to "break up contract" or "break up agreement". Don't get this mixed up with the VV and JA movie, Break Up. A Wedding Invitation is purely a Zhong Guo story.
The movie is directed by South Korean Oh Ki-hwan and being distributed buy the South Korean company CJ.
Over acting seems to be in abundance from the trailer as the only way to make a point is to shout louder than the other guy and to cry. Nice. K-drama style.
Alex Cross (FBI重裝戒備) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Tyler Perry. The supporting cast include Matthew Fox, Edward Burns, and Rachel Nichols. The movie is based on an novel series of the same name.
Tyler Perry sheds the disguises to take on Alex Cross. Cross works for the Detroit PD as their psychologist criminal profiler. Cross is a family man with a wife and daughter all the while living in the house he grew up in with his mother. A perfect family. So perfect that he's giving up a plum position with the FBI. The FBI position would require him to relocate to the DC area. When a master assassin starts making hits against a wealthy man of the city. Cross and his team are there to investigate. Cross is so smart he figures out a clue to his next target. The assassin than goes after Cross's loved ones. Which heats up the search for his next target. Cross tries to predict the next moves. But the killer seems to be one step ahead. How will this cat and mouse game end?
I saw this movie on the airplane. Which made it a less dramatic due to the small 7-inch screen. The movie itself was ok to good. Not something I would really recommend, but I'll have to admit that it kept my mind of the flight for almost two hours. The movie itself had a lot of overacting. From Tyler to Fox to whoever else.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (特種部隊2:正面對決/義勇群英:毒蛇反擊戰/特种部队:全面反击) is an 2013 film. The movie stars Dwayne Johnson, D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, and Adrianne Palicki. The supporting cast include Bruce Willis, Jonathan Pryce, Elodie Yung, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, and Channing Tatum. This film was originally set for release for the 2012 June summer session. But Tatum's rise in popularity force the studio to push the date back and add more scenes that included Tatum.
After the events of the first G.I. Joe movie, Zartan has assumed the identity of the president of the US of A. Cobra Commander and Destro are kept in a secret prison in Germany. The plan is to use the alias of the prez to gain the location of the the captured Cobra Commander. Once they do, they can release him and leverage the identity of the Prez to dominate the world. First, they need the Joes out of action because they are the only ones that can stop Cobra. The Joes are framed during a nuclear head mission. Deemed a enemy of the world, they go underground to stop Cobra. But before they do that, they enlist the help of the man for which the Joe name comes. Together, they try to reveal to the world that the president was fake and keep the nuclear weapons at bay.
This film serves a purpose. Big bad @$$ doods like The Rock and kick @$$ ninjas in Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow do their thing. They kick butt and take names later. Add to it the almost non-stop action, its a popcorn flick for the ages. Don't get caught up in the story, don't worry about the terrible acting, don't even think of how ridiculous the concept of Cobra is. Just enjoy that this movie was made to entertain, blow things up, and give you joy in action.
June's Blockbusters may get all the attention, but there also those that dear to walk the path less traveled. You might be one of them. Here's a few "offbeat" movies for you to chew on. This list is based on USA release dates.
Amazon is pretty cool. I've been a Amazon Prime member since a few years back. Before they added video service, I would occasionally do the 1 month trial to get the free 2 day shipping vs. having to purchase $25 or more of eligible products for free shipping.
Since that time, the library of Amazon continues to increase, as has other services as well, like Netflix.
Recently, the amount of foreign films in the library jumped from around 100 to roughly 1000. It was mostly european films and a films from Hong Kong and South Korea, like Ip Man and The Man From Nowhere. Recently, they've added a lot of movies from South Korea and now Zhong Guo's movies are making it there. Where you see the best of the best here? No, but its nice nonetheless.
I've got plenty to watch from the Prime TV series. I recently started on Justified, Fringe, and Falling Skies among other things.
Battle Of The Year (世界Battle) is being released in September. The trailers are starting to trickle in from Sony Pictures. I've been waiting for this movie for a long time. Benson Lee's Plant B-Boy had exposed the general public to this movement. Prior to this, I got back into b-boy-ing via YouTube. I had heard of the Japanese crews being awesome and the Korean groups right on their heels of late.
Having been in the US of A for 30+ years now and being of the Asian heritage, I have in various forms been asked, "Where are you from?". I've noted some of the rasism I've faced through the years here in this very blog. I had a Home Depot rant from a few years back. Back in February, in front of a local Korean supermarket, I got cussed out by an old "white" dood. Nice, all part of the "American" experience. However, life goes on and things like that take a back seat.
The youtube video, "What kind of Asian are you?", has been making the rounds of Facebook and other Asian American blogs of late. And its merited because it hits a cord that so many of the Asian heritage in the US of A have experienced.
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Box Office Mojo is being slow so I am using Ent Group's published HK box office totals for the whole week.
