The Drummer - 戰鼓

The Drummer (戰鼓) is a 2007 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Jaycee Chan, Tony Leung, Angelica Lee, and Roy Cheung. Eugenia Yuan makes a brief cameo.

Jaycee Chan plays Sid, the son of one of the toughest triad bosses in Hong Kong. That tough triad boss is Tony Leung as Kwan. Sid starts up a relationship with a mistress of a triad boss higher up than Kwan, Stephen Ma. Ma catches Sid and his Mistress Carmen. Sid confronts Ma and insults him in front of his men. From that point on, Ma wants Sid dead. Kwan steps in and sends Sid to Taiwan to hide out while he takes care of the situation in Hong Kong with Ma. While in Taiwan, Sid has to settle into a boring life and laying low and not causing trouble. Sid is awoken daily by the sound of drums every morning. Sid was a drummer in a band back in Hong Kong and is interested in finding out where this sound comes from. Sid works his way into the group. As its most junior member, he'll have to learn the virtues of being a drummer. Sid befriends Angelica Lee as Hong Dou and tries to impress her. Along the way, the events in Hong Kong eventually get worst for Kwan as he ends up in jail. Will Sid be able to find the virtues of drumming? Will he be able to get back to Hong Kong?

The movie was beyond my expectations. It took the Hong Kong triad movie style and applies it to the slow pace of a "coming of age" story. Character development of the primary protagonist Sid is explored to its fullest at the expense of of the people around him. The pacing of the movie was herky jerky, but it worked for me. At times, the mood who be intense, than move to a somber moment. The mood shift would normally be too abrupt for me. But it worked me in this film. Fast to slow, slow to fast, over and over again.

The drumming group featured in this film is the famed U-Theatre (優人神鼓) drumming group based out of Taiwan. Other than Angelica Lee and Jaycee Chan, the rest of the troupe are real members. I would like to see U-Theatre one of these days. If I ever find out they are coming to Los Angeles, my wife and I will try to make time to go see their show.

I got the movie off Netflix and their was only 1 language track with English subtitles available. The scenes in Hong Kong were in Cantonese and the scenes in Taiwan were in Mandarin. Normally, I'd like to watch the completely Mandarin dubbed version so I don't have to read subtitles. But this version wasn't bad and it was a change of pace to hear their real voices. The "making of" was long and gave an in-depth look at the movie that was excellent.

Fighting - 打出頭

Fighting (打出頭) is a 2009 out of the US. The movie stars Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, and Zulay Henao. Cung Le makes a special appearance as a fighter.

Channing Tatum is Shawn MacArthur, a street hustler selling fake iPods and Harry Potter books. In the front of Radio City, a crew led by Terrence Howard as Harvey Boarden, starts to mess with Shawn and eventually steal some of his materials and money. Shawn runs into Harvey's crew in a diner while passing by and demands his money. Harvey strikes up a relationship with Shawn and becomes his manager. Harvey gets Shawn more fights and each fight is more money. Shawn fights and fights his way up. While getting the girl too.

The movie was very predictable and the fighting wasn't very fluid. Too many edits and shaking going on. I think they need to do that to disguise the actors sake. Cung Le was in the "Asian" fight and again, the fight wasn't great due to the quick edits and shaking.

The Asians in the movie were played up to exotic or weird and in red. What's up with the stupid stereotypes. It played the Chinatown syndrome stereotypes to the max. Yet, later on, it was referenced as a Korean establishment. Yikes! Racist Hollywood at work. And I am only talking about the "Asian" scenes.

The Expendables - 浴血任務 - Trailer

The trailer for The Expendables (浴血任務) was released recently. The movie was written, directed, and stars Sylvester Stallone. Sly is joined by a who's who of action movie stars from the birth of the Blockbuster era in ensemble, cameos, bad guys, and background guys roles. A movies and B movies can make you an action star.

Among these from the 80s and 90s are Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Gary Daniels, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The current action stars include Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, and Steve Austin.

The movie seems to be a bloody mess from the trailer, but if its a Rambo 2 throwback, count me in. I probably will be watching on DVD and not in the theatres.

America's Best Dance Crew - Season 5 - Hip Hop Nation and Last Chance Challenges

Last night was the tenth episode of America's Best Dance Crew (Season 5), Hip Hop Nation and Last Chance Challenges.

The final three crews took the stage and Blueprint Cru was voted into the finals. Hype 5-0 and Poreotix drop to an elimination round. I was actually surprised since Poreotix was my favorite from last week. Maybe MTV had to eliminate one of the Asian crews? Just a conspiracy theory.

Blueprint Cru performed the Hip Hop Nation and Last Chance Challenges in ok fashion. After the first few times of seeing them, I am pretty bored watching them. I wasn't really feeling their performances.

Hype 5-0 went back to their high energy choreo and added a few disses of some crews. In all, it was also ok. But it wasn't enough for the judges to keep them around for the final.

Poreotix performed twice and I liked both of them better than the rest. But I wasn't blown away. It was enjoyable as I like their style. Precise movements with flashes of b-boy thown in. The Hip Hop Nation challenge was good because it was so long. They were able to throw in a lot of stuff. But nothing with a "wow" factor. Their Last Challenge was a different story. Sticking to what they like best, Poreotix went back to basic and had lots of isolations, tutting, popping, and robotic movements.

I would be surprised if Blueprint Cru is awarded ABDC next week. But this season was very similar to the last season for me. I was waiting and waiting and waiting to be wowed. I never did, but it was so close, it kept me around.

In comparison, Season 1 was kept intense because Jabba and Kaba were so good. Season 2 had Super Cr3w, SoReal Cru, Fanny Pak, and Supreme Soul putting out amazing performances every week. Season 3 belonged to Quest and Beat freaks.

Season 4 and the most current, Season 5 did not present any real front runners and really anyone could have been eliminated each week and we wouldn't be surprised.

Well, I will be voted by the locals of Los Angeles, Poreotix. Not only because they are homeboys, but I like them better. To each their vote.

台北星期天 - Pinoy Sunday - Upcoming

台北星期天 (Pinoy Sunday) is an upcoming movie being released in Taipei on May 7, 2010. The movie is the adventures of two pinoys in Taipei.

The Chinese title translates to Taipei ("台北") Sunday("星期天"). Which is normally the day of the week that workers in Taiwan get some time off to do their own thing.

The movie seems to follow two Pinoy men on a Sunday and their adventures with a red sofa. The movie seems to look at relationships in a foreign land while they have a family back home.

I highly doubt I'll ever get to see this movie in Los Angeles as it probably will not get any English subtitles. Well see. I would like to see this movie.