Daniel Pinder has joined the cast of the independent supernatural movie Sarah with shooting starting in Los Angeles in late summer.
The film centers on a teen harboring a dark secret as she visits her relatives for the summer. The Sarah cast includes Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen, The Florida Project star Valeria Cotto, D.B. Sweeney, Ava Allan, Spencer List, Youtube star Andy Schrock and Tallulah Evans. Pinder will portray the character Brett.
The Screenplay was written by Alexander Garcia, who will also be directing and producing under Multi-Valence productions alongside his producing partner Anne Stimac and Stuart Arbury.
Pinder’s credits include NBC’s Chicago PD, We Are Your Friends, and his upcoming films, Paved New World, Garrison 7: The Fallen and Skate God.
Pinder is repped by The Michael Abrams Group and Central Artists Agency.
“Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons” Japanese Theatrical Poster
Chinese superstar Stephen Chow is developing an animated version of The Monkey King for the Shanghai-based animation company Pearl Studio. It will feature a script penned by Ron Friedman and Steve Bencich, who cowrote Brother Bear and Chicken Little.
Monkey King is described by the Studio as “one of China’s most mythical, mystical and mischievous superheroes.”
“It’s one of China’s most enduringly popular heroes of all time. Every child in China grows up knowing the epic tale,” said studio chief creative officer Peilin Chou. “Stephen is the perfect creative partner to bring the character to the world. We know that he will bring all the comedy and scope that makes this adventure legend so special and translate The Monkey King into an enchanting and exciting global animated event.”
The story of the Monkey King from the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West is of course not new to Chow. He previously played the character in A Chinese Odyssey 1 and 2, directed Journey to the West and produced the Tsui Hark-directed Journey to the West 2: The Demons Strike Back.
In Michio Yamamoto’s Bloodthirsty Trilogy, The Vampire Doll was like a fever dream of a vampire movie and Lake of Dracula was a social anxiety thriller disguised as a vampire movie, so where could the director go for the final film? Well, back to school of course! Evil of Dracula, the third and final Bloodthirsty film, replaces the spooky house with a spooky girl’s college and unleashes vampires on a staff of teachers and a bunch of young women with poorly buttoned blouses. If this sounds a tad campier than the first two films, that’s because it definitely is.
Professor Shiraki (Lady Snowblood’s Toshio Kurosawa) takes a train to the countryside for his new gig as a teacher of psychology at an all girl’s school. He’s young, he’s handsome, he has a shaggy Sonny Chiba hairstyle, and all the girls basically start falling in love with him the moment he steps through the door. His first night there, Shiraki is drawn from his room by the sound of singing, and is subsequently attacked by a vampire lady. He wakes up the next day, certain that it was only a dream. But a dream is never really just a dream in these movies. Shiraki’s in for another surprise when the school principal (Shin Kishida) announces that he plans for Shiraki to take over as principal of the school. Something’s just not right about this place. And when most the girls—with the exception of three who stay behind—go home on school break, Professor Shiraki makes it his mission to get to the bottom of things.
While most movies with this setup would have the kids learn of vampires and try to tell their disbelieving (and potentially evil) teachers, Evil of Dracula flips that on its head. Here it’s the adults who are quick to believe the notion of vampires hidden among us, whereas the students generally see a vampire bite victim as someone with a bad case of the flu. The school’s doctor (Cops vs Thugs’ Kunie Tanaka) takes Shiraki on a mystery tour around town, telling him the story of the principal’s dead wife and also about the Christian missionary who became a vampire before being buried here 200 years ago. Strangely, the town doesn’t pick up its trash and nobody seems at all bothered by this. The car wreck that claimed the principal’s wife still sits on the side of the road and the coffin which previously held the vampire Christian is left unburied in the old cemetery. When Shiraki opens the coffin and expresses surprise that it’s empty it’s like well no shit it’s empty, it’s been left rotting in the grass for 200 years and Kunie Tanaka probably takes every out-of-towner he meets to come look at it, dude.
Shin Kishida is back playing the vampire in a white scarf previously seen in Lake of Dracula. There appears to be no connection between the two movies beyond him playing a similar vampire, though, and no mention is made of the events of the previous film. Though the vampires have more of a villainous plot this time around, they come across as less threatening than before. Yamamoto doesn’t set up the scenes with slow reveals of fangs and danger. From the first act onward, the vampires are an accepted presence in the film’s world and when they multiply it’s no real surprise. Perhaps it’s also about the way they attack their victims. Yes, there’s biting, but more often the vampires just push people around in a back-and-forth shoving match while rolling around in leaves and set furniture. Also, regarding the biting, the vampires curiously miss the throats of their female victims and accidentally bite them on the bosoms instead. There is considerably more nipple action in the third film of the trilogy.
Compared to the first two Bloodthirsty films, Evil of Dracula seems to have spent more getting a cast of recognizable faces in front of the cameras. Toshio Kurosawa makes for a likable intellectual hero and I enjoyed Kunie Tanaka’s supporting role. The relatively unknown actresses playing the students are fine but their parts are so interchangeable and unmemorable that it’s difficult to keep the characters straight, let alone care about them. Shin Kishida gives another spirited performance as the vampire principal. Toho regulars Yunosuke Ito (Sanjuro) and Katsuhiko Sasaki (Terror of Mechagodzilla) provide strong work in supporting roles.
There’s something halfhearted about the final film of The Bloodthirsty Trilogy compared to the genre creativity seen in the first two movies. All the same, it is a fun, campy time. There is one shocking scene towards the end – these films tend to keep their most extreme stuff for the final act – that is super surreal and disturbing, involving some very bloody surgery. One wishes the entire movie had been so willing to shock and disturb.
The Bloodthirsty Trilogy is a trio of films that, as a longtime fan of Toho’s science fiction and fantasy movies, I have always wanted to see. And now after watching them all, I can say I don’t consider any one of the movies to be a disappointment. In fact, for as much as they are touted as Hammer-inspired horror, I really think they manage to escape the Hammer shadow and stand on their own as a trio of interesting, weird movies. One wishes that Michio Yamamoto had directed more films in his life, if these three are any indication of his talents. For Toho and Japanese cinema at large, the trilogy exists more as an oddity today, but it is definitely an entertaining oddity. The new Blu-rays from Arrow present the films with more care than I frankly ever expected to see in the West. Included on the disc is a new appreciation from author Kim Newman. Also included is a roughly 25-page booklet with writing by Jasper Sharp. Evil of Dracula is easily my least favorite of the trilogy, but I still enjoyed it and would definitely recommend the trilogy to curious viewers.
Hong Kong star Ekin Chen (The Storm Riders, Full Strike, Tokyo Raiders) is back in CGI territory with Legends of the Three Kingdoms, an upcoming action fantasy from director Lv Kejing.
So what can you expect from the film’s plot? Watch the New Trailer below and see for yourself. We’re wondering if the film was actually produced in 1999…
Legends of the Three Kingdoms hits domestically later this year.
On July 10, 2018, Milestone Films will be releasing the Blu-ray & DVD for Hirokazu Koreeda’s 1995 film Maborosi, starring Takashi Naito (Samurai Pirates), Tadanobu Asano (Away with Words), Akira Emoto (Shin Godzilla), Mutsuko Sakura (Tokyo Story), and Minori Terada (Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo). Check out the official details below:
One of the finest films of Japanese cinema, Hirokazu Koreeda’s first feature film Maborosi is a story of love, loss, and ultimately, regeneration.
Haunted by the mysterious loss of her grandmother many years ago, a beautiful young mother (Yumiko, played by Makiko Esumi) struggles to come to terms with the sudden loss of her husband. Yumiko remarries and with her young son moves to her new husband’s home in a remote village on the wild, untamed Sea of Japan. There, she is haunted by the past, but with time and the natural wonders around her, she awakens to find love, understanding, and a sense of peace.
Perhaps the finest Japanese director working today, Koreeda has gone on to create such masterpieces as After Life, Nobody Knows and Still Walking. His feature films reflect back on his beginnings in documentary with a regard to truth and a incredibly humane sense of his characters’ strength and fallibilities.
Working with almost entirely natural lighting, Koreeda’s remarkable and elegent camerawork makes Maborosi one of the most striking visual works in cinema.
Special Features/Specs:
Audio Commentary by Linda Ehrlich, independent film scholar and Associate Professor Emerita from Case Western Reserve University with special thanks to Yuki Togawa Gergotz
Birthplace – a video documentary with actress Makiko Esumi
NEW! English subtitles by Linda Hoaglund with Judith Aley, and the assistance of Linda Ehrlich
On June 22, EJ Entertainment will be releasing E.oni’s The Accidental Detective 2: In Action, a South Korean Action Comedy, to theaters in the U.S. and Canada on June 22. Check out the official details below:
A comic book storekeeper, Dae-man (Kwon Sang-woo of Chinese Zodiac), and the legendary homicide detective, Tae-su (Sung Dong-il of RV: Resurrected Victims), who met on a previous case quit their jobs to open the very first private detective agency in Korea. Despite their high hopes, they soon find themselves with only trivial cases such as spouse infidelity, unpaid debt, and missing cats. Then one day, a woman walks into the office, wanting to find the truth behind the death of her fiancé. Not only that, she also offers them a handsome reward of 50,000 dollars. Dae-man and Tae-su see it as an opportunity to put their true detective skills to work. They bring onboard a third member, Hopper (Lee Kwang-soo of Confession), a Mensa genius and a small-time online private eye, and together they launch a full-fledged investigation on the case. As they dig into what initially appeared to be a straightforward case, disturbing new evidence turns up.
On September 25, 2018, MVD Rewind will be releasing a Special Edition Blu-ray for Angel Town(read our review), the 1990 feature debut of French World Kickboxing Champion Olivier Gruner (Nemesis, Showdown in Manila).
Trouble is the rule in Angel Town, the heart of Los Angeles, where once peaceful streets surrounding a major university have become a cauldron of urban chaos and fear. Gang fights by day – full scale war by night. No one is safe, not even the police. When Jacques Montaine (Gruner), an exchange student and champion kickboxer, tries to protect an innocent family from whom he rents a room, he becomes a target of the psychotic gang leader…
Directed by cult action filmmaker Eric Karson (Black Eagle, The Octagon), Angel Town also stars Peter Kwong (Big Trouble in Little China) and Theresa Saldana (Raging Bull).
Blu-ray Details:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the main feature
Original 2.0 Uncompressed PCM Stereo Audio
Audio Commentary from Director Eric Karson
NEW 2018 Interview with Director / Producer Eric Karson
NEW 2018 Interview with Frank Aragon (“Martin”)
NEW 2018 Interview with Cinematographer John LeBlanc
Archival “Making of Featurette
Archival Interview with Director Eric Karson
Archival Interview with star Olivier Gruner (“Jacques”)
Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji | Blu-ray (Arrow Video)
RELEASE DATE: September 4, 2018
On September 4, 2018, Arrow Video/Arrow Academy will be releasing the Special Edition Blu-ray for Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji, from acclaimed director Tomu Uchida (A Fugitive From the Past). Read on for the official release details below:
Praised by Japanese film critics and much admired by his contemporaries Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu, Tomu Uchida nonetheless remains a little-known in the west. His 1955 masterpiece Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is an excellent entry point for the newcomer.
Set during the Edo period, Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is a tragicomic road movie of sorts, following a samurai, his two servants including spear-carrier Genpachi (Chiezo Kataoka) and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution.
Winner of a prestigious Blue Ribbon Award for supporting actor and Kurosawa regular Daisuke Kato, Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is a film deserving of much wider international recognition.
Special Edition Contents:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed mono audio
Optional newly translated English subtitles
Brand-new audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp, recorded exclusively for this release
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Corey Brickley
First Pressing Only: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and filmmaker James Oliver
According to THR, Operation Somalia is a military action flick about a real-life rescue mission mounted by the Chinese special forces against Somali pirates. The film is being penned by Yi Liu, who co-wrote Wolf Warriorand Wolf Warrior II.
As soon as we learn more about Operation Somalia, you’ll be the first to know. Stay tuned!
In Vampire Doll, the first film of Michio Yamamoto’s Bloodthirsty Trilogy, the director made a vampire movie that wasn’t much of a vampire movie. The Vampire Doll is this strange, dreamlike tale of devotion to the undead playing out in a spooky house in the woods. For the second film of the trilogy, Lake of Dracula (aka Bloodthirsty Eyes), Yamamoto crafts a story more in tune with vampire lore – here we get wooden stakes, a coffin, and a dude with pointy fangs who wears a cape. But just like the previous film, Yamamoto is not interested in telling the usual sort of vampire story. For while the surface details all tell you that Lake of Dracula is a vampire horror film, the underlying details tell a story about women’s fear of men.
Akiko (Midori Fujita) is a young teacher and artist. Her latest painting (and we are led to believe much of her previous work) is devoted to an obsession within herself that she cannot understand, depicting a sinister golden eye looking over a lake. Throughout the film, that painting can be seen in the background of many a scene, like an oppressive force always watching over Akiko. In one of the early scenes, her dog Leo runs off ahead of her and she shouts for him to return. The moment, though trivial on the surface because the dog quickly returns, awakens memories of a recurring dream in which Akiko as a child followed her dog (also named Leo) into a house where she witnessed something horrible. She shares the dream with her sister Natsuko (Sanae Emi) and her boyfriend Dr. Saeki (Choei Takahashi) and both write it off as her subconscious messing with her. But we soon learn it is more than that; it’s not a dream but a repressed memory of the moment when her childhood innocence was shattered and a lingering anxiety took over her life.
Things get weird in Akiko’s life when her neighbor (Kaku Takushina), who runs a commercial boathouse, accepts an unexpected delivery of a long rectangular box. The box’s shipment was ordered by a stranger named Dracula (the only mention of Dracula in the film, despite the title) but there seems to be no other record of who it was intended for. Curious, the neighbor opens the box, revealing a coffin, and thus unleashing a vampire onto the lake.
The neighbor is bitten by the vampire and turned into a slave. When Akiko sees the neighbor next, he lunges at her, knocks her out, and drags her off. Akiko doesn’t think it’s the act of a supernatural villain but rather that her neighbor, a friendly man she’s known for a long time now, has suddenly decided to rape her. When she tries to tell this to her sister and boyfriend, they either suggest she misunderstood the situation or shrug it off. And in their disbelief, they become adversaries as Akiko begins to feel less and less safe.
Lake of Dracula is a film about a girl who saw a vampire as a child and then grew up to meet that vampire again and realize the cause for her nightmares, yes. But it’s easy to read it as a film about trauma (of a sexual or a violent nature) leaving a lasting, misunderstood effect on a woman and making her life worse as a result. When totally innocent men step in to help Akiko after she is nearly attacked by the vampire (again, she sees it as a potential rape), she sees even her saviors as potential threats. And because vampires are often the most sexualized movie monster, using the vampire as a way to talk about sexual trauma seems an interesting and obvious choice to me.
Lake of Dracula employs too many of the old school scares like a hand on the shoulder and birds flying out of the bushes to really surprise you with shocks. But the anxiety and suspense it creates as we watch our heroine worrying over locked doors and windows works pretty well. So much of the film rests on the shoulders of lead actress Midori Fujita and I thought she handled the workload well. What’s surprising is that this is the first of only a small handful of films for the actress. Sanae Emi, who plays the sister Natsuko, also had a very short film career, with Lake of Dracula the third and final film of her filmography.
Shin Kishida (Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) plays the vampire with two modes, entitled playboy in a fancy scarf and bloodsucking monster. The makeup doesn’t play the best when he’s not expressing monstrous intent, but when the fangs come out and the eyes glow gold Kishida makes for an impressive vampire. Kishida’s vamp is not onscreen that often, but in the final act the vampire and the horror effects crew give us more than a few nasty surprises. There is a great moment of body horror as a long-dormant body is disturbed that made me squirm, so props for that.
Riichiro Manabe provides a weird musical score that calls to mind the rubbery squelching sounds of his Godzilla vs. Hedorah score from the same year. Cinematographer Rokuro Nishigaki’s dark, shadowy visuals lack the dreamlike haze of Vampire Doll but still makes the film look better than its budget probably suggested it should. And screenwriters Ei Ogawa (Space Amoeba) and Masaru Takesue (Evil of Dracula) do interesting work by balancing the underlying themes while also having its cast of intellectual characters seriously discuss whether they’re dealing with vampires on a lake.
There’s a point early on in the film where Natsuko teases her sister by saying that she plans to write a paper on the themes of “women’s latent terrors.” Maybe Lake of Dracula didn’t need to spell it out for us but it works regardless. Lake of Dracula is a nervy horror story that looks familiar but has more on its mind than the usual bloodsucking vampire tale.
Director: Billy Chan Writer: Johnny Lee Cast: Joyce Godenzi, Collin Chou Siu Long, Richard Ng, Yuen Biao, Agnes Aurelio, Lam Chung, Billy Chow, Chui Jing Yat, Michael Dinga, Corey Yuen, Sammo Hung Running Time: 90 min.
By Martin Sandison
One of the most rare Hong Kong movies ever made, License to Steal was given a Laserdisc release back in the day, but never made it on VCD or DVD, even in Hong Kong. I managed to get my hands on a copy converted to DVD some years ago, and relished revisiting it for this review. What’s so ironic about this movie is in a simple stunt at the end of the film a stuntman lost his life, one of the only times in Hong Kong film history – and you can’t even own the film! It’s a shame, because this is classic early 90’s fare, enlivened by superb fight scenes and that anything-goes energy.
Hung (Joyce Godenzi, She Shoots Straight), Hsiao Yen (Alvina Kong, Forbidden City Cop) and Ngan (Agnes Aurelio, She Shoots Straight) are professional thieves whose lives are fraught with danger, but they love living on the edge. When Ngan goes against them and their master, leaving the other two for dead, so begins a deadly game of cat and mouse. Swordsman (Yuen Baio, Knockabout) pops up to help the duo and two cops (Richard Ng, Winners and Sinners, and Collin Chou, Red Wolf) get involved as the plot descends in to OTT silliness.
Interestingly, License to Steal is directed by Billy Chan Lung, whose brother Peter Chan has a cameo. The latter is known for his acting roles in classics such as Prodigal Son and Odd Couple, and was on the receiving end of Bruce Lee’s first explosive kicks in The Big Boss. Billy Chan was also a veteran stuntman and Assistant Action director for such luminaries as Sammo Hung. He directs with a sure hand, and has a knack for characters introductory scenes: Both Yuen Baio and Richard Ng’s are masterclasses of framing and atmosphere. The lighting and compositions are of a high standard throughout the film, especially the action and burglary scenes. It’s a bit odd that Billy Chan didn’t really break through as a director for major productions, seeing as his ability is evident.
Yuen’s character seems to be an extension of the one he played in Dragons Forever, with not as much screen time. His character is from Mainland China, which lends a bit of depth to what otherwise is a very one-dimensional film. There seems to me to be a commentary on the idea of a Mainlander lost in Hong Kong being a country bumpkin, but depicted as a morally upstanding man with great kung fu skills; at once a criticism and a compliment. That his name is Swordsman is no joke, with his old school values like a Wuxia character. Seeing as at the time Hong Kong movies were wildly popular in the Mainland, it keeps both the local and Northern markets happy.
Now to the action: The opening Kendo fight and the end one-on-one between Godenzi and Aurelio are so beautifully crafted that, I’m just gonna say it, they top the face-off between the two in She Shoots Straight. Perhaps that film is better overall than License to Steal, but the action in this movie is top class all the way. Both Godenzi and Aurelio have never looked better, which is interesting as the action director is King Lee. A protege of Lau Kar Leung, with whom he worked on classics such as My Young Auntie, here he proves himself in the same league as that Master. Unfortunately despite working on later films such as Deadful Melody again with Yuen Baio, he never emerged as a top choreographer. Another rematch in the film is between Yuen and Billy Chow (they had previously fought in Dragons Forever), and yes I’m gonna say this too, for pure choreography it tops the scene in Dragons Forever. In fact the last half an hour has endless rewatch-ability. Collin Chou’s form and technique never looked better, as he takes on a bunch of heavies, and we are treated to a match between Yuen and him early in the film. While it’s a bit short, there’s no doubt we are seeing two of the greatest screen fighters go toe to toe.
While Sammo Hung serves as presenter of the movie and has a strange cameo as a Frenchman, that’s about the extent of his involvement. Godenzi was his wife at this point, and coming off the back of two major productions wherein she proved her worth as a screen fighter, it’s a shame she didn’t make many more movies. Especially because her natural aptitude for the art is so obvious; she couldn’t have had a better teacher than Sammo Hung. I was in her company two years ago when I interviewed Sammo, and let me tell you, she has aged well.
While a hell of an entertaining 90 minutes, License to Steal misses out from being an absolute classic because a lot of the humour falls flat (the only laugh out loud moments for me come from bad subtitling, such as “Grimace at her like an onion”), and just how silly the film becomes towards the end, giving credence to the idea that Hong Kong movie scripts at the time were written on the set. The tonal shifts, which become part of the charm of Golden Age Hong Kong cinema, are here jarring because the laughs don’t work and parts of the film are a bit dead when there’s no action going on. However if you’re looking for a film from the left field that contains action up there with the best from its actors, look no further.
After his notable stuntwork in films such as Lucy and Now You See Me 2 – not to mention his breakout starring role in Jailbreak and indie The Division– Jean-Paul Ly takes lead in Nightshooters (read our review), a martial arts thriller directed by Marc Price (Colin).
Nightshootersis the story of a film crew, led by stunt man Donnie (Jean Paul Ly) that stumbles upon a gangland hit. “With this film we’re hoping to create some of the best action UK independent cinema has seen. A UK equivalent of The Raid with a healthy splash of the fragmented, humorous characters I’ve always connected with”, says Price (via Filmoria).
Look out for Nightshooters on September 10th on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download – and we’re sure a U.S. release will follow. Don’t miss the film’s Trailer below:
Director: No Dong-Seok Cast: Gang Dong-Won, Kim Eui-Sung, Han Hyo-Joo, Kim Sung-Kyun, im Dae-Myung, Yoo Jae-Myung, Yoon Kye-Sang, Kim You-Jung, Choi Woo-Sik Running Time: 108 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Reviewing a movie which is a remake of another is always a tricky job, especially with the current trend for doing so within the Asian region. In the past couple of years alone, purely looking at Korea, we’ve had Luck.Key (a remake of Japan’s Key of Life), Heart Blackened (a remake of China’s Silent Witness), and Believer (a remake of China’s Drug War). If you haven’t seen the original, should you go and check it out so at least you know what it was based on, and if you do, should the review act as a comparison between the two? Well, Korea aren’t through with the trend just yet, and the latest title to be given the remake treatment is Yoshihiro Nakamura’s 2010 production, Golden Slumber, which retains its name for the latest incarnation.
Both movies are based on the Japanese novel, also of the same name, and for the Korean version Nakamura’s shoes are filled by Noh Dong-seok. I’ll be upfront and say that by the time the end credits rolled on Golden Slumber, having not seen the Japanese version, I can confidently state that the answer to the question posed in the previous paragraph is no. If the original is even a fraction as annoying and limp wristed as its remake, then I can image becoming irredeemably comatose by the end of it, never to inflict the world with my ramblings ever again. It’s surprising, as if anything Korea is known for its dark and gritty action movies, while Japan is known for its lightweight and safe approach when it comes to its mainstream output.
The point of Golden Slumber being remade at all is a debatable one, especially when you consider that the innocent man on the run trope was already effectively covered in 2013’s Running Man (I mean check out the posters, they’re almost identical!). For whatever reason though, it’s here. For director Dong-seok the remake marks his third time at the helm, after previously directing the dramas My Generation and Boys of Tomorrow, in 2004 and 2006 respectively. Why he’s gone 12 years without making another movie is anyone’s guess, although my own personal one is that the producers likely asked 100 other directors first, and all of them wisely turned it down.
Stepping into the role that Masato Sakai played in the original is popular thespian Gang Dong-won, who most recently showed a more macho side than we’re used to in the thriller Master (not to mention he’s headlining Kim Jee-woon’s recently wrapped Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade). Dong-won is usually a reliable presence onscreen, however here he puts in a career worst performance, making the 105 minute runtime an endurance test to get through. Playing a happy go lucky courier who just wants to “live a good life without hurting others” (yes, that’s an actual line), it seems his biggest goal is to hang out more with the members of the band he used to be in from his younger days. Said band had an affinity for the Beatles song ‘Golden Slumber’, but when life started to get in the way (kids, careers etc.), much to Dong-won’s dismay they decided to go their separate ways. So yes, he’s basically a sulking man-child.
However when he inadvertently wins a Model Citizen award for saving a K-pop star from being mugged (don’t ask), he finds himself with a new found celebrity status. His new found fame sees him receive a call from one of the band mates he’s long lost touch with, played by a (I swear) visibly embarrassed to be there Yoon Kye-sang (The Outlaws). Their meeting is an odd one though, with Kye-sang acting all tense and on edge, a fact which the permanently cheerful and breezy Dong-won seems oblivious to. Only when he takes off in Dong-won’s delivery truck, leaving the good natured courier on the side of the street to witness the assassination of a presidential candidate he’s about to be framed for, does our dim-witted protagonist sense that somethings not quite right.
All of the above thankfully happens within the first 10 minutes, quickly putting paid to the insufferable smiling of Dong-wook, set to equally insufferable acoustic guitar strumming. Instead, we’re left for the remainder with Dong-wook on the run from ‘The Agency’, a poorly defined shadowy organization, responsible for helping the presidential candidate they’re working for ensure he gets into power. The turn of events may have put an end to Dong-wook’s overly cheery demeanour, but we quickly learn that the alternative isn’t a whole lot better. With a constantly quivery bottom lip and puppy dog eyes sulking, we’re left to tolerate his constant snivelling and teary eyed wishes of how he just wants the band to get back together. Indeed, this damn band. Never has a characters motivations sat so awkwardly with the actual plot at hand.
There are numerous occasions when Golden Slumber grinds to a literal halt, purely to indulge in overly saccharine flashbacks to the days when the band was still together, and Dong-won’s innocent flirtations with their number one groupie, played by Han Hyo-joo (who will reunite with Dong-won in Jin-Roh). Watch them in their happier days as they rock out in slow motion, looking at each other with huge grins while the sun gently caresses their faces. We get it, as Bryan Adams once said, those were the best years of their lives. But we have a guy here framed for murder, shouldn’t he be getting to grips with how to clear his name, rather than becoming all teary eyed in a corner and wondering how he can ever bring those days back again? As an exercise in cringing, these scenes set a new precedent.
Even when I wanted to give credit to Golden Slumber, it constantly slapped me in the face. When it’s exposed ‘The Agency’ have footage of Dong-won killing someone, I thought it was the first time for a movie to tap into the recent deepfake trend, the name being used for a new technology that allows for someone’s face to be superimposed on to that of another. But no, wait for it. It turns out ‘The Agency’ recruited one of their members with a similar frame and build to Dong-won, named ‘Silicone’ (seriously), and had him undergo plastic surgery so he has an identical face. After I finished repeatedly bashing my head against a wall to convince myself to keep watching, when I returned it was to a Dong-won versus Dong-won showdown. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this scene though, is that I found myself rooting for the bad guy Dong-won, in the hopes that it would make the runtime a little shorter.
Speaking of runtime, while Korean remakes of Chinese movies are known for having extended durations compared to the originals (the remakes of Eye in the Sky and Drug War – Cold Eyes and Believer – being examples), it seems that with Japanese remakes, time is being loped off. Luck.Key slimmed Key of Life’s’s 125 minute runtime by 15 minutes, and similarly here, the originals whopping 135 minute runtime is mercifully cut down to only 105. Well, I guess that’s a positive. Bizarrely Dong-seok still attempts to squeeze in a minor sub-plot of how Dong-won is estranged from his father, which has all of about 2 minutes dedicated to it when we’re already over an hour in, but by that point I’d given up questioning the barrage of poor decisions behind Golden Slumber’s existence.
With a soundtrack which is frequently more exciting than anything happening onscreen, one of the most ludicrously dumb endings in recent memory, and a plot which is dripping in misplaced sentimentality and overwrought histrionics, Golden Slumber is a misfire on just about every level. At one point, our sad sack of a main character solemnly asks “Is it a crime to live kindly?” It’s not, but as the expression goes, sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Hopefully, that’s how people take this review.
The career of Cheng Pei-pei has seen her smash through the glass ceiling on multiple occasions. The world of martial arts was never the same after Pei-pei’s breakthrough role in Come Drink With Me in 1966, where she took watching audiences by storm by becoming the world’s first female martial arts star. That would be the catalyst film for Pei-pei to go on and transform the industry into how we know it today.
Since breaking onto the stage in the 1960’s, Pei-pei has gone on to star in more than 50 films, which tells you everything you need to know about this actress and her attitude towards work. They tell you that if you do what you love, then you’ll never work a day in your life and this legendary Chinese actress is the living and breathing example of that saying. In another tribute towards her glittering career, Pei-pei was given CAAMfest’s Spotlight award in May 2018.
The second female martial artist we want to feature is Cheng Pei-pei.
She has one of the most incredible careers as both a martial artist and an actor. She is one of the most celebrated swords-women that has ever taken the screen! pic.twitter.com/cARGLq29nW
When the news broke that Cheng Pei-pei was to be honoured at CAAMfest, the 72-year old took it in her stride and was as gracious as ever as she said: “I am so honoured. It is my honour to come to San Francisco”. Despite being the global superstar that she is, it hasn’t turned this groundbreaking woman into someone who doesn’t recognize the privilege of being singled out in her industry. Despite the fact that this has been happening for over 50 years, Cheng Pei-pei is as humble as they come.
The work that Cheng Pei-pei has done has had a massive effect on the martial arts and kung fu industry, and the fallout is still being felt today. Thanks to the ground she has covered, Pei-pei has opened the door to both men and women enjoying the martial arts film industry, which has created a massive amount of demand. It’s not just on the screen where martial arts has had a spin-off, it has branched out into our everyday lives through technology.
From the making of films, TV shows and even on stage productions, the world can’t get enough, and you can’t help but feel in debt to the role Cheng Pei-pei has played in making this a more inclusive industry. It’s hard to imagine it has branched off into so many different sectors without a woman taking up a prominent role within the industry. Another of the many by-products of the martial arts film industry has been the introduction of kung fu slot games on online casinos. Casinos Killer lists the 10 best online casinos where punters can now enjoy playing martial arts games when they aren’t in front of the TV watching it. This demand is only set to grow in the future.
Few industries have evolved like the martial arts one and, with every new generation coming through, there is the same amount of interest and appreciation. One can only wonder where it will be in fifty years’ time. If you were to ask a 19-year old Cheng Pei-pei in 1966 while staring in Come Drink With Me if she thought her career would have this much of an impact on the industry going forward it’s unlikely she would have said yes. No one could have foreseen just how influential Cheng Pei-pei would go on to become.
It doesn’t look like there will be any letting up at 72, either, with Cheng Pei-pei in good health and harbouring a desire to keep using the life-changing talents she has been given ins some form or another.
On July 24th, 2018, Well Go USA is releasing the Blu-ray & DVD for Operation Red Sea(read our review), a big budget actioner that stars Zhang Yi (Brotherhood of Blades 2), Huang Jingyu (Drug War) and Du Jiang (Mr. High Heels).
Director Dante Lam (Unbeatable) might just be the hardest working man in Hong Kong cinema. The filmmaker has been reliably turning out hard-hitting films that have helped expand the scope of the action/thriller genre in Hong Kong – his most recent film, Operation Mekong, recently made waves in the U.S. – and now – Lam is expected to do the same with: Operation Red Sea.
According to the official synopsis (via Variety), “the Jiaolong Assault Team, one of the special forces of the world’s largest military force, People’s Liberation Army, is given a potentially fatal assignment, leading a small eight-man unit to evacuate Chinese residents from a North African republic in the throes of a coup d’état.”
Special Features/Technical Specs:
Deleted scenes
Original trailers
Original Mandarin audio and optional English and Mandarin subtitles
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