Acoustic

Casts : Sin Se-kyeong, Seulong, Lee Jong-hyun, Kang Min-hyuk, Baek Jin-hee, Lim Joon-il

Groups of young musicians in Hong-dae are spreading. While starving because of music, the hope to live off of music can change in a second. This movie draws attention because of episodes of Sin Se-kyeong, CN Blue, and 2AM members.

“Acoustic” is a youth movie about 20-year-olds who look to music for their hopes, dreams, and love. Sin Se-kyeong will play a vocalist who has a rare disease that requires her to eat only ramyun. Seulong partners with Baek Jin-hee to become an awkward but lonely boy and girl. Also, Lee Jong-hyeon and Kang Min-hyeok from CN Blue play a drummer and a guitarist who enter a new music world after meeting a bakery owner.

In the movie, the song ‘L.O.V.E.’ that Seulong sings is a song that 2AM members sang for the soundtrack. They wanted to support Seulong in his first movie. It is a bright and soft melody that captures the heart. It also written by a hit song writer. Seulong also appears in the music video as an awkward dancer. The music video is very popular and drawing a lot of attention to the movie.

This special project highlights the acting and musical talents of pop icons and highlights youth and music. It will find audiences in late October.

Blood Simple

Casts : Dahong Ni, Ni Yan, Xiao Shen-Yang, Zhang Yimou

Zhang Yimou is a name that garners much respect. He is one of China’s greatest living directors, with such credits as: ‘Raise the Red Lantern’, ‘Hero’, ‘House of Flying Daggers’, and ‘Curse of the Golden Flower’ to his name. He was also the man who directed the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

His ‘Blood Simple’ (also known as ‘A Woman, A Gun, and a Noodle Shop’) is a remake of the Coen brothers debut movie ‘Blood Simple’. But Zhang Yimou have transported the events from Texas to Gansu province of feudal era China.

Wang is the ill-tempered, money-hungry owner of a noodle shop. His wife has been driven into an illicit affair with one of his employees after the mistreatment that her husband subjects her to. Believing that the only way to receive happiness would be to kill her husband, the wife purchases a gun.

Wang is aware of his wife’s adultery and her plans to murder him. He bribes a local patrol officer into dispensing of the two lovers while providing him with an alibi. After a double-cross, the seemingly perfect plan goes out of control, and everyone begins to plot against each-other.

Murder 2

Casts : Jaqueline Fernandes, Emraan Hashmi, Yana Gupta

Orphaned at a young age, former officer with Goa Police, Arjun Vishnu Bhaagwat, now lives alone, though he has a sweetheart in gorgeous model, Priya. Amidst reports of police extending their search for missing prostitutes, specifically the Caucasian daughter of a high-profile Russian Diplomat, Arjun is hired by a gangster, Sameer, and for a fee, must not only locate missing call-girls but also their abductor. Unable to get any clues, he than enlists the assistance of Sameer to recruit a bait, Reshma, who comes from an impoverished family, for the killer. Shortly thereafter Reshma goes missing, and Arjun loses contact with her. Guilt-ridden, he decides to use all possible resources to try and locate her before she herself becomes included in the official ‘missing persons’ list.

Super Monkey Returns

Casts : Kim Byeong-Man, Ryu Dam, Han Min-Kwan, Jung Seung-Won

Some 2000 years ago, the “Chun Bo Kyung” existed which was a scripture covering reasons for governing the world. There was an old legend that if someone held the “Chun Bo Kyung,” they would become the most powerful person in the world. Because of this legend, evil forces attempted to retrieve the “Chun Bo Kyung.” A Buddhist monk, Son Oh-Gong, Jeo Pal-Gye and Sa Oh-Jung faught against these evil forces. The monk, Son Oh-Gong, Jeo Pal-Gye and Sa Oh-Jung won the battle and sealed the evil forces in the gourd of a bottle.

In the present day Seoul, South Korea, the relic of Son Oh-Gong, Jeo Pal-Gye, Sa Oh-Jung and the Buddhist monk is found on a construction site. The sealing of the gourd bottle is released in the process. The evils forces arise some 2000 years after their initial confinement and begin to wreak havoc on the world. Son Oh-Gong is the only one who can stop them. Scientists extract DNA from the relic of Son Oh-Gong, Jeo Pal-Gye, Sa Oh-Jung and the Buddhist monk to revive them.

Can these heroes save the world once again?

Mindfulness and Murder

Casts : Vithaya Pansringarm, Abhijati 'Meuk' Jusakul, Prinya Intachai

When a homeless youth is murdered in the grounds of a Buddhist monastery in Bangkok, the Police do little to investigate, leaving Father Ananda – a former homicide detective – to try and solve the crime. With the help of an orphaned boy named Jak, Ananda travels the canals of the city to unravel the clues and catch the killer.

Chillar Party

Casts : Vedant Desai, Chinmai Chandranshuh, Rohan Grover

When an employee of Mumbai’s Chandan Nagar leaves, he is replaced by a youth, Fatka, who has a stray dog, Bhidu. There is no accommodation provided for this homeless orphan, and he and his pet decide to make an abandoned antique car their new home. There is some resentment from the children of the building, but Fatka gets accepted in the cricket team after he demonstrates his bowling capabilities. A chance visit by a politician, Shashikant Bhide, results in enforcement of new municipal legislation to capture all stray dogs, and the children decide to oppose it. Their attempt to secure 31 signatures from residents turns out to be in vain, and they decide to launch a unique protest. Shashikant puts pressure on Chandan Nagar’s Secretary, Tandon, as well as launches his own campaign to enforce the legislation and ensure Bhidu’s capture.

Head

Casts : Park Yeh-Jin, Baek Yun-Shik, Ryu Deok-Hwan, Oh Dal-Su, Danny Ahn

Dr. KIM Sang-chul who is a world renowned genius medical scientist is killed by himself and his head is cut and missing in his funeral. While a dispatch rider, Hong-je, delivers Dr. KIM’s head, he is kidnapped by Baek-jung and his elder sister, Hong-joo goes head to head with him to save Hong-je!! As far as she chases him, the forces into the background of Dr. KIM’s head are revealed and Hong-joo is in danger. Can a reckless but loyal female journalist save her bro and take the scoop what she wants so eagerly?

All’s Well Ends Well 2011

Casts : Donnie Yen, Louis Koo, Cecilia Cheung

Make-up artist Sammy (Louis Koo) is hired by Dream (Yan Ni) as the director of a cosmeticcompany with Claire (Cecilia Cheung) being the only colleague who is willing to assist him. Sammy invites Ron (Donnie Yen), a fellow make-up artist, to join him. Though Ron might appear to be a woman’s magnet, his heart still lingers with his first love Mona (Carina Lau), a frustrated writer. A minor incident in the new product commercial ties the friendship among Sammy, Ron and the yacht billionaire Syd (Chapman To). Syd meets Claire and aims to pursue her. Having grown up in a poor family, Claire seizes this as a golden opportunity to live a prosperous life and asks Sammy for help to fulfill her dream, without realizing that she has fallen in love with Sammy.

On the test bench: Asian Americans United celebrates 25 years

To the end of the year 2010 rather than Asian Americans United (AAU) one large community event, 25 years to celebrate performance in their struggle for social equality. This event marked their hard work and achievements, in particular in the areas of development new leadership, public education measures to advancing and revitalising their community. This video to commemorate the special occasion created members of MMPTV.

Video by:
Sean Jin
Martin Lautz
Azim Siddiqui
Tara Andrews

View the original article here

A Chinese Ghost Story

Casts : Louis Koo, Liu Yifei, Louis Fan, Yu Shaoqun, Kara Hui, Wang Danyi

A remake of the 1987 Hong Kong popular fantasy romantic horror A Chinese Ghost Story starring the late Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma (the original movie was produced by Tsui Hark). The plot was adapted from a short story taken from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai Zhiyi), a collection of nearly five hundred ancient Chinese supernatural tales, written by Pu Songling during the early Qing Dynasty. This remake is directed by Wilson Yip, a director who boosted Donnie Yen’s career through Ip Man & Ip Man 2 (the two guy also collaborated in three other martial arts movies with Yen in it, SPL: Sha Po Lang, Dragon Tiger Gate and Flash Point).

The original movie was very popular in Asian back in 1987. People liked the romantic ghost story between the human and the demon, as well as the two charming and attractive main leads, the singer-actor Leslie Cheung and the beautiful Joey Wong as the ghost. The film ended up with two sequels in 1990 & 1991, and it set a trend of folklore ghost movies in the Hong Kong film industry at that time. The original movie also received a dozen of nominations in the Hong Kong Film Awards and won three of them. It will be difficult for a remake to top a popular movie like this. If we talk about the originality and the charismatic of the two main stars, well, this remake didn’t top the original. And if we compare the two films, then this movie may always fall under the shadow of the original. However, despite some unfavorable that people may have towards this remake, for me this is a pretty decent film that stands on its own. And I have to say that I liked and enjoyed the movie more than I expected.

This 2011 remake (also known as A Chinese Fairy Tale) tells a slightly different story and backgrounds, even though the myth and the main characters are the same. Yan Chixia (Louis Koo) is a great demon hunter until he breaks the forbidden rule and falls in love with a beautiful demon Nie Xiaoqian (Crystal Liu Yifei). On knowing that a human and a ghost cannot live together and their romance will never have a good end, he decides to end their relationship by wiping their romance memory out of the demon’s mind with a magical mind wipe, and makes her totally forget about him.

But the history seems to roll all over again when a young scholar Ning Caichen (Yu Shaoqun), journeying to the Black Mountain to help a town finding a water source to end their drought, meets with Nie Xiaoqian and they fall in love, even though the demon wants to kill him at the beginning. But there is no easy way for their romance, as the Tree Demon (Kara Hui), the strongest evil power in the mountain, despises humanbeing and will never let Xiaoqian go. At the other hand, Yan Chixia, the demon hunter, also tries to separate them with every possible way he could, as he knows their romance is doomed to fail, as what he experienced before with Xiaoqian. But will a true love finally overcome the human’s forbidden crossover into the world of the ghosts?

The main difference with the original movie is, while the original focused on the love story between the scholar and the ghost (and nothing about the demon hunter and the demon itself), this remake spiced the story with the love triangle between the demon hunter, the ghost and the scholar. It was a bald’s moves actually taken from the director Wilson Yip and the screenwriter to make something different out of an already familiar tale, which some people may accept and some may not. But if we see this movie in its own ground, it’s still a fun and entertaining movie, which story and ghost fantasy atmosphere we can enjoy, disregard how cheesy you might feel about the story. More actions, funny at times, and lots of CGI, with the movie budget of US$ 20 million.

Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong from the original movie were hard to beat, as their images and charisma will always be correlated when talking about A Chinese Ghost Story. Cheung was a legend in the industry (he died tragically in 2003 on suicide at age 46). He was one of the greatest canto-pop singers Hong Kong ever has. And he was a fine actor too. It will not be easy for whoever that plays his character as the scholar in the remake. And Yu Shaoqun didn’t play it bad actually, he looked more naive though, but he was definitely overshadowed by our fond memories of Leslie Cheung.

The ghost role in the original movie help uplifted the career and stardom of Joey Wong, the character she will always be remembered. Maybe the most beautiful, elegant and sexy ghost ever existed in the Hong Kong movie history. Even though also overshadowed by the aura of Joey Wong, I liked Crystal Liu Yifei (the girl from The Forbidden Kingdom) in this movie. I think she played her character as the ghost well. Not as sexy as the appearance of Joey Wong in the original, but she is also beautiful, seductive and very lovable, which will make human guys fight for her love. While as the demon hunter, Louis Koo gave a different interpretation to his character as has been shown by Wu Ma in the original, and much younger. Louis Fan Siu-Wong from the Ip Man series also appeared as another demon hunter here, who has unsettled hatred towards Louis Koo’s character.

In overall, I am having quite a good time with this movie. Not a perfect movie as it has its flaws, and this is not a kind of movie you should take too seriously at. But if you want to see a Chinese fairy tale with beautiful ghost in it without being scared, and enjoy some sweet human and ghost romance out of it, plus some actions, then this is the movie. The theme song at the beginning and the end of the movie, sang by the great Leslie Cheung, will flush us with nostalgia and make us remember of him.

Empire of Assassin

Casts : Miu Tse, Li Yuan

One man is out for revenge after a life-altering event destroys his family. After years of preparation he seeks out his justice, while unaware of their relation, on his brother. As these two brothers seek to destroy each other certain memories are triggered and although many trusted allies will be dishonest and misleading neither one will stop until they know the truth.

Treasure Inn

Casts : Charlene Choi, Nick Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Kenny Ho

Master Kung and Lo Pa are two police officers of White Horse City, who have high skills but are underused. A robbery happened at he city’s richest man Ho Pak Man’s home where his whole family was killed and their family treasure the “White Jade Goddess of Mercy” was stolen and the “Police God” Tit Mo Ching investigates the case and Kung and Lo Pa cannot do so because of their low status.

Coincidentally, Master Kung and Lo Pa arrest a pair of twin sisters, Water Dragon Girl and Fire Dragon Girl, who always pretends to catch wanted criminals to get money rewards. The twin sisters know that the “White Jade Goddess of Mercy” was be brought to the “Treasure Inn” for a trading. Wanting to hit big, Master Kung and Lo Pa goes to the “Treasure Inn” with the twin sisters to investigate the truth. During that time, Master Kung and Water Dragon Girl become lovers from a kiss.