Movies and DVDs

from the ever vigilant monkeypeaches.com:

Wong Kar-Wai Will Do Hurricane Katrina Inspired Movie

Hong Kong's Apple Daily reports that Wong Kar-Wai is planning to make a drama based on moving true events in New Orleans when the city was attacked by hurricane Katrina last year. Wong is hoping to cast Adrian Brody as the leading man but Brody will not make the commitment before reading the final script, which Wong is still working on. Wong just completed a location scout in and around New Orleans but producers of the film concluded that the damage in New Orleans was still too severe and decided to shoot the $50 million project largely in New York with a small number of shots to be made in the real New Orleans. Wong Kar-Wai is famous for shooting movies with briefly written scripts or even no script at all. He is also known for finalizing movie projects at painfully low speeds. He spent almost five years on the production and post-production of his last movie, 2046. Wong Kar-Wai is still attached to make The Lady from Shanghai with Nicole Kidman and a biopic of Ye Wen, Bruce Lee's trainer, with Leung Chou-Wai.

A nice Newsweek rundown of Jet's career as he releases his last action film, and laments the end of the era:

Death of the Real Kung Fu Stars

Halfway through Jet Li's new film, "Fearless," a biopic about China's 19th-century kung fu master Huo Yuanjia, Huo is shocked when he returns home to the city of Tianjin and finds the streets filled with Westerners lambasting the Chinese as "Asia's sickly people." Enraged, he sets out to defend his country's pride by entering an international competition—and is killed in the process, becom-ing a national hero at 42. For Li, "Fearless"—which opened around Asia Jan. 27 to sellout crowds and wide acclaim—represents his own attempt to secure an indelible place on the big screen. " 'Fearless' is my last kung fu movie," says Li, 43. "I want to make that ultimate film for myself and the world."

That's becoming increasingly difficult for a lone kung fu star to do...

Looks like another period piece action flick, with Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li, also the pop star Jay Chou:

Zhang's movie has a new name.

Chinese director Zhang Yimou is preparing to begin shooting his latest movie "The City of Golden Armor". It is a new work following the hit drama film "Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles" .

The new movie is inspired by the modern Chinese play "Thunderstorm," a classic from famous playwright Cao Yu . Before planning this movie, Zhang Yimou made a name for himself with "Red Sorghum" and "To Live" . Both these previous films were also based on classic works.

Producer Zhang Weiping has revealed that the story of his new movie is set in the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907). The theme involves a power struggle between the emperor, the empress and a general. There will be several large war scenes which will be shot with tens of thousands of extras – real people rather than computer graphics. The script has been planned over three years, and during this time the group of creators has been changed three times. Zhang Yimou says this is the most satisfying of all the dramatic works he has created. Together with leading actors Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li , Zhang Yimou will start filming in February. The location will be Chongqing
Wulong Sky Hole, a place of interest in southwest China.

"The City of Golden Armor" will be wrapped up at the end of year, to hit Chinese screens before2007. The producer says the budget is about US$ 44.6 million, making it the most expensive Chinese movie production to date. They intend to earn big for this movie, not only in box office revenue but also in praise from audiences and critics

Those in the know are telling me this year's movie to wait for from China is "The Banquet," directed Feng Xiaogang (who I'm not familiar with but seems to be a biug name over there). Like most of the big deal Chinese films of the last few years, it's a martial arts period piece (adapted from Hamlet) with action choreography by the mighty Yuen Woo-Ping.. The stars include Zhang Ziyi and Daniel Wu, two of the dopest.. A preview clip is here, and some details below:

During an interview with a TV program, director Feng Xiaogang reviewed several differences between The Banquet and Hamlet. He said the storyline of The Banquet was similar to that of Hamlet but it would not show any visit from a spirit of the dead. Zhang Ziyi's character was once in love with the crown prince, played by Daniel Wu, and was forced to marry the emperor. When his brother (Ge You) murdered the emperor and took control of his thrown and his young empress, the crown prince begin to revenge.

This project is now in post-production and the release date in China has been aimed at this fall. The production studios, Beijing based HTF and Hong Kong based Media Asia are thinking about pushing it to next year's Oscar. According to an earlier report, a 20-minute trailer would be shown during the coming Cannes Film Festival and special screenings at Toronto International Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival this September were also planned.