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Author Archives: Justin
The Sorcerer and the White Snake (2011)
Remaking Hong Kong cinema’s greatest hits seems to have been all the rage lately. Last year we had Wilson Yip’s swing at remaking A Chinese Ghost Story and Tsui Hark’s second go at King Hu’s classic Dragon Inn. To be fair, Tsui’s Flying Swords of Dragon Gate ended up as more a sequel to New Dragon Gate Inn than a remake, and it was considerably more fun than I was expecting — I’ll write it up when I get … (read more)
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KCO’s final film for 2011: ‘He’s on Duty’ (Sydney)
Our friends at the Korean Cultural Office in Sydney (who ran this year’s fantastic KOFFIA festival) are showing their final film tomorrow (Thursday 22nd) evening in this year’s Cinema On The Park programme. It’s open to the public and free, so if you have the evening free, why not go along and check it out?
The film being played is 2010′s He’s On Duty, from director Yook Sang-hyo (Hi, Dharma 2, Iron Palm), a light-hearted comedy … (read more)
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Free tickets to ‘Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 3D’ (closed)
(Update — I’m all out. Thanks everyone!)
Thanks once again to Icon, I have five double passes to give away to Tsui Hark’s new wuxia/swordplay film Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 3D, which (as I mentioned yesterday) opens this week across Australia. Now’s your chance to get in to see Jet Li do his stuff for nothing!… (read more)
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This week: ‘Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 3D’ in cinemas
OK, so the English-language title is a bit of a mouthful. Perhaps it’s inevitable, when we’re on the second remake; director Tsui Hark’s already taken a tilt at this story once, with 1992′s star-studded New Dragon Gate Inn. The original, King Hu’s Dragon Inn (1967) is a classic from a director whose influence on wuxia film is immense — we’re still seeing echoes from his films from the ’60s today.
Anyway, it’s a new Tsui Hark wuxia/swordplay film, and … (read more)
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‘Shanghai Space’ and ‘Mumbai Disconnected’, free screenings in Melbourne
A quick update for Melbournians up for something interesting (and free!)
The good folks at MIFF are bringing a series of documentaries to the big screen in Federation Square on Thursday November 24, and the first two are films about Asian megacities that proved popular at MIFF 2010. We figured HC’s readership might be interested, so here’s the deal:
From 6:30pm to 8:30pm, they’re screening two of the Danish Cities on Speed documentaries. The first, Nanna Frank Møller’s Shanghai Space… (read more)
Life Without Principle (2011)
Looking through our archives, it seems like almost everyone who’s ever written for Heroic Cinema has sat down at a keyboard to bash out a review of a Johnnie To film at one time or another. Ching Yee compared films from Milkyway Image to comfort food in her review of My Left Eye Sees Ghosts, and she’s right — To’s films have developed a distinctive style and consistently high level of quality over the years, and I always look … (read more)
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Johnnie To’s ‘Life Without Principle’ in cinemas
John reminded me that Heroic favourite Johnnie To (Election, The Mission, much more besides) has a new film that’s in Australian cinemas — but it’s a quick run, so get your skates on if you want to catch it!
Life Without Principle stars Lau Ching Wan, Denise Ho, Richie Ren and Myolie Wu in a timely crime drama set in today’s Hong Kong. A policeman, a banker and a small-time hood each have their own financial difficulties, … (read more)
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The Fantastic Asia Film Festival comes to Melbourne
Melbournians take heed! A new festival is coming to town, and it’s bringing with it four days of Asian film that run the gamut of cult and genre cinema: from their opener, Nishimura’s zombie splatter film Helldriver, to low-budget Filipino ghost/horror flicks Altar and Yanggaw. They’ve packed a huge number of films into the Cinema Nova in Carlton over four days, starting on the 10th of November.
You’ll find the complete lineup and session times at their website… (read more)