Heroic Cinema 3.0

Ace Attorney (2012)

Samson — Sat, 25 May 2013 10:03:07 +0000

Regular visitors to our website would know that we just love Takashi Miike. And why wouldn’t you? From his early crazy films like Ichi the Killer and Gozu, to commercial films like Crows Zero and Ninja Kids!!!, to the more recent critically acclaimed films like 13 Assassins and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, he has just proven himself to be one of the most prolific, imaginative and skillful directors working in the world today. Just how many … (read more)

Asian Cinema at the Sydney Film Festival 2013

Justin — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:07:42 +0000

Festival season is upon us again, and this year’s Sydney Film Festival released their full programme a couple of weeks ago. SFF always includes a pretty serious cohort of Asian films, and this year is no different! I’ve put together a quick roundup of the feature films from the East on show this year.

You’ll find schedule info, trailers and more information on the SFF’s official site — don’t forget to book your tickets early, as the popular films always… (read more)

Drug War (2012)

John Snadden — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:00:07 +0000

In just under twelve months, I’ve had the good fortune to have watched three superb new release Asian crime movies. In my opinion, they mark a turning point in their respective film cultures. The films are: from India, Gangs of Wasseypur, a very un-Bollywood-like crime saga which chronicles a century long blood feud; the Chinese feature Lethal Hostage from wannabe auteur Cheng Er; and Johnnie To’s first mainland produced and financed cop drama, Drug War. More on the … (read more)

This week in cinemas: ‘Miracle in Cell No. 7′ (South Korea)

Justin — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:59:42 +0000

Arriving this week in cinemas via Dream Movie is South Korean film Miracle in Cell No. 7. It looks like a feel-good family comedy, but with a rather unusual setup: the wrongful imprisonment of a mentally-challenged man for murder.

The film stars Ryoo Seung-ryong and Park Shin-hye, and has done very well domestically — it’s number three for all-time box office in Korea right now, with more than twelve million tickets sold.

Here’s a trailer:

It’s screening at the … (read more)

Wu Dang (2012)

Justin — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:39:22 +0000

An entertaining, family-friendly mishmash of martial arts picture and Indiana Jones-style treasure hunt, Wu Dang shows off some serious talent both in front of and behind the camera, coupled with a stunning setting way up amongst the Taoist temples in the Wudang Mountains.

Vincent Zhao returns to the role of leading man after 2010′s True Legend, which was his first cinema appearance in quite some time, after spending most of the decade prior in television in Hong Kong and … (read more)

Nightfall (2012)

Alan — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:57:10 +0000

Wong Yuen Yeung (Nick Cheung) gets a get-outta-jail card after doing 20 years for the rape and murder of a teenage girl called Yi Wan. He comes across Tsui Suet (Janice Man), a classical pianist who looks the spit of Yi Wan, and, like wow, crazy, she has the same father, Tsui Hon Lam (Michael Wong). So naturally Yeung follows her to her luxury home in the hills she shares with her parents and goes all creepily stalker, spying on … (read more)

Giveaway: ‘Tai Chi 0′ on DVD and Blu-Ray (Closed)

Justin — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:09:57 +0000

It’s time for another giveaway, and this time courtesy of Icon Film Distribution we’ve got ten copies of Tai Chi 0, the first film in the series of Chinese 3D period actioners from from Stephen Fung. After this film, we got the less frenetic Tai Chi Hero, and there is apparently a planned third film in the works, Tai Chi Summit.

We here at HC rather enjoyed these quirky steampunk-influenced flicks, and if you missed catching them … (read more)

This week in cinemas: ‘Drug War’ (China/HK)

Justin — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 08:38:36 +0000

According to distributor Dream Movie’s Twitter and Facebook feeds, we’re getting an Aussie cinema release of HC favourite Johnnie To’s newest film, Drug War on this Thursday, April 18.

(‘War’ titles seem to be coming across my desk a lot lately, actually — we’ve had Cold War and Silent War just recently, too!)

This one’s a bit of a watershed film, since it’s To’s first film in the genre we love him for — Milkyway Image’s neon-splattered crime films — … (read more)

The Thieves (2012)

John Snadden — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 05:21:42 +0000

One of the most enjoyable times I spent in the cinema last year was watching the big-budget, star-studded, South Korean caper flick, The Thieves — where the energy, humour and all-round film-making smarts were a joy to experience.

Sold nearly everywhere as an Asian version of Hollywood’s Oceans franchise – well, that’s called marketing. As I saw it, The Thieves was a surprisingly effective counterpoint to the lethargic, middle-aged preening of director Soderbergh and his precious stars.

A nifty theft … (read more)

Mountains and monsters @ GoMA QLD

Deni — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:31:48 +0000

Just a quick reminder for lovers of Asian cinema and animation up in the sunny north east – with APT7 coming to a close soon, don’t miss the remaining films that are still showing as part of this great event.

Most notably, this weekend you can catch Wan Mailing’s 1965 Being-Opera style animation Uproar in Heaven, or if you’re in the mood for something a little more epic, Battle Royale and The Host (what? It’s appropriate Easter weekend viewing, … (read more)

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013)

Justin — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 07:53:34 +0000

From Melbourne With Love

A survey of the modest collection of obsolete optical media in my apartment reveals 32 Stephen Chow titles, a ratio of at least 5:1 over any other actor or director. Rather than being an irrelevant humblebrag on my part, this elucidates the fact that there is a global audience for Hong Kong’s popular cinema and — more importantly — Chow, whom I still consider its shining star. My take on his most recent film, Journey to … (read more)

Melbourne: Asian Cinema at the MQFF

Justin — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:07:58 +0000

The good people at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival have gotten in touch and let me know that they’ve got a few Asian films on this year’s program, amongst quite a large collection of films from all over the world. The festival starts this week, running from 14-24 March, and here’s what I can see on the program from Asia (with links to their synopses and ticketing info):

Two Weddings and a Funeral
2012, South Korea, directed by Kim Jho … (read more)

Rurouni Kenshin (2012)

Deni — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 14:00:10 +0000

I hate spoilers. I am a massive spoiler-free zone. I’ve been burned too many times by sexy trailers and the internet rumor mill, where the film itself turned out to be so much less than promised. So what I let myself know about something amounts to the title, maybe who’s in it, and what the poster looks like. It might sound completely illogical, but that’s what I base my omg yay levels on, and when I saw the poster for … (read more)

QLD news – GCFF and Supanova on again!

Deni — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 02:44:14 +0000

That’s right; Supanova and the Gold Coast Film Festival are coming in April, and there are some awesome events in the to-do list that South East QLD fans really should try and get to!

Doomsday Book (2012) – fresh from the awesome Toronto After Dark film festival, this Korean sci-fi anthology film is about zombies and self-aware robots and the end of the world, and it sounds so awesome I am already there.

Mamoru Hosada’s Wolf Children – sure it … (read more)

This week in cinemas: ‘Journey to the West’ (China, 3D)

Justin — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:36:49 +0000

Five years after CJ7, Stephen Chow returns to our screens with a new film as writer/co-director, and he’s returning to familiar territory!

Journey to the West: Conquering The Demons is another adaptation/interpretation of Journey To The West, the classical Chinese epic; familiar to all Australians lucky enough to grow up with the much-loved Japanese TV series Monkey. It’s ground Chow has covered before, in Jeff Lau’s two first Chinese Odyssey films — back when I first joined … (read more)

This Girl is Badass (2011)

Justin — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:19:43 +0000

Retitled from Jukkalan, after its lead character, to the rather more bombastic This Girl is Badass, this film is omnipresent Thai comedian Petchai Wongkumlao’s (a.k.a Mum Jokmok) seventh movie as director, writer and actor. We don’t get all that much Thai cinema here in Oz, but even casual viewers of the nation’s output — like me — will recognise him as Tony Jaa’s offsider in the modern martial arts classic Ong Bak, open-faced, wide-eyed and occasionally very … (read more)

SBS: 16 Chinese/HK films on TV over February

Justin — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 07:14:03 +0000

SBS TWO have scheduled a treat for us over the next month, starting tomorrow: sixteen films spanning modern Chinese film history, from King Hu’s wuxia film for Shaw Brothers Come Drink With Me in the late sixties to Benny Chan’s Shaolin from 2011.

It’s a big plate of crowd-pleasing mostly action films, with a large helping of Jackie Chan and Jet Li films, but that suits us at HC just fine — we’ve seen and loved all of these over … (read more)

CZ12 (2012)

Elizabeth Kerr — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 01:00:03 +0000

As if we needed confirmation that Jackie Chan has been drinking Beijing’s Kool-Aid, the one-two punch of his recent remarks in the Hong Kong media and the ghastly and cynical CZ12 should put any queries to rest. Right before the film was released, Chan started shooting his mouth off about how Hongkongers complain too much and about how they’re just too quick to exercise their right to free speech and protest. He suggested the government look at putting some kind … (read more)

The Grandmaster (2013)

Elizabeth Kerr — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 01:00:00 +0000

A solitary man in a white fedora weaves his way among dozens of nameless fighters as a silver rain cascades down around them. The slick street is illuminated by a single lamp, which casts off an ethereal glow. A blur of fists erupts and the bodies start to fall — elegantly in slow motion. We hear a comment that summarises the martial arts in two words: horizontal and vertical. Whoever remains standing, wins. The solitary man walks into the rain … (read more)

Smuggler (2011)

Justin — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:25:47 +0000

Failed — or at least distracted — actor Kinuta (Satoshi Tsumabuki) spends his days dismally holed up in front of a slot machine, a poster child for what we in Australia would call pokies addiction. Quiet and vulnerable, he is manipulated into taking a job he can’t turn down and joins a team of smugglers for the Yakuza: moving a truck full of things that need to pass unnoticed, often things that are suspiciously man-shaped.

Kinuta’s comparatively prosaic road movie … (read more)