Author Archives: Justin

This week in cinemas: ‘Wolf Warrior’ (China)

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Justin

lf This week in Australian cinemas a release crept up on me — it’s only thanks to a Facebook update from the fine people at Melbourne’s Chinatown Cinema that I noticed it! (*)

Action stars Wu Jing (SPL, Shaolin) and Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2, many others) star in Wolf Warrior, a Chinese war film that has Wu (who also directs) starring as a Chinese special forces sniper squaring up against a group of … (read more)

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First teaser for SPL 2!

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Justin

If you haven’t seen it yet, the first teaser for the long-awaited followup to modern HK action classic Sha Po Lang (2005 — has it really been that long?) has landed, as part of the run up to HK Filmart.

And here it is:

The film is apparently a prequel, and although it doesn’t star Donnie Yen or Sammo Hung, it does bring back Simon Yam and Wu Jing and marks the HK debut for Thai action star Tony Jaa. … (read more)

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This week in cinemas: ‘Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island’ (South Korea)

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Justin

This week in Aussie cinemas — and impossible to miss if you caught Gangnam Blues, as they showed the trailer at least twice — is Korean period action-comedy Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island.

Kim Myung-min and Oh Dal-su reprise their roles as the titular detective and his assistant from the 2011 film Detective K: Secret of the Virtuous Widow, this time tasked with solving a case involving counterfeit silver production that threatens the whole Joseon … (read more)

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Melbourne: ACMI screens Zhang Yimou and Gong Li’s films

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Justin

In my continuing series of posts where I wish that there was a cinema venue like Melbourne’s ACMI in Sydney, I’m going to enviously link to their showcase of films by Zhang Yimou starring his early muse, Gong Li.

Here are all the details at ACMI’s site.

It’s a great list of films — here’s what’s on show, with links to our reviews where we have them:

… (read more)
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This week in cinemas: ‘Gangnam Blues’ (South Korea)

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Justin

Arriving in Australian cinemas this week is South Korean gangster film Gangnam Blues (Korean title: 강남 1970).

Set amidst the social upheaval of South Korea in the 1970s, the film is an action noir focusing on corruption and organised crime’s involvement in the early development of Seoul’s Gangnam district. (From what I can see on the Web this sounds reminiscent of recent HK flick Overhead 3, actually).

It’s directed by Yoo Ha (A Dirty Carnival, A … (read more)

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Melbourne: The Chinatown Cinema Returns!

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Justin

(OK, so this post is a bit late, and I apologise — I was reminded that I’d forgotten to write about this today, and thought I’d better get to it!)

A couple of months ago several people (thanks, guys and girls!) wrote in on Facebook and via email to let us know that Melbourne’s Chinatown Cinema has reopened and is showing Hong Kong films again! This is tremendous news: several of us were regulars there back in its heyday, and … (read more)

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International Chinese Film Festival 2014 (Sydney)

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Justin

Sydneysiders: tonight is the Opening Night for this year’s International Chinese Film Festival for 2014, which runs for the next week or so until 30 November. This year, there are eight feature films screening at Hoyts Broadway (plus tonight’s Opening Night screening of No Man’s Land at Fox Studios).

This year there’s also a further nine movies, perhaps the less commercial fare, screening for free at the China Cultural Centre — you just have to get in touch in advance … (read more)

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This week in cinemas: ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2’ (HK/China)

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Justin

Hong Kong director (and HC favourite) Johnnie To’s tick-tock film output has flipped back over to rom-com after hard-boiled crime film Drug War and crime/rom-com hybrid Blind Detective, and this week in Australian cinemas we have his follow-up to his 2011 film: Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2.

Returning for more romantic hijinks are Louis Koo, Gao Yuanyuan and Daniel Wu, and they’re joined in this film by Miriam Yeung and Vic Chou. Variety have a review up… (read more)

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