This week in cinemas: ‘When Marnie Was There’ (Japan)

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Justin

As presaged in our review the other day, this Thursday 14 May sees the release in Australian cinemas of When Marnie Was There, the latest feature from legendary Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.

It’s director Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s second film (after Arrietty), and it follows the adventures of Anna, a teenage girl sent to convalesce in a rural seaside town over a summer. While there, she strikes up a friendship with a mysterious flaxen-haired girl named Marnie; read my … (read more)

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When Marnie Was There (2014)

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Posted on May 10, 2015 by Justin


Studio Ghibli’s latest animated feature, When Marnie Was There, is released in cinemas across Australia on the 14th of May, 2015. See cinema websites for screening details.

Animator and director Hiromasa Yonebayashi came to prominence in 2010 when he directed Arrietty for Studio Ghibli, becoming (at 37) the youngest director of a Ghibli feature film. He’s worked with Ghibli for a lot longer though: Wikipedia lists him as an animator on Princess Mononoke in 1997 and a host of … (read more)

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Helios (2015)

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Posted on May 8, 2015 by John Snadden

After experiencing the boorish and juvenile jingoism of Wu Jing’s Wolf Warrior, I was looking forward to the new big budget HK movie, Helios… although I was a bit wary of the fact that its release date had been put back three times in the past six months. From directors Sunny Luk and Longman Leung (Cold War), Helios starts well but fades quickly.

The film opens with the theft of a South Korean manufactured nuclear dirty … (read more)

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This week in cinemas: ‘Helios’ (Hong Kong)

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Justin

Last Thursday a new flick from Hong Kong opened in cinemas: Helios, a thriller from director duo Longman Leung and Sunny Luk (who previously directed 2012’s Cold War).

In Helios, we’re not just talking police corruption any more. Chang Chen and Janice Man play criminals in possession of the raw materials for weapons of mass destruction, and the only people who can stop them are a coalition of anti-terrorist forces from HK, China and South Korea. The … (read more)

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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:

https://youtu.be/aI8vjd2gPak

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 … (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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