It’s vacation time for LoveHKFilm.com - or at least, the person who runs it - so that means another 2 or 3 weeks of hand-wringing as we wonder if the site will ever get updated again. I’ll break the suspense by revealing that it will, indeed, get an update someday. After all, where else will I publish my review of KING OF SPY 2008?

This movie could be playing on You Tube right now

Also, Kevin Ma plans on reviewing Super Duper Communist Movie THE FOUNDING OF A REPUBLIC, which details the rise of Communism in the great country of China. I will not be around to see the movie, or I would review it myself. As has been noted on fine Internet publications, everyone who works at this site loves China. *whistles innocently*

Some photos from FOUNDING OF A REPUBLIC:

Donnie Yen and Vicki Zhao as a couple who celebrate
their 10th anniversary by joining the Communist Party

Eva Huang as the Cutest Member of the Communist Party™

Actually, what I’d really like to do is live blog the movie, so I can record the time that every single star appears. Such a list will surely help a ton of potential viewers who want to fast-forward through the film to see the stars (this is probably 80% of the Internet). Sadly, I don’t expect to see Huang Bo in the film, which is a travesty of cinema. Every film needs Huang Bo.

Huang Bo: making movies awesome since 2006

When I return from my trip, there will be a couple of new Hong Kong films on offer, namely the Herman Yau double feature SPLIT SECOND MURDER and REBELLION.

If you’re not Chinese and can name everyone
in this poster, you win a prize

The highlight of REBELLION: a leapfrog competition

The first is an idol-packed Halloween picture while the second is a long-in-the-can triad picture that was teased for release back in 2008. It’s sad the film actually didn’t get a release in 2008  since it stars Shawn Yue, who at this time last year was considered the Hardest Working Man in Hong Kong Cinema. The man had 10 features released in 2007 and 2008, and his only one so far this year will be a holdover from last year. What happened?

“People, hire me for your movies! I’ll work for food or tips.
Hell, I’ll work for you if you can recognize me on the street.”

When I return, the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival will be in full swing too. I may or may not review a slew of movies from it, as it’s been my recent pattern to only review Hong Kong films while carefully picking among the rest. I’d leave more to Kevin, but he’s a busy guy, what with school, his blog, the East-West Screen podcast and also his personal life. That he even visits LoveHKFilm.com must take precious minutes out of his day. He won’t get those minutes back either.

“Come on…who has time to waste at LoveHKFilm.com?”

Takeshi has a point. Anyway, here are my planned screenings at the HKAFF:

THE WARRIOR AND THE WOLF (with Joe Odagiri in attendance)
THIRST (with Park Chan-Wook in attendance)
INTO A DREAM
LOVE EXPOSURE (again!)
CROWS ZERO 2
AIN’T NO TOMORROWS
BE SURE TO SHARE
AIR DOLL (with nobody in attendance)
KIMJONGILIA
BICYCLE SIGHS
HAZARD
FINDING HER
SUMMER WARS
DAD, HOW ARE YOU?
WHEAT (starring Fan Bing-Bing)
WEAVING GIRL (Starring Yu Nan and Guo Tao. Guo Tao!)
PASTRY
BEIJING IS COMING
COW (starring Huang Bo!)
AT THE END OF DAYBREAK
SEVEN 2 ONE (Directed by Danny Pang)
…plus maybe some short films and some Bollywood, if I can squeeze it in. You can check out the complete list on their just-launched website.

That’s quite a list, huh? If you’re going to the HKAFF and select these films for your viewing pleasure then you risk running into me. If I do see you, I promise not to spit on you, but besides that, everything is fair game.

“Ha ha, people spitting at me is nothing! I’m used to much worse!”

Let’s wrap up this obligatory September post with a look at Leon Lai’s last concert, entitled DREAM WEDDING. The concert occurred a couple of months ago, but I’m only blogging about it now. It was a simple affair, with a small stage rather than one of those crazy stages inspired by TRANSFORMERS. As expected, Leon was all professional charm, meaning he was suave and punctual. At the end of the concert here was a Typhoon Signal number 8 and he practically sprinted off the stage.

“Typhoon warning? Screw the encore - I’m out of here!”

While at the concert, I snapped some pictures. Here’s a good shot of my vantage point:

 
Once again, Leon Lai is upstaged by cables

And here’s a photo of Leon Lai and special guest Janice Man, who wowed the audience with her red dress if not her actual talent.

The cables are still the most interesting part of this photo

And, finally a cable-free photo:

Leon gives the cheap seats some love

Overall, the concert was enjoyable but a little on the low-energy side. Then again, Leon Lai is not one of those “go all out, bust my ass” performers like Aaron “I almost die in concerts” Kwok. Leon is more of a suave customer or cool cat, which comes off charming at concerts but kind of dull on the big screen.

At least at concerts he’ll do his own stunts:

Is it hot in here or is it just Leon? Oh, it’s the fire.

My favorite song that evening was the wonderfully titled, “I Love You OK”, which is a lyric and song title that confuses me. Does “OK” represent the measurement of Leon’s love? If so, then the poor girl on the receiving end should look for someone who actually loves her more than just “OK”. Saying that you love someone “OK” is like saying that you love someone “somewhat”. Is that what girls are looking for nowadays?

Janice Man is looking for that number on Leon’s left leg

The other reading of the title is “I love you, okay?!?”, which implies that Leon Lai is impatient in declaring his love for his girlfriend. She probably asked for his feelings while he was busy playing BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM for his PlayStation 3, and right before he got the coveted 40-hit Freeflow Combo, she annoyed him by asking “Hey, how do you feel about me?”. Well, if that’s the case - that Leon was going to get another Trophy to show off his leet status on the PlayStation Network, and then was rudely interrupted - then we fully sympathize with his impatience.

Either way, we know the truth: Leon Lai is not much of a boyfriend.

“Don’t bother me when I’m eating fruit, woman!”

Check out the song for yourself. BONUS: the video also features Athena Chu.

By the way, seeing Leon Lai in concert means that I have now seen every single one of the Sky Kings - Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai - after arriving here in Hong Kong nearly five years ago. This accomplishment brings me ever closer to getting the hell out of Dodge. Seeing all the Sky Kings in concert was one of the biggest things I wanted to accomplish during my stay in Hong Kong, and with that out of the way probably the most glaring thing not yet completed is meeting Ekin Cheng. If I can accomplish that, it may spell the end of LoveHKFilm.com in Hong Kong. Don’t worry, we’ll still review DVDs.

“You’ll still review DVDs? That was NOT what I wanted to hear!”

Oh, sorry. Well, off to Japan. See you in a few.

Charlene Choi has a little message for everyone:

“Yay, I’m on happy pills!”

Charlene is in a good mood, so we all should be too. The State demands it.

Kevin Ma of the Golden Rock pointed me in the direction of the following YouTube clip. It’s a RTHK (Hong Kong’s resident public broadcasting organization) segment about a young man from the U.K. named Nick, who decided to come to Hong Kong to break into the film industry. His inspiration: INFERNAL AFFAIRS, which he’s seen 30 times. You can watch the embedded segment below. It’s in Cantonese but Nick speaks mostly in English.

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT: Check out both the 2:40 and the 6:34 mark of the embedded RTHK video featuring Nick.

After viewing this segment, my respect for both Nick and RTHK just went up a few notches - all because of their choice of web destinations.

Seriously, I wish Nick the best of luck. The film biz is thankless and difficult, and not for anyone who thinks opportunities and acclaim should be handed to them on a silver platter. He seems humble and hardworking, and if he does make it I’m sure he’ll have earned it.

Good luck, Nick! If you’re reading this, contact me and I’ll buy you a drink someday. I would show you a location from INFERNAL AFFAIRS but I’m sure you’ve found them all.

Yay, Asian actors are working in Hollywood! It’s so awesome that Snake Eyes wants to shoot someone.

“………..”

Just a week ago, Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun made his Hollywood debut in G..I JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA. In celebration of Lee Byung-Hun - or LBH as we like to call him in these parts - joining an exclusive club including Ken Watanabe, Hiroyuki Sanada, Chow Yun-Fat, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Daniel Henney, Rain and Park Jung-Hoon (You all saw THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE, right?), I’m going to talk about G.I. JOE. Well, Lee Byung-Hun’s part in it anyway.

Jackie Chan supports Lee Byung-Hun:

“This guy makes an awesome ninja!”

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Wong Cho-Lam believes that we can save Hong Kong Cinema:

“Hong Kong Cinema fans, yes we can!”

If it’s not clear from his outfit and slightly darkened skin, that’s Wong Cho-Lam doing an Obama impression. Score another one against Political Correctness. I found myself so offended by the above that I immediately went to see TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN.

 
Setting the art of cinema back two decades.

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So last Wednesday I was walking down the street in Tsimshatsui and I happened upon this scene:

There’s always a crowd in front of 7-11

Hey, they were shooting a film! I was genuinely surprised and hung around to snap some photos. Hanging out near the film set resulted in me being 75 minutes late for a date with a girl, but she understood. Unfortunately, I have been unable to confirm her understanding because she won’t return my phone calls.

I’m sure Nick Cheung would have done the same thing:

“I totally make women wait!
They are powerless to resist my debonair charm.”

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Hi from Udine.

The lobby of Udine’s Teatro Nuovo

Nearly through the Far East Film Festival and today was the most important day thus far: laundry day. In an effort to make everyone else’s stay here far more pleasurable, I’m washing my clothes. This is proof that I’m always thinking about other people.

 
When I did this I could have been watching RULE NUMBER ONE again

The 11th Far East Film Festival is now over half over and unfortunately, the number of new Asian films I’ve seen thus far is rather low. Some highlights:

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Man, it’s been awhile. And it’ll probably be a lot longer before I write in this thing again because in a few short hours, I’m off to Italy. Again. My toys will miss me:

Carue and Chopper will guard my Blu-ray collection.

This year is the second year that I’m attending the Far East Film Festival. I get to go because I contributed to their catalog and book, plus I’m fortunate enough to have saved enough money for a plane ticket.  This is a special time of the year because it represents the end of a lot of stuff. The Hong Kong International Film Festival is over. The Hong Kong Film Awards and associated drama is over. The LoveHKFilm Awards and all the related busywork is over. All that’s left is the review writing, which I’ll get to when I get to. That’s what 2009 is about for me: not doing more than I have to.

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Man, times are tough:

Action figures for only US$2

Actually, I have no idea if that’s really the deal at the above store because I have yet to walk in and shop. I should, though, because nothing makes a person feel better in times of economic crisis than adding more useless crap to your apartment. Either way, the sign and its superb Engrish kicks ass.

If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that we’ve just added a new blog, Ronin on Empty from longtime site reviewer Sanjuro. Now that his blog is here, I’ll let him handle all the personal stories and tangential topics, while I use my blog to cover official site business, e.g. dish on the LoveHKFilm Awards, plus installments of Kozo’s Mailbag and even some minor film-reviewing - some of it from writers who are not me.

This week, I’m featuring two reviews from some guy named Koh So who writes for YesAsia.com. You can find his work on YumCha!, YesAsia.com’s content platform. It’s a place where reviews, news, and other assorted Asian Entertainment goodies can be collected for use by people who use the fancy Internets. Koh So is impossibly more upbeat than I am, so whenever he reviews something, he spins it positive.

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Zhang Ziyi wants to wish you an even happier Lunar New Year!

“This stuffed cow has seen me naked, too!”

In other news, the annual LoveHKFilm Awards will be announced Sunday, March 15th, 2009. I would tell you to mark your calendars, but because these awards are less important than the day-old donut sale at Dunkin’ Donuts, I won’t presume to do so. Instead, I ask that you drop by to see the results if you would be so kind as to deign us with your presence. You’d be surprised at how many people don’t deign.

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Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

Rather, Happy Late Lunar New Year. I’m forever getting behind. I’m so behind, in fact, that I’ll post up this celebrity Lunar New Year photo from last year:

“I think this is going to be a good year!”

Yes, this photo was taken before…uh, that thing that happened.

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