If you’ve been following the Hong Kong entertainment circle with me ever since I put up my first website on Xoom way back in 1997, you’ll know that I enjoy tracking the ups and downs of sports just as much as I enjoy tracking the ins and outs of HK entertainment.  Both have the ability to take me on wild rides that offer the highest highs and the lowest lows.  Watching Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) kick Cao Cao’s butt in RED CLIFF this summer gave me the same “hell yeah!” buzz I felt last December when I watched the New England Patriots achieve a perfect 16-0 regular season record.  Conversely, the deep disappointment I felt when the combined talents of Jet Li, Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Peter Chan Ho-Sun amounted to an underwhelming result in THE WARLORDS mirrored the disappointment I felt when the Patriots failed to complete a perfect season by losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

Another thing that intrigues about sports and HK entertainment is seeing how prospective talents succeed or fail.  Watching prospects go to brilliant careers, middling careers or just plain washing out is always interesting.  Seeing how the likes of Peyton Manning and Lewis Hamilton succeed while the likes of Ryan Leaf and Hector Camacho Jr. turn into busts is just as fascinating as tracking the chain of events that led Edison Chen Kwoon-Hei of Vancouver to idolhood and the chain of events that kept Brandon Chang Cheuk-Nam of Toronto (right; you may remember him from such films as THE TOUCH and SILVER HAWK) in relative obscurity.

I go into this long preamble because sports and the entertainment circle intersected for me again recently when I read that a “re-imagining” of THE KARATE KID is in the works.  Rumours about a remake involving Will Smith and his son Jaden had been swirling for more than a year but talk died down after Smith’s publicist issued a denial.  Now that the rumours have turned out to be true, I wonder if another part of the early talk — that Jackie Chan will be taking the “Mr. Miyagi” role — will also come to fruition.  As a longtime fan of Jackie Chan’s work, I hope that this portion of the rumour is false because, if he takes part in the project, I think his career will effectively “jump the shark”.  The idea of Jackie Chan doing a version of “Mr. Miyagi” makes me think of sad sights in sports like David Beckham going to America to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy, Michael Jordan putting on a Washington Wizards uniform,  Emmitt Smith signing with the Arizona Cardinals and Wayne Gretzky playing for the St. Louis Blues.  Though there may have been good arguments for all those moves, they each signalled to fans that these once dominant figures in their respective sports were no longer great.  If Jackie Chan pulls a “Mr. Miyagi”, fans who have been admiring his work since his DRUNKEN MASTER and SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW days will look back years from now and say to themselves that this is when Big Brother Jackie moved on to the “senior tour” portion of his career.

I bet some of you are now thinking: “What’s he talking about?  Jackie Chan’s career has already jumped the shark!”  True, legitimate arguments can be made that Jackie Chan is no longer great.  Instead of making memorable high energy action films like DRUNKEN MASTER II, he’s doing voice work for cartoon monkeys and churning out bland, forgettable work like RUSH HOUR 3 and THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM.  Combined with some off screen stuff that have chipped away at his star power, his celebrity certainly doesn’t cast as large a shadow as it did during his heyday of the late-1980s/early-to-mid 1990s.

Nevertheless, there’s still some fire left in the aging dragon.  ROB-B-HOOD, his last “Hong Kong movie”, was a step up from a sub-par THE MYTH and the dreary NEW POLICE STORY.  The upcoming THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT shows some potential as Chan collaborates with the usually solid Derek Yee Tung-Sing (ONE NITE IN MONGKOK).  Despite mediocre reviews, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM still pulled in over US$20 million on its opening weekend so the “Jackie Chan brand” here in the West is still reliable.  As a result, he’s currently on location in New Mexico shooting a new Hollywood film THE SPY NEXT DOOR.

Why, then, would participating in a KARATE KID remake cause Jackie Chan’s career to jump the shark?  Because at this point in his career, Big Brother Jackie can’t afford to be associated with any box office bombs and a KARATE KID remake has huge potential to be a box office bomb.  Consider the following:

- Apart from rare instances like OCEAN’S ELEVEN in 2001, remakes are usually known for being either commercial or critical failures.  Take, for example, remakes like THE PINK PANTHER (2006), PLANET OF THE APES (2001), GET CARTER (2000), PSYCHO (1998) and ALFIE (2004).  Jackie Chan himself was involved in one as AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (2004) was largely panned by critics and bombed at the box office.

- The buzz surrounding the remake is overwhelmingly negative.  Go to any discussion board about the project and note that the majority of posts question the need for a remake of THE KARATE KID.  Also, note how many times the words “vanity project” pop up.

- The original movie succeeds because it had an unique chemistry and was able to delicately balance schmaltz and action.  Recreating that sort of “mojo” will be very difficult.

- On a film discussion board, one Jackie Chan fan expressed optimism that a remake has solid potential. The poster argues that Will Smith is the only bankable superstar left in Hollywood and that he consistently makes good business decisions. He also holds out hope that the reported Chinese investment in the remake will mean that Chinese martial arts should get a good spotlight and scenes showing the “Chinese Mr. Miyagi” teaching kung fu should look really cool — especially if the “Chinese Mr. Miyagi” turns out to be a serious character who uses “Pai Mei teaching techniques”.

Setting aside the question of Will Smith’s business acumen, while there is some validity to the argument that a re-imagining of THE KARATE KID with a serious tone might be cool (this type of re-imagining worked out great for remakes like BATMAN BEGINS and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), the star is going to be 10 year-old Jaden Smith so odds are the film is going to be more like SPY KIDS and less like KILL BILL 2.  Put it this way, it’s doubtful that the Cobra Kai-type bullies are going to be burying Jaden Smith alive forcing him to fight his way out using one-inch punch technique.

Add all that up and you don’t need a tube full of Chinese fortune telling sticks to figure that this remake is more likely to be jeered than cheered.  Yes, the project may bring a big paycheque and yes, there may be some prestige in being associated with Will Smith but if THE KARATE KID remake bombs and THE SPY NEXT DOOR bombs then whispers that Jackie Chan has “lost it” and is “over the hill” will become a chorus.  Someone in Big Brother Jackie’s camp needs to point out the downside of being involved with the remake and urge him to stay far, far away from it.  Instead, his camp should urge him to go back to his roots and re-establish his core fan base by going ahead with a third ARMOUR OF GOD movie.  Like John Elway, Jackie Chan should cap a remarkable career by going out on top doing what he does best for the team that everyone associates him with instead of signing up to play out the string on some foreign team.

Image credits: Han Entertainment (Brandon Chang), Associated Press (Jackie Chan), Miramax (Gordon Liu/Pai Mei), Dragon Gate Shop (Fortune Telling Sticks)

For a host of idiosyncratic reasons, I’m once again delaying the post on watching my first TVB series in years. Instead, I’m going to share a few thoughts on the opening ceremonies for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. One of these days, I’m going to go back to doing topical posts about the entertainment circle but let me justify this indulgence by saying Zhang Yimou directed the ceremony so it falls within the LoveHKFilm.com purview. When I do a post on how I like to hang out at my remote mountain cabin and play my priceless Stradivarius cello for my dog Tet, that’ll be when I’ve completely turned this blog into one of those “what I had for breakfast and what colour shirt I’m wearing” type of blogs.

Actually, you guys have my Dad and my insane devotion to the Confucian idea of filial piety to thank for this post. I got up at 3:45 am on Friday morning so that I could watch CBC’s coverage of the opening ceremonies with the Old Man at 5 am. Since my Dad isn’t much of a fan of Chinese cinema — he regularly confuses Zhang Yimou with Ang Lee — he didn’t get any of my Zhang Yimou wisecracks. As I need an outlet for my referential humour, I’m inflicting my bad Zhang Yimou jokes on all of you.

PRE-CONCEIVED NOTIONS: Given that the Chinese government believes an outstanding showing as the host of the Olympic Games is in the “national interest”, it’s hard to imagine that the opening ceremonies will be anything less than spectacular. After all, eighteen months and a reported US$300 million were spent preparing for the show. With Zhang Yimou in charge, I expect the ceremony to be split into five distinct sections each with its own color-code — corresponding to the colors of the Olympic rings: blue, black, red, yellow and green. I also expect many, many hot women squeezed into impossibly tights outfits that display copious amounts of cleavage. A week before the ceremony, China Daily reported that a cast of thousands held a dress rehearsal at the Bird’s Nest. I suspect, however, that it’s actually a cast of hundreds with the rest filled in by a ridiculous overuse of CGI.

To be honest, I’m surprised that the Chinese government picked Zhang Yimou to run the ceremony because his last film was based on the Chinese idiom “金玉其外, 敗絮其內” or “gold and jade on the outside, rotten and withered on the inside”. A Freudian slip, perhaps, by the powers-that-be in China … I’m just kidding Chinese government censors. Please don’t ban this blog in the Mainland. We kid because we love.

AFTER THE CEREMONY: If one of the Chinese government’s goals for hosting these games is to announce to the world that China is ready to take centre stage in the global community, the goal was achieved … and then some. All that was missing was the unveiling of a huge “Mission Accomplished” banner from the top of the Bird’s Nest. From the opening countdown to the spectacular fireworks display that closed the show, the subtext to the precisely co-ordinated spectacle seemed to be saying: “We have the talent. We have the numbers. We have the will. We have the money. We are going to own the 21st Century.”

This wasn’t the false bravado of some punk kid who just talks the talk but can’t walk the walk, this was a full-on demonstration of something Jet Li’s character said in MY FATHER IS A HERO — a real man doesn’t talk about how he is going to do this or how he is going to do that, a real man just does it. This is precisely what China did on the hot and humid night of August 8th, it showed the World by deeds and actions that it is fully capable of being the dominant global presence or, if you will, “the man” of the 21st Century.

MORE THOUGHTS: Social and political implications aside, the most impressive part of the ceremony was the exact co-ordination of a cast of thousands. I joked earlier about Zhang Yimou’s overuse of CGI in CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER but, given the budget and resources, Zhang was able to actualize his grand vision with real, live people. The opening countdown, the bit with the 2,008 drummers, the movable type segment and the human Bird’s Nest were magnificent displays of timing and a grand payoff for months of meticulous preparation.

Segments like the tributes to papermaking and calligraphy showed off the depth of Zhang’s artistry and breadth of his imagination. It almost makes you want to forget that he killed the momentum for Chinese films in the West with HERO and buried it with HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS.

MISCELLANEA:

- Even before all the controversy with the “Ode to the Motherland” girl surfaced, I found the use of children during the ceremony a little off-putting. Maybe it’s because I’m turning into an old grouch but I always find gratuitous use of kids in ceremonies treacly and a lazy way to manufacture sentiment. It wasn’t just Lin Miaoke that struck me as sappy, it was also the parade of children dressed in various ethnic costumes. I will say, however, that having earthquake survivor Lin Hao lead the Chinese team with Yao Ming was a nice tribute to the earthquake victims and a great way to honour Lin for heroically saving some of his classmates during the earthquake.

- Even if you aren’t a ham sup lo, I think you couldn’t help but notice the ring of girls who cheered and waved throughout the two-hour plus Parade of Nations. According to the Beijing Meteorology Service, the temperature during the ceremony was a sweltering 29°C yet those girls had an unwavering energy level. Considering that the Parade of Nations lasted about as long as it takes to run a marathon, those girls achieved an amazing physical feat. Maybe Zhang Yimou used CGI after all because it’s hard to fathom that those girls were that active for that long without having to drink water or go to the bathroom or do the things that humans need to do.

- In the lead up to the lighting of the Olympic flame, the CBC presenters were saying that the organizers were being very secretive about how the Olympic cauldron was going to be lit. One of them even wondered if there was an Olympic cauldron. While Li Ning was doing his “running on the wall”, I turned to my Dad and joked: “At the last minute he’s going to turn away and not light the flame. There’s going to be a big thing about how they’re not going to do an Olympic cauldron this time for the sake of humanity and the environment.”

My Dad didn’t get the joke and looked at me like I was nuts.

- Speaking of the CBC, I’d always heard from my fellow Canadians that it provides better coverage of the Olympics than the Americans get with NBC. I’d never watched an opening ceremonies in its entirety before so I have no basis for comparison but I thought the CBC’s coverage this time around was very poor. It sounded like they were ill-prepared — like they were reading, on-the-fly, information provided to them in a press kit. They also completely ignored Lin Hao when the Chinese team made its entrance. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one wondering who the little kid was walking next to Yao Ming.

- Actually, I thought whoever directed the host feed provided, I believe, by CCTV could have done a better job. I think a bird’s eye view angle from atop the Bird’s Nest was needed to fully capture the grandeur of the ceremony. It wasn’t until I checked out China Daily’s photo gallery of the opening ceremonies that I realized the magnitude of the spectacle. I hope that the official DVD of the ceremonies (available from YesAsia) does a better job of capturing the amazing artistry.

- If I had another four hours to devote to watching the opening ceremonies, I wouldn’t mind watching TVB’s coverage. It’d be interesting to get the Hong Kong take on the spectacle. I sensed a distinct undercurrent of “yeah, it was great but they’re oppressing Tibet and they’ve got problems with human rights and the environment” in the coverage over here in the West.

- Many are voicing the opinion that this was the best Olympic opening ceremonies ever and that it will be impossible for London to top it in 2012. This sentiment reminded me of when I used to do the “this leading man/leading lady is leaving TVB” stories for my old website. I used to get e-mails saying TVB would never recover from the loss because this star or that star was a huge ratings force. TVB invariably did just fine and many of the stars who left, like Michael To Dai-Yu, eventually returned to TVB. Somehow, as technology progresses and people challenge themselves to rise above the standard set by Beijing, I think there will be an opening ceremony that meets or exceeds the one Zhang Yimou and company organized.

Image credits: Beijing New Picture Film Co. / Edko Film (CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER stills), China Daily (Opening ceremonies photos)

Much to my embarrassment, I have to begin with a familiar refrain: Apologies for the long gap in between posts. My cousin Tony recently married his longtime girlfriend in, of all places, Bhutan so I’ve been on the road slowly making my way to the remote mountain region by plane, train, automobile and, for the last few rugged kilometres, yak. The ceremony was fantastic but Bhutan isn’t easy to get to so everyone in the Leung clan sort of wished that he had the wedding at a Marriage Registry office like everyone else.

I am, of course, kidding. I didn’t go to Bhutan for the Tony Leung Chiu-Wai-Carina Lau Ka-Ling wedding but I have been on the road. I’m back home from a trip to England and Italy. I had a fabulous time made all the more enjoyable because it was my first significant trip in more than ten years and, naturally, because of what I’ve been through in the last little while. I savoured every minute — even the moments I was crammed like a sardine in the London Tube during rush hour. I didn’t mind the tight, smelly, sticky situation one bit because I consider myself very, very lucky and very, very blessed just to be able to have the experience.

As I am a bit of a history buff, I went to many famous sites and often had moments where I was enveloped by a pervasive sense of history. When I stood in front of Stonehenge, I could picture pre-historic men working together to drag those massive stones. When I surveyed the panoramic countryside view from the “Pink Terrace” at Chartwell (the family home of Winston Churchill), I was blown away by the fact that the legendary Churchill used to enjoy the very same view. In Rome, when I visited the Temple of Julius Caesar, I couldn’t believe that I was looking at the funeral pyre of one of the men who helped expand the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

Stonehenge

View from the “Pink Terrace” at Chartwell

The Funeral Pyre of Julius Caesar

Longtime readers will know that I enjoy the fartsy side of life just as much, if not more, than the artsy side. So, contrary to the paragraph above, my trip wasn’t all about historic sites, I made my share of pop culture pilgrimages as well. When I went to the famous Colosseum, I could barely concentrate on what the tour guide was saying because all I was thinking was: “wow, that’s where Chuck Norris stood in WAY OF THE DRAGON“. Even though I knew that the climactic Norris-Bruce Lee fight from the film was shot on a soundstage, I was looking for the spot where the fight would have taken place. I also resisted the urge to yell out: “Tang Lung, you are a very brave man! Tang Lung, the man you just saw will kill you! Tang Lung, you are trapped!”

I made another pop culture pilgrimage to Rome’s Piazza Navona — the location of the scene in WAY OF THE DRAGON where Nora Miao lectures Bruce Lee about being too uptight around foreigners. For about ten minutes, I sat on the bench in front of the Fountain of Four Rivers where Bruce Lee sat but, sadly, no Italian beauties like Malisa Longo showed up to bring me back to her apartment. I like to think that it was because the Fountain of Four Rivers was closed for restoration since, as the movie demonstrated, handsome Chinese guys like myself are irresistible to Italian beauties.

Piazza Navona in WAY OF THE DRAGON

Italian Beauty Malisa Longo

Nora Miao, Bruce Lee and Malisa Longo

Fountain of Four Rivers closed for restoration

Enough about me … since this is nominally a blog about Hong Kong entertainment, I better earn my keep and talk a little bit about the entertainment circle. I dragged my friend Ah Wing away from his three-year old daughter and one-year old son this past weekend for a screening of THE DARK KNIGHT. While everyone else was interested in seeing the highly-hyped sequel to BATMAN BEGINS and the vaunted Heath Ledger performance, I was interested in seeing if the rumours that Edison Chen Kwoon-Hei was cut from the film were correct. I suspected that he was still in the film but that he would have a very, very small role. I pegged the over/under for the number of lines for the man with the hand worth HK$500,000 at 2.5. If I were a betting man, I would have placed a small wager on the under.

As it turned out, I would have collected on my bet because Chen only had two lines. Since he wasn’t even on screen for one of those lines, I don’t think the role will have Hollywood beating at his door as his performance definitely was not a Jet Li in LETHAL WEAPON 4 situation.

Speaking of “Sexy Photos Gate”, reader Mark — who is supposedly teaching English in Japan but is probably there stalking Miki Nakatani (oh wait, that’s what I would do if I was in Japan) — sent in an e-mail to let us know that “Sexy Photos Gate” has even been a source of inspiration for the prodigious Japanese adult video industry. In June, an adult video titled “Leaked Photos! Former Boyfriend Films Private Intercourse!” was released by Alice Japan (go here for the official website — Warning: Adult Content).

Back to THE DARK KNIGHT … I don’t know if I can join the chorus of those proclaiming it to be an Oscar-worthy masterpiece. I have decidedly mixed feelings about it. The film is indeed very good but it’s also a little too long and very dark and very pessimistic. Perhaps expectation is playing a part in my perception of the film. I was anticipating a repeat of the “hell yeah!” feeling I had after seeing BATMAN BEGINS. I was not expecting to be gut-punched with a shockingly somber movie. When I walked out, I didn’t feel like I’d just seen a superhero movie, I felt like I’d just seen GOTHAM ON FIRE — the followup to Ringo Lam’s intense and depressing movies CITY ON FIRE, PRISON ON FIRE and SCHOOL ON FIRE. I suspect I’m not alone in feeling stomach-punched because, apart from the laughs inspired by the Joker’s disappearing pen trick, the crowd in the theatre was deathly quiet and, when we came out, we all had dazed expressions on our faces.

That’s all for today, I’ll be back sometime in the next sixty days with a post about TVB.

By the way, if you picked me up at the airport and I circled your car and said: “BMW? Mustang? It’s a Rolls!” would you think I was funny or weird? When my cousin picked me up at London’s Heathrow Airport, I did the car bit from WAY OF THE DRAGON but all I got was a puzzled look because she hadn’t seen the film. I did, however, achieve a small victory by eliciting the Nora Miao “just get in the car” face from my cousin. Good times.

Image credits: Sanney Leung (Stonehenge, Chartwell, Temple of Julius Caesar, Fountain of Four Rivers), Golden Harverst (WAY OF DRAGON screen shots)

Just as there’s a time gap between the LOST island and the freighter, there’s a time gap between the House Where Words Gather and real time. This is why you’re seeing a post about the Hong Kong Film Awards in May.

Not buying it? OK, OK. I’ll come clean. I’ve been busy preparing to be cross-examined for my Joyce Tang Lai-Ming stalker case. I’ve got to come up with answers to questions like: “Why do I have information from Joyce Tang’s Octopus card on my hard drive?”

I’m just kidding. I mention Joyce Tang because I think “Deroyce” — her couple name with rumoured boyfriend Derek Kwok Jing-Hung — sounds too much like “divorce” to be propitious for a Chinese couple. Besides, everyone knows that if I was going to stalk an actress, it’d be Jo Koo (left). By the way, my lawyer wants me to include the following statement:

“Mr. Leung is merely posing a hypothetical situation for humourous effect. It is, in no manner, an admission of wrongdoing or an admission of conspiring to commit any wrongdoing.”

Enough with the shenanigans, on to the business of the day:

First things first: announcing the winner of the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards Predictions Contest. It was a close race that came down to two contestants: Eliza Bennet of Istanbul, Turkey and Jason Fong of Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA. Both Ms. Bennet and Mr. Fong got 7 out of 8 picks correct.

	Eliza Bennet	Jason Fong
Best Film	THE WARLORDS	THE WARLORDS
Best Director	Peter Chan Ho-Sun (THE WARLORDS)	Peter Chan Ho-Sun (THE WARLORDS)
Best Screenplay	Wai Ka-Fai, Au Kin-Yee (THE MAD DETECTIVE)	Li Qiang (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)
Best Actor	Jet Li (THE WARLORDS)	Jet Li (THE WARLORDS)
Best Actress	Siqin Gaowa (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)	Siqin Gaowa (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)
Best Supporting Actor	Nick Cheung Ka-Fai (EXODUS)	Andy Lau Tak-Wah (PROTEGE)
Best Supporting Actress	Susan Shaw (THE PYE-DOG)	Susan Shaw (THE PYE-DOG)
Best New Performer	Kate Tsui Tsz-Shan (EYE IN THE SKY)	Kate Tsui Tsz-Shan (EYE IN THE SKY)

As a result, the tiebreaker question — PROTEGE is nominated for 15 awards. How many awards will it win? — was used. Ms. Bennet predicted five while Mr. Fong predicted three. PROTEGE ended up winning two awards so the winner of the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards Predictions contest is Jason Fong of Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA. Congratulations!

For his prize, Mr. Fong selected a HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS movie poster autographed by Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Zhang Ziyi.

Timo Karp of Germany and Jason Li from Parts Unknown tied for third. Both got 6 out of 8 picks correct.

As for myself, I tied for 17th place with Agata from Parts Unknown, longtime reader Hard Boiled Mark from Chicago, Nero from Fremont, California and Thomas from Toronto. We each predicted 3 out of 8 categories correctly.

My Triumphs, My Mistakes: In the lead up to the ceremony, there didn’t seem to be much buzz for PROTEGE, MAD DETECTIVE or EYE IN THE SKY so I figured that it would either be a sweep for THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT or THE WARLORDS. While working on the HKFA preview blog post series, I spent weeks convincing myself that THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT was better than I initially thought it was so I ended up ignoring the signs for THE WARLORDS and picked a sweep for the Ann Hui film:

Best Film: THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT
Best Director: Ann Hui On-Wah (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)
Best Screenplay: Li Qiang (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)
Best Actor: Jet Li (THE WARLORDS)
Best Actress: Siqin Gaowa (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)
Best Supporting Actor: Ronald Cheng Chung-Gei (MR. CINEMA)
Best Supporting Actress: Karen Mok Man-Wai (MR. CINEMA)
Best New Perfomer: Kate Tsui Tsz-Shan (EYE IN THE SKY)

TIE-BREAKER QUESTION: PROTEGE is nominated for 15 awards. How many awards will it win? 2

Instead of being clouded by my self-generated THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT buzz, I should have recalled the example of ORDINARY HEROES (another listless Ann Hui On-Wah film). Along with RUNNING OUT OF TIME and TEMPTING HEART, ORDINARY HEROES led the way in number of nominations for the 19th Hong Kong Film Awards. It ended up winning just one award. This just goes to show you that if you look at something long enough and hard enough, you can convince yourself of almost anything … sort of like how people convinced themselves that a regular truck and trailer was a “mobile production facility”.

On the bright side, I properly pegged that PROTEGE wouldn’t be a big winner despite its fifteen nominations. I’m also happy that the “hot door” (熱門) buzz for Jet Li came through and he won the Best Actor award. I’ve known since SHAOLIN TEMPLE 2: KIDS FROM SHAOLIN that Jet Li was more than just an action hero. One of the selections in the House Where Words Gather Film Pantheon, KIDS FROM SHAOLIN is the ultimate Jet Li showcase. Not only does he show off his excellent wushu skills, he does drama, comedy, romance, a scene in drag and even busts out in song during a musical number. He does it all in this film so, if you haven’t seen it yet and you are a Jet Li fan, you really need to check out KIDS FROM SHAOLIN.

Other than that, I’m a little disappointed with myself for not seeing the Susan Shaw win in the Best Supporting Actress category. I think this is something I would have picked up on in the good ol’ days when I read the entertainment sections in six papers.

Reader Interaction: Let’s put the nail on the coffin of 27th HKFA talk with replies to reader comments from the past few posts.

m writes: ” … By the way Sanney, you said you would comment on the ending of Protégé. So, what do you think, did he or didn’t he? I must be a pessimist because my first reaction was that he did.”

Well, I must be an optimist then because I think the kid stops Daniel Wu’s character from shooting up.

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From the post on Stephen Hunter’s obituary for Charlton Heston, Glenn writes: I live in the D.C. area and read Hunter’s reviews usually every week.

I resented tremendously his piece on the Va. Tech shooting mainly because he tried to make a connection to Old Boy and other films but then backed away from it for fear of offending anyone.

Either prove the point or do not. Hunter’s insinuations served no one.

Personally, I am sick of people trying to blame films for lone acts of obviously mentally ill people; if Old Boy was the problem then there would be thousands of shooters, right?

I’m sick of it too but I understand the sentiment behind it. People want to make sense of a senseless act so they look for simple explanations like the influence of movies and video games.

Going on a tangent, the thing that really bugs me these days is people blaming McDonald’s and other fast food joints for childhood obesity when the blame should really rest with parents and schools.

Speaking of the D.C. area, what ever happened with the case of the lawyer who sued a mom and pop dry cleaners for US$65 million (or something outrageous like that) over a pair of missing pants? As a person who was raised from the proceeds of a mom and pop operation, I really felt bad for the owners who had to waste time and money dealing with a litigious zealot.

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Buma writes: Andy sent you a get-well message?

That’s the coolest thing I ever heard.

Do you know the circumstances leading to that ? I’m guessing you have a friend/reader who knows Andy personally. I don’t think he speaks English well enough to read your old website.

Here’s the story, as it was told to me: Andy Lau was in San Francisco for a screening of HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS. Jennifer Young, a reader of my old website, approached him and asked him to write something to me. Andy Lau graciously agreed and that’s how I got my note.

By the way, I was asked in an e-mail what the card says. It reads: “Hang on! We are all behind you! Hope you get well soon!”

Pretty cool. This is why I feel pangs of guilt for thinking that he doesn’t really deserve that Best Supporting Actor award for PROTEGE and that his latest film, THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON, is terrible.

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Glenn writes: Andy is still a god; anyone who jumps off a concert stage to fight his own security guards is pretty bad ass in my book. Your get well card is an awesome gift. Did you get any from Pinky Cheung maybe?

I wish I got something from Pinky Cheung (right). She’s got class like a ‘57 Cadillac, got all the drive with a whole lot of boom in back …

Speaking of Pinky Cheung, she and Jan/Jay Lau Kam-Ling are the only reasons I’m flirting with the idea of picking up FATAL MOVE. Not Sammo Hung, not Danny Lee Sau-Yin and not Simon Yam Tat-Wah. Kozo thinks it stinks so dropping $15 to $20 just for babeage may be too steep a price but still …

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MW writes: I thought THE WARLORDS was very average. Just another ancient brotherhood tale but with better cinematography and production values. Aside from that, I left the theatre disappointed after all the hype I had about it. Good director, international stars, potentially interesting and unique story backdrop ended up being a very bland movie. Basically the sum did not equal the parts and all the acclaim it’s getting is due to its reputation. But even I think it’s unfair to compare it to the horrible SPIDER-MAN 3.

I drew the comparison to SPIDER-MAN 3 because I got the same cinematic experience from both films. Both were big budget films that were slickly produced and highly-anticipated. Both were plagued by poor storytelling that leaves you feeling disappointed. If I had a ratings systems, I’d give the same rating to both films.

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Glenn writes: Sanney, why the quote from The Kinks’ Come Dancing? Took this 41-year-old rocker a minute to recognize that quote on your masthead from one of my favorite bands.

Simple explanation: “Come Dancing” was playing on the radio when I was updating the blog. For a while now, I’ve been resisting the urge to abandon Top 40 radio and listen mostly to “oldies” radio. The thought first crept into my mind last summer when the Top 40 station in my market seemed to only play “Hey There Delilah”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie and “Before He Cheats” on an continuous loop. I finally gave in a few weeks ago when I heard Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body”. I used to love Mariah Carey’s songs back in the 1990s when she had hits like: “Someday”, “Emotions” and “Fantasy”. Now, her music is overproduced and nonsensical. All I can make out from “Touch My Body” is something about a “secret rendezvous”, something about “YouTube” and something about how she’s going to “hunt you down”.

When I was updating the blog that night, not only did I hear “Come Dancing”, I heard “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys, “Little Lies” by Fleetwood Mac and “Take It Easy” by The Eagles. All personal favourites. Even though it’ll make me feel incredibly old, I may not be going back to Top 40 radio.

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Will writes: Sanney, do you mind if I ask you a personal question? Just how much TV do you watch? You referenced Rome, American Idol, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Iron Chef and Law & Order: SVU in this post. In your old posts, I’ve seen references to Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, Law & Order, One Tree Hill, etc. That’s a lot of TV.

Yeah, I’ll admit I watch a lot of TV. It was even worse when I watched TVB series in addition to what was on TV here. Sleep? Who needs sleep? I’m a lot better now though. The TVB rental place here went out of business when I sick but even before then I stopped watching TVB series. The last one I rented was IN THE REALM OF SUCCESS — five or six years ago. I miss it though and, if there was a TVB place here, I probably would have checked out LA FEMME DESPERADO, TRIMMING SUCCESS and other twenty-episode light dramas. I used to prefer the short comedy/drama series over the long, overwrought “grand productions” like AT THE THRESHOLD OF AN ERA or, more recently, THE DRIVE OF LIFE.

As for Western TV, I don’t watch all the TV shows I’ve mentioned. I have friends who watch TV (no pretentious “books only” people in our crowd) so I pick things up by osmosis. For example, I don’t watch AMERICAN IDOL but I know of Randy Jackson’s “yo dawg” and “pitchy” schtick because my friends talk about it. Thanks to the whole cancer ordeal, I’ve developed a “life’s too short” mentality so I’m abandoning ship on shows more readily than I used to. I gave up on LOST after “Meet Kevin Johnson”. For a while now, probably around the time of that awful Bai Ling episode, I’ve felt that the show has been jerking me around with forty minutes of filler, eighteen minutes of commercials and just two minutes of actual plot development. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when there ended up being virtually no payoff for years of “Rousseau and her long, lost daughter” build-up. Besides, the only character I cared about anymore was Desmond. Jack, Locke, Kate and company all somehow became insufferable to me.

Boy, I’ve gone far, far afield. Let’s close the show with a topic that’s actually relevant to the entertainment circle …

From the post about THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, Roper writes: How can you put Gong Li (who does NOT do martial arts) in the same sentence with those other actresses? No comparison.

I put Gong Li in the same sentence with Zhang Ziyi and the other actresses not because they are martial arts heroines but because they are stars in Hollywood films hoping to get roles in other Hollywood films. I think that’s a valid basis for comparison.

Glenn writes: So what is with the apparent references in the film to bootlegs?

Kind of ironic in a Weinstein product considering that only a few years ago they were making it increasingly difficult for geeks like me to get legal non-US DVDs of Hero even while they left it on the shelf for 2 years.

I hate bootlegs too so I didn’t appreciate them trying to lump all imports under the bootleg umbrella.

You sort of answered your own question. The “bootlegs” that the kid shops for in the pawn shop are simply imports.

Mike Mai writes: Li Bingbing stole my heart in this film. She’s extremely beautiful!!!!

I agree. Li Bingbing is certainly more eye-catching than Crystal Liu in THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM. I focused on Crystal Liu because she has aspirations for a Hollywood career. I don’t think Li Bingbing has similar ambitions.

* * * * *

In the meantime and in between time, that’s it, another edition of The Teahouse. If you made it this far, thanks for slogging through all the stuff about music and TV. A big thanks also to Lester Mak for designing the spreadsheet for the HKFA Predictions contest. There wouldn’t have been a contest without his help so let’s all give Lester some dap.

Next time: In keeping with the timeliness of this blog, I’ll be doing a post on celebrity relief efforts for the earthquake … in Taiwan … on September 21st, 1999.

Just kidding but, in all seriousness, if you haven’t done so and if you have the means, please consider making a donation to the earthquake relief effort through your local chapter of the Red Cross.

Image credits: ecboyboy.com (Jo Koo), United States Government (Moblie Production Facility graphic), Chung Yuen Motion Picture Company (Jet Li), NextMedia (Pinky Cheung)

Posted at 5:38 pm HKT

Previously:

• Best Film
• Best Actor
• Best Actress
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best New Performer
• Best Director and Best Screenplay

With the strains of Bill Conti’s “The Final Bell” and thoughts of Sylvester Stallone yelling: “Yo Adrian, I did it!” running through my head, I close the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards preview series by offering my predictions for tonight’s awards:

Best Film: THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT
Best Director: Ann Hui On-Wah (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)
Best Screenplay: Li Qiang (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)
Best Actor: Jet Li (THE WARLORDS)
Best Actress: Siqin Gaowa (THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT)
Best Supporting Actor: Ronald Cheng Chung-Gei (MR. CINEMA)
Best Supporting Actress: Karen Mok Man-Wai (MR. CINEMA)
Best New Perfomer: Kate Tsui Tsz-Shan (EYE IN THE SKY)

TIE-BREAKER QUESTION: PROTEGE is nominated for 15 awards. How many awards will it win? 2

Also, here’s who I’ll be cheering for:

Best Film: EYE IN THE SKY
Best Director: Yau Nai-Hoi (EYE IN THE SKY)
Best Screenplay: Yau Nai-Hoi, Au Kin-Yee (EYE IN THE SKY)
Best Actor: Jet Li (THE WARLORDS)
Best Actress: Teresa Mo Shun-Kwun (MR. CINEMA)
Best Supporting Actor: Nick Cheung Ka-Fai (EXODUS)
Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Shiu Mei-Kei (EYE IN THE SKY)
Best New Performer: Kate Tsui Tsz-Shan (EYE IN THE SKY)