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MSN Movies Blog: Asian ProvocateurThe best of Hong Kong action, Japanese anime and Eastern horror.
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May 10 Timely release for Bangkok Dangerous remakeHot on the heels of the remake of the Pang twins' creepy horror classic The Eye, a new version of the film that made their reputation, Bangkok Dangerous, finally gets a release date. It's out in the US on August 22. The UK release date is still tbc.
The new version is once again directed by Danny and Oxide Pang but this time stars Nicolas Cage in the role of the ruthless hitman who finds himself the target when on a job in Bangkok.
The hitman in the original is a deaf mute whose disability makes him fearless but the story has been changed to suit Cage. Oxide was quoted as saying "we understand that from a marketing point of view Nic needs to have some lines."
Instead rumour has it that his onscreen girlfriend plays a deaf-mute instead. Presumably she will be played by his co-star Charlie Yeung, the Cantopop singer and actress who also starred in Seven Swords.
Filmed on location in Bangkok's red light district Soi Cowboy, the filming was suspended during the 2006 Thailand coup d'état, even though Cage stayed in Bangkok. Filimng was completed in October 2006.
The Pang brothers' original film was hailed as "an explosive picture of the Bangkok underworld, illuminated with neon and saturated in violence."
May 04 Black Gold: Pirates get a Tarantino makeover
Addicted to the anarchy of Bleach , I am already pining for the next box set after the cliffhanger ending of Series 1. Until then there is Black Lagoon Vol 2 which is out on DVD on May 19th. Black Lagoon features four episodes of the kind of Anime I grew up on - excessively violent, coarsely expletive laden, cartoons for grown-ups. Well, not for kids at any rate. It's a suicidally grim affair, at times made unintentionally funny due to the pedantic translation of the subtitles. Cue the theme song: 'I have big gun, I took it from my Lord I'll put ou your misery, You made a mess
It follows the adventures of the Revy, Rock, Dutch and Bennie Boy, aka the Black Lagoon shipping company, scavengers and lowlifes for hire who, when they're not threatening to kill each other, come up against Neo-Nazis and gun smuggling nuns. Imagine modern-day pirates given the Pulp Fiction treatment but instead of John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson is teamed up with Uma Thurman in a Lara Croft meets Black Mamba guise. It's lots of people pointing guns at each other and crooks discussing the finer points of business over a hot brew (only in this case it's tea not coffee). The camera angles are great, the violence uncompromising and the language is, without putting too fine a point on it, offensive. 'Jungle Bunnie' is one phrase that immediately springs to mind. The only disappointment is that the dvd ends just when things are really getting interesting with the arrival of (and I quote) a "killer robot from the future" dressed in a French Maid's outfit. Where will they go with this next? I can't wait to find out. Been burn in hell indeed. Check out my Gallery section for lots more screen shots. Black Lagoon Vol 2 features the episodes: Eagle Hunting and Hunting Eagle , Moonlit Hunting Ground, Calm Down, Two Men & Rasta Blasta. April 26 Reaper MadnessOnly the Japanese could turn a best selling Manga about death and the afterlfe into a brash technicolour animated series full of wit and comedy. No wonder that Bleach is already a huge hit amongst the Anime crowd.
It tells the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a not-so-ordinary 15 year old schoolboy with the ability to see ghosts and 'invisible' monsters.
One fateful night he inherits the powers of a female 'Soul Reaper' called Rukia Kuchiki whose job is to help lost souls crossover to the hereafter, which in Bleach is an alternate dimension called the Soul Society. Nothing is ever straight forward in the world of Anime!
By popping pills from a Pez-like sweet dispenser, Ichigo is able to free his warrior spirit from him body, armed with an unfeasible large sword, and take on soul eating monsters called Hollows.
With me so far?
Part of the appeal of Bleach is its chaotic storyline and mish-mash of visual styles.
Despite a preoccupation with kids who have died in road traffic accidents or have been abandonded, this is no Grave Of The Fireflies. Bleach may look more garish than watching a Pokemon movie with a hangover, but it's definitely cool and has as many in-jokes as an episode of South Park - even if their humour is as often as innocent as its 15 certifcate might suggest.
The series has a complicated and unpredictable story arc with lots of attractive sub-characters. Most of whom develop supernatural powers of their own, such as the mighty Chad who it's safe to say is a man of few words but has comic timing as immense as his physical stature.
Bleach is as anarchic as it is irresistable. A box set of the 20 episode first series is out on DVD on May 5th.
One Americanised Japanese cartoon series that definitely is aimed at all kids of a certain age is 1984's Voltron: Defender Of The Universe which returns to DVD in a 3 disc embossed metallic box set on June 2nd.
Voltron is not held with the same nostalgic affection in the UK as Battle Of The Planets, Transformers or even for those of us old enough to remember, Marine Boy but in the States it was iconic.
Very much a precursor of the Power Rangers, Voltron was a giant galaxy defending robot made up of 5 lion-like vehicles operated by 5 teenagers who suspiciously resemble G-Force.
I wouldn't say I'm a fan but its hard not to be impressed by the restoration process that has made this dvd possible.
Not only has it been newly restored from fresh film transfers with new colour correction applied but it has been re-edited according to the original TV series. The result is the re-inclusion of many scenes lost in the 1980s US version but also it looks as crisp and clean as if it was made last week, let alone last century.
One for collectors for sure.
It's a shame Voltron doesn't have the original Japanese soundtrack but how I wish the same process could be applied to my childhood hero Marine Boy.
He was probably banned because he ate chewing gum that allowed him to breath under-water, his best friend was a topless mermaid and he had a theme tune that sounded like it was sung by someone with their face in a bowl of water. Happy days! April 21 Jet and Jackie's Forbidden Kindom is No. 1 in America
The first ever big screen collaboration between Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the Martial Arts fantasy The Forbidden Kingdom, is the Number 1 movie in the USA in its first week of release, taking $20 million in its opening weekend. I'm still waiting for news on the UK release date. Check my Gallery section for pics and posters from the forthcoming blockbuster. Ghost in the Shell: Individual Eleven
It's hard for me to get excited about anything associated with Ghost in the Shell theses days. I didn't like Ghost in the Shell 2 and the TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was just plain irritating. It would be hard to match the sheer visual brilliance or thought provoking storyline of the original movie - especially under the high-turnover production pressure of a TV series - but the addition of Tachimokas or 'think tanks' for comedic value was surely somthing few people could have appreciated. So the April 28th release of Ghost in the Shell: Individual Eleven (or to give it its full title Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd Gig - Inividual Eleven) was about as welcome as another potential Man Utd Premier League title win. But spank me for making rash assumptions because how wrong was I! Like drum and bass, it seems that in SAC 2nd Gig (the Stand Alone Complex second series) GitS has returned to its roots and is all the better for that. Individual Eleven is not only part of that series edited into a two and a half hour movie, but we have also been treated to additional scenes that re-focus the storyline, and the soundtrack has been re-mixed. We are back in that green tinted cityscape and plug-in virtual world so lovingly 'borrowed' by The Matrix, as Major Motoko leads a reformed Section 9 in pursuit of a revolutionary terrorist cell called the Individual Eleven. And where would GitS be without poltical conspiracies and back-stabbing officials? And as much as I hate giving away the plot (here comes a spoiler alert folks!) I personally was incredibly satified to see the demise of those helium-voiced jumping spiders that wind me up so much - well sort of. Perhaps it is time for me to rehabilitate Ghost in the Shell, instead of simply re-watching the original for the eleventh time?
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig - Individual Eleven is out on DVD on April 28th 2008.
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