Entries by Scoops Guild

-- All's Well Ends Exceptionally Well 2011 --

Donnie Yen, who has been wanting to act in a comical role and missed the chance last year due to his tight schedule, might be doing one this year if he could squeeze in a bit of time in between Wu Xia and The Monkey King.

 

Raymond Wong intends to cast Donnie Yen in 《至强喜事2011》 All's Well Ends Exceptionally Well 2011 (tentative), his Lunar New Year comedy for next year. In the film, Donnie Yen would play a makeup artist, who instead of fighting 10 people at one go, could apply makeup on 10 persons at once. Reportedly, all it takes are 10 days, and he gets a 15m yuan pay cheque. Possibly, Carina Lau might play Donnie Yen's girlfriend, Louis Koo would play a cosmetic salesman, while Raymond Wong would be pairing up with Yan Ni.  Information Times

-- Wuxia --

The crew, including director Peter Chan, and cast, Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tang Wei, for Wu Xia have been arriving on the set in Tengchong, Yunnan in the past few days to get ready for production of the film, which has been held up due to extreme weather conditions, such as storm that causes mudslide, flood, brought about by climate change, further fuelled by El Nino effects. Director Peter Chan says they are beginning production soon so as not to eat into the schedule of Donnie Yen's next film Monkey King.
 

Peter Chan indicates that Wuxia is an original script which marries action, physics, medical science with special effects to look at martial arts, such as how powerful a blow could be, and how different the impact would be when a fist lands on a martial arts exponent versus on a regular person. While Wu Xia is set in Manchu dynasty, Donnie Yen, who is also serving as the action director, and Takeshi Kaneshiro need not shave their head.

In Wuxia, Donnie Yen, who hides a dark past, lives in a small village. When an unthinkable homicide was committed, Takeshi Kaneshiro comes to investigate, only to discover a more sinister conspiracy, with Donnie Yen being the prime suspect. It's speculated that Tang Wei would play Donnie Yen or Takeshi Kaneshiro's wife.  Chuncheng Evening News, Chongqing Times, MTimes

-- Reign of Assassins --

Here are some character posters from Sina and a trailer for Reign of Assassins on Youtube. The film is opening on September 28, 2010 in China.

 

 

Continue reading "Reign of Assassins Character Posters and Trailer"

-- Don Quixote --

China's first fully 3D live action wuxia film, Don Quixote, directed by Ah Gan, action choreographed by Xiong Xin Xin, starring Guo Tao, Wang Gang, Miao Pu, Hai Yi Tian, Karena Lam, will be released in mid October 2010. Here are some posters from Baidu and a HD trailer uploaded on Youtube by Filmsmash.

 

Continue reading "Don Quixote 3D Character Posters and Trailer"

In The Legend is Born: Ip Man, directed by Herman Yau, the legendary Sammo Hung returns along with action star Fan Siu Wong and To Yu Hang, the youngest martial arts world champion Hong Kong has ever produced. Playing minor parts in the original films, To Yu Hang is asked to take over as the young Ip Man here. Yuen Biao, Huang Yi, Bernice Liu, Rose Chan, Xu Jiao, and Lam Suet are among the new cast members, but the film's most surprising performance probably belongs to the 86-year-old screen novice Yip Chun, the real-life Yip Man's son who curiously plays the master of his father.

 

In his childhood, Yip Man was initiated into Wing Chun under the tutelage of Master Chan Wah Shun (Sammo Hung). After Chan's death, Yip Man follows senior schoolmate Ng Chung So (Yuen Biao) as his new mentor alongside his brother Ip Tin Chi (Fan Siu Wong) and good friend Lee Mei Wai (Rose Chan). Later, the teenage Ip Man (To Yu Hang) opts to leave Foshan to pursue education in Hong Kong, where he meets his third teacher Leung Bik (Yip Chun), a master of an unorthodox school of Wing Chun. When he comes back to Foshan, Ip Man falls in love with the mayor's daughter, his future wife Cheung Wing Shing (Huang Yi). Meanwhile, Ip Man is confronted by Ng Chung So and faced with the dilemma of whether to follow through with his training under Leung Bik. And, unbeknownst to everyone, Tin Chi seems to harbor a secret that threatens to put the whole nation in jeopardy...

 

Order from YesAsia: Ip Man - The Legend is Born Blu-ray | DVD

Director Benny Chan didn't thought of doing a science-fiction initially (This was also echoed by Wu Jing on another occasion, who mentioned that it was a crime film when the director first approached him.), but as he doesn't want to repeat what he has done before, such as the typical cops vs crooks, car chase or gun combats.

Continue reading "Benny Chan Interview on City Under Siege: It's the Mutating Heart that is Most Gruesome"

Ngai Sing (or Collin Chou) says that he admires director Benny Chan for his enterprising spirit, "Director Benny Chan is very bold, he dares experiment something he has never done before, I take my hats off to him for that. I also admire his talents, no matter what subject he's filming, it's as if he's telling the ups and downs of one's life.

Continue reading "Ngai Sing Interview on City Under Siege: A Day in the Life of A Mutant"

Here is the final City Under Siege trailer that showcases the various cast members Aaron Kwok, Ngai Sing, Wu Jing, Zhang Jing Chu, Tie Nan, Zhang Bao Wen in action, plus the de rigueur Benny Chan massive amount of glass shattering effects, and telltale signs of CGIs such as those carelessly tossed turbo-charged darting daggers.

 

Trailer: View / Download (MTime)

 

  

Continue reading "City Under Siege Action Trailer"

In Tsui Hark's latest lavish epic wuxia/mystery choreographed by Sammo Hung, starring Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Tony Leung Kar Fai, Li Bing Bing, etc, Di Renjie, who is in exile, is summoned back to the court to investigate a series of mysterious murders that threatens the coronation of Empress Wu Zetian. Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame is competing at Venice Film Festival, held from September 1 to 11, and will be released on Sept 29, 2010.

 

Reportedly, Chen Kuo Fu, the producer and scriptwriter for the film, has already finished the screenplay for Detective Dee 2, and expect another trailer in the near future.

 

Trailer: Youtube

Continue reading "Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame Extended Trailer + Poster"

If we really want to reduce the human impact on the environment, the simplest and cheapest thing anyone can do is to eat less meat. Behind most of the joints of beef or chicken on our plates is a phenomenally wasteful, land- and energy-hungry system of farming that devastates forests, pollutes oceans, rivers, seas and air, depends on oil and coal, and is significantly responsible for climate change. The way we breed animals is now recognised by the UN, scientists, economists and politicians as giving rise to many interlinked human and ecological problems, but with 1 billion people already not having enough to eat and 3 billion more mouths to feed within 50 years, the urgency to rethink our relationship with animals is extreme. Continue reading "10 Ways Vegetarianism Can Help Save the Planet"

 -- City Under Siege --
 As a Mainland cop who is after the malevolent mutants in City Under Siege, life is full of risks and fears for Zhang Jing Chu, who is constantly facing grotesque and gruesome mutants, and she has to keep looking out for her boyfriend Wu Jing, who often neglects or ignores her. She has shattering fights, and a melancholic, heartrending, ponderous relationship. Continue reading "Is Wu Jing Heartless or Caring Towards Zhang Jing Chu in City Under Siege"