cin3ma | international, journal

smart cars and asian film festivals

by m3ntal

[ audio selection | fountains of wayne – stacys mom ]

woo…a smart car! taken this morning near the bus stop on ave B. this is probably the first smart car ive seen outside of europe (technically the car had a montreal license). i just thought id just share this.

NYAFF 2005
ok ok, lets see what else i can post about. oh right…shit, forgot to post about this. the new york asian film festival is right around the corner! its kinda funny…i usually post about things and forget to email about it to people (i just assume theyve read the journal entry). except this time i did the complete opposite…weird. the nyaff starts this friday, and its got an eclectic lineup of movies from all around asia this year. most of the movies ive never even heard of, so hopefully i can see a couple of them. so far the only one i got advanced tix to is mindgames…that one looks trippy. this will be their 4th annual and my third (i missed the very first one…grrr)…so definitely check it out.

> new york asian film festival 2005

cin3ma | international

cannes and batman

by m3ntal

[ audio selection | avalanches – a different feeling ]

yay for fridays! which is the catch-phrase for any friday following a grueling work week. whew…im quite enjoying my buttered toast at the moment. i hope its nice this weekend too. none of that 40 degrees crap weather frigid wind crap. anything above 60 degrees will be acceptable.

so one week left til star wars eps kick-your-ass. there are already a number of reviews…some going ape-shit over the movie, and others pooping on it. but whatever, theres other stuff to talk about. im sure you can find the reviews yourself. theyre kind of hard to miss. jo blo has some coo pics of the various movie posters up and around the cannes film festival, which has already started. theres alot of coo posters around, including ones for star wars (dur), the transporter 2 (um…ok), kiss kiss bang bang, narnia, and a couple other movies i hadnt heard about before. oh, warning too…theres nekkidness near the bottom. so a bit of a heads-up.

BATMAN
the new batman begins international trailer is also up, and looks pretty rockin’. at least i think it does. the link kinda went to the media page, and theres 3 trailers up. i picked the last one hoping they like to order things chronologically. its pretty coo tho, featuring additional footage i hadnt seen before.
ok thats it. back to my toast. its getting soggy.

> cannes movie posters | warning: nakedness (via jo blo)
> batman begins international trailer (via aicn)

cin3ma | international, journal

fung-hu kustle

by m3ntal

thursday…hooray! maybe even a little biking this weekend, if the weather holds up. met up with fish last nite, who was in the city on consulting work. we hit up our usual go and chilled out to coffee fraps and tea in astor place. it was pretty damn nice out. today got a wee chilly, but im still wearing shorts. woo.

HUNG-KU FUSTLE
kung-fu hustle is out in limited release, and ign has a coo interview with the man himself, stephen chow. they talk about his success, miramax’s release fuckup with shaolin soccer, the movie, and casting the people he did for the movie. in case people werent familiar, not only did chow recast many of his usual stars, but he also brought in alot of well-known old-school martial arts movie stars. anybody you see kicking ass in the movie is probably an old-school chop-socky star…the landlord and lady, the beast, the three martial arts masters, etc. word. check out the interview, and then go track down the movie.

> stephen chow interview (via ign)

cin3ma | international

hitchhikers and were-rabbits

by m3ntal

ushers playing on itunes right now. this is not right…in many countries you could have your thumbs chopped off for playing usher. ill need to have a talk with the coworker…so far his jukebox contributions have been along the lines of christina aguilera and madonnas material girl.

im groggy, so im going to do as little typing as possible. two rockin’ trailers, one of which is from yesterday…but i couldnt watch it because it was sucky streaming. ill start with that one then. theres a new internet exclusive trailer for the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy via ugo via aicn. its rock…watch it. gotta love alan rickmans droll voice as marvin. ok, the new one for today is a new trailer for the rockin’ wallace and gromit: curse of the were-rabbit. gromit rocks…word’em up.

> the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy internet trailer (via aicn)
> wallace and gromit: curse of the were-rabbit trailer

cin3ma | international

steamboy english cast

by m3ntal

first quickie for today…cast members for the english dub of steamboy have been announced. and while im no fan of dubbing, it nonetheless looks like an interesting group so far. anna paquin will be the voice of ray steam, alfred molina as eddie steam, and patrick stewart will voice lord steam…nice. both princess mononoke and spirited away showed that japanese dubs could retain their quality with the right voice casting, so heres to hoping.

> steamboy english voice casting (via aicn)

cin3ma | international

il mare

by m3ntal

[ audio selection | billy idol – rebel yell ]

i think this is pretty hot news. kung-fu cult cinema reports today that both sandra bullock and keanu reeves have signed on to do il mare, a remake of the korean movie siworae, also known as il mare. helmed by alejandro agresti with a script by david auburn, il mare is about two people who are able to exchange letters even tho theyre separated by 2 years. think frequency meets you’ve got mail, except alot more subtle and smooth. the korean il mare was definitely an excellent movie (with korean cutie ji-hyun jun)…and while im a bit skeptical about both bullock and reeves (nothing against them, but i just had differing casting choices in my mind), im still curious to see how the movie turns out. now where the hell is my sassy girl?

cin3ma | international

kung-fu hustling

by m3ntal

[ audio selection | radiohead – everything in its right place ]

ah back to the daily rhetoric. the uk was a nice break and a segue into the new year. the trip was admittedly 1/3 local romping and 2/3 touristy, but thats ok…all the walking and foot cramps and blistering at least got me familiar with a few neighborhoods. now its back to worky, gymy-gym, gaming. word.

HUSTLER
ooh, first movie posts for 2005. and yea theyre a few days old…but theyre still full of kung-fu goodness. the international and japanese trailers for stephen chows newest movie kung-fu hustle are oot and aboot and kicking ass with a ciggie in their mouths. kung-fu hustle follows the story of a wannabe gangster who tries to take over the neighborhood “pig sty”. except everybody who happens to live in that neighborhood is a kung-fu masta…so he gets his ass kicked alot. craziness ensues. the trailers are definitely rockin’ and stephen chows got some warped humor. all hail stephen chow.

APPLESEED
and second up is an older post, but still coo. a new north american trailer and exclusive clip for the forthcoming appleseed is up on ign…and theyre rockin’. wait, what language is that theyre speaking? oh shit…english. motherfuckers dubbed it! damnit, whyd they go and do that? grr…

> kung-fu hustle international trailer (via aicn)
> kung-fu hustle japanese trailer (via aicn)
> appleseed north american trailer and clip (via ign)

cin3ma | international

advent children

by m3ntal

i did however want to post about this…new footage from the final fantasy movie advent children is up on the official site. the movies definitely looking pretty good at this point (tho honestly, the lip synchings a bit dodgy). i just noticed too, watching the new footage…they really made tifa to look just like the japanese actress kumiko aso (samurai fiction, stereo future, casshern). this is not a bad thing.

> advent children site (via petrol)

cin3ma | international, journal

halo and darkwater

by m3ntal

[ audio selection | groove armada – little by little ]

ok, time for some scattershot posting. my stomachs craving some cereal and i wanna lay down this post as fast as humanly possible. i finally got in some halo 2 goodness on fonzs xbox. never really played much halo before…ran thru the game maybe once with fonz in a co-op, so im pretty much a noob in that regard. the only thing that gets me by is the fact that i was hardcore quake in the past, so some of the skills at least translated over. so anyhoo…i ran around lost and confused most of the time, killed rather indiscriminately (my own soldiers were not immune to my wrath), ran over any and all covenant and marines with my scorpion (i dont need no backup when im volkswagening around in a tank), and then quit after taking down a giant mechanized scarab fucking up the downtown. fun times yo…two thumbs up.

DARKWATER
and having absolutely nothing to do with halo 2 whatsoever, the new trailer for darkwater is out. some seriously scary shit yo, especially since theyve decided to translate the movie over to new york city. oh, and in case you didnt know, its another remake of an asian movie. dude, we’re just lovin’ those japanese horrors. based on the hideo nakata (of ring fame) movie honogurai mizu no soko kara, dark water is about a mother and daughter who move into a run-down apartment which constantly drips a dark liquid thru the walls from an apartment above that apparently nobodys lived in for years. cue ghosts and shit. ive never seen the original darkwater, but hideo nakata makes some mean horrors, so im looking forward to this. but enough about japanese horrors. ju-on (the grudge), the ring, darkwater…whatever. where the fucks the remake of my sassy girl eh?

> darkwater trailer (via aicn)