FinishingTheGame Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In Finishing the Game, director Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) went back -- both in time and to his indie roots. Shot in 19 days with begged and borrowed equipment and props, Finishing the Game is a mock-documentary set in a never-was 1973 where, after the tragic early death of Bruce Lee, the producers behind Game of Death go on the hunt for a suitable replacement so they can wrap the film and make a few dollars. Finishing the Game doesn't just look at the representation of Asian Americans in film; it's also a sharp satire of the delusions and denials that come from both sides of the camera in movie making. Lin's no stranger to big-money Hollywood -- he recently signed on to direct a reunited Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in the fourth Fast and the Furious film -- but Finishing the Game is clearly a low-budget labor of love. Lin spoke with Cinematical in San Francisco about bad '70s kung-fu cinema, Vin Diesel's D&D game, how he said 'no' to big-studio backers to keep his vision for Finishing the Game, the pros and cons of studio movie making, why he's looking forward to the fourth Fast and the Furious and Asian representation in mass media from Bruce Lee to the here-and-now. You can download the entire interview right here.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, IFC Films is going to release two new star-driven movies in theaters and On Demand on the same day. The films will be released by First Take, the "day-and-date" division of IFC. Previous attempts at day-and-date films have been extremely controversial with theater owners, who often refuse to book the movies, claiming, perhaps rightfully so, "Why would anyone leave the house and come to our theater if they can get the movie in the comfort of their own home?" Currently, Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban's Landmark Theaters are one of the few chains who will book day-and-date films, and even have their own day-and-date program, Sneak Preview. I'll stop saying day-and-date, I promise. You can read genius Cinematical writer Patrick Walsh's report on Steven Soderbergh's adventures with the distribution practice here, and Ryan's interview with Cuban right here.

What are the two new films? The crime drama Savage Grace, directed by Tom Kalin (his first feature-length film since 1992's Leopold and Loeb story Swoon) stars Julianne Moore and Hugh Dancy. Grace tells the "true story of socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland's 1972 murder," and was a $5 million production. Finishing the Game, a Bruce Lee mockumentary, was directed by Justin Lin (the very cool Better Luck Tomorrow, Fast and the Furious 2: Tokyo Drift). Game features cameos by James Franco and...uh...MC Hammer (how'd they get Hammer to sign on? Offer him a hot meal?), and "imagines the recasting of Lee's final role in Game of Death before filming was completed." You can read Scott's generally positive Sundance review of Death here. Grace will premiere in theaters and on IFC next year; Death next month.

There are a lot of things that will make me want to see a movie. Maybe the effects look cool, it's based on a book I liked or the trailer made me laugh. The films we're talking about today are ones that caught my attention because of a name involved, someone whose presence in front of or behind the camera makes me think this flick might have something going for it. It's Star Power week on Trailer Park.

The Bucket List
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play terminal cancer patients who create a list of things they want to do in life before they kick the bucket (hence the title). Neither actor seems to be straying far from what we've come to expect of them. Nicholson is blustery but still kind of suave while Freeman is more thoughtful and fatherly, but these are roles they play well. Oddly enough, the dynamic between the two actors reminds me a bit of the one between Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis in Bubba Ho-tep. Will and Grace's Sean Hayes is here too and Rob Reiner is directing, so I suspect this will be one worth catching. Martha Fischer first blogged about this on Cinematical here.

Finishing the Game
The star in question here is actually the star of the film being made within the film. At the time of Bruce Lee's sudden death in 1973 at the age of thirty-two, his film The Game of Death remained unfinished. Finishing the Game is a comedy about the completion of the film in the wake of Lee's death and finding an actor who can finish the late martial arts star's scenes. Several actors vie for the role, one of them hilariously Caucasian. The costumes and hair styles capture the 70s feel nicely, as do the clips of faux period martial arts flicks, which kind of remind me of the fake trailers in Grindhouse. This looks awesome.

When Bruce Lee died, tragically and way too young in 1973, he'd only logged about 20-some minutes of material for his film Game of Death ... so the opportunistic producers opted to hire a stand-in to replace the legendary martial artist in order to complete the film. A tacky move, to be sure, and one that's caused much consternation among Lee's fans for the past several decades. And now comes a mockumentary that takes careful aim on that unseemly decision ... and it makes for a pretty funny little diversion.

A confident and consistently amusing comedy from Justin Lin, who directed the very fine Better Luck Tomorrow before "going Hollywood" with the empty-headed The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and the nigh-unwatchable Annapolis, Finishing the Game works as sort of a Spinal Tap of the mid-'70s kung fu set. Completely fabricated and admirably on target, Finishing the Game takes square aim at the ways in which Asian performers spent decades pigeonholed into "delivery boy" roles, full-bore "chop socky" caricatures -- and pretty much nothing else, really.

Well, wow. That's pretty disappointing.

I speak of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival "Park City at Midnight" selections. In previous year the PCM program introduced me to the wonderful horrors of The Descent, Hard Candy, High Tension, May, Saw and Three Extremes.... But next year's line-up seems alarmingly short on the scary stuff. Obviously I cannot make any judgments about the program before I see the films, but going only on the genres and the plot synopses, it seems that next January's Midnight picks are much more comedic in nature. Well, comedies and general weird stuff is what it looks like. Here's the breakdown:

Fido -- Andrew Currie's "Romero meets Sirk" farce earned a small amount of positive buzz at Toronto, which is where James and I sat together and had a really good time with the flick. (Kim liked it too!) Lionsgate is currently preparing a release date for the film, but now we know why they were taking their time on that front.

Finishing the Game -- A mockumentary about the guy called in to "replace" the legendary Bruce Lee on Game of Death after the star passed away. From Better Luck Tomorrow (and, ugh, Annapolis) director Justin Lin.

It Is Fine. Everything Is Fine! -- Director Crispin Glover returns with a follow-up to his certifiably insane What Is It?

The Signal -- "A mysterious signal is being transmitted from all media devices in the city of Terminus, provoking murder and madness within the psyches of its inhabitants." Sounds promising. And check out the trailer!

Sk8 Life -- Apparently it's a Can8ian indie about a bunch of sk8ers who band together to save their beloved hangout from dem0lition.

Smiley Face -- Anna Faris stars as a girl who eats some crazy pot brownies and has a day full of wacky Araki misadventures. And check out the cast!

The Ten -- Some of the old State members got together to do a comedy anthology based on The Ten Commandments. Again, the cast is absolutely jam-packed with colorful folks.

We Are the Strange -- Apaprently someone called it "Monsters Inc. meets The Nightmare Before Christmas inside of a retro Japanese video game." Hmm, OK. The trailer certainly promises something ... yeah, strange.

So there's one I've seen already, two promising comedies, an animated brain-twister, an indie that uses 8s instead of As, another piece of brain-rust from Crispin Glover ... and a Gregg Araki ensemble comedy? Which leaves The Signal as my one small beacon of late-night horror. Ah well, a cool-looking line-up all the same, even if it's not as blood-drenched as I'd hoped it would be. (Plus there's always a few genre titles mixed in amidst the more "highbrow" programs.)