HongKong Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Four of the most exciting movie stars in the world are currently appearing in two of the least interesting new movies, taking a back seat to less interesting stars. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are master martial artists, Chan with a comedian's touch and Li with an appealing stoic quality. They team up for the first time in The Forbidden Kingdom (105 screens), a movie about a white kid and his attempt to beat up some bullies. Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh team up for the second time in The Children of Huang Shi (43 screens), about a British journalist (not played by Chow) and an Australian nurse (not played by Yeoh) saving some orphans.

Chow had a suave, cool quality that could have turned him into the next James Bond or Cary Grant, and Yeoh is a beautiful martial artist who could have become a groundbreaking feminist action star. It's a sad state of affairs, but I guess these films are the final proof of the cold, dead corpse of the Hong Kong New Wave.

Jessica Alba's latest, The Eye, is about a blind woman who has an eye transplant that enables her to see into the supernatural world. It's a remake of twin brothers' Oxide Pang Chung and Danny Pang's 2002 Hong Kong horror film Gin Gwai. The new film was directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, with re-shoots (uh-oh) by Patrick Lussier. It was written by Sebastian Gutierrez, who scripted Gothika and Snakes on a Plane (uh-oh again). The trailer is up online over at Yahoo Movies, and you've probably got some questions. Will this one be any better than the average crappy horror flick? Are we talking more The Ring or more The Grudge 2? If Jessica Alba were really blind, could she learn to love a monster like me? Maybe you should take your pretty little eyes over there and check out that trailer, Mogambo!

The trailer feels like more of a long teaser. There is no dialogue, just some pulsing music, and quick flashes telling the story in images. It's nicely done but not mind-blowing. A few moments stood out, like the floating feet and the nice little jump at the end. I also like the bit where she appears to be painfully squeezing fluid out of her eye. It reminded me of trying to put in my contact lenses while hung over. The Eye co-stars Alessandro Nivola (Junebug) and the always delightful Parker Posey. I saw Posey for a half second in the trailer, and no Nivola, but I guess when you've got one of the most beautiful women in the world in your movie, you want to put her front and center. Cinematical visited the set of The Eye back in April, and if you'd like to read a discussion with Miss Alba regarding the film, you can find it here. The Eye is due in theaters on February 1st, 2008.

It's been more than five months since The Dark Knight began shooting in Chicago, but the Batman Begins sequel is very far from being completed. Currently the movie is filming in England, and according to Variety, the production is on its way to Hong Kong, where it will film a number of scenes this fall. Locations will include Central District, which is the city's business district, and Western District, which is ironically the least Westernized part of Hong Kong. The movie may also feature the Symphony of Lights, a touristy light and laser show that occurs nightly around Victoria Harbor. The shoot is scheduled to last nine days, and will happen in November.

Variety claims the HK sequences will be the first time Batman is depicted on-screen fighting crime outside Gotham. But it isn't likely the trade really knows the plot or what scenes will actually be filmed in the Chinese city. Anyway, Batman Begins did already show us Bruce Wayne in China, of course it was prior to becoming the Caped Crusader and he wasn't exactly fighting crime. The trade does point out that it is also unknown whether Hong Kong will be called Hong Kong in the movie, or if it will have a fictional name, a la Gotham. However, considering there's an actual graphic novel titled Batman: Hong Kong, I assume the DC Universe's acknowledgment of the city will extend to the movie franchise. In any case, The Dark Knight will reportedly be the highest profile film to shoot in the former British colony in many years.

In other, more tragic Dark Knight news, a crew member was killed on the set yesterday afternoon when he drove a 4x4 camera truck into a tree. According to BBC News, the sequel was doing a test run for a sequence involving the Batmobile near Chertsey, Surrey, England. The unnamed crew member, a special effects technician, was pronounced on the scene, an effects facility in Longcross. Surrey Police and the Health and Safety Executive are investigating the incident.

It made perfect sense: John Woo's return to Chinese-language cinema was to star Chow Yun-Fat, who last collaborated with the director on the Hong Kong action classic Hard Boiled. The new film (or films, as it might be too long for just one), titled The Battle of Red Cliff, is an historical war epic set in the year 208, and Chow was to play Zhou Yu, the chief strategist for the Kingdom of Wu. But Chow has just walked off the production, which has already begun shooting, and the actor and the producers have different interpretations of why he has left so abruptly.

According to Chow, his departure was due to his inability to prepare for the role; he claims he only last week received the script. Producer Terence Chang, on the other hand, says that Chow's demands were too high and that he walked because he didn't get what he wanted. The script handed to Chow last week was merely a revision to one the actor had been given last year. Another topic of conflict is Chow's salary. According to the actor, he took a pay cut and was being paid in installments. Chang says the actor was to be paid $5 million plus royalties.

Chow also pointed out that his contract followed the model he uses on Hollywood films and implied that Red Cliff's producers need to get used to the way things are done in Hollywood. As if abandoning the director who made him an international star wasn't enough, he had to go and confirm that he's now too important to go back to his roots. Of course, anyone familiar with Bulletproof Monk and Anna and the King can attest to Chow's true significance to Hollywood's audiences. Chow is now the third big name to be removed from Red Cliff; previously Ken Watanabe and Tony Leung were also involved, but each dropped out for different reasons. Anyway, if you were really dying to see another collaboration between Woo and Chow, there's always the new video game Stranglehold, which hits stores this summer.

Although I missed it somehow, there were apparently rumors of the new Batman flick filming in Hong Kong floating around the internet a few weeks ago. Speculation has lead to rumors of a "Batman goes to Hong Kong" plot, because speculation isn't kept in check by sanity or anything resembling it. As always, the good folks over at Batman-on-Film are right at the point of the Bat-rumors, and have come through with some clarification. Chris Nolan has indeed been scouting locations in Hong Kong, but worry not -- Batman is not taking his show on the road. An anonymous scooper tells BOF not to expect action in Hong Kong; any exterior set work shot there will likely be used either for areas of Gotham or for flashback purposes.

In other Bat-news, writer Jonah Nolan has revealed that there is "a squad of ninjas" which follows him around ready to cut his throat should he ever reveal even the smallest of plot details. To many of us, this would seem like a serious career danger, but those are the risks you must take if you want to be a famous Hollywood writer, I suppose.

Though they both seemed to bail on their native Hong Kong film industry when they got calls from Hollywood, Jackie Chan and the incomprehensibly smooth Chow Yun-Fat were careful not to cut their ties at home. Despite hitting it big in Hollywood, Chan has continued to work in HK all along, shooting in both countries on a fairly regular basis. Chow, on the other hand, is just now making plans for his first HK films since he left for Hollywood. Frustrated by his difficulty finding roles in which he doesn't shoot people (you may recall that Anna and the King didn't go so well), Chow sees a return to HK as a chance to play the more richly varied roles that (along with John Woo) helped make him a star.

In the cards for Chan is a drama called The Myth, while Chow will appear in Ann Hui's My Aunt's Postmodern Life and the adaptation of an as-yet undetermined Chinese play directed by Zhang Yimou.