There is a real trend of King Arthur revisionism lately -- first there was Galahad, then Brian K. Vaughn's Roundtable, and now John Woo is taking a crack at it with Caliber. Variety reports that the rights to the series have been snatched up by Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil, Barry Levine's Radical Comics (also the book's publisher), and Woo's Lion Rock.

Caliber sets King Arthur firmly into the American Old West, which is rather fitting, since as a location it's nearly as mythical as Camelot. Arthur is given Caliber, a tattooed six-shooter (how do you tattoo a gun?) given to him by the Native Americans. It's no ordinary gun, as it's never loaded with bullets. Only a man with Justice on his side can fire it, at which point it shoots lightning. Accompanying him through the Pacific Northwest are the The Knights of the Round Table, all noble gunslingers, bound by a code of honor to protect the weak and defend the innocent. I guess they have to carry regular guns, though. I can't find an online preview of the comic for you, unfortunately, so we'll just have to hope a Cinematical reader out there can fill us in on the first issue. It certainly has a pretty cover, but I'm not sold on the premise yet.

Early box office returns look strong and reviews are mixed to positive for the most expensive independent Chinese production ever. John Woo's historical epic Red Cliff has opened in Asia, and Variety reports that it's off to "a smashing start," drawing big audiences on its first day of release in China (US$3.65 million), Hong Kong (US$257,500), and Taiwan ($526,000). Relative to their respective territories, those are very good numbers indeed -- it's the biggest opening day this year in Taiwan, for example.

South Korean distributor Showbox received permission from Woo to cut nine minutes from the film's 2 hour and 23 minute running time. This sounds idiotic to me, more like Showbox trying to flex their muscle, but Red Cliff still made an estimated $973,000 on opening day, more than double other Asian hits of recent years such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers.

Variety described Red Cliff reviews as "generally positive." Here are three English-language reviews I've found online: JoonAngDaily, The Associated Press, The Korea Times, The one from AP is entirely positive. More reactions can be found at China View. One friend of mine that's seen it says it's "good but not fantastic."

Red Cliff ends with what can only be described as a "cliffhanger": the decisive battle will be shown in the second part of the film, due for January release in Asia. All things considered, right about now I imagine Mr. Woo is relaxing in his editing suite, finishing up part two, and just smiling.

Can a director best known for bloody bullet ballets pull off a historical action epic? We'll know later this week when John Woo's Red Cliff rolls out across Asia. The film's full-length running time of more than four hours has been split in two; the first part opens in China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan on Thursday, with a release in Malaysia next week and Japan in November, according to Variety. Part two is set to debut next January.

Red Cliff, based on the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (which has been adapted for television and film multiple times), is the fulfillment of a dream for Woo, who first tried to make it nearly 20 years ago. The title refers to a battle involving more than a million soldiers that brought an end to the Han Dynasty in 208 AD, resulting in the division of China into three kingdoms. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen and Lin Chiling star.

Woo has been staging elaborate action sequences for many years, but hasn't tackled a project of this scale and historical sweep before. An international version, expected to run about two and a half hours, will be completed by January. No US distributor has yet been set. To get fully caught up on this sometimes-troubled production, reportedly budgeted at $80 million, read our previous reports from February 2006, September 2006, April 2007 (1), April 2007 (2), August 2007, February 2008 (trailer), and June 2008.

The world tragically lost another stuntman Monday morning, in northern Beijing, China. 23-year-old Lu Yanqing was killed in what is being reported as a "bizarre" fire involving two boats, which were being used for John Woo's latest, the historical epic Red Cliff. Woo was actually not around at the time of the accident -- he was in Hong Kong -- and has not yet been quoted with any official statement.

Under the direction of the film's second unit, the scene that resulted in tragedy featured a small, smoking boat that was to crash into a large ancient warship. Upon collision, when machines began emitting more smoke, an unexpected flame shot up, killing the one stuntman and injuring another three (or seven) people. The exact cause of the fire is being investigated, but one report says the current theory is that "the crew might have accidentally ignited a flame that came into contact with inflammable gas on a boat, setting off the fire from which Lu was unable to escape."

A famous Hong Kong action director is in an epic frame of mind. John Woo has not yet finished his two-part historical adventure Red Cliff, due out this year, but he has his next picture all ready to go. According to Variety, Woo will direct 1949, a romantic epic written by Wang Hui-ling (co-scripter of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Lust, Caution). Rising Taiwanese actor Chang Chen (Crouching Tiger, Blood Brothers) and Korean TV babe Song Hye-key (pictured) will star.

The film begins at the end of World War II and is based on real events that took place during the final years of the Chinese Civil War, right up to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Production is scheduled to begin in December, with release planned for December 2009 -- which is the 60th anniversary of the founding of a certain republic. The announcement was made in Cannes; Fortissimo Films will handle all rights outside China.

Woo stagnated in the studio system after a trio of entertaining action films (Hard Target, Broken Arrow, Face/Off ) that were much better than comparable Hollywood flicks. Having returned to Asia to make the epic Red Cliff, Woo appears ready to continue his career with more creative freedom, in partnership with producer Terence Chang. This sounds like the kind of film he should be making, with a quality screenwriter on board and two rising stars.

Glamorous photography is no substitute for compelling dramatic content. Far too many scenes in Blood Brothers look and feel as though director Alexi Tan followed a self-imposed dictum to "light first, act later." His film labors mightily to get its narrative ball rolling, to no avail.

More's the pity, because Blood Brothers was inspired by very rich source material. John Woo's Bullet in the Head, released in 1990, is arguably Woo's most personal and potent work, gut-wrenching to the point where it feels that he simply opened a vein and let his blood seep into every frame (as I've written before). That film was set in war-torn Vietnam in the late 1960s and had a very gritty feel; by the end, it felt as though you'd suffered as much pain and heartache as the three main characters, close friends whose bond of brotherhood was tested under fire.

Woo's film was originally intended as a prequel to his action classics A Better Tomorrow and A Better Tomorrow II. After Woo had a falling out with producer Tsui Hark, the story was free to develop into something more original, without having to tie the characters into the other films. From the looks of things, it appears that Woo and producing partner Terence Chang similarly encouraged Tan to follow his own artistic muse. Tan's script, completed in collaboration with Jiang Dan and Tony Chan, keeps only the most basic outline of Woo's film: three close friends seek their fortune in the world.

Variety reports that Virgin Comics will partner with Jonathan Mostow for a feature film version of his just-published comic, The Megas. Based off an idea from Mostow about a group of elites, it is part of Virgin's Directors Cut line of comics. Mostow is perhaps best known as the director of Terminator 3, but he is in good company at Virgin. Other directors who have signed up include John Woo, Guy Ritchie, Ed Burns, and Terry Gilliam.

The story "revolves around Detective Jack Madison and his race-against-the-clock investigation to uncover secrets behind the mysterious sex-fueled suicide of a Prince in The Megas royal family. Meanwhile, the King is on his deathbed at The White Palace (yes, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!), and society is bracing for the inevitable chaos that will surely ensue once he dies." Basically, it seems to be about a corrupted ruling class and the everyman who is forced to bring them down.

There is no word yet on whether Mostow will be involved with writing the script, or directing it for that matter. Mostow already has a remake of The Swiss Family Robinson, and the sci-fi thriller The Surrogates, with Bruce Willis, lined up for 2009. If Virgin wants to get this production going any time soon, they might have to start looking for someone else to take over. The original model for the Director's Cut series was to create comics that were tailor-made for film adaptations, so I would assume that we are going to start to see a lot of Virgin comic book movies in the near future.

A trailer for John Woo's new film Red Cliff has surfaced on Yahoo Tawain, and it looks as if the old action master will no longer suffer indignities of Jean-Claude Van Damme or Ben Affleck. His first feature film since Paycheck (2003), it's a swordfighting epic that bypasses Woo's famous gunplay films (The Killer, Hard-Boiled, etc.) and goes back to his earlier films like Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979) with a dash of his epic war masterpiece Bullet in the Head (1990) thrown in for good measure. (It's also kinda sexy.)

The trailer is without English subtitles, but it's also mostly without dialogue. Set during the Three Kingdoms period of Ancient China, the film tells the story of the historical Battle of Red Cliffs. It's also apparently the most expensive Chinese film to date, costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 million (US). Tony Leung Chiu Wai stars, along with Takeshi Kaneshiro, and the lovely Zhao Wei. (Former star and frequent Woo leading man Chow Yun-fat walked off the set last year.) According to the trailer, the film will be opening in the East this summer, but no U.S. release date has been set.

Wonderful as the classic family Christmas movies can be, the overwhelming sugary sweetness in most of them can be a little off-putting to adult audiences. I know my friends tend to gravitate more towards the R-rated holiday fare -- Die Hard, Bad Santa, The Ref, etc. Lord knows Hollywood doesn't want to be bothered coming up with original ideas, so I'm proposing seven remakes of Christmas family classics -- souped up for 2008 and aimed at the 17+ crowd. I've set up the plots and even suggested a possible director for each. Enjoy...

Michael Moore's A Christmas Carol

In Michael Moore's return to narrative filmmaking, George W. Bush plays with his shiny new train set, sets out cookies for Santa Claus, and falls asleep in his footie pajamas while watching Power Rangers. He is awoken in the middle of the night by The Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes Georgie through his days of frat parties, draft dodging, drunk driving, and cocaine abuse. Even faced with hard evidence, Bush denies any involvement. The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Bush deep into a post-Katrina New Orleans, where Bush cracks jokes and enjoys some caramel corn. Stunned by Bush's lack of feeling, the ghost takes him to Iraq, where he sees what Christmas is like for U.S. soldiers. Bush yawns. He is sleepy. The Ghost of Christmas Future shows Bush a world ravaged by the effects of global warming and America hated by countries all across the globe. "Not real concerned about my legacy, Future Dude" chuckles Bush, and he falls asleep safe in his bed. Bush wakes up twelve hours later, having learned absolutely nothing. As the movie ends, he runs over a homosexual couple with his truck and kicks a sick orphan in the face.

I don't have a subscription to ScreenDaily.com, so I can only read the headlines, but those headlines sure are handy. Here are three that caught my eye, all deals taking place in and around the American Film Market (AFM) in Santa Monica, California.

• Carlos Reygadas' challenging drama Silent Light sharply divided critics when it debuted at Cannes earlier this year, though everyone seemed to agree that certain scenes were indelibly beautiful. Tartan Films has picked up distribution rights in the US; they previously released the director's Battle in Heaven. Expect a limited theatrical engagement. It plays at AFI Fest in Hollywood next week (November 7 and 9).
  

• Blood Brothers (pictured), on the other hand, has united critics: no one seems to like it. Alexei Tan's reimagining of John Woo's A Bullet in the Head has been criticized for being too glossy and lacking substance -- none of which discourages me from wanting to see it. First Look Studios has acquired US distribution rights. First Look has handled genre titles before, often sending them straight to DVD, so a theatrical release is not assured, especially in view of its lukewarm reception so far.
  

• Sukiyaki Western Django, Takashi Miike's English-language Spaghetti Western, apparently confused everybody. Some were disappointed that it not as outrageous as from the versatile and prolific director. First Look has picked up US rights for this one as well, but it's a new, edited version that is 25 minutes shorter than what was previously screened at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. Given Miike's name recognition, this has a shot at a limited theatrical release before heading to DVD.
  

AFM runs through November 7. AFI Fest, which opened last night with a gala screening of Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs, runs through November 11.

[ Via ScreenDaily ]