Jean-Claude Van Damme (Cyborg, Kill ’em All) and Dolph Lundgren (Skin Trade) – the action duo known for their team up in the popular Universal Soldier franchise – join forces once again for Black Water(read our review), which will be getting a Blu-ray and DVD release on August 21, 2018 from Lionsgate (the film is currently available via VOD, if that’s your preference).
Black Water is the story of a CIA operative (Van Damme) who is imprisoned in a CIA black site on a nuclear submarine after being framed as a traitor. He has to prove his innocence with the help of fellow inmate (Lundgren) and clear his name before he disappears forever…
The film also stars Patrick Kilpatrick (Death Warrant), Al Sapienza (Sopranos), Jasmine Waltz (Poker Run) and Kristopher Van Varenberg (Assassination Games).
Black Water is written by Chad Law (Close Range) from a story by Tyler W. Konney (Blue Line), and is produced by Richard Switzer (Altitude).
A lot has been said about dating your ex partners. It rarely works. Moreover, former partners often even have troubles maintaining some kind of friendship, not to say romantic relationships. Nevertheless, for some couples breaking up feels more like a temporary separation, though nobody plans breaking up and getting back together. Things usually happen spontaneously and are way too complex to allow full understanding. Perhaps, it is possible to get back together and start anew. Perhaps, not and its better to forget ordering yourself online brides and being done with it all. It’s all subjective and depends on an individual. Read the following to know all about getting back to your ex.
Same Issues All Over Again
The most obvious thing is that you broke up with your ex for a reason. You might not know the reasons but it is certain that there is something that caused your breakup. A breakup usually happens when there is a problem that cannot be handled otherwise. Getting back together after a breakup means facing the same problem again, though, now in hope of dealing with it. Nevertheless, a problem that caused breakup should be handled. Otherwise, you risk of going through the same breakup again. It may be better not to start a relationship with your ex again with the unresolved issues and no solution. It’d be a waste of your emotional energy and time.
Baggage
There always will be a memory of your breakup. A new relationship cannot undo the old relationship. And people find it easier to avoid each other afterwards for a reason. The image of a person, not to say real physical presence nearby, causes painful memories that depress you. Thus, dating your ex means constantly trying to ignore the fact that you’re with the same person who caused you pain or to whom you have caused pain. Because, essentially, most of the failed relationship have the offended side and the side that offends. Similarly, there’s always the one who initiates breakup and the one who has no other choice but to agree.
One and Only
The most common and widely used argument for getting back to your ex is that your ex is (or may be) “the one and only” meaning single eternal love of your life. Though it might sound naïve, one cannot possibly have anything against this notion. This is a beautiful dream even if it is too sentimental. There are many great couple who work hard on their relationship and stay together despite struggles. For some a relationship can become a cage but for others being together despite anything is better than a break up caused by problems, even serious ones. Those who get back to their ex-lovers are, perhaps, romantics by nature because they have faith. All rational thinking arguments suggest to not repeat the same mistake twice but a failed relationship is not a mistake as long as it provides the experience. And those who have faith are lucky ones because they sustain the notion of romantic love.
Taking the Chance
Try it even if it’s not going to work. At least you’re going to be able to say that you tried. An attempt is never a mistake. If you have enough faith, it’s going to work. With no faith you wouldn’t want to do it yourself. There’s always a chance and because another person is involved you should consider every possibility. People get together for a reason. But they part ways for a reason as well. Get back if you have something to get back to, have something to fight for. Leave if there’s no such thing. And make your partner understand.
Well, now you know the pros and cons of getting back together. It will bring back the old problems that can make you mad. It also comes with emotional baggage that is going to slow you down. But it is worth the risk if your partner is the one and only.
Director: Steven C. Miller Writer: Miles Chapman Cast: Huang Xiaoming, Sylvester Stallone, Dave Bautista, Jesse Metcalfe, Wes Chatham, Chen Tang, Titus Welliver, Jaime King, Curtis Jackson Running Time: 94 min.
By Kelly Warner
I enjoyed the first Escape Plan (2013). It’s nothing particularly memorable, but it’s good popcorn entertainment, and Arnold and Sly appeared to be having a good time. Though I was not against the idea of a sequel, one didn’t seem likely considering the movie’s weak domestic box office. But 2018 is weird and so now we have an Escape Plan 2 on our hands and a third film already on the way. Thank China, I guess. For while the original Escape Plan performed better almost everywhere but here, it did its best work in China, earning almost double what it made in the US. Right from the get-go, Escape Plan 2: Hades reveals itself as eager to tap into that unexpected market with a cast and story designed to appeal to its foreign audience. This is not a sin. It’s good business sense. But it is also the first clue that what we’re watching is less an artistic endeavor and more a cynically engineered product.
Sylvester Stallone returns as Escape Plan’s Ray Breslin. The cover art tagline promises “HE’S BACK” like it’s one of his more iconic roles. Or maybe it’s a tease about Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is not back, but we all know about his love for using the phrase? Or maybe I’m overanalyzing an incredibly dull tagline. This is a movie that thought adding “Hades” to its title was cool, after all. Whatever. We’re getting off to a bad start here. Let me try again… Stallone is back as Ray Breslin, the guy who makes a living busting out of prisons to show the architects/wardens/department of corrections the weak links in their security. In the previous film, Ray got locked up in The Tomb, a state-of-the-art super prison with clear prison cells so nothing went unnoticed by the guards. This time, Ray is less of a man of action and more of a teacher.
We open the film with Ray’s three protégés narrowly escaping a hostage situation. There’s the kung fu guy Shu (Huang Xiaoming) who follows Ray’s teachings like a student learning from his master, the eager to please Luke (Jesse Metcalfe), and the mathematically minded Kimbral (Wes Chatham). From there, Shu goes off to protect his tech billionaire cousin (Chen Tang) and they are both subsequently abducted. Shu wakes up in Hades (H.A.D.E.S. stands for High Asset DEtention Service), a black site prison designed by a prison architect who really liked TRON: Legacy.
Regardless of what the marketing might tell you, it’s Xiaoming’s Shu that’s the main character here. Stallone gets to participate as a voice in Shu’s head talking him through the situation (which we’re told is Shu’s ‘intuition’) while Shu tries to figure out a way to escape before the prison breaks his genius cousin into divulging all his tech secrets. On the outside, Ray and his crew try to locate Hades so that they can rescue Shu, and the more they learn about Hades the more it seems like this is all about Ray and the shame he brought upon the people who built The Tomb.
The movie is way too complicated and filled with way too many characters. At some point, Ray has to reach out to an old rival named Derosa (Dave Bautista) for help. But Derosa feels more like a need to acquire another recognizable face on the poster, because he actually does very little that other cast members (Stallone, Metcalfe, 50 Cent, Jaime King, etc) couldn’t have done themselves. And I like Bautista. One could argue his career is in a better place than Stallone’s at the moment. But he’s unnecessary.
So much of the movie is unnecessary. The prisoners of Hades actually seem like well-behaved chaps. But the AI robot program called Galileo which oversees the facility forces them to fight Mortal Kombat style every day – with the promise of visiting a brightly lit art room which dangles above the prison if they win. It is forced conflict and thus dull conflict. There are three different villains each essentially serving the roles of prison warden, which makes each of them less interesting as a result. There’s the AI Galileo, a top-secret villain, and a guy played by a very bored Titus Welliver (Bosch). Welliver’s character is named Faust but he prefers to be called the Zookeeper, because the writer is desperate to make you understand that he’s evil without wasting time on things like character development. The Zookeeper calls all his prisoners ‘Animals’ and the prison yard the ‘Zoo.’ Oookay? It looks like a cheap TRON sequel but we can call it the Zoo if you like. Zoo, Hades, Neon Nightclub Prison, whatever, we’re not really sticking with a theme here.
Throw in some unnecessary backstory for Shu (tragic childhood!), hints about a grand sci-fi conspiracy that’s spending millions constructing prisons just to get back at Ray Breslin, all that business with Shu’s cousin’s doomsday machine tech, and a subplot involving skinhead hackers who call themselves Legion and you have a very busy fucking movie. And as a result of trying to do a million different things, the movie forgets to do any of them particularly well.
Escape Plan 2: Hades is directed by Steven C. Miller (Marauders, First Kill, Arsenal, Extraction), who seems to have made a career out of coaxing aging movie stars through DTV action films. His work on this film is full of dull fights, repetitive action, boring performances, and wait-what’s-happening-now editing. The fight between Huang Xiaoming and Titus Welliver is the film’s action highlight. Writer Miles Chapman (who also wrote the original) provides some lame dialogue with too much reliance on exposition. Cinematography by Brandon Cox (The Collector) is a clumsy mix of shakycam action and shakycam close-ups. The production team does a decent job of stretching the relatively tight budget as far as it can go, but nobody brought their A-game to this movie.
Stallone is not only a supporting role this time around, he’s also clearly not as into the movie. Like Welliver, he appears noticeably bored. Xiaoming (Mission Milano) is a convincing action lead but it’s clear that English is not his first language as many of his line readings really could’ve used some work. To be fair, other actors who speak English more regularly than Xiaoming also deliver poor line readings, so it’s also just that kind of movie. I found Wes Chatham (The Expanse) annoying but I honestly don’t know if it’s because of how his character is written or if it’s the performance… and also it’s probably partly because he and Jesse Metcalfe (Dallas) sometimes look like the same damn person with their YA I-may-look-gruff-but-I-damn-it-I’m-trying-to-say-I-love-you-Jennifer good looks. Dave Bautista (Enter the Warrior’s Gate) is clearly into the movie but there’s not a whole lot for him to do other than play dress up and make big guns look small in his arms. Jaime King (Sin City) is a recast Abigail, previously played by Amy Ryan, the main lady on Ray’s crew. King ain’t slacking it here and makes even the weakest scenes better, like that strange part where Ray seems to come onto her at the workplace and then the movie cuts away before we have to think about how that would look—oh God, no, it’s in my head now. Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson (Power) is back as Ray’s hacker partner, Hush, and maybe it says something about a movie when the rapper leaves a better impression with the audience than his Oscar-nominated co-star.
Escape Plan 2: Hades ends so abruptly that Stallone has barely gotten the last word out of his mouth before the credits begin to roll, so desperate are the producers to just move on and get to the sequel. Whether or not the audience will turn up for more is an interesting question, because Escape Plan 3: Devil’s Station is coming regardless of how well this movie does. For myself, I guess I’ll watch it…? John Herzfeld directs the next one, and I liked his film 2 Days in the Valley, so at least there’s that.
This is a bad movie that only gets worse the more you think about it. Arnold is missed, but not more so than a decent script and capable hands behind the camera. The fact that it is noticeably cheaper than its predecessor is so far down the list of reasons why the movie is inferior to the original it’s not even funny. Escape Plan 2: Hades has to rank among the worst films of Stallone’s long, up and down career. By the end of it, the idea of a third film feels less like a promise and more like a threat.
There are a lot of articles about business and education on the Internet, but there is always the question of where to study better, how to find courses that will really teach you useful things and guide you on the right path and stay in a relationship because studying takes a lot of time. If we are talking about web-designing, then the problems are the same in this field: many resources don’t have enough information and most of them don’t provide quality education. Therefore, it is necessary to approach the selection of such resources with the utmost attention: it should be convenient, at a reasonable price, and, most importantly, people, who will teach you, should themselves have experience in this field. You can often face the fact that you are being taught dubious personalities and if you question their competence, they will start showing their certificates that say only about passing the theory, but not about the real practice of doing business or one of its directions.
Also, if you don’t have a permanent partner, then tryvideo dating apps and find a girlfriend. But if you have a relationship, then tell your loved one that you are going to study and get a new profession. You will have to devote less time to a relationship since you will have to study in the evening and on weekends. You can’t miss lectures and homework takes a lot of time, it must also be taken into account.
Study online
Nowadays, there are many online business training platforms that deserve your attention. As we already mentioned, you can study online, which means that you will be able to study at any convenient time and wherever you are. However, some courses have start and end dates so you will still have to follow the schedule but everything is not as strict as in offline schools. In addition to online classes, such courses include live meetings and classes. If you can’t physically attend them, you can watch online broadcasts or videos.
How does it work?
The main areas of subjects are management, marketing, PR, HR, design, start-ups and entrepreneurship. First of all, it should be noted that both paid courses and free materials are available on sites. Free ones allow you to obtain basic knowledge of various disciplines or directions. For example, you can learn the basics of web design, content and email marketing, the basics of copywriting and gaming or the basics of business English. All this is for free and it’s a sin to refuse to study these disciplines – they will be useful to you in the future and perhaps right now. Paid courses provide more in-depth knowledge. For example, “Design of websites” will introduce you to the topic of designing. After completing a course, you will learn the main points and evaluate your results. The course will be conducted by a person who has experience in large Western companies.
Also, you will need to perform tests and practical assignments from a lecturer to effectively master a seminar. For the duration of paid courses, you will have feedback from a lecturer. By the way, usually, in this case, it will be necessary to attend a course personally or attend some online training, seminars and master classes if they are provided by the course program. A feature of such a training is that platforms don’t publish the courses of third-party authors. Thus, the maximum efficiency in training is achieved. Upon completion, you will have specific skills and correct ideas about the direction you are studying so that you can immediately apply them in practice. Also, these services have blogs that are regularly updated and in which you can find a lot of useful information.
Are you single and you have a Facebook account? Very soon, you’ll be able to use it as a
platform for finding your soul mate. Facebook is about to launch a dating feature that will make it a kind of dating site. Perhaps, this idea came to your mind earlier when you contacted some nice eastern European brides, whose profiles caught your eye, and thought to yourself whether it was appropriate. Guys behind Facebook analyzed the marital statuses of their users and found out that there are 200 million singles. Moreover, it’s customary today to look for love online. It’s quite an obvious assumption that Facebook folks might be interested in finding love within their social network.
Are you a potential user of a new dating service run by Facebook? Read about its main features to decide for yourself.
The aim: serious dating
The dating industry is quite diverse. It offers services for finding flings, friendships, serious relationships, casual relationships, etc. At Facebook, they want you to find a partner for a solid and long-term relationship using this feature.
Privacy and transparency
If you want to date through Facebook, you’ll need to create an additional dating profile. Your friends will not see whether you have one or not. Also, your friends will not be on the list of potential matches. The feature will translate only first names, which means you’ll see the real names of people. Also, you’ll send and receive messages from strangers not through Messenger, but through a separate chat that supports only text messages. This will ensure a solid first chat free from images and links.
The choice of mature people
It’s expected that the majority of users will be people in their 50s and divorcees. This can be explained by the fact that older people want to use dependable and traditional services. While young people widely use different sites and apps, trying new services that keep popping up, mature people want to use something they are already somehow familiar with. Facebook is a familiar environment for them, so they are expected to be actively using its dating feature.
No longer an intermediary
Such services as Tinder or Bumble ask you to register using your Facebook account. It means that if you get interested in someone’s dating profile, you can check out their Facebook page to get a better idea of what kind of person they are. Since Facebook is getting its own dating service, it becomes self-sufficient.
Free or paid?
We know that most of the popular dating services operate on a subscription basis or charge fees for premium services. It’s still unknown whether Facebook’s dating feature will be free or paid, and if paid, what the rate will be.
Opponents
Although the idea of finding a romantic match within your social network seems quite
tempting, there are some people who don’t fancy such a perspective. You’ll be matched with people based on the attended events, liked posts, and common groups. However, you may not be interested in dating people who simply share your interests. Your online community is not the same as the pool of potential dates.
Stunt coordinator-turned-director, James Mark (filmmaker behind 2017’s Kill Order aka Meza), is back in action with On the Ropes, an upcoming thriller that’s finding its way to DVD from Screen Media Entertainment.
On the Ropes follows a young man (Aydin) who starts watching over his family’s criminal business after the death of his father and must face off against his brother, who presents a threat.
On the Ropes hits DVD on July 3, 2018 (or you can stream it right now). Watch the film’s Trailer below:
Xu Haofeng (The Final Master) – a filmmaker known for presenting martial arts in a less stylized and more realistic manner – made a name for himself by penning the screenplay for Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster. But it was 2011’s The Sword Identity, his directorial debut, which showed Xu’s true talent.
Here’s what you can expect from the film’s plot: Swordsman Wen Sanchun (Zhou Xun) is on the run from assassins, and is saved by wandering hero Ye Motian (Chen Kun). Together, they escape to the armoury, the stronghold of Anda, a Yuan rebel commander and Ye Motian’s foster father. It is later revealed that Wen Sanchun is a trusted subordinate of the crown prince, and is here to persuade the rebels to surrender. Now a wanted criminal, Ye Motian and Wen Sanchun engage in a deadly struggle (via cfensi).
Expect a Trailer for The Weary Poet to hit soon. Until then, here’s the Trailer for The Final Master:
Director: Eric Zaragoza Cast: Scott Adkins, Aaron McCusker, Michelle Lahane, Vahidin Prelic, Lukas Loughran, Alaa Safi, Milan Kovacevic, Arkie Reece, James MacCallum, Vladan Dujovic Running Time: 89 min.
By Kyle Warner
SCOTT… ADKINS… IN… SPACE! For a certain group of movie viewers, that’s hand over the money, give it to me now sort of entertainment. Me, I like Adkins. Though he hasn’t reached the popularity of the high kicking stars of yesteryear (the mainstream action movie landscape has changed a lot since then), he is a more than capable lead for action-packed B-movies. Viewer expectations for these sorts of movies aren’t exactly high; all we really want is to be entertained. Sad to say, Scott Adkins’ space movie Incoming does not meet even the lowest of expectations.
Incoming begins with the bombing of London’s Big Ben. A terrorist group known as the Wolf Pack claims responsibility. We’re told that the Wolf Pack is responsible for other terrorist attacks all across the globe. Many of the Wolf Pack terrorists have been captured alive and are questioned in relation to whereabouts of their leader, known only as Alpha. Instead of executing the captured terrorists, the nations of the world work together to lock them up in a top secret black site prison, the International Space Station codenamed Hammer. The Hammer orbits the Earth with a staff of only one man who tortures, questions, and tends to the needs of his dozen or so prisoners from an automated control room. We enter the story as an inspection is scheduled that will take the American agent (Scott Adkins), a doctor (Michelle Lahane), and a pilot (Aaron McCusker) to the space station in order to assess its progress in finding Alpha and also the condition of its prisoners.
There is something like political commentary in the movie about what is, essentially, Guantanamo in outer space. Michelle Lahane’s doctor has strong objections to the treatment of the prisoners. They are burned with hot steam, forced to endure death metal at ear-shattering decibels, never allowed to speak to anyone, barely fed, and so on. The doctor questions how any of this can be legal under the Geneva Convention, to which Adkins replies with what might be my favorite line in the movie, “The Geneva Convention doesn’t apply in space.” The film doesn’t seem to know where to go with the conversation about torture, though. It seems to suggest that torture is a necessary evil in fighting a war for humanity, while also making clear that torture doesn’t actually work.
Of course, things go wrong during the assessment of the facility. The doctor comes to the cell of one of the prisoners who she believes has evidence of torture, only to be taken hostage by that prisoner, thus resulting in a riot that frees all terrorists from their cells. From there it’s up to Adkins and co. to fight in order to retake the space station before the terrorists use it to crash into one of Earth’s metropolitan cities. That sounds like a pretty cool set up for a sci-fi actioner but Incoming drops the ball almost immediately.
The sci-fi is only setting. The movie doesn’t embrace the possibilities of the concept by any means. Some of this is due to a tight budget. Too many sets are just dark rooms with big LED monitors displaying snazzy technological whatever, hoping you ignore the fact that that’s all it is; a dark room with wobbly chairs and a bunch of TVs. And the prerequisite sci-fi doors that swish open horizontally to recycled sound effects. So many recycled sound effects. It’s cheap but that’s not the real problem. With exception to the final act, the rest of the movie could’ve been set in almost any isolated location. It’s strange that the movie’s genre hook – Scott Adkins in space! – begins to feel like an afterthought before long.
So, it’s not much of a science fiction movie. But sadly it’s not a very good action movie either. The fights are very choppy and the cramped corridors of the space station are not used to the film’s benefit. The action scenes—which are all different variations of ‘run at each other with makeshift weapons and try not to die’—have a few cool beats but the script betrays any momentum that the onscreen talent tries to create.
Incoming has zero flow. It sputters to life then stops itself whenever things start to get exciting. After every confrontation between the crew and the terrorists, the two groups retreat to their opposite corners of the Hammer to collect themselves and plan the next move. While the terrorists plot to destroy a city to make a point (their actual beliefs are never explored, they’re just very bad people), Adkins’ group talks about how to retake the station. “We need a plan,” says McCusker’s pilot. “There’s no time for a plan!” says Adkins. And so they clash with the terrorists and then retreat again. You can overlook a movie for being cheap and simple, but you can’t overlook boring.
I did kind of enjoy the film’s finale, though. Here Incoming commits to a cynical worldview as it invites us to question our heroes and our governments as things get bloody. It’s also the only part of the movie where Incoming isn’t just playing for time. At long last, it’s do or die, and there is no time to retreat. Plus, the heroes make bombs out of bottles filled with urine, so there’s that.
There’s a kernel of a good idea in Incoming, but the film didn’t explore its themes deep enough, didn’t have enough money to pull off its vision, and, worst of all, it forgot to have some fun.
On September 18, 2018, Arrow Video will be releasing the Blu-ray for 1969’s pre, from Teruo Ishii (Blind Woman’s Curse). Read on for the official release details below:
Cult director Teruo Ishii (Shogun’s Joy of Torture) presents a nightmarish, hallucinogenic tale drawn from the fevered imagination of Japan’s celebrated pioneer ofero-guro (“erotic grotesque”) literature, Edogawa Rampo.
Medical student Hirosuke Hitomi slips out of the asylum in which he has been wrongfully confined and stealthily assumes the identity of a recently deceased nobleman with whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. Hirosuke eases his way into the nobleman’s household and his dead double’s marital bed. But as long-repressed memories begin to bubble to the surface, he soon finds himself drawn to a remote isle where he is confronted by a mad scientist and his malformed men, and discovers the key that will unlock some long-suppressed mysteries of his own.
A dark labyrinth of the monstrous and perverse that fuses mystery and horror while incorporating motifs from a myriad of Rampo’s tales, Horrors of Malformed Men boasts astonishing carnivalesque art design and haunting performances. Withdrawn from cinemas by its own studio after its original scandalous release nearly fifty years ago, the film is among the very best screen interpretations of the author’s macabre brand of horror-fantasy fiction, and a unique oddity of Japanese cult cinema.
Special Edition Contents:
BRAND NEW 2K RESTORATION of the film from the original negative
Uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audio
Newly translated optional English subtitles
Two audio commentaries by Japanese cinema experts Tom Mes and Mark Schilling
Malformed Movies: a new video interview with Toei exploitation movie screenwriter Masahiro Kakefuda
Malformed Memories: Filmmakers Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo the Iron Man) and Minoru Kawasaki (The Calamari Wrestler) on the career of director Teruo Ishii
Ishii in Italia: Ishii and Mark Schilling visit the Far East Film Festival
Image Gallery
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford
First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Jasper Sharp, Tom Mes and Grady Hendrix
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Die Fighting (read our review), starring Fabien Garcia (Merantau), Laurent Buson (Silver Hawk), Didier Buson and Jess Allen.
When a team of Shaolin-trained kung fu actors is about to get their break in Hollywood, a mysterious and sadistic director forces them to run a gauntlet through Los Angeles. The director films their every move as they prove their prowess by provoking a rogues’ gallery of underworld thugs and martial artists.
The premise is similar to the Thai movie BKO, in which highly trained fighters wake up after being drugged and are forced to fight each other for the whims of madman.
It’s been 3 years since fifth generation alumni Chen Kaige made his ill-advised wuxia caper Monk Comes Down the Mountain, however far from looking like a director licking his wounds, Kaige’s latest storms out the gates as his most commercially ambitious production yet. Legend of the Demon Cat is a rare co-production between China, Hong Kong, and Japan, with all three well represented either in-front or behind the camera. Considering the elements that make a movie marketable in each territory vary significantly, it’s fair to say Kaige had a lot on his plate to bring LOTDC (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) to the screen, but then it’s good to be remember that this has been a personal project of his for a number of years already.
Set in the capital of the Tang Dynasty in the 8th Century, it was reported that Kaige and a team of designers spent over 6 years constructing a replica set of the city, eschewing the CGI cityscapes that period pieces in recent times tend to resort to. As an interesting aside, the set is so large and elaborate, that even before filming began it was negotiated that once production wrapped, it would be maintained and developed into a theme park. In China, they don’t make movies based on theme parks, they make theme parks based on movies. Pirates of the Caribbean take note.
LOTDC is an adaptation of a four volume Japanese novel, written by Baku Yumemakura, who notably stated he was “moved to tears” when he came to visit the spotlight stealing sets. A prolific sci-fi and historical fantasy writer, Yumemakura’s tale playfully reimagines two revered characters in Asian history – the Japanese monk Kukai, who founded the Shingonshu school of Buddhism, and Bai Juyi, a Chinese poet held in the same regard as Shakespeare. In LOTDC, Kukai visits China to exorcise a mysterious curse that’s kept the emperor from sleeping for over 2 weeks, and while there he meets the palace scribe, in the form of Bai Juyi. Forming a mutually respectful bond, when they discover the presence of cat hair in the palace grounds, the pair become a sort of Tang Dynasty version of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and begin to investigate the origins of this apparent ‘demon cat’.
The combination of Japanese supernatural mystery meets Chinese blockbuster certainly makes for an interesting tone, and could almost be argued to come across as a kind of Kwaidan meets the Detective Dee series. The Japanese investment seems to have allowed for several supernatural elements, and even a little gore, to bypass the dreaded Mainland censorship restrictions, allowing for a lavish tale of palace intrigue the type of which we haven’t seen for quite some time. Proceedings are suitably anchored by the pairing of Shota Sometani and Huang Xuan, as monk and poet respectively, in an equally rare case of a Japanese actor sharing co-lead status in a predominantly Mainland influenced production.
Sometani, a Sono Sion (Himizu, Tokyo Tribe) and Takashi Miike (Lesson of the Evil, As the Gods Will) regular, is almost unrecognizable with a completely shaved head, and makes for an appealing lead as the monk hoping to find enlightenment during his time in China. Xuan similarly makes for a likeable lead, having come hot on the heels of his stellar turn in Extraordinary Mission, as a poet who finds himself questioning the truth behind the events that influenced his character Juyi’s masterpiece, ‘Song of Everlasting Regret’. While historical revisionism is often frowned upon, when done correctly it can also be a lot of fun, and here the integration of historical facts blended with fantastical fiction work well. While it’s certainly not a prerequisite to know the characters that Sometani and Xuan are playing to enjoy LOTDC, knowing the context of who they are makes the experience that little bit more rewarding.
The cat itself of course is also a central player, and any questions of its demonic nature are addressed almost immediately in the opening scene, when it appears armed with a fluent Mandarin vocabulary, and an affinity for eating fish (and later human) eyeballs. A mix of both real cat and CGI, thankfully we’ve come a long way since the kung fu fighting animatronic feline found in Lam Nai-Choi’s The 1000 Years Cat, which came as a huge relief. In fact all the CGI work in LOTDC is of a high level, perhaps indicative of Kaige looking to redeem himself after the ropiness of 2005’s The Promise, but also of the quality that the various Japanese FX houses tasked with creating the effects have produced.
Ultimately the appearance of the titular cat leads Sometani and Xuan deeper into the past, as they look to reassess the death of a beautiful consort (played by French Taiwanese actress Sandrine Pinna), who was believed to have sacrificed herself for the greater good 30 years ago on the emperor’s orders. However the deeper they dig, it becomes increasingly clear that there was more at play than how history has remembered her, and LOTDC begins to become increasingly populated with a variety of characters, each with their own motivations and interests. Indeed the latter half of the 125 minutes runtime largely consists of an extended flashback to 30 years prior, during which both Pinna is introduced for the first time, along with a Japanese courtier, played by Abe Hiroshi (Chocolate).
While the flashback allows for various moments when Kaige can go all in on the visual splendour, particularly at a lush birthday celebration, which almost tilts into sensory overload with its displays of decadence, it also feels somewhat disconnected from the first half. It’s a bold move by Kaige, as essentially we go from following Sometani and Xuan as a third-party spectator, to seeing things from their perspective, learning the truth at the same time as it unfolds for them. On a first time viewing the introduction of new characters at the half way point may seem a little jarring, but it’s easy to see how LOTDC would make for a more rewarding watch on subsequent viewings. The most interesting element of the narrative structure though is how it’s not only a whodunnit murder mystery, but also places equal emphasis on how Xuan can reconcile the poem he considers to be his masterpiece, with the actual truth of what’s behind it.
Kaige and his co-writer Wang Hui-Ling (a regular collaborator with Ang Lee and John Woo) have crafted an interesting script, one which I struggle to think of another production as a comparison point, at least from the perspective of the period LOTDC takes place in. The way Xuan is forced to face the reality, that the facts the work he’s most proud of are based on may all be a lie, is conveyed as a relatable dilemma onscreen. It would be easier to go by the motto that ignorance is bliss, and while the plot naturally dictates that he’ll eventually decide to uncover the truth, it’s still effectively realised thanks to Xuan’s nuanced performance. Plus of course, when you have a demon cat in your corner, there’s always that extra little bit of motivation.
LOTDC is a confident return to form for Kaige, and while it may not be the return that the fans of his 80’s and 90’s masterpieces want, it’s reflective of a director that’s proven capable of adapting to the times. It’s likely to be a tricky movie to market overseas, since it’s neither an outright action movie in the vein of League of Gods, or a spectacle driven mystery like Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, however LOTDC certainly deserves an audience. Proving that spectacle doesn’t need to always be created by CGI (Crystal Zhang’s Uighur dance is a highlight), nor require the presence of screen filling fantastical beasts or demons, LOTDC shows that sometimes all you need is a well told story. Well, that, and a talking feline.
Plot details are currently non-existent, but with the popularity of military-type actioners (i.e. Wolf Warrior 2, Operation Red Sea, Operation Mekong), expect Hark to give Dante Lam a run for his money.
We’ll keep you updated as we learn more. Until then, here’s a look at its preliminary poster, courtesy of AFS.
Jailbreakbreakout star Jean-Paul Ly will soon be showing more of his amazing martial arts skills in 14 Fists, which starts filming later this year from director Bart Ruspoli (Clash of the Dead).
Ly recently took to FB with the following message regarding 14 Fists: “I am finally able to bring international team members for this one. Let’s make an insane action party!” Word on the street (via FCS) is that 14 Fists will be a “full blown martial arts action film,” which is what we’d expect from its striking title.
14 Fists also stars John Hannah (Spartacus), and actress Bai Ling (Maximum Impact).
We’ll keep you updated on 14 Fists as more news arrives. Until then, be on the lookout for Ly in the soon-to-be-released Nightshootersand The Division.
Later this month, director Han Yan (Dream Breaker) will unleash Animal World, a new film loosely adapted from Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s manga, Ultimate Survivor, which was previously adapted into two successful films in Tokyo.
Animal World stars Li Yifeng (The Founding of an Army), Zhou Dongyu (The Thousand Faces of Dunjia) and the one, the only, Michael Douglas (Black Rain, Romancing the Stone).
Animal World stars Yifeng as an imaginative teenager who gets lured into a dangerous game of wits overseen by an icy arch-villain played by Douglas.
Animal World is getting a domestic release on June 29, 2018.
Updates: Netflix has acquired global digital rights to the title for all territories outside of China, according to industry sources with knowledge of the deal (via THR).
Director: Ding Sheng Cast: Wang Kai, Ma Tian-Yu, Darren Wang Ta-Lu, Yu Ai-Lei, Lam Suet, Wu Yue, Vivien Li Meng, Zhang Yi-Shang, Jiang Pei-Yao, Mario Li Mincheng, Ning Hao Running Time: 140 min.
By Paul Bramhall
If you ask any fan of Hong Kong cinema what their opinion is on remaking the 1986 John Woo classic, A Better Tomorrow, then the likely answer will be that it’s a bad idea. Woo’s seminal classic, popularly considered to be the title that kicked off the Heroic Bloodshed genre, was itself a remake of the 1967 melodrama Story of a Discharged Prisoner. However more so than the plot, what most remember A Better Tomorrow for is how Woo’s trademark style and balletic violence came to the fore for the first time. That didn’t stop Korea from trying though, and in 2010 director Song Hae-seong had a stab at a remake, which was met with a justifiably lacklustre reception.
In a logical world, Hae-seong’s misfire should have been enough to scare off anyone else attempting to remake A Better Tomorrow, but as Wu Jing has been telling us in his Wolf Warrior franchise, nobody tells China what to do. So it is, 2018 brings us a Mainland remake. The announcement was greeted by understandable scepticism from most, after all, making a Heroic Bloodshed movie under Mainland restrictions is a bit like expecting a steak in a vegan restaurant. For myself at least, when the announcement came that the remake was going to be helmed by Ding Sheng, I actually felt a glimmer of hope.
Sheng is an interesting director, with his 2015 crime thriller Saving Mr. Wu, being a stellar example of the genre. He’s also one of the few directors giving Jackie Chan a platform to act his age, with Little Big Soldier, Police Story 2013 (an early indicator of his penchant for adding the year of production to his titles), and Railroad Tigers being some of the best work the aging star has put out in the last 10 years. So in short, if any Mainland director could make a A Better Tomorrow remake work, my money would be on Sheng.
A Better Tomorrow 2018 takes a leaf out of Hae-seong’s remake (which took place in Busan) and also transfers proceedings to a bustling port city, this time to the wind battered shipyards of Sheng’s hometown Qingdao, in Shandong Province. It’s an aesthetically pleasing decision, with the Old Town area and its German architecture giving the latest incarnation a unique feel, complimented by frequent visits to the bright lights of Tokyo (which, much like Woo’s own recent Manhunt, allows for the Japanese to be the drug kingpins). Beyond the new setting though, A Better Tomorrow 2018 is an unfortunate train wreck, not only realising the worst fears of those who felt concerned about a Mainland remake, but frequently surpassing them.
Here the iconic gangster duo of Ti Lung and Chow Yun Fat are replaced by Railroad Tiger co-stars Wang Kai and Darren Wang, with Ma Tian-Yu barely registering in Leslie Cheung’s role as Kai’s cop brother. The plot is transferred largely intact, with Kai and Tian-Yu on opposite sides of the law while still sharing a mutual respect, until Kai’s actions lead to their dementia ridden father being murdered. Kai ends up in prison, while Wang seeks to get revenge on those responsible, and ends up a cripple. Upon his release, Tian-Yu wants nothing more to do with Kai, despite his insistence that he’s going straight. However when the gangster (Yu Ai-Lei, in the role Waise Lee originally played) who double crossed them re-enters the scene, now a celebrated mob boss, all three of our protagonists find themselves on a collision course with the past.
It could be argued that by sticking so closely to John Woo’s original, Sheng’s remake sticks out even more as a watered-down version of its source material (at least the Korean take put its own spin on the plot), but this is the least of its problems. Sheng ruthlessly insists on hammering our ears with A Better Tomorrow nostalgia at every opportunity, with Leslie Cheung’s famous theme song being overplayed to the point of absurdity. Depending on the scene, we get an electric guitar rendition of it, in another an acoustic version, then a lounge version, did I mention there’s also an orchestral version? When characters turn on the radio its playing, a scene on the street has buskers singing it, and the vinyl LP of it even makes an appearance. I was half expecting a scene to open with a beatbox version.
The self-referential winks reach a crescendo when, in the same bar that the LP shows up, Wang asks a customer why he’s chewing on a toothpick, to which the customer points at a framed picture of Chow Yun Fat from the original. It’s a face palm moment (and means Ti Lung is the only one of the original trio whose image doesn’t show up in the remake), although I admit it has some stiff competition from Masaharu Fukuyama’s line in Manhunt, when he declares “It’s almost time for a better tomorrow”. At least in Woo’s latest though his themes remain intact, whereas in A Better Tomorrow 2018 the constant references to brotherhood and loyalty seem forced and awkward, as if they’ve been shoehorned in out of obligation rather than being a natural part of the script.
In fact everything about A Better Tomorrow 2018 feels oddly tensionless. Characters suddenly point guns at each other seemingly to match a musical cue, and a scene which has Kai dare a yakuza to stick a toothpick in his eye was so overdramatically done it drew a laugh. When we’re not listening to a Leslie Cheung-variation, moments of supposed tension are introduced via inappropriately bass heavy electric guitar strumming, which became increasingly comical the more it happened. However the biggest crime that Sheng commits is the complete lack of commitment on display in the action scenes. They’re not only pedestrian, but put bluntly are plain bad in their lack of competent execution and excitement.
Like in Saving Mr. Wu, handheld cameras are utilized for the action, however unlike the documentary style approach of his best work, here the technique betrays the bombast of the story, and instead of adding to the realism such shots only serve to look cheap and digital. In particular, a boat chase early on involving the Chinese coast guard is so amateurish in its execution it feels embarrassing (where are the guys from Operation Red Sea when you need them?). The iconic revenge shootout doesn’t fare much better, which is surprisingly bloodless, and stupidly interrupted by an earthquake. The restrictions on screen violence hurt the worst here (no pun intended), as the constant cutaways, which only allow us to see the aftermath of a gunshot, almost make it feel like a montage rather than a chronologically flowing action scene.
I don’t like including spoilers in my reviews, so I’ll resist any mention of the finale, other than to say it contains a car chase through a CGI warehouse (it has to be seen to be believed), and Tian-Yu calling the police in the middle of the “shoot-out”. I wish I had something better to say about A Better Tomorrow 2018, but the whole thing feels so poorly judged that it’s difficult to do so. I do respect the fact that instead of trying to recreate Chow Yun Fat’s suave gangster, we get a character completely the opposite in Wang’s Taiwanese street punk, but his constant singing in every scene quickly overrode any goodwill. That summarises A Better Tomorrow 2018 quite well, in that whenever it threatens to become enjoyable, another annoyance will come along and quickly put paid to any glimmer of hope.
In one scene Kai and Tian-Yu’s father is talking to them from his hospital bed, but because of his dementia he mistakes them for his doctors rather than his sons, and begins to mumble about how he only wishes he could meet them to say sorry for the past. Instead of getting a lump in my throat though, it made me wish there was a way I could mistake A Better Tomorrow 2018 for a good movie, but by that point even a beatbox version of Leslie Cheung’s theme wouldn’t have helped. Featuring an abundance of seagull footage, a cameo by Eric Tsang even more worthless than his one in Kung Fu Yoga, and a bizarre closing scene dedication, if anything, sometimes its best if tomorrow never comes.
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