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Sun Yi in Paris for fashion week
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Film Review: ‘Operation Red Sea’
(Variety) To save one single Chinese national held hostage in a war-torn African country, China’s navy sends an elite squad on an anti-terrorist mission the features so many explosions it’s like Operation Desert Storm squeezed into one day. Despite the premise’s similarity to “Wolf Warrior 2,” (China’s top-grossing film), Hong Kong action-director Dante Lam’s “Operation Red Sea” is war propaganda that comes off as antiwar, a patriotic film so carried away by its own visceral, pulverizing violence that patriotism almost becomes an afterthought. Military geeks and genre fans in overseas markets will be awestruck by the mind-blowing action, but domestic audiences expressed disappointment at the film’s downplaying of individual heroism and feel-good nationalism.
Nevertheless, the movie has still placed second in box office among Chinese New Year blockbusters and doubled profits over Lam’s previous film “Operation Mekong.”
The closest Hollywood precedents of Lam’s biggest production to date are Michael Bay’s “13 Hours” and Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down.” Not only are they films on terrorism shot in Morocco, all work hard to plunge viewers into a nerve-shattering, immersive experience. Lam’s production is just as overblown, with an ostentious display of weaponry bordering on geekiness, and a graphic depiction of human casualties (such as stumps of limbless torsos) that manages to be as numbing as it is stomach-churning.
Since Lam stopped telling Hong Kong stories and targeted the huge mainland market, his ambitions have swelled with the astronomical budgets he can muster. Here, enjoying support from China’s navy, he devises the bloodiest and most propulsive battle scenes ever allowed on mainland screens (in Hong Kong the film is classified for over-18 audiences).
Sadly, his direction has become a lot more mechanical, and his characters have no emotional contours. Unlike Lin’s stylish police noirs “Beaststalker,” “The Stool Pigeon” or “That Demon Within,” neither the story nor characters have any moral ambiguity or psychological shadings. The physically capable cast, boasting illustrious backgrounds in military, martial arts or dance, all look indistinguishably rugged, but feeble attempts to give them touching moments, such as a soldier feeding candy to a jawless comrade, instead can play like an unintentional gag.
The screenplay by Lam, Feng Ji, Chen Zhuzhu and Eric Lin is so choppy and inchoate that goals, strategies and execution are one big blur, and protagonists appear to rush headlong into combat as aimlessly as flying shrapnel. Slam-bang cross-cutting by Choi Chi-chung and Lam Chi-hang convey lots of speed and action, yet the film feels interminable, stuck in an unvaried state of extremity and stress.
Jiaolong (Sea Dragon) is a special task force in the Chinese navy, first seen defending a cargo ship from pirates near Somalian waters. Then the captain receives orders to change course and help evacuate Chinese nationals from fictional North African country Yewaire, where civil war has broken out.
The evacuation goes smoothly, with Chinese kids walking in neat procession waving little red flags as they board the ship, as if they’ve just come from a national day parade rather than having just escaped a military coup. Howevcr, compared with “Wolf Warrior 2,” in which the Chinese flag draws instant jubilation and adulation from Africans, this is a false calm before the storm. Indeed, Deng Mei, a Chinese embassy staffer, has been captured by the rebels together with local officials. The captain (Zhang Hanyu in a stiff cameo) sends all eight members of the Jiaolong to retrieve her at all costs.
This is a cue to let loose the dogs of war, starting with savage firefights that move from wrecked buildings onto chaotic streets, the volley of ammo so stunningly diverse, powerful and indiscrimate that it’s impossible to take stock of human outcome. On a dusty road, a van in which Deng is riding is ambushed by the terrorsit group Zaka. Any attempt by the audience to make sense of the situation is blown to smithereens by explosion after deafening explosion. Korean action films used to lead the pack in Asia for pyrotechnics, and even though the special effects in this film are largely handled by Korean studios, the territorial crown must be surrendered to Chinese megabusters for the amount of money they can burn. There’s a perverse wonder at the massive bomb clouds rising into mid-air before bursting, like fireworks, into a golden shimmer.
Jiaolong’s leader (Zhang Yi) picks up survivor Xia Nan (Christine Hai Qing, overdoing the hard-assed reporter schtick), a French-Chinese journalist on the trail of Yellowcake, a formula for chemical weapons. When they penetrate Zaka’s stronghold in a secluded village, it’s eight Chinese against 150 armed-to-the-teeth terrorists.
Unlike the Rambo-like kickass exploits in “Wolf Warrior 2,” this mission is filmed as collective action, each soldier desperately trying to make it through the nonstop battle. Their assignment evokes pathos rather than glory in a blood-soaked defense that finds the Chinese platoon cornered at a dead end in a town square. The fighting is orchestrated from a dazzling array of angles, and vicious types of assault. Upstaging a later bombastic battle of tanks in the desert, the town square scene potently harks back to Lam’s earlier, better films in which protagonists, whether cop or criminal, are trapped like animals, attaining tragic stature through a primal will to survive. Here, the take-no-prisoners approach on both sides is harrowing. The cameras linger on every finger blown off, every squirt of blood when a bullet hits the jugular, every leg lopped off, every facial disfiguration that stirs discomfort.
Covering Morocco’s imposing mountainous and desert terrain, Lam, who doubles as action director, makes use of the high altitude vantage points to stage some terrific sniping sequences. Music by Elliot Leung is surprisingly subdued and subtly elegiac by mainland blockbuster standards. Instead of using an orchestral score for major setpiece, the movie often holds back to let the fantastic, roaring sound mix do the work. As in all of Lam’s works, overall tech credits are of a very high level.
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'Ready Player One' Locks Down China Release Date
(THR) Steven Spielberg’s much anticipated sci-fi action adventure Ready Player One has secured a China release date of March 30, the same day it opens in the U.S.
The film, an 1980s-themed adaptation of Ernest Cline's cult novel, marks Spielberg's first return to the sci-fi genre since War of the Worlds in 2005. Ready Player One also is Spielberg's first project that might have major box-office potential in China. Most of the legendary director's early-career blockbuster output came long before the Middle Kingdom asserted itself as a huge market for movies, and the historical work that has characterized his filmmaking since 2010 — Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, The Post— isn't the sort of popcorn fare that lures large numbers of Chinese viewers into the multiplex.
Ready Player One is produced by Warner Bros., Village Roadshow and Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Jack Ma's Alibaba Pictures Group is a strategic investor in Amblin, meaning the Chinese studio will be giving the pic an aggressive marketing push in China.
Amblin's 2017 release A Dog's Purpose was hit by a PR crisis days before its release in the U.S., leading to a disappointing $65 million North American box-office total. But thanks in part to Alibaba's heavy digital marketing on its home turf, the movie was rescued by an $88 million haul in China.
Ready Player One follows Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a teenager and gamer on a high-stakes pursuit in a VR-like video game world called the OASIS. The game's deceased creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance) set up a treasure hunt prior to his death, and the winner of the game will become the richest person on Earth and also get control of OASIS. But an evil corporation led by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) is also on the trail.
Science-fiction films have a mixed track record in China. Sci-fi fantasy franchises with long Hollywood histories — Star Wars and Star Trek— have generally been disappointments, since the recent franchise reboots tend to rely heavily on nostalgia and references to the early films, which many young Chinese filmgoers naturally just don't get. But less fantastic sci-fi efforts, such as The Martian, Gravity and Interstellar, have been big earners. Occasional action-heavy sci-fi originals, such as Pacific Rim, also have been Chinese favorites.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter by
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Headlines from China: Disney’s Live Action ‘Mulan’ Pushed to 2020
(CFI) The release date of Disney’s upcoming live-action film Mulan has been pushed to March 27, 2020, according to a recent announcement from the company.
The announcement came along with a slew of other film updates, including that Avengers: Infinity War will be moved up a week. The Mulan redux will be produced by Bill Kong and directed by Niki Caro.
Chinese actress Liu Yifei has been chosen to play the main character Mulan.
The casting of the film took much longer than planned, which is likely the reason why the release date is postponed.
Source: China Film Insider
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Karen Mok releases new MV
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Jiang Mengjie poses for photo shoot
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Actress Zhou Dongyu poses for fashion magazine
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WME Signs Chinese Actress Yu Nan (Exclusive)
Yu played the female lead in 2015's Wolf Warrior and was in a few scenes in the blockbuster 2017 sequel, which, at more than $850 million, is China's highest-grossing film of all time. She is slated to return for the third installment, due next year.
Fluent in English and French, Yu appeared in Hollywood's Speed Racer and The Expendables 2. Her most recent credits were China's Explosion and the China-Australia co-production The Longest Shot.
In addition to action flicks, Yu has proven her prowess in dramatic work, starring as the title character in Tuya's Marriage, which won the Golden Bear at 2007's Berlinale. The following year, she returned to Berlin with domestic drama In Love We Trust, which won filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai a Silver Bear for best script. Other notable credits include filmmaker Ning Hao's 2013 "Chinese Western"No Man's Land and Fei Xing's 2013 legal drama Silent Witness. Having steadily worked as a leading lady since her 1999 debut, Yu has previously served as a Dior brand ambassador in China.
WME's other recent dealings in China include signing actress Liu Yifei, star of Disney's upcoming Mulan live-action adaptation, and filmmaker Lu Zhengyu. The agency unveiled a Chinese joint venture with Sequoia Capital, Tencent and FountainVest Partners in summer 2016 and a year later partnered with Village Roadshow and China's Perfect World Pictures to form Beijing-based production company Perfect Village Entertainment.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter by
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China's future movie and TV stars face tough competition for university places
(China Plus) Future stars of China's film and TV industry were lined up at the gate of Beijing Film Academy (BFA) this week, waiting for the start of the highly competitive undergraduate entrance exams. The exams will be the first step in the journey for some of them to become popular household names.
Xinhua reports that around 10,000 people are competing for just 50 places in the BFA acting department program. Other departments, such as directing and screenwriting, are also highly competitive, with only half of one percent of applicants offered a place.
More than 45,000 students applied to study at BFA this year, which is an 18 percent increase from last year.
BFA was the training ground for some of China's most well regarded film industry heavyweights, including director Chen Kaige, best known for his films Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Together (2002), and Zhang Yimou, who directed the critically acclaimed Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004).
Yang Zhengbao has been studying screenwriting at BFA since 2015. He still remembers the day he sat his entrance exam. "I felt alone, but hopeful. The exam was a little bit strange, not like the gaokao (China's college entrance exam). But the teachers were all very nice, and they gave me confidence."
In Shanghai, almost 31,000 applicants applied for an undergraduate place at Shanghai Theatre Academy - a 42 percent increase in the number of applicants compared to last year, and a record high for the school. With only 464 full-time places available across all of the disciplines, competition is extremely tough.
Communications University in Beijing is also a popular choice for applicants wanting a career in the media and entertainment industry. Just over 51,000 are competing for the 703 places available at the school that trained some of China's most recognized television hosts including CCTV personalities Li Yong and Bai Yansong.
The exams this week follow on from the 2018 exams for postgraduate students held in late December. Alessandro Ceschi spent a year at BFA learning Chinese before he sat the entrance exam for a BFA Masters degree program. "About one year from when I studied the first Chinese character, it was interesting launching into writing an essay and analyzing social issues using Chinese. Next to me were friends who had worked really hard in the months before to get ready for the exam. One of them had been my classmate in my first Chinese beginner class. I was proud to be there on December 24th to see what we could do."
China's film and television industry has been growing rapidly thanks to the success of films like Detective Chinatown 2 and Red Sea, which contributed towards China breaking the world record for one-day box office sales during the recent Spring Festival Holiday. Box office revenues in China grew by around 13 percent in 2017, making it the second biggest movie market outside of North America.
Source: China Plus by Carl Benjaminsen
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No special guests at Gigi Leung's Hong Kong concert
(Toggle) Gigi Leung attended a press conference to promote her upcoming Good Time World Tour Hong Kong concert which will be held at the Hong Kong Coliseum on May 4 and 5.
This marks her return to the Hong Kong Coliseum after seven years. She saidm "Most of the songs I perform will be in Cantonese and the costumes will be different as well. I fell in love with dance since I danced at Good Time Beijing, so I will dance at my Hong Kong concert as well."
When asked if she would invite any special concert guests, Gigi said, "There will be no special guests. It will be a private party for my fans."
Source: Toggle
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Cast from Girls 2 hold press conference
A bachelorette weekend spins out of control when three friends wake up naked on a beach - two of them handcuffed to a locked briefcase. They soon become the target of local gangsters as they try to retrace their drunken steps and make it back home.
The film stars Janine Chang, Ivy Chen, Fiona Sit and Isabella Leong.
Source: Xinhua/Wikipedia
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Jin Chen in Paris for fashion week
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Dili Reba poses for fashion magazine
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China Box Office: ‘Operation Red Sea’ Rises to Top Spot
(Variety) As Chinese New Year receded into memory, cinemagoing in China returned to more normal levels. But two of the holiday releases continued to dominate.
War actioner, “Red Sea Operation” continued its recent momentum and took top place at the Chinese box office from previous winner, comedy “Detective Chinatown 2.”
“Red Sea” took $62 million in its third weekend, from some 85,000 screenings per day, according to data from Ent Group. That lifted it to a cumulative of $456 million in 16 days. On release on the first day of the Spring Festival, “Red Sea” was fourth. But its strong ratings and excellent word of mouth have given the film great legs. Of the quintet of major recent releases, “Red Sea” is now second, behind “Detective Chinatown 2.” On the all-time list, it is now the fourth highest grossing film of all time in China.
“Detective Chinatown 2” slowed to a $32.7 million score in its third week. After 16 days it has scored $485 million, behind only “Wolf Warriors 2,” and “The Mermaid” on China’s all-time list.
Third place belonged to government-backed documentary “Amazing China.” The profoundly patriotic picture was protected from viewer reviews on some forums. And at least one media outlet that noted this point, subsequently took its story offline. The film score $14.6 million.
“Peter Rabbit” was the second placed new opener, and the highest-placed Hollywood movie. It scored $12.5 million, having played some 33,000 screenings per day.
India’s “Bajrangi Bhaijaan,” scored a creditable fifth place. Considering that the release is nearly three years after the film’s Indian and global outings, and that star Salman Khan is not well-known in China, its $8.44 million from some 20,000 screenings per day, was impressive. But it has no chance of catching the recent Aamir Khan films “Dangal” and “Secret Superstar” which both managed over $100 million.
“Monster Hunt 2,” which opened strongly at Chinese New Year before slipping, earned $7.97 million for sixth place. It now stands on a cumulative of $342 million after 16 days, the ninth highest all-time score in China.
Chinese comedy, “Girls 2” (aka “Girls vs Gangsters”) with Mike Tyson in a co-starring role, opened in fourth on Friday, but slipped to seventh overall. It scored $7.75 million.
Another enduring Chinese New Year release, Chinese animation “Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink” scored $3.19 million.
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri,” was the latest foreign picture to be released through China’s Nationwide Alliance of Arthouse Cinemas. It scored a strong $2.36 million from some 2,500 screenings per day, for ninth place.
Ridley Scott’s “All The Money in the World” opened on Friday with $410,000, but rapidly fell out of the top ten. “The Monkey King 3” earned $860,000 over the weekend, for a 16 day cumulative of $113 million.
Source: Variety By Patrick Frater
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Fan Bingbing at promo event
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Jin Chen in Paris for fashion week
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Liu Tao in Paris for fashion week
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Ma Sichun in Paris for fashion week
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Sun Li poses for fashion magazine
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New stills from The Drug Hunter
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