BLOG POSTING – 16 April

[Next blog posting: 30 April, for movies opening on 8 and 15 May]

Upcoming movies

1.  The Savages (24 April)

This is the best among the pathetically few (only 7) movies I managed to watch at the 2007 TIFF. IMDb user rating is 7.9/10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775529/usercomments-3                    

2.  The forbidden kingdom 功夫之王 (24 April)

[updated on 25 April: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0865556/usercomments-79]

This action-fantasy has been billed as the first ever collaboration between Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Just over 300 IMDb users gave it a 7.4/10. All indications are that this movie is targeted at a teenage (or even younger) audience.

3.  Over her dead body (24 April)

IMDb user rating: 4.3/10, and plot line: a ghost tries to sabotage her former boyfriend's current relationship with a psychic.

4.  Sicko (24 April)

Michael Moore's latest documentary, on the US health care system, gets 8.4/10 from IMDb users.

5.  Happy funeral六樓后座2家屬謝禮 (24 April)

Can't believe that it's half a decade since New York trained, avant-garde and emancipated director Barbara Wong黃真真 brought to the local audience interesting "Truth or dare: sixth floor rear flat" 六樓后座 (2003), to which I gave a summary line "St. Elmo's Fire, Hong Kong style". In this sequel, however, three of the best performers are missing (Lam Kar-yan, Candy Lo, Teresa Carpio).

6.  Iron Man (30 April)

[updated on 11 May: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371746/usercomments-428]

This latest comic-adapted adventure that will open in North America concurrently with Hong Kong stars Robert Downey Jr. (the hairy guy in "Fur", among many other roles), Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges. If you've watched any movie lately in the cinema, you would probably have seen the trailer.

7.  The other Boleyn girl (1 May)

In "Anne of the thousand days" (1969), Geneviere Bujold left quite an impression with the audience, playing the title role. This latest take on the Tudor history offers not just one, but two of the hottest young superstars today – Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Playing Henry VIII is Eric Bana. There are also Kristin Scott Thomas and Jim Sturgess (Across the universe). With all this star power, it's a little surprising that it only managed a tie with some crocodiles (see below) in IMDb users' rating.    

8.  Rouge (1 May)

This Australian crocodile horror starring Radha Mitchell (seen most recently with Chow Yun-fat in "Escape from Huang Shi") gets a surprisingly good 6.9/10 from IMDb users, considering its genre.

9.  My wife is a gambling maestro我老婆係賭聖 (1 May)

王晶's latest.

10.  Besieged city圍城 (1 May)

Based on the hyped 天水圍 predicaments in recent years.

[for movies opening on 17 April, please see the previous blog posting]

Movie chat       

Watch for Cannes next month.