May

14

2008

(4) Comments

My Thoughts on ‘The Lost Empire’ Movie

06:54PM by Alvin Lin

I recently saw this old TV movie called ‘Lost Empire’, out in 2001, starring Thomas Gibson, BAI LING, Russell Wong, and Ric Young, and (disappointingly) written by David Henry Hwang. If I didn’t know better I’d say the recent movie ‘Forbidden Kingdom’ basically copied this movie, but cut it shorter from ‘Lost Empire’s 245 minute TV version.

The story is about this White asiaphile from the United States, who randomly becomes the ‘Chosen Scholar’ in a mythical Chinese story to free the Monkey King from being trapped in a mountain, and to save a magical book. He gets sucked into this because he falls immediately in love with the Goddess of Mercy, played by Bai Ling, upon seeing her. There are also heavenly celestials and the Emperor God, and then a band of evil extremist Gods who do under-handed things behind the Emperor God’s back. The Monkey King has to teach the ‘Chosen Scholar’ how to fight, and in the beginning he’s a nerdy klutz and by the end he’s defeating heavenly demons single handedly. After making out twice with the asiaphile, spliced in certain places throughout this crappy movie, Bai Ling says she’s in love with the asiaphile and wants to sacrifice her heavenly powers to be with him. In the end the magical book is saved, and a reincarnated Bai Ling meets the asiaphile in a university in China. The end.

May

13

2008

(4) Comments

Sorry Ladies, He’s Taken (And Has Kids Too!)

11:05PM by andrewlim

Asia’s King of Pop, Andy Lau, has remained “single” for as long as anyone can remember. Like Jackie Chan, he is worried (or in Jackie’s case, was worried) that revealing his relationship status will cost him the support of his female fans. Jackie Chan did not own up to having a wife (Joan Lin) and a 20-something year old son (Jaycee Chan) only until five or six years ago. Andy Lau, who is in his mid-40s now, is clearly following in Jackie Chan’s footsteps. There were countless rumors surrounding Andy’s sexuality. When I attended a wedding in Hong Kong a few years ago, I sat next to this chatterbox who told me that Andy Lau would often travel to Taiwan to hook up with younger men. She used to work for a gossip magazine so there could be an ounce of truth in what she said. Gay men usually buy the gay story if the person in question is attractive. 

May

13

2008

(7) Comments

BABY Director Gets DisOriented

01:19PM by lisalee

When Steven Seagal and Bai Ling arrived at the AZN Asian Excellence Awards 2008 ceremonies in Los Angeles, everyone turned each other to mouth an audible “WTF?” over the din of screaming fans. But Korean American Baby director, Peter Juwan Chung, was surprised he wasn’t invited to walk the red carpet at all on April 23, 2008, and probably suffered the sort of insomnia that leaves you staring at your ceiling at three in the morning, asking yourself, “Have they even SEEN my movie?”

(photo: Juwan Chung)

Well, Juwan, start building your trophy case .... right .... now.

May

11

2008

(9) Comments

No Thanks!

08:50AM by andrewlim

Due to its worldwide box office success, The Forbidden Kingdom is getting a sequel. This chop-suey of Chinese fable will reunite the two big Chinese martial arts stars, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, and will likely feature a romance between Jet Li and Li Bingbing‘s characters, according to the Beijing Times report. Wait, the romancing of the Monkey God and the Grey Haired Lady aka Moonlight Witch? Now that’s a first. A better storyline would be to have Jet Li play a mute guy. This is certainly fitting since he uttered no more than 10 sentences in the first movie, and most were incomprehensible. 

May

11

2008

(4) Comments

Brothers Do It Right At 51st Annual San Francisco Intl’ Film Festival

08:30AM by lisalee

(photo: Reel Asian)

Film Festival May Madness is officially HERE with the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) in full-swing, and the Visual Communications Film Festival (VCFF) kick-off last night signaling a full week of movie marathons in Los Angeles; both conclude May 8, 2008. And, let’s not forget that the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, NY, will be ending soon on Sunday, May 4th, and has already announced its winners—and then, it’s off to the Cannes Film Festival, Pittsburgh, Pusan, Venice, and ... well, you get the picture.

And the party people at Vanity Fair magazine know how to throw a HOT happy hour. I sat down with SFIFF ‘08 jury member, Chi-Hui Yang, to discuss this season’s documentary film line-up and his brother’s mind-boggling presentation, Cloud Eye Control feat. performing artist Anna Oxygen.

May

9

2008

(46) Comments

Sometimes, A Drought Will Do Us Good.

09:50AM by andrewlim

Korean R&B pop sensation, Rain, was on The Colbert Report earlier this week. The Michael Jackson of Asia was in LA for the promotion of his movie, ”Speed Racer” and decided to pay the funny man Stephen Colbert a visit for a dance off. The segment was pre-taped due to Rain’s limited English proficiency. This is how it started—In 2007, Time magazine conducted an online poll of the 100 most influential people of the year and Rain was number 1 while Stephen tailed him as the runner up. Ever since then, Rain had become Stephen’s arch nemesis and the comedian even joked about him and imitated a scene from his music video. (You can download high quality clips of their performance after the jump.)

May

8

2008

(19) Comments

A Little Girl With A Big Voice

07:00AM by andrewlim

Most Filipinos I know can sing very well, But none of them has a voice as big and a body frame as small as Charice Pempengco.  Apparently this 15-year old girl who found her stardom on youtube just taped a segment on Oprah’s show earlier this week. Charice also made an appearance on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show late last year and performed two songs. I saw this clip of her singing “And I Tell You I’m Not Going” and her voice simply blew me away. She has the voice of Whitney but the body of Britney (when Britney was 15 that is. She is probably thrice the size of Charice now). 

May

5

2008

(15) Comments

Three Stars come together for Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon

08:00AM by daronjenkins

Andy Lau, Maggie Q & Sammo Hung. A trio I would have never thought to see on the big screen together, join forces for director Daniel Lee’s (Black Mask) epic tale.

AP Photo: Kin Cheung

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I saw the lineup...especially with Maggie Q (Mission Impossible III, Live Free, Die Hard) thrown into the mix. I was quite anxious however to see Andy Lau’s (House of Flying Daggers) performance as well as Sammo Hung’s, mostly cause I hadn’t seen Sammo on screen in quite awhile.

May

4

2008

(5) Comments

Take The Offer, Please!!!

11:57PM by andrewlim

This is probably the most exciting news I have received in weeks! Apparently Live Nation, Madonna’s current recording label, is interested in expanding into Asia and has offered the ultimate Asian Diva Faye Wong a recording contract worth HKD100 Million (USD$13 Million). Ever since Faye released her last album “To Love” in 2001, she has retired into her domesticated life in Beijing. Her daily routine probably consists of screaming at her maid, singing karaoke and playing mahjong with her gal pals. “Fayenatics” around the world like me have been hoping that she would get tired of this lifestyle one day (but seriously, who would?) and come out to bedazzle us with another album. There is not a single female recording artist from Hong Kong, Taiwan or Mainland China that has proven worthy to replace Faye since her unofficial retirement seven years ago. 

May

3

2008

(9) Comments

Undeniably The Embarassment of Asians Worldwide!

11:57AM by andrewlim

There’s nothing in the world that is more embarassing to us Asians than to admit that this freak show (Bai Ling) is one of our people. From her imitation of Madonna on VH1’s ”But Can They Sing?” to her recent shoplifting at a LAX gift shop, she is nothing but a media whore who gives Asians a bad name. She shows up at every movie premiere (even though the movie has nothing to do with her) and wears really outlandish outfits that would put another Asian freak show Bobby Trendy to shame. The paparrazi in LA adore her because she helps fill up their time with her bizzare behaviors, strange outfits and often incomprehensible comments.