cityonfire.com | Movie News & Developments |
- Soo | aka Art of Revenge (2007) Review
- Justin Lin to shoot unreleased Bruce Lee project ‘Warrior’
- Is the ‘Crow’ remake getting a female for ‘Top Dollar’?
- Is Steven Seagal and Warner cookin’ up an ‘Under Siege 3′?
- Is ‘VIRTUS’ Louis Koo’s answer to ‘Edge of Tomorrow’?
- ‘Blade Runner 2’ gets ‘Skyfall’ cinematographer Roger Deakins
| Soo | aka Art of Revenge (2007) Review Posted: 21 May 2015 12:39 PM PDT  "Soo" Korean Theatrical Poster Director: Yoichi Sai By HKFanatic Soo is not a movie I ever hear listed in the same breath as other Korean revenge flicks like Oldboy or A Bittersweet Life. In fact, it’s not a movie that I ever hear listed at all! It’s a shame this film remains so damn obscure. For my money, Soo is one of the best revenge movies out there. Actor Jin-hee Ji stars as the titular character Soo, who’s one of the top assassins in all of South Korea. Gangsters live in fear of him and the cops whisper his name with bated breath. But the man himself is haunted by a tragic past, until one day he gets the chance to reconnect with a figure from his youth. I won’t spoil the plot at all, but suffice to say Soo is sent on a quest for revenge that has him assuming another man’s identity and targeting an entire criminal organization. What follows is both a dark character study and a mesmerizing bloodbath. Now, the big complaint I’ve heard about Soo is this: despite Soo being revered as a bad-ass by just about everybody in the film’s universe, and the fact that we clearly see he has an entire arsenal of automatic weapons in his apartment, most of the time he goes after his foes with nothing but a baseball bat or his wits. And he’s not so much a great martial artist as he is a scrappy fighter who won’t stop until he’s won. So, for some viewers this will hurt the realism of the movie; here we have the supposedly top assassin of Korea and he’s not a king of killers, but a messy fighter who won’t quit. This might be part of the reason why the movie maintains such a low rating at places like IMDB. Personally, I loved this aspect of the movie. The character of Soo is like a mad-dog who refuses to be put down. You can stab him, try to blow him up, or hit him over the head with a baseball bat, and he will still come after you. There’s a saying like ‘you only die when you give up on living’; if that’s the case, then Soo is one tough bastard who refuses to draw his last breath. The action sequences in this movie aren’t your typical heavily-choreographed fights; they’re bloody brawls and stabbings that the characters barely crawl away from. The ending is one of those big “attack on the bad guy’s base” set-pieces you don’t see much outside of a John Woo movie, this time set to Italian opera. It’s spectacular. I’ve probably made this movie sound like nothing but violence, but at 122 minutes there is a good deal of plot, character analysis, and strong performances from the two leads. Superb photography and a haunting soundtrack also help make Soo one of my favorite Korean films. Sometimes it’s not about striding into battle in slow motion and never once getting hit; sometimes it’s about picking yourself up off the floor and keeping your guts in your stomach with your own hands as you throw yourself at the bad guy once more. Soo is that kind of movie. Highly recommended for fans of gritty, violent films. HKFanatic’s Rating: 9/10 |
| Justin Lin to shoot unreleased Bruce Lee project ‘Warrior’ Posted: 21 May 2015 12:38 PM PDT  "The Big Boss" Japanese Theatrical Poster Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) is attached to produce and possibly direct Warrior, a series that Deadline describes as a visceral crime drama that traces the path of a gifted but morally corrupt fighter thrown into crisis after a lifelong quest for vengeance is undermined. According to FCS, Warrior is based on Lee’s writings which never saw the light of day after his death in 1973, until they were discovered by Shannon Lee, daughter of the iconic film legend. In addition to Warrior, Bruce Lee fans have much to look forward to, including a new biopic and of course, Donnie Yen’s Ip Man 3, which will utilize Lee’s relationship with the titular character, via CG enhancements. Stay tuned! |
| Is the ‘Crow’ remake getting a female for ‘Top Dollar’? Posted: 21 May 2015 12:00 AM PDT  "The Crow" Japanese Theatrical Poster Relativity Media has been trying to get a remake of Alex Proyas’ 1994 cult classic The Crow off the ground for what feels like years now. The project has burned through numerous directors (including Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and F. Javier Gutiérrez) and actors (Bradley Cooper, Mark Wahlberg, James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston, Normal Reedus and Luke Evans). Of course, many fans of the original film who still mourn the tragic loss of star Brandon Lee feel that this is a franchise best left in our memories. Updates: Variety reports that James O'Barr, creator of the original The Crow graphic novel, is on board as a consultant for the reboot. "I believe that this movie will stand alongside Brandon and his film as a valid work of art, and I look forward to collaborating on the project," said O'Barr. James O'Barr chats with Total Film in their latest issue: Here’s an excerpt: "It was his [Javier Gutierrez] idea to go right back to the source material and essentially shoot it shot-for-shot, as in the book, but with a little more backstory for some of the characters," says O'Barr. O’barr also states that Gutierrez wants to be “as faithful as possible, even down to all the visual metaphors of trains and horses." In a recent interview with creator James O'Barr, The Crow remake will be closer to a John Woo film. Here are more details: "We're not remaking the movie, we're readapting the book. My metaphor is that there is a Bela Lugosi Dracula and there's a Francis Ford Coppola Dracula, they use the same material, but you still got two entirely different films. This one's going to be closer to Taxi Driver or a John Woo film, and I think there's room for both of them – part of the appeal of the Crow comics after all is that they can tell very different stories after all." Deadline reports that Relativity Studios has hired short-filmmaker Corin Hardy to direct the Crow remake. Javier Gutiérrez bailed out, in favor of a new Ring sequel. Want to see one of Hardy’s short films? click here. Also, according to Den of Geek (via Collider), Luke Evans is having second thoughts: “"It's not, no. No at the minute The Crow is not, not for me, I think it's a little… I mean, I'm sure it's going to go ahead at some point, but I have other projects that are greenlit and ready to go and projects that I'm very interested in and you know, I can't wait much longer! [laughs]" | The script will be written by Cliff Dorfman (Warrior). According to The Wrap, Luke Evans has officially left the project to pursue other roles. Rest assured, The Crow remake is still happening, because Corin Hardy will continue searching for a new Eric Draven after his film, The Hallow, debuts at Sundance. FCS (via Dread Central) reports that Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) is confirmed as the lead for The Crow, which starts production in the spring. BREAKING NEWS: Deadline reports that Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion) is in talks to play Top Dollar (the film’s main villain) in the The Crow remake. Michael Wincott previously played the role in the 1994 film. |
| Is Steven Seagal and Warner cookin’ up an ‘Under Siege 3′? Posted: 20 May 2015 03:17 AM PDT  "Under Siege 2" Japanese DVD Cover The man, the myth, the mystique that is Steven Seagal began in 1988′s Above the Law and peaked with 1992′s Under Siege. Now, nearly 20 years after 1995′s Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, the actor wants to reprise his role as Casey Ryback, the former Navy SEAL operator turned chef who became famous for the line “I’m just a cook.” During a recent interview with TBI, here’s what Seagal had to say about his plans for wanting to set Under Siege 3 in Russia: “It seems like Russia has been Hollywood's default bad guy forever. I sorta think the opposite. I think that America and Russia should be great allies and great friends. And can be. What I want to do is write a movie, which I've sorta already done, where Russian special forces and American special forces work together to combat terrorism.” Seagal continues, “I'm trying to do Under Siege 3, which is the plot that I told you. I'm trying to do some martial arts films in China. I have a lot of different scripts and ideas.” I admit, the possibility of an Under Siege 3 is intriguing, but I’m not sure how I feel about Under Siege 3 being a straight-to-video title, which inevitable, considering Seagal’s track record. Regardless, I’m definitely rooting for it. Updates: In a recent interview with JoBlo, Steven Seagal once again mentioned the possibility of an Under Siege 3: “I'd like to do [another] sequel to Under Siege. I'd like to do Under Siege 3 and everyone wants to see that. We'd love to do that. The reason why we didn't do it for so many years was because there was a [feud] going on between Warner Bros and – there was a rights dispute I should say. But that's been cleared up now so we could, in theory, make that.” Additionally, Seagal noted Donnie Yen as the “best action guy out there”. The Aikido master also hinted that he has a Kurosawa-esque script completed titled Attrition that he’s interested in filming. |
| Is ‘VIRTUS’ Louis Koo’s answer to ‘Edge of Tomorrow’? Posted: 20 May 2015 03:16 AM PDT  "VIRTUS" Teaser Poster Tom Cruise, eat your heart out! Louis Koo (Accident) is doing the powered exoskeleton thing with VIRTUS (aka Mao Dun Zhan Zheng), an upcoming sci-fi action flick that may possibly be Hong Kong’s answer to all that Halo, Robocop and Edge of Tomorrow stuff. Chinesemov lists Koo not only as star, but also as director. But according to FCS (via OverDope), Benny Chan (Shaolin) is attached to direct. Whatever the case, the newly released teaser trailer is guaranteed to impress with its Hollywood-like special effects, courtesy of The FatFace Production FX Team. Stay tuned for more updates regarding VIRTUS. |
| ‘Blade Runner 2’ gets ‘Skyfall’ cinematographer Roger Deakins Posted: 20 May 2015 12:00 AM PDT  "Blade Runner" Japanese Promotional Poster THE MOVIE: Ridley Scott and Hampton Fancher, director and writer, respectively, of the original Blade Runner, are currently working on the follow up to the ground-breaking 1982 science fiction classic, which will take place some years after the first film concluded. Harrison Ford is officially returning as Rick Deckard and filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) is taking over directing duties for Scott. Updates: Rope of Silicon reports that the upcoming Blu-ray for Prometheus clearly shows (screen shot at link, originally from Reddit) that there is a connection between the Blade Runner and Prometheus (which technically means the Alien franchise is also connected). The connection is a dictated message by Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) that implies an obvious reference to Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel) from Blade Runner and his creation of Replicants. Of course, this may have an effect on the upcoming sequel to Blade Runner. | THR reports that Michael Green, writer of 2011′s Green Lantern, is in negotiations to work on Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner sequel. In a recent interview, Empire asked Ridley Scott about Blade Runner 2, and this is what he had to say: “Yeah, we’re working on [Blade Runner 2] right now – that will happen sooner or later.” According to Variety (via MTV), Ridley Scott says the screenplay is not only "written and ready to go," but that Harrison Ford loves it: "I sent him this (script) and he said, 'Wow, this is the best thing I've ever read,' so it's very relevant to what happened (in) the first one," Scott told MTV News. "I'm not just doing a sequel with lots of action and see how far we can go with the special effects because you can't really. 'Blade Runner' kind of landed on a somehow very credible future. And it's very difficult to change that because it's been so influential with everything else." | According to sources, Ryan Gosling (Drive) is in talks to co-star in Blade Runner 2. No other details about his potential character are available. BREAKING NEWS: Sources report that ace cinematographer, Roger Deakins (Skyfall), will be re-joining director Denis Villeneuve for Blade Runner 2. The two collaborated on 2013′s Prisoners. |
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