Noticias

Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.Twenty minutes into The White Storm 2, one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Andy Lau, is shown a detention facility for drug addicts in Manila. Looking strikingly like the horrifying conditions under which the United States is housing refugees at its borders, Lau nods approvingly as a Filipino police officer describes the anti-drug war led by his nation’s president, Rodrigo Duterte. It’s a striking bit of propaganda, or at least it would be in the hands of a director other than Herman Yau, among the most out-spoken and consistent opponents of authoritarianism in mainstream Chinese language cinema, albeit one who has maintained his position in the mainstream by temporizing his activism within certain generic smokescreens. In this case, he’s taken an ostensibly conservative scenario,...

Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.Animal World2018 has been a remarkably strong year for Chinese language cinema, in terms of films on the international festival and arthouse circuit, retrospectives across the United States, and commercial films exhibited at multiplexes in a handful of North American cities. New movies from Jia Zhangke, Bi Gan (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Wang Bing (Dead Souls), Hu Bo (An Elephant Sitting Still), Jiang Wen (Hidden Man) and Zhang Yimou (Shadow) electrified festival audiences around the globe, though none have as yet seen commercial release in North America. Rather than focus on these kinds of films, all of which have been covered elsewhere on the Notebook over the course of the year, this column has primarily been devoted to following those Chinese-language films that see small multiplex releases,...

Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.After a quiet spring and early summer, with few Chinese releases of note to play on American screens, things are starting to pick up as we head into the second half of the year. A couple of weeks ago saw the release of another Herman Yau film (The Leakers), his fifth feature in the past 14 months, along with Han Yan’s follow-up to his surprisingly effective cancer rom-com Go Away Mr. Tumor, the bizarre-looking manga adaptation Animal World. Both films quickly disappeared, playing not quite a full week here in Seattle, but this week’s big release should have a longer run. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is the third in a series of fantasy-adventure films from Tsui Hark, who has been for 40 years the central...

35,000 lives. 90 minutes. No extra time. 

Saban Films has released the full trailer for their upcoming action movie Final Score. The film stars Dave Bautista, Pierce Brosnan, and Ray Stevenson. It definitely looks like a badass action thriller worth checking out!

The movie is set in a football stadium in England. When a group of heavily armed criminals takes control of the stadium while it's packed with 35,000 spectators, ex-soldier Michael Knox (Bautista) is forced to use skills from his military background and everything at his disposal to save the hostages, including the life of a fallen comrade's daughter.

The film was directed by Scott Mann and written by Jonathan Frank, and brothers David T. Lynch and Keith Lynch.

The movie also stars Lucy Gaskell, Julian Cheung, Lara Peake, Alexandra Dinu, and Ralph Brown.

The film will hit theaters and on September 14th, 2018.

Jurassic World 2 passes 2015 predecessor to become the sixth highest grossing foreign film of all time.

The last week of June (Jun 25-Jul 1) marked the beginning of a two-month onslaught of Chinese summer blockbusters. The first of which is Animal World which opened top, ending the 14-day No.1 reign of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Based on the Japanese manga by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, the Chinese gambling adventure took $35.9m from its three-day opening weekend (including previews). It follows a young man played by Li Yifeng who is forced to take part in a violent game when trapped on a gambling ship.

The film,...

Jurassic sequel becomes the third highest grossing imported film in 2018.

Incredibles 2 failed to topple Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom which reigned again for the second straight week in the period of Jun 18-24.

The $84m added by Universal’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom represented about 60% of the week’s total box office. With a 10-day total of $188.3m, it has become the third highest grossing imported film in 2018 and will soon overtake Ready Player One for second place.

Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 launched strongly in second with $19.3m from its three-day opening weekend, making it the best Pixar’s debut in China.