April 15- April 22

COMING SOON - THEATRICAL RELEASES

4/22 ONE MISSED CALL
Takashi Miike's slick n’styley contribution to the dead-girls-with-long-hair-haunting-appliances genre.

4/29 3-IRON
Kim Ki-Duk's latest festival favorite gets a NY/LA release, followed by a national roll-out.

5/13 UNLEASHED
Jet Li rubs shoulders with Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman in his latest English-language outing that used to be called DANNY THE DOG, which was a much more fun title.



ALSO COMING SOON

4/29 - 5/1 Asian Cinevision @ BAM
ACV brings a selection of recent Asian flicks to BAM, like THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED (Japan), MEN SUDDENLY IN BLACK (Hong Kong) and A PECK ON THE CHEEK (India).



Plus, the ImaginAsian has some great films coming over the next few weeks:

Click here to read about them:
http://www.theimaginasian.com/comingsoon/index.php



And, of course, the Tribeca Film Fest is starting soon and have - of course - have some Asian films. Some of these include:

Wong Kar-wai's "2046" - a sequel of sorts to both "In the Mood for Love" and "Days of Being Wild" as a heartbroken Tony Leung embarks on a series of callous affairs with women as emotionally wounded as he is - also stars Faye Wong, Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li and Carina Lau. My guess is most of us peons don't have a chance of getting into this one. Of course if you don't have an American Express card - like poor me - your chances of seeing any of the good films at the festival are small to none.




Stolen Life (China) - the newest film from the director of the fanciful "Baobar in Love" which is one of my favorite Mainland films.

Two Japanese horror films - Premonition and Infection

Rikidozan (South Korea) a biopic about the "Father of Japanese Wrestling"

Shutter (Thailand) - this film scared the hell out of audiences in Thailand last year. I didn't think it was that scary, but it has a few nice jumps and chills and a great ending.

Here's their full schedule:

http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tixSYS/filmguide/title-detail.php




Here's What's Playing Now:

Old Boy
This is the second in Park Chanwook's Vengeance Trilogy. The first was the gut churning Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and later this year Lady Vengeance is opening. Old Boy has gotten feverish raves from all over. The Voice has this to say about it "the warfare waged on teeth and tongue will separate the pulp geeks from the average filmgoers - but because the story is constructed on such an epic scale emotionally, it fences off a Shakespearean estate for itself in today's moviescape". If you need a raw blistering experience, go see this. If not, go see Miss Congeniality 2 or DEBS - the choice is yours.





Bride and Prejudice is still in a few theaters lurking about.
Grady hated this film but I thought it was glossy brainless fun and Aishwarya Rai is the most beautiful woman in the world. Just ask her.





Kung Fu Hustle
All I can say is go see this movie if you love film - it is everything that is good about movies. Stephen Chow of Shaolin Soccer has made his masterpiece here. Don't necessarily expect a laugh a minute comedy - it takes in everything as he crystallizes his love for classic Hong Kong cinema through the prism of modern sensibilities and modern technology and offers us an explosion of action, comedy and sentiment that is a pure cinematic experience.





Film Forum
SAVE THE GREEN PLANET (Korea, 2003, 118 minutes)
Opens Wednesday, April 20th
This movie will change your life. Completely sincere and full of a passion to save humanity from itself, this film is a UFO/conspiracy/horror/comedy/sci-fi/thriller/romance that maps the last days of planet earth, as a sad-sack loser who's convinced that aliens have infiltrated our planet and ruined his life, kidnaps his ex-boss because he JUST KNOWS that this corporate CEO is not only an alien, but also the only one who can stop the destruction of the planet (and if your receive our weekly email, YOU KNOW how to try to obtain free tickets).
Read a review:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?isindex=save+the+green+planet
or watch the trailer:
http://www.savethegreenplanetmovie.com/trailer






Anthology Film Archives
2nd St and 2nd Ave.

15 (Singapore, 2003, 90 minutes)
If you're looking for something totally unique this week, check out Royston Tan's controversial 15. All about aimless kids drifting through Singapore, chewing gum, huffing glue and looking for a good place to kill themselves. Sure, it can grate at times, but kudos to Mr. Tan for making this movie against lots of pressure and for leaving behind sad sack "what’m I gonna do with my life" whining for a stylish, jazzy flick.
read a review:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/15



ImaginAsian Theater
They are screening ONG BAK (which you should already know all about, plus...

MUGHAL-E-AZAM (India, 1960)
Just go. Seriously. This is one of India's great movies, and it's like watching the TOUCH OF EVIL of that great nation. A story of a prince marrying a commoner, with musical numbers, gorgeously baroque chiaroscuro cinematography, a production that took ten years to complete and a choir of a couple hundred people giving back-up to some of the songs. This is the kind of movie you need to buy a ticket to, just to tell your grandkids you saw it on the big screen.
read a review:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~incinema/mughaleazam.html





The ImaginAsian is also screening THE YEAR OF THE YAO, Monday, April 18th at 7:30pm (and if you get our weekly email, you know how to get free tickets to this AND SAVE THE GREEN PLANET)...




Japan Society
Otaku Cinema Slam
The Japan Society continues this very cool fest through the end of May. "Otaku" means someone who is into "geek culture" like all the people who go to Star Trek conventions or know all the dialogue in Bill Murray movies. Scary people. In Japan these are often people totally into Manga or Anime. Here are the films coming up. All shows are at 6:30 - a nice civilized hour. It is at 333 East 47th Street.

04/15 - WiLd LIFe jump into the dark - that's not my bad typing - that is how the titled is spelled. "a jigsaw puzzle for cinephiles". The director Shinji Aoyama will be present.

04/22 - Onmyoji (The Yin Yang Master) - "During an age of demons and ghosts in 8th century Kyoto, the emperor relied upon the Onmyoji" to save the day against evil. This sounds great.

05/06 - Otakus in Love - definitely a film for Manga fans - this is about two Manga artists who sort of fall in love. Unfortunately one of them refuses to use his true drawing talent and instead pioneers rock Manga – using rocks to depict Manga scenes and characters. Quite an amusing pop film.

05/13 - Kizuna, Parts 1 & 2 - "two episodes of the anime adaptation of one of the bestselling Yaoi comics"

05/23 - A2 - "examines the religious cult Aleph, formerly known as Aum". Good move changing their name after killing all those people.

05/27 - Gamera 3 - I have to admit I am not a fan of Japanese monster movies - I just don't get the whole cult thing around them, but this film is great. It has terrific production values and special effects and GAMERA is pretty cool for a turtle.




Lincoln Center (Walter Reade)
Amitabh Bachchan Retro - Thru April 19

An amazing retro on the work of Amitabh Bachchan is coming - tell your neighbors - get a babysitter lined up. Considered one of the greatest actors in the world, he is almost a God in India. When he nearly died in an accident back in the 1970's the country came to a stop for days as they prayed for his survival. Some people are said to have sacrificed themselves for him. They take their actors seriously in Bollywood and none more so than Amitabh. Lincoln Center has 13 of his films from back in the 70's to the present day.

Special Live Appearance!
The Big B himself is live and in person (for only $60/ticket) on Friday, April 15 @ 7:30PM. Expect a sell-out.

DEV (India, 2004, 172 minutes)
Friday, April 15 @ 1PM
The Big B stars in one of those corrupt police/upright police stories that he does so memorably.

ANAND (India, 1970, 122 minutes)
Friday, April 15 @ 6:40PM
The Big B has a fatal disease and he wants to enjoy life before he dies.

AMAR, AKBAR, ANTHONY (India, 1977, 184 minutes, DIGIBETA)
Saturday, April 16 @ 4:30PM
Amitabh stars in this comedy flick about three brothers (one Christian, one Hindu and one Muslim) separated at birth and trying to get ahead in the world.

AANKHEN (India, 2002, 172 minutes)
Saturday, April 16 @ 8PM
If you're going to see one movie in this retro, see this one. The Big B plays a bank manager who gets fired and who plots to rob his ex-employer with a gang of blind thieves. Really outstanding pulp entertainment. Worth your time.

AKS (India, 2001, 183 minutes)
Sunday, April 17 @ 4:30PM
A bunch of mumbo jumbo about a serial killer whose spirit inhabits good cop Amitabh Bachchan’s body.

AGNEEPATH (India, 1990, 174 minutes)
Sunday, April 17 @ 7:45PM
A bleak and black revenge saga with Amitabh Bachchan. If you want to see him be unsympathetic, this is the movie for you. It looks like a 1970's exploitation flick, but one of the visually arresting kind.

SAUDGAR (India, 1973, 150 minutes)
Tuesday, April 19 @ 3PM
An early film, where Amitabh Bachchan plays a tree tapper. Uh...okay.





Museum of the Moving Image
Yuen Wo-ping's TAI CHI 2 is playing under some other name. Sorry, but I can't recall the date, time or new name, so you will have to hunt this info down on your own! In any case, it's martial artist Wu Jing's first flick (from 1996). Later this year, he will also appear in the astounding SHA PO LANG.