Wallace Huo isn't the only one who travels back and forth in time.

Not long ago, Wallace Huo’s new movie “Super Dimensional Reinforcements 超时空救兵” began to show in theaters. In addition to looking adorkable, Wallace Huo’s character is an aspiring author who wrote “The Legend of Shi Kejin.” The publisher scoffs at Wallace’s work and, during a meteor shower, Wallace is suddenly transported back to the Tang. There, he meets his idol Shi Kejin (played by Dyland Kuo) himself, as well as Shi Kejin’s little sister (played by Jing Tian)…Poet Li Bai also appears, played by the director, Lin Zicong.

Stills from the film can be found under the cut. Watch a one minute trailer here.

Alright, put away the knife; I'll wear a different pair of pants.

Following a successful limited engagement, the war epic will air in 13 cities cross the U.S.

Los Angeles-based distributor Wrekin Hill Entertainment announced today that the company, in association with Row 1 Productions, will be pushing up the nationwide theatrical release for The Flowers of War, starring Christian Bale and directed by renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou. The film – a blockbuster in China – will now open in the following cities on January 20th: New York, Los Angeles (including Orange County), Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington DC. For tickets information, see the official website here.

In addition, “The Viral Factor” starring Nicholas Tse and Jay Chou and directed by Dante Lam is screening in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Seattle, San Diego, Washington D.C., Houston, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia around the same time. Use google to find out if it’s airing near you.

The accelerated distribution plan follows strong box office grosses during the film’s U.S. qualifying run in late December. The film averaged over $30,000 per screen and was among the top grossing films of the year in the three theaters in which it opened. In just a few weeks after its mid-December release in China, the film became the highest grossing Chinese film of 2011, and is still going strong. The film has been nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film.

“We had an incredible response to the film during our one-week qualifying run, with sell-out shows and increasing demand as the week unfolded,” Wrekin Hill President and CEO Chris Ball said. “As the exceptional grosses in the US and China have shown, this is a film that audiences are passionately embracing and that has real staying power.”

In THE FLOWERS OF WAR, Director Zhang Yimou (RAISE THE RED LANTERN, JU DOU, HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) tells an epic story of love and sacrifice. The film, set during Japan’s 1937 invasion of China, is told from a young girl’s point of view, not as a history lesson, but as an intimate, elemental and paradoxically universal celebration of the human spirit. Bale stars as a dissolute Westerner who seeks refuge in a Catholic church. There he meets a beautiful Chinese courtesan who helps him he helps to rescue a group of schoolgirls from a terrible fate at the hands of the Japanese.

THE FLOWERS OF WAR was adapted by Liu Heng and Geling Yan from the novel by Geling Yan. The film is produced by Zhang Weiping (marking his tenth collaboration with Zhang Yimou) under his New Pictures Film banner. The executive producers are Chaoying Deng, David Linde, and Bill Kong.

source: Daily Bam, with a few edits by me.

Zhang Ziyi, with a role as a “cold beauty”  in Wong Kar Wai’s “The Grand Master一代宗师”, recently posed for the February issue of Marie Claire. Some pictures under the cut, and the rest of the photo shoot can be seen here.

Zhang Ziyi will be working alongside Tong Leung Chiu Wai, who will play the title character. “The Grand Master”will be Tong Leung’s first kungfu flick and tells the story of martial artist Yip Man. To prepare for the role, Tony Leung underwent extensive training in the “Wing Chun Fist” (this was the fighting style that Yip Man used).  Zhang Ziyi and Song Hye-Kyo also participated in martial arts training for their roles in the film.

See why Leung’s Yip Man has been called the Chinese “Dark Knight” by watching a teaser for the film.

New York: Sunshine Cinema, Dec. 21 – ?
The online ticket/times for this is currently offline for some reason, so you’ll have to call them for times and tickets
Los Angeles: The Nuart,  Dec. 23 -  at least 29
San Francisco: Bridge Theatre,   Dec. 23 – at least 29

Watch the trailer on the Qinhuai courtesans below, where you can finally get a true taste of the film, which is told from the perspective of the little girl and mostly in the old Nanjing dialect.  Also watch the fascinating five-episode documentary of the making of the film, where Zhang painstakingly makes sure everything from haircuts to guns  is historically accurate,  on Sohu here.

Liu Yifei and Feng Shaofeng makes a surprisingly good pair as Yu Ji and Xiang Yu

Although short, the love story of Yu Ji (Liu Yifei) and Xiang Yu (Feng Shaofeng), from first meeting to separation and to the famous scene of “Farewell, my concubine 霸王别姬,” is one of the highlights of White Vengeance (鸿门宴).

The new released MV recaptures that romance.  As the song of the Chu plays out, the tragic love of the pair again returns to their first meeting, when he completed her forbidden duet to save her and when she took his hand in trust. Watch the MV below.

The film's beautiful flowers are finally revealed in the new English trailer

Narrated by one of the choir girls in the film, the English trailer has been released for The Flowers of War! I was doing screen caps of this, and pretty much every screen cap is frame-worthy because of how gorgeous Zhang Yimou films are.

The trailer is almost all in English, and finally shows Christian Bale alongside the gorgeous leading actresses Ni Ni and the cherubic Zhang Xinyi.

Wrekin Hill is releasing it in the U.S. and has set it for a qualifying run December 21 in New York and December 23 in Los Angeles and San Francisco, followed by a later bow nationwide.

Watch the trailer below or in better quality on the official website here.

Lovers? Enemies? Xu Jinglei and Stanley Huang pair off together again in Dear Enemy.

Director – actress Xu Jinglei is back again with Dear Enemy 亲密敌人, the major modern film of this holiday season.  Up against major blockbusters The Flowers of War and Flying Swords of the Dragon Gates, Xu Jingelei says that she won’t move her film’s release date despite it going against the two major films.   She’s especially confident that her cosmopolitan film is unique amongst the December releases.

Watch her costar Stanley Huang‘s MV for the film below from fountainpark723@YouTube.

Both a Battle God and one of the iconic tragic romance symbols, Xiang Yu comes to life with Feng Shaofeng.

After fellow Palace/Gong star Yang Mi held up the box office of the best selling horror film in Chinese history,  Feng Shaofeng made his first debut as a major film lead in White Vengeance.  Cast alongside veterans Leon Lai, Zhang Hanyun, Huang Qiusheng and Crystal Liu Yifei,  Feng Shaofeng managed to be the breakout actor, wooing viewers with his 180 degree change from a pretty face to a fierce warlord.

According to sina, “Lookwise, Feng’s Xiangyu has all of Xiangyu’s majestic fierceness. Actingwise, his protrayal is just as commendable: he combines the Western Chu Warlord’s outwardly strength and power , the hero’s angst and anger, the child’s reliance on Fan Zeng, and the lover’s hidden emotions for Yu Ji. Be it questioning Liu Bang or parting ways with Fan Zeng, the complexity is shown through his eyes. In the war scenes, he perfectly exhibits Xiang Yu’s status as a battle god, making him the most prominent character of the film. ”

Watch the romance trailer for White Vengeance below from watchyifei@YouTube:

A graduate of the Shanghai Drama Academy, Feng Shaofeng has mostly played roles in smaller dramas, slowly bidding his time until his recent explosion of popularity from Palace earlier this year. Huayi was quick to help him maintain that success, giving him major roles in both this and an upcoming film with Fan Bingbing, as well as a supporting role in Painted Skin II. Opportunity comes to those who are prepared, and Yang Mi and Feng Shaofeng has had enough experience and skills in the industry to seize upon this opportunity to take on and excel in their respective new roles.

“When it was first announced that I was to play Xiang Yu, many people questioned the decision.  The director trusted me, and I can’t let him down.  I had no way out and had  to act sincerely.  I believed I was Xiang Yu.”  To express Xiang Yu’s large build, Feng Shaofeng said that he would lift weights any time he has free time for the two months.  “In those times, Xiang Yu gave me his spirit, and I gave him life.”

Fantasy and reality come together in Starry Starry Night

Like a fairytale book came to life, Starry Starry Night (星空) is a rare Greater Chinese film that stars two young leads in a fantastical adventure that is nevertheless sensitive to human emotions. Directed by Lin Shu-yu (林書宇), based on the picture book of the same name, Starry Starry Night is a coproduction between Huayi Brothers and Atom Cinema.

“To Lin’s credit, the film is a seemingly effortless balance between the real and the imagined. Folded paper animals come to life, and a train flies into Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night. With these fantastical visions and Jake Pollock’s exuberant cinematography, Lin adeptly takes audiences on an adventure of childhood innocence and imagination.”

“Xu Jiao (徐嬌) plays 13-year-old Mei, the only child in a family that is on the way toward disintegration as the parents grow increasingly apart from each other. Distressed at home and unable to connect with schoolmates, Mei finds comfort in her doting grandfather (Kenneth Tsang, 曾江), who carves her wooden animals that keep her company when she feels alone.
…
Jay (Eric Lin, 林暉閔), a transfer student, catches Mei’s attention with his quietness and artistic inclination. Friendship buds and then flourishes between the two lonely souls, but the newly found happiness comes to an abrupt halt when Mei’s grandfather passes away and her parents announce their divorce. Distraught, the two friends decide to run away from their troubles.

Lin is a versatile director, capable of both soberly observing hormone-raging teens in Winds of September and producing a tender portrait of female sensitivity that vividly captures the warmth and melancholy so tangibly evoked in Jimmy Liao’s illustrated world.

The adult cast members — including Guey Lun-mei (桂綸鎂), Rene Liu (劉若英) and Harlem Yu (庾澄慶) — give solid performances, but the film’s true stars are undoubtedly Xu, who made her first big-screen appearance in Stephen Chow’s (周星馳) 2008 CJ7 (長江七號), and Lin, a first-time actor with a natural talent. Together, the two make a convincing young couple having their first taste of love.”

source: taipeitimes