China Lion, the company doing day-and-date releases of Chinese films in the US of A, is releasing the action/comedy/ trippy food movie, THE BUTCHER, THE CHEF AND THE SWORDSMAN on March 18 at theaters across NYC. It’s the same day the movie hits screens in China and Hong Kong and it’s going to make you hungry, then gut you like a fish.

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BUTCHER, CHEF, SWORDSMAN played at the Toronto Film Festival’s “Midnight Madness” program and it’s being presented by Doug Liman (THE BOURNE IDENTITY) who was so impressed by the film that he’s lent his name to the production for publicity purposes.

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A complete list of theaters is here, but in the New York it’ll be playing at the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square, the AMC Loews Village 7 in the East Village and then in New Jersey at the AMC Clifton Commons 16 and the AMC Loews Fresh Meadows 7 in Fresh Meadows, NY.

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Read a review.

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Watch the trailer.

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And get a ticket!

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Cause it’s wild.

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Comments (1) Mar 08 2011

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This snuck up out of nowhere, but Japan Society has a massive, huge, amazing series of yakuza films playing in their…

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Hardest Men in Town: Yakuza Chronicles of Sin, Sex & Violence

March 9 – 19

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Full details

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15 yakuza movies, many of them never screened before in New York City. If you like tattooed dudes in cheap, sharkskin suits, kicking cringing shop owners to death with their shiny leather loafers then this series is for you.

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Highlights from the series include:

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THE YAKUZA introduced and with a Q&A by its writer, Paul Schrader, who wrote a few small films such as TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL. With a script by Schrader and Robert Towne (CHINATOWN) and with Robert Mitchum and Takakura Ken onscreen, it’s about as respectful of Japan as Hollywood is ever going to get. (full details)

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Suzuki Seijun’s visually startling essay in eye-popping, clockwork tragedy, YOUTH OF THE BEAST (full details) is not to be missed nor are the two big Kinji Fukasaku (BATTLE ROYALE) entries, COPS VS THUGS (full details) and the third in his BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY series, PROXY WAR (full details). It’s too bad all five of Fukasaku’s BATTLES films aren’t being shown, but the first and the third are the best, so at least you’re getting the good stuff with this screening of PROXY WAR.

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There will be a screening of Takashi Miike’s DEAD OR ALIVE (full details) with Miike in the house for an intro and Q&A (fresh off his screenings across town at his Lincoln Center retrospective) and the New York premiere of Takeshi Kitano’s latest film, OUTRAGE: WAY OF THE MODERN YAKUZA (full details) closes out the series. There are lots of movies never on DVD (WALLS OF ABASHIRI PRISON, BLOOD OF REVENGE, THEATER OF LIFE: HISHAKAKU and the excellently-titled BRUTAL TALES OF CHIVALRY) and much, much more.

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If you miss this, you are a punk.

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Here’s the full website and schedule, including descriptions of the films (which are excellent) and trailers.

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Comments (1) Mar 08 2011

Subway Cinema and the Film Society of Lincoln Center are co-presenting the biggest Takashi Miike retrospective ever to hit NYC, culminating in the premiere of his new movie 13 ASSASSINS.

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Shinjuku Outlaw: 13 from Takashi Miike – March 16 – 20 (one weekend only!)

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Website!

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Miike himself will be here and he’ll attend the AUDITION screening on March 16 and all screenings on March 17 and 18.

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Highlights!

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THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA – a 1998, magical realist movie about a salaryman who gets lost in China and winds up encountering a village of people who claim they can fly. Really astonishing entry from Miike and completely underrated.

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CROWS ZERO II – the 2009 follow-up to CROWS ZERO, Miike’s fighting high school yakuza blockbuster. The first film is summed-up and dispensed with in the opening moments of CROWS ZERO II which pretty much rocks harder than the first film.

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THE GREAT YOKAI WAR – one of the best childhood fantasy movies ever made, Miike really goes wild in this kiddie flick with a broken heart. It features a massively epic war, 100’s of bizarro yokai and one of the saddest endings of any movie ever. (read more)

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The Great Yokai War…it’s great!

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Full line-up:

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AGITATOR (2001, 150m) – not on DVD

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AUDITION (1999, 115m)

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THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA (1998, 119m)

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CITY OF LOST SOULS (2000, 103m)

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CROWS ZERO II (2009, 133m) – not on DVD

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FUDOH: THE NEW GENERATION (1996, 98m)

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THE GREAT YOKAI WAR (2005, 124m)

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ICHI THE KILLER (2001, 129m)

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IZO (2004, 128m)

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LEY LINES (1999, 105m)

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SHANGRI-LA (2002, 105m) – not on DVD

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SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY (1995, 100m)

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13 ASSASSINS (2010, 126m) – not on DVD

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ALSO: DEAD OR ALIVE will screen @ 7:30 pm, Tuesday, March 15th at Japan Society, as part of their series The Hardest Men in Town: Yakuza Chronicles of Sin, Sex & Violence

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Comments (7) Feb 25 2011

FOREVER THE MOMENT is one of my favorite Korean movies of all time, and it’s screening tomorrow night (Tuesday, February 22 @ 7pm) for free! Courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service.

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Where? Tribeca Cinemas
(54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E and 1 train Canal Street stops)

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Price? Free.
All seating is first-come, first served. Doors open at 6:30pm.

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Twitch just posted a glowing review, and you can read another one here. This is one of the few Korean movies with a female director, and it was a huge word-of-mouth hit in 2008. If you love movies, sports movies, or movies about women’s handball, then you don’t want to miss this heartbreaker. It’s unexpected, absolutely thrilling and probably one of the best movies about women, sports, winning and losing ever made.

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Comments (0) Feb 21 2011

China Lion, the company that brings Chinese first run films to the US with day-and-date releases is still running the Chinese New Year’s romantic comedy, WHAT WOMEN WANT, a remake of the Mel Gibson movie only this time starring Andy Lau and Gong Li, neither of whom have ever threatened their spouses or made anti-semitic statements while drunk, so it can only be an improvement!

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Or can it? The Hollywood original is a pretty bad movie, full of mugging and broad performances, and the remake is getting mixed reviews. Screen Daily says it, “…rarely rises above a genial likability, lacking sufficient comic or romantic brio.” The LA Times calls it, “Just different enough, it has neither the obsessional pull of Gus Van Sant’s loony remake of PSYCHO nor enough distinction to really feel like its own unique object.” And Variety says, “…the script rarely produces fireworks…”

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However, the same reviews go on to state that the movie, “…trumpets its relaxed, playful tone…” (Screen) and “Looking terrific at 49 and 45, respectively, Lau and Gong have the right physical chemistry…” (Variety). So it’s charming, but ultimately it doesn’t improve on its source. Directed by Chen Daming (director of ONE FOOT OFF THE GROUND, and he played a Yakuza in BEVERLY HILLS NINJA) it did very well over the New Year. (More on Chen Daming)

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(Remaining showtimes in NYC)

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Comments (0) Feb 16 2011

Kim Ji-Woon’s I SAW THE DEVIL is being co-presented by Subway Cinema and the Film Society of Lincoln Center at Film Comment Selects (Sunday, February 20 @ 1:00pm) and then from February 25 – March 2, BAM is hosting a Kim Ji-Woon retrospective, which includes his rarely screened career-best films, THE FOUL KING and A BITTERSWEET LIFE. Also, Kim Ji-Woon will be in the house!!!

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SEVERELY DAMAGED: THE CINEMA OF KIM JI-WOON

(Feb. 25 – March 2)

(complete series info & schedule)
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A BITTERSWEET LIFE (Saturday, Feb. 26 @ 6:50pm & 9:30pm)
It doesn’t get any better than this. Kim Ji-Woon’s super-stylized gangster film doubles as a Zen meditation on the transitory nature of violence and after all the jaws are broken, henchmen are crushed by cars, thugs are shot and blood is spilled, maybe it was all just a movie-addicted kid’s dream after all? Featuring Lee Byung-Hun as a Type A enforcer who moves like a shark and lives like a robot, this film has been lusted after by dozens of distributors but the rights are locked up with the never-gonna-happen remake deal, so don’t expect to see this on DVD in your lifetime. (tickets and showtimes) (read a review)

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THE FOUL KING (Tuesday, March 1 @ 4:30pm, 6:50pm, 9:15pm)
Did Darren Aronofsky rip off THE FOUL KING to make THE WRESTLER? A little? This is the movie that put Kim Ji-Woon on the map, presenting a high octane performance by Song Kang-Ho (THE HOST, SECRET SUNSHINE) as a bank teller who finds spiritual salvation as a low-budget, masked wrestler on the carnival circuit. Deploying an arsenal of character actors in their funniest performances ever, it features one of the blackest punchlines of any film in recent history and it is not available anymore on DVD. (tickets and showtimes) (read a longer write-up)
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THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (Wednesday, March 2 @ 6pm, 9pm)
Not his best movie, but this breezy remake of Sergio Leone’s THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY is a satisfying summer blockbuster in March, full of epic train robberies, massive shoot-outs and three of Korea’s best actors: Lee Byung-Hun (A BITTERSWEET LIFE), Song Kang-Ho (THE FOUL KING) and Jung Woo-Sung (REIGN OF ASSASSINS). Slight and sunny, it’s better on the big screen. (tickets and showtimes) (read reviews)
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I SAW THE DEVIL (Friday, February 25 @ 7pm)
Kim Ji-Woon will be in the house to present his intense, chilly serial killer vs. secret agent film festival shocker. Lee Byung-Hun plays a white hat version of his scarily proficient enforcer from A BITTERSWEET LIFE and the serial killer is Korea’s great actor, Choi Min-Shik, returning to the big screen for the first time in years. Not for the weak-stomached, and not for people who can’t handle extensive scenes of gruesome violence against people who never had it coming. Still, Director Kim will be here to distribute hugs. (tickets and showtimes) (read a review)

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THE QUIET FAMILY (Monday, Feb. 28 @ 4:30pm, 6:50pm, 9:15pm)
Kim Ji-Woon’s first movie was licensed and remade as a musical by Takashi Miike who called his version HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, but it’s hard to top the ridiculous, anything-for-a-joke QUIET FAMILY and its black-as-pitch comedy stylings. Beautifully shot, perfectly acted, it’s all about a family that bought a mountain inn to escape the urban rat race, and now that the inn is failing they realize that their road to success might be paved with dead bodies. (tickets and showtimes) (read reviews)

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A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (Sunday, Feb. 27 @ 2pm, 4:30pm, 6:50pm, 9:15pm)
Kim Ji-Woon’s beautifully art-directed horror film was a huge hit in Korea and big hit in the US, too, and for good reason. A twisty, mind-melter that leads you into a labyrinth in which everyone is responsible and no one gets away in the end, this was one of the first “nothing is as it seems” ghost movies, but it justifies its unrealiable narration with its final, heartbreaking scene of the primal crime that unleashed the spirits who haunt this film. A huge breakthrough from Kim, it was the first of his movies to feature his new, highly-polished style, and any frame grab from this movie looks like a layout in Wallpaper magazine. (tickets and showtimes) (read a review)

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Comments (0) Feb 16 2011

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Alien

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Ninja

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They fight.

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That’s all you need to know.

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For free at the Rerun Gastropub Theater (Tuesday, Friday 15 @ 10pm, full info)

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Comments (2) Feb 10 2011

From February 18 – March 3 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Film Comment Presents will be showing a line-up of films from around the world that plays as an alternate, and more fun, version of the New York Film Festival. Subway Cinema is psyched to be presenting three of the movies:

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COLD FISH – Sion Sono’s first major film since the incredible LOVE EXPOSURE, this is one of the most bizarre portraits of a serial killer ever to hit the big screen. A mild-mannered fish store owner falls into the orbit of a cranky, elderly, ultra-charismatic serial killer and all-around-freak, Murata-san. By the end of this movie, everyone’s drowning in blood. Literally. (read a review) (tickets and info)

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(NOTE: we say it’s Sono’s first “major” film after LOVE EXPOSURE. He made the very worthy and moving BE SURE TO SHARE between LX and COLD FISH, and we even premiered it, but no one else seems to remember the film! Here’s a review to refresh your memory.)

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COLD FISH

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I SAW THE DEVIL – Kim Ji-Woon’s latest movie after THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEIRD is a locked down secret agent vs. serial killer flick. Less a horror film and more a hard-rocking thriller, it comes alive thanks to its two lead actors: Lee Byung-Hyun’s shark-ish, sleek, super-competent secret agent versus Choi Min-Shik’s savage serial killer, which marks the return to the screen for Choi after several years absence. (read a review) (tickets and info)

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I SAW THE DEVIL

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LEGEND OF THE FIST: RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN – Donnie Yen teams up with Andrew Lau (INFERNAL AFFAIRS) to make yet another Bruce Lee homage. This time it’s the 1920’s and Donnie plays Kato from the Green Hornet, beating up evil Japanese people in a costume and mask. The action kicks off in the trenches of WW I and don’t stop kicking people in the face for a really long time. (read a review) (tickets and info)

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LEGEND OF THE FIST

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Two other Asian movies we’re not co-presenting are in the line-up, too: Jia Zhangke’s I WISH I KNEW, and THE CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH a grueling movie about the rape of Nanking, from the director of KEKEXILI.

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Full Film Comment Selects line-up

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Comments (0) Feb 10 2011

The last film in the Japan Society’s Zen and Its Opposite series, SWORD OF DOOM slashes across the screen like a razor sharp blade made of pure evil. One of the great – possibly one of the greatest – samurai movies ever made, Kihachi Okamoto’s SWORD OF DOOM stars two of Japan’s biggest screen idols, Toshiro Mifune (SEVEN SAMURAI) and Tatsuya Nakadai (THE HUMAN CONDITION) who plays a master swordsman who seems to have traded his soul and become a merciless killing machine. A grim, washed-out, bleak, downright apocalyptic samurai film, it’s the kind of samurai movie Cormac McCarthy might have written.

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Screening at Japan Society, Friday, Feb. 18 @ 7:30pm. Tickets are $12/$9 for members. Complete screening info.

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Read the Criterion Collection’s essay on SWORD OF DOOM. Or, read the Onion’s AV Club review.

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Comments (2) Feb 10 2011

On February 6 at the newly re-opened Museum of the Moving Image, there’s going to be an onstage panel discussion between Stephan Berwick (IN THE LINE OF DUTY 3 and 4, and TIGER CAGE) and Mike Woods as well as the curator of the Museum of the Moving Image’s Fist + Sword martial arts movie programming. They’ll show clips, chat about working in the Hong Kong industry, and then the sentence that catches my attention:

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“Berwick will show the short film he directed, Final Weapon (2010, 15 mins.), which stars Ren Guangyi and Mike Woods, and features an appearance by Lou Reed.”

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Any chance to see a stunt guy’s short film featuring Lou Reed should not be ignored.

(Full details)

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Lou Reed will mess you up!

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Comments (1) Feb 03 2011