News Links - 7/22/08

Dennis Lee's Daily HK cinema news archive

News Links - 7/22/08

Postby dleedlee » Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:58 pm

Tony Leung & Carina Lau Wed
http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=1070
Tony Leung and Carina Lau gets married
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Tony-Leu ... 63289.html
Himalayan kingdom's culture is theme of Tony and Carina's wedding
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story ... 17,00.html
Hong Kong movie star Tony Leung marries Carina Lau in Bhutan
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... ec=apworld
Hong Kong cinema star couple wed in Bhutan
http://in.reuters.com/article/hollywood ... 22?sp=true
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7519187.stm
Wedding banquet souvenir for guests
Image
http://ent.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/news/sho ... 940&ct=pic
Wong Kar Wai and wife
Image
Deborah Lee and Brigitte Lin
Image
http://ent.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/news/sho ... 939&ct=pic
Paparazzi get cake and champagne too
Image
Image
http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/h/p/2008-07-22 ... 9400.shtml
Image
http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/p/2008-07-22/11442109868.shtml

'Red Cliff' falls in second frame
'The Good the Bad' pummels John Woo film
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798 ... id=13&cs=1

Animation Legend Miyazaki Back with "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea"
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/07/21/902s383718.htm

Fit Lover
A follow-up to the 2007 hit Call for Love proves that the Chinese film industry is an equal opportunity employer
http://www.filmstew.com/showArticle.asp ... ntID=17431

Adam Cheng To Play 'Snooker King'
http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=1073

Charlene Choi knows the Twins and Gillan. Juno not qualified to speak on Gillan's behalf
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Charlene ... 63205.html

Jackie Chan sings for Olympics
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/showbiz/20 ... 864298.htm

Miriam Yeung : conned for $100,000 HK dollars
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Miriam-Y ... 63203.html

Different Miss Hong Kong results published on site before winner was announced
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Differen ... 63279.html
Edelweiss Admits Dad Was TVB Sponsor
http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=1071
Edelweiss Cheung refused to split up with her boyfriend
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Edelweis ... 63204.html

FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR CHINESE FILM IN CRISIS

Half of 2008 has passed. With major storm, rain, earthquake the
Chinese region is busy with relief efforts. Show business has also been
passionate, but the film industry in a crisis has a hard time with
providing joy and cheer.

Actually disaster time also needs entertainment. Last month when
the Hong Kong Film Development Council met I heard from director Gordon
Chan Ka Seung who has been to the Sichuan earthquake area. Victims
loved old, big action big comedy Hong Kong films, which have become an
important past time for joy amidst pain.

Now Hong Kong film cannot save itself. Reportedly Mainland due to
LUST CAUTION (SIK GAI) has tighten co-produciton inspection, which has
been very influential. However Chinese films ultimately have to be
marketed. Hong Kong film professionals with draw still are wanted. In
the first half of the year Hong Kong's biggest hit was stephen Chow Sing
Chi's Lunar New Year film CJ7 (CHEUNG GOR 7 HO) about poor Mainland
laborer father and son. Although it had more tears than laughter,
fortunately it has real meaning. It has made over HK$50 milllion, far
more than other Chinese films. Taiwan star Jay Chou (Chow Kit Lun)
starred KUNG FU DUNK (GONG FU GUOON NAM) only had an average box office.

The Andy Lau Tak Wa starred, Daniel Lee Yan Kong written and
directed THREE KINGDOMS RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON (SAM GOK ji GEIN LUNG
SEH GAP) had a decent total box office, better than the Kelly Chen Wai
Lam, Leon Lai Ming and Donnie Yen Chi Tan starred, Ching Siu Tung directed
costume war film THE EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS (GONG SAN MEI YUN).

Yip Lim Sum written and directed new era romance continued to be
local hit. L FOR LOVE L FOR LIES (NGOR DIK JUI OI) made over 10 million.
Other small budget youth films were numerous, including SEE YOU IN YOU
TUBE (OI DAU DAI), HAPPY FUNERAL (LOK LAU HAU JOR 2), SCARE 2 DIE (HAK SEI
NEI), LOVE IS ELSEWHERE (OI CHING MAN SHUI), BESIEGED CITY (WAI SING),
CITY WITHOUT BASEBALL (MO YEH JI SING) and others. Yet often they are
very rough.

Edison Chen Koon Hei's nude photo storm has impacted the stardom
of the youth generation; Shawn Yue Man Lok in SHAMO (GWUN GAI), PLAYBOY
COP (FA FA YING GAING), MOSS (CHING TOI) tended to be dark and violent
and most were not hits. Currently Hong Kong film reputation revival
successors are lacking. As for experienced directors, Sylvia Chang
(Cheung Ngai Ga)'s RUN PAPA RUN (YUT GOR HO BA BA) and Johnnie To Kei
Fung's SPARROW (MAN JEUK) both achieved nostalgia and honor within the
dangers of the underworld but could not break through the crisis. Tsui
Hark's modern mystery THE MISSING (SUM HOI CHUM YUN) was excessively
complicated and the box office was not very ideal.

Internationally, Wong Kar Wai's foreign film MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS
was only ordinary, Chow Yun Fat's CHILDREN OF HUANGSHI was poor, Jackie
Chan and Jet Li (Lee Nin Kit)'s FORBIDDEN KINGDOM (GONG FU JI WONG) was
not as successful as the Hollywood animation KUNG FU PANDA.

Now already in the second half of the year, Chinese epic RED CLIFF
(CHET BIK) has been released and seemingly in battle alone. Next month
the importance of the Beijing Olympics would crush everything. Seemingly
this heart pounding year has to pass or perhaps when the dust settles next
year before the Great Chinese film industry can tell whether disasters
bring any turning point. - SHEK KEI
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/2038/080710.txt

Korean film industry tunes up stage musicals
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/6521/1/


S'pore twins mistaken for Andy Lau's secret daughters
It helps the pop stars, whose dad died of cancer last year, become more well-known
TWO controversies within two months have brought instant fame to Singaporean twin sisters Miko and Yumi Bai.

The 16-year-olds who call themselves BY2 (Bai Two) released their debut album, NC16, here yesterday.

In April, some people were upset when rumours emerged that they had been signed by Hong Kong's Emperor Group to replace its star duo Twins, one of whom was caught up in the Edison Chen sex scandal.

The rumours turned out to be untrue, as the girls were already signed to Singapore-based Ocean Butterflies.

In May, Ocean Butterflies was accused of pulling a publicity stunt when BY2's childhood photos were circulated online and mistaken as pictures of Hong Kong star Andy Lau's rumoured twin daughters.

Despite the bad press, the girls were upbeat and unaffected when The New Paper met them before their debut showcase at St James Powerhouse last evening.

They don't think they can ever replace Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung of Twins, but 'there's a lot we can learn from them'.

As for being mistaken as Andy's daughters, the sisters said they were shocked to see their childhood photos published next to Andy's in Taiwanese newspapers in May.

Older sister Miko said: 'It's an honour to grace the papers with Andy... but no matter what, his surname is Lau while we're Bai. It might be awkward if we meet.'

The more bubbly Yumi added: 'But we can still shake hands with him. We'll just introduce ourselves as BY2 like we always do and pretend the whole thing never happened.'

It is not known who started the rumour, which first emerged on China websites.

BY2's mentor, Billy Koh, thinks a netizen must have got the photos from the Chinese networking website 51.com. It is China's version of Friendster, and BY2's profile page has attracted more than 1.5 million hits.

Mr Koh said: 'It's a boo-boo but also a blessing in disguise, in that it helped BY2 become recognisable in such a short time.'

But they have many detractors who disapprove of them quitting school so early to pursue their showbiz dreams.

Their smallest slip-ups get magnified.

For instance, Friday Weekly found it 'flabbergasting' that BY2 didn't know the simple Chinese word xin xian (fresh), when asked by the host of Taiwan's 100% Entertainment programme in May.

Like all Singaporean singers who venture into Taiwan's Mandopop market, the girls have been teased for their lousy Mandarin.

The sisters, who are used to speaking in English here, said nobody could understand their Mandarin when they first went to Taiwan.

But they have been practising hard to speak like the Taiwanese, by watching TV and checking dictionaries.

They had the choice of doing this interview in English, but they insisted on using Mandarin instead.

Coming home this time was a thrill for the girls, who performed yesterday before a crowd of 400, including fans, family and friends.

Miko said: 'Sometimes we'd worry about what if nobody turns up, but as long as we give (the performance) our best shot, that's good enough.'

The girls, who lost their father to cancer last year, were first introduced as Internet singers on web portals in Taiwan, China and Singapore in March.

They boast more than 564,000 hits on their blog on Taiwan's Pixnet and more than 394,000 hits on Singapore's Omy.

Yumi said: 'This is only the beginning, we haven't gone through the whole process of releasing an album yet.

'We must at least get a Best Newcomer award, so as to live up to our late father's expectations.'
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story ... 18,00.html?

Lawrence Ng and Amy Chan Shoot"Legal Elite"
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/07/22/195s384149.htm

Ayumi Hamasaki Visits HK Prior to Sept. Concert
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/07/22/1261s383871.htm

Peking Duck Flies off UK Menu on Oven Fears
http://english.cri.cn/3100/2008/07/22/1301s383881.htm
Quanjude: Olympic Peking Duck "100 Pct Safe"
http://english.cri.cn/3100/2008/07/22/1261s384014.htm

$5.5m 'lost' to save durian tree
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story ... 01,00.html?
???? Better to light a candle than curse the darkness; Measure twice, cut once.
Pinyin to Wade-Giles. Cantonese names file
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Postby Brian Thibodeau » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:08 pm

'Red Cliff' falls in second frame
'The Good the Bad' pummels John Woo film
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798 ... id=13&cs=1


I had to sigh when I saw RED CLIFF "DVDs" being sold by blanket-on-the-sidewalk bootleg vendors while biking through Chinatown here on Saturday. Already! :shock: If they're here, they're there (China, Taiwan, Korea etc.), which certainly can't help any film in only its second week of release. :( Then again, RED CLIFF's hardly the only Big Chinese Film to suffer a second week drop.
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Postby Brian Thibodeau » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:03 pm

U.S. team to provide all Olympic athletes with masks
Potential PR nightmare for image-conscious Chinese officials
http://olympics.thestar.com/2008/article/464729
Let the pre-(mind)games begin! :lol:


.
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Postby ewaffle » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:18 am

Brian Thibodeau wrote:U.S. team to provide all Olympic athletes with masks
Potential PR nightmare for image-conscious Chinese officials
http://olympics.thestar.com/2008/article/464729
Let the pre-(mind)games begin! :lol:


From the article:

Pickering long-jumper Tabia Charles, 23, suffers from allergies – "to everything" – and asthma. She said yesterday that she was considering buying some sort of mask herself. Barring that, "my dad probably has something in the garage. I'll take it with me. Just in case."

Tabia Charles has a refreshingly naive view of things. I wonder what the chances of something in her Dad's garage would have of getting into the PRC or even the Olympic village.
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