Because I recently watched both The A-Team and From Paris with Love, I felt I saw a lot of things blowing up. Despite my liking of District 9 and Inglourious Basterds, I don’t really consider them just films for showing things exploding – so in theory, the last film with things that blow up I liked was the first Transformers film, which I saw with Julz. LOL
The best thing for me on The A-Team was Sharlto Copley — of course, he was on D9 — and I thought the film was a lot more comedic than an action flick. And as for Paris, I don’t know if I’m being too sensitive, but it just reminded me of that KKK video game I saw on the news some time ago. Travolta, with a shaved head, and Rhys go on a shoot-em up rampage against Chinese, Pakistani… where there Arabs? and some black people. The women were either prostitutes… terrorists, or you know – that US delegate was a total b!tch. LOL
I swear to kamisama that Hyori-unnie has been watching a lot of films. Last time she did Black Balloons and creepy clow in a gloomy beach, which was totally arthouse. This time around she’s totally District 9 meets The Fifth Element meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
I love it. xD Thanks for the Hyori video-bombarding, Julz.
Hyori in the yellow feathery coat looks like a little pollito. LOL
Rosen: There are not many Chinese films in the US, and the few Chinese films that are available in the US were directed by famous directors, such as Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee, and so on. There are several types of Chinese films that have played here.
Martial arts films are one type, such as Hero (Yingxiong) by Zhang Yimou and The Promise (Wuji) by Chen Kaige. The other type would be art films, such as those by Jia Zhangke, but these only get a limited release.
However, most Chinese films will never be shown in theaters here, because I think there simply isn’t enough of an audience for them. This is also true for most foreign language films. They are more likely to appear on DVD than to be shown in theaters.
Up to now, the most successful Chinese film has been Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wohu Canglong), the second most successful was Hero, and then Fearless (Huo Yuanjia).
The most successful Chinese films at the box office in the West have all been martial arts films, where language is less important than the action on the screen.
These are some of my comments,
Instead of Rosen suggesting China focus on big historical blockbuster to compete with Hollywood films, he should have only suggested “you should dub your films in English” – I mean, even great films produced and directed by American fave Clint Eastwood suffered from the “why no dub version” threads online.
What I would like to see is more Chinese films (and over all Asian films) being distributed more in cinemas… in my country. LOL The last Chinese film released here was Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower. AGES ago. So if China wants to have more distribution of their films, they could use their own embassies and consulates around the world to actually screen films locally, instead of the Beijing Screening for international distributors.
I bet most distributors watch them, like them but see no market for them unless they have action sequences. So in the end those distribution screenings are for nothing. China should take distribution of their films in their own hands, I’m sure a lot of people would go to the movies instead of watching online (at least many of you) if the films you want to watch are available locally.
Like I’ve said, I’m not trying to be biased, since I do watch films made in America. But if you take a look at what a Blockbuster is in America, which they are discussing in the interview, films like Transformers 2 and Twilight made big bucks. China’s productions just wonder how they can get that many people to watch their films… and not only martial art films, but other types of films too.
The fact is many foreign films don’t get wide releases because they aren’t mass-appealing (worldwide), most markets just are filled with a lot of crappy American films, and I’m not talking about District 9 or Up… but with things like Transformers 2 and All About Steve or any Jennifer Aniston rom-com. While crappy foreign films (because everyone has their crappy films) can’t even make it outside their country.
The other question is… why does Hollywood remake My Sassy Girl, when My Sassy Girl is a fine film. Why can’t they just release it with subtitles. What does China need to get a film like Internal Affairs in theaters in America, instead of getting The Departed winning Best Film at the Oscar?
It is amazing that has taken over 80 years to even consider a female director a serious contender for the Best Director category… let alone to actually see her win.
*edit*
“I hope I’m the first of many,” Bigelow said. “I’d love to just think of myself as a filmmaker, and I long for the day when a modifier can be a moot point. But I’m ever grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmakers and have them feel that the impossible is possible.”
*end of edit*
Of course I have dreamed of being the first female director when I was 14 [I wore a pink dress in my dream, very unlike Amy... or was that a nightmare?], though I have detoured from that dream somewhat, it is still amazing to see Bigelow picking up such an honor. I can only imagine what this means for so many other little girls who dream to make films… like I once did, to see a woman being named Best Director.
What it means to them seeing the photo of Bigelow holding that Oscar with such fierceness. It’s just every Girl Power [another shameless Spice Girls mention here] supporter’s dream. It tells you it is possible. It is awesome. Even though I was personally supporting Inglourious Basterds and Tarantino, it is still incredible to think that Kathryn Bigelow was the favorite during the race. A female director was THE favorite to win.
Even that’s a first.
In an industry where many of the stars are women, but so many of them are exploited as just “that pretty actress to look at”, an industry where women turn 35 and are already considered “too old” or where sex appeal is a must. Luckily things seem to be changing… even if it’s in small degrees. With a wonderful Meryl Streep, vibrant at 60 years old, critical acclaim and mass-appeal. Moreover, add to that the many female screenwriters from the last 2 or 3 or 5 years like Terri Tatchell (from VFS!) who co-adapted District 9, or Nancy Oliver who wrote Lars and the Real Girl, or Diablo Cody (I know some of you hate her) for Juno, or Tamara Jenkins who wrote and directed The Savages… and don’t forget Miranda July who wrote and directed Me and You and Everyone We Know.
It is indeed looking pretty good for women in Hollywood.
Now, let’s only hope it is a change in the way they make films and not just a trend that will fade away in… let’s say 5 years, and that we don’t have to wait eight decades for another female director to be seriously considered for Best Director ever again.
Also, hello!? Male directors and their muses~ I love you guys. Without you, there will be no strong female characters on the big screen.
This seems VERY open. It’s Asian, and it’s also Hollywood… so it seems like my kind of award. Funny thing is that some of those nominees seem very off and certainly kind of random.
For example the historical film The Founding of a Republic is… nominated for Best Comedy? OMG, is that ironic? Also… Inglourious Basterds didn’t make it to Best 2009 Film (even though you can vote for “other” and add it), and Bigelow didn’t make it to Best 2009 Director…
Anyway, some of the nominees in the international bits include usual suspects Avatar, The Hurt Locker, District 9, A Prophet, and Inglourious Basterds~~~ even Peru’s The Milk of Sorrow. xD
The Asian nominees include Mother, Thirst, Air Doll, Red Cliff, Ponyo, Forever Enthralled, Nobody to Watch Over me, Jackie Chan, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Eason Chan, Rain, Maggie Cheung, Gong Li, etc.
Some of the unusual categories include Best Asian Entertainer in Hollywood, Best Asian Movie of the Decade, 10 Best Asian Actors and Actresses…
(5) | 
