Posts Tagged ‘asia’

Hero (2002)

Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Drama
Countries: China | Hong Kong
Actors: Li, Jet | Leung Chiu Wai, Tony | Cheung, Maggie | Zhang, Ziyi | Chen, Daoming | Yen, Donnie | Yuan, Liu Zhong | Yong, Zheng Tia | Qin, Yan | Xiao Yang, Chang | Ya Kun, Zhang | Hua, Ma Wen | Ming, Jin | Hua, Xu Kuang | Xin, Wang Shou
Directors: Zhang, Yimou
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In ancient China, before the reign of the first emperor, warring factions throughout the Six Kingdoms plot to assassinate the most powerful ruler, Qin. When a minor official defeats Qin’s three principal enemies, he is summoned to the palace to tell Qin the story of his surprising victory.

Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)

Monday, February 18th, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Drama | War
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Holden, William | Hawkins, Jack | Guinness, Alec | Hayakawa, Sessue | Donald, James | Horne, Geoffrey | Morell, André | Williams, Peter | Boxer, John | Herbert, Percy | Goodwin, Harold | Sears, Ann | Okawa, Heihachiro | Katsumoto, Keiichiro | Chakrabandhu, M.R.B.
Directors: Lean, David
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The film deals with the situation of British prisoners of war during World War II who are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam railway. Their instinct is to sabotage the bridge but, under the leadership of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), they are persuaded that the bridge should be constructed as a symbol of British morale, spirit and dignity in adverse circumstances. At first, the prisoners admire Nicholson when he bravely endures torture rather than compromise his principles for the benefit of the Japanese commandant Saito (Sessue Hayakawa). He is an honorable but arrogant man, who is slowly revealed to be a deluded obsessive. He convinces himself that the bridge is a monument to British character, but actually is a monument to himself, and his insistence on its construction becomes a subtle form of collaboration with the enemy. Unknown to him, the Allies have sent a mission into the jungle, led by Warden (Jack Hawkins) and an American, Shears (William Holden), to blow up the bridge.

Akira (1988)

Monday, February 18th, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Animation | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Countries: Japan
Actors: Iwata, Mitsuo | Sasaki, Nozomu | Koyama, Mami | Genda, Tesshô | Ôtake, Hiroshi | Kitamura, Kôichi | Ikemizu, Michihiro | Fuchizaki, Yuriko | Ôkura, Masaaki | Arakawa, Tarô | Kusao, Takeshi | Tanaka, Kazumi | Katô, Masayuki | Akimoto, Yôsuke | Hirano, Masato
Directors: Ôtomo, Katsuhiro
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Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo’s supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira’s secrets were buried 30 years ago.

007 You Only Live Twice (1967)

Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Countries: UK
Actors: Connery, Sean | Wakabayashi, Akiko | Hama, Mie | Tamba, Tetsuro | Shimada, Teru | Dor, Karin | Pleasence, Donald | Lee, Bernard | Maxwell, Lois | Llewelyn, Desmond | Gray, Charles | Chin, Tsai | Fanene Maivia, Peter | Kwouk, Burt | Chow, Michael
Directors: Gilbert, Lewis
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When an American space capsule is swallowed up by what they believe to be a Russian spaceship, World War 3 nearly breaks out. The British Government, however, suspect that other powers are at work as the space craft went down near Japan. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is the force behind the theft, as James Bond discovers, but its motives are far from clear, and he must first find out where the captured space capsule is held before America and Russia initiate another world war.

Mulan (1998)

Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical
Countries: USA
Actors: Ferrer, Miguel | Fierstein, Harvey | Shen, Freda Foh | Foray, June | Hong, James | Margolyes, Miriam | Morita, Pat | Murphy, Eddie | Nixon, Marni | Oh, Soon-Tek | Osmond, Donny | Salonga, Lea | Shigeta, James | Takei, George | Tondo, Jerry
Directors: Bancroft, Tony | Cook, Barry
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Mulan is a girl, the only child of her honored family. When the Huns invade China, one man from every family is called to arms. Mulan’s father, who has an old wound and cannot walk properly, decides to fight for his country and the honor of his family though it is clear that he will not survive an enemy encounter. Mulan, who just got rejected by the matchmaker because she had set her on fire, decides to prove that she is worth something and steals away to fit her father’s place in the Chinese army. She prays to her family’s ancestors for protection and luck before leaving as a man in her father’s armor with her family’s horse. The ancestors awake and decide to send Mushu, a little dishonored dragon to aid Mulan in her quest. Weeks later, Mulan and the other troopers have survived the training camp and are on the way north to stop the huns. After being spotted and pursued by the enemies, an impass situation in the mountains forces Mulan to come up with an idea. But then, her real gender will no longer be a secret. She decides to risk everything in order to save China.

Killing Fields, The (1984)

Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Genres: Drama | History | War
Countries: UK
Actors: Waterston, Sam | Ngor, Haing S. | Malkovich, John | Sands, Julian | Nelson, Craig T. | Gray, Spalding | Paterson, Bill | Fugard, Athol | Kennedy, Graham | Chey, Katherine Krapum | Pierpaoli, Oliver | Chey, Edward Entero | Bird, Tom | Sisowath, Monirak | Dtangpaibool, Lambool
Directors: Joffé, Roland
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Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist convering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the Americans forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won’t have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he’s a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in.

Fist of Fury (aka Chinese Connection) (1972)

Friday, February 15th, 2008
Genres: Action | Crime | Drama
Countries: Hong Kong
Actors: Lee, Bruce | Miao, Nora | Tien, James | Yi, Maria | Baker, Robert | Chen, Fu Ching | Chin, San | Han, Yin-Chieh | Hashimoto, Riki | Arimura, Jun | Huang, Chung-Hsin | Lee, Quin | Tien, Feng | Lee, Yin Chi | Liu, Tony
Directors: Lo, Wei
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Chen Chen returns to the international compound of China only to learn of his beloved teacher’s death. This is compounded by the continual racist harassment by the Japanese population in the area. Unlike his friends, he confronts it head on with his mastery of martial arts while investigating his teacher’s murder.

Last Emperor, The (1987)

Friday, February 15th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: China | France | Italy | UK
Actors: Lone, John | Chen, Joan | O'Toole, Peter | Ying, Ruocheng | | Dun, Dennis | Sakamoto, Ryuichi | Han, Maggie | Young, Ric | Wu, Vivian | Tagawa, Cary-Hiroyuki | Go, Jade | Ikeda, Fumihiko | Vuu, Richard | Tijger, Tsou
Directors: Bertolucci, Bernardo
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A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People’s Republic.

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Friday, February 15th, 2008
Genres: Action | Thriller
Countries: Hong Kong | USA
Actors: Lee, Bruce | Saxon, John | Shih, Kien | Capri, Ahna | Mao, Angela | Kelly, Jim | Wall, Robert | Yeung, Bolo | Chung, Betty | Weeks, Geoffrey | Archer, Peter | Yan, Ho Lee | Clark, Marlene | Kent, Allan | Keller, William
Directors: Clouse, Robert
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Hong Kong circa 1973. Lee, a member of a Shaolin Temple, is a master of the physical and spiritual disciplines of the martial arts, and is being visited by Braithwaite, a British law officer. Lee has been invited to a tri-annual martial arts tournament held on an island owned by Han, a reclusive billionaire who was once a member of the Temple but has now become a renegade. Braithwaite believes Han uses his tournaments as cover for narcotic and prostitution activities. Lee reluctantly agrees to enter the tournament, but his reluctance to confront Han disappears when a Shaolin monk reveals that during the previous staging of this tournament, he and Lee’s sister were accosted by several toughs led by Han’s personal bodyguard, an American named O’Hara. In the ensuing confrontation the monk cut a deep scar on O’Hara’s face but Lee’s sister ultimately perished, and at her gravesite Lee vowes revenge for her death. Also attending the tournament are two American martial arts experts, John Roper and Kelly Williams, who served together in Vietnam and took differing paths toward martial arts upon their discharge - Roper is on the run from Mafia gambling debt collectors, while Williams was accosted by two racist cops whom he’d dispatched before stealing their car to escape. All three will soon find themselves at the mercy of Han and his army of martial arts fighters as he protects his underground factory of narcotics and prostitution.

Drive (1997)

Friday, February 15th, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi
Countries: USA
Actors: Dacascos, Mark | Hardison, Kadeem | Pyper-Ferguson, John | Murphy, Brittany | Walter, Tracey | Shigeta, James | Kato, Masaya | Magwili, Dom | Yuan, Ron | Rosengren, Clive | Michael, Christopher | Smith, Ted | Szeto, Tedd | Mihailoff, R.A. | Watts, David
Directors: Wang, Steve
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A prototype enhanced human, on the run from Chinese-hired hit men, hooks up with a dread-locked bystander, and the two of them elude their pursuers narrowly each time.