Red Cliff

RED CLIFF Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: April 21st, 2010 at 7:31 am

It took three films to ruin John Woo’s reputation. The first, Mission: Impossible II was a huge crossover hit. It was also watered down and PG-13 rated Woo-inspired mayhem, and pissed off fans something fierce. It was a sell-out film, but the box office guaranteed him some freedom. Then came Windtalkers, a big-budget MGM war picture that only fans really got into. Finally Paycheck came out at the end of 2003 and between Woo and Affleck, no one cared (except the devoted fans, and I find the film to be lightly charming). But even among the faithful, Woo seemed to have peaked in his Hong Kong period, when he was making films like Bullet in the Head, The Killer and Hard Boiled. Red Cliff was his return to Hong Kong, and with it, he directed an epic. A five hour period war movie about a squad of loyal but outmatched dissenters fighting against an emperor set on controlling all of china through war. Originally set to star Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung (reuniting the Hard Boiled leads) both quit, but only Leung returned. It was a long, troubled production, but the film was a huge hit in its homeland, but arrived stateside in a truncated two and a half hour cut. But, bottom line: Woo still has it. My review of Red Cliff after the jump.

First WARLORDS Trailer Starring Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Jet Li

by Keith Demko    Posted: December 25th, 2009 at 10:00 pm

The first trailer for the Chinese epic Warlords has just hit the Internet, and judging from the short glimpse we get here, this one should deliver solid action and intrigue on a truly grand scale when it comes out April 22.

The movie stars three titans of Asian action cinema. Jet Li needs no introduction to Western audiences, and he’s joined in The Warlords by Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, who squared off in House of Flying Daggers. Lau also played inspector Lau Kin Ming in the Infernal Affairs trilogy, which inspired Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning The Departed, and Kaneshiro stars in John Woo’s upcoming historical epic Red Cliff.   Hit the jump for the full synopsis and the trailer:

Tom Cruise Attached to John Woo’s Upcoming Film FLYING TIGERS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 27th, 2009 at 12:24 pm

Buried in a recent article from Variety was the news that Tom Cruise would be re-teaming with his “Mission: Impossible 2″ director John Woo for Woo’s next film, “Flying Tigers”.  Steve spoke with Woo a couple weeks ago for Woo’s new film, “Red Cliff” which is the most successful film in Chinese history and it’s received positive reviews in this hemisphere as well.  Woo mentioned his next film would be “Flying Tigers” and that it would have the same budget as “Red Cliff” ($80 million) and focus on the friendship between Americans and Chinese soldiers in World War II as they fought the Japanese.  I wonder if this could be an unofficial sequel to “The Last Samurai” but this time Cruise ends up saving the Chinese instead.

Hit the jump to see Steve’s full interview with Woo.  They begin speaking about “Flying Tigers” at the 3-minute mark.

John Woo Exclusive Interview: Talks RED CLIFF and His Next Movie FLYING TIGERS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 15th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

A few hours ago I got to interview director John Woo. While his last few projects didn’t wow me, he’s made more than a few films worth watching and two of them I absolutely love (“The Killer”, “Hard Boiled”). Thankfully, his new movie “Red Cliff” is a return to form and it’s finally getting released in America on November 20^th.

Anyway, during the interview, Woo talked about the shortened running time for the American release, how the success of “Red Cliff” has given him creative freedom to make whatever project he wants, and he talks about his next movie, “Flying Tigers”, and reveals what it’s about and how it’s going to be very expensive. More after the jump:

Six Shooter Film Series Aims Great Films at Video-on-Demand

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm

Ever since the days Pay-Per-View, I’ve always thought that art house films should be able to come through a streaming cable-service.  I love art house theatres but they’re so rare and have such a limited number of screens that it can be difficult to get true independent films (not small-budget films from an “indie” division of a major studio) in front of audiences.

But the day of indie films on-demand arrived and we are all the better for it.  Magnolia/Magnet Pictutres has taken great advantage of this recent distribution channel to bring audiences movies that haven’t hit DVD and may not even be in a theatre near you.  The first Six Shooter Film Series brought home audiences films like “Let the Right One In” and “Timecrimes” and this year they’re really bringing the thunder “Ong Bak 2″, Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Bronson”, John Woo’s “Red Cliff”, “District 13: Ultimatum”, and “The Warlords.  The sixth bullet has yet to be chosen but Magnet is planning to work genre fans on making that choice.  Make sure your digital cable is working and hit the jump for the full press release.

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