Love the new Chinese film directed by Doze Niu, will be opening this Friday March 23rd at the AMC Cherry Hill for a limited engagement. The film is quite a change of pace for Doze Niu who is probably best known for his 2010 Taiwanese gangster epic Monga. Love stars a few major actors and actress from both China and Taiwan in what can be best described as the Chinese version of Love Actually.

While Love Actually followed 8 different couples, Love only follows 8 different individuals. In the film they are all looking for love in their tumultuous day-to-day lives and by the end of the film their story-lines all seem to intersect in one way or another. I have to admit I have a soft spot for Chinese romantic comedies and this is one of the better ones I have seen in a long time. Love somehow seems to manage a perfect balance of  a tear jerker and rom-com at the same time.

The film stars Qi Shu, who most of us would recognize as the damsel in distress from the original Transporter and Wei Zhao who was the shy baker girl who could make a mean bun from Shaolin Soccer. I thoroughly enjoyed Love and give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The film will be presented digitally for a limited time in Mandarin with English subtitles, in the meantime check out the trailer below.

Bullet in the Head, John Woo’s Vietnam epic, will be screened by our friends over at Medium Rare Cinema at the Broad Street Ministry Friday, March 23rd at 6pm. Bullet in the Head originally started its life out as the sequel to A Better Tomorrow and when they couldn’t get the rights, the film was rewritten as an ode to Apocalypse Now.

The film was a box office bomb in China and was heavily edited to take advantage of Woo’s The Killer and Hard Boiled fame, adding in action sequences and dropping much of the dramatic elements of the film. Medium Rare will be presenting an extended cut of the film they created attempting to recapture the directors intended vision for the film with various deleted material.

Tickets are a mere $5 and there will be trivia, prizes and a post-screening discussion.

The Nerdist are doing two live shows recording their great podcast at our very own Trocadero this coming Friday, March 23rd.

The first show quickly sold out and they quickly added a second show, which is almost sold out as well. If you’re unaware to what The Nerdist is (why are you reading this blog?) simply check out our great interview with one of the hosts of the show Chris Hardwick from a few weeks ago, here.

We have 2 pairs of tickets to check out the Nerdist Podcast courtesy of the great folks over at the Trocadero. Want a chance to win? simply comment by Wednesday with your favorite episode of the Nerdist and why.

The two best answers will be picked Thursday to check out the show for free on Friday. Good luck!

Casa de mi Padre, Will Ferrell’s Spanish language epic, is very much like The FP… in that the film’s entire concept revolves around one joke that you either get or you don’t, and your enjoyment of the film hinges on that. I found this out at a recent screening where in at about the 30-minute mark in the film. When people started to realize the entire film was actually in Spanish, quite a few walked out.

Casa de mi Padre is the story of Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) a simple cattle hand on his father’s ranch who has been belittled his entire life for being stupid, and responsible for his mother’s death. When the ranch falls into financial trouble in comes Armando’s successful younger brother to save the day with his beautiful new fiancé.

We later find out his brother made his money in the drug trade and stole his new would-be bride from a rival drug lord, who has now declared war on Armando’s family. If this plot sounds like a bit like a soap opera its because the film is a play on Spanish soap operas or telenovelas as they are called.

(more…)

The Penn Museum will be starting their new film series Live From the Archives this Thursday March 15^th at 6pm. The series will showcase some of the folks who are creating new film works using the Penn Museum’s expansive film archives that currently reside on Archive.org.

The first installment is titled Elephant in the Dark: Refractions of Muslim Identity. The screening will take place at the Rainey Auditorium at the Penn Museum. The screening is free and the night will start off at 5pm with a reception with the filmmakers. Check out synopses of the films below, with links to the respective trailers. (more…)

With the amount of hype and hyperbole that surrounded John Carter, it’s almost impossible for any film fan to come into it with no pre-existing expectations. The film is the $275 million dollar project that has been in development at various studios for over half a century and has been referred to by many as of late as Disney’s Heaven’s Gate.

All this talk is due to the film going massively over budget and rumored to have been the catalyst of the departure of former marketing president MT Carney. Carney was reportedly behind the last minute name change of the film thanks to the failure of another Disney film Mars Needs Moms, the film which was budgeted at $150 million and only made $40 million of that back.

The film’s journey to the screen also has all the elements of a film journalist schadenfreude, with blogs churning out stories about the possible failure of yet another attempted Disney franchise. With the rumored break even point for John Carter being over $750 million the House of Mouse needs a box office home run and the film has an enormous uphill battle ahead of it.

If the film manages to find it audience this should be very easy. The film is the epic story of a broken Civil War Captain from Virginia, John Carter who is mysteriously transported to Mars, once there he finds himself entangled in yet another civil war and a love triangle to boot.  Thanks to a difference in gravity between planets Carter is given super-human strength. He kicks a lot of alien ass as he tries to end the war, bring peace to Mars and capture the heart of a princess.

The film is a spectacle and story in the grandest sense our screens have not seen since James Cameron unleashed Avatar onto the world.

More after the jump!

(more…)

Given the recent tragedy in Ohio, I really feel a film like We Need to Talk About Kevin, which opens this Friday March 9th at the Ritz at the Bourse is extremely timely and even more important than ever. It’s a hard film to watch, introducing us to an individual that we see grow into a child that decides to commit violence against his peers.

I got to speak with Ezra Miller who plays the troubled teenage Kevin in the film, and I found him very introspective and amazingly insightful about what went into this character. I hope you enjoy this interview and I really hope you check out the film.

 Note: This interview was conducted over a month ago before the events in Ohio.

I read that you actively sought out this role originally, what was that process like for you to try to get the role?

It was a process of constantly badgering my poor agent, even when the project seemed to disappear because of various production reasons, after I had already auditioned.  Almost weekly I would ask my agent where the project had gone and how I could find it again.

By the end of that year of waiting he was probably grateful it had resurfaced, because he had probably grown tired of saying the project had disappeared and he couldn’t find it. I was very stubborn when it came to the pursuit of this project.

What interested you most about the role of Kevin and when you approached the role what did you think was going to be the most challenging for you?

Funny enough, your questions share an answer. What I think was most interesting about the role to me was that this was someone who was incredibly challenging to understand as a character. I felt that there was a hope, a possibility that I could find a way to make him even remotely understandable or identifiable.

That is what excited me that this was someone who was mentally challenging to understand at all, and nearly impossible to understand his actions. But I felt a common human motivation sort of under many, many layers of this character that I could strongly identify with.

(more…)

Dante Lam’s newest big budget Hong Kong action film The Viral Factor, will be screening at the AMC Loews Cherry Hill starting March 9th for a limited theatrical run. The film stars Jay Chou and Nicholas Tse. While most of you will remember Chou as Kato in The Green Hornet, some of you might remember Tse from Bodyguards and Assassins which played at Cinefest last spring.

I am a huge fan of Dante Lam and have been since I saw The Vampire Effect. The folks over at China Lion were nice enough to send me a screener and if you a fan of the new wave of Hong Kong action you will not be disappointed. The Viral Factor is like a Michael Bay film on steroids, but with heart.

While on a mission to escort a scientist with a copy of the smallpox virus, Chou’s character is shot, loses the scientist and his fiance, who oddly enough is his partner.  He then is given two weeks to live, goes to reunite with his lost brother and father, and then has to stop the stolen virus from mutating into a super virus, plaguing the world.

It’s a great film with tons of insane action sequences and some great fight choreography. The film is a send off of sorts since Chou has stated that this will be his last action film. The film will be presented in its native Chinese with English subtitles.

I give The Viral Factor a 3.75 out of 5 stars and hope you check it out when it opens Friday and support international film!

The folks behind Calendar Girl will be test screening their newest production Mancation this Thursday, March 8th at The Trocadero.

The film is directed by Frank Vain who was also the producer and second unit director on Calendar Girl, and stars Joey Fatone of N’Sync fame with Danica Mckellar, who you probably recognize as Winnie Cooper from the Wonder Years. Geeky fun fact: she also guest starred on the Super Mario Super Show.

The plot to Mancation goes something like this:

 Mancation is a raucous comedy about Vince, who has carefully planned out every aspect of his seemingly successful life, only to have his plans come crashing down around him, leaving his three under-qualified friends to pick up the pieces in the wildest and most spontaneous weekend of their lives.

Sounds like a lot of fun! Tickets are $10 and can be picked up here. The screening kicks off at 7pm. In the meantime check out the trailer below.

I may not be the biggest Will Ferrell fan, but I will give the man this… unlike most actors/comedians in Hollywood he is not afraid to take some chances and do some strange and interesting things for art. From doing surreal dramas to localized beer commercials, Ferrell seems to somehow keep people guessing as to what eccentric project he will come up with next.

Speaking of which, his newest film Casa De Mi Padre opens Friday March 16th is definitely one of the more interesting projects to be added to that list. The film, which appears to be mostly in Spanish with English subtitles looks heavily influenced by overly dramatic telenovelas.

The film stars Ferrell as Armando Alvarez a ranch hand who has worked on his father’s ranch his entire life. When the ranch encounters financial difficulties, his wealthy younger brother comes in to save the day with his beautiful fiancé… only his business dealings turn out to be less than legit and somehow pits them in a war with Mexican drug lords.

Want to check out Casa De Mi Padre on Monday, March 12th at the Ritz East? Simply comment with your favorite Will Ferrell comedy by Saturday March 10th. 25 people will be chosen at random to check out the film for free! Check out the trailer below.

TCM, one of the finest channels on basic cable, will be making a stop in Philadelphia on its Road to Hollywood Tour. The tour is a build up for its “TCM Classic Film Festival” that will be held in Hollywood April 12-15th. TCM will be holding a free screening via an archival 35mm print of the 1959 Hitchcock classic North By Northwest at our very own Prince Music Theater introduced by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and actress Eva Marie Saint.

Tickets are free and can be picked up here. I am a huge fan of TCM and honestly cant wait for this screening! Check out the trailer below!

One of my all-time favorite Japanese punk trios Guitar Wolf will be coming to Philadelphia’s very own Johnny Brenda’s on Sunday, April 1st.  Guitar Wolf are probably best known for starring in the 2000 film Wild Zero, where armed with the power of ROCK AND ROLL they defeated an army of zombies and saved the planet.

Since then the band has become well-known for its almost constant world touring. In anticipation for their gig (which you can still buy tickets for here) Seiji the Guitar Wolf himself was nice enough to answer a few questions for the Geekadelphia readers. (more…)