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Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

It’s a day to celebrate! We discuss the legend Maggie Cheung! Our B-Sides include Lost Romance (a.k.a. Story of Rose), Full Moon in New York, Green Snake, and Sausalito. Our esteemed guest for this episode is Nick Newman, host of the Emulsion podcast for The Film Stage.

We talk about the Hong Kong New Wave, Maggie’s aborted performance in Inglourious Basterds, the true B-Sidey-Ness of Sausalito, and Maggie Cheung’s brief, lovely, recent Sight and Sound interview.

There’s also Nick’s Sight and Sound List, that GQ piece, Julia Ormond’s tackling a famous Audrey Hepburn role, and Nick’s great interview with filmmaker Olivier Assayas back in 2022.

By 2004, at the young age of forty, Cheung retired from acting.

Sinister Stories

India’s pioneering horror film festival Wench is set to unleash its fifth edition at Mumbai venues with British psychological thriller “The Eye,” toplining Shruti Haasan, who will participate in a post-screening Q&a. Running Feb. 27-March 2, the fest continues its mission to spotlight female voices in genre cinema, with women helmers accounting for 35 of the 42 selected films.

Festival founder Sapna Bhavnani is expanding the event’s footprint with a Kolkata edition while also launching Terror Talkies, billed as India’s first horror portal. The lineup boasts partnerships with genre heavyweights Fantasia and Imagine Fantastic Film Festival, including Oscar-nominated short “I’m Not a Robot” as part of the Fantasia collaboration.

Closing night honors go to Ishan Shukla’s IFFR winner “Schirkoa – In Lies We Trust.” The fest will also present masterclasses by Riksundar Banerjee and Vishal Furia, plus an art installation titled “Silent Skies” spotlighting avian conservation,...

Only at Fantasia Fest could you confuse the sound of a movie premiere for feeding time at the local cat cafe. As attendees continue to cycle through the latest edition of Montreal’s historic three-week genre event (held this year from July 18 to August 4), the time-honored tradition of audience callbacks once again has guests meowing at the screen.

Yes. Meowing. At the screen.

“It’s something that I always have to remember to warn new filmmakers about because they’re so excited to see a big room, but when they hear that meowing, it terrifies them,” co-festival director Mitch Davis told IndieWire. “It implies that the audience maybe doesn’t have much of an attention span. The film hasn’t even begun yet, and the crowd is making noise. But the actual experience of watching a movie with them is the complete opposite.”

Other film festivals have similar traditions. At Cannes,...

Fans of new Asian movies will be pleased to learn that an influx of this genre is appearing on Netflix and Disney+. Those who have never sampled Asian movies should be encouraged to watch a wide variety of themes by Asian directors, actors, and producers.

Whether you’re a fan of horror, thrillers, romance, or adventure, you’re sure to enjoy this genre of filmmaking. Let’s take a quick look at some of the best Asian movies we’ve found on these two popular platforms and give you a review on them as we go.

1. Always Be My Maybe

Although this movie was released in 2019, it remains one of the more popular romantic comedies available on Netflix. Directed by Nahnatchka Khan and starring Ali Wong and Randall Park, the film brings a delightful blend of humor, heartfelt moments, and a charming storyline.

The story revolves around childhood friends Sasha...

Disney action comedy is the first major Hollywood live-action release in China since late May and resonates with the country’s huge online gaming culture.

Disney/20th Century Studios’ Free Guy had a stellar opening at the China box office over the three-day weekend (August 27-29), surpassing expectations to gross $23.8m, according to figures from theatrical consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds, the sci-fi action comedy is the first major US studio live-action release in China since late May and resonates with the country’s huge online gaming culture. The film currently has a rating...

Disney’s “Luca” is the first Hollywood picture to get a release in China in weeks, but its opening figures didn’t make that big of a splash — at least, not close to enough to douse the continued reign of Donnie Yen action film “Raging Fire.”

The animation directed and co-written by Enrico Casarosa swam to a $5.1 million China opening weekend, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was enough to net it second at the sluggish box office this which in which only four films grossed more than $1 million, but less than other comparable Hollywood animations in the past.

Earlier this year in March, for instance, Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” opened third with $8.4 million. Animations hitting in pre-pandemic 2019 did even better, albeit boosted by franchise name recognition. “Toy Story 4,” for instance, debuted that summer to $13.2 million even while going head-to-head with the more popular opening of...

Luca took $5.1m in its first three days, while Raging Fire, which opened in July, grossed a further $12.2m.

Disney/Pixar’s Luca grossed $5.1m in its opening three days (August 20-22) at the China box office, according to figures from Artisan Gateway, coming in second while Benny Chan’s Raging Fire stayed on top.

Raging Fire, which opened on July 30, grossed a further $12.2m over its fourth weekend, for a cumulative total of $145.7m. The action picture starring Donnie Yen and Nicolas Tse also opened in Hong Kong, the home of its late director, on August 19.

Piracy may have...

The top three films remained unchanged over the weekend as box office takings were hit by the Delta variant, extreme weather and a lack of major new releases.

The top three films at the China box office remained unchanged over the three-day weekend August 13-15, as box office takings were hit by the Delta variant, extreme weather and a lack of major new releases.

Hong Kong-China action film Raging Fire came in first, grossing $26.2m for a cumulative total of $122.5m, according to figures from Artisan Gateway, followed by Huayi Brothers’ romantic drama Upcoming Summer with $8.6m for a cume...

Action film directed by the late Benny Chan grossed a further $21.6m for a cumulative total of $82.8m.

Hong Kong-China action film Raging Fire stayed atop the China box office over its second weekend (August 6-8), grossing a further $21.6m for a cumulative total of $82.8m, according to figures from theatrical consultancy Artisan Gateway.

The film is not facing much new competition as no major US studio films have been released since F9: The Fast Saga, which grossed $214m in May. Chinese regulators have still not issued release dates for films that have been released in the US, such as Black Widow,...

Huayi Brothers’ Upcoming Summer, directed by Leste Chen and starring Zhang Zifeng, came in second with $20m.

Raging Fire, the last film from late Hong Kong director Benny Chan, topped the box office in its opening weekend in China (July 30-Aug 1), grossing $37.2m over three days, according to figures from theatrical consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse star in the crime action title about a cop whose past comes back to haunt him when his sting operation is attacked by a mysterious group of criminals headed by his former protégé.

One of Hong Kong’s leading action directors,...

Light Chaser Animation production is a sequel to its 2019 hit White Snake, which tapped into a growing trend for youth-oriented animated films.

Light Chaser Animation’s Green Snake, the sequel to its 2019 hit animated feature White Snake, topped the box office in its opening weekend in China, grossing $29.7m in its first three days (July 23-25), according to figures from theatrical consultancy Artisan Gateway.

The film continues the Chinese legend of two snake spirits with magical powers, who are able to take on human form after achieving immortality, and choose to live in the physical world as beautiful women. Tapping...

After several weeks of dominance, China’s pseudo-propagandistic pandemic blockbuster Chinese Doctors was knocked off the top of the country’s theatrical box office over the weekend. Local animated sequel Green Snake made a solid $29.7 million debut, according to data from Artisan Gateway, while Chinese Doctors slipped to $17.4 million.

Produced by pioneering Beijing-based studio Light Chaser Animation, Green Snake is a sequel to the company’s 2019 hit White Snake. Both films are loose, youth-oriented adaptations of an oft-adapted classic Chinese folktale. Chinese ticketing app Maoyan currently forecasts Green Snake to finish its run with $77.5 million (Rmb 502.5 million), which ...

“Green Snake,” the Chinese animated sequel to the folktale adaptation “White Snake,” slithered past propaganda films to the top of the box office this weekend with a $29.7 million debut, according to Maoyan figures.

The platform currently predicts that “Green Snake” will go on to gross $77.5 million, which would make it more successful than its 2019 predecessor’s $61.6 million.

The new sequel brought in $2.6 million from Imax screens in China, which accounted for 9.1% of its total weekend sales. That makes it Imax’s highest indexing local animated title of all time in China, beating the 2019 breakout hit “Ne Zha.”

The film is the latest work from the ever-improving local animation studio Light Chaser, and once again employs a video game-like aesthetic to tell the constantly reprised fable dating back to the Tang dynasty. The tale recounts the story of two snakes who develop super powers after achieving immortality and become able to transform into women.

Chinese indie sales agency Blossoms Entertainment returns to FilMart with a slate of large-scale commercial pictures sourced from a clutch of China’s biggest film studios.

The agency, operated by former Im Global staffers Vicky Ding and Leslie Chen, is pre-selling “Railway Heroes,” a tale of heroism and wartime sabotage which is targeting a National Day release in October. The film is directed by Yang Feng with a cast headed by Zhang Hanyu and Fan Wei.

“Never Stop,” a sports drama about the careers of two sprinters, is poised to release in China around the time of the Tokyo Olympics this summer. The cast is headed by “Shadow” star Zheng Kai (aka Ryan Zheng), with direction by Han Bowen.

Leste Chen’s “Upcoming” (aka “Sheng Xia Wei Lai”) marks the “Eternal Summer” director’s return to the romantic coming of age genre after more recent efforts in other directions including...

James Gunn is always up for sharing his opinions (for better or for worse) as well as interacting with fans on Twitter. Just the other day, in fact, he shared a list of 27 sequels better than the original and before that, he recommended 10 movies to watch during quarantine. But now, The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy director has revealed a new list of films to watch during self-isolation and has come up with 54 action movies that he believes are an A+.

Studios have been releasing some of their new efforts on digital early like Bloodshot and The Hunt in an attempt to capitalize on any extra revenue they can in these difficult times. But forget about new movies for a second. Gunn’s list below begins a proper action film education and all of his suggestions are well worth checking out.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Bullitt (1868)

North by Northwest...

Tsui Hark was always a master of shooting films that caught the mainstream audience’s attention, and that is exactly what he did with “Green Snake” a film that combines music, magic, action, but most of all, Maggie Cheung in probably her most sensual part.

Based on the homonymous novel by Lilian Lee, which is a variation of the Chinese folk tale “Madame White Snake”, the film tells the story of two sisters, both snakes, who decide to take human forms in order to understand human feelings like love. The elder sister, White Snake, who is better trained in magic, marries the scholar Hsui Xien and manages to hide her identity from him. However, Green Snake, unable to hide her identity due to her inferior magic, eventually draws the attention of an overzealous Buddhist monk named Fa Hai, who is determined to banish both snakes from the earth.

Hot off the success of last year’s box office record-setting smash The Mermaid, Stephen Chow brought us a sequel this Lunar New Year to his 2013 film Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons. While it set an opening day record in China, and was initially released in North America on roughly twice as many screens, it has thus far failed to match The Mermaid’s financial success. I have no idea why that is, anyone who claims to understand what makes the difference between a hit and a super-hit is a liar or a fool, but I can theorize that the film’s somewhat mixed critical response is a response to its weird hybrid nature. Not just in the ways Chow situates a sincere appreciation for religion within a goofy pop context, but in the film’s dual authorship between Chow, who co-wrote and produced, and Tsui Hark, who directed.

Above: Japanese poster for In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 2000). It’s no secret that Mubi—the site you are on right now—owes its existence partly to Maggie Cheung. In an oft-told story, its founder Efe Çakarel was killing time in a cafe in Tokyo in 2007 when he sensed that he was in the mood for Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love. Finding that there was no way to stream that movie right there and then, he resolved to start his own global arthouse movie streaming service, and thus Mubi, or The Auteurs as it was initially known, was born. Now I’m not saying that Maggie Cheung herself was the main reason Efe wanted to watch In the Mood for Love, but she is such a major part of the allure of that film that I am giving her the credit, especially on...

While you may not recognize Koan Hui by name you are almost certainly familiar with his work if you are at all a fan of classic Hong Kong cinema. A long time collaborator with Tsui Hark, Hui racked up assistant director credits on a stack of titles including multiple entries in the Once Upon A Time In China series, The Blade, Green Snake and Black Mask before making the switch to visual effects work with titles such as Zu Warriors, Spl, Dragon Tiger Gate and Painted Skin: The Resurrection. And now - after 25 years in the industry - Hui gets his first solo directing credit with the upcoming League Of Gods. Jet Li, Louis Koo, Fan Bingbing and Tony Leung Ka Fai all star...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...