One thing you don’t expect to see in a trailer for a Bhojpuri language film is Warwick Davis, but that’s just what is happening here in the trailer for Chingari! Besides Warwick Davis, Karl Pilkington also appears. He’s the host of An Idiot Abroad, a travel show on Sky in the UK, which from what I’ve seen is him complaining non-stop. There is even a show dedicated to them going over and filming their scenes! Davis will play a journalist who does a documentary on the Bihar police. From the trailer, you can see there is a bad dude threatening the town and the police chief is reluctant to do anything.
And if you are wondering, yes Warwick Davis dances.
Chingari is directed by Shrey Shrivastav. There was a completely different Chingari (in Kannada language) that came out last year that is basically a remake of Taken.
aka 如來神掌(二集) aka The Young Swordsman Lung Kim Fei Part 2 aka 如來神掌(下集大結局) 1964HKMDB Link Written by Sze-To On
Story by Shangguan Hong
Directed by Ling Yun Buddha’s Palm Part 2, the adventure continues! When last we left our intrepid travelers, Lung Kim-fei had helped recover dragonroot to restore the sight of Suen. The first thing she sees when she regains her sight is his uniform, the same uniform as his sifu, Master Ku Hon-wan the Wicked God of Fiery Cloud and enemy of Suen. So she blasts Lung in the chest!
This edition is unique in it is the only one of the Buddha’s Palm series that does not have the iconic opening credits sequence of Lung Kim-fei shooting palm blasts at a Buddha painting every ten seconds. But don’t fear, it will return for the next two parts of Buddha’s Palm. Part 2 finishes the story began in Part 1, while Parts 3 and 4 are their own story. Some of the monster costumes from the prior film return, along with a new surprise.
Burdened by the story, there is less quest adventuring going on, and more of running and fighting adventuring. The next two chapters will attempt to balance the questing and the fighting, but for now we got a stream of action sequences. The plot is largely propelled by Suen’s anger, while Master Ku is given a moment to act all cocky like his character’s back story is supposed to be. But oddly enough, that saves the day. So the lesson is to be cocky, but explain yourself? Sure, whatever Buddha’s Palm!
Lung Kim-fei (Walter Tso Tat-Wah) – This zero became a hero and got blasted in the chest for it! Luckily he’s saved by Kau Yuk-wah and his friends until things are set into motion and clans prepare to battle, unless Lung Kim-fei helps bring peace.
Kau Yuk-wah (Yu So-Chau) – Kung fu sister who falls for Lung Kim-fei and tries to save him. Spends part of the film racked with guilt when she thinks her sister died. Helps Lung rescue Luk Yu and then tries to help calm down the feuding clans.
Kau Yuk-kuen (Patricia Lam Fung) – Kau Yuk-wah’s younger sister who is believed killed early in the film, but is actually rescued by Master Ku and trained in the Buddha’s Palm Technique. Her being saved and welcomed helps calm the feud between Master Ku and Master Suen.
Master Ku Hon-wan (Ling Mung) – The Wicked God of Fiery Cloud, his sight was recently restored by Lung. Trains Kau Yuk-kuen in the Buddha’s Palm technique after Condor saves her.
Condor (Man in suit) – Master Ku Hon-wan’s magic condor who saves people all the time. And you can ride him!
But Ku (Ko Lo-Chuen) – The helmsman of the Cheung Lei Sect. Always announces himself via incredibly loud offscreen yelling. Helps rescue Lung and tries to calm the clan feuding that’s going on.
Luk Yu (Kwan Hoi-San) – Friend of the Kau sisters, a guy who gets kidnapped a lot and Lung Kim-fei keeps saving. Does he get kidnapped in this movie? Yes!
Suen Bik-ling (Yung Yuk-Yi) – Matriarch of the Kau’s clan. Was blinded in duel with Master Ku Hon-wan long ago, and just regained her sight. Wears a mask to hide her disfigured face. Is willing to start a war to get revenge on Master Ku.
Auyeung Ho (Siu Chung-Kwan) – A jerk guy who bullied Lung, but not he gets shown up by the kung fu trained Lung. So suck it, bully!
Auyeung Ho’s wife (???) – Auyeung Ho’s wife, she gets to watch her jerk husband be humiliated…again!
It’s time once again to share the love and share the links! Now get to clicking and get to reading! If you have suggestions for next time, feel free to share them in the comments!!!
**Science Fiction Studies has a special issue on Chinese Science Fiction (Edited by Yan Wu and Veronica Hollinger) Yan Wu’s “Great Wall Planet”: Introducing Chinese Science Fiction is available in full, most of the rest are just the abstracts, but it will show up in journal databases for those with access soon.
**Ooga Booga is a movie that is happening from Full Moon Pictures. Stacy Keach and Karen Black (of course!) star. Ooga Booga Synopsis:
Revenge is served on a spear when dirty cops brutally murder DEVIN, an innocent African-American med student. Devin’s soul is magically transferred into the body of an action figure named OOGA BOOGA. Armed only with his tribal weapon and the help of his old girlfriend, DONNA, Ooga Booga takes to the streets and trailer parks to find the men who stole his bright future away from him. The bodies begin to pile up as Ooga Booga slices and dices his way through crooked cops, meth heads and demented city officials in order to clear his name. Racists beware! You won’t even have enough time to scream, “Ooga Booga!”
**Here is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue photoshoot video for Olympian and viral video star Michelle Jenneke. This has nothing to do with film news, but who cares?
**Korean boy band Boyfriend is taking a break from the K-Pop charts to star in a Japanese film, GOGO♂ Ikemen 5. Based on an online novel, it’s a comedy about five popular young men called the Ikemen 5 who try to give up being popular. But they also all fall for the same girl at the same time, causing chaos. As there are six members and only five dudes in the Ikeman 5….will it be awkward, or will someone be wearing a wig? We shall see. Sakurako Fukuyama directs.
**Lil’ Mama will be Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in VH1’sTLC biopic.
Please, sir, can I have some more terrible Hollywood adaptations?
When you think of things that are mysteriously popular, you don’t think of parkour or Paul Walker, because those things are never popular. Except they suddenly are, and it’s weird!
Those two great tastes have gone all chocolate and peanut butter on us, and combined to give us the Paul Walker vehicle Brick Mansions. If that sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because Brick Mansions is the American remake of Banlieue 13! Don’t worry, Banlieue 13 star and parkour creator David Belle will be around to costar in case anyone wants to go all Punisher: War Zone on them. And you should.
The film will be set in America. Walker will play an undercover detective chasing a weapon of mass destruction that was stolen by a drug dealer in the ghetto known as Brick Mansions. He seeks help from the incredibly agile Lino (Belle), who knows Brick Mansions better than anyone and is the only person not cowed by the drug dealers. Besson’s Europa Corp is producing along with Ryan Kavanaugh, Tucker Tooley and the Relativity team. While a number of Hollywood actors wanted the Lino role, Besson would not make the movie unless Belle was in it.
Let’s not forget the parkour Oliver Twist movie (funded by Red Bull!) called Twistthat’s also coming soon! I bring this up not only for the parkour reference, but because there is another Oliver Twist movie coming down the pipe.
Dodge and Twisttakes place as a now adult Oliver and Artful Dodger are on opposite sides of the law in a theft of the Crown Jewels case. So it’s one of those films.
Paul Walker is also starring in the Hitman remake, Agent 47. The original Hitman came out in 2007, with Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47. Skip Woods and Michael Finch are writing, you might recall that Skip Woods wrote the original Hitman. that’s the kind of outside the box thinking that will make Agent 47 the kind of movie you don’t rent from RedBox.
aka 如來神掌(上集) aka The Young Swordsman Lung Kim-fei Part 1 1964HKMDB Link Written by Sze-To On
Story by Shangguan Hong
Directed by Ling Yun
In Kung Fu Hustle, Bruce Leung’s The Beast character’s name translates to Dark God of the Fire Clouds. While that name is awesome in it’s own right, it’s also borrowed from Buddha’s Palm (and the pulp wuxia serials that Buddha’s Palm is based on.) That is an example of the lasting influence the Buddha’s Palm films have had on Hong Kong entertainment, particularly wuxia and martial arts cinema.
Though far far far from the first wuxia pian tale to be translated to the screen, the Buddha’s Palm series heavily influenced later films with the fantasy effects and memorable tales. Having seen about a dozen of the old black and white Cantonese wuxia films, I can say that the Buddha’s Palm series just feels bigger than the others. It’s like Star Wars compared to one of the cash in scifi flicks that finished out the 70s. Though some of the later wuxia films attempted to be as creative, they didn’t have the resources available to compete, and soon the whole deal was eclipsed by Shaw.
For some of this background information, I am handicapped by the lack of information in English about wuxia tales and their authors. So some of this is conjecture, and may be inaccurate. Feel free to drop some knowledge on me if things are wrong. That’s how we all learn.
The tale is largely taken from two sources – Taiwanese author Liu Canyang’s Heavenly Buddha Palm (天佛掌) and Cantonese author Shangguan Hong’s Thousand Buddhas’ Fist. The general plot seems borrowed from Liu’s tale, while the characters are from Shangguan Hong’s stories (and he is the name listed in the credits.) Thousand Buddhas’ Fist was serialized in Ming Pao Daily, which was the place to be a serialized wuxia tale. It was founded by Louis Cha Leung-yung, better known to wuxia story lovers as Jin Yong (the author of the Condor Trilogy) How much the movies’ “borrowing” from Liu was legitimate, I cannot say, as there do not seem to be translations of the stories available. Some of the original stories have been adapted into comic novels.
The Buddha’s Palm films work because they are a grand adventure. There are battles, but there are also a enormous amount of special effects. One of the memorable features are the hand-drawn effects as characters blast away at each other, or control rings and chains and beams that battle in the air. Art director Lo Ki-Ping was the man responsible for the look of the series and most of the hand-painted effects. He also designed the various monster costumes that help spice up Buddha’s Palm. While obviously men in suits, they have a level of B-movie appeal that lame CGI creatures will never match. The effects action enhances the choreography done by action director Simon Yuen Siu-Tin.
Series director Ling Yun went on to direct the three followups The Furious Buddha’s Palm (1965), Buddhist Spiritual Palm (1968), and Buddhist Spiritual Palm Returned (1968). The latter two feature a largely new cast. The Buddha’s Palm franchise was updated in 1982 with Shaw Brother’s Buddha’s Palm, and there has been at least two television series based on the stories. Kung Fu vs. Acrobatic was also a detailed love letter to this series and similar films. With the current trend of remaking everything, I would not be surprised if someone dusted off the Buddha’s Palm tales to bring back to the big screen.
The wonderful DVD set comes complete with no English subtitles. But here at TarsTarkas.NET, we don’t need no stinking subtitles! Some character names I used are taken from synopses that may or may not be a good translation. But that just adds to the fun!
Lung Kim-fei (Walter Tso Tat-Wah) – A scarred loser largely abandoned and mocked by his former master and fellow martial arts students. Until one day he’s rescued and trained by Master Ku to learn the Buddha’s Palm technique! Now this zero has become a hero!
Kau Yuk-wah (Yu So-Chau) – Kung fu sister who gets involved in the intrigue with Lung Kim-fei and his Master. She soon is also getting involved romantically with Lung Kim-fei. But first he has to save her and her sister a few times.
Kau Yuk-kuen (Patricia Lam Fung) – Kau Yuk-wah’s younger sister who often does more brash and brave deeds, partially because she’s just a more do-it-yourself person and partially to help her sister.
Master Ku Hon-wan (Ling Mung) – The Wicked God of Fiery Cloud who lives high in the mountains. Long ago, Master Ku slaughtered the heads of many martial arts schools during a sparring match, and has since lived in seclusion with his loyal servant, Condor. He was blinded in a duel with Suen Bik-ling long ago. Trains Lung Kim-fei in the Buddha’s Palm technique after Condor saves him.
Condor (Man in suit) – Master Ku Hon-wan’s magic condor that you can ride and knows kung fu.
But Ku (Ko Lo-Chuen) – The helmsman of the Cheung Lei Sect. Always announces himself via incredibly loud offscreen yelling. He teaches Lung the invincible Seven Spinning Gash after the two become friends via randomly encountering each other in the forest.
Luk Yu (Kwan Hoi-San) – A guy who gets kidnapped a lot and Kau Yuk-kuen and Lung Kim-fei keeps saving. He’s not really introduced, he’s just suddenly a main character after Kau Yuk-kuen stumbles across the first of his many kidnappings.
Suen Bik-ling (Yung Yuk-Yi) – Matriarch of the Kau’s clan and the grandmother to the sisters. Is called the Capricious Flying Ring. Was blinded in duel with Ku Hon-wan long ago. Wears a mask to hide her disfigured face. Is full of rage and thirst for vengeance.
Auyeung Ho (Siu Chung-Kwan) – A jerk guy who bullies Lung. He’s married to the woman who scarred Lung’s face.
Auyeung Ho’s wife (???) – Auyeung Ho’s wife, a kung fu student who scarred Lung’s face and then joins in on the mocking of him.
Suck blood, that is! I’ll reserve judgement on the actual Vampire Academy series until they come out. That way, we’ll really know if it sucks or if it bites! The Weinstein Company picked up the US distribution rights for the first film in the series – Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters.
For those not down with your YA lit, the six Vampire Academy books are by Richelle Mead, and there is a six-book spinoff series called Bloodlines that’s currently on book 3 now. The film will be directed by Mark Waters and written by his brother Dan Waters.
In BLOOD SISTERS Rose Hathaway develops a mental and spiritual bond with her BVFF (best vampire friend forever) Princess Lissa. The two girls attend a strict school for vampires designed to retain their humanity where it is Rose’s task to protect the Princess. Among the everyday issues faced by teenage vampires Rose falls for Dimitri, their dreamy guardian, and together the three battle the mysterious forces of the evil Moroi who are set on destroying the Princess’s bloodline.
Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, and Danila Kozlovsky are the three leads Rose Hathaway, Lissa Dragomir, and Dimitri Belikov.
Expect a very merry Valentine’s Day next year, as Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters hits theaters February 14, 2014.
