Naked Solder

Naked Soldier got released in theaters finally and they released a buttload of HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE images, one of which is important because it has the only image of Jiang Luxia I’ve seen from the film. As she’s the only thing keeping me interested at this point it’s a pretty important fact, as Naked Soldier will undoubtedly be very very awful. But maybe I’m wrong. No, I’m not wrong. Stop sewing the seeds of discord. History will be on my side. As we shall see, once this shows up on Western shores and I review and trash it. I mean give it a fair review.

So here Jiang Luxia is all dressed up in mannish clothes looking like Yukari Oshima 2.0 meets Disco Godfather. I call that a good thing, though I know there are people out there who don’t care for Yukari Oshima or Jiang Luxia. Judging by the picture she works for a 1930s private eye who also employs a Ukrainian enforcer woman and a gay manservant.
Naked Soldier

The plot for those who need a refresher:

Interpol agent CK Long busted a billion-dollar drug deal fifteen years ago. The cartel has avenged itself by hiring Madame Rose’s organization of assassins to kill CK Long’s entire family. Long himself survives and believes his young daughter is still alive. In fact, for these fifteen years, the girl has been kidnapped by Madame Rose, brainwashed and trained into beautiful, sexy killer Phoenix.

Phoenix has now become the top-ranked killer in Madame Rose’s organization. She is skilled in combat and always completes her missions. Thanks to her band of killers Madame Rose has expanded her criminal organization and now assigns missions in many parts of the world. CK Long has never imagined that he would one day become the target of his own daughter’s mission.

The rest of the images –
Naked Soldier
I dumped the rest after the fold…

Disney developing Hocus Pocus 2: Rise of the Elderwitch

Heck yeah, a sequel to Hocus Pocus! The crazy witch film from 1993 with Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker is a certified classic for people who were young enough to appreciate it then or caught it during it’s many airings during each Halloween season. And now (as hinted in the ending of the film!) a sequel is in development. No word on if anyone is attached at this point, it is just in the story planning stages (but at least it has a title!) Will Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker be willing to return? Thora Birch and the other kids are all grown up as well, so we’d need new kids. And we must have another talking cat!! More info as it comes in, you can be sure!

Via MovieHole

Hocus Pocus

Sex and the City 3: The Search for Samantha

A Less Violent Starship Troopers?

That’s like a less nude stripper! Seriously, are they dumb, or just stupid? For those of you out of the loop, the producer of the upcoming reboot of Starship Troopers (which is different from the upcoming CGI animated sequel that follows the continuity of the original film and possibly the DTV sequels) has stated that they’re gonna make it less violent. Toby Jaffe told Empire: “The more expensive a film is, the harder it is now to make it that violent. With Recall in particular, we made a conscious choice to keep it tonally closer to something like Minority Report. It gives the studio, and us as producers, the opportunity to reintroduce it in a new way.”

“Verhoeven took [Robert Heinlein’s 1959 novel] from one extreme and made it almost comical, whereas our job is to be a little more faithful to the book, and ground it a little more.”

Translation: It will be a boring generic action film. But it gets worse…

“Verhoeven made his movie a critique of fascism,” says Jaffe, “whereas Heinlein was writing from the perspective of someone who had served in World War II. Y’know, one man’s fascism is another man’s patriotism…”
Translation: Nazis? Totally awesome! BTW: Heinlein served in non-combat roles in WW2. So he’s not a citizen. Would you like to know more?

“Working in a visual-efects renaissance as we are, we have the ability to do so much more now. We can do the Jump Suits [armoured exoskeletons from Heinlein’s novel], for example, which I don’t think they could have done before.”
Let’s ignore that they did do them in Starship Troopers 3 and focus on the fact that having giant armored exoskeletons is cool, except for the fact they won’t be doing anything violent in them. And if they did, it would be safe PG-13 violence. The only possibly interesting thing about this is we might get to see the Skinnies. For the giant armored exoskeletons, Pacific Rim will be doing them one better. The entire concept of the novel is ludicrous, and Verhoeven’s satirical take on the subject matter is the perfect way to deal with the problem of the source material being awful to translate to film. There are barely any action scenes and most of the book is either training or classroom lectures.

Speaking of less nude strippers, just watch this Jaffe joker redo Showgirls next, except also PG-13 and ignoring everything Verhoeven did as well. The only good Jaffe is Al Jaffe, the Mad Magazine Fold-ins guy.

via EmpireOnline

Pacific Rim Images

Entertainment Weekly had a new image from Pacific Rim in their Comicon Preview issue, and beyond the image there was almost no new information, excpet maybe that they are using huge sets, including the biggest set in North America (which only had room for two feet from the giant robot Jaegers that the heroes use in their battles with the giant monsters!) The image shows Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi suited up for battle. Hunnam is Raleigh Antrobus, one of those washed up bitter pilots who returns for glory and redemption, and Kikuchi is trainee pilot Mako Mori. They pilot an old school Jaeger when all the cool ones get trashed by the kaiju (or something.)

Pacific Rim Entertainment Weekly

Let’s not forget this other image featuring Idris Elba as his General Stacker Pentecost character:

Idris Elba Pacific Rim

I'll kill the next person who makes a "Rim Job" joke!

The film also stars Charlie Day as Newt Gotlieb, but no photos of him have surfaced yet. But they’re waiting. At the bottom of the Pacific Ocean…ready to surface…like monsters…

Pearl Cheung Ling

Down the Rabbit Hole with Pearl Cheung Ling – Infernal Brains Podcast Episode 12

Pearl Cheung LingThe films of Pearl Cheung Ling/Pearl Chang are pure awesomeness. Pearl Cheung Ling is a rarity because she not only starred in films, she wrote, directed, and produced martial arts cinema at a time where there were almost no female directors period, much less female directors of action cinema. Pearl’s films have a distinctive style unlike any other films out there. Wolf Devil Woman is a title that almost every cult movie fan is familiar with, while her other pictures also share a large number of fans (and antifans!) But very little is known of Pearl Cheung Ling herself. To all it seemed, she appeared one day, made some awesome flicks, and then vanished off the face of the planet. But there is much more to the Pearl Cheung Ling story. The Infernal Brains are tackling this compelling issue, and Tars and Todd have brought in Special Guest Brain DurianDave from SoftFilm! Join us as we delve into the Secret History of Pearl Cheung Ling, her rise to fame and her acting career, what influenced her to create her wonderful films. Of course a story this big can’t be over in just a few minutes, so this is a two-parter episode! Part 1 deals with Pearl’s career and her early films. Part 2 (to be uploaded soon!) will go into a more in-depth discussion about her five creative features and what happened after she left the film industry. It’s a great topic and has information that’s hard to find anywhere in English.

As usual, we got so many listening choices that even someone raised by wolves can find a method: downloadable mp3, embedded flash with slideshow, embedded audio player, and iTunes feed link. So many choices, you’ll rip chickens in half in joy!

Download the mp3 (right click, save as)

Watch in slideshow form:

Subscribe to the Infernal Brains on YouTube!

duriandave has become Dave the White!

Websites:
SoftFilm
SoftTofu
Fuck yeah, Pearl Chang!

Films Discussed:
The Protectors / 保鑣 (TV Series)
The Return of the Hero of the Water Front / 小壁虎
Fist of Shao-Lin / 少林高徒
Armed Escort / 保鑣
The Invincible Swordswoman / 冷月孤星針無情
The Heroic Figure aka Men of the Hour / 風雲人物
Witty Hand, Witty Sword / 玲瓏玉手劍玲瓏
The War of the Boundary / 戰天山
My Blade, My Life / 決鬥者的生命
King of Fists and Dollars / 王拳王鍰

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Prior Infernal Brains:
Taiwanese Giant Monster Films Part 1
Taiwanese Giant Monster Films Part 2
Polly Shang Kuan
Turkish Pop Cinema Part 1
Turkish Pop Cinema Part 2
Dara Singh
Infernal Brains Podcast – 07 – Insee Daeng
Infernal Brains Podcast – 08 – Worst Podcast Ever
The Mummies of Guanajuato – Infernal Brains Podcast Episode 09
Jane Bond – Infernal Brains Podcast Episode 10
Daigoro vs Goliath – Infernal Brains Podcast Episode 11