Eastern Promises Ring True
November 28th, 2007
I recently hopped down to my local indie cinema (Sheffield Showroom) and decided to go and see David Cronenberg’s latest flick, Eastern Promises. After 2005’s A History of Violence, I was optimistic as to the impending quality of the film and thankfully, I was rewarded with just what I expected - a great film. It’s essentially a social critique of London’s burgeoning human trafficking trade, but it’s riddled with violence and Viggo Mortensen delivers an engaging performance, so I was riveted throughout. Definitely worth the ticket price, which is so rare these days.
We all saw The Bourne Ultimatum right? And we all thought it was awesome, yeah? Well it seems that even though the film’s title possessed the word ‘Ultimatum’ denoting the final part of the series, there may be another movie in the works. Matt Damon recently expressed that he wouldn’t be interested in doing any more Bourne films, but now something seems to have changed his mind again! What could it be? Crisp bank notes perhaps? No, Maaat Daaaamon wouldn’t be swayed by such petty things, I trust him, he has a trustworthy face. If Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were in a room and I had to give my PIN number to one of them, it would be Matt for sure, Ben would rob me and then possibly try to sexually assault me. He’s a sly one that Ben Affleck…anyway, a fourth Bourne film could be on the horizon, I’m not complaining like, I’d love to see one.
This week’s upcoming UK releases aren’t the most interesting bunch of films you’ll ever come across, but at least there’s a few that will [hopefully] keep our attention for the full running time and thus, help up suppress the violent urges we all feel (except me, I’m spotless and innocent). Anyway, by far the most important release of the week is Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, which was annoyingly split from the Grind House double bill and consequently means that UK consumers will have to pay twice as much than their American counterparts if they wish to see both films involved. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James, is likely to be the second most successful release of the week, despite its poor reviews. A Mighty Heart may also do a little bit of positive business, mainly because a certain Ms. Angelina Jolie is in it….which is motivation enough for me. 
Alongside Rob Zombie’s recent revival of the Halloween series, comes the resuscitation of another classic horror franchise: Friday the 13th. This isn’t particularly cutting edge news, but, some new details have just emerged regarding the project and it seems that screenwriting duo Damian Shannon and Mark Swift are being drafted in to pen the script. If such rumours turn out to be true, then I wouldn’t exactly consider them a great choice, after all, they did write the rather abysmal Freddy Vs. Jason a few years ago. But, there’s not too much to worry about because Michael Bay is producing it, so even if turns out to be drivel, then at least there’ll be some explosions.
Early reports suggest that Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween has performed rather well at the US box office during this year’s Labour day weekend, grossing an estimated $26.5m and set to gross a further $8-10m or so before the four-day holiday is out. Fangoria notes that this is one of the most successful Labour day openings of recent times, surpassing the previous records set by films such as The Transporter 2 and The Sixth Sense. The film also marks Rob Zombie’s most successful box office opening ever, obliterating his figures from House of 1000 Corpses and The Devils Rejects.
Yes, I am fully aware and wholly jealous that The Bourne Ultimatum has now opened in America. Unfortunately, I shall have to wait until August 17 here in the UK, but, for now at least, the US reviews shall ease my pain. From what I’ve seen the so far, the critical consensus of the film seems to be overwhelming positive with Ken Evans at 
I know it’s incredibly sad that I made this connection, but someone I know pointed out that ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ by 
I wish I was Daniel Craig. Not only does he get to roll around with attractive women in exotic places in his role as world’s suavest man, but he’s now also going to become the highest paid British actor in the world thanks to a deal worth £13m. According to The Sunday Express, Craig is set to receive £5m for the upcoming Bond 22 and then a further £8m for the 23rd instalment in the Bond franchise. And what’s more, James Bond isn’t Craig’s only work at the moment, he’s going to pop-up in quite a few productions over the next few years which will no doubt fill his pocket and cement his star status. Lucky bastard. If he wasn’t such a good actor, I’d hate him. 
After having just finished watching Infernal Affairs II (for the third time) I have concluded that all Western actors in Asian films are merely planks of wood dressed up to look like people. I mean, if Hollywood films can get the best Asian actors to cameo, surely it can work the other way too? Hell, Takeshi Kitano was in Johnny Mnemonic for god’s sake and all Ong-Bak can get is a bunch of backwards freaks with about as much charisma as a bunch of comatose dogs. If you’re wondering why Infernal Affairs II brought on this rant, it was the purportedly British police, who couldn’t have been more boring, I yawned for the full 5 seconds they were on screen, right before attempting suicide. Let’s have Bill Nighy and Liam Neeson suited up, add some star quality to the force! 
As you may know, I have a soft spot for films hailing from the far east; Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Thailand and so on. Therefore I decided to sit down and make a list of the real defining films that hail from such territories. I’m sure a lot of people would disagree with some of my choices, but let me stress that I’m not branding this list ‘The Top 10 Best Asian Films Ever’, I’ve merely created a list based upon my own personal opinion. The process of choosing the titles for the list was incredibly hard and I had to leave some ridiculously good films out of the final 10, but what the hell, all of the final movies are literally badass…I suppose you shall all draw your own conclusions anyway. Forge ahead! 
