THE MONKEY KING 2 debuts on Digital tomorrow; coming to Blu-ray & DVD on January 3rd, 2017

Well Go USA

Entertainment

Presents

Aaron Kwok as The Monkey King

The Monkey King 2 / Xi you ji zhi: Sun Wukong san da Baigu Jing

Directed by Soi Cheang

China/Hong Kong, 2016, 120 minutes

The legendary Monkey King returns for a new adventure when Well Go USA Entertainment debuts The Monkey King 2 on digital tomorrow, December 6th and on Blu-ray™ and DVD January 3rd.

The follow up to the international fantasy blockbuster finds Soi Cheang (The Monkey King, Kill Zone 2) back in the director’s chair, with martial arts legend Sammo Hung (Kung Fu Hustle, Tai Chi Zero) on board as action director, for the epic sequel set 500 years after the original. This edition finds Aaron Kwok (Cold War) replacing Donnie Yen as The Monkey King, a warrior who must protect a traveling monk (William Feng Shaofeng, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon) from the White Bone Spirit (Gong Li, Curse of the Golden Flower), a demon seeking immortality. The Monkey King 2 also stars Xiao Shen Yang (The Grandmaster), Him Law (Young and Dangerous: Reloaded) and Kris Phillips (Painted Skin: The Resurrection).

Synopsis:
The follow up to the international fantasy blockbuster, The Monkey King 2 fast forwards 500 years after the Monkey King (Aaron Kwok) wreaked havoc in heaven. Newly freed from his confines under the Five Finger Mountain, the Monkey King vows to protect the innocent from a demon seeking immortality as he accompanies a young monk on an epic journey to the West.

Bonus Materials:
-- A Five-part “Making of” Featurette
   -- The Monkey King
   -- Bajie
   -- The Monk
   -- Wujing
   -- A New World
-- Trailer

Celebrate The Year of the Monkey with THE MONKEY KING 2 in 3D

China Lion

Presents

The Monkey King 2 in 3D

Directed by Cheang Pou-Soi 

China/Hong Kong, 2016, 119 minutes

The Asian Lunar New Year has arrived and China Lion is presenting a most fitting way to celebrate The Year of the Monkey. The Monkey King 2 in 3D opened in select U.S. theaters last Friday. It is the sequel to The Monkey King, the 2014 film that was also directed by Cheang Pou-soi and filmed in 3D. The original film starred Donnie Yen, who also served as the film's action director, as the titular protagonist. In The Monkey King 2, Aaron Kwok plays Sun Wukong, a.k.a. the Monkey King. The legendary Sammo Hung assumed duties as action director. The cast also includes Gong Li as White Bone Spirit, a demon, and Kelly Chen as The Mercy Goddess, the Bodhisattva Guanyin (sometimes spelled Kuan-yin).

The tale is based on The Journey to the West, a major classic of Chinese literature consisting of one hundred chapters. It tells the tale of a Chinese monk named Xuanzang who is selected to undertake an arduous and dangerous journey to the West (i.e., to India) to get holy scriptures from the Buddha. He is accompanied and protected by the Monkey King, who is really the main character, and two others. For years I have owned the first volume of the four volume set translated and edited by Anthony C. Yu. By an interesting coincidence, I just got around to reading it recently. The Money King 2 is concerned with portions of the latter part of that twenty-five chapter volume.

I have not seen the original film, but it apparently ended with the mischievous Monkey King, who has achieved mystical powers and wrecked havoc in Heaven, being imprisoned within a mountain for five hundred years. He has been selected by The Mercy Goddess to travel with the monk, who frees him from the mountain. Subsequently they are joined by Baijie, a pig-man who can transform into a handsome youth and a wild boar, and Bro Sha, a mighty blue-skinned warrior. The main protagonist is White Bone Spirit, also called Lady White. She wants to devour the monk so she can become an immortal demon.

I only saw a 2D online screener of the film, but was quite impressed with it. The make-up and special effects were quite good. Ric Meyers, my "big brother" in the days when we were both columnists at Asian Cult Cinema magazine, has seen the 3D version and reports liking it.

So my plan is to make the one hour round-trip to mid-town New York and actually pay to see a film that I could have seen for free at a pre-release screening that I foolishly passed on. It seems that it's really worth seeing in 3D on a big screen with a great sound system.

So, if The Monkey King in 3D is playing near you, I strongly suggest you give it a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

ACF 1755: Happy Birthday, Gong Li

Gong Li as the Empress in Curse of the Golden Flower
Image copyright 2006 Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc

Gong Li was born December 31st, 1965, in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China and graduated from the Central Drama Academy in Beijing in 1989. While still a student, she was cast as the female lead in the 1987 release Hong gao liang (Red Sorghum), the initial directing effort of Zhang Yimou. She starred in a number of his other films, including Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern, over the next several years and reunited with him for Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). Her work in the films of other notable Chinese directors includes Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige and Wong Kar Wai's 2046.

Talented and lovely, she has won numerous awards as Best Actress or Female Actor, and has been named as one of the "sexiest movies stars" or "most beautiful" women in various lists.

Ms. Gong has also appeared in such Hollywood films as Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Miami Vice (2006), and Hannibal Rising (2007). While these failed to make her a "cross-over" star for Western audiences, we'll hopefully continue to see her in films produced in Asia for many years to come.

Gong Li @ IMDb
Gong Li @ WikipedeaGong Li @ Fandango

ACF 1449: JOU DU playing at the Walter Reade Theater tomorrow

Ju Dou

Directed by Zhang Yimou 

China/Japan, 1990, 95 minutes

In Chinese with English subtitles

When: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 6:15 PM

Where: The Film Society of Lincoln Center

Walter Reade Theater

165 West 65th Street, NYC

Info and tickets available here

Enjoy $25 Dinner & a Movie!

The Film Society of Lincoln Center continues its celebration of 50 Years of the New York Film Festival with tomorrow night's screening of Ju Dou, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li:

Master filmmaker Zhang Yimou (RAISE THE RED LANTERN, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) made the second of six NYFF appearances with this visually stunning, sexually charged melodrama set in a dye factory in rural China at the turn of the 20th century. When the sadistic factory owner takes a third wife (having murdered the first two), his nephew finds himself falling for the woman, named Ju Dou (played by the ravishing Gong Li, in one of her first major roles).

They soon embark on an affair and conceive a child, which the owner believes to be his. But as the years pass, the truth gradually bubbles to the surface, and a series of lurid twists and turns set the characters on a tragic collision course with the fates. Shot in eye-popping color by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Changwei Gu (FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE), JU DOU was banned by Chinese authorities, but nevertheless went on to become the country’s first-ever Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.

ACF 442: Happy Birthday, Gong Li!

Gong Li as the Empress in Curse of the Golden Flower
Image copyright 2006 Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc

Gong Li was born December 31st, 1965, in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China and graduated from the Central Drama Academy in Beijing in 1989. While still a student, she was cast as the female lead in the 1987 release Hong gao liang (aka Red Sorghum), the initial directing effort of Zhang Yimou. She starred in a number of his other films, including Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern, over the next several years and reunited with him for Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). Her work in the films of other notable Chinese directors includes Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige and Wong Kar Wai's 2046.

Talented and lovely, she has won numerous awards as Best Actress or Female Actor, and has been named as one of the "sexiest movies stars" or "most beautiful" women in various lists.

Unfortunately, her Hollywood films (Memoirs of a Geisha, Miami Vice, Hannibal Rising) thus far have failed to strike Box Office gold. Ms. Gong is due to be seen next in the period piece Shanghai, which has a January 1, 2010 release date. She also is set to star along with Mickey Rourke, Forest Whitaker, and Ray Winstone in Walter Hill's St. Vincent, which currently is in pre-production. Hopefully we'll continue to see her in Western as well as Eastern productions for many years to come.

Gong Li @ IMDb
Gong Li @ WikipedeaGong Li @ Fandango