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2PM 2nd Single Album
2PM
2PM was outshone by SHINee last year in the battle of the rookie boy bands, but they're getting their time in the limelight with their second single album 2:00PM Time For Change. Written, composed, and arranged by daddy JYP, their red-hot #1 single Again & Again is pretty much a surefire hit from the first note to the last. Particularly notable for the fluid electronic beats and pounding bass that serve as intro, outro, and catchy backing for the entire song, Again & Again is an urban dance track that embraces the K-pop mantra of being both hip-pop edgy and completely chart-friendly at the same time. The song gets stuck in the head pretty easily since the "again and again" part is repeated,... [read more]
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The Forbidden Kingdom (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Jackie Chan (Actor)
| Jet Li (Actor)
| Collin Chou
| Li Bing Bing
A captivating collaboration of the kings of kung fuKids growing up in the 80s should have fond memories of The Neverending Story, a West Germany film about a bullied boy who stumbles upon a magical book which takes him to a strange fantasy land, meeting all sorts of fantastical creatures on his out-of-this-world adventure. This untouchable children classic, the Harry Potter of its time, inspired thrills and joy and awe in this editor's mind. Unexpectedly, similar emotions were evoked some twenty years later by a Hollywood flick called The Forbidden Kingdom. Kingdom has yet other similarities with Story, like both films opening with a flying-through-a-sea-of-cloud shot followed by that of the protagonist waking up from a dream. Simply replace... [read more]
May 13, 2009 Picked By dian See all this editor's picks
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Tokyo! (DVD) (English Subtitled) (2-Disc) (Special Limited Edition) (Korea Version)
Bong Joon Ho (Director)
| Aoi Yu
| Takenaka Naoto
| Tsumabuki Satoshi
Three big names in World Cinema collaborate on Tokyo!, an entertaining, affecting, and sometimes unfathomable omnibus set in the crowded Japanese city. Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) kicks things off with "Interior Design", a metaphorical look at a young woman who's starting to feel a little down in Tokyo. Fujitani Ayako plays the girlfriend to an aspiring director (Kase Ryo) of decidedly bad cinema, but as his career and life slightly edges forward, she finds herself marginalized, if not by the city and her circumstances, then by her own self-defeating ego. Gondry's surreal vision of Tokyo is unusually poignant, and what happens to our heroine is bizarre, sad and... [read more]
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She's On Duty (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Kim Sun Ah
| Nam Sang Mi (Actor)
| Gong Yoo (Actor)
| Park Sang Myun (Actor)
Leaning on the tough girl formula a la My Sassy Girl, Park Kwang Choon's She's On Duty gives the often told story a fresh twist, inviting viewers to a different kind police action comedy. The film revolves around female police officer Chun Jae In (Kim Sun Ah) who never misses a chance to see that justice is being served. After she fails to accomplish her latest assignment, her commanding head has the brilliant idea of using her as an undercover agent to observe and protect the daughter of a criminal on the loose who is related to the criminal syndicate that she wants to bust. The bad news for Jae In is that she has to return to school in order to complete her assignment. Jae In's initial... [read more]
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Happiness Is Free Live (DVD)
Denise Ho (Singer)
On a sunny, breezy Sunday afternoon in February 2009, about 4,000 red-clad, smiling people flocked to the Diocesan Boys' School for one common purpose: to see Denise Ho play a live concert for free. They sat on the green grass of the outdoor sports ground, gathering around a small temporary stage where Denise would entertain the guests. Such a setting lent the concert a sense of intimacy that is fitting for the theme of the event, Happiness is Free, a catchy title coined by Hong Kong's top lyricist Wyman Wong. This generous gesture is the latest endeavor in Denise's social consciousness project that begins with the album Ten Days in the Madhouse and continued with the Decameron documentary.... [read more]
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The Secret Code (Jacket A)(ALBUM+DVD)(Japan Version)
Dong Bang Shin Ki (TVXQ)
Hard to imagine that's it possible for Dong Bang Shin Ki to get more popular than they already are, but the past year turned out to be a massive breakthrough for the group in Japan. In 2008, they released their third Japanese album and a ridiculous nine J-pop singles (including the TRICK singles), four of which became #1 sellers, and ended the year with an appearance on Kohaku Uta Gassen. (Somewhere in there, they also released Korea's best-selling album of the year.) Continuing at their superhuman pace, Dong Bang Shin Ki recently released their fourth J-pop album, The Secret Code, which made its Oricon debut at #2 and has already sold double what T did. With half the album made up of... [read more]
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The Art Of Seduction (Hong Kong Version)
Son Ye Jin (Actor)
| Song Il Kook (Actor)
| Oh Ki Hwan (Director)
The Art of Seduction invites you to a lovely journey about the pleasures and hardships of enticing the person of your dreams. Han Ji Won (Son Ye Jin) is a girl who enjoys putting a spell on outsiders with her gorgeous looks just for the thrill of it, and proving to herself that no man can resist her charms. Seo Min Joon (Song Il Kook) is her perfect male counterpart, a super macho who drives women from all walks of life crazy whenever he loosens his tie. Bound to create all sorts of fireworks, their encounter signals the beginning of a clash between a first-class femme fatale and a high-caliber super Romeo The Art of Seduction surprised me as a delightful comedy entry. There are quite a few... [read more]
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Ryusei no Kizuna DVD Box (DVD) (Japan Version)
Ninomiya Kazunari
| Toda Erika
| Nishikido Ryo
| Omi Toshinori
What happens when you cross the moving suspense of Higashino Keigo and the oddball humor of Kudo Kankuro? It's this strangely inspired combination that puts the 2008 TBS drama Ryusei no Kizuna in an engaging genre-bending category of its own. Adapted from Higashino's popular novel, 10-episode mini-series Ryusei no Kizuna follows three orphan siblings - Koichi (Ninomiya Kazunari), Taisuke (Nishikido Ryo), and Shizuna (Toda Erika) - as they try to find the man who killed their parents in cold blood 15 years ago. Though the premise of the story is heavy, screenwriter Kudo Kankuro's hand is light, approaching the crime mystery and complex relationships with a snappy tone, offbeat pacing, and... [read more]
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2008 Mayday Live DVD
Mayday (Singer)
When Mayday burst out in the Taiwan music scene in 1998, they were the voice of youth. Not just because they were young at the time, but because their songs captured youth in all its energetic, hot-blooded, lyrical, fearless, bittersweet glory. Ten years later, Mayday is still the same good old Mayday. They've found greater commercial success than any other Taiwan band and achieved a superstar status matched by few, but they're still the Mayday that holes up every year to make an album that hits the heart, and then tours like crazy to put on show after show that hits the spot. Last December, Mayday returned to the Zhongshan Stadium for their first concerts there in eight years, playing to an... [read more]
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Cape No. 7 (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Van Fan (Actor)
| Tanaka Chie (Actor)
| Atari Kosuke (Actor)
| Wei Te Sheng (Director)
Taiwan greets the world with own dose of musicA love story revolving around a bundle of lost love letters and a stand-by rock group in a faraway Taiwanese coast village, Cape No. 7 builds up to an engaging film about past and new lovers wrapped up in a lot of situational comedy. The film begins with a flashback to postwar Taiwan when the Japanese who earlier occupied Taiwan are returning to Japan. Among them is a teacher who is unable to express his feelings to his love, and later decides to make up for it by sending a series of love letters. The film moves on to the present with Aga (Van Fan), a rebellious Taiwanese musician riding his motorbike and angry about the fact that he still hasn't become a big star. The film also introduces... [read more]
April 21, 2009 Picked By A-Xiang Joe See all this editor's picks
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Security Unlimited (DVD) (Digitally Remastered) (Hong Kong Version)
Samuel Hui (Actor)
| Michael Hui (Director, Actor)
| Ricky Hui (Actor)
| Raymond Chow (Producer)
A comedy gold mine waiting to be rediscoveredThe Hui Brothers filled the void left by Bruce Lee and practically ruled Hong Kong Cinema in most of the 1970s. Their surge in prominence began with Games Gamblers Play in 1974. Equipped with a keen eye for the peculiarities of life and society, and a knack to turn them into belly-bursting jokes, the funnymen trio made themselves household names with a succession of powerful laugh bombs that even newer generations raised on Stephen Chow comedies should find appealing. The Hui Brothers were in the prime of their career and could seemingly do no wrong. Going into the 80s, the comedy icons were at it again, making their fifth collaboration, Security Unlimited. This time, the lesser-known Hui... [read more]
April 14, 2009 Picked By dian See all this editor's picks
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Basic Love (DVD) (US Version)
Elanne Kwong (Actor)
| Janice Man (Actor)
| Rex Ho (Actor)
| Xu Zheng Xi (Actor)
It's too bad that Basic Love has fallen so completely under the radar as it's one of the few true romances to come out of Hong Kong in recent years. Certainly, out of the four love-titled films that hit Hong Kong theaters around Valentine's Day, Basic Love is the only one that resembles anything close to a moving love story. Hong Kong Cinema's take on romance in the last few years have consisted largely of glossy rom-coms and Patrick Kong blockbusters that equate modern love with a game of deceit. In such an atmosphere, Basic Love feels almost unique for sticking to a classic love-triangle melodrama, and remaining refreshingly free of agenda and cynicism. An oddly sincere release, especially... [read more]
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Cyborg She (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Ayase Haruka (Actor)
| Koide Keisuke (Actor)
| Takenaka Naoto
| Taguchi Hiromasa
Kwak Jae Yong unveils his multi-genre cyborgCyborg She offers a Korean-Japanese collaboration comedy of the destructive kind. Also known as Cyborg Girl, this movie balances comedy, romance, and sci-fi. Typical for director Kwak Jae Yong (My Sassy Girl) is his use of recalling an earlier happening, in this case the first encounter between Kitamura Jiro (Koide Keisuke) and his female cyborg acquaintance (Ayase Haruka). Their first meeting comes as more than a surprise for the male protagonist, leaving him with a lot of question marks. After all, Jiro is used to life as a single, the highlight of his year being that he celebrates his birthday alone. Suddenly, he finds himself in the strange situation of having a mysterious, attractive... [read more]
April 9, 2009 Picked By A-Xiang Joe See all this editor's picks
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The Songs, The Film And His Autobiography (2CD+DVD)
Andy Hui (Singer)
When pop singers do best-of albums, nine times out of ten they are a bunch of selected songs served with bonus music videos and/or concert footage. Andy Hui shows us other possibilities with his latest career retrospective compilation The Songs, the Film, and His Autobiography, offering a side dish that is no less, if not more, mouth-watering than the main course. This is not to say the songs are not enticing - they are anything but. Having been in the business for over 20 years and responsible for a long list of big hits of the 90s and onwards, Andy has amassed a huge repertoire on a par with those of the Four Heavenly Kings. The distinctions between the two CDs titled On Core Collection... [read more]
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Legendary Assassin (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Wu Jing (Director, Actor)
| Alex Fong Lik Sun (Actor)
| Ronald Cheng (Actor)
| Sammy Leung (Actor)
A while back, when Wu Jing's first directorial effort Legendary Assassin was released in theaters, and the movie Ip Man was the movie to beat at the box office, Wu was reported to have said that he didn't know who Ip Man was. Apparently, some practitioners of the Wing Chun kung fu found his remark provocative, and publicly challenged him to a no-holds-barred duel on international waters. The one who loses would have to donate money to help Sichuan's reconstruction. Now while a match would be something kung fu fans the world over look forward to, it would not have been approved by the legendary Wing Chun grand master himself. If the Wilson Yip-Donnie Yen movie was anything to go by, Wing Chun... [read more]
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Slave Love (AKA: 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant) (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Ha Ji Won (Actor)
| Kim Jae Won (Actor)
| Kim Tae Hyeon (Actor)
| Shin Dong Yeob (Director)
This shrieking film packs a good punch, delivering some well-made ingredients distinctive to Korean comedies. I first saw 100 Days With Mr. Arrogant a few years earlier by chance and had an amusingly good time. Recently, I was lucky enough to enjoy a second viewing with a dear friend of mine who was equally impressed by all the hilarious fun. The film stars actress Ha Ji Won in the role of Kang Ha Young, a happy-go-lucky high school student whose high spirits are not meant to last as her boyfriend dumps her on what was supposed to be their hundredth-day anniversary as a couple. In walks, or rather drives, macho lawyer student Ahn Hyung Joon (Kim Jae Won) who ends up the target of a soft... [read more]
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Tae Goon 1st Mini Album
Tae Goon
With Rain and SE7EN focusing on their overseas careers and other male singers unable to rise to the occasion (between the requisite military rounds), the last few years of K-pop have pretty much been dominated by boy bands, girl groups, and divas. Other than Seo Tai Ji and the boy band-turned-solo holdouts, there are virtually no male vocalists at the top of the K-pop charts. The Korean music industry is clearly in need of some new blood, and Tae Goon just might be the best hope for the next big male pop star. Tae Goon first attracted buzz for his connection to TVXQ's Hero Jae Joong who starred in the music video of his catchy debut single Call Me, but the 23-year-old newcomer has a lot more... [read more]
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HOCC + Mak Yan Yan - The Decameron Documentary DVD
Denise Ho
| Mak Yan Yan
What does madness mean to you? That is the question most often asked in Hong Kong singer Denise Ho and director Mak Yan Yan's disarmingly engaging documentary on madness, The Decameron. This curious documentary is linked with Denise's most recent album Ten Days in the Madhouse, as her music features in the film and the documentary's ten chapters have the same play-on-name titles as her album's ten songs, but the release is by no means just another album tie-in movie. Both The Decameron and Ten Days in the Madhouse are part of the singer's larger campaign to raise public awareness about mental illness, an admirable project that has encompassed an exhibition, community service, and other... [read more]
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I Gotta Kick Start Now (SINGLE+DVD)(First Press Limited Edition)(Japan Version)
VAMPS
VAMPS' second single I Gotta Kick Start Now is just about as fun as J-rock gets without losing its edge. While the band's first single Love Addict was already a good indicator that VAMPS would be a different (happier) beast than L'Arc-en-Ciel and HYDE's solo works, I Gotta Kick Start Now really lays in the catchy riffs and growling refrains for a blasting good time. This is a song that's meant to be blasted at high volume in your car, windows down. The track starts loud and tight with ear-piercing guitars and amusing opening lyrics - "I'm gonna try you out / Just shake and move / Not in a nasty way" - and lightens up with the too-catchy repeating title line. This combination of hard and... [read more]
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Voice of EARTH (ALBUM+DVD)(Japan Version)
alan
War, hatred, despair, pollution... all the negativity of existence stands a better chance of finding a cure, if Mother Earth has a mouthpiece like alan. This is the verdict this editor reached after basking in the bliss that is Voice of EARTH, alan's first J-pop album. The emerging vocal revelation has established her position thanks in no small part to her unique background. Born in Sichuan, China of Tibetan descent, and raised in the "Beauty Valley", Alan Dawa Dolma received training in erhu and vocal music growing up. The fairy caught the attention of Japan music giant Avex in an audition, and after graduating from Beijing's PLA Arts Academy, she embarked on the road to international... [read more]
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