Wednesday 2 August
The Monkey King 2
8:30PM, SBS VICELAND
M
Hong Kong, China, 2016
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Language: Chinese
Director: Soi Cheang
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Li Gong, Shaofeng Feng
What's it about?
Taking place 500 years after the Havoc in Heaven, the Tang Priest is appointed by Buddha to go to the West to fetch the sacred scriptures, only to accidentally free the Monkey King. With Lady White (Gong Li) aiming to break up the team assembled to defeat her, the Monkey King must fight in order to save his world.
The Crow
8:50PM, SBS VICELAND
MA15+
United States, 1994
Genre: Thriller, Fantasy, Action
Language: English
Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott, Ernie Hudson, Bai Ling, Rochelle Davis
What's it about?
Exactly one year after young rock guitarist Eric Draven and his fiancée are brutally killed by a ruthless gang of criminals, Draven - watched over by a hypnotic crow - returns from the grave to exact revenge.
[link title="The Crow movie review" url="node/51353"]
Wednesday 9 August
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
8:30PM, SBS VICELAND
MA15+
United States, 2000
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Action
Language: English
Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller
Starring: Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Devon Aoki, Lady Gaga
What's it about?
The hard-boiled citizens of Sin City return for another round of stories. Eva Green stars as Ava, a temptress who enlists Dwight McCarthy (Josh Brolin) in a bid to escape her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Johnny, a mysterious gambler set on taking down his sworn enemy in a high stakes game of life and death.
Holy Motors
10:30PM, SBS VICELAND
MA15+
France, 2012
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Language: French
Director: Leos Carax
Starring: Jean-François Balmer, Eva Mendes, Edith Scob, Kylie Minogue, Denis Lavant
What's it about?
From dawn to dusk, a few hours in the life of Monsieur Oscar, a shadowy character who journeys from one life to the next. He is, in turn, captain of industry, assassin, beggar, monster, family man. He seems to be playing roles, plunging headlong into each part – but there are no cameras present. Monsieur Oscar is accompanied only by Céline, the slender blonde woman behind the wheel of the vast engine that transports him through and around Paris. He's like a conscientious assassin moving from hit to hit. In pursuit of the beautiful gesture, the mysterious driving force, the women and the ghosts of past lives.
[link title="Holy Motors: Denis Lavant interview" url="node/962"]
[link title="Holy Motors: Cheat sheet" url="node/976"]
[link title="Holy Motors Review" url="node/5878"]
Wednesday 16 August
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
8:30PM, SBS VICELAND
M
Hong Kong, China, 2013
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin
Director: Stephen Chow, Chi-kin Kwok
Starring: Yu Xing, Show Luo, Min Hun Fung, Chi Ling Chiu, Bo Huang
What's it about?
Tang Sanzang, an aspiring Buddhist hero, tries to protect a village from three demons. He meets and develops strong feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who repeatedly helps him in his fight against his enemies. With her help, Sanzang begins a quest to tame the legendary Monkey King.
[link title="Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons Review" url="node/6129"]
Chinese Zodiac
10:30PM, SBS VICELAND
M
Hong Kong, 2012
Genre: Adventure, Action
Language: French, Russian, Spanish, English, Chinese
Director: Jackie Chan
Starring: Jackie Chan, Shu Qi, Yao Xing-Tong, Zhang Lan-Xin, Liao Fan
What's it about?
Asian Hawk (Jackie Chan) leads a mercenary team to recover several lost artifacts from the Old Summer Palace, the bronze heads of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals which were sacked by the French and British armies from the imperial Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860. Assisted by a Chinese student and a Parisian lady, Hawk stops at nothing to accomplish the mission.
Wednesday 23 August
Kung Fu Hustle
8:30PM, SBS VICELAND
M
China, 2000
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Fantasy, Action
Language: Cantonese
Director: Stephen Chow
Starring: Feng Xiaogang, Stephen Chow, Wah Yuen, Zhi Hua Dong, Kwok-Kwan Chan, Chi Chung Lam, Siu-Lung Leung
What's it about?
In a Shanghai slum nicknamed Pig Sty Alley, residents and business owners cower in the presence of a cruel landlady (Yuen Qiu), but at least take comfort from the fact that their poverty-stricken neighbourhood is largely left alone by the city's criminal gangs. All that changes when the notorious Axe Gang muscles in and begins a war that looks to have only one possible outcome. At first, the locals' only hope appears to be Sing (Stephen Chow), a small-time operator whose impersonation of an Axe Gang member sparked the trouble. As the battle heats up, it seems many martial arts masters have been hiding in Pig Sty Alley and their re-emergence gives the downtrodden new hope in the turf war.
followed by:
Milocrorze: A Love Story
MA15+
Japan, 2011
Genre: Comedy
Language: Japanese
Director: Yoshimasa Ishibashi
Starring: Takayuki Yamada, Anna Ishibashi, Sayaka Fukita
What's it about?
Three separate stories are interspersed with a series of irreverent sketches based on the anxieties of young men in love: Ovreneli Vreneligare’s young world is rocked by a mysterious woman; Kumagai Besson is an unorthodox youth counsellor who offers idiosyncratic advice to young men about romance; and Tamon is a one-eyed ronin who falls in love with a florist and is drawn into a quest to recover her when she is kidnapped.
[link title="Milocrorze: A Love Story Review" url="node/5625"]
Wednesday 30 August
Knights of Badassdom
8:30PM, SBS VICELAND
MA15+
United States, 2014
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Fantasy, Adventure
Language: English
Director: Joe Lynch
Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Peter Dinklage, Steve Zahn
What's it about?
Three best friends and dedicated roleplayers take to the woods to reenact a dungeons and dragons-like scenario as a live action role-playing game. Trouble arises when a prop spellbook purchased from the internet ends up being a genuine grimoire and they unwittingly conjure up a blood-lusting succubus from hell.
followed by:
Iron Sky
M
Finland, 2012
Genre: Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Language: German
Director: Timo Vuorensola
Starring: Kym Jackson, Stephanie Paul, Peta Sergeant, Tilo Prückner, Götz Otto, Christopher Kirby, Julia Dizetze, Udo Kier
What's it about?
A Finnish-German-Australian sci-fi black comedy takes place in the year 2018, when the Nazis, who fled the Earth to the dark side of the Moon in 1945, return to claim the Earth.
[link title="Iron Sky Review" url="node/5829"]
