Posts Tagged ‘asia’

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Drama | War
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: William Holden | Jack Hawkins | Alec Guinness | Sessue Hayakawa | James Donald | Geoffrey Horne | André Morell | Peter Williams | John Boxer | Percy Herbert | Harold Goodwin | Ann Sears | Heihachiro Okawa | Keiichiro Katsumoto | M.R.B. Chakrabandhu
Directors: David Lean
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The film deals with the situation of British prisoners of war during World War II who are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam railway. Their instinct is to sabotage the bridge but, under the leadership of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), they are persuaded that the bridge should be constructed as a symbol of British morale, spirit and dignity in adverse circumstances. At first, the prisoners admire Nicholson when he bravely endures torture rather than compromise his principles for the benefit of the Japanese commandant Saito (Sessue Hayakawa). He is an honorable but arrogant man, who is slowly revealed to be a deluded obsessive. He convinces himself that the bridge is a monument to British character, but actually is a monument to himself, and his insistence on its construction becomes a subtle form of collaboration with the enemy. Unknown to him, the Allies have sent a mission into the jungle, led by Warden (Jack Hawkins) and an American, Shears (William Holden), to blow up the bridge.

007 You Only Live Twice (1967)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Countries: UK
Actors: Sean Connery | Akiko Wakabayashi | Mie Hama | Tetsuro Tamba | Teru Shimada | Karin Dor | Donald Pleasence | Bernard Lee | Lois Maxwell | Desmond Llewelyn | Charles Gray | Tsai Chin | Peter Fanene Maivia | Burt Kwouk | Michael Chow
Directors: Lewis Gilbert
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When an American space capsule is swallowed up by what they believe to be a Russian spaceship, World War 3 nearly breaks out. The British Government, however, suspect that other powers are at work as the space craft went down near Japan. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is the force behind the theft, as James Bond discovers, but its motives are far from clear, and he must first find out where the captured space capsule is held before America and Russia initiate another world war.

Mulan (1998)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical
Countries: USA
Actors: Miguel Ferrer | Harvey Fierstein | Freda Foh Shen | June Foray | James Hong | Miriam Margolyes | Pat Morita | Eddie Murphy | Marni Nixon | Soon-Tek Oh | Donny Osmond | Lea Salonga | James Shigeta | George Takei | Jerry Tondo
Directors: Tony Bancroft | Barry Cook
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Mulan is a girl, the only child of her honored family. When the Huns invade China, one man from every family is called to arms. Mulan’s father, who has an old wound and cannot walk properly, decides to fight for his country and the honor of his family though it is clear that he will not survive an enemy encounter. Mulan, who just got rejected by the matchmaker because she had set her on fire, decides to prove that she is worth something and steals away to fit her father’s place in the Chinese army. She prays to her family’s ancestors for protection and luck before leaving as a man in her father’s armor with her family’s horse. The ancestors awake and decide to send Mushu, a little dishonored dragon to aid Mulan in her quest. Weeks later, Mulan and the other troopers have survived the training camp and are on the way north to stop the huns. After being spotted and pursued by the enemies, an impass situation in the mountains forces Mulan to come up with an idea. But then, her real gender will no longer be a secret. She decides to risk everything in order to save China.

The Killing Fields (1984)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Drama | History | War
Countries: UK
Actors: Sam Waterston | Haing S. Ngor | John Malkovich | Julian Sands | Craig T. Nelson | Spalding Gray | Bill Paterson | Athol Fugard | Graham Kennedy | Katherine Krapum Chey | Oliver Pierpaoli | Edward Entero Chey | Tom Bird | Monirak Sisowath | Lambool Dtangpaibool
Directors: Roland Joffé
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Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist convering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the Americans forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won’t have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he’s a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in.

Fist of Fury (aka Chinese Connection) (1972)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Action | Crime | Drama
Countries: Hong Kong
Actors: Bruce Lee | Nora Miao | James Tien | Maria Yi | Robert Baker | Fu Ching Chen | San Chin | Yin-Chieh Han | Riki Hashimoto | Jun Arimura | Chung-Hsin Huang | Quin Lee | Feng Tien | Yin Chi Lee | Tony Liu
Directors: Wei Lo
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Chen Chen returns to the international compound of China only to learn of his beloved teacher’s death. This is compounded by the continual racist harassment by the Japanese population in the area. Unlike his friends, he confronts it head on with his mastery of martial arts while investigating his teacher’s murder.

The Last Emperor (1987)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: China | France | Italy | UK
Actors: John Lone | Joan Chen | Peter O'Toole | Ruocheng Ying | | Dennis Dun | Ryuichi Sakamoto | Maggie Han | Ric Young | Vivian Wu | Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa | Jade Go | Fumihiko Ikeda | Richard Vuu | Tsou Tijger
Directors: Bernardo Bertolucci
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A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People’s Republic.

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Action | Thriller
Countries: Hong Kong | USA
Actors: Bruce Lee | John Saxon | Kien Shih | Ahna Capri | Angela Mao | Jim Kelly | Robert Wall | Bolo Yeung | Betty Chung | Geoffrey Weeks | Peter Archer | Ho Lee Yan | Marlene Clark | Allan Kent | William Keller
Directors: Robert Clouse
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Hong Kong circa 1973. Lee, a member of a Shaolin Temple, is a master of the physical and spiritual disciplines of the martial arts, and is being visited by Braithwaite, a British law officer. Lee has been invited to a tri-annual martial arts tournament held on an island owned by Han, a reclusive billionaire who was once a member of the Temple but has now become a renegade. Braithwaite believes Han uses his tournaments as cover for narcotic and prostitution activities. Lee reluctantly agrees to enter the tournament, but his reluctance to confront Han disappears when a Shaolin monk reveals that during the previous staging of this tournament, he and Lee’s sister were accosted by several toughs led by Han’s personal bodyguard, an American named O’Hara. In the ensuing confrontation the monk cut a deep scar on O’Hara’s face but Lee’s sister ultimately perished, and at her gravesite Lee vowes revenge for her death. Also attending the tournament are two American martial arts experts, John Roper and Kelly Williams, who served together in Vietnam and took differing paths toward martial arts upon their discharge - Roper is on the run from Mafia gambling debt collectors, while Williams was accosted by two racist cops whom he’d dispatched before stealing their car to escape. All three will soon find themselves at the mercy of Han and his army of martial arts fighters as he protects his underground factory of narcotics and prostitution.

Drive (1997)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Action | Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi
Countries: USA
Actors: Mark Dacascos | Kadeem Hardison | John Pyper-Ferguson | Brittany Murphy | Tracey Walter | James Shigeta | Masaya Kato | Dom Magwili | Ron Yuan | Clive Rosengren | Christopher Michael | Ted Smith | Tedd Szeto | R.A. Mihailoff | David Watts
Directors: Steve Wang
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A prototype enhanced human, on the run from Chinese-hired hit men, hooks up with a dread-locked bystander, and the two of them elude their pursuers narrowly each time.

Empire of the Sun (1987)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Drama | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Christian Bale | John Malkovich | Miranda Richardson | Nigel Havers | Joe Pantoliano | Leslie Phillips | Masatô Ibu | Emily Richard | Rupert Frazer | Peter Gale | Takatoro Kataoka | Ben Stiller | David Neidorf | Ralph Seymour | Robert Stephens
Directors: Steven Spielberg
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An aristocratic British youth is seperated from his family at the start of World War II after the Japanese Army invades British controlled areas of China. Reduced to living on the street and fighting for food, the youth is eventually interned in a Japanese POW camp for British civilians. Here, admiration quickly develops both for captured American pilots and the Japanese themselves. When the war ends, the boy torn from everything he knew attempts to again find his parents.

Kung fu (2004)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Genres: Action | Comedy | Crime | Fantasy
Countries: China | Hong Kong
Actors: Stephen Chow | Xiaogang Feng | Wah Yuen | Dong Zhi Hua | Kwok Kuen Chan | Chi Chung Lam | Qiu Yuen | Kai Man Tin | Kang Xi Jia | Stephen Fung | Sheng Yi Huang | Suet Lam | Cheung-Yan Yuen | Chi Ling Chiu | Yu Xing
Directors:
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Set in Canton, China in the 1940s, the story revolves around a hapless wannabe gangster who aspires to become a member of the notorious “Axe Gang.” Other characters include an obnoxious landlady and her apparently frail husband who exhibit extraordinary powers in defending their turf.