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Chinese streaming giant iQIYI reports that it has started production on “Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain,” a film adapted from the classic novel of the same name by Louis Cha (aka Jin Yong), a renowned Hong Kong novelist who was one of the most read Chinese-language authors of the 20th century.

Cha, who also co-founded the Ming Pao newspaper, and directed two films, is best known for his wuxia (chivalric martial arts) novels that with one exception stretch in time from the 11th to the 18th century. He died in October 2018 and received a celebrity memorial with Alibaba founder Jack Ma in attendance.

An estimated 90 films and TV series have been made as adaptations of Cha’s 15 wuxia novels, though iQIYI says that “Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain” is not one of them. Its “Fox Volant” film is pitched as a fantasy adventure that tells a tale of...

The story of the legendary Yang military family has been brought to life on an epic scale by director Ronny Yu (Fearless) in Saving General Yang and its lands on UK DVD this coming Jan 14. Universal are handling the distro, and apparently have seen fit to decide it doesn’t warrant a trailer so we plumbed for the Australian one, because frankly the U.S (its just been released there by Well Go) one sucked more than just a bit. Synopsis: After being cut off from the rest of the Chinese military while defending their borders, General Yang is trapped behind enemy lines by his northern Khitan enemy whose leader has sworn to kill Yang and his seven sons. Vastly outnumbered and without any back up, General Yang’s fearless sons set off to rescue their father at any cost.

The story of the legendary Yang military family has been brought to life on an epic scale by director Ronny Yu (Fearless) in Saving General Yang and its lands on UK DVD this coming Jan 14. Universal are handling the distro, and apparently have seen fit to decide it doesn’t warrant a trailer so we plumbed for the Australian one, because frankly the U.S (its just been released there by Well Go) one sucked more than just a bit. Synopsis: After being cut off from the rest of the Chinese military while defending their borders, General Yang is trapped behind enemy lines by his northern Khitan enemy whose leader has sworn to kill Yang and his seven sons. Vastly outnumbered and without any back up, General Yang’s fearless sons set off to rescue their father at any cost.

The story of the legendary Chinese General Yang gets another twist in Well Go USA’s Saving General Yang. Set in the early Song Dynasty 986 A.D., the epic follows the seven sons of the Yang family’s battle to rescue their father from the clutches of the Khitan army. Under the leadership [...]

Continue reading: DVD / Blu-ray New Releases: December 10, 2013: Saving General Yang...

The Rooftop is out on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital this December 10th from Well Go USA Entertainment. Taiwanese pop sensation, actor, writer and director Jay Chou has created a fantasy playground of martial arts, music, moves, and magic all wrapped up into one movie The Rooftop which is an action comedy that pays homage to the wondrous musicals of the past. It represents a genre that’s difficult to categorize and something that’s never seen before in Asia. New York Times’ Daniel M. Gold described it as “…frenzied, funny and knowing, drenched in lavish, often surreal, imagery.”

This is Jay Chou’s second feature film and in addition to writing, directing and starring in it, he also wrote 11 original musical tunes for this musical. The Rooftop also stars Alan Ko (Goodbye May), Eric Tsang (Ip Man: The Final Fight), Wang Xue Qi (Iron Man 3, Reign of Assassins), Fan Xu (Saving General Yang,...

Plot66% Acting64% Directing54% Music71%The music blends surprisingly well with the action. And there's plenty of action.The directing and editing jobs are very poor. 64%Overall Score Reader Rating: (2 Votes)75%Seven Sons Will Leave, Six Will Return

“Saving General Yang” tells the story of the house of Yang and the house of Pan ( nope, not that Pan ), two rich and noble families at each others’ throats following the accidental death of General Pan’s son at the hands of General Yang’s 7th son. Both men were fighting in a sparring match over a woman, Princess Chai, while invading enemy hordes, the Khitan, were closing in. Sounds familiar? Yep, sounds familiar to me too…

I, personally, am not a big fan of the “supreme-ruler-acts-like-a-tool-but everyone-just-smiles-and-bows” formula. So when the Pan family goes on to plead for the execution of the entire Yang family, a whopping five minutes into the movie,...

This December 10th Ronny Yu’s acclaimed action drama film Saving General Yang is making its debut on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital from Well Go USA Entertainment.

Saving General Yang had its world premiere at the 2013 Hong Kong International Film Festival and since then it has made an international box office hit. It’s directed by Ronny Yu (The Bride With White Hair, Fearless, Bride of Chucky, Freddy vs. Jason) and stars Adam Cheng, Ekin Cheng, Yu Bo, Vic Chau, Li Chen, Raymond Lam, Wu Chun, Fu Xin Bo, Xu Fan and Ady An. Bonus materials include a behind-the-scenes featurette “The Making of Ip Man: The Final Fight,” plus interviews with the cast and crew.

Synopsis

The film is based on an ancient Chinese folklore about seven brothers who fought against all odds to save their legendary warrior father. It is an epic tale about the renowned Song Dynasty’s...

With a promise to be back next year, bigger and better, the final day of the 15th Mumbai Film Festival presented by Reliance Entertainment and organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (Mami) unfolded.

After a week of celebrating cinema, the final few films screened today included Red Wedding directed by Guillaume Suon and Lida Chan, Short Term 12 by Destin Cretton, Saving General Yang directed by Ronny Yu, Hiroshi Toda’s Seventh Cat, Five Years by Stefan Schaller, Costa Gavras’s Amen and the much acclaimed Z, A Few Days More by Om Prakash Srivastava among others.

The last of the 15th Mumbai Film Festival’s master classes was conducted by the legendary director Bruce Beresford, on Preparation by the Director. “I thought I would talk about the necessity of story boarding. These days, with tight budgets and short schedules, if you don’t plan them, you’ll...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Dec. 10, 2013

Price: DVD $24.98, Blu-ray $29.98

Studio: Well Go USA

The battle begins in Saving General Yang.

The 2013 Chinese action drama film Saving General Yang is based on the ancient Chinese folklore of the seven brothers who fought against all odds to rescue their legendary warrior father.

The year is 986 in Northeast China during the early Northern Song dynasty when the Khitan army takes its revenge for a past massacre, abducting General Yang Ye (Adam Cheng) and leaving his wife and seven sons to rescue him. Led by the first son (Ekin Cheng), the seven set out with a small band of fighters to face an army of thousands, brave the treacherous Wolf Mountain, face the nemesis of their shared history, and then find the way back alive—all to bring their father home.

Directed by veteran Ronny Yu (The Bride With White Hair, Fearless, Bride of Chucky...

Well Go USA has officially announced its plans to distribute director Ronnie Yu’s Saving General Yang (2013) on Blu-ray and DVD beginning December 10, 2013. Yu’s project retells the popular Song Dynasty Chinese legend about seven brothers who unite to defend their father from a foreign enemy. The film stars Adam [...]

Continue reading: Home Entertainment News October 21, 2013: Saving General Yang, Haunter...

Saving General Yang

Written by Ronny Yu and Edmond Wong

Directed by Ronny Yu

Hong Kong, 2013

*The following review is included in the Saturday Shaw Brothers column for its familiarity with several iconic Shaw epics. In fact it is actually another spin on a famous tale which Shaw Bros did tackle more than once in their history.

Ronny Yu’s journey as a director of feature films is eerily reminiscent of that experienced by John Woo. After early success in their native land, Yu and Woo, albeit at different times in their careers, ventured into the Hollywood system with mixed results at best. Action movie legend John Woo returned to Hong Kong and made an extraordinarily grand scale period piece in the mainland, Red Cliff. After Bride of Chucky and Freddy vs Jason, Yu headed back home and made one of Jet Li’s greatest films, Fearless. Now, after a seven-year wait,...

Fantasia 2013 has announced the second wave of titles screening this year. If the first wave, along with the announcements of special guests wasn’t enough to get you excited, this surely will.

009 Re: Cyborg

Japan Dir: Kenji Kamiyama

Mechanized mayhem, mysticism and moral ambiguity meet when the influential ’60s manga/anime property 009 Cyborg gets a dark, postmodern makeover care of the mighty Production I.G, in the spirit of the iconic Ghost In The Shell films. Anime fans won’t want to miss this one. North American Premiere.

Animals

Spain Dir: Marçal Forés

Evocative of both Donnie Darko and Leolo with a touch of Charles Burns, Animals taps into a volatile whirlpool of adolescent anxieties and identity issues, addressing complex themes through a wealth of unconventional approaches. A heavy trip, but an entertaining and fantastical one. Winner: Best First Feature, Sant Jordi de Cinematografia 2013, Official Selection: Sitges 2012, Miami International Film Festival 2013. Quebec Premiere.

The full Fantasia 2013 lineup will be announced next Tuesday, July 9th, but in the meantime we have the second wave of titles to share, and per usual, it's a doozy!

From the Press Release:

Following last week’s first wave of programming announcements, the Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to unveil several additional highlights to warm you up for our July 9th Press Conference, where we’ll be unveiling of our full 120+ film lineup. The festival runs from July 18 to August 6.

Official Opening Night Film – Takashi Miike’s Shield Of Straw (North American Premiere)

Hot off its screening in official completion at the Cannes Film Festival, Takashi Miike’s riveting crime thriller Shield Of Straw will be kicking off Fantasia’s 2013 edition with its first screening on the North American continent. Shield Of Straw stars Takao Osawa, Nanako Matsushima, and Tatsuya Fujiwara. Fantasia’s 1997 screening of Fudoh marked the...

Last week we shared the first group of films and events slated for this year's Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, the largest genre-themed film festival on the planet. In addition to dozens of film entries, many of which are making their world premieres at Fantasia, there will also be some major one-of-a-kind events at the fest, the first of which you can read about in our previous update. But now, here's the latest crop of films and events added to Fantasia's schedule: Official Opening Night Film: Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw (North American Premiere) This is the second time Miike has chosen Fantasia to debut a film in North America at this fest; the last was Fudoh in 1997. Rated X: A Night with Bryan Singer The acclaimed genre director will engage the audience in an hour-long discussion on his films, career and the genre in general, moderated by Fangoria veteran Tony Timpone.

Marks the second consecutive year a Takashi Miike film has opened Montreal’s genre film festival.

Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw, which screened in competition at Cannes, is to open the 17th edition of Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival (July 18 - August 6).

Miike’s crime thriller receives its North American premiere at Fantasia and continues the long relationship between the director and festival.

Last year, Fantasia opened with Miike’s For Love’s Sake and the festival’s 1997 screening of Fudoh marked the first time a film by the director had ever been shown in North America.

The festival will also host the world premiere of 24 Exposures, from mumblecore director Joe Swanberg. The film stars Adam Wingard as a fetish photographer whose models begin to turn up dead while Simon Barrett plays a cop tasked with investigating him.

Wingard and Barrett are the director-screenwriter duo behind You’re Next and A Horrible Way To Die. Fantasia...

Saving General Yang Trailer 2. Ronny Yu‘s Saving General Yang (2013) movie trailer 2 stars Adam Cheng, Ekin Cheng, Fan Xu, Raymond Lam, and Chun Wu. Saving General Yang‘s plot synopsis: “The story of the Yang’s has been eulogized for hundreds of years in the Chinese society. It details the exploits of the [...]

Continue reading: Saving General Yang (2013) Movie Trailer 2: Adam Cheng, Ronny Yu...

Based on a classic series of beloved books and plays, Ronny Yu's Saving General Yang is an old school wartime epic, starring veteran Hong Kong actor Adam Cheng as the titular General, and Ekin Cheng as the elest of his seven loyal sons who swear to rescue him.It looks to be a good year for Yu, who was recently named as the first choice to direct Silver Vase, Iron Knight, The Weinstein Company's sequel to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Before all that, however, he must deliver this large scale period drama, which will most likely debut at next month's Hong Kong International Film Festival. A new trailer has surfaced out of Taiwan, and while it is unsubtitled, readers should have no difficulty in gleaning a...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Saving General Yang Trailer. Ronny Yu‘s Saving General Yang (2013) movie trailer stars Ekin Cheng, Fan Xu, Raymond Lam, Chun Wu, and Vic Chow. Saving General Yang‘s plot synopsis: “The story of the Yang’s has been eulogized for hundreds of years in the Chinese society. It details the exploits of the Yang military [...]

Continue reading: Saving General Yang (2013) Movie Trailer: Ronny Yu, Ekin Cheng...

One thing is very clear. General Yang had better be one very, very important man to justify the amount of carnage being carried out in his name in Ronnie Yu's Saving General Yang.One of Hong Kong's finest, Yu makes his return to the director's chair for the first time since 2006 Jet Li starrer Fearless. And he is back with a massive scale action spectacle. The story of the Yang's has been eulogized for hundreds of years in the Chinese society. It details the exploits of the Yang military family, recounting the unflinching loyalty of the Yang family heirs. The plot places focus on how the seven sons of the Yang family held hands in the rescue of their father...Ekin Cheng, Chun Wu, Vic Chou,...