Hong Kong movie article in Washington Post

Hong Kong movie article in Washington Post. Of course John Woo is mentioned as one of 5 the best directors. And the list of 10 best films include The Killer and Hard Boiled. An many other great authors from Hong Kong are mentioned also.

Mission Impossible 2: new release date

Sequel to 'Mission Impossible' becoming just that (Launch) - It appears that production problems on producer/actor Tom Cruise's "Mission Impossible" sequel may be even bigger than first thought. On Wednesday, Launch reported that shooting for the movie has been delayed several times due to script, budgetary and personnel snags, including crew members bailing to work on the Jodie Foster movie "Anna and the King." Now Paramount has announced that the release date for "Mission Impossible 2" has been moved back five months to May 24, 2000, from what Daily Variety suspects was an "overly-ambitious target" of December 17, 1999. The trade explains that the June 30, 2000 release date for the Cruise/Steven Spielberg sci-fi thriller "Minority Report" will likely be pushed back, as well, to avoid conflict with "Mission 2."

A new article from E! Online reports that the release date is in May 1999. It says, actually it hints that, the film is "troubled". The article reports that there have been a lot of trouble with the film including location problems and arguments between the crew -- including the cinematographer, Andrew Lesnie, leaving in May because of "stylistic differences" between him and John Woo.

News from:
InfoBeat © 1999 Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.
E! Online © 1999

Mission Impossible 2 release date

Running time: n/a minutes. Cert: n/a Opening date (UK): December 17, 1999

Mission Impossibe 2 is planned to be Christmass release after all. According to Empire, July 1999 release date in UK is scheluded for December 17th. US release date could be same if not earlier. Maybe February 20, 2000 mentioned in Finnish radio meant release date in Finland.

More about Mission Impossible 2

Big Hit release UK date

Running time: 91 minutes. Cert: 18 Opening date (UK): June 25, 1999

Also from Empire, July 1999, action comedy Big Hit produced by John Woo and directed by Wong Che-Kirk.

I could not call this film a masterpiece but somehow I found it watchable. Here is what Angie Errigo writes in Empire:

'(Wong's Hollywood debut .. is like Woo's English language debut Hard Target) plays like a poor translation, mixing action, farce and childish smut into a half-baked crime comedy'.

'Eliminate the loud but lame comedy and what's left is 15 minutes of stylish action pieces, terrific stunt effects, slow motion devastion and the ever popular escape by centimetres from a blast fireball. Which do not a make make.'

Twin Dragons release UK date

Running time: 89 minutes. Dubbed Cert: 12 Opening date (UK): May 14, 1999

Again from Empire, July 1999, Jackie Chan film Twin Dragons opened in UK theatres May 14. Action comedy starring Jackie Chan in double role as twin dragons who don't know about each others. Then one of them comes to Hong Kong to perfotm in a concert while other is hiding from gangsters. Because brothers are identical their identities are mistaken causing some tricky situations.

Films was a fund-raising project for the Director's Guild of Hong Kong, so there are plenty of movie directors in this movie working as actors and also as action directors. Every action scene was directed by different man. Also John Woo was in and he can be seen as a priest in the very and of the film. Good role for Woo because he wanted to became a priest before he started in film industry.

Blackjack video rental in Finland

Black Jack Finland video rental release date June 16 1999
Plot in Finnish:

Menestyksekkään sheriffinuran jälkeen Jack Devlin jatkaa henkivartijana ja henkilökohtaisena turvakonsulttina. Erään toimeksiannon aikana fosforigranaatti sokaisee Devlinin hetkellisesti ja hänelle kehittyy voimakas pelko kaikkea valkoista kohtaan. Devlinin seuraava keikka on suojella huippumallia, jota vainoaa psykopaattinen murhaaja.

Devlinin onnnustuu torjua sarja väkivaltaisia murhayrityksiä, mutta samalla hän tulee paljastaneeksi fobiansa. Murhaaja ei epäröi käyttää hyväkseen Devlinin heikkoa kohtaa ja nyt Devlin aloittaa taistelun kahta vihollista vastaan, omaa pelkoaan ja tappavan vaarallista psykopaattia vastaan...

Matrix release

Also from Empire, July 1999. Matrix Opened in UK in June 11. And now it also opened here in Finland during last weekend. Why I am telling about this? I really don't know. Maybe because some people say that Matrix uses Woo style action but does it better than Woo himself. I haven't seen Matrix (yet) but I'm not ready to buy that. Some say that Woo should put some real shootouts into Mission Impossible 2 to make it bigger than Matrix. Well, it might be good idea not to take that train. If John Woo makes a movie, a romantic thriller with less 'heroic bloodshed' then I'm sure people will see Woo is real movie director, not just a action director. You know action is not the only thing John Woo can do.

Anyway Matrix has mad it big if we are talking about box office. Australia's Daily Telegraph reports that Reeves has signed on for not one but two "Matrix" sequels, and that his salary will be put on a sliding scale, comparative to the movies' performance. "The Matrix," which is still in theaters both here and around the world continues to rack in the bucks - nearly $300 million-plus-and-counting worldwide. Warner says nothing about Matrix sequels yet.

Oh, there is a sequel already in form of comic book. It can be found on Official Matrix Home Page.

"The Matrix" is expected to be released on DVD and for rental October 5. Warner releases only rental version and is selling "The Matrix" at a low price only on DVD, a format embraced mostly by older film aficionados with more money than the average teen. That way Warner hopes to keep "The Matrix" out of the hands of kids - and avoid the ire of scapegoat-hunting conservative groups. Only releasing "The Matrix" for rental can conceivably limit some youngsters' access to the movie, Daily Variety explains, as most video rental chains require customers to present ID for "R" rated movies.

News from:
Matrix Official Home Page
Finnkino (Distributor in Finland)
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Empire