Posts with tag Justin Lin
Posted Jun 24th 2008 2:02PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Action, Universal, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels, Images
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Well, if you have a soft spot for the
Fast and Furious franchise, then I'm sure the above picture will make you feel warm and fuzzy all over -- or, at the very least, just a little nostalgic. Sure we got to see some
photos of cars, but blurry shots of a few cars was hardly the scoop of the century. At least now we're getting
the first official stills (courtesy of
USA Today) from the fourth installment of the racing franchise. So for anyone who might have missed those
earlier shots, here is your chance to see Toretto (
Vin Diesel) and O'Connor (
Paul Walker) together again.
Furious also brings together writer/director
Justin Lin (who directed the
third installment of the series) with series vets
Jordana Brewster and
Michelle Rodriguez (reprising their original roles).
For the latest film in the series, Diesel's underground racer and Walker's undercover cop will reunite to take down a common enemy. There was some early speculation --
possible spoiler warning -- surrounding the return (and reported demise) of Rodriguez's character, Letty, and there were even some photos floating around that would support the theory. Either way, I'm not one of those people who feed off spoilers, so I'm going to let that particular plot point stay a mystery for now. But since I'm not the type to judge, you can take a look
here -- but don't say I didn't warn you.
Fast and Furious will arrive in theaters on June 5th, 2009.
Posted Apr 14th 2008 6:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Action, Universal, Remakes and Sequels
For fans of
The Fast and the Furious franchise, there were still a few pretty big questions hanging over the movie. Mainly, just what exactly was this movie going to be about ... other than fast cars that look real cool when they go real fast? Well, wonder no longer because Universal has announced the official title and the final plot synopsis for the
latest installment of the racing franchise. Now titled
Fast and Furious (yo, they left out the 'the!'), the story centers on reuniting Dom Torretto (
Vin Diesel) and agent Brian O'Connor (
Paul Walker) along with vets from the first film (
Jordana Brewster and
Michelle Rodriguez).
According to Universal's description, "When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O'Conner (Walker). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmanuever him."
So far there have been a few
on-set photos, and don't forget there was an
early script review from Latino Review back in November. It would seem that it might have been legit since it got some of the details right (including some spoilerific details regarding the fate of Rodrgiuez's character, Letty). Director
Justin Lin is already talking about making one more film before retiring the series, but we'll have to wait to see how high gas prices climb first.
Fast and Furious will arrive in theaters on June 5, 2009.
Posted Mar 26th 2008 8:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Action, Universal, Fandom, Remakes and Sequels, Images
OK, I'll admit it: I have watched all of the
Fast and the Furious movies. IThough I know next to nothing about cars, that never really mattered to me. I mean, who doesn't like watching shiny things driving at the speed of light? Car Domain is now posting
images of some of the cars from the set of
Fast and Furious 4 (although Car Domain's scooper says most of them are background for a nightclub scene). We've already
seen stars Vin Diesel and
Paul Walker hard at work, so it's about time we got to see some of the
real stars of these films -- the cars (you can see the full set and some bonus
camera phone footage over at Car Domain).
The fourth film in the series reunites the original cast (Diesel, Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez) along with some new faces, including
Ms. Israel, Gal Gadot. Chris Morgan (
Wanted) wrote the script and
Justin Lin is back behind the camera (he also directed the third installment,
Tokyo Drift). The story centers on Walker and Diesel who are out to stop a heroin importer known as Braga. Of course, the only way to do that is to join his underground racing team (I know, it doesn't make that much sense, but what can you do?).
Continue reading A Glimpse of Muscle on the Set of 'Fast and Furious 4'
Posted Mar 6th 2008 4:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Action, Casting, Universal
Before I even start, I just want to say that at no point am I going to take any cheap shots at Michelle Rodriguez about her driving habits -- and believe me, it isn't easy. Instead, lets just focus on what she does best, playing bad a** chicks. Coming Soon.net reports (via Rodriguez's web site) that she will be returning for the latest installment of The Fast and The Furious franchise.
For those of you out there who don't know your cheesy car flicks, Rodriguez starred in the first film back in 2001as Letty, the girlfriend to street racer Vin Diesel. Like most of the original cast, she was nowhere to be seen in the later sequels. But this time around, it looks like director Justin Lin is going back to the beginning and reuniting Diesel, Paul Walker, and Rodriguez.
The story will focus on Brian (Walker) and Dominic (Diesel) teaming up to stop a drug kingpin known as Braga. So where do the cars come in, you might ask? I mean, this is a Fast and Furious movie after all. Well, our two heroes vie for a spot on the criminal's team, in a snazzy Nissan, with a plan to catch the man red-handed. (Just a couple of weeks ago, we got our first look at Diesel and Walker on set.) Rodriguez is also still doing some post-production work on James Cameron's Avatar, so I would guess that it won't take long to wrap up her part as Letty before she heads back to finish up the sci-fi blockbuster. The Fast and the Furious 4 is scheduled for release summer, 2009.
Posted Oct 19th 2007 3:02PM by James Rocchi
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Podcasts, Interviews, Cinematical Indie
In
Finishing the Game, director Justin Lin (
Better Luck Tomorrow,
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) went back -- both in time and to his indie roots. Shot in 19 days with begged and borrowed equipment and props,
Finishing the Game is a mock-documentary set in a never-was 1973 where, after the tragic early death of Bruce Lee, the producers behind
Game of Death go on the hunt for a suitable replacement so they can wrap the film and make a few dollars.
Finishing the Game doesn't just look at the representation of Asian Americans in film; it's also a sharp satire of the delusions and denials that come from both sides of the camera in movie making. Lin's no stranger to big-money Hollywood -- he recently
signed on to direct a reunited Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in the fourth
Fast and the Furious film -- but
Finishing the Game is clearly a low-budget labor of love. Lin spoke with
Cinematical in San Francisco about bad '70s kung-fu cinema, Vin Diesel's D&D game, how he said 'no' to big-studio backers to keep his vision for
Finishing the Game, the pros and cons of studio movie making, why he's looking forward to the fourth
Fast and the Furious and Asian representation in mass media from Bruce Lee to the here-and-now. You can download the entire interview
right here.Posted Oct 8th 2007 1:02PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Music & Musicals, Mystery & Suspense, Box Office, George Clooney, Cinematical Indie, Western
Wes Anderson's
The Darjeeling Limited and Ang Lee's
Lust, Caution continued to duel one another for the top spot on the indie box office charts. Both expanded from their extremely limited Manhattan engagements last weekend, with
The Darjeeling Limited earning $28,950 on average at 19 locations and
Lust, Caution pulling in $21,530 at each of 17 locales, according to estimates by
Leonard Klady of Movie City News.
The top earners in limited release were
Michael Clayton, the heavily-advertised legal thriller starring
George Clooney, which averaged $46,130 at 15 locations, and
Blade Runner: The Final Cut, which earned $45,600 at just two locations. In his review of
Michael Clayton, our own
James Rocchi wrote: "I was hoping for a film along the lines of classic '70s
Sidney Lumet or
Alan J. Pakula; what I got was something more along the lines of an above-average '90s John Grisham adaptation." After a brief theatrical run,
Blade Runner: The Final Cut will hit DVD i
n various incarnations on December 18.
Among new releases, Justin Lin's
Finishing the Game scored the highest, bringing in $14,700 at one theater in Manhattan, while widely-discussed documentaries
My Kid Could Paint That (average $3,390 on eight screens),
Kurt Cobain: About a Son (average $4,700 on two screens) and
Lake of Fire ($2,330 at one theater) struggled to find audiences. Jake Paltrow's
The Good Night scored $6,250 each at two locations.
Several specialty releases increased their theater counts and at least three held up well. Sean Penn's
Into the Wild expanded onto 135 screens and earned $9,410 on average, artful Western
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford rolled onto 61 screens and made $6,610 per screen, and Julie Taymor's musical
Across the Universe played well at 364 theaters, averaging $5,030 per screen.
Posted Oct 6th 2007 5:02PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Comedy, New Releases, IFC, Theatrical Reviews, Cinematical Indie
The premise of
Finishing the Game is irresistable for a certain type of film geek: a comedy fictionalization of the search for "the next
Bruce Lee." The mockumentary doesn't quite live up to the potential of this premise, but it has enough hilarious moments to distract you from its inconsistencies.
The movie is based on a real-life event: When Bruce Lee died in 1973, he left a significant amount of footage for the film
Game of Death -- enough footage that producers wanted to complete the film and promote it heavily as Lee's last movie. But they needed a stand-in who resembled Lee, to finish production on
Game of Death.
Finishing the Game is an imagining of how the search for Lee's replacement might have gone, filmed in documentary format. The movie focuses on several contenders for Lee's stand-in, most of whom don't look a thing like Lee: a bearded medical doctor named Raja (
Mousa Kraish), small-town Alabama actor Cole Kim (
Sung Kang), the extremely white Tarrick Tyler (
McCaleb Burnett) and my favorite, Z-movie actor Breeze Loo (
Roger Fan), star of
Fists of Fuehrer, who claims Lee has had no effect on his career. Novice director Ronny Kirschenbaum (
Jake Sandvig) and his jaded casting director Eloise Gazdag (
Meredith Scott Lynn) have to pick among these and other Lee wanna-bes.
Continue reading Review: Finishing the Game
Posted Sep 22nd 2007 3:32PM by Patrick Walsh
Filed under: Comedy, Thrillers, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, IFC, Box Office, Distribution, Exhibition, Home Entertainment
According to The Hollywood Reporter, IFC Films is going to release two new star-driven movies in theaters and On Demand on the same day. The films will be released by First Take, the "day-and-date" division of IFC. Previous attempts at day-and-date films have been extremely controversial with theater owners, who often refuse to book the movies, claiming, perhaps rightfully so, "Why would anyone leave the house and come to our theater if they can get the movie in the comfort of their own home?" Currently, Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban's Landmark Theaters are one of the few chains who will book day-and-date films, and even have their own day-and-date program, Sneak Preview. I'll stop saying day-and-date, I promise. You can read genius Cinematical writer Patrick Walsh's report on Steven Soderbergh's adventures with the distribution practice here, and Ryan's interview with Cuban right here.
What are the two new films? The crime drama Savage Grace, directed by Tom Kalin (his first feature-length film since 1992's Leopold and Loeb story Swoon) stars Julianne Moore and Hugh Dancy. Grace tells the "true story of socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland's 1972 murder," and was a $5 million production. Finishing the Game, a Bruce Lee mockumentary, was directed by Justin Lin (the very cool Better Luck Tomorrow, Fast and the Furious 2: Tokyo Drift). Game features cameos by James Franco and...uh...MC Hammer (how'd they get Hammer to sign on? Offer him a hot meal?), and "imagines the recasting of Lee's final role in Game of Death before filming was completed." You can read Scott's generally positive Sundance review of Death here. Grace will premiere in theaters and on IFC next year; Death next month.
Posted Aug 27th 2007 5:05PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Festival Reports, Cinematical Indie
I watched
Finishing the Game with an enthusiastic audience as the
Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD) got underway last week. As Scott Weinberg pointed out in
his Sundance review, the film's humor is scattershot and inconsistent, but overall "delivers a solid parcel of good, goofy chuckles." In the post-screening Q&A, director
Justin Lin noted the challenges he's faced in meetings with Hollywood executives as "the only Asian guy in the room." He feels that Asian Americans are underrepresented -- on screen and in the stories told -- not so much due to racial discrimination but because studio execs are not convinced that a market exists that will support them. Lin and two of his superb actors,
Roger Fan and
Sung Kang, kept the Q&A lively and stayed late to sign posters in the lobby.
My Friday screenings began with
The Heavenly Kings, a quasi-mockumentary about the Hong Kong pop music scene.
Cinematical's Jeffrey M. Anderson wrote
a positive review when it played at the San Francisco Film Festival and the AFFD audience obviously enjoyed it. Personally, I thought the editing was choppy and the tone inconsistent. Still,
Daniel Wu has come a long way from the late 90's, when he first started landing roles in Hong Kong after moving there from San Francisco. He was considered a pretty boy who didn't speak Cantonese very well, and some of his work was barely tolerable. He's blossomed into a fine actor and definitely shows promise and ambition in his directorial debut.
The Victim (from Thailand) looked gorgeous but its unimaginative use of horror movie conventions (
loud! bang!!) and "twists" that were telegraphed far in advance quickly became tiresome. Happily,
Dorm (also from Thailand) was much better. It's immediately captivating, relating the tale of a boy sent away to a private school where things go bump in the night. While the thrills and chills are not entirely original -- the premise is reminiscent of
The Devil's Backbone -- the filmmakers do a great job of making you feel for the lost little kid. And there are just enough original touches to keep you off balance.
Dorm was a pleasant surprise. Even better if you missed its festival showings: it's available on Region 1 DVD from Tartan Home Video. The
Asian Film Festival of Dallas continues through Thursday, August 30.
Posted Aug 26th 2007 4:34PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Action, Universal, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels
Even though
The Fast and the Furious films are
not exactly classics of American cinema, apparently there's still some money to be made from the series -- so we probably should have seen this coming. Edmunds, a car enthusiast web site,
is reporting that pre-production has begun on what could be the fourth film in the
Furious franchise. Sources that have worked on the first three films told Edmunds that the fourth installment is "in development at Universal." So far there has yet to be any mention of a writer or director for the project, (previous directors in the series include
Justin Lin and
John Singleton) but it's not like it really matters. These films have never been about plot development and character study; all you really need is a
crack team of stunt drivers.
Another film seemed inevitable after the not-so-subtle cameo by
Vin Diesel at the end of
Tokyo Drift (the third film in the series). According to Edmunds sources, the script will be reuniting characters from the first three films, including
Paul Walker and
Tyrese Gibson. But it's not about the actors, it's all about the cars. Edmunds reports that there could be a reappearance of the 1970 Dodge Charger from the first film, as well as mention of a 1987 Buick GNX being included in the fun. Since my car knowledge is limited to what I've picked up from video games, I'll take their word for it that watching a Buick in action is something to look forward to. According to Edmunds, Universal is planning on a Summer 2008 release, but there has been no official word from the studio on the project. So stay tuned for any updates that come our way.
Posted Aug 23rd 2007 5:02PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Other Festivals, Cinematical Indie
Once upon a time I encountered a tiny group of people who wanted to see more Asian films on screens in Dallas, Texas. Rather than just belly-aching about the shortage, they put up their own money and mounted the
Asian Film Festival of Dallas in 2002. The first festival screened 10 films over a weekend; some of the screenings sold out and others drew just a handful. The organizers bravely pressed on and now the sixth edition of a very fine showcase for Asian films is upon us. The festival gets under way tonight with
Justin Lin's Finishing the Game.Finishing the Game is said to be an affectionate mockumentary about the hilarious search for a stand-in for
Bruce Lee after the legendary star died before filming on
Game of Death was completed.
Cinematical's Scott Weinberg saw it at Sundance and felt it was "a pretty funny little diversion." Check out
the film's MySpace page to see more people dressed up in Lee's trademarked yellow track suit., not to mention a plethora of video clips. Lin made the terrific
Better Luck Tomorrow before "going Hollywood" and directing
Annapolis and
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, so it's very nice to see him returning to his roots, as it were. Lin and actors
Roger Fan and
Sung Kang are scheduled to attend. IFC Films will release
Finishing the Game in limited engagements in October.
Other highlights include Thai drama
Dorm, Japanese "family portrait"
The Taste of Tea and Vietnamese comedy-drama
Owl and the Sparrow, which
our own Kevin Kelly was very glad he saw at the Los Angeles Film Festival, calling it "a wonderful, character-driven story." Director
Stephane Gauger will attend the screening. The program continues through next Thursday, August 30; check out the
official site for more information. I hope to write more about the films as the fest continues through the week.
Posted Jan 25th 2007 7:33PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Action, Foreign Language, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels, Cinematical Indie
When it comes to US remakes of foreign films, there probably isn't much that hasn't already been said -- I imagine, "It wasn't as good as the original" will always remain at the top of the list. But, the grumblings of world cinema fans has never stopped Hollywood from taking a foreign property and molding it in its own image.
Oldboy was a hit on the festival circuit and won the Grand Prix in Cannes in 2004. Supposedly, it made such an impression on
Quentin Tarantino that he lobbied (unsuccessfully) for
Oldboy to receive the
Palme d'Or over
Michael Moore's
Fahrenheit 9/11.
Justin Lin, director of
Better Luck Tomorrow, had been attached to direct the US remake of the South Korean film -- however,
Bloody Disgusting reports that, not only is Lin no longer on board, but the film might not happen at all. According to the site, Lin "has a lot of other projects in the works and that the only way he'd make it is if everything 'gelled' together right. He loves the original film and wouldn't want to disrespect it". The film follows a man wrongfully imprisoned who seeks revenge for the lost time. There is
way more to the story than that, but it's a complicated and twisted film ... so if you haven't seen it, it's worth
taking a look. And don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to catch up since it looks like it could be a while before Hollywood gets their hands on this one.
Posted Jan 24th 2007 6:02PM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Cinematical Indie
When Bruce Lee died, tragically and way too young in 1973, he'd only logged about 20-some minutes of material for his film Game of Death ... so the opportunistic producers opted to hire a stand-in to replace the legendary martial artist in order to complete the film. A tacky move, to be sure, and one that's caused much consternation among Lee's fans for the past several decades. And now comes a mockumentary that takes careful aim on that unseemly decision ... and it makes for a pretty funny little diversion.
A confident and consistently amusing comedy from Justin Lin, who directed the very fine Better Luck Tomorrow before "going Hollywood" with the empty-headed The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and the nigh-unwatchable Annapolis, Finishing the Game works as sort of a Spinal Tap of the mid-'70s kung fu set. Completely fabricated and admirably on target, Finishing the Game takes square aim at the ways in which Asian performers spent decades pigeonholed into "delivery boy" roles, full-bore "chop socky" caricatures -- and pretty much nothing else, really.
Continue reading Sundance Review: Finishing the Game
Posted Sep 26th 2006 1:32PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Action, Sports, Site Announcements, Universal, Home Entertainment, Remakes and Sequels
Those of you interested in buying
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which goes on sale today, have an interesting option. Instead of purchasing the DVD, which Best Buy has for $14.99 (other chains may sell the DVD at the MSR price of $29.99),
you can download the movie from
CinemaNow for only $9.99. This may not sound like an especially novel idea, with movie downloads
having been available for some time, but the deal here is in the price. Typically CinemaNow offers new releases for about twice as much, a factor that has been the cause of most consumers' disinterest with the site. Even with their announcement over the summer that their downloads can be burned to disc (Chris told us about
some problems there, though), a perk that puts the service ahead of iTunes and other download shops as far as viewing options go.
But is $5 off a good enough deal, really? Maybe for those of us who don't usually bother with the featurettes, deleted scenes and commentaries (the DVD has one with director
Justin Lin), but in a culture that likes to own and collect things, near-ten-bucks sounds a bit much for a burned DVD. I still see shops like CinemaNow being good for renters, the audience that doesn't care about possessing the copy, and since
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift isn't available to rent on the site yet, Netflix still sounds like the better idea.
