Month: November 2024

When The Mysterious Nie Xiaoqian: A Chinese Ghost Story (小倩) Gets A New Date!

Like its namesake, let’s hope this new take on A Chinese Ghost Story isn’t just a fading dream. This film has a new release date, and as for when it’ll come out in the Americas, that’s anyone’s guess.

Nie Xiaoqian: A Chinese Ghost Story Nie Xiaoqian: A Chinese Ghost Story has a new release date, and according to AsianFilmFans YouTube information, that’s Dec 6, 2024! Whether this is for its debut in China or an international date, the latter is unlikely. This animated movie was supposed to come out in April of this year, but with no media coverage and reviews to be found, perhaps the film wasn’t ready. When considering the credits lists first-time director Qichao Mao in charge, perhaps he realised there’s some flaws that needed fixing.

Between the older trailer and newest, there’s a lot more story revealed. Siu-sin is tied up, and shows no love for her captor. It’s some greater force who have kept others from ascending. In Bhuddism, there’s sometimes the hope for reincarnation or even a new life in a new realm, but here, there are unearthly forces who want to control spirits!

Continue reading “When The Mysterious Nie Xiaoqian: A Chinese Ghost Story (小倩) Gets A New Date!”

Missed Opportunities with Harold and the Purple Crayon. Can Replacing That With A 3D Pen Do The Job?

While one star can continue to charm in Harold and the Purple Crayon, is that enough to carry a film?

harold and the purple dragon movie posterAvailable on VOD
Spoiler Alert

Zachary Levi may well be typecast, because the character he plays in Harold and the Purple Crayon is no different from Billy in Shazam. There’s a youthful exuberance that this actor loves to amp up, but I’d like to see him expand his range.

When I realised Alfred Molina is also involved in this film, I had to give this film a chance, and found myself enjoying this movie more because of his voice than Levi. He’s like that grandfather I want to spend my time with, but when his presence suddenly disappears, I’m like Harold and have to wonder why. After a few hours alone, he’s comes up with the idea to draw a portal to the real world with his magical crayon, where (like in Disney’s Enchanted) what he discovers is pure culture shock!

Everyone calls him a wacko, and even amusingly a Smurf. The only two people who are sympathetic are Mel (Benjamin Bottani) and Terry (Zooey Deschanel) to this child-like individual who needs to find “The Old Man,” the name he gave to the narrator.

Continue reading “Missed Opportunities with Harold and the Purple Crayon. Can Replacing That With A 3D Pen Do The Job?”

A Quick Retrospective on Philip J. Cook, Filmmaker-at-large!

One thing that’s for certain is that everyone in one of Philip J. Cook’s film projects are passionate about what they do and are invested from start to end!

Phillip J Cook at WorkThe big difference between one of Philip J. Cook‘s early films, like Despiser, to a recent one, namely Ghost Planet, is in how well he can blend in the special effects. He uses a blue/green screen for most of his wide angle shots, and these days, they’re in those closeups too! With modern-age computer technology, he can truly create those exotic worlds, and while his skills as a storyteller haven’t changed much, what makes his films unique is that he will micromanage. That is, he’s an auteur.

Although most of his tales are populated with characters in familiar roles, I can’t fault him for his choices after watching more than these two works. He wants to make his works accessible. What I’m recognising from Despiser reminds me of Buckaroo Banzai and I had to check out the bonus features first before attempting to watch the film. They’re quite good at getting me primed at what to expect instead of tuning it out.

Continue reading “A Quick Retrospective on Philip J. Cook, Filmmaker-at-large!”

The Deets Are In for Time of Eve’s Home Video Release

Whether or not the themes explored in the anime Time of Eve is considered ahead of its time, fans can find out when this collection comes out!

Time of Eve Cover
Also available to preorder on Amazon USA

Release Date:
Dec 10, 2024

The challenge with artificial intelligence is that will the creators allow it to evolve and grow, and back when the anime Time of Eve first came out (2009), not everyone felt too concerned. Not everyone may have been aware about this web series; these days, the concern with what machines can do is cause for concern. There’s consequences, which many documentaries have explored, and the can of worms that various works of entertainment have opened up suggests many possible ways machines can go renegade!

Now, anime distributor AnimEigo and parent company MediaOCD are bringing this series for all to discuss and examine with the upcoming blu-ray release. That’s because there’s an all new featurette which may delve into the discourse too!

From the Press Release:

An auteur independent work from director Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Patema Inverted, Sing a Bit of Harmony), Time of Eve is a critical darling that won the 2010 Tokyo Anime Award for Original Video Animation. This new edition from AnimEigo contains the feature film version in English and Japanese, along with the original 6-episode web series from which it was assembled.

Time of Eve is set during a time when humanoid robots are everywhere, and every home has one as a servant. Some people treat them with contempt, while others become obsessed. One day, two high school boys stumble across a mysterious café that offers a third option: talk to them, free of prejudice, or even full knowledge of who’s a robot and who’s human. Shocked and rattled by the experience, the boys find themselves learning more about the world and themselves than they ever could have imagined.

Continue reading “The Deets Are In for Time of Eve’s Home Video Release”

[Interview] Steve Kostanski on Frankie Freako and The Love for Makeup FX!

“As much as I wanted to have way more elaborate stuff in Frankie Freako, puppet wise, the bottom line is it needed to be janky…” said Steve Kostanski.

Steve Kostanski and Frankie
Frankie Freako is available to purchase on Amazon USA.

Steve Kostanski always loved the magic that film offered at an early age, and when he was creating stop motion films in the garage, little would he know it would lead to a career in the special effects industry. While some people think of him as part of the Astron-6 collective, where they create 80s-centric, no-budget, mixed-genre movies, they have done independent works too, like this filmmaker has with Freddie Freako, to realise they’re a tight group says it all. His name is also there in The Void and Manborg, where he has co-director credit.

His efforts are to be commended since he loves the medium; he watched shows like Mega Movie Magic (1997-2004) on Discovery Channel to learn how film effects were created back then. And on that fateful day where he and his buddies saw Army of Darkness, he knew what he would do for the rest of his life!

“That was when it really clicked,” said Kostanski, as I interviewed him via Zoom. “For me, it seemed like they were normal guys having fun goofing around; except somehow it became accessible. What they made stopped being this nebulous idea from Hollywood and that led to me to seriously want to make it in the film industry.

Continue reading “[Interview] Steve Kostanski on Frankie Freako and The Love for Makeup FX!”

Unboxing All Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume Two

There’s lots to love in All Haunts Be Ours Volume Two. Not only are more films from other countries are explored, but also there’s plenty of world wide and first time on blu-ray premieres, but also the bonus features look made just for this release too!

Kier-La JanisseKier-La Janisse really loves her independent cinema and folk horror. After watching her award winning Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched Documentary (review link), which is available in All Haunts Be Ours box set, I am hooked! And since she knows that collection isn’t the end all be all, what she’s gathered together for All Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2 (Amazon link), looks simply amazing! The fact she’s delving into what other regions offer says it all, and I look forward to diving into the South Asian region which is where my heritage comes from!
All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror Vol. 2
Available to purchase on Amazon USA
When considering she is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University and authored many scholarly books in the subject of genre cinema, she is well respected in the cinema and horror community! I need a week or two to watch as much as I can to give a detailed report, but in the meantime, here’s an onboxing video showcasing my initial reactions.

Unboxing All Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume Two