Tag: 2020

VFFOnline: Opening the Doors to The Secret Garden (2020)

To give this movie a cinematic edge, a Harry Potter treatment was needed and this detail should be of no surprise when David Heyman is one of the producers.

Image result for the secret garden 2020 where to watchBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Streaming Online
at the Victoria Film Festival
Get your pass here to view beginning Feb 5th, 2021

Note: Available to view for residents in British Columbia. Support local! Streaming on YouTube and available to purchase on Amazon PrimeThe Secret Garden too.

The Secret Garden looks more like a secluded glen in this latest adaptation of the novel of the same name. No knowledge of Frances Hodgson Burnett‘s work is needed because this movie stays faithful to the outline. To give this movie a cinematic edge, a Harry Potter treatment was needed and this detail should be of no surprise when David Heyman is one of the producers.

Sadly, because of the pandemic, it never got a proper theatrical run. It wouldn’t have broken any box office records, but when considering the effort spent to scale up the beauty this garden represents, the investment lost is just that and hopefully its life in home video can make back the money spent.

Continue reading “VFFOnline: Opening the Doors to The Secret Garden (2020)”

Hellboy! Where to Begin, What to Read with the 2021 Universe Essentials Collection…

The HELLBOY UNIVERSE ESSENTIALS line debuts in July 2021 with HELLBOY UNIVERSE ESSENTIALS: HELLBOY. Priced at $14.99, the trade paperback will collect these iconic stories: The Chained Coffin, The Third Wish, Pancakes, The Nature of the Beast, The Corpse, The Baba Yaga, A Christmas Underground, The Ghoul, and The Troll Witch.

The Secret GardenDon’t know where to begin with Dark Horse Comics’ seminal mascot? The stories from the Hellboy Universe are some of the most celebrated and beloved in comics fandom. Blending folklore, horror, mythology, action, and adventure, legendary creator Mike Mignola and a host of celebrated writers and artists have chronicled the adventures of Hellboy, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Lobster Johnson, and Sir Edward Grey for more than two decades. Beginning in 2021, Dark Horse Books will publish four volumes of essential Hellboy Universe stories, all selected by Mike Mignola, each featuring all new covers by him and award-winning colorist Dave Stewart.

“In some cases—B.P.R.D. and Witchfinder—it was pretty easy to select the one “essential” book,” said Mignola. “Hellboy was more complicated, as there is so much ground to cover. In the end we chose to go with a collection of short stories rather than a single graphic novel, to give more of an overview of the character. We chose certain stories that say important things about his background, but also some that just show what he does and how he does it. A couple of stories are in there just because they are my favorites.”

Continue reading “Hellboy! Where to Begin, What to Read with the 2021 Universe Essentials Collection…”

LAAPFF 2020 The Chef on Tolerance in Ethnic Places

This narrative has a simple premise of showing how a master trains a synthetic apprentice in a Chinese restaurant. The line cooks are not happy, and they fear losing their jobs.

The Chef / Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2019(SSFF & ASIA 2019)By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California (excluding San Diego County) from Oct 1 at 12pm PT to Oct 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to watch the film on Eventive.

Hao Zheng‘s short film, The Chef is eerie in the sense that we are already replacing workers with robots. The documentaries I’ve looked at earlier this year show how they can be helpful in various situations. From therapy to companionship, just where is the line drawn? Writers Ithaca Deng and Leqi Vanessa Kong can easily take a page out of Star Trek: Picard (or vice versa, when considering the original release date) if they wanted to expanded on the idea.

Continue reading “LAAPFF 2020 The Chef on Tolerance in Ethnic Places”

LAAPFF 2020 Basurero is Cabiling’s answer to Sicario!

The Philippine word Basurero translates to Dump, and Filipina-American filmmaker Eileen Cabiling’s short takes this title and explores the meaning in context of the problems that still occur in her native country.

The Secret Garden

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California (excluding San Diego County) from Oc 1, 2020 at 12pm PT to Oct 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to watch the film on Eventive.

The Philippine word Basurero translates to ‘Dump,’ and Filipina-American filmmaker Eileen Cabiling‘s short takes this title and explores the meaning in context of the problems that still occur in her native country. Although her work is fiction, the real-world connections are heavy since it’s more than just another short film about feeling trapped. It’s a character study on Bong (Jericho Rosales), a fisherman in Manila struggling to make ends meet. He’s like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Continue reading “LAAPFF 2020 Basurero is Cabiling’s answer to Sicario!”

LAAPFF 2020 Animated Shorts Spotlight

The works that are available range from experimental to enduring, and of those that are available, I’m glad to report that a few will eventually make it to online distribution.

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film FestivalBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California (excluding San Diego County) from October 1, 2020 at 12pm PT to October 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to find listings on Eventive.

In addition to the previous animated works which I have looked at playing at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, there’s plenty more. The works that are available range from experimental to enduring, and of those that are available, I’m glad to report that one on my list has world-wide distribution.

The following are my favourites:

Continue reading “LAAPFF 2020 Animated Shorts Spotlight”

%d bloggers like this: