[movie review] Operation Chromite

I

OPERATION CHROMITE

Date of Release: 15th September 2016
Rating: NC16 (Consumer Advice: Violence)
Language: In Korean and English with English and Chinese subtitles 
Run time: 110-mins
Genre: Action/ Drama

"South Korean Navy Special Forces, Captain Jang Hak-soo and 7 members of the KLO (Korean Liasion Office) unit disguise themselves as a North Korean inspection unit and infiltrate the North Korean army command center in Incheon. Their mission directives from Gen. MacArthur are: 1. Recon enemy forces in Incheon and secure the mine chart, 2. Kidnap 'Ryu Jang-choon,' the second highest ranking officer in the North Korean command center, to acquire intel on the naval mine location and 3. On D-Day, light the Palmido light house as a signal to the main UN forces."

The Taking of Tiger Mountain 智取威虎山

Directed by Tsui Hark 徐克，based on the novel 

"Tracks in the Snowy Forest 林海雪原" 

By Qu Bo 曲波,

"The Taking of Tiger Mountain" is showing in the theatre now.

From the novel, it was then adapted into the famous belong opera, 

"The Taking of Tiger Mountain 智取威虎山"

That's where the title of the movies came from.

Lin Gengxin 林更新 and Zhang Hanyu 张涵予 protrays as the two main protagonists,

Yang Zi Rong杨子荣 & Shao Jian Bo 少剑波 respectively.

Like its chinese title, the story tells how the protagonists with an army of 30 men tried to take over Tiger Mountain where more than 300 bandits reside.

It's a battle of wisdom and strength over number and gunpower.

Being an epic action film directed by Tsui Hark, you won't be disappointed in his numerous explosions, gun & fighting scenes.

Watching his movies reminds me of Michael Bay, a lot.

Both who are famous for their epic action films naming him "chinese Michael Bay" in my mind.

Already breaking Chinese box offices.

"The Taking of Tiger Mountain 智取威虎山" is not a movie you should miss if you like wat & fighting films.

The film was shoot in  stereoscopic 3D

With stylize visual effects.

It might be really different watching it in 3D (from my imagination)

Briefly worked on a stereo film before and I can say it's not easy to work on one.

Lots of hard work indeed.

The way the bullets and explosions are done and edited, which they are done in a stylize artistic way makes the film different from other chinese epic action films.

Released since 8th January, go catch it!

Kungfu Jungle 一个人的武林

Caught 

Kungfu Jungle 一个人的武林

Gala Premiere with Clover Films once again!

Like the title, it's a movie full of Kungfu.

Hong Kong movie scene has always been famous for the Kungfu/Martial Arts moves and movies.

People know Sammo Hung, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan,

and Donnie Yen.

The casts of Kungfu Jungle are full of the martial arts experts and stunt coordinators well known in the scene.

Playing tribute to Kungfu/Martial Arts we are familiar with on screen.

Sitting with Sochii, I can say that the boyfriends are more excited than we are.

Thus, we decided the boyfriends could make a better review than us!

The boyfriend says,

First off, I'm not someone who enjoys Hong Kong movies although I do enjoy a little fighting Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan style every once in awhile although they are never at the top of my priority list and I honestly thought this was going to be another generic Kung Fu movie so I didn't go with very high expectations.  

Boy was wrong, my expectations were totally blown away by this movie especially with a myriad of fighting styles which I never knew existed in Chinese Kungfu.
 What's more spectacular is when every single style is combined into a single martial artist, Donnie Yen in this case.  

Every style was portrayed beautifully with beautiful elegance and intricacy in every move made by the various martial artists that were featured in the film and this really blew me away because most Kung Fu movies that I've watched(which really only amounts to a handful) only really depict one particular style but this is... well everything really(given the fact that I really don't know much about martial arts).  

Another thing that caught my attention was the idea of using loss or the fear of loss to fuel one's anger, passion and desire to fight which I believe almost everyone can relate too. 

After all, human nature works in a way that we would do anything humanly possible to prevent ourselves from losing something or someone we truly love and this was depicted perfectly in the movie from both the villian and the main protagonist as well. 
Coupled with the idea that Kung Fu was an art made for killing and is not mere child's play really does incite some thought on how almost anything can be used for a greater good or evil dependent on the wielder.  

So yeah, basically that's it :)

See this is how much they love the movie they decided to kiss Donnie Yen on the poster.

痞子英雄2：黎明再起 - Black & White:The Dawn of Justice Gala Premiere

Attended [痞子英雄2：黎明再起 - Black & White:The Dawn of Justice] Gala Premiere last Wednesday, all thanks to CloverFilms SG for the invitation!

The sequel to [痞子英雄首部曲：全面開戰 Black & White : The Dawn of Assault]

and the prequel to the drama series  [痞子英雄 Black & White]

Mark Chao 趙又廷 is back as 吳英雄 Wu Ying Xiong,

this time with newly added cast, Lin Geng Xin 林更新 from China.

Black & White:The Dawn of Justice is a Taiwan/China action thriller movie with lots of international casts and crews.

I was really lucky that before the screening I got to take a photo with both the director and Mark Chao with 4 other lucky bloggers!

Thank you Clover Films for the opportunity!

Spending 16 million RMB constructing special effect studio in Kao Shiung,

Black & White consist of casts and crews that are international.

Look out for the actions in the movie as both the

Stunt Coordinator &

Action Directing 

are Hollywood crews!!

They worked on Fast & Furious, Prison Break, (just naming a few)
So, you can expect what kind of actions you can see in the movie!

The two main lead this time are Mark Chao, and bringing in

Lin Geng Xin.

People who will be more familiar with him as 14 Ye in Scarlet Heart.

With a High EQ detective who is always analyzing and one who always working to his intuitions instead,

it's a pair of partners that give the movie a different type of feeling.

With Hollywood casts and crews, Black and White is full of actions and stunt moves that will amaze you.

Even the camera angles and directions are so nicely directed, making the action scenes more exciting that before!

Signing off with the photos taken together with the other bloggers!

Here with Flora of www.floraisabelle.com

It's nice meeting you!!

Mint and Colin!

With William

Clover Films SG blogger event!!

It's been awhile since I had attend any events, thanks Kevin from Clover Films SG for inviting me down for the blogger event!

Over the weekend I attended Clover Films SG blogger event held at Fullerton Hotel.

Established in 2009, Clover Films distributes and produce Asian movies, emphasizing on Singapore and our neighbor's Malaysia markets.

Some of the movies Clover Films had distributed are :

The Viral Factor, CZ12, The Fierce Wife : Final Episode, and many more.

They even co-produced some local movies like Jack Neo's Ah Boys to Men I & II

It's nice to have more and more Asian movies choices in our local cinemas.

As a VFX artist, I love movies.

Personally, I really love watching movies from Hong Kong, especially the action ones.

In recent years, there are also lots of good movies coming from Taiwan and Korea too, not forgetting Japan.

Thinking back into my Secondary school days or early Poly days, before 2010,

there are actually lots of nice Taiwan, Japan and Korean movies that I actually looked forward to watching them yet was disappointed to find out that they won't be shown in Singapore.

All I can do is to wait for DVD release and get them off shelves.

I guess those are one of the reasons why people started streaming online or ended downloading them off the net instead.

It's really nice to have Clover Films around, bringing us more Asian movies selections!

Kevin shown us some of the movie releases for the next few months during the event presentation!

Co-producing in the two movies, locals can look out for 2 upcoming locals movies starting next year!

KING OF MAHJONG 麻将王 and

BRING BACK THE DEAD 招魂

Collaborating between local and Hong Kong artistes, "King of Mahjong" has lots of big casts in it!

Jeseeca Liu acting as the grieving mum seeking to bring back her dead son in the horror movie

"Bring Back the Dead"

I seriously freak myself out watching the trailer ><

There are also lots of upcoming Asian movies that Clover Film brought in too!

(from Left to Right

1st row :

THAI - The Eyes Diary , HONG KONG - Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2, CHINESE -  Black & White : The Dawn of Justice

2nd row:

TAIWAN : My Geeky Nerdy Buddies, KOREA : Haemoo, CHINESE : Kungfu Jungle

3rd row:

The Golden Era)

Here are my personal 3 picks out of the 7 movies.

Personally speaking, other than story plot, director, even vfx choices are what lead me to be attracted to the movies, and of course, the selected casts.

Black & White : The Dawn of Justice

痞子英雄：黎明再起 

Releasing on 9th Oct 2014, this is the sequel to the action movie Black & White.

Do you know they had renowned action choreographer from Hollywood to be the action director in this movie?

Jack Gill has contributed to lots of Hollywood movies and among them are Fast and Furious 5. 

The visual effects house for the movie is BUF from France, who did CGI for movies like Thor, Avatar and even The Dark Knight.

I really can't wait to watch how the vfx gonna be in the movie!

Mark Chao back with his role with Lin Gengxin,

I am excited to see Lin Gengxin in his new works, started to notice him from 步步惊心 as 14爷.

One of my favourite casts in the TV series indeed.

Haemoo

Based on true events, "Haemoo" is the story of a group of fisherman who are driven into madness when their attempt to smuggle illegal migrants ends in a horrible tragedy.

Heh the trailer seems exciting, and the cast really attracted me.

See the younger actor in the poster?

That's JYJ's Park Yoo-Chun!!!!

I am always interested in movies that are based on true stories/events.

The excitement and anticipation to the story plots never fail to attract me.

Haemoo was also selected as the Korea entry for the 87th Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film.

The Golden Era

黄金时代

A 3 hours art film, directed by Ann Hui.

It was already shown in numerous film festivals internationally.

With A grade actor and actress like

Tang Wei and Feng Shao Feng acting in the film, The Golden Era is a must catch.

It might be 3 hours long, but The Golden Era catches my eyes, 

other than the fact that Feng Shao Feng is acting in it.

For dramas lovers out there, Feng Shao Feng is Lan Ling Wang. 

The chinese drama that is starring Ariel Lin too. 

Ann Hui's movies are best known for her controversial Hong Kong movies. 

Talking about 2 important writers in the 20th century China, it's a movie filled with competitive friendship, emotions and love.

It's not easy to find film festival Asian movie in Singapore and even if there is the screenings are always so limited! 

Clover Films is bringing this in to share the good stuffs. 

To be shown in so many international film festivals, it is definitely going to be awesome. 

I can't wait for all the movies to be out in the cinemas!!!!

Before I end this post, here are some photos with the other bloggers.

It's really nice to catch up with some of them :)

CK-HP-Tselyn-Thiang

Thanks Kevin from Clover Films!

Group photo credits to HP and Derrick See

Thank you Clover Films for the invitations once again!

Twilight Breaking Dawn Part II Screening @ City Square mall

Was invited for Twilight Breaking Dawn Part II Screening at City Square Mall on last Saturday.

Debra of http://www.debsumikolee.blogspot.sg/ was my date! 

We planned to watch the movie initially and since there was the screening I asked her along with me!

Newly opened on 13th November (Grand Opening on 22nd November), Golden Village at City Square Mall is the 11th cinema in Singapore.

The newly launched GV at City Square Mall consist of 6 cinema theaters in which one unique
 "Couple Cinema"

 42-seater only, with ample space between each couple seats, couples can now enjoy their own personal space with each other while enjoying the movie screening.

photo from GV Facebook page

With their new campaign,
" I RUN THE CINEMA @ GV CITY SQUARE "
movie lovers can get to choose a few different promotions to have a better and unique movie experience.

I BOOK EARLY AND PAY LESS 
Book your movie tickets early for the best ticket price.
Promotion period: From 28 Nov,

Applicable to: 1 hall, 1 movie session every Wednesday
Booking and Purchasing of tickets: Only at GV City Square Box Office or at www.gv.com.sg 
Mechanism:
- Enjoy ticket price as low as $5 when you book early. 

I CREATE MY SNACK PACK 
Choose any 2 items for just $8.50. Selection includes Nachos, Jumbo Hotdog, RegularPopcorn or Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream. 
Movie patrons will be able to mix-and-match their preferred choice of snacks with a $8.50 snack purchase. 

I PREMIERE MY OWN PRODUCTION 
Screen your home-made videos on the big screen 
Aspiring film-makers will now have a more affordable screening venue with the availability of GV City Square’s new 42-seater hall. Cosy and ideal for corporate bookings, independent film producers & students who wish to premiere their original films may approach Golden Village to discuss a possible screening. 
The cinema hall also has capabilities to host functions and small-scale events with the availability of a convertible function room. 

I PICK A MOVIE TO BE SCREENED 
Decide which movie to be played. 
From 3 Dec 2012.
Applicable to one movie session on first Monday of the month.
First patron to purchase minimum 4 tickets for the session will get to decide the movie to be screened from a selection of titles.
Purchase of tickets on the screening day at GV City Square Box Office only.

The new seats at City Square Mall is really comfy too.
I really hate the ones at Jurong Point, too stift and too upright.

There are ample leg room too so it's really comfortable :D

Anyway, back to the movie.

TWILIGHT : BREAKING DAWN PART II

People shun away from Twilight, thinking it's gay and such, with sparkling vampires.

You know, you don't have to watch it for the sake of the love story but the little little things behind it?

I personally do love watching the vampire fight scenes.

I like Alice and Jane.

Dakota Fanning (Jane) is attractive looking, isn't she?

I am not going to be a mega spoiler for the movie, but please read on at your own risk.

Skip through if you do not want to know a single thing.

Then again, most fans SHOULD know and expects what's going on since they(you) most likely have read the series already.

I FELT CHEATED.

During the war!

I was so engrossed in the movie, getting so affected by the fighting scene.

This dies, that dies, he dies, she dies.

Then..... .omfg. 

Alice why do you have that kind of power -.-

Do watch the movie cause the finale is indeed not bad.

AT LEAST FINISH THE ENTIRE SERIES!

Here's some more photos with the other bloggers before I end this post.

with my date, Debra http://www.debsumikolee.blogspot.sg/

 with Regine, http://xoreginexo.blogspot.sg/

please take care of yourself and stop thinking too much oh-kay

Am here to listen to you :D

 with Michelle, http://love-michellefei.blogspot.sg/

 with Christina, http://huneyzworld.blogspot.sg/

 with Miranda, http://www.misformiranda.com/

with Noelle, http://www.noellemikazuki.com/

Chiro, why we didn't take photos together????

Thanks OMY.sg and GV

<3 COOKIE

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