The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
| Jolie quiets Bosnian critics with war film screening Posted: 09 Dec 2011 04:40 AM PST SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Victims of Bosnia's 1992-95 war had most of their anxieties over a film by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie put to rest at a private screening this week. Objections to filming Jolie's tale of love between a Serb man and a Muslim woman in Bosnia last year forced the Hollywood star to shoot most of the film in nearby Hungary. Only some of the exterior scenes were shot in Bosnia. But the Thursday night screening of the film in Sarajevo to representatives of victims' associations elicited positive reactions from some of Jolie's toughest local critics. "She has made a fantastic film for Bosnia and Herzegovina, I can really say that from the angle of a victim," Murat Tahirovic, the president of Bosnia's association of (wartime) detainees, told the Federal Television in Sarajevo. Tahirovic was among a dozen representatives of wartime victims invited to the closed screening of Jolie's directorial debut "In The Land of Blood and Honey". "Everybody should see this film," Tahirovic said. In October 2010, a Bosnian minister cancelled Jolie's filming permits citing incomplete paperwork, after female victims of the Bosnian war objected to details of the plot, alleging it was about love between a rapist and his victim. The film tells a tale of love between a Serb man and a Muslim woman before the Bosnian war, who later meet in different circumstances - he is an army officer and she is his detainee. Victims of sexual violence in Bosnia wrote to the United Nations refugee agency, saying Jolie did not deserve her role as a UNHCR Good Will Ambassador, and did not know enough about the Bosnian conflict. Jolie first came to Bosnia last year as an UNHCR ambassador. She filmed most of the feature in Budapest but asked war victims voicing their objections to the movie to reserve judgement until they had seen the finished product. One of the loudest opponents to Jolie filming in Bosnia said she was now satisfied by the film's portrayal of the war. "Two hours of film is not enough time to show all (the horrors of the war), but I think Angelina managed to do it," said Sadzida Hadzic of the Women-Victims of War association. However, Hatidza Mehmedovic, who lost her husband and two teenage sons in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, said she was disappointed the film was shot elsehwere, even though she congratulated Jolie. "The film is so strong, so difficult, it would be stronger if it was shot in Bosnia," she told Reuters. The closed screening was organised by the Center for post-conflict research, and was not open to media. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2011 12:10 AM PST Actor-singer Dicky Cheung is among the first Hong Kong stars to build a career in the mainland after leaving TVB. WHEN Dicky Cheung left Hong Kong at the height of his TVB career to crack the China and Taiwan markets in 1999, he did not even know how to pronounce his own name in Mandarin. These days, the singer-actor – Zhang Weijian to most Chinese fans – speaks fluent Mandarin with a Beijing accent and is happy he left "when the time was right". "If I had waited till now to do so, it would have been too late as it is more difficult to break into the China market," says Cheung, 46. In Singapore recently for the opening of Maurice Lacroix's flagship boutique in Marina Square, the Swiss watchmaker's first Asia ambassador was dressed in a flashy silver suit. His Mandarin still bears hints of his native Cantonese twang at times. Of late, many artistes such as Bowie Lam and Sammul Chan have left Hong Kong's leading television station TVB to pursue better careers and fatter paycheques in the mainland, but Cheung left way before they did. Best known for his portrayal as the Monkey King in the 1996 adaptation of Journey To The West, he ran into a contract dispute with TVB. When his contract ended around 1999, he left the station to further his career in China and Taiwan. A 2003 report pegged him as earning 49mil yuan the previous year, making him the highest-paid Hong Kong entertainer in China then. Asked if he had the foresight in pursuing the opportunities in those markets, he laughs and rejects the notion. "Honestly, I didn't foresee anything. It was all a coincidence. When my contract ended, a China company wanted to sign me on, so I thought I'd just try," he says. He ended up filming popular serials such as The Duke Of Mount Deer 2000, where he played fake eunuch Wei Xiaobao, a role made famous by Tony Leung Chiu Wai for a TVB serial in 1984. Cheung has worked non-stop since Chinese New Year this year. He also recorded and promoted his first solo album in five years, Full Moon. Containing Mandarin and Cantonese songs, it was released in July. He has also just wrapped up filming on a new idol drama, The Next Magic, which co-stars Nicholas Tse. It is likely to be screened in China or Taiwan next year. Cheung, however, is unperturbed about appearing less frequently on TV. He says: "My plan is to film a maximum of two television series a year. In the past 10 years, I've been living my life on sets. So, in the days to come, I hope to spend more time on myself and my family, doing things I like." He is married to China actress Jess Zhang Qian, who is based in Beijing, and the couple have no children. His mother and two younger brothers live in Hong Kong. – The Straits Times, Singapore / Asia News Network Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 08 Dec 2011 11:54 PM PST Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – Ethan Hunt is back with another mission! This time round, Hunt and the whole IMF agency are shut down when they are suspected of being traitors. Left without any resources, Hunt is forced to work with a team of fellow IMF outcasts to clear the agency's name. Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton and Michael Nyqvist. Snow Flower And The Secret Fan – In 19th century China, Snow Flower and Lily, both seven years old, are matched as "laotong" – girls who are bonded for life as kindred spirits. They are isolated by their families, but still communicate with one another by writing in a secret language in between the folds of a silk fan. In a parallel story, Snow Flower and Lily's descendants Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in present-day Shanghai. However, by understanding their ancestors' kinship, Nina and Sophia learn to appreciate and accept the old culture. Starring Li Bingbing, Vivian Wu, Gianna Jun and Russell Wong. Alvin And The Chipmunks 3 – The singing chipmunks are up to their usual antics in the third instalment of this movie franchise. Alvin, Simon, Theodore and the Chipettes somehow find themselves shipwrecked on a deserted island. As Dave frantically searches for them, the chipmunks make the best of the situation by ... singing, dancing and creating mayhem. Starring Jason Lee, David Cross and Jenny Slate with the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Christina Applegate, Anna Faris and Amy Poehler. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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