Butterboom

Free Tix to Marie Antoinette

The new Sophia Coppola-directed, Kirsten Dunst-starring film is opening TODAY in Hong Kong and we have a set of tickets to give away to see it at the new AMC Pacific Place tonight.

E-mail us with the name of the movie Kirsten Dunst was last in and we’ll have the tickets for you at the counter.

See the trailer at the official site here!

“The Departed” Wins and Loses

Martin Scorsese‘s remake of INFERNAL AFFAIRS finally got the director a Golden Globe for Best Director (but lost to BABEL for best picture) – the real face-off will be at The Academy Awards in June to see who takes home the Oscar. I know alot of HK people didn’t like the US-version of the beloved Andy Lau/Tony Leung thriller, but I thought THE DEPARTED took the whole concept up a few notches, built the characters up better, had terrific actors and created more suspense than the Andrew Wong version but of course it should do that because the budget was probably 10 times more.

Quick fact: Did you know that INFERNAL AFFAIRS has a DIFFERENT ending for its Mainland China release? You can read it here if you have seen it or don’t mind spoilers. Well those crazy Mainland censors are at it again as even the US-version can’t even make it into the city because of some mention of a Mainland army munitions buy:

“A government source tells Reuters, “There is no chance The Departed will be shown in mainland cinemas because the US side declined to change a plot line describing how Beijing wanted to buy advanced military computer hardware. “That part of the plot is definitely unnecessary. The regulators just cannot understand why the movie wanted to involve China. They can talk about Iran or Iraq or whatever, but there’s no reason to get China in.”

HK Studio Makes Ninja Turtles

Some proof that HK is moving into the Hollywood limelight beyond the Jackie Chan’s and John Woo’s. Local CGI company IMAGI has been working for a few years on a new computer graphic animated movie based on the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES or the cooler sounding TMNT.

The second trailer hit Quicktime today so go have a look. It opens in HK on March 29 and the US on March 23 – so we only have to wait 1 week to see it on the big screen. It definitely looks tougher and darker than the cowabunga cartoon!
VIEW THE TRAILER

Rain Falls in Hong Kong – Literally!

I don’t want to hype this up anymore than it already has, seeing as we’re just lucky to get big-name acts coming to Hong Kong but with a name like “Rain” – this Korean pop star should really be more careful with his footing.

Rain held two concerts in Hong Kong over the weekend to kick off the Asian leg of his 2007 world concert tour. Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily reported that Rain fell into a 1.8-meter deep hole on stage while he was talking to the audience during the concert.

The audience was shocked at Rain’s sudden disappearance, which was followed by the dimming of the lights.

Rain appeared after a minute and apologized to fans. He appeared unhurt.

Hey he was OK and it probably made more news about his tour than if he did one without any incident.

FULL STORY

NowTV to Increase Fees

I love NowTV! All those years in the 90′s complaining about the crappy TV in Hong Kong was solved with broadband TV. Now I get to remember how to waste time by watching too much TV. I don’t subscribe to the full package but get selective channels like MTV Southeast Asia, E, CNBC, Discovery etc. all for amazingly low prices.

But there is the rub, NowTV is going to raise prices by 16% this year because they spent an amazing US$200 million on football broadcast rights. So from the current $388 to $450. Which isn’t bad but some people are already complaining.

There’s always iCable that lowered their prices to $308.

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Borat Finally Invades Hong Kong

We’ve been waiting and waiting for him! Well some of you probably found him for RMB5 in Shenzhen already because you couldn’t wait any longer, but finally it can be told: BORAT IS COMING TO HONG KONG ON FEBRUARY 1st!

The hit-movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (yes that is the full title) will be part of – get this – the Jewish Film Fest! If you have seen Borat then you know this is almost crazy as in the film he does ask a gun shop salesperson “Which gun is best to kill Jew with?”

There will be a sneak preview at Palace IFC on January 29th but if you want to laugh your guts out make sure you make a date with Borat. The official release date in HK for Borat is March 1st so if you can’t get a seat at the Film Fest you can wait another month for it to open in cinemas around HK or wait a little longer for the official US-release DVD that hits on March 6th.