“A TENSE AND RIVETING PIECE OF ACTION CINEMA… IMPRESSIVE FIGHT SEQUENCES… BONE-CRUSHING VIOLENCE.” – TWITCH.
Winner of eight honours at the prestigious Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Action Choreography, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume and Make-up Design and Best Original Film Score, and the winner of the Best Actor (Wang Xueqi) and Best Supporting Actor (Nicholas Tse) prizes at this year’s Asian Film Awards, the epic, period action movie Bodyguards And Assassins is a dramatic fictionalized retelling of the suspenseful events of 1906 that eventually led to the 1911 Xinhai Revolution and the founding of the Republic of China.
Directed by Teddy Chan (The Accidental Spy) and featuring an impressive cast of Hong Kong and China’s biggest stars, including Donnie Yen (Ip Man; Kill Zone), Leon Lai (An Empress And The Warriors; Seven Swords), Xueqi Wang (Forever Enthralled; Warriors Of Heaven And Earth; The Red Suit), Tony Leung Ka Fai (Missing; The Myth), Nicholas Tse (Dragon Tiger Gate; New Police Story; The Medallion) and Simon Yam (Ip Man; Triangle), Bodyguards And Assassins is a sumptuously staged, action-packed blockbuster, full of political intrigue, tragedy and drama that will appeal as much to lovers of quality cinema as it will to martial arts aficionados.
On October 15th 1906, the man destined to become the Father of Modern China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, is due to arrive in the British Colony of Hong Kong to discuss plans to overthrow the corrupt Qing Dynasty with a group of leading anti-Qing revolutionaries. Aware of Sun’s intentions, the Qing Court dispatches an elite army of assassins to the port where Sun is due to arrive, with orders to see to it that he never makes it to his appointment and does not leave the colony alive.
Receiving news of the proposed assassination, a newspaper editor and a local tycoon, both sympathetic supporters of the revolution, take it upon themselves to protect Dr. Sun at any cost. To help ensure his safety they recruit a motley band of fellow sympathisers, friends and acquaintances, all skilled in martial arts combat to act as Sun’s bodyguards. Additionally, they devise a risky plan to secretly replace the assassins’ target with a human decoy in an attempt to lead the killers away from their quarry.
As Sun arrives on the fateful day, the stage is set for a bloody confrontation in which a small group of selflessly courageous men and women will risk their lives fighting against hundreds of adversaries in a conflict that will determine the fate of millions.
Cleverly taking his time to establish his characters, their back-stories, motives and sub-plots in the deliberately paced first half of the film, director Chan expertly unleashes a barrage of non-stop, action set-pieces in a final hour that will leave viewers breathless.
Among the many standout sequences in a film that manages to be as emotionally involving and moving as it is exciting are a brilliantly directed sequence that echoes Brian De Palma’s homage (from “The Untouchables”) to Eisenstein’s famous Odessa Steps sequence from “Battleship Potemkin”, an extended free-running duel involving Donnie Yen and Cung Le, and a ‘man versus horse’ confrontation that is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Bodyguards And Assassins will be released on DVD (£12.99) and Blu-ray (£19.99) by E1 Entertainment on 31st May 2010.
Mandy Moore, the voice of Rapunzel in the Oscar-nominated Disney film “Tangled,” lends her voice to another animated film project. As Ambassador for the global health organization Population Services International (PSI), Moore narrates a video in which she tells the story of a mother and her daughter on the road to better health. Along the way they find the many places in their community where PSI delivers a dignified approach to preventing malaria and HIV/AIDS, offers family planning for women and couples, and addresses the top killers of kids in the developing world.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/55260-mandy-moore-best-kept-secret-global-health-organization-psi
Inattention is one of the biggest killers
on our roads today. Did you know inattention or distractions account
for almost as many fatalities in WA as speeding, or drink driving?
That's why the RAC has created the world's first Attention Powered Car
to tackle the issue and hopefully find some solutions. Learn more as
Murdoch University Psychology Professor, Dr Jefferies, and Royal Perth
Hospital's Head of Trauma, Dr Rao, explain inattention.
In an effort to learn more about driver
inattention, one of the biggest killers on WA roads, RAC created the
world's first Attention Powered Car -- a car that goes when you're
paying attention and slows when you're not. On the final
leg of our road trip, we visited Narrogin in the Wheatbelt, which is
also often dubbed by emergency services as the 'accident belt'. Here,
single vehicle crashes with young drivers behind the wheel are
particularly high, so we wanted to see if inattention was part of the
problem. Our first driver, Shawn, took the Attention
Powered Car and few mates around town. Not surprisingly, his mates
proved to be a distraction, as well as thinking about his girlfriend
and sadly, friends lost on the road. Next up was Speedway Driver Coby.
She performed well on the open road, but had plenty inattention moments
to match. Perhaps most telling though, was her insight into the minds
of many drivers who even after being made aware of their limitations,
aren't likely to change behaviour. Check out the video to
see the Attention Powered Car on the road and how our drivers
performed. Plus, follow the journey, watch all webisodes from our
journey and keep up-to-date with what we have planned next by visiting
forthebetter.com.au
Medical school and life as a newlywed would be enough for anybody to handle. But Sara’s got another problem – her supernatural dreams have started again. Everyone around her is dreaming about the death of the school’s least popular teacher, Dr. Morris, and Sara finds herself an unwilling witness to a murder before it happens. The problem is, there are too many suspects to count, and it doesn’t help that she hates Dr. Morris just as much as his would-be killers do. Find our more here-
http://getBook.at/DreamDoctor amazon http://getBook.at/DreamdoctorAudio audiobook http://www.writingdreams.net/dreamdoctor all other purchase links Thriller/paranormal
According to a National Safety Council poll released today, one in four Americans personally knows someone who has overdosed or died from an opioid overdose, knows someone who has become addicted to opioids, or has become addicted themselves. In response to the survey results – and a recommendation from the President’s Commission for Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis – the National Safety Council is launching a provocative nationwide public education campaign that literally puts a face on the opioid epidemic. Stericycle is the Council’s exclusive disposal partner on the campaign.
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8207151-national-safety-council-stop-everyday-killers-opioids/
