Red Dawn

[Drunk Monk]

The original? A DOOM classic surely. The 2012 version? Wrought with political and financial woes. MGM went bankrupt during early production. The first draft vilified China, which was vetoed by all, so the script was changed to vilify North Korea. And there's still a Russian villain, just for good measure. Wil Yun Lee, a former friend of Tiger Claw, is the villain. Why do all the people that I'm connected with in the film industry always play villains?

Like the original, there's no plot beyond the trailer, and it springs into action pretty quickly, although not quite as fast as the original. The premise is absurd. It opens with real newsfeeds of Obama, Hilary and Joe Biden, along with Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, which might really confuse viewers that can't distinguish reality from the movies. The action is frenetic, painted in broad strokes of automatic bullet sprays and RPGs. You can never really get a sense of the tactical or the fight dialogue. It's just explosions and people getting shot. No sword fights. There is a knife fight between Wil and Thor, which is mediocre at best. No Bollywood dance numbers. That was very sorely missed.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

The film has been finished for quite some time. They actually filmed it with China as the villains. Cooler heads prevailed and in post production they digitally changed everything to make it North Korean to the tune of more millions of dollars.

In March 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported that MGM changed the villains in its Red Dawn remake from Chinese to North Korean in order to maintain access to China's lucrative box office. The changes reportedly cost less than $1 million and involve changing an opening sequence summarizing the story's fictional backdrop, re-editing two scenes and using digital technology to transform many Chinese symbols to Korean. The film's producer Trip Vinson stated, "We were initially very reluctant to make any changes, but after careful consideration we constructed a way to make a scarier, smarter and more dangerous Red Dawn that we believe improves the movie".

Did you pay for another film? I weep.

[Drunk Monk]

So obviously, this was a screener. I might interview Josh Peck, who I know nothing about. I requested after they asked. We'll see.

I was trying to get to interview Ang Lee for Life of Pi, but my request was denied. That would have been a reach for KFM anyway. I still might try for the screener at least as they have just promised an afterparty, which I've never seen for a flick promotion. This one is easy because of the Chinese connection. So is Skyfall next week, again for the Chinese connection.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm meeting Josh at the Ritz Carlton on Thursday. Who the heck is he? Anyone see The Wackness?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Any relation to Gregory?

[Drunk Monk]

Josh is dreamy. All the female reporters were gushing and fanning themselves. He was definitely a charmer - very charismatic in person.

[Drunk Monk]

Here I thought you were referring to yourself. I thought, well, that's bloody odd. Greg should know if he's related to Josh or not.

Here's my interview as I know you've all been dying to read it: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1072">http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/a ... ticle=1072</a><!-- m -->

It goes to a queer place for a baritone moment. I considered deleting that, because it totally threw my train of thinking at the time (I deleted my subsequent stumble - author's prerogative 8) ).

I'm totally bummed to learn that other cities got other stars for their junkets. I would have much rather interviewed Adrianne Palicki, the next Wonder Woman. That would have been worth a facebook profile pic swap.