Wang Luoyong Movies
Two girls born at the same time on different sides of the world are brought together by an act of mercy in this drama. Katie (Mika Boorem) is a high-school student who has grown up in a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles. While Katie has never had to want for material things, she feels a certain dissatisfaction in her life, and between dealing with her combative parents (Beau Bridges and Linda Hamilton), her sexually aggressive boyfriend (Erik von Detten), and a mysterious boy who has caught her eye (Jonathan Trent), Katie is ready for a change in her life. One of Katie's teachers, Mr. Matthews (Sean Astin) persuades Katie to investigate Doctor's Gift, an international medical outreach program, as a rewarding volunteer opportunity that would look good on her college admission forms. Katie end up traveling to China with the Doctor's Gift team, where she discovers a world far different than the one she has known. Katie encounters Lin (Yi Ding), a girl who was born the same day she was but has led a very different life; facially disfigured, Lin was abandoned by her parents as an infant, and when she was taken in by Daniel (Luoyong Wang), it caused a rift that ended his marriage. The Doctor's Gift organization has offered to provide plastic surgery for Lin through their affiliated program Project Smile, but after previous surgery failed to correct her defects, Lin isn't so sure she wants to risk another disappointment. Writer and director Jeff Kramer based Smile on his daughter's experiences as a volunteer with Doctor's Gift, and the producers have pledged to donate a portion of the film's profits to the organization ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mika Boorem, Luoyong Wang, (more)
Lana is willing to do anything to leave the war-torn Balkans behind, so when her brother Darko leaves for America, she goes with him. Darko, however, is immersed in a shady world of crime and violence and, hindered by her inability to speak English, Lana must succumb to the demands of the Chicago city streets in order to survive. She still has hope for attaining a happy life and an escape from the darkness that has followed her halfway around the world, but she may not be able to gain access to that life with her brother. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oksana Orlenko, Nickolai Stoilov, (more)
This remake of the classic 1975 science fiction film follows the same basic story line but focuses far more on the sports action of the fictional game at its center. Chris Klein stars as all-American athlete Jonathan Cross, the most popular player of "Rollerball," a violent 21st century sport mixing elements of basketball, hockey, roller derby, and extreme sports, along with the development of live wagering that tracks each game's action. Along with his friends and teammates Marcus (L.L. Cool J) and Aurora (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Jonathan is living the life of a media celebrity and millionaire, enjoying the adoration of fans and all of the perks that his fame brings. When the creator of Rollerball, Alexi Petrovich (Jean Reno), realizes that the sport's ratings spike during the on-court accidents that are de rigueur for the game, he schemes to create the bloody incidents that are popular with viewers but put the athletes in mortal jeopardy. Soon, Jonathan and his friends find themselves pawns in a vast corporate conspiracy in which their lives are far less important than profits. Rollerball (2002) also stars pop singer Pink in her acting debut. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Klein, Jean Reno, (more)
- 1998
- R
Actress Joan Chen makes her directorial debut with this bleak tale, adapted from the award-winning novella "Tian Yu" by Shanghai writer Yan Geling, about the loss of innocence during Mao Zedong's brutal Cultural Revolution. Precocious Wen Xiu (16-year-old Lu Lu), playfully called Xiu Xiu by her friends, finds herself one of millions of Chinese teenagers sent to the hinterlands to receive specialized training during the early 1970s. She is taken from her loving family in Chengdu to the Tibetan steppes, where she is apprenticed to Lao Jin (Lopsang), a solitary master horseman whose legendary status stems partly from his prowess on the range and partly from an embarrassing secret resulting from a battle injury. Though life is hard on the high grasslands, the sheer physical beauty of the landscape, coupled with Xiu Xiu's youthful vibrancy, reinvigorate the quiet horseman. He soon falls for the young girl, although, thanks to his wound, he will never be able to consummate his love. Meanwhile, Xiu Xiu longs to return to her family in Sichuan. Her growing desperation, coupled with her own naivete, leave her vulnerable to the opportunistic scheming of a traveling peddler, who takes her virginity while promising her quick passage back home. Soon lecherous bureaucrats and others venture out to Xiu Xiu's remote yurt with the promise of free sex. The young girl willingly prostitutes herself, believing that it is the only way to see her beloved family again, while Lao Jin suffers silently, watching his love defile herself. Only after a medical emergency does Xiu Xiu realize how callously she has been used and cast aside. Joan Chen's dark work fits in a subgenre of Chinese art and cinema that explores the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, whose most famous examples include Tian Zhuangzhuang's Blue Kite (1993) and Zhang Yimou's To Live (1993). Though this film was screened in the 1998 Berlin Film Festival, it was banned in China for sexual and political content. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Xia Gang directed this Chinese drama, beginning in the late '50s and spanning four decades. Jiansheng (Wang Luoyong) learned classical music from his father (Da Shichang), missed a concert career because of the Cultural Revolution (when Western music was banned), and turned to teaching. His fascination with music led his girlfriend (Zhang Xi) to marry someone else, and later, his wife (Yan Xiaopin) left for the United States. The impact of the Cultural Revolution on people is the film's main theme. Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 is featured. Shown at the 1998 East West Film Festival (London). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wang Luoyong, Da Shichang, (more)
Sylvestor Stallone comes to the rescue in this disaster/adventure picture. A truck containing dangerous chemicals explodes in the Holland Tunnel, trapping those New Yorkers not killed in the explosion. Authorities know there are survivors, but cannot figure out what to do to save them. Ruptured water mains and leaks in the tunnel itself, which is beneath the Hudson River, will cause it to fill with water in a few hours. Of all the colorful characters trapped there, only Roy Nord (Viggo Mortensen), a mountain climber, has any ideas about what to do, but he quickly dies while attempting to save the others. However, Kit Latura (Sylvester Stallone) is a former city Emergency Medical Services director who was in the area of the explosion, and he knows the tunnel's construction quirks. He quickly convinces city officials to let him wend his way through the tunnel's maze of exhaust fans to help the exhausted survivors confront the obstacles that await them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Amy Brenneman, (more)
The brief but eventful life of actor and martial arts trailblazer Bruce Lee is portrayed in this drama, based on a biography written by his widow Linda Lee Caldwell. Lee is introduced to the study of martial arts as a child living in Hong Kong by his father (Ric Young); the father dreamed that a demonic armored dragon would take his son from him, and wanted young Bruce to be able to protect himself. Bruce continues his training as he grows to adulthood, and after the cocky teenaged Lee (Jason Scott Lee, no relation to Bruce) seriously injures a prominent British citizen while fighting a gang of troublemakers at a dance, he's sent to San Francisco. While working as a dishwasher, Bruce begins to study philosophy, and in time develops a personal martial arts discipline, Jeet Kune-Do, which blends Kung Fu fighting techniques with lessons gained from his philosophical research. Bruce decides to open a martial arts academy on the advice of his fiancée Linda (Lauren Holly); Linda and Bruce encounter resistance as a mixed-race couple, especially from Linda's mother Vivian (Michael Learned), and Bruce earns the enmity of traditional Chinese martial arts experts for his new style. But after a strong showing in several public tournaments, Bruce's fighting skill and charisma attracts the attention of TV producer Bill Krieger (Robert Wagner). Bruce is cast as Kato, the karate-trained sidekick on the series The Green Hornet, and while the show is short-lived in America, it's a huge success in Asia, leading to a series of films based around Bruce's remarkable fighting skills. Sadly, shortly before the release of the film that would make him a major screen star in the United States, Enter The Dragon, a mysterious brain disorder sends Lee into a coma that soon kills him. In a tragedy with eerie timing, Bruce Lee's real-life son Brandon Lee died shortly before this film was released, the result of an accidental shooting while completing the picture The Crow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Scott Lee, Lauren Holly, (more)
