The Golden Rock Best of the Week part 2 - September 16th, 2007

Continuing from yesterday, the following is a compilation of some of the more notable news of the past week.

- It's reviews time! Part 2! Twitch has a some reviews from Toronto, including the match-up of the Japanese comedians (yawn....), Jiang Wen's The Sun Also Rises. Also, they have a review of Ryo Nakajima's This Word of Ours, which I also hold a copy of as well and will review as soon as I can. Meanwhile, we have more reviews of Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django, one by Japan Times' Mark Schilling, and another one by Jason Gray. Lastly, there's a short review of Edmond Pang Ho-Cheung's Exodus from the Associated Press.

- The mega-expensive Korean drama Guardian Gods, starring Bae Yong-Joon, premiered in Korea with a very solid 20.4 rating. Then, according to Korea Pop Wars, it even got boosted to a 26.9 rating on nights 2 and 3. It's not quite indicative of how the rest of the show will be, but it seems pretty clearly that Yong-sama's spirit lives on.

- Shamo, Soi Cheang's follow-up to Dog Bite Dog, was apparently done all the way back in May (at least done enough to go to Cannes). However, it has yet to see a release date, despite already getting a category II-B for "strong violence and sexual content" all the way back in May. I've been told that it's not very good (please note that I'm understating this very much), so could that have something to do with it?

- What IS the big deal about this damn thing? Disney's straight-to-TV movie High School Musical 2 not only broke records for American cable TV, it also broke Disney Channel records in Singapore and Malaysia. It was also the highest-rated program on pay TV in Hong Kong during its premiere.

- On the heels of the international drama awards in Korea, Japan is holding their first International Drama Festival as part of Cofesta (The Japan Contents Festival).

- Several major foreign networks have just been ok'd to broadcast in China, but not only are they not really bragging yet, they are only in hotels with more than 3 stars and home of non-Chinese nationals. And forget the fact that they're being illegally watched by millions of people anyway.

- For some reason, Michelle Yeoh will be receiving the French Legion of Honor, the highest award for a civilian, and she'll be receiving in in Malaysian capital Kuala Lampur. What did she ever do for France?

- In production news, Singapore's Kelvin Tong is shooting his latest film with Ekin Cheng and Shawn Yue in Hong Kong right now. No word on whether Ekin Cheng plans to act or just be wooden throughout the shoot.