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December 25, 2005

MASTER OF CRIMSON ARMOR - IS IT THE PROMISE?

Does MASTER OF THE CRIMSON ARMOR = THE PROMISE?MASTER OF THE CRIMSON ARMOR (the movie formerly known as THE PROMISE) is doing a one-week Academy qualifying run in LA at Laemmle's Music Hall 3 (9036 Wilshire Blvd.) starting on December 30. Go check it out and tell us what you see.

But will what you see actually be Chen Kaige's THE PROMISE? The ever-unreliable IMDB.com lists the running time as 128 minutes, but the Laemmle's Music Hall lists it as being 102 minutes. Has it been cut?

Also, a sharp-eyed reader informs us of that Eastday is reporting that Anthony Minghella has created an introduction for the movie and his wife, Carolyn Choa, has done the subtitles.

There was originally a rumor that Minghella was giving MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA this kind of intro treatment, but it looks like it was for MASTER OF THE CRIMSON ARMOR.

As you enter the holiday weekend, don't forget your math homework:

Does MASTER OF THE CRIMSON ARMOR = THE PROMISE?

December 25, 2005 at 06:00 AM in News | Permalink

Comments

Hi, Mr. Grady Hendrix ...... It is off topic, sorry....


I want to send you some good things about Johnnie To's ELECTION 2 to your e-mail. But my mail is rejected by your mailbox, and it shows the reason:

[ User mailbox exceeds allowed size: grady@mail.subwaycinema.com ]

What happen?


Sorry again....

Posted by: No name | Dec 25, 2005 9:47:54 AM

BTW, one reviewer of screendaily.com has seen MASTER OF CRIMSON ARMOR in Los Angeles. He likes it so much. But he says that the movie is 97 minutes long.

http://www.screendaily.com/story.asp?storyid=24600

But Hong Kong version of this movie is 122 minutes long.

http://www.tela.gov.hk/cgi-bin/tela/film_search.cgi?title=promise&director;=&search;_in_days=&language;=big5&search.x;=0&search.y;=0

So I think that the US version of MASTER OF THE CRIMSON ARMOR has been cut.

Posted by: No name | Dec 25, 2005 9:56:06 AM

My mailbox keeps filling up, but try again. I've been out of town.

Thanks!

Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Dec 27, 2005 3:17:57 PM

Apparently The Promise is being showm at the Fairfax 3 and not Laemmle's Music Hall 3, at 11:30 in the morning for the week. I remember when I had respect and admiration for the Weinsteins.

Posted by: KaruSan | Dec 29, 2005 1:38:45 PM

I saw the film on Saturday at Fairfax 3.

It's pretty good, I like it.

I think Sanada (The general) and Jang Dong Jun (the slave) were doing really great in the film

Posted by: Cindy | Jan 1, 2006 9:55:46 PM

i am from China, and people here don't like it, because of its poor(sometimes ridiculous) lines and pale charactors. but i do like "the slave". the Korean actor did an excellent job.

Posted by: Sarah | Jan 12, 2006 1:39:48 AM

o yeah, I'm from china too, it got a bunch of bad comments here,yes,it's one of the worst movie I have ever seen, at least I can't believe it's from chen kaige. he used to be a great director.

Posted by: jianfei | Jan 21, 2006 7:15:34 PM

This is an excellent film in my opinion, though my wife hate it.

Posted by: ppp | Jan 21, 2006 9:56:25 PM

An excellent one. I love it. My wife hates it.

Posted by: anonymous | Jan 21, 2006 9:57:30 PM

I like its apparent nonsense, stupidity, and pretentious. All these can not hide the wild imagination. It is almost like something from a dream: vague, loose, and fragmented.
It is so well plotted while being presented in such a simple form. I was lost in the plot instroduction before I saw the film and I heard so many bad comments on this one that in the first ten minutes, I was in a mood to verify how stupid this film is. However, I found the story was so simple and easy to follow, and there was no moment I felt it boring. 102 minutes was like the time for a cup of tea.
I agree that the accent of the heroes (General and Slave) are so strange that I laughed in the beginning. But later I did not mind it at all. Language was not an issue at all. You can felt the emotion flow of the characters.
What conveyed about this film was actually so simple yet it was so beautiful, in a somehow funny way.

Well, I know somebody would hate it so much, just like I like it so.

Posted by: rrr | Jan 22, 2006 12:31:08 AM

I've seen this movie already. Of course JANGDONGGUN(the slave)is the only good performer in this movie. you should go to theater for his hard working.^^

Posted by: adonis-china | Feb 3, 2006 1:14:17 AM

Hi, I saw it and was wondering if it is still playing L.A. or up in San Fran? Thank you

Posted by: anthony | Feb 15, 2006 12:47:24 PM

IT HAS NOTHING to do with armor.. Some characters role werent complete.. movie was nice fighting, but story forget it confusing, was not straight.. jumping around alot 2.0

Posted by: staro4 | Apr 29, 2006 8:30:49 PM

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