Well, I saw the trailer for Ballad and I have to say, it looks a bit weird even for me. It has Daniel Day in it though, so I'll probably se it anyways. He picks good roles, so I have some trust in that, but I think the possessive daughter thing took a nose-dive when it got too literal. I just know its almost bordering on a mystery/horror flick from the feel of it. But their have been so many ones about incest, and I think incest os one of the trickiest topics to cover ever. Never seen someone pull it off well. Th eonly good movie (excellent actually) that even mildly touches upon it that I love is Paper Moon.

Where you planning on seeing it? I actually think I should send makeshift over to watch it, or Lecter. The trailer made me think it was a horror movie. That the daughter goes nuts and tries to drive away the incoming family *using any means possible*

You didn't? Thats interesting. I might be over-reading the trailer but I've seen enough of these types of movies to get a sense of where Ballad is going. The only reason I would venture to think otherwise, is, as I mentioned, Day-Lewis, who tends to pick pretty smart roles. He may not do a movie that resorts to that as a way of discussing family upheavel. I don't know though.

Dude, there are a ton of big imports coming in from China this year, and I've heard alot about Hustle, Oldboy, 2046, etc. I think maybe I'll start a thread for most anticipated foreign movies this year too. I don't know though, this year looks to be stornger on the domestic front actually, unlike last year.

Trust me, if Sony Independent Pictures gives Kung-Fu Hustle a half decent ad campaign, the WOM will spread like wildfire and it could be the next Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I honestly think it might make 100 million.

Just like Shaolin Soccer did?

I think Martial Arts has maxed here. Its still a pretty small fan-base genre, and Crouching Tiger reached the peak as far as draw. It only got 78 million. I don't see Hung-Fu hustle getting that even with perfect release date and screen count. Anyways, the Asian market is going to be dominated by the import breakthrough performances in Geisha this year. Everyone is going to look towards it as the next big thing with all the great actors/actresses from China, even though its an American production, direction, and in English. Geisha is going to guarantee limited buzz about any other movie out of China this year. Japan, might be a different story, but then again, alot of it get sgrouped as far as release here, so it might lose out as well.