The older you are, the more boring the Chinese New Year festivities will be especially if you don’t 1) gamble, 2) drink, 3) snack, 4) run around playing with cousins which usually results in dirtying your Chinese New Year clothes. The other problem is that there are usually no interesting programs on television during Chinese New Year except for the Chinese movie re-runs, cheesy Chinese New Year music videos, or awards shows.
What to do, what to do? HBO to the rescue!
Enjoy the long Lunar New Year weekend with this line up of Hollywood blockbusters, premiering for the very first time on Asian television only on HBO / HBO HD (Astro Ch 411 / 431) at 9pm every night from 6th – 10th February, starting with the Angelina Jolie directed Oscar-nominated movie “Unbroken” on Saturday, 6th February, followed by the live action/computer animated family comedy, “Paddington”, on the eve of the Lunar New Year.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the 3rd highest worldwide grossing movie of 2015, “Furious 7“, starring Vin Diesal and the late Paul Walker premieres at 9pm on HBO, while the buddy comedy, “Dumb and Dumber To“, starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels airs on the second day of the holidays. Rounding up the 5 consecutive days of movie premieres on 10th February is the science fiction thriller, “Project Almanac“.
Deets are as follows:
Unbroken (Saturday, 6th February) at 9pm
Starring: Jack O’connell, Miyavi , Domhnall Gleeson
Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces “Unbroken”, an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII – only to be caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Paddington (Sunday, 7th February) at 9pm
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters
Paddington has grown up deep in the Peruvian jungle with his Aunt Lucy who, inspired by a chance encounter with an English explorer, has raised her nephew to dream of an exciting life in London. When an earthquake destroys their home, Aunt Lucy decides to smuggle her young nephew on board a boat bound for England, in search of a better life. Arriving alone at Paddington Station, Paddington soon finds that city life is not all he had imagined – until he meets the kindly Brown family, who find him with a label tied around his neck which reads, “Please look after this bear. Thank you.” They offer him a temporary home whilst he searches for the explorer who impressed Aunt Lucy all those years before. But when Paddington catches the eye of a sinister, seductive taxidermist, it isn’t long before his home – and very existence – is under threat.
Furious 7 (Monday, 8th February) at 9pm
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham
After defeating Owen Shaw and his crew, Dominic Toretto, Brian O’Conner and the rest of the crew return to the United States to finally live a seemingly normal life, or so they thought. Little did they know that Owen’s older brother, Deckard Shaw, is out for revenge for the death of his brother, putting Dominic and the entire crew in danger, once again. Meanwhile, the crew sets out to find the man who killed Han before he finds them first.
Dumb And Dumber To (Tuesday, 9th February) at 9pm
Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob Riggle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGXHVlEklgQ
In this sequel to the smash hit comedy, Lloyd and Harry go on a road trip to find a child Harry never knew he had and the responsibility neither should ever, ever be given.
Project Almanac (Wednesday, 10th February) at 9pm
Starring: Jonny Weston, Amy Landecker, Sofia Black-D’elia
When five teens discover a machine that can send them back in time, the possibilities seem endless. But by changing the past, they have threatened the future of our world. Can they undo the damage they have unleashed before it’s too late?
Bookmark this one to stave off boredom! You’re welcome 🙂
For more information, visit HBO Asia’s website or Facebook page.
