What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

[Markgway]

Stupid question, I know...

But definately no mono track hidden away?

[bradavon]

looking at the DD disc it's a definite upgrade picture wise but nowhere near enough to justify £20 (i'm a nutter though)

And the Bruce Lee titles is worth the price over the best DVDs?

Are you going to pick up the OUATIC trilogy?

[saltysam]

Stupid question, I know...

But definately no mono track hidden away?

Afraid not.

[saltysam]

And the Bruce Lee titles is worth the price over the best DVDs?

Not at £20 a pop-(virtually) no extras,no mono & the fact better and probably cheaper versions will appear before long.

Are you going to pick up the OUATIC trilogy?

Yes. but i shouldn't really.they aren't worth it. Police Story is to be honest poor,better than the dvd but only minimally so.

[bradavon]

Thanks as ever Salty.

It's really weird as the Fortune Star DVDs (for the most part) were a marked improvement over other DVDs. I'll wait, at £60 for the OUATIC Trilogy it's way too pricey.

[grim_tales]

That's very expensive. I'll wait as well.

[Markgway]

Fortune Star suck cock.

[saltysam]

It's weird as the films get newer the transfers go worse

Big Boss-Very good-it really is.
Fist Of Fury-Disappointing but definitely better than the dvd (to my eyes)
Police Story-Not good at all

Going by this pattern i'm expecting OUATIC to be absolute shite

[gasteropod]

2046: 5/5

I finally saw this on Film4 the other night and was just in awe with its style, Wong Kar-Wai should do a sci-fi!! Does anyone know the deal with the 'expanded scenes' on some versions and not others, do they count as director's cuts or what

[bradavon]

Does that really exist? I thought it was made up.

It's a great film though. WKW really took off from Chungking Express (even if My Blueberry Nights isn't so good). I'm not a massive fan of his early career but Chungking Express, ITMFL and 2046 are fantastic. My Blueberry Nights is good too. ITMFL definitely being his magnum opus. I just adore that film, it's so unashamedly romantic but not in a Hollywood silly way.

I didn't get Happy Together and found it hard work, and Fallen Angels I cannot remember a thing about, literally nothing. I need to see it again but it doesn't say a lot if I cannot remember it at all. As Tears Go By is pretty rubbish and I also found Days of Being Wild hard work too.

Ashes of Time I found very hard work but that I'm sure was because of the awful DVD, making the subs virtually impossible to read. I'll have to give my Redux BD a go.

[bradavon]

It's a "Lourdes" thing. He still disagrees there should be two threads.

[Shingster]

Have you started replying to imaginary posts now Brad, or has someone hit the delete button somewhere?

[bradavon]

Lourdes has Mod powers.

There were Casino Royale and Shawshank Redemption reviews that Lourdes had posted in this thread. Someone asked why it was in the Asian Reviews section. I "think" it was Mark.

I seem to recall Lourdes used to hate me doing it .

[grim_tales]

I haven't seen 2046 yet but Chungking Express is superb. I love it and ITMFL is fantastic.

[bradavon]

Fingers crossed Tartan will release both on BD.

[Markgway]

I felt that 2046 was a lot more pretentious and a lot less engaging than In the Mood for Love.

There are those who prefer it... Like any Wong Kar-Wai film it divides opinion sharply.

[bradavon]

I felt that 2046 was a lot more pretentious and a lot less engaging than In the Mood for Love.

I can see where you're coming from but I didn't find it pretentious at all (in the way parts of Babel are) but instead found it engaging and cleverly made. It is a different beast to ITMFL.

Like any Wong Kar-Wai film it divides opinion sharply.

That's so true. They're almost always hard to categorise.

[saltysam]

The Angry River 2/5
Angela Mao-Ying Stars in this average GH actioner (their first & Angela's first i think) revolving around her protecting a magical Black Herb. Nice to see these films in widescreen versions,even if they are unrestored and with awful subs grammar wise.But they are cheap as chips so i treat them like a rental

[saltysam]

Invincible Sword 3/5

Jimmy Wang Yu GH Period actioner follows the pattern of numerous Wang aYu efforts..a fairly mundane opening hour followed by a 20 minute action packed climax.worth watching.

Shaolin Soccer BD 4/5

Simply an excellent movie,one of Chow's best efforts.The BD is unspectacular but solid,nice,readable subtitles and a stonking audio track.On a BD-50,no extras just the choice of either cut.

[grim_tales]

How are the subtitles? I still have the old Universe disc (with HK TC and DC where you press a button), the Universe subs are poor.

[chenlung]

Optimum re-did the subtitles on 'Shaolin Soccer' for their DVD. I'd say it was the best release because of its overall presentation (better video that's also progressive, longer version, extras). It is missing the DTS soundtrack though.

http://adg.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=2961 - Bruce Lee
http://adg.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=3056 - Police Story

Unsurprisingly disappointing releases.

[grim_tales]

Just notice that thread talks about 23.976fps and 24p isn't "right" for DVD..
HUH? What is 23.976? I thought 24p was Film/NTSC and 25p was PAL?

[chenlung]

It's either 29.97 or 23.976 - it's to do with when the NTSC colour system was introduced (slightly less than the 'on the button' figures of 24/30).

[grim_tales]

Ah OK
24 is film speed and 30 is NTSC TV speed right?
25 is PAL speed, does 25 apply to PAL TV speed? (Havent tried a PAL TV show in my player yet).

[chenlung]

Strictly speaking for TV signals:

NTSC: 59.94Hz
PAL: 50Hz