The Wong Kar-wai thread!

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 11 Feb 2007, 20:10

About Ashes of Time:
The R2J is cropped and blurry. The Mei Ah is actually much better.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 11 Feb 2007, 22:07

* CE/FA - Easily looks best on R3K Remastered too.
* ITFML - I have the French LE but the Criterion despite it's minor cropping looks better IMO. If I were buying it now I'd get the Criterion.
* HT unless you can afford the HK Remastered the R1 is still easily the best English subtitled version.
* ATGB/DOBW - I'd get the New Tartan's for the commentary but they messed it up by only included them in a box set.

Otherwise agreed.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 16 May 2007, 22:00

Teaser for Blueberry Nights is up. Looks Ok-ish.
http://www.cannes2007.com/bandes-annonces=73057.html

Plus I\ll copy paste the following from a post on the IMDB.com from someone else...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=5612
Film gets the thumbs up. Not impressive but enjoyable.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awa ... ?&rid=9204
Same as the first review but is a little spoiler heavy.

http://film.guardian.co.uk/cannes2007/s ... 00,00.html
2/5 stars. This is the third review I've seen and the first negative one. (It should be noted that this review gives the impression that the film was almost coldly received. All the other reviews so far state the opposite.)

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 62,00.html
Talks about the film's reception (positive). A German reviewer called it "sweet, very touching". India eNews reports the same thing.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertain ... 45919.html
"Gentle romance", "warm reception".

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout ... 33646&cs=1
So-so review.

http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyA ... ryID=32461

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/ ... annes.html

http://www.nowtoronto.com/blog/view_post.cfm?post=177

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/new ... ones_N.htm

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0 ... 55,00.html

To summarize the reviews- film is shallow, for some it's the weakest WKW's made. Definitely beautifully made, moody. The supporting actors are largely considered the film's saving grace. The critics are so-so on Norah Jones' performance.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2007, 22:53

Thanks Yi-Long. I'll wait until a proper trailer though. I can't stand those streaming ones.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 30 Aug 2007, 16:27

Philips and Wong Kar Wai teamed up for a ambi-light mini-movie...
http://www.aurea.philips.com/

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Apr 2008, 00:11

When it will finally actually get released is anyone's guess but this is interesting news, for those who don't visit Asian DVD Guide:

The word was that after he's finished My Blueberry Nights WKW was going to be tinkering around with AoT, so we'd get some kind of new version from him called "Ashes of Time: Redux" (and hopefully the original one as well). Here's the article at twitch about that, including the official announcement. And here's the page at distributor Fortissimo Films who he signed the deal with.

It's well worth reading the Twitch article, pity it's from November 2006

Source: http://adg.invisionzone.com/index.php?s ... st&p=16722

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 13 Apr 2008, 01:19

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 13 Apr 2008, 02:58

Linking to a thread that hasn't been updated in a year+, bravo.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Apr 2008, 03:00

The links isn't the important bit

, that was merely my source.

I presume you knew about this news. I didn't and imagine others didn't either. I personally think it's big news so needs posting. This forum really does my fucking nut in sometimes. I take the time to post news and all I get is jip.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 13 Apr 2008, 18:19

I'm not interested in any recut of Ashes of Time. The original version was great enough as it is already, so I feel they should just keep it exactly as it was.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Apr 2008, 18:39

I'd settle for any bloody cut "right now" as long as it had English subs and had decent AV

, but given the choice I'd be interested in a 2 Disc SE containing both the current DC and the Redux cut.

I'm not sure if I like the current Director's Cut. I've only seen the current HK DVD and the AV + Subs are so atrocious I found it really hard to work out what was going on. I was so confused by the end. Right now I didn't think it was all that good but I'm confident a lot of this is to do with the DVD I watched.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 13 Apr 2008, 19:18

bradavon wrote:This forum really does my fucking nut in sometimes. I take the time to post news and all I get is jip.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 13 Apr 2008, 21:45

I thought news was about recent or new events?

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 14 Apr 2008, 08:51

2006 news is still news. Especially if it has never been posted on Bullets.
Just because you already know about it doesn't mean that everybody's like you.

Let Brad post his prehistoric news, will ya?
People who live under a rock (like me) enjoy reading this stuff.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 14 Apr 2008, 12:03

Yes, but two years on and absolutely nothing has come of said news since then.

It's like bloody Blade Runner, the director may've a new cut in the can, but it means jack shit if the film is in legal limbo. WKW and that Dutch company that distributes his films should get off their fucking arses and pay some lawyers already.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Apr 2008, 15:05

Pot, Kettle and Black come to mind, after coming from the person who only the other day posted a rumour about Akira

Seriously, where's the harm in posting any news? If you think it's dumb, don't read it.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Yes, but two years on and absolutely nothing has come of said news since then.

And? It doesn't cease to be News because of that. As many people have found it useful (2), who haven't (2).

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 14 Apr 2008, 16:05

Lourdes wrote:I thought news was about recent or new events?

Ashes of Time Redux to debut at Cannes......2008?

http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/wong-ka ... at-cannes/

Hopefully post Cannes it will do the festival circuit including the Edinbugh Film Festival!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Apr 2008, 16:09

Fantastic. I'm actually rather excited about this. Hopefully it will mean a theatrical run over here and a decent DVD.

monzo44 · Post by **monzo44** » 04 May 2008, 17:28

bradavon wrote:* CE/FA - Easily looks best on R3K Remastered too.
* ITFML - I have the French LE but the Criterion despite it's minor cropping looks better IMO. If I were buying it now I'd get the Criterion.
* HT unless you can afford the HK Remastered the R1 is still easily the best English subtitled version.
* ATGB/DOBW - I'd get the New Tartan's for the commentary but they messed it up by only included them in a box set.

Otherwise agreed.

Hi,

Just thought this mioght be of interest to some of you. I recently purchased the Taiwan edition of the 10th Anniversary Happy Together set. It's the smaller version, by that I mean it doesn't contain the lamp or the postcards.
What it does contain is the 2 disc DVD and the 24bit CD OST, 10th anniversary poster, book and boxer shorts(!).
I managed to get hold of it for the princely sum of 28Euro (£22.50) shipped from here.
Most importantly , I checked it against the other editions I have.
1. Original Mei Ah
2. Artificial Eye
3. Original Image release.
The AV is streets ahead. There are minor specs and scratches, but with a film with HT's style it isn't really distracting, they added enough scratches of their own for God's sake!!
Interestingly, this also has the opening scene in B&W. Infact, of the versions I checked, only the Mei Ah and the films trailer show the initial exchange between Tony and Leslie in colour. As this, like the Korean CE and FA are BLK2 dvd's, i.e. WKW endorsed, I'd imagine the B&W is the directors prferred version.
The second disc has the excellent Buenos Aires: Zero Degree doc on it. The CD sounds super and the packaging , book and poster (and pants) are all top quality. Well worth a purchase if you love this film.

Hope this is helpful.
Cheers,
monzo

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 May 2008, 17:51

Thanks Monzo.

There is a Happy Together capture comparison R1 vs. HK LE here:

https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... php?t=4501

£22.50 is still too much for me. I was going to pick up the R1, which is acceptable if not amazing. £22.50 is definitely better than the original £80 though!

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 04 May 2008, 18:11

Thanks for the contribution, Monzo.

bradavon wrote: I was going to pick up the R1, which is acceptable if not amazing.

Wait, don't you already own it?

Buenos Aires: Zero Degree is such an excellent doco. Have you seen it, Brad?

One segment summarises entire deleted plot-lines (including fleshed out characters). To see an alternative cut of H.T. featuring the "Walkman girl" would be very interesting.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 May 2008, 18:15

EvaUnit02 wrote:Wait, don't you already own it?

I just knew you'd ask

, yes I do. I meant: I will be watching HA and FA over the next few weeks and will then probably sell my R1 box set and re-buy HA (assuming I like it).

ATGB I can do without
DOBW I need to re-watch but so far I can do without
And CE + FA I have in the much better Korean SE

So far I don't need the box set and could just re-buy HA.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Buenos Aires: Zero Degree is such an excellent doco. Have you seen it, Brad?

I've not even seen the film yet

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 04 May 2008, 18:23

How many dvds do you own, and how many of them have you seen?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 May 2008, 18:30

Who me? According to DVD Profiler 457 so about 450. I've no idea how many I've not seen but it must be about 100 of them, maybe more.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 04 May 2008, 18:56

yeah, you. Ok, hopeless.