Asian Movies in HD!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 Jun 2009, 23:47

Thanks for the heads up.

Yes Legend is DM2, it's almost for sure going to be the Disney cut, thankfully it's only a minor cut.

Disney fucked the subs up for Iron Monkey, adding plot points in that don't exist. I'm sure it was left uncut though.

That said I'm still all over it. I'm getting Hero and IM without a doubt. Pity Hero will be the Theatrical Cut. I don't mind, I never thought the Director's Cut changed it much really.

IM is one of the most fun Martial Arts film ever. I don't recall there's anything wrong with their Hero or Zatiochi DVDs.

p.s - I take it these aren't just in a box set Clueless Monkey?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 20 Jun 2009, 01:56

I know that those BDs will be shit.

You know that those BDs will be shit.

Everyone reading this knows that those BDs will be shit.

It's Miramax.

It's shit.

Clueless_Monkey · Post by **Clueless_Monkey** » 20 Jun 2009, 06:19

bradavon wrote:p.s - I take it these aren't just in a box set Clueless Monkey?

Right, these will also be available as single releases.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 20 Jun 2009, 09:30

bradavon wrote:Yes Legend is DM2, it's almost for sure going to be the Disney cut, thankfully it's only a minor cut.

The cut is not the real problem, but the dub and new music

bradavon wrote:I don't recall there's anything wrong with their Hero or Zatiochi DVDs.

Zatoichi had heavily altered visual look (very colorful, while all other dvds have the supposedly intended muted look).

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Jun 2009, 11:53

Also the translation on the Miramax cut of Hero is less poetic IMO compared to the HK DVD, they also add more exposition/explanation.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Jun 2009, 13:50

Markgway wrote:Everyone reading this knows that those BDs will be shit.

You're wrong. Like I said there's nothing wrong with their Zatoichi and Hero DVDs, so why expect them to fuck up the BDs?

Hero and IM I'll certainly be getting. I can live with the dubious subtitles.

Clueless_Monkey wrote:Right, these will also be available as single releases.

Thanks.

HungFist wrote:Zatoichi had heavily altered visual look (very colorful, while all other dvds have the supposedly intended muted look).

I forgot about that too. I remember being drawn to which I prefer. Agreed the muted palette is the better one (I remember the alteration being quite extreme) but it wouldn't put me off.

Not that it matters, there's already a decent UK BD of this one. If I were to buy it, I'd get that one instead.

grim_tales wrote:Also the translation on the Miramax cut of Hero is less poetic IMO compared to the HK DVD, they also add more exposition/explanation.

I didn't know that but for me dodgy subs aren't a reason alone to pass up on a release. It could be ages before the HK BD comes and oddly the USA BD is likely to cost much less. The HK BD is likely to be the Director's Cut though.

EDIT: Okay they're all fucked up except for Hero

.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Jun 2009, 13:59

I don't own the Miramax cut, but I remember the subs being rather dumbed down on the UK cinema version compared to the HK DVD.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 20 Jun 2009, 17:17

bradavon wrote:
HungFist wrote:Zatoichi had heavily altered visual look (very colorful, while all other dvds have the supposedly intended muted look).
I forgot about that too. I remember being drawn to which I prefer. Agreed the muted palette is the better one (I remember the alteration being quite extreme) but it wouldn't put me off.

Not that it matters, there's already a decent UK BD of this one. If I were to buy it, I'd get that one instead.

There is no decent UK Blu Ray, its shite, anyone saying anything less is blind, I couldnt stand the Blu Ray its that poor.

Miramax will easily decimate the UK transfer thats not hard. The more colourful look is far better in every way (speaking as someone who has acttually watched both versions and not looked at a few crap screen shots).

The colourful version is what the director wanted anyway so it is NOT intended to be muted at all, so Miramax are in the right, its the other drab transfers which are wrong as the dirctor has said many times he wanted it colourful with georgous bright blue skys and in your face reds and greens etc...

but somehow the idiots behind the film fucked it up for home release and the sky is blown out shit white! (making it look like the cinematographer's a moron and did not know how to expose for the sky) the reds are bland and the greens are like poo brown.

Yet somehow the (wrong apprently) american transfer looks like he wanted it, so obviously thats the right one.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 20 Jun 2009, 17:29

Well I'm not blind and I think the UK BD is good, and I'm highly suspicious of your claims that the film is meant to be colourful.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Jun 2009, 18:36

romerojpg wrote:There is no decent UK Blu Ray, its shite, anyone saying anything less is blind, I couldnt stand the Blu Ray its that poor.

The rest of the world is blind in your eyes

.

romerojpg wrote:Yet somehow the (wrong apprently) american transfer looks like he wanted it, so obviously thats the right one.

If that were really true, how come the Miramax DVD is the "only" release using this colour palette? All other DVDs (worldwide) use the same muted colours. I even remember it this way in the cinema and I never normally remember how it looked in the cinema.

gasteropod wrote:Well I'm not blind and I think the UK BD is good

Well you have normal expectations, unlike another on this forum. Artificial Eye rarely do wrong when it comes to DVDs. I'm sure it's decent.

I cannot wait to see IM on BD. It's so much god damn fun. It's also a nice length, not outstaying it's welcome.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 20 Jun 2009, 18:46

The UK Blu ray is not good for me at all. I had to try it on a few screens/players to take in what I was seeing, the vertical lines going over the entire film from beginning to end mean its an instant fail! anyone letting that thru quality control is a moron. I cannot believe anyone could not see that appauling problem with the disc. It guts the transfer instantly

barley an upgrade over my Japanese disc in anyway, but to hae the vertical line problem is a big problem over the dvds. A few discs have had this crappy problem, why anyone lets it get onto a final disc is beyond me.

"Suspicious" you can be if you want to be about the look, I guess it will never come to be fact what the went on with the films transfer, the odd comment here and there may mean one thing or another.
Still I have read plenty to make me think it was to be colourful, seen all the documetaries on the film that I could find on the discs and net and read many articles, many of them mentioned a colourful look when shooting the film.

Even on the main documentary on the UK Blu Ray there is a section on the big rain sword fight, they say they were going for a wonderful vivid blue sky with rain at the same time, as it has not been done before as it is jard to do and talk about that part a bit.
Then in the final film the sky is white thru contrast ajusting!!!!! why wait for a stunning day to get the amazing blue sky look, then when the film comes out change the look so vastly that there is NO blue! instead it's shitty blown out white which they could have done on any day of the year, and saved themself days waiting for a perfect blue day.

also the black levels on the film are shit, there are NO blacks on the disc, just light grey, its awful looking. Any film that has not one single shot with black in it is a joke, night time scenes with grey for night, not a great look that.

Again who knows, they may have suddely waited all that time getting a wonderful colourful film on film, waiting for perfect sunshine on rare days and costing them shooting days. Then when it came to DVD they changed it so it looks like shit, as thats the look of the film now in my eyes.
Maybe it was some sort of miscommunication for the transfer, or maybe they changed their mind when the film was in the bag and ajusted the contrast so much then, either way it's a painful look for me now

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 20 Jun 2009, 18:47

bradavon wrote:I even remember it this way in the cinema and I never normally remember how it looked in the cinema.

I'm sure I've read that elsewhere too, I was trying to find it earlier to quote but had no luck.

Yeah, AE's BDs so far are good, I'm hoping they'll release more WKW on it soon.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 20 Jun 2009, 18:51

romerojpg wrote:The UK Blu ray is not good for me at all. I had to try it on a few screens/players to take in what I was seeing, the vertical lines going over the entire film from beginning to end mean its an instant fail! anyone letting that thru quality control is a moron. I cannot believe anyone could not see that appauling problem with the disc. It guts the transfer instantly barley an upgrade over my Japanese disc in anyway, but to hae the vertical line problem is a big problem over the dvds. A few discs have had this crappy problem, why anyone lets it get onto a final disc is beyond me.

Vertical lines?! I've watched the film through twice on the BD and seen no such thing, DVD Beaver didn't either. It's not that I don't notice things, the digital artefacting on the Chocolate UK BD pissed me right off and I've not read that mentioned anywhere else. I also have a problem with the Forgetting Sarah Marshall BD, yet every review I've seen rates it highly, it looks like shit to me.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 21 Jun 2009, 01:45

bradavon wrote:You're wrong. Like I said there's nothing wrong with their Zatoichi and Hero DVDs, so why expect them to fuck up the BDs?....I can live with the dubious subtitles.

Nothing wrong or dubious subs? Make up your mind.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 21 Jun 2009, 03:09

Romero, you say that the Miramax DVD represents how the film is supposed to look and that the r2j/uk/everywhere else DVDs are wrong, but how do you account for the people who watched Zatoichi at international film festivals and stated it looked deaturated/bleached in the cinemas as well?

Just because they were shooting a bright blue sky, colourful scene doesn't mean they didn't decide to alter the look of the film later on!

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 21 Jun 2009, 14:35

I couldnt care less how it is supposed to look, it looks like shit with no colour and no blacks thats all I really need to know.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 21 Jun 2009, 14:58

So really its just your personal preference. That doesn't mean it fits with the director's intended vision.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 21 Jun 2009, 15:04

Yeah grim if you say so.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 21 Jun 2009, 16:37

romerojpg wrote:I couldnt care less how it is supposed to look, it looks like shit with no colour and no blacks thats all I really need to know.

Yet you keep claiming it's not how the director intended it, make up your mind!

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 21 Jun 2009, 20:08

Supposed to look like and my preference aint anything to do with each other.

Its a shitty looking film, thats all I need to know and a HD transfer with major problems.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 22 Jun 2009, 20:42

gasteropod wrote:Yeah, AE's BDs so far are good, I'm hoping they'll release more WKW on it soon.

Me too. I'd love to see ITMFL and 2046 released.

Markgway wrote:Nothing wrong or dubious subs? Make up your mind.

Why did you snip what I said up? It now reads like I was talking about Zatiochi and Hero, when I was talking about IM. To clarify, IMO dubious don't constitute a fucked up BD. You have to draw the line somewhere, otherwise you'd be finding faults forever.

romerojpg wrote:I couldnt care less how it is supposed to look

One minute you're saying it's supposed to look like the Miramax DVD, the next you say you don't care. Make your mind up x2.

It definitely had the muted colours when I saw it in the cinema. Like I said I never normally remember this sort of thing but remember thinking at the time, it was oddly lacking in colour. I was thinking it maybe a duff print or something similar. Obviously I now know better.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 22 Jun 2009, 20:47

bradavon wrote:Me too. I'd love to see ITMFL and 2046 released.

Technically we're waiting on Palisades Tartan to deliver those.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 22 Jun 2009, 20:57

Oh yeah, oops. Which titles were you thinking of?

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 22 Jun 2009, 21:15

Well AE recently re-released Happy Together on DVD so I was hoping they'd release that on BD too, I haven't seen the film but I'd like to.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 23 Jun 2009, 12:51

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon UK BD review: http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/cr ... agon4.html