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

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 13 Jan 2009, 10:18

EvaUnit02 wrote:Sammo's fight choreography was absolutely top notch here, much better than his efforts in Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle (Actually I thought that film was really poor, not funny at all. 2/5.)

That's probably because Sammo didn't do much in Kung Fu Hustle (2 fights IIRC), he left the set early and Yuen Woo Ping replaced him.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 13 Jan 2009, 11:27

Yi-Long wrote:Champions is a Dicky Cheung/Yu Rong Kwok movie...
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYR6BHtt ... re=related
cool fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzLpuzNsBwY

Wow, thanks! Is it out on DVD, yet?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 13 Jan 2009, 11:44

I didnt know Sammo did some fights in Kung Fu Hustle. AFAIK, YWP got sole credit as the AD.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 13 Jan 2009, 11:52

thelostdragon wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:Champions is a Dicky Cheung/Yu Rong Kwok movie...
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYR6BHtt ... re=related
cool fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzLpuzNsBwY
Wow, thanks! Is it out on DVD, yet?

Looks good, ey!?

DDDhouse has it listed for a january 22nd release. http://www.dddhouse.com/v3/product_deta ... uctID=9297

Beat TG · Post by **Beat TG** » 13 Jan 2009, 17:32

Very good film. Donnie Yen's performance was terrific here. The supporting cast was mixed bag, Simon Yam was dependable as ever. The guy playing the Japanese general was okay, as was the out-of-towner Northern-style boxing bully.

half agree with you on the supporting cast. best of the bunch were Gordon Lam and Lynn Hung (would've been nice to show more of her though), both performing strongly and showing enough development/dimension to give them soul and purpose. but aside that I'm down with that. Louis Fan (the Northern kung fu fighter), Xing Yu and Wong You-Nam did ok but they overacted alot, and Simon Yam as well as Chen Zhi-Hui (the bald master in Fearless) had potential but ended up being too underused.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 13 Jan 2009, 19:47

Ip Man sounds good (aka another film Grim will buy, and never watch)

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 13 Jan 2009, 19:56

When did you start referring to yourself in the third person?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 13 Jan 2009, 20:53

Grim has a career as a pro wrestling superstar, didn't you know?

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 13 Jan 2009, 22:41

Red Cliff - 3/5
If Chow Yun-fat really pulled out of this due to creative differences, I can see why. Kinda imagined John Woo's return to Chinese film a little more... well, Woo-ish and not just some white doves thrown into the whole thing.

But still a solid film. The battle scenes were nice. Even though I like the way John Woo usually goes over the top with his action scenes, it bothered me a little bit in this film, since the storyline is based on true events.
Oh, and it was good to see General Guan Yu.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 13 Jan 2009, 22:55

I want to see Red Cliff too

Eva, very good

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Jan 2009, 23:30

Is anyone else so utterly bored of bloody white doves in Woo movies? I'd buy the BD but Mei Ah have added fucking watermarks to it :x. Tossers.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 13 Jan 2009, 23:49

The watermarks don't appear in the film image though (I think), they appear in the black border.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 14 Jan 2009, 00:07

Have they added Watermarks on the DVD too?

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 14 Jan 2009, 09:28

grim_tales wrote:Have they added Watermarks on the DVD too?

No.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 14 Jan 2009, 10:20

Danke

I'll pick up the DVD one day then.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Jan 2009, 18:30

Mei Ah have added watermarks to all their BDs. There's so many SD bootlegs out there, there's probably not much point bothering but HD bootlegs is another story.

Thankfully no other HK studio is doing it. There's no way I'm buying a Mei Ah BD until they sort this. I'll have to wait for the UK theatrical release then another Extended BD (somewhere else in Asia) if I like it.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 14 Jan 2009, 22:17

AFAIK they've stopped using watermarks.
Hopefully they'll soon re-release their first BDs without watermarks.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 14 Jan 2009, 22:24

Salut Tom

Comment va-tu?
Good to see you again

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 14 Jan 2009, 22:26

tom2681 wrote:AFAIK they've stopped using watermarks.

Fantastic. Any source? Which titles aren't effected?

tom2681 wrote:Hopefully they'll soon re-release their first BDs without watermarks.

Are you guessing or basing this on any fact? I sure hope so.

Thanks btw.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 15 Jan 2009, 02:28

It was mentioned somewhere that Mei Ah are supposedly dropping the watermarks. I forget where, and I can't remember if they already have dropped them from their very latest releases, or simply announced it.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 Jan 2009, 10:06

Thanks.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 17 Jan 2009, 16:07

Cops vs. Thugs (Japan, 1975) – 4/5
Fukasaku’s hard hitting cop / yakuza film follows a corrupt detective (Bunta Sugawara) who believes the only way to handle the yakuza is to play by their rules. When a new, honest superior (Tatsuo Umemiya) is put in charge the city turns into a battleground. Terrific film that dives deeps into the world it portrays. The characters are strong and Fukasaku’s often frenzied directing well balanced with the story elements. Pinky Violence queen Reiko Ike, who also appeared in Proxy War (1973) and Graveyard of Honor (1975), plays one of the film's few and small female roles.

Graveyard of Honor (Japan, 1975) – 3/5
The true story of gangster Rikio Ishikawa (Tetsuya Watari), brought to screen by Kinji Fukasaku. As expected from the director, it’s a hectic piece of realistic (and violent) yakuza cinema. In the beginning the fast pace threatens to exhaust the viewer also, but thankfully the film slows down during the impressive second half. Tetsuya Watari is convincing in the lead role as a man even despised by other criminals. Yumi Takigawa, fresh off from the convent (School of the Holy Beast, 1974) plays his poor girlfriend. Nikkatsu starlet Meika Seri – perhaps best remembered as an Osaka prostitute in Noboru Tanaka’s She Beast Market (1974) - has a small role as a... prostitute from Osaka.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 20 Jan 2009, 23:48

Black Rose Ascension (Japan, 1975) – 1/5
”Pink for the sake of freedom” – director Tatsumi Kumashiro’s look into the world of pinku eiga. A film director (Shin Kishida) finds himself in trouble when his regular star (Meika Seri) decides to leave the film industry. He soon finds a new potential star (Naomi Tani) that still has to be convinced into becoming a pink actress. Kumashiro continues his streak of slightly dry critic hits, but this time the characters are more one dimentional than usual. But it’s Naomi Tani and her unbearable presence that ultimately sinks the movie. As an interesting anecdote; the lead character was modeled after Nagisa Oshima.

Red Peony Gambler 7 (Japan, 1971) – 2,5/5
The series made a turn to worse after the pitch-perfect Red Peony Gambler 5. The negative development continues in the sevent film, although it’s not obvious from the great opening sequence. But the rest of the film is a routine effort. With Fuji, Tsuruta and director Tai Kato it’s needless to say it’s still a very decent film, but the execution and storyline just aren’t lively enough to raise the film above average. A the highlight – appart from the beginning - is actually a very funny comedy sequence. It does involve Wakayama, but he’s not even main clown. Very surprising indeed.

Red Peony Gambler 8 (Japan, 1972) – 4,5/5
Red Peony Gambler receives a worthy conclusion in this eighth instalment. While the previous film suffered from one-dimentional characters and flat storyline, this part is the best written film in the entire series. It starts off rather simple, but gets better and better scene by scene as the themes of honor and duty get more complicated. The big fight at the end is perhaps the best action scene in the entire series, followed by an even better ending shot. The supporting cast features Bunta Sugawara and Hiroki Matsukata in honorable good guy roles.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 26 Jan 2009, 10:18

Police Story 3:Supercop 3.5/5

Cut DD release looks quite nice but it's still a huge bummer it's a shortened version.the film itself is very good with a crazy,pulsating clmax and Chan & Khan make for a great on screen duo.[/b]

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 30 Jan 2009, 13:39

Sparrow - 3/5
Entertaining Jonnie To-film which reminded me a lot of French cinema. Has some very funny parts, like the whole lift scene.