John Woo's "Red Cliff"

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tom2681
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John Woo's "Red Cliff"

Post by tom2681 »

Used to be "Battle of the Red Cliff", but now it's just "Red Cliff".
Cast: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhao Wei.
Release date: July 2008 for part 1, December 2008 for part 2.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnIsTteUgoI
Based on this trailer, it sure looks like John Woo still knows how to hold a camera. This looks promising.
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Post by thelostdragon »

LOL @ the white dove at the end.
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Post by bradavon »

Cool but does it really need to be two parts? That always means a 2 hours stretched to a bloated 3-4 hours.
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Post by EvaUnit02 »

bradavon wrote:Cool but does it really need to be two parts? That always means a 2 hours stretched to a bloated 3-4 hours.
Because you'd need a decent length film to do any justice to even an extract of Romance of Three Kingdoms.

In the trailer I saw another Peckinpah homage that Woo can finally cross off his list, horse falls in slo-mo.
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Post by bradavon »

I'd prefer one decent length film. The road is littered with films split into two parts that really ought to have been one film.
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Post by EvaUnit02 »

bradavon wrote:I'd prefer one decent length film. The road is littered with films split into two parts that really ought to have been one film.
The road is also littered with films, like Seven Swords, that are noticeably heavily truncated.
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Post by tom2681 »

Don't worry, Brad.
Only the asian version will be split in two.
The international version should be one cut (and 1,5 hours shorter).
Brad wrote:The road is littered with films split into two parts that really ought to have been one film.
Some films work well when they're split in two.
Stephen Chow's A Chinese Odyssey is a prime example.
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Post by grim_tales »

Are those dates DVD releases Tom? :)
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Post by bradavon »

I bet they're cinema releases.
EvaUnit02 wrote:The road is also littered with films, like Seven Swords, that are noticeably heavily truncated.
I throw back:

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions
Pirates 2 & 3
tom2681 wrote:Don't worry, Brad.
Only the asian version will be split in two.
The international version should be one cut (and 1,5 hours shorter).
Well that's not better :D

p.s - Is that confirmed?
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Post by Yi-Long »

Yayyyyyyyyyyyy... another asian movie gets cut for the international audience(!)

Ah well... IF it's good and I decide to buy it, the asian version will be the only option I guess.
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Post by bradavon »

As it will be uncut (presuming it has English subs) I couldn't care less if the international version is cut. It's a non-issue.
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Post by Yi-Long »

bradavon wrote:As it will be uncut (presuming it has English subs) I couldn't care less if the international version is cut. It's a non-issue.
Doesnt surprise me that YOU dont think it's an issue, but not everyone KNOWS the international release they want to buy and/or see, will be cut,

... and 2nd, we dont know yet if the R3 will have english subs. Wouldnt be the first time that the western companies will forbid the asian rights holders to put english subs on their uncut release.
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Post by bradavon »

Yi-Long wrote:Doesnt surprise me that YOU dont think it's an issue, but not everyone KNOWS the international release they want to buy and/or see, will be cut.
I think you misunderstand what I said. I'll be checking it out uncut. Why would you care either? Let other people sort themselves out. I care about myself, everyone else it's their business.
Yi-Long wrote:... and 2nd, we dont know yet if the R3 will have english subs. Wouldnt be the first time that the western companies will forbid the asian rights holders to put english subs on their uncut release.
I said presuming it has English subs!
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Post by EvaUnit02 »

bradavon wrote:I bet they're cinema releases.
EvaUnit02 wrote:The road is also littered with films, like Seven Swords, that are noticeably heavily truncated.
I throw back:

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions
Pirates 2 & 3
Big Red One - original cut. The only one that existed for decades.
Major Dundee - any cut
Kagemusha - Western cut, the only one available to English-speaking audiences of decades.
Alien 3 TC - the only cut publicly available for a little over a decade.

There a times when studio execs/producers should just fuck off and leave the creative people alone (my examples, movies by master talents), other times when they should interfere. (Your examples and Spider-fucking-man 3. Idiots or talents gone "senile" like Tarantino and Raimi given too much free reign cuz they've made past cash cows.).
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Post by Shingster »

Spiderman 3 is an example of Studio execs/producers needlessly interfering, IIRC Sam and Ivan had written a script around Sandman and Green Goblin 2 and Avi Arad told them to rewrite it with Venom, saying that the fans wanted Venom. Raimi was never going to make a good venom film because he has been very vocal in the past about disliking the character.

Of course they now all say that Raimi was just "pretending" to dislike the character and he agreed with Avi Arad about including Venom and slagged off the character so his inclusion in the film would be a surprise - even though he'd been vocal about his dislike of venom during the production of the 1st 2 films.
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Post by bradavon »

Are there any proper trailers on the web? I'll wait to see it until there are.
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Post by EvaUnit02 »

Thanks for the trivia, shing.
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Post by dvdvision »

I think raimi would have been better handling the directing to someone else to make the venom movie, and shoot the other one as part 4.

Execs may sometimes have naff ideas... but when it comes to a franchise, it's easier to handle rather than doing what he did, ie make something not satisfying to anyone because it's a mix of his film and the execs one. Just let them get their way and shoot the next movie in the franchise as you wanted without hassle. That's what Terence Young did with Thunderball, and we got two great Bonds instead of one bizarre failed one.
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Post by bradavon »

dvdvision wrote:I think raimi would have been better handling the directing to someone else to make the venom movie, and shoot the other one as part 4.
Look what happened to X-Men when someone else took it over. I'd rather have an okay Spidey 3 than a turd called Spidey 3.
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Post by dvdvision »

Ah yeah, X3 wasn't the right guy LOL :shock:
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Post by Shingster »

dvdvision wrote:Execs may sometimes have naff ideas... but when it comes to a franchise, it's easier to handle rather than doing what he did, ie make something not satisfying to anyone because it's a mix of his film and the execs one. Just let them get their way and shoot the next movie in the franchise as you wanted without hassle. That's what Terence Young did with Thunderball, and we got two great Bonds instead of one bizarre failed one.
While I agree with that in principle (Raimi clearly didn;t get the Venom character), the politics of film production makes that scenario pretty much impossible. The studio would have had Raimi under contract before they laid the Venom "advice" on him, and there is almost no way they would want to bring a different director on board on a "single film" basis.
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Post by bradavon »

Raimi should've been a professional and worked with what he got instead of working against what he got.

Sam Raimi aka one of the most overrated director's ever. Darkman is the only good film he's ever made.
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Post by Killer Meteor »

What about Evil Dead?
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Post by dvdvision »

Raimi's dead. John Woo lives. That dove shot convinced me it will be the greatest woo film ever :lol:
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Post by bradavon »

Ivan Drago wrote:What about Evil Dead?
Awful! I've not seen Part 3 but Parts 1 and 2 are woeful.

I've not seen Spidey 3 because Spidey 1 and Spidey 2 were so average, not a disaster but not a patch on Superman, X-Men 2 or Batman (The Movie or Begins).