Asian Cinema on DVD (1 Viewer)

[tyler payne]

Hey everyone!

Well, I've been lurking in this thread for a while now and I thought that I would finally add some input of my own.

First a little background on my induction to Asian Films. I first have to say that I am a huge Jackie Chan fan. (sorry that was an unfortunate rhyme) The first movie I saw of him was "Rumble in the Bronx" in theaters. I don't think that "Rumble" is his best movie, but at the time, it blew me away. I was like who the hell is this guy that is doing sh*t that I could only dream of. Well after "Rumble" hit theaters some other Jackie Chan movies followed. I thought that they were new movies by this new action guy. Little did I know at the time that a lot of these movies hitting theaters (Supercop, First Strike) were actually older Hong Kong movies and that Jackie had been starring in movies since the 70's. (This was 95-96 by the way)

Well to make a long story longer, in early 1998 I bought a DVD player, not because I knew the video and audio advantages of DVD, but because I am a electronics nut and this was a new machine I could show off to all my friends.

I didn't start to buy Jackie Chan DVD's right away, instead I was buying all the teen comedies from the 80's that I grew up with. I regret this now, as many Jackie Chan DVD's are out of print. EX:
Wheels on Meals
My Story
My Stunts

Still I have a nice little collection of many of his movies.

The Accidental Spy
Dragon Fist
Drunken Master
Legend of Drunken Master
Fearless Hyena
Fearless Hyena II
First Strike
Gorgeous
Half a Loaf of Kung Fu
The Killer Meteors
Mr. Nice Guy
New Fist of Fury
Operation Condor
Operation Condor II - The Armor of the Gods
Project A 2
Rumble in the Bronx
Shaolin Wooden Men
Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin
Snake in Eagle's Shadow
Spiritual Kung Fu
Supercop
To Kill With Intrigue
Twin Dragons
Who Am I?

Well, I must say that some of the Region 1 releases of these movies are horrid! I think it's Shaolin Wooden Men that is a Full Frame release. I won't even call it Pan & Scan as the picture does not scan. It stays stationary in the middle of the widescreen frame and cuts off any action that may take place on the sides! I know there are better versions of these movies out, but as they were in the $5.00 bin at Wal-Mart I thought what the heck.

I have high hopes for
Heart of Dragon
My Lucky Stars
as I hear the Fox releases are pretty good.

Well then in 2001 I saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and once again I was blown away. I had seen wire work before, Matrix, Charlies Angels, but "CTHD" made it look so organic and natural. Then I read a blurb from Tarantino saying that if you liked "CTHD" you should go see "Iron Monkey" and I was blown away again. So I added
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Iron Monkey
Iron Monkey 2
to the collection.

Now I know that Asian Cinema is not all about Kung Fu, but these are the movies that opened the door for me. Anyway, about 6 months ago a friend of mine lent me a tape of "The Killer" and I fell in love with it. So I went on a mission about a month ago to buy some more Asian films.

I Ended up getting
In the Line of Duty 4
Full Contact
Hard Boiled
Seven Samurai
So Close

Well I had not opened these movies, (I got backed up with all the DVD's I got for Christmas) when I ran across this thread and thought it was time to start in on some of them.

Tonight I Watched
Hard Boiled = great movie, does it get any cooler than Tequila?

Full Contact = Not a great movie, but fun as hell to watch

So Close = I admit it, I bought this movie because it has Shu Qi in it, but I found Zhao Wei, and Karen Mok to be excellent. Some style-ized fights and action made this a hell of a ride.

I am waiting on Seven Samurai till I have a day off as I want to explore the Criterion Disk fully.

Well, now I am hooked! I just ordered
Chungking Express
Bride With White Hair
Once a Thief

I plan to order off the recommendation of this thread, and forum
Once Upon a Time in China 1,2,and 3
The "A Better Tomorrow" films
Jakarta
My Sassy Girl
Tokyo Raiders
Heroic Trio
Red Beard
The Killer

Any other recommendations from you good folk? I am really enjoying my emersion into Asian film. I hardly ever outright hate a movie, and even if I do not like a story line, I can still appreciate other aspects to a film if they are well done, so please lay it on me, what else do I need to watch?

Thank you in advance for all your suggestions.

 

[Chris_Morris]

Does anyone know if any of the Wong Fei Hung movies starring Kwan Tak Hing are available on DVD?


Chris

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Tyler,

Jackie Chan's WHEELS ON MEALS is still available. You can find it at the DDD House Weekly Cheap sale for about $3.25 US. It is an all region disc, as I recall.

http://www.dddhouse.com/dddhouse/en/...t&categoryID=1

Sadly, My Stunts and My Story do seem to be unavailable, but you never know what you might find if you have access to a big city Chinatown.


By the way, Tyler, you're just the kind of person many of us hope is still out there. Someone who gets sucker punched by the coolness of Asian cinema and then wants more. This is pretty much how I got into it in 1991 and 1992 when The Killer and Hard boiled were first released on video in the US. Until then, my only real exposure to "real" Hong Kong cinema had been a tape of Aces Go Places 2 that I rented on a lark in the late 80's (mentioned in an earlier thread). The two John Woo films made me revisit that earlier film after I found it for sale in a bargain bin. And from there, everything snowballed to the point where today, there is little that I WON'T watch at least once. I suppose some Asian viewers might not always see what we see in their films, since potentially being raised on them they probably take them for granted the same way we sometimes take films from our own culture for granted. If nothing else, there a great window into other cultures without the weight and hype of massive pulicity machines and celebrity culture that surrounds the stuff we see over here. It's not that these elements don't exist in those societies, it's just that we're less likely to be influenced by it as it doesn't get imported - the films do and for a great many of us, they have to speak for themselves - which they do quite well.

That said, there's still a lot of fantastic recommendations in this thread that I'd say you "need to see" besides the ones you mentioned, as well as several to avoid if you read my "Sixteen that Suck" list. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, DDDHouse's rotating weekly cheap sale is a fantastic place to load up on movies that are worth a shot. The shipping works out to around $1-$2 per disc depending on volume, but when the discs are so bloody cheap, even if you think the movie stinks, you're not out muchmore than $5.

Time doesn't allow me to post more recommendations today, but hopefully I'll come up with more selections over the weekend.

 

[James_M]

Tyler,
For Kung Fu, I'd recommend you look into getting:
Dragons Forever: imho the best "three brothers" (Jackie, Sammo, Biao) movie.
Fong Sai Yuk: Jet Li gives a goofy serious lovable wirey performance.
Prodigal Son: Yuen Biao kicks ass with the best Wing Chun movie ever made.
Shaolin Temple: Forget the wires, Jet Li and others go wushu crazy!!
Tai Chi Master: Solid Jet Li movie with Michelle Yeoh, directed by Yuen Woo Ping.

 

[PaulaJ]

>Jackie Chan's WHEELS ON MEALS is still available.

I received an e-mail from Hong Kong Legends stating they wll be releasing Wheels on Meals later this year. This is one of my favorite Jackie movies. I hope their version includes the van-washing scene cut from the current HK DVD. (I haven't actually SEEN this scene, I've just heard about it.)

I don't know of any Jackie Chan films that are out of print, though... I collected them all last year without any trouble, not counting a couple of extremely early titles from Jackie's stuntman/bit player days that I haven't been able to find. I guess maybe Drunken Master 2 (a somewhat cropped print from Thakral) and Thunderbolt? But both are easily available on ebay).

I don't want to list all my Asian movie DVDs, it would take too long for me to type up. So, very quickly, I've got virtually all of Jackie Chan, virtually all of Stephen Chow, all the Fox releases, and a big grab-bag of many different films both HK and Japanese. I have a weakness for anything starring Bruce Lee, Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, Leslie Cheung, Sammo Hung, Anita Mui, Yuen Baio, Jacqueline Wu, Jacky Cheung, Jet Li, Toshiro Mifune or directed by Tsui Hark, Johnnie To, John Woo (his HK stuff, not his American movies!), Wong Kar-Wai, Akira Kurosawa, and Seijun Suzuki. As well as the Zatoichi series.

I also keep rental outfit ehit.com very busy.

Yet I feel I've barely dipped my toes into what's out there. With a couple of exceptions, I've yet to crack the Shaw Bros. classics. But I'm going to. Thank goodness for multi-region DVD players. It's not like Miramax is ever going to release those Celestial SB titles they've got the rights to.

 

[ChrisBEA]

My DDDhouse shimpment arrived yesterday.
I watched Bullet in the Head, all I can say is WOW. That is an amazing movie. Thanks to WIll for initially recommending it to me! I also got the DTS Hard Boiled.

My next order shipped today, so probably sometime next week.

I am wondering about a few horror movies I'm interested in:
Stacy
Junk
Wild Zero
Any thpughts?

Tyler, Welcome! Great story too!

 

[Chris_Morris]

How in the world had I not heard of Ehit.com until now? A netflix type site devoted to Chinese and Asian movies. Amazing.


Chris

 

[WillKTaylor]

Glad you got into Bullet in the Head. It's a very touching film, unusual from Woo's typical bonding between protagonist and antagonist stories. As others have mentioned, it's the Chinese version of the Deer Hunter, but heavily cultured in difference. Very good film.

Too bad you picked up the DTS version of Hard Boiled though. It's one of my favorite films and I own both the DTS and Criterion versions. Not much in the way of extras on the DTS disk, but the thing that really got me (probably due to high expectations for a stellar remastered soundtrack) was the fact that the mono track sounded similar if not better to the DTS track. I didn't find any major differences between the two except for a bit more range in DTS. Surrounds in DTS had a rather "fake" ambient feel, whereas I would have just rather watched in mono. Hope you find otherwise. Don't mind having a backup copy though.

Thib .. excellent insight into Shiri among all your recommendation posts. You in sales by any chance? Anyway, still haven't gotten Shiri as I'm looking for a better than region 1 release. The R rated version gets me, so I've some homework ahead of me. Too many DVDs just arrived over the last week and I just upgraded my rear surrounds, so Shiri will have to wait. JSA is on for tonight and I'm looking forward to it, but I wonder .. does Bichumoo have a better soundtrack? Unfortunately, I'm in for home theater film tonight to test out my rears .. so if anyone catches this, give me some an opinion on the two. Thanks in advance .......

 

[ChrisBEA]

Wanna know something Will? I may have picked up on the Deer Hunterness of it, but I've never seen it! Guess, I probably should, huh?

As for HardBoiled, the DTS is really a non-issue for me as I only watch in a stereo setting and when I set to DTS the sound volume lowers, so I tend to stay with DD anyway.

On a sad note: I was watching Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain today, and about an hour in it just stopped. I can't get past the glitch and if I leave it long enough PowerDVD errors out and says the disk may be damaged and can't be read. I tried on a couple of players with no luck. The disk itself seems OK, save for a small mark near the outer edge, tried cleaning it, but it just stays there. Funny thing is, it would probably be cheaper to just buy another copy then to get it sent back for replacement! As for what I have seen of the movie, I am having a little trouble following it, but it is quite entertaining. Effects are dated and it has a few layers of 80's cheese, but it is very cool. How does it compare to the remake? figure when I buy a replacement, I may pick that one up too.

Today I Also picked up The Duel (d:Andrew Lau s:Andy Lau, Ekin Cheng) and Mechanical Violator Hakaider. The Duel I've been wanting for awhile as I've heard good things plus I like Lau and Cheng. As for Hakaider, I like a lot of what is put out by Tokyo Shock, and this seemed like it may be a fun ride. Thoughts?

JSA is a great movie, sadly due to my setup, can't comment on the surrounds. Haven't seen Bichunmoo, but wouldn't mind checking it out...

 

[WillKTaylor]

Very funny, Chris .. watched about 45 minutes of Legend of Zu and couldn't stands no more of it. Think it was just the mood that I was in, but man .. way too much CGI flash and not enough story. Oh well, I'll give it another try soon enough. I realize it's a remake of the original, which I've seen and enjoyed, but I'd expect a bit more of Hark.

Haven't seen any of the films you mentioned, so can't comment. But I've heard enough about Duel to take a look sometime. As for JSA .. everyone should see this film!! Typical ending for an Asian film, but the Korean JSA really leaves an impression falling back on many different angles that tie up rather nicely. I recall Thib mentioning Korea's film industry being similar to Hollywood, but I would have to say, aside from the cultural differences, if this film is any indication of his declaration, I would go as far to say that Hollywood is a thing of the past, nothing but a joke. Not to say that I've watched a ton of suspense/thriller/drama genre films out of Hollywood lately; it's simply because I'm too busy seeking out overseas interests.

JSA really does get it's message across, which I believe the director really sells the perspective of this age old message very well. Even westerners might get this one down except for the convictions that drive this story. Call me a cynic.

Overall, it's creative, intriguing, informative and interesting. It's brutal, comical, and realistic. I would give JSA a ****1/2 outta five after my first viewing. It's well told with ingenuity, pulling you along for the ride, not exaclty what I expected going in. I'll have to rewatch this one and pick it apart further soon enough, but my rating stands for now. Excellent film that I would highly recommend .. to most viewers!

 

[WillKTaylor]

http://www.naatanet.org/festival/2004/html/index.html

Asian American film festival will taking place in Cali. throughout March. Anyone hear of anything like this taking place on the eastern seaboard? Shoot, as much as I enjoyed Shaolin Soccer on my own HT setup, I'd still love a chance at seeing this film, among others, big screened, which rarely takes place except for lower end theaters in Massachusetts.

 

[WillKTaylor]

Can anyone comment on Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films? I've passed up Cure and Charisma recently at a local shop and was reading a bit about these online, but I'm still not totally sold yet. TIA

 

[ChrisBEA]

I remember Shaolin Soccer played the Tribeca festival in NYC last year. By the time I found out about it, it was already sold out. :frowning:

One more comment on JSA: it reminded me of Rashomon....

I have Cure. I liked it, a little slower paced than I typically like, I'll probably like it better after a second viewing. I think you would like it. It's in a similar vein as the recent Japanese horror films like Ringu and Dark Water.

 

[TomJC]

BTW, if any of you are contemplating attending the Wisconsin Film Festival, their film line-up this year includes PTU and JU-ON: THE GRUDGE.

 

[ChrisBEA]

I watched Mechanical Violator Hakaider today. Weird movie, I wish it was longer the story could have used some fleshing out. I watched the trailer for Moon Over Tao on that disk and that looks interesting. I also added The New Option and The Moon Warriors to the collection.

 

[LorenzoL]

From www.chud.com. They have a 5 part series in regards to Asian cinema. It's not in depth however, they touch on many movies on this thread. One of them that I'm posting here is about the Hollywood remakes of Asian movies coming up. My question is can Hollywood come up with something original nowadays?

"Here are some of Hollywood’s recent imported acquisitions (Roy Lee must be a busy guy) which they plan to deconstruct domestically, although the current status on many is unknown. As these are nearly all very much worth seeing in their pristine form, you are strongly advised to seek out the originals as quickly as possible.



Ikiru - Though lesser-known than Kurosawa's Ran or sword-swinging samurai films, this beloved 1952 Japanese film follows a civil service drone who learns he is dying of cancer and then attacks his life and job with new vigor and inspires those around him. This Oscar-bait is right up the alley for shameless heartstring-tugger Tom Hanks, who has author/screenwriter Richard Price (Clockers) working on his American contemporary adaptation.

My Wife is a Gangster - Queen Latifah will “urbanize” this Korean action-comedy, about a socially awkward female crime boss who agrees to find a husband at the behest of her dying sister.

Infernal Affairs - This twisting all-star cop tale from Hong Kong has been grabbed up by Brad Pitt’s production company at Warner Brothers, and he may co-star with Leonardo DiCaprio for director Martin Scorsese.

My Sassy Girl - This adorable Korean romantic comedy, about a doofus who falls in love with an abrasive female sociopath who has a penchant for vomiting in public, will be liquefied by Dreamworks.

Il Mare – Warner Brothers will remake this refreshing Korean tale of time-crossed romantics and the magic mailbox they use to communicate (yeah, really).

Dark Water – This Japanese spook story (the scariest movie you’ll ever see about a leaky ceiling) from The Ring director Hideo Nakata has been grabbed by Dreamworks, who have John C. Reilly, Tim Roth and Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly getting the chills for Brazilian director Walter Salles.

Ju-On (The Grudge)– In a rare example of maintaining an original film’s aesthetics, Japanese director Takashi Shimizu is helming The Grudge, the English-language remake of his own creepy haunted house tale. The film, the first for Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures, is shooting in Japan with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr dealing with the angry spirits.

The Eye – Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner’s production company have writer Ryne Pearson adapting this Chinese/Thai pants-soiler, about a blind woman who receives an eye transplant and gets the unwelcome ability to see the horrific (and occasionally pissed off) spirits of the dead.

A Tale of Two Sisters – Dreamworks paid record sums to remake this Korean horror hit about two unstable siblings and their deranged relatives.

Shall We Dance? – Miramax has Richard Gere and the unavoidable Jennifer Lopez toplining this remake of the Japanese romcom (not the Astaire/Rogers classic), about an accountant who takes dance lessons to get in the panties of the spicy instructor but falls in love with dance instead.

Kite - Director Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) is set to helm this sure-to-be-EXTREME live-action remake of the Japanese anime about a young orphan girl trained as an assassin.

Don’t Look Up – Also known as Ghost Actress, the first film from The Ring director Hideo Nakata revolves around a haunted film production, and a remake is in the hands of producer Anant Singh (whose Distant Horizons company has a pile of other remake rights).

No Blood No Tears - Queen Latifah (quickly becoming Queen Remake, with My Wife is a Gangster, Taxi and Truck Turner on her plate) is producing and potentially starring in a new version of this girl-powered Korean heist flick.

Teacher Mr. Kim - Dimension has plans for this Korean feel-good tale about a city teacher who reluctantly gets sent to a country school. His plan to get the school closed down by sending all his students to distant universities backfires when his placement is highly successful.

Jail Breakers – Warner Brothers will remake this Korean comedy as a possible vehicle for How High raptor team Method Man and Redman, following two dimwitted prisoners who escape from jail and then must somehow sneak back inside when they realize they were about to be pardoned.

Oldboy – This stylish story from Korean director Park Chan-Wuk (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) finds a man seeking vengeance when he’s released from a mysterious 15-year captivity, and Universal is giving it the US treatment.

Chaos – Yet another Hideo Nakata remake, Universal’s version of this tale of botched kidnapping has attracted talent like Benicio Del Toro, Robert DeNiro and Sexy Beast director Jonathan Glazer.

Blood: The Last Vampire – Ronny Yu (Bride with White Hair, Freddy vs. Jason), who had once intended to make his US directing debut with a sequel to Legacy of Rage (with Brandon Lee and Donnie Yen), wants to do a live-action version of this Japanese anime about a schoolgirl hunting bloodsuckers with a special samurai sword.

Turn – Having already remade an American film with the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre, director Marcus Nispel will take on this Japanese supernatural thriller about a woman who awakens from a coma in a deserted city and relives the same day over and over.

Remakes from which you’ve been spared thus far, for one reason or another:

The Mission – Oscar-winning Usual Suspects scribe Christopher McQuarrie had planned to turn Johnny To’s action-thriller into a star-driven Hollywood shell of a film.

The Killer – Back when he was famous, Sylvester Stallone considered remaking Woo’s action classic, with Walter Hill (48 hrs.) writing and directing.

Pulse (Kairo) – Wes Craven’s planned adaptation of the freaky Japanese fright flick was apparently canceled by Miramax as it was considered too similar in theme to The Ring.

Full Contact – To be written by Three Kings scribe John Ridley, the remake of this Chow Yun-Fat action flick was to star former Fugees member Pras.

Akira – After the miserable experience making League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, director Steve Norrington reportedly renounced studio filmmaking, leaving the planned live-action adaptation of this Japanese manga/anime floundering (though Warner Brothers insists the project is going forward)."

 

[Chris_Morris]

Chris

 

[Yee-Ming]

No idea. But what has always amused me is that ALL Wong Fei Hung movies/TV shows, regardless of producer/director/actor etc, will feature the "Wong Fei Hung" theme -- any fan will know what I'm talking about. If possible, it's even more strongly associated with the character than the 007 theme is with James Bond.

 

[Chris_Morris]

Which is the worst change made to "Iron Monkey". Why they decided to replace the 'Wong Fei Hung' theme is beyond me.


Chris

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Saw this at Toronto’s short-lived variant of the FantAsia Film Festival in 98 or 99. It’s on par with Hakkaider and Zeram, so you’re opinion of those will probably hold for this once you see it. I found it draggy until, naturally, the climax, when Yuko Moriyama (I think that’s her) takes on the CGI demon monster thingy. That made me wake up toute d’suit!