HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Big Trouble in Little China

And I agree with you.  I made my point because so many "BTILC" fans seem to feel that if you don't love it, there must be something wrong on YOUR end: you're not the right age, you just don't "get it", etc.  I got the feeling that others were criticized for not liking the film on the generational grounds so I wanted to say that there are some of us who are pretty much exactly the right age and we don't like it either! 

Why watch it four times?  Well, that's over 23 years - it's not like I watched it many times in a short span.  I've watched it that many times because I keep thinking I should give it another chance.  It's the kind of film I normally like so I occasionally check it out again in the hopes that maybe it'll finally work for me.


Nope - not yet!  Maybe I'll try again in another eight years! 
And 

I just got a chance to sit down and watch this from beginning to end today and I was very impressed by the transfer.

That's a strawman argument: no such person actually exists. It's simply inconceivable!

Seriously, I'm not being serious, and people hopefully understand that. Of course, I don't understand having BTiLC reviewed by someone who doesn't appear to "get" where it's from. It's a cult-fav from the 80s, and I'd expect a fanboy to review it.

Can you imagine if they let me review Spinal Tap, and I noted that it's a tedious movie that devolves into what it's supposed to be mocking? The internets would 'splode. So I expected a similar approach with BTiLC. But that's just my thing :)

Does the movie review really matter? Maybe I'm wrong but I always thought the reviews on this site were more for the dvd itself and not so much for the movie, especially an older film like BTILC that is fairly well known. Its not like the film was completely trashed in the review either. A 3/5 isn't a bad score and the disc itself scored well. Seems like a lot of discussion over nothing to me.

When I listed what was and wasn't ported over from the DVD on the last page, I made a mistake. The TV spots ARE on the Blu-ray. They're right there with the rest of the special features so I don't know how I missed them. Apologies to all.

So the only stuff missing from the DVD is the text based features and the Blu-ray has a shorter version of Trailer B.

No worries, Travis.  You probably missed it because the extras are listed in a little box, but you have to page down in that box to see the last few, including the TV spots.  I don't know why it was designed that way.  There was certainly enough room on the screen to have a bigger box listing everything without paging down.

Doug

It must, as the film review is half the content of the DVD review and is done for every single DVD review. I mean, reviewers wouldn't waste half their effort on pointless writing, would they?

Seriously, the movie review doesn't "matter" for those who already dis / like it. But it's a guide for those who don't know the movie and undecided on whether to buy / rent / ignore.

This is a lot of to-do over nothing. But it's all (at least my part of it) good natured, tongue-in-cheek. Can't get too worked up over a movie that is laughing at itself beginning to end.

Quote:
The problem was that the people that got in the uproar were all people who do know the movie and had already decided.

Under the TV spots there is a listing for "Teaser". Could this be the longer Trailer B? It runs for 1:32. Don't have the 2 disc DVD to compare.

^ On the DVD, 'Teaser' is listed in the TV commercials as well so I don't think they've mixed it up with Trailer B. That being said, I'm going to double check both the DVD and Blu-ray and will report back in a couple hours.

Well, sure. We were afraid the uninitiated would be mislead...

Unfortunately, 'Trailer B' on the Blu-ray isn't the 'Teaser' on the DVD.

Trailer B on the Blu-ray runs 55 seconds and Trailer B on the DVD runs 1 minute and 27 seconds. They are edited slightly different and the Blu-ray Trailer B is missing 5 seconds of the green band (with the "This preview is suitable for all audiences" info) and 27 seconds of footage compared to the Trailer B on the DVD. It's weird that every other video supplement is ported over but they chose to use a slightly different version of a trailer.

 "But that dialogue! Kate Burton’s first few speeches sound like Exposition 101 from screenwriting class they’re so awkwardly written (and delivered by the actress who was making her screen debut)."

With comments like these, it's obvious the poor guy missed the boat!

Indeed!  And who's Kate Burton, BTW...?
Doug

Kate Burton is the actress who plays Margo. I can't speak for Matt but I don't think he mixed up Jack Burton the character with Kate Burton the actress. He was criticizing the performance of Kate Burton and the dialogue she was given.
Edited by TravisR - 8/20/09 at 11:57am

Yeah, wasn't she related to someone famous? And didn't she do some other stuff that people might have seen?  

The film may have been Kate Burton's big screen debut, but she was hardly inexperienced. Growing up with actor parents and doing a TV mini-series with your famous actor-father gives someone an accelerated education in the performing arts -- especially when that someone is really, really talented.

I've always loved the way Burton (Kate, not Jack) handled her dialogue in Big Trouble. Then again, I've always taken the cheesy exposition as one long wink at the audience.

Thanks.  I should have taken a moment to find out who she was.  I assumed the reviewer was mixing up names in the movie, and had never noticed the actress' name in all the times I've watched the movie.  Anyway, I thought she did a fine job w/ her smallish role.  Everyone sounds a little stilted and silly reading their dialogue in this movie.  I always thought it was intentional...

Doug
Edited by Doug Otte - 8/20/09 at 3:23pm

BTW, and I'm sure everyone has noticed this, but when Egg's bus has to swerve to avoid Jack's truck early in the movie, I'm pretty sure it's Kate Burton jumping out of the way on the sidewalk when he sideswipes the trash cans.

Doug

Anyone else skip the opening dialogue by Egg Shen and just start the movie with the opening credits and the truck driving in the rain? I find the movie plays much better that way (as did the original Dark City, without the opening monologue which has since be removed in the Director's Cut).

I thought I heard/read somewhere (maybe in the commentary?) that the Egg Shen intro was suggested (forced?) by the studio, and that wasn't Carpenter's original intent as the opening scene. That opening monologue always seemed out of place to me.

Yeah, Carpenter says that in the commentary.

Although I feel about "Tap" the way you feel about "China", I'd have no trouble with a review of that sort.  You seem to feel that only fans of movies should review them, which I think is kinda nuts.  There'd be no criticism - everything would be a gushing happy-fest.

Now I could see the argument that it's a mistake to have someone who hates a particular genre review something within that realm - I mean, if I said "I hate every action movie ever made!" and gave it a bad review, that'd be different.  (Though I still think the criticism would be valid.)  In my case, however, I've stated that I like action movies and I'm well within the target demographic - I just don't like THIS one.

A world in which all reviews come from fanboys would be pretty boring... 
W

...which is why I don't read AICN.  Ever.

Well, you let normal reviewers do movies of no importance, like Sex in the City and Iron Man

So I found this @ my local Walmart for $12.83 plus tax. An easily justifiable double dip, IMHO. I'll keep the DVD release for the features that weren't ported over, but comparing the upscaled DVD on my Toshi HD-A30 to the Blu, no comparison: the Blu is gorgeous, while the DVD looks smeary and very electronic.

Edited by Stephen_J_H - 9/21/09 at 8:57pm