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Asian Cinema on DVD (1 Viewer)

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
I'm hoping to post a list of Worst films soon to keep this thread from becoming the good-movie-list love-in that someone earlier feared it might.
 

ChrisBEA

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 19, 2003
Messages
1,657
David: I've seen that title pop up from time to time, and at that price, it's hard to say no.

Brian: Thank you for the recommendations, and also let me say it's great having someone in here with the extensive knowledge that you clearly have. You are a great resource. I look forward to your bad list!
 

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
Here you go. Don’t say you weren’t warned. Most of these are still only available on VCD, a few are available on DVD, a couple are so bad they’re a blast to watch, but all wouldn’t rate the powder to blow them to hell. If nothing else, they provided employment for second-tier actors, often when times were bad for the industry. These are largely lifted from some reasonably recent newspaper columns. My ratings are out of 10. Herewith, I present

SIXTEEN HONG KONG MOVIES THAT SUCK

BLACK BLOOD (2000)
D: Wong Chung. Michael Wong Man-tak, Gigi Lai Chi, Chapman To Man-chat, Gabriel Harrison (Hoi Chun-kit), Gloria Lam Suk-yan.
Possessed by vengeful ghosts, schizophrenic mechanic Chapman To kidnaps Gigi Lai to an abandoned school and demands a half-million dollar ransom from her rich daddy. But it turns out the ghosts have their own designs on his not-so-innocent hostage. Dreary rehash of recent, better Japanese ghost movies isn’t convincing for a second and, at only 76 minutes, feels overlong by half. Cut-rate performances and school play production values don’t help. Top billed Michael Wong seems to be making up his minor role as he goes along. 1.

BLOODY MARY KILLER (1994) D: Godfrey Ho Chun-sing. Cynthia Rothrock, Robin Shou Wan-bo.
Two movies in one, both awful. Waitress/streetfighter Rothrock hunts down the Italian mullet-head serial killer who iced her sister, while HK cop Robin Shou takes on a gang that wants a valuable list of triad bigwigs in his father’s possession. As with other cheaply-made Godfrey Ho splice jobs, two unrelated movies are linked in the most feeble way imaginable. And the action scenes suck, too! 1.

BRUSH UP MY SISTERS (2003) D: Martin Lau Kwok, Teresa Mak Ka-kei, Pinky Cheung Man-chi, Natalie Ng Man-Yan, Jade Leung Kong, Jackie Lui Chung-yin, Tats Lau Yi-tat, Jamie Luk Kim-ming, Candy Chiu Jing-yee.
A good cast is wasted in this gruelling shot-on-video comedy reminiscent of the much superior Inspector Wears Skirts series, about three gals who join the police academy for various reasons: Teresa wants to seek out her sister’s killer; Pinky’s a tabloid photog out to uncovered rumoured lesbian shenanigans at the school; and perky Natalie just wants to meet handsome beat cop Jackie. Madam Jade whips in to shape and, thank the good Lord, joins them in a game of bikini volleyball. Watered down cheese will only make you wish this had a category III rating and a more adventurous cast. 2.

CRASH LANDING (2001) D: Zhang Jian-ya. Shao Bing, Yu Yang, Xu Fan.
Mainland China’s first big-budget disaster movie would have been more suspenseful had the dramatic conflict been something more than stuck landing gear, to which the requisite passenger list of malcontents, wise old farts, single mothers and ugly Americans react with something approaching slightly agitated indifference. No hostile terrorists, no psychotic prisoner transfers, no Sonny Bono with a bomb in a briefcase. There is however a variation on George Kennedy’s Petroni character from the American Airport series, as Shao Bing’s chief airport tech smokes, sweats, furls his brow in hopeless frustration and plows through reference manuals from the flashy airport control centre. Well-intentioned, government-approved bum-strainer is a talky, didactic bore, only gaining momentum during two exciting, FX-heavy crash sequences that take place entirely in one character’s head (and thus justify the title! 3.

DEVIL'S WOMAN (1996) D: Otto Chan Juk-tiu. Elvis Tsui Kam-kong, Marianne Chan Miu-ying, Ben Ng Ngai-cheung, Cammy Choi Mei-lan, Ivy Leung Si-man, Helena Law Lan, Joey Yeung Oi-ching, Chan Kwok-bong, Lok Yung-yung.
Sorcerer Ben promises fame to B-movie starlet Ivy in exchange for her exacting revenge on the adulterous doctor who inadvertently let his wife die. Ex-SDU man Elvis, prone to premonitions, investigates the subsequent murders only to discover his quack psychiatrist Marianne is loonie Ben’s ideal vessel to house the spirit of his dearly departed. Meanwhile, granny Helen, who only seems to be in this film because she’s in every film like this, raises kiddy ghosts who have little to do with the story, and babbles out plot points so the filmmakers have more time to photograph boobies. Frankly we expected more from a pairing of category III titans Elvis and ben than this inert, incoherent “chiller” with cosmetic Southeast Asian witchcraft overtures. Often billed as a followup to the larger-budgeted, and more kinetic, Eternal Evil of Asia, though the similarities are superficial at best. 2.

FALL FOR YOU (2000) D: Cha Chuen-yee. Francis Ng Chun-yu, Kristy Yeung Kung-yu. Julie Bataille, Julien, Phillipe Chauvreau, James, Eric Vincent, Alain Connan, Olivier Cherki, Yann Pradal, Alain Bureau, Sandrine Jouanin.
Perfectly dreadful romantic “comedy” filmed in Paris apparently so everyone involved could go to Paris, has struggling, eccentric painter Francis falling for struggling gold-digger Kristy. Irritating characters and a flimsy script by Chow Yin-han are the least of this film’s problems: there’s not a single believeable relationship, or a single actor who doesn’t look embarrased, in the wholepicture, and virtually no chemistry between the two leads, who as actors seem more miserable to be far from home than their characters are to be faced with soon-to-expire visas. And if you thought Hong Kong filmmakers sucked at getting decent British or American actors for their productions, you’ll be barely relieved to know they had no better luck with the French. For a better pairing of this director-star combo, check out the vastly superiour Once Upon A Time In Triad Society (1996). and dump this refuse at the bottom of the Seine. 1.

FOUR DRAGONS TIME (19??) D: ?????????. Ken Lo Wai-kwong, K.K. Cheng Kwo-keung. Laughably amateurish thriller puts an assortment of low-lifes, crooked cops and gun-toting mystery women in hot pursuit of a treasure map. Cheap and shoddy in all departments, with action consisting largely of people running up and down alleys, in and out of abandoned buildings, and indulging in the occasional bout of badly edited martial arts and gunplay. Two clumsy striptease numbers do little to spice things up. How Ken Lo got hooked up to this mess is anybody’s guess. 1.

GREAT JETFOIL ROBBERY (1996) D: Kong Ngai. Ma Man-chung, Tong Chun-chung, Sunny Chan Kam-hung, Yeung Ling, On A-ping, Lam King-loi.
Mainland thieves swipe $10 million from a Macau to Hong Kong jetfoil, then disappear, forcing an overly earnest cooperative of cops from both cities and the mainland to sort through the clues and send faxes to discover what really happened and nail the dirty cop behind the scenes. Dull, virtually actionless police procedural (despite that great title), based on a true story, has its characters spend more time talking about what they’re going to do than actually doing it, and seems designed to foster good police relations and little else and, much like any real-life investigation, is a total bore. 2.

LEGENDARY HEROES PART 1 (1999) D: Bosco Lam Hing-lung. Wu Wai-hong, Kwan Tak-fai, Norman Tsui Siu-keung, Wu Ma, Leung Suet-mei, Michelle Wong Man, John Ching Tung.
Two brothers, separated in infancy when their triad dad loses one to a dastardly rival in a card game, are reunited years later when the good son unwittingly goes to work for the bad. Did we mention they both have super-powers stemming from a broken amulet they share? Unwatchable, underwritten stinker, directed with a nauseating pretentiousness and padded out with endless slow motion; owes a small debt to The Storm Riders (1998), but in no way compares favorably. Followed by a sequel. Vets Wu Ma and Norman Tsui are wasted. Producer Peter Cheung Wing-Yiu and director Bosco Lam would fare better with Legend of the Flying Swordsman the following year. 1.

MILES APART (2000) D: Michael Wong Man-tak. Michael Wong Man-tak, Cecilia Yip Tung, Moses Chan Ho, Labon Cheung Hung-on, Simon Lui Yu-Yeung, Jimmy Wong Ga-lok, Samuel Leung Cheuk-moon, Ching Siu-lung, Anne Tseng, Florence Kwok.
CID cop Michael Wong (whose character is named Miles Ma, get it?) struggles to clear his name when he’s set up on a rape and attempted murder charge after getting a little too close to a heroin operation. Actor Wong’s directorial debut is a barely-written, horribly-improvised, leadenly-paced police procedural that drags out simple police procedures to lengths unheard of in HK films, and only lives up to its made-in-Hong Kong pedigree during the final shootout, which is unimaginatively staged and shot. Wong has surrounded himself with a great cast of familiar faces (Simon Lui, Jimmy Wong, Labon Cheung, Moses Chan, Samuel Leung) who do what they can, occasionally in English, but the strain of wearing too many hats (director, star, co-writer, producer, executive producer; hell, I even suspect he sings the songs!) is clearly evident in Wong’s completely distracted performance, though this is far from the first time he’s been so bland. The biggest problem here, however, is in Moses Chan’s character, a supposedly-dirty fellow inspector and friend whose reclamation of good guy status in the film’s final act doesn’t explain why he sets such a damaging sex-scandal trap for his buddy in the first place. 2.

PURSUIT OF A KILLER (2000) D: ??????. Chin Siu-ho, Ben Ng Ngai-cheung, Charlie Cho Cha-lee, William Ho Ka-kui (???), Tu Chi-wai????
No-budget steamer has adopted gangster’s son Ben trying to kill his stepsister so he can inherit the throne, met with resistance by black-clad, interior-monologue-mumblin’ hitman Chin Siu-ho, whose long hair blows menacingly in the breeze while he smokes and stares off into space. Or some such nonsense. With top-billed Chin playing all silent ‘n broody, and the director bereft of any sense of how to cut a story together, it falls to the ever-reliable Ben to deliver a performance this film doesn’t deserve..and even he’s coasting on auto. 1.

S.D.U. '97 (1997) D: Cho Wing. Jimmy Wong Ga-lok, Hilary Tsui Ho-ying, Edmond So Chi-wai, Law Kar-ying, Yu Rong Guang, Joe Junior.
Three SDU cops, screwed off the force by scheming superior Yu Rong Guang, then foiled in their nightclub venture by a local gangster, accept a mission from an ex-teammate to rescue a wealthy businessman’s kidnapped daughter from an evil round-eye and his goons in the Phillipines. Passable gunfights and martial arts litter a script by Ricky Ng that’s beyond ripe, one which tries to wring pathos out of hangdog Edmond’s creepy electronic surveillance of unrequited love Hilary, who’s gettin’ the woo from pal Jimmy, then breaks the schmaltz barrier with Law Kar-ying’s jawdropping deathbed rendition of Lionel Ritchie’s “I Just Called To Say I Love You” without so much as a trace of irony. Al least the director cuts this canned ham with a little meat ‘n potatoes mayhem (which he co-choreographed) but not nearly as often as he should have. And where’s the ending? 2.

THE SEXY LADY DRIVER (1984) D: Chang Yung-shiang. Lok Siu-fan.
Flaky, contemporary Taiwanese comedy (select the Mandarin track on your VCD!) with very strong allusions to the Chinese legend of Hua Mu-lan. After failing at several dead-end jobs, fiercely independent tomboy (Lok), aptly named Chao Mu-lan, finds her calling as a cab driver, and soon finds herself fending off perverts, preventing a suicide, reconciling a marriage, chasing a car thief, roughing up hooligans, rescuing a call girl from a nasty john (who retaliates with dirtbike assassins!) and saving an accident victim who falls madly in love with her. You know, CABBIE stuff. We’re all for plucky girl power, but when the girl’s a graduate of the Mickey and Judy “Let’s put on a show!” academy of acting, our patience wears thin very fast. 2.

THE STORY OF PROSTITUTES (2000) D: Johnnie Kong Yeuk-sing. Gregory Lee Wing-ho, Cherry Chan Chiu-chiu, Crystal Cheung Yee-tung, Anthony Wong Chau-sang, Karel Ng, Mak Cheung-ching, Samuel Leung Cheuk-moon, Wong Chi-yeung, Suet Lee, Lee Wing-ho.
Achingly stupid drama has young rascal Gregory Lee, on the advice of boss Wong, starting up a prostitution business in Portland Street and falling for his two best girls (Cherry Chan and Crystal Cheung), a pair of ceaselessly irritating flakes who bring all sorts of trouble from a local loanshark. Thoroughly predictable and horrendously acted stinkpile might interest those dying to see chunky Anthony Wong hump a ‘ho on his Harley, but since he shows more skin than she does, we’d not recommend it. Why any filmmaker would think the world would need to know the dangers of pimps falling for their chickens, especially ones as annoying as these, is beyond us, but he at least could have packed in some gratuitous T&A for a category III rating. 1.

TATTOO GIRL (19??) D: ???????. Wilson Lam Chun-yin, Charine Chan Ka-ling, Kara Hui Ying-hung, Charlie Cho Cha-lee. Crooked developer Cho arranges the murder of a rival, only to have his own sleazy cohorts arrange his murder and pin it on the rival’s daughter (Chan). She then disguises as the epoymous, butterfly-tattooed crimefighter to get revenge, much to the chagrin of two other such do-gooders (one a lounge singer, the other an ace gambler) and one like-attired villainess. Sooo...they all show up at a boatyard to settle the score with each other and take down a few spontaneously appearing goons in the process. Sloppy, confusing action potboiler isn’t very well made or acted, and barely compensates with a bit of martial action, all of it much better choreographed than it is shot. Large parts of the score lifted from Commando and Blade Runner. 2.

TO SEDUCE AN ENEMY (2003) D: Bowie Lau Bo-yin. Winnie Leung Man-yee, Jewel Lee Hang-chi, Benny Lai Chun, Wong Ka-ying, Chin Kar-lok, Teresa Mak Ka-kei, Monica Lo Suk-yee, Yeung Ka-man, Joe Lee Yiu-ming.
Financial tycoon Benny uses hypnosis to rape women, forcing them to kill themselves when they begin to suspect (or, in one way-out-of-date suplot, give them AIDS). Goofy cop Chin Kar-lok pairs up with tabloid snoop Winnie to break the case after one of her friends becomes the latest victim. Cut-rate cousin to the Raped by an Angel series - and also considered a followup to the previous year’s The Peeping - barely earns its category III rating as nearly all the nudity is shot from discreet angles (in other words, mostly bums), the sex scenes are the standard slow ‘n gauzy leg and navel expeditions, and the double cross climax is ludicrous. 3.

Copyright ©2004 by Brian Thibodeau

I'll post a few more when time permits.
 

ChrisBEA

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 19, 2003
Messages
1,657
Just placed my biggest order to date with dddhouse, thanks Brian.... ;) and my last order hasn't arrived yet....
Wheels on Meals
Tiger on Beat
Tai Chi II
Aces Go Places II
Legacy of Rage (I'm a Brandon fan)
Failan
Infernal Affairs III (Loved part I, I'll go back to Part II later)
Vidocq (I know it's not Asian, but the price was right and I've heard good things)

Not sure if I would call this Asian since it was in English, but I watched Naked Weapon today.
The transfer was excellent, sound was good. The acting was rather poor, but there was some excellent action. I'd have no problems recommending it, so long as you don't mind bad acting!
 

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
Naked Weapon ROCKS!!! :D

I was completely blown away as my expecations were kinda low to start with. Sure, as actresses, Maggie Q and Anya are fantastic supermodels, but Tony Ching Siu-tung, who also directed, can makeanybody look like a pro. The man probably knows the audience will suspend their disbelief for this one, since it's patently ridiculous from the get-go. I mean, a dragon lady who raises abducted little girls to be assassins on a secluded tropical island? What's not to like! Awesome trailer, too! Only beef is the lack of a clearly defined villain, since Andrew Lin suddenly pops up in the last ten minutes to assume the role. Otherwise, this one's a real slick treat, provided you don't mind premium-grade cheese.

Another excellent choice in VIDOQC, which is a phenomenal supernatural thriller that's visually unlike anything you're likely to have seen before. The style, which looks to be computer-augmented hi-def video, is absolutely stunning. Arguably a case of style over substance, but I find it hard to complain when I can't take my eyes off a film trying to figure out how they did it! Sometimes I pop this in to show friends just how cool cinema can really be. Sadly, the HK disc is full frame, while the Canadian disc is 1:85 with abundant extras. Nevertheless, you shouldn't be disappointed.

I bought Infernal Affairs III on the weekend, but probably won't watch it for a while. Thought the first one was one of the all-time classiest Hong Kong pictures ever.

Good cross section for the Hong Kong titles too, there. Just remember to watch them as though it was the year in which they were made; that might make some of the style more palatable. Some of them will seem dated by today's standards of Hong Kong Cinema, but they're all sterling representatives of the form. Hope to hear your opinions, good or bad.
 

ChrisBEA

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 19, 2003
Messages
1,657
One thing I pride myself is the variety in collection. I'm always seeking to expand it with good films.
Take a look at the list I posted earlier http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...09#post2058209
Let me know what you think of those titles. I missed a few, but you'll get an idea for what I have. I've enjoyed most of those titles.

I scanned through you're avoid list. I'm only familiar with one of them and I actually own it. To Seduce an Enemy. And I couldn't agree more!
 

Chris_Morris

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 4, 2002
Messages
1,887
I was looking over my list and can't believe some of the ones I forgot.

First and foremost, I can't belive I missed the star of my collection:
Hero
along with Shaolin Soccer

Also:
Magnificent Butcher
Fist of Fury (HK TV movie starring Donnie Yen)
Mr. Nice Guy
Fearless Hyena II
Shaolin Wooden Men
New Fist of Fury
Dragon Fist

ChrisBEA:
Tai Chi II is a terrific movie. Let me know how Legacy of Rage is, I was tempted to get this, but could not find many reviews of the movie or the disc. That $25HK price is very tempting though since I need to grab My Father Is A Hero, and New Legend Of Shaolin too.

Chris
 

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
Looked over your original list again, ChrisBEA, and indeed it's as good a cross section as someone's likely to get for Asian cinema. I've got around 105 of the titles on your list (a few under different or original titles). The ones I mostly don't have look like they may be Ground Zero or dubbed Tai-Seng type releases of old school kung fu pictures, and now that I've started scooping up a tonne of the Shaw Bros. Celestial discs, I'm trying to stay as close as possible to the films in their original formats and languages etc. Not that the GZ/Tai Seng stuff isn't fairly priced though.

One title that definitely popped out at me was Corey Yuen's WOMEN ON THE RUN. I don't know a lot of people who've seen this, but I thought it was a fantastic down-'n-dirty girlie revenge picture. I'm assuming your disc is the recent Tai Seng release as I've only ever seen this on VCD from the Chinese labels. I was absolutely stunned at Farini Cheung's daring fully-nude kung-fu assault on the Canadian rapists! Waaaahhh!!

VICTIM's also a neat little thriller, buit apparently there are two endings, one each ordered by the director, Ringo Lam, and the producer. My VCD version has the sucky ending that tries to convince us, after Tony Leung Ka-fai slowly destroys Lau Ching-wan's elaborate ruse that
the ghosties were real after all.

I believe this was the producer's ending. I've heard Lam's ending was more in keeping with the story arc. I think that version is on the DVD.

EDIT: I'd like to note how good it is to see a few people who are taking in some of the 80's and 90's Hong Kong stuff. Too many folks at other Asian forums seem to have lost touch or grown bored with the era now that Asian cinema's all "cool" and stuff. I love the new Asian films as much as anyone, but there's still a gold mine of unheralded films I'm working on finding and hopefully you guys will keep digging them (and digging them UP) as much as I do. More power to us, I say: this stuff's cheaper than ever!
 

James_M

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Sep 2, 2000
Messages
134
Real Name
James
I'm a huge Asian Cinema fan. Here's my DVD collection including Asian related stuff:

A Better Tomorrow Anchor Bay
A Better Tomorrow II Anchor Bay
Air Hostess
All About Ah Long
Autumn's Tale
Battle of the Planets Vol. 1
Battle Royale DTS R3
Best of the Martial Art Films
Big Boss HKL
Big Trouble in Little China 2 disc (Signed)
Bruce Lee True Story
Bruce Lee, the Legend
Bruce Lee, the Man and Legend
Castle of Cagliostro
Cat Returns R3
Centre Stage
Chinese Feast
Chinese Ghost Story Deltamac
Chinese Ghost Story animated Pioneer
Chinese Super Ninjas
City on Fire
Come Drink With Me
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon boot
Diary of a Big Man
Drunken Master HKL
Eastern Condors (Signed)
Encounters of the Spooky Kind
Enter the Dragon
Enter the Fat Dragon
Failan R3
Fight Back to School
Fist of Fury DTS box
Five Deadly Venoms
Fong Sai Yuk
Fong Sai Yuk II
Fractured Follies
From Beijing with Love
Fun, Luck, Tycoon
Game of Death Platinum HKL
Gamera 3
Gen X Cops
Ghibli Box set boot
God of Cookery
Godzilla, Mothera, King Ghidorah R3
Grave of the Fireflies CE
Greatest Civil War on Earth
Hard Boiled Criterion
Her Tender Heart
Heroic Trio
Hong Kong 1941
Hong Kong Nocturne
House of 72 Tenants
I Not Stupid
Ikiru Criterion
Ikiru Mei Ah
Il Mare
In the Line of Duty 4
Infernal Affairs
Introduction to HKL: Hitman
Iron Monkey HKL
Joint Security Area Superbit
Just One Look
Kid with the Golden Arm
Kiki's Delivery Service R3
Killer Criterion boot
King of Comedy
King of Masks
Laputa Castle in the Sky R3
Last Dragon, The
Last Hero in China
Last Hurrah for Chivalry Mega Star OOP
Legend of the Drunken Master
Let's Make Laugh
Love Eterne
Love in a Fallen City
Love on Delivery
Love Without End
Magnificent Butcher HKL (Signed)
Magnificent Warriors
Mambo Girl
Marco R3
Matrix
Miracles HKL
Mononoke Hime
Mr. Vampire
Mulan R3 (Signed)
My Neighbor Totoro R3
My Sassy Girl R3
Needing You
Odd Couple
Old Master Cute
Once a Thief
Once Upon a Time in China HKL
Once Upon a Time in China II HKL
Only Yesterday R3
Our Sister Hedy
Paper Marriage
Police Story HKL
Police Story III Deltamac
Pom Poko R3
Porco Rosso R3
Prison on Fire
Prodigal Son (Signed)
Project A Megastar
Project A II Deltamac
Purple Storm
Rashomon Criterion
Red Beard Criterion
Return of the Five Deadly Venoms
Rouge Deltamac
Shanghai Noon
Shaolin Challenges Ninja
Shaolin Master Killer
Shaolin Soccer
Shaolin Temple
Shaolin Temple II, Kids from Shaolin
Shaolin Temple III, Martial Arts of Shaolin
Shiri R3
Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon
Storm Riders boot
Story of Qui Ju
Tai Chi Master
This is Kung Fu
To Live
Tokyo Raiders
Tokyo Story Criterion
Tomorrow Never Dies
Touch of Zen
Warriors Two
Way of the Dragon Platinum HKL
Wheels on Meals (Signed)
Whisper of the Heart R3
Wild Wild Rose (Signed)
Winners and Sinners
Young and Dangerous
Zu Warriors of the Magic Mountain

Though, many of these titles are still on my "to watch" list.

I have to say, I've found Korean Cinema mostly overrated. I still have My Sassy Girl to watch, but from what I've already seen in my collection, I'd rate most of them at a 6 or 7.

ChrisBEA, that's a nice collection for a variety of action movies but less so when it comes to comedies or drama.

The only real thing exciting to me about HK cinema now is its past (though I am really looking forward to Chow's Kung Fu Hustle). The Celestial Shaws and Cathay films are of major interest. Especially wonderful on the Cathay front is discovering the actress Grace Chang. She's got such charisma and talent in singing and acting. Her performance in Wild Wild Rose is captivating. Mambo Girl's lots of fun too if you like musicals. Along with a bunch of titles, I've recently ordered some Stephen Chow films: Forbidden City Cop, Chinese Odyssey I and II, Flirting Scholar.

I also love and own a bunch of Godzilla movies and Zatoichi movies that I've taped off of TV.

I've recently watched Ozu's Tokyo Story and though I feel it's kind of dry, I do understand why critics revere it so much. It's got something significant to say. But personally, I much prefer Kurosawa's works and love movies like Ikiru and Red Beard much more.
 

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
Good point about the comedies and dramas. My early exposure to Asian cinema came via Hong Kong action, so naturally that was what I craved when I finally knew what I was looking for in Toronto's assorted Chinatowns. Once I got the hang of the actors, directors, writers, etc. as well as the overall “feel” of HK cinema, which is quite unique, it became much easier to start scooping up titles in the other genres, particularly comedies, which can seem like an aquired taste to the uninitiated. Through the HK labels, I was able to get whatever Japanese titles might be available, the Japanese originals being far too expensive and usually lacking subtitles. My first Korean and Thai films (SHIRI and 6IXTYNIN9) were also via HK VCDs, but now I prefer to buy original Korean DVDs for someof the bigger titles as there’s so much stuff that just doesn’t seem to make it to the HK labels. I've also been stocking up big time on the Celestial Shaw Brothers stuff and a few Cathay titles (about 45 so far), but I'm saving them for future viewing. Never really thought I'd see the day when I could get this stuff in such pristine condition.

Nowadays, I pretty much buy whatever new releases are available and which my wallet will allow during regular trips to Toronto (which is about 2.5 hours away) and, as such, my “owned” collection (not including titles I’ve only seen) runs to about 850 titles and would make your eyes bleed if I posted it here. But certainly as an “in” to the wonderful world of Asian cinema, a newcomer could do a lot worse than start with the action films. Hopefully an interest in everything else comes in time.
 

Chris_Morris

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 4, 2002
Messages
1,887
One note on DDDHouse. Looking under their catagories may not show you everything. If there is something specific you want, search for it. Case in point, under the Jet Li section there is no mention of "New Legend of Shaolin" or "Kung Fu Cult Master", yet a search reveals that both are available.


Chris
 

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
I just noticed that Tai Seng has followed Image's lead with their Wade Williams B-movie 2-packs and started putting together two-packs of some of their old-school titles. These are very reasonably priced at Deep Discount compared with $10-15 for the individual titles in stores, and I'm tempted to get them in spite of drawbacks like english dubbing and fool-screen presenations.

They include four sets in the Martial Arts Theatre series at $9.89 each:
Set #5: Death Duel of Kung Fu/Inheritor of Kung Fu
Set #6: Super Ninja/Ninja in the US
Set #7: Dirty Kung Fu/Mantis Combat
Set #8: Ninja In The Deadly Trap/Ninja vs. Bruce Lee

Can't find info on sets 1-4 and Deep Discount doesn't seem to have them. But they also have two sets in the Master Killer Collection with Gordon Liu for $10.78 each:
Set #1: Fists 'n Guts/Warrior From Shaolin
Set #2: Shaolin Drunken Monk/He Has Nothing But Kung Fu

So can anybody speak to the quality of these films. I know a few of them had commentaries by Ric Meyers, but I'm not overly big on his tracks, and trailers, but I'm just wondering if they're worth the money (the prices are tough to resist) in terms of sheer entertainment value. I don't imagine most of these are Shaw movies, so we won't likely see Hong Kong R3 versions of them anytime soon.
 

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
Another good section to look in at DDDHouse, by the way, is the western films section, which actually has a lot of older US movies on Hong Kong labels for super cheap prices (usually the lowest ones are around $40HK). Not always top-end stuff (although some big titles are there) but a good way to fill in the gaps in your collection, and most have DD5.1 or DTS, trailers, original English soundtracks (subs in Chinese, of course) etc. I've found a few gems in there, including Series 7:The Contenders and Memento. They lower the prices on American stuff on a fairly regular basis, too.
 

Chris_Morris

Screenwriter
Joined
Jan 4, 2002
Messages
1,887
Picked up "In the Line Of Duty 4" tonight. Never seen it, but for $5.50, starring Donnie Yen, and directed by Yuen Woo Ping, I thought it was worth the risk.


Chris
 

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
Oh, it's worth it! So are the other 6 in the series

Yes Madam
Royal Warriors
In the Line of Duty 3
In The Line of Duty 5: Middle Man
In The Line of Duty 6: Forbidden Arsenal
In The Line of Duty 7: The Sea Wolves

The first two are early Michelle Yeoh pictures, the rest are Cynthia Khan titles. Yes Madam, Royal Warriors and In The Line 3-5 are all available on HK DVD (and fairly cheap from DDD House, sometimes in the cheap sale), while 6 and 7 are only available in Cantonese on VCD. There may be Mandarin-only DVDs out there, however. The series is a victim of diminishing returns after part 4, but even the later entries are highly watchable.

All the films, except Yes Madam, I think, have the same Chinese base titles, so they are definitely related. Another film with Cynthia Khan, Queen's Ransom, apparently used to be also known as In The Line of Duty 5 as well (at least that's what i read), but Cynthia plays a villain in it, whereas she's a cop in all the rest.
 

Brian Thibodeau

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
992
Matt

Holy shit! I just checked out that trailer. I did virtually the same thing a few years ago on crappy video tape, sort of as a sampler to show my friends, and using nearly the same movies (except Naked Killer, which I didn't think of at the time) and adding in a few others. Of course, mine was nowhere's near as polished and well-timed as yours, and I didn't really have any music to set it to, and my VCR really could've used a flying erase head, but it was a blast to put together!

Interestingly it inspired a friend of mine to do the same thing with gore and gunshots and violence clips from his Hollywood DVD collection, which nearly cost me my girlfriend when I showed it to her without asking if she'd actually SEEN many horror and action movies before. Whooops!

Nice to know there's someone out there who's a big a geek for this shit as I am! ;)
 

ChrisBEA

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 19, 2003
Messages
1,657
Hey everyone!
Been a day or 2 since I've been in here. I've been porting my collection into dvdaficionado to use as a backup since dvdprofiler is down.

I watched Victim today. I had trouble getting into it. Not sure why, I think I've just had a day that kept me from it. I'll have to revisit it down the line.

I loved ITLOD4! Great action, acting was a bit corny, but I had no problems overlooking it.

Now if only my orders will arrive! I wanna see Bullet in the Head.
 

Matthew Brown

Supporting Actor
Joined
Sep 19, 1999
Messages
781
Brian -
I love putting togther these videos. Here's another I made.
http://www.loveandbullets.com/punk/hkflix.mpg

I did one using clips from BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR but the end product doesn't look that good because it's from a tape master.

I wanted to do a Young And Dangerous one to a song my friend's band does but I never had time. I started it but the burned in subtitles of the first one ruined the flow of it.

I just got a DVD burner so I plan on dumping all the trailers I can on one DVD to play at parties and stuff.

That's funny about your friend's video! It reminds me of when THE KILLER played in New York City and my wife and I took friends who didn't "get it". I think they were later happy that they had seen it when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon came out so they knew who Chow Yun Fat was.

Chris -
If you like ITLOD IV, you should try SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT.
http://www.loveandbullets.com/sheshoots.htm


Matt
 

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