Someone has to be first!

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

Well I'm surprised at no one talking other asian films. My first love is HK cinema, but I have seen a couple of Japanese films I truly liked. So everyone out there give me your opinion of asian films other than Chinese. Hate them? Love them? Could care less? My favorite Japanese film is Battle Royale. Would love to see a sequel made. Any thoughts?

[thelostdragon]

One of the best Japanese films I ever watched (apart from "Seven Samurai" of course) is the recent "Twilight Samurai". It starrs Hiroyuki Sanada who played Ojio in "The Last Samurai" and was also in films like "Ring" and "Ninja in the Dragon's Den".

[dergelbetiger]

On of the best Japanese Samurai movies are the Okami serie. Very traditional and bloody.

[dleedlee]

One of the best Japanese films I ever watched (apart from "Seven Samurai" of course) is the recent "Twilight Samurai". It starrs Hiroyuki Sanada who played Ojio in "The Last Samurai" and was also in films like "Ring" and "Ninja in the Dragon's Den".

Do you have the Panorama DVD? If so, is the picture quality pretty good, i.e., not terrible? I ask because Panorama discs seem to be of mixed quality especially their non HK releases.

[thelostdragon]

I am really satisfied with the Panorama DVD. A UK disc by Tartan is supposed to be released on August 23rd. You might want to wait to to look up which version is the better.

The UK disc looks promising, especially due to the fact that a two discer will be released as well.

http://dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=11989

[dleedlee]

Thanks for the info, if the Panorama is not horrible, I think I will just get that one. I don't care much for dealing with PAL conversions and, anymore, extras for me are losing their lustre.

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

A lot of good ifo here. I went out and picked up On Bak today. Will probably watch it tomorrow. As for some of the Korean titles mentioned. Does anyone have a reliable website to get Korean films? Are they subtitled in English? Any help would be appreciated.

[dleedlee]

A lot of good ifo here. I went out and picked up On Bak today. Will probably watch it tomorrow. As for some of the Korean titles mentioned. Does anyone have a reliable website to get Korean films? Are they subtitled in English? Any help would be appreciated.

yesasia, dvdasian, mrkwang and also Darcy's wife (see koreanfilm.org) are all good sites. I've only used the first two. Mrkwang and Darcy's wife are smaller operations, I think oriented toward PayPay users. Also, note that there are Korean releases and HK releases of Korean films. The HK releases tend to be less expensive and the earlier ones were sometimes full frame or lesser versions. These days, the HK releases, usually sans the extra packaging, seem to be as good, especially if Edko is distributing them.

...and yes, ususally they have English subs, though, the extras (making ofs, interviews, etc) normally don't.

[Bearserk]

My favourite asian movie is probably Hotaru No Haka, it's probably the movie I like the most in my collection. I'm also a big fan of Akira Kurosawa, were Yojimbo is the movie I think is his best IMHO, great story and great acting. Takeshi Kitano is another director/actor which I like very much, have been so lucky to catch a few of his movies at the local cinema from time to time, where they put up way to few asian movies. First movie I ever saw with him in was Hana-bi, wonderfull and touching movie.
I haven't seen to much movies from other countries in the east, apart from HK that is, but really liked Attack the Gas Station when I finally got my hands on it.

[rarnom]

Well I'm surprised at no one talking other asian films. My first love is HK cinema, but I have seen a couple of Japanese films I truly liked. So everyone out there give me your opinion of asian films other than Chinese. Hate them? Love them? Could care less? My favorite Japanese film is Battle Royale. Would love to see a sequel made. Any thoughts?

If you love Battle Royale the film, you HAVE to read the novel. It is 300 billion times better than the film. It is only like $16, 600+ pages. It is an amazing novel. Highest recommendation.
If you are curious here is the ISBN#:
1-56931-778-X

[irons]

Try and check out anything by Takashi Miike, some of my favourites are:

Agitator.
Ichi the Killer.
Dead or Alive.
Audition.

As people have mentioned Battle Royal and Versus are very good. As for horror try Ring and The Grudge (not the hollywood remake)

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

I am starting to become a complete fan-boy of Takasha Miike's work. He is incredible. Whatever he does it's done to the ultimate extreme. The best thing about him is that he's not for everyone. His style is such that just like directors Quentin Tarentino, Akira Kurasawa or John Woo, you can't not have an opinion of him. Either you love him or you hate him. But you won't forget him.

If you're not familiar with his work I strongly recommend The Audition, one of the best horror films ever made be it Japan, HK, USA or anywhere else.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

I absolutely loved Twilight Samurai and Sword of Doom. We should have a separate thread for jidai geki films (as well as a Kurosawa thread).

Versus and Princess Blade had the curse of many recent Japanese films -- an inane ending and uneven plot. Though I did like parts of both films.

Ringu is good, while Juon is just awesome (the first movie, not the two V movies which are decent, of course it doesn't make much sense, though some extra scenes helped )

I need to watch more Takasha Miike (though wasn't too fond of Full Metal Yakuza (Full Metal Gokuda))

Enough of this terseness