2006: The Digital Odyssey

[Mike Thomason]

Or did you find someone with copies still available?

Maybe...I'll know in a few days if my order ships with or without it. All I do know is that Buyoyo listed as a "2 to 3 days to stock" item and it was no longer cited as an "out of print" title. If it doesn't ship, they were wrong.

As it turns out...they were wrong. We can now chalk this one as officially OOP.

[Mike Thomason]

And now for something completely different (for me)...

Flower & Snake (Japan) (DVD)
Wet Hot Sake (Japan) (DVD)

[Mike Thomason]

...and, back to Hong Kong and some older titles I hadn't seen...

All Of A Sudden (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Crazy Love (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Ghost House: A True Story (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Vendetta (Hong Kong) (DVD)

[Harlock]

nm

[Mike Thomason]

Hmmm, I might just keep updating this for something to do...

All For Love (South Korea) (DVD)
The Canton Godfather (aka: Miracles) (Remastered) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Dragon Tiger Gate (Hong Kong) (DVD)*
Final Justice (1997) (Hong Kong) (DVD)

* just the "Regular Edition" - I don't go for all the crap they try to sell movies with on DVD these days!

Scotch the big buy! Have had car troubles that needed urgent attention...

[Brian Thibodeau]

Stocked up on odds and sods while I was at the Toronto Film Festival for two consecutive weekends.

HK Movie VCDs
(lot's of B-flicks 5 for $10 CDN—they make great padding!! As well, some of them are rather underrepresented in the DB, so hopefully time will allow for uploading some credit grabs!)
Criminals (Simon Loui)
Cyberwar (Simon Loui)
Judgement In Flames (Jackson Lau, I think)
High Tension Crime
Dizzy Date
Final Edge (Ken Wong)
We're Not The Worst (Sam Lee, Gabe Harrison, Sam Leung)
A Rascal Agent (Jackie Lui)
Stunning Revelation (Gabriel harrison)
Snake Monster(s)
FEMALE BUTCHER (Simon Yam, though I suspect this Cat. III flick is probably a repackaging of one of his better known movies...)
Return of the Evil Fox (Sandra Ng)
The Sassy Classmate (????)
Fatal Love (Leslie Cheung/Cherie Chung)
100 Ways To Murder Your Wife
Requital - Alan Tang

HK DVDs
found another Chinese mall gifty shop that moved a tonne of previously new release DVDs to the bargain bins at 5 for $20. Can't beat that!)
All About Love (Charlie Yeung, Andy Lau)
My Wife Is 18
Colour Blossoms
Elixir of Love
Angel Terminators (the unsubbed one, sadly)
Isabella
My Hero (Stephen Chow)
Lucky Guy (ditto)
Magnificent Scoundrels (and again)
Futago
2 Become 1
Witchcraft Vs. Curse
Broken Oath (Angela Mao, 77)

plus a few newer ones at higher prices...

Love Undercover 3
Dating A Vampire
Re-Cycle Special Ed.
Scarred Memory
Feel It Say It (the director of Human Pork Chop gets mushy...)
Don't Open Your Eyes


KOREAN DVDs
mostly ordered online, but I found a little DVD Bang place in Toronto's Koreatown that was selling off their ex-rental DVDs, most of which hardly looked rented at all - no stickers, ultra-clean discs, etc.)

Legend of the Seven Cutter
Bystanders (Kim Yun-jin)
Rules of Dating
Welcome To Dongmakgol
The Art of Fighting
Voice
My Boss My Hero 2 (or whatever it's called)
Marrying the Mafia 2
Duellist

And finally, since we were in Little India one night for the market atmosphere, I couldn't resist grabbing:

Zinda (the Indian remake of Old Boy)

Although I suspect this might be a boot, albeit a very good one, since that neighborhood seems as overrun with bootleg dealers as so many of the Chinese districts...

[Mike Thomason]

Military coups be damned, looks like it's still business as usual in Bangkok...

The Ghost Of Mae Nak (Thailand) (DVD)

[MrBooth]

Just placed an order at ThaiCDExpress:

DVT0000350 : Tik Jedsadaporn,Paula Taylor - Magnificent Five (region 0)
Amount : 1 Price : 4.99

DVT0000345 : Supatchaya Reunreung,Tun Tanakorn,Anan Boonnak - Ocean Butterfly (region 0)
Amount : 1 Price : 3.59

DVA0000727 : Fu Seng - New Shaolin Boxers (region 3)
Amount : 1 Price : 5.99

DVA0000618 : tee lung,david jiang - duel, the (region 3)
Amount : 1 Price : 5.99

DVH0000452 : bryce dallas howard,danny glover,williem dafoe - manderlay (region 3)
Amount : 1 Price : 5.99

DVT0000343 : Watchara Tangkaprasert,Jirapat Wongpaisarnluk - Vengeance (region 0)
Amount : 1 Price : 4.99

DVT0000349 : Thep Phohngam,Than Thanakorn,Sara Ledge - Thai Thief (region 0)
Amount : 1 Price : 5.59

DVT0000342 : Tuk Bongkod,Jintara Poonlaab,Suphaksorn Chaimongkol - Dangerous Flowers (region 3)
Amount : 1 Price : 3.59

DVA0000675 : ler tee,chao lui - story of sue san (region 3)
Amount : 1 Price : 5.99

DVA0000570 : foo seng, chen hui min - my rebellious son (region 3)
Amount : 1 Price : 5.99

DVH0000154 : - strings (all zone)
Amount : 1 Price : 4.99

[Brian Thibodeau]

FEMALE BUTCHER (Simon Yam, though I suspect this Cat. III flick is probably a repackaging of one of his better known movies...)

Well, I just watched this (rather quickly as it has no subs), and it turns out to be ANOTHER version of the DR. LAMB/"Jars Killer" story starring Simon Yam, dated 1991 which, in theory, means DR. LAMB was Yam's second time in the role! Popular killer!

It's an ATV movie, which means the bloodletting is rather tame, but the basic pieces are consistent with the later film, although this one ditches the hostile police interrogators in favour of a female lawyer who gets a bit spooked while interviewing her client. Plus, they tack on a couple of twist endings that don't seem to jibe with the true life nature of the story.

I'll post some credit screens, etc. in the days ahead.

[Mike Thomason]

Angel Heart (Taiwan) (DVD)
Hong Kong Night Guide (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Naked Party (Hong Kong/Japan) (DVD)*

* to replace one that someone stole off of me!

[Mike Thomason]

Just placed an order at ThaiCDExpress:

Magnificent Five (region 0)
Ocean Butterfly (region 0)
Vengeance (region 0)
Thai Thief (region 0)

Hope you enjoy these more than I did! OCEAN BUTTERFLY is so badly edited that the narrative barely makes sense, and MAGNIFICENT FIVE and THAI THIEF really show what an impact Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN had on the domestic film scene in Thailand (btw, see if you can follow exactly what's going on at the beginning of THAI THIEF; they set something big up, then promptly cut directly to something else!). Lots of that new DVD censorship in VENGEANCE...

Dangerous Flowers (region 3)

Let me know if this is worth getting, Simon? I wasn't prepared to take a chance on a film that has no English subtitles when I don't speak Thai; let me know if it's worth trying without English subs...

Good luck with Thai CD Express too! Their service has gone to s**t of late -- every time I order from them, at least half my order ends up getting cancelled because they don't have titles on stock (and can't be arsed ordering things in when I've already paid for them).

[Brian Thibodeau]

Naked Party (Hong Kong/Japan) (DVD)*

* to replace one that someone stole off of me!

Your thief has interesting standards!


Anyhoo, did my weekly border hop last night and discovered our sister city in Michigan has a new Wal-Mart Super-Centre. This is basically a Wal-mart three times bigger than previous Wal-marts and a further sign that North America is probably headed into a dull future as a service economy, but when I can find something like this...



...for cheaper than both Amazon and Deep Discount DVD, my cultural cynicism takes a backseat.

I also picked up the recent SHOGUN ASSASSIN release for just over $13, also cheaper than most online sources.

But sadly, everyone now knows that I shop at Wal-Mart, so I must hang my head in shame....

[MrBooth]

Let me know if this is worth getting, Simon? I wasn't prepared to take a chance on a film that has no English subtitles when I don't speak Thai; let me know if it's worth trying without English subs...

Well, the chances of me actually watching it (or any of them) in the near future (or perhaps ever) are really not that high... but if I do, I'll let you know

Good luck with Thai CD Express too! Their service has gone to s**t of late -- every time I order from them, at least half my order ends up getting cancelled because they don't have titles on stock (and can't be arsed ordering things in when I've already paid for them).

Oh dear, that's a shame. Maybe the coup will make them buck up a bit

[Mike Thomason]

Naked Party (Hong Kong/Japan) (DVD)*

* to replace one that someone stole off of me!

Your thief has interesting standards!

Well, an ex-work colleague asked to borrow it and in the past she has proved notoriously difficult to get back out of that with which she has been loaned. Now that she no longer works for us, the chances of me seeing the disc again are slim to negligible...if not completely zip! So, as it was only costing me $5AUD to replace it wasn't really an issue...

Anyway, more!!!

Crazy Stone (China) (DVD)
The Heavenly Kings (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Zu, Warriors From The Magic Mountain (2-disc Remastered edition) (Hong Kong) (DVD)

[MrBooth]

Good luck with Thai CD Express too! Their service has gone to s**t of late -- every time I order from them, at least half my order ends up getting cancelled because they don't have titles on stock (and can't be arsed ordering things in when I've already paid for them).

Well, I got 8/11 titles... oddly enough, the first 8 in my cart all arrived and the last 3 didn't... maybe the print-out ran over one page... or maybe they got bored.

Checking my credit card, they don't seem to have charged me any less for shipping 8 discs than they would for 11 oh well, it was fast... not that I was in any great hurry...

[Mike Thomason]

Some more of my favourite South Korean filmmaker, Kim Ki-Duk...

The Bow (South Korea) (DVD)

[Mike Thomason]

Woohoo! Scored some old wants thanks to an unexpected sale...

Bichunmoo (South Korea) (DVD)
The Soul Guardians (South Korea) (DVD)
The Sweet Sex & Love (South Korea) (DVD)

...and while I'm on South Korean films -- I vote we put both "Daisy" (since it was directed by Andrew Lau) and "Bichunmoo" (since the action choreography was done by Ma Yuk-Sheng) in the DB...since even the most menial of links to HK cinema seems to qualify a film as a Hong Kong movie these days hereabouts!

[MrBooth]

Have you watched BLACK MAGIC yet Brian? If so, how was the quality? There were some concerns based on a press/preview copy that got reported on at mhvf.

[Mike Thomason]

Here's some rather extensive comparisons between the IVL and Image disc from the DVD Maniacs forum:

http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/forums/showth ... e=16&pp=15

Make sure to read the responses carefully, as there is direct mention of shelf-bought copies, machines where the problems were exhibited, and the types of software these images were most visible on.

Being that there's feedback from more than one person, I'd say that the reports of less than stellar image on the R1 releases is fairly accurate (I take MHVF at face value and will usually overlook it due to its more aloof and elitist attitudes extant within).

[MrBooth]

Hmm, there seems like a suprising lack of technical understanding in that thread for a site called "DVD Maniacs", but from those caps it looks like the film has gone Interlaced PAL -> Interlaced NTSC (which tries to MPEG encode the PAL interlacing artifacts and blended frames, which is a phenomenal waste of bits) -> time stretched Interlaced NTSC (more blended frames and wasted bits). What an absolute f**k up

I guess Image aren't going to be the savior of the Shaw Brothers releases anyway. Hopefully there'll be a proper PAL release from Australia at some point... or I'll just pick up the IVL since it's no worse than the rest of their Shaws releases.

[Mike Thomason]

Hmm, there seems like a suprising lack of technical understanding in that thread...

Please elaborate, oh technical guru! (I wasn't aware of your background in DVD mastering and authoring...)

And for a thread on a forum that was so badly lacking in "technical understanding", you were pretty quick to run with it and go and post your own topic up on the Asian DVD Guide forums (itself a forum well-known for hypothesising and false claims backed with alarming vaccuums of supporting evidence) post haste!

If you're going to slag off a bunch of folk because they don't have a "more informed than thou" opinion, because they don't come from the same kind of background as you, maybe you should show a little less haste to exploit those same people to your own ends? I am staggered as to the speed with which you posted that topic on the ADVDG forum, having dished out a negative aspersion here barely minutes prior!

Hopefully there'll be a proper PAL release from Australia at some point...

Don't hold your breath! Sales have been that poor down here that Siren are resorting to packaging them in budget price boxsets/slashing SRP down to absurd levels, just to get the titles moving.

I can't see them licencing everything, as the previous Miramax/Weinstein licences also cover this territory too -- so a lot of titles were already spoken for before SVE even had a chance to put in bids on titles. Always pays to know the markets, over blindly believing EVERY little internet rumour you read...

[Brian Thibodeau]

Well, in answer to Simon's original question, I haven't watched the R1 disc yet, I'm afraid. Actually, it's not my intention to start picking up all the R1 Image releases anyways, as I have around 225 of the original IVL Shaw releases in either DVD or VCD. I just happened across the R1 BLACK MAGIC at a Wal-Mart of all places, and decided on an impulse buy, completely forgetting that the R3 is already in my collection! I think it would really pay to watch the damned things one of these days instead of just accumulating them, but time is always at a premium.

As to the flaws, I did read about them awhile back, but I must admit that obviously slipped my mind when I purchased the disc! I'm not much of a stickler for technical specs so long as the film is watchable and, preferably, uncut, especially considering the mediocre treatment most Hong Kong films were given by Hong Kong video, laser and DVD companies for so many years while I was amassing my collection (although those BLACK MAGIC frames DO look rather shabby).

As nice as it is that so many Hong Kong films are getting remastered and upgraded and outfitted with pretty bells and whistles, it's rather disheartening that often times the work is being done on films that aren't even ten years old, films that should have and could have been afforded more respect the first time they were released on home formats so we wouldn't have to be double dipping this time around (and next time, and next time etc.). But I guess that was the nature of the industry back then, really...

[Mike Thomason]

Some more new Fortune Star re-releases:

City War (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Heart To Hearts (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Heart Into Hearts (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Heart Against Hearts (Hong Kong) (DVD)

Carry on!

[Mike Thomason]

Dog Bite Dog (2-disc SE) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
My Name Is Fame (Hong Kong) (DVD)
On The Edge (Hong Kong) (DVD)

[Harlock]

nm

[Mike Thomason]

Love At First Note (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Men Suddenly In Black 2 (Hong Kong) (DVD)
The Ring Trilogy (3 Disc boxset) (Japan) (DVD)

[MrBooth]

DVD Region 3 The Convict Killer: The Shaw Brothers Collection
DVD Region 3 A Taste Of Cold Steel: The Shaw Brothers Collection
DVD Region Free Triads The Inside Story: Legendary Collection
DVD Region 3 Dead Run

[ewaffle]

Shanghai 13--VCD

Reincarnation of Golden Lotus--VCD, Fortune Star

Maidens of the Heavenly Mountans--VCD

Mr. Coconut--VCD

The Prince of Temple Street--VCD

Dragon Inn--VCD (to replace one that was loaned and not returned)

Flirting Scholar--DVD, Mee Ah

Her Fatal Ways and Her Fatal Ways III--both DVD, Fortune Star/Joy Sales

[ewaffle]

I think it would really pay to watch the damned things one of these days instead of just accumulating them, but time is always at a premium.

But if all of us did that the market for Asian digital home video would collapse.

[Brian Thibodeau]

But if all of us did that the market for Asian digital home video would collapse.

Good point!

Fortunately for me, I just started a new job this week in Toronto which not only puts me closer to my girlfriend and right next door to the up-scale, heavily-Chinese end of the city, but also promises a lot less of the overtime that has been killing me for far too many years at my previous employer. Mind you, the new 40-hour week will mean a little less money coming in when compared with 50-60 hour weeks of the past several years, but my previous employer was kind enough to give me a golden kiss-off of over 6-months pay, which has helped pay off some hefty monthly expenses (like my car) in anticipation of the big move in the weeks ahead. Of course, if he'd actually known I was planning on leaving anyway in the next few months, he might not have been so generous... Nonetheless, it should be nice to actually get home at night and have time to watch a WHOLE movie instead of the piecemeal viewings I've been stuck with for ages now...

If Toronto's Chinese DVD shops (what few legit ones are left!) aren't sick of me by now, I suppose they will be soon.