2007: The Digital Scrounge

[Brian Thibodeau]

I recently watched an upscale DTV movie starring Wayne Lai called MODERN CINDERELLA, one of the hundreds typically overlooked by the HK cognoscenti (as always) because of it's video status, and was pleasantly surprised (as usual). It's a fun little romantic comedy with a kooky but measured performance by Nadia Chan, who has a nice chemistry with Lai even though he's obviously coasting on charm throughtout, to such a degree that you start to wonder if he's not simply playing himself. Even geared down, he's still manages to stand out in a solid ensemble.

[Mike Thomason]

881 (Singapore) (DVD)
Beauty & The 7 Beasts (Hong Kong) (DVD)
The Last King of Scotland (United Kingdom) (DVD)
M.A.I.D. (Thailand) (DVD)
Pan's Labyrinth (Spain) (2-DVD)

[ewaffle]

Along Comes a Tiger, Taiwan

The Beheaded 1000, Taiwan, 1994

The Mighty Peking Man, Hong Kong, 1997

Return of Bruce, Philippines, 1977

Cop Shop Babes, Hong Kong, 2001

Duel of the Iron Fist, Hong Kong, 1971
The 36 Crazy Fists, Hong Kong,, 1977
The Desperate Chase, Hong Kong, 1971
--These three on one disc from Vintage Movie Classics (?) for $6.99

Blind Fist of Bruce, Hong Kong, 1979

Zen of Sword, Hong Kong, 1992

Vampire vs Vampire, Hong Kong, 1989

Famous Swordsman Tin Kiu,, Hong Kong 1979

Deception, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1989

Return of Fist of Fury—not quite sure what this is, Bruce Le is the star

Fox Legend, Hong Kong, 1971

Legacy of Rage, Hong Kong, 1986

Plus—“Martial Arts 50 Movie Pack” with such titles as
Raging Tiger vs Monkey King, Taiwan, 1978
Deadly Duo, Hong Kong, 1983
Chase Step by Step, Taiwan, 1974
Infernal Street, Taiwan, 1973
Shaolin Deadly Kicks, Hong Kong, 1973
The Head Hunter, Hong Kong, 1982
Etc. etc. etc.

Plus a bunch of others including “Black Cobra” and its two sequels—a must see for Fred “the Hammer” Williamson fans, one of whom I am not

[Brian Thibodeau]

Plus—“Martial Arts 50 Movie Pack” with such titles as
Raging Tiger vs Monkey King, Taiwan, 1978
Deadly Duo, Hong Kong, 1983
Chase Step by Step, Taiwan, 1974
Infernal Street, Taiwan, 1973
Shaolin Deadly Kicks, Hong Kong, 1973
The Head Hunter, Hong Kong, 1982
Etc. etc. etc.

Got this one myself earlier in the year. Haven't had time to dig through it yet, but the price was too good to resist, even if most of these are probably poor transfers of poor movies. There's definitely some hidden gems in there.

[cal42]

Coming my way this weekend thanks to ebay:

Ebola Syndrome - not seen this before, but I'm preparing to be outraged! Actually, these days I find myself getting more and more squeemish, so I honestly don't know how I'm going to handle this. It was cheap though!

Breaking News - Now this I am looking forward to!

[Brian Thibodeau]

Got a few items this weekend at the the nearby Music & Movie Warehouse (mentioned in previous posts), mainly because my 20% discount card puts much of their stock in my cheapo price range :

LAW OR JUSTICE ('88, Joey Wong, Wilson Lam, Ti Lung; the review here says it's copied from a U.S. film, but fails to tell us which one! Looks like the entry needs a big update, too)
THE MURDER PLOT ('79, David Chiang; another one in need of an update)
TIGRESS OF SHAOLIN ('79, Kara Hui)
PURSUIT ('72, Yueh Hua)
MOODS OF LOVE ('77, Yueh Hua, Yum Yum Shaw; also in need of update)

And some newer odds 'n ends:

SHAOLIN VS. EVIL DEAD: ULTIMATE POWER ('05, Gordon Liu, Fan Siu-wong. Caught a trailer for this on another film and thought it looked quite good for what was obviously a modest budget. Effects looked well-done as well. Have to get the first one before I watch it though)

These were from a new (and huge) wall of older titles priced at $5 each. The rack included lots of stuff I already picked up at much higher prices, of course.
THE MAGIC TOUCH ('92, Michael Hui, Leon Lai)
THE ATTRACTIVE ONE ('04; Joey Yung, Lau Ching-wan)
FINAL VICTORY ('87; Eric Tsang, Rachel Lee)
EVIL ANGEL ('95, Vivian Hsu) Our DB features a "classic" review of this one by "JasonLau128" ) Incidentally, there's a plot synopsis at the bottom of the DB entry for this film that doesn't seem like it's actually from this film. Any thoughts?
A SUDDEN LOVE ('95; Pauline Chan, Cindy Yip; watched the first few minutes and was rather 'd at the strength of the first love scene! Definitely earns it's Cat. III stripes early on.)

Comments on these are encouraged as always!

EDIT: Almost forgot, picked up this 3-CD compilation of movie/TV theme songs as well for $20. Excellent value for the money (only a couple bucks more at Yesasia), at least what I've heard so far!
http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.as ... 004101563/

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Just bought The Killer Snakes (1974: Celestial/Image): the reviews here make me wonder if I should have bought it .

and Magnificent Bodyguards (1978): bought online and watched already. The R1 release (Telefilms) is quite bad, but the movie was OK (better than I thought; one day I'll review it since Jackie Chan is in it; especially if there is a better copy out there).

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Bought (both Criterion):
Drunken Angel (1948: Japan) Now have all of Kurosawa on Criterion again.
A Story of Floating Weeds /
Floating Weeds (Japan) Now caught up on Ozu too.

[Bearserk]

had to use up my remaining buyoyo funds, so picked out these three movies

The Rape - (2001) Since so many was praising this movie, I just had to get it
Provocative Monkey - Patrick Keung, Baat Leung-Gam movie, probably some cheap cat.3 stuff. Missing from the DB.
Bullet and Brain - (2007) Francis Ng, Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang crime movie, don't know anything about it, but it fit with the sum I had available.