2008: The Digital Rummage

[Brian Thibodeau]

What, you guys don't think it captures the "wacky" nature of the film?

When I think of the boring crap I have to design day in and day out, to see a wasted opportunity like that just makes me cry.

Then again, I suppose we can't expect any better for a film like this. Shame, really . . .

I wonder if Jimmy's face sits atop Chow Yun-fat's body from REPLACEMENT KILLERS? Don't know for sure, but I know I've seen that pose before.

Outfit seems close:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm557947136/tt0120008

[cal42]

In addition to the head transplants, the revolver that Brigitte Lin is holding is a lot bigger than any of Dirty Harry's hand cannons and would weigh about 40 pounds.

When I saw it, I thought, "now that would be REALLY impractical"! It's like a seven year old has done it!

I wonder if Jimmy's face sits atop Chow Yun-fat's body from REPLACEMENT KILLERS? Don't know for sure, but I know I've seen that pose before.

Yes, that could be it. All I know for sure is it's not Wang Yu's body.

Incidentally, I've just watched this and it's crazier than I remember. This Malaysian DVD doesn't help matters - the subtitles are completely unreliable, when they appear at all. Instead of "cut the crap", we get "cut off the crabs" . Messiest subbing job I've ever seen!

[Brian Thibodeau]

That Undead Pool sounds interesting .

Watched this on the weekend and had no major complaints. This is definitely in a league with SUKEBAN BOY, only with a dialed-down sense of humour, decidedly less self-awareness and fewer performers batting to the bleachers. Still, with modest expectations--and based on the cover, I don't see how anyone could have anything but--it offeres modest rewards. And breastesess. It's shot on video (hi-def?) but the production quality is acceptable considering what must have been a negligible budget. Head "swimmer" Sasa Handa and her mysterious soulmate/classmate Yuria Hidaka both hail from the world of hardcore videos from what I've gathered online (hey, it's a dirty job, but yada yada yada . . . ), which explains both their modest acting skills and unwavering dedication to realism during the softcore sex scenes, including a very convincing one with each other . Their supporting "rebels" are a dull bunch of interchangeable Speedo-kitties who are probably destined for the pickle tickle trenches, if they're not in them already. None of these gals are built like swimmers, despite a through-line about an upcoming swim championship they stand to forfeit thanks to a plague affecting their school, but they're still built for action, so to speak. Though his IMDB filmog doesn't specify, I have to wonder if director Koji Kawano doesn't have a few bump 'n grinds on his QV. The special effects are mostly faces painted pale and laced with veins, squirts and spackles of stage blood, and a few prosthetic limbs for an early showstopper involving a girls' school math class exploding into a cannibalistic free-for-all because of a zombie-like virus which, we later learn, is being tested via innoculations by the crazed school nurse, while an evil Pied Piper-like sex fiend who kept Handa locked up for many years as his personal sex toy/aquatic assassin (cue scenes of Handa in a wetsuit) uses the plague as an opportunity to recage his most prized--and responsive--possession. Since this is Japanese softcore, I suppose the fetishistic, anime-style panty flashes and closeups of swimsuits being snapped against bottoms are par for the course. These films (this, SUKEBAN, MACHINE GIRL, STACY and others) seem to me like an inevitable outgrowth of a Pink film/video industry increasingly populated by filmmakers weaned on EVIL DEAD and it's kin, some of whom have quite probably been itching to break out of the hardcore back alleys and into the gonzo mainstream with titles that can at least be sold in the average big box store, there or here. By that measure, this stuff's kinda fun.


Also watched Michael Moore's SICKO last night. Great film, and one of Moore's more reasoned and impassioned (and less humourous) pieces to date. Made me somewhat happy to be a Canadian, and not a little envious of the British and the French (no offense to our U.S. contribs! Honestly!). I also learned, in a fascinating extra on the disc, that if you cut up people with a chainsaw in Bearserk's country, the maximum sentence you can get is 21 years, and in fact you're just as likely to be shipped off to an idyllic island colony called Bastoy Prison where you'll be allowed to cut down trees with chainsaws as part of your rehab! And from the sounds of it, such a humanistic approach actually seems to work. Cool.


.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

... These films (this, SUKEBAN, MACHINE GIRL, STACY and others) seem to me like an inevitable outgrowth of a Pink film/video industry increasingly populated by filmmakers weaned on EVIL DEAD and it's kin, some of whom have quite probably been itching to break out of the hardcore back alleys and into the gonzo mainstream with titles that can at least be sold in the average big box store, there or here. By that measure, this stuff's kinda fun.

Also watched Michael Moore's SICKO last night. Great film, and one of Moore's more reasoned and impassioned (and less humourous) pieces to date. Made me somewhat happy to be a Canadian, and not a little envious of the British and the French (no offense to our U.S. contribs! Honestly!). ...Cool.
.

Unforunately for me, the outgrowth of the pinku films actually makes me less interested in that segment of Japanese films (though I'm a big fan of Evil Dead series) though that already happened with Evil Dead Trap (1988) (definitely a progenitor of pinku/violence with the using of hardcore actresses and even a reference to Un chien andalou .)

Unfortunately with Michael Moore (I've seen his previous three films) is that he makes up an inordinate amount of material and then states it as fact. (It's pretty bad that even Roger Ebert has stated that he was dissapointed in finding fraudulent material in Bowling for Columbine, though he liked the message). Fahrenheit 9/11 was so funny, that I caught several mistakes including his unemployment remark and I certainly did not like what he did with the Soundtrack to War footage (which wasn't even his; this especially irks me).

But then it is quite easy to take any topic and manipulate it with the results you want.

On Sicko, I've read many Cuban's strong denial of what actually takes place in the health care industry there (I have not seen it, so I will not argue against anything else).

[Brian Thibodeau]

But then it is quite easy to take any topic and manipulate it with the results you want.

Love him or hate him or sit on the fence, Moore makes documentaries people actually see in large numbers. Perhaps it's his celebrity, his sense of humour, his talent with the form, perhaps it's his strong beliefs in the causes he champions, but he's one of the few documentarians out there with the clout to get controversial subject matter seen by a (reasonably) wide audience. To like his films is not to automatically swallow everything he shovels, however. Personally I rather enjoy documentaries that have a strong point of view, and that take pains to manipulate the audience, perhaps even sending them out to do further research of their own, as this one should. Some would argue such films are polemics, not documentaries, but I don't buy it. Most of the anti-Moore documentaries (I wouldn't be surprised if there's one in response to SICKO) use precisely the same techniques that Moore does, but since rebuttals are always easier than stating an original case, they don't tend to have the same impact.

On Sicko, I've read many Cuban's strong denial of what actually takes place in the health care industry there (I have not seen it, so I will not argue against anything else).

And one can read as many Americans in strong agreement with what takes place in the health care system there, and I know many Canadians, myself included, would vouch for what Moore says about the Canadian system, higher taxes and all, and yet happily tell you about some of the flaws he ignores (though to me, they're minor).

Early in the film, Moore shows a list ranking countries in order of the quality of their health care (can't remember the source at the moment). The United states comes in at #37. And there, just two slots below it, is Cuba at #39, but you gotta look quick. So the clues are there, even when Moore's misdirection is at play.

The key point I gathered (and I could be wrong) from Moore's presentation of Cuba's medical system was that it at least tries to follow the socialist, "health-care-for-all" model, and with some success. And also that the country isn't some tropical North Korea like it's often painted to be by U.S. leaders. Canadians can go there freely, of course, and while it's health care system is obviously not as rosy as he paints it (neither is Canada's) it's unlikely that anyone there could even imagine having to tangle with an HMO. I'm grateful that I don't either, but that's admittedly based on more research than Michael Moore could ever provide me in a single film. But hey, even an HMO is better than no coverage whatsoever. I guess its just a little disheartening that a first-world country would even have people with no coverage to begin with, but in that the U.S. is not alone I'm sure. And that ultimately seems to be Moore's point by film's end.

Unforunately for me, the outgrowth of the pinku films actually makes me less interested in that segment of Japanese films (though I'm a big fan of Evil Dead series) though that already happened with Evil Dead Trap (1988) (definitely a progenitor of pinku/violence with the using of hardcore actresses and even a reference to Un chien andalou

I'm no great scholar of the pink films, that's for sure, but they have their moments. The better ones that I've seen, such as those in the great PINKY VIOLENCE box set a while back, are about so much more than just exposing skin.

These newer films often have the thinnest of social commentary (I've heard MACHINE GIRL deals with bullying . . . for a time ) and rely much more on genre trappings to fill space between what are essentially "clean" versions of hardcore-style sex scenes, with all the mannerisms and affectations that entails (frankly, the "shamed-but-enjoying-it woman" routine gets stale rather fast). Granted, I've seen a few older, deadly serious pink films (like the WOMAN IN A BOX duo, TOKYO DECADENCE, etc.) that essentially did the same thing, and I'd imagine Japan still cranks out stuff like that for the home market, but somewhat sadly, it seems to be titles like UNDEAD POOL/GIRLS REBEL FORCE and MACHINE GIRL and SUKEBAN that define the form for many in the west thanks to much more marketable genre trappings like sex, gore, sci-fi and fantasy. It is a shame that there isn't a broader spectrum available, but even the best of the bunch will still only sell so many copies . . .


.

[cal42]

On a not entirely unrelated subject, I've managed to aquire the Sister Street Fighter box. I can't for the life of me remember where I got it from, but as it doesn't carry a BBFC certificate I guess it's a US import.

I've been saying a lot recently that I think my expectations are raised too high for Japanese action films and I always end up disappointed. Looking at this set (which is great, by the way), these films look FANTASTIC in a wacky exploitative way, which probably means I'm going to be really disappointed.

But hey. Gotta give 'em a go, haven't I?

[Brian Thibodeau]

I've been saying a lot recently that I think my expectations are raised too high for Japanese action films and I always end up disappointed. Looking at this set (which is great, by the way), these films look FANTASTIC in a wacky exploitative way, which probably means I'm going to be really disappointed.

I feel the same way about a lot of Japanese action pictures, and that's as someone who doesn't really do much reading about them beforehand to keep my expectatons in check. More often than not, and in spite of solid production values and performances, they just don't do it for me. Dramas, comedies and the early films in the horror cycle seem to fare better.

I think Hong Kong cinema may have played a key role in all of this for me!

Still, I've only seen the first SISTER STREETFIGHTER, so I'm curious to know how the other three will fare for you.

Every once in a while, I'll pick up a Japanese disaster film, a genre to which I'm partial (and forgiving) in American cinema, but I usually end up disappointed and wondering why they didn't punch it up more considering their willingness to trot out fun genre cliches. WHITE OUT comes to mind, maybe even the SINKING OF JAPAN remake, as does the recent UZIMARU 2: LIMIT OF LOVE, where the posters/DVD sleeves sold bills of goods that ultimately didn't quite represent what was on the discs. They've still got much to recommend them, but they just don't have the . . . scale that they should in my eyes.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

... Personally I rather enjoy documentaries that have a strong point of view, and that take pains to manipulate the audience, perhaps even sending them out to do further research of their own, as this one should. ...

...

I'm no great scholar of the pink films, that's for sure, but they have their moments. The better ones that I've seen, such as those in the great PINKY VIOLENCE box set a while back, are about so much more than just exposing skin.

These newer films often have the thinnest of social commentary (I've heard MACHINE GIRL deals with bullying . . . for a time ) and rely much more on genre trappings to fill space between what are essentially "clean" versions of hardcore-style sex scenes, with all the mannerisms and affectations that entails (frankly, the "shamed-but-enjoying-it woman" routine gets stale rather fast). ...

I have no problems with strong points of view (as I said I don't eschew works; I will also watch and read counterpoints to my philosophies); I just really don't like being lied to (manipulated, well if we didn't want that we wouldn't watch Hitchcock). Also being libertarian, I tend not to like too much governmental control (especially in economics issues).

I think after watching the three Hanzo films, I just really did not want to watch anymore the the "raped-but-enjoying-it woman" stories.

I too have only seen the first Sister Street Fighter so post your opinions after you watch (my weekend watching including Doctor X and The Return of Doctor X and well The Greatest Show on Earth but I don't want to talk about that).

[Mike Thomason]

July Purchases

28 Days Later (UK) (DVD)
28 Weeks Later (UK) (DVD)
2001 Maniacs (US) (DVD)
Alien (Director's Cut) (UK) (2-DVD)
American Crime (US) (DVD)
Black Hawk Down (US) (3-DVD)
Blood Diamond (US) (2-DVD)
Cast Away (US) (2-DVD)
The Chronicles of Riddick (Unrated) (US) (DVD)
Cold Prey (Norway) (DVD)
Cry_Wolf (Unrated) (US) (DVD)
The Dark (UK) (DVD)
Darkness Falls (US) (DVD)
The Devil's Backbone (Spain) (DVD)
DOA: Dead or Alive (US) (DVD)
Equilibrium (US) (DVD)
Finger of Doom (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Flight Man (Hong Kong) (DVD)
From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (US) (DVD)
From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (US) (DVD)
The Grudge (Unrated) (US) (DVD)
The Grudge 2 (Unrated) (US) (DVD)
Guard Post 506 (South Korea) (2-DVD)
Hot Fuzz (UK) (2-DVD)
House of the Dead 2 (US) (DVD)
I Know Who Killed Me (US) (DVD)
Identity (US) (DVD)
In The Cut (Director's Cut) (US) (DVD)
Isolation (UK) (DVD)
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (Director's Cut) (UK) (2-DVD)
May (US) (DVD)
P2 (US) (DVD)
Panic Room (US) (DVD)
Pitch Black (Unrated) (US) (DVD)
Rainbow Eyes (South Korea) (2-DVD)
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (US) (2-DVD)
Resident Evil: Extinction (US) (DVD)
Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (US) (DVD)
Revolver (UK) (DVD)
Severance (UK) (DVD)
Song of Tomorrow (Hong Kong) (DVD)
The Tattooist (New Zealand/Singapore) (DVD)
Them (France) (DVD)
Too Late for Love (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Ultraviolet (Unrated) (US) (DVD)
Wilderness (UK) (DVD)
Wrong Turn (US) (DVD)
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (Unrated) (US) (DVD)
The Younger Generation (Hong Kong) (DVD)

[Chungking_Cash]

This week...

Address Unknown (South Korea)

Ultimately, one of the new wave's most notable misfires due in large part to writer/director Kim Ki-duk, who's right-handed grip on the audience loosens each time the left hand bludgeons viewers with the grim nature of the downtrodden. Similar to the film's bookends ("The Isle," "Bad Guy") Kim Ki-duk nails the mise-en-scene and guides fine performances throughout but nevertheless is obsessed to the point of distracting his audience with the perverse lengths man is willing to go to in the face of sheer desperation.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (USA/UK)

The oddball synergy that resonates between director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp is hard not to appreciate even if the end result is a bit of a letdown ("Edward Scissorhands," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"). In their sixth and finest collaboration since "Ed Wood" the remarkable eccentrics prove the perfect pair for the first feature film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical.

Be Kind Rewind (USA)

It worked for me...barely, but it worked. Perhaps it was the frat boy charm of Jack Black or the vercatility of actor-turned [successful] rapper-turned [reinvigorated] actor Mos Def or director Michael Gondry's heartfelt belief in his audience. Whatever it was I ultimately accepted the film's far-fetched premise at face value.

Up next: Diary of the Dead.

[Brian Thibodeau]

BE KIND definitely had a sink-or-swim premise. I remember thinking it seemed risky when I first saw the trailer. Is the movie set in a time period in which VHS rental stores were the norm?

Been plowing through non-HK stuff to clear the way for a more dedicated effort on that front. Some recent viewing:

THE HOAX. A lively retelling of one of the great publishing scams of the 20th century, Clifford Irving's "biography" of the reclusive Howard Hughes, with an incredibly strong performance by Richard Gere as Irving, and a sound recreation of 1971. It could have been a just as much fun, possibly moreso, had it been faithful to the actual story of Clifford Irving, a wild tale that didn't really require the retooling it gets here to tighten the geography in which the story took place. Like almost any screen adaptation of a book, plenty of details are changed or get lost in the transition here, but as always, knowledge of the source material isn't entirely necessary to get a good overview of an event such as this, and it's impact on popular culture at the time.

THE NUDE BOMB. A guilty pleasure from way back. It's the GET SMART movie from my childhood, though it can't match the TV series what with Barbara Feldon and The Chief and CONTROL being tossed by the wayside for one reason or another. At least they kept KAOS. And Agent 13. And Larrabee. And Don Adams as Agent 86, of course. The film mines the same slapstick/verbal humour that characterized the series, but by 1980 it all seemed a bit stale, though warmly familiar, which probably explains my attachment to a film I could never rate very highly (say, a 5 or 6 out of 10). Lalo Schifrin's score is a big draw, too. The film is shot entirely in Los Angeles which makes a poor double when the action relocates to Austria. Most of the backlots aren't dressed enough to distinguish them from the millions of television series they had appeared in ad nauseum by the time the film was made, though infrequent location work around the city is a boon, and a chase through the Universal Studios ride is a neat time capsule.

THE DEANNA DURBIN SWEETHEART PACK. Got this in a buy-one-get-one-free sale as it was a super-affordable way to see what all the hubbub was over this Canadian gal back in the day. After watching this set, I can understand her popularity, even if many of her films (especially the early ones) wallow in the hoariest of melodrama: she's a phenomenal singer and a thoroughly engaging screen personality. A good cross section of her middle-of-the-road movies are represented here, including her first (THREE SMART GIRLS), her third-from-last (SOMETHING IN THE WIND, with Donald O'Connor), her only film in technicolor (CAN'T HELP SINGING), her first screen kiss (with Robert Stack in FIRST LOVE), one of her absolute best (IT STARTED WITH EVE with Bob Cummings, the only one I'd seen previously), and one of her best-looking (the noir comedy LADY ON A TRAIN). Nearly all of these films provide plentiful moments for Durbin to belt out opera and contemporary standards in that stunning voice ("paging Ed Waffle!"), but nearly all the songs in all the films are awkwardly shoehorned into the plots (witness her singing of "Silent Night" to her father by phone in LADY ON A TRAIN, complete with endless glamour shots from every angle. The technicolor film CAN'T HELP SINGING looks gorgeous, and benefits immensely from actual Utah locations, but succumbs to hasty plotting at its conclusion that puzzles more than satisfies (for example, a climactic fight breaks out between Durbin's two suitors, but instantly goes nowhere). THREE SMART GIRLS, her first, is quintessential mid-30's melodrama with Durbin turning on the waterworks with abandon to sell the songs and reunite her divorced parents. FIRST LOVE is much the same, but I can easily understand audiences of the day digging the broken hearts and histrionics. You just know everything's gonna wrap up swell! If I had to keep one film from the set, though, it would be 1945's LADY ON A TRAIN, a first rate puzzler with a production design that rivals the best of the film noirs of the day. Durbin later married its director and abandoned Hollywood for France, where she still lives today!

THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME This is a touching, romantic feature anime with unintrusive sci-fi elements: the young heroine, a gawky tomboyish high-schooler, finds a mechanical walnut-thingie from the future that allows her to jump back in time, a tool she uses to largely frivolous, personal ends, but also to avoid the romantic overtures of one of her male best friends (by leaping back and "changing the subject" whenever he brings it up). But the constant jumping ultimately sets in motion a chain of events that will result in the death of another friend and his new girlfriend, and so things must be set straight. Apparently this won a top Animated Film prize at the Japanese Academy Awards, and it's not hard to see why. The detailed backgrounds, shot compositions and character design (from one of the guys who worked on EVANGELION, one of the few anime series I've ever felt the geeky compulsion to complete) are expectedly gorgeous, but the characters themselves are the big draw here, smartly observed and well played by both the animators and the vocal cast. I've read that the same story was adapted twice previously into animated features, so it might be interesting to compare.

DEAD-END DRIVE-IN/CUT AND RUN (Anchor Bay double feature DVD). Got this for $3 (new) in Deep Discount's recent Buy-one-get-one-free sale on Anchor Bay titles. Can't rave about either of these, but I have to admit DEAD END DRIVE-IN tempted me for many years on the shelves of various VHS rental stores in town, but I never knew why I didn't pick it up. Until now. Guess the artwork (and that shot of the truck flying through the sign) held some appeal, but had I seen this in 1986 I'd still have cringed at the forced social commentary, best represented by a couple of scenes in which a dominant gang of snarly hoods acts all threatening to our hero (a new and unwitting resident of the titular drive-in-turned-holding-pen for society's outcasts), before their leader turns all whiny about "social issues" (particularly in regards to Asian immigration) at the drop of a hat. Twice, at least! The point is taken, but whiny speechifying is the last thing I'd expect from a bunch of leathered-up and mohawked Road Warrior-rejects who are supposedly primed for action that never takes place. Apparently the film's low budget didn't allow for action to speak louder than words in this regard. Thus a town meeting about the immigrant "problem" goes nowhere because suddenly it's time for the hero to make his escape in that famous flying truck. Still, the film has a nice visual polish, and director Brian Trenchard-Smith had the goofy temerity to sorta-match sequences on the drive-in gronds to sequences unspooling onscreen from his previous films TURKEY SHOOT and THE MAN FROM HONG KONG, and possibly others. Cute, if a bit obvious. CUT AND RUN was really just a gimme in this set, since I knew nothing about it. Typically gory Ruggero Deodato jungle horror picture only with a cast of semi-name American actors, including Willie Aames! shamelessly chewing like the Oscar's in the bag , and a Jonestown 2 vibe. Gore highlight is a dude getting ripped in two from the crotch up, though the sequence was apparently sourced from a dodgy VHS tape to make this the "uncut" version. Selling this one eventually, but kinda glad I could scratch DEAD END off my mental list after all these years.

SCHOOL DAZED 8-MOVIE COLLECTION This is one of the four 8-packs of old Crown International titles released by BCI earlier this year, some of which have appeared in earlier double-feature DVDs. It's a of a mixed bag, to be sure, but there are some gems within. Stuck a review at Amazon since none of these sets is getting much coverage:
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B0 ... ewpoints=1

Tons of other stuff watched recently, but these just popped into my head. More ramblings as time permits.

[Chungking_Cash]

BE KIND definitely had a sink-or-swim premise. I remember thinking it seemed risky when I first saw the trailer. Is the movie set in a time period in which VHS rental stores were the norm?

Risky isn't even the word and as such the premise will literally either sink or swim with each individual audience member. I suspect if you look at the film's IMDb message board you'll find more "I LOVED IT" and "I HATED IT" than "I thought it was OK."

To answer your question: the film is set in a present day mom & pop video store not unlike the ones I remember from the mid-'80s (sans the Beta wall). If you're wondering why give it a shot, you might like it.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

some recent purchases:

Finally got: Life is Cheap, ... but toilet paper is expensive Wayne Wang (part of the Chinese Box two-disc set)
Goyokin (Japan)
Fist of Fury (HK: TV w/ Donnie Yen)
Windtalkers (3-Disc set: dir/John Woo)

and an expensive John Ford set (I got a DW Griffith Kino set as well)

[Brian Thibodeau]

Well it had to happen. The Music and Movie Warehouse up the street from me finally knocked the price of their VCDs to one dollar each! I was in the process of paying for two of them, thinking they were still the exorbitant sum of $2 each, when I noticed she rang them through at the lower price. While I had other plans today, they got put on hold so I could rummage some more . I really, REALLY, should stay home sometimes in this city.

BOMB LOVER (1995; Universe)
NAUGHTY COUPLE (1994; Mei Ah)
HAPPY PARTNER (1993; Mei Ah)
ENDLESS NIGHTMARE (1993; Mei Ah) DB entry needs an upgrade!
GIGOLO OF CHINESE HOLLYWOOD (1999; Mei Ah)
SWEET SWEET LIFE (2000; Breakthrough) Definitely in line for an DB update
WHO IS THE CRAFTIEST (1988; Megastar)
TIGERS - THE LEGEND OF CANTON (1993; Mei ah)
FIRST LOVE UNLIMITED (1997; Mei Ah)
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD (1996; Mei Ah)
HONG KONG HAPPY MAN (2000; Widesight) Glad to find this, since I inadvertently watched the sequel first because the sleeve for that doesn't include a "2" or "II" after the title.
THE ROAR OF THE VIETNAMESE (1991; Universe)
LOVE IS A STUPID THING (2004; Mei Ah)
DOCTOR'S HEART (1990; Universe)
PASSIONATE DREAM (1992; Mei Ah)
LETHAL CONTACT (1992; Panorama)
HONEYMOON IN JAKARTA (19??; Mei Ah) Another one in need of a massive DB makeover!)
L'AIR DU TEMPS (1997; Mei Ah) Ho Fan's last one. Will provide info for DB later)
NO REGRET (1987; Mei Ah) Herman Yau's first one! First anything from the looks of it! Another one to update!
DEVIL LOVER (1993, Mei Ah)
PSYCHO KILLER (1993; Mei Ah)
WHEN I FALL IN LOVE . . . WITH BOTH (2000; Universe) Two Samson Chiu flix in one haul. Not bad!
NIGHTMARE ZONE (1998; Mei Ah)
WHY WHY TELL ME WHY (1986; Megastar) Certain I don't need this, but too lazy to dig for proof!! )
LOVE CORRECTION (2000; Universe)
MY AMERICANIZE WIFE (1992; Mei Ah)
COULD YOU KILL MY HUSBAND PLEASE (2001; Mei Ah)
THE ANGELS (1991; Mei Ah)

This last one, THE ANGELS, was one that I owned years ago, but donated to the local library in my old city before I was able to provide credit screens here. Figured for a dollar, like a lot of these, it'd be nice to finally update the listing! Otherwise, it's pretty dire, especially Yukari's "love" scene.

So $28 for 28 movies, most with original sticker prices of $19.99 (then $9.99, then $4.99 ). Pays to wait, or not have enough time to watch everything when it first came out, or something! I've probably got a few of these already, but at this price, I'll suffer. I'll definitely be heading back there in the days ahead. Nobody's buying this stuff, and it's still tucked away in the back of the store, and there's no price signs around it anymore either. It's all crammed into about 18 glass cubicle shelves, and I left 6 unrummaged tonight, so definitely gotta finish up. Plenty of late 90's - early 2000's stuff there too, including quite a few that appear in this recent thread. I know I shouldn't . . . but . . . but . . . a dollar!

Also picked up a few DVDs, but they're down in the car, so I'll list those later.


EDIT: And here they are. Nothing spectacular, but the same shop (with the $1 VCDs) also had their Joy Sales DVD re-issues for $6.00 each. Picked up a few of the semi-recent releases. Saw most of these on TV back in the day, but that was before I kept notes:

GHOST SNATCHERS
JAIL HOUSE EROS
SWORN BROTHERS (love the word for word translation on this in the DB! ) Probably really didn't need this one as the previous DVD is here somewhere, I think . . .
BITE OF LOVE

And from more recently:

THE THIRD EYE
SECRET SUNSHINE (Korean)

[ewaffle]

Brian wrote:

Otherwise, it's pretty dire, especially Yukari's "love" scene.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Yes, Yukari does indeed have a love scene in her filmography, but it's a rather awkward affair. She "gets it on" with some dude on top of a desk as I recall, but Yukari the actress is visibly uncomfortable in the scene, which is completely at odds with how her character is supposed to feel as its a consensual moment. She also tries to cry a couple of times in the film, but produces no tears, which makes me suspect she (or the director) was trying to soften her rough screen persona, but having little success.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Noticed this at a couple of other sites, so figured it might be useful here since more than a couple of us are Criterion buyers, and the collection has a substantial Asian component. It's a "Buy One Get One Free" Criterion sale at Deep Discount that starts Wednesday.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I Know Who Killed Me (US) (DVD)

.

[dleedlee]

Noticed this at a couple of other sites, so figured it might be useful here since more than a couple of us are Criterion buyers, and the collection has a substantial Asian component. It's a "Buy One Get One Free" Criterion sale at Deep Discount that starts Wednesday.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I Know Who Killed Me (US) (DVD)

.

Damn you!

[Brian Thibodeau]

Damn you!

I'll assume this is in response to the news of the Criterion sale and not my puzzlement at someone actually buying a Lindsay Lohan horror movie.

If so, it's always my pleasure to help you folks empty your bank accounts. I'm not about to suffer this alone . . .

[dleedlee]

Damn you!

I'll assume this is in response to the news of the Criterion sale and not my puzzlement at someone actually buying a Lindsay Lohan horror movie.

Yes, I barely resisted the DD Summer Sale, now this comes along.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Damn you!

I'll assume this is in response to the news of the Criterion sale and not my puzzlement at someone actually buying a Lindsay Lohan horror movie.

If so, it's always my pleasure to help you folks empty your bank accounts. I'm not about to suffer this alone . . .

ARgggggh! I spent several hundred on the previous DD sale (though I love my Art of Buster Keaton set; still haven't received my DW Griffith set).

Anyways thanks for the heads up.

I've gotten a few recently including:
Yi Yi (Taiwan Criterion)
Hong Kong Triad (1999: HK)
The Ghoul (1933: US)
... (I'll have to remember what else I got )

[Brian Thibodeau]

ARgggggh! I spent several hundred on the previous DD sale

I'm really hoping Deep Discount's sister company DVD Planet runs this sale as well. They actually buy used discs for reasonabe prices (well, reasonable depending on how much one prefers to pay in the first place), which has helped me accrue more than enough credit to cover the last 20%-off sale, as well as the Criterions I'd like to buy in this one, theoretically. If not, then I'll go out-of-pocket and get them at Deep Discount, since there's only a few I'm after. Still, tough to beat those prices. Only time I've seen them cheaper was that one-off price reduction on a handful of them at Amazon earlier this year (late last year??), and that won't likely be repeated any time soon.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Incidentally, I just read that the deal is active now (Monday), so you don't actually have to wait until Wednesday to start shopping.

You have been warned.

"Buy One Get One Free" Criterion sale at Deep Discount

Checkout code is B1G1CRITE0807

[Mike Thomason]

I Know Who Killed Me (US) (DVD)

Being that I've hardly watched any Asian cinema, much beyond the odd sixties/seventies Shaw Brothers drama/musical/comedy/romance, this year due to the IMHO rapidly declining level of watchability of films from my major Asian interest areas (HK and ROK) over the last couple of years, I think I can safely assume Lindsay Lohan meets HOSTEL might harbour just a little bit more entertainment value than almost any Asian film I've watched of late...

Don't get me wrong -- I've seen a couple of good ones, and I do mean a couple, but for me personally HK cinema has taken a dramatic nose-dive in quality over the last 12 to 18 months and Korean films seemed to have copped out completely in bizarre US-styled blockbuster cookie-cutter fashion after the FTA with the US saw their domestic screen quota reduced. Plus, I'm a bit of a fan of a lot of the B-movie horror flicks I've been watching of late.

Btw, I've enjoyed the majority of Shaw films I've watched this year, but being that the lion's share of them are upwards of thirty years old -- Lin Dai's LOVE WITHOUT END being almost fifty -- I think says something.

[Brian Thibodeau]

But if you've hardly watched any, how do you know for sure!

I guess I can't completely share such sentiments about Hong Kong and Korean cinema, even though I've been moaning (elsewhere for the most part) about the cookie-cutter nature of K-films since at least 2001 and maybe earlier (but can't find the reference), so screen-quota cutting can't have been the only cause. I think narrow-minded private/web/corporate Korean investors who boarded the gravy train back in the hey-day deserve their share of the blame for the high-concept mindset that continues today, though the various rounds of quota-cutting and the very film-watching habits of the Korean people only add salt to the creative wounds.

In spite of it all, I think there's still much to savour from those regions (for some people more than others, of course), even if there's less of it, perhaps thankfully. And that's obviously IMHO, too. I guess your purchase lists and comments here have reflected a shift in direction for quite a while now. When that "what have we been watching everywhere else" started off so interestingly last year (or was it the previous year?) with what I thought was a rousing discussion of recent western horror, I was under the impression that you'd seen most of that stuff already! Shows how little I can glean from forum chats!

We can only hope for a review of I KNOW WHO KILLED ME to see if popular consensus is turned on its ear yet again and your assumption about it is correct, but you've obviously got much more . . . fulfilling avenues to explore in the months ahead! Incidentally, I have seen the film . . . thus my above.

Agreed on the Shaw stuff to some degree. Been favouring the non-MA stuff since day one of those releases, and still working through the stacks, but so little meaningful discussion of it anywhere, let alone in-depth reviews. Maybe I'm just not digging deep enough?

[Brian Thibodeau]

Couldn't resist that Criterion sale:

HOUSE OF GAMES
ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS


EDIT: also picked up:
HE-BORN TO KILL (1993) (DVD; Kam & Ronson)
Memory of the title being mentioned in this thread made it catch my eye on the way home last night. Kinda surprised an early-90's Alex Man film wasn't included in the database version 1.0, even if it is from Taiwan. Perhaps the experts of the day missed more than we thought! Looks like Teddy Wong will be providing the necessary credits at some point.

[Mike Thomason]

I actually did watch a bit of HK stuff this last year, and this was what I saw:

The Detective (2007)****
Beauty and the 7 Beasts (2007)**
A Mob Story (2007)***
Love Is Not All Around (2007)**
Wonder Women (2007)**
The Third Eye (2007)***
Blood Brothers (2007)**
It's a Wonderful Life (2007)**
Brothers (2007)****
Exodus (2007)*
Happy Birthday (2007)**
Undercover (2007)**
Naraka 19 (2007)***
Anna & Anna (2007)*
Mr. Cinema (2007)****
Hooked On You (2007)**
Invisible Target (2007)*****
Whispers and Moans (2007)**
Ming Ming (2007)*
Protege (2007)***
The Lady Iron Chef (2007)**
Gong Tau (2007)*****
The Haunted School (2007)***
Bullet & Brain (2007)*
Super Fans (2007)*
Single Blog (2007)*****
Forest of Death (2007)***
Fearless (2007)***
Kidnap (2007)***
Eye in the Sky (2007)**
Flash Point (2007)*
The Drummer (2007)***
Simply Actors (2007)***
Twins Mission (2007)****
Triangle (2007)***
Magic Boy (2007)***
House of Mahjong (2007)*

Ratings: * awful, ** barely salvageable, *** run of the mill, **** decent enough, and ***** well above average

Any deeper delving, ask me and I'll see if I can find time (our baby is a mere 2 to 4 weeks away); but IMHO it's been a shockingly below par year for HK cinema and this year thus far just hasn't inspired me to purchase anything new -- I might later, but not at present. And let's just say that certain politics and omniscient diatribes hereabouts in the last couple of years helped extremely well in turning me away from HK cinema as well (not you, Brian, but others that aren't Bob). I figured "if that's the company I keep...then I'd rather not be a part of it"...

But we'll keep that for PM -- not really something to be discussed in the forums IMO.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Hey, I've got political views too, dammit! And damned if I won't spew them here if I'm feelin' the vibe. Otherwise, I suspect I'm missing something. Maybe it's just the way I read typed posts or something, but I just don't see the politics/diatribes in these forums, but if it's happening behind the scenes, well, that's between you folks and it must be tiresome. Of course, I'll always take responsibility for anything and everything I publically say, as I hope others do, but at the end of the day, I'd rather say it here in the forums, and even then, I'd rarely take anything back; if I'm offbase, I'm corrected soon enough, that's for sure. Still, I like to think that no one's love of Hong Kong cinema--or any other--could be diminished in any way because of behaviour in an internet forum. If that was a rule, Hong Kong cinema would have no fans at all! It sounds like something much more covert is going on here . . . or was, so my condolences for your loss (of interest).


EDIT: So you finally finished SUPER FANS, I presume? Definitely with you on that one, but to put EXILED in the same group is just cruel! Then again, it was rather well-received, so . . .

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Couldn't resist that Criterion sale:

HOUSE OF GAMES
ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS
...

Could not resist Criterion sale either (I will get more later, but I wanted these two box sets):

Dreyer Box Set
Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara (Japan)

Well unfortunately trying to catch up with all cinema of all countries, my HK from the year 2007 watches have only been (I've watched a lot of older HK movies though 28 others this year; once again trying to catch up ):

Invisible Target (2007) -- ***/****
Flash Point (2007) -- already wrote a small review

[cal42]

Well, looking at Mike's list, it seems I'm finally catching up on HK films as there are a fair few familiar titles on there. Who'd have thought it, me watching modern HK films?

I've still got a whole bunch to watch as well and I've got FATAL CONTACT and RUNNING OUT OF TIME on the way (well, they're reasonably modern!).

I'll be interested on hearing your thoughts on INVISIBLE TARGET, Shawn.