Asian Cinema Thread

Watched

The Old Woman with the Knife
Decent film, some great fights but slow at times.

Yadang the Snitch
Again got a bit slow in the 2nd last quarter but overall enjoyable.

Doubt I'll watch either again unlike The Killer and most Don Lee films since Train to Busan.
 
Missed most of them but there are a few dates for a very limited cinema release of The Killer and Hard Boiled.


It might not be 100% accurate as it says The Killer is 20/3 Edinburgh but it also on tonight and Friday and they're not listed.
 
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Definitely picking up Ping Pong.
88 Films announced one of my fave movies for release in June alongside some Jackie Chan 4Ks

Fumihiko Sori's live action adaptation of Ping Pong is finally coming to Blu

 
88 Films announced one of my fave movies for release in June alongside some Jackie Chan 4Ks

Fumihiko Sori's live action adaptation of Ping Pong is finally coming to Blu


Isn't it only Armour of God, or was there something else too?
 
Worth mentioning that Magnificent Bodyguards 3D should also reach its end of June release window. And if it does, you'll want to order it sooner if you want the deluxe set.
 
Project A and Project A II. There's also a Sammo Hung Blu-ray of Painted Faces

Oh, right. That's just a standard edition rerelease of the previous LE set though, I think, and it's for the US/Region A only as Eureka still has these for the UK as far as I know. I saw these mentioned but didn't see anything on them from 88 so I had forgotten.
 
Arrow just announced a Jackie Chan box set of his Golden Harvest films owned by Warner Brothers, some of which up to now have only really been available in shortened and dubbed-only versions.


I'm pretty disappointed there is no Blu-ray version, but I ordered anyway as I have been wanting Rumble in the Bronx and First Strike with the original audio and in their original complete versions for years. I'm sure Drunken Master II will look better than the Warner Japan disc I have does as well. Thunderbolt and Who Am I? I've never seen.

I thought of waiting for a non-LE but while it's pretty certain that will happen, what form it will take is unknown. If it is individual releases for each film that'd be fine and in some ways preferable for me to the LE since the disc cases would likely be the standard UK thick cases while these in the LE are likely the thin ones Arrow uses to save space. It's also possible it will still be a set but losing the booklet and in a flimsier box, like Arrow has done with the spaghetti western sets, or some kind of combined sets of a few of the films like they did with Shawscope vol. 1 when rereleased.

Arrow also announced the next Golden Princess title, John Woo's Bullet in the Head, in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray versions. I haven't seen this one, but reading about it I think it's most likely a little too...intense...for me.
 
Arrow just announced a Jackie Chan box set of his Golden Harvest films owned by Warner Brothers, some of which up to now have only really been available in shortened and dubbed-only versions.


I'm pretty disappointed there is no Blu-ray version, but I ordered anyway as I have been wanting Rumble in the Bronx and First Strike with the original audio and in their original complete versions for years. I'm sure Drunken Master II will look better than the Warner Japan disc I have does as well. Thunderbolt and Who Am I? I've never seen.

I thought of waiting for a non-LE but while it's pretty certain that will happen, what form it will take is unknown. If it is individual releases for each film that'd be fine and in some ways preferable for me to the LE since the disc cases would likely be the standard UK thick cases while these in the LE are likely the thin ones Arrow uses to save space. It's also possible it will still be a set but losing the booklet and in a flimsier box, like Arrow has done with the spaghetti western sets, or some kind of combined sets of a few of the films like they did with Shawscope vol. 1 when rereleased.

Arrow also announced the next Golden Princess title, John Woo's Bullet in the Head, in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray versions. I haven't seen this one, but reading about it I think it's most likely a little too...intense...for me.
Also would've preferred single releases for the JC set (probably would've worked out around the same price) but still jumped on it as there's no idea how long or if they'll be standard editions of them all.
On the cases, the fact it actually has them is a good sign they may be the 14mm UK ones as the previous sets like this Arrow have done (Bruce Lee & Chucky) just had thin cardboard digipack.
 
Arrow just announced a Jackie Chan box set of his Golden Harvest films owned by Warner Brothers, some of which up to now have only really been available in shortened and dubbed-only versions.


I'm pretty disappointed there is no Blu-ray version, but I ordered anyway as I have been wanting Rumble in the Bronx and First Strike with the original audio and in their original complete versions for years. I'm sure Drunken Master II will look better than the Warner Japan disc I have does as well. Thunderbolt and Who Am I? I've never seen.

I thought of waiting for a non-LE but while it's pretty certain that will happen, what form it will take is unknown. If it is individual releases for each film that'd be fine and in some ways preferable for me to the LE since the disc cases would likely be the standard UK thick cases while these in the LE are likely the thin ones Arrow uses to save space. It's also possible it will still be a set but losing the booklet and in a flimsier box, like Arrow has done with the spaghetti western sets, or some kind of combined sets of a few of the films like they did with Shawscope vol. 1 when rereleased.

Arrow also announced the next Golden Princess title, John Woo's Bullet in the Head, in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray versions. I haven't seen this one, but reading about it I think it's most likely a little too...intense...for me.
I think the reason there's no Blu-ray version is likely due to Warner Bros themselves releasing some of the films on Blu-ray already, like HMV getting Mr Nice Guy for example. I also believe there is a chance that it could be released using slim 4K UHD cases because the standard edition for Hellraiser Quadrilogy have them.

There's probably other factors. A similar situation is how The Eye, The Good The Bad The Weird and Save the Green Planet all only received 4K Ultra HD releases without a Blu-ray version despite originally licensed & released in the UK on DVD via Tartan Video which should have made the Blu-ray license available at this point.
 
On the cases, the fact it actually has them is a good sign they may be the 14mm UK ones as the previous sets like this Arrow have done (Bruce Lee & Chucky) just had thin cardboard digipack.
I'm so very glad this isn't digipaks; I really really dislike them. But Arrow has been using the thinner cases for sets with four or more cases so this may be those. I'm ok with that though would prefer the 14mm.

I think the reason there's no Blu-ray version is likely due to Warner Bros themselves releasing some of the films on Blu-ray already, like HMV getting Mr Nice Guy for example. I also believe there is a chance that it could be released using slim 4K UHD cases because the standard edition for Hellraiser Quadrilogy have them.

There's probably other factors. A similar situation is how The Eye, The Good The Bad The Weird and Save the Green Planet all only received 4K Ultra HD releases without a Blu-ray version despite originally licensed & released in the UK on DVD via Tartan Video which should have made the Blu-ray license available at this point.
Yes, you are very likely correct, especially with the WB licenses Arrow has done a number that are only 4K UHD and it's not always obvious why.

I don't have a 4K display and no desire to get one, but I bought a Panasonic UB420 player a year or so ago so I can buy things like this that only exist as 4K discs or all the ones that only have a new superior master in that format, like The Truman Show where the Blu-ray has screwed up geometry. I'd still prefer actual Blu-ray discs so I wouldn't be dealing with HDR-to-SDR conversion which by its nature is likely imperfect compared to something that wasn't HDR to begin with.
 
I got my Arrow June Asian Cinema titles pre-ordered through Terracotta (Audition 4K UHD, Bullet in the Head 4K UHD, Jackie Chan Breakout Hits 4K UHD). I know Rarewaves will be cheaper but Terracotta packages the titles in the best way possible.

My March Arrow titles haven't shipped yet and I believe its likely due to the Samurai Revolution set not shipped yet from what I've seen.
 
I pre-ordered the JC set via Arrow Direct for the exclusive SKU. Will likely use Browns Books for BiTH if my March pre-orders arrive smoothly.
 
I pre-ordered the JC set via Arrow Direct for the exclusive SKU. Will likely use Browns Books for BiTH if my March pre-orders arrive smoothly.

I considered that but since it limited ordering to direct from Arrow I decided against it, and I like the disc case are for both sets and might actually prefer that on the regular. Arrow's store is fine but their packaging has been variable in my experience.

Just be aware of something so there aren't surprises. You're getting unique covers for each disc case which is nice. The different box cover I think is a bit of a cheat that Arrow has been doing since they went to doing slipcovers over the boxes. You get the same white box with the same image as the regular edition, but a different slipcover to go over it--at least that's what the images appear to be suggesting:
https://static.thcdn.com/productimg/original/17782066-1315322824392698.jpg

That box image appears to be the same as the cover of the old US Blu-ray of the edited and dubbed Drunken Master II:

I just realized something--while never foolproof with the created promo images, the implied width of the box in those images does suggest this could be using 14mm cases instead of the thin ones. One reason Arrow might do that is then later standard rereleases can use the same cover art layouts without a redesign.
 
I'd still prefer actual Blu-ray discs so I wouldn't be dealing with HDR-to-SDR conversion which by its nature is likely imperfect compared to something that wasn't HDR to begin with.
I was surprised when I saw just how bad HDR discs look on an SDR TV. I tested it with the Falcon and the Winter Soldier UHD a while ago. Half the background vanishes into a sea of black for indoor scenes, shadows swallow up large parts of people's faces, etc.
 
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