Member blue_skies Posted July 12, 2012 Member Share Posted July 12, 2012 The sad part is they'll probably sit on their un-released titles. It's a shame Kung Fu movies have lost all their momentum that they had in the early part of the last decade. Let's be honest if Hong Kong had stayed true to its roots using talented individuals in front and behind the camera, kung fu would be blooming. Instead it's gone all Hollywood, offering high production values and losing its main appeal… The great action and kung fu. I think if Hong Kong had stepped up to Thailand's challenge on the action front , I believe we would be in a completely different situation. We are now looking at the situation with a young generation of Asian fans that don't know better and an increasing Western influence over their cinema. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member razorclam Posted July 13, 2012 Member Share Posted July 13, 2012 Yeah Hong Kong has followed Japan in the way of the dodo. Most of the films coming from those two countries have no soul (most). Gone are to days of truly kick ass Kung fu and samurai films. At least we have Korean cinema. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member inframan Posted July 13, 2012 Member Share Posted July 13, 2012 We should do a kickstart campaign for Masked Avengers and Mag Ruffians barebones, double feature DVD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted July 13, 2012 Member Share Posted July 13, 2012 We should do a kickstart campaign for Masked Avengers and Mag Ruffians barebones, double feature DVD Make it so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 At least we have Korean cinema Korean cinema isn't that good. But it isn't just Asia. All cinema has hit a low ebb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member razorclam Posted July 13, 2012 Member Share Posted July 13, 2012 Maybe it's not that great across the board, but they've had some amazing highs in recent years. James PS: The campaign for the Masked Avengers and Magnificent Ruffians is a great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted July 13, 2012 Member Share Posted July 13, 2012 PS: The campaign for the Masked Avengers and Magnificent Ruffians is a great idea. yes absolutely:bigsmile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted July 13, 2012 Member Share Posted July 13, 2012 If MB wants to do anything just to justify their purchase, my advise would be Keep up the good work with the transfers! Don't bother spending money on new extras 2 films to a set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Maybe it's not that great across the board, but they've had some amazing highs in recent years. What would you recommend? The best recent Korean film I've seen was The Man from Nowhere. Not a classic, but pretty good. Most have been somewhat disappointing, dating back to the overrated Shiri. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tosh Posted July 14, 2012 Member Share Posted July 14, 2012 Let's be honest if Hong Kong had stayed true to its roots using talented individuals in front and behind the camera, kung fu would be blooming. Instead it's gone all Hollywood, offering high production values and losing its main appeal… The great action and kung fu. I think if Hong Kong had stepped up to Thailand's challenge on the action front , I believe we would be in a completely different situation. We are now looking at the situation with a young generation of Asian fans that don't know better and an increasing Western influence over their cinema. You hit the nail on the head my friend, the sad part is a lot of the older generation is swayed towards this trend, you would think someone like Sammo would have the clout to step up and bring in some new young talent, I was hoping SPL was going to swing things the other way, sadly for us, it didn't. I've lost hope for most of cinema, there was a time when even Hollywood made great action movies(my go to decade would be the 70's, but the 80's had some great "so bad it's good" going on), I blame censorship - government, religious groups and greed(the suits), pg13 all but killed cinema, they don't make movies for adults anymore. I'll watch a low budget Thai flick any day over the crap Hong Kong is churning out, every movie looks and feels like House of flying Daggers now, if I see that swirling sword attack one more time... The Raid, while not the best movie ever made, is some hope, and one damn fine action movie, hopefully people take notice. If the younger generation are entertained by what they get so be it, this old man is still digging through the decades of unseen movies when people actually tried to make a movie, not being told "how to" make a movie. It doesn't have to be good, but it has to have heart, and no amount of budget can buy that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member waywardsage Posted July 14, 2012 Author Member Share Posted July 14, 2012 You hit the nail on the head my friend, the sad part is a lot of the older generation is swayed towards this trend, you would think someone like Sammo would have the clout to step up and bring in some new young talent, I was hoping SPL was going to swing things the other way, sadly for us, it didn't. I've lost hope for most of cinema, there was a time when even Hollywood made great action movies(my go to decade would be the 70's, but the 80's had some great "so bad it's good" going on), I blame censorship - government, religious groups and greed(the suits), pg13 all but killed cinema, they don't make movies for adults anymore. I'll watch a low budget Thai flick any day over the crap Hong Kong is churning out, every movie looks and feels like House of flying Daggers now, if I see that swirling sword attack one more time... The Raid, while not the best movie ever made, is some hope, and one damn fine action movie, hopefully people take notice. If the younger generation are entertained by what they get so be it, this old man is still digging through the decades of unseen movies when people actually tried to make a movie, not being told "how to" make a movie. It doesn't have to be good, but it has to have heart, and no amount of budget can buy that. Amen to that. Yeah looking back, PG-13 had some dramatic effects on the entire action movie industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Silver Fox Posted July 15, 2012 Member Share Posted July 15, 2012 Well, if we're talking about Hong Kong films you can't really overlook the 1997 transfer of sovereignty that took place.After that, a sanitation process began taking place and eventually all the grittiness that that was so great about HK films began getting lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sandpalm79 Posted July 15, 2012 Member Share Posted July 15, 2012 We should do a kickstart campaign for Masked Avengers and Mag Ruffians barebones, double feature DVD Id participate in that! Masked Avengers Celestial Style with English Dub ( and no missing music like in 5EN) is my holy grail of Shaws. This must be released! M. Ruffians is unbelievable too. need that one as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member razorclam Posted July 15, 2012 Member Share Posted July 15, 2012 Have you seen any of the following: The Chaser, I Saw The Devil, Oldboy and The Yellow Sea. I would call those movies exceptional highs from Korean cinema. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Have you seen any of the following: The Chaser, I Saw The Devil, Oldboy and The Yellow Sea. I would call those movies exceptional highs from Korean cinema. I've seen The Chaser (it was OK) and Oldboy (which I didn't care for). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member John Posted July 16, 2012 Member Share Posted July 16, 2012 I Saw the Devil is pretty heavy stuff, even by Korean standards. Tread carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Silver Fox Posted July 16, 2012 Member Share Posted July 16, 2012 I just watched Tell Me Something (1999). A really gory police thriller. It's got kind of mixed reviews over the years but I really liked it.Elements of the ending were similar to 'The House with Laughing Windows, Italy,1976)' which blew my mind. Other notable Korean films: Acacia Yoga Shadows in the Palace-period thriller, loved it! Whispering Corridors series A Tale of Two Sisters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I just watched Tell Me Something (1999). A really gory police thriller. I may have seen that one, not 100% sure. I think it was on TV here. Acacia Yoga Shadows in the Palace-period thriller, loved it! Whispering Corridors series A Tale of Two Sisters Only one of those I've seen is ATOTS, which I didn't like. Though I seem to be in the minority on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted July 16, 2012 Member Share Posted July 16, 2012 You hit the nail on the head my friend, the sad part is a lot of the older generation is swayed towards this trend, you would think someone like Sammo would have the clout to step up and bring in some new young talent, I was hoping SPL was going to swing things the other way, sadly for us, it didn't. I've lost hope for most of cinema, there was a time when even Hollywood made great action movies(my go to decade would be the 70's, but the 80's had some great "so bad it's good" going on), I blame censorship - government, religious groups and greed(the suits), pg13 all but killed cinema, they don't make movies for adults anymore. I'll watch a low budget Thai flick any day over the crap Hong Kong is churning out, every movie looks and feels like House of flying Daggers now, if I see that swirling sword attack one more time... The Raid, while not the best movie ever made, is some hope, and one damn fine action movie, hopefully people take notice. If the younger generation are entertained by what they get so be it, this old man is still digging through the decades of unseen movies when people actually tried to make a movie, not being told "how to" make a movie. It doesn't have to be good, but it has to have heart, and no amount of budget can buy that. I have to be honest I don't think Sammo has the clout to do anything anymore. As far as that generation goes I think Jackie was the last one in a position to do anything and really even his star has fallen, I believe anyway. I have to agree I've pretty much lost hope in most of cinema a long while ago and believe you're pretty much right with all the various contributing factors. PG-13 definitely has as bigger part in destroying the adult action movie as anything and certainly makes you glad for DVD so you can search out older movies, well at least you could see to genuine martial arts action heroes duking it out in amazing choreographed sequences… Or just anything real and not CGI from car chases to explosions, to real life people diving out of buildings or just fake blood squirting in someone's face Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Richard York Posted July 31, 2012 Member Share Posted July 31, 2012 The problem is I'd guess is that you're killing off the market before it has a chance to develop. If you released the odd mediocre one amongst the A grade titles people will be more forgiving when the next one that they order is a great kung fu movie. However when you're going from mediocre to mediocre to mediocre, at some point people are just going to think it's not worth buying any more. I do think you're right that the lower end Shaw brother movies were probably part of a batch deal. But I also suspect that those buying the titles didn't have the knowledge of some of the forum members around here when making those choices. Perhaps that was one of the biggest flaws in their business model by not having the real depth of knowledge? I haven't been with Media Blasters for a couple of years now, but I was around when this second batch of titles was selected. We were given a list of titles to choose from and these titles were gone over carefully by fans within MB (yes, there are/were a few) as well as people in this very forum. People picked out their personal favorites, mulled over titles with star-power and title-recognition in an effort to strike a balance between marketability and fan-friendliness. There's no question that companies like Dragon Dynasty got there first and swooped up a lot of "A" titles. And MB, faced with a list of what's left of what's available, did not randomly dart-board titles, but rather put additional effort into the selection with careful consideration given to their comparatively limited appeal. So there's really no way this process could please everyone. As I understood it, MB has an agreement with Celestial to select and release Shaw titles. But they are not all paid for upfront. We selected titles and then paid for each as we went along. If these "mediocre" titles do not perform well, that lowers the priority for picking up the next title. Unfortunately, that's business. I honestly can't speak to anything that might be going on there now regarding these titles (or anything else for that matter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OldPangYau Posted August 1, 2012 Member Share Posted August 1, 2012 As I understood it, MB has an agreement with Celestial to select and release Shaw titles. But they are not all paid for upfront. We selected titles and then paid for each as we went along. If these "mediocre" titles do not perform well, that lowers the priority for picking up the next title. Unfortunately, that's business. I honestly can't speak to anything that might be going on there now regarding these titles (or anything else for that matter). That sounds about right. I spoke to someone at the Media Blasters booth at Otakon this past weekend, and that was pretty much the same thing that was said to me. I mentioned how Chinatown Kid is a high priority title, but they said it's basically "stuck" under the other films until they get released. So, in short, the MB releases aren't "dead", so much as they are in a "coma". Oh well, there's a sliver of hope in there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Richard York Posted August 1, 2012 Member Share Posted August 1, 2012 That sounds about right. I spoke to someone at the Media Blasters booth at Otakon this past weekend, and that was pretty much the same thing that was said to me. I mentioned how Chinatown Kid is a high priority title, but they said it's basically "stuck" under the other films until they get released. So, in short, the MB releases aren't "dead", so much as they are in a "coma". Oh well, there's a sliver of hope in there... I knew CHINATOWN KID would require some comparing and possibly some (re)construction to make sure we're offering as complete a version as possible (depending on what Celestial would be providing). So I acquired several references (VHS, bootlegs, etc.) to get ready for that before I left. For those reasons, I put CHINATOWN KID at the bottom of the list in order to allow that much more time to research and double-check it. This is similar, in a way, to KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, where we did our best to match, and make available, a couple of variants to the cut. Not sure who cared ultimately, but we tried! GOLDEN ARM was the last Shaw DVD title I had anything to do with (first title from the second batch). It's in God's hands now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OldPangYau Posted August 2, 2012 Member Share Posted August 2, 2012 I figured Chinatown Kid was a case of "save the best for last"... on that note, wasn't Five Elements Ninjas the final film of the previous wave? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Richard York Posted August 2, 2012 Member Share Posted August 2, 2012 I figured Chinatown Kid was a case of "save the best for last"... on that note, wasn't Five Elements Ninjas the final film of the previous wave? Not so much "save the best for last" as "save the more complicated one for last." And yes, FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS was the final title of the first batch of ten. KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM was the first title of the second batch, and the last one I oversaw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Pai Mei Posted August 2, 2012 Member Share Posted August 2, 2012 I was wondering if you might happen to know if the Tokyo Shock crew knew beforehand that all the English dubs would be obtainable in the 2nd batch of releases? Or was it more of a thing were the guys just focused on one movie at a time and tried to add as many features to the disc as possible when the time came? The reason I’m asking is because I’m really interested in The Lady is the Boss, which was listed in the 2nd batch. I can’t seem to track down an English dub copy of this anywhere. This title and about 3 dozen other Shaw dubs seem to be lost. Would you happen to have any info on the Lady is the Boss dub, or how you guys were able to acquire some of the dubs you did release on DVD? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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