Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 25, 2020 Member Share Posted November 25, 2020 What in the name of Buddha's bald noggin' is going on over there? It started with me noticing they changed the release year of Seven Grandmasters from 1978 to 1977.... which I don't understand. Now I have noticed they've done it to several titles (like changing Heroes of Sung from '73 to '71, again perplexing). It would be nice if someone from over there would chime in and explain these changes and if they stand by them, then back it up with whatever facts they're based on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 25, 2020 Author Member Share Posted November 25, 2020 (edited) In some cases they go with the year of production instead of the year of release and will rightfully list the actual release date below if they have it, but that is not the way to go if you ask me. I get that All Men are Brothers was filmed across '72/'73 but only released in '75, so that's what you go with. Many to most films are shot and produced in the year before their release year, but that's the date you go with. Seriously HKMDB, fix this. You are a valuable source of information... don't fuck that up. Edited November 25, 2020 by TibetanWhiteCrane 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted November 25, 2020 Member Share Posted November 25, 2020 Someone was changing the release dates on IMDB too... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member odioustrident Posted November 25, 2020 Member Share Posted November 25, 2020 Other films from the Heroes of Sung director had their dates tinkered with as well. Lady of the Law has shifted several times. This is a recurring issue on wikipedia. People alternate between year of production and release date based on who is doing the edit. I think the logic on hkmdb is that the release date can be entered separately... but many entries do not have the release date available. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 25, 2020 Author Member Share Posted November 25, 2020 Yeah, for many of them they have the actual theatrical run dates listed, which is great. But the year you list a movie under should ALWAYS be the release year, and in HKMDB's case, the year of the HK theatrical showing.... nothing trumps that. It's tougher when it comes to IMDB. If it's a Hollywood film, I personally go by the thetrical main premiere date or opening to the widest amount of markets, as in no test screenings or festival showings factoring in. And if we go by year of production, then it all becomes very blurry. Both Jaws and Star Wars were started on in '73 and shot and wrapped in '74 and '76 respectively, but you would never list them under that cuz that's not how it's done. '75 and '77 were benchmark years in cinema because of those films being released. Whoever is doing this should clean up their act and get it straight. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 The tricky thing is that a lot of the Taiwanese indies do not have release dates listed on Hong Kong resources such as the Hong Kong Film Archive (likely becausee they never saw theatrical play in Hong Kong). So the dates on the IMDB and HKMDB can only go off international release dates if they have them. For example, HKMDB always has the Polly Shang-Kuan/Cliff Lok film SUPER DRAGON as 1976. Other sources suggest 1982, but I've never seen a concrete release date. I somewhat doubt the finished film is from 1976, as it has STAR WARS music in it! Another example: every source I've ever seen gives 1980 as the year for CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER, the Bruce Le/Richard Harrison film. But this is is clearly nonsense as the film twice makes reference to 1982 (once in the dialogue, the other in a scene shot during an event that took place in that year). People are just guessing, and poorly too! We DO have Korean release dates for the various Dragon Lee movies, and assorted Korean co-productions with HK producers. From this, we can deduce interesting details like TOWER OF DEATH being released in Korea two years before it played in Hong Kong. Also, the Korean release date for VISITOR TO AMERICA is given as early 1976, but by the time it was dubbed into English in Hong Kong for international export as DRAGON, its score must have been revised as it features music from the 1977 film ROLLERCOASTER. We all know this film better as BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE. If there is a database of Taiwanese release dates, I'd love to see it! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 I think that there is a Taiwanese database or something like that, because I several times "landed" on this kind of site when looking for informations about movies or actors. When I'll comme across it again, I'll post the link. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 26, 2020 Author Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 41 minutes ago, Killer Meteor said: If there is a database of Taiwanese release dates, I'd love to see it! Me too. And yes, this shit gets real tricky. Especially from film industries that saw these movies as disposable commodities. Any record keeping is limited, and no real sense of preservation of their own film history. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 I've noticed that the someone has been messing around with the "Action Director" info for some films and changing it to "Martial Arts Director" or "Action Choreographer", neither of which appear in the prominent four credits when you click on a film. I think it's both annoying and unnecessary. See Lam Moon Wah for an example: http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?id=6485&display_set=eng 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 26, 2020 Author Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 Yes, I noticed that too just last night. Seriously, what the fuck is going on over there??? This is really starting to piss me off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 Just now, TibetanWhiteCrane said: Yes, I noticed that too just last night. Seriously, what the fuck is going on over there??? This is really starting to piss me off. I think they want that level of "detail" of the IMDB, where they credit the person according to whatever is on the actual credits, so "Action Director" can be a hundred other things ("Martial Arts Instructor", "Fighting Instructor", "Stunt Coordinator", "Wushu Coordinator", etc). The problem is that it makes the information harder to find. Before, you clicked on the film, the action director info was right there staring you in the face, and everybody was happy. You clicked on an action director, there filmography was consolidated into one or two groups (Action Director and Assistant Action Director), and you were happy. Now it's irritating. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 26, 2020 Author Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 2 minutes ago, DrNgor said: I think they want that level of "detail" of the IMDB, where they credit the person according to whatever is on the actual credits, so "Action Director" can be a hundred other things ("Martial Arts Instructor", "Fighting Instructor", "Stunt Coordinator", "Wushu Coordinator", etc). The problem is that it makes the information harder to find. Before, you clicked on the film, the action director info was right there staring you in the face, and everybody was happy. You clicked on an action director, there filmography was consolidated into one or two groups (Action Director and Assistant Action Director), and you were happy. Now it's irritating. Exactly, it was fine and easy to navigate the way it was.... no point in fucking that up now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 4 minutes ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: Exactly, it was fine and easy to navigate the way it was.... no point in fucking that up now. Well, when I first noticed it (a week or two ago), the Martials Arts Director credits were pushed down to the bottom. I think they've since corrected it and placed these new classifications at the top, but the question of "Why do it in the first place?" stands. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 26, 2020 Author Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 Because someone over there suddenly got ambitious, after years of site stagnation, and thought they would implement their fresh ideas. Well, it sucks ass, it's not neccessary and makes the site way worse. If they really wanna do something, get rid of those atrocious reviews that's been on there for 20 years or so. 95% of the reviews on there are absolute, useless shit from people I wouldn't wanna piss on if they were on fire. It's really sad to see this once great research and information tool turn to crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 Since the inclusion of Hwang Jang-Lee in the Shaolin Wooden Men(1976) credits. There's been quite a few changes on that site. Such as the one @DrNgor pointed out, concerning the action director's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 (edited) 22 minutes ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: Because someone over there suddenly got ambitious, after years of site stagnation, and thought they would implement their fresh ideas. Well, it sucks ass, it's not neccessary and makes the site way worse. If they really wanna do something, get rid of those atrocious reviews that's been on there for 20 years or so. 95% of the reviews on there are absolute, useless shit from people I wouldn't wanna piss on if they were on fire. It's really sad to see this once great research and information tool turn to crap. I personally would try to start including more PRC entries for recent films, which are severely lacking. I've found myself turning to the IMDB for info while working on some of my latest reviews because they're not on the HKMDB. That's topsy-turvy world just there. Edited November 26, 2020 by DrNgor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 26, 2020 Author Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 (edited) HKMDB was not perfect, but to me, still the the best tool around. I usually cross reference with other sources such as IMDB, HKFA, HKcinemagic etc. all of whom are flawed... in the case of HKFA a fucking nightmare, but if I was still in doubt about something, I'd usually let HKMDB have the last word and be the deciding factor. I guess that's over now. Edited November 26, 2020 by TibetanWhiteCrane 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 Is this movie another new entry on the HKMDB?, it features Jackie Chan in a supporting role. Link- http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=5655&display_set=eng Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 That film has been on there for years, and yes, it does have Jackie in it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 26 minutes ago, DragonClaws said: Is this movie another new entry on the HKMDB?, it features Jackie Chan in a supporting role. Link- http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=5655&display_set=eng 1 minute ago, Killer Meteor said: That film has been on there for years, and yes, it does have Jackie in it. I don't even remember to have seen him in it... Unless I mistake this movie with End or the black... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 2 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: HKMDB was not perfect, but to me, still the the best tool around. I usually cross reference with other sources such as IMDB, HKFA, HKcinemagic etc. all of whom are flawed... in the case of HKFA a fucking nightmare, but if I was still in doubt about something, I'd usually let HKMDB have the last word and be the deciding factor. I guess that's over now. That's what I do too, except that I don' t use HKFA too often... I'm not really focused on the release years or the names if the directors and so on(except for the Shaws, Huang Gang, Lo Wei and a few Golden Harvest other directors when I use hkmdb, but more on the titles of the movies of the actors' filmographies... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 8 hours ago, Killer Meteor said: That film has been on there for years, and yes, it does have Jackie in it. Thanks @Killer Meteor, it's one of his early roles that I didnt know about or had simply forgotten. 8 hours ago, ShawAngela said: I don't even remember to have seen him in it... Hi @ShawAngela, what are your thoughts on the movie?. The following image is lifted from the HKMDB. http://hkmdb.com/db/images/people/3894/JackieChan-140-b.jpg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 I think Jackie forgot about it too. His 98' autobiography forget this film and The Golden Lotus, in which he has speaking parts, but then invented roles for him in Come Drink With Me and A Touch of Zen, neither of which he is actually in. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted November 26, 2020 Author Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 I think I figured it all out.... HKMDB hired Ric Meyers to do admin. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted November 26, 2020 Member Share Posted November 26, 2020 10 minutes ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: I think I figured it all out.... HKMDB hired Ric Meyers to do admin. Brilliant! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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