Member TheFlyingPanda Posted September 25, 2023 Member Share Posted September 25, 2023 22 hours ago, Ah_Tao said: Gosh this is really painful to look at. Reminds me of that terrible American Shaolin "Blu ray" I bought this year. Just can't help but be reminded of those horrendous "digitally remastered" labels on those old Xenon DVDs- which were ripped straight from 2nd gen VHS tapes. I really hope whoever was behind this decision will change course and allow these distribution companies to stay on their A game. This is beyond unfair to them (as they do stellar jobs in restoring these negatives) and to us consumers- that pay top dollar for old school HK flicks I brought the American Shaolin Blu-ray as well, and ejected it in the first 10 min to double check if it was a DVD? Definitely one of the most overpriced Blu-ray purchases for the "Remaster" you get. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted September 25, 2023 Moderator Share Posted September 25, 2023 Twin Dragons, for one, looks a lot better than what it does without colour correction. I can attest to the work that was put into it, and the fact that 88 were willing to listen to several of my minute/finer detail suggestions [n.b. I sent enough reference images that a lot of other companies might have gone 'how many versions of this film has he seen?!'] shows that they do want to get these films 'right'. There just must be the occasional compromise/acquiescence when film companies don't allow licensees enough access to create new masters. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted September 25, 2023 Member Share Posted September 25, 2023 Got my copy of both The Twin Dragons and Black Cat today. It has been a good while since I watched Jackie's movie. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunksnake Posted September 25, 2023 Member Share Posted September 25, 2023 8 hours ago, DiP said: Got my copy of both The Twin Dragons and Black Cat today. It has been a good while since I watched Jackie's movie. Enjoy! Be sure to let us know what you think. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BigDruDogg Posted September 25, 2023 Member Share Posted September 25, 2023 8 hours ago, DiP said: Got my copy of both The Twin Dragons and Black Cat today. It has been a good while since I watched Jackie's movie. How did you like Black Cat? It's been on my radar for a minute, I just haven't pulled the trigger on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted September 25, 2023 Administrator Share Posted September 25, 2023 4 hours ago, BigDruDogg said: How did you like Black Cat? It's been on my radar for a minute, I just haven't pulled the trigger on it @BigDruDogg I know you weren't asking me, but I think BLACK CAT is a cool flick; easily my favorite remake of LA FEMME NIKITA. Also, Jade Leung is, IMO, extremely sexy. I haven't had a chance to watch the Blu-ray yet, but I'm sure it will be a huge upgrade over my ancient Hong Kong DVD. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted September 26, 2023 Member Share Posted September 26, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, BigDruDogg said: How did you like Black Cat? It's been on my radar for a minute, I just haven't pulled the trigger on it Not seen it yet but I will get to it. I'm on sick leave at the moment so I've got time to watch movies while recuperating. I watched Yes, Madam and Royal Warriors a moment ago and will follow up with ITLOD 3-4 and other 88 Films titles I've purchased recently. Edited September 26, 2023 by DiP 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member PandaPawPaw Posted September 26, 2023 Member Share Posted September 26, 2023 Twin Dragons video quality................. I need to see that in motion! Media Asia suck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted September 26, 2023 Member Share Posted September 26, 2023 For me, Twin Dragons is perfect, but I'm not as an expert as a lot of you are regarding the specifities of the prints. and I enjoyed the movie a lot, with some good laughs ! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Knetan Posted September 26, 2023 Member Share Posted September 26, 2023 10 hours ago, KUNG FU BOB said: @BigDruDogg I know you weren't asking me, but I think BLACK CAT is a cool flick; easily my favorite remake of LA FEMME NIKITA. Also, Jade Leung is, IMO, extremely sexy. I haven't had a chance to watch the Blu-ray yet, but I'm sure it will be a huge upgrade over my ancient Hong Kong DVD. Black Cat is solid and professional but on the whole a middling film for me. The sequel is a bit more wild but really deserves to be watched in original English sync sound rather than fully Cantonese dubbed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member PandaPawPaw Posted September 26, 2023 Member Share Posted September 26, 2023 I still remember the awful transfers Media Asia used to supply HKL with shit prints like the PS2 one. http://www.cinedie.com/dvd/policecropping.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Knetan Posted September 26, 2023 Member Share Posted September 26, 2023 Some weird ass cropping on that, Magnificent Warriors, and of course their first few test-titles they willingly cut down to 1.78:1. To avoid the big bad bars on new, fancy widescreen TVs. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yggdrasil Posted September 26, 2023 Member Share Posted September 26, 2023 I don't mind the widescreen format showing black bars, providing the subtitles are in the picture, not in the bottom black bar. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member PandaPawPaw Posted September 26, 2023 Member Share Posted September 26, 2023 NOT MY CAPS. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yggdrasil Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 On 9/25/2023 at 12:29 AM, KUNG FU BOB said: The movies are good, and the PQ is decent aside from the blue tint (which I believe was how the studio sent them to Arrow). To fix (or at least improve it a lot) go to the color adjustment controls on your TV (usually labeled PICTURE) and use the TINT or TINT (G/R) to simply adjust it a bit into the red. This will make it look much more natural and should only take about 15 seconds. I just finished my Ju-on set and popped in Female Scorpion 701. Jesus, that is one blue movie [without the porn] Are they all like that or just the first one? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 19 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said: NOT MY CAPS. They look good to me 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member PandaPawPaw Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 Just now, OpiumKungFuCracker said: They look good to me Yeah I was expecting it to look way worse. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 19 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said: NOT MY CAPS. Apart from the shot that has the legs "blending in" the background, I'm very satisfied with what 88 Films managed to do. Great job! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted September 27, 2023 Administrator Share Posted September 27, 2023 On 9/25/2023 at 8:26 PM, DiP said: Not seen it yet but I will get to it. I'm on sick leave at the moment so I've got time to watch movies while recuperating. I watched Yes, Madam and Royal Warriors a moment ago and will follow up with ITLOD 3-4 and other 88 Films titles I've purchased recently. I hope you feel better soon, brother. The IN THE LINE OF DUTY films should help. I once watched all 26 of the Shintaro Katsu Zatoichi films in a row while suffering from pneumonia. On 9/26/2023 at 5:43 AM, Knetan said: Black Cat is solid and professional but on the whole a middling film for me. The sequel is a bit more wild but really deserves to be watched in original English sync sound rather than fully Cantonese dubbed. I only saw the sequel once, but remember enjoying it. I'll probably revisit it after watching 88's Blu of the first film. On 9/26/2023 at 8:01 AM, Knetan said: Some weird ass cropping on that, Magnificent Warriors, and of course their first few test-titles they willingly cut down to 1.78:1. To avoid the big bad bars on new, fancy widescreen TVs. Ugh. The cropping of LEGEND OF A FIGHTER and DRUNKEN MASTER is a crime against cinema! 7 hours ago, Yggdrasil said: I just finished my Ju-on set and popped in Female Scorpion 701. Jesus, that is one blue movie [without the porn] Are they all like that or just the first one? I believe all the prints on the original set look like that. Did you try the adjustment I suggested above? 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 9 hours ago, Yggdrasil said: I just finished my Ju-on set and popped in Female Scorpion 701. Jesus, that is one blue movie [without the porn] Are they all like that or just the first one? I have to dig up the old tweets from Marc Walkow (Google him if you don't know who he is) & you can tell he knew this set was a clusterf*ck but had to be diplomatic about it as not to offend and partition blame to Toei or Arrow. Quite the juggling act. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yggdrasil Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 2 hours ago, KUNG FU BOB said: I hope you feel better soon, brother. The IN THE LINE OF DUTY films should help. I once watched all 26 of the Shintaro Katsu Zatoichi films in a row while suffering from pneumonia. I only saw the sequel once, but remember enjoying it. I'll probably revisit it after watching 88's Blu of the first film. Ugh. The cropping of LEGEND OF A FIGHTER and DRUNKEN MASTER is a crime against cinema! I believe all the prints on the original set look like that. Did you try the adjustment I suggested above? Not yet. A wee bit busy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 2 hours ago, KUNG FU BOB said: I hope you feel better soon, brother. The IN THE LINE OF DUTY films should help. I once watched all 26 of the Shintaro Katsu Zatoichi films in a row while suffering from pneumonia. Holy crap all of them in one day? I could barely do one movie even if I’m sick. Maybe when on weed I could do several films. Zatoichi films are cooljust need to have patience. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 1 hour ago, OpiumKungFuCracker said: Holy crap all of them in one day? I could barely do one movie even if I’m sick. Maybe when on weed I could do several films. Zatoichi films are cooljust need to have patience. All of them in two days. I need to rest in between too to be in a good mood for watching movies. 😜 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Super Ninja Posted September 27, 2023 Member Share Posted September 27, 2023 1 hour ago, OpiumKungFuCracker said: Holy crap all of them in one day? I could barely do one movie even if I’m sick. Maybe when on weed I could do several films. Zatoichi films are cooljust need to have patience. That day would have to have way more then just 24 hours Once I watched 16 movies in two days with my ex and it took a good schedule to pull it off. Even if that marathon happened within a week, that's still impressive. How much time we talking about here @KUNG FU BOB? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted September 27, 2023 Administrator Share Posted September 27, 2023 (edited) On 9/27/2023 at 12:07 PM, Yihetuan said: I have to dig up the old tweets from Marc Walkow (Google him if you don't know who he is) & you can tell he knew this set was a clusterf*ck but had to be diplomatic about it as not to offend and partition blame to Toei or Arrow. Quite the juggling act. Marc is a cool dude! That's a tough position to be in for sure. You have to be careful not to burn important bridges. Up until very recently nearly every company refused to allow the Blu-ray distribution companies to do any color correction on their own, so their hands were tied when they received unpleasant prints. By the time a company gets to see the print and any problems they've already spent a tremendous amount of time and money on the release. This means that to stay afloat they sometimes have to follow through with a release even if they aren't thrilled with the elements they were provided. Thankfully, this seems to be loosening up a bit with the licensors being more willing to work reasonably with the companies creating the discs. I have heard that some of the Japanese studios are the hardest to work with though, and have a very take what we send you and shut up kind of attitude. As for the set in question, FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION, if I'm not mistaken, after many of us, myself included, had already bought the "blue meany" set which was released in August of 2016, Arrow rereleased them later down the line in October of 2019 with the color corrected. If you aren't sure which set you have it's easy to tell as the original comes in... yep, you guessed it- blue packaging, and the latter one is in pale orange packaging. Can anyone confirm that their second release of the set had better colors? Edit: Later in this thread @kuenfist reports that the significant teal/blue tint IS still present on the second Arrow release of the set. On 9/27/2023 at 1:00 PM, OpiumKungFuCracker said: Holy crap all of them in one day? I could barely do one movie even if I’m sick. Maybe when on weed I could do several films. Zatoichi films are cooljust need to have patience. No @OpiumKungFuCracker, not in one day! I was sick for a few weeks. Edited September 28, 2023 by KUNG FU BOB clarification 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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