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Interesting and unusual DVD/Blu-Ray releases (News)

matrixgrindhouse

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Well, uncut Drunken Master II on Blu-Ray. It is real. Warner could have announced it on 364 other days and not had anyone doubt it. Certainly one of my most-wanted re-releases finally scratched off the list.

First and foremost: this is indeed the full, uncut version, in its original aspect ratio. The semi-controversial ending scene, often removed, is here in all its well-intentioned tastelessness. The original Cantonese mono track (it's so weird to be talking about a movie from 1994 having an 'original mono track') is correct, with the excellent original musical score intact.

Picture quality is good, but not perfect. Detail is pretty decent, colors are nice, natural, vibrant. The factory finale's color palette looks weird though. On both the VHS and the Thakral DVD, it has a red tint, presumably to embellish the heat of the furnaces. Here, it looks... almost blue by comparison. It could be this is the original intention and the red hue was an issue with the prints used for earlier releases. There's obvious DNR going on. I've seen worse, but there's no sign of grain which is a little disappointing. But until now, my go-to version has been a decrepit VHS, so this is a 1000% improvement.

Audio quality - the Cantonese track sounds no worse than the VHS. Perhaps a little clearer, though there's a tiny bit of distortion here and there. That may be an issue with the source and not due to age. Subtitles - the original HK subs are indeed the same as featured on the VHS and other versions sourced from the Hong Kong theatrical print. Much more legible of course, but the content is unchanged. There's some spelling errors, odd grammar, and certain phrasings that don't really sound natural in English. There's also a few instances of characters speaking English and the subtitles not matching what is being said, which is always funny. It's still a perfectly viable means of watching the movie, there's no plot or character development that cannot be understood in this presentation. The humor comes across just fine, too. It's just embarrassing that a huge company like Warner Brothers didn't shell out for a modern professional translation.

Indeed, the Blu-Ray is as bare-bones as it gets. The sole extra is an export trailer. There's also a Mandarin dub, the English export dub, and SDH subtitles based on the later.

For about 20 years, I've longed for a release that was essentially a higher quality equivalent of the uncut VHS. I got my wish, if just barely. I cannot complain. This is an action classic that deserves much better. But this is as good as it's going to get, and it's good enough for me.
 

matrixgrindhouse

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Here's a little example of what I was talking about regarding the color balance of the factory finale.

My decrepit VHS:
vlcsnap-2021-05-31-16h31m31s457.png


Thakral DVD:
vlcsnap-2021-05-31-16h46m56s785.png


Warner Blu-Ray:

vlcsnap-2021-05-31-16h32m12s231.png
 

Last Impressions

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I've just pre-ordered a set because I definitely need a 6th copy of Dune! :LOL:
of course :) it looks like a nice set. I ordered the Zavvi exclusive 4K steelbook as it includes the Bluray aswell. The extras look fantastic. It would be great if they restore the deleted scenes but i suspect they won't.
 

TM2YC

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of course :) it looks like a nice set. I ordered the Zavvi exclusive 4K steelbook as it includes the Bluray aswell. The extras look fantastic. It would be great if they restore the deleted scenes but i suspect they won't.

Ooooh. I've ordered the Zavvi Deluxe set as well. The extra 100-page art book sounds nice. I'll maybe see which set looks best and sell one.
 

matrixgrindhouse

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Duel to the Death on Blu-Ray! You may recognize the movie as the source of that exploding ninja clip I use as my Fan Edit logo. The film is absolutely, positively beautiful. Not just the unyielding inventiveness of the action scenes, nor the splendid cinematography. But it takes the tried and true China vs Japan premise and does some really interesting deconstruction. It has something to say, and it makes you care about the characters. Easily one of my top three favorite martial arts movies of all time - at least. Eureka has a great track record with restoring Hong Kong movies, and this looks to be a flawless remaster. There's a shot in there where wires are visible that I had never noticed before on DVD. I can't recommend this enough to anybody that has the capacity to play Region B discs. Barring some unforeseeable screw-up with the mastering, etc - this is going to be incredible.
 

Gaith

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Well, of course there's no used offers listed. No one with such an incredible disc would even dream of giving it up: :p


 

mnkykungfu

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As a Chan-stan (copyright and TM), I have to say the first movie is one of his approximately 2% of non-Hong Kong films that are actually good. The second one is abysmal though, so that disc is a hard pass.
 

matrixgrindhouse

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I remember liking Knights at the time... but other than a fight involving a revolving door, I couldn't tell you a single thing that happened in it. His third attempt at a Hollywood career started pretty promising - the first two Rush Hours and Noon. But then we got the triple-punch of Tuxedo, Medallion (started as a HK production, but was bought out and recut by TriStar before completion), and Around the World which threw all that good will away. A few short years later, he was playing second fiddle to Will Smith's son. Some of it is watchable - Forbidden Kingdom comes to mind. But people are missing out if they're watching these movies over his Hong Kong classics. His '78-'98 run is the stuff of legends.

On-topic: Much of that era has been getting some really incredible uncut Region B remasters over the past few years. I'm late to the party.

 

mnkykungfu

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Shanghai Knights: lots of joking about the boys perving on girls, anachronisms, and a complete waste of Donnie Yen. Criminal. I actually count The Kung Fu Kid as one of his rare good Hollywood films. I wouldn't put the Rush Hour sequels in that category. Whatever charm people find in those films, they're pale shadows of his HK work. Same goes for his modern Chinese propaganda movies. I'd even nail down his best period more to '85-'96. If there's a boxed set just of those films, I'd be on board. But not the original HK versions. Sorry, but the bonus joking and singing they often include (like in Armour of God) doesn't make the films any better for me.
 

TM2YC

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Much of that era has been getting some really incredible uncut Region B remasters over the past few years.
Yes. Hong Kong movies have had terrible old VHS port transfers for ages but every time I open Amazon UK for the past couple of years there seems to be a new one being released on extras packed blu-rays from 88 films, Eureka, Arrow etc. Whatever the reason for this sustained wave of releases it seems to be studiously avoiding remastering John Woo movies (except one), which are the movies I want the most! An excellent Chow Yun Fat action movie is getting a release next month, so maybe we are getting close:


71DAcrZRWXS._AC_SL1500_.jpg


 

Gaith

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I only ever saw Noon once in theaters, as a kid, and never saw Knights. I do have a lingering fondness for Rush Hour 1, though. :p
 

mnkykungfu

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On-topic: Much of that era has been getting some really incredible uncut Region B remasters over the past few years. I'm late to the party.

Looks like this is mostly his early stuff. Some great choices there though. I didn't realize "88 Films" was the name of the company, and thought they were just tossing in everything to make an eighty-eight film set. lol

Including Battle Creek Brawl with the likes of Young Master and Dragon Lord is just insulting though. I hope they throw in Project A or Master With Cracked Fingers!
 

matrixgrindhouse

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An 88-film set would probably only be about 2/3s of Jackie's total filmography anyway.

Most of the other early classic era material (both Project As, Wheels on Meals, first two Police Stories) has been put out by Eureka in comparable quality (or so I've been told - I've only seen their Drunken Master 1 release and it's fantastic. Unless the absence of the original English dub is a deal breaker, I'd consider it perfect). There's still some omissions that are likely to be released by either company in the not too distant future.

MWCF: I think there's actually a German Blu-Ray? No idea about quality or English-friendliness. Regardless, I'd rather see a remaster of the original Cub Tiger From Canton. I've only seen clips from that version, and the only DVD's quality is utterly dire. It's a stretch to say that's even in color.
 

mnkykungfu

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^Yeah, a good quality release of that would be great, though I think it's unlikely since there's not much good action in it. Just the final scene really, which has some of Jackie's later inventiveness. I will keep an eye out for the MWCF blu-ray since that use of the footage worked surprisingly well for me.
 

TM2YC

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71Oox3pRV7S._AC_SL1500_.jpg


Terrifying 1990 British gangster movie 'The Krays' is getting it's first blu-ray release soon from Second Sight: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71Oox3pRV7S._AC_SL1500_.jpg

I like the artwork. IIRC it's only been available on DVD for years and that was a 4:3 pan&scan VHS transfer. There are scenes and dialogue burned onto my brain from seeing it on TV sometime in the 90s.

 

Last Impressions

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As these charming chaps are from our neck of the woods - there was quite a fascination about the pair of them growing up. Used to sit in the pub and hear all the stories from the old geeezer's. See this back in 1990 at the cinema a couple of times then of course on VHS when it was released. I will be picking this set up from HMV on Monday along with a copy of Almost Famous 4K cine edition and Almodovar's Human Voice which is another exclusive.

I had been thinking for a while about doing a Kray's edit using a mix of the Kemp brothers version of the boys growing up and using Tom Hardy's Legend for the adult scenes . It's probably only seems doable in my mind as i haven't seen the Kemp version in a very long time. It may work in black & white...we'll see
 

The Danger Zone

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Any highlights of popular, well-regarded fan edits making the headlines in limited edition Blu-ray box sets?
 
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