Man. Problem with running a site like this is that well-informed people point out when things I’ve been waiting to see and it ends up costing me a lot of money. Curse you, Logboy! But in the kindest and most appreciative way possible, of course. Good thing I scored some good overtime dollars on my last paycheck … Here we go:
Throwdown. The latest from Hong Kong director Johnny To, based around judo fighting. While you’re at it you may as well take a look at Breaking News, the film To had at Cannes this year that features an extended tracking shot through a full on gunfight that rivals the hospital scene in Hard Boiled.
Windstruck. A sort of unofficial follow up to My Sassy Girl, the massive Korean blockbuster romantic comedy. Same director, same star, same big business.
The One Armed Swordsman complete, remastered box set. All three Shaw Brothers classic films cleaned up all pretty and loaded into a spiffy box.
The Swordsman. Another classic film given the full remaster treatment by IVL. This’ll be the first of the IVL remasters I’ve looked at but apparently the quality of their work rivals the Criterion discs.
The Bird People of China. Strangely enough YesAsia doesn’t have this in their system yet, so the link I’ve posted is to DDD House. Personally, I’m gonna wait for the Artsmagic R1 release later this year because I want the extra features, but this is the first official version to appear anywhere in the world with subtitles.
That big-ass, limited edition Studio Ghibli box set. Eleven films, including a bunch that Disney are dragging their feet releasing, in a collector box with extra post cards and other fan stuff. Strictly limited and numbered. I’m not dropping the cash on this myself, but only because I already own most of these and am waiting for dubbed versions (gasp! heresy!) of the rest so I can watch them with my son. If this box included dubs along with subs, I’d be so there … If you enjoyed Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke at all, just go ahead and buy the whole set. It’s all pretty much incredible stuff.
And now I’m broke.
Obsessive geek-boy nitpick — IVL is just the HK distributor for the Shaw flicks; Celestial Pictures are the people doing the remastering. They’ve also licensed the same discs out to Deltamac in Taiwan, and sometimes you can find the Deltamac versions cheaper.
Miramax (boo) is Celestial’s licensee in the US. There’s also a French licensee who’s doing some very nice editions, but those don’t have English subtitles, or so I’ve heard.
see the cover for “bird people in china” :
http://www.asiandvdguide.com/weekly1212/dvd6592.jpg
glad to help out…!