Topic: Jackie Chan

[Chedney Honks]

Miracles is probably my favourite JC film - sumptuous and the cinematography is amazing.

Thanks for this, man. What a superb film. I think most of all, it's that the non-action sequences are beautiful and narratively very engaging. Really great stuff, and one I know I'll watch several times before I'm dead.

[Mr_Simnock]

if nothing else this thread has inspired me to get back into JC films, I'll be putting a pre-order down on this lovely lot this weekend.4K newly restored goodness

[Chedney Honks]

What do you mean 'if nothing else'

[greenman]

They do seem to have picked up that multi film box sets sell well, I'd imagine they'd have put Wheels on Meals and Dragons Forever together if they'd had the rights to the latter.

There are actually quite a few late 80's Sammo films that havent gotten a proper UK release as far as I'm aware, stuff like Pedicab Driver, Millionaires Express or Paper Marriage which are all productions not far off of the better known Golden Harvest stuff, wonder if someone will try and pick them up now.

[Chedney Honks]

Not quite sure why it took me so long to watch the second half of Project A, but I suppose I've been watching lots of different stuff. I actually started it again and I do think it takes a good while to get going. Not that keen on the opening stuff with the coastguards and coppers but once you get to the boot camp, you're on your way. The bicycle sequence culminating in the clock tower is as good as the end of Police Story, I reckon. I was laughing with disbelief. What a rush. Some great comedy, as well. Sammo and Jackie were great in the middle third and then the whole last act was a riot, superb blend of action and comedy.

Another film I can't wait to put on with my brothers or my mates when we can. I really wish I'd watched this growing up. Joyous stuff.

[Shit Good Nose]

There are actually quite a few late 80's Sammo films that havent gotten a proper UK release as far as I'm aware, stuff like Pedicab Driver, Millionaires Express or Paper Marriage which are all productions not far off of the better known Golden Harvest stuff, wonder if someone will try and pick them up now.

Don't hold your breath on Pedicab Driver - Warner hold the rights and they rarely license stuff out.  If anything there might be a blu-ray release through their Warner Archive label (they have previously released a DVD through the same), but it'll be at the back of a VERY long queue and it will likely be released in the US only, so you'll have to import (all Warner Archive blus are, as far as I know, region free though, so it's just the ballache of however much all the mandatory taxes will cost).

There have been lots of rumours about Millionaires Express getting a blu release in the last couple of years, but still no news.  Both 88 and Eureka have released stuff in that same overall rights package, so hopefully it's only a matter of time we get a release before the license deal runs out.

Paper Marriage apparently sits with Star TV, a company I've heard of but don't know their track record when it comes to releasing or licensing.  Flicking through other films they have on IMDB, it's roughly a 50/50 mix of "boutique release likely" and "fuck no, not in a million years".  This one may also depend on anticipated sales - been a LONG time since I've seen it (either HK VCD or laserdisc back in the mid to late 90s), but from memory it's one of those ones that doesn't travel too well for Western audiences (also cf. pretty much every Hui brothers film).

[Chedney Honks]

The Young Master

This labour of love fancy boy version is coming out in Jan via 88 Films so I've preordered it:

This turned up after the release was delayed and it's another corker. Again, another JC I'd not seen and I couldn't turn it off last night. Beautiful picture and colours and while there always seems to be some inherent softness to these 70s/80s HK films in some wider shots (Lenses? Film stock?), in the medium/closer shots, there's a superb amount of detail.

In terms of the film itself, I thought it was excellent. More traditional kung fu, very little comedy, and not on the primo level of Drunken Master, nor the top tier stuff with Sammo and Yuen Biao, but it's very entertaining. The opening lion dance sequence is remarkable.

As a set, I'm not bothered about the cards and poster but the little book seems excellent so far. Loads of essays and commentary and context for the film and Jackie's career. Packaging and artwork is also probably my favourite of all the Eureka or 88 JC releases. Really solid recommendation.

[petercussing]

Hurrays! Glad you enjoyed it as much as i do, great film, plus you get to watch him have a wash for ages in a funny bath. The dragon bits are great. It does defo hang squarely in the middle of being funny and kung fu-y. I give it 613 kung fu chops out of 641, which is a good rating, i mean, you'd defo be dead after that many chops.

It was about the 4th Chan movie i'd seen in my young chan life and always stuck with me like some glues you glue with.

[Magnum Valentino]

Know what I always see in the HK Jackie Chan films - shots where the image is compressed at the sides of the frame, almost as though the image itself is curved, and it's really weird to see when the camera moves at all as whatever's occupying that space sort of 'fills out' as more thin, compressed figures enter the shot.

The recently reissued The Masque of the Red Death (great new edition from Studio Canal, highly recommended) also has one or two shots like this. Wonder if it's the lenses or stock or what, as mentioned above.

[MojoJojo]

Golden Harvest was started by someone splitting off from Shaw brothers, who used Shawscope - as seen at the beginning of Kill Bill. The lens were arranged differently than they were with CinemaScope in the west. Assuming Golden Harvest used similar equipment, that might explain it. It's probably something to do with anamorphic widescreen, anyway.