The time is the future, and youth gang violence is so high that the areas around some schools have become free fire zones into which not even the police will venture. When Miles Langford (Malcolm McDowell), the principal of Kennedy High School, decides to take his school back from the gangs, robotics specialist Dr. Robert Forrest (Stacy Keach) provides tactical education units. These human-like androids have been programmed to teach and are supplied with weapons to handle discipline problems. These kids will get a lesson in staying alive! Features: Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Mark L. Lester School Safety Interviews with Director/Producer Mark L. Lester and Co-Producer Eugene Mazzola New Rules An Interview with Screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner Cyber-Teachers From Hell Interviews with Special Effects Creators Eric Allard and Rick Stratton Future of Discipline An Interview with Director of Photography Mark Irwin Theatrical Trailer TV Spots Still Gallery Video Promo
2007's largest grossing film at the Hong Kong box office - the smash-hit Mad Detective - is one of the freshest and most satisfying films from that country in a decade. The traditional Hong Kong police film is turned on its head: the imaginative twist being our hero - Detective Bun (a role created for Lau Ching Wan) - who has the ability to 'see' people's inner personalities or hidden ghosts. Breaking new ground and establishing new cinematic rules, Johnnie To's latest giddily entertaining collaboration with Wai Ka Fai radically raises the level of storytelling in modern film. This ingenious realisation of a supernaturally gifted copper is fast-paced and furious, yet also complex and disturbingly funny.Detective Bun (Lau Ching Wan) was recognised as a talented criminal profiler until he sliced off his right ear to offer as a gift at his chief's farewell party. Branded as 'mad' and discharged from the force, he has lived in seclusion with his beloved wife May (Kelly Lin) ever since. Strangely, Bun has the ability to 'see' a person's inner personality, their subconscious desires, emotions, and mental state. When a missing police gun is linked to several heists and murders, hotshot Inspector Ho (Andy On) calls on the valuable skills of his former mentor Bun to help unlock the killer's identity. However, Bun's unorthodox methods point to a fellow detective and take a schizophrenic turn for the worse...
One of world cinema's most dynamic and highly regarded auteurs, Hou Hsiao-hsien has influenced entire generations of filmmakers and was once dubbed one of the three directors most crucial to the future of cinema. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present three films from early in his career, Cute Girl, The Green, Green Grass of Home and The Boys from Fengkuei, all making their worldwide debut on Blu-ray. Cute Girl (1980) A young bride-to-be falls for a laid-back land surveyor whilst visiting her family in the countryside. Conceived as a commercial vehicle for popular Hong Kong singer Kenny Bee, this romantic comedy was Hou Hsiao-hsien's debut feature. The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982) A substitute teacher (again played by Kenny Bee) moves to a remote village, where he falls in love with another teacher at the local school. The Boys from Fengkuei (1983) Three young men leave their fishing village for the city to look for work, where they face some harsh realities about growing up. The film which established Hou Hsiao-hsien as a leading figure of the Taiwanese New Wave, The Boys from Fengkuei was rapturously received in Europe and is often considered the director's first mature masterwork. Features: Limited Edition O-card [2000 copies First Print Run Only] In a 1988 worldwide critics' poll, Multi Award Winning Chinese Director HOU HSIAO-HSIEN was championed as one of the three directors most crucial to the future of cinema The Boys From Fengkuei Won the Golden Montgolfiere Award at the 1984 Nantes Three Continents Festival The Green, Green Grass Of Home Won the Golden Horse Award for Best Child Star (Pin-chun Chou) at the 1982 Golden Horse Film Festival Available for the first time in the UK and for the first time on Blu-ray anywhere in the world
Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien (The Assassin, Three Times, Flight of the Red Balloon) followed up his highly acclaimed Coming of Age trilogy of films with Daughter of the Nile, a rich and poignant drama about a young woman struggling to support her family amidst the violent and neon-soaked milieu of 1980's Taipei. Lin (Lin Hsiao-yang) works as a waitress in a fried chicken restaurant, attends night school and pines after her brother's friend, local gigolo Ah-sang (Fan Yang). Increasingly constrained by the casual brutality of the world around her, Lin finds escape imagining herself as the titular Daughter of the Nile, a character from her favourite manga series. Based on the personal experiences of screenwriter, Chu T'ien-wen (Millennium Mambo; Goodbye South, Goodbye; City of Sadness) Daughter of the Nile is a profoundly moving observation of marginalised youth. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the film from a new 4K restoration, available for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD in a new Dual-Format edition. DUAL FORMAT SPECIAL FEATURES: New 4K restoration Uncompressed PCM soundtrack on the Blu-ray Optional English subtitles A new interview with Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns Theatrical Trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring new and archival writing
A shamelessly low-brow parody, Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is a scrambling of footage from the 1975 Hong Kong martial arts epic Tiger & Crane Fist with new material shot by director Steve Oedekerk (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls) in which he doubles for original star Jimmy Wang Yu. Following the style set by Woody Allen in What's Up Tiger Lily?, Oedekerk also dubs all the voices, rendering the basic revenge story even more formulaic and ridiculous. The villain turns out to be working for flying saucers manned by French aliens (!) and the Chosen One hero has an odd habit of using animals as weapons (gopher nunchakas, squirrel padding) and, in the stand-out scene, doing a full-on Matrix/Crouching Tiger battle with an extremely agile killer cow. A lot of the film is just dumb, but it still manages to beat laughs out of you with its relentless goofiness. Though it might seem an ego trip for Oedekerk, he is actually a likeable leading man, pulling funny faces and deliberately dubbing even his own voice badly. On the DVD: Kung Pow: Enter the Fist on disc includes an animated draft of the kung fu cow scene, with special effects elements shown pre-mixing. There are also several deleted sequences and a director's cut of one extended fight scene. --Kim Newman
Martial arts screen legends Wong Tao and Leung Kar Lan come face to face with one man skilled in the deadly style known as the 'Eagle's Claw'...
In the historically based Kung fu drama Legend of a Fighter director Yuen Woo Ping offers his version of the early life of martial artist Fok Yuen Gap (played by Leung Kar Yan). Set at the beginning of the 20th century, Fok is considered too weak to learn the family Kung fu style. Still, as his father can break eggs by growling, he probably considers most people weak. The teenager forms a bond with his humane Japanese tutor (Kurata Yusuaki), who secretly teaches martial arts. The story builds to a moving climax as 12 years later pupil and now ageing master are forced by honour into a deadly duel. The opening and closing acts are by far the strongest, the plentiful fight scenes being balanced by gentle humour and emotions torn between friendship and duty. Both lead actors are excellent, with Yusuaki being particularly fine as the noble warrior-teacher. The middle, a series of disconnected tableaux in which Fok establishes his stature as a Kung fu expert, goes on much too long to sustain interest. Nevertheless the story of Fok Yuen Gap, a genuine Chinese hero who was also the inspiration for Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (1972), is fine and Woo Ping delivers the one-on-one Kung fu action with the touch of a master.On the DVD: The 1.77:1 image doesn't benefit at all from its anamorphic enhancement, the entire film being presented slightly out of focus so that by the end eyes are likely to be aching. The opening 4:3 Academy ratio archive footage has been distorted to 1.77:1, while the original trailer shows Legend of a Fighter was shot in an extremely wide format--possibly the Hong Kong equivalent of early 2.66:1 CinemaScope, or even 2.74:1 Techniscope--which means that large amounts of the original image are missing. This is very obvious as characters constantly vanish off the sides of the screen or are cropped in half. Additionally, and again compared to the crisp, sharp trailer, colours are washed out, while the mono sound distorts whenever the music gets loud. The film is available in Mandarin with optional English subtitles, or in an awful English dub littered with inappropriate obscene language. There is a nine-minute interview with Leung Kar Yan, and a 23-minute interview with Yuen Woo Ping, which is a slightly longer version of the conversation presented on the Magnificent Butcher DVD: it's notable how he expresses his love of science fiction and indicates he would like to make a SF Kung-fu movie, something he achieved with The Matrix (1999). There is a Hong Kong Legends' promo for the film, together with seven further new trailers. The photo gallery is pointless, simply cropping some shots even further than the main presentation. --Gary S Dalkin
Michelle Yeoh stars in this rousing action adventure in the tradition of ""Raiders Of The Lost Ark."" Michelle is a daredevil airplane pilot/spy who fights against the occupying Japanese forces in World War II China. Her latest toughest mission: To rescue the ruler of the city of Kaal from the hands of a ruthless Japanese general (Matsui Tetsuya) and his advancing army. Filled with extraordinary fights and Michelle's trademark stunts (including her use of a bullwhip in the style of Ind
New Dragon Gate Inn is the DVD title of the 1992 swordplay adventure Dragon Inn, producer Tsui Hark's follow-up to Once Upon a Time in China and Swordsman 2 (both 1991). In the wake of the huge success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it is a film ripe for rediscovery. A pair of warriors (Brigitte Lin and Tony Leung), who only admit their love when it is too late, have to rescue two children from the clutches of a corrupt warlord. Fleeing through the vast, highly pictorial desert, they seek shelter in the isolated Dragon Inn run by the man-eating Maggie Cheung (traveller's tip, don't try the "mixed meat"). The scene is set for intrigue, romance and exhilarating wirework, as our heroes wait for the enemy to arrive in what is essentially the classic High Noon scenario. The build-up isn't always coherent, though that may have something to do with the subtitles, which are unnecessarily crude. Despite this the production values and high-flying fights are first-rate and the two actresses make the film, particularly the devilishly sexy Maggie Cheung. The final showdown in a desert storm is breathtaking.On the DVD: In the cinemas this was an absolutely gorgeous 2.35:1 widescreen film, which here has been reformatted to 16:9 TV ratio, sacrificing important visual information at either side and significantly damaging the stunning cinematography. Enough survives to indicate just how beautiful the complete images are, and the anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 transfer is sharp and clean on exterior shots, though some of the dimly lit interiors display considerable grain. Although only mono the sound is full and free from distortion, providing a good showcase for the atmospheric score. The film can be watched with the original Mandarin soundtrack and English subtitles, or dubbed. Included is an interview with Donnie Yen and detailed text biographies of the two female stars. The music promo is Hong Kong Legends' own trailer, included together with five further trailers for other releases. The original theatrical trailer is also present, and no matter what screen setting it is played at, everything looks vertically compressed. However, change the DVD player setting from widescreen to 4:3 letterbox and the trailer plays in the correct 2.35:1 proportions, confirming how the film was really shot. Though the DVD packaging bills this edition of Dragon Inn as the full-length original version though there is no explanation of what footage has been restored from previous releases. --Gary S. Dalkin
Chow Yun-Fat is the mysterious Ko Chun invincible God of gamblers. A freak accident results in amnesia but leaves his supernatural skills unscathed. Unaware of his true identity small time hustler Andy Lau sets out to explore Chun's talents on Hong Kong's notorious gambling circuit only to find himself the target of vicious gangsters hell-bent on eliminating them both and unsurping Ko Chun's crown. Director Wong Jing blends violent action intense drama and classic Hong Kong comedy into the perfect backdrop for Chow's bravura tour-de-force as the enigmatic idiot-savant; a classic!
A young gambler going by the nickname of Iron Monkey seeks vengeance for the massacre of his family...
When Miles Langfore (Malcolm McDowell) the head of Kennedy High School decides to take his school back from the gangs robotics specialist Dr. Robert Forrest (Stacy Keach) provides ""tactical education units"". These are amazingly human-like androids that have been programmed to teach and are supplied with devastatingly effective solutions to discipline problems. So when the violent out-of-control students of Kennedy High report for class tomorrow they're going to get a real education... in staying alive!
Beijing Bicycle kicks off like an updated Chinese reworking of the 1948 Italian neo-realist classic Bicycle Thieves: a worker, dependent on his bike for his job, has it stolen and doggedly sets out to get it back. But pretty soon Wang Xiaoshuai's film mutates into something more elemental: a battle of wills between peasant lad Guei, original owner of the bike, and Jian, a surly urban schoolkid who claims to have bought it second-hand. For both the bike is status: for Guei it secures him his job as a courier, while for Jian it lets him keep up with his peers and chat up the girl he fancies. Each sees himself as the rightful owner and neither will give way, so the bike swaps hands back and forth, stolen and re-stolen, as the duel waxes increasingly personal. There's a diverting subplot about a beautiful, stylishly dressed girl glimpsed by Guei who turns out be something other than she seems, but essentially the battle over the bike is the meat of the film. The fascination of Beijing Bicycle--perhaps especially for non-Chinese viewers--is its portrait of present-day Beijing as a buzzing, high-pressure, neo-capitalist boomtown, impersonal and seemingly as lawless as any Wild West frontier burg. At no point, in all the thefts and counter-thefts and mounting violence, does anyone think to call the police--everyone is left to fight his own battles. Wang, one can't help suspecting, is slipping in a hint of social criticism in this vision of an uncaring society where possessions are all that matter. On the DVD: Beijing Bicycle on disc has the original theatrical trailer (the French version, oddly enough), filmographies for the director and four of his lead actors, notes on the film by Nick Bradshaw and trailers for other Metro Tartan foreign-language DVD releases. The transfer's in the full anamorphic widescreen of the original, with good Dolby Digital sound. --Philip Kemp
Director Yuen Woo Ping's The Red Wolf is, like Under Siege (1992) and Speed 2 (1997), essentially Die Hard on a ship. However, rather than being "inspired by", this movie is virtually a Hong Kong remake of the Bruce Willis action classic, right down to the jump-off-the-roof crash-through-the-window highlight. The setting is New Year's Eve on a cruise liner which happens to be carrying a consignment of plutonium. Gangsters hijack the ship and it's up to an unnamed security officer (Kenny Ho) and tender-hearted pickpocket Lai (Christie Chung) to save the day. Budget limitations are revealed by only having about 60 passengers, and by an almost complete absence of shots of the sea, but the director manages to pack plenty of extremely violent action and by playing things straight generates considerable suspense from the formulaic story. Helping immensely are strong turns from Elaine Lui and Wing Cho as the psychotically ruthless main villains. Some of this film is very nasty indeed, so a tension-shattering detour into slapstick by Chung is simply bizarre, and the finale goes laughably OTT. The dubbing is mediocre but the blend of furious marital arts and Terminator-style slaughter is still a winning combination for hardcore action fans. --Gary S Dalkin
For Relic Hunter, star Tia Carrere was approached with the notion of playing "a female Indiana Jones". That perfectly sums up this tongue-in-cheek show. Each episode begins with a historical teaser depicting a relic in its original location and usage. It then gets stolen or lost and the team go hunt for it. Carrere's History Professor Sydney Fox is versed in arcane knowledge, but also knows how to hold her own in a fight. Her foppish assistant Nigel (Christien Anholt) always manages to bumble the search, but then gets helped out by office worker Claudia (Lindy Booth). That's the winning formula, and this first box set (which starts at the beginning of the second series) consists of six such scenarios. "The Put Back" requires the return of an artefact for a change, and sees the team in Africa racing to prevent the onset of an ancient curse. "Dagger of Death" concerns the Indian cult of Kali (per Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). "Last of the Mochicas" (not a typo!) sees them survive a plane crash and then play a game of sleuthing to discover which other passenger is their enemy. "The Legend of the Lost" provides a well-intentioned message about why lost civilisations ought to be left lost. "Fertile Ground" comically takes Sydney from her high-school reunion to Hawaii in a partnership with her teenage sweetheart. "Gypsy Jigsaw" finally allows Claudia to shine, with her knowledge of Tarot assisting in a jaunt to Romania. All six feature terrific location shooting from around the globe and are an infectious introduction for anyone who missed the sporadic TV broadcasts. On the DVD: Relic Hunter comes to disc with the original 16:9 widescreen ratio of the show. Shame there's only a stereo mix, though. There are 12-minute interviews with stars Carrere and Anholt that are a little more informative than the biographies included. Lastly, there's a gallery of 24 behind-the-scenes and promotional stills. --Paul Tonks
The 'Swordsman' series continues with the reappearance of the isolated transgender character ""Asia the Invincible"" (Brigitte Lin) to repudiate those who have used his name for fame and power... Played out against the conflicts of the Ming dynasty 'Swordsman 3: East Is Red' features spectacular land and sea battle sequences among the Han clan the Sun Moon Sect the Spaniards and Japanese ninjas!
Diamond In The Rough: Frank Newhouse an arrogant baseball star whose career is crashing and burning hires Sydney to fine the ""magical"" glove of former baseball great Jimmy Jonesboro. The glove was stolen more than 50 years ago. Sydney and Nigel track the missing glove - purported to have single ""handedly"" defeated the Red Sox in the 1946 World Series - to the sewers of Pre-Revolutionary war Boston while unwittingly being tailed by Sydney's former rival Kurt Reiner. Can the t
Sydney Fox takes off on another archaelogical adventure!
It is six years after the dramatic and violent events of Rich And Famous. Kwok (Andy Lau) the former right-hand man of Triad boss Chai (Chow Yun Fat) has retired and left Hong Kong in order to settle down and raise a family. Chai himself is now a successful businessman with a wife and son. Meanwhile Kwok's double-crossing stepbrother Yung (Alex Mann) has been released from prison after serving time for his assassination attempt on Chai and his bride on their wedding day. Still driven by jealousy and hatred Yung has built up his own criminal empire and is determined to exact his revenge on Chai.
Relic Hunter: Adventures
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