Shout Factory in the USA have announced a 6 movie set of Angela Mao films on DVD (2 per disc), which include When Taekwondo Strikes (1973) , The Tournament (1974), Stoner (1974), The Himalayan (1976), Queens Ransom (1976) and Broken Oath (1977).
All discs will be Mandarin Language with English subtitles or English dubbed option. Hopefully they will be re-mastered versions. The discs will be locked to region 1.
Well Go USA are fast becoming one of the best labels for Asian movie releases in the West.
The forthcoming months have a few great titles being released on DVD and Blu Ray.
Commitment : After his father s botched espionage mission, North Korean Myung-hoon (CHOI Seung-hyun, aka T.O.P) and his young sister Hye-in (HAN Ye-ri) are sent to a labor prison camp. In order to save his sisters life, Myung-hoon volunteers to become a spy and infiltrates the South as a teenage defector. While attending high school in the South, he meets another girl named Hye-in (KIM Yoo-jeong) and rescues her when she is attacked. South Korean Intelligence soon discovers the plot and begins closing in on Myung-hoon, while his own government sends a vicious assassin to eliminate him. OUT 11TH MARCH. DVD CLICK HERE. BLU RAY CLICK HERE.
The Wrath Of Vajra : Before the West entered World War II, a Japanese death cult called the Temple of Hades is ordered to aid in the spiritual destruction of China. Their method: abduct their enemies’ children and train them as killers for the Emperor. Young Vajra was especially gifted, but swears a secret oath of revenge when his brother dies. Now the greatest assassin in the temple, Vajra escapes to China and begins his quest to protect the innocent, and destroy the ones responsible for making him a living weapon. A former Shaolin monk, martial arts action star Xing Yu (aka Shi Yanneng) stars as Vajra in his first leading role. OUT 18TH MARCH. DVD CLICK HERE BLU RAY CLICK HERE.
Confession Of Murder : In Korea, murder has a statute of limitations and the time is up on a series of brutal slayings that left Lt. Choi (Jae-yeong Jeong) a broken and obsessed man, with a scarred face from their one encounter. Now, a handsome and beguiling young man has come forward, taking credit for the crimes. As the confessed-killer woos media and wins fans, Choi s rage spins out of control. Is he the killer? Can justice ever be served? And who is the mysterious J, who claims the author may not be the killer after all? OUT 15TH APRIL. DVD CLICK HERE. BLU RAY CLICK HERE.
Seven Warriors : China’s warlord era ’30s, many soldiers banditry, nuisance farmers, resulted in hardship. Guangxi to defend their homes in a small village hired seven distinctive paladin, and resist the bandits violated. Many villagers and paladin occur during friction, everyone is not unity, resulted bandits win. Fortunately, the villagers wake up to the last, one mind without fear paladin joint heroic defeat the bandits. OUT APRIL 22ND. DVD CLICK HERE. BLU RAY CLICK HERE
Special I.D. : Zilong “Dragon” Chen is an undercover cop deep inside China’s most ruthless crime syndicate. The boss, Xiong swears to find every traitor and make them pay with their lives.Agents are turning up dead. His days are numbered. Desperate to protect his family and his life, Chen must risk everything to protect the SPECIAL IDENTITY he never wanted – before it’s too late. OUT MAY 13TH. DVD CLICK HERE. BLU RAY CLICK HERE
All titles as far as we know are coded for region 1 DVD or Region A Blu ray.
The cult classic Golden Harvest film The One Armed Boxer starring Jimmy Wang Yu is getting a Blu ray release in Japan on February 12th.
The interesting thing about this release is that is has listed English Audio (Mono) as well as Mandarin and Japanese dubbed. Subtitles are Japanese only. REGION A LOCKED.
Yes Madam was one of the first Hong Kong modern day cop films to have female leads, which started what was called the girls with guns genre. Yes Madam stars Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock as two police officers who learn of the existence of a microfilm containing damaging evidence against a murderous Hong Kong crime syndicate, the task of retrieving it is given to them which leads them into an all out battle at the villains lair.
Typical Hong Kong action story from the period but enlivened by great performances from the two leads and some fabulous bone crunching action especially the all out finale. Both women do well in the action department and Cynthia Rothrock went on to make a few more classic action films and became one of the first westerners to get star billing in Hong Kong. Some of the comedy slows the film down in places, watch out for cameo’s from Sammo Hung and Tsui Hark, but action fans will love the cheoreography, sadly lacking in most of todays Hong Kong films.
The film has been released in Hong Kong on DVD and Blu ray. The best version is the Joy Sales remastered all region DVD in Cantonese language with English subtitles. The recently released Blu ray which is True HD has a soft but very good picture quality and comes recommended although it is Region A locked.. The film was released in the UK by HK Legends under the title Police Assassins. (Region 2 PAL). Again a good remastered picture, this also has an English dub track as well as the usual Cantonese. It also has some extras including an interview with Michelle Yeoh and a Battling Babes featurette. Strangely the film does not seem to have had an official release in the USA.
Great action and stunts this film is a must see for any Hong Kong movie fan. Click on the images below to get more details…
HK DVD
UK DVD
HK Blu Ray
Below is the latest trailer for The Raid 2 starring Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle and directed by Gareth Evans. Some good first reviews coming in as well.
Tony Jaa burst onto the scene a few years ago with the fabuolous Ong Bak and went on to star in another big hit Tom Yum Goong (aka The Protector / Warrior King). Now many years later he comes back after a semi reirement with the sequel Tom Yum Goong 2.
Below is the trailer for the last in the 36th Chamber trilogy, Disciples of the 36th Chamber directed by Lau Kar Leung and starring Wong Yu and Gordon Liu. Great choreography and one of the last to be made by the Shaw film studio before it closed. Region 1 and 3 DVDs are still available although now both out of print.
The fantastic film about martial arts master Mas Oyama is being released as a limited edition Blu ray in Korea. Fighter In The Wind offers a Korean take on the life of the karate master. Director Yang Yun Ho (Libera Me) draws on ideas from Bang Hakki’s famous comic strip to depict how Choi overcame obstacles of being a Korean in Japan to become a legendary karate master. This edition is 1080p HD Korean language with English subtitles it also includes commentary, making-of, training, interview, press conference, trailers, music video, poster shoot and other special features.
Great drama and fight scenes this comes recommended. Review soon.
Hong Kong action cinema has produced many great kickers but it was this film that really put them at the forefront of the movies, Secret Rivals released in 1976 starred John Liu, Wong Tao and Hwang Jang Lee and was directed by Ng See Yuen. It was the first real success for the then up and coming Seasonal Films, who later went on to produce Jackie Chan’s first big hits Snake In The Eagles Shadow and Drunken Master.
A large fortune in gold has been stolen and brought from China to a small town in Korea. The prince (Lee Ye-Min) was one of the robbers of the gold and is awaiting his gang boss known as the Silver Fox (Hwang Jang-Lee). He hears news that government official Sheng Yi-Wei (Wong Tao) will be arriving shortly. Disguised as a fighter in the prince’s upcoming tournament for the head bodyguard position, Sheng is an expert in the Southern Fist style.
Also on the robbers trail is Shao Yi-Fei (John Liu), the master of the Northern Kick style. Shao is also seeking out the Silver Fox to avenge the brutal death of his parents. Individually, Sheng and Shao have tried to take on Silver Fox but to no avail. Now, they must unite to take down Silver Fox once and for all.
When first released this film caused a sensation among kung fu movie fans as the styles shown, mainly Taekwondo based were totally different from most films released before and the amazing kicking on show was very cinematic. The story although a bit plodding at times has plenty of time to show the stars skills, John Liu had amazing flexibility even if his kicks seemed to lack power. Wong Tao was a very underated performer, his Southern hand techniques are fabulous as well as his kicking and he also gets to show his skill with a pair of nunchuku. Hwang Jang Lee is certainly one of the best kickers in HK cinema history and here shows some of his repetoir although not as much as in later films or the sequel Secret Rivals Part 2.
A classic late night kung fu treat which still stands the test of time today. The film has not been served well over the years on DVD. Early VCD releases were full screen and terrible quality. In the USA Crash Cinema released the film in a non anamorphic widescreen edition, OK quality but English dubbed only. There is also a German release again widescreen but the option of English or German dubbed or Mandarin with German subtitles only. By far the best release is the Soulblade UK DVD (Region 2 PAL) which has a remastered anamorphic widescreen picture, Mandarin language with English subtitles or English dubbed option. Also there are some great extras including a great audio commentary with Toby Russell and co-star Wong Tao, an interview in English with Wong Tao and a selection of trailers and stills. Unfortunately this version is out of print but you can still find copies and is totally recommended. (Please click on the images below for more details of the DVDS)
FILM 7.5 OUT OF 10
German DVD
USA DVD
UK DVD
Here is a new trailer for Monkey King starring Donnie Yen and Chow Yun Fat. Director is Soi Cheang. Release date is 31st of January in China.
