toddly6666

http://www.ethaicd.com/show.php?pid=38356


The DVD specs seem incomplete. Can anyone confirm if there will be English subtitles on this Thai PAL DVD or not?

logboy

there's rarely, if ever, any thai dvds with english subtitles since the time that 'ong bak' had been and gone and 'tom yum goong' was about to appear - there's apparently some kind of collective decision that not putting subs on the discs will mean licensing to other countries will happen easier. personally, if (for instance) korea didn't put japanese and english subs on their stuff, they'd not have been able to ensure such an easy path into the hearts and minds of lots of folk who went onto talk about the various films they'd seen, and it's show fruits far greater than one film (oldboy) would have been able to achieve on its own...

chocolate has been certified for release in HK, they're more likely to stick subs on considering it's far more the norm over there...

Tuan Jim

Did you email the estore vendor? That's generally an easy way to get some clarification.

BuddhaWake

I've noticed this as well with Thai films. If it has a slim chance of having some sort of international chance they will not put english subtitles. I think we are seeing this more often in other countries as well as such as Spain as there were a few new releases last year that did not have english subs.

mrhan

The initial release of Ong Bak in HK didn't have subs but the VCD did. I hope it has subs. After seeing the trailer on Youtube I've been anxious to see this.

mrhan

Bump. So does anyone know if it has English subs? It looks like there's 2 versions out now incl. an SE but neither one lists Eng. in the specs.


http://www.ethaicd.com/list.php?keyword=chocolate

litza

No subtitles. Also, FYI, eThaiCd is pretty good at identifing when a Thai movie will have English subtitles or not.

As for the movie, its pretty good, but its no Tony Ja film. That said, the ending where the heroine fights a gang of bad guys by jumping from floor to floor on the outside of an appartment building is one of the great sequences of marital arts and worth seeing for that alone.

The lead character is interesting in that they made her autistic and thus, not some super sexy, beautiful "bad girl" type. Which was a breath of fresh air.

mrhan

Thanks for the info. I've seen the movie and like Ong Bak is easy to follow the story without subs. The fight scene on the side of the building was insane!

toddly6666

I just watched Chocolate (with English subs) last night and I don't recommend this film to anyone. I'll admit that the movie is entertaining and not boring, but Chocolate is just a mean-spirited gimmick movie. It would be one thing if this movie was written like DeNiro's "Awakenings" with kung fu, but it was not and the autism representation in the film was just insulting. I'm not even a politically correct-type person, but this movie was just wrong. The way the film is represented is that they can call this film "Kung Fu Retard." The director is trying to be original, but it's not and it's wrong.

The action in the movie is okay. Just because it's filmed well doesn't make it the most amazing martial arts films since Ong Bak or Tom Yum Gong, two much better films. I noticed that recent martial arts films that aren't quick cut/MTV-edited get extra praise. But come on, it's no reason to be gushing about it. Chocolate has fight scenes, but just like any other martial arts flick. There is no intensity, tension or fear of her getting hurt. The majority of the fight scenes are people just walking in to her fists and feet. I'm sick of seeing martial arts films as if they are choreographed like an "easy" level of a video game, such as Nintendo's Kung Fu:

The only really interesting good fight scene in the movie is when she fights another mentally challenged person - a dude with a combination of Terret's Syndrome and Parkinson's, which was another pathetic attempt of trying to be original. I can understand the "creativity" of it of two mentally challenged people fighting each other, but in the context of the film, it's just fucked up and wrong.

The night before I watched Chocolate, I watched Come Drink With Me - an old movie with action that was more intense than this film.

Furthermore, I'm sick of Thailand's use of transvestites and flamboyant whiney-voiced characters. I think the only normally cast Thai film I've ever seen is Bang Rajan.

The actress of Chocolate is fine and all, but I would rather watch Tony Ja whining for his lost elephant, than an actress trying to portray an autistic person whining for her "momma" and "her money."

MOVIE: 6 out of 10

flixtime

An English-friendly, Hong Kong R3 DVD is releasing on June 3rd (as per YesAsia's listings). That is a pleasant surprise as just recently it had been listed for October 15th.

Gunde

Well I do. It was great fun.

And you give it 6 out of 10 but still won't recommend it!??

toddly6666

Gunde,
What did you like about the film? And if you liked this film, what recent martial arts film did you "not" like out of curiousity? I am a serious martial-arts movie fan, but I thought no action scenes stood out. This film was better than Dynamite Warrior at least.

6 out of 10 is like a "D" to me...

flixtime

URGENT!

Well this day is not off to a good start...I had the upcoming (initially listed as English-friendly) Hong Kong DVD of CHOCOLATE on pre-order but I received an e-mail overnight which was to inform me that English subtitles are NOT going to be on this release.

I checked various e-tailer sites and sure enough the listing for the DVD has now been changed to indicate that it will NOT be English-friendly.

dullboy

Sounds similar to what happened with the HK Edko disc of Tom Yum Goong. I had a feeling this was gonna happen. Same studio, same director, same subtitle problem. Suck.

zombeaner

Good thing I have a local store that rents bootlegs, so I can watch it while waiting for a proper release.

Tuan Jim

Well now that the US dvd is out - I'm wondering if the HK edition or Thai edition have better video quality - the R1 doesn't really sound like a winner. Anyone had a chance to compare them?

flixtime

Tuan Jim, if by chance you are not aware, also an option is the UK disc which came out a few months ago.

manicsounds

The UK disc has more extras and is much cheaper.

Tuan Jim

better video quality as well? I may have been aware of it - but I couldn't remember the date - some recent UK scheduled releases were delayed or fell by the wayside (ie. Dai Nipponjin and others last year) so I might have forgotten too.

thanks for the update.

logboy

I've the uk blu-ray; it's great.

as for comparisons, I know some double-dip, but not that quickly...

dullboy

For anyone who's seen this movie...there is a scene right before Zen's first big fight sequence in the ice house where she is pushed down and starts getting angry. She is thinking of Tony Jaa in a scene from Onk Bak where he puts his fist toward the camera. On my US Blu-Ray, this part seems to cut very abruptly, dropping all the audio and going to black screen, then a second later fades back in to Zen on the floor right before she gets up and starts kicking ass. This made me think that maybe something was either wrong with my Blu-Ray, or that something had been cut from the movie, especially since Zen was on her back before the shot of Tony Jaa and on her stomach after the fade in. Anyone know if this is the way the movie normally plays out on this or any other disc out there?

flixtime

dullboy, I checked my copy of the UK DVD and the segment you describe is the same on the UK release. On the UK disc it occurs at the counter mark of 32 minutes and 31 seconds (for anyone wanting to check what we are talking about). The screen does cut to black for nearly three seconds before resuming with her now on her stomach.

dullboy

Thanks, flixtime. I'm relieved to know I don't have something defective. Still, that was a very odd editing decision. And I suppose her waking up on her stomach could've just been a continuity error, but for a second, I thought maybe there was some sexual assault insinuated.

OutRun2

I have the movie on US BD and I'm disappointed in the extras. Only a 9 minute "making of"....lame. Movie was great though.