Great Expectations
 

I came to this part of the forum expecting a discussion of foreign films. WRONG! Everyone here seems obsessed with the latetst HK trash. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and Chow Yun Fat flicks as much as the next person, but there are other 'international' films! Did you know that France, Italy, Germany, China, Spain, Brazil, Sweden, Japan, etc., ad infinitum, actually make films? And most of them are much better than the trash they produce in Hollyweed or Hong Kong!

Ok. I can't defend the whole consensus of discussing Hong Kong films here, however I would think that one reason is the accessibility issue. Sure, I would like to talk more about stuff from Japan, India, Britain, France ... (add your selected country here), but accesibility and cost issues mean I don't really follow much apart from US and HK releases (but I do look for other countries films through news features and shops instead of the forum if I'm intrigued by a certain title).
This may not echo everyones reason for the bias that sems to be seen, but it's my excuse anyways. :D

That's odd, because most of the foreign titles I own were easily accessible and reasonably priced.

...
 

jafuf - Well, you could always "rectify" the situation by starting a thread of your own in this forum. Something like "One-and-Only Foreign (non-HK) Film Thread".

FWIW, there is absolutely no malice or sarcasm intended in the following statement:

Instead of just complaining and calling HK movies "trash" why not start a thread and "enlighten" us as it concerns these really super-duper foreign films?

Also, while you are perfectly entitled to your own opinion, calling something "trash" (twice, yet) that apparently a lot of people (by your own admission) like to discuss, could easily rile lots of those same people. This is the way flame-wars get started.

Also, FWIW, I think the majority of stuff discussed in here doesn't even revolve around Jackie, Jet, and CYF. Big names, no doubt, but there are a lot of HK movies of varying quality that don't have these people in them. If that is all you think HK movies are, then perhaps you might be pleasantly suprised to learn different.

OK, SA, Here's a list of foreign films everyone should own:

400 Blows
4th Man, The
Alexander Nevsky
All About My Mother
Alphaville
Amarcord
Antonia's Line
Arabian Nights
Autumn Sonata
Battleship Potemkin
Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau)
Bicycle Thief
Black Orpheus
Blood of a Poet
Bride Wore Black, The
Central Station
Cinema Paradiso
Count of Monte Cristo
Coup de Torchon
Cries and Whispers
Crouchin Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Das Boot
Dersu Uzala
Diabolique
Diary of a Chambermaid
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Diva
Dry Cleaning
El Mariachi
Elvira Madigan
Farewell, My Concubine
Farinelli
Fellini Satyricon
Fellini's Roma
Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Gonin
Gospel According to St. Matthew, The
Grand Illusion
Hidden Fortress, The
High and Low
Il Postino
In the Realm of the Senses
Ivan the Terrible, Parts 1 & 2
Jean de Florette
Jules et Jim
Juliet of the Spirits
June Night
King of Hearts
Kwaidan
La Femme Nikita
Life is Beautiful
Like Water For Chocolate
Lola Montes
M
Manon of the Spring
Mississippi Mermaid
My Life as a Dog
Nights of Cabiria, The
Open City
Orpheus
Padre, Padrone
Passion of Joan of Arc, The
Pelle, The Conqueror
Pixote
Que Viva Mexico
Ran
Red Desert
Red Violin, The
Return of Martin Guerre, The
Run, Lola, Run
Sanjuro
Seven Samurai
Seventh Seal, The
Shoot the Piano Player
Small Change
Soldier of Orange
Spirits of the Dead
Taste of Cherry, A
Testament of Orpheus
Two English Girls
Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Vanishing, The
Variety Lights
Wages of Fear
Wild Reeds
Woman in the Dunes
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Yojimbo

And, by the way, you weren't listening. I said I have nothing against trash and don't consider it a derogatory term. I was just disappointed. You should call this thread HK dvd's or something, not International DVD

Jafuf, I see from your profile that you are a scumbag & into self-mutilation. I would think HK trash would be right up your alley.

Here's the thing: The International Forum has never really been about "foreign" movie discussion. It used to mainly be about finding deals on non-US discs for non-US DVDTalkers. & it was rarely very lively. It's only in the last couple of weeks that all of the Hong Kong threads have been moved here due to their popularity. Most HK movie fans are rabid addicts & the discs can be found easily & cheaply.

I think most of us have region 1 players & are not able to get a wide variety of foreign films. We could make wish lists of films we want on DVD, but that can be too painful sometimes. Aside from Criterion & an occasional Image release, we don't have a lot of choices. Fox Lorber/Winstar? (HK fans seem to be more forgiving of bad discs.)

So this forum is sort of new & we haven't exactly figured how or what it should be. HK threads now get dumped here, but other foreign discussions do not always. Some are still in the main DVD Talk forum (Decalogue for example). Feel free to help pave the way & try to start a discussion on something you're interested in.

I'm sure there are some old time International forum members who are not too crazy about wading through the HK invasion. -But HK is not all trash.

shame...
 

It's a shame that you only associate Jackie Chan et all, with Hong Kong films. I have a number of your Top Foreign films on HK DVDs including films by Wong Kar-wai, Kurosawa and Yimou Zhang .

You actually sound like a real jerk.

BTW Your list has some serious omissions.

Gee, I didn't realise you guys were so friendly. They warned me about you over at the DVDCP, but I figured I'd find out for myself by saying a few things that some find offensive. Turns out they were right! Thanks for confirming that by calling me a jerk. Personally I prefer to think of myself as a scum-sucking pig from hell, but whatever! As to my list of foreign titles missing something, well, that's a matter of opinion. Yes, I do have a couple of HK dvd's, but I always thought the quality was quite mediocre. Worse, certainly, than the Fox/Lorber titles. Anyway, I'll keep posting until you decide to throw me off the site as you have other DVDCP members.

Act like a jerk and you get called a jerk. It's kind of weird how that works out. Kooky really. Nice foreign list though.

What this jerk needs...
 

What this guy needs is a big dose of Jean Renoir...

You say offensive things and people get offended.
That's quite an amazing piece of detective work there, jafuf. What do you want...a cookie?

Re: Great Expectations
 

Oh enlightened one... please share with us your wisdom. We seek your counsil and leadership as we have no minds of our own and don't know what kinds of cinema to enjoy. We all appreciate your kindness in sharing with us your bible of essential titles and we've all rushed out to purchase every last one seeing as how you're the expert around here. Since you're so well traveled and have been around the world several times, could you also share your adventures with us? We can't wait to hear all about your exciting stories of being immersed in foreign cultures...

Actually - none of us here gives a flying F what your pimply teenage arse thinks (and if you're not a teenager, then that's pretty sad). We don't appreciate your trolling, and you can just take it back over to the DVDCP for all we care. In addition - I'd also like to point out what others have made clear... if you want to talk about other "international" cinema, then start a thread about it - don't start a thread crapping on the forum's most popular subject and expect a warm reception. You wonder why people call you names and dislike you when you come to pick a fight? You threaten us with more of the same until we kick you out. Do you even have any friends IRL? If so - how do you manage?

Anyway - a plague on your house for acting the way you act... and may your liver be consumed by tapeworms.

Thank you so much for proving a point. I'll have to copy your priceless responses and post them on the other site. You're exactly what I expected. By the way, I'm 47, a former film major and I'm a big fan of Jean Renoir. I enjoy provoking angry, moronic responses from a bunch of jd's who know little or nothing about film. I've done it on the other site too, but they take it with a sense of humor as it was obviously intended. Oh, and Mr. Trigger, just to make you happy, my liver was consumed by Hepatitis which almost killed me. Hope that makes your day much better.

You're 47!!????!!!!???? My God! You must have lived a sad sad life my friend.

As far as I understand it, this forum is for International dvds as in dvds from other regions than region 1.
If you are looking for discussions of foreign films in general, you can find those in several of the other forums like the regular dvd talk forum and the movies forum.
The reason that most of this forum is HK related is because most of the people actively seeking dvds from other regions are getting HK dvds.....I suspect the fact than many Asian dvds are Region 0 and NTSC has a lot do with this too.

Unlike your "Here's a list of foreign films everyone should own" which appears to be gospel eh?

So you are judging all HK DVDs by the few you have seen ? Hmmm...

I wonder if you could tell me where I could get the following DVDs for NTSC region 1 fans, if not from an HK region 0 NTSC producer:

<B>In The Mood For Love</B> ( region 2 coming out soon ), but my region 0 HK DVD is great. I love the picture quality.

<B>Raise the Red Lantern</B>. Zhang Yimou film that is only available as an HK region 0 DVD.

<B>As Tears Go By</B> - wonderful anamorphic tranfer and 5.1 sound.

<B>Days of Being Wild</B> see above comment.

<B> Stray Dog</B> beloved Kurosawa film only available for region 1 fans in an HK region 0 DVD.

<B>Dodes Kaden</B> see above comment.

<B>Askes of Time</B> The HK DVD quality is poor, but better than the North American released one.

<B>Ikiru</B> Kurosawa masterpiece that seems to have been forgotten about on your list.

<B>Happy Together</B> Wong Kar-wai award winning film, presently only available on an HK DVD.

<B>Flowers of Shanghai</B> by Hsiao-hsien Hou
...

I could go on, but it appears as though your vile nature stems from ignorance, not only stupidity.

Cheers,

Oh, I have, in fact. Quite a pathetic life. Does that make you feel better?

In fact I have or have seen most of the movies you mentioned, but I was only mentioning dvd's I own. I've seen thousands of movies that I could mention. But I'm such a vile, stupid person, I doubt you care very much. By the way, I'm also a faggot. Does that lend itself to any more pathetic insults? I do hope so.

So you don't own the following HK DVDs ?:

<B>In The Mood For Love</B>
<B>Raise the Red Lantern</B>
<B>As Tears Go By</B> - wonderful anamorphic tranfer and 5.1 sound.
<B>Days of Being Wild</B> see above comment.
<B> Stray Dog</B> beloved Kurosawa film only available for region 1 fans in an HK region 0 DVD.
<B>Dodes Kaden</B> see above comment.
<B>Askes of Time</B> The HK DVD quality is poor, but better than the North American released one.
<B>Ikiru</B> Kurosawa masterpiece that seems to have been forgotten about on your list.
<B>Happy Together</B> Wong Kar-wai award winning film, presently only available on an HK DVD.
<B>Flowers of Shanghai</B> by Hsiao-hsien Hou


Yet you feel free to criticize HK DVDs for being only Jackie Chan and Jet Li ? ???? This is the reason I used the term <B>"ignorant"</B>. You are ignorant of what HK DVDs are available. You have then chosen to <B>prejudge</B> HK DVDs as well as the people who post in this Forum. You may be familiar with the word <B>"prejudge"</B>, it's where we get the word; <B>"prejudice"</B>.

As far as your age, health and sexual preference this is not the place to be publicizing them, as I am sure no one really cares. Ditto for your attempts to garner sympathy.

Forums are useful for sharing valuable information. Try to remember that next time you post.

Regards,

I don't get it.
 

If what's his name doesn't like what's being discussed at this forum nobody's holding a gun to his head and making him show up here. He's got his opinions about films and his intention seems to be to make inflammatory comments so people will pay attention to him. Fine. Let him.
Now the other thing thing that I don't get is why people are giving him his way and arguing with him about opinion, bigotries and taste.
I say, let the people here discuss what they want and those who don't like it, go elsewhere.
By the way, anybody can deride any body of work. Also anybody can throw up an impressive list of readily recognized film classics. Why do you like the movies you like? What, in particular, raises them above Hong Kong movies? I'd be more than interested in reading posts that compare and contrast expressionistic European auteurs with Hong Kong directors.
And finally, the reason so many people are here discussing these films is because that's what they want to discuss.
Thank you.
Joel

ok..
 

...I think it should be pretty obvious to everyone by now, that this person has evidently signed up explicitly for the deliberate purpose of starting arguments/flame-wars, and possibly even some kind of rival-board conflict. Why somebody would choose to deliberately provoke arguments and see just how long it will be before they get the boot is beyond me.

To do such a thing seems quite rude and very impolite.

Further, the only thing that posting in here is accomplishing is to provide even more amusement for this individual and others, I'm sure. By continuing to post in here all we are continuing to do is fan the flames. Unfortunately, I'm becoming an accomplice myself by this very post.

I would strongly suggest that we stop stoking the fire and stop replying to this person. It is generally viewed as impossible to have an argument with only one person. Therefore, let us leave this individual to his/her own devices and go back to whatever we were doing before this thread popped up.

Good. Yes - that makes me very happy. Too bad you didn't die.


This sucker is trolling... he's got a thread over at DVDCP taking guesses on how long until he gets booted. His name over there is Erikld

How long until this thread is locked?

I just recently bought the Region 1 dvd. Did this go OOP or something?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...846165-4476556

Also, you mentioned the In the Mood For Love dvd being good. Other people told me in this thread :
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=111159
that it wasn't so good. Could you elaborate? Thanks.

sure is.....
I just read his thread out of morbid curiosity. "Morbid" being the key word. I enjoyed your response over there, Trigger.