Trip to Hong Kong
 

I will be visiting Hong Kong between Dec 29 and Jan 2. My friends is still looking for a hotel room for me. But I think I will most likely stay in Hong Kong island. Is there any Dvdtalkers here familiar with or living in Hong Kong? I would like to know:

1. Where are the good (and cheap) places to buy dvds? I am interested in the Shaw Brothers Collection and Infernal Affairs 2.

2. Which movie theaters are good for watching movies? I plan to watch Infernal Affairs 3, The Return of the King, and maybe Master and Commander over there.

I will also pay a visit to the Hong Kong Film Archive. But too bad they will only show some early European films that I am not very interest in. Anyhow, they have a very comprehensive library that I can spend a day.

Thanks for your advise.

Hey there!
I live in Hong Kong! :)

1. Cheap places to buy DVDs. Plenty of places in Mongkok, Causeway Bay or Wan Chai. HMV is cool for browsing, but DON'T buy there! It's much, much more expensive.

2. Best theatres in Hong Kong: MCL JP, which has digital projection. Or th new Palace IFC, which has very nice seats. But they are doing the LOTR Troligy screening (all three at the same time, plus FOTR and TTT re-release) in the UA cinemas only. Unfortunately, UA is overpriced and the seats/sound sucks.

Master & Commander won't be out in HK until June 2004....ouch! But ROTK is out on 18th December. And Infernal Affairs 1 week before that.

3. There's currently a TON of film festivals in HK. Unfortunately, you are coming at the time in which all of them are pretty much over...

Here's a useful site.

http://www.kowloonside.com/extras/shopping/index.html

Widesight and Cheapy are good. Sino Centre is mostly anime, and adult titles.

Here are the websites of the main cinemas in Hong Kong. You can even buy the tickets on-line:

Broadway Cinematheque (best theatre: Palace IFC)
http://www.cinema.com.hk/e_default.php3

UA Cinemas
http://www.cityline.com/eng/main.html

MCL Cinemas (best theatre: MCL JP)
http://www.ticketsuper.com/vistait_s...RR423MXD2C1077

Thanks Grimfarrow. I think I pick the wrong time to visit Hong Kong. I wish to watch the Faye Wong concert and the Truffaut's Film Festival, but I miss both the events. The problem is I can't get the air ticket for an earlier date. :(

My friend brought me to the HMV at Causeway Bay when I was there two years ago. I agree that the price is not cheap but I still picked up some HK DVDs. I think it still beat buying them in US.

Why Master and Commander is delayed that late in HK? Guess I will wiat for the Region 1 DVD instead.

Finally, would you like me to bring you some Region 1 DVDs? I think it might be cheaper to buy it in US. Please let mw know.

Thanks Trencher. I will bring the print out with me during the trip.

i read that Master and Commander was coming in December.

it says that somewhere in tower3a.com

No, Master & Commander is definitely coming in 2004. Here's the proof:

http://www.masterandcommanderthefars...nal_dates.html

One thing good, though, apparently they've now moved it to February! I'm eagerly awaiting this film :)

The Truffaut is still going on. I've seen 5 films so far, but they only reinforce my belief that Truffaut is in fact a very mediocre director with some gems (like the 4000 Blows and The Last Metro).

And yes, I am going to see Faye Wong in concert! :D I have the tickets for the 21st. I am very excited~! I'll let you know how it goes. Did you get the new album yet?

Thanks for the offer to bring the R1 DVDs! But I already bought a whole bunch from Deepdiscountdvd.com's 20% sale - shipping is only about $12, so I went for it....

Let me know if you have more questions!

yeah i have the new Faye Wong album. i like track 5 "passenger".

HK title for "Master & Commander": _x¤Ñ«i±N¤§¾Ô®ü»¨±¡

i just checked the site in tower3a.com again...pffffft.
it did say it's coming in 2004. oh well...sucks for you guys.. but then, there are more movies i'm anticipating for release in Hong Kong than there are in Canada.

waiting for tomorrow's release of "Infernal Affairs 2" and the December 10th dvd release of "Running on Karma".

Which Truffaut's you'd watched? Is there a website for the schedule? I only watched his Antoine Doinel films and Day for Night and love them. So I ordered Mississippi Mermaid, Fahrenheit 451 and The Man who Loved Women from DDD this morning with the coupon. I wish some of his films will be re-released next year since most of the current DVDs are barebones.

I know Faye's concert will be nothing less than excellent. I don't need you to tell me! (kidding :) ) Sigh, all I can do now is wait for the concert CD...sigh...

Yeah, I also have her lastest CD. I basically only bought her CDs alone for the last few years. However, I can't tell which one is my favorite yet since it always take me longer to get into her songs.
Just out of curiousity, do you think she'd broken up with her boy firend for good. God, please let this be true!

I must be the only one who is completely underwhelmed by the Infernal Affairs series. Firstly, the name is monumentally stupid. Second, the movie is just a well-done Hollywood knockout of the good cop/bad cop theme. Not my cup of tea at all, unfortunately.
:(

I didn't see Running On Karma. In fact, I haven't seen a Hong Kong film since Fruit Chan's "Public Toilet" (which is AMAZING).

Faye's Track #5 Passenger is one of my least favorite :p I much prefer #6 "Dearest Sunshine" and #10 "Smoke". :) And she's still with Nic Tse. They got back together. No comment from me about that.

Truffaut: I will summarize my opinion of all the Truffaut fims I've seen:

The 400 Blow ****
The Last Metro ***1/2
Fahrenheit 451 ***1/2
The Woman Next Door ***
Stolen Kisses **
The Green Room *1/2
Bed & Board *1/2
Jules & Jim *

To me, the Antoine Doinel series is one of the most pointless, self-aggrandizing series ever. Apart from the raw, gritty feel of 400 Blows, the rest are romantic comedies that are light as souffle. Rom-com started with Truffaut, and that's not a complement, especially for someone who was supposedly a harsh critic at Cahier du Cinema.

Of course, these are all just my rather opinionated, ugh, opinion. I have a friend who love Truffaut, though we mock him all the time! :D

Go to www.cinema.com.hk - they have the full lineup of Truffaut's retrospective on there! :)

I think the best Hong Kong cinemas are the Director's Club (Hitchcock cinema and Chaplin cinema) in Taikoo Shing at the Taikoo Shing MTR station.

Aren't they very expensive?

I don't think Internal Affairs is one of the best HK film ever, but it is certainly one of the best of year 2002. I also think that the film would suffer without the cast, production value and advertising/hype.

I only saw Fruit Chan's The Longest Summer and I can't say I am impressed. Maybe it's because I am a little tired, I watched it at the wee hour on cable.

I got mocked a lot as being a fan of Wong Kar-Wai :(

I disagree. The sound system at the Director's Club is nowhere as good as in MCL JP, and they also don't have digital projection!

IMO, MCL JP, hands-down.

Well, the best of HK cinema in 2002 isn't saying much, unfortunately :p Yes, the cast is good, but the plot is nothing special. And the fact that it has a bit more "Depth" than most HK films (but much less than what you would call a deep film) does not make it wonderful, IMO.

"The Longest Summer" is one of the worst Fruit Chan film (along with "Hollywood Hong Kong"). Watch "Made in Hong Kong", and you'll know why he's one of the best directors in HK.

Hehe - I'm a fan of Wong's too! Though I have mixed feelings about Chris Doyle...

Damn I can't resist to ask.
Grimfarrow, how's the concert?

Aha! totally forgot to update this :D

Very good concert. We had front-row seats, so it was nice because Faye was pretty much only several feet away from us. The bad thing is that the explosions were quite near...and felt a bit hot! ;)

A nice mix of songs too - many of my favs, but also some very, very old songs like "Last Train"(!). I quite enjoyed Faye singing Blondie's "Heart of Glass", and also liked the reinterpretation of several songs ("Bored" as a disco number was great!). The best moments were during the "New Tenant/Chanel". as well as the "Wings of Light" and "To Love". You can really feel the power of the music and Faye's voice.

The singing was excellent at the beginning, dipped toward the middle (she forgot some lines, and sang out of tune a few times). But near the end for the old Cantonese medley ("Last Train" "Dated", etc.), her singing was back to excellent form.

She had this "hat" on which looked like an upside-down shoe with a feather sticking out of it. Well, she lost the feather several times and had to pick it up. Quite funny.

I also bought the "Faye to Face" coffee table book - very nice, and it contains some of Faye's own thoughts (self-written in English!). Interestingly, she asks people to forget her completely if/when she stops singing.

Anyways, I definitely enjoyed the show. Faye was apologizing profusely and saying that she performed very badly. Huh?!? I thought that it was fine! Well, the direction needed work (the camera had problems facing her sometimes, and all we could see from both my vantange point and the camera was her behind ). But when she came over our way she was close enough to touch :)

Length was good too - 2 hours something.

Damn you. -wink-

Grimfarrow, I hate you! :)

I love "Last Train". It was the song that introduce me to Faye. I don't know why this song was rarely included in her compilation cds. Luckily, I do have the oop cds that include the song.

I know I will have to buy the concert cd and dvd when it's released. But I am a bit worry about the audio/video quality of the dvd. You know, like those burnt in logos or subtitles.

I like to get the book as well. Is it out of stock now? Do you think I can get it in bookstores? I check www.yesasia.com but they do not sell it.

By the way, 3 more days before my flight. He he he...

The "Faye to Face" book + CD is sold at HMV for HK$198. Once you get here, just go to any HMV store :)

I'm not surprised you didn't care for the Romantic comedies, but I'm shocked that you rate Jules And Jim so low. That's my absolute favorite Truffaut film.

Sorry, but I think Jules et Jim is possibly THE most overrated film of all time - it is, frankly, unwatchable. It predates Moulin Rouge in its relentless camera movements and dull, pointless characterization by decades. Jeanne Moreau's character is neither sexy, charming, or interesting - and I wonder why the other two are so enamored by her (maybe because they are even more dull?). It was just a very, very painful film.

IMO, Truffaut has some good films, and I do appreciate some of his direction (most obvious example is a beautiful scene in the Last Metro, when Deneuve and the traitorous woman wakes the opposite ways up/down the staircase). But his overall repertoire unfortunately tips the scale in the "yuck" direction.

Grimfarrow

sorry for being off topic, i will be going to HK soon and hope to find out from you .,.. where will be a good place to buy electronics stuff in HK ? Namely i am looking for the mp3 players.

you may contact me at [email protected] if its inconvenient to post here....

sorry.. i cant seem to get the private msg to work.