Johnnie To - Give me some suggestions
#26
Re: Johnnie To - Give me some suggestions
I'd urge you to go further back and catch up with THE BIG HEAT (1988) and THE HEROIC TRIO (1993) and its sequel, EXECUTIONERS: HEROIC TRIO 2 (1993).
#27
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Re: Johnnie To - Give me some suggestions
I come in here late but I generally love Johnnie To films, especially the somewhat arthouse, somber, minimalistic crime dramas. I believe that nobody films the streets at night better than To, except perhaps Michael Mann. My favorites:
The Mission, Exiled, PTU, Running out of Time. Also loved "Accident" produced by To/Milkyway.
The second tier for me would be:
Fulltime Killer, Election (I thought Election 2 was better), Breaking News (worth it for the famous single cut opening scene alone), Running on Karma.
I didn't care for Throw Down.
Haven't seen "Vengeance" but if it fits the neo-noir crime style I like, then I'll have to check it out.
The Mission, Exiled, PTU, Running out of Time. Also loved "Accident" produced by To/Milkyway.
The second tier for me would be:
Fulltime Killer, Election (I thought Election 2 was better), Breaking News (worth it for the famous single cut opening scene alone), Running on Karma.
I didn't care for Throw Down.
Haven't seen "Vengeance" but if it fits the neo-noir crime style I like, then I'll have to check it out.
#28
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Re: Johnnie To - Give me some suggestions
Please note that sadly all of the films released under Milkyway films (Johnnie To's company) have really poor English subtitles. They read well but are actually very inaccurate, dumbed down and many times even made up.
If one is looking for Johnnie To, then they should be non-HK editions since a good amount of his films have gotten much needed retranslations.
Tai Seng has put out some of his films with retranslations. They are Running Out Of Time 1 & 2,
Running on Karma and Throwdown
Sadly, their release of Sparrow was just an import of the Universe DVD and not a retranslation.
Also disappointing was MoC's release of Mad Detective. They announced it was going to be a retranslation of the film but instead ended up being the same sub-par subs as before only with British colloquialism added.
Also, Magnolia's release of Exiled is the edition to get if you need English subs. It has retranslated subtitles that are an enormous improvement over the crap English subs on all other editions. I don't think it has been released on Blu Ray has of yet though.
It really saddens me to see how bad the English subtitles are on Johnnie To's movies. Who ever To has working on the subs needs to be removed because they are doing his films no favors. I almost feel at times like a petition should be started just to get the message out to him.
If one is looking for Johnnie To, then they should be non-HK editions since a good amount of his films have gotten much needed retranslations.
Tai Seng has put out some of his films with retranslations. They are Running Out Of Time 1 & 2,
Running on Karma and Throwdown
Sadly, their release of Sparrow was just an import of the Universe DVD and not a retranslation.
Also disappointing was MoC's release of Mad Detective. They announced it was going to be a retranslation of the film but instead ended up being the same sub-par subs as before only with British colloquialism added.
Also, Magnolia's release of Exiled is the edition to get if you need English subs. It has retranslated subtitles that are an enormous improvement over the crap English subs on all other editions. I don't think it has been released on Blu Ray has of yet though.
It really saddens me to see how bad the English subtitles are on Johnnie To's movies. Who ever To has working on the subs needs to be removed because they are doing his films no favors. I almost feel at times like a petition should be started just to get the message out to him.
#31
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#32
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Re: Johnnie To - Give me some suggestions
I'm just catching up late on Johnnie To/Wai Ka-Fai myself...I saw theatrical releases of The Mission and Running Out of Time about a decade ago in NYC, but hadn't gotten around to catching much since...until Mad Detective recently on Sundance channel, which I was so impressed by...definite purchase for me!
I just got Sparrow free through a B&N buy two/get third free sale that I didn't even know was going on...they were only selling it for $7.99 anyway, but it was a no-brainer for free -- even if the subtitles aren't perfect. Will check it out soon.