DJariya

Going on a 10 day vacation to Asia next month. Spending 3 days in Hong Kong, 3 days in Bangkok and 4 days in Malaysia.

I've been to HK a number of times, so I'm quite familiar with the DVD/BD scene there. Just wondering if anyone here has any recommendations for any good catalogue titles out right now on BD?

I was thinking about picking up the Bruce Lee Legendary Collection if it's not too expensive. Or possibly even the Once Upon a Time movie collection.

Any other recommendations?

I thought about getting Infernal Affairs, but I already have all 3 movies on Region 0 DVD plus I also own the chronological edit DVD of all 3 movies together.

DJariya

184 clicks and noone has anything to say?

Anyone? I know this particular forum is quite dead, but I know there are a few knowledgable people of Asian cinema and catalogue titles. I leave for my trip in a little over 4 weeks.

E Unit

Do you shop at the Sino Centre in Mongkok? That place was awesome. I spent a great 3-4 hours visiting all those shops. Unfortunately, I've been out of the loop for a while on what's new and great in Asian cinema.

But you mentioned that set of Internal Affairs, do you have a box set of it? Is it in like a cardboard set? I ask because I got this from a rental store in town that was closing, and when I bought it, I failed to check inside. It had all the discs, except the first Infernal Affairs. Been looking for just that disc ever since.

DJariya

Yes, I'm familiar with that shopping center. A shit load of stuff including DVD/BD shops.

The Infernal Affairs DVD set I have is in a regular case. It's not 3 separate movies. It's all 3 movies edited together as 1 giant movie in chronological order. It's 2 discs.

I'm not necessarily looking for new titles, I'm cool with older catalogue titles like stuff from Fortune Star or Media Asia like the Once Upon a Time in China series or Police Story movies.

E Unit

Ah, well then I'll tell you what I picked up a couple years ago. I'm a ho for Donnie Yen movies, so I raided a couple of stores and picked up HK releases of Ip Man, Ip Man 2, and SPL. I also picked up Ip Man, A Legend is Born, which is funny because since it's just another version of Yen's Ip Man. I like these releases because IMO they're far better in A/V quality, especially sound which offers 7.1. I also picked up Outrage, Beat Takeshi's latest at that time. And on a whim, my wife actually found Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, which wasn't even announced in the US at that time. I got the US one later, but the HK release is much better as well. And last, I picked up Shanghai for a cheap price. I don't think that ever made it to the US on blu or DVD. I liked that a lot, kind of a WWII spy thriller, with John Cusack, Gong Li, Ken Watanade, and Chow Yun Fat.

xage

Are you still getting this? (The DVD Trilogy)



or moving to Blu-Ray?

If so, for roughly $30 on the BD trilogy set... GO GET IT!...

And also get this one (once in a blu-moon LE HK movies)

The Valeyard

I have that one. Great set. I picked it up at Amoeba in Los Angeles for like 20 bucks back in '08. Unbelievable price and I couldn't pass it up. I'd probably pick the trilogy up on Blu-Ray at some point.

I also have that Bodyguards and Assassins Limited Edition. Well worth the price.

sleepyhead55

What about Confessions? Oscar nominated Japanese film from a few years ago. Not available in the US yet. There is a UK region locked release. But there is a Region A release available from HK.

DJariya

Thanks for the suggestions.

As I said, I already have Infernal Affairs on DVD. I have the 3 2-disc sets along with the 2-disc Infernal Affairs trilogy edited together in chronological order as I just said. Just wondering if the BD transfer is good and worth the upgrade.

xage

I got the Best DVD Set (that set also include the Chronological Order)...


However I still grabbed a hold of this

I got around $400HKD (it was on sale in HMV compare to the ticket tab price of $505 and this was just last December!)



If am not a US Exclusive Junkie for Western Film... I literally grabbed all of these Dark Knight Exclusives

DJariya

$400 HKD is around $51. Holy crap that's expensive. $30-35 would be a little more reasonable.

Hopefully when I make it there next month I'll find some deals.

xage

Its around $30-$40 .. the internet exchange rate calculator sucks.. its not accurate if you bring yout $$$ in HK and have it exchanged there. Again, my last visit was just last month

You have your opportunity to visit might as well maximize your ability once there and plan the utmost budget you can spend for things like this

Brian T

And when you return, book a short trip up to Toronto some time (yes, I know, it's not Hong Kong, so I'm sure a couple of days oughta do it), and you can find pretty much all the same stuff you will in Hong Kong in our excessive collection of Hong Kong-style mega-malls, as well as in a few lesser known goldmines tucked away in nooks and crannies in the various Chinatowns-'n-burbs here. Saves waiting (and saving) for the next trip overseas, and you'll clean up on older catalogue stuff if you know where to look. The HK DVD/Blu market here was hit hard over the past decade by bootleggers, but with that business so unprofitable these days as to be nearly passé, the legit retailers that survived seem to be doing alright, for the time being.

DJariya

^^^ See that is another issue I've been having with the HK movies. In San Francisco and LA Chinatowns, you cannot find a single legit copy of their movies. It's all $5 bootlegs. I have to admit that I picked up a few here and there, but I prefer my legit Media Asia or Fortune Star copies.

Brian T

One trick the bootleggers here did to put the authoritahs off the scent toward the end of the counterfeit craze was to run — for lack of a better term — "hybrid" stores, where you could find aisle after aisle of glorious legitimate Hong Kong DVDs and smaller quantities of Blu-rays (these places are/were heaven!) each sealed title having a little stack of hand-labeled DVD-Rs in little plain white paper envelopes sitting right beside it, usually priced around $1.00 each. Though largely offered as Buy One Get One Free (except new releases) the legit stuff was generally overpriced because it was used mostly to lend legitimacy to the operation, but bargains could be found, particularly on the oldest DVDs and most of the Fortune Star line and Joy Sales Legendary Collection, which were generally stickered at $10 a pop (and thus 2 for $10).

For the better part of the past five years there were four of these stores in the majority Asian northeastern regions of Toronto (in addition to dozens of the kind of "$5 bootleg" joints you mention, which were abundant here, sadly), but only one "hybrid" is still in business right now, and it recently moved from a cavernous location to a little hole in the wall you wouldn't notice if you stood right in front of it (although I found out recently I'm not the only gwailo who knows about it, which keeps me on my toes). Two of the others closed with no notice, while the third — and this was awesome —*announced their August 2012 closing months ahead of time, and started unloading their DVDs and Blu-rays (including new releases) at 20% off, then 40% off, then 60% and so on. This kept me visiting almost weekly on the way home from work, leaving each time with another bag or two stuffed with discs, some of which I probably already owned, but hey bargains! Eventually I got most of their rather limited selection of Blu-ray titles for between 60% and 80% off (with most in the $6-$12 CDN range, which tells you how grossly overpriced some of them were in the first place, albeit on purpose). I also filled in a lot of gaps in my Celestial/IVL Shaw Brothers collection for between $5 down to $2. On their final week everything left over was 90% off, and even though the place was largely barren I still left with a small bag of goodies. And a metaphorical tear in my eye.

As I mentioned, the one remaining "hybrid" place is virtually invisible in a Chinese strip mall here, and most of their extensive stock of DVDs is apparently in a storage facility off site, so they haul in batches of it on a regular basis priced at $2.99, including regular HK movies, mainland movies, Shaw movies and HK editions of Japanese, Thai and Korean films. Sadly, I paid much more for a lot of these titles in years past, so it's a bit frustrating to seem them so cheap now, but I still manage to fill a bag nearly every time I go.

Thankfully, after nearly a decade of bootlegging here, a handful of legitimate retailers continue to survive, and all of this is why I say that when it comes to Hong Kong DVDs and Blu-rays, a trip to Toronto might be as rewarding as a trip overseas, even if it's considerably less scenic, as I rarely if ever hear about this kind of situation existing in the largest American cities. Perhaps the bootleggers there were much more successful at running the good guys out of business?

flixtime

DJariya, in case you did not already follow it, lovehkfilm.com recently did a Top 200 list for Hong Kong cinema. So - again if you haven't already checked it out - then maybe it'd be worth a look to see if anything on the list turns out to be new on your radar (and then of course check if it is available on Blu-ray...and too if the Blu-ray is actually worth the upgrade over the DVD).

When it comes to Hong Kong releases, I'm still buying DVDs myself so I can't offer anything in terms of Blu-ray recommendations. Enjoy your trip!

tinlunlau

You might actually want to check out the Korean bluray boxset release of the "Infernal Affairs" trilogy.
It's actually packaged much better than the Hong Kong bluray releases.

I own the Hong Kong bluray boxset and I have the regular 2 disc DVD releases (DVD copy of the first film is even autographed by Kelly Chen!). Bluray transfer was okay at the time. Watching the bluray version made me realize the DVD is actually slightly cropped. Sharpness and contrast is fine. It is lacking the commentary track but the commentary track leaves much to be desired as they seem to be compiled sound clips from various interviews.

DJariya

Okay so here's what I picked up from Hong Kong:

Fatal Move (BD): Starring Sammo Hung and Simon Yam

Naked Soldier (DVD): Starring Sammo Hung

Cold War (DVD): Starring Tony Leung, Aaron Kwok

Bruce Lee: Legendary Collection (BD)

Ip Man 1 and 2 (BD)

The Guillotines (BD)

The Lady (BD): Starring Michelle Yeoh

Umizaru Brave Hearts (Japanese) (DVD)

Dangerous Liaisons (DVD): Starring Zhang Ziyi

Into the Fire (Korean) (DVD)

Shadow Guard (BD): Starring Michael Biehn

The Thieves (Korean) (BD)

Tai Chi Hero (DVD)


Nice haul huh?

Krayzie

You didn't get the Once Upon a Time collection!!