Mei Ah June 3 Releases
| |
Hope To Have A Home (2004)
|
|
Butterfly Murders, The (1979)
|
|
Kung Fu Cult Master, The (1993) (Remastered)
|
|
|
| Friday, 5/28/2004 |
|
Mei Ah June 3 Releases
| |
Hope To Have A Home (2004)
|
|
Butterfly Murders, The (1979)
|
|
Kung Fu Cult Master, The (1993) (Remastered)
|
|
|
Mei Ah May 21 DVD Covers/Synopsis
| |
|
Pa Pa Loves You (2004) Director: Herman Yau Cast: Charlene Choi, Tony Leung, Boy'z, Eric Tsang, Marco Lok, Johnny Lu Synopsis Ying (Tony Leung), a father addicted to his daughter Ellen (Charlene Choi), helps his beloved daughter enroll in a Band 5 school due to her unsatisfying exam results. However, this makes Ellen become a bad girl and to protect her, Ying follows Ellen to anywhere she goes. Ellen is so annoyed and yells at his poor father. Ying, heart-broken, goes to a café and meets Hung (Eric Tsang), a notorious gang leader and accidentally saves his life. Being mistaken as Hung's famed but retired private bodyguard Eagle Ying, all Ying can do is to keep pretending for his daughter's sake. Ellen gets involved in a drug smuggling business and is in peril. To save his beloved daughter, Ying takes all the humiliations and Ellen, touched by his father's sacrifice, finally understands his father's love to her.
|  |
|
Doctor Mack (1995) aka Mack The Knife Director: Lee Chi Ngai Cast: Tony Leung, Lau Ching Wan, Gigi Leung, Christy Chung, Jordan Chan, Andy Hui Synopsis Apart from sophisticated medical techniques, a doctor should also have respectful mortal and concern for his patients. Played by the glamorous Tony Leung, Dr. Mack Lau gives up his career in a famed hospital and opens a clinic in a run-down place. Not only does he heal the residences' wounds, but also their torn-and-broken hearts. The award winner Tony Leung plays this ignorant but passionate, carefree but romantic doctor with his marvelous acting techniques. The greatness of doctors is fully shown with his convincing performance.
|  |
| Thursday, 5/27/2004 |
IVL June 10 Releases (not including the Shaw Brothers titles)
|
 |  |
A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow was the film that turned Hong Kong gangster genre on its head and placed director John Woo (Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II) and actor Chow Yun-fat (The Replacement Killer and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) firmly on the road to Hollywood.
Chow - who won a best actor award for his role - plays the supercool Mark, a man of honor in a world of dishonor. As a sidekick to his former gang boss Tse-ho (Ti Lung, Blood Brothers), Mark finds himself out of favour when his boss is sent to the slammer.
Ho comes out of jail repentant and determined to turn over a new leaf for the sake of his policeman brother, Kit (Leslie Cheung, Farewell To My Concubine) but his old arch enemy is equally determined to take him out of the picture.
Blazing guns, explosive action, a dream cast, and superb direction by John Woo - no wonder this has been hailed as one of the best action films ever.
6th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards:
- Awards
- Best Film
- Best Actor (Chow Yun-fat)
- Nominations
- Best Director
- Best Actor (Ti Lung)
- Best Screenplay
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Art Direction
- Best Cinematography
- Best Film Editing
- Best New Performer
- Best Original Film Score
A Better Tomorrow II
A Better Tomorrow II puts people back in familiar John Woo (Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II) territory - a world of blazing guns, explosive action, superb hi-octane choreography and the supercool Chow Yun-fat (The Replacement Killer and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) in his trademark of trenchcoat and Rayban.
The sequel sees Tse-ho (Ti Lung, Blood Brothers) working together with brother Tse-kit (Leslie Cheung, Farewell To My Concubine) to help the police break a counterfeit syndicate.
Their investigation lead them to the Lung Shipyard where they discover Lung (Dean Shek) is in danger of being killed by his employee, Ko, who is masterminding the counterfeit operations. They send Lung to a former assassin-turned-restaurant-owner Ken (Chow Yun-fat) in New York.
Everything boils to a fiery climax when Ken brings Lung home to Hong Kong to face off with Ko, with the help of Ho and Kit.
7th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards:
- Nominations
- Best Actor (Leslie Cheung)
- Best Action Choreography
A Better Tomorrow III
The conclusion to one of the most successful trilogies in Hong Kong films, this prequel features a different kind of rousing action with auteur Tsui Hark (Once Upon A Time In China) at the helm.
Chow Yun-fat (The Replacement Killer and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) reprises his role as Mark who picked up his skills with blazing guns in Vietnam under the tutelage of the tough-as-nails Kit (Anita Mui, Rouge). Kit falls for Mark but the latter, knowing that his cousin Mun (Tony Leung Ka-fai, The Lover) is in love with her, sacrifices his love for her. But the return of Kit's ex-boyfriend Ching brings things to a head, especially after he bombs Mun's new garage.
A moving story, dynamite action and superb performances from its great casts bring the A Better Tomorrow trilogy to a fitting conclusion.
9th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards:
- Nominations
- Best Art Direction
- Best Original Film Score
Specs for the A Better Tomorrow box set:
- Digitally Remastered
- Letterboxed and 16x9 enhanced
- DTS and DD 5.1
- A Better Tomorrow
- Cantonese, Mandarin, Cantonese (Original)
- A Better Tomorrow II
- Cantonese, Mandarin, Cantonese (Original)
- A Better Tomorrow III
- Cantonese, Mandarin, Cantonese (Original)
- Chinese (Traditional), English, and Chinese (Simplified) subtitles
- Extras:
- Codes Of Bullets - Encoding the secrets of guns and battle skills by comparison with action scenes in the movies
- Part 1: Guns As Partner/One Man Battle
- Part 2: Die Hard/Hide! Explosion!
- Part 3: A Matter Of Second/Anti-tanks
- New and original trailers
- Photo stills/Photo slide show
- Scenes from the Taiwanese version of A Better Tomorrow III
- Region 3
 |  |  |
Bullet In The Head
Bullet In The Head is infused with all of John Woo's (Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II) cinematic trademarks - gun battles laced with romanticism, friendship and loyalty. Three childhood friends Ben (Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Hero and In The Mood For Love), Frank (Jacky Cheung) and Paul (Waise Lee) fight to prove their places in two riotous worlds - the uprising-ridden Hong Kong and Viet Cong-infested Saigon in the 1960's. They run into bloody troubles with ruthless gangs, corrupt militia and eventually against each other.
10th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards
- Awards:
- Best Film Editing
- Nominations:
- Best Director
- Best Actor
- Best Cinematography
The Killer
Action-packed and extremely stylish, The Killer marks the third collaboration between John Woo (Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II) and Chow Yun-fat (The Replacement Killer and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). Chow plays a hired killer who blinds a singer Jennie (Sally Yeh) during his last job. Wracked by guilt, he decides to take up a few more jobs so that he can pay for her eye operation. Two cops, Lee (Danny Lee) and Randy (Kenneth Tsang) observe the killer at work, they find there is more heart to him than meeting the eye.
9th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards
- Awards:
- Best Director
- Best Film Editing
- Nominations:
- Best Picture
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Screenplay
- Best Cinematography
Specs for the John Woo box set:
- Digitally Remastered
- Letterboxed and 16x9 enhanced
- DTS and DD 5.1
- Bullet In The Head
- Cantonese, Mandarin, Cantonese (Original)
- The Killer
- Cantonese, Mandarin, Cantonese (Original)
- Chinese (Traditional), English, and Chinese (Simplified) subtitles
- Extras:
- Codes Of Bullets - Encoding the secrets of guns and battle skills by comparison with action scenes in the movies
- Part 4: Perfect Selection/Deadly Sniper
- Part 5: Guns Mean Power/Gone With The Wind
- New and original trailers
- Photo stills/Photo slide show
- Region 3
| Thursday, 5/20/2004 |
|
IVL/Fortune Star Delays
| |
|
The A Better Tomorrow box set has been delayed until June 16. The John Woo box set (Bullet In The Head and The Killer) will be released on the same day. |
|
| Monday, 5/17/2004 |
|
Mei Ah May 21 Releases
| |
Pa Pa Loves You (2004)
|
 |
Doctor Mack (1995) aka Mack The Knife
|
 |
| Saturday, 5/15/2004 |
| This Week's Edko Releases | |
|
Memories Of Murder (2003) Director: Bong Joon-ho Cast: Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung Synopsis Based on the true story of the first serial killings in Korea. The body of a young woman is found brutally raped and murdered, and similar crimes continue to occur. A special task force, joined by a detective from the Seoul and a local officer, is hence set up. In spite of the divergent investigation style, detectives trace that women wearing-red on a rainy day as the victim's profile. They try to set up a trap to forestall another murder. The next day, however, yet another woman is found murdered - with an umbrella speared through her pubis...
|  |
| Friday, 5/14/2004 |
This Week's Universe Releases
| |
|
Goddess Of Mercy (2003) aka Jade Goddess Of Mercy Director: Ann Hui Cast: Nicholas Tse, Vicki Zhao, Liu Yunlong, Sun Haiying, Chen Jianbin Synopsis This is a story about a policewoman's intricate love lives: Her husband, TIEJUN, dies saving her life despite he knows he is not the father of their baby; MAOJIE, a drug trafficker, her baby's father, the one she loved but becomes her enemy after an operation which led to the death of his parent; and YANG RUI, a city slicker toy boy, whose love and care for her finally moves her badly scarred heart, but is injured when Maojie comes to take revenge on Anxin. At the last scene, Anxin meets Maojie alone, when both of their closest kin are killed by each other, only till death they can resolve their hatred.
|  |
|
Men Of War (1994) Director: Perry Lang Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Charlotte Lewis, B.D. Wong Synopsis Nick Gunar (Dolph Lundgren) is a mercenary who is having a difficult time adjusting to his civilian life. At the end of his rope, he is hired by the Nitro Mine Corporation to strong-arm the natives of a South China Sea island into giving up their rights to its valuable mineral resources. The island people refuse to give up their land and Nick switches sides and decides to help them fight the greedy corporation. Nick's band of mercenaries choose sides. Some are with him and others, still working for the corporation, will stop at nothing to destroy him.
|  |
|
Mei Ah May 13 DVD Covers/Synopsis
| |
|
The Foliage (2004) Director: Lu Yue Producer: Joe Ma Cast: Shu Qi, Liu Ye Synopsis Summer, 1974. On her way back from family visit in the Kunming province, young female intellectual Xing-yu (Shu Qi) meets the man she won't forget for the rest of her life: young rebellious intellectual Si Mong (Liu Hua). Xing Yu's childhood friend and lover Yuan Ding Guo (Fang Bin) is the leader of her platoon. At the busy Red Post Town market, Yuan and his friends get into a bloody fight with Si Mong. and sustain injury. Xing Yu subsequently gets caught between the two hostile groups. Hoping to negotiate a truce, Xing Yu approaches Si Mong only to be drawn further into a forbidden and passionate relationship. Divinity, however, decides to intervene. It seems the social upheaval of the time, not Yuan, has control over Xing Yu's destiny. Pouring rain eventually puts out the fiery passion that livens up the little hut. When violence finally subsides, one's heart also dies...
|  |
|
Lawyer Lawyer (1997) (Remastered) Director: Joe Ma Cast: Stephen Chow, Karen Mok, Eric Kot, Chingmy Yau, Cheung Tat Ming, Lo Ka Ying, Vincent Kok Synopsis An orphan has no idea that he has a birthmark, or for this very reason he is entitled to inherit a great fortune from a mysterious old lady. Capital punishment strikes him before the arrival of the "capital" - he has been framed in a murder case. His teacher, the best lawyer in town, with no evidence on hand, manages to identify the killer, in a hilarious way...
|  |
| Wednesday, 5/12/2004 |
Mega Star May 14 Releases
| |
  Outer Box Cover | |
|
Xanda (2004) Director: Marco Mak Producer: Tsui Hark Cast: Sang Wei-lin, Zhao Zi-long, Zhang Hong-jun, Ni Jing-yang, Li Tie, Teng Jun Synopsis Set in the near future, Xanda is the name of a modern form of martial arts focusing on extreme speed and power that has arisen in China's heartland. A former fighter turned Xanda coach named Tieh (Zhang Hong-jun) relentlessly trains Lung, his son (Zhao Zi-long) to be the next champion. But after he suffers a defeat by the reigning Xanda champion (Teng Jun), Lung's friend Qiang (Sang Wei-lin) combines his traditional kung fu expertise with unorthodox Xanda training in order to become the next champion.
| |
| Monday, 5/10/2004 (Second Update) |
|
IVL May 20 Releases
| |
|
Life Express (2004) Director: Blacky Ko Cast: Richie Ren, Ruby Lin, Blacky Ko Synopsis This is a touching and thrilling true story reflecting the deep sentiments between the two straits, Mainland China and Taiwan, indicates that life reigns top priority, particularly amongst people who run the same origin of blood. A Chinese leukaemia child needs an immediate marrow transplant but the only suitable matcher is in Taiwan. As the immune system is dropping to its lowest defence power, the child will be in great danger and die unless the delivery of the marrow and the whole transplantation process is completed within 24 hours. This immediately makes the whole process enter a count-down stage...
|  |
| Monday, 5/10/2004 (First Update) |
|
Mei Ah May 13 Releases
| |
The Foliage (2004)
|
 |
Lawyer Lawyer (1997) (Remastered)
|
 |
| Thursday, 5/6/2004 |
|
Revised Shaw Brothers Schedule
| |
There will be no Shaw Brothers releases during the month of May. The 2004 Shaw Brothers Schedule has been updated again:
|
 |
| Tuesday, 5/4/2004 |
|
Mei Ah May 7 Releases
| |
The Foliage (2004)
|
|