Shaw Bros martial arts films on Hulu Plus

14 legit Celestial Shaw Bothers films popped up on Hulu Plus in HD with original English dubs. Some, like "Vengeance", haven't seen official North American DVD releases. While you'll never catch me watching an English dub of a Tsui Hark or post 1985 Hong Kong film, these dubs work for me on a nostalgic level along with letting my eyes take in all the glorious artifice of a Shaw Bros production in HD. These films look beautiful restored and it's kinda a shame classic kung fu films fell victim to faux-grindhouse and VHS fetishization in the conscience of so many viewers.

Watched The New Shaolin Boxers and enjoyed it quite a bit. The "good guy standing up to a gang" plot is tired, but the cast and kung fu are solid. Fu Sheng, Beardy, and Chang Cheh at the helm. I'm easily amused by these films and own a lot on disc. But there are so many, it seems there's always something I haven't gotten to yet.

Hulu Plus is worth the $8 just for the Criterion Collection titles they offer. While they don't offer every title that is out on disc, they do offer many that aren't on disc. Hell, it's worth the cash just to see Hanzo the Razor titles with the Criterion logo on them,

Alright, lets give this blogging thing another go....

A few pics from a highlight of 2014. More to come, got a lot of new Godzilla stuff. As a fan of all things Japanese monsters, it's been an odd couple years with all the exposure the genre has gotten in the West from Pacific Rim and Godzilla(2014). It really opened my eyes to how differently North Americans and Japanese perceive these films and characters. Sorting out my thoughts and observations on the subject which I'll post here for no one to read. 

In 1998 Grindhouse and Rolling Thunder released Lucio Fulci's uncut "The Beyond" to theaters as a midnight movie. It was pretty glorious. Here are some flyers for it from my local theaters.

Japanese 6-disc"Grindhouse"(2007) DVD boxset.

This film wasn't anyone's shining hour, except maybe Rob Zombie's. Won't bore you with my love(the concept)/hate(the faux nostalgia genre it started) relationship with the film. 

 In the USA "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" were released as a single film entitled "Grindhouse" with fake vintage trailers sprinkled between the films. Most countries got the films released separately, which is some typical Weinstein bullshit. In an even bigger bullshit move, the film was split in two, with each title being released separately and re-cut for DVD and Blu-ray releases in the States without the phony trailers. The Japanese set has 6 discs. The longer, stand alone cuts of each film get a disc and their own "making of" discs. The American theatrical experience of "Grindhouse" is presented intact with trailers and the original, shorter cuts of the features. Not sure what's on the Grindhouse SIDE B JAPAN SPECIAL DISC...anyway here's the beautiful Japanese Region 2 set.  My crappy pics don't do it justice. 

 

12 inches of "Pulp Fiction"

Pulp Fiction was released on Oct 12th, 1994 and went on to gross a boatload of cash for Miramax. Back then it was the norm for a film to take 6-9 months, or even a year, to reach home video. Laserdisc owners sometimes had to wait even longer.  Pulp Fiction was still playing in first run theaters in the early months of 1995. I was working at a laserdisc shop at the time and the Japanese laserdisc of Pulp Fiction had been released. We had the biggest movie going at the time available for rental while it was still in theaters. It's nothing nowadays, but at the time it was a major score. This is the only LD I still own. Please note the last picture as it shows the difference between the original art and the re-touched version that replaced it and is now commonplace.

"A Better Tomorrow II" original VHS covers

Was going through some old paperwork today and discovered these. As much as I hate dealing with people, I kinda miss searching out stores that catered to Chinese viewers. Nothing like laying your eyes on a goldmine of video covers for the first time and then heading to the restaurant next door for dim sum with your VHS score afterwards. But them days are over, now it's click, click, and order in. 

 

Original lobby card for Yasuharu Hasebe's "Black Tight Killers". Big thanks to Stephen for this one!