LamLok

I was very happy to get Hana-bi on blu-ray. Kikujiro next!

I'm actually surprised that story will have elements of horror. When I first heard about this project I thought that it will be about priests covering some kind of crime and struggling with their faith

I continue in my way to rewatch Milkyway Image films and I decided on: Breaking News (2004, Johnnie To) - Decent actioner where media play a big role, but this subplot wasn't handled good. All charecters are uninteresting and some of their decisions seemed forced only for purpose of story moving forward. Even action is in some places not well choreographed, which is unusual for To. Sparrow (2008, Johnnie To) - Love letter to Hong Kong. It's pretty obvious that style of this film is inspired by early 60's italian/french films. It may look empty storywise at first, but as I mentioned it's all about the style. When I started watching To's films I noticed that music is always somehow "different" and doesn't sit well into the picture. But as I watched more of them I really started to like it. In this case, music is great and beautiful. Really light-hearted/light-toned and "peaceful" To. Drug War (2012, Johnnie To) - I noticed that some people wasn't happy with fact that Johnnie To did film in mainland China. They say that chinese censhorship and rules make film predictable and plot suffers because of that. I disagree. Others can be limited and tied, but To uses censhorship in his benefit and bends and builds story around it greatly. Cold, focused, no toying around, yet you can clearly feel To's style (like in his more serious films like Election). Sun Honglei is awesome as police captain. In fact, all characters are good, even though we know nothing or very little about them. I like these dedicated characters which are pros at what are they doing. Great film. + Se7en (1995, David Fincher, rewatch) - Revisting this classic after many years felt good. This is one of those films where impact after seeing it for the first time is pretty strong. When I watched it again I already knew what to expect and nothing suprised me, but it's still solid depressing story.

Do you remember how good subtitles are? I wanted to pick it up, but I read that The Day a Pig Fell into the Well has really bad english subtitles. I wonder if it's the same case on dvd.

I read somewhere that Chow will be probably main villain. But who knows...

I recently rewatched three Milkyway Image films in my quest to explore more Johnnie To's work (both as director and producer). Election (2005, Johnnie To) - I first saw this film a couple of years ago and didn't quite get it. It seemed cold to me, without any kind of emotion and very confusing. There was too many characters (I didn't know who was who) and I couldn't sympathise with anyone - which is the main point of whole story. No gloryfying of triads and old tradions vs. modern world and hunger for money and power. Now, everything makes sense and I love it. Election 2 (2006, Johnnie To) - I would say that best way to enjoyed it is to saw it immediately after first part. Most important characters returns, yet style and story are completely different. Music, light and shadows, gloomy atmosphere... In my opinion best To's film to date. And very important film after 1997 handover in terms of mainland goverment's influence on Hong Kong politics. Mad Detective (2007, Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai) - When To and Wai team up it's in most cases for their romcoms. But this is good suprise. Again, it didn't click with me at first, because I thought that it's supposed to be some hybrid between comedy and mystery. When I watched it last night I was drawn in pretty quickly. Only character that Andy On portrayed seemed rushed to me. + Johnnie Got His Gun! (2010, Yves Montmayeur) - Documentary about about To covering his period from The Mission to start of shooting Life Without Principle. Maybe good watch for people who know nothing abouth his work, but for fans nothing new.

You should try Samurai Fiction (aka SF: Episode One), but it's comedy mixed with unusual rock soundtrack. There is also Yamada Yoji's Twilight Samurai, which he followed with another two samurai films Hidden Blade and Love and Honor (I didn't saw the last one, so I'm not sure how good it is). Last film I can recommend is classic, but you probably saw it already, Kitano's Zatoichi.

I hope it's nothing serious. But it happened to me twice and after couple of hours site was back. So hopefully this is the case.

Another good thing about this film. It's totally unexpected. I must confess that when I saw it for the first time I laughed a couple of times.

I don't watch a lot of horrors. But from time to time I checkout some. In terms of violence it would be I Saw the Devil, psychologically Suicide Club and then british mystery film Kill List (2011), where the feel of danger is sensed throught the whole movie.

I'm quite glad that he returns to Korea. He certainly proved that he can do bigger films with his enjoyable The Good, the Bad, the Weird.

That would be awesome. I came across this accidentaly a few days ago - Election 3, but I visited hkmdb only a couple of times and I don't know how trusworthy are they.

Hello, I discovered this forum thanks to cityonfire and after browsing through a few threads I decided to register. I must confess that I know completely nothing about classical kung-fu films, but I've been watching asian cinema since 2009. But most stuff a I saw is mainly contemporary, so I have a huge film gaps. My eyes are fixed on Korean, Japanese and HK/Chinese cinema. And I know that this is pretty short, but that would be all for now...

Hi. Does anyone think that it's going to happen soon? 2015 is near the end and no announcement was made...