Ono’s Film Blog

I bought every single Empire since issue 1 - right up to about the middle of last year. I only stopped because I ran out of storage in the house. I didn’t find it too hard to stop as I never kept them all anyway - probably about 95% of them I still had.

Anyway, just picked up the 240th edition today after my break. Good to have something else to read on the bog again apart from Edge Magazine and GamesTM.
Many happy returns Empire. 20 years. Amazing how time flies.

Title says it all really. A posthumous Academy Award nomination in March should surely be considered? Certainly the best performance I have seen from an actor in a film so far this year.

I don’t see why the West should have a sub-substandard (yes, there are 2 “subs” for effect) version of this film when the Korean version is already pretty much perfect. Really feel a trick has been missed here by Starmax (and CJ Entertainment) by not packaging up, remastering the English subtitles (this was the only downer of the K-versions) and then selling it to the Western markets. Same goes for Il Mare. Maybe they should have done this when Korean cinema was all the rage during the days of Old Boy and the Vengeance series.
Anyway, yeah, the Hollywood remake was dreadful. Depressingly but, since the annoucement of the cast, not surprisingly so. I’m sure many of you who read movie blogs have seen or heard of this film and whilst I don’t normally condone throwing your money away, I do recommend that you watch the remake just to satisfy that morbid curiousity you may have. It’s probably an 85% shot for shot of the original with most of the set pieces but absolutely none of them have the charm and comedic zest of the original. Elisa Cuthbert is very likely a great actress, although I have never watched 24 nor any of her other stuff, but she was utterly unconvincing here. Dunno who the bloke was and don’t really care but, whilst not as bad as Cuthbert, still a poor substitute for the original.

Buy the original. Rent the remake.

My wife thinks that I am a real geek. Why? Well, almost every time I walk into the lounge and she happens to be watching a film on TV (sometimes obscure stuff like recently Hank’s Road to Perdition ), I am normally able to tell her what the film is within 5 seconds purely by looking at the actors and details from the specific scene showing at that time. I even go on to tell her that we have actually have that film on DVD but it’s still unwatched and unwrapped, which amazes her even more.
Amazing hey? “How can you tell what a film is without even watching it?” she asks.
I put this skill down to my vast knowledge of films and the film industry in general.

It also helps that I scan the papers most mornings for the night’s TV viewing.

Films that shaped my life (well, when I was young) in no particular order:

1. The Karate Kid
2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
3. The Breakfast Club
4. The Karate Kid Part 2
5. Big Trouble in Little China

No special reason why. They just did.

Well, not quite what you had hoped for I guess, but if you want to view the rather smutty and sordid pictures then use Google FFS! Anyway, whilst this whole, rather unpleasant saga is still making headline news over in Hong Kong I thought I would add my views.

Edison is an idiot;

Cecilia is a dirty idiot - but she has Triad connections so I guess she’s a “connected” idiot;

Bobo - I’ve never really heard of but think I can safely class her as an idiot out of ignorance;

Gillian - well, she’s definitely not the virgin her public persona wants the paying public to believe.

Why do I use the term “idiot”? Well, what kind of person, despite the wealth and fame accumulated goes and lets someone take photos of them in positions which would, I have read, make most adults blush? Seriously? Did Edison say, “Hey babe! I want to capture this moment for old times sake because I love you so much. Suck on this and smile please?”?? Pathetic.

The worse thing for me is that in Hong Kong, lots of young kids and teens look up to these people. In a pressure cooker of a society, people do really copy and admire them (although I’m sure many will be “admiring” in a different way now). Even an adult like myself use to be pretty impressed that HK cinema was so impressive on a global scale - but this has put it back into the gutter. I doubt I could take ANY actor/actress seriously now without a nagging feeling in the back of my mind - “wonder who she blew to get the role?”.

Not good. The quicker the four of them disappear from the scene the better.

[EDIT: Gillian is also an idiot in case you think I forgot]

You know? A few years ago, if you had said to me that the main way for delivering video media would be via the interweb I would have laughed at you and gone and purchased 10 more DVDs of crap films just to spite you. It seems though that I may well have to have a radical rethink. What has changed my views? Well, I’ve not actually bought that many films recently as I wait patiently for either Sony or Toshiba to come out on top in the race for my 1080i/p viewing. But during this time I’ve managed to see just as many films ( –> :suspect: <–). This online delivery (as I’ll call it) is actually not too bad. As hard drives get bigger and phatpipes get, well, phatter, this can only get better. I am already a big fan of the Steam platform for games delivery and many of the services provided by Sony and MS on their current gen consoles utilise similar routes to our living rooms.

Of course, I will still be buying loads of Blu-Rays (I mean, erm, BR or HD-DVDs :sigh: ) but my views on the future have changed.

Time will tell but what the heck am I going to do with the 600 DVDs in the lounge?!

Bugger. Never used a Blog before and added a comment when I should have added a post.

FFS.

Anyway, I was thinking the other day about whether or not I should stop buying DVDs now. I mean, a year or so, IMHO, and most of us will have Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Why throw good money on DVD?

Especially when it stays sealed on the pile unwatched and unloved.

Life is so busy sometimes. Rushed off my feet at work, home life is busy with the Missus and the rugrats to attend to. Finding any sort of time to settle down to watch any sort of film is nigh on impossible at the moment. I don’t even know why I bother buying so many films from pre-order.

I’m sure I’m not the only one from DVDForums in the same boat but it doesn’t make it easier.

Especially as I continue to buy DVDs like mad.