Buys
Summer is when I probably spend the most money on DVDs, stocking up for the year. Looks like Kung Fu Fridays will have to be prolonged beyond the season too, what with me grabbing all of Dragon Dynasty's catalog. This week, I add Kill Zone, Police Story 1 and 2, and John Woo's Last Hurrah for Chivalry. Oh, and Jet Li's Fearless on another label. And realizing I can't keep inviting people over for Kung Fu movies and not have Bruce Lee on tap, I got me Enter the Dragon and the Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection which features The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, and Game of Death I and II.
In non-Chinese media, I was finally convinced to get the following things: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Pat's fault), Firefly (Frank's fault), and Run Fatboy Run (Carolynn's fault). And before getting into Torchwood Series 3, I plan on listening to the BBC radio drama, Lost Souls.
"Accomplishments"
Books: My reading of Doctor Who novels proceeds apace with the New Adventure The Dimension Riders by Daniel Blythe. It's a strong, literate affair building on the mystery of just who, or what, has been meddling with history, with good turns for all the regulars. I do wish the books could handle all three of them together in one location (they seem to always split them up), but this one at least uses that to neat paradoxical effect. On a purely personal note, before a description of him cropped up, I cast Timothy Dalton as the Time Lord called the President (as influenced by my recent viewing of Hot Fuzz), and now I've found out that Dalton will be playing a Time Lord Chancellor in the next Doctor Who, The Waters of Mars (in flashback?). What have my antennae been tuned to?
Taking a break from the 7th Doctor's somewhat dark adventures, I next too on The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier, a New Series novel starring Ten and Martha. It's a very slim story featuring a ship caught in a time loop and humanoid badger pirates that suffers from an all-too-flippant Doctor. It's a harmless romp, yet there's violence in it, and the Doctor's reaction seems off. Good use of the time loop for narrative effect, but yeah, it tends to repeat itself.
DVDs: Let's stick to Doctor Who connections... I flipped over Torchwood Series 2, seeing as I'll soon be able to watch Series 3 and wanted to get it out of the way (I'm anal like that). Still think it's one of the better "New Who" seasons ever produced, a real heart-breaker at the end, and even the less interesting episodes far superior than most of Series 1. No commentary tracks on the episodes, this time, which is kind of a let down, but Torchwood Declassified does a fair job of looking at each episode's challenges. There are a few outtakes and deleted scenes as well.
I also got through Secret Diary of a Call Girl Season 2 (just 8 short episodes, after all), which had more drama than comedy this time around, as Belle got a boyfriend and a pupil. The latter provides the laughs, especially in included Webisodes that go a long way towards making Bambi more likable. Too bad about Billie Piper's distracting tan... The DVD also includes an interview with the star that's a lot better than the previous season's.
I followed this up with Run Fatboy Run, which was just what the doctor ordered after a stressful day of road construction noises outside my window. A pleasant little romantic comedy/sports movie with the always pleasant Thandie Newton and the equally engaging Simon Pegg, co-written by the latter for the Brit vibe I like so much. The commentary track by Pegg, Newton and director David Schwimmer is fun too, as are the outtakes and deleted scenes.
On Kung Fu Friday, watched The One-Armed Swordsman, the old Shaw Brothers production that many credit with the martial arts boom in Hong Kong and eventually, the world. It's a quieter piece than I expected, as much an introspective romance as a swordplay picture. Some of the action is sluggish when compared to more recent films, but it's still a strong story. The DVD includes a commentary track by critics (but not Quentin Tarantino as the packaging promises - I think it's a cut and paste error using the King Boxer text), a retrospective of director Chang Cheh's career, an interview with the star, and a lot of vintage trailers for films both good and not so good.
On Gun Fu Saturday (why not, I was bored), watched Kill Zone, the terrible English title of an Donnie Yen-Sammo Hung heroic bloodshed tragedy actually called "SPL: Sha Po Lang". It's a title that has to do with Chinese astrology and the stars lining up with devastating effect. Hard to translate, but Kill Zone? Really? Anyway, being a Hong Kong crime/action picture, it looks gorgeous. Its understated acting made me think of Infernal Affairs, except with some kickass martial arts action in the third act. The DVD is fully loaded with extras, as they say, and between the couple hours of interviews and full hour of raw behind the scenes footage from fight scenes, you get a very good idea of Donnie Yen's action style.
Radio plays: And... back to Torchwood. Lost Souls by Joseph Lidster the first BBC radio production, taking place in the wake of Series 2's events and guest-starring Martha Jones. It's a topical story in that it uses the Hadron collider to open a gateway to something not so nice, and I'd say it only rates as ok when compared to similar Big Finish productions. Except for one thing, and that is Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper. While the other actors are good, you can sometimes feel they're in front of a microphone. Not her. She gives an excellent performance full of surprises. The CD also comes with a feature about Series 2 that would act as a good addition to the DVD if only it were visual, but not much in the way of packaging. I'd have liked a little booklet or leaflet with proper credits, for example.
Hyperion to a Satyr, entries this week include:
Act I Scene 1 according to Olivier
Someone Else's Post of the Week
Thanks to Cal's Canadian Cave of Cool for bringing this really very well researched article at Den of Geek: Top 75 Spaceships in Movies and TV. It's inspired a couple of posts for this upcoming week's celebrations. See you there!
Summer is when I probably spend the most money on DVDs, stocking up for the year. Looks like Kung Fu Fridays will have to be prolonged beyond the season too, what with me grabbing all of Dragon Dynasty's catalog. This week, I add Kill Zone, Police Story 1 and 2, and John Woo's Last Hurrah for Chivalry. Oh, and Jet Li's Fearless on another label. And realizing I can't keep inviting people over for Kung Fu movies and not have Bruce Lee on tap, I got me Enter the Dragon and the Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection which features The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, and Game of Death I and II.In non-Chinese media, I was finally convinced to get the following things: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Pat's fault), Firefly (Frank's fault), and Run Fatboy Run (Carolynn's fault). And before getting into Torchwood Series 3, I plan on listening to the BBC radio drama, Lost Souls.
"Accomplishments"
Books: My reading of Doctor Who novels proceeds apace with the New Adventure The Dimension Riders by Daniel Blythe. It's a strong, literate affair building on the mystery of just who, or what, has been meddling with history, with good turns for all the regulars. I do wish the books could handle all three of them together in one location (they seem to always split them up), but this one at least uses that to neat paradoxical effect. On a purely personal note, before a description of him cropped up, I cast Timothy Dalton as the Time Lord called the President (as influenced by my recent viewing of Hot Fuzz), and now I've found out that Dalton will be playing a Time Lord Chancellor in the next Doctor Who, The Waters of Mars (in flashback?). What have my antennae been tuned to?
Taking a break from the 7th Doctor's somewhat dark adventures, I next too on The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier, a New Series novel starring Ten and Martha. It's a very slim story featuring a ship caught in a time loop and humanoid badger pirates that suffers from an all-too-flippant Doctor. It's a harmless romp, yet there's violence in it, and the Doctor's reaction seems off. Good use of the time loop for narrative effect, but yeah, it tends to repeat itself.
DVDs: Let's stick to Doctor Who connections... I flipped over Torchwood Series 2, seeing as I'll soon be able to watch Series 3 and wanted to get it out of the way (I'm anal like that). Still think it's one of the better "New Who" seasons ever produced, a real heart-breaker at the end, and even the less interesting episodes far superior than most of Series 1. No commentary tracks on the episodes, this time, which is kind of a let down, but Torchwood Declassified does a fair job of looking at each episode's challenges. There are a few outtakes and deleted scenes as well.
I also got through Secret Diary of a Call Girl Season 2 (just 8 short episodes, after all), which had more drama than comedy this time around, as Belle got a boyfriend and a pupil. The latter provides the laughs, especially in included Webisodes that go a long way towards making Bambi more likable. Too bad about Billie Piper's distracting tan... The DVD also includes an interview with the star that's a lot better than the previous season's.
I followed this up with Run Fatboy Run, which was just what the doctor ordered after a stressful day of road construction noises outside my window. A pleasant little romantic comedy/sports movie with the always pleasant Thandie Newton and the equally engaging Simon Pegg, co-written by the latter for the Brit vibe I like so much. The commentary track by Pegg, Newton and director David Schwimmer is fun too, as are the outtakes and deleted scenes.
On Kung Fu Friday, watched The One-Armed Swordsman, the old Shaw Brothers production that many credit with the martial arts boom in Hong Kong and eventually, the world. It's a quieter piece than I expected, as much an introspective romance as a swordplay picture. Some of the action is sluggish when compared to more recent films, but it's still a strong story. The DVD includes a commentary track by critics (but not Quentin Tarantino as the packaging promises - I think it's a cut and paste error using the King Boxer text), a retrospective of director Chang Cheh's career, an interview with the star, and a lot of vintage trailers for films both good and not so good.
On Gun Fu Saturday (why not, I was bored), watched Kill Zone, the terrible English title of an Donnie Yen-Sammo Hung heroic bloodshed tragedy actually called "SPL: Sha Po Lang". It's a title that has to do with Chinese astrology and the stars lining up with devastating effect. Hard to translate, but Kill Zone? Really? Anyway, being a Hong Kong crime/action picture, it looks gorgeous. Its understated acting made me think of Infernal Affairs, except with some kickass martial arts action in the third act. The DVD is fully loaded with extras, as they say, and between the couple hours of interviews and full hour of raw behind the scenes footage from fight scenes, you get a very good idea of Donnie Yen's action style.
Radio plays: And... back to Torchwood. Lost Souls by Joseph Lidster the first BBC radio production, taking place in the wake of Series 2's events and guest-starring Martha Jones. It's a topical story in that it uses the Hadron collider to open a gateway to something not so nice, and I'd say it only rates as ok when compared to similar Big Finish productions. Except for one thing, and that is Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper. While the other actors are good, you can sometimes feel they're in front of a microphone. Not her. She gives an excellent performance full of surprises. The CD also comes with a feature about Series 2 that would act as a good addition to the DVD if only it were visual, but not much in the way of packaging. I'd have liked a little booklet or leaflet with proper credits, for example.Hyperion to a Satyr, entries this week include:
Act I Scene 1 according to Olivier
Someone Else's Post of the Week
Thanks to Cal's Canadian Cave of Cool for bringing this really very well researched article at Den of Geek: Top 75 Spaceships in Movies and TV. It's inspired a couple of posts for this upcoming week's celebrations. See you there!
Comments
But yes, I can believe the action is more intense. This was made very early and didn't yet have the same aesthetic. In fact, it was part of a movement to tone the wuxia stuff down.