Me & John Woo

[dookey67]

shameless self promotion warning...

i recently had the opportunity to interview John Woo regarding his latest film, Red Cliff. while it's only being released in select cities (in an edited for American audiences version), you can expect it to hit DVD in a few months (with the full, unedited original cut, too!).

if you're a fan of Woo's early HK output, then you'll dig this. also if you're a fan of Kurosawa-styled epic battle pictures, then you'll dig Red Cliff, as well.

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[Hugh Conway]

Nice work. Looking forward to Red Cliff :)

First thought when I read the thread title was "that sounds like a cool indy flick title"

[Benny Profane]

cool. Saw him on Charlie Rose, and his struggles with English.

I'm still waiting for The Killer on DVD.

edit: motherfucker, it's on DVD! This is a cool double bill: Amazon.com: John Woo Collection DVD 2-Pack: The Killer/ Hard Boiled: Yun-Fat Chow, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, Philip Kwok, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Hoi-Shan Kwan, Wei Tung, Bowie Lam, Meng Lo, John Woo, Amy Chin, Hark Tsui, Linda Kuk, Terence Chang, Barry Wong, Gordon Chan: Movies & TV

I have to talk to Netflix.....

[dookey67]

Yeah, The Killer has been released on DVD a few times. It always goes out of print and then somebody else puts it out.

Woo is a class act, too. I've interviewed him, i think, a total of 5 times over the years and he's always gracious as heck (makes you feel like it's his honor to talk to you, which is rare for a "celeb"). he is also the only "celeb" that ever sent me a Christmas card, which is another rarity.

At any rate, Red Cliff is solid, but I'm really stoked to watch the uncut version they released in Asia (Woo and Magnet Films felt that Western audiences wouldn't sit through 5 hours of a story that is unfamiliar to them, but is basically known to the majority of Chinese and Asian folks as it's about a battle that was a major historical milestone in the culture).

[Benny Profane]

What I found surprising is that he said it's very popular in Japan. Considering recent military conflicts and simmering differences about published histories of said conflicts, you would think that wouldn't happen.

[dookey67]

What I found surprising is that he said it's very popular in Japan. Considering recent military conflicts and simmering differences about published histories of said conflicts, you would think that wouldn't happen.

on a semi-related and possibly just as interesting side note, i recently interviewed Michael Jai White about his blaxploitations homage/send-up Black Dynamite and he said that it is really popular in Germany and other Eastern Block countries like Czech Republic. that was kind of surprising to me.

at any rate, perhaps the popularity of the film in Japan comes from what you said. makes me wonder if our WW2 films were ever popular in Japan and Europe.

[powpig]

I'm still waiting for The Killer on DVD.

edit: motherfucker, it's on DVD! This is a cool double bill: Amazon.com: John Woo Collection DVD 2-Pack: The Killer/ Hard Boiled: Yun-Fat Chow, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, Philip Kwok, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Hoi-Shan Kwan, Wei Tung, Bowie Lam, Meng Lo, John Woo, Amy Chin, Hark Tsui, Linda Kuk, Terence Chang, Barry Wong, Gordon Chan: Movies & TV (http://www.amazon.com/John-Woo-Collection-DVD-2-Pack/dp/B00004W459)

I have to talk to Netflix.....

I may be stating the obvious here, but make sure to get the subtitled version(s). Back in the day I rented the dubbed version of The Killer on VHS and they changed a bunch of the stuff, like the nicknames, was laughable, and not in a good way.

Haven't seen those in years, will have to check 'em out again, and thanks for the heads up on the new Woo!

[arild]

I´ll order it when the uncut version comes on dvd. Sucker for long, epic films.

[MultiVerse]

Thanks dookey, Red Cliff sounds rad.

+++ Kurosawa-styled epic battle pictures +++

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