domenica 31 ottobre 2010

Strange Love of a Ghost (幽魂奇恋) (1992)

Strange Love of a Ghost (幽魂奇恋) 
Dir: Qiu Lili
Cast: Dong Xiaoyan, Wang Zhigang, Xu Xiaojian
Plot:This love ghost story reflects the suffering of a ghost living in a world that doesn't belong to it, there is no evil,there is just ghosts... in an inn, where business is growing up day by day, something evil occured, a robbery and a murder..from that moment on the inn is won't be a peaceful place anymore..
Year: 1992
Country: Mainland China 
Notes: The movie has not been released on any legit format in mainlad china, just broadcasting over and over on cctv6. The director also directed the war movie dated 1992 called "Generous Hero"(仗义英雄). As far as the cast in concerned, the only one who actually starred in other particular mainland production is Xiaojian Xu, who acted in movies like Slaughter In Xian (西安杀戮)(1987),The river dragon (过江龙)(1987)[we re going to review this one really soon [is available on official mainland dvd]] and  in Da Shanghai 1937 (大上海1937)(1986).
Personal opinion: Unfortunately we just some clips on the internet taken from the television broadcast, and it seems a pretty good and interesting movie. It's quite rare to see something like this from China so we are really looking forward to see it...Since it's a rare mainland flick we bought the original chinese poster few months ago (you can see it above)..might not be "A chinese ghost story" but still, we think, worth our time.
Some snapshots (source: television broadcast):










sabato 30 ottobre 2010

The heroine of tianhu lake (天湖女侠)(1988)

The heroine of tianhu lake (天湖女侠)

Dir:  Zhao Weiheng, Qiao Keji
Cast: He Yan,Wang Jianjun, Qiu Yunsun,Chen Xiaolou, Liu Feng, Xu Xueli,Li Xuelin,Peng Wencong
Plot: At the end of the Qing dinasty, in order to protect a tresure from the foreigners, a girl will fight back..
Year: 1988
Country: Mainland China 
Trailer (Edit by us (source Official Mainland vcd)) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-bcJz0E4V4
Notes: The movie has been released in China on vcd (gzbeauty) without english subtitles.The poster u see above is from our personal collection. About the cast, we couldnt fint anything on them, it seems that their last and only movie is this one.  If you have some other info, pls share with us. Thank you.
Personal opinion: The flick is definitely worth your time. The story might not be really "new", but the fights are worth and the main actress is priceless. There is some wirework involved but who cares? Actors/actresses will show you their skill with or without them.. 
Some snapshots (source: official mainland vcd):






giovedì 28 ottobre 2010

Where to buy

Today we're not going to show you any movie, we want to spend this post to tell you where to buy legit releases from China.
We know that China provides lots and lots of bootlegs (just search on ebay and you will see), but you should know by now that China provides legit releases too (look on the right collumn of this blog).
The first, and the more famous website is ,of course, yesasia. Its catalogue is huge but mainland releases are overpriced. For example a dvd/vcd that costs 30yuan in China/HK (yes, you can find mainland releases also there), yesasia's price is sth like 10US$. On the other hand, buyoyo keeps low prices or at least reasonable.
Another website where you can find official mainland releases is amazon.com , here you can find some gzbeauty releases (only dvds) but their prices kill any deal. They ask sth like 17US$ for a dvd!! Please do not buy from them.
Besides these 3, we have also sensasian . We had some problem with this website but still, they have some chinese releases. Be aware of bootlegs though.
Now let's talk about chinese mainland websites. The mighty three are:
1- http://www.amazon.cn/
2- http://dangdang.com/
3- http://cnave.com/
The prices there are the current market's. So cheap prices and cheap shipping as well. The only problem is that you need to know/read chinese. We made a guide for amazon.cn some years ago (you can find it here: http://www.theimportforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13034 ), it mights help you.
As far as ebay is concerned, you need to be really careful. A lot of sellers from china (or america) sell just bootlegs or grey zone discs. So keep your eyes widely open, if you'r not sure about what u'r buying, don't buy it or at least first check the chinese websites we provided you.

mercoledì 27 ottobre 2010

Suo ming fei dao (索命飞刀)(1991)

Suo ming fei dao (索命飞刀)
DirShiming Ji , Zhongming Liu
Cast: Chen Qi, Kou Zhenhai, Wang Gang, Hou Shuang, Zhang Dehui
Plot: Dou Erdun's sister rely on her unique skill with knifes in order to get revenge over Huang Tianba, who killed her brother.
Year: 1991
Country: Mainland China 
Trailer (Edit by us (source Official Mainland dvd))http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJBxpExjEBo
Notes: The movie has been released in China on vcd (gzbeauty) without english subtitles.
Personal opinion: We really like movies where the lead role is played by a girl/woman, it's been since "Come drink with me" (Shaw Brothers) that we're fond of this kind of flick. It's always a joy to see a girl who fights lots and lots of villains. This movie is not different, we have a lot of fights (some helped with wires for jumps and stuff) , a story of vengeance, nothing new nothing bad. Check it out if you have the chance.
Some snapshots (source: official mainland vcd):





martedì 26 ottobre 2010

Godly Beggar (神丐)(1987)

Godly Beggar (神丐)
Dir: Gao Tianhong, Wang Dankui
Cast: Li Xida, Hu Yingjie, Wang Qun, Zhang Bin
Plot: Once upon a time there was young Yanglu Chan, degraded into slavery and robbery, who at last became the Yang Tai Chi master..this is his story
Year: 1987
Country: Mainland China
Notes: The movie has been released in China on dvd (gzbeauty) without english subtitles. The director Gao Tianhong also directed another kung fu movie called Magical Dragon Sword Warrioress Lu Siniang (神龙剑侠吕四娘)(1989), which is released by the same company in China, along with Heroing Lu siniang (风尘女侠吕四娘) (1988), which has not been released yet.
Personal opinion: A good entertaining kung fu movie from China, the story is quite interesting and the coreography (the most important part in a kung fu movie in our opinion) is worth your time. If you like oldschool kung fu movies from HK/TW you will love this mainland flick as well.
Some snapshots (source: official mainland dvd):





lunedì 25 ottobre 2010

Vicious Passageway (黑色走廊)(1990)

Vicious Passageway (黑色走廊)

Dir: Wang Biao, Lu Xiaolong
Cast: Lu Xiaolong, Luo Xiou·Ba Ting, Ande Liegu, Yidi Fei Landu, Jie Pan
Plot: Wang Long, one of the primary smuggler who sell drugs to Europe, has been signed by the Interpol in order to follow the drug market as an undercover....
Year: 1990
Country: Mainland China, Hong Kong
Trailer (Edit by us (source Official Mainland dvd)): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5FOFaZXrfA
Notes: Lu Xiaolong starred in some Bruce Lee's exploitation like Enter the Game of Death and Bruce is loose, as well as in the Shaw Brothers movie called The Tea House (1974). Jie Pan starred in a kinda of spooky movie from China called The lonely spirit in an old building (1989) and in a movie adaption of the chinese fairy tale "Butterflies in Love" called Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (1994). As far as Vicious Passageway is concerned, it has been released in China on dvd (no subs) by GZbeauty. The chinese title means Black Passageway.
Personal opinion: This is just one example of what China (and in this case, HK too) can offer to the viewers in terms of action: gun fights, martial arts, drugs, blood, corruption... nothing more nothing less, just pure old school intertainment...and yes we have the original poster at home :)°°
Some snapshots (source: official mainland dvd):






domenica 24 ottobre 2010

Fate and Consequence (武僧)(2007)

Fate and Consequence (武僧)

Dir: He Wei; Chow Jan-Wing
Cast: Fan Siu Wong, Mao Zhi-Qiang, Yuan Wen-Ting, Liang Feng,| Xu Caigen, Lam Wai
Plot: The son of the emperor has been rescued and sent to the Shaolin Temple. Ten years later, Yang Wu (Fan Siu Wong), is looking for him in order to get him back to the throne...unfortunately it won't be that easy..
Year: 2007
Country: Mainland China 
Notes: Action coreography by Yuen Bo (Angel Terminators 2 ,PTU). The only edition available is the mainland one which doesnt carry any subs, just simplified or traditional chinese.
Personal opinion: We know that this flick is a bit too new, and it might not fit in our blog "policy" but we really liked it and we think that it deserves its place in here. The fighting scenes are pure old school kungfu, there is really really really little of wires work, and a lot of skills from each actors. The star of the gory "The story of ricky" provides in this kungfu movie that he still knows how to kick ass (if you don't know,we're talking about Fan siu Wong). Don't worry from now on we will just write about 80/90s movies,this one,along with another one (in the next few days you will find out), is just a special event.
Some snapshots (source: official mainland dvd):






sabato 23 ottobre 2010

Flying Centipede (飞天蜈蚣)(1994)

Flying Centipede (飞天蜈蚣)
Dir: Sun Qingguo
Cast: Qu Ying, Wu Gang, Ge Sha
Plot: The police seemes not to be able to catch a group of robbers known as "Flying Centipede". Then the police put on the case the detective Ouyang Long to assist the police force. During the investigation, Ouyang Long realize that the whole police is involved....
Year: 1994
Country: Mainland China 
Notes: The movie has been released on vcd (gzbeauty) in Mainland China, it doesn't carry any english subs.The chinese title means exactly Flying Centipede. The director just made 3 movies in his entire life, on the other hand,Qu Ying had some roles in movies like Fight For Justice (决战枭雄) (2004) and Zhang Yimou's  Keep Cool (有话好好说)(1997).
Personal opinion: One of the few examples of "criminal wearing costumes" movie from China. You can see him/her fly all over the places, shoot while flying...we are sure that if you like this kind of movie ,you will like this flick as well.
Some snapshots: