The Burning of Yuan Ming Yuan (火烧圆明园)(1983)

 

 The Burning of Yuan Ming Yuan (火烧圆明园)

Dir:  Han Hsiang Li

Cast: Tony Leung Ka Fai, Xiaoqing Liu , Kun Xiang , Tielin Zhang, Jie Zhou, Ye Chen ,etc

Plot:  Han Hsiang Li focuses on Empress Dowager Cixi (or Tzu Hsi), who seduced the Emperor and managed to rule from behind the throne through successive regimes. But before she became Empress, Cixi (played here by Liu Hsiao Chin) was simply Yu Lan, concubine to Emperor Xian Feng (Tony Leung Ka Fai). In her years at the Imperial Palace, Yu Lan would seduce the Emperor, bear him a son, and undergo turmoil at the hands of foreign invaders, who finally burnt down the Imperial Palace. (yesasia)

Year: 1983

Country: Mainland China / HK

Trailer (edit from our dvd): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vkzAUeGmso

Notes: The movie has been released in China by Gzbeauty. There are a lot of versions, ours had English subtitles. Anyway, it was released also in HK (vcd and dvd).The director was into historical drama with movies such as The Empress Dowager (一代妖后)(1989) and Reign behind the curtain (垂帘听政)(1983). This is Tony Leung Ka Fai’s second movie. Xiaoqing Liu starred also in the first mainland action movie Mysterious Buddha(神秘的大佛)(1980).

Personal opinion: Maybe you are asking yourself why we put here such movie, our answer is simple: it was pretty well received when it came out, so we thought it deserved a place here.We usually don't like historical drama, let’s say it.. they are quite boring if you are not interested in such matter. Talking about the movie, the intro is way too long, it’s really beautiful too watch but really damn boring also. And then another flaw: the battles. The one between the Chinese and the British/French is so annoying, boring, dull..  you choose.The foreigners are portrait like evil beings, ready to destroy everything and kill every Chinese. Maybe it is true, dunno. When the foreigners arrive in Beijing the massacre begins, women, men, children all dead, we gotta say that these scenes were pretty strong.Oh before we forget, if you can’t stand animal cruelty, do not buy this movie. There is a scene were a deer is being tortured because its blood is needed. The deer is real and the blood too.Overall the movie is gorgeous to watch, but boring as well (if you are not into this kind of movies). It’s up to you to decide if it’s the right movie for you.

Some snapshots (from the original dvd):

Shop updated!

Hi folks!
We just updated our shop with some new entries:
-The Substitute (1983) (Poster A and B)
-Luo Cheng the Handsome Guy (1993) (Lobbies)
-Suo Ming Fei Dai (1991) (Lobbies)
and we uploaded some pics of the stuff we re selling directly on facebook.
We are open to requests (vcds,dvds,vhs,posters,books,lobbies,scripts,etc), if you are looking for something just drop a line, and we see if we can help you out.
Link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shop/264669523561569

Cheers!

ps: we will update the blog soon with another movie..stay tune!

Lucky 13 (侠十三妹)(1986)

Lucky 13 (侠十三妹)

Dir: Qitian Yang || Toru Murakawa

Cast: Lan Ding, Bozhao Wang, Cunzhuang Ge, Qun Wang, Junfeng Li , Chongfei Shao ,Yongan Ma , Bangyu Zheng,Mei Yuan

Plot: Qing dynasty,He Yufeng (Lan Ding)'s family has been murdered. He Yufeng goes to train in the mountain in order to get vengeance. Here the master will give her the name of "十三妹" (Shisan Mei)..

Year: 1986

Country: Mainland China

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-8PD-1Rnw4

Notes: The movie is released in China on dvd by Gzbeauty (no subs at all). The movie was also released in Japan on Vhs . The main actress Lan Ding was really popular in China back then, she had roles in movies like "The Shaolin Temple (少林寺)(1982)", the famous Jet Li's movie. Well, her career also started with that flick. Then she got involved in movies like Disclple of shaolin temple (少林寺弟子)(1983)   and Kids from Shaolin (少林小子)(1983) with Jet Li. Her popularity took her to have a role in the series The Dream Of Red Mansions. About the Chinese director he was also one of the writer.

Personal opinion: You know how much we like movies with heroines, right? It’s just love! We regret that it took us so long to watch this one. Our bad..
Well, let’s talk about the movie. The plot is always about vengeance, so nothing new. What about the choreography then? It’s awesome. Lan Ding is excellent in her role as heroine and her skills are pretty good. The wires are used for some jumps and in one particular scene: the temple’s.

Here we have the heroine against a lot of weird stuff: fire, water (!!), flying objects, flying weapons, acid, fireworks (eheh),etc. This is the only scene were the special effects have been used. The quality of them are so and so, but looking at the year of the movie and the country, well, they tried their best we guess.

Anyway, during the training sequences there is something that recall the Jet Li’s training in his famous “The Shaolin Temple”. Do you remember that in that movie you see Jet Li training during the 4 seasons, right? Well, in “Lucky 13” (awful translation..) you see our heroine who is training in the same way. You see her taking water in spring, autumn, winter and summer (if we are not mistaken, 3 seasons for sure though). A nice touch, don’t you think so?
But Lan Ding is not the only one good at kung fu, we have her friends who show us what kung fu is about, and of course the villains.

In conclusion, we just loved this movie. The actress was perfect in her role (and soooo cute, loved those eyes), the MA is pretty solid and the movie never get boring. Check it out if you have the chance.
Some snapshots (from the original dvd):

The shop is.... open!

Oh yeah!
Here the link:
Mainland Movies Land
If there are any problems (for ex: the pics dont work,etc), please let us know.
It's just the beginning... trust us!
Cheers and add us on facebook!

Shop! Shop! Shop!

Hi guys,
We decided to open a little online shop!
We will sell original posters and lobbies for mainland movies and coproductions (ex. china-tw, china-hk). Moreover we are thinking to make it more interesting: we won't sell just posters/lobbies but also those little books that we already shown you and vcds/dvds (original and cd-r/dvd-r for the movies that are not available on any legit release).
It will open on facebook, we just have to figure out how to make it possible.
Stay tune for the big opening!

PS: we are not dead, we are really busy so our updates are really slow.. sorry about that.

Death at the Carefree Mansion (索命逍遥楼)(1990)

Death at the Carefree Mansion (索命逍遥楼)

Dir: Wenhua Li || Ni Li

Cast: Guoqiang Huang, Fengyi Yang, Chi Wang

Year: 1990

Country: Mainland China

Notes: The movie is released in China on dvd by GZ　Beauty (without subtitles). Amazon.com carries it. Fengyi Yang (the girl in the movie) just starred in this and in another kung fu flick (Loyal Hero (1992)). Guoqiang Huang starred in a lot of action flicks (for ex: Death Inn (1988), The Flying Ratman (1990)). Same goes for Chi Wang (The Magic Legs (1988), Disciples of Shaolin Temple (1985)).

Personal opinion: When we bought this movie we didn’t know anything about it. Was it a good flick? Was it awful? Didnt know back then. Last night we finally watched it and… damn if it was good. The action scenes were outstanding, with and without weapons (swords, flames, spikes, etc) the actors knew how to put a show. As far as the acting was corcerned, We must admit that the actors were pretty weak, they were not that good. Sometimes the impression was like they didn’t even want to be in the movie. The plot is pretty interesting and with a lot of surprises (We never expected that…… we will not spoil you anything), So: the story works, the martial arts scenes work.. what else could you ask for? Check it out!
Some snapshots (from the original dvd):

Rarities [Update]

Hi guys/gals! Here the last update for May.
These images are from some magazines we bought here in China. The one about 南北少林 (1986) shows a rare "on set" pic. The article is about the movie of course. Source: Wu Hun 2/1984

The one about 三上五台山 shows 2 pics of the movie as long as a long description of the story. Source: Wu Hun 2/1984

Now let`s go with some other stuff.
Here's an "article" about the movie 黑匣喋血记 (1986). It shows some of the cast, with pics and names. Source: Shanghai Film 1985

Here's the last "article". It's about the movie 张衡
(1983), with pics, cast and plot. Source: Shanghai Film 1982