See Reviews For This Product

Description

Ming Tomb, Chang Ling, Beijing, China, Asia.

Features

• Ming Tomb, Chang Ling, Beijing, China, Asia.
• This item is uploaded and managed by Robert Harding
• © Dominic Webster

List Price: $26.99
Sale Price: $7.45
You save: $19.54 (72%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

Hong Kong wuxia films, or martial arts fantasies, traditionally squeeze poor acting, slapstick humor, and silly story lines between elaborate fight scenes in which characters can literally fly. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has no shortage of breathtaking battles, but it also has the dramatic soul of a Greek tragedy and the sweep of an epic romance. This is the work of director Ang Lee, who fell in love with movies while watching wuxia films as a youngster and made Crouching Tiger as a tribute to the form. To elevate the genre above its B-movie roots and broaden its appeal, Lee did two important things. First, he assembled an all-star lineup of talent, joining the famous Asian actors Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh with the striking, charismatic newcomer Zhang Ziyi. Behind the scenes, Lee called upon cinematographer Peter Pau (The Killer, The Bride with White Hair) and legendary fight choreographer Yuen Wo-ping, best known outside Asia for his work on The Matrix. Second, in adapting the story from a Chinese pulp-fiction novel written by Wang Du Lu, Lee focused not on the pursuit of a legendary sword known as "The Green Destiny," but instead on the struggles of his female leads against social obligation. In his hands, the requisite fight scenes become another means of expressing the individual spirits of his characters and their conflicts with society and each other. The filming required an immense effort from all involved. Chow and Yeoh had to learn to speak Mandarin, which Lee insisted on using instead of Cantonese to achieve a more classic, lyrical feel. The astonishing battles between Jen (Zhang) and Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh) on the rooftops and Jen and Li Mu Bai (Chow) atop the branches of bamboo trees required weeks of excruciating wire and harness work (which in turn required meticulous "digital wire removal"). But the result is a seamless blend of action, romance, and social commentary in a populist film that, like its young star Zhang, soars with balletic grace and dignity. --Eugene Wei

CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON - Blu-Ray Movie

Features

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• Color; Dolby; Subtitled; Widescreen

List Price: $14.98
Sale Price: $9.99
You save: $4.99 (33%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

VHS Video

List Price: $11.84
Sale Price: $11.80
You save: $0.04 (%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

Studio: Well Go Usa Inc Release Date: 04/27/2010 Run time: 101 minutes Rating: Nr

Features

• Years before he was to become famous for directing Bruce Lee in Fist Of Fury and Jackie Chan in New Fist Of Fury, Lo Wei teamed with superstar swordswoman Cheng Pei-pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) for this action thriller of brotherly love. and death. She stars as Yen Lai, the one woman who can reunite the Kao brothers to rid the Teng Lung Manor of killers -- as well as take revenge for thei

List Price: $114.82
Sale Price: $37.49
You save: $77.33 (67%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

Season OneEverybody was kung-fu fighting after the 1972 premiere of this mystic western starring David Carradine (snatching the role from Bruce Lee) in his signature, Emmy-nominated role as Caine, a stoic Shaolin monk forced to flee China after killing the royal family member who slew his Master. Our wandering hero roams the west in search of his long-lost brother, while eluding American and Imperial bounty hunters, and imparting his ancient wisdom on those he encounters and is compelled to aid. Kung-Fu was never a ratings force, but its cult status was assured long before Samuel L. Jackson referenced it in Pulp Fiction. Along with the inaugural 15 episodes, this three-disc set contains the feature-length pilot that establishes the series' iconography: the inscrutable aphorisms ("When you cease to strive to understand, then you will know without understanding"); the flashbacks to Caine's youth, where the orphaned half-American and half-Chinese boy served as disciple ("Grasshopper") to the Old Man; and, of course, the anticipated moments when the peaceful Caine, like Billy Jack, is reluctantly compelled by some frontier bigot to use his fighting skills. Look for appearances by father John Carradine and brothers Keith and Robert in the episode, "Dark Angel." That's 11-year-old future Oscar-winner Jodie Foster in "Althea." Other notable episodes include the Emmy-winning "An Eye for an Eye" and "Chains," featuring an Emmy-nominated turn by Michael Greene as a not-so-gentle giant to whom an imprisoned Caine is chained. "With each ending," Caine observes in the episode, "The Third Man," comes a new beginning." Kung Fu's new beginning comes on DVD. Thanks to the timeless frontier setting and the uniqueness of its genre-bending concept, Kung Fu dates better than other '70s series. As these episodes demonstrate, the show still has plenty of kick. --Donald LiebensonSeason ThreeWhile it may not rank with Richard Kimble's fateful meeting with the One-Armed Man in the series finale of The Fugitive, Caine's reunion with his long-lost brother, Danny, brings Kung Fu, to quote the title of the four-episode story arc's conclusion, "Full Circle." The series' rich iconography and episodes featuring returning characters may make this final season heady going for newcomers. But those who have faithfully followed Caine (David Carradine in his iconic role) on his nomadic adventures will be richly rewarded with some of the series' best episodes. The season begins with a stellar two-parter, "Blood of the Dragon," in which Caine seeks the truth about his grandfather's murder, while Imperial assassins are dispatched to kill Caine. The venerable Patricia Neal guest-stars as the grandfather's iron-willed, cold-hearted former lover. Eddie Albert also stars as a doctor who sides with Caine. Other memorable guest stars this season include William Shatner broguing it up, Scotty-style, as a sea captain who arrives with an Imperial pardon for Caine (but at what cost?) in "A Small Beheading." Barbara Hershey portrays an aspiring Shoalin priest in the two-parter, "Besieged." In "The Brothers Caine," a pre-Airplane Leslie Nielsen is a ruthless magnate who puts a $10,000 price on Danny's head, making for an awkward reunion when Danny thinks that Caine is a bounty hunter. David's father, John, returns as blind preacher Serenity Johnson in "Ambush." This season was distinguished by innovative episodes set in China during Caine's "Grasshopper" tutelage. In "The Demon God," the youth, poisoned by a prince, experiences mystical visions of his older, wandering self, who is stung by a scorpion. In "The Thief of Chendo," young Caine's Master imagines an adventure for the aspiring priest. Two Carradine commentaries, and a near-hour long chronicle of Carradine's 30-years-on visit to a Shoalin monastery in China (an incredible journey that ends with Carradine's soulful rendition of "America the Beautiful") help to give Kung Fu a worthy DVD send-off. --Donald Liebenson

All 62 episodes from the series's 1972-75 run, plus the feature-length pilot, are featured in this set. **62 episodes on 11 discs. 52 3/4 hrs.**

Features

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Box set; Closed-captioned; Color; DVD; Widescreen; NTSC

List Price: $29.98
Sale Price: $9.68
You save: $20.30 (68%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman star in the outrageous comedy from the director of Wedding Crashers and the writers of The Hangover. One drunken night, two friends admit that they wish they had the other's life. Mitch (Reynolds) thinks Dave has it all: a beautiful, loving family and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. But Dave (Bateman) thinks Mitch's stress-free life without obligation or consequence is the real dream come true. The next morning they wake up, hungover, in each other's bodies, and proceed to freak out! With time not on their side, Mitch and Dave comically struggle to avoid completely destroying each other's lives before they can find a way to get their old ones back. Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde, Craig Bierko, Alan Arkin Directed by: David Dobkin

Every generation has a reflective body-swap comedy thrust upon it, with results ranging from the genteel Reagan-era George Burns vehicle 18 Again to the slyly empowering, cell phone-savvy remake of Freaky Friday. Fueled by two amazingly game performances from Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds, The Change-Up goes for the gross-out, happily wallowing where those previous films dared not tread. Whatever this says about the current state of society, there's no denying that the results are consistently, ridiculously funny. Kicking off with a gag involving a baby that might give even John Waters pause, director David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) wastes no time getting to the gimmick, via a magical fountain that rearranges the brains of an uptight family-man lawyer (Bateman) and party-animal actor (Reynolds). What follows plays like a greatest-hits medley of the genre, shot through with a steadily escalating level of filth. (The reveal of Reynolds's girlfriend will not soon be forgotten/expunged.) Adept as the leads are, they also leave room in the spotlight for some killer supporting players, including Alan Arkin, Olivia Wilde, and especially Apatow vet Leslie Mann, who delivers two lengthy monologues that veer from sympathetic to gloriously bent without missing a beat. High art it most definitely ain't, but The Change-Up lands squarely in the borderland between offensive and hilarious, where the best shock comedies reside. You'll laugh until you gag, and vice versa. --Andrew Wright

List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $5.72
You save: $14.27 (71%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

A remake of the 1984 film of the same name, The Karate Kid well exceeds expectations, delivering a powerful viewing experience filled with action-packed martial arts scenes, great footage of China and its many wonders, and an absorbing story of a preadolescent boy's struggle to find his own inner strength. The title Karate Kid is really a misnomer as it is the art of kung fu that is practiced in this remake, not karate, and other details, including the film's setting in China, also differ from the original film. What remains the same, and just as powerful, is the underlying story: a young boy moves to a new place where he feels isolated and is bullied by his peers. Through an unlikely relationship with an adult, the boy not only learns to protect himself through martial arts, but develops the much more important qualities of respect and the mastery of one's own mind and body. Relative newcomer Jaden Smith (son of actors and producers Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith) is excellent as the main character Drek Parker; Jackie Chan gives a restrained and highly effective performance as his mentor Mr. Han; and Zhenwei Wang is eerily believable as the bully Chen. This is an intense and often violent film that fully engulfs its viewers--be prepared to gasp and cheer out loud, and know that you may never look at the act of putting on and taking off a jacket in the same way again. (Ages 8 and older with parental guidance) --Tami Horiuchi

Loose remake of the 1984 classic follows 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) from Detroit to Beijing, where his mother is starting a new job. But when Dre's crush on a young violin prodigy causes him to clash with a local martial arts student, he turns to eccentric maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) to teach him the ancient art of kung fu so he can face off against his rival in an upcoming tournament. Taraji P. Henson, Zhenwei Wang co-star. 140 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, DVS Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English (SDH), French; music video; "making of" featurette; Chinese lessons.

List Price: $39.95
Sale Price: $18.00
You save: $21.95 (55%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

A wedding and a grandmother's illness reveal fault lines in the lives of one Taipei family in Edward Yang's extraordinary film. Yi Yi is built from deceptively simple elements that together create a complex, warm, and utterly convincing portrait of family life. NJ Jian is a businessman facing bankruptcy, but he has to juggle his financial problems with family strife when his mother-in-law falls into a coma. NJ's wife, Min-Min, brings her mother home, and each family member--including daughter Ting-Ting and her delightful little brother Yang-Yang--spends hours talking to the old lady. These conversations become confessionals and the characters gradually re-evaluate their relationships. There are no catastrophic conflicts, only the ordinary, sometimes troubled, unfolding of lives. Yang enhances the film's sense of reality by frequently holding the camera back from the action. The use of long shots and unexpected angles makes it seem like the audience is eavesdropping, catching glimpses of lives passing by. Yi Yi is almost three hours long, but it flies by. Yang is both a consummate, restrained technician and a subtle director of actors. The combination is a magical one. --Simon Leake On the DVD The Criterion Collection's newly restored high-definition digital transfer of Edward Yang's Yi Yi is a revelation. The improvement over Fox Lorber's previous DVD release (deeply flawed and rushed into distribution in 2001, and now utterly obsolete) is so dramatic that an entire article was devoted to the subject in the New York Times, explaining the meticulous processes that went into perfecting the new DVD master for Criterion's definitive release. And while the feature-length commentary by writer-director Edward Yang and Asian-cinema critic Tony Rayns may be a bit too low-key for some listeners (because both Yang and Rayns are soft-spoken and not particularly dynamic speakers), attentive listeners will benefit greatly from their back-and-forth conversation. Yang provides in-depth insights into many aspects of Taiwanese cinema in general and Yi Yi in particular, from the hardships of distribution, competition from American films, his casting choices, explanations of specific shots, challenges and "happy accidents" during production, and various details regarding Taiwanese culture, its relation to Chinese and Japanese culture, and the familial traditions that are so affectionately explored in Yi Yi. Rayns is basically on hand to prompt Yang into making directorial observations, or to provide critical insights and observations for Yang to respond to. Both men are genial, intelligent, and articulate, so their commentary is well worth listening to for anyone interested in Asian cinema in a cultural context. Rayns is featured individually in an informative video interview in which the noted Asian cinema expert explains the historical context which brought about the "New Taiwan Cinema" movement in the early 1980s. He goes into deeper detail about Edward Yang's significance to the movement, along with other important Taiwanese directors such as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang, and examines how Yang's films (especially Yi Yi) are particularly distinctive, notably in their use of urban settings, reflections, and distant, immobile camera angles to emphasize character and behavior. Film Comment editor Kent Jones further elaborates on the qualities of Yi Yi in his enclosed booklet essay (particularly Yang's exquisite use of Taipei locations and his subtle sensitivity to the rhythms of urban living in "a film about grace"). In "Notes from Edward Yang," the director provides additional printed comments about the film's title (which literally translates as "one-one" and means "individually" in Chinese), the challenges of casting, and specific details and milestones in Yi Yi's production schedule. Overall, these details should prove highly useful to western viewers seeking to gain a greater appreciation for Yang's highly regarded masterpiece. --Jeff Shannon

Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 07/11/2006

List Price: $14.98
Sale Price: $3.25
You save: $11.73 (78%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

Rappers Pras and Ja Rule star as Diamond and Gage, drug-dealing buddies on the mean streets of New York, in this energetic but hopelessly muddled hip-hop crime thriller. You've seen it all before: the childhood street pals hit the crisis point when Diamond wants to go straight and hot-headed Gage aspires to become the baddest gangsta on the block. Ja Rule plays the loose cannon bad boy Gage with pent-up anger and a bullying sneer, a firecracker next to burnt-out match Pras, whose commitment-shy suffering artist has a sleepy, withdrawn blandness until he's out on the streets. "I can't guarantee I'll be there for you," Diamond lamely sputters to his pregnant girlfriend before heading back out for a night of music and gunplay, coming to life with two-fisted ferocity as he coolly empties clip after clip into rival gangs. Director-screenwriter Robert Adetuyi never worries about reconciling the two sides of Diamond, and the contradictory clichés about loyalty and responsibility are delivered without a trace of irony. The John Woo-inspired action scenes are the highlights of the film, flashy, high-energy explosions of excitement that reveal Diamond as a cool-headed, criminally sharp gangster at heart. He just doesn't know it, and the film is too embarrassed to admit it. This glib, sense-numbing action fantasy coasts on the energy of the action and the music while having it both ways: violence without personal consequences and decisions without repercussions. --Sean Axmaker

About a gifted musicians struggle to rise above the crime plagued urban streets and realize his dream. Diamond is unwittingly drawn into the world of drug-running by his childhood friend gage. The sudden death of diamonds mother forces diamond to make hard choices about his life. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 04/19/2005 Starring: Ja Rule Tamala Jones Run time: 86 minutes Rating: R Director: Robert Adetuyi

List Price: $9.99
Sale Price: $3.00
You save: $6.99 (70%)

See Reviews For This Product

Description

Take "Blade" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," mix with a heaping helping of martial arts action, and you get this Hong Kong horror opus about a veteran vampire hunter (Ekin Cheng) who works with his sister and new protege (Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung of the popular Hong Kong singing duo Twins) to stop a Western bloodsucker from obtaining an ancient book that will let him walk in daylight. With Mickey Hardt, Anthony Wong, and special appearances by Jackie Chan and Karen Mok. AKA: "The Twins Effect." 88 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English, French, Spanish. In Cantonese with English subtitles/Dubbed in English.