A martial-arts treasure trove
While the J-Horror fad may have come and gone (well, most of these films have gone to remake-land in Hollywood), things have never been better for that old mainstay of Asian cinema - the martial-arts movie.
While the J-Horror fad may have come and gone (well, most of these films have gone to remake-land in Hollywood), things have never been better for that old mainstay of Asian cinema - the martial-arts movie.
Genius Products (a division of the Weinstein Brothers) has practically cornered the market on the best of Hong Kong martial-arts cinema with its "Dragon Dynasty" DVD collection.
The remarkable series, launched just two years ago, already boasts 29 titles, each featuring a wealth of extras, including at least one commentary track, making-of featurettes, and cast and crew interviews - not to mention surveys of martial-arts weapons and techniques.
Most of the credit for DD's superior line should go to Weinstein Brothers' vice president for Asian acquisitions and coproduction, Bey Logan, a martial-arts film fanatic and kung fu practitioner.
Logan, 48, has provided entertaining and enlightening commentaries for almost every DVD. Since the 16-year Hong Kong transplant knows nearly everyone on the film scene there, he has a wealth of stories to share.
Some notable titles in the collection include the contemporary gangster classic
Kill Zone
, starring Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen; the slick, frenetic heist thriller
Invisible Target
; and a mob masterpiece, the
Infernal Affairs
trilogy, which inspired Martin Scorsese's
The Departed
.
The collection includes six films from the 1970s made at the Shaw Brothers studios, including
36 Chambers of Shaolin
(featuring commentary by hip-hop star the RZA) and
King Boxer: Five Fingers of Death
. They are arguably the two best kung fu films ever made. Other films feature Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Stephen Chow, Jet Li and Tony Jaa. For an online catalog, visit
» READ MORE: http://dragondynasty.com
.
Other DVDs of note
Intellectual-horror auteur Larry Fessenden (
Wendigo
) has crafted his best film with the beautiful and harrowing enviro-thriller
The Last Winter
(IFC;
» READ MORE: www.ifcfilms.com
; $19.95; not rated) starring James LeGros. Do not miss it.
The German-language film
The Counterfeiters
from Sony (
» READ MORE: www.sony.comcq
; $28.96; rated R) is a brilliant suspense drama about a Jewish counterfeiter tasked by the Nazis with making fake dollars and pounds at a concentration camp.
Lena Headey burns up the screen as the title character in the first season of the awesome spinoff
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
, due out Tuesday from Warner (
» READ MORE: http://whv.warnerbros.com
; $29.98; not rated). The lovely Summer Glau, of
Firefly
fame, doesn't do too bad as the cyborg.
Based on the novel by Sarah Waters (
Tipping the Velvet
),
Affinity
, coming Tuesday from Paramount (
» READ MORE: www.paramount.com
; $29.99; not rated), is a mystery romance about a young woman who falls for a female medium who is in prison for killing her patron.
.