criterionforum.org

There’s a 2 for 35 deal going on at MoC including some of the bigger LEs and three-title sets. Unfortunately I just grabbed most of what I want from here, but curious for thoughts on the double Woo feature set?

therewillbeblus wrote: Wed Apr 13, 2022 4:35 pm There’s a 2 for 35 deal going on at MoC including some of the bigger LEs and three-title sets. Unfortunately I just grabbed most of what I want from here, but curious for thoughts on the double Woo feature set?

I will preface this by saying that I'm a huge John Woo fan, so I'm more than willing to overlook any shortcomings but I frankly believe that 'Last Hurrah for Chivalry' is one of his best films. The themes of male bonding and chivalry are no different from what you would have seen from other martial-arts titles from this time frame but it's interesting to see Woo take the lessons he learned from being Chang Cheh's disciple and utilize it in a more traditional martial arts setting, especially when most HK/action fans are more well-versed of his films that take place in a more modern setting. The action, however, is the main star of this and genuinely sublime and the hyper-kinetic energy that you see in Woo's later films like 'Hard Boiled' and 'The Killer' makes an appearance here as well. The graceful camerawork and amazing fight choreography from all the actors involved help make this standout amongst the other wuxia/martial-arts of this period.

However, I find 'Hand of Death' to be the weakest film from Woo that I've seen (I haven't been able to watch any of the other early non-action titles that Woo directed in the early-80s). Not that it's bad or anything but it's pretty much like every other martial arts title from the time period in that it doesn't really do much to stand itself apart in terms of the story and themes, and while the action sequences are good, they aren't anything spectacular. However, it might be worth watching once just to see some early appearances from Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung (who I believe was the fight coordinator for the film, and has a set of gnarly teeth!), and it might be worth checking out just to see the beginning of John Woo's career and see how he was able to work on his directing skills and hone his craft before he made it big with his Heroic Bloodshed titles.

I'm not sure how much of a fan you are of John Woo's style, so I would recommend the two-film set from Eureka if you are someone who does enjoy John Woo. If not, then I would recommend that you watch 'Last Hurrah for Chivalry' on the Criterion Channel before you plan to buy it. I will also say that the 2K restorations that were done for both titles look amazing and it makes me a bit upset knowing that it will be a long time before the major Woo titles are to receive remasters that will look half as good as these 2 films do.

Thanks for the rundown, yoloswegmaster! I'm a huge fan of Woo's often-cited "best" works, so I think this'll be a safe buy to pick up even just for the first film

Is it just me, but I just tried to order from Eureka and for the first time was charged €10 in shipping charges for an order outside the UK - this pretty much makes ordering from them directly a mood point, as other labels offer lower or the same shipping charges and deduct UK taxes and offer a larger selection of titles.
It’s really unfortunate that the UK shipping charges are now higher than anywhere else, killing any business the labels would have had in directly selling to customers outside the UK.

I just added a random title to my cart to test this, and it said free shipping both before and when I went to worldpay to finish the transaction... Maybe reach out to their customer service? Did it specify that there was a shipping charge, or are you noticing a disparity in the conversion rate?

vsski wrote: Tue Apr 19, 2022 6:05 pm Is it just me, but I just tried to order from Eureka and for the first time was charged €10 in shipping charges for an order outside the UK - this pretty much makes ordering from them directly a mood point, as other labels offer lower or the same shipping charges and deduct UK taxes and offer a larger selection of titles.
It’s really unfortunate that the UK shipping charges are now higher than anywhere else, killing any business the labels would have had in directly selling to customers outside the UK.

are you in India? they do charge €10 to ship there, as they've had many issues with the untracked packages

Actually I’m in Japan and yes, they do charge a £10 flat shipping rate. I have ordered from them many times before as recently as late last year and never had a single problem getting their mail and never had to pay a shipping charge. The postal system here is one of the best I have encountered anywhere, so if they do have problems it must be on the UK side.
The BFI had a box set sale over Easter and their prices have also skyrocketed. For one dual disc (which they called a box set) and one single one they wanted £28 for shipping - last year when I ordered, it was less than £10, so at this rate it’s going to become prohibitive to order anything from the UK. Rarewaves is the only one with decent shipping charges still, but unfortunately they are also the one company where I did have problems receiving my discs.

sorry to say. it's still free to the US and many other countries. for kicks, I did check in and:

China
India
Japan
South Korea

all come with the flat rate 10 EUR shipping charge. I checked a bunch of other Asian countries (as close as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau) and SE Asian alike and they all still have free shipping. not sure what went on there.

It’s a shame because I always liked giving my money directly to labels to support them. Yes MOC didn’t reduce VAT but since they didn’t charge for shipping I was ok with it. Now it’s best to order from Amazon, as they do reduce the VAT and while their shipping charges have also increased a lot, if you order a decent amount, you come out on par with buying it in the UK.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Thu Apr 14, 2022 12:17 am I will preface this by saying that I'm a huge John Woo fan, so I'm more than willing to overlook any shortcomings but I frankly believe that 'Last Hurrah for Chivalry' is one of his best films. The themes of male bonding and chivalry are no different from what you would have seen from other martial-arts titles from this time frame but it's interesting to see Woo take the lessons he learned from being Chang Cheh's disciple and utilize it in a more traditional martial arts setting, especially when most HK/action fans are more well-versed of his films that take place in a more modern setting. The action, however, is the main star of this and genuinely sublime and the hyper-kinetic energy that you see in Woo's later films like 'Hard Boiled' and 'The Killer' makes an appearance here as well. The graceful camerawork and amazing fight choreography from all the actors involved help make this standout amongst the other wuxia/martial-arts of this period.

I finally got around to this and really enjoyed it. The fight scenes are great, but even more than the inventiveness of choreography, I was blown away by how economically the film is shot. It's formally rhythmic, the transitions between and inside setpieces are smooth, and I often felt like the film's pace was co-regulating my attention to the point of entrancement. This approach may have tuned out a lot of thematic or narrative awareness, but it hardly matters when a film is this engaging with purely aesthetic interventions. The best HK action movies read as comfort food for me, and Woo's technical skills deliver there. Not at the top of my personal favorites, but methodically it's essentially perfect

My order for The Most Dangerous Game has shipped. Love that it ships early.

Eureka have a horror sale till Sunday which includes the Lugosi trio of Black Cat/Raven/Rue Morgue at £15.50. While stocks last.

The Lugosi trio is the best deal I've ever seen. I caved and bought it earlier this year because I didn't want to wait too long and have it go OOP.

hearthesilence wrote: Thu Oct 20, 2022 9:38 pm The Lugosi trio is the best deal I've ever seen. I caved and bought it earlier this year because I didn't want to wait too long and have it go OOP.

Why would it go OOP, if it was released only in 2021, and it's already the standard edition (not the limited one)?

kompromiss wrote: Fri Oct 21, 2022 4:32 am

hearthesilence wrote: Thu Oct 20, 2022 9:38 pm The Lugosi trio is the best deal I've ever seen. I caved and bought it earlier this year because I didn't want to wait too long and have it go OOP.

Why would it go OOP, if it was released only in 2021, and it's already the standard edition (not the limited one)?

Actually 2020, which is recent, but I also recently had titles (can't remember which, but they were on some boutique label) that surprised me by going OOP very quickly and I just didn't want a repeat of that.

Finch wrote: Thu Oct 20, 2022 5:33 pm Eureka have a horror sale till Sunday which includes the Lugosi trio of Black Cat/Raven/Rue Morgue at £15.50. While stocks last.

I mistakenly assumed this sale may run through Halloween. Oh well.

Eureka have a flash sale going on until Friday.

HORROR SALE

Offers Ends Monday 23rd October 2023, 12pm (BST).

Vampyr and The Most Dangerous Game for £12.99, etc.

According to instagram, low stock alert for limited edition releases with slipcovers of the following:

Running Out of Time
Golgo13
Lady Reporter
Bob Hope Double Feature

30% off on various

Ends MONDAY 6th May

Eureka Summer Sale - 25% Off Select Items!
Ends MONDAY 19th August, 10AM (BST)

Eureka has added a Kino-esque Going Out Of Print section on their website. Joseph Kuo, Skinny Tiger Fat Dragon, The Holy Mountain, and The Specialists are currently listed

I applaud them having transparency about this for once