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View Full Version : Ashes of Time: Redux


megladon8
08-08-2008, 12:24 PM
Wong Kar Wai has "reworked" his martial arts film, Ashes of Time, for a re-release.

Trailer is here. (http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/ashesoftimeredux/)
D_Davis
08-08-2008, 01:21 PM
I am really interested in seeing this.
Qrazy
08-08-2008, 05:12 PM
Nice, as much as I wanted to like the original, it was a bit of a mess.
D_Davis
08-08-2008, 05:23 PM
Nice, as much as I wanted to like the original, it was a bit of a mess.

That's putting it nicely.

:)

If anything, I want to see this only to see it remastered, as it is visually stunning, and the only way to see it thus far has been on crappy VHS and an even worse DVD.
Qrazy
08-08-2008, 05:38 PM
That's putting it nicely.

:)

If anything, I want to see this only to see it remastered, as it is visually stunning, and the only way to see it thus far has been on crappy VHS and an even worse DVD.

Yeah true the transfer was awful. This happens oh too frequently with Chinese cinema. I watched Once Upon a Time in China the other night and I couldn't help but feeling that most of my problems were with the transfer rather than the film.
number8
08-08-2008, 05:38 PM
Yeah, Ashes of Time was a mess, but I always felt that I'm not judging it fairly because the DVD was a ferociously mangled hunk of pottery barn horseshit.
Qrazy
08-08-2008, 05:40 PM
Yeah, Ashes of Time was a mess, but I always felt that I'm not judging it fairly because the DVD was a ferociously mangled hunk of pottery barn horseshit.

Well hopefully this will solve both problems and if it doesn't then we can fairly conclude that the film is, was and will always be a mess.
D_Davis
08-08-2008, 05:46 PM
Yeah true the transfer was awful. This happens oh too frequently with Chinese cinema. I watched Once Upon a Time in China the other night and I couldn't help but feeling that most of my problems were with the transfer rather than the film.

This is because they have almost no film preservation - it just isn't important to them, especially since so much of their genre entertainment is considered totally disposable even if it is more highly regarded in other places.

If it wasn't for the work of Celestial/IVL, a lot of the Shaw Brothers films probably wouldn't have ever been remastered and preserved. HK film studios often keep their original negatives in non-climate controlled warehouses, and many have been damaged thus needing massive amounts of work.

This is a pretty big deal among fans of world cinema. David Bordwell has been fighting for years to help preserve HK cinema.

More companies now are starting to remaster the negatives and take better care of the films, however some are afraid that it is too little, too late, and that decades worth of HK cinema may soon be lost for good.
megladon8
08-08-2008, 09:47 PM
Yes, anything I have seen by Celestial has been gorgeous - even better than the transfers of a lot of old Hollywood films.

Their work on the One-Armed Sowrdsman films is just astounding.
megladon8
08-08-2008, 09:50 PM
Why do Americans say "redux" as "re-ducks"?

It sounds kind of stupid.
D_Davis
08-08-2008, 10:04 PM
Yes, anything I have seen by Celestial has been gorgeous - even better than the transfers of a lot of old Hollywood films.

Their work on the One-Armed Sowrdsman films is just astounding.

Yeah, their work on the hundreds and hundreds of Shaw Brothers films is astounding. They get my lifetime achievement award for remastering and saving an sector of an entire nation's cinematic output. They have helped to preserve one of the greatest treasure troves of cinema any one single studio has ever produced.
Qrazy
08-09-2008, 09:53 PM
Why do Americans say "redux" as "re-ducks"?

It sounds kind of stupid.

How would you have them say it? Raydoocks?

http://www.bartleby.com/61/89/R0108900.html
number8
08-09-2008, 10:00 PM
How would you have them say it? Raydoocks

"Re-do". Like the Frenchies.
Qrazy
08-09-2008, 10:17 PM
"Re-do". Like the Frenchies.

It doesn't really work within the boundaries of English phonetics though, which is why the term was modified, as are most words originally stemming from another language.
number8
08-09-2008, 10:33 PM
It doesn't really work within the boundaries of English phonetics though, which is why the term was modified, as are most words originally stemming from another language.

I know, but I'm stubborn. People try to tell me that the correct English pronunciation of homage is "hom-midge" but I still say "oh-mazz."
Qrazy
08-09-2008, 10:51 PM
I know, but I'm stubborn. People try to tell me that the correct English pronunciation of homage is "hom-midge" but I still say "oh-mazz."

Well it's reasonable, I just think both are fine although they certainly carry different connotations.