October was an incredible month for new releases. We will most likely get even more great stuff in a few weeks as Christmas gets a little closer, but this week is a little slim. My pick is a nice looking set of John Woo’s seminal action flick Hard Boiled, but there are also 4K releases of a Sean Connery sci-fi adventure, a classic 1980s teen comedy, and a not so amazing John Carpenter vampire movie. Click here to read all about it.
A Better Tomorrow (1986)
Directed by John Woo
Starring: Lung T, iLeslie Cheung, and Chow Yun-Fat
A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
Rating 7/10
John Woo’s breakout film contains most of his hallmarks – balletic gunplay, slow motion action, big emotions, and goofy comedy—but in slightly lessened form. There is some very good stuff here, but it feels like a trial run for later films like Hard Boiled or The Killer. Also, I’ve never been a big fan of the outsized emotions his characters have in these films. Maybe it is the difference in cultures, but it always feels cheesy and fake to me. But those action scenes are still top-notch.
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