Bullet in the Head is the Pick of the Week

I don’t know why John Woo films suddenly keep getting the 4K UHD treatment with loads of special features added to boot, but I am here for it. I’ve not actually seen Bullet in the Head, but it stars Tony Leung and is about three male friends who grow up in the slums of Hong Kong and attempt to escape from the oppressive poverty only to increase their troubles, and that is enough for me.

This is a Shout Factory release. It comes with a 4K UHD disc, a Blu-ray, and a third disc full of extras. Those include new audio commentaries, alternate cuts, deleted scenes, and more.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Falling Skies: The Complete Series: One imagines this is coming out because its star, Noah Wylie, has been getting critical acclaim for his starring role in The Pitt, the second season of which comes out later this week. This series is about an alien invasion and how humans try to get their planet back.

Shameless: The Complete Series: I only saw a few episodes of this American remake of a British show about a family of misfits (led by the always great William H. Macy). I liked it okay, but not enough to keep me coming back.

Dead Man 4K UHD: Criterion has updated their release of this Jim Jarmusch film to UHD. Johnny Depp stars as a wanderer who finds himself wanted for double murder. In his flight he comes across a man who helps him reinvent himself. I haven’t seen this in many years. I didn’t like it that much back then, but I’ve come to love Jarmusch, so this deserves a revisit.

It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley: Documentary about the late, great singer.

Under Siege: Arrow Video presents this “Die Hard on a Ship” action flick starring Steven Seagal. A bare-bones release of this film came out a few months ago (I reviewed it here), but Arrow is packing it with their usual flair.

Tron: Ares: I remember watching the original Tron back in the 1980s. I liked it, and I really liked the video game, but it wasn’t something that I truly loved. So I never bothered with the last sequel, and I have little interest in this one.

The Killer Deluxe 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week

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Apologies for the delay in posting this, and for the complete lack of posts this week. I got some kind of nasty stomach bug on Monday and was completely down and out. I’m feeling much better now, but that totally threw my week off.

I’ve also had some kind of pretty intense pain in my hip area for the last several weeks. I finally went to the doctor last week and now I’m in physical therapy and that stuff is no joke. I’m about as sore as a loser right now.

Anyway, John Woo films have been getting some pretty awesome home video treatment this year and his excellent film The Killer is this week’s pick.

Hard Boiled 4K UHD is the Pick of the Week

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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.

Awesome ’80s in April: The Killer (1989)

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I naturally think of action movies when I think about 1980s movies. Action films along with slasher horror and romantic comedies defined the genres of 1980s cinema. When I think of 1980s action films I think of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Chuck Norris. I think about big explosions, increasingly bigger guns, and witty one-liners.

Big, bigger, and biggest defined American action films in the 1980s. But in Hong Kong, they were making a different kind of action film. Led by director John Woo, Hong Kong action films were much more stylized and interesting than their American counterparts. Woo’s action films were operatic in tone. They utilized slow motion and close-up gunfire. They also relied more heavily on telling a compelling story with thought paid attention to developing its characters. The explosions weren’t always big, but the emotions were.

I’m not extremely well versed in Hong Kong cinema, and I’ve only seen a few John Woo films, but watching The Killer reminded me that I need to dig further into them.

The Killer stars Chow Yun-fat as Ah Jong a hitman. Paid to assassinate a Triad leader he accidentally injures a nightclub singer named Jennie (Sally Yeh), leaving her partially blind. Ridden with guilt he begins visiting her secretly and eventually, the two become friends, without her ever knowing who he really is.

Hot on his trail are the gangsters who paid him to kill the Triad leader (his face was seen during that hit which may lead others to know who ordered the murder in the first place) and Detective Yi Ling (Danny Lee).

Ah John and Detective Ling develop a respect for one another as they both have a moral code and are both quite good at what they do. I was reminded quite a bit of Heat while watching this as the games they play with each other are reminiscent of Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in that film.

The action sequences in this film are incredible. I’ve watched several other 1980s action films this month and most of those big action sequences pale in comparison. American films tended to rely on the bigger is better principle. As long as things were constantly blowing up they called it a day. But Woo injects his film with a real sense of style. His action sequences are exciting.

And beautiful. All those close-up shots done in slow motion with operatic music playing really give those sequences a delicate beauty. There are a few scenes located in an old church filled candles that are stunningly gorgeous.

The story itself is fine. I can’t say I’m really moved by any of it, but I appreciate that the film is making an effort with it. It is definitely better than what they were doing with Rambo III.

But nobody watches action films for the story and what Woo and company provide us with those action sequences is more than enough to make The Killer highly recommended.