Jackie Chan’s First Strike and Lady Gaga’s New Album
Well, I am still here, settling into a new project and realizing I have a little time to write about what I am working on. It’s not a crazy amount of time obviously, but with the holidays coming up, people are starting to disappear quite frequently. Which will leave me some “free” time. Anyway, let’s take a look at what I have received recently and plan on writing up a review on in the next few weeks.
So remember back in July of last year, I finished up my film reviews of the Police Story saga? What was the #1 thing I was most upset about throughout that entire process? The longer cut of Police Story 4 aka Jackie Chan’s First Strike was not something I was able to review due to a vendor mishap and general unavailability of that particular DVD. Well thankfully there was another source. Plaion Pictures, a German outfit (also known for a pretty good release of Drunken Master 2 among other films) decided to release a mediabook blu-ray of First Strike complete with both the theatrical cut as well as the “extended” or proper cut. Each with their own separate disc.
There were a few problems though, obviously I would have to import the disc. Amazon Germany was selling it, but once I figured out shipping it came to roughly $45 American. I was not on board with that number and was wondering how to go about getting a copy for a reasonable sum. Thankfully JPC, a German music store company which also sells movies had copies for sale. It came to about $30 American which was much more palatable. The only concern was that I had never dealt with JPC. It took about 8 days to process which I’m told had to do with a European holiday during that time. Once it shipped, it actually took less than two weeks (11 days) to reach my house. So all in all, it took three weeks which was fine. Especially considering that it is now sold out just about everywhere which would have put me back trying to find a copy in the secondary market. After Thanksgiving, I also plan to go ahead and order Supercop 2 (also known as Mega Cop) with Michelle Yeoh (another German release) from either JPC or perhaps a local outfit like Diabolik. That would of course get a review here too.
But there was a second issue. Region Compatibility. Yes, it’s 2024 and I don’t currently have a region free blu-ray player. For shame, I know. I have a few discs in my collection that are unplayable by any means, things like the Australian release (Sony) of the Storm Boy re-release (2019) on blu-ray. However, some of those releases can be defeated by various Panasonic players using a stop/top menu trick at the region protect screen. I have at my disposal, a Samsung 4k player, an old Sony Blu-Ray player, and a Panasonic 4k player among dedicated movie machines. While I haven’t tried the others, I can tell you that the Panasonic with the above mentioned trick will play the German release of Jackie Chan’s First Strike just peachy. Both discs. So, there should be no problem providing a proper film review of the extended cut.
So great news on that front. Also, I was at Barnes and Noble over the past weekend and in addition to looking at the Criterions (a tried and true November tradition for me), I snagged a copy of Seven Samurai 4k and a copy of the latest Lady Gaga album, Harlequin which I have given one full listen to so far. I do plan on writing a review, but it is not going to be an overly positive one to be very honest. Why? Because quite frankly, it’s crap. For lack of a better term, it’s a cover album full of show tunes and songs from the 50’s and 60’s that have been redone by Lady Gaga. I would put it more on the level of the album she did with Tony Bennett. Sure, she has a fantastic voice, but if the songs are only mildly entertaining, does it really matter who is singing it? I’ll leave the kicker for the review but there is more to this that is very frustrating. I’m usually pretty positive with my music reviews, but I’m not holding back on this one. Look for a review before Thanksgiving on that one.
What else, what else. I’ve listened a couple of times to the new Tears for Fears double cd, Songs for a Nervous Planet which is one part new music (four songs worth) and mostly a live set that was recorded during their last tour. It’s pretty good, but has its own share of issues. I might throw in a quick review if I have time. I do have quite a few new discs that I could throw in for a spin, but as far as actual titles, I’ll have to investigate what releases would actually be worth throwing a few words to. If I get solid updates on that, I will relay it as a site update.
Finally, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. The holidays are not something I look too fondly on because they always seem to have bad luck attached to them, at least for me. So in that sense, I hope everyone doesn’t end up like me and actually has a good time and wonderful memories with their loved ones. Take care to those who wander upon this site and cheers to those who regularly read my columns. Enjoy.
