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Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:06 am
by yoshimori
Wow! Great find. Thanks for the report. Been looking for Banana Paradise for years. Let us know if you find more.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:44 pm
by L.A.
New DVD/BD set dedicated to
Chang Yi. Includes
Kuei-mei, a Woman (1985) and
This Love of Mine (1986).
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 4:40 pm
by L.A.
L.A. wrote:New DVD/BD set dedicated to
Chang Yi. Includes
Kuei-mei, a Woman (1985) and
This Love of Mine (1986).
Now offered at
JSDVD Mall. Hopefully the cast and crew details get corrected.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 4:53 pm
by jindianajonz
L.A. wrote:L.A. wrote:New DVD/BD set dedicated to
Chang Yi. Includes
Kuei-mei, a Woman (1985) and
This Love of Mine (1986).
Now offered at
JSDVD Mall. Hopefully the cast and crew details get corrected.
You mean Samuel L Jackson and Vin Diesel aren't actually in these films? Does anyone know how JSDVD is regarding refunds?
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 12:04 pm
by L.A.
Taiwanese edition of
A Brighter Summer Day (1991) upcoming.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 12:12 pm
by FakeBonanza
I love how the box design is based on the title card. I might have to add this to my collection.
Hopefully a
That Day, on the Beach release isn't too far off.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 8:14 pm
by The Fanciful Norwegian
I spoke with the CMPC recently about
That Day, on the Beach and it's stuck in rights hell. Specifically, there's an ownership dispute with a company in Hong Kong (Orange Sky Golden Harvest IIRC) and they haven't been able to resolve the situation. I'm guessing this is the same dispute that forced Lincoln Center to use a domestically-sourced 16mm print and charge no admission when they screened it as part of their Yang retrospective in 2011. It's a particular shame, since the CMPC has already gone to the trouble and expense of doing a DCP, meaning it would presumably take little work to ready it for Blu. (As far as I can tell the DCP was only shown once, at the Golden Horse Festival.)
In other news, while it's not a CMPC title, this thread is probably the best place to mention it: the outstanding
Super Citizen Ko has just received a
dual-format release in Taiwan. This is especially exciting because I think it's the first Taiwan Film Institute restoration to get a release there—the others available on video (
Dragon Inn,
A Touch of Zen,
Daughter of the Nile) have been released abroad, but there's a bunch of TFI restorations (this one included) that have little to no prospect of getting picked up by foreign distributors. Hopefully this is the first of many to come.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 2:50 am
by trdn89
In other news, while it's not a CMPC title, this thread is probably the best place to mention it: the outstanding Super Citizen Ko has just received a dual-format release in Taiwan. This is especially exciting because I think it's the first Taiwan Film Institute restoration to get a release there—the others available on video (Dragon Inn, A Touch of Zen, Daughter of the Nile) have been released abroad, but there's a bunch of TFI restorations (this one included) that have little to no prospect of getting picked up by foreign distributors. Hopefully this is the first of many to come.
I registered for this forum in order to thank you for recommending Super Citizen Ko; I bought it blind since I was picking up the Chang Yi box from YesAsia and it absolutely leveled me. The way it moves through time is downright elegant - using music to transition into reverie, the way eras look different, etc. And
YOW that is a movie absolutely jam-packed with beautifully-composed shots. Super glad I took the plunge!
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:28 pm
by L.A.
L.A. wrote:
The Terrorizers and 30th Anniversary Edition.
JSDVD Mall listing. The price isn’t bad if I may say so. The first BD edition that came out in 2011, did it have any extras?
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:24 pm
by The Elegant Dandy Fop
The 2011 edition had some interviews with people who worked with Edward Yang, but were all DVD only. My complaint about the 2011 edition was the terrible packaging which used the same type of cardboard material that gets warn real fast that you see with original pressings of Neil Young's Harvest. Is this a new transfer or simply a reissue? The disc art is identical to the 2011 edition which already has a gorgeous transfer.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:40 pm
by swo17
The subtitles weren't great on it though. And unlike a few years ago, I would think there is a real possibility now of Criterion putting this out eventually.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:55 pm
by The Fanciful Norwegian
The
CMPC Facebook page refers to the new release as "revised packaging especially for last year's 30th anniversary" (no attempt to explain why they're releasing it
this year). That and the identical disc art very strongly implies to me that the content isn't changing. The previous release has become a little hard to find so this isn't completely unwelcome, but I doubt anyone was hoping for this over
That Day, on the Beach (which appears to have just finished its theatrical run in Taiwan).
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 4:48 pm
by L.A.
Thanks for your replies. Have to think again whether to purchase that 30th Anniversary Edition or not. :-k
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:55 am
by jindianajonz
Does anyone know of a good place to shop for these discs in Taiwan?
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:23 pm
by The Fanciful Norwegian
Some years ago I bought a couple at a small bookshop in Liberty Square in Taipei, but I don't remember the name and looking around on Google I'm not sure it exists anymore. It might've been the Theater Cafe in the National Theater building, which includes a performing arts bookstore, but if it was then they've completely remodeled it or sold it to someone else, since the photos online don't look like the place I visited.
The Eslite website says that their Taipei flagship store (245 Dunhua South Road Section 1) could have these titles, but unfortunately the website doesn't give a definitive answer on in-store stock—it just says whether a given location might stock the item or definitely doesn't. But if any Eslite store has them, it would be that one.
Also, the two Hou Hsiao-hsien-founded SPOT cinemas at 18 Zhongshan North Road Section 2 (the former residence of the U.S. ambassador) and 1 Bade Road Section 1 have attached gift shops that sell movies alongside other assorted arts and crafts.
If you're going to be in Kaohsiung, JSDVD has a physical location at 219 Guanghua 3rd Road. I'm not sure if the Kaohsiung Film Archive (80 Hexiu Road) has a shop, but it's worth visiting anyway.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 6:18 pm
by L.A.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 7:15 pm
by zedz
Fantastic! Two more films to go and we'll have Yang's entire filmography in HD. Who'd have thought?
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 3:13 pm
by jindianajonz
FYSA, the title of this thread is off- the company goes by Central Motion Picture Corporation.
And Fanciful Norwegian, thanks for the recommendations. I found JSDVD in Kaohsiung, and although the language barrier kept me from getting recommendations from the gentleman who worked there, I was able to grab a couple of titles I knew by name. The SPOT Huashan was great, though- they had a decent DVD selection, and the lady there told me that each one had been hand selected by a staff member for sale.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:55 am
by L.A.
Re: Central Pictures Corporation
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2020 12:28 am
by Murdoch
FerdinandGriffon wrote: Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:41 pm
Has anyone observed browning/discoloration on their Blus of
The Terrorizers?
I took mine out to lend to a friend just now and noticed that it looked very similar to the defective Criterions of '14.
I play from an external plugged in to a Mac, which is always a little funky, so it's hard for me to test playback, but it did seem to be having some issues loading.
I know this post is several years old but I just pulled the Terrorizers blu from my kevyip and can confirm mine has browned out as well. I tried playing it on my Seiki player but the disc was unreadable. At least the DVD is working I guess...
Re: Central Motion Picture Corporation
Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 3:20 am
by jindianajonz
That's unfortunate, all four of my brown packaged blurays (Terrorizors, Vive L'amour, Tropical Fish, and the Personals) are browning.
Re: Central Motion Picture Corporation
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 4:37 am
by Aunt Peg
My Terroizers has bronzed. Vive L'amour is fine but thankfully they also have DVDs so all is not lost.
Re: Central Motion Picture Corporation
Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2020 8:58 am
by Aunt Peg
Aunt Peg wrote: Fri Dec 11, 2020 4:37 am
My Terroizers has bronzed. Vive L'amour is fine but thankfully they also have DVDs so all is not lost.
Actually, I just checked my Vive L'amour and it has bronzed but still plays. I also have the Tsai Ming-liang boxset of Rebels of a Neon God, VIve L'amour & The River and they are fine.
Re: Central Motion Picture Corporation
Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:57 pm
by The Fanciful Norwegian
An interesting development: the copyrights for all CMPC titles produced or acquired before April of 1995 have been
transferred to the Taiwanese government. This is a settlement related to the ongoing investigation of "ill-gotten party assets," i.e. assets controlled by the Kuomintang during the martial law period; the CMPC was owned by the KMT until 2005. All of the CMPC titles released on Blu-ray are probably part of this library except for
The Personals and
The River, but I think they're all OOP anyway. It's not clear what will happen from here, but most likely these films be handled by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute going forward. The TFAI doesn't really have much of a video arm—they haven't released anything on Blu-ray and their DVDs are only available directly from the Institute—but their output is higher and they work more with international licensors, including Criterion and Eureka, so I think this is good news.
(Also, regarding the earlier discussion of bronzed titles: my
Tropical Fish and
The Personals have shuffled off this mortal coil, but my standalone release of
Dust in the Wind hasn't bronzed and still plays normally. I have the original release of
The Terrorizers but haven't checked it, since I also bought the 30th anniversary reissue and that works fine.
Dust in the Wind was the CMPC's first Blu-ray and used a different cover art scheme than later releases, so maybe it was only their second batch of Blus that have the bronzing problems. I haven't had any issues with later releases like the Hou/Tsai/Chang Yi sets and it doesn't look like anyone else has.)
Re: Central Motion Picture Corporation
Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2021 12:11 pm
by willoneill
I assume this is related to the above development, but last week, all of a sudden, a whole bunch of CPMC films showed up on Canadian iTunes for really low purchase prices ($3.99 and $4.99). I bought A Time to Live A Time to Die, The Terrorizers, and Dust in the Wind; I know there were several more.