criterionforum.org

SPECIAL FEATURES

Limited Edition slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju) [2000 copies]
1080p presentation of both films, scanned and restored in 2K, across two Blu-ray discs
Cantonese and English audio options
Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
Brand new audio commentary tracks on both films by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
Audio Commentary on Running Out of Time by writers Laurent Cortiaud and Julien Carbon, moderated by Hong Kong Film expert Stefan Hammond
The Directors’ Overview of Carbon and Courtiaud – featurette
Making of Running Out of Time 2 – featurette
Archival interview with director Johnnie To
Archival interview with Lau Ching Wan
Archival interview with Raymond Wong
Hong Kong Stories [51 mins] – extensive documentary
Trailers
A collector’s booklet featuring new writing on both films
***All Extras Subject to Change***

Oh my god.

beamish14 wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 2:54 pmOh my god.

Good? I’ve never seen nor heard about these films

therewillbeblus wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 3:58 pm

beamish14 wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 2:54 pmOh my god.

Good? I’ve never seen nor heard about these films

The first one is one of Milkyway's early successes. It's a good movie, a clever little battle of wits between Andy Lau and Lau Ching Wan. I haven't seen the second, because Ekin Cheng.

Early on in the Milkyway pictures days, pre–Election, say, people held this movie up as an example of what Johnnie To and Milkyway could do (of course, The Mission came out the same year, and I think one of these two films is much more accomplished than the other, and it's not this one), but then about a decade of really creative movies, including PTU, Election, Throwdown, Exiled, Mad Detective, Sparrow, Vengeance, Life on Principle, Drug Way, and Blind Detective kind of pushed this film off to the side. Amongst the early Milkyway films, like The Odd One Dies, The Longest Nite, Expect the Unexpected, Too Many Ways to Be No. 1, and A Hero Never Dies, this was the most playful and clever film, and in its' playfulness it's a bit of a harbinger of Milkyway movies to come. It's also an early example of Andy Lau getting the hang of this film acting thing (he becomes much more relaxed and rangy as an actor in this and Fulltime Killer, whereas in the past he was one of the stiffer actors in the HK New Wave), and it features a nicely amused performance by Lau Ching-Wan.

therewillbeblus wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 3:58 pm

beamish14 wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 2:54 pmOh my god.

Good? I’ve never seen nor heard about these films

VERY good. Maybe not on par with Too Many Ways to be No. 1 or Exiled, but great fun.

feihong wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:38 pm
The first one is one of Milkyway's early successes. It's a good movie, a clever little battle of wits between Andy Lau and Lau Ching Wan. I haven't seen the second, because Ekin Cheng.

Jesus, I haven't seen any other HK actor get a lot of flack from everyone like Ekin Cheng has lol. Is he really that bad of an actor? I've only seen him in Help!!!, where he was fine, and in the Young and Dangerous series, where he's not awful or amazing but I contribute that more to the script not being good and failing to give his character any real depth even though he's the main character.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 7:55 pm

feihong wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:38 pm
The first one is one of Milkyway's early successes. It's a good movie, a clever little battle of wits between Andy Lau and Lau Ching Wan. I haven't seen the second, because Ekin Cheng.

Jesus, I haven't seen any other HK actor get a lot of flack from everyone like Ekin Cheng has lol. Is he really that bad of an actor? I've only seen him in Help!!!, where he was fine, and in the Young and Dangerous series, where he's not awful or amazing but I contribute that more to the script not being good and failing to give his character any real depth even though he's the main character.

I wouldn't even say he's a bad actor. In the films of his I've seen he leaves less than no impression. I've never found him convincing in a role, or possessed of the kind of energy which animates a part in a movie, regardless of the actor's technical proficiency. But I wouldn't even say I dislike him in a film, because, what is there to like or dislike? He seems to me mostly to be a fantastic but sort of unwieldy hairstyle, and nothing else of note. He also comes from an era in Hong Kong film where there are many actors I would call insufficient as movie actors, and uncharismatic movie stars. I feel much more resentment of Jordan Chan, who comes off as obnoxious to me in every role he's in. But I just wouldn't seek out a movie with Ekin Cheng in a lead role. And I was never so blown away by the first of these movies that I wanted to follow it up. But I'd say the offer of Ekin in a battle of wits against Lau Ching-Wan was something I didn't think would be too intriguing.

I should say, I'll probably try and get this set. The first film is well-done, and Lau Ching-Wan is especially good in the film. I'd vastly prefer for Eureka to release The Mission, but that seems to be impossible. Still, I'd like to see the first of these films in the highest quality I can.

Arrow will be releasing an identical version for the US just fyi. James Flower tweeted immediately after the announcement that they partnered with Eureka on this.

Glowingwabbit wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:45 pm Arrow will be releasing an identical version for the US just fyi. James Flower tweeted immediately after the announcement that they partnered with Eureka on this.

Yep! The Eureka/MoC branding comes up when I throw the Arrow disc in my region B player, so they are the exact same discs.

And it works the other way as well. I have the MOC disc and when I play it on my Region A player the Arrow logos and menu come up.
So in effect it’s a dual region disc.

Is this another Fidelity In Motion encode?

The MOC booklet says Engine House Media Services did the disc authoring.

can anyone tell me the contents of the Eureka booklet? trying to decide if cover art is truly the only deciding factor between the Arrow and MOC editions (which are basically the same price and all..)

ryannichols7 wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 3:57 pm can anyone tell me the contents of the Eureka booklet? trying to decide if cover art is truly the only deciding factor between the Arrow and MOC editions (which are basically the same price and all..)

The content is exactly the same, but with different graphic design:
- Cast and crew info
- An essay by David West: "On the Edge: Connection, Isolation, and Identity in Running Out of Time 1 &2"
- About the transfers info + credits

The Arrow is 20 pages, exterior covers included.
The Eureka is 28.

mrb404 wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:18 pm

ryannichols7 wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 3:57 pm can anyone tell me the contents of the Eureka booklet? trying to decide if cover art is truly the only deciding factor between the Arrow and MOC editions (which are basically the same price and all..)

The content is exactly the same, but with different graphic design:
- Cast and crew info
- An essay by David West: "On the Edge: Connection, Isolation, and Identity in Running Out of Time 1 &2"
- About the transfers info + credits

The Arrow is 20 pages, exterior covers included.
The Eureka is 28.

awesome, thank you for the very quick answer!

ryannichols7 wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 6:17 pm awesome, thank you for the very quick answer!

Most welcome!
I had the same "problem" and ended up going with the MoC because of the art.
But, apart from that, in the end, they're the same release.