Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

All that being said, I am a big Wong Kar Wai fan, and I don't think anyone who goes in as an admirer of his work (as opposed to going in looking for something in the style of Donnie Yen's Ip Man films) is going to be disappointed.

I can live with it. And interesting to read that the fights are as good as you say they are. I figured WKW would skimp out on that aspect of the story.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

For anyone interested in the HK Blu-ray, there's a review with some caps here.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

US poster art.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Nice interview posted onlin at Variety today with WKW.

[sukebanboy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sukebanboy]

The Weinstein Group have picked up the movie for domestic distribution according to Variety.

WARNING BELLS are going off here as the Weinsteins have just cut a load out of SNOWPIERCER for the US release,,,,,,

[Derrick King Waterfall Puncher Find all posts View Profile Close Derrick King]

It has already been confirmed that this has been cut too. I believe that WKW talks about that in the Variety interview that Ian posted.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Saw a TV commercial for this last night. No mention at all of the actual director's name. Instead it said on the title card at the end MARTIN SCORCSESE PRESENTS THE GRANDMASTER.

Dumb.

Apparently Marty liked the movie enough that he's 'lending his name to it.'

[Apronikoff Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Apronikoff]

Depressing news reported on Twitch:

Judging by the U.S. cut of The Grandmaster, in comparison to the version released in Hong Kong, we Americans must be really dumb.

The Hong Kong version, available on Blu-ray in Asia, runs 130 minutes. The U.S. cut runs 108 minutes. But it's not simply a trim job; the U.S. edition is so significantly edited that it qualifies as a different movie.

By adding, subtracting, and re-arranging dramatic footage, the rhythm and pace changes; by removing historical footage that provided context and replacing it with explanatory title cards, it now unreels as something closer to a traditional bio-pic -- with plenty of crunchy fighting and doomed romancing -- with the instructional value of a high school history lesson inserted, rather than an elegaic tribute to a lost martial arts world.

While it was great to see big chunks of a movie that I've quickly come to love on the big screen with an attentive audience, it was disconcerting and disappointing to see that the attempt to 'Americanize' the movie had turned what is very close to a masterpiece into a sliced-up pizza with all the toppings removed and piled on the side.

[Nolando Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nolando]

Fucking Weinsteins. Surprised they didn't put a motherfucking hippity-hop soundtrack on it, too.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[47lab Guest Find all posts View Profile Close 47lab]

I saw the Weinstein version a couple days ago and I have to reserve my final judgment until I see the Chinese cut but I prefer the Wilson Yip films. What was disappointing in the Wong Kar Wai film was the amount of time spent on Zhang Yiyi's Gong Er character & at times it felt more like a bio pic about her than Ip Man. The Donnie Yen films obviously can't match THE GRANDMASTER in terms of cinematography which was superb especially with all of Wong Kar Wai's artistic flourishes & the Yip films obviously took liberties with Ip Man's story but it was by far the better film in terms of sheer entertainment value alone.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

US Release is slated for 11/26/13 and according to a listing on Walmart.com it's the full 130 minute version.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=227548

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Cover art for the US release.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

For those who don't want to wait, the HK Blu-ray has Eng. subs.

http://www.yesasia.com/us/1033040913-0-0-0-en/info.html

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Yes Asia says the Korean Blu also contains the 122 minute director's cut with Eng. subs.

[sukebanboy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sukebanboy]

Yes Asia says the Korean Blu also contains the 122 minute director's cut with Eng. subs.

Of course it does....anywhere out of reach of the Weinstein's should be safe!