Watched Journal: September 2025

 

Shout Factory recently obtained the rights to a treasure trove of classic Hong Kong movies with their purchase of the Golden Princess catalog, which includes the early action epics from John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark.

Among them are John Woo's long sought after masterpieces The Killer and Hard Boiled, both starring the charismatic star Chow Yun Fat. Fat and Woo dabbled in Hollywood after conquering Hong Kong cinema in the early '90s, both achieving success. Woo directed big budget blockbusters like Mission: Impossible II and Face/Off while Fat starred in the martial arts masterpiece Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, shepherding a new wave of kung-fu flicks during the 2000s. By the end of the decade, they would both return east, where Hong Kong film was booming, albeit with less renegade creativity than before.

As part of Shout Factory's Blu-ray releases of their new restorations from the Golden Princess library, they're screening these films in theaters. I jumped at the rare opportunity to see A Better Tomorrow, the first collaboration between Woo and Fat from 1986, on the big screen. A Better Tomorrow isn't as action packed as Woo's later efforts, with the focus instead on the drama and characters. But you can see Woo developing the formula he later perfected with The Killer and Hard Boiled. You can also pinpoint the moment Fat becomes a superstar - where he lights a cigarette with a flaming counterfeit Benjamin Franklin. While Fat steals the show, the movie's driven by the stellar performances from Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung, playing brothers bitterly divided on opposites sides of the law.  

Shout Factory has begun releasing their restorations on Blu-ray, as well as lending some titles out for streaming to the Criterion Channel. When I first began discovering these films over 20 years ago, they often had to be tracked down on eBay and imported from Hong Kong, which continued until Shout's acquisition. My very first eBay purchase back in 2001 was a DVD of Woo's Bullet in the Head - I still have it for sentimental reasons. As I sat in The Tara theater catching a Sunday matinee of A Better Tomorrow on the big screen, I had a blast from the past.  

 

What I watched in September:

 

9-1: Grand Prix [TCM]

9-2: Bona [Criterion]

9-3: City on Fire [Scream Factory 4K UHD - Videodrome]

9-6: Midnight Express [Blu-ray - Videodrome]

9-7: Caught Stealing [AMC Madison Yards]

9-8: Marathon Man [Kino 4K UHD]

9-9: The Beast with Five Fingers [TCM]

9-10: Unknown Number: The Highschool Catfish 

9-13: A Better Tomorrow (Woo, ‘86) [The Tara]

9-14: Hong Kong 1941 [Eureka Blu-ray - Videodrome]

9-17: Threshold (Pearce, ‘81) [CBS-FOX VHS]

9-26: Winter Kills [Criterion]

9-27: One Battle After Another [AMC Madison Yards], The Paperboy (Daniels, ‘12) [Criterion]