DVD News

In The Legend is Born: Ip Man, directed by Herman Yau, the legendary Sammo Hung returns along with action star Fan Siu Wong and To Yu Hang, the youngest martial arts world champion Hong Kong has ever produced. Playing minor parts in the original films, To Yu Hang is asked to take over as the young Ip Man here. Yuen Biao, Huang Yi, Bernice Liu, Rose Chan, Xu Jiao, and Lam Suet are among the new cast members, but the film's most surprising performance probably belongs to the 86-year-old screen novice Yip Chun, the real-life Yip Man's son who curiously plays the master of his father.

 

In his childhood, Yip Man was initiated into Wing Chun under the tutelage of Master Chan Wah Shun (Sammo Hung). After Chan's death, Yip Man follows senior schoolmate Ng Chung So (Yuen Biao) as his new mentor alongside his brother Ip Tin Chi (Fan Siu Wong) and good friend Lee Mei Wai (Rose Chan). Later, the teenage Ip Man (To Yu Hang) opts to leave Foshan to pursue education in Hong Kong, where he meets his third teacher Leung Bik (Yip Chun), a master of an unorthodox school of Wing Chun. When he comes back to Foshan, Ip Man falls in love with the mayor's daughter, his future wife Cheung Wing Shing (Huang Yi). Meanwhile, Ip Man is confronted by Ng Chung So and faced with the dilemma of whether to follow through with his training under Leung Bik. And, unbeknownst to everyone, Tin Chi seems to harbor a secret that threatens to put the whole nation in jeopardy...

 

Order from YesAsia: Ip Man - The Legend is Born Blu-ray | DVD

Ip Man 2, the highest grossing Chinese film so far in China this year at slightly over 200m yuan, will be available on home video on June 25, 2010. Directed by Wilson Yip, action choreographed by Sammo Hung, and starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Shi Xiao Long, Fan Siu Wong, Huang Xiao Ming, Darren Shahlavi, Lunn Hung, Kent Cheng, etc., the sequel, which is more martial arts oriented, sees Donnie Yen against with Sammo Hung in some of the most exciting martial arts sequences in the recent years.

 

After defending himself against the Japanese army in the first film, Ip Man (Donnie Yen) goes with his family to start anew in Hong Kong. He starts a small martial arts school, recruiting the young and brash Wong Leung (Huang Xiao Ming) as his student. However, Ip finds out the hard way that the Hong Kong martial arts world is controlled by a group of martial arts masters, led by the powerful Master Hung (Sammo Hung). To survive in Hong Kong, Ip not only needs to gain acceptance from the masters, but also from the corrupted British-run police force and an arrogant British boxer (Darren Shahlavi).

 

Blu-ray and 2-disc DVD Editions come with:
● Making Of
● Cast and Crew Interviews
● Deleted Scenes
● Featurette on Four Major Scenes
● Shooting Diary
● Gala Premiere
● Photo Gallery
● Trailers

 

Order from YesAsia: Ip Man 2 Blu-ray | DVD - Standard Edition / Special Edition

In this sci-fi action film directed by Wong Jing, Andy Lau leads the ensemble cast as Kidd, a cop in the year 2080 whose wife (Fan Bing Bing) is killed after a fierce attack by a group of terrorist led by Kalon (Fan Siu Wong). The terrorists are targeting Dr. Masterson (Ma Jing Wu), who has invented a new source of free energy, and they have decided to go back in time to kill Masterson when he was a child.

 

Determined to stop the future from being changed, Kidd goes back in time with his daughter (Xu Jiao) and becomes a policeman in the year 2020, alongside fellow cops Holly (Barbie Hsu) and Sergeant Ma (Mike He). However, Kidd cannot form any relationship or reveal his real identity, even as Kalon and his gang arrive from the future to wreak havoc. Who will reach the young Dr. Masterson in time?

 

Order from YesAsia: Future X-Cops Blu-ray | DVD (June 10, 2010)

 

Also on YesAsia: Beauty on Duty Blu-ray | DVD (June 18, 2010)

Director Jeffrey Lau's hit comedy Just Another Pandora's Box, which made over 100m yuan at the box office in China, is arriving on Blu-ray and and DVD on May 15, 2010. A thoroughly absurd rollicking laugh-out-loud parody on Red Cliff featuring an impressive cast comprising Ronald Cheng, Sun Li, Gigi Leung, Guo De Gang, Eric Tsang, Athena Chu, Yuen Biao, Fan Siu Wong, Wu Jing, Xing Yu, Gillian Chung, Yuen Cheung Yan, Corey Yuen, Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, Bruce Liang, and many more. Through this film, Ronald Cheng, under Jeffrey Lau's coaching, learns to vary his shades of expression and exaggeration for more subtlety and comic impact as well as oodles of surprises.

 

Qing Ye Se (Ronald Cheng) only knows how to be a thief, but he runs into major trouble when he accidentally steals the heart of Rose (Sun Li), an immortal fairy. During a chaotic chase, Qing Yi Se gets a hold on the Pandora's Box, sending them both back in time to the Three Kingdoms era. Mistaken as a general, Qing is thrown right into the middle of the Battle of Red Cliff. Meanwhile, Rose continues to devise new ways to earn Qing's affection, even if it means having to be someone else.

 

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True Legend marks Yuen Wo Ping's first film as a director in a decade and also puts Zhao Wen Zhuo back on the map of the film industry, even if the film is not completely a success at box office.

 

Tracing the ups and downs of the life of Beggar Su, from his heydays, through his downfall, to his return and creation of Drunken Fist, there are plentiful exquisitely choreographed martial arts sequences that don't stint on length, as we've come to expect from maestro Yuen Wo Ping, most notable of which is the showdown between Zhao Wen Zhuo and Andy On.

 

The film also stars Zhou Xun, Jiang Lu Xia, Guo Xiao Dong plus cameos by Michelle Yeoh, Leung Kar Yan, Gordon Liu, David Carradine, Yan Ni, Feng Xiao Gang, etc.

Order True Legend DVD from YesAsia | HK Flix

Little Big Soldier is coming to Blu-ray and DVD, both containing special features, on April 10, 2010.

 

Set during the final years of the Warring States period of ancient China, the costume crowd-pleaser stars Jackie as a cowardly soldier of Liang, who has captured a heavily wounded young general of rival kingdom Wei through sheer luck. Hoping that he will be rewarded and possibly discharged from the army, the soldier, who longs for peace and freedom, takes the captive along on his way back home. Their initial animosity gradually turns into friendship as the odd couple encounters danger in the shape of refugees, nomads, and the Wei armies on their eventful journey.

 

Directed by Ding Sheng; Starring Jackie Chan, Wang Lee Hom, Yoo Seung Jun, Sin Song, Yu Rong Guang, Wu Yue, Wang Bao Qiang, 'New Seven Little Fortunes'

  

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Legend of Shaolin Kungfu II: Thirteen Cudgel Monks has just been released on DVD. Thirteen Cudgel Monks is the 2nd of the highly successful epic martial arts trilogy, each with its own unique and independent story, that revolves around Shaolin Temple. Apart from a gripping script, director Du Xiao ensures that the martial arts sequences are as authentic and exhilarating as possible by casting genuine martial artists and employing top-notch martial arts choreographers, with Yuen Bun lending his expertise this time around.

 

Thirteen Cudgel Monks has just been aired in a few Chinese provinces to top viewership ratings while the third part 18 Arhats is expected to begin production in the near future.

 

Yuen Biao joins the original cast that include Li Yuan, Xie Miao, Ye Jian Wei, Sun Hui Ning, Ji Chun Hua, Wu Ma, etc., playing the head monk Tan Zong that is instrumental in assembling, training and leading 12 other warrior monks in rescuing the Tang Prince Li Shimin and aiding him in a war against the tyrannical warlord Wang Shi Chong played by Beardy Leung Kar Yan. Xu Xiang Dong also has a part in the series as an inscrutable martial arts exponent. Order at YesAsia.