Armour Of God II: Operation Condor coming 6/15/20 from 88 Films

[Aclea]

Some of us grew up with those as standard:

[Markgway]

I'd like to contribute a lengthy, thought-provoking post to this thread, but alas, I have some soup to watch.

I made it this morning.

[Shingster]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Friday sold more tickets, Money Talks made over $40m in the US and shifted a ton of videotapes and he was coming off supporting roles in Jackie Brown and The Fifth Element. He was certainly a safer and more affordable bet than Chappelle (whose movie career never took off beyond supporting turns) or Murphy (who'd drive the budget way up and could have driven the boxoffice way, way down after Metro and BHC3) and he'd already worked with Ratner and had a relationship with New Line.

Yeah but he's not really the leading man in those films, he's a supporting lead to much more famous people. Perhaps that's why they gave him Rush Hour thinking about it, he had proven he could headline a bill without overshadowing his more famous co-star. I should have been clearer when I mentioned Chappelle and Murphy I was talking more about their comic ability combined with popularity. Chris Tucker isn't a standout comedic talent on his own, he's a motormouth who got lucky. They didn't team him with someone of the talent of a Chappelle nor a "legend" ala Eddie Murphy, they teamed him with that helium voiced dude from Friday, and then they had the nerve to act like he was a talent on Jackie's level.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Markgway

I'd like to contribute a lengthy, thought-provoking post to this thread, but alas, I have some soup to watch.

I made it this morning.

And I have to prepare some severe fruit for my houseguest who has invited herself round for the next few days while dropping unsubtle hints about her birthday.

[Shingster]

TBF, the chinese are big on severe fruit if you count a Durian!

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Shingster

Yeah but he's not really the leading man in those films, he's a supporting lead to much more famous people.

He's the co-lead in Friday and the top-billed lead in Money Talks.

Perhaps that's why they gave him Rush Hour thinking about it, he had proved he couldheadline a bill without overshadowing his more famous co-star. I should have been clearer when I mentioned Chappelle and Murphy I was talking more about their comic ability combined wit popularity. Chris Tucker isn't a standout comedic talent on his own, he's a motormouth who got lucky. They didn't team him with someone of the talent of a Chappelle nor a "legend" ala Eddie Murphy, they teamed him with that helium voiced dude from Friday, and then they had the nerve to act like he was a talent on Jackie's level.

Agreed, but it's easy to underestimate how hot Tucker was in the States at the time: much as he annoyed the Hell out of some audiences, he had a big following with the African-American audience that was always a big part of New Line's target market for so much of their product. When I saw the Rush Hour trailer again in a very different part of town, the reaction was completely different to that at the Cinerama Dome, with one woman in the audience loudly proclaiming she was going to be Mrs Chris Tucker and a chorus of female voices agreeing with her. He was a big reason the film was such a hit in the US because it landed at just the right time before he wore out his welcome. He had momentum at the time while Chan's post-Rumble releases were losing theirs. While Ratner was always pretty obviously more a fan of Tucker than Chan, for New Line there were no delusions that he was a great talent, just that he was the most likely factor to get the film past the $50m mark in the US (which was the original expectation for the film before they started previewing it), just as Chan was a factor in boosting their overseas sales which had so often been negligible for their pictures targetting African-American audiences. And at the time he was affordable enough for the film to cost under $35m. It's all about the Benjamins.

Had they cast Murphy, which could have been an interesting inversion of 48 Hrs had they been able to control his ego (and he was only just coming down from his "Anyone who criticises me is an agent of the Devil because my talent is God-given" phase), I can see Chan being even more sidelined, especially if Murphy thought he was being relegated to the Nick Nolte role.

[grim_tales]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Some of us grew up with those as standard:

"Who gave you the nerve to get killed here?"

"Fatty, you with your thick face have hurt my instep"

"Beat him out of recognisable shape!"

"Quiet, or I'll blow your throat up"

"I'll fire aimlessly if you don't come out!"

[finishominis]

Originally Posted by grim_tales

"Who gave you the nerve to get killed here?"

"Fatty, you with your thick face have hurt my instep"

"Beat him out of recognisable shape!"

"Quiet, or I'll blow your throat up"

I'll fire aimlessly if you don't come out!"

Brilliant!

[The Mole]

I saw a restored trailer for BLACK CAT on Youtube today, posted by Fortune Star in November 2019. So how about a BLACK CAT 1&2 box set?

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by finishominis

Brilliant!

"He is big head man. He's lousing around."

"Come to pull me down to death I don't afraid!"

[Zagreus]

Looking forward to this release. Am I right in saying that, although the Mediumrare bluray of this was complete and uncut, it had "subtitles?"

[Dr Lenera]

Loving the dodgy subtitle translations! Really brings back memories. When I was younger the best way to obtain many Hong Kong movies on video here in the UK was at a shop in London's Soho....it openly sold bootleg videos for several years!

[CrockettandTubbs]

"Beat him out of recognisable shape!"

That's a classic

Some more -

"Take my advice, or I'll spank you without pants!"

"I am damn unsatisfied to be killed in this way."

"Beware! Your bones are going to be disconnected!"

[Shingster]

Originally Posted by Aclea

He's the co-lead in Friday and the top-billed lead in Money Talks.

Yup, but none of this proves Chris Tucker was an established leading man, the latter just proves he had a better agent than Charlie Sheen!

Agreed, but it's easy to underestimate how hot Tucker was in the States at the time: much as he annoyed the Hell out of some audiences, he had a big following with the African-American audience that was always a big part of New Line's target market for so much of their product.

I give Tucker credit that Friday launched his career and he was definitely hot at the time with African American audiences, but it was only african american audiences, and that I think is the crux of my issue. The studios were not treating Jackie Chan as a hot new action lead, they were still treating him as a niché player who's predominant appeal was to african americans, so they greenlight a mid-budget buddy cop film and pair him up with an up and coming black comedy foil and let the African American audience do their thing. Bring in that Friday bank... but Jackie's appeal was more mainstream and Rush Hour was a smash hit. This should have put Tucker seriously over the top if he was any kind of serious talent, but he wasn't and he never really capitalised on it. I mean, I don't think he did anything outside of Rush Hour films for 15yrs, which is pretty crazy when you think about it. I don't know if that was by choice (like I said earlier, IIRC Tucker got the bigger pay check for RH2) or whether he pissed someone powerful off in the business, who knows.

When I saw the Rush Hour trailer again in a very different part of town, the reaction was completely different to that at the Cinerama Dome, with one woman in the audience loudly proclaiming she was going to be Mrs Chris Tucker and a chorus of female voices agreeing with her. He was a big reason the film was such a hit in the US because it landed at just the right time before he wore out his welcome.

I really don't agree with that at all. I think had Chris been teaming up with Charlie Sheen again Rush Hour would have struggled to break $50million domestic at best. His fanbase wasn't THAT huge or THAT rabid.

He had momentum at the time while Chan's post-Rumble releases were losing theirs.

Chan's post-rumble releases were unfortunately mediocre to poor HK productions though, they weren't proper American films. First Strike did $15million and Mr Nice Guy $12.7mill in the US alone, which at the time was a very respectable takes for HK films and reasonably consistent rather than any huge drop off in momentum. Unfortunately Mr. Nice Guy wasn't a good film and Burn Hollywood Burn was even worse and quite the infamous disaster so 1997 ended up being a bad year for Jackie in terms of capitalising on his new found "fame" in the US. I have no idea how much money Who Am I? made stateside, but it was at least his first "proper" English-language film since The Protector.

Had they cast Murphy, which could have been an interesting inversion of 48 Hrs had they been able to control his ego (and he was only just coming down from his "Anyone who criticises me is an agent of the Devil because my talent is God-given" phase), I can see Chan being even more sidelined, especially if Murphy thought he was being relegated to the Nick Nolte role.

Yes he would have been, Murphy would have been a terrible match up for Jackie, but that wasn't my point when I mentioned Murphy. Myu point was the studios treating Jackie like a B-lister still with only niché appeal.

[chen lung]

...no sense.

Credit: Tokyo Stomp

[Yautja_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Some of us grew up with those as standard:

Lmao maybe badly translated subs should be included as comedy extra features on future projects.

[grim_tales]

I remember one DVD release of God of Gamblers had badly translated subs (theatrical ones?) The Dragon Dynasty subs for Come Drink with Me were awful
Sorry for going OT

[Shingster]

The old HK DVD of Peking Opera Blues was legendary for, sadly mostly completely unfunny, bad Chinglish.

[chen lung]

Originally Posted by Shingster

The old HK DVD of Peking Opera Blues was legendary for, sadly mostly completely unfunny, bad Chinglish.

Director Tsui Hark's then-wife wrote to The New York Times about this very subject!

I haven't seen the film myself.

[Shingster]

Oh man, you've gotta tell 88Films to lean on Fortune Star so you can finally watch it in glorious 2K restored HD