Gloria (1980) (Blu-Ray) Review
Some of my fondest memories growing up were those of my Polish grandmother and visiting her in New York for a week or two during the summer. It was so different than when I was with my parents in North Carolina. From the living arrangements to actually having a real basement to the subway itself, it was almost surreal in a very urban type way. Then everyone seemingly moved to Texas including our family and all of the innocence was lost. Today’s movie is Gloria, a movie set in New York where a 6 year old Puerto Rican kid looses his innocence as his family is gunned down by the mob. The only thing he has to cling to is a friend of the family named Gloria who has a few special skills of her own. Let’s check it out.
The original version of this review can be found at:
Garbage Island by Fred Koehler (Book) Review
Full disclaimer, I do read kids’ books from time to time. Yes, I can read novels with fancy words no problems but especially since my son was born, I find myself diving back into books primarily of the middle school (8-12) age. I try to be a good parent and before I hand over to him a book (especially one that’s longer than a full description of Batman and his lineup of famous villains), I want to know what’s in it. But it’s way more than appropriate content, I want him to appreciate writing by finding great adventure. Today’s review, Garbage Island by Fred Koehler is one of those such books.
The original copy of this review can be found at:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5726095841
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Where the Heck Have I Been for the Last Month?
I looked at my calendar this morning and was amazed that we are already a week into August. What makes this worse is that my reviews/posts have been completely non-existent since I finished up the run of Police Story reviews. It was a major project for myself and I was so glad I finished it. I even had a side project that I was going to include as part of that franchise but while the discs materialized, I couldn’t find what I wanted to on the subject and my plans got derailed for the moment, at least until I get some hardware that should help things. It’s a long story. Then I had the idea to review Millennium Mambo, a recent Kino blu-ray release, and that also went by the waste side. But there is some hope in the next week or so that I should have a few reviews to bring to you.
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Police Story: Lockdown (Police Story 6) – Film Review
The blu-ray for Police Story: Lockdown was released in August of 2015. At that time in my life, I was only 3 months removed from having my first (and only) kid. I took a break from reviewing movies so I could help my wife as much as I could (and still go to work). That break from reviewing would last close to three years and in that time if I watched a movie, I mostly zoned out and couldn’t tell you much about it regardless of whether it was good or not. What makes this interesting is prior to watching Lockdown again, I could have sworn that I wrote a review mostly because I remember acquiring the blu-ray at release and actually liking it quite a bit. No matter how hard I searched on this site or Upcomingdiscs, I never found any evidence that I completed a review. Then the timeframe made sense, and even though Police Story: Lockdown made quite the impression on me, I never put words to a review. Let’s take another look.
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New Police Story (Police Story 5) – Film Review
As mentioned early on, I acquired a copy of New Police Story for these series of reviews. In truth, I had never seen it before despite having seen every single other Police Story in the series (even the last one, Lockdown). I missed it in a sea of reviews and other things that were on my plate at the time. One of the great things about getting myself to do these reviews is to find movies I’ve missed and as a bonus, the reader gets to receive my first time genuine comments and reflections. Quite frankly, I’m sorry it took me this long as this is a really good movie. As such, I’m not going to spoil the whole thing like I did with Police Story 1,2 and First Strike because I figure there will be others who won’t know about this movie at all (even with a working knowledge of the earlier films). Let’s take a look.
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Jackie Chan’s First Strike (Police Story 4) – Film Review
I probably could have put this out several days ago but I was still very frustrated that I was not bringing you a review of the definitive version of Jackie Chan’s First Strike or Police Story 4. All because some horrible vendor lied on Amazon. My anger actually increased as I was watching the movie because there were so many frustrating moments in the film where it’s a case of what the heck is going on. Obvious places for extra footage that would certainly enhance the story. Instead we got a very butchered film, and who knows if we will ever see a proper blu-ray/4k of the Japanese cut. It’s been what 20 years roughly since the dvd? I guess I should have spent the ~$35, but it’s frustrating when I “had” it for ~$15. Anyway, without further adieu, the WB Blu-Ray/International Cut film review of Jackie Chan’s First Strike.
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Police Story Reviews – Updates
Update, well the good news is the first three reviews are complete and the Supercop review will be the biggest one of all. So that puts me over the hump. Unfortunately, they are not going as quick as I wanted them to. I was being slow a little bit on purpose because of all of the problems I am having in securing the 2 disc dvd of First Strike which I still do not have. I had ordered it from Midwest Movies and Games off Amazon and it was fine at first. Then they wouldn’t ship and it kept going for almost a couple of weeks. Finally, it got cancelled (whether it was Amazon or Midwest it was impossible to tell) and while I did not get charged, I didn’t get anything out of it either. Fuel to the fire, the listing went back up at nearly $20 more than I previously paid. Yeah, completely fishy.
So now I’m stuck, I will not be going back to that vendor (unless he agrees to ship the item at the price I originally paid for), and the only other listing means I would have to fork out over $30 total. Single Kedrix would be able to do that, but married and caring Kedrix cannot. I guess I am back to the butchered WB version. For a brief update on the versions to be used for the last three, they are as follows:
Police Story 4 aka Jackie Chan’s First Strike – WB (Blu-Ray)
New Police Story – Lionsgate (Blu-Ray)
Police Story: Lockdown – Well Go (Blu-Ray)
My copy of New Police Story did actually come in and ahead of schedule. I’m not sure if the reader is aware, but there is going to be a “seventh” police story hitting the market in late 2023/2024. If I can get some decent information on that by the time I’m done with Lockdown, I surely will pass it along. I’m sure it will get a blu-ray (and maybe an international 4k) release but it would be nice to see it here in Houston on the big screen. Anyway, if anything changes, I’ll let you know. Thank you.
Police Story 3: Supercop 4k (88 Films) – Disc Review
The last couple of reviews I did strict summaries and commentaries. Even though I was viewing the Criterion Collection when it came to these Police Story films, I knew it wasn’t the definitive edition (Eureka 4k Trilogy) so there was literally nothing to be gained by “Disc Reviewing” those versions. Also, almost everyone who has an interest in the Police Story films has at least seen the first couple of films. Police Story III: Supercop is a different bird though. For one, I had the 88 Films 4k copy which came out this year and two, despite it’s popularity, this film is still not known by many people. Unlike the first two, I remember parts and pieces of the film. Furthermore, I’m about 95% certain, I watched only the US version and not the original Hong Kong version. So much like the reading audience, this is probably an almost brand new experience. Let’s dive in and give this one a whirl.
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Police Story 2 – Film Review
One of the wonderful things about doing these particular reviews is all of the versions that these films went under. Take for example today, our subject Police Story 2. Today, we will be looking over the 122 minute Japanese version of this film. But there are certainly other versions including a Hong Kong version (provided as a bonus feature on the Criterion disc) that runs 105 minutes and an even shorter version that was primarily intended for the UK and European territories clocking in at a mere 95 minutes. Usually what is stripped away from these films especially when it comes to action is any exposition or any chance to develop characters whether they be the protagonists or the villains. Basically, a shorter plot. Let’s take a look and see what we can shake out of this one.
Police Story – Film Review
We start our look back at the six Police Stories with the one that started it all, Police Story. This was released in 1985 and did very decent business across Asia and Europe. Eventually, it made its way everywhere else including the American market and really started to define Jackie Chan’s career as a world action movie megastar. Today we will take a look back at that movie and examine key scenes. It’s a fantastic movie and one of Jackie’s best (some would argue the cream of the crop), but there is still some criticism to be had. Let’s dive in.
