Chinatown Kid (4½ Stars)

I was somewhat confused when I put "Chinatown Kid" in my Blu-ray player today. The disc contains three versions, called the American version (115 minutes), the Hong Kong version (91 minutes) and the German version (81 minutes). The disc offers no description of the differences between the versions, so I had to figure it out for myself.

Only the Hong Kong version has been remastered for Blu-ray. As is usual for the Shaw Brothers films released by Koch Media, it's in the original Chinese (presumably Cantonese) with subtitles in English or German. The German version is dubbed into German with no subtitles. The American version is dubbed into English or German, but there are also no subtitles.

Before I decided which version to watch, I did some research on the Web to find out what the reason was for the three versions. Many fans of kung fu films call the American version the original version, simply because it's the longest version, but that's not true. In the 1970's it was common for Shaw Brothers to make films for different markets. Different scenes were inserted into different versions. In particular, German releases had less violence and American releases had more nudity. None of the three versions of "Chinatown Kid" can be called the original version, because they were released simultaneously. Even the German version, the shortest of the three, contains footage not found in the other two versions.

Several web sites compare the American and the Hong Kong versions, while dismissing the German version as inferior. The main differences are:

1. In the American version the two main characters, Tang Dong and Yang Jianwen, have approximately equal screen time. The Hong Kong version has less scenes with Yang Jianwen, putting more emphasis on Tang Dong.

2. In the American version there are love scenes with Tang Dong. (I don't know who his lover is, because I didn't watch that version today).

3. There's a completely different ending. In the Hong Kong version Tang Dong survives the final fight, in the American version he's killed.

I decided to watch the American version, but after five minutes the awful English dubbing annoyed me so much that I swapped to the Hong Kong version. Nevertheless, after the film was over I watched the final fight in the American film out of curiosity. I was amazed. They were two completely different fights, even though the same characters were taking part. In the Hong Kong film the characters were fighting with their fists, in the American version they were using knives. You can't get much more different than that. The Hong Kong version also has an epilogue missing from the American version.

Now let's get to describing the film. It's about two young men, very different to one another, even though they both come poor families. Tang Dong (played by Alexander Fu Sheng) comes from mainland China, but he's living in Hong Kong as an illegal immigrant. Yang Jianwen (played by Sun Chien in his first role) lives in Taiwan and has just completed his military service. He wants to go to America to study.

Tang Dong gets into a fight with a gang boss, who gets revenge by planting cocaine on him and calling the police. He beats up the police and has to flee the country. He stows away on a ship heading to America. He arrives in San Francisco at the same time as Yang Jianwen. Both of them apply for a job in a restaurant whose owner is prepared to hire illegal workers. They share a bedroom above the kitchen and become close friends.

The Green Tiger gang collects protection money from the restaurant's owner. The two friends see this and want to protect their boss, but he forbids them. He threatens to fire them if they start a fight. Yang Jianwen agrees, but Tang Dong beats up the gangsters in the street. His boss fires him immediately, but the fight is witnessed by the boss of the rival White Dragon gang, who makes him his personal bodyguard.

The two friends grow apart. Tang Dong rises in his gang's hierarchy and becomes rich. Yang Jianwen has trouble continuing his studies while working in the restaurant and turns to cocaine. The two men now look down on one another. Yang Jianwen despises Tang Dong as a gangster, while Tang Dong criticises Yang Jianwen for being a drug addict. What Tang Dong doesn't know is that the White Dragon gang is selling drugs to his former friend.

This is a very good film. While researching the differences between the three versions I read that most fans consider this to be Alexander Fu Sheng's best film. He was certainly an excellent fighter and a good comedian. The similarities with Jackie Chan are impossible to overlook, although he pre-dated Jackie Chan. Alexander was playing comic roles before Jackie Chan turned to comedy. It's tragic that his film career was cut short by his early death. He was killed in a car accident when he was 28.

Here are the film's lobby cards. I like lobby cards.

I'll definitely watch the American version some time soon. I'll watch it with the German dubbing, because it sounds much better than the English dubbing.

Summer with Demi Rose, Day 19

This is the 19th day of my summer posts with beautiful 23-year-old Demi Rose Mawby from Sutton Coldfield. I regret to say that not everyone shares my high opinion of her. I've had to delete some comments which I found extremely rude. How can any red blooded male not like her?

If you enjoy these photos, please follow Demi Rose on Instagram at instagram.com/demirose/

Charlie Says (5 Stars)

This is a disturbing film, which was certainly the director's intention. It's a film based on real life, and real life isn't always uplifting. Think of it as a film that's meant to educate, not entertain.

"Charlie Says" tells the story of Charles Manson through the eyes of three of his followers, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins, who're in prison serving a life sentence for multiple murders. The film is as much about them as about Manson himself, so rather than being a film about Charles Manson it's a film about their relationship with Charles Manson. As such, it's a very feminocentric movie, which is what we've come to expect from the director, Mary Harron. Over the years she's made a series of films that put the viewer inside women's heads. She doesn't judge. Usually they're strong women, but in "Charlie Says" they're weak, manipulated women.

The three Manson Girls, as they were called in prison, don't get equal screen time. The film concentrates on Leslie Van Houten. She arrives at the Spahn Ranch as an innocent teenager. She's overwhelmed by the atmosphere of free love and free drugs. She's overwhelmed by Manson himself. His charisma overpowers her, so that she's willing to give up a possible romance just to be close to him. She could have been with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, but her infatuation with Manson leads her on a path of destruction. She kills others because Charlie says it's the right thing to do. She doesn't even feel guilt for her deeds. Charlie's teachings take priority over all law and morality. As he tells her on arrival, "I'm here to make new rules, and the new rules are no rules".

When Leslie arrives everything seems so perfect. I would have been drawn in as well. Manson's teachings might have been crazy, but he was peaceful. He taught that America would go through a race war, in which most white people would be killed or enslaved. During this time Manson and his followers would hide in a cave in Death Valley, California. After the war was over, Manson would emerge and present himself as America's leader, because the blacks are unable to rule themselves. Those teachings might sound ridiculous, but Manson sounds a harmless crank. So what went wrong?

There may have been different reasons, but the film suggests it was Manson's male ego that made him snap. It wasn't enough for him being a cult leader, he also wanted to be a world famous pop star. He probably got his first taste of the celebrity lifestyle through contact with the Beach Boys while he was living at Dennis Wilson's house. According to the film, the Beach Boys recorded two of his songs, although I've only been able to find one of them. Dennis introduced Manson to the record producer Terry Melcher, who wasn't very impressed when he heard Manson's music. After this we see Manson smashing his guitar and becoming increasingly violent.

Then came the murders. The motivation was to kill rich white people and make the murders look like they'd been committed by blacks, in order to speed up the advent of the race war. Terry Melcher should have been one of the victims, but when Manson found out that Terry had moved away from Los Angeles he decided to kill the new tenants in his house, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate.

After their arrests the Manson Girls never see Charles Manson again. They're imprisoned in the Special Service Unit (SSU), a prison department that's unique to California. It's a unit inside high security prisons that's under the control of the police force, not the prison itself. That's a strange concept. It's justified by the police being able to investigate criminals while in prison, which wouldn't be the job of normal prison guards. Prisoners in the SSU aren't necessarily in solitary confinement, but they're not allowed to mingle with prisoners outside of their unit.

The girls have been thoroughly brainwashed by their time in the Manson Family, and even after three years of separation they still see the world through Manson's eyes. When they're asked questions they don't have their own opinion, they always reply with the words "Charlie says that...". The young social worker Karlene Faith attempts to deprogram the girls by teaching them about feminism. She sees them as the victims of a male patriarch.

The choice of Matt Smith to be cast as Charles Manson is nothing less than genial. He portrays the charisma and the insanity of the character in equal measures. When he's on screen, all the other characters fade into the background. It's not just that he's a good actor; his physical appearance is ideal for the role.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

I've noticed a recent trend that only the big blockbusters are released on Blu-ray in the UK, whereas all new releases are available on Blu-ray in America and Germany. That's strange. Five years ago I read statistics that Blu-ray sales had overtaken DVD sales in the UK.

I apologise if this post looks bad on mobile devices. It's the result of a programming error in Google's (totally unnecessary) new Blogger interface.

Summer with Demi Rose, Day 18

This is the 18th day of my summer posts with 23-year-old Demi Rose Mawby from Sutton Coldfield. Mexico may be beautiful, but not as beautiful as Demi Rose.

If you enjoy these photos, please follow Demi Rose on Instagram at instagram.com/demirose/

Night at the Museum (4 Stars)

Today is only the second time I've watched this film. The first time was more than 10 years ago (i.e. before 14th September 2010) and I honestly don't know why I've waited so long. All I could remember about it was the comedy, the ridiculousness that museum exhibits should come to life at night, but there's a lot more to the film. There are serious messages packaged between the slices of humour. The messages aren't even hidden, they're so open that I really should have paid attention to them first time round.

Simply put, the film is about a man who takes a job as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History in New York, where he discovers that the exhibits come to life every night from sunset to sunrise. The film is based on a children's book, and the film is definitely suitable for young viewers. They will probably miss the serious messages, like I did.

Ben Stiller plays Larry Daley, a man who's divorced and struggling to keep contact with his son. That's a common theme in films. It doesn't get worse with repetition. If a mother gains custody of a child, she might refuse to let the child see his father for his own sake, if she thinks the father has an unstable life style. In this case, Larry is a dreamer who doesn't want to do a normal job. He has ideas about new inventions which he wants to market, but they're too impractical, so every company he founds goes bankrupt. The divorce court allows him to see his son Nick every weekend and every second Wednesday, but his lack of money has forced him to move into a tiny apartment which his ex-wife doesn't consider suitable.

So Larry is forced to get a steady job that will pay the bills and allow him to upgrade his accommodation. He applies for a job as a security guard at a museum. When I was unemployed 15 years ago it was recommended that I become a security guard, because that's a job any man can do. Wow. The nice man at the Job Centre thought I was so desperate that I'd take the job at the bottom of the pile? I've never regretted turning down his offer. It was an insult to a man with four years of university and managerial experience behind him. But I'm getting off the subject.....

The museum is downsizing because of poor visitor numbers, so Larry's job is to replace three elderly guards. They give him a book with hand-written instructions, but he doesn't bother reading them. What can be so difficult about a job that any man can do?

He finds out too late that the instructions are essential. Maybe not too late, because if he'd read them before nightfall he wouldn't have understood them. "Lock up the lions or they'll eat you"? That doesn't make sense. The museum's lions are only made of wax.

In the first night Larry has to play with a dinosaur, run from lions and fend off attacks from miniature cowboys and Roman legions. He decides to quit the job, until he realises that Nick finds his father's job interesting. He can give it a go for a few more days, if he finds out how to deal with the living exhibits. He reads books about them to find out how to deal with them. They might only be artificial creations, but when they come to life they have the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of their real life counterparts.

With the encouragement of Teddy Roosevelt, played by Robin Williams, Larry learns that he can be a success if he tries hard enough. Years of failed ideas are enough to make any intelligent man despair, but perseverance can work miracles. Quoting Shakespeare, President Roosevelt tells Larry that "some men are born great, and others have greatness thrust upon them". He's only a lowly security guard, but he can make a difference. He can win the respect of his son and maybe even find a new romance in his life.

There are other messages in the film, such as the value of brotherly love, but the most important message is the importance of perseverance. Sometimes the odds seem stacked against you, and maybe you're in a situation where it doesn't look like it's worth the effort, but if something is worth having it's always worth fighting for.

Success Rate:  + 3.2

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

On another topic, Google has recently introduced a new version of its blogger software. This is the first major update since I started blogging 10 years ago. Unfortunately, the new version was pushed out too quickly without being sufficiently tested. I'm coming across new bugs every day. Some are minor, but others cause me more work. There's a procedure to report bugs to the developer team, but there's no reply to bug reports, not even an automated response, so I don't know for certain if my bug report will ever be read. Google should have left the software the way it was before. It worked. That's all that matters. 

Here's a list of the errors I've discovered so far:

1. The attribute "imageanchor=1" is included when a new image is inserted, but if I switch from the HTML view to the normal compose view, it's removed. Without this attribute posts are displayed incorrectly on mobile phones, so I have to edit the HTML code manually to put the attribute back in.

2. After an image is resized, there's a box left in the edit window until it's clicked away. This is only a cosmetic error, but it's annoying.

3. When multiple images are inserted at the same time they are sometimes inserted in the correct order, sometimes in reverse order, depending on whether I click in the edit box first.

4. When an image is inserted, it's usually inserted at the end of the post, not at the place where I'm currently editing. Sometimes it works correctly, but mostly it doesn't. I haven't been able to work out the logic of this bug.

5. When I'm editing HTML on my mobile phone, it's not possible to enlarge the display.

6. If a post has a large number of labels, only the first few labels are displayed in the post list. Very annoying!

7. Now here's a very curious bug. If I have the stats open and open a second stats tab with Ctrl-Click on the word Stats, the current tab is reloaded with the default settings before opening  the new tab. If, however, I open the new tab by right-clicking on Stats and selecting "Open link in new tab", there's no error.

Summer with Demi Rose, Day 17

This is the 17th day of my summer posts with beautiful Demi Rose Mawby from Sutton Coldfield. Once more she's frolicking on the beach in Mexico... and she's getting paid for it!

If you enjoy these photos, please follow Demi Rose on Instagram at instagram.com/demirose/

Summer with Demi Rose, Day 16

This is the 16th day of my summer posts with beautiful Demi Rose Mawby from Sutton Coldfield. I have a question for my readers. I've now been posting photos of Demi Rose for more than two weeks. Should I stop now or carry on for another week? My personal feeling is that it's too soon to stop, but I'll listen to what you have to say.

If you enjoy these photos, please follow Demi Rose on Instagram at instagram.com/demirose/

General: Can streaming services replace DVDs?

Time and again I read the statement that streaming services will soon make DVDs and Blu-ray discs extinct. I just laugh about it, as something that only people would say who know nothing about films. Sometimes people even say that Netflix will make DVDs and Blu-ray discs extinct, which is an even more ridiculous statement.

It's doubtlessly true that the two biggest streaming services, Netflix and Amazon Prime, are valuable resources for people who like to watch television series. They both contain large series which would fill dozens of discs. I used to buy television series on DVD, so I know from experience how much space they take up on my shelves. However, the selection of films offered by both companies in their standard packages is so poor that it's embarrassing.

One thing I haven't taken into account until now is that Amazon also offers streaming films which aren't included in its standard Prime package. For instance, "The Nightingale" isn't included with Amazon Prime in Germany, but it can be streamed for 3.49 Euros.

From this month on I intend to give Netflix, Amazon Prime and Amazon Streaming Services a monthly rating, based on the availability of the films that I've watched in the month. I'll make a bold statement: streaming can replace DVDs when the score of Amazon's streaming services exceeds 90% three months in a row.

Here are the current scores:

July 2020: Netflix 13%, Amazon Prime 17%, Amazon Streaming 73%

August 2020: Netflix 0%, Amazon Prime 5%, Amazon Streaming 47%

September 2020: Netflix 0%, Amazon Prime 0%, Amazon Streaming 70%

As you can see, the scores for Netflix and Amazon Prime are so low that there's no chance of either of them replacing DVDs in the foreseeable future. On the other hand, the Amazon Streaming values are high enough to be taken seriously. If Amazon increases its streaming catalogue in the next few years, it has a chance of replacing DVDs. Let's see what happens in the next few months.

Vivarium (5 Stars)

This is a film that could have been written by Franz Kafka. It's a chilling horror story about a man and his wife caught in a trap with no way out. They don't know who has trapped them or why. The doors to their prison seem to be open, but every attempt to walk out is met with frustration.

Tom and Gemma visit an estate agent to inquire about a house. They're taken to a house which is surrounded by identical houses. When they attempt to drive home they get lost and can't find the way. Whichever way they drive, they end up in front of the same house. Frustrated, they decide to stay the night in the house, but unseen forces are controlling their destiny. Every morning a box of food is placed in front of the house. Then a baby is left on their doorstep, but it isn't a normal child. He grows rapidly into a teenager within a few months. The boy, who isn't given a name, acts so strangely that they don't know whether to love him or hate him.

The film is unsettling. While watching it I felt revolted at times. I thought to myself that it was disgusting and I didn't want to watch any more, but I was drawn in with morbid fascination. It's an excellent film with awe-inspiring performances by the two main actors.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Summer with Demi Rose, Day 15

This is the 15th day of my summer posts with 23-year-old Demi Rose Mawby from Sutton Coldfield. Something about her looks different in this photoshoot. It isn't just different makeup, she's looking melancholy.

Today something occurred to me for the first time. Demi Rose reminds me of Druuna in the comics drawn by Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri. I shan't publish any examples here, but you can easily find his drawings online. Druuna has a voluptuous figure with a narrow waist and short legs. Just like Demi Rose. If it's ever turned into a film, she should take acting lessons and audition.

If you enjoy these photos, please follow Demi Rose on Instagram at instagram.com/demirose/

Summer with Demi Rose, Day 14

This is the 14th day of my summer posts with 23-year-old Demi Rose Mawby. My posts haven't been in completely chronological order, but I've divided them by age; the first 12 posts showed her when she was 22, and now I'm posting photos of her at 23. Will I get as far as 24? I haven't decided yet.

If you enjoy these photos, please follow Demi Rose on Instagram at instagram.com/demirose/

Summer with Demi Rose, Day 13

This is the 13th day of my summer posts with 23-year-old Demi Rose Mawby from Sutton Coldfield. Yes, I said twenty-three. The first 12 days contained photos taken in 2017 or early 2018, when she was still 22. These photos were taken in August 2018, a few months after her 23rd birthday on 27th March 2018. Once more she's in sunny Ibiza, and she's relaxing with a cup of tea. I wonder if she feels homesick for Sutton Coldfield.

It's now October. Summer isn't just over, it's been forgotten. I hope these photos will remind you of how beautiful summer can be.

If you enjoy these photos, please follow Demi Rose on Instagram at instagram.com/demirose/