Episode Transcript
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In all right, ellis send thema back another dish. Are we doing
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out there? Good? Great?Gray? Yay and ay yane a yam
buke. Thank you for joining themost I know the filmmakers, thank you
for sure, but the most unlistenablemovie podcast out there right now yours truly,
as you see on your screen,your dial. However you're choosing to
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join us today, I know thefilmmakers appreciate you. We got Hansan Rising
Dragon. Hansan Rising Dragon, whichis a prequel to The Admiral Roaring Currents.
The Admiral Roaring Currents the most watchedfilm in Korea, the most watched
film in Korean cinema history. Let'ssee if I can do this before the
edibles take hold. Oh, theyalready are perfect, the most watched film
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then Korean cinema history. Hansan RisingDragon depicts the Battle of Hansando Hassando in
fifteen ninety two, Admiral Yi Sun'sSun Sin. Admiral Yee Sun Sin and
his fleet faced off against the mightof the invading Japanese Navy and its formidable
warships. As the Korean forces fallinto crisis, the admiral resorts to using
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his secret weapon, the dragon headshipsknown as jiobukson jio bukson Ah to change
the tide of this epic battle atsea. It's a starring Parki, parkhail
Bjun, Johan Ansun, Qi Sunhyun Ju, Kim Soong, Kim Sung
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Kyun, Okay Tayak Yoon. Literally, if you go on IMD r dB
right now, Okay Space Tae chyphen Yun. I'm telling you, I
don't think I IMDb is tripping onAsian credits. I tell you what,
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like this is one of those onesthat I don't know if you guys have
heard me mention it and shows passedBefore you try to go and research some
of these Korean films, Chinese films, Japanese film I would say about fifty
percent of the time you get nothing. You get nothing. I mean case
in point on this one, ifyou go search it right now, right
fucking now, there's no production designer. At least it's label. Obviously we
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know there's a production designer. Andunfortunately, as much as I love well,
Go USA and they've treated me veryright there every now and then,
they don't do any subtitles for theircredits. And I understand that it's not
as easy as all that. Butfor someone like me, you know,
you want me to review your product, there are certain things that I would
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like to know. There are certainthings. And for a period piece,
you know this takes place what fifteenninety two or whatever it was, maybe
I should be a little bit moreaccurate. Yeah, fifteen ninety two.
Give these people some props. It'snot easy to do production, production design
or costuming and wardrobeing for a periodpiece. In fact, I would argue
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it's the hardest. Let's give thesepeople their fucking flowers. But no production
designer listed on this we do have. I I was surprised that we had
at least some accreditation for an editor, music, cinematography, and writer and
director. So actually, let's justmention those people right now. Is edited
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by Hung Gun An and Gang HeeLee. And I never know if I'm
supposed to say though those in sequencelike that, or if I'm supposed to
reverse them. So it'd be onHyung gun or Lee Gang he, So
one of the two either flip andflopp it, but they edited it.
Music by Kim Tai Sung, cinematographyby Tay Sung Kim, written by Hanman
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Kim and Hang Ji Yun and directedby Hanman Kim. Ah, what can
I say about this film its unfortunately, you're gonna get a stupid, fat,
white, stupid American, toxic whitemale on this one. I think
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the only reason this one didn't resonatewith me is when you are exploring other
countries' history, it's a little hardto get into and just in terms of
this, so not saying that theproduct or the piece is bad at all,
No, no, not saying thatat all. In fact, I
thought, minus the fact that youwent to a wide shot of several ships
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fighting very often with the exception ofthat, it's a very big film.
However, it for someone like mewho has seen so many movies, and
I think the me and Kyle Brulethat actually I know movies and you don't.
Hosted by Kyle Brule, we havetalked about it before, where I
think you see so many movies,it really makes life a little bit harder.
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I guess what I mean by thatis it's very hard to formulate an
opinion or something of like something likethat if you don't think you're being provided
all the perspectives. So what Imean by that is it's easier to be
able to kind of pick apart perhapsyou know, a period piece or something
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deeply rooted in our history for anAmerican film, because then you can kind
of like pick apart, Well,that's true, that's not true. These
people said that this wasn't true.You know that the filmmaker did this.
I think of it kind of likebowling for Columbine, you know, like
everybody was just like, oh,can you believe fucking George Bush. Well,
then you find out that a lotof that was stitched together by Michael
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Moore in a way to make forlack of a better phrase, the history
somewhat altered. So that would bethe only, you know, real issue
I had with this film, whichmeans it's not the film's fault at all.
I didn't know anything about this particularevent taking place, and I certainly
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it's a hard time for me tocommit completely commit to it if I,
you know, don't feel like Igot all of the Japanese perspective, you
know, and obviously like, listento me when I well, I know
it's hard to listen to me,but listen to me when I say,
like I I'm not saying that theproduction team involved, they're the writers or
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whatever. We're shitting on the Japaneseor anything like that. But it is
easier for me to get into afilm if I feel like all the perspectives
are being provided right. And that'sthe only one of my only big hang
ups with this film. There's acouple other things, but for the most
part, I think it's a verywell executed period piece. It is very
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fucking big. Some of the exteriorsthat we do with all the ships,
it's it's really good. And Igo back and forth on it, Like
I talk about this all the time. Sometimes the CG that we get out
of the East is a little lessdesirable. There are moments in this film
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where you see these fleets of ships, I mean it's a massive production where
it feels like it looks good,and then there's other moments, let's say,
where you know they may be racingafter another ship or whatever the case
may be in it, like youhave an eye that moves as quick as
I do. Yeah, there's justyou know, and I don't understand why
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they do this, Like I getthat you're saving so much money. You
can't have a fleet of one hundredfucking ships anymore. Like, I get
it. It's not the fifties,sixty seventies, eighties, nineties, where
you know, you get X amountof money to be able to, you
know, get a fleet of ships. I get it, and then I
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always go back to the you know, my failsafe is well, if you
can't execute it properly, maybe youshouldn't do it. Flip side of that
is you're ever gonna get the amountof money to produce a fleet of army
ships and in giant battle sequences likeMaster and Commander or whatever. The fuck.
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No, it's just not plausible.It bums me out, But like
I get it. Like, ifI ever get to where I'm going and
I do make a film, I'mgonna have to make those fucking decisions.
But what I can tell you Iwill do unlike most people, at least
that I see, like a lotof this horseshit that's uh greenlit by Netflix.
If I can't do something with quality, I'm not gonna do it.
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Well, what if it derails yourplot and you need it blah blah blah,
then I guess I gotta get backto fucking writing now, don't I
be? Cause like to me,if I know that I can't execute it
properly, then I gotta take itout of the film, and I gotta
find another way that my budget willbe able to execute whatever scene I might
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be trying to do. And Ithink that's where I may be a little
different than filmmakers. Like when Istarted making films, it was shitty horror
films. What do we learn whenyou know our come up making shitty horror
films? We learn how to cutfucking corners, how to be effective without
having the money that other films do. And this seems to happen time and
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time again with some films out ofthe East, where it's just like,
well, if I were at thedirector's helm, I might have executed it
like this. I forget which oneI watch not too long ago, where
I was just like, I canmake a better film than that in my
sleep. Just give me the money, Like and I'm oh, he's so
modest, right, I mean,but here's the thing, Like, I've
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committed my life to this for themost part, I've committed my life to
this. So when you're watching someof this stuff, like these are people
that are getting a bunch of moneyto get films made and I'm not so
obviously the first reaction is just like, who the fuck is this dude?
But the flip side of that is, I think if you think in terms
of always creating low budget film,you subconsciously are able to kind of deduce
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and reason for whatever given thing mayhave happened. Like, you know,
you can be like, oh,well they did this wide shot here.
If we perhaps would have came withthe camera at this angle, you could
have some of the shitty CG thatis prevalent snore. Right. That's how
I felt watching this entire movie.I felt like so one. Like I
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said, it's hard to get intothe history of a completely different country,
not because I don't care. Idefinitely do care, but it goes down
to perspective thing. Am I justhearing the Korean side of things? I
would be an asshole if I didn'tquestion something like that, you know,
especially if we're if we're talking historyhistory, I want as many perspectives as
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I can be provided that said kindof reminds me of The Witch, where
we had all these characters and thefact of the matter is it was tough
keeping track of it. I likeepics, Oh, I just like movies.
Gang, It's like fucking movies.Can you believe that? And I
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do a podcast about movies. Shockerthat I like movies right, too many
people, Dialogue is coming at youfaster than the speed of light. I'm
sure the people that did the subtitleson this had their fucking hands full,
because it's a lot. It isa lot of content in a very short
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amount of time, and so itkind of sounds like I've been banging on
the film. What I can tellyou that I loved about the film is
kind of doing a great representation ofnot only the army, but also the
ship fight sequence as it were,the ship battles as it were. I
thought we did a good job wherewe didn't hang on anyone longer than we
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needed to. That said, youknow, like I said at the top
of the show, a lot ofexteriors of big fleets of ships coming through,
so that, you know, towardsthe hour thirty five hour, forty
minute mark, that seems a littleobnoxious after a while, where you're like,
oh my god, I get it, big, We're in the water,
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there's nowhere to go. Fuck,I got it. But like I
said, I thought we did agood job of giving me the meat of
the story while also executing above averagewith you know why the sixteen year old
came there? You know, thesixteen seventeen year old in Korea probably wants
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to see a big epic ship fight, you know, whereas maybe thirties forties
fifty year old Koreans are definitely investedin the story, like my great great
great great great great grandpa fought inthis or whatever the case. So they
did a really good job there.That said, when your subtitles are just
flying through like very I read,I'm not to not to toot my own
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fucking horn, but I read fastenough. I I'm not I'm not as
super quick. I'm not a speedreader as they call them, but I
read fast enough. Gang. Ihad to rewind it so many times and
be like, oh wait a minute, so this dude did this the but
the bit, yeah, that was. That was a little tough. But
for the most part, like Isaid, I got lost a couple of
times, but I understood where wewere going and what we were trying to
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do. I understood the players init. I just feel like I could
have cared more if I wasn't soconcerned about reading everything as it was coming
in. And I'm a huge advocateof momentum. And what I mean by
that is nowadays everybody's like watching shitwith their phone, right and even if
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they're not watching it, you know, with their phone in their hand,
if they're watching it at home,they're more inclined to pause it, play
it, pause it, play it, and you're What you don't understand is
you're killing the momentum that you havein a film like it. Maybe is
fine for like an obnoxious comedy likepop Star or hot Rod or whatever,
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you can get away with that,but for drama piece is that are hinging
on emotions, Like if you pausethat and you take yourself out of it,
I'm sorry, but you're gonna youknow, you're you're gonna lose momentum
in traction. And and the sadfact is when that happens, when you're
pausing and playing like that. Andlike I said, I'm using me as
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an example. There was a coupletimes where I feel like I may have
cared more about the characters if Iwasn't starting and stopping it. But that
at the end of the day,that's just you know, if I could
read faster, it wouldn't be afucking issue. But I'm an idiot who
reads slow. So it is whatit is. So. The dutiful war
movie Hansan Rising Dragon recounts the successesof the sixteenth century Korean national hero Ye
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Sunshin, which were previously chronicled thanthe twenty fourteen film The Admirable Admiral Roaring
Currents the Battle of Hassan Island innineteenth and fifteen ninety two, a career
in victory that is showcased as afeat of both strategy and technology. Part
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of the movie tracks Ye's efforts tolay logistical and diplomatic groundwork for a defense
amid squabbles and Japanese espionage. Adaunting array of captions pop up on screen
to help identify the military figures involved. So what I'm reading from you,
I believe is the New York Postor maybe even Roger Eberts site. And
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it was good reading that because Ididn't feel alone. Because when they say
just an onslaught of information that youprobably learn within the first thirty five to
forty minutes of that movie. It'sa lot anyway. Ye, played by
Park hail Is portrayed as a wise, deliberate leader, though his noble bearing
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can easily feel stold, and manymilitary can fabs tend to sag can fabs
tend to A recurring topic of debateis the deployment of the turtleships. That
was another thing that kind of tookme out of it, and I know
it shouldn't even if that's what theywere actually called. I would love to
talk to a Korean historian to seeif that's what they were really called.
But when you see, oh,they got the turtleships, and the turtleships
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are coming and look out for theturtleships seventeen times, you start kind of
giggling at turtleships and it starts tobe coming. It's devaluing the emotion connected
to the movie because I'm sure ifyou were in the Korean Navy, turtleships
is probably like, you know,it's a big fucking deal. So it
just sucks that my brain is thatway because like, I'm not kidding you
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about I don't know. An hourinto it and we mentioned turtleships for the
thirtieth time, I was just like, eh, turtleships anyway. A recurring
topic of debate is the deployment ofthe turtle ships. They are stout armored
vessels with cannons on all sides anda dragonhead battering ram. When the movie
finally opens up into naval warfare,these monstrous ships are worth the weight,
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roaring through the water and impressive sequencesthat toggle between wide shots and zooms of
the fracas. Much is also madeof Yee's arking crane wing battle formation.
Yeah, crane wing. After awhile was like, I get it.
You're using the crane wing. Igot it, Bud, And I feel
like an asshole for saying that,because you know, this is a real
dude that helped his country out whenthey were in a shit situation. But
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nevertheless, it's an arcing crane wingbetween turtleships and crane wings. I was
just like, all right, butits significance is overshadowed by the sheer spectacle
of collision. So, like Isaid, gets to the point where you
have that it's fifty sixth the wideshot of the fleet going to battle,
and you're like, uh, okay, I get it, And again it
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feels like I'm devaluing the event itself. I can't even fucking imagine if I
was in that situation in real life. So anyway, the film's dramas are
ornately consumed, but often stilted andlacking the verb of the battle staging.
Even the glorious war can turn stultifyingwhen you're is that how you say that?
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Stultifying? When you're shown one toomany thousand yard stare reactions by military
leaders and obviously, why is that? Gang? Well, I told you
earlier, you can't you want toknow how you save money? Instead of
showing these wide angle fucking boat fights, why don't you just show the face
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of the admiral. I mean,that's how you do it. That's how
you do is it? The problemis is that you have too much of
both. You have too much ofthe crane wing formation. And you know,
our our hero, our villain,we got the the slow zooming of
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the peril. And there's also acouple of characters that I really think that
we were supposed to care about morethis it ends up being overshadowed by the
sheer information that we've been asked toingest. You know, just like the
article says, there were multiple timeswhere I'm like, I think I'm supposed
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to be feeling big things, right, now and wait a minute, I
feel like I should have more hatethan I do right now. Now obviously,
at least from what moving motion pictureshave taught me, is that the
Asians are just better people than weare in terms of loyalty, class,
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and anna, and I think likeit's just a combination of things. It's
too much information that I'm getting andI can't. I mean, I'm not
a weak removed of If you guysremember in the Sakra podcast that I did,
I don't remember how many episodes agothat was, But Donnie Yen has
this big sequence before he's about tofight all his friends. I say that
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again, before he's about to fightall his friends, where he toasts each
and every one of them. Hetoasts and drinks with them. So I
feel like that happened a couple oftimes here where not that they're toasting and
drinking with each other, but whererespect is being given between good and evil
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for a lack of better phrase,And I'm not quite getting the opportunity to
fully commit to it because I haveso much information. I'm just like,
wait a minute, is that that'sthe good guy right? Not I know
that that's the good guy, butlike are they both showing, because there's
there's a couple of times where theyhit the nail on the head and he's
like, oh, this captain isgoing to do this. Respect So I
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there's that, but I feel likeit happened more often than I caught it,
And I hate that I'm an idiot. I hate that I'm an idiot,
and I can't fucking wrap my headaround it. But for the most
part, I'm not as damning assay that particular article was. And it's
not like the article is damning,it's just the reason why I quoted the
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article is one I can't write thatgood, and two we shared kind of
a similar experience with it where Iwas like, you know, you don't
get a chance to see something.Excuse me, this big typically coming out
of the East. Yeah, youhave big films, but US as Americans
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were spoiled. I mean, excuseme. We did a where we get
a big film every fucking week,you know, like some Godzilla followed by
Civil War, followed by Monkey Man. We just get these big films all
the time, so we don't Idon't know. It's kind of it sucks
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to be a sinophile because when yousee something like this that took so much
time. I mean obviously almost almostten years in the making since the first
one came out, and you know, to continue the story. It's a
lot of fucking time, you know. That said, overall, I found
it to be a good war piece, is it, Master and Commander.
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No. And the only reason Iwould say that it falls short of something
like say, Master and Commander thelack of use of practical sets and effects
and stuff like that. But youknow, you can't you can't talk shit
to me because I already told youin the beginning. I get it.
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You can't do that stuff anymore.You can't get a fleet of two hundred
ships and you know, fucking goup in the helicopter with an Imax camera.
That's not fucking cheap, you know. And another thing too, is
like in the Asian countries, like, yeah, they care about movies,
but in entertainment and movie stars andblah blah blah, even though I don't
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think movie stars necessarily exist anymore,but not to the degree that we do.
Like, you know, we've beenputting these people up on pedestals for
however many years, right, andthey just like it's not a big export
for them. So that's another thingyou got to take into consideration too.
When you're watching these big budget Koreanfilms, Chinese films, Japanese films,
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you gotta understand that they don't theydon't value their entertainment like we do.
So and sometimes, you know,like in cases like I shouldn't say cases
like this, because I think theydid everything they could with what they have
and for the most part, itsucceeds. The only reason I have issues
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with the film is because I'm stupid. It has nothing to do so every
aspect of you know, the negativequalities of this film, most of them
have nothing to do with the actualfilm itself and more just to do with
me and wanting to know the properhistory and blah blah blah. Not that
the Koreans are lying about the Japaneseor vice versa, not anything like that.
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It's just I'm a big detail guy. I need the details, especially
if we're talking about something real.I never really make a you know,
if we're talking a news story orsomething the big that happens in the news.
I'm looking at all aspects and mostof what people are writing about any
given topic before I make a decision. Well, imagine doing that in an
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epic war piece. Not that I'mnot saying that I'm not rooting for the
Koreans in this film, it's justyou. I don't have it in me
to not pay attention to that stuffanymore. Like I said, it's so
bad now that it's like some consciouswhere I'm looking for every particular detail and
I'm not even considering it, andI don't even like I think sometimes I
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don't even care, but I stillmove forward because that's just how my fucking
brain works, Like, oh,well, what's that? Well what did
they think of that? And whatdid the people that don't like them think
of that? And what? Youknow, what was the response of the
people that do like them to that? You know, like I it's exhausting
in my kitchen gang it's because I'mfat. I make a lot of food.
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Now, I'm just saying in myhead, it's exhausting like thinking like
that. You know. I Iremember watching a documentary last night and I
was like, well, who's tellingyou know what? Nobody cares Hansan Rising
Dragon available now has been for quitesome time. Watch this one, and
then when you're done with that one, watch The Admiral Roaring Currents. I
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believe both are on Prime or haiyah right now, both of them,
so you have no excuse. Youcan try before you buy, and then
if you fucking love it, gangfucking get the physical media. We need
to put the physical discs back onthe market because I streaming just is not
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as good as the convenience cannot beunderstated. Okay, I understand that,
but it is just so much betterwatching it on a disc like this movie
felt big when those cannon shots hitthey hit. You get fucking fifteen year
old audio files on Netflix. They'restill playing fucking Adobe Digital so they can
save some space for their fucking servers. At ain't how something like this was
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meant to be enjoyed. So ifyou do stream this, you get fucking
twenty five thirty minutes into it andyou're like, all right, I'm into
this, fucking stop it, orderthe goddamn Blu ray and then watch it
like that because that is going tobe a much better experience for you than
the streaming. Yep, all right, okay, Hansan Rising Dragon available now.
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Well, go USA, always givingus the goods from a US The
Sea Eli Cinema Hansan Rising Dragon wereGon