[quote=“badassmovieman”]
Sister Street Fighter 1-3 should be out on Region 1 DVD this year uncut with English subs. The American company BCI is using the same masters Toei used. I have the Region 2 uncut Japanese DVD from Toei for Sister Street Fighter and I cannot tell you enough how badass it is to finally experience this film in all its glory. Easily one of the highlights of my year. It doesn’t have English subs but man I couldn’t wait a day longer from experiencing this film uncut.
[/quote]
Hey, you are just like me :D I just received my french Street Fighter Box Set (HK Video) which features Chiba's Street Fighters + the first Sister Street Fighter. Apparently HK Video is using Toei's transfer for Sister. I'm gonna order the R2J's for parts 2 and 3 next month. I haven't watched the dvds yet, but all films seem to have great transfers.
A few more mini-reviews:
The first part in the Matutatsu Oyama trilogy (very loosely based on real life character). The action choreography is great, but the action scenes suffer from bad camera work and editing. The fight scenes are still enjoyable, but undeniably �too fast�. Surprisingly the rest of the movie works better. Chiba is as cool as ever, and the film is filled with beautiful images and great music (including Champions of Death, also featured in Kill Bill Vol. 1)
7.5/10
This is one of Chiba’s best films. Great action choreography, lots of fighting, improved camera work, great visuals (the final fight on the beach looks terrific on Adness’ superb transfer) and even pretty decent characters.
8.5/10
The opening scene is pure Chiba. Matutasu is bored, so he decides to humiliate a local master by beating his 100 students and the master himself. After the great opening the film gets a bit slow. The storyline consentrates on wrestling tournament, which wasn’t the smartest idea. However, the film remains entertaining, and offers some nice action scenes.
6/10
Damn, this is what I’ve been looking for. Ever since I got through Lone Wolf and Cub films I’ve been highly depressed because I though I would never find anything that great again. Shogun’s Shadow isn’t a LW&C beater, but it comes close. Excellent action choreography, fast paced story (even though the film runs over 2 hours) and a great 80’s pop soundtrack. Chiba plays the villain of the film.
9/10
The Executioner 2: Karate Inferno[/b]
Since Ishii was forced to direct a sequel, he decided to take it as over the top as possible. Karate Inferno is more of a comedy than a martial arts/crime film, but that’s not a bad thing. The humour is simply unbelievable (Chiba saving his buddy (who’s clothes caught on fire) by pissing on him..) and even the action scenes are better than in the first film.
7/10
Typical high quality transfers from Adness. Karate for Life suffers from ghosting, and the soundtracks on Bull- and Bearfighter are a bit rough at times, but it’s not a huge problem. The first two parts in the Karate trilogy are the best looking transfers, but the rest are pretty nice, too.