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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8534949" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 89: November 1993part 5/5Into The Dark: Another round of Hong Kong movies this month, along with some advice on how to get hold of them yourself. It can be tricky to do so, requiring either mail-ordering or having a sympathetic local video store that takes requests. (which big chain stores are less likely to do) Even once you do, there are a number of ways they can be messed up by the supply chain. Poor subtitling, particularly if it was hardcoded on the cinematic print before the aspect ratio was cropped for video, can make things nearly incomprehensible. Another of those cases where things have definitely improved in the intervening decades, with switchable language tracks & closed captions on DVD's & streaming being one of the big structural improvements over VHS, plus even fansubbers usually take more care over the accuracy and screen position of their translations. The internet does a lot to bring people together and give instant feedback so the good translations can be sorted from the bad and it's important not to take it for granted.Peacock King gets a middling review. Lots of cool setpieces, but a cliched plot relying on extremely improbable co-incidences. This theme is already hitting diminishing returns compared to the overwhelming positivity of last month.Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain gets the highest score this issue. Lots of fun setpieces, building into a convoluted plot that'll probably take a few rewatchings to unpick, particularly with subtitles. There's some cheesy cameos and cliche characters in there, but they're done well enough that they don't break the mood. A solid 4 overdramatic beard swishes out of 5.Swordsman also has some cool action scenes, but the story building up to it is ponderous and a bit of a mess, as it went through six directors during it's production. There's still some entertainment to be had here, but you might want to keep the fast forward button ready on the remote control.Witch from Nepal is another one that's on the middling end of the quality spectrum. Chow Yun-Fat is a better action hero than romantic lead, so the slow love triangle bits get in the way of what most people really came here for. You don't want to be typecast as an actor, but it'll probably happen anyway if you do the job long enough.They had Gen Con photos earlier, now they finish up with a few more from Andcon, Ohio. An issue with fairly interesting articles, but extra dull and formulaic regular columns, recycling themes they've used before, with the promise of yet more to come on the same topics. At least they're trying to boost the amount of non D&D coverage again, mirroring the same push with The Dragon Project in their sister magazine. Let's see if it'll last the same amount of time before they give up and become all D&D, all the time in the same way as Dragon.</blockquote>

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