SKIN TRADE (Ekachai Uekrongtham, 2014)

[Jox]

To be screened at the Alamo City Film Festival (San Antonio, TX) on September 11th with Dolph, Ron Perlman and Craig Baumgarten in attendance
www.alamocityfilmfestival.com#sthash.wRAkmZyo.dpuf
http://www.sahcc.org/membership/alamo-c ... 15-lineup/

[Jox]

US backcover

[Travis]

Just saw it and I am surprised it was as good as it is. I knew it would be better than his typical movie but it is probably one of the highest quality movies he has ever made and the least cheesy, which is good because of the serious subject matter. It is too bad he waited til he is old to do a quality movie.

The only negative I can say about the movie was it wasn't super fun because of the serious nature of it. It wasn't super depressing though either.

It would be nice if Dolph kept making movies of this quality.

[Jox]

I'm not sure I understand, on one hand you're saying it's "less cheesy" than other films (compared to which film? good or bad some of his recent wok is cheesy some of it is less, depending on the tone), but on the other hand you would have prefered a movie that 'd be "more fun"?

It is too bad he waited til he is old to do a quality movie.

Indeed he's very "old" and probably woke up one day and thought: "I'm older now, I'm gonna make a 'quality movie' now"...

It would be nice if Dolph kept making movies of this quality.

It's not that simple, but that's what he aims for with his own pet projects like this one (not the ones he's acting in where he serves the director and producers -and doesn't have that much say on the overall project, unlike sometime ago), and what he wants is to push it further with his next directorial effort NORDIC LIGHT (but that's not gonna be "fun" either, Dolph can be fun but he rather has a taste for serious stuff)... But it's never a done deal to make it happen (the way he wants it), depending on all the things you can't control or anticipate 100% with film producing.



DVDTalk Blu-ray review:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/69343/skin-trade/

Video:
Skin Trade arrives on Blu-ray in AVC encoded 1080p high definition in its proper 2.39.1 widescreen aspect ratio and it looks excellent. Shot digitally there are obviously no problems with print damage or blemishes while detail and texture are strong throughout the movie. Some scenes do look a bit hot but that would appear to be intentional, because outside of those scenes color reproduction seems spot on. There are no obvious compression artifacts nor is there any edge enhancement and while eagle-eyed viewers might spot a tiny bit of shimmer and maybe a couple of instances of minor banding, this is otherwise a very strong picture.

Sound:
The English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track on this disc is great stuff. It's aggressive when it needs to be but it handles the quieter moments just as well as the shoot outs and fight scenes. Dialogue stays clean, clear and concise while the effects and the score are nicely positioned within all channels to provide for some pretty great channel separation. Bass response is strong but not overpowering and there are no problems with any hiss or distortion. Optional subtitles are provided in English.

Extras:
Lundgren fans will be happy to see that unlike Blu-ray releases of a lot of his movies, Skin Trade sees him all over the extras starting with the audio commentary. It's a scene specific talk, so it starts off by discussing how slave traders will and do lure young women into prostitution by tricking them into thinking that they're taking modeling jobs in the western world. He then tells some stories about working with Tony Jaa, how he met him for the first time working on an unrelated project and how he tailored the script to make it work for the two of them. He discusses his work not only in front of the camera but also about writing the movie and serving as a producer on the film, approving the casting decisions and working alongside director Ekachai Uekrongtham. He notes that his interest in the picture stemmed from the fact that it's a movie that deals with a real issue, he talks about what Uekrongtham was able to bring to the movie as a Thai director, he discusses some of the fight scenes and the stunt sequences, working with Perlman, Weller, White and Jaa and how he almost got his head cut off by a wire during the chase scene where Jaa chases Dolph along the riverside. There are a few spots where Dolph gets a little quiet but for the most part this is a solid track. He was involved in a lot of different aspects of this particular movie and as such, he's able to do more than just talk about his role as an actor.

From there we move on to the featurettes starting with The Making Of Skin Trade, which is a seventeen minute long piece that is made up of interviews with Lundgren, the producers, Ekachai Uekrongtham, Perlman, Weller and White. It's a good mix of interviews and behind the scenes footage as we get to hear about everyone's experiences working on the film and see some of the more intense action scenes being filmed. Behind The Action: Fighting You Can Believe is an eight minute featurette that, as you could probably guess, covers the fight choreography and what went into making it as realistic as possible. Tony Jaa speaks a bit here as do most of the other interviewees from the first featurettes and there are some interesting anecdotes here about trying to ensure that what we see happen on camera stays within the realm of possibility. Lundgren gets a separate interview here that runs three and a half minutes. It covers a lot of the some ground as the commentary but it's still worth checking out. He gives a quick rundown of the plot and then talks about how it led to him taking an interest in the problem of human trafficking and how it became quite an emotional experience for him. This led to him working alongside an organization that exists in order to help people who were harmed by human trafficking. A Look At Director Ekachai Uekrongtham spends five minutes with the producers and the cast speaking about how much they appreciate what Ekachai Uekrongtham was able to bring to the project and his skills as a director.

Aside from that we get just under eight minutes of deleted/extended scenes, trailers for a few other action movies available from Magnolia Pictures, animated menus and chapter selection. The Blu-ray disc fits inside a standard case which in turn fits inside a cardboard slipcover.

[Jox]

Home Theater Shack review
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/ ... eview.html

Blu-ray.com review
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Skin-Trad ... 31/#Review

(more screenshots available)

Video Quality 4.5 of 5

Skin Trade was shot digitally (with the Arri Alexa, according to IMDb) by Ben Nott (Predestination). Post-production was completed on a digital intermediate, from which Magnolia Home Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced by a direct digital path. The image is consistently sharp, clean, detailed and colorful, with no interference or distortion. Blacks for nighttime and dark interior scenes are solid, and contrast levels are appropriate. The lively street locations in Bangkok and the verdant countryside outside the city provide natural production value, of which the photography takes full advantage.

Magnolia has placed the 98-minute film on a BD-25, resulting in an average bitrate of 22.001 Mbps, which is appropriate given the digital origination. The encoding has been carefully done so that even the demanding fight sequences play without visible artifacts.


Audio Quality 4.0 of 5

Skin Trade's 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, is an effective if unremarkable mix, with wide dynamic range for the assorted firearms, explosions and crashes (including one spectacular aircraft mishap) that fulfill the requirements of an action film. The surround speakers are used more for a sense of depth that for discrete rear channel effects, but the sound field is nicely filled out. The dialogue is generally clear, except for Tony Jaa's English, which he was still learning. The score by Jacob Groth is not as memorable as his music for the original Swedish adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and its two sequels), but it works well enough to keep up the pace.


Special Features and Extras 2.5 of 5

Commentary with Actor/Writer/Producer Dolph Lundgren: Lundgren provides the history of the project, which dates back many years, praises his collaborators, and explains what he was trying to accomplish with the story. Although he acknowledges the contribution of director Uekrongtham, Lundegren's personal involvement in every phase of making the film is clear, and he often speaks as if he had directed it (which he initially planned to do). For nuts-and-bolts detail on the making of Skin Trade, it's an adequate commentary, but nothing more.

Deleted/Extended Scenes (1080p; 2.35:1; 7:45): The five scenes are not separately labeled or selectable. None of them add significant plot information or character development.

The Making of Skin Trade (1080p; 1.78:1; 17:06): This is a typical EPK effort with comments by Lundgren, Perlman, Weller, White, director Uekrongtham and producers Michael Selby and Craig Baumgarten.

Behind the Action: Fighting You Can Believe (1080p; 1.78:1; 8:15): The same group of interview subjects discuss the film's fight sequences, with additional comments from Tony Jaa.

Interview with Dolph Lundgren (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:29): Lundgren summarizes some of the key subjects covered in his commentary, including the origin of the film, the authenticity of the fights and the experience of shooting in Thailand.

A Look at Director Ekachai Uekrongtham (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:58): The young Thai director discusses his approach to the film; the producers describe why they picked him to direct; and Lundgren and Weller discuss working with him.

Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment: The disc includes trailers for Kill Me Three Times, The Dead Lands and Serena, as well as promos for the Chideo web service and AXS TV. These also play at startup, where they can be skipped with the chapter forward button.

BD-Live: As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live gave the message "Check back later for updates".

[Jox]

[Moltisanti]

Got the disc today and watched it with the commentary. Lots of good insights on how the project came together as well as the challenges of filming in Thailand.

I know we're coming up on a whole slew of "for hire" films coming out the next few months. Hopefully he will get together another project soon that he has as much interest in as SKIN TRADE.

[Jox]

Got the disc today and watched it with the commentary. Lots of good insights on how the project came together as well as the challenges of filming in Thailand.

I'm glad he did a commentary (I don't if that has to do with my suggestion a while back but Magnolia tries to put out some good editions when they can). To be politically correct, he probably doesn't fully get into all the obstacles and arguments he had during the entire production, but that might be dealt with when time has past and things settled.

Hopefully he will get together another project soon that he has as much interest in as SKIN TRADE.

It's coming, but the reason SKIN TRADE got the production value it did, is that it took time to get made and off the ground, and Dolph didn't sell out each time he dealt with companies wanting to cheapen it. Cheap DTVs like 4GOT10 and RIOT that are greenlit, shot and completed faster than you have time to say it is never a good sign. At least DON'T KILL IT and LARCENY seem to be more serious productions, and Dolph isn't cast only days before getting on set. So he's been actively working on getting NORDIC LIGHT going for the past couple of years and now it's set to film next summer, but it might also happen later. Cross fingers. And for WITHOUT YOU I'M NOTHING that he may produce in between, he's keen on getting a very good director...


Celina Jade for the HK release coming September 10:

[Jox]

Win a Blu-ray copy:
http://mmasucka.com/2015/08/26/win-a-co ... n-blu-ray/






Apparently there's an alternate cover at some retailers (Walmart I think) :




(despite the fact this artwork was changed for the "theatrical release" because it was not approved by Dolph: "Tony Jaa flying?!")

[Jox]

EPK / special features clip:

http://www.mstarz.com/articles/82102/20 ... -white.htm

[Jox]

TV premiere in Italy September 5th at 9.30pm
http://www.mediaset.it/rete4/foto/1347/ ... mana.shtml

[Jox]

Clip with Ron Perlman's EPK interview
http://www.shockya.com/news/2015/09/02/ ... ease-clip/

[Jox]

TV premiere in Italy September 5th at 9.30pm
http://www.mediaset.it/rete4/foto/1347/ ... mana.shtml

802,000 viewers for 4.41% market share
(Rete4 doesn't seem to be a mainstream channel though)
http://tvzap.kataweb.it/news/129691/asc ... ta-il-web/

[Jox]

New South Korean poster

[Jox]

Japanese DVD release on December 2
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/BBBF-2588
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%90%E3%83 ... C%E3%83%B3

Bonus Footage: Dolph Lundgren interview (Still), trailer, photo gallery (still images), visual brochure (still images), staff / cast profile (still images)

Thai DVD released last month:
http://www.yesasia.com/global/skin-trad ... /info.html