recent purchases

[jethro]

From the director of Jackie Chan's most famous films, Island of Fire and Fantasy Mission Force, comes Kung Fu Dunk! lol I don't know how they are still letting Chu Yen Ping make movies. You are a trooper for sitting through that one Jimbo. Now I don't have to watch it out of curiousity.

Muay Thai Giant (what's up with the stupid retitle of this?)- Tons of fun. Felt like about have of the movie is fighting. The villains suck, Nathan Jones acting is probably not going to advanced his career very far, but, still, it's a cute high octane action movie that will definitely be getting another spin in my DVD player soon.

[Jimbo]

Hi, Jethro.
I plan on getting Muay Thai Giant when the price goes down. It seems that Nathan Jones has found his niche in Asian movies as "the giant guy." At least he's improved A LOT since his brief, failed debut as a WWE rassler many years ago.

As mentioned in another thread, I got 13 Assassins. I counted the end battle scene at approximately 37 minutes long. Plus, it was on sale @ $14.99 (Target). Until that final battle, there isn't much action; everything is building up to it.

I've pre-ordered the legitimate releases of Five Shaoling Masters, Mad Monkey Kung Fu, and Executioner From Shaolin. Should be arriving around next month.

[Jimbo]

King Eagle. Starring Ti Lung; directed by Chang Cheh. 1970.

[Jimbo]

Mad Monkey Kung Fu

Martial Arts of Shaolin

Martial Arts of Shaolin (not to be confused with the movie Shaolin Martial Arts) was one of the very last Shaw Brothers films, directed by Lau Kar-Leung (Mandarin: Liu Chia-Liang/Liu Jialiang). The Chinese title is Nan Bei Shaolin (South and North Shaolin); and another alternate title was Shaolin Temple 3. Starring Jet Li as the Northern Shaolin disciple, and Hu Jianqiang as the Southern Shaolin expert.

Although a Shaw Bros film, it was filmed entirely in China, and Lau Kar-Leung clearly wanted to film in some of the most picturesque backdrops available. Like all of Lau's films, watching this can give you a serious case of kung fu overload. It's chock-full of kung fu (modern wushu style), acrobatic performances, northern lion dancing, etc. But in spite of Lau departing completely from his usual cast of performers, MAOS is stamped with Lau's characteristic directing/choreography and his penchant for manic, impulsive characters. Speaking of Lau's choreography, it remains the most complex and probably most difficult to capture properly on film, yet he and his cinematographers do it magnificently. My only annoyance is some of the comedy in the film, which is annoying. Good kung fu comedy is fun, but bad or overdone comedy isn't. Otherwise, beautifully shot.

Mad Monkey Kung Fu is also getting its first fully remastered U.S. release. This has long been another great Lau Kar-Leung film, showcasing himself and Hsiao Hou. Hsiao Hou was one of the most amazing acrobats of the old-school era, and is perfect for the role of Lau's student after Lau's hands are ruined by the villain, Lo Lieh. Whenever I've seen Peewee Herman, I've been reminded of Hsiao Hou, facially. Besides his acrobatics, Hsiao Hou possessed monkey-like flexibility, which he displayed to a greater extent in the movies than most of the other Beijing Opera-style kung fu stars. Most important of all, though, it's always a treat to watch Lau Kar-Leung himself show off.

No story descriptions here; I'll simply say if you like kung fu movies with lots of screen-fu, you'll want these DVDs. To those not overly familiar with KF films and Lau's sophisticated choreography, expect very stylized movements and don't expect extreme realism. If you can suspend belief for the movies' sake, you can appreciate the difficulty of staging and capturing such sequences on to film. Both movies are released by Dragon Dynasty.

[Brule]

It's been a long time coming but i finally got my hands on this. Maybe my expectations were way too high but i just didn't enjoy this one as much as a lot of you guys did. I'm going to wait a while to re-watch it to see if my thoughts change.

[Jimbo]

Five Shaolin Masters (1974).

This has finally been released in a proper remastered edition. It's been a long time coming, and I've never seen it more clearly, even when it played in theaters decades ago. And the versions previously released on VHS/DVD have not been up to snuff. This version also includes both Mandarin and English-dubbed versions, whereas before, the only version available was English-dubbed.

Starring Fu Sheng, Ti Lung, Chi Kuan-Chun, David Chiang, and Meng Fei as the Shaolin heroes; and Wang Lung-Wei, Chiang Tao, Tsai Hung, Leung Kar-Yan and Fung Hark-On as the villains. Perhaps the only unimpressive performance is Meng Fei's rendition of the "ditang" style. Like all movies from that period, this movie should appeal to those who grew up watching and liking the old-school KF movies, but it may or may not appeal to younger viewers who are mostly familiar with higher-budget (MUCH higher budgets now), flashier fights, CGI-filled, and faster-paced MA films of more recent times. But these films had a spirit and fun factor (and yes, camp) that, IMO, is lacking in most of today's MA movies. It does have a rougher look than most of the Shaw films, as it was filmed entirely in Taiwan, and the settings are mostly ruined buildings, grassy fields, rock-strewn streams, and rocky hills. There are no slick indoor sets as in most Shaw productions.

My one complaint is with the cover art. I don't know what Dragon Dynasty was thinking, but they superimposed the stars' heads onto other people's bodies on the front cover. The result looks weird and 'off.' I hate to say it, but the knockoff company Red Sun actually had a better cover for their bootleg release than DD has for this legitimate release. However, all four of the newly released DD Shaw DVDs (Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Martial Arts of Shaolin, Five Shaolin Masters, and Executioners From Shaolin) are available at a low price (about 9 bucks at Walmart). Of the four releases, only Five Shaolin Masters and Executioner From Shaolin have odd or bad cover art. More on the Executioners From Shaolin release later.

[Jimbo]

Bodyguards and Assassins (B&A)

I enjoyed this movie, a bit more than I thought I would. Among other things, it was cool to see Cung Le in his brutal fight with Donnie Yen.

**minor spoiler**

However, IMO the best MA performance in the movie was the main villain; unfortunately, by the time his fighting began, there were no worthy opponents left for him to face.

**spoiler alert off**

I won't give a review here, but I will mention that the MA action takes a back seat to the storyline and acting which, IMO, it should. Considering the subject of the movie. There will be some people who will complain that there's not enough action, or that the action takes too long to come around. The same as others who complain that such-and-such movie is all fighting but has zero storyline. You can't please everyone, but IMO, B&A is a quality movie with good action (nothing groundbreaking, but well-done), good acting & cinematography. It's a bit of a downer, but not surprisingly. 7.5 to 8/10.

[Jimbo]

Clash.

Clash stars Johnny Tri Nguyen and Veronica Ngo, stars of The Rebel. IMO, Clash is a big step backwards. There's nothing that stands out about it, including the fight scenes, which all look the same. There is some jujitsu thrown into the choreography, but there's also a lot of taking punches to the face and appearing completely unaffected by them. This makes the punches themselves appear weak. And there is a lot of repetition in the fighting movements themselves.

Quality-wise, the DVD is crisp and clear. Not really a bad movie, but I was expecting something a bit special after The Rebel.

5.5/10.

[Jimbo]

Executioners From Shaolin (EFS).

This is one of the four latest legitimate Shaw Brothers releases. Quality is good, but the picture is not quite as clear as in Five Shaolin Masters, for example. Still excellent pic quality, though.

Similar to my comment in an earlier post about Five Shaolin Master's cover art, my one complaint, if I have one, is the image on the back cover of Priest Pai Mei's head superimposed onto a body wearing Japanese samurai armor and toting a katana! WTF? What they should have done was put a correct image of Pai Mei on the front cover, white robes and all. Enough people are aware of Pai Mei in Kill Bill 2, which is even mentioned in the back cover description. It would certainly attract more attention than the front cover art they used.

This is the movie that popularized Priest Pai Mei (Bak Mei) in cinema, unless this film was preceded by A Slice of Death, a David Chiang movie also featuring Lo Lieh playing Pai Mei. Whichever. EFS is one of director Lau Kar-Leung's best movies, and features some of the best performances from Chen Kuan-Tai as Hong Xiguan (Hung Hei-Koon) and Lo Lieh as Pai Mei. In fact, Lo Lieh's performance is particularly exceptional, a career best for him, since Lo was not a trained MAist but looked convincing here. Which was no small feat, considering Lau Kar-Leung's extremely high standards. Lo always looked at his best under Lau's direction. Needless to say, Chen Kuan-Tai is great in his role. I'm sure there are some who will complain that the Priest Pai Mei character's movie kung fu bears no resemblance to Bak Mei Pai, but hey, it is a movie, after all.

Also starring Lily Li as Fong Yung-Chun; Wang Yue as Hong Wending, and supporting parts by Gordon Liu, John Chang, Chiang Tao, etc. After all these years, EFS has not only held up, but looks better than ever. A couple of years later, EFS was remade as Fist of the White Lotus (a.k.a., Clan of the White Lotus) directed by Lo Lieh but MA choreographed by Lau Kar-Leung, where Lo reprised his role of Pai Mei. And although wildly entertaining, IMO EFS is still the better movie. 9.5/10.

[jethro]

I prefer Fists of the White Lotus, but both great movies. Wang Lung Wei and Gordon Liu have some spine tingling exchanges.

I haven't been able to find any of the new Dragon Dynasty releases. I'm just gonna wait until next month when they release all four of them for of them in a box set.

While at Wal Mart yesterday I picked up Bangkok Knockout.

[Jimbo]

I haven't been able to find Bangkok Knockout yet. I'll probably have to order it.

Picked up Zatoichi #'s 10 & 17. Hoping to eventually amass the entire movie series (got eleven more to go).

[jethro]

When you are close to finishing your Zatoichi collection, you are going to run into a problem. If I remember correctly, there was one not released in the US.

Bangkok Knockout is really, really bad. But it does have a lot of action.

Picked up Never Back Down 2 at Wal Mart. ok movie. Every scene with Jai White is good, but the rest of the movie, including the fights, is just ok.

Golden Swallow just came out. If you find it let me know where you got it.

[Jimbo]

I've already run into a problem collection Zatoichis. There are a few of them that are no longer available, or only available at some ridiculous price. I should have started collecting them much sooner.

I'm not surprised that Bangkok Knockout is bad. Hopefully the action is good, though.

I'll keep an eye out for Golden Swallow.

[Jimbo]

Golden Swallow.

Killer Clans.

The Blood Brothers.

The Avenging Eagle.

Zatoichi: The Festival of Fire.

Zatoichi #'s 9 and 13.

I actually ordered these through Barnes and Noble. Of course, the Zatoichi films are great. Number 9 may be my favorite of the ones I've seen up to now. But even the lesser of the original Zatoichi films are still better than most.

Golden Swallow is good; the only issue I have is that the picture isn't as clear as in some of the Celestial Shaw releases. Some scenes are pretty blurry. I don't know if it was originally filmed that way or not. But it was still beautifully shot. It's one of those films I'd never seen before now. The cover art, like the Executioners from Shaolin back cover art, has Jimmy Wang Yu's head superimposed -- too largely -- onto the body of a Japanese swordsman sheathing a katana. As much as I hate to say it, Dragon Dynasty really should get some advice on Shaw Bros cover art from Red Sun.

One little thing I'll mention is you can spot David Chiang, very briefly, as an extra in a scene with Cheng Pei-pei near the latter part of the film. I know that he was a child actor years before Golden Swallow's year of release (1968), but perhaps this was his first appearance in a Chang Cheh film(?).

[Jimbo]

Troll Hunter.

Little Big Soldier.

Troll Hunter is a recent Norwegian film, made in the 'mocumentary' style. My opinion of many such films varies, because some have made me nauseous with the motion of someone running with the video camera. Parts of this one *might* have done that if I'd seen it in a theater, but watching it on DVD hasn't. The FX are pretty good, and I like the premise; three college students follow along and try to document a mysterious man who turns out to be Norway's only troll hunter. There are probably more comparisions to Cloverfield than to Blair Witch Project, except that this film lacks the apocalyptic aspect, and it's a much more low-key film. The Norwegian countryside is beautiful as well. 7/10.

Little Big Soldier is pretty good, as new Jackie films go. I will say that his China films lack the fun factor that his Hong Kong films had. That could also be because he was in his prime then, but I tend to think it's more the stories and 'feel' of the films. 6/10.