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I started buying all the Z movies awhile ago, but I got up to #9 and I found out that there is one that was not released on DVD. I think it's #14 or 15. For some reason I never started buying them anymore, except one every once in awhile. What # is Z Meets Yojimbo? Hopefully I'll be able to get them all one day. I don't think you have to watch them in order after the first 2 or 3, so maybe I'll start buying them again someday. I'll be very surprised the day I see a bad Zatoichi movie.
"For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
"What, you're dead? You die easy!"
"Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
“I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
"When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
"I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."
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Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo is not numbered. I have heard somewhere that it was like # 22 or so, a couple movies before Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman, I think. But on the back cover it says 1965, which would put it much earlier. But from the appearance of the movie itself, I think it was a later one. Katsu has his head shaved in this one and looks older than in the early movies. ZMY looks to me like early '70s, so it probably was past # 20.
I buy the Zatoichi's whenever I can find them below full price. I don't care about the order, because there doesn't seem to be any real sequence to the films, at least the further the series moves along. Like Zatoichi/One-Armed Swordsman, ZMY is an Animeigo release, so it isn't numbered like most of them seemed to be.
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X-Men the 90s animated series volumes 1 and 2. Best Buy, 35 for both. Good deal... unfortunately, as I discovered this evening, there seems to be a problem with the discs themselves. They aren't boots, they are done by Disney/Buena Vista. They'll play on my PC, a crappy Radio Shack portable DVD player and an older VCR/DVD player but not my mother-in-law's newer VCR/DVD player/recorder that picks up digital TV signals...
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That's happened to me a few times in the past. I recently got Man With the Golden Gun, and it wouldn't play on my DVd player which usually plays everything, but it worked on another one of my players. Luckily this type of thing rarely happens to me.
"For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
"What, you're dead? You die easy!"
"Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
“I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
"When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
"I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."
Registered User
I'm wondering if I should go back and have them take a look at the discs. There's some weird stuff going on in the disc itself. Like... waveyness and like oil on water sorta stuff. It's no doubt linked to the problems I've having.
Registered User
I don't think I've ever seen that. Hopefully you can get it returned and get a good copy.
"For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
"What, you're dead? You die easy!"
"Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
“I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
"When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
"I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."
Registered User
I had a problem with a disc from a usually good company...Tai Seng. The movie was Eagle Claw and Butterfly Palms. The picture was really weird, looked all off-color and slightly double-imaged or shadowed, and when people moved it looked like the old stop-motion animation (think original King Kong). I only played it on one player, and by the time I actually watched and noticed it, it was too late to exchange it. I'm wondering if it would work better on another player. It's a pity, because the movie itself looked pretty good, but I couldn't bear watching more than about 20 minutes of it because of the problems.
Oddly enough, years ago I had VHS tapes that would work fine on some players and wouldn't even play on others; or had no sound on some and normal on others.
I bought Tai Chi Master at a very big discount, mainly for the special feature about the actual Chen Village. Though the movie itself is not a great one, IMO.
I've ordered a very interesting-looking Takashi Miike movie, The Happiness of the Katakuris.
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They must have the same problem on all the Eagle Claw Butterfly Palm discs. Pretty much unwatchable. I haven't bought anything recently. Looking forward to getting the new Pride Final Conflict DVD. Hopefully some new movies are at Best Buy when I go there next Friday.
"For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
"What, you're dead? You die easy!"
"Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
“I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
"When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
"I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."
Registered User
I haven't bought anything at Best Buy for awhile, but the last time I was there a few days ago, I think I saw Pride Final Conflict there.
Registered User
Just some thoughts on the Bruce Lee Collection.
Although I'd seen all the BL films too many times back in the day, after watching a couple again (Way of the Dragon and Fist of Fury), I've gained a fresh appreciation.
Not being a BL worshipper, I can still see what made him special at the time and even today. As one actress said in one of the special feature interviews, BL dominated the screen and was interesting even when he wasn't fighting or moving or even speaking. That's no small ability. Very few action stars at any time have had that onscreen charisma. Some have outdone BL in terms of choreographed fights (Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Lau Kar-Leung, etc.), but how many of them can dominate a scene when just sitting there? In the Game of Death outtakes, Bruce seems more entertaining than James Tien and the other guy as he sits, smirks and watches them fight Danny Inosanto and Ji Han-Jae.
BL's fight with his student Bob Baker in Fist of Fury is my fave of the movie, even more than BL's destruction of the judo dojo. Though Lo Wei was the director, you can see that out of all the scenes, this one was all Bruce's own choreo. No trampolines, flips, or undercranking. Apparently, Bob Baker was a very private, self-effacing person who shunned the limelight. For BL to be able to take such a man with no prior or subsequent movie experience, and stage one of the classic 1-on-1 film fights, was a remarkable achievement.
Though obviously different than BL, a small few might have had comparable if not as intense charisma; Fu Sheng and Billy Chong. Though his MA was good, but not necessarily the best, Fu Sheng had it all in his best movies, and was highly intelligent and could sell it like few others. And Chong maybe had the edge in skills if not quite the screen presence of Fu Sheng, but was not as popular in HK, nor had as many opportunities outside of Malaysia/Indonesia. Sammo at his peak could also dominate a scene, but required more active body language, etc.
Apparently directing BL was hugely pivotal, because it seems like both Lo Wei and Robert Clouse spent the rest of their careers trying to recreate or recapture the success they had when BL starred in their movies.
Rant off.
Last edited by Jimbo; 05-02-2009 at 10:37 PM.
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Yeah that Bob Baker fight is very nice. The choreography was way ahead of it's time. but then again everything in that movie is way ahead of it's time. Just like Big Boss it feels fresh. It still amazes me too see how great Bruce Lee really was. Fist of Fury is a good movie, but replacing say Jimmy Wang Yu with Bruce Lee elevates it from like a 3 star movie to a 5 star movie. I always here people tearing down Bruce Lee movies, saying they aren't really that good, but Fist of Fury is a masterpiece IMO.
"For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
"What, you're dead? You die easy!"
"Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
“I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
"When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
"I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."
Registered User
People that tear down his movies mostly seem to have been born long after Bruce died, and have been brought up on a diet of a lot of sophisticated MA films that came along later. But those later films (Sammo, Jackie, etc.) had the benefit of BL's initial influence. I would say Donnie Yen seems almost obsessed with BL, esp. Fist of Fury.
A bit off-topic, but I read long ago in an old '70s Hong Kong MA mag where Jimmy Wang Yu was saying that he once went to Bruce's house in HK and Bruce asked him to do sahm sing (3-star, a forearm banging exercise between 2 people). According to Wang Yu, Bruce was surprised when Wang Yu's arms were harder and Bruce had to quit. Then he said BL got mad, and only Linda's intervention prevented them from getting into a fight. It's possible, but I'm not sure how much credence I'd give the story, esp. since Wang Yu said it after BL's death, and Wang Yu already wasn't that popular anymore (jealousy?).
My own fave BL films are Way of the Dragon and FOF, way more than ETD.
Last night I finally listened to the audio commentary by Wang Tao and Toby Russell on the Along Comes the Tiger DVD, after owning it for a few years. The commentary was better than the movie, possibly the best and most interesting interview with a MA star I've ever heard. Good stuff, I didn't want it to end. Wang Tao sounds like one of the coolest of the old-school, or any school.
I picked up Tokyo Zombie on a whim. Looks pretty weird.
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Good Wang Yu story. I agree about the Tiger commentary. Toby Russel is extremely boring and should never be allowed to do a commentary, but it's still a great commentary because of Wong Tao. So much info. There needs to be more commentaries like that. And let me know about Tokyo Zombie. I agree it looks weird.
I got the Pride Final COnflict DVD. Final round, so it means you have to win twice in the same night to win it all. It's a good event overall, I don't remember a bad fight except 1 that was just average, but the end of this tournament is amazing.
"For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
"What, you're dead? You die easy!"
"Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
“I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
"When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
"I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."
Registered User
When I was in Taiwan I read a *lot* of stuff about Jimmy Wang Yu, probably more than anyone else in terms of getting into trouble. Just another example: I read in another '70s Chinese-language mag that Wang Yu was driving in HK with Lo Lieh as a passenger, and either he or a Westerner (probably a British guy) cut the other off. They got out of their cars and began fighting, Wang Yu getting the worst of it. Apparently Lo Lieh came to his rescue, using his fists (like a boxer) to fight off the Westerner.
It was interesting how candid Wang Tao was in the commentary. He mentioned things about Tommy Lee, Lung Chun-Erh, Tung Wai, even John Liu (Liu Chung-Liang) among others. In Taiwan, I remembered some news stories about Lung Chun-Erh as well, and also Champ Wang.
I found Tokyo Zombie entertaining, but IMO it's probably not for everybody. I looked up some reviews of it online, and most reviewers (who were most likely Americans) didn't seem to get it or like it, or were expecting a Japanese Shaun of the Dead. If you forget about that, you might like it.
First off, I was surprised at how much BJJ was in this film. It has more and better BJJ technique in it than the whole of Red Belt. And the stars, Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, Mongol, the new Zatoichi movie, among others) and Sho Aikawa (Gozu, etc.) had to train hard to get the moves down, as neither was a BJJ practitioner (Aikawa had some judo). Ju-Jitsu is very important to the movie's story. And they pulled it off, esp. Aikawa.
It's a comedy, and I found some of it quite funny, and some of it so-so. It's definitely better than made-for-video movies like Machine Girl. The first half is funnier, and the second half was definitely inspired by Romero's Land of the Dead. And I did not use the English-dubbed option; I only like Japanese movies in Japanese/English subtitles. IMO, English dubbing ruins the whole feel of most Japanese movies, esp. comedies, I'd imagine.
I've seen TZ on sale some places for $24.99, but I found it for $9.99 at Wal-Mart.
Registered User
I agree about those Japanese dubs. They are horrible, or at least all the newer ones are. Princess Blade is the best I've heard, but it's still not nearly as good as the original languange. I saw Tokyo Zombie at Wal Mart, but didn't know what to think of it. I may have to check it out now.
"For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
"What, you're dead? You die easy!"
"Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
“I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
"When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
"I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."
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