What ELSE (other than KUNG FU) has everyone been watching?

[kenichiku]

...besides barren threads? Okay, where were we? It's been an ecletic Shaw week for me anyway. Just logged in:

Avenging Eagle - 3 spins now! The Kid gets Ku Lung poetic in his exchange with Ti Lung near the end there, who was he quoting again?
Friends - The Kid when he was a kid; DC in some outrageous 70s rags. Good Kung Fu lite (like Gen Gap & Young Rebel).
Lost Souls - this bulldog of a flick is better the 2nd time!
The Lark - those old tunes echo in my head for days!
Tiger Killer - Man, Li Han Hsiang doesn't get any better than this.
Death Valley - 2nd spin; Angie Yu Chien, Chen Hung Lieh & Lo Wei score the old-school way!

from last month in HK on the big screen:

Kingdom of Heaven - 3/5
'Unleashed' (seen as Danny the Dog) - 3/5
Divergence - 2.75/5

and theatrically at home...

The Interpreter - 2.5/5
The Upside of Anger - 3.5/5
Revenge of the Sith - 4/5

Man, that old thread had some serious momentum going...Okay folks, let's keep it going, cough it up! :)

[cassie81]

I just finished Friends seconds ago.
I've been playing Golden Swallow and Bells of death like crazy
The heroic ones been getting played alot
Followed by: The Assassin, The Chinese Boxer, and The Shadow Boxer.

[Delightful Forest]

Watched this last night. Superb movie. Li Li Hua is the Goddess! Great actress and really beautiful at then 42. Five production years got translated into 97 minutes on DVD. Does seem a little short. Does anybody know if it has been cut? I think it was you, keni, who said some weeks ago that there is a version of this movie for Koreans where Li Li Hua's role is played by a Korean actress. Spot on! But does anyone know whether Celestial will be releasing the Korean version sometime?

[KyFi]

For the past week or so....

Shaws:

Boxer from Shantung again--dang, a long day at work, and I started it late---fell asleep before the finale and woke up at midnight to the menu theme music :) .

Bells of Death---4th spin. Great movie overall, and the fight scenes are way ahead of its time.

Boxer Rebellion----first time I'd seen this since the TV version in the early 80's. I didn't remember hardly any of it, but really liked this extended cut. A bit of CC silliness at times, but I liked the tragic plight of the heroes who wanted to fight for China, but knew that their government was corrupt and the Boxers were a sham.

Theatrical:

Revenge of the Sith---I'm not a prequel hater anyways, but I did think this was by far the best of the three. Generally enjoyable and more emotional than the last two,although I don't need CGI in the lightsaber battles---Obi-wan and Qui-gon vs. Maul was PERFECT.

DVD:

City of the Dead--great Chris Lee horror from early 60's.
3:10 to Yuma---great late 50's western

I LOVE those great, restored, anamorphic widescreen B&W pics!

[Ivy Ling Po]

Dreams Of Eroticism. A group of top Shaw directors banded together and managed to get Shirley Yu, Terry Liu, Yang Pan Pan and other Shaw starlets to bare all for the cameras in episodic flick. I am talking frontal nudity.

[justkungfuman]

Secret Service of The Imperial Court
The Master
Triple Irons
Avenging Eagle
Bat Without Wings


non-Kung Fu
BoogeyMan
Son Of The Mask

[teako170]

Theatrical:

Star Wars/Revenge of the Sith: Lucas has redeemed himself in this final installment. I was extremely pleased with this film.

DVDs:

Best of Abbott & Costello: Picked up all three volumes last week @ Amazon. Each volume contains eight films. Grew up with these guys and I still think they're hilarious.

Art of Buster Keaton: 11 discs featuring roughly 30 films/shorts. I only recently got into Keaton's films and I must say... he was an incredible talent who was overshadowed by the careers of Chaplin and Lloyd. Keaton is a comic genius and his humor is timeless.

Shaw DVDs:

Ack - nothing! (Good grief). Waiting patiently for June 23rd though: Dirty Ho, BA4 and The Treasure Hunters.

[kenichiku]

Hey Teak since you brought up Abbot & Costello, my reply is not Shaw related but do you know if there's a Republic box set out for the great Bowery Boys aka the Dead End aka the Eastside Kids out on DVDs? If there are, I couldn't find it here on the West Coast. Grew up watching old Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall myself in addition to A&C, Ma & Pa Kettle, etc. and of course these films are really old now! Anybody hailing from Brooklyn know?

[teako170]

Keni - Never bought anything from this site (so I can't give them a thumbs up or down) but they do have a 9-disc set for only $19.95:

www.thevintagetheatre.com...ekids.html (http://www.thevintagetheatre.com/eastsidekids.html)

[Delightful Forest]

Just watched Gossip Street. A 70s Canto farce ... brought on a few laughts but I will not be spinning this one again in a long while.

[kenichiku]

Wow! Well that takes care of Leo as 'Muggsy' but I'm still hunting down the later Leo Gorcey Bowery Boys films as 'Slip' Mahoney. Thanks Teak, that's a great staart and it breaks down to around 2 bucks per movie!

[ironfistedmonk2003]

Just watched Football Factory again, great British film, also saw Saw! thought it was quite decent.

[Iron Boat]

Just watched Invincible One (Disciples of Death (Shaolin)) last night...Celestial really needs to release this one....so much better than Chinatown Kid. Great acting my Chi Kuan Chun and Fu Sheng...

[Firecrane]

SB:
The Fugitive - Felt more like a western
The Condemed

Japanese:
The Seven Samurai - Excellent, a must watch
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword Of Vengance
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby at River Styx

Non Martial Arts:
The Motorcycle Diaries

Theater:
Revenge of the Sith

[kungfudvdcity]

I have been on a Japanese and Hong Kong action kick. City on fire, Young and Dangerous and Fulltime Killer on the Chinese side and Audition, Versus, Dead or Alive and Ichi the Killer for Japanese.

No offense to anyone Japanese, but you guys have some very sick directors coming out of your country. I personally can handle almost anything but I turned off Ichi the Killer.

I did think Audition was a good movie, very slow but good. And Dead or Alive has to be one of the most overated films I have ever seen. From the reviews I read before I watched it you would think Takishi Miike is the 2nd coming of John Woo on crack. IMO he is a B movie director that uses cheap camera tricks and fake looking over the top shocking images to make his movies intersting.

If anyone of you are fans of his I respect that. I am not trying to be a hater. I just think he is very overated and I dont personally care for his work although Audition was a good movie.

I dont mind violence, however when the story or director is so weak that he has to use it as a cruch is when I become offended as a viewer.

[Mantis FIST]

Just watched Monkey Kung Fu and Kung Fu Hellcats. Both were great! It was cool to see the Judo Master from Heroes of the East in Kung Fu Hellcats! What else is there to say about Monkey Kung Fu that has not already been said? One of the best Kung Fu movies I have seen in a while, and have still to watch the last 20 minutes! Well I kinda did but was also half asleep! :rolleyes Going to give it a rewatch here in a few.

Edit: I watched the end. Great movie.

[kenichiku]

Of thenon-Shaw, mostly Japan as well:

Junichi Mori's 'Laundry' - sweet & spare
Morita's 'Mouhohan' aka 'Copycat Killer' - intelligent serial killer flick
Shun Nakahara's 'Lie lie Lie' - intelligent & appealing con flick

Of SB, reruns mostly:

Shaolin Handlock - just a super FUN repeat offender,
Mr Funnybone Strikes Again - better than first time,
When The Clouds Roll By - young Ching Li is 'dimpulicious'
Les Belles - took some patience but...quaint and

5 Shaolin Masters - I'm talking high mileage now so to add: Man, as spare as the art direction is here, Chang scores with one of the most concise, economical & smooth visual storytelling he's ever done, starting something like this: burnin' down the house, handful of disciples jet, intro. to Manchu crew including 1 traitor with an 'in' (plus a goofy pair of tonfa twins that I swear Sun Chung would later wink back at his mentor with his very own deranged pair of one-armed Eagle twins) giving chase; majors (FangSY & HungHK) head south & our crew of minors (5SM) regroup to fight, organize, head north & sport cool new secret hand signals & other underground proto-triad culture...and all of this is told in the first 20 minutes! Don't have to review this one any further, you know the rest. You could fumble with the '3-1-9' like the Kid did but you can't call yourself a KF fan if you don't own '5 Shaolin Masters'! :smokin

[TanTao2]

Shaw: Dead End, "daring" youth movie for its time...
Indie: Martial Hero Of Southern Frontier (Yue Feng directed basher)
Theater: Kung Fu Hustle

[GerardH]

Shaw:

Clan of the White Lotus- I 've watched this at least 4 times in the last 3 weeks.

Heaven Sword & Dragon Sabre 2

Non-Shaw:

Revenge of the Sith- great finish to the Star Wars series.

Crash- very interesting film. It's not what you expect from the title. It makes you realize how small the world really is.

Getting ready to check out Mr. & Mrs. Smith this weekend.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Night Corridor
Kara Hui wins a best supporting actress nomination playing Daniel Wu's alcoholic mother.

Cursed - Wes Craven's latest tale about werewolves.

Constantine - Keanu Reeves is great but I hate the girl who's supposed to be Angel Gabriel.

[Firecrane]

I'm heading home with Lady Assassin, Monkey Kung Fu , Return of the Sentimental Swordsman and King Cat on hand to watch. Friday summer hours are cool.

I hate the girl who's supposed to be Angel Gabriel.
Hey Ivy, you weren't the only one, what a horrible actress.


Is it possible to get this thread stickied since the old one was really popular.

[kngfu]

THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE
gotta love the fight between Dragon Lee and Bruce Le

KUNG FU HUSTLE
Chiu Chi Ling, Yuen Wah, Fung Hak On, and Bruce Liang =old school heroes. Did anyone else notice the Landlady recreating the WAY OF THE DRAGON threat to John Benn in the limo

[Chen Zhen]

theatrical - last flix i saw in theater were unleashed and star wars. loved unleashed, i thought revenge of the sith was aight...mind you, im not a very big starwars fan.

kungfu - finally saw return to 36th chamber....excellent sequel IMO, altho i do need to find a quality dvd of it...i picked up a budget one which is barely playable...dvd looks like it was sourced from a 4th or 5th generation tape...just barely watchable.

nonkf - watched from dusk till dawn for the first time...pretty good altho i thought it turned into a bmovie once the vampires came into play..i was more interested with the robbery and the hostages and what not.

someone brought up that many japanese directors are sick in the head.....nah thats just takashi miike. if u thought ichi the killer was nasty, i dare you to watch visitor q....i bet u wont be able to sit thru the whole thing....its a good film from a directorial standpoint i guess...but the themes in the movie were too much...even for me...and i always thought i was de-sensitized to that kind of stuff. personally i loved audition and i did like ichi the killer altho the cgi was aweful in it, and after watching it 5 or so times since buying it last year, i still cant figure out the ending. u cant blame takashi miike for the way ichi came out...it is based on a hideo yamamoto (i think thats his name) manga/comic of the same name.

[Delightful Forest]

Enter The Dragon
The Crimsom Charm

Enjoyed both tremendously. Bruce is Bruce. What can I say! Ivy's performance is absolutely delightful.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Cheap Killers starring Alex Fong, Stephen Fung.
Very bloody.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Gossip Street. Now I know why Shaw Studios closed down in 1985. This was trash with no redeemable features apart from a
young and fresh Danny Li.

[iron flag]

Return of OAS..Forgot how bloody it was!
2 Assassins of the Darkness..(German Version)Very good print,wasnt that impressed with the movie though.
Snuff Bottle Connection..One of my favorites
The Himalayan..Pretty good but not what I expected after
reading rave reviews here at KFF.

[Isfahani]

someone brought up that many japanese directors are sick in the head...

all a matter of pespective tho...think about it:
if these guys didn't push the envelope, who would? certainly not american or hk filmmakers. I should state that I consider miike totally overrated, but I'll give him props for something.

So what HAVE i been watching? Some wonderful K-stuff like Emperor of the Sea, some of the more obscure LW & C offshoots, Zatoichi TV shows, Musashi TV shows...lots of early SB films...

[Ivy Ling Po]

The Crazy Bumpkins - delightfully funny.
Ai Ti is especially good. No wonder she won an award for her debut.

[kenichiku]

Since last week:

Lady General Hua Mu Lan DVD – ‘G’ rated Huang Mei classic. Had an uncanny Disney feel to it pre-Disney. Shaw wuxia gets an early preview.
Heroes of Sung DVD – in a Shih Szu rerun mood, pulpy wuxia very routine by now.
King Drummer – Inoue Umetsugu’s Chinese remake of Ling Yun as a drumming prodigy in a Cornell sweatshirt; Inoue knows how to tap ever svelte Lily Ho best sides with a see-thru Angie Yu Chien nightclub dance, Chen Hung Lieh, Chang Pei Shan & Wei Ping Ao lendig support in tobacco mode.
Swordswomen Three – 3 cuties Shen Yi, Essie Lin Chia & Pan Yin Tzu get taken advantage by Badass Lo Lieh. Lo vs Chang Yi nite duel in bamboo grove.
Starry Is the Night – Shaw new wave with Brigitte Lin (Man, she's gorgeous) & George Lam gratuitous spouting Shakespeare.
Pursuit of a Killer – Early 80s exploitation. Lo Meng finally gets busy with women AND he chews up a live gecko snack in prison, classic!

[Ivy Ling Po]

Let's Have A Baby - Alex Man, Tanny, Patricia Ha.

Tanny is too young to play Patricia's mother. Alex Man overacts. Mediocre slapstick comedy.

[TheManInWhite]

After watching Queen Boxer about a month ago, I've finally got around to seeing Boxer from Shantung. I did enjoy both movies. This was definitely Chang Cheh's finest hour. The story had a great deal of depth to it. For instance, when the owner of the hotel where Ma Yung Chen was staying told him he no longer had to share a bed on the lower level and that he can sleep on the upper level. It was at that point that Ma started his climb in status which was very poignant. I also liked Ma's selflessness in being more concerned about his friend's well being, even above his own. A classic film indeed.

Queen Boxer was a solid effort although not on equal par with BFS. The acting lacked a bit there but there was just about as much action and the endfight was absolutely killer.

[Ivy Ling Po]

The Lady Assassin.
Undercranking spoilt this promising movie for me. Liu Hsueh Hua shines in her signature movie and it is great to see Norman Tsui in a prominent Shaw role. However both are let down by undercranking resulting in comical fights.

[lady whirlwind]

I agree totally Ivy Ling Po. We watched this last night and the undercranking/speeding up just ruined the film. It was like something out of the 70's comedy The Goodies! Almost as bad as the speeding up of Secret Service Of The Imperial Court. Tonight we washed the bad taste away with the enjoyable King Cat. Miaow, that was more like it.

[sammofan]

Celestial screwing up the music ruined the film more for me than the undercranking! I enjoyed the film but it would have been so much better without that tuneless dirge playing on top of the original soundtrack.

[Kwok Choi]

Which movie do you prefer;Shaw's The Lady Assassin or the independent movie The Rebellious Reign?

[lady whirlwind]

Just watched Monkey Kung Fu last night, and it's an action classic! The choreography is superb, and the execution of the complex moves is stunning. For the fights alone it's one of the very best Celestial releases to date. A minor niggle is that Ching Siu Tung isn't the most interesting of actors (a polite way of saying he's a bit poor), and his character is pretty selfish and unlikeable anyway. The part needed a warmer personality to smooth the rough edges out, and make you like the hero. But he comes over a little better here than in the old English dub, so can't complain. Plus the original trailer is on there too. A must buy.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Return Of The Sentimental Swordsman - good to see Fu Sheng in a completely serious role but his costume is laughable.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Very early swordplay with non-fighters like Pat Ting Hung,Ching Li and Chiao Chuang executing basic rudimentary swordplay moves and being obviously doubled for the slightly more difficult moves. Carrie Ku Mei is is again the princess in distress (think Killers 5). No wonder her career was in distress.
One saving grace is Chang Yi. He exudes charisma and the X factor even in these early roles.

[godzillakungfu]

I just moved so no internet or cable. Stealing time on the libraries computer.

I've rewatched:
Mystery of Chessboxing
Shaolin vs. Lama
The Loot
Shaolin the Blood Mission

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Sword of Swords, and really enjoyed it! Have had it for a while and just got around to watching it. Wang Yu delivers and excellent dramatic performance and the fight choreography was very well done by LKL and Tang Chia. Fans of the OAS trilogy and Wang Yu's early swordsman flix seek this out if you have not already.

Also watched Two Toothless Tigers and Born To fight. TTT is worth seeing for the last 30min alone, great stuff by Sammo. And liked BTF more han I expected to. The stunts are freaking insane, and the MA action is a little limited but still nicely done.

[kenichiku]

Clan of the White Lotus
King Cat
Heroes of the East (again)
Killer Darts (rerun)

Need to catch up on Shaws! Non Shaw:

Collateral
Seance
The Punisher

I still need to see 'Sword of Swords' remastered! Seems to be plenty of witnesses in favor of it here!

[KidwiththeGoldenArm]

Just watches Heroes Two, now I'm watching Chinese Boxer.

[KidwiththeGoldenArm]

Now i'm watching King Eagle.

[Firecrane]

I'm going to theater in a little while to watch Land of the Dead.

The following Shaws I'll watch this weekend are:
Dirty Ho
Brave Archer and His Mate(my old boot to the trash can)
Fake Ghost Catcher
Treasure Hunters(My Master of Disaster copy to the trash can)

Non Shaw DVD's:
The Sword
Hitch

[Ivy Ling Po]

The Hours - Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore.
Excellent- highly recommended.

An Eternal Combat - Joey Wong, Anthony Wong
Mediocre and disappointing. Thought director Wu Ma was better than this.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Beyond Our Ken - Daniel Wu. Small movie but riveting.

[Yakuza954]

Wow, I just saw Bells of Death! Incredible. I'm amazed at the high quality of all these late 60's swordplay movies. This was right on par with Chang Cheh's One Armed Swordsman.

As for other stuff I've seen recently:
Tiger Cage
Odd Couple
Survive Style 5+
Untold Story
the longest nite

[sammofan]

Lady Assassin
Hong Kong Playboys
Swordsman
Swordsman 2
Princess Mononoke
Ninja Scroll
Firefly disk 1

[kenichiku]

Theatrical:

Howl's Moving Castle
Cinderella Man

Celestial:

Big Bad Sis
Deadly Breaking Sword
Monkey Kung Fu (1st time)

A very satisfying Shaw trifecta. One of the best yet!

[justkungfuman]

The Deadly Breaking Sword
The Lady Assassin
also received
One Armed Swordsman Trilogy and will start watching them tonight.Still waiting for Monkey Kung Fu aka Stroke of Death from CDWow...

[Ivy Ling Po]

Deadly Breaking Sword - loved this movie especially Shih Szu's grace.

Eternal Evil Of Asia - satisfying blend of horror and sex in a Cat 3 setting.

[gorlank]

I watched Fake Ghost Catchers and Treasure Hunters last night. They were both a lot of fun but Treasure Hunters was the better for pure action. Yang Tsing Tsing is incredible as the mute girl with the double blade style. She is undoubtedly the best female martial artist that I've ever seen. Speed, flexibility and grace in a pretty package. Her comic battle with Fu Sheng was so enjoyable. Wang Lung Wei is great as well with his patented evil villain in kindly guise performance.
I don't know much about Chang Chan Peng but he's in both films and is a strong welcome presence. Excellent martial artist/acrobat.
FGC is slightly wackier with a mixture of ghostbusting and comic hijinks, still a good film and Fu Sheng's cowardly actor bit is quite amusing. There is some well done action as well. All in all, two excellent films with TH the better for traditional kung fu action, that 5 "longan" position is something else.

[mcentepede]

I just bought a new batch of kung fu films. Here are the titles that was on the cover.

Buddha's Palm and Dragon Fist: with 7 Grandmasters star

White Dragon: with the pretty girl from Running on Karma

Sting of the Dragon Masters: With Angela Mao Ying

Running on Karma: with Andy Lau

God of Gamblers: with Andy Lau and Chow Yun Fat

Confessions of a Courtesan: with alot of pretty girls

Believe it or not...all of these are solid films, can I pick em or what? The worst of the lot is maybe the Angela Mao film, which is old-style aikido and tae kwon do (with Jhoon Rhee). Angela Mao steals the show with here fighting style(aikido or Hapkido) and even Sammo Hung stars in it. But the other movies were fantastic.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Himalayan Singh.....it's awful!
A turkey!!

[kenichiku]

All reruns:

Silent Swordsman ***
The Lizard ***.5
Twin Blades of Doom ****

Im Sang Soo, A Good Lawyer's Wife ****
Kaneto, Onibaba ***.5

(5 star max.)

[kenichiku]

LKL, Dirty Ho *****/5 (as majestic as it's ever been)
Lo Wei, Summons to Death **.5/5 (even remastered, camp's losing its luster)
Ho Meng Hua, The Long Chase (VHS) ****/5 (Lady Hermit fans take close notice)
Chang Cheh, Man of Iron (VHS) ***.5/5 (underrated)

Tang Wang, Cinderella & Her Little Angels (Cathay) **.5/5
Mike Leigh, Vera Drake *****/5
Phil Kaufman, White Dawn ***/5
Woody Allen, Sleeper ****/5

[Barsader]

Clan of amazons ***.5
Death valley***(thought it would be better,as this was hyped awhile ago.Not bad,but have seen better late 60's)

[Ivy Ling Po]

The Proud Twins - too much of Fu Sheng's clowning spoilt this movie for me but it did pick up during the last 15 minutes. Ouyang Pei Shan is good here with the sword as the Green Fairy. Candy Wen repeats more of the same impish role she has always played which invariably includes impersonating a male.
Who played the princess of Yi Hua palace? I thought she was cool.

Bruce Lee & I - how come Betty Ting Pei is not a Shaw star in this flick? She seems to be a porn actress and a call girl. How can this be accurate? Danny Lee is exceptional as Bruce.

[whamsabi]

Now I am watching Warriors 2.

I just finished:
2 Wondrous Tigers
Executioners From Shaolin
Stroke of Death
Proud Twins- I actually liked this movie.Fu Sheng was not as silly as he was in Cat vs. Rat
Savage 5

non- kung fu movies

A Chump at Oxford- Laurel and Hardy
A lot of old school wrestling AWA, WWF, NWA,etc.
Bad Santa- Billy Bob Thornton- One of the funniest movies ever
The Apostle- Robert Duvall- One of his greatest
performances
Where's Poppa- directed by Carl Reiner- Really funny and underrated.
What about Bob?- Bill Murray/ Richard Dryfuss- Funny as hell. I really enjoyed this movie.

It's a Gift- W.C Fields- This was hilarious!

[drunkenmantis13]

I watched Battle Royale yesterday and i'm about to go back to finish Hell of the Living Dead right now!

[drunkenmantis13]

Just watched Martial Arts of Shaolin. That was pretty awesome!

[ironfistedmonk2003]

Watched Mystery Men last night, not the best film!

Saw Proud Twins, Blood Child and Ninja in the Claws of the CIA over the weekend. Proud twins was pretty good, better than Heroes Shed No Tears IMO, Blood Child (5 Fingers of Steel) has some good action and some bad boy kf actors including Hwang Jang Lee, Kwan Young Moon, Yuen Mo, Yen Shi Kwan and Jue Tit Woh, shame the story is bog standard stuff.

Warning: Ninja in the Claws of the CIA is probably the worst film I have ever had the misfortune to watch, do not under any circumstances waste precious minutes of your life on this abomination

[whamsabi]

I am now watching Boxer From The Temple.

I just finished:
Secret Rivals 2
Challenge of The Masters

[Ivy Ling Po]

Call To Arms.
Tsung Hua is dashing as a prince and Hsia Fan looks regal and elegant but it is Chang Pin who steals the show where I am concerned. He looks a lot like a young Danny Lee. How come he is in so few Shaw movies I wonder?

[beardy]

Just got done watching 7 Steps of Kung Fu and The Hot, the Cool, and the Vicious last night!!! First time watching them both. Definitely a treat for me!!! The craziest thing is, I just bought Drunken Master yesterday because I have never seen it yet!!! Saw hundreds of movies, but not this classic. I hope I am in for a treat with this one!!!

[KidwiththeGoldenArm]

I'm watching Return of the Sentimental Swordsman...

[magicpoe]

I watched Marco Polo again this weekend.

[teako170]

Ninja in the Deadly Trap.

Gotta get my Venoms fix twice a month. I only wish I could find a wide-screen copy of that flick.

[HungSzeKuan]

damn whammy. we gotta get u a girlfriend. u got 2 much free time on ur hands. :rollin

[godzillakungfu]

Lady is the Boss.
New Tales of the Flying Fox.
Musa The Warrior
Bichunmoo
7 Steps of Kung Fu.
Shaolin and Wutang.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Meet The Fockers.
Barbra Streisand is wonderful as always!

[sammofan]

King Cat - Old fashioned wuxia film that was interesting as you see where LKL got the inspiration for Cat vs Rat. 6/10

New Tales Of The Flying Fox - My 4th viewing of this film. The action scenes are actually very good with none of the speed-up that spoilt Lady Assassin and Secret Service Of The Imperial Court. It's 1/2 hour shorter than Legend Of The Fox but packs more story and tells it better! 9/10

[Chen Zhen]

Master of Tai Chi

starring Wu Jing. Directed by Yuen Woo Ping

[KidwiththeGoldenArm]

Just saw Deadly Breaking Sword for the first time in a long time.

[lacali]

just finished watching True Colours, a drama which stars Ti Lung, Raymond Wong.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Ah....this has the beautiful Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia in one of her damsel in distress roles.

Profile Of Pleasure (1988) Adam Cheng is officer assigned to shut down brothels but falls in love with prostitutes Rosamund Kwan and Nina Li Chi much to the amusement of their madam (Pauline Wong) and the indignation of his fiancee Carina Lau. Despite the power cast and generous nudity from unknown starlets, I yawned continually and waited for it to end. Adam Cheng's wig has never been so obvious.

[KLSADAKO]

I just recently watched Legend of the fox and thought it was a good film! I did enjoy the endfight in this film!

I also watched the HKL dvd of Bullet in the head which I thought was excellent! The alternative ending was alittle disappointing though.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Royal Warriors with Michelle Yeoh and a young Michael Wong.
Entertaining.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Chin Han stars in whodunit with Fanny Fan, Tina Ti and Margaret Tu Chuan, all sexy stars. However only Fanny Fan bares all in her swan song. Margaret Tu Chuan committed suicide the same year this movie was shot with her lesbian lover. Sad to watch her in her final movie and to see how far she has fallen from being a major star.

[gorlank]

Just finished watching Mad Monk. It certainly wasn't vintage Stephen Chow, kinda disappointing as a whole but certainly not as bad as Flirting Scholar. Ng Man Tat has a couple of funny scenes.
I hate Maggie Cheung so wasn't too impressed with her. She's supposed to be a "beauty" but I find her utterly plain and leaning towards ugly. Yeesh.

[venomsfreak]

I just finished Born Invincible, I really enjoyed it. Basic old skool no brainer, just sit back and enjoy.:smokin

[kenichiku]

Shaws? Not much this time just reruns:

‘Five Venoms’ (Region 3) – Second time in a year; it's structurally brilliant!…a thinking man’s Kung Fu film that proved Chang Cheh wasn’t ready for pasture just yet. The release was just what the doctor ordered except for the clueless Celestial English subtitling that neutered it of its cult mystique that you can rewitness dubbed. I’m a huge proponent of films released in original language but it was crack original wordsmithing by somebody in HK from the previous generation who’s just plain ‘Def’ with their command of pop English AND big USA/European based fan affection that made this film to what it is today! Okay, so ‘Venoms House’ has a cool Gen X ring to it comparable to ‘Venoms Clan’ but ‘a thousand hands’ is the Chinese colloquial for ‘centipede’ but why bother with telling us in English literally other than to self-declare the subtitler clever when all of the other Venom animal symbols are what they are? Why didn’t they follow suit to translate ‘Toad’ as ‘crop-field chicken’ then?…and where’s the patented ‘Venoms rock the world’ line? ‘Venoms stone the world' just doesn’t cut it huh? I didn't think so. That milquetoast Celestial employee is just plain four-corners square, Man! Frustrating, needs Region 1 intervention with a hip Sino-saavy crew (drug-use & goatees optional) to restore the subtitling, and fast!

The Deadly Duo (German VHS) – underrated for sure; I avoided the tampered DVD from the kind tips here but restate that this is a great DC Ti Lung era flick! They threw in the kitchen sink as far as HK martial arts staff at the time with Chen Sing, Bolo Yang, Wang Chung, Ku Feng, LKW, Bruce Tong, Yu Lung, Philip Ko and toss in some Korean testosterone in Kim Chi Ju & Jin Bong Jin to round out an all-male cast. Wall to wall action. Appealing, especially for those foraging around for homoerotic subtext as they can look no further and view their Chang Cheh ultra-male archetype like they would the exaagerated art with arrow piercing (I said arrow, not narrow) Caravaggio imagery by way of Derek Jarman. Where else you going get a bunch of guys ‘imbedded’ with cold steel?

Usurpers of the Emperor’s Power (VHS) – My word! A Shaw film depicting political cynicism? Appropriately more cynical than ever now. Some great imagery. A despot's violation of a damsel in the air with a standby artist rendering it all in real-time and the rise to power ending is unforgettable. An okay film that I think I’ll like it better remastered but I warn you Celestial telecine operators: Undercrank the fights to simulate speed from your last viewing of Star Wars but do yourselves a favor and leave the raft on the lake fight with the zoom of waves & ripples in their natural state please! Your predecessors paid no attention and it just plain stinks; It plays out in rather poor form!

Six Assassins (VHS) – A hidden Cheng Chang Ho masterpiece with those tough Robert Aldrich-type touches; it’s cruel and mean streaked that admittedly only a Korean eye and sensibility can articulate IMO. A fantastic film whose title gives a playful one-ups-man-ship jab against the competition whose wordplay and self-righteous nobility of ‘The Assassin’ in both Chinese and English is multiplied by six and with impact of equal proof potency. The six are Ling Yun, Lily Li, James Nankung, Yu Lung, Tsai No and 3 unnamed others of Chinese or Korean lineage whose stares could pierce the screen. I mean, that’s half a Dirty Dozen and they're just as deadly. I can’t stress this enough as I know many of you would agree after seeing this. Interestingly, after 25 years, I must conclude that this video version has added soundtrack injected as witnessed by Fang Mien’s death scene where I vividly recall a dewy rain drizzle with a breezy Korean forest locations in the background. It used to play quite poetically but not here! The loud and dramatic score just wasn’t part of the mix before! Love him to death but the original theatrical cut was scored by someone on Cheng’s payroll and much more appropriately quiet and brooding without the canned Wang Fu Ling’s Chinese-y opera score. This isn’t the genteel ‘Temple of the Red Lotus’ Man, it’s meant to be mean!

Openly admit that non-Shaws material have dominated my viewing lately:

‘Motorcycle Diaries’ (DVD) – Recalls my best moments with people trekking south of the border
‘36 ‘Quai des Orfèvres’ (on a tiny 5” reclined in-flight screen) – Auteil, Depardieau & Italian beauty Golina, surprisingly tough little French policier in the 70s vein.
Phil Kaufman’s ‘White Dawn’ (DVD) – A Caribe Louie Gossett Jr, touchy feely Tim Bottoms & salty Warren Oates as the fish out of frozen water. Just plain brilliant.
‘Layer Cake’ (Spring Fest. screening, theatrical) – Better show 2nd time around (not a Guy Ritchie-type of fan ya see). Wasn’t paying attention 1st time with Craig & Vaughn present at screening but misplaced my futile anticipation for a Mrs. Vaughn appearance (supermodels tend to do that for me). Oh sorry, Craig’s not Bond material IMO in person anyway.
‘Central Station’ (DVD) – Salles deserved an encore! Wong Kar Wai came close once but Salles taps into the essence of South America like none else can.
‘Slave of the Cannibal God’ (DVD), haven’t had an Ursula fix for about a decade; Boy was she a work of art! But hey, I thought it was about humans eating humans…beware there's some real graphic animal cruelty.
‘Protégé de la rose noire’ (DVD) – Hard Boiled’s lovely Teresa Mo is fantastically kooky as Mortica Adams, cabbie Ekin not doing much as Robin, a bitchy Faith Woo getting spanked w/Donnie Yen choreo-ing. Okay, what else do you watch when you’re doin’ laundry? Besides, canuck cutie Charlene always seem to get my time.
‘La Notte’ (DVD) – with heavyweights Mastroianni & Moreau in somber mode but it was Italo-babe Monica Vitti who stole the show for me with the mental menage-a-trois interplay for her Freudian remark ‘you two wore me out’. An alienating bourgeoise experience everytime I see it…love it.
Todd William’s ‘The Door in the Floor’ (DVD) – Bridges, Basinger; surprisingly frank & sexual but with John Irving’s prosaically cruel flourishes. This film came & went. Was this suppressed like a Carl Rove campaign or are audiences just too plain prudish now? Perhaps can be seen as too provincial for anyone outside of the Hamptons but not for me; it ranks up there with ‘Cider House’ & ‘Garp’. It’s a Clinton-era film wrongly ignored and tossed in the Bushes.

...that's right brother, just sit back and enjoy.

[Firecrane]

Here is what I've been watching the last week

Shaws:
Friends
Proud Youth

Non-Shaws:
Million Dollar Baby
Finding Neverland
Be Cool

Anime:
Samurai Champloo

[Ivy Ling Po]

Pink Force Commando - rare Brigitte Lin & Sally Yeh.
This English-dubbed film has to be seen to be believed. I guess everyone makes mistakes in their career. I don't believe the lovely Brigitte will look back on this turkey as one of her achievements. Unbelievably bad!

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Have seen in the past 2 weeks:

Lady Assassin (9/10) action is excellent, story OK (too short)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (8.5/10) Just as good 2nd time
Shogun's Shadow (8/10) Good all around samurai actioneer
Bakko Yokaiden Kibakichi (7.5/10) Good Yokai/Samurai action
Zatoichi And The Chess Expert (9/10) One of the best Ichi's!
Monkey Kung Fu (8/10) Classic Shaw KF goodness!

All very enjoyable and recommended.

[Isfahani]

last night I indulged in a bit of frivolity, and watched PROTEGE DE LA ROSE NOIRE...
other than that, it's been a steady diet of HK and Jp:

CENTIPEDE HORROR (lol) mitglied.lycos.de/uzumaki...tipede.htm (http://mitglied.lycos.de/uzumaki/reviews/centipede.htm)

MONKEY KUNG FU (I'll give this one 5 out of 10, nothing wrong really, just didn't seen to have the right 'flow' going)

THE TRAIL (HK 'spooky', not bad for a b-grade)

BANANA SPIRIT (obscure 'spooky' with Lam Ching Ying cameo)

KAGEMUSHA

CHUJI THE GAMBLER (Samurai Gambler)

FESTIVAL OF SWORDSMEN

WATARI THE NINJA BOY (kaiju from '66, lotsa fun!)

[kenichiku]

More reruns this past week or so:

Secret Service of the Imperial Court (***1/2 outta 4)
Ho Meng Hua, Black Enforcer (VHS) w/Tang Ching, Wang Ping & Korean cast **1/2
Pao Hsieh Li, Oath of Death (VHS) Lo Lieh, Wang Ping ****
Li Han Hsiang, Forbidden Tales of Two Cities (DVD) Tanny, Chen Ping***
Lo Chen's Huang Mei, Sheperd Girl (VCD)****

also:

Sammo's Warrior Two (DVD)****
Miyasaki's Princess Mononoke aka Mononoke Hime (DVD) anime****
Kill! aka Kiru! (IFC copy) w/Tatsuya Nakadai***
Metzger, The Dirty Girls (DVD)***
Early Antonioni, Le Amiche (DVD)**1/2
Schlesinger, Cold Comfort Farm (DVD) **** McKellan, Fry, Beckinsale, Lumley

[ShaofuSage]

Watched Avenging Eagle yesterday - absolutely brilliant, and so beautiful in all of its remastered glory! Wonderful storytelling, spectacular sets, just plain great (yeah, running out of adjectives :b )

[Ivy Ling Po]

The Sugar Daddies - Tsung Hua overacts but Betty Pei Tih captivates.

Being Julia - a showcase for Annette Benning. Marvellous stuff.

[Centorpedo]

I just tore through the Father of the Pride television series, which was like all the best bits of Shrek put together into a TV show.
It was so much funnier than I would have ever imagined it to be.
It was a rental, but I'm definitely putting this on my "to own" list. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Also about to sit down and watch the Tartan Asia domestic dvd release of Tetsuo: the Iron Man. I've never watched it, as the old image disc went OOP a while back, and didn't seem worth the price of purchase on ebay...

And speaking of kinetic b/w sci fi... that reminds me... wasn't Unearthed supposed to have released Electric Dragon 80K Volts by now?

[kenichiku]

More Shaw reruns:

Cat vs Rat (DVD) ***.5 - improves with age.
Soul of the Sword (DVD) **** anytime!
Crazy Sex (DVD) ** - cut to shreads, even upon 2nd viewing, tsk, tsk!
Generation Gap (DVD) *** - Chiang Tao steals some scenes from DC

Sally Potter, Yes (theatrical) *** - Joan Allen
Wendigo (DVD) **.5 Patricia Clarkson
Crazy First Love (DVD) *** - Ye Jin Son, Tae Hoon Cha (Sassy Girl)
Late Hideo Gosha, Kagero (DVD) **.5 Kanako Higuchi, Tatsuya Nakadai
Late Woody Allen, Hollywood Ending **.5, Tea Leoni & Debra Messing

[Centorpedo]

Just finished the Yakuza Papers.
Can't wait to watch all 5 movies all over again.

[Iron Boat]

I havent been watching anything, I am giving my DVD's and VHS's a break. I'm going outside and running....truth is, when I watch these films now, they make me want to work out and get in shape. I dont want to become a fat cow, laying on the couch watching kung fu movies....

[TheManInWhite]

Just saw:

The Rescue - relatively short film (79 min.) that gets right to the point of the film which is trying to break out a Sung Court leader. Shih Szu proves herself as a worthy successor to the great Cheng Pei Pei. I found Lo Lieh to be pretty dashing in his role. Plenty of action and bloodletting on par with Duel for Gold. Enjoyed it.

10 Brothers from Shaolin - Ok film but not great. I couldn't keep up with who the 10 disciples actually were. Was expecting more from a star-studded cast. Wong Tao was very good. Chia Ling was OK. Seen better from Leung Kar Yan and Kao Fei...

[Ivy Ling Po]

The Wayward Cloud - director Tsai Ming Liang's latest art movie is more erotic and explicit than normal but it still gives me the yawns.

[ShaofuSage]

Watched the Monkey Goes West - was a bit dissapointed by the Monkey character, was expecting more of his cockiness and mischevious side to come out, he was a bit toned down. Oh well, it was still nice to see one of my favorite books on screen.

[kenichiku]

director Tsai Ming Liang's latest art movie ...but it still gives me the yawnsIvy, these days I'd rather watch paint dry than watch his stuff. He's one certifiable sick puppy. Tsai's work has away of crawling under my skin (Vive L'Amour & ugh, The River) and infect my brain; although I enjoyed his early 'Rebels of the Neon God' & 'What Time Is It Over There' for appearances by Jean-Pierre Léaud & his late regular Miao Tien (Touch of Zen). As for now, I only watch his films on those gloomy moods & days where I want to kill myself.

[kenichiku]

Oh, back to the topic, more Shaw reruns:

The Scandalous Warlord (DVD) ***/5
King Cat (DVD) ***
Let's Make Laugh (DVD) **.5
Pink Tears (VHS) ***
Swan Song (VHS) **.5

Chris Nolan's breakout, Memento (DVD) **** Guy Pearce, Carrie Ann Moss, Joey Pants, best mainstream noir in years (since 'Bound' also w/Joey)
Yoshitaru Nomura, Village of the 8 Tombstones (DVD)**** fantastic (though Panarama presentation seriously flawed)
War of the Worlds (Theatrical) *** Cruise was decent
Veronica Guerin (DVD) **** w/Cate Blanchett (Omigod, Schumacher scores one!)

...been on a serious redneck kick lately (don't ask me why)

The Dukes of Hazzards (Theatrical) *.5 What's the use?
The Devil's Rejects (Theatrical) **.5 a virtual reunion of the Who's Who of 70s American Grindhouse
Motel Hell (VHS) **.5 w/Rory Calhoun & the garden
White Lightning (VHS) *** w/Burt Reynolds, Bo Hopkins

[ShaofuSage]

Watched Shaolin Mantis last night, nice movie but the ending puzzled me a bit. Chiang's character must have been like "what the f**k" during the last scenes of this one.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Samara (The Ring 2) - very creepy and riveting.
We sat on the edge of our sofa for this one.

[ShaofuSage]

Monkey Kung Fu - wow, what a fightfest, I was actually claping during parts of the last fight. Nice little ol' school kung fu flick.

[Golden Arms]

FarenHype 9/11 - Exposes Michael Moore for the opportunistic, disingenuous liar that he is. Great documentary! 9.8/10

The Phantom of the Opera (2004 release) - Schumacher hits this adaptation out of the park. I'm not a musical, theater, or opera fan at all, but I really enjoyed this one. The music alone is worth the viewing. 9.5/10

Flatliners (1990) - Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt, all trying to kill themselves and be brought back with the answers to life and death. What more do you need? Another good Schumacher effort. 9.0/10

Bells of Death - Far more dismemberment than I'm used to seeing in a Shaw film (the severed head was a nice touch) highlights this short but sweet picture. Way too many vertical forehead slashes for my tastes, though. And what the f#$k was up with that guys ear? It looked like a small hornet's nest on the side of his head. Add to that the equally bizzarre "big flat nose" character, who does this little annoying side-to-side head movement, and you've got some villains who you are begging to be be brutalized as soon as you see them. All in all, a more than decent flick. 8.0/10

Golden Arms

[gorlank]

Picked up a bunch of 3 for $10 dvds.

Tomie - creepy little Jp horror flick about a girl who can't/won't die but regenerates to cause havoc/madness everywhere she goes. She is quite cute but underneath her pretty exterior lies the soul of a demon. Good film.

The Imp - not the Diana Pang jiggle fest but a eerie HK horror movie from the early 80's with Charlie Chin as a man cursed by a malicious spirit. Good movie with some nice shocks and many familiar faces like a relatively slim Kent Cheng and Yueh Hua as a occult master who helps Chin.

[SunChien2004]

I finally got the chance to see Brave Archer 4, thought it was a great movie. Wang Li played the "Western Poison" quite well, and it wouldn't have looked right if it was Wang Lung Wei, so it's all good. As for "Eastern Evil", Kuan Feng should have played him all along instead of that other guy, I've seen him in movies like Avenging Warriors of Shaolin, Iron Chain Assassin, and Slice of Death. Good Celestial movie, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Also, I saw the Celestial of Mortal Combat, I didn't know they said the word "bastard" a lot, which I didn't have on my old copy of it. Enjoyed every moment of it.

[Delightful Forest]

Hands In The Hair.
Only for the sake of Rosamund Kwan!

[kenichiku]

Reruns to you maybe, but to me all these for the first time ever:

Vengeance is a Golden Blade ***.5/5, dtr to be Kao Pao Shu was damn great!
A Place To Call Home **.5, extremely heavy handed ultra-conservative material but...there was a topical context
Mr Funnybone ***, wholesome stuff; Li Ching's last good leading role
A Deadly Secret ***.5, clever auteur twisted typical studio material

and...

The Wedding Crashers ****.5
John Waters, A Dirty Shame ***.5
Girl with the Pearl Earring w/Johansson ****
Shimizu, Juon (Jpn) ***
Anderson, The Life Aquatic of Steve Sissou ***

[ShaofuSage]

Watched Return to the 36th Chamber last night. It was a little slow at the beginning, with the lack of action and all as the story was developing, but that amazing ending made up for everything. Scaffolding kung fu, pure genius!

After viewing this film, I realized that one of the great things about kung fu flicks is that you can sit through an hour of mediocraty and then get blow the hell out of your seat by the last 20 to 30 minutes of the movie.

[iron flag]

Magnificent Wonderman(pretty good)
Master of Death(pretty good)
Brave Archer 2 (not so good)
Bandits from Shantung(very good)
non KF:
Sideways(excellent)
Star Wars-Clone Wars(excellent)
Iron Giant(excellent)

[mahsingyi]

"Sin City" starring Brucie & Co. and "Pink Panther" with Jean Reno & Co. ...both not bad at all in their respective niche...;O)

[ShaofuSage]

Recently watched Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe AKA Dragon Fights Back. My copy of this film is the latter name, and what a shi**y copy it is (guess one can't expect much for $2, but I do wonder if there is a half decent copy of this somewhere). Anyway, I enjoyed the film, mainly the "Shanghai Joe against all odds" aspect of it. It seemed like every five minutes, our main character had to fight a new enemy, very few low spots in this one. If only the fight scenes were a little better, this would have become a personal favorite.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Ladies In Lavender - Judi Dench and Maggie Smith are unbeatable in the acting department.

[tino]

River of Fury- Not bad. More of a drama than kung fu movie. I thought it was okay.
Proud Youth- Liked it. Thought the fights were good. Chen hui-min was awesome.
Shadow Boxing- Had some good fights in it, but was one of LKL weaker movies.

(american movies)
Alexander - I thought this kinda sucked. It should be called Alexander the gay not Alexander the great.
Pride Fc Bushido- decent. Gracie's vs japanese fighters

[Ivy Ling Po]

Ode To Gallantry - enjoyed this one and glad to see my favourite Venom Sun Chien in a prominent role. Liu Hui Ling also has a bigger role in this one than in Chu Yuan's wu xia and I feel sad to learn that she died a few years later while giving birth.

Laws Of Attraction - Julianne Moore is great to watch as always and Pierce Brosnan tries to keep up.

[ShaofuSage]

Gen-X Cops - a suprisingly entertaining and dare I say "good" movie. Well, I enjoyed it :D

[jmungus]

this past week:

sahara: faceless popcorn crap, watchable but equally forgettable.

godzilla- final wars: kitamura fuses 70s rubber suit monster trash with state of the art sci-fi/futuristic style japanese movie making (see izo, zeburamaan, casshern, devilman etc...)
other than miike`s brilliant zeburaaman, GFW is about the coolest, tightest and most entertaining ive seen this (and last) year outta japan.

demon world aka shaolin vs evil dead:
gordon`s days are over period.
tsuis vampire hunters 2 years back was in a similar vein, not a "good" film at all but still 100 times better than this bore.

white lotus cult: niiiice part from the "sam the iron bridge"-trilogy.
very decent new wave m.a. entry. not as polished as the usual jet li stuff. always fun to pick that up again every few years for a rewatch.

warrior from shaolin: somewhat disappointing lau brothers indie flick.
one of gordons few old schoolies ive seen for the very first time.
i was mildly entertained, it had some highlight moments, but for the most part is was just another average chop sock gem.

[kenichiku]

Lady Jade Locket ***/5 w/Li Li Hua, Li Ching

Star Wars II - Attack of the Clones ***
James Toback, Harvard Man ****
Takashi Ishii, Black Angel II (Kuro no Tenshi) ***.5 w/Yuki Ammami (yeah!)

[limubai2000]

I just knocked off...

Four Brothers, good film, nice twists and turns
40 Year Old Virgin, hilarious, great movie

and on DVD...

Trail of the Broken Blade, tedious but good film
Shaolin Challenges Ninja, a tad slow but good film
Martial Club, also good

Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 2, Sony widescreen! Good zilla film.
Son of Godzilla, Sony widescreen! Eh, ok zilla film.

[gorlank]

Just watched a killer vampire movie called "Vampire's Breakfast" with Kent Cheng and Emily Chu. Plays like a HK version of Carl Kolchak's Night Stalker with some great creepy scenes and hyper kinetic action. In one great scene the gwailo vamp wades thru a horde of firing cops. Great little movie that is a major sleeper. Pick it up.

[teako170]

Shaw:

Mad Monkey Kung Fu
While I'm not a big fan of the monkey style, LKL did a very admirable job here creating, not only an action-packed film, but also a film with a solid story line. The fact that LKL doesn't create some magical cure (or kung-fu fix) for his crippled hands allows this picture to stay grounded in reality and not stray into fantasy as many other films tend to do.

Ode to Gallantry
Sorry but "bastard" is just not as funny as "son of a bitch." Kuo Choi though was quite entertaining and its always good to see Sun Chien not playing "just another background character" though Chiang Sheng's participation was rather trivial.

Non-Shaw:

LOTR: Return of the King
I enjoyed the first installment but the second one became a bit of a bore (other than the final battle sequence). I was rather pleased though with this third part of the trilogy - the best of the three. Never a dull moment and quite engaging.

Chances Are
Funny little rom-com of the late 80s. I've always enjoyed Robert Downey Jr.'s films and he had the potential in becoming a great actor if only he could've kept his personal problems under control.

Theatrical:

Nada.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Marvin's room - Heavyweights Meryl Streep & Diane Keaton fight it out for top acting honors in drama about dying.

[iron flag]

Brave Archer & His Mate: Very good (my favorite of the 4)
Ode to Gallantry: Fair,reminiscent of BA3 (would have been much better with a few more fights)
South Shaolin Master: Good (Fights where terrific though to many dull spots in between)
Prodigal Son: Excellent (Expected the worst as it began<comedy> but really started to enjoy the comedy,liking the characters,and the fights where great!)

[jmungus]

dirty tiger crazy frog - the raggamuffin-feel movie in sammos catalogue.
being a proud owner (but totally incompetent in workin it lol ;-) of a 3 section staff myself, its a joy to watch the finale.
some fights earlier in the movie could have needed a more imaginative choreo. 7.3

death duel as with so many chu yuan flix, i loved how he made use of the musical score and lament the way he shot the fights.
first 20 or 30 mins felt a bit uneven, then it went uphill until the end.
good entry in the 'dark-n-eerie wuxia' category 7.2

secret of shaolin kung fu
never considered myself a li yi min fan, but the kid sure got game.
very engaging, swift and tight performance, yi min reminds me of a cross between chi kuan chun and jackie chan in this above average chop sock entry. 6.5

[David G Rees]

Being sent lots o title to watch as i have to review them for some magazines...some good some awful.

Kung Fu Master.***
First in the Tai Seng releases of the tv series, i thought that it was very enjoyable, Donnie Yen shows he can be a decent actor and the fight scenes were good for a tv show and not speeded up to much which i know Donnies work suffers from.

Fist Of Fury : Sworn Revenge. **.5
Another edited Donnie tv outing but much better than the original release Fist Of Fury. This follows Chen Jens early years, his first days in Shanghai and his meetings with his teacher Fok Yun Gap.
Eddie Ko is excellent as Fok as well as good cameo from Hung Yan Yan.

The Commitment *
Terrible, confusing Thai horror with bad acting but plenty of gore...Avoid.

Running Out Of Time. ***
Good thriller with Andy Lau and the always excellent Lau Ching Wan. Is Johnny To still making great movies like this?

Red Trousers. ***.5
Excellent documentary / short film about HK stuntmen and there opera background. The dvd has longer interviews with Sammo and Lau Kar Leung.

The Bodyguard. **.5
OK Thai action comedy from the team that did Ong Bak. A short cameo from Tony Jaa and ok action scenes, but i found the film a bit bizarre and the comedy did not translate well for me.

Non Asian.

Arthur. ***.5
Brilliant comedy with the late great Dudley Moore still stands up well today. Superb oscar winning performance from John Guilgud also.

Man With 2 Brains. ***.5
Steve Martins best and funniest film and Kathleen Turner is superb as the sexy vamp. What happened to Steve Martin?

National Treasure. **.5
OK Indiana Jones type adventure with Nicholas Cage but it does feel like its all been done before.

[ShaofuSage]

The Fist, the Kicks and the Evils - another installment in the revenge plot kung fu comedy segment, with some great fights and one of Bolo's better on-screen fighting performances - a semi-enjoyable experience.

[ironfistedmonk2003]

Watched Unleashed at the cinema last night, quite impressed, great action and Bob Hoskins is the man.

Also watched Grand Master of Shaolin Kung Fu, decent film but Kam Kong should have been the main villain and not a lackey.

[Ivy Ling Po]

I found this movie quite bland in the beginning but in the second half, it redeemed itself with a terrific performance from veteran actress Wang Lai. Ching Li is also fighting with more close-ups than normal. I still don't like David Chiang's hair which will no doubt look good on a younger person like Wong Yue. Chen Wai Min makes a fierce enemy and poor Tsing Hua is no match. I would give it 3 stars.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Very touching with sumptous production values and superbly acted. How could Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes be anything less?

[ShaofuSage]

The Chinese Boxer - A real bloodfest, plus I loved Wang Yu's surgeon outfit. Seriously though, it was ok. Quick question: in real life, when a human punches another human in the stomach and happens to penatrate through, as in Wang Yu's final blow to Lo Lieh, is it possible for approximately 10 pints of blood to come gushing out of the victim's stomach?

[Ivy Ling Po]

Dangerous Liaisons - Glenn Close and John Malkovich are both very wicked in this superbly acted masterpiece.

[kenichiku]

Inoue, Apartment for Ladies w/Betty Ting Pei & a bunch of 60s kittens ***/5
Chu Yuan, A Lover's Destiny***.5

Jeunet, Alien Resurrection w/Weaver, Ryder ****
American Pie w/Biggs, Levy, Scott, Natasha Lyonne, Tara Reid & Shannon Elizabeth ****
Sollima, 'Citte Violenta' aka 'Violent City' (Anchor Bay) w/Bronson & Jill Ireland in her most revealing ***
Lustig, 'Vigilante' (Anchor Bay) w/Fred Williamson, Robert Forster & the great Joe Spinelli ***
Young, Captain Jack w/Bob Hoskins, Gemma Jones & Sadie Frost ***.5 (sucker for sentimental Brit formula)

[Wahlumkid]

I have been watching -

• Big Bad Sis. - Chen Ping is marvelous in this movie. Excellent action and plot. No wonder Sun Shung has been called " The Master of Tension "
• The Avenging Eagle - fifth time watching it since I got it. It gets better every-time. Fantastic action, story and music score!
• The Lady Assassin - Even though the action is speeded up, but still enjoyed it very much. Loved that unusual wire work!
• Two Con Men - • Carry On Con Men - Two very funny comedy and well acted. You will enjoyed it more if you understand Cantonese.
• Perfect Girls - You can see Jet Li's wife's big tits! (wet bikini). I think this is the only movie that she's in wet bikini and showed her big tits!
• Family Light Affair - Good comedy drama.
• The Goddess of Mercy - One of the most expensive Shaw bros movie. Directed by two Korean director and took about 2 years to made. 3/5 for me.
• The illegal Immigrant - Good drama and one of my favorite female director.
• Inside The Forbidden City - Good Bao Gon Huangmei Opera. Very nice sets!
• My Darling Genie - Light heart comedy.
• The Amorous Lotus Pan - The Tiger killer - are both the same story. But I like the China's TV drama version better!
• Raw Passions - Good sexy dancing, but weak plot!
• Finger of Doom - Lvy Ling Po looked so lovely and sexy in the good action pack movie.
• West Chamber - This is one of the best Huangmei Opera directed by Yueh Feng. Who also directed the excellent - Bell of Death! All of Yueh Feng's movie are excellent!
• Hex, Hex vs Witchcraft, Hex after Hex - Good trilogy horror movies. I loved this director's work! He still have some more good horror movie coming out!
• The Criminals - 3 short interesting true crime story.
• The Kiss of Death - Chen Ping, the lovely sex bimbo is done it again.
• Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan - Beautiful! Considered to be Chu Yuan's best work! Don't miss it! The first Chinese lesbian movie.
• The Enchantress - Liu Chia-Liang's wife is very lovely in this movie! Good sword play and horror. This movie feature lots of nice sets!
• The Orem of the Red Chamber - Excellent! I love all of Li Han-hsiang's work! One of the great master!
except - The Tiger Killer. Everything in The Tiger Killer is new and clean! Even the criminals cloths is new and clean. Its just too clean.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Brothers From The Walled City - entertaining but predictable. Celestial offers a cut version.

Murderer Pursues - I like this as it has the young Ray Liu. Danny Li seems older here. They don't look like Vietnamese though.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Tom Hanks in The Terminal. I like it though overlong.

[Tangowind]

Ivy, I noticed you saw both The Sugar Daddies and Call to Arms. Did you enjoy these 2 movies? Any frontal nudity in the previous one (or preferably both)? :b

[Ivy Ling Po]

Can't remember about frontal nudity but there was definitely nudity in both which was odd for Call To Arms being shot in the 60s.

Betty Pei Tih does not herself strip in any movie. She uses a body double. Ditto for Hsia Fan in Call To Arms.

[lacali]

Legend of Fong Sai Yuk starring Meng Fei, Yasuaki Kurata, Tan Tao Liang. A pretty good movie with many good fight sequences. Not sure when the movie was made but it starred several other Shaw Brothers co-stars like Fong Hak An and the usual Shaw Brothers bad guy who had a good long fight & got killed by Chan Kuan Tai when he got rescued by Fu Sheng in under ground chamber in Heroes Two. I guess it was made some time between 1973-1976.

[Tangowind]

Thanks a lot, Ivy! :) I'll pick those flicks up!

[limubai2000]

I just knocked off -

Hand of Death - Jackie/Sammo/Tan Tao, good film directed by John Woo, some good semi-cutting edge camera work, you can see the beginnings of Woo's style.

Triangular Duel - Joseph Kuo film, good little story of a rickshaw puller turned kung fu student. The iron triangle owns you!

Godzilla vs Sea Monster, 2nd worst zilla movie after Megalon.

At the theater -

Cave, which despite its poor showing at the box office is a good little horror flick with some cheap scares and good effects.

But now it appears my movie viewing this week will be interuptted by an approaching typhoon.

[jmungus]

mellow weekend with no chores but lots of time on my hand for these goodies (or not so goodies):

gone in 60 seconds
found a copy of it in my vhs collection, couldnt remember a thing bout that movie.
frankly, with recent entries in the tinseltown action category (xxx2 and the likes :x ), this felt like a class movie.
after all i thought it wasnt quite good enough to be a 7 (of 10), but almost.

rivals of the silver fox
forgettable b-chop socky. kept me watching tho, props for that.
i recall reading a review saying its dreadful- well, imo it wasnt. 4 points equal 'nothing to be ashamed of killing some time with'.

swift sword
i thought it had a well paced, likable screenplay.
wasnt the glorious wuxia fest i probably expected.
very entertaining, buddha bless for the compact running time. a good 7.

fresh
ghetto drama that hasnt lost its touch even after the 4th or 5th viewing.
highly recommended, 8.5

the evil cult
another rewatch after some 5, 6 years.
jet li in top shape. some really well conceived, fun sequences.
ultimately i can understand why ppl in asia made this a loser at the box office; lame plot reviving very well known themes (from innumerous old school wuxia gems), nothing new, special or exciting about it.
its like a 90s hk equivalent to modern day western actioners a la "rundown", "bad boys" or "fast and furious"- nothing much to it, but making mad noise and bringing lots of ruckus.
5 if i hadnt been prepared for a total low brainer, so the score rises up to a 6.5 score for some solid rollercoaster action.

[TheManInWhite]

The weekend I got around to seeing Long Step Mantis. Man, this film was real good. Just enough comedy without overdoing it, strong storyline and plenty of quality fights. Mark Long was extremely good and definitely Lung Fei's finest moment. Highly recommended!

[ShaofuSage]

Ode to Gallantry - did not necessarily mind the lack of action because there were enough characters and plot to keep me watching, the end fight was real nice.

Deadly Breaking Sword - really liked this one, although Fu Sheng's character was a bit disturbing, especially towards the end. Nice congested storyline, good fights, and a bit of Fu Shengian comedy never hurts.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Secret Window. Johnny Depp manages to keepme glued to the tv although the outcome is silly. Wellfilmed though.

[Kung Fu Zombie]

Fight Club for writers

[tino]

The Legend of 7 Golden Vampires- I really enjoyed this. I love horror movies and kung fu movies and this combines the two together. David Chiang speaks better english than some people I know, but hey I live in tennessee.

[limubai2000]

:rollin

Hey I live in Guam, he speaks better English than almost the entire island!

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Had a nice catch up week on some backlog. In the past week I was able to watch:

Incredible Kung Fu Mission (4/5)
Zu:Warriors Form The Magic Mountain (HKL) (3.5/5 may improve with second viewing)
A Bittersweet Life (5/5)
The Challenger (4/5)
Zatoichi Meets The One Armed Swordsman (4.5/5)
Mute Samurai (episode 1) (so far, so good!!)
Barefoot Kid (4/5)

[Ivy Ling Po]

The Mermaid. This is a bonafide huangmei classic with superb performances by Ling Po & Li Ching. Be warned that huangmei opera is an acquired taste. Ling Po won the Most Versatile Talent award and Li Ching won the Asian Movie Queen award for this movie. At 17, she was the youngest winner.

[sammofan]

Last bunch of Shaws watched -

Look Out, Officer! 7/10
The Proud Twins 7/10
Ode to Gallantry 6/10
Legend of the Bat 5/10
Swift Sword 7/10
Judgement of an Assassin 7.5/10

[Isfahani]

Mad Monk,which managed to be a little better with readable subs & WS...

Akahige (Red Beard), an early Mifune/Kurasawa period drama. Clocks at about three hours, and I didn't get up for the entire time...riveting.

Judgement of an Assassin, not bad, not the best I have seen from that era.

Dragon Gate Inn (the Original), Niiiiice one. The blueprint for many to come.

Ghidrah, the Three Headed Monster...

Watari the Ninja Boy...

Proud Twins...

Brave Archer and his Mate ( I still don't know how I feel about this one, yeah it's nice that the Venoms were in there, but Fu Sheng for SURE should have retained the title role...imo)

Heaven Sword, Dragon Sabre - were there any more where these came from?

Kagemaru of the Iga Clan...

Ninja Wars...

Destiny's Son (dir Kenji Misume, 1962)

Chushingura (1962)

Godzilla Final Wars (nice try, but I'll stick with the old ones)

etc etc

[Ivy Ling Po]

Bugis Street - the Director's cut which means frontal nudity.
A slice of life in the 60s amongst the transvestite society is finely crafted by YonFan into a memorable experience. Filmed in Singapore but banned there.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Raise The Red Lantern - Gong Li classic deserves a better-looking dvd.

[kenichiku]

Shaws:

The Mermaid (R3) ****/5 - remaster looked spectacular.
Fast Fingers (R3) **.5 - remaster didn't help it for me.

other:

Gilliam, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ***.5/5 w/Depp, Del Toro, Barkin; hilarious, good acid dropping double with either 'Altered States', 'Naked Lunch' or a Cheech n' Chong flick.

Tsui Hark, Shanghai Blues (big platter LD) ***.5 - w/Sally Yeh, Slyvia Chang, Kenny B; 80s nostalgia, dusted off to comp. vs upcoming DVD release.

Omori Kazuki, 'Shooto' aka 'Hit the Goal' (R3 DVD) **.5 - High school Soccer drama w/members of Kinki Kids, SMAP, etc.

Suzuki, Gate of Flesh (Criterion DVD) **** - at his psychedelic post-War best. Jo Shishido

Hard Rain (DVD) ***.5 - w/Christian Slater, Minnie Driver, Morgan Freeman; retooled 'Titanic' tank sets in Mexico were 'Shaw' gorgeous; odd coincidence - watched nite before Katrina hit.

Weekly highlight on the road: overhear two local Arizona kids entering a Harkins Blockbuster (Scottsdale) to ask for 'Kung Fu Hustle'. Man, times have changed.

[Wahlumkid]

• Killer Snake - better than I thought. Pretty good!

[jmungus]

guards of shaolin aka ninja vs shaolin guards.
with lo rei, robert tai and eagle han.
had never heard of that one in all those years. a real surprise gem for me. top notch indie old school production with brilliant gung fu and predominantly exciting choreography all over the place.
7.6/10, a must have for any old school fan.

hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
ive read everywhere its a love or hate thing.
for me, HGTTG (in general) represents the 80s vibe to the fullest and thus i was quite happy to feel that very vibe watching this movie.
got me thinking back of the good old "BTTF1-3/explorers/batteries not included/cocoon/e.t."..... days. 6.8/10

appleseed 2004
i used to be a fan of the original in the late 80s.
despite a few tries, i never made it an anime fan tho, but was definitely looking forward to the appleseed rehash in 2004.
what can i say, this time around was my 2nd rewatch, and i did quite enjoy it- once again.
imo, it works wonderfully as a straight action flick.
the visuals are plain fantastic for the most part and a good sound system does help a lot to find this one mind boggling ;) 8/10

[Ivy Ling Po]

Bug Me Not - Isabella Leong & Wilson Chen are quite a cute pair in this so-so movie. Only if you have nothing better to do.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Primal Fear - Richard Gere is really believable as a lawyer defending an altarboy accused of murdering an archbishop due to sexual abuse. Over two hours long but solid entertainment. The twist at the end is brilliant!

[KLSADAKO]

Where's Officer Tuba- modern day film with Sammo Hung, Jacky Cheung and David Chiang. I enjoyed this film, it had some really funny moments! It was cool seeing Sammo fighting Hwang Jang Lee while Jacky Cheung fought Chang Yi in the film's finale! I only wish the Sammo fight with Hwang was longer!

[Ivy Ling Po]

Sunset Boulevard - the classic with Gloria Swanson and William Holden in the leads. They don't make them like this anymore!

[tino]

Enchanting Shadow- I like this movie. It was kinda spooky and entertaining. Interesting to see a Shaw movie made in 1959.
Next up is Himalayan and Superpower:eek

[Ivy Ling Po]

The Wedding Date - Debra Nessing & Dermot Mulroney shine in this romantic comedy. He's a gigolo she hired to save face when she faces her ex at her sister's wedding.

[GwaiLoMoFo]

LAst weekend watched:

Infernal Affairs (8.5/10) good crime drama
City on Fire (7.5/10) felt it was a little overrated, but good.

On deck:

Throwdown
Samurai 1
Proud Youth

[jmungus]

Judgement of an Assassin - GREAT! enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Ivy Ling Po]

To Live - Gong Li is unforgettable in this one.

[lacali]

Just watched 36 Crazy Fists with Jackie Chan. It's an OK classic kungfu movie starring Jackie Chan, Liu Chia Yung, Ku Feng, Fong Ho An.

[Barsader]

Green jade statuette-a very nice film.A surprisingly very good plot,Lots of twists and turns,and some decent fighting.

[HungSzeKuan]

prodigal son - good film but wasnt crazy bout the ending

[kenichiku]

Five Venoms **** (Steeplechase R1) – Wow, you guys were right about the dubbed nostalgia!
Blood Money **.5 (Brit R2) – Lo Lieh, Lee Van Cleef, Karen Yip; & those saucy bottom inspections

non-Shaws:

Derek Erh, One Night in Mongkok ****.5 (Theatrical) – HK film has matured after ‘Infernal Affairs’; Derek’s come far since his debut in ‘Death Duel’; Alex Fong, Lam Suet, Chin Kar Lok & Daniel Wu excel.
Itchy Heart **** (Tai Seng R0) - Lau Ching Wan has the 7 year itch; Carina Lau, both still got it w/the gorgeous young betties.
Michael Ritchie, Prime Cut (Paramount R1) **** - Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, Sissy Spacek; not too convincing slant on the seamy side of the American heartland but well rendered.
Winterbottom, Go Now ***.5 (King R2) Robert Carlyle w/2 of modern UK’s best screen femmes IMO: Juliet Aubrey & Sophie Okonedo; very mature and non-trite approach to tragic dramas with a debilitating disease as a subject.
Straw Dogs (Anchor Bay R1) **** - Peckingpah. w/Dustin Hoffman, Peter Vaughn, a 70s best: Susan George
Grigori Chukrai, Ballad of a Soldier *** (Criterion R1) – where else but an old Soviet film do you show a commanding officer who allows a heroic young private to leave the battle front so that he can go home to fix his mother’s barn roof?
Wet Rope **.5 (Norwegian R0) – Nikkatsu softcore blasphemy, nunsploitation in my anticipation for ‘Convent of the Holy Beast’
Koji Yamada, Tora San & His Tender Love #8 *** (Panorama R3) – a buffoonish Tora loses another girl but his family still loves him.

[ShaofuSage]

Shaolin Temple - I think this may have become one of my top 3 Temple films of all time. Great huge cast!

Deadly Secret - liked this one too, the most ironic title for a movie I've ever seen.

[Centorpedo]

School of the Holy Beast - well shot, fun movie with lots of gonzo zaniness, but not a keeper IMO.

Harakiri - Only a third of the way in and I'm savoring every second. Simply amazing. Nakadai's eyes are like no other actor's before or since. Ever since The Face of Another he's become one of my favorite actors. Now I have a reason to go back and re-watch all of his Kurosawa output again.

Point Blank - Lee Marvin is the man. This and The Professionals... I could watch them over and over.

[jmungus]

7 Steps of Kung Fu
great show. should appeal to any old school fan, monkey kf/knockabout/drunk mantis/young master appreciators in particular.

whispering corridors 4: voice
aaarghh, i hate it when a movie would end leaving me unsure whether i fully understood it or not.
korean arthouse horror drama with a meditative flow, no scares, intellectual approach, elegant technical execution.
cant say if i liked it better than its predecessors.... well, it was okay.

shaolin drunk monkey
another title from my collection going waaay back, poppin up again rather by coincident than by straight choice.
eagle han ying does the choreo and plays the main villain.
lotsa fights, decent quality, could have tried a little more to lift itself above the neverending sky that is standard chop socky. good fun, nothing special.

[ShaofuSage]

By Hook or By Crook - Uuuumm............................Next.

[justkungfuman]

Kung Fu Hustle- I thought it was a fun movie, great special effects...
Ode to Gallantry
The Proud Twins
Heroes of the East
Invincible Shaolin

[Thekfc]

Bullet In the Head-uncut version
Heroes Shed No Tears-Eddy Ko
A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2
Last Hurrah for Chivalry-Liu Sung Yen & Wei Pai

I was showing some company some John Woo flicks, the only John Woo flicks they have seen before were his "American" movies, The Killer & Hard Boiled.

[Barsader]

12 Deadly coins-did not live up to the hype.
I've seen a handful of websites and distributors give this movie a very good rating.

IMO-it was average 60's fanfare.But still...if you like 60's swordplay it's worth a one time view at best,it just will not make you a fan of this time period,if you already are not.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Marco Polo - I found it more enjoyable than expected though Marco Polo should have dark hair I think being an Italian. Shih Sze shines in a non-fighting role.

[iron flag]

Shaolin Hero-Possibly the worst dubbing I've ever heard (and thats saying a lot in this genre) But I liked in a guilty pleasure kind of way.
The Himalayan-Good, but didn't live up to the Hype.
Bloody Fists-Excellent
Marco Polo- Excellent
Judgement of an Assassin-Very Good
Masked Avengers-Excellent (please let there be a Celestial soon)
Ivy, there are a lot of Northern Italians with light hair (you're right though,Richard Harrison doesnt look very Italian). :)

[gfanikf]

just watched The Avenging Eagle

Great flick with a good story that clearly influneced alot of New Wave Hk films (john woo, etc).

The actions pretty sweet too. Im happy I got to see the extened copy with the extra action.

Ti Lung and Fu Sheng are great

[kenichiku]

Reruns:

Ho Meng Hua, Vengeful Beauty ***.5/5 Chen Ping needed to be in more action films
Li Han Hsiang, Happiest Moment ***.5 Mike Hui does Peter Sellars
Liu Chia Liang, Martial Club **** never bores

non-Shaw:

Michael Campus, Education of Sonny Carson (R1) **** - you oldschool NYers should remember this superior docu-drama; unfair to label as 'Blaxploitation' as it precedes the more popular 'Wanderers', 'Lords of Flatbush' & 'The Warriors' by a few years.
Ride with the Devil ***.5 (R1) Ang Lee flirts w/the Confederacy w/Maguire, Ulrich, Jewel & the great Jeffrey Wright
Carpenter, Assault on Precinct 13 (R1) ***.5 w/commentary
Itami, A Taxing Woman Returns ***.5 (VHS) w/Nobuo rocks
Bandolero **.5 (R1) w/Jimmy Stewart, Racquel Welch

....paid for (dearly) some B-stuff in the dark:

Besson & crew, Transporter II **, stingey KF action; fire hose thing was best. That bloke Latham needs a script & a better shot at it in III.
Singleton, 'Four Brothers' **.5, working class D-troit male bonding
'The Cave', cool sets & Romanian locations **, Cole Hauser & Piper Perabo shined though

[Ivy Ling Po]

Brotherhood - excellent movie with Liu Yung, Hu Chin and Lily Li
all excelling in their respective roles. I have not heard of this movie before and therefore I was pleasantly surprised. I wonder if it is a remake of POISON ROSE made in the 60s starring Julie Yeh Fung and Wang Hsieh as Hu Chin is playing the same character.

[kenichiku]

Still catching up with a little shopping spree over in the friendly neighborhood mom n' pop retailer over in Northpoint (Pak Kok) for some old bargain titles (avg $45HK/DVD). Just checked out of the last hotel and into a family's flat for some DVD viewing after 2 weeks cold turkey....and man do they have a system:

Marco Polo (2nd time, own copy IVL r3) ****.5/5 - their 52" 16x9 Olevia plasma makes a huge world of difference over my 21" big tube Sanyo!
Martial Arts of Shaolin (IVL r3)****.5 - Jet was the little mischief maker with the moves back in the innocent days! I can finally chuck my crappy VHS now! Pops reinforces his reputation. The clarity with the awesome Kung Fu brings tears in my eyes!
Lotus Lamp (IVL r3) *** - Not the best Huang Mei musical but an excellent package (original trailers, storyboards, lyrics, documentary, etc). A miscast Cheng Pei Pei as Lin Dai's father but the sets are sumptuous as usual.

Can't keep up with the newer batches yet as some of them hav been ordered from YesAsia.com and waiting for me back in the states.

[Firecrane]

Whats up everyone, it's been awhile.

Shaws:
The Duel
The Angry Guest
Marco Polo
Judgement Of An Assassin
Shaolin Intruders
Casino

Japanese:
Sword Of Doom

Anime:
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Baseball:
Watched the all Yankee games as they won the AL East Division :D
Watched the Yankees get eliminated again >:

[kenichiku]

Just watched during my travels:

Double Bliss (VCD) ***.5/5 w/Liang Sing Po, Ching Li, Wei Ping Ao; It's his trademark voice so Canto legend Liang Sing Po did do his role in Mandarin; deserved DVD treatment.
Deadly Duo (VCD) **** (5 stars if DVD was perfect) w/DC, Ti Lung; Couldn't hold out anymore; a true classic.
Chinese Boxer (VCD) **** w/Jimmy Wang Yu, Lo Lieh, Wang Ping; no bad audio to distract the fantastic visuals especially in the 2nd half.

others:

Kim Ki Duk, Samaritan Girl (r3 DVD) ***
2nd 1/2 of Tsui Hark's 'Seven Swords' (DVD) ***.5; he's been watching his Shaw films...also nouveau Korean ones.

Theatrical splurging:

'Flight Plan' (the Mongkok UA at Midnite) *** w/Jodie in her lioness protecting her cubs mode again, Sean Bean, Peter Skaarsgard's role way under-developed; coulda been way better.

Nick Park, 'Wallace & Grommit: Curse of the WereRabbit' (at the Tung Chung Crescent UA matinee)****; A 100 screaming & laughing little kids can't be wrong, fun cheese. Nice to see old friends like Grommit over here!

TV:

a 'Get Smart' rerun on Pearl TV!
'So Close' w/Shu Qi, Karen, Vicky & Kurata on Pearl tonite!

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Have recently seen:

Unleashed (2nd viewing) 4.5/5 (Jets best in a looong time)
Judgement Of An Assassin 4.5/5 (excellent on every level)
Godzilla: Final Wars 4/5 (very fun movie)
Hong Kong Godfather 5/5 (Good film, with a ripper ending)
The Himalayan 4/5 (good finale, a little slow fist half)
Haute Tension 4/5 (yeah it was gory, sometimes its what you dont see that scares you.)
Death Games 3.5/5 (great fight scenes, ok film)
Goyokin 5/5 (Masterpiece Samurai film!!)
Crash 4/5 (bottom line, everybody is racist)

Havent seen any stinkers in a while.

[Chen Zhen]

i just got the unleashed dvd, i like it a lot more than i already did upon 2nd viewing.

[kenichiku]

Spinning my HK splurge:

The Duel (IVL) ****.5/5 - A near perfect package w/original trailer & except for minor forgivable audio intervention midway thru, still damn near the best of the year. This is young hot-blooded Ti Lung's flick all the way through.

The Brave Archer & His Mate (r3) ***.5 – Having admit to not knowing the books, watching this as a stand alone before revisiting the originals was a challenge but great Venoms influenced fights helped to cap off this Chang series. Capable Kuo Chui & Gigi Wong chemistry helped me forget the switch in the Kid’s role and watching Lung Tien Sheng go berserk was the bomb.

The Angry Guest (IVL) ***.5 - Loved it as a teen, plays quite dated now. Chang's no Fukusaku or Suzuki as this DC/Ti Lung vehicle is upstaged by the colorful villians. Although Kurata was underused during fights, his conquest was with the ladies. Korean actress Fang Im Ha shines as his Japanese colleague. Bug eyed Bolo is quite amusing with his speaking parts.

Raw Passions (IVL) ** - an excrutiating static mystery thriller with plot holes & rotton herrings. Ivy Ling Po was more interesting in 'Cause to Kill'. I wanted more of the volumptuous Meng Li.

Spring Blossoms (IVL r3) ***.5 - w/Shu Pei Pei, Essie Lin Chia, Lily Li, Fang Yan, Chin Feng, Fang Mien, I'm a sucker for geeky maudlin 60s Shaw comedies; pretty sisters, med-student tenants & coke bottle glasses, what's not to like?

[lacali]

Just finished watching Seven Swords. I don't like it that much since the fighting is kind of weak for a Donnie Yen movie.

[Iron Boat]

All of you watch too much T.V.

[kenichiku]

Nah...probably just me.

[kenichiku]

Shaw reruns:

Ti Lung, Young Rebel (IVL r3) ***.5/5; w/DC, Ti Lung, Lu Ti; Surprisingly refreshing now after dismissing this basher decades ago.
Li Han Hsiang, Illicit Desire (IVL r3) ***.5; w/Hu Chin, Tanny, Yang Chun, Yueh Hua; thought provoking coffee table erotica.
Hsu Teng Hung, The Silver Fox (vhs) ***.5; w/Lily Ho, Chang Yi, a fave classic; remastered IVL next.

non-Shaw

Niki Caro, North Country (theatrical) ***.5; w/Theron, Harrelson; 'Norma Rae' & 'Silkwood' for the new millenium; New Zealander Caro has a good feel for the Northern Midwest.
Bartkowiak, Doom (theatrical) ***; not into flicks based on video games but forget 'Being Cool', the Rock w/a 'Semper Fi' tattoo returns to form.
Reiner, This Is Spinal Tap (r1) ****; never get tired of this one, brilliant.
Besson, Wasabi **.5, 'Leon' in translation; good looking but shallow.

[kenichiku]

just reruns...

Shaolin Mantis ****.5/5
Sweet Is Revenge **.5
Disciples of the 36th Chamber ***.5
Last Woman of Shang ***.5
The Swordsmates ***

non-Shaw:

Mendes, Jarhead (theatrical) ***.5 - even w/snipers, don't expect a 'Full Metal Jacket'
Campbell, Legend of Zorro (theatrical) **.5 - mostly for the kids
Dickerson, Juice (r1) ***.5 - Wow, almost a decade since Tupac left
Annaud, Enemy at the Gates (r1) ***.5 - needed my sniper fill.

[lacali]

Just finished watching The Myth with Jackie Chan & Tony Leung Ka Fai (3/5), Seven Swords with Donnie Yen (3/5), and Shaw Brothers' Hong Kong Hong Kong with Cherie Cheung & Alex Man (4/5).

[jmungus]

OFFENSIVE SHAOLIN LONGFIST (1983)
liked it for what it is- chop socky of the decent standard type. sure a lot more fun (at least to me) than 80% of anything 'action' that comes out of hk or hollywood lately (stealth, fantastic four, huada chronicles.... all with less entertainment value than stuff like the LONGFIST)
6.5

ANGRY GUEST (1972)
duel of fists never really appealed to me (3 viewings over the course of 10, 12 years) and its sequel, the angry guest (never watched before) doesnt either, tho i liked it slightly better. lung & dave in thailand just dont cut it for me. dave solo in thailand (shaolin handlock) was a lot more fun.
5.5

THE BLADE (1995)
tsui brings it intense and authentic. good remake, keeping some of the old and giving it new perspectives.
8.5

ELF (2003)
i generally dig the will ferrell comedy angle. in "elf" it works lovely. the best new millenium x-mas comedy.
8/10

SHAOLIN TEMPLE (1976)
whos the "best" director in town for the shaolin temple theme ?
anyone ever cared to compare ? aside from chang cheh im thinking in the likes of joseph kuo, LKL (duh!) etc
who seems to be the most authentic, who wreaks temple havoc the best, who is the most original and creative ?
anyhow, this one scores 7.5

IRON MONKEY STRIKES BACK (1978)
my man chen kuan tai delivers once again.
the lenghty adventurous finale takes the classic "progress to the next chamber/level"-route (like bruce in game of death or wu jing in the tai chi master series to feature film).
ps: its only a "sequel" to iron monkey by name, not by content !!
7.5

LAND OF THE DEAD (2005)
not so much of a zombie fanatic or romero fan for that matter.
i heard this was a mixed bag, and im right in the middle of the mix with my opinion on this one.
to me this was a time killer of the bearable type, with nothing that would stand out in any way and no flaws i couldnt forgive.
6.5

[teako170]

Shaw Brothers....

The Boxer From Shantung: If you have yet to see this film, get a copy. Great film!

Challenge of the Masters: One of those films I saw on Black Belt Theater back-in-the-day but didn't realize it until I started watching it again. Its quite a rush when your memory kicks in. :)


Non-Shaws....

Gaslight (1944): Classic film starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and a 17-year-old Angela Lansbury. Big fan of Bergman - one of the greats.

Paparazzi: Not bad. Dennis Farina was the standout as was Tom Sizemore who played a real prick.


Theatrical....

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: Gotta love these guys (though the film felt a bit long). Prefer their shorts more.


Regular TV....

Steelers ... Steelers ... and dare I say it, yes .... more Steelers! (Nothing stops Big Ben this season). :b

[sevenhooks]

Gaslight (1944): Classic film starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and a 17-year-old Angela Lansbury. Big fan of Bergman - one of the greats.




Yeah, man. Good stuff.
Been getting back into a lot of film noir and trying to catch good ones I've yet to see.
CLASH BY NIGHT w/Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan and a young Marilyn Monroe was excellent.
As was OUT OF THE PAST w/my favorite, Robert Mitchum.
Last week I finally bought a copy Orson Welle's TOUCH OF EVIL.
If you have the SLIGHTEST interest in this genre you NEED to see this movie. The opening shot alone is worth it (plus where else are you gonna see Charlton Heston as a Mexican!) Brilliant.
Also just picked up the Val Lewton "horror noir" box set with Cat People, The 7th Victim, I Walked With a Zombie, etc.
Incredible stuff.
Not exactly noir, but definitely dark was THE BAD SEED, about an unassuming murderous 8 year-old girl. The concept might not be so shocking these days, but keep in mind this was made in 1956!
Excellent performances all around. The flick is so gripping that it never drags, even when clocking in at just under 130 minutes.

Okay enough with the old films...

I'm just about to sit down and watch FRAZETTA: PAINTING WITH FIRE, a documentary about Frank Frazetta (you've seen his work even if you think you haven't - Molly Hatchet album covers, Conan The Barbarian art, Heavy Metal mag, etc.).

I'm also in the middle of the massive documentary from the early 70's called THE WORLD AT WAR.
Narrated by none other than Sir Lawrence Olivier, it's the definitive account of the Second World War.
What's fascinating to me is that it was made less than 30 years after the War ended, so many of the subjects were still alive and still relatively young enough to provide gripping accounts.





Oh, yeah... on the kung fu tip, I've recently thrown in the following...


TIGRESS OF SHAOLIN - would've liked to have seen Liu Chia-Liang's sister in more stuff during this period. She was a riot.

THE POSTMAN STRIKES BACK - pretty damn good. not at all what I expected.

18 FATAL STRIKES - SHAKEY EAGLE!! SHAKEY EAGLE!!


I know this ain't kung fu, but man, DON'T PLAY WITH FIRE was on some OTHER sh#t altogether!!!
All I gotta say is.... Lin Chien Chi.
If you think you've seen her in any number of Shaw joints, wow.
Guess again. What a performance.
Interesting that she stopped working after this one.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Surprisingly strong coming-of-age drama. Tien Niu falls in love with dashing uncle Ling Yun. Father Chin Han dies of lung infection with mistress (famous TVB actress) by his side while wife Hsia Ping raves and rants. When rejected by Ling Yun, Tien Niu sleeps with rich kid Wong Yue and becomes pregnant. Always fascinating, buoyed by a strong performance by Tien Niu and Ling Yun, this comes highly recommended. Get the HK version. My Malaysian vcd was butchered but the censors overlooked Tien Niu's tits in one scene. Hilarious!

[kenichiku]

Agreed, good film. Not Kung Fu film but 'Thirteen' is definitely a Shaw sleeper (just remade as '2 Young' by Derek Yee).

[kenichiku]

More reruns

The Roving Swordsman (r3) ***/5 - one of Chu Yuan's better late wuxias
Killer's Five (r3) *** - Aldrich would be proud
Lost Souls (IVL vcd) *** - This nasty little bugger's growing on me.
Two Champions of Shaolin (r3) ***.5- superb Venoms action

[kngfu]

THE TRANSPORTER 2-NOT as entertasining as the original, but it's great to see a new Hollywood (by way of England) action hero franchise again.

40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN-The entire cast in this movie were right on the money. Not a gut buster, but really enjoyable. i watched a bootleg copy that had audience laughter audible, and that made it like watching a 90 minute sitcom.

[Isfahani]

This past two weeks of viewing:

Japanese:
SWORD DEVIL (Misume)
SWORD OF THE BEAST
EKO EKO AZARAK
GODZILLA vs KING GHIDORAH
GODZILLA vs MEGALON
TANGE SAZEN: THE MYSTERIOUS SWORD (1960)
TANGE SAZEN AND THE POT WORTH ONE MILLION RYO (1935)
KILL!
UNDER THE BLOSSOMING CHERRY TREES
KARATE BEARFIGHTER and KARATE BULLFIGHTER

HK/Taiwan:
MARTIAL ARTS MASTER WONG FEI HUNG
NINJA THE FINAL DUEL
BOXER'S ADVENTURE
WHERE'S OFFICER TUBA
PRODIGAL BOXER
THE BUTTERFLY MURDERS
SEVEN SWORDS
BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR TWO
DUEL WITH THE DEVILS

Shaws:
EMPEROR CHIEN LUNG
ADVENTURES OF THE EMPEROR CHIEN LUNG
THE JADE FACED ASSASSIN
TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR
SHAOLIN INTRUDERS
THE CASINO
THE SWORDMATES
TWIN BLADES OF DOOM

annnnd...HOGAN'S HEROES season one, discs 1-4
Alice Cooper's WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE
Renoir's THE RIVER
and Raj Kapoor starring in DIL HI TO HAI (1963)

Surprisingly strong coming-of-age drama. Tien Niu falls in love with dashing uncle Ling Yun. Father Chin Han dies of lung infection with mistress (famous TVB actress) by his side while wife Hsia Ping raves and rants. When rejected by Ling Yun, Tien Niu sleeps with rich kid Wong Yue and becomes pregnant. Always fascinating, buoyed by a strong performance by Tien Niu and Ling Yun, this comes highly recommended. Get the HK version. My Malaysian vcd was butchered but the censors overlooked Tien Niu's tits in one scene. Hilarious!

Uhhhhhh Tien Niu's tits? <runs out to buy DVD> omg.

[ironfistedmonk2003]

This week, I have mostly been watching


Wandering Swordsman
Flying Daggers
Pai Yu Ching
Fist of Unicorn
Bruce Lee True Story

and Red Dwarf Series 7

Ow yeah, and England beating the Argies 3-2, well done lads!

[Tangowind]

Hey ironfistedmonk, what's your opinion of Wandering Swordsman and Flying Dagger?

For the last week, I've seen:

Looney Tunes cartoon classics :p and The Return of Condor Heroes starring Andy Lau and Idy Chan (TVB series)

[sevenhooks]

Looney Tunes cartoon classics


Yes!! The last volume was the best collection yet.
The one where Bugs gets the two hillbilly's doing the square dance cracks me up every time.

[Tangowind]

sevenhooks, do you mean the Looney Tunes Golden Collection vol. 3? I haven't got it yet. Here in Australia we need to wait for a while. Still no word about this release.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Now I know why Shaw studio went down the hill in the mid-80s......with mindless crap like this. With Celestial remastering this and releasing it over so many treasures in the Shaw vault, I may also know the reason why if Celestial goes bust.

No star.....shame on all those who participated in this turkey.

[kenichiku]

That's why I'm still spinning r3 reruns & leaving the house, Ivy:

Kuei Chih Hung, The Rat Catcher **.5 – Location rich Central HK enhance this Shaws ‘Harry in your Pocket’; Yes, Tanny would of been more striking w/a more charismatic leading man other than Liu Lu Hua.

Li Han Hsiang, Love Swindlers ***.5 – Appreciating Episode #1 more w/boastful acupuncturist Ku Feng & his hapless apprentice (& little fortune) Ng Ming Choi carrying his boss’ quackster burdens. BTW, clueless Liu Lu Hua does carry episode #2 though.

Hua Shan, To Kill A Jaguar ** – Nora’s gorgeous (so’s her body double). Pity the rest of this film promising on paper didn’t jell onscreen; any restored cuts for this disjointed version would of mattered.

Chu Yuan, Sentimental Swordsman ***.5 – Ti Lung, Derek Erh & Fang Mei Sheng proves that character can carry this atmospheric martial arts tale in the hunt for the Plum Blossom Bandit. Chu Yuan at his height.

Non-Shaw:

Kurosawa, Kôrei aka Séance (r3) ***.5 – w/Koji Yakusho, this J-TV movie of a creepy mop haired little girl first trapped in a trunk & haunts now strikes as redundant with all those other Nakata films.

Johnnie To, Too Many Ways to Be Number One (DVD) ***.5 w/Lau Ching Wan, Carmen Lee, Francis Ng, Elvis Tsui; In my prelude to watching ‘Election’, this on-the-cusp 97 Milky Way transitional must be the most oblique HK triad film ever shot. Like ‘The Odd One Dies’, his bottom feeding cretins seem to collide with the overall wistfulness of the film but the lowly fly-on-the-wall camera are all part of the appeal.

Theatrical:

Tucker, Shopgirl **** - Martin’s fairy tale lovingly caresses his Mirabelle in this middle aged fantasy of an updated ‘LA Story’; Claire Dane's ordinary ingénue is hard to resist.

Verbinski, Weather Man ***.5 – like the city of Chicago, the new American family is soberly portrayed in this refreshingly tapestry. Sad sack Cage is perfect for this type of role and NO, you consumers of the Blockbuster contingency, the rehab counselor IS essential to the story.

Get Rich, Die Tryin’ *** - Mr Sheridan’s Irish eyes do see what’s it like to be East Coast Black ‘In America’ & 50 Cent’s a likeable rapper. I’d like to think that those 9 real-life gunshot slugs didn’t paralyze his freshman performance though.

Shane Black, Kiss, Kiss Bang, Bang ***.5 – Downey Jr. perfectly cast as contemporary LA film noir shmoe, Kilmer plays his flaming gumshoe partner. 50s retro-noir seem to be the flavor of the month but whether the filmmakers knew it or not, we’re all tasting 90s QT redux.

Hollywood's year-end crop is improving though…

[add, spel]

[kenichiku]

The Magic Blade (revival theatrical) ***.5/5 - still held up from a non-restored Celestial print.
Lo Wei, Golden Sword (r3) *** - better 2nd time!
Yen Chun, That Fiery Girl (r3) *** - classic Cheng Pei Pei

non-Shaw:

Chu Yuan, Cold Blade **.5 - all the seeds to greatness are there in his freshman effort (will review soon).

Ollie Stone, Alexander dtr's cut (R1) **** - better film than the critics say!
You Got Served (HBO) ** - 'Beat Street' redux?
Shamalyan, The Village (R1) ***- the atmosphere is tops

[lacali]

The Rage of Wind starring Chen Sing, Yasuaki Kurata. A pretty good and solid movie with typical Chen Sing & Yasuaki Kurata fights. I wished that the two main characters had more fight scenes than just the final one.

[Firecrane]

Shaws:
Bastard Swordsman 1&2
7 Man Army
Emperor and His Brother
Heroes Two

Golden Harvest - I picked up the Fox/Fortune Star box set
Big Boss
Fist of Fury

Indy Kung Fu:
South Shaolin Master(Red Dragons of Shaolin)
2 Great Cavalier
Secret Life Of Ninja
The Dragon, The Hero
The Secret Rivals 2

DVD:
The Myth -> Pretty cool Jackie Chan
Kingdom of Heaven
Batman Begins
White Noise -> yuck
Hide and Seek -> Another Secret Window.

[ShaofuSage]

Watched The Heroes with Ti Lung. Really enjoyed the storyline, which strayed from your basic Shaolin rebel tale, plus Lung gave a good physical performance in this one. I'd give it 3 out of 4 stars.

[Chen Zhen]

Watched The Heroes with Ti Lung. Really enjoyed the storyline, which strayed from your basic Shaolin rebel tale, plus Lung gave a good physical performance in this one. I'd give it 3 out of 4 stars.

agreed. this film isnt talked about very much for some reason but it has one of the best storylines ever! Ni Kuang was truly classic kf's best screenplay writer along with Chang Cheh, and this film is proof...this film is also possibly the best showcase for Ti Lung's acting skills. very interesting and original story, great Robert Tai choreography, excellent direction courtesy of Wu Ma and a great cast (ti lung and tan tao liang, and chan wai man) all equal possibly the most underrated kung fu classic in y eyes.

[iron flag]

Showdown at the Cottonmill-Overrated?. Good movie(nice pace,never have to wait long for a fight) but I didnt find the fights that great (especially the finale).W/S DVD but subs are often unreadable and cut off. ***
Judgement of an Assassin- Liked it even more 2nd time around. ***1/2
Stife for Mastery- Great movie!!! ***1/2
Holy Flame of the Martial World- I loved Kuo Chui's character but I didnt get a lot of the comedy(flying green english speaking mummies etc.). **
Non KF
The Wanderers-Very good ***1/2
The Incredibles-Ive seen it probably 7 or 8 times with my son (we both still love it) :) ****

[lacali]

just finished watching this movie on Celestial DVD for the third time. I've been watching this movie for years on my boot VHS tape in German with no English sub and I like it a lot, especially now that it's uncut & I now can understand all the conversations.

also, I watched Hero Of The Waterfront (aka Hero of Chiu Chow) starring Tan Tao Liang, and I think this is his very fist movie that started off his kungfu film career. good movie during that time frame.

[sevenhooks]

sevenhooks, do you mean the Looney Tunes Golden Collection vol. 3? I haven't got it yet. Here in Australia we need to wait for a while. Still no word about this release.


Yes, it's Vol.3. That sucks that you can't get it over there yet.
It's really good.
Though I've heard that Australia sometimes gets Simpsons DVDs before we do.
Strange.

[jmungus]

the descent (2005)
from british filmmaker neil marshall, who brought us the marvellous low budget horror-action treat "dog soldiers".
the descent plays kinda like a loose sequel to DS, as if there was a thematical anthology (and if his upcoming effort 'doomsday' will feature some serious [space-]creature material, then i guess there really is one).
the descent has an all-girl-cast, dark caves, tunnels and cool strobo lights.
ive come across some (imo) exaggerated paeans of praise on the internet, but nonetheless, this is a flick any horror/mystery/adventure movie fan should check out.
73%

the cave (2005)
watched this at a friends last weekend and its only right this gets a mention together with 'the descent'.
ppl were talking like those 2 flix were pretty much the same, one the low on budget european gem, the other one (the cave), its hollywood equivalent, racing for the no1 spot claustrophobic "hole" flick of the year.
the cave is actually more like a 'alien vs predator'-clone.
equally crappy, if not worse. its badly shot- uninspired, shaky, untransparent, too vague and to some degree chaotic and plain retarded at times.
if i added up all sequences that were only sort-of-nice, this movie had a running time of 5, 6 mins.
if hollow crap entertainment in the likes of ghost ship is among your faves, u re the one that might not wanna skip this.
37%

shaolin intruders (1983)
have seen this flick a couple of times before.
gotta say, i find its plot to be too tame and generic.
shaolin prince has a lot more to offer in this regards. more colourful, more crazy over the top, more diverse and also more hilarious.
derek & jason make a great odd couple tho & the rest of the cast is very solid; choreo-wise theres no need to empathize how sweet it is, even tho the fights and the nature of em are easily predictable for anyone who knows their shaolin flix.
i suppose its a 80 or even 90 percenter for anyone that didnt like the 3 crazy monks in SP; to me its a real proper 78%.

hollywood homicide (2003)
cant explain to myself why i agreed to watch this one, after refusing to go see it in the theater or rent it 2 years ago.
its a semi-watchable fare, that has the energy of an 80 year old and the ingenuity of a bread crumb.
too bad, i liked ron sheltons "tin cup" and "white men cant jump", but with BB2 and this one he has definitely proven himself to be nothing else but yet another one of those fake hollywood no talent, no artistry bi*****.
hartnett is a total turd (and has been all the way), and mr. ford, beloved hero of my youth (as han & indy- duh!).... he manages to produce a few nice moments, but i wouldnt know how its even remotely possible he could helm another indiana jones in 2008. get the brother his well earned wheelchair luxury edition.
a rare case i concur with a movies imdb rating, and i think im still being easy on the flick giving it...
52%

[Liu chung liang]

well i've been watching Tony Jaa! lol i'm studying his moves, and trying them in real life. haha!

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

hollywood homicide (2003)
a rare case i concur with a movies imdb rating, and i think im still being easy on the flick giving it...
52%

O Boy! This film really is poor. I couldnt bring myself to watch it, even though I own the actual shoes P wears in this film. The director is terrible, and Harnett and Ford are atrocious. The film would be a trainwreck is Master P didnt save it with his presence.

0+100%

:hat

[jmungus]

O Boy! This film really is poor. I couldnt bring myself to watch it, even though I own the actual shoes P wears in this film.

LOL :D yeah, i was like "boooo" a couple of times n my gf had to convince me these last few sequences were actually "regular" quality film making, only i couldnt manage to let go of the atrocious part ive witnessed 5 mins ago (a situation that occurs frequently in this movie).

i dont quite understand how u come about to having an opinion bout the movie if u say yourself that u couldnt bring yourself to watch it. :rolleyes (heads up, youre better off).
ive been taught on other occassions, from other films i had originally refused to check out, its actually okay to give 2nd chances, with the original sensation of disgust and all the media and fan crowd anti-hype out of the way, but this movie really taught me otherwise.
hmm, u r a MP fan or why would u suggest he could do anything to save this movie ? he fits right in this travesty of a low on talent wackfest ;)

guy with the secret kung fu (1978 )

GWTSKF is a true chop socky blueprint come to life.
meng fei and chung chien are out to kick some asses.
GWTSKF actually has a plot, but it becomes less and less of an interest, its just roling along smoothly, blahzay blah and kapowww, theres the next nice shapes fight.
i own a fullscreen version but didnt have the feeling (for once) the fight scenes had suffered all too much in this (rare) case.
engl dub positive: no real annoying dubbing voices; and the negative: extremely generic by the book chit chat- they could have made this a silent movie and we wouldnt miss a thing.
after all, fun flick, a nice variety of techniques, some swift legwork as well, likable actors,.... no must have, but close.

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

hmm, u r a MP fan or why would u suggest he could do anything to save this movie ? he fits right in this travesty of a low on talent wackfest

Ouch, Ok, thats harsh.

Master P is the greatest actor of all time.

Even if I wasnt a fan I would say that, but then I would be a fan, its all circular. :\

I just skipped to the Master P parts, the rest was totally cringeworthy, and I knew P was pissed at how lame the scenes were.

[jmungus]

:b thats ok. im just not feelin him myself (music wise), but lets not make it a discussion bout the rap game & i can assure u i wasnt like "yuk, thats that beotch MP, did he sponsor the fancy cars to get a part in this flick ?" when he appeared on the screen. not-at-all!!!
tho his performance was so pale, hes unofficially a whitey since that shooting :eek ;)

lets move on to better things- hating on hartnett :evil or even better, let s/o else talk about his latest views ...i for once have decided to dare treat myself with a long long brave archer movie night tonite (had watched all of dem before at least once and im, uhmm... not really a fan :rolleyes )

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

tho his performance was so pale, hes unofficially a whitey since that shooting

What the hell?

You are a complete loser, I dont mean it as an insult, I really mean that.

[jmungus]

says more about u than it does about me :p

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

I guess it says alot about both of us.

I wouldnt resort to insulting an artist using racial slurs, whilst you would. I pity the fact you have to degrade yourself that way, its nothing to do with my appreciation of Master P, Im used to the dismissals.

Thats two one to me, so you were right.

I really dont want to talk to you unless you change your attitude.

[jmungus]

whatever kid

[Chen Zhen]

what r u guys really arguing about? y'all should just agree to disagree.......one person likes P, the other doesnt....lets not start any "internet beef"...:)

[jmungus]

u know there was a moment i`d wanted to know that too. :lol
dunno what the commotion is about myself and frankly dont care.
what i do care about is to share a few thoughts on my little brave archer experiment (all 4 back to back) but right now i care a lot more about gettin some sleep; it was challenging enough to stay focused on the BA&HM final fight with a lotta heavy eye lids action already kickin in. :x
good fight, good night:p

[kngfu]

I just finished watching

STEALTH Not as sucky as it could have been.

GODZILLA: FINAL WARS Don "the Predator" Frye makes the movie for me. An actor that only has to scowl and remember 2 to 3 lines a scene is amazing. He doesn't even have any good fight scenes WTF. A did enjoy the Godzilla- King Seesar-Anguilas-Rodan four way fight though. Using soccer moves for a monster fight is something new. Cool Kane Kosugi action in this flick.

VERSUS After all the hype I heard from people and on the net, I thought it was boring as hell and very goofy. I can see where the ideas for some of the FINAL WARS weirdness came from.

[kenichiku]

Ho Meng Hua, Swift Sword ***.5/5, surprisingly good! A no-nonsense retro wuxia where conscious decision not to follow the Chu Yuan pack worked in its favor. Ho Meng Hua has a way with his wuxia women – here Esther Niu (in male drag squatting to pee), Lily Li & Kara Hui all used well even when not kicking ass. Lo Lieh & Chiang Tao at their back-stabbing best. Wong Yue in ‘Proud Youth’ mode.

Lu Chun Ku, Lady Assassin (r3) content ***.5, sound *.5; additional under-cranking and bogus audio robbed me of what is an otherwise stellar film. Never mind Max Mok, Norman Chu’s allowed to shine without the shadow of guys like Ti Lung and …er Ti Lung to steal his thunder. His two cool assistants Pearl & Jade are any martial artist’s male fantasy.

Lo Mar, Bruce Lee & I ***- Linda Lee Caldwell had nothing to worry about; Betty Ting Pei’s side of the story is just that, a tabloid side of half-baked Brucesploitation nowhere near perfection with the best of the clones. Danny Lee did fine with his take on the legend but it was Betty’s cry for sympathy that somehow didn’t click with me especially when spoken with the language of countless cheesy Taiwanese melodramas of that period. Wonder if Shaws intended the role of the Raymond Chow lookalike to be the doofus with coke bottle glasses that he appeared to be. Lo Wei and Liu Liang Hua are Xeroxed with more flattery. The trmapoline’s 70s waterbed looked cool though.

Liu Chia Yung, Fake Ghost Catchers (r3) ***.5, I don’t usually like Hsiao Hou as a center but with a surprisingly good Chang Chin Peng and a manic Fu Sheng, he does okay. I expected worse. The limited fights were quite exhilarating in that ‘Miracle Fighters’ mode. Actually would make a good double with ‘Spiritual Boxer II’.

Walk the Line (theatrical) ***.5 – Phoenix & Witherspoon’s really good. Good to see Robert Patrick acting outside of T2. Too bad it’s been lumped with last year’s ‘Ray’.

Kobayashi, Harakiri (theatrical) ****.5 - w/Nakadai Tatsuya, Mikuni Rentaro, Tamba Tetsuro. Shaw pioneers give them credit where’s due. This 1962 picture’s as sophisticated and true to the Chambara spirit as they come.

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Master P is the greatest actor of all time.

To each his own, but...... are you serious? Really, Im not sure if your being sarcastic or not. :x

*Basatrd Swordsman- 4/5 Great fun and full of Shaw stars and energy. Inventive fight scenes and entertaining story to boot. Only I did get a chuckle outta the "Silkworm Style" at the end. It was kinda cheesy.

*Just Friends- 4/5 I dont know why so many bad reviews. But this one was pretty damn funny. Ryan Reynolds was hilarious.

*Green Jade Statuette- 4.5/5 CLASSIC!! Tommy Lee is dope in this one. Good cast of preformers.

*She Shoots Straight- 3.5/5 Pretty good modern Chick Fu flick.

*Corpse Bride- 4/5 Took the kids to this one and is was quite enjoyable. They gave it a thumbs up as well. Not as good as Nightmare, but still good.

*A History Of Violence- 5/5 Great Croenenberg film. Ed Harris, Maria Bello (Hot!) and Viggo Mortensen are awesome. A deffinite must see. Not for the weak of heart.

*Iceman Cometh- 4/5 Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah are both very good in this one. Great openeing and end sequences. Dragged a little in the middle. Liked it more than I expected.

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

To each his own, but...... are you serious? Really, Im not sure if your being sarcastic or not.

:lol hehe, I was being a little ironic, I do enjoy his performances though, and thats what matters in the end. I know he isnt to everyones taste, but I wont tolerate racial slurs.

:hat

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Thats cool, just wasnt sure if my sarcasm detector was broken or not. :D

[kenichiku]

Shaolin Intruder (IVL) ****.5/5 w/Derek Yee & the great Jason Pai; Exhilarating!
Song of Tomorrow (IVL) *** w/Ivy & Chao Chuang; Really dated.

Negishi Kishitaro, Kizuna (R3) ***.5 w/Yakusho Koji & Watanabe Ken; Emotionally Effective.
Redford, Jeremiah Johnson (R1) ***.5 A Treat to the Eyes.

[ShaofuSage]

Zero Woman, Red Handcuffs - WOW!........ummm.........What can I say, when it comes to exploitation, this takes the cake. Numerous rape scenes, graphic, graphic violence, lots of innocent lives being wasted, extermely evil and sick villians who perform countless countless evil and sick acts, tons of nudity, and the most emotionless female lead I have ever seen on screen going through it all.

Was this enjoyable........I can't say, but damn, it had some serious style. The lead chick definitely gets infinite cool points, plus she's very, very attractive (and often naked). Would've loved to know why she was so cold and emotionless, but sadly this was never fully explored.

Overall, recommended for the intrigued. You will also be treated to the most ridiculous pair of handcuffs ever and I swear to you, ONE OF THE FREAKIN COOLEST JAPANESE MOVIE SONGS EVER!!! (I had to put it on my ringtones)

[Barsader]

Duel for gold-4/5-its Chu yuan alright.Remove the fog and exotic settings.Insert indoor/outdoor early 70's swordplay,and keep the winding ,twisting story.Well directed.Fights were
bloody.

Angry guest-3/5-another Ti lung/David chiang collaboration.
This film,set in a modern setting,was an entertaining kf/basher. The ending was a bit abrupt, i thought more story could have developed.Chang cheh himself cameos as The bosslord.

[jmungus]

TYG
improvement on cam angles and movement compared to ong bak, big improvement on fighting sequences compared to ong bak, little improvement on the editing and screenplay; at some times tho, it even transcends into pure lousiness in those particular areas.
characters are incredibly bland, including tony`s, who himself puts on a good show still.
like almost anybody else in the MA fan universe, i would strongly advice for him to look for a qualified team of directors/producers (from hk) and do the right things for everybodys sake.
still its an entertaining flick with a couple of incredible and big fun action/fight sequences, an updated cinematography & less post production crap.
7.6/10


BROTHERS GRIMM
made no sense to me. pretty disappointing fare.
well crafted and at least mildly entertaining, it had NOTHING that i would actually call attractive, pleasing, smart or charming. quo vadis terry gilliam ?
5.8/10


TWO GREAT CAVALIERS
great display of a top notch taiwanese old school production.
beardy was certainly underused, but this flick is about angela mao and john liu and they deliver.
i`d have to say tho, liu`s acting crosses the border to annoying in 2GC (that being said, im generally appreciating JL a lot, tho ive never exactly been a true fan of his screen presence, neither his fighting; the leg work is always impressive but other kicking experts have more range (diversity) & more intensity in their moves).
ah yes, and chen sing... hes in it too and he was great.
7.8/10


CRY WOLF
"teenie slasher" like my girlfriend loves em to death.
to my surprise it had a nice touch to it and i felt it was even hinting at being smart enough not to take itself all too seriously.
so if youre in need for another one of these kinda flicks (like faculty, swimfan, scream, cursed, urban legends etc), i`d say go for it, theres quite some other stuff out there but cry wolf to ruin your movie night with he he.
6.5/10


THE MYTH
slower n less looney but mature fighting courtesy of mr jackie chan, epic proportations that sometimes worked for me, sometimes didnt (looked cheesy, fake and out of place); overall a good time 2 hours, but in terms of screenwriting, i`d recommend for the tong team to get their asses back to (film-) school and freshen up on the basics of crafting a captivating movie.
i really liked the concept of this movie (in theory, the actual output doesnt work that well) and found myself appreciating some nice staging and editing of a number of fights.
7.2/10

[kngfu]

INVINCIBLE MONKEY FIST-The disc from VideoAsia was from a print that was so scratched and old. It was missing every other frame as Chen Kuan Tai couldn't even finish a sentence. The movie itself was pretty simple, but watching one of my heroes teamed up with a young Billy Chong was worth the disc problems. Chong seemed slower and more awkward than in his later films, I guess experience makes the difference. CKT shined when performing his Monkey Fist style, so much that when he fought without it he looke like an amateur. A movie that only a fan could love, but that means all of us , right.

THE MYTH- How cool was it too see Jackie actually fighting again. The flashback scenes make the entire movie.

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Mostly non- genre films lately....

Narnia (w/the family)- 4/5 It was OK, kids liked it.
Exorcism Of Emily Rose- 4/5 A horror film w/good story
Four Brothers-3.5/5 Decent ass kicking, story fell apart towards the end.
Serenity-5/5 I liked it alot, good action & story
Gerd Ma Lui-3.5/5 Good end sequence
Christmas With the Kranks-2/5 Crapola
Wolf Creek-4/5 pretty well made, great tension.
Sky High (family)- 4/5 Fun flick

[Ivy Ling Po]

Nora Miao in The Blade Spares None. She is outstanding in this movie. If she is this good, she should have filmed more in this genre and perhaps not at all as windowdressing in Bruce Lee's films. I am very impressed. I can see it is really her rolling on the ground.

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Just watched the American remake of "Dark Water". Quite possibly the worst remake of a Japanese horror flick to date. No atmosphere, not a single scary/tense moment in the film. Not a total waste of 2 hrs because I got to stare at Jennifer Connelly (:eek ) who was basically in every scene. Nakata's original was sooo much better in every aspect (except Jennifer ;) ). I give it a 2.5/5 (5/5 for JC), and the original by the master Nakata a 4/5. Avoid this remake. Oh, and when I went to see Wolf Creek last weekend I caught a trailer for ANOTHER remake of a Japanese horror film. This time its K. Kurasowa's Pulse (aka Kairo).

[Barsader]

SUPERPOWER.....not quite super enough(maybe more billy?)
got to see alot of hau sau seng, which in itself is good.
The girl billy was supposed to marry, got like totally erased from the plot of the film after a certain point.I thought it would be the 'ol....steal or kill the girl scenario.

a good movie overall, just expected a bit more.
that backwards flip kick move was superb!!

3.5/5

[shukocarl]

Over the last fortnight....
Doctor Who - The Christmas Invasion (Prefer Chris Eccleston!)
Once Upon a Time in the West (Superb)
King Kong (The new one...my kids loved it...overblown)
Keoma (Underrated)
Fists of the Double K (great underrated basher)
The Big Showdown (Lee Van Cleef....poor)
Batman Begins (terrific)
War of the Worlds (Cruise...good effort but too depressing)
Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964 Billy Hartnell ! Looks Prehistoric!)
Buddhist Shaoilin Avengers (or Village on Fire...two thumbs up)

pardon me...I've got square eyes!8o

[Ivy Ling Po]

Everlasting Regret. Sammi Cheng lacks the acting chops to look convincing in this beautifully crafted movie. Great production values but a hollow core due to Sammi sleepwalking her way thru it. She's surrounded by great actors like Hu Jun and Tony Leung. Even Daniel Wu fares better than her. Sammi looks just right for her part but stares emptily into space for most of her scenes. Her eyes are blank registering zero emotion.

[Ivy Ling Po]

Flightplan. Jodie Foster once again undergoes a lot of stress ala Panic Room, on an aircraft this time. I thought Jodie was excellent but the film critic friend who sat through the dvd with me thought Jodie acts the same way in all her films, with the same responses and the same acting crutches. Ooch.....is she a crippled actress? Does she need a crutch? He also said the plot was not believable as someone should have at least seen Jodie's daughter when they boarded the aircraft. Whatever the shortcomings, I was thrilled to bits by the suspense.

[kenichiku]

Chang Cheh, Ten Tigers from Kwantung (R3) ***.5 – w/Ti Lung, Fu Sheng, Sun Chien, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Kwok Choi, Lu Feng, Wang Li, Lung Tien Hsiang. Well, the Shaolin Cycle’s ended, Venoms are all over the place and for the life of me, I can’t count the 10 tigers to save my own life or point out each of their significance to the story. Chang Cheh felt he had a lemon in his original version and jettison his all-star footage, huh? Well, he’s still made a great pitcher of lemonade…the Kung Fu’s sweet.

Jackson, King Kong (theatrical) **** w/Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrian Brody & the terrific Circuit Serkis. A Runyan Big Apple, blonde ambition, that ghost island sea-wall, Safari brotherhood, unholy primitives, bronto stampede, T-Rex wrestling, bug spray, the Empire State, okay so my comments all sound like the names of chapter stops. It’s all good.

Brooks, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood (theatrical) ****.5 An important American masterpiece 1967 (no not the TV one) w/Scott Wilson, John Forsythe & Robert Blake’s chilling art imitates life performance now carries a whole different meaning. Really appreciated the somber and haunting Black & white choreography courtesy of the great Conrad Hall; it really helps the gothic Midwestern mood, on the giant screen no less. The issue of capital punishment is as timely as it is today. So who is the hangman? The reporter says it’s ‘We the People’…Philip Seymour Hoffman’s next!

Flynn, Out for Justice (R1) ***.5 the best wise-guy 90s martial arts flick out there. Bill Forsythe w/the crack-pipe, the beautiful Gina Gershon, the great Jerry Orbach & Danny ‘Sticks’ Inosanto. Hilarious, outrageous, corny dialogue yeah, a still young Steven Seagal busting up the jernt. Scumbag mooks hitting the pavement are balanced out by honest working class stiffs who earn their paychecks. Love that theme of the sense of ole-fashioned neighborhood that prolly don’t exist no more. No sleep to Brooklyn!

[ShaofuSage]

Female Prisoner Scorpion, 1 & 2 - here's some more classic 70s Japanese exploitation done to perfection. Although most reviews I read on these films usually state that the sequel is superior, I found the first film more to my liking because I felt it was more story-driven. The second film is very surreal, artsy type of stuff, extremely beautiful at times, and very, very disturbing at other times.
I thought the first film presents us with the strongest heroine I've ever seen on screen - she's incredibly empowered in an absolutely powerless situation as a female prisoner who is constantly tortured and attacked by everyone around her. There's one scene in particular where this is very apparent, and one of the most amazing scenes I've ever seen in any film, both for it's message and visual pleasure. So, if one can get past the T & A exploitative aspects of these films (which I find nothing wrong with taking into account the setting of the film), both of these films are highly recommended.

[kenichiku]

Chang Cheh, 7 Man Army (R3) **** - a no-nonsense conservative patriotic Kung Fu war flick that even the usual members of the rebellious cast respected; the technology of filming war has changed since but it’s still packs the punch that it did. Ti Lung appropriately as the commander, with privates DC, Fu Sheng, Chen Kuan Tai, Chi Kuan Chuan, Lee Yi Min and the rare appearance of Taiwan’s Pai Ying. Wang Lung Wei, Liang Chia Jen, Gordon Liu, Mao Tien and a couple of Venoms co-stars as part of the Sino-Axis forces.

Cheng Kang, Sword of Swords (R3) ***.5 – Jimmy Wang Yu plays his ambivalent hero without the macho persona of Fang Kang; this rustic story more than backs the reticence of his tragic character. Wuxia quests and revenge aren’t always neat and clean as this one doesn’t wince at the slaughtering of innocents and the escalating sadism from those responsible (furnished by Tien Feng & Huang Chung Hsin). Junior director Cheng Kang just gave the words collateral damage another meaning. Liked it better this time; the Remaster rocks.

Hsieh Chun, Blue Skies (R3) **** - w/Peter Chen Ho, Margaret Tu Chuan & Cheng Pei Pei (here a splitting image of her future daughter Marsha). Of all the Shaws 60s musicals (HK Nocturne, HK Rhapsody, Lark, Les Belles) that dotr my memory during my childhood, this one has always struck me as the one bearing the most soul. Tsin Ting’s torch rendition of ‘Love over the Lotus Pond’ among others sticks to your craw as it sums up ‘all about’ innocent showbiz child Cheng Pei Pei’s Eve that suffers through the peaks and valleys thru life as her Prince Charming never wavers to find her. It’s been 35 years since last revisiting and it strikes the same heartstrings from a whole different era. Didn’t strike me as treacley then, doesn’t now.

[KLSADAKO]

Shaw brothers film called River of Fury. Danny Lee had a nice endfight with Ku Feng who always makes a great villian! Lily Ho performed her peking opera scenes very well! It was quite a sad film but I enjoyed it!

[kenichiku]

Chu Yuan, Sex Love & Hate (R3) **.5 – w/Lily Ho, Ching Li, Hsu Feng, Tsung Hua, Ling Yun, Yueh Hua. Chu’s usually great with weaving ensemble tales (72 Tenants, HK 73, Killer Clans, Big Holdup, Sorrow of the Gentry) but I didn’t buy too much of this faux tapestry that faintly resembled a mediocre 70s Rob Altman/Alan Rudolph title on the surface but lacking half the depth of the stuff by those American masters. I’m stopping short of calling this Chu’s failed opportunity until I rewind again with 70s sensibilities and reinterpreted subtitles because for a film like this, verbal accuracy makes all the difference.

Syriana (theatrical) ***.5 – CIA assassinations, Saudi Gazillonaires, deep pocketed Chinese players, rogue Iranian arm dealings, Bin Laden family Construction conglomerate signs on skyscrapers implied some boundaries that 'they' are not too eager for the public to cross; yet it took me 2 theatre visits to completely digest it and made me think twice when filling gas in my tank & I'm never gonna clip my nails again without cringing. Also, it’s also the only George Clooney-Matt Damon flick that didn’t bore me (perhaps in part THEY were victims of a boondoggle 'heist'); helped having the cast that played the Pakistani characters were so good. Not as subversive and anti-American as the GOP/Oil lobby might lead you to believe. There's plenty of blame to go around. The whole Middle-east oil cartel & influence existed way before Bush & even during the watch of past liberal administrations, so lighten up out there neo-con faithfuls, watching it won't turn you into a pillar of salt.

Fun with Dick and Jane (theatrical) * - w/Jim Carrey making a paycheck, Tea Leoni looking great & another clichéd corporate bad-guy Alec Baldwin but this uninspired waste-of-time makes the Jane Fonda/George Segal original stand as a lost masterpiece. I yearned for Ace Ventura or even Bruce Almighty chuckles but I got Truman Show neither as the producers who made this are not the smartest guys in the room. It's topical script with it’s timely white collar crime message in the era of corporate Enron-Tyco-WorldCom downfalls needed a good film to platform the rage of a democracy’s working citizens but this flaccid piece of airline fodder left no-one in the audience laughing, only except for mr. Ken Lay in front of his plasma screening room at the Hilton they call a prison.

Pierre Morel, Banlieue 13 (R2) *** - more Luc Besson stylied popcorn fun nodding to the ethnic youth of France (who’s in need of more positive recognition I afraid). This ranks in between ‘Wasabi’ and his original ‘Taxi’ by adding some early Jackie Chan style KF pugilistics featuring some inventive high-rise apartment hopping fun. Now kids, please don’t try emulate jumping your rooftops at home – they used CGI and Hollywood, please spare us from emulating a remake starring Queen Latifah.

[add, gram]

[rebelliousreign1]

Over the past few months I've become a devotee of cult 60s/70s TV shows like 'The Avengers' (and 'The New Avengers'), 'Man In A Suitcase', 'Department S' (plus 'Jason King'), 'The Champions' and 'The Professionals', so I've been watching copious amounts of those.

As a result I've been off Kung Fu for a while, but I'm back to it recently and the last couple I watched were superb; 'Gambling For Head' is one of the best rare films I've seen as it has a highly charged storyline and some brutal fight scenes. 'Bloody Fists' also had a ton of violent, hard hitting action scenes and 'Knockabout' had some of the greatest fights I've ever seen.

In other genres, I really enjoyed the classic Spaghetti western 'Death Rides A Horse' and the homage to them, 'The Quick and The Dead'.

[kenichiku]

Belated reconciliations of late:

video:

Chu Yuan, Hidden Power of the Dragon Sabre (r3) *** - too insane fun; see the beginnings of the HK Mo-lei-tao trend
Tang Chia, Shaolin Intruders (R3) **** - fanatically delirious
Kimiyoshi Yasuda, Shin Zatôichi: Yabure! Tojin-ken aka Zatoichi vs One Armed Swordsman - good pan-asian culture clash script
Karel Reisz, Who'll Stop the Rain (r1) ***.5 - great Vietnam era noir
Clint Eastwood, Mystic River (r1) **** - great acting throughout with a script of the 'Sleepers' variety
Yoji Yamada, Kokyo aka Home from the Sea (r3) *** - Tora-san's regulars does it right
early Martin Scorcese, Boxcar Bertha (R1) ***.5 - spare Corman quickee
Scorcese, The Aviator (r1) ****- great retro-americana of grandparent's era

theatricals:

Toshiaku Toyda, Kûchû teien (aka Hanging Garden) ****.5 - topically suburban modern
Mikio Naruse, Shu-u aka Sudden Rain ***.5 - 50s domesticity w/half of Ozu's cast
Mikio Naruse, Okasan aka Mother *** - postwar Japan tearjerker
Len Wiseman, Underworld: Evolution **.5 - some blue tinted good kills!
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain ***.5 - lyrical & conservative
Terence Malick, The New World ***.5 - a mental & environmental tuning fork
Neil Jordan, Breakfast on Pluto ****.5 - engaging tapestry of 70s Dublin slice of life