PDA

View Full Version : Why Old School is better than Modern!


falkor
10-24-2008, 04:17 PM
Please post your reasons why you think none of the martial arts movies to come out of Hong Kong in the last 10 years can match Old School KF classics such as 7 Grandmasters or The Victim.
*
*
*
*
*
...unless you disagree!
*
*
*
*
*

Way of the Dragon
10-24-2008, 04:40 PM
* No annoying use of CGI
* Well developed story-lines
* Great costumes and characters
* Well Cherographed fights
* Skilled fighters, the use of modern techniques means you dont have to be (CGI, wire work)
* Entertaining and creative

falkor
10-24-2008, 06:01 PM
* No annoying use of CGI
Not all new films seem to have this, yet they are still crap.

* Well developed story-lines
Hmmm... sometimes true (moderns sometimes have good storylines), but maybe not defining.

* Great costumes and characters
Getting there I think... Ask yourself: when is it appropriate to dress differently to how today's society expects you to dress? And when is it appropriate to play a Silver Fox character?

* Well Cherographed fights
Spot on, but can you elaborate?

* Skilled fighters, the use of modern techniques means you dont have to be (CGI, wire work)
I don't know about that... Bloodfist and US films seem to always star Kickboxing champions, yet they turn out crap for the most part. Not all modern day films used wire work.

* Entertaining and creative
Obviously.

Take a fight sequence from The Forbidden Kingdom with Jet Li that doesn't use CGI/wire work. Why is it that these fight scenes just do not compare to Old School? It's 2008 for Christ sakes, and proper KFs were made 30 years ago, so why can't they make 'em as good now!?!?!?!?! Its truly baffling...

peringaten
10-24-2008, 06:49 PM
The scene the old school actors came out of was different, the old school film companies/industry massively populated by opera school fellows particularly. Nowadays fame is more about looking pretty; people are more likely from slick pop chart groomed backgrounds rather than gruelling kung and flip training ones. Don't think they have the right schools anymore.

SamuraiDana
10-24-2008, 07:24 PM
The scene the old school actors came out of was different, the old school film companies/industry massively populated by opera school fellows particularly. Nowadays fame is more about looking pretty; people are more likely from slick pop chart groomed backgrounds rather than gruelling kung and flip training ones. Don't think they have the right schools anymore.

That pretty much nails it. You don't have people with heavy martial arts backgrounds being groomed by the studios today the way Shaw and Golden Harvest (and a few other companies as well) used to in the 70s. So there's quite a different sensibility at work. I mean, the Yuen clan keeps working but they've all gotta be in their 50s and 60s now. Have they groomed any successors? I doubt it. I think there's only just enough work for them.

Reminds me of how when westerns were being produced by the hundreds in old Hollywood in the 1930s-50s and the crews on these films were filled with former cowboys and rodeo riders, guys who knew how to handle horses, wagons, and related equipment and brought the actual sensibility of the west to the work. Once those guys died off, you couldn't replace 'em. And production of westerns gradually dropped off, to the point where if we get one a year, that's a lot.

ironfistedmonk
10-24-2008, 09:25 PM
I'd also add it was down to the dedication and hard work these guys put in back in the day, nowadays the actors are not willing to take the knocks like in the 70's. Insurance companies also won't let too many risks be taken for fear of injuring the actors and disrupting the filming schedule.

Why I prefer old skool to new stuff would mainly be the longer takes, no quick edits, wider shots so you can see the actors skills in full flow instead of the close up shaky cam favoured today and the use of shapes which you just don't see today.

gravedigger666
10-24-2008, 09:35 PM
* Well developed story-lines

yeah,student avengers death of master.

Daigoro
10-24-2008, 09:49 PM
Good question.

falkor
10-24-2008, 10:22 PM
I don't think you guys have quite hit the nail on the head yet, but yeah I agree, there is now a lack of the acrobatic element.

The Amazing Psycho Per
10-25-2008, 12:49 AM
Vey interesting question...

First I don't think I hate moderns as much as you. There are some good ones. There was also alot of crap back in the oldschool days, they just did a hell of a lot more kung fu movies, so there were more good ones. But ultimately, I think Panna Rittikrai and Donnie Yen are doing stuff as good, choreography wise, as back in the days.

One of the problem nowadays is the lack of kung fu stars. The guys back then were trained under extreme conditions and therefore, became skilled and solid martial artists. Nobody is trained like that today. You think Nicolas Tse would survive one day of training in the peking opera school back in the days?

Also, in the old school days, people involved in the different projects, did it with a love for the genre that doesn't seems to exist as much today. Old school flix have a soul into them, whereas today seems like more fluff. So of course, the choreo was much more inventive and intricate, since the fights took the most of the shooting time. Now, they try to rival with hollywood blockbusters, so they use cheap editing trick and close up to cover up the lack of exictement in the choreography. Everything is going fast to make you thing it's exciting, when in fact, not much is going on... They tend forget that one of the most important aspects of a martial arts flick is... the martial arts.

Finally, the situation in Hong Kong has changed, of course, with the retrocession of Hong Kong to China in 1997, things are more bleak then they were. Kung Fu movies used to be festive, they just don't seem to fit as well now in this darker Hong Kong...

But I think things are picking up right now... With the ressurgence of other nations like Indonnesia, Malaysia, Chile and of course Thailand on the martial arts movie scene, things looks bright for the future of kung fu flicks.

On a final note, one cannot put aside the nostalgia factor alot of you guys have for old school flicks... Just like does who clame the only good rock ever made was in the 60s and 70s...

Drunken Monk
10-25-2008, 01:51 AM
I'm not quite sure as to why oldies are better than newer flicks but I think it has something to do with the nostalgia associated with the older movies.
A lot of the time, modern movies do have excellent fights. Well, some of the time but the old movies didn't divert too much from a simple formula. Older flicks centered around the action. These days, movies like "Flashpoint" and its ilk don't revolve around the fights but focus on other, dramatic points of interest.
60's, 70's and even 80's kung fu cinema may have sometimes tried to lean on things other than the action but it always came back to the fantastic fights.
Put simply? Newer kung fu movies try too hard.
Now, newer Thai movies are trying to bring back the focus on action but lack the variety. Older movies had styles upon styles and many of them didn't feel like gimmicks. Newer movies introduce other fighting elements (Capoeira (sp?), break dancing etc.) and fail because it's all pretty much the same.
I hope Donnie Yen and Yuen Woo Ping will slowly bring back the simplistic yet action filled aspect of kung fu movies.
Older movies also had the romance, the drama, the locations, the costumes, the thrills, the violence etc. but all managed to bundle it with fantastic fights.

The Dragon
10-25-2008, 04:31 AM
Old school is better because it's where history begins.... The groundbreaking path that sets forth the direction in which everything else flows. To remember where it began, when you had nothing else to draw from, and the newness factor. Then what happens is the growth is slowed and the interest wans, and soon you see a watered down product, and very seldom something that catches the fancy.

That above and the fact that the old school artists dedicated themselves exclusively to this form of creative arts, literally sacrificing life and limb for quality/creativity. :quiet:

Tosh
10-25-2008, 06:15 AM
Variety - take the 70's and 80's, you have Wuxia, Bashers, Clan, Fantasy, Shapes, Chuckle Fu(as Teako states it), High Kickers, then just pure exploitation, something different for everone, and a lot of this wasn't only coming outta Hong Kong.

Now you have cream puff pop stars and shiny golden armor, the people with the talent are so old they were in the classics.

Killer Meteor
10-25-2008, 11:33 AM
I think the differance is that many of the 70s films were about fighting: feudal times, people who lived their lives to martial codes and ways of life

Now its more common to see the martial arts as windowdressing, propping up comedy, sci-fi, war or otherwise.

edher_M.A.
10-26-2008, 02:04 AM
Besides all the things that all you have mention. I think its also the fact that in the 70's and 80's the martial arts as a whole was a trend, they were at the peak of there popularity around the world. There was a lot Martial Arts Federations growing up, we saw the first televised point karate, full contact, kickboxing matches that gave us the sports stars like Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, Chuck Norris, etc... We had the TV show Kung Fu, the Hong Kong stars were at there best (Jackie, Sammo, Yuen's, etc..) A ton of Martial arts magazines were comming out. I mean, there was a lot going on the in the martial arts in Asia, America and Europe.

northern b
10-26-2008, 03:56 PM
I'd also add it was down to the dedication and hard work these guys put in back in the day, nowadays the actors are not willing to take the knocks like in the 70's. Insurance companies also won't let too many risks be taken for fear of injuring the actors and disrupting the filming schedule.

Why I prefer old skool to new stuff would mainly be the longer takes, no quick edits, wider shots so you can see the actors skills in full flow instead of the close up shaky cam favoured today and the use of shapes which you just don't see today.

Agree

There are a few connecting factors

The old skoolers worked harder and the fight choreographers were more demanding- 10-15+ movements in a take done at speed is very hard to do thats why films like the victim (Beardy said it was his hardest film -Sammo was the action director!) and the loot have stood the test of time. Making good screen fights is very difficult!


Compare that to 2-3 movements cut, quick edits of a lot of modern day films and it means that the fight are more to do with the skill of the editor than the skill of the actor!

Opera school training was tantamount to torture! However the grounding it gave those actors speaks for itself and has influenced action films across the world

As for Why Martial artists like Don Wilson, Joe Lewis et al havent made great movies is probably due in part to the action directors they worked with who (even with all their budgets and technology) were still light years behind the likes of the Yuen Clan.

It would have been interesting to see if they could have worked successfully with good action directors. That said being a good martial artist does not mean you will be a good screen fighter (Carter Wong is an example) where as Beardy who was not a martial artist handles choreography superbly and looks authentic.

After Shaolin Temple , South Shaolin Master etc I would have thought more recently made Kung Fu films with old school feel would have come out of China....

AlbertV
10-27-2008, 03:52 AM
I know filmmakers today tend to use the modern technology to see how it will impact in films. As much I respect some fight choreographers and all, the use of over-wiring and CGI to enhance action is pretty cruddy. The actual hand-to-hand combat work of old is still some of the best to enjoy and I would love to see something in the vein of classic Sammo Hung action or old school Lau Kar-Keung action again...Hell, if I could direct, I'd love to use Chang Cheh's style of editing action scenes as well.

oldeschool17
10-27-2008, 10:39 PM
You want a reason why? Wilson Tong will tell you why(read left to right, top to bottom):
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/2060/wilsontongii7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Morgoth Bauglir
10-27-2008, 11:08 PM
You can't question that a guy like Wilson Tong knows what he's talking about when it comes to footwork. Guy was another level. Him, Phillip Ko, Alan Hsu... So many great kf actors I can list from the oldschool movies, but so few from the newschool in comparison. There's a lot of good movies made from 1986 and after, but it doesn't come close to matching the quality and quantity of the older movies. I must say that I had a great time reading through this thread. Nice to see so much love and respect given to the older movies :D

bengs
10-28-2008, 12:39 AM
It is an interesting question. The old films just have a timeless quality to them. The actors are much more convincing in their roles, I don't know. Everything is too polished now.

falkor
10-31-2008, 12:21 PM
What year do you think this Indonesian film was made?
Download clip... (http://www.rarekungfumovies.com/clip.avi)

thundered mantis
11-02-2008, 12:10 AM
1983 (just making a blind guess :lol )

For me classic is better because the animal styles and intrincate "shapey" techniques are much more aesthetically attractive than the rather straight modern techniques, being them kickboxing, tae kwon do, muay thai or grappling-MMA oriented.

The "shapey" techniques allow much more information and communication in the fights, the story of the confrontation you see is much more richer. They allow longer exchanges, also, increasing the posibilities of the fights. They are much more bound to surprise the audience with the unexpected disposition of the body for a block, a punch, an stance, etc. They are more graceful and allow superior fluidity. As I said, aesthetically superior.

Plus those techniques are alien to western traditions, so they have a sort of misticysm, mysteriousness aura for us, they connect with a weltanschaaung, a way to see the world which is not the one of the western tradition. That magic element is not present in modern choreo, which focuses more on effectivness.

But that kind of old school choreo canīt be done in modern assets. The suspension of disbelief or whatever is called works well on period pieces. You need the taverns, the palaces, the huts, the countryside landscapes, the old clothing, etc to effectivly submerge in the "tiger/crane/phoenix eye fist" stuff. if you see it on modern piece it will look ridiculous. And I also think we canīt really go back the route of the correct period pieces. Genreīs been too contaminated (industry changes, security, mentality changes, wireCGIfuness, videoclip formal influences, etc.). Normal people only swallows period pieces if they sorta try to be like big epics or trascendental stories about significant people, ala Hero, Crouching Tiger or Fearless. But the context where the best action flourish are the simple, eternal common people revenge/superation stories, the comedies rooted on the traditional culture, etc. And that is lost forever. Globalization and progress killed that cultural humus.

Thatīs why old school is better than modern.

falkor
11-02-2008, 12:24 AM
1983 (just making a blind guess ol )
1991

thundered mantis
11-02-2008, 07:10 AM
Oh boy that caught me totally off guard

falkor
11-02-2008, 09:05 AM
It just shows that the Indonesians were still capable of making old school in the 90s where Hong Kong had completely changed style. I think HK are still capable, but directors choose to not follow traditional techniques.

peringaten
11-02-2008, 12:24 PM
It just shows that the Indonesians were still capable of making old school in the 90s where Hong Kong had completely changed style. I think HK are still capable, but directors choose to not follow traditional techniques.Don't think I'd call that so much "capable of making oldschool in the '90s" as just having no budget. Give me Scorpion King, Angry Ranger, Op Condor, etc. anyday from that period. Chang Cheh's '90s flicks looked oldschool like that too, but not a patch on his former stuff; low budget & tired. We just need people to make good flicks that honour the martials properly again. The best stuff takes what it needs from precedents and revolutionises all into something new, hence why the original booms were so incendiary, they were minting new techniques and standards, with much copying of those that worked, to exhaustion, through the oldschool and onwards. Ok '90s etc. reinvention wasn't so great in oldschool martial purists eyes, maybe the industry workers were too wrapped up in the new reinventions to the detriment in part of that which was so fundamental before. Industry workers had already lived through/ingested the previous then enough not to keep combing over it. Someone will reinvent the genre for the better again in time. The thai folks are doing good stuff, now if only they could make something with all elements as badass as the action, not just the action itself, dig.
The old is so accessible, surely some will go back and take what worked, to mix with their new perception. Maybe not. A good film's a good film regardless its era though. Folk fighting hasn't been fully plumbed yet. Rambling, somewhat high.

vengeanceofhumanlanterns
11-02-2008, 02:31 PM
Another reason old school kung fu films are more appreciable is that the actors (leads) had far more charisma and presence. Do you realize how much would be missing from old school kung fu films without Ku Feng, Chen Kuan Tai, Ti Lung, David Chiang, Chang Yi, Chan Shen, Pai Piao, Fang Mien, Chiao Ming, Lily Ho, Ching Li, Lilly Li, Ivy Ling Po, Li Ching, Cheng Pei Pei, Meng Fei, Fu Sheng, Liu Chia Yung, Liu Chia Liang, Chiao Chuang, Tien Feng, Fan Mei Sheng, Kuo Chui, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, Sun Chien, Lo Mang, Kam Kong, Kam Ming (tommy lee), Liu Chia Jen (beardy), Chi Kuan Chun, Wang Kuan Hsiung (the champ), etc.?

All these films they've starred in would be like empty vessels. Something I used to always be reminded upon viewing these films was that these particular leads are carrying this film.

Also, Meng Fei stated the exact same reason old school kung fu films are better as Wilson Tong had, as did Liu Chia Yung in his interview on the King Boxer US release. You had to know kung fu (at least a little).

peringaten also nailed an important point. Todays films are about LOOKING exciting, with pretty looking actors who have no character or real depth that a viewer can feel they identify with, or sympathize with, etc.

Also there were truly beautiful sets prepared and built to lend an authentic feel to the story in the film.

Old school martial art films were done to be as authentic as possible to old world China, or Japan, fantastic or not. This question applies to both countries IMO. There's a lot more style and moral fiber in the old school films.

Morgoth Bauglir
11-03-2008, 09:44 AM
a good martial artist does not mean you will be a good screen fighter (Carter Wong is an example)

You should see the 4 fight scenes he has with chan Siu Pang in Fatal Flying Guillotines. Chan Siu Pang got the best out of Carter. I don't remember if it was you, or another person that said carter does not look good doing intricate hand to hand choreography, but he puts in some good work in Fatal Flying Guillotines. Not one of the best at doing hand to hand, but he shows that he's competent in his fights with Chan Siu Pang.

I think one reason Carter gets knocked a lot is because his filmography is watered down by so many bad movies he was in. But you can't blame the guy for trying to make all the money he could. It was a tough business back then.

edher_M.A.
11-03-2008, 03:26 PM
About Carter Wong. I was watching the "Way of The Black Dragon" DVD and in the commentaries Ron Van Clief was saying that at the time they were making that movie, Carter Wong was doing 2 additional films simultaneously. I mean, the man was working in 3 films at the same time. No wonder why he had so much crappy films. He was doing martial arts films as if its was porn.

TibetanWhiteCrane
11-03-2008, 04:02 PM
That was the bussiness back then, everybody was doing multiple movies at the same time!
Just a guy like Andy Lau did 17 movies in 1989, and he was the star of most of them! That is a serious workload!

bobo
11-03-2008, 04:26 PM
what bothers me about new kung fu movies is these guys or gals are fighting and suddenly they are up in the sky fighting or standing out on the water surface on a lake or running and fighting on tree tops etc--i know some of the old school movies would get carried away but not to that extreme--and i never really cared for that stuff even from the old movies. not to mention you could tell in the old movies that it actually was the stars doing most of everything--sure there were risk but like they say it was part of the game. another thing i don't like is these characters that use a cloth belt or a sheet or something and suddenly its a mile long and spearlike--not to mention most new fu movies still like to put in that horrible kungfu comedy elements-all you have to do is look at the 70's shaw fu movies and compare them to a lot of their last 80's efforts and you can clearly see the difference and clearly see why SHAWS studio failed. i really don't see why modern studios can't duplicate early shaw storylines etc---but when you think about it its like hollywood trying to do remakes of old classics--usually they just can't recapture that old magic and they fail----i would the say the best effort was FIST OF LEGEND because at least the fights were much more real looking than most new fu movies--it reminded me of old school.

falkor
11-03-2008, 04:35 PM
I like Fist Of Legend and Blade Of Fury, but nothing compares to Old School. Also, I liked a stunt during the end fight of Born To Defend where Jet Li "swings into action"! All they need to do is make a film about martial arts with training, set in a traditional environ, with a rare style such as Crane or Leopard. And I don't mean a short sequence like in Forbidden Kingdom, but a fighter whom specialises in the style throughout the film. Of course there is more to it than that, but then how many modern day films even follow that simple formula? I can think of NONE.

bolofan
11-03-2008, 04:51 PM
I can see what this thread is getting at, in the older fu movies you can almost appreciate the amazing amount of work that went into choreographing some of the fights and performing some of the stunts, but I think to some degree it depends on the films in particular.
If you showed someone an old stinker like "Leapord Fist Ninja" then showed them a new epic like "The Rebel" straight after then most would say the modern film is better.
I think both periods are good in different ways, just seems that there was a harder work ethic back then.

TibetanWhiteCrane
11-03-2008, 05:54 PM
Newer moviies involve many guns something i want to see less of.

True, but they are always struggling with the realism of guns in the modern world. Why would they be using MA, when they can just pick up a gun. I like when they blend it. Like in SPL, FLASHPOINT and so on. If you have a movie with cops, gangsters and criminals, it seems unlikely that they run around and take out their opponents with kung fu or kickboxing. Even if the number of firearms in HK is very limited. Because those people are probably the ONLY ones who has guns there.

CrazyFrog
11-03-2008, 06:08 PM
Old vs. New- always a topic worth talking about in almost any format.

I like the old school because it isn't that far removed from when actual historic martial arts legends lived (Fok Yuen Gap or Morihei Ueshiba). Also, you can sense the vigor and newness that directors must have felt when they were forging relatively new ground in cinema. It's a palpable sense of creating one's own style right there up on the screen. Unfortunately or fortunately, today's movies must compare to those made in the past as they are often consciously or unconsciously using elements, themes, or styles from those of the old school. It didn't hurt that there were many trained in those arts available for work or that the studio system in Hong Kong pumped out these films assembly-style, with interchangeable actors, writers, directors, stuntpeople, etc. That M.O. doesn't work so well with today's lengthy production schedules, unionized actors/stuntmen, and perceived decline in audience taste for these movies.

I will say in defense of the New School is that some movies have taken from the past and built on it to produce some fine action or martial arts extravaganzas (Ong Bak, some of JC's 80's and 90's output, OUATIC series). And there are increasing signs of independent moviemakers putting out films that warrant our attention (like Curve, for one or Undisputed 2). Finally, other countries are keen on their own martial arts scenes, whether they be native-grown (Kinta, Merantau) or some hybrid (Kiltro).

I think someone nailed it earlier when it was mentioned that there was a $#!*load of people who already had the skills to do movies of this sort and became stuntmen or actors or even directors as the movie industry grew. That kind of talent pool simply doesn't exist in the same form anymore, at least not in any way we can perceive. For now.... .

northern b
11-04-2008, 01:37 AM
You should see the 4 fight scenes he has with chan Siu Pang in Fatal Flying Guillotines. Chan Siu Pang got the best out of Carter. I don't remember if it was you, or another person that said carter does not look good doing intricate hand to hand choreography, but he puts in some good work in Fatal Flying Guillotines. Not one of the best at doing hand to hand, but he shows that he's competent in his fights with Chan Siu Pang.

I think one reason Carter gets knocked a lot is because his filmography is watered down by so many bad movies he was in. But you can't blame the guy for trying to make all the money he could. It was a tough business back then.

I based my views on Carter Wong from the movies I've seen Born Invincible and (to a lesser extent) 18 Bronzemen have always been lauded and when I first saw them was underwhelmed. He wasnt highly rated in the industry either hence the nickname of watermelon!

That said I agree that he was better in FFG (had to refresh my memory via youtube as I haven't seen the movie in years)

Morgoth Bauglir
11-04-2008, 03:17 AM
Born Invincible I thought he was good as the unstoppable character that he played, but I can see why peope may not like it. But he has shown in many other movies that he can handle choreography very well, not just FFG and Born Invincible. Movies like Shaolin Iron Finger, Story of the Dragon, The Ming Patriots and The Magnificent to name a few. Like I've said before, I enjoy Carter Wong's performances in pretty much every movie I've seen him in, but those ones I listed have some of his very best fight scenes.

The Dragon
11-04-2008, 04:33 AM
About Carter Wong ... He was doing martial arts films as if its was porn.

Classic.

Morgoth Bauglir
11-04-2008, 04:41 AM
With all the terrible movies he was in, I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did do a porn or two, just to make some extra cash. Seriously. Ron Van Clief makes him sound like one of the craziest people who ever lived in that Way of the Black Dragon commentary.

edher_M.A.
11-04-2008, 05:08 AM
I liked that DVD. The movies weren't that good but the commentaries in both, during the movie & the behind scenes are priceless. Worth get that DVD just for the commentaries from Ron Van Clief.

Morgoth Bauglir
11-04-2008, 05:26 AM
DEFINITELY. One of my favorites DVDs. Both the commentaries and the behind the scenes footage are indeed priceless. Those commentaries are some of the best I've ever heard. They talk about anything and everything (though unfortuately there's some stuff about James Brown that seems to be cut out). And we have all heard about those "challenges" that happened behind the scenes, and in this DVD you actually get to see one of those fights. A real steal too. I got at Best Buy for $9.99 I think when it first came out. And that reminds me of another good Carter Wong fight. Carter Wong vs Ron Van Clief!

Morgoth Bauglir
11-04-2008, 08:13 AM
True, but they are always struggling with the realism of guns in the modern world. Why would they be using MA, when they can just pick up a gun. I like when they blend it. Like in SPL, FLASHPOINT and so on. If you have a movie with cops, gangsters and criminals, it seems unlikely that they run around and take out their opponents with kung fu or kickboxing. Even if the number of firearms in HK is very limited. Because those people are probably the ONLY ones who has guns there.


Hopefully people don't mind my going off topic again here. I like talking about weird stuff:p

Good points there TibetanWhiteCrane. Straight up gun movies, hand to hand, or a blend, it's all good to me. As long as it's entertaining and keeps me interested. anyways...

Has anyone seen Dragon Blood with John Liu? It tries to be a kung fu movie and a western movie, but fails miserably, at least in the gun area. John Liu is just too fast in his attack and all of the gun fighters can't seem to pull their guns out in time to shoot Liu before Liu kicks them repeatedly. Sometimes I like seeing cheesy stuff like this, but in this movie I found it very annoying:mad:

gunswordfist
11-06-2008, 09:01 PM
Because:
1.They treat casting movies like they are casting for Pop Idol. I don't want to see a green haired guy with earrings who can't fight...fight.
2.They think putting too much CG in a kung fu movie is a serious thing.
3.Hollywood sucks

lol But seriously, I think HW deserves a lot of the blame. Too much great talent from China goes there but gets their work watered dwn. That's why Jet Li and JC's career's went downhill.

MarsHarmony
09-18-2009, 08:46 AM
There are some exquisitely written commentary's here, It should pop up every now and then. Many many great descriptions on why we love our martial arts films so much.
I am truly spoiled by the old school cinema and in particular by the long, long, wide shots of beautifully choreographed fighters, especially from the Shaw Studio, who just full out go for it. (As has been well said before.)
The actors, like the characters, were driven to better themselves through studying martial arts, and applying that philosophy to at least certain parts of the film making process. The directors were well versed in their vast array of time pieces from their own histories and folklore. Most of them were directed with a loving hand, I point to Chang Cheh as an example for that, among several directors.
They may not be perfectly made films, but they are perfect little gems to be treasured.
:khi8f:

WhiteTiger1
09-18-2009, 06:58 PM
Please post your reasons why you think none of the martial arts movies to come out of Hong Kong in the last 10 years can match Old School KF classics such as 7 Grandmasters or The Victim.
*
*
*
*
*
...unless you disagree!
*
*
*
*
*

I totally agree!!

I think they are just running out of ideals!! Look how we make movies these days, everything being made these days are, remakes, comic book, same old plots, same old Love stories, same old slasher type movies. Come on were is the creativity?? I did like (Kung Fu Hustle) I thought it had an Old School feel to it in certain parts of the movie. Almost Venom like..It was a fun movie!! :Ayociexp113:

jrcma
09-19-2009, 07:25 PM
"Why Old School is better than Modern!"
one true answer ACTION