‘Poor Daddy’ (1929): Early Chinese Movie Stunts
If you watched the Sammo Hung-choreographed Chinese film MY KINGDOM last year, you may remember a scene showing the heroes, Peking opera performers played by Wu Chun and Han Geng, being kicked out of a movie theater [...]
REVIEW: Heroes of the East (1978)
Marital and cultural conflicts have existed in cinema for years but never have they been put forth so literally until kung fu movie master Lau Kar-leung delivered this thrilling clash of Japanese and Chinese martial arts, husband [...]
REVIEW: Drunken Master (1978)
Jackie Chan stars in this hit kung fu comedy that is without a doubt the best of its kind from the 1970s. Chan is a young, troublemaking Wong Fei-hung in early Republican-era China whose propensity for getting [...]
REVIEW: Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (1980)
An all-star kung fu actioner from Chang Cheh features many of his top fighting stars of the past decade, along with talented newcomers. They appear in a convoluted and rushed, multi-plotted story of martial arts masters banding [...]
REVIEW: Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978)
In his first hit film Jackie Chan puts his charm and dynamic fighting chops on full display as Chien-fu, a simple-minded custodian abused as a human punching bag at a kung fu school until he befriends a [...]
REVIEW: Executioners from Shaolin (1977)
One of Shaw Brothers’ and action director Lau Kar-leung’s finest kung fu movies depicts the fictional exploits of Hung Fist founder Hung Hei-gun and his lifelong mission to kill the traitorous Bak Mei. Based on folklore popularized [...]
REVIEW: Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)
This sequel to THE ONE-ARMED BOXER (1972) sees the return of Jimmy Wang Yu as a one-armed kung fu instructor forced to use his fighting skills and wits to combat a blind master of the flying guillotine. [...]
REVIEW: 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The (1978)
The legend of southern Shaolin monk San Te comes alive in this masterful martial arts epic from Shaw Brothers and action director Lau Kar-leung. In his third starring role, Gordon Liu (DIRTY HO) delivers an iconic, career-defining [...]
REVIEW: Fist of Fury (1972)
Bruce Lee explodes onscreen in his second and greatest martial arts film role, that of iconic Chinese screen hero Chen Zhen. Set in Republican-era Shanghai in the city’s international district, this groundbreaking kung fu classic from Golden [...]
REVIEW: Rebel Intruders (1980)
Three kung fu-fighting refugees get swept up in a brewing conflict between rival Republican-era warlords in this kung fu actioner from writer-director Chang Cheh and the five-man acting and action directing team known as the Venoms Mob. [...]
REVIEW: Secret Rivals – Part 2, The (1977)
Director Ng See-yuen’s follow up to his hit kung fu actioner THE SECRET RIVALS repeats the successful formula of a northern kicking expert teaming with a southern fist expert to battle a white-haired master of both. With [...]
REVIEW: Masked Avengers (1981)
Above average wuxia/kung fu thriller from writer-director Chang Cheh sees a band of jiang hu heroes (led by Chiang Sheng and Chin Siu-hou) on a mission to find and stop a bloodthirsty gang of trident-wielding killers known [...]
REVIEW: Secret Rivals, The (1976)
This is a terrific kung fu actioner that was a huge hit upon release and popularized Korean Taekwondo in kung fu cinema thanks to outstanding performances from power-kicking newcomers Hwang Jang-lee and John Liu. It also established [...]
Gina Carano is ‘In the Blood’
After getting some rave review for her lead role debut in HAYWIRE, mixed martial artist Gina Carano is ready to kick some butt again as she has signed to star in her next action film. Carano will [...]
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) – Trailer
The latest film by director Timur Bekmambetov (NIGHT WATCH) is based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, who also wrote “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” The premise is that our 16th president had a secret identity, having made [...]
REVIEW: Legend is Born – Ip Man, The (2010)
With the rousing success of Wilson Yip’s semi-biographical film about the Wing Chun kung fu master IP MAN, wing chun expert Checkley Sin produces this unofficial prequel to that very film that features exhilarating fight sequences despite [...]
REVIEW: Invincible Shaolin (1978)
This bloody kung fu actioner from director Chang Cheh features his Venoms Mob in their follow up to popular genre classic THE FIVE VENOMS. It’s a low-budget production with a crude story and gimmicky depictions of imaginative [...]
REVIEW: Invincible Armour, The (1977)
It is the quintessential classic kung fu movie from martial arts filmmaker Ng See-yuen that recasts his super-kicking SECRET RIVALS stars John Liu and Hwang Jang-lee in their fourth and greatest screen match up. Taking a page [...]
Godfrey Ho’s ninja madness reborn in new series
Coming February 16 to the internet is the premiere of NINJA THE MISSION FORCE, a new action/comedy web series from Dark Maze Studios that pays comedic homage to the ultra-low-budget ninja films of international B-movie maven Godfrey [...]
REVIEW: Flag of Iron, The (1980)
Writer-director Chang Cheh revisits familiar territory with this remake of his 1971 crime actioner THE DUEL, originally starring David Chiang and Ti Lung. It features three of the Venoms Mob in leading roles along with Chang’s new [...]
