Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[prinnysquad]

The Buddhist Fist

Watched this with VP tonight. What a great film, and definitely in need of a second viewing.

An ostensibly comedic film, but at heart it's a tragedy, with some surrealism added for good measure. Terrific scenes all round, to truly digest them I'll have to watch it again. Taken individually the characters and scenes would 'make' any other film, but put together in one film, there was so much quality on show that it was quite overwhelming. The crazy fortune teller, chessboard fights, the Simon Yuen scene, the weird hunchback, the birdcage battle, and the amazing agility and shapes on show in the end fight were all outstanding. The story was quite melancholy though, and I'd need to watch it again to get a better grip on it. Not that it was bad in any way - there was just so much going on.

[monel]

I can't really put into words why I like this film so much. When I saw it first time in the 90s I didn't really like it much but on second viewing much later I thought it was a definite classic and I'm sure it's viewed as such.

Read your post and initially thought you disliked it but I must have read it in a hurry and it seems you did find lots of things to like about it.

[prinnysquad]

lol I liked tons about it. There was just so much quality I'm going to need to watch it again, so many great moments got lost in a blur of superbness.

[prinnysquad]

The Sleeping Fist

Leung Kar Yan, Simon Yuen, Eddie Ko, Ma Chin Ku and Wong Yat Lung.

Story is about an undercover cop trying to nail a crime boss. He survives a fight thanks to an acrobatic kid (Wong Yat Lung - annoying dubbed voice but great skills) and together they are taken under the wing of old Pisshead Master Yuen, learning the Sleeping techniques to survive Eddie Ko's shapes mastery.

A slow starter this one, with little scuffles but nothing major. In the wrong mood it could irritate, especially the kid. The second half livens up considerably, with some super shapes work from Leung Kar Yan and Eddie Ko. Simon Yuen ghosts through this role in typically screen-hogging fashion. Nice acrobatics all round.

If it's cheap, and you watch the first half in a favourable frame of mind (like I did), worth considering. A solid, unassuming little genre film.

[monel]

I'm a fan of beardy (Leung Kar Yan) but haven't seen that film. Is the kid the same one from Thundering Mantis?

[prinnysquad]

I haven't seen Thundering Mantis, but it seems so, yes. Quite excellent gymnastics from the lad!

[prinnysquad]

Snaky Knight Fights the Mantis, aka, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow 2

Alan Hsu, Lee Kwan, Lung Fei, Don Wong, Carter Wong.

It's the ultimate double-edged sword giving a film a title associated with a classic. This has very little in common with the original SITES, but I bet it scored a few rentals on the basis of the title. On the flipside, it sort-of means you're expecting something that the film isn't.

It's a competent film about a guy who nails the brother of some hard nut, who then tries to track him down. Meanwhile the hero takes employment at a gym, basically taking the job of a punchbag, not wanting anyone to know of his skill and true identity. His crooked old man buddy is in tow. They get drawn into a squabble with a rival gym over a bird, so the hero whups them. The defeated gym boss contacts the hard nut revengio and informs him of the hero's whereabouts.

The action and comedy were never going to be as good as SITES, so it's pointless to go into the film with anything other than a clean expectations slate. There are a few dragging sections, and some of the comedy is way off (except an amusing bedroom sequence involving 'Enter the Snake'), but the shapes fights are decent, and the acrobatics good to watch. An average film, with a fair few bits to enjoy. Enjoyed the last fight a lot!

[prinnysquad]

Good God, double team on tv last night!

Enter the Dragon on Channel 5
Big Trouble in Little China on film 4

Both at the same time.

I was flicking the button more than a nympho on a lonely night in.

[QualityChimp]

At first I thought you'd been watching Double Team with JCVD, Dennis Rodman and Mickey Rourke. They don't play by the rules, apparently!

Didn't you find it a little confusing flicking back and forth?
"You know what Jack Burton says at a time like this? Boards don't hit back."
"Why doesn't somebody pull a 45 and *BANG* settle it? It's all in the reflexes"

I watched Redbelt after an earlier recommendation on this thread and really enjoyed it, but it more of a drama than kung-fu film. Sky+ made me miss some vital plot at the start but Wiki got me up to speed. I liked the last couple of fight sequences, but they follow the usual Hollywood blueprint of filming things far too close.

I also found out that Jackie Chan is currently promoting Kaspersky antivirus software!



oh and lol at your button gag, Prin! You have a way with words...

[prinnysquad]

Five Superfighters

A Shaw Bros low budget effort. Hau Chiu Sing, Tony Lung, Austin Wai, Kuan Feng, Wu Yuan Chun.

Story: A 'corrector of bad kung fu' comes to town and owns the master of three students, who go their separate ways for six months to find new masters to teach new skills. meanwhile, the defeated master takes to drink and learns drunken swordfighting. The meet up and challange the wandering arrogant corrector.

Great, a really good watch. A very odd feel for a Shaw film, all basic sets and no-name actors (apart from the master who went on to be martial arts choreographer for films like Ip Man). The fighting/training scenes are nearly non-stop, but the pace and dubbing are slightly muted and understated, meaning the film has a relaxing, almost hypnotic feel. It isn't an exhilarating blastfest, rather a fascinating chillout. The kung fu on show is high rank, with swords, sticks, kicks and shapes. There's some novelties and riffs on traditional themes too - the corrector isn't inherently evil, just arrogant, and the kicking expert is female, who has a blind father with a neat line in defending his eggs.

A pleasant oddity from the Shaw stable.

[monel]

I liked 5 Superfighters a lot, the acrobatics on display and the choreography reminded me more of a Seasonal or independent flick than one from the Shaw Brothers.

Monkey Kung Fu is another film by the same team, again Shaw Brothers.

I borrowed Pedicab Driver off a friend and might watch that tonight although it's a bit of a sad story. Might watch something a bit lighter in tone.

EDIT-watched Pedicab Driver, hadn't seen it for many years and it really is a sad story. Highlights of the fighting were Sammo's encounter with Master Lau (great seeing him pop up in a Sammo film) and Sammo and Billy Chow's fight. It's a shame this film hasn't had a proper DVD release.

[QualityChimp]

Pedicab Driver is on my must-see list. I've managed to find an avi file of it that's a little easier to use than the format it's normally in.

Here's a nice article from Kung-Fu Cinema: 10 Great American martial arts films you probably haven?t seen (plus one you HAVE to)

I love the special love that Drive receives. There's also a cheeky link in the comments to Broken Path, which is directed by Koichi Sakamoto who did the action choreography in Drive.

Brittany Murphy will always be Deliverance Bodine to me...

[mekanor]

hooray for guyver love!

can I ask how you guys track down many of these movies? They're not available locally and ebay isn't much help either. Failing even that many of them are too obscure for anyone to upload for me to download.

[monel]

Prinny recommended Amazon Marketplace to me and I've found it to be a good source for films that are out of print. Otherwise, although I haven't used them yet (soon will) HKFlix, DDDHouse and Yesasia come recommended.

I already had a decent sized collection from years ago, vhs and vcds, plus DVDs bought from ebay and the kung fu fandom forums.

BTW-you can download a lot of these films but you have to look around.

Watched Eastern Condors the other night, hadn't seen it for many years. Forgot Charlie Chin (from the Lucky Stars films) and Hsiao Ho were in it. Amazing cast. In my opinion it's one of the best films Sammo made, which is saying a lot considering his formidable filmography. I think the war setting sets it apart from most kung fu films and the pace of the film combined with the excellent set pieces and choreography make it an unmissable classic.

Edit-forgot to add, went into HMV today and they have drastically reduced the size of the Martial Arts film section. It was a sad sight to see, the anime section was 3 times as large. Looks like everyone must be using online retailers these days. The did have something like 20 copies of Ip Man though.

[prinnysquad]

I keep scanning the piss poor section at HMV for any cheapo HKL dvds. This has met with FAIL so far.

mekanor - what dvds were you interested in? If you think of a few we can look around and see what's cookin'


Tonight's newbie

Shaolin Intruders (Shaw Bros)

Derek Yee, Jason Pai Piao, Philip Ko

Very entertaining! Suspend your disbelief and see some astonishingly over the top wire work. There's blokes spinning around like corkscrews, scuttling up pillars, flying through the air, balancing on the two legs of a wooden seat, it's just superbly ridiculous!

The story revolves around two heroes and a fit bird being suspected of the murders of various clan leaders. They investigate the deaths themselves and find evidence of the Shaolin Palm technique used. They approach Shaolin temple and must complete 3 trials before they can finger the bad guys. Cue eyepopping wire work and some truly inventive action, all complemented by lovely martial arts, particularly the weapon work. The end has a couple of neat twists, and never lets up the pace it sets. So, so many memorable bits to this film, really abstract imagery and utterly brutal deaths. Philip Ko excellent as the Abbot-elect, and the end fight super.

Everything is so well choreographed ... I'm so tempted to give this five stars...!

To get a taste of this film, watch the extracts on this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqSB2EbWF24