Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[megatron]

Can't start a new thread, so I'm not sure I'm allowed to sell my dvds here as I'm not a subscribed member? Can a mod confirm?

[prinnysquad]

I think that may be the case, yes.

[megatron]

I'll stick em on dvdforums later then.

[prinnysquad]

Five flicks watched recently.

Two Champions of Shaolin - a Shaw Bros effort. Violent with a good story.
The Dragon From Shaolin - surprisingly watchable Godfrey Ho effort, with Richard Kong good.
The Lost Swordship - Tien Ping, story heavy sword whupper.
The Dragon The Odds - Comedy-heavy, yet entertaining by-the-numbers little indie. Yuen Biao in a lead! Apparently a Sammo Hung cameo, but I was too tired to notice. Kwok Kuen Chan plays a cunning big lunk well.
The Dynamite Trio (aka Long Step Mantis) - Very simple story, but action packed, with great shapes work. Camera got right in there, but retained clarity throughout. Mark Long excellent as usual, and Lung Fei in a decent role.

[monel]

The Dragon The Odds-is there another name that film goes by? If it's got Biao in it I will watch it.

Is Dragon From Shaolin a John Liu flick? I recall having something with a very similar name featuring John Liu.

I've seen Two Champions, can't forget the ball ripping scene-ouch.

About Dreadnaught-it's a good film, I'm a big fan of Yuen Biao but in Dreadnaught he plays a character who doesn't want to fight. It's different and it features Kwan Tak Hing playing Wong Fei Hung which is a plus point, but I would say whatever you do don't pay some of the inflated prices for it.

[prinnysquad]

The Dragon The Odds seems to be aka Crazy Boy and Pop Eye.

But now I'm confused. imdb has TDTO down with Yuen Biao as a lead, and the review at the bottom is spot on for story description.
But the HKMDB has Crazy Boy down as the title with a guy called Yuen Bo down as actor and action director. But - the biography linked to the guy isn't Yuen Biao! And thinking back to the film, at no point did I think Yuen Biao was in it. hell, he doesn't even look like him. It was only later, checking imdb, was that link made. I thought maybe I was so battered I just didn't notice it was him, but that's total bollocks - I woould have recognised Biao. Seems like another imdb screw up, like their Fearless Dragons skanking. Damn them, and damn me for blindly taking their word despite my better judgement.

As a film it's worth the quid I paid for it. It's very stock. There's some clips on youtube I believe.

re, Dragon from Shaolin. John Liu is a no show in this one. He was in The Dragon The Hero, maybe that's the one? Dragon from Shaolin is a Bruce Cheung/ Richard kong effort, with some hilariously entertaining action. I recorded it off movies4men2, but the dvd version by Hong Kong Connection has it in a wider screen.

[monel]

Yeah I'm a bit confused too, I haven't ever come across a Biao film with that name, but then these guys made a lot of films.

I saw In The Line Of Duty IV the other day, gave my HKL copy away to my newphew and after rewatching it I wish I had kept it! Gave him quite a lot of films...Anyway, this has the same cast (Donnie Yen etc) and director (Woo Ping) as Tiger Cage 2 but having rewatched that a couple of months ago I would say ITLOD is a way better film. Non stop action, the fighting starts within minutes of the film's opening and doesn't stop till the very end. There's some great stunt work and I love the late 80s/early 90s Hong Kong setting. I'm a fan of that period. The only reason I would rate it over Tiger Cage 2 (another very good film) is that it relies less on comedy.

Would recommend both films.

Prinny, have you seen the Woo Ping directed Iron Monkey starring Yu Rong Guang and Donnie Yen? I think that was one of the biggest selling HKLs.

[prinnysquad]

I haven't seen those two films (ITLOD4 and TC2). TBH, My experience of the more modern period is very limited. I'm very much of the 'So, you know kung fu too?' period of teahouses, temples and masters! I think it's because I have a mental image of modern settings not having shapes in, and that's my favourite stuff. However, I enjoyed Eastern Conndors a lot, and Chan's stuff is great, so maybe I'm cutting my nose off there. Not that I'm consciously avoiding the stuff - I'm very openminded about it - it's just at the minute I'm in the Manchu/Qing/etc rut and enjoying it thoroughly. I know yourself and Quality Chimp love that setting, so I must be missing out on tons of good stuff.

I've got the HKL Iron Monkey with Donnie Yen knocking around, and the 1977 film with Chi Kuan Chun, but have watched neither

[megatron]

I find the majority of the older stuff a little too slow and stilted choreography wise. Not all mind. There is some stuff I enjoy.

I much prefer the blistering speed of the stuff produced in the 80s-90s. Although some the blatant undercranking can get a bit silly.

[monel]

Yeah too much undercranking does look silly, although one of the worst ever offenders, Donnie Yen's Legend Of Wolf aka New Big Boss, I actually like (a lot of people don't).

I think I like the modern day setting a lot because around the mid 90s I got access to a lot more kung fu films and the majority of them were the old school films and I watched so many it burned me out. I still like the old setting and some of my favourite films are from that period but I tend to take few risks and usually watch ones I haven't seen if it's by a director or crew I like, or if they come highly recommended.

EDIt-Both Iron Monkeys are good- I haven't seen the Chen Kuan Tai one for years but I love the 90s one, I hope you've seen Legend Of A Fighter by now...

[prinnysquad]

Oh man, I'll have to fly the flag for the old skool

I love the shapes stuff, it is truly like a dance, where every move is as defensive as it is offensive, it's almost like a series of elaborate counters probing for a weakness. Some of it seems directly linked to people like Jackie Chan's use of props, with a spellbinding series of blocks, twists, turns and leaps, almost like poetry in movement. Factor in the comedy sound effects and it's just brilliant escapism.

I do like the fast basher stuff too though. Choreography wise, I'm not sure which is tougher. The hard hitting fast stuff is technically supreme, with a belting pace and perfect timing, but the old shapes stuff has so many twists and turns that it can put your head in a spin just watching it, and sequences often involved 10-20 moves without a cut, often with more than 3 fighters, so that's top notch and very difficult to time. People like Sammo and Ko Fei have done both styles and I'd say that they both carry a heavy merit and are very difficult to choreograph. Which Stars film is it when Ko fights Biao in a warehouse? Wow!

[monel]

Is that Twinke Twinkle Lucky Stars? I think that's the one with the warehouse fight...

Talking of the Lucky Stars film some Danish company ripped me off, I ordered something months ago and it never arrived, I asked them about it and they said it hasn't been processed yet, that was back in December. They still email me their new film updates but I'm pissed off...

I still love a good old school film, don't get me wrong, stuff like Buddhist Fist etc is top notch but after having seen so many of the old school stuff I like the modern day setting more.

I think I probably saw one too many of the Snake In The Eagle's Shadow/Drunken Master clones.

[prinnysquad]

Yeah I can see how it would be easy to get saturated. Aready this week I've watched two films with identical moments to that bit in Knockabout where Beardy gets nailed holding back the bad guy for his buddy to escape.

At the minute though I usually only watch one film a week, so I'm always psyched for it by Friday and get totally absorbed, so it's fresh even if it seems familiar.

[prinnysquad]

Hell's Windstaff

Again! Had a spare couple of hours so I thought I'd give this another viewing. Couldn't really remember very much about it, but could recall loving it. I watched it again specifically to write a review for a kung fu blog site, which turned out ok, I think.

Can't get enough of HJL triple kicks! I'm sure the last copy I watched was dubbed. This one has burnt in subtitles, which were often difficult to read, but the story is pretty simple, so it wasn't an issue. The action ... fast and fluid. Great stuff! Loads of shapes, pole fighting, and paddle fighting.

[monel]

I know it's a much loved film, but I've watched it a couple of times and didn't like it. This was years ago so I'll have to rewatch it but I know the reputation the film has so I don't really know why I didn't like it.

With regards to HJL I've got Kid From Kwantung just waiting to be watched, a Shaws film where he his supposed to be vicious. Been wanting to watch it for years but now I have it I keep putting it off.