I think the comedy can be offputting, and I mentioned it in the little review I did, as a bit of a marmite moment. The story is very well worn to say the least. I watched it with a beer or two and was in exactly the right mood to get into it. The two leads are the type of guys you either like or hate, and the first half can really drag if you're not liking them or the style. The martial arts though is top banana. That bit when HJL rams his pole through the paddle, lollers.
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Quickies...
Descendants of Wing Chun - decent enough shape boxing with an ok story. Has a bizarre monk in it who exhibits many human frailties, like weariness and sarcasm, and cusses with abandon. Most odd. Nice end fight, and the whole film has some lovely sets. The opening sequence is good, featuring two villains meeting up on a beach to fight over loot.
Evil Destroyer - a Joesph Lai cut and paste special. An older film featuring an evil Kam Kong and James Lew is decent, with slow yet smooth MA. Spliced into it at various points is a load of footage featuring Westerners. The original story seems to be about Kam Kong killing Lew's father and raping his mother, and Lew sets out years later to get his revenge. The additions though alter it significantly. Instead, it's now about a load of odd-looking Westerners travelling to the region to get in on Kam Kong's opium empire (of which I can remember no reference outside of the Western sections of the film). Lew's character is supposed to be taking revenge AND killing the opium lord (the same person). Assisting him is a Western priest, a Christian who has learnt MA in Tibet. Though they never meet.
All the footage is knitted together relatively well, but it's such a contrived set up that it sits really oddly with the viewer. You KNOW they are totally separate films, it never convinces.
10 Shaolin Disciples - when we started to watch this, barring a few decent fights early doors, we were pretty disappointed. The story was unclear, just dragging along, and the characters were quite meh. Then, the last 20 minutes. What a transformation. It features 3 fights of great quality. Elton Chong and some fit bird battle Mike Wong in a flurry of kicks and punches that makes for top class entertainment. There's also a brief sequence of pure lol hilarity, which we had to watch a few times again, involving a budget-price chair. Just a brutal, intense ending, that made up for all the lead up.Comment
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I just loved the whole aura of 10 Shaolin Disciples. Proper weary slow film, I was thinking meh this is like a 5 or 6 out of 10 then the final scenes just explode into life with both of us jumping forwards at the screen with a cheer.
Descendants of Wing Chun had a lovely opening set piece on a beach front with islands and mountains in the background, proper epic.
I just love old skool kung fu. I think the settings before electricity, mod cons and cars etc just give them a more honest and earthy quality. It's very relaxing just to watch a pair of wanderers explore some town full of food stalls or just pacing through meadows and forests.Comment
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And a ****ty dub. You can't forget a ****ty dub!Originally posted by vanpeebles View Post
You're right though, it's a real throwback to a simpler, bygone time. You know the rules in a film like that. No Nokias to phone in Yakuza backup buddies. Just a man and his training. I love the old outfits, the bustling old markets and teahouses, the simplicity of it all. Plus a salvo of 'Buddha bless yous' and 'you damn bastards' doesn't go amiss. You just know that certain old methods COULD kill a man with a strike of his palm, or a rip of his throat.
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I knew I shouldn't have trusted VP to write a review.
The Ways of Kung Fu
Leung Kar Yan, Chi Kuan Tai, Ma Cheung.
Very run of the mill in story and tone to loads of other late 70s flicks, this has a solid enough base in fights and performances to be perfectly watchable.
Chi Kuan Tai is a bit of a sap who gets victimised by the boisterous new arrival at the temple he lives at. This new guy, Ma Cheung, has his own group of lackeys, making Tai's life difficult. The head abbott sends Tai away to train with his former buddy, an unrecognisable Leung Kar Yan. Tai is reluctant to learn kung fu, but in a fight for survival at his new home, he builds up his strength and technique. He later returns to the temple to find the abbott ill and Cheung ruling the roost. Tragedy strikes and Tai flees to train with a drunken master and his student before a final showdown, with himself, the student and a constable taking on Cheung and his two bodyguards.
A few pieces of comedy sit here and there, especially early on. The villain has a terrible skin defect that makes it look like he has mushy weetabix stuck to his face in blotches. This has disappeared by the finale. The training sequences are neat and amusing, and Beardy puts in some great shapes work in his sequences. The end fight isn't as fast and violent as some, but it is perfectly competent. The main bad guy uses a brass ring to attack, defend, and disorientate his opponents.
Last edited by prinnysquad; 09-04-2010, 23:32.Comment
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I saw House of Fury a few weeks back and enjoyed it. It was pretty easy watching with some fun fight scenes, but nothing to re-invent the wheel.
It took about 157 attempts, but I finally got through Eastern Condors. It's quite an unusual beast and is great for its uniqueness. Sammo and Yeun Biao were off making this whilst JC was making Project A part II, hence their absence from that sequel.
The war setting is a refreshing change, but the tone is a lot darker than most of Sammo's work. There's a tiny bit of humour, but there's a lot of death in it by the end. The end section is cracking though, with Sammo and Yuen taking on some big kickers.
There's a great shot of Yuen fighting in the foreground, then as he moves out of shot, the camera focuses on Sammo's battle in the background.
I'll watch the end fight again, but it's pretty light on features for an HKL release - just two Sammo interviews.
Last night I managed to watch in one go Wheels on Meals, courtesy of Megatron's de-cluttering sale! This one's jam-packed with extras, but I only had a quick listen to the start of Bey Logan's commentary. There's a whole disc of extra features to tuck into.
I really didn't realise how many times I'd seen this film, but I remembered lines and even some of the Cantonese phrases!
I'm sure you've all seen it, but if you haven't, Jackie and Yuen play a pair of fast-food cooks who sell from the back of their pimped-up yellow van "Everybody's Kitchen" in Barcelona. When their private detective friend (Sammo) asks them to help find a missing person, the plot starts building to an epic finale in a rogue Count's mansion.
The humour's pretty good in this, with some good stunts and cameos from some of the Lucky Stars, but it's the fights that we're here for. There's a great training scene at the start with Yuen practising on a dummy and sparring with JC. The highlight of the film is JC's fight with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, who is a really good matchup for JC. At one point, he does a roundhouse that extinguishes some candles - it's that fast!
Sammo does his usual excellent job of filming the fights and keeps them really tight and exciting and making use of the beautiful backdrop of Barcelona. He decided to film there as the stars got mobbed on the streets of Hong Kong and the Spanish authorities were really co-operative with filming permissions.Last edited by QualityChimp; 15-04-2010, 10:54.Comment
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I highly recommend Ip Man the film about Bruce Lees master, Ip is played by Donny Yen and he smashes it big time.
18 Bronze men - Old school classic
Master of the Flying Guillotine - Another old school classic with a blind bad guy!
\http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072913/
The 18th chamber of shoalin - Bog standard F**king awesomeness!!! (also known as master killer)
Ive been addicted to these flicks since i was a kid, if you want the holy grail check http://cinemageddon.org they have it all.Comment
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Man, you need to read this thread. All those films are class - especially 36th Chamber (lol).Comment
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Zipang!
maybe not so much kung fu, but this guy has 7 swords and each one has its own special ability. bloody mayhem ensues.
Just finished downloading THE MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER!
good funk fu movie are fast becoming a thing of the past uunfortunately, Jackie Chan has just pumped out another crock of s**t. I guess western audiences cant take the 45 minute fight scenesComment
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hahaha i didnt notice that gaff, but there must be another 35 movies out thereOriginally posted by prinnysquad View PostComment
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Zipang is great!
Best bit is the opening sequence with the numbered swords, but good fun.
I saw Magnificent Butcher a few weeks back via YouTube and really enjoyed it.
My golden age of Kung-Fu is 80's Golden Harvest stuff. Was really giddy watching Wheels on Meals again last night!
Nice to have another person in the thread, goldmouth. There's loads of great suggestions throughout these pages, so tell us if you see any of them.Comment
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Wheels on Meals is a cracking watch, Yeun Biao and JC and Sammo at there best. I read somewhere that it was guna get released as Meals on wheels (since they drive that mobile cooking gundam thing) but the studio had never released a successful film beginning M, so they used a bit of chinese initiative and swapped them round.
Anything with those three guys in is worth a watch, Dragons Forever, Project A's etcComment
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Yeah, I've got a bit a carried away of late and picked up all the Hong Kong Legends editions of films with those three in! Need to stop now...
You're right about Wheels on Meals - the studio released two films beginning with "M" before it, which flopped and so the studio boss changed the name. Bey Logan mentioned it on his commentary. He knows his stuff.
Got Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, My Lucky Stars and Dragons Forever to watch still, on top of loads of others!Comment
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I wasnt best pleased with Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars & My Lucky Stars when i first watched them. i came back to them years later and really enjoyed them, cant remember which one but its got the guy from city hunter in as the end boss, typical wacky jackie flicks.
Is Bey Logan that white guy who is on all the hong kong legends stuff? your right he know his stuff big time.
now to pull out the big guns,
you seen "The 13 style strike"? the blurb and i quote
"a man thought he was hit by an army! but it was just one man and the 13 style strike!"
ive been collecting cult kung fu since i moved to london, you no the ones that come in those special big vhs boxes, alot of them are released by ODV (i think thats the name)
all f**cking dodgy films, ill post some scans of them later when im off workLast edited by goldmouth; 15-04-2010, 16:58.Comment
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QC will have you believe that I'm the thread skank, but in reality I'm the thread old skool bod. Well, getting there anyway. It will be nice to chat about some of the right crap out there! Tonight, for example, I watched Raiders of Buddhist Kung Fu and Rivals of Silver Fox. Check out those averages!Comment
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