Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[monel]

Never seen those Shaws, I think I've always concentrated on certain crews and periods for the studio.

[QualityChimp]

OK, here's the list of films I want to get through in 2012!

Princess Blade - A post-apocalyptic take on Lady Snowblood
Island of Fire - Chan and Hung in prison drama
Tiger Cage II - liked the first one, this one's supposed to be even better. Donnie Yen at his best
Tiger Cage III - not as good as II, but some impressive fights anyway
Iron Angels II - Enjoyed the first one and this one's supposed to be good too
Iron Angels III - tail end of the Angels official series. Nice nunchaku scene!
One in bedroom DVD - can't remember the name. Shin sent it. Got the kid from Ricky O
Avenging Fist - Yuen Biao as a futuristic masked vigilante
The Expendables - Needs to be seen, but dreading the shaky-cam fights.
Prodigal Son - Yuen Biao again on top form
Robin-B-Hood - Chan in amusing babysitting/bank robbing action comedy
Downtown Torpedoes - more action than 'Fu, but supposed to be good.
A Man Called Hero - Another Yuen Biao sourced by Shinobi
Burger Cop - Crap film, great fights according to Shin.
Undisputed 2 - Love the first one, but this is more cage fighting than boxing
Undisputed 3 - supposed to be a great showcase of Scott Adkins' fighting skills
Breaking News - Gangsters Vs, Police drama
The Sniper - Not fighting, but it looks interesting
Angry Ranger - need to find English subs for this
Sword of Justice - Prinny special. Ultra grainy rare find
Final Run - Not sure if I've seen this already! EDIT - I have! Immense finale!
Burning Ambition - mentioned in Impact and sounds like a good thriller.
A Bittersweet Life - Korean gangster drama that I've been meaning to see for ages
The Korean - supposed to be a fun little actioner
Young Bruce Lee - Chin Kar Lok does the fight choreography!
36th Chamber of Shaolin - I really should see this classic
8 Diagram Pole Fighter - deemed "best ever Kung Fu film" by many
Miracles - Another Chan flick that slipped through my net
Tai Chi Master - Woo Ping directs Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh
Little Big Soldier - Chan again in a fun historical tale
Kung Fu Chefs - low-budget Sammo comedy
Bodyguards.and Assassins - HK version if 16 Blocks!
14 blades - Yen as a double-crossed guard in Ming Dynasty China
Paper Marriage - Sammo Hung in a green card comedy with fighting!
Shaolin - an update of Jet Li's first film
Wu Shu - Bit part for Hung, I think.
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame - Tsui Hark directs, Hung does fight choreography and Andy Lau stars
Blades of Blood - 2010 Korean blind samurai movie
13 Assassins- supposed to be brilliant
Sparrow - Johnnie To directed pickpocketing mystery
A Simple Noodle Story - HK remake of the Coen Bros' Blood Simple
Iron Fisted Monk - Hung's classic
The legend of fong sai-yuk - Corey Yuen directs Jet Li
Reign of Assassins - 2010 swordplay movie directed by John Woo
The Raid - Merantau's directer ups the ante in this bone-breaking thriller
Operation Scorpio - Chin Kar Lok again
Crime Story - Another JC classic that slipped the net
Full Throttle - Andy Lau and Chin Kar Lok star, "Blacky" Ko does the stunts
Heart of the Dragon - JC and Sammo in drama-focussed action
She Shoots Straight -

[monel]

You didn't mention that you'd seen Iron Angels / Angel in this thread, or did you? That Biao film is Hero, not A Man Called Hero, both feature Yuen Biao. The first is a remake of an older Shaw Bros film (and is a late SB release), while the latter is based on a comic, I think. Most people seem to hate A Man Called Hero, I have it / had it but never got round to watching it. Paper Marriage has a great end, rest of the film is mostly comedy like much of Sammo's 80s / 90s stuff. Don't Give A Damn - stupid, offensive at times, mostly lame but some decent action at the very end- not great. Iron Fisted Monk, 8 Diagram (very dark film), 36th Chamber (a classic but not one of my faves), and Tiger Cage 2 are all good. Miracles too, Burning Ambition if it's the one with Kara Hui has some crazy action. Every version of Angry Ranger has subs, I'm confused how you tracked down a copy without subs. Oh yeah all the Angel Series is good, especially because Moon Lee is ace. The first is probably more balanced (and has Hwang Jang Li in a modern appearance).

[QualityChimp]

Sorry Shinobi, I never did review Iron Angels. I saw it around June/July time, after Meltdown and before Choy Li Fut. I'm going to watch it again before the sequels, I think.

Thanks for your feedback. I may well speed through Burger Cop, but watch the rest. I'll take on board what you've said and adjust the order I watch them in accordingly!

Pantyhose Hero sounds similar to Burger Cop. Sammo pretends to be gay to go undercover to catch a killer, but it's 95% gay jokes and then an awesome fight at the end which feels like it's from a different film. Sammo doesn't wear tights in the film, but apparently, gay people do, hence the irrelevant title!

[monel]

Pantyhose Hero is light years better than b.cop. Bedroom disc - that's Death Games! If you have a dvd player with decent vcd playback, watch it. It maybe jerky on a pc. Depends. Might need to select left or right channel audio too, great, great action in that film. Rest is bad but not terrible, made worse by bad subs. It's the easiest widescreen version to get.

[prinnysquad]

Sword of Justice - Prinny special. Ultra grainy rare find
36th Chamber of Shaolin - I really should see this classic
8 Diagram Pole Fighter - deemed "best ever Kung Fu film" by many
Iron Fisted Monk - Hung's classic

Lower your expectations IMMEDIATELY. There's nothing better set-up for a disastrous let-down than a 'classic' or 'best ever'.

Those expectations can only ever be confirmed, or come crashing down.

Best prepare to watch those films with a sceptical, not-expecting-much attitude, then you can either receive a nodding confirmation of your fears, or a pleasant surprise.

Expect ****; it's the way to go.

[prinnysquad]

Never seen those Shaws, I think I've always concentrated on certain crews and periods for the studio.

I got a decent order from yesasia through:

A Taste of Cold Steel (1970)
Full Moon Scimitar (1979)
The Golden Seal (1971)
The Deadly Breaking Sword (1979)
The Swift Knight (1971)
What Price Honesty (1981)
Twelve Deadly Coins (1969)
Buddha's Palm (1982)

I focused on swordplays for the most part, with some early ones thrown in there. I liked the style and atmosphere of Black Enforcer so thought it would be a good idea to explore lesser Shaw swordplays of that era. People like Wu Ma and Tien Feng seem to feature quite heavily, and it's nice to see future indie stars in earlier roles, like Lo Lieh.

[CMcK]

Island of Fire - Chan and Hung in prison drama More of a drama than an action flick but OK.

A Man Called Hero - Another Yuen Biao sourced by Shinobi I quite enjoyed this one.

36th Chamber of Shaolin - I really should see this classic You are right you should see it!

Miracles - Another Chan flick that slipped through my net Jackie Chans favourite film he starred in. Tries to prove he can act a bit basically. Not much action.

Tai Chi Master - Woo Ping directs Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this film breaks into a fight in pretty much every scene! Good fun. Was released in the UK years ago as Twin Warriors.

Little Big Soldier - Chan again in a fun historical tale Pretty average overall.

Shaolin - an update of Jet Li's first film Watched this a few months ago and quite enjoyed it.

13 Assassins - supposed to be brilliant It is. The patient build is is rewarded with masses of action on a scale the original could only have dreamed of.

The legend of fong sai-yuk - Corey Yuen directs Jet Li Average but fun.

[monel]

In either the first Fong Sai Yuk or the second, one of Jet Li's wives is beautiful...hmmmmmm. Actually Jet Li is a lucky sod, his current wife is a pretty actress, she shows her chest off (clothed) in every film she's in- such as Tiger on the Beat- I think it's a contractual obligation. There's a Taiwanese print of Island of Fire with almost an hour of extra footage, similar to other films like The Killer, Hard Boiled, various others. Anyway, prinny, I need to watch more swordplay films, I really haven't seen enough. Oh yeah, ho ho ho etc etc-also, this thread is about to hit 100 pages.

[prinnysquad]

I think we should do a top 10 kung fu birds list. You can start, shinobi.

[monel]

I know I'm going to miss loads of great actresses out, so that's a disclaimer.


OK, I dunno if I can list ten, I'm not good at making lists as my opinion changes so often. I think prinny would have a better old school performers list, and although I know Angela Mao, Lilly Lee and Doris Lung have loads of fans I haven't seen all their films. Also, I'm not going just by looks, it irritates me when some female fans rave over, say, a musician's looks rather than actual material, although I guess film is a visual medium but looks alone aren't enough.



1. Yukari Oshima- she seems deadly in so many of her appearances, I remember a Fan Siu Wong interview where he mentions her neck had smoke coming off it due to being so close to a fire in Story of Ricky, but she finished the scene. She was in a lot of b-movies and I haven't seen all her films but she has an army of fans for a good reason-she's a great physical performer. There's a short scene in Book of Heroes where she has to demonstrate her skills and goes crazy.


2. Kara Hui- there's a lot of great Shaws actresses and it's a shame I can't list all of them (same reasons as earlier plus I havent seen some films for years), but she was great in almost any film she appeared in. She was beautiful, that can't be denied, but Lau Kar Leung in particular made her action scenes great. She was just charming, for a long time she was my favourite actress ever, and I wanted to put her at number one but I didn't.


3. Moon Lee- again, I've seen a lot of her films but not all. Some of the scenes she appears in are crazy because on first appearance she seems too fragile for the insanity but she kicks ass.


4. Maybe Cynthia Khan- The downside is she seems to be doubled more than most of the others... But she pops up in a lot of modern action films.


5. Liu Hsueh-ha - I think she's the one in SB Lady Assassin, if she's the actress in the final scene then I choose her. I have other films featuring her but haven't seen them, Lady Assassin is a very good film, maybe not the best but when I first saw it I loved it, one of those situations where a film is different to your usual viewing and it leaves an impression on you.


6. Yeung Jing-Jing- she was in quite a few old school Shaws, Treasure Hunters being the main one I remember her from but I think she should have been a modern day star simply based on her cameo in Sammo's License to Steal. In a brief appearance she kind of steals Yuen Biao's heart (he's a martial world obsessive living in the modern world, Biao is great at playing eccentric characters like in LTS and Dragons Forever). She had more work behind the camera or something later in her career, it seems.


7. Kim Maree Penn- she was great in Death Games, a western actress, I know she's in various other films but she stood out in this film.


8. Pasha Romani- there's two actresses in Mirage, who are both good but I think this is the name of the lady who appears near the end. Saying anymore about the role would spoil the film but I have never seen her in anything else, she was great in this film- she really was. This lady should have been a major star.



There's also loads of actresses I think are great in Hong Kong and Chinese cinema but they're not really kung fu performers so I left them out. Plus I really am bad at remembering names, it seems, if I haven't seen them in more than a couple of films at the very least.

[prinnysquad]

Top raggers!

This selection is Old Skool, focusing on women not mentioned in shinobi's list. In no particular order:

Doris Chen (Lung)
Lilly Li
Judy Lee
Pearl Cheung
Angela Mao
Polly Shan Kwan
Yeung Pan Pan
Shih Szu
Hsu Feng

ffs I did a load of image links from hkmdb but they were all broken.

[monel]

I think hkmdb hate image linking and linking to their site in general. You might like the Eastern Heroes (The Essential Guide to) Deadly China Dolls, a decent book, not the best but it covers a lot of actresses. The writers come off a bit seedy sometimes, though. For example, writing about a random actress, they'll mention something like, 'Sadly, she has never gotten naked in a film, yet, here's hoping!'. Going overly academic is sometimes off putting but heading towards the completely low brow and gutter is just as bad.

[Finsbury Girl]

Dragon Tiger Gate - another Donnie Yen vehicle and as usual he's bloody good. Too many hair dangling over the eyes pretty boys though! Tight coreography from Donnie, some nice close fast punching scenes, varied styles and forms.

Found out afterwards this is a comic adaptation, which now makes complete sense. All in all, an enjoyable flick, wouldn't be out of place in my collection.

[QualityChimp]

CMcK - Thanks for the feedback, I can't wait to see some of these but why you no post your reviews in here?
Finsbury Girl - I like DTG too! Yen looks a little silly with a yoof flicky fringe at nearly 50, but he's still got the moves! I love Turbo with his nunchakus. I thought some of the shots in the teahouse were really inventive - through the floor, overhead and so on. Did you know the punchbag is the record holder for the biggest ever?!
Prinny - Not many female fighters catch my eye, but I love:

Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger)


Norika Fujiwara (China Strike Force)


J. J. Jia (Gallants)


I got Heart of the Dragon and Young Bruce Lee for Christmas, huzzah!