Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[prinnysquad]

The old skool fight choreography credentials of Corey Yuen is evident in:

Hero of the Wild
7 Grandmasters
Hell's Windstaff
Massacre Survivor
Buddha Assassinator
Crystal Fist
Dance of Drunk Mantis
Hitman in the Hand of Buddha
Ninja in the Dragon's Den

Whilst I cannot speak for much of the modern stuff, the titles above prove to me that he's choreographed some top fight scenes. Especially 7 Grandmasters, what a shapes and weapons classic that is!

[monel]

His modern stuff includes Righting Wrongs and Duel to the Death (I think?), there came a point when he mostly worked with Jet Li, though.

[Finsbury Girl]

I haven't seen a lot of his old stuff, but 99% of his new stuff especially American stuff, I feel is very ordinary.

I will add I do like Fong Sai-yuk 1 & 2, Hero and the Transporter movies.

[monel]

Like a lot of the old schoolers, his modern work is probably lacking. What someone likes is a personal matter though, I wasn't disagreeing.

[Finsbury Girl]

Sorry I didn't meant to come across like that - we're all kung fu brothers here!

[prinnysquad]

Kung Fu Zombie

Billy Chong vehicle from 1981. A mental film about reanimated corpses and a cocky fighter's attempts to deal with villains and an old family adversary. There's a lot of laughs to be found here (I thought, anyway), even down to the choice of using the James Bond Soundtrack. The fighting is way, way undercranked, and the editing fast and harsh. Not usually my type of thing, but the pace and tone of the film is so OTT and breakneck stupid that the fight editing/ camerawork actually seems to fit the film. I could always see what was happening and sense the flow of a fight, unlike some modern shakicam rubbish efforts.

The production values are quite good - the make up is decent and the settings suitably camp-spooky. There's some nice ideas and sequences involving spooks that not everyone can see, and palm leaf hats that make mortals invisible to zombie ghost things. Special mention has to go to Kwan Yung Moon who puts in a hard bastard performance. He even looks tough during the ludicrous action of the final fight, which is impressive!

Chong, it's been mentioned by some fans, missed out on the big time unfairly. He had the skills, the physique, and a good screen presence. I agree, but I'll have to see more of his stuff to be sure, perhaps with fights less undercranked in more straight-laced MA films. Still, I enjoyed Kung Fu Zombie, it was a nice change of pace compared to recent viewings.

[monel]

Sorry I didn't meant to come across like that - we're all kung fu brothers here!

You didn't come across like that at all. I just meant liking or disliking something is entirely down to the individual. Prinny, I saw either Kung Fu Zombie or another undead Billy Chong film I hated at the time but everyone always seemed to love, I wonder why I didn't like it. Always loved stuff like Crystal Fist and his other films, although I haven't seen them all.

[prinnysquad]

Kung Fu From Beyond the Grave, maybe? Kung Fu Zombie is definitely one of those films that you have to watch in the right frame of mind. In the wrong mood, I can see people thinking that it's an unfunny piece of cheesy ****, with wagony fights.

[monel]

Yeah, I was quite young and in a bad mood and it didn't go down well. I remember looking at the guy who recommended it to me the next day and thinking bad thoughts. In my defense, he always kept recommending absolute crap to me, when he had everything- I never understood that. Edit- watched Buddhist Fist yesterday- it probably is my favourite old school flick, I just love this film. Every fight is so inventive and I like the main plot thread about the two friends, the last fight is excellent on every level. It's been mentioned enough here already so I won't write any more. I heard there's a fansub out there, I would love to see that as long as it's not using dubtitles.

[QualityChimp]

Don't worry, FG, we know what you mean. I think the frustrating thing with Corey Yuen is that the name is not a cast-iron guarantee that the film will be any good just because his name's attached to a film somewhere, but in the past he's been associated with some great films and when he's on form, the results are spectacular.

Don't forget Kiss of the Dragon, which I thought was a great film with some exceptional fight scenes that felt like end-of-level bosses in Streets of Rage! I particularly the fight in the Police station gym...

In other news, there might be an Ong Bak videogame! It's being made by Studio Hive that previously did computer illustrations (such as those for Square Enix's Front Mission Evolved), but have made this their first foray into games development, so we'll have to see how this turns out!

Finally, I'm not sure if you've seen this, but here's the teaser trailer for Jackie Chan's Chinese Zodiac, which is due out in December. Shinobi and I are going to see this in Birmingham, so Prinny and VanPeebles, you'd better get your train tickets booked to come down too...

[monel]

An Ong Bak game would be amazing! I've always been annoyed that there weren't more video games of classic kf films, but if the oldern western studios had done them maybe that's a good thing. I always liked Armour of God, Operation Condor not so much, I wonder if Jackie Chan can make anything decent anymore... Although I heard good things about Shinjuku Incident but that's not a kf film.

[Fader209]

Never knew of that JC movie until now and can honestly say I'm excited for it after just that teaser trailer.

Not long back I saw the first 10 minutes of "The Spy Next Door" and obviously it was cack but what really pissed me off even in that short time was that they montaged a bunch of Chans other films into the title sequence like they were all the same character. Bizarre!

[QualityChimp]

That opening montage was the best bit of The Spy Next Door!

Fader, have you seen the previous films in the series, Armour of God and Operation Condor?

[megatron]

That new jc film wont be good. There i said it.

[bash]

Angry chimp, that Angry Ranger looked quality, thanks for the mini review.

IGN have decided to throw their hat into the ring with their top 20. Some of the selection is obvious and suspect but some good choices otherwise.

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/121/1217367p1.html