Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

[monel]

I read this news the other day late at night and couln't post yesterday. He was my favourite director of kung fu, the fight scenes were brilliant but the message behind his films was often valuable, too. He covered themes such as forgiveness and controlling anger and in some of his work no character dies at all. I didn't even know he was ill, I always thought he had completely recovered years ago.

R.I.P.

[QualityChimp]

I fell asleep watching Police Assassins last night. I fell asleep in it last time I tried.

I think this is a reflection on my tiredness, rather than the quality of the film.

[monel]

I watched Ninja Terminator the other day, an IFD / Godfrey Ho film which I'm pretty sure I had never seen except in clips and trailers or compilation footage. Had decided to watch it due to it being recommended as being better than most Godfrey Ho films and more enjoyable according to opinions online. We talked too much throughout it so missed some finer plot details (!).

It was supposedly made by combining footage from three different films, and features Richard Harrison, Philip Ko and Hwang Jang Lee. The latter is in a funny blond wig and this is the film which features the infamous Garfield phone. Not sure if I've seen Jack Lam before, the actor playing 'Jaguar Wong' who seems to be doing some Bruce Lee type moves at times but is a good fighter, too. It didn't have enough ninja scenes for me and not enough crazy ninja action when they did feature, either.

Some of the fights were decent and I would probably have enjoyed this more if I had seen it years ago and had a more nostlagic link to it. I'd watch it again, though. Not sure exactly when. I'd have done a more thorough review if I had watched it properly and maybe enjoyed it more.


edit- Jack Lam is listed as Barry Lam Chi-Foo on HKMDB and it turns out I have seen him before.

[prinnysquad]

Lets have a full review Shinobi! For TCI! It would be superb to have the Inn's first Godfrey Ho review :-)

[vanpeebles]

But you always tell me off for wanting to watch Godfrey Hos

[QualityChimp]

That's not the kind of Hos you normally watch on DVD, Pebbles...

[vanpeebles]

p A R p

[monel]

You're talking about Ho Tsung-Tao, right? http://www.hkmdb.com/db/people/view....isplay_set=eng - you still can't link to their site, it seems. Have to copy and paste the URL. I'm sure I've seen a few Godfrey Ho films, but can only remember one title for sure. Have I drawn the short straw to review Ninja Terminator? I dunno if I have the strength to watch it again so soon. It wasn't that bad but I'm really not sure.

[monel]

Double post... I saw Zen Kwan Do Strikes in Paris the other day. Had wanted to see this film for many years, but when I did get it I seem to have taken a long time to get round to watching it. Hadn't slept properly that day either so was in a daze, will have to view it again.

John Liu is playing himself but a sort of James Bond-ish, model pulling super actor version of himself. Not sure what the storyline in a subbed version would be. Many people state that this film features his best kicking but I wish there had been more fights or that the film had been paced differently. He does well in the more modern-ish setting and the plot is a bit crazy. Liu is in almost every scene.

The dubbing is enjoyable, seems to be that team that did tons of films and the soundtrack is quality- I wished they played some of the tracks for longer (some of them seem to be stolen from other films and a few of the others seem very recognisable. I will have to watch this again some day soon. There was a fight from this film on Youtube, years ago, that seems to have been removed, It was a pristine widescreen image and seemed to contain bits that weren't in the version I watched. If you were watching this film with friends you may well enjoy this one depending on the mood you were in.

[QualityChimp]

I finally finished Police Assassins. I'll try to get a proper review written up for The Chivalrous Inn, but it'll be next week.

I enjoyed it and there's a lot of familiar faces in it, but rather than focus on Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock, it spends the majority of the middle section following the comedy leads. This made it drag a little for me.

The final fight is aces though and is worth watching for that alone.

[QualityChimp]

I'm not sure if anybody else heard, but Jim Kelly from Enter the Dragon died the other week.

"Actor Jim Kelly, who played a glib American martial artist in "Enter the Dragon" with Bruce Lee, has died. He was 67.

Marilyn Dishman, Kelly's ex-wife, said he died Saturday of cancer at his home in San Diego.

Sporting an Afro hairstyle and sideburns, Kelly made a splash with his one-liners and fight scenes in the 1973 martial arts classic. His later films included "Three the Hard Way," "Black Belt Jones" and "Black Samurai."

During a 2010 interview with salon.com, Kelly said he started studying martial arts in 1964 in Kentucky and later moved to California where he earned a black belt in karate. He said he set his sights on becoming an actor after winning karate tournaments. He also played college football.

The role in the Bruce Lee film was his second. He had about a dozen film roles in the 1970s before his acting work tapered off. In recent years, he drew lines of autograph seekers at comic book conventions.

"It was one of the best experiences in my life," he told salon.com of working on "Enter the Dragon." "Bruce was just incredible, absolutely fantastic. I learned so much from working with him. I probably enjoyed working with Bruce more than anyone else I'd ever worked with in movies because we were both martial artists. And he was a great, great martial artist. It was very good."

I'd like to think when death finally came, he didn't even notice. He was too busy looking good.

[monel]

The old Eastern Condors live stage show. Biao at 5min!!!






part 2:

[QualityChimp]

Some tat to watch:

Kids Police

Red Venus, with Yokohama as it's base, is an organization that mediates various crimes. In order to arrest such an evil organization, a Special Investigations Division was set up at the Kanagawa Prefecture Police Department. The group of elite detectives are just about to be able to get to the bottom of everything, when they fall for a trap. They get trapped in a harbor warehouse, where they are intoxicated with the special gas that the Red Venus created, and as a result the members of the Special Investigations Division...turn into children!!
Welcoming in an adult rookie detective, despite being in their child form, the Special Investigations Division continue on with their investigation to arrest the Red Venus. In the midst of all that, a murder case arises and the Red Venus is seen as responsible for it. While attending school, they continue on with their investigations! When they finally hone down on the suspect and just as they are about to get to the suspect, the Red Venus beats them to it. Will the Special Investigations Division really be able to arrest the Red Venus!? The battle of the child-turned Special Investigations Division begins!

Trailer:
[hide][/hide]

The Peacock King

From Ngai Kam Lam, the director of the notoriously banned The Story of Ricky, comes another eye-popping live action anime extravaganza.

Legendary fight master Yuen Biao (Project A) stars as Peacock, a Buddhist priest endowed with magical skills, who must descend through one of the gates of hell (underneath a Tokyo department store!) and stop the emergence of the horrific Hell King. Battling everything from little gremlins to massive dinosaurs Peacock has to resort to some serious kung fu if he's to stop Armageddon!

Written by Iz? Hashimoto (co-writer of Akira) and based upon the original manga Kujaku-Oh, The Peacock King is a visual feast for the eyes. The combined talents of Takashige Ichise (The Grudge, Dark Water) Shinji Higuchi (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Keita Amemiya (Cashan: Robot Hunter) bring to life a blaze of special effects that sear the screen with excitement as action legend Yuen Biao cranks up his breathtaking fight skills like never before.

Trailer:
[hide][/hide]

Cyber Ninja

A man's body and soul are stolen and used as part of a demon castle. What's left becomes Cyber Ninja. He teams up with the chi students whose cyber-earmuffs show matching red symbols. They fill their swords with ammunition, grab some neo-retro-cyber-antique guns and attack the demon robot expendable ninja squad. Each fight is won by whichever side uses more gratuitous special effects.

Trailer:
[hide][/hide]

[QualityChimp]

Jackie Chan has teamed up with a private jet company to be their ambassador. He gets his own jet as part of the deal!

Check out this bonkers Cribs-esque video...

[QualityChimp]

A gosh darn, mother crushing, Jackie Chan THEME PARK! :O

http://beijingcream.com/2013/09/jackie-chan-theme-park-opening-in-beijing/

Pffft... it'll just be a collection of his jewellery and furniture? Forget it!