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Seen any good Kung-Fu flicks of late?

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    Originally posted by CMcK View Post
    I haven’t seen any John Wick films. Couldn’t even have told you Mark Dacascos is in it.
    Oh mate. MATE! What are you doing?!

    So John Wick came out at around Age of Ultron, which was good and all, but I think people were used to seeing CGI cities flying around with CGI heroes fighting. The Equalizer showed there was a market for smaller budget films about a badass, but that fight editing - urgh!

    Then Wick came from nowhere. Wait, directed by Reeves' stunt double on The Matrix. This will suck.

    Nope.

    They had realistic fights, long takes and brutal takedowns, plus you cared about the characters.

    JW2 expands the world you glance at in 1 and 3 continues the cliffhanger ending, upping the action and the stars within.

    Dacascos is great in it, but also has a couple of The Raid boys too.

    This is a spoiler, so don't read it 'til you've seen it CMcK:

    My friend who worked with Dacascos said that his character was scripted quite straight as he was a last minute stand-in for an actor who dropped out and he asked the director if he could try something out, that's when he did the whole "I'm your biggest fan!" dialogue and Reeves' confusion on-screen is genuine, so they kept it in.

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      Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post

      They had realistic fights, long takes and brutal takedowns, plus you cared about the characters.

      Dacascos is great in it, but also has a couple of The Raid boys too.
      You’ve sold it to me QC I’ll be looking for it next time I’m in HMV. Hopefully with them being recent films they’ll be on UHD.

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        I don't want to overhype it for you, but it really is standout series in modern action films.

        also: NO SHAKEYCAM!

        EDIT: Fifty notes gets you all three films in 4K UHD if you wait a week!
        Buy John Wick Triple Boxset - 4K Ultra HD from Zavvi, the home of pop culture. Take advantage of great prices on Blu-ray, 4K, merchandise, games, clothing and more!
        Last edited by QualityChimp; 10-09-2019, 08:25.

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          Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post

          also: NO SHAKEYCAM!
          Fantastic. That’s something I can’t stand. I’ll look into that box set when I get a chance. Thanks for the tip.

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            I can't remember if I've posted this before.

            No matter, it's worth posting again!

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              I watched Ninja starring Scott Adkins.
              There are some fun fight sequences peppered through it, but it's best seen as a comic book movie as it's pretty light and the sets are almost cartoonish, but I enjoyed that feeling it gave off.

              Glad when Adkins put his shirt back on. Sheesh, it's like he's chiselled from marble.

              Got the sequel to watch, too.

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                Sammo Hung interview:
                Sammo Hung, the 2019 Hong Kong International Film Festival's "Filmmaker in Focus," looks back on his glory days, diagnoses the industry's current problems and ponders the nature of his fame as an East Asian action star.


                "Sammo Hung is a name any fan of Hong Kong action cinema knows and reveres. A pillar of the Hong Kong film industry's golden age in the 1980s, Hung used his creativity and childhood training in Peking opera to craft breathtaking choreography and unforgettable physical feats on screen, reshaping action cinema worldwide.

                An award-winning actor, director, studio mogul and star-maker, the 67-year-old legend has been named the Filmmaker in Focus of this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). In addition to publishing a commemorative book dedicated to his work, the event will showcase 10 of Hung's seminal films, including Eastern Condors, The Valiant Ones, Winners and Sinners and Encounters of the Spooky Kind.

                Still passionate about filmmaking after a career spanning more than half a century, Hung's enthusiasm was on full display when he sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to chat about fame, a pesky new generation of actors, Hong Kong's action cinema tradition and cursing."

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                  Thanks for posting that link QC.

                  I've been watching Into The Badlands after importing the Blu-ray from Germany. It's a bit cheesy in places but the action is first rate. Clearly the people behind it love their HK flicks. The camera angles and styles invoke a few memories.
                  I think it's on Amazon streaming over here if anyone is curious and has access.

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                    I would dare to say that Into the Badlands has some of the best fight scenes in any television series.
                    People talk about the excellent fights in the likes of Daredevil, but this series has Hong Kong-quality fight scenes every episode!

                    I actually invested heavily into the plot too and only stopped watching because of everything else that wants attention and didn't finish off.

                    Need to sort that, really.

                    Watched a couple of classics last night...

                    Babycart at the River Styx
                    These are really curious films and have a unique style. Influenced by the manga, they're quite cartoony, but also ridiculously violent.
                    Even before the titles roll, he's killed a couple of basket heads.
                    If you focus on the violence, you miss some of the interesting cinematography, especially the use of dark.
                    Love the framing on this shot - I actually have a poster of this by Kung Fu Bob.




                    Winners and Sinners.
                    As with a lot of these films, they are primarily comedies with a peppering of top-tier fight scenes.
                    There's a great fight in a restaurant and a nice dust-up between Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, which doesn't happen very often (Dragons Forever, anything else?), however, it's this end fight that is a perfect example of how to film a fight.
                    Twitter cut this a bit short, but you still get to see the amazing editing.

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                      A couple of docs are on Prime, if you're interested.

                      There's a new one that's just come out called Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks (Rent HD £4.49, Buy HD £9.99):
                      "From Hong Kong to Hollywood, the Shaw Brothers to The Matrix, martial arts in cinema has been busting box offices and breaking barriers since the 1960s. This is the wild untold story of how the way of the dragon became a global phenomenon."

                      Top Fighter 2: Deadly China Dolls (Included with Prime):
                      "Top Fighter 2 takes in a depth look at the female fighting superstars, of stage, ring and screen, with fantastic action footage. Exclusive Top fighter 2 exposes the hardship of Angela Mao's training, the secrets that led Cynthia Rothrock to world stardom, and Michelle Yeoh's rise to the top of the action genre, and much more from fellow stars Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, and others."

                      I Am the White Tiger (Rent HD £4.49, Buy HD £7.99):
                      "Stuntman, action director, and martial artist Mark Houghton tells his story of breaking into the Hong Kong film industry, struggling with injuries and depression, and the promise he made his teacher, the legendary filmmaker Lau Kar Leung."

                      This fight from "Yes, Madam!", is incredible:

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                        Thanks for the look out

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                          There's a truckload of older tat on there that [MENTION=7343]prinnysquad[/MENTION] would love, but that golden 80s - 90s modern-day actioner that I love isn't massively represented on Prime, sadly.

                          Yuen Biao's Hero is on there, if you've not seen that, though!
                          That's well worth a watch, although I'm guessing you've seen it/own it!

                          Jet Li's Meltdown is a curiosity worth watching, but it's speeded up to ridiculous levels.
                          AKA "High Risk", it's a Die Hard clone.

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                            Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                            There's a truckload of older tat on there that [MENTION=7343]prinnysquad[/MENTION] would love, but that golden 80s - 90s modern-day actioner that I love isn't massively represented on Prime, sadly.

                            Yuen Biao's Hero is on there, if you've not seen that, though!
                            That's well worth a watch, although I'm guessing you've seen it/own it!
                            Yeah I have it (if that's the one with Yuen Wah) I also a member of PRIME too and have to check out some of the stuff

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                              High Risk is good, a guilty pleasure.

                              Didn't Chan fight Biao in Young Master, too? Been years since I saw it.

                              I saw Ninja, I think, was a pain to search that name. There was another ninja film out around the same time? I've never seen the perfect nina film, there's the more realistic ones, the slightly crazy ones and then the 80s trash ones.

                              The Victim - I think the best dvd release was a european one, probably German although you most likely meant bluray.

                              Prime - I saw some of their titles they have some old school films but not that many higher tier ones.

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                                On the Night shift last night I watched Burning Ambition/Dragons Fight

                                What an amazing action film, filed with blood and stuntmen and women flying everywhere loved it

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