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Martial Media, Culture and Other Arts Martial Media and Popular Culture
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Re-Animator is one of my favorite horror films…actually, almost a horror-comedy if you’re a bit twisted. I probably wouldn’t bother with any of the sequel(s), but the original is great. One of my buddies had me watch it back in the '80s and we were laughing quite a bit.

Speaking of Zatoichi, there is a movie called Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman (or “meets” the One-Armed Swordsman) starring Shintaro Katsu and Jimmy Wang Yu. Obviously a Japanese/Chinese co-production. I have it mentioned in an old 1970s book on martial arts movies. Not a smart pairing, IMO, because apparently Zatoichi is in the 1840s, at least #6 is. Looking at the uniforms/hairstyles in One-Armed Swordsman, it cannot take place any more recently than maybe the Ming Dynasty, and is probably considerably earlier (Sung or Tang Dynasty??). In any case, the Ming ended in 1644, 200 years before the Zatoichi series takes place. So the closest possible time period would still be like pairing Lewis & Clark with Survivorman. Plus, Jimmy Wang Yu isn’t fit to carry Shintaro Katsu’s sandles, either as an actor or MA performer (or filmmaker/producer). Though I doubt Wang Yu would be playing tough guy troublemaker on the set with Katsu and his people. I don’t think even he would want to pi$$ off the yakuza.

I read on KFC that Martial Club is due out anytime now. I have the Red Sun release, from before I knew they were bad. I’m getting the MB version anyway! :slight_smile: Hope they get Wang Lung-Wei in an interview. I think he’s 60 or 61 now.

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Hey Jimbo if you haven’t seen Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman you have to check it out. I don’t know about the timeframe thing, but that movie is a masterpiece. My favorite of the 15 or so Zatoichi movies i have seen. And I watched Reanimator. Tons of fun.

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Did you buy Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman, or view it on youtube? I guess I have to find it now if possible. I haven’t seen it talked about much online, I just remember reading about it 25+ years ago. I’m curious if it’s co-directed, or what. I kinda doubt Chang Cheh himself was involved, though.

Today I found Zatoichi #'s 18 and 19. I was hoping to find another 4-movie boxed set like 5 - 8, but couldn’t. I like the skinny little DVD cases in the boxed sets, and they save $ as well as space.

Speaking of Re-Animator, there’s a movie from about a year later with the same guy that played Herbert West (is his name Jeffrey Combs?) and I think produced by the same people called From Beyond. Not as good, IMO, but still pretty entertaining.

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I have the Animego DVD. I bought it from Amazon a few years ago.

I watched the movie Van Wilder recently. The Wal Mart $5 rack has been getting some good business from me. Van Wilder is one of the better comedies I’ve seen in awhile. I wasn’t expecting much, but I seriously thought it was a great movie. So much better than Euro Trip which I also got recently. The only problem I had with Van Wilder is that they could have got a better actor to play Tara Reid’s boyfriend. But the story, the jokes, and the rest of the actors are all excellent.

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I just bought this Iron Fist action figure at Target.

http://www.cooltoyreview.com/Hasbro_MU_017IronFist.asp

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I just ordered Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman through Barnes & Noble (really). :slight_smile: Looking forward to it.

Watched Zatoichi #'s 18 and 19. So far I like all the ones I’ve gotten, though I have read elsewhere that Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (forget which # that one is) is a big disappointment overall. So there’s at least one installment that apparently wasn’t up to snuff. Which would be amazing, considering there’s 26 episodes altogether. Katsu’s Zatoichi is a character so well-played that he is fully embodies by the actor. I particularly enjoy that he is not a samurai, so therefore lacks all the ritual that comes with it. There is a naturalness to these old films, whereas the recent samurai/sword films out of Japan seem to have gone heavily towards stuffy ritualism. While good, they sometimes lack the fun and simple humor that someone like Katsu’s Zatoichi brought to the screen.

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I got Brave Archer today. Kind of unexpected to see it pop up at Best Buy all of a sudden, but the $12.99 price tag caught my eye so I got it . And I’m glad I got it. Not great, but a little above average. Now I may have to get part 2. Too bad it will have to be the Red Sun version, and I heard it has all sorts of problems like the English dub missing 40 minutes. That’s what’s nice about a legit company like Media Blasters. They can get access to uncut remastered audio tracks, though I’m sure it costs quite a bit.

I also got a movie called Dark City recently. Another good buy. Very unique movie.

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My favorite of the Brave Archer series is (I think) part 4. If I remember, it didn’t have much or any of Fu Sheng, but it had a better final fight featuring the Venoms. As far as part 2, I haven’t seen it even by Red Sun. I haven’t seen many Red Suns available at all anymore recently. Other than those Ti Lung or Chen Kuan-Tai box sets.

The only new thing I’ve seen recently at BB is a Shaw Bros 4-movie set that has Two Champions of Shaolin, Heroic Ones, Battle Wizard, and Duel of the Century. Problem is, I own the first two already. And I haven’t seen Battle Wizard or Duel of the Century sold separately.

I got Shinobi No Mono 3: Resurrection. I happened to come across it on sale at Sam Goody/FYE for $14.99 (I got the first two @ $25 each).

Also got Battle Creek Brawl for no other reason than it was the first Jackie Chan movie I ever saw, when it was released theatrically in 1980 as The Big Brawl. It was cheap, and since it’s a Fox/Fortune Star release, I think it’s out of print anyway. Plus, it’s interesting to see Tang Yen-Tsan (who appeared in many of Chang Cheh’s Shaolin cycle movies) and Tsen Chien-Po (who played the Thai boxer in Master of the Flying Guillotine and extra’d in many films) appearing briefly in an American movie.

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I received Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman. It’s a good movie, better than I expected. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite Zatoichi, but it’s up there. This is also one of Jimmy Wang Yu’s better performances, though obviously Shintaro Katsu is the star and Wang Yu is the guest. As a Japanese/Chinese cross-over movie, it’s excellent; Wang Yu’s one-armed swordsman looks and fights just like in his performances in the Shaw Bros versions. And Katsu’s Zatoichi is great, as usual. In fact, there is one scene involving peeping toms that to me is the funniest moment I’ve seen so far in the Zatoichi series.

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Hey glad you liked it. Apparently in the Chinese version Wang Yu wins the fight at the end. I heard from one person that he “think” it’s just badly cut up footage, not different footage. I have to see it for myself. Man I love that movie. “If only we could have understood eachother.”

I got a bunch of movies a couple day ago at CD Tradepost and Blockbuster.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno- good, but not as good as Knocked Up. Not one of the better comedies I’ve seen recently, but enjoyable.

Idiocracy- I’d rate this about the same as Zack and Miri

UFC Hits Volumes 1 and 2- holy crap this is awesome. I hope they release the Ultimate Ultimate Events and all the Japan and Brazil UFCs. Tank Abbot, Don Frye, Sakuraba, Minowa, Wanderlei Silva… countless names from those events. They’ve released the first 12 UFCs, and I hope they end up releasing all the old events, but I NEED those 2 Ultimate Ultimate events.

Kung Fu Executioner- good fights, almost as good as Sun Dragon.

15 Minutes- I saw this about 6 years ago on TV and liked it a lot. Just as good as I remember. UFC Champ Oleg Tar–something, he is so amazing in this movie, and his Russian friend is even better. Deniro gives a good performance, Edward Burns is fine. I’d rate it at least a 4/5. Almost a perfect movie, up until some major glitches at the end. Things fall apart with Edward Burns taking the Russian to a shed and threatening to kill him, and Oleg giving the tape to Kelsey Grammar, that stuff didn’t work for me. But still a great movie.

At Close Range- I remember seeing this somewhere between 10-15 years ago. This is the first time I really noticed Christopher Walken and Sean Penn. Both give great performances. Above average movie. I didn’t remember much about it after not seeing it for so long, but I remembered the ending very clearly. Amazing scene between Walken and Penn. Unforgettable.

Django- this is horrible. I heard a lot of mixed reviews, but I can’t get into this at alll. I’m 40 minutes in, and I think I’m gonna have to give up on it. MAybe it will get better after a long break. but unless someone actually speaks English this is going to keep getting worse and worse. One of the worst movies I’ve seen in awhile.

I still have a few to watch-

The Adventures of Ford Fairline- looks like some good Andrew Dice Clay cheesiness.

Demon Spies

Legend of the Shadowless Sword

American History X

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I remember 15 Minutes. It’s a pretty good movie, and Oleg Taktarov did quite well as an actor. The main things I remember about Oleg’s MMA career were his fights against Tank Abbott and Renzo(?) Gracie. Oleg won against Tank, but he looked like a mess afterward.

Is Django that Sukiyaki Western Django I see everywhere? That doesn’t look like something I could get into. I think I read only one post on KFC.com where someone thought it was a great movie.

I’m curious how good Demon Spies is; I’ve seen it available at FYE.

Kung Fu Executioner always struck me as a really bad movie with some excellent fights. IMO, it’s one of the few movies where Chen Sing actually moves well, though Billy Chong and Carl Scott dominate the action. There is a scene where Carl Scott fights a guy in a park with lots of tall poles in the ground…I know that place very well. That scene was filmed at the “Youth Park” (ching nian gongyuan) in Taipei.

Some friends and I had watched the first Ultimate Ultimate when it originally aired, and I remember thinking it wasn’t as great as some of the regular UFC, though YMMV.

I guess the Zatoichi series must have been popular in HK/Taiwan, because many things in HK/Taiwanese MA cinema have been borrowed or inspired from it. In Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman, I even heard soundtrack music that was lifted and used in Shaw Bros movies, notably in Deadly Breaking Sword. I would bet that Bruce Lee had seen Zatoichi movies and that his original inspiration for the Kung Fu TV series (lone wanderer/master MAist with a price on his head, who travels place to place having adventures) was based on it.

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oleg did beat Tank in the finals of UFC 6. He got killed, but he finally choked Tank out. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen 2 guys lay on the ground like they were dead after the fight. I think it took Tank a few minutes to get up, but Oleg took a very long time to get up.

Chen Sing does do pretty good in KF Executioner. But I like the fights overall a lot more in SUn Dragon. after watching Chen Sing vs Billy CHong it makes me think more highly of the final fight in Sun Dragon.

I’ll try to check Demon Spies out tonight or tomorrow and tell you how it is.

Django is the Takeshi Miike Western. The movie is in English and to me this ruins the movie. If you don’t know English, it’s pretty much impossible to deliver your lines correctly. I didn’t finish it so I’ll keep it in my collection and maybe watch it another time. If I watch it again maybe I’ll turn the sound off and read the subtitles.

I watched Adventures of Ford Fairline. VEry fun movie. Robert Englund is great as this crazy assassin.

You could be right about KF TV series being inspired by Zatoichi. I’ sure you’ve seen those pics of Bruce where he was trying on makeup and stuff for different characters. One of them was a blind character.

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You’re right; I forgot about that pic of Bruce with his eyes rolled up to resemble Zatoichi.

Yeah, the end fight in Sun Dragon is superior to anything in KF Executioner. For a guy who’d never done a movie before or since, Lou Neglia, a kickboxing champ who played the arch-villain, did his fights real well. His moves weren’t pretty, but he wasn’t lost following the choreo; no worse than Chen Sing, anyway. I remember an interview with him in Martial Arts Movies magazine, where he said he told Billy Chong to hit him as hard as he wanted, and that Billy had some difficulty with that.

I got a couple more movies:

The Lair of the White Worm. A decent '80s British horror film starring Hugh Grant and Amanda Donahoe; the latter plays a good, creepy snake woman.

Martial Club. Unfortunately, there are no interviews listed for this one. A shame, as I’d hoped for a Wang Lung-Wei interview (or by anyone).

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I read on KFC.com that the English dub on Martial Club has some problems. I watched the Cantonese w/subtitles so I did not notice anything wrong. I never liked the English dub in MC anyway.

Having first seen this movie in 1982 or '83, I just noticed in the past couple years (from watching my Red Sun copy 2 years ago) that MC, though beautifully filmed, can be tiring to watch. More than most KF movies, MC is chock full of kung fu. Almost too much of a good thing, and so manic, that I almost begin to feel burned out after awhile. Almost like how John Woo’s Hard Boiled can burn me out on shootings and explosions. Not to mention that Mai Te Lao is given more screen time than desirable. Lau Kar-Leung seemed to really like him and wanted to showcase him, but he can be annoying, esp. in large doses.

Not that I’m complaining. You really get what you pay for with MC. Besides LKL’s amazing directing and choreo, and the performances of Gordon Liu, Hui Ying-Hung, Wang Lung-Wei, etc., a special acknowledgement should be given to the cinematographers. In this movie they were at the top of their game.

And that goes triple for the end fight in the zigzag alley; the camerawork does the best of capturing perfect angles and complex hand/body movements. It’s a lost art now. Great fights scenes are still being filmed, but the complexity of stylized choreo and camerawork in this 6-minute scene has not been equalled since the very early '80s. I rate it above the final fight in Legendary Weapons of China, simply because MC’s final fight includes only the 2 fighters in the scene w/out the distraction of onlookers and comedic effects. The only 3rd person was someone (Hsiao Hou??) who briefly doubles Wang Lung-Wei doing some acrobatic stretching and jump kicking in the alley.

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I hope Martial Club shows up at Best Buy. I can’t wait to see it.

Good info on Lou Neglia. I can understand why Billy didn’t want to hit for real. He’s so used to doing it choreographed, missing his mark in a way so the camera makes it look like a hit. It would throw his rythm off since he had perfected his screen fighting style by that time. PLus I’m sure Billy has some power and was probably afraid of hurting the guy, no matter how tough Lou Neglia is.

I watched Demon Spies. I’d say it’s above average. The story is good. The fights aren’t great, but still pretty good. It’s very gory, but I didn’t like the gore nearly as much as say Lone Wolf and Cub. Overall I found it enjoyable. The final 10 minues or so is really good.

And let me know if you find any special features on Martial Club. Hopefully there’s something else besides the same old thing like trailers and stills.

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The only special feature on Martial Club of any significance is a longer version of the opening sequence with Lau Kar-Leung narrating and demonstrating the traditions of the lion dance in a white studio background. MC was clearly released around the Chinese New Year of '81. Otherwise, no interviews at all.

I read an interview with Wang Lung-Wei in an Asian cinema magazine from a few years ago, but have never seen him interviewed on DVD. They missed a good opportunity for it; IMO, MC represented maybe his best work. Interviews with Gordon Liu and WLW would’ve been perfect.

When you get MC, take special note of the incredible camerawork and editing, as I mentioned in my last previous post. It’s something I’m not sure I appreciated before to the extent that I do now.

When I checked Best Buy’s website, I did not see MC listed at all. The next Shaw movie I saw for an upcoming release is Holy Flame of the Martial World. I actually saw that in 1983 and thought it was good, but it’s a fantasy/FX type of film that may or may not have aged well since then. I was lucky to find MC on sale at Fry’s, and it was the only copy there. I’d checked all over the place and nobody else had it yet.

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I have a Red Sun boot of Martial Club… the box says “Instructors of Death” and of course, the menu says Martial Club as does the credit in the movie. I watched it with the “original language” function selected but still the movie was subbed in English but would switch from Cantonese to the English dub. So weird.

I need to get the official release because that sucks balls.

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On the kungfucinema site, someone was saying that the English dub on the new Martial Club has several instances of bleed-throughs where it switches to Cantonese and back, and I suspect that’s the same or similar to the odd problems on the Red Sun release.

Which isn’t a problem for me, as thankfully this legitimate release includes both Cantonese and Mandarin versions. The Cantonese version is fine; that’s the only version I watched.

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I think I read it’s only a couple minutes of the English dub that’s missing. I doubt it’s the same as the Red Sun version. It’s fine with me though. I’d rather have the extra footage and dialogue with subtitles rather than not have the extra footage at all. Hopefully this shows up at Best Buy. Seems like Brave Archer came a couple weeks late, and Life Gamble and Opium KF Master never showed up.

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After the release of Brothers 5 and Heroic Ones, I haven’t seen anymore single Wellgo USA Shaw releases at my area Best Buy. In fact, it’s been VERY slow getting anything new in their tiny MA section. The only thing of slight interest to me is a Shaw 4-movie pack, which I think is by Wellgo, that has: Two Champions of Shaolin, Battle Wizard, Duel of the Century, and Heroic Ones. Well, I already have Two Champs and Heroic Ones and prefer not to buy them again just to get the other two. So far, Brave Archer never did come to BB; luckily I found it at Fry’s Electronics.

And if not for the little Asian section at that one Wal-Mart, I wouldn’t have found Opium/Kung Fu Master or Life Gamble. Haven’t even seen them at FYE/Sam Goody. The legitimate Shaw releases don’t seem to have an organized system of releasing. Still, it’s worth it when you can find a new one.

I hope they release a region 1 version of The Kid From Kwangtung. I know you don’t like it much, Jethro, but IMO it’s one of Hwang Jang Lee’s best performances, and certainly his best at Shaws. Better than Ghosts Galore, anyway. A friend of mine who’s a fan of Jackie Chan but has never seen anything old-school before was in awe when I showed him KFK’s end fight at work on youtube. He was saying, “Oh, ****! That guy’s way better than Jackie Chan!” Though I’m sure he hasn’t seen everything Jackie can do, it was interesting seeing his reaction. Anyway, that’s been my favorite Hwang performance since the early '80s, even if it isn’t his best movie in itself. It needs a full release.