recent purchases

Martial Media, Culture and Other Arts Martial Media and Popular Culture
821

I remember seeing Powder on TV a long time ago. The only thing I remember about it was the kid being at school. I couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to be, if he was an alien or what. Are albinos real? Are they like a seperate race? I still have to check out Sympathy and Lady Vengeance. One day I’ll see them. And I’ve seen Excalibar, because I heard a lot of good things about it, and I love KIng Arthur books, but I hated that movie. I don’t know if it was too cheap or what, but I remember having a tough time sitting through it. So I may have to pass on Dragonslayer.

Also, BRave Archer and His Mate is being released soon, so I figured I would finish up the story in parts 2 and 3 before seeing part 4. I saw part 4 has a lot of different actors than the first 3 movies. Do you know if they continue the story from part 3, or is it a totally different movie?

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Hey, Jethro, don’t pass on Dragonslayer because I mentioned it in the same breath as Excalibur. Though I love them both, they are very, very different movies. Whereas Excalibur is an adaptation of the King Arthur legends, Dragonslayer is an excellent dragon/wizard fantasy, and when the dragon shows up, there is some nice action as well. I only compare them because they both take place in the Dark Ages (not medievel, as I erroneously wrote in my last post). Other than them being Dark Ages movies occurring in Britain, they are apples and oranges. Just remember, the FX in Dragonslayer are 1981, but for that time, they were surprisingly advanced. And like I say, that dragon still stands up today. Just like IMO the dinosaurs in the first Jurassic Park from 1993 were better and more convincing than a LOT of the dinosaur FX coming out in more recent years (King Kong, Land of the Lost, etc.).

Yes, albinos are real. And they are not a separate race. I’ve seen Caucasian albinos, and in Taiwan, even a couple Chinese albinos. They are rare, but they are simply people who lack pigmentation, which makes them extremely sensitive to the sunlight (and possibly many other things as well). Otherwise, they aren’t that different from anyone else. Powder is not an alien, but a kid who is supposed to be highly evolved spiritually and intellectually, but who is misunderstood for it, even by the grandparents who raised him.

I really don’t remember a lot about part 4 either, other than it was my favorite for the end fights, and that it seemed to feature Kuo Chui in the main role, and he got an assist by Sun Chien, Lu Feng, and probably Chiang Sheng, too.

823

District B13.
I’m a late-comer to this flick, though I’d seen Parkour demos on youtube (and in Casino Royale). Really amazing stunts. One of the co-stars is the small blonde guy that fought Jet Li in Kiss of the Dragon. I thought the acting, esp. by the bad guys, was really good, and the movie all-around is very fast-paced and entertaining. There really aren’t any dull moments. The basic story seems a bit inspired by Escape From New York, only it’s not quite as bleak. If you choose the original language/subtitle option (my own preference), be prepared for speed-reading mode, as these guys talk fast. My only disappointment with the movie was the final fight; I was expecting a really awesome one.

824

Ok I will check out Dragonslayer if I see it around. I thought District B-13 was average, but I liked the stunts a lot, especially the opening chase and the casino fight.

I got Brave Archer 3 in the mail yesterday. The story in this one really takes a different turn. Not a change in tone or anything, just a different story. But since it’s probaby based off a novel I’m sure there’s a lot of stories with these characters and different adventures they had. Not much action n part 3, a minute or 2 at most, that is until the awesome finale. And the story is nothing great, but I loved this movie. All the main Venoms are on hand, even Ricky Cheng Tien Chi and Chu Ko. and Ti Lung finally shows up. He plays a monk! I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in that role before, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with his head shaved. The middle of the movie is one long flashback with Ti Lung, muscleman Yeung hung, taking up his role from the first movie, and Kwok Choi plays the same character, though much younger. There’s one scene that got me laughing pretty hard. Yeung Hung is Kwok’s master, and they are staying at Ti Lung’s palace because he is a prince and they are learning kung fu from eachother, and Hung asks Kwok about a woman he just met in the palace- “have you fallen in love with her?” Kwok- “well, she likes to cook all my favorite dishes… um, heh heh heh, she sleeps with me.” I can’t wait to see part 4. It’s being released on August 18th by Well Go USA, so cross your fingers and hope it doesn’t have that 5.1 audio as the only option. But it will still be better the sh!t Red Sun versions. God the audio on these is bad.

I got a few things from CD Tradepost today-

Diner/Liberty Heights double feature

Pantyhose Hero, Sammo- I’m about 20 minutes into this one. So far so good.

X-Men, 90’s cartoon volume 1- I loved watching this as a kid. I think it was Zenshiite who said that he noticed some audio or video problem. Zenshiite if you are reading this I will post in a week or two if I notice anything.

Also I got the first season of the spy TV show Burn Notice recently. This show is really kick ass. reminds me of the show Fastlane with Peter Fellacini??, Bill Bellamy and Kelly from Saved by the Bell, except Burn Notice is so much better. I just wish it was on HBO or something. It doesn’t need that extra edge, but I’m greedy, I want the blood and guts and cussing. BTW, to any fans of Bruce CAmpbell, this show is a must see. There’s just not enough good roles in his career.

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I saw Pantyhose Hero in Taiwan, and I remember we were cracking up a lot. It’s not as good as some of Sammo’s earlier movies (including Pedicab Driver), but it’s still a good film, IMO. Some really brutal fights, too.

I hear that Black Magic II is supposed to be out now, but haven’t seen it available anywhere yet.

Finally picked up A Dirty Carnival. It looks like a good, gritty crime drama, but I’ve yet to watch it. I’m not as crazy as some are for Korean cinema, but they have some good crime movies. Mostly way better than their period movies like Musa (The Warrior), which I thought was so-so. I’m betting that ADC will be more entertaining than Lady Vengeance, but we’ll see.

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For anyone who enjoys a good gangster movie, they should definitely consider getting A Dirty Carnival. At around 2 hrs., 20 minutes, it’s a long movie, but very gritty and believable. This is not an action movie per se, but there are several fight scenes. The gangsters’ preferred weapons are baseball bats and sashimi knives. In fact I only recall one gun in the entire movie, shown briefly. I don’t know if gangsters in Korea generally don’t carry guns. However, don’t expect martial arts battles; it’s not that kind of film. The main character even tells his movie director friend (who is filming a gangster movie) that the martial arts choreography he’s incorporating is nothing like what really happens in gang fights. Probably the only unbelievable aspects of the action are some stabbings in which the stabber seems to get zero blood spatter on his clothes. It’s a story about loyalty and betrayal that is exceptionally well-done.

Although this is a very different movie than 2 other Korean films I’ve recently acquired (Lady Vengeance and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), I enjoyed A Dirty Carnival far more. As a pure gangster movie, it lacks the sometimes stylized acting in the 2 aforementioned films.

827

New Purchases

I got Martial Arts Essentials Volume 1 Films of Yuen Wo Ping and Chuck Norris 3 Film Collector’s set.

I’ve Watched Dance of the Drunk Mantis and Logan’s War.

Dance of the Drunk Mantis is a pretty good ‘ol dirty *******’ flick. I like it, same recipe as Drunken Master, but without Chan. Logan’s War was a 90 minute version of Walker Texas Ranger with different characters.

The Essentials Volume 1 comes with these movies:
Awaken Punch and Invincible Armor
Dance of the Drunk Mantis and Kung Fu Massacre
Taoism Drunkard and Born Invincible

I know the Chuck movies aren’t the greatest theatrical works, but I still enjoy watching kicks and silliness of it all.

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That Woo Ping Essentials is awesome. Kung Fu Massacre really surprised me. My 2nd favorite basher (punch and block style fighting) movie of all time.

Jimbo I’ll check out Dirty Carnival if I get a chance. And I hated Black Magic 1, but for some reason I want to see part 2. I don’t think it’s a sequel, so I’m hoping it’s a completely different movie. A good one!

I recently got Pride 31. It looks like this is the last Pride event to be released. Hopefully those DREAM events will come to DVD. I haven’t been following it, but I think they are somewhere in the middle of their second tourney, or maybe they have finished it. Hard to follow it when there’s no DVDs, only stuff on youtube. But Pride 31 is amazing, just like all the Pride DVDs. Lots of good fights, and the main event between Mark Hunt and pro boxer Nishijima is one of the most epic fights I’ve seen in Pride. Right there with Don Frye vs Takayama and Mario Sperry vs Ninja Hua. Now I can see why Phil Baroni didn’t want to trade any punches with Nishijima and took him straight to the ground in Pride 32. Also, just stating the obvious here, but I don’t get why they ever broke up Bas Rutten and Stephen Quadros. The guy they got to replace Quadros is HORRIBLE. And even worse him and Bas have no chemistry. Well in Pride 31 they have their worst commentary. Ugh. But at least it’s not as bad as listening to Frank Trigg. And one more very obvious thing, Josh Barnett will be the best commentator when he retires. I’d like to see the UFC hire him to commentate alongside Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg.

829

Joe Rogan is a great MMA announcer, but not a great comedian at all. I caught part of his act on TV one night and got bored after about 5 minutes.

I remember the boxer Nishijima on boxing shows back in the '90s. He had a wild left hook but had a heckuva punch. I did not know he’d gotten into MMA.

Chandni Chowk to China. I liked it when I saw it in January, and lord help me, I ended up buying it. Though it took me about 30 minutes to get into the movie. I haven’t watched the disc yet. It’s a loooong movie, about 2.5 hours long.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is an old suspense movie starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. I remembered it as a kid. It’s a great movie, though it’s very slow-paced by today’s standards. I bought it because I’ve long heard that Davis and Crawford were real life-long enemies, and the director faced a bunch of difficulties making the movie. While filming a fight scene (or abuse scene), Davis kicked Crawford in the head hard enough to require stitches. Later, when Davis was required to drag Crawford across the floor, before shooting the scene, Crawford hid weights in her pockets, which threw Davis’ back out for days. But Davis was very good at playing a wacko former child star.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

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Black Magic 2.
There seems to be a lot of people (on kungfucinema) who have been anxiously awaiting this release. I never saw the first Black Magic, so I can’t compare it to this one. Lo Lieh plays a powerful black magician and is once again good at playing a villain, but this isn’t one of his better roles or movies. And it’s one of Ti Lung’s worst roles, as a boringly skeptical doctor who would be comically stup!d, but he’s playing it so straight. I won’t give up much of it, only that the FX are fairly poor to bad, at the same level or worse than the FX in Mighty Peking Man. There are a couple of fights in the movie, but Ti Lung’s character is apparently untrained, and the fights are poor. I have seen far better Shaw horror films, including Boxer’s Omen and others. Though to be fair, BM2 looks to have been filmed around 1976 or so, several years earlier than Boxer’s Omen. I would rate it about 2.5 out of 5.

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I picked up the Legendary Heroes 4-disc collection from Celestial at Best Buy yesterday. It has The Shadow Whip, The Deadly Breaking Sword(which I downloaded some time ago on jaman.com but never paid the ownership fee so my license expired… though I didn’t realize it until I watched the movie just now), Shaolin Intruders, and Legendary Weapons of China. It was only 25 bucks.

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just bought the good the bad the wierd. liked it so much i had to buy it.

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Not buying as much recently, but picked up:

Re-Cycle. This is an excellent and unique movie directed by the Pang Brothers. I enjoyed this one more than their most famous film, The Eye. Re-Cycle reunites the Pangs with the star of The Eye. About a writer who enters a dimension populated by dead people and objects that are forgotten. It’s almost two different movies, as the first half of the movie seems like it’s going to be a typical Asian ghost movie (long-haired female ghost, creepy glimpses, etc.), then turns into an all-out surreal fantasy film.

Batman Begins. Yeah, I’m a latecomer to this film. This Batman (director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale) is the best screen adaptation, and I even enjoyed this movie more than The Dark Knight. With the exception of Heath Ledger’s Joker, I think Batman Begins was overall a better film (IMO). Plus, Liam Neeson is excellent, as usual. I liked the storyline that has Bruce Wayne/Batman actually be a trained ninja, as I’ve long thought the Batman character is very similar to the legends of ninjutsu.

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Sorry I havent been on for awhile. I got Blood Money. I agree with you Jimbo the picture quality is pretty much perfect. It would be nice if Videoasia can continue good releases like this. I liked the movie, though it was a bit boring at times. It was hilarious seeing that religious villain guy riding around a house. I also got the TV show Eastbound and Down with Danny Mcbride. I can’t say it’s a great show, but it has a lot of extremely funny parts. It’s more like a dramedy, but Danny Mcbride is so unique I think there’s a new type of comedy here. He’s moved ahead of Steve Carell as my favorite comedy actor right now. And thanks for the info on Black Magic 2. I may get it if I see it cheap sometime.

I also finished the X-Men TV series volume 1 and 2 and I didn’t notice any video/audio problems like Zenshiite. IMO this show isn’t as good as the 90’s BAtman and Spiderman cartoons, but still a great show. Lots of dark themes, especially with Wolverine of course, and good dialogue and action. As a kid I found it hard to keep up with the fast pace and complex storyline, but I have no problem with it now, it’s actually what I prefer.

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I really hope Videoasia will improve their quality consistently too, Jethro, esp. since it seems like they’re the only company that still releases independent old-school KF films. I have seen their Lau Family collection, and remember you reviewed it, but forgot what you said about the quality of Odd Couple in that set. Having a widescreen picture really helped Blood Money, among other things.

I got No Blood No Tears, a Korean gangster film that’s supposedly also a ‘martial arts’ film. I actually liked City of Violence, and seeing NBNT is by the same director, thought it’d be good, too.

The plot is about a female cab driver and a gangster’s abused girlfriend who agree to steel his loot.

spoilers

There are some characters that show promise, esp. an old crime boss and his TKD-trained bodyguard (played by the main star of City of Violence). Though the photography is a bit choppy, it looks like the bodyguard will be a great antagonist in a good final fight. So why is he killed off about 2/3 the way through the film by the loser abusive boyfriend/gangster? After beating said abuser half to death. Then the abuser goes on to become like Jack the Ripper/Terminator for the rest of the film, taking massive amounts of punishment with little apparent effect other than a bloody face. The film is mostly a lot of screaming and yelling, and the ‘final fight’ is a real letdown, with no MA to speak of.

I’d give NBNT 2.5 to 3 out of 5 at the most.

836

Geisha Assassin (a.k.a., Geisha vs. Ninja).
I’d seen this one around but kept passing it up. Finally got it, and I’m glad I did. This is a fairly short movie (just under 80 minutes), but packs plenty of action in that time. It’s one of the new generation of Japanese MA movies, further showing that at this time, even Japan is more active than Hong Kong in the MA movie genre. What’s surprising about Geisha Assassin is there are lots of long, single-shots in the fight scenes, and the moves are all performed by the actual actors; I didn’t notice any doubling at all. This movie generally avoids the hacked-up, over-edited shots in most action movies today. Plus, the cinematography is beautiful, esp. since this appears to be a fairly low-budget movie.

This is a basic, straight-up revenge movie; a young girl, trained in both martial arts and the geisha arts, is seeking the samurai who killed her father. Along the way, she must face off with a variety of opponents, including: A group of ninjas; a Buddhist martial monk; a magician; and a woman who appears to be an Ainu (aborigines of Japan) warrior. Mostly swordplay, but there is some fist-and-footicuffs. The young star is NOT a great empty-hand fight performer anywhere near the level of a Jeeja, but it’s nice to see such fights included. The actors really had to work at these scenes. The choreo seems a combination of Japanese fighting and Chinese wushu-esque moves. Obviously, it’s not meant to be as realistic/accurate as something like Twilight Samurai. And no, the premise isn’t original in the least, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this one. As an added bonus, it helped erase the taste of disappointment from my last previous purchase, No Blood No Tears.

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I haven’t seen Geisha Assassin. I thought No Blood No Tears was ok. I rate it a little higher than you, because most Korean movies I’ve seen suck (like City of Violence), and No Blood No Tears at least entertained me a little bit.

Lots of releases coming soon to DVD. DIsciples of SHaolin, King Eagle, Five Venoms, Brave Archer and his Mate, Holy Flame of the MArtial WOrld, and probably a coupole I’m forgetting. Good time to be a kung fu fan:)

And the quality on Odd Couple is good.

838

Good info on those upcoming Shaws. Since kungfucinema upgraded their site, I can’t even brouse their forums for info anymore. I do know that the legitimate 5 Venoms release comes out on the 18th. Really looking to finally own Disciples of Shaolin, one of my 2 fave KF flicks.

Samurai School: Be a Man!
I was lucky to find this at BB, newly released by Media Blasters. It stars Tak Sakaguchi (Versus, Death Trance). This is one of the strangest, and funniest, new films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a semi-martial arts comedy about a school where young men are sent to become ‘real men’. The comedy in this is surprisingly well-done, considering that a lot of the characters are playing it somewhat seriously. Tak, as the featured star/co-action director is the leader of the freshman class, who must endure unreal tortures for the smallest infractions. Oddly enough, Tak’s character has the least personality of all the main characters, which also includes a wImpy kid, a ‘human computer’, a large guy who resembles a Japanese Charles Bronson, and a skinny, monkey-like guy. The school’s faculty are also funny.

The villains, led by a former alumnus who vows to take over the school, appear better-trained in MA as a group than the protagonists. Their leader, in full samurai armor, is played by Hideo Sakaki, who also played the arch-villain in Versus. However, there is relatively little actual ‘martial arts’ in the movie. It’s mostly about how the characters bond and ‘become real men’. Some scenes are played seriously, which makes the comedy even funnier. It’s hard to tell if some of the more somber scenes were meant as such, or were themselves a spoof of serious movies. The end fight between Tak and Hideo is nowhere near as well-staged as their fight(s) in Versus. However, I like Samurai School and take it as a fun, unique comedy with likeable characters.

Also got the Lau Family collection.

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Oh thank god it’s a comedy. When I saw that kid with those pointy shoes on the cover, I thought that it would be a really bad and cheap samurai movie. Glad to hear it isn’t. I’ll check it out.

I got the movies Beowulf and Be Kind Rewind recently. Both are just average. But I did make one good purchase recently. Shoot em up with Clive Owen. Not a great movie, but close to being a great movie IMO. Honestly I wish this is the way all movies were made. Absolute insanity. Never takes itself seriously, and tons of blood and guts. Comedy, weird evil stuff, good acting… I don’t know how to explain it. I just loved this movie. The action is really inventive (it’s all shootouts), I especially loved the shootout while they were skydiving, but it gets too unbelievable for my tastes by the end. I didn’t like the way the villain gets taken out.

840

Suicide Club.
A really good, dark Japanese suspense/horror film that seems to be a social commentary on contemporary Japanese youth and the over-dependence on the media. The plot, although a metaphor that’s open to interpretation, doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Disillusionment, isolation, a need to belong, and/or mind control. There’s a lot of ‘encoding’ in the movie, so it’ll probably require multiple viewings to pin down more of the meanings. Though it’s not a film you’d necessarily want to watch too soon again right after watching it.