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CloseFriend
Aug 21, 2002

Un malheur ne vient jamais seul.
Found a 12-pack of old kung fu movies dirt cheap. Can anyone speak to the quality of any of these?

5 Pattern Dragon Claws (1983)
7 Steps of Kung Fu (1979)
18 Fatal Strikes (1978)
Crane Fighter (1979)
Crazy Horse, Intelligent Monkey (1982)
Drunken Tai Chi (1984)
Phantom Kung Fu (1979)
Tai Chi Shadow Boxing (1979)
Tiger at the Top (1975)
Wu Tang Magic Kick (1977)
Ninja Fists of Fire (1974)
Mantis Under Falcon's Claws (1983)

I know these mega-packs usually have one or two actually-good movies amidst a sea of mediocrity. But I haven't heard of any of the production companies (no Shaw Bros. or Golden Harvest here), so I have a hard time narrowing it down. I know Drunken Tai Chi marks Yuen Woo-Ping's first collaboration with Donnie Yen, but I don't know a thing about the other films. Can anyone tell me any I should go out of my way to watch?

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Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry
Drunken Tai Chi is easily the best of the bunch. They all should be entertaining though.

Mechafunkzilla
Sep 11, 2006

If you want a vision of the future...
Drunken Tai Chi is probably worth checking out just for the fact that it was Donnie Yen's first starring role.

moller
Jan 10, 2007

Swan stole my music and framed me!

brocked posted:

Now who's got some Karen Mok movies for me to watch?

I can never not recommend 1996s God of Cookery. Mok really gets to go crazy as obsessed Sik San fan and food truck owner Turkey, pounding pork and breaking into song about how she's willing to die for girls.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
I fuckin' love God of Cookery.

DeimosRising
Oct 17, 2005

¡Hola SEA!


I first saw God of Cookery on TV in China with no inkling of what it was, assuming from the title it was maybe a Chinese cooking show or something. Needless to say I was surprised, but pleasantly so.

Wandle Cax
Dec 15, 2006
Michael Jai White's new movie Falcon Rising is out now - well worth the watch if you're a fan of his. Some excellent, well shot fight scenes and it's always fun to see such a big man move the way he does. Somewhat exotic location, favelas of Brazil, makes the whole thing a bit more interesting, the plot is fairly ordinary but you know what you're getting with this one, MJW being awesome and decent action. I hope people pay to watch this to support this type of film getting made.

Man Dancer
Apr 22, 2008

G-III posted:

I'm rather fascinated by the fact that all these obscure (at least to western eyes) hong kong action movies from the 80s and 90s are basically plastered up on youtube. I've had a good opportunity to blow my brains out with some of the craziest poo poo I've ever seen.

One movie that simultaneously impressed and horrified me was "Iron Angels." A movie that starts out as a light hearted action comedy that all of a sudden explodes into this ultra violent and almost disturbingly dark movie that has people getting outright murdered in terrible ways.

The whole thing builds to a vicious fight scene between Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima that is quite the site to see. A bit of wire work is involved but these two women are absolute martial arts beasts.

Trailer: http://youtu.be/HHANUdGtZ4A
End Fight Scene: http://youtu.be/XT3MlF9Zua0
Full Movie (really awful English dub): http://youtu.be/S_bnmb_OIM0

I finally got around to this after bookmarking it all these months ago. Pretty great! Thanks for posting the original end fight scene, it is cut to poo poo in the dub.

Jumping around in related videos, I found Angel Terminators 2, which is amaaaazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZBfUUNAHL4. Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima as childhood friends getting mixed up with gangsters, with the excellent Sibelle Hu as a cop so on the edge she puts Dirty Harry to shame. I love how careful the director is to show that despite how much the male "hero" characters try to help, they are just completely outclassed by their female comrades. Excellent final shot, too.

G-III
Mar 4, 2001

Man Dancer posted:

I finally got around to this after bookmarking it all these months ago. Pretty great! Thanks for posting the original end fight scene, it is cut to poo poo in the dub.

Jumping around in related videos, I found Angel Terminators 2, which is amaaaazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZBfUUNAHL4. Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima as childhood friends getting mixed up with gangsters, with the excellent Sibelle Hu as a cop so on the edge she puts Dirty Harry to shame. I love how careful the director is to show that despite how much the male "hero" characters try to help, they are just completely outclassed by their female comrades. Excellent final shot, too.

If you pay close attention, Yukari Oshima is wearing leggings throughout the film that have the word "Slut" printed all over them in red letters.


The movie makes sure to point out that under no circumstance should you ever gently caress with Yukari Oshima.



Angel Terminators 2 also introduces Moon Lee by showing her fight in what appears to be the roughest damned PE class I've ever seen:

http://youtu.be/5ZtamGgg2_0

G-III fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Mar 28, 2015

Man Dancer
Apr 22, 2008
Those leggings were fantastic. I think I actually clapped when I realized what was printed on them.

G-III
Mar 4, 2001

Man Dancer posted:

Those leggings were fantastic. I think I actually clapped when I realized what was printed on them.

The original Angel Terminators (what is it with "Angel" in the title of all these movies) was mondo hosed up.

It first starts out as your low budget tough as nails chick cop movie with your canned action scenes and a few kung fu gweilo henchmen in suits, but then it escalates from there. A stunt fall in the middle of the movie in which a man is kicked off the top of a 3 story building, lands on the shovel head of a fully extended earth mover in the middle of the air, and bounces off to fall on a pile of soft dirt. I'm guessing the stunt man lived... I hope?

But it doesn't end there, our lead crime boss villain moves on to cut open a woman's face with a broken bottle, drags her to the toilet, gives her a solid swirly, then unzips his fly and pisses on the back of her head.

If that wasn't enough, the movie literally rolls credits with our lead hero, Ida, dangling from a wire by just her feet after just being shot in the chest by our boss villain in an oncoming car. Using her last ounce of strength while dangling on the wire, she pulls out a knife, cuts the boss villain in the neck as he drives under her, only to smash into a nearby wall and blow up.



You can watch the whole thing up on Amazon Instant or you can just watch the ending here:

http://youtu.be/lAlmeBUyY7c

G-III fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Mar 28, 2015

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours

Hahaha, this is amazing. Great characterization with the colors and how they wear their sweatsuits, it's almost cartoon-like.

Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry
I love Moon Lee. She is in the Mr. Vampire series and the combat Feng Shui/Wisely movie, Bury Me High (with bonus Yuen Wah and Sibelle Hu!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TOOAlZ8nlc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3445NVjGR_0

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
HK Action Comedy is just the best.

Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry
Has anyone seen the Donny Yen Iceman remake? If so, what is Donny's ego level in this one?

Moacher
Oct 10, 2007

In a few moments my neighbor is going to exit this building's ground floor, out onto the sidewalk. According to my math, from this height, I can kill him by pissing on him.
Really sorry if this has been posted here already, but there's this guy on Youtube who does really interesting videos analyzing various aspects of cinematography, and he does an excellent breakdown of what makes Jackie Chan's choreography and filming techniques so well-executed and fun to watch compared to modern Western cinema techniques.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PCtIaM_GQ

Absolutely worth a watch if you've got 10 minutes.

SlipUp
Sep 30, 2006


stayin c o o l
If you like bone crunching action and gore, I have some more picks.

Death Duel of Kung Fu

After the Ming Dynasty is annihilated by the Ching warriors from Manchuria, Ming's General Cheng escapes to Taiwan. Worried that Cheng may launch a counterattack, Ching's Prince Ta sends his finest warriors to Taiwan in hopes of killing Cheng and his plan. But they have to contend with Cheng's elite kung fu guards first!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPZcI8xVuZw

Five Fingers of Death

A promising young martial arts student named Chi-Hao has spent most of his life studying under a master and has fallen in love with the master's daughter Yin-Yin. After the master fails to properly fight off a group of thugs, he sends Chi-Hao to study under a superior master, Shen Chin-Pei. He instructs Chi-Hao to learn from Chin-Pei and defeat the local martial arts tyrant, Ming Dung-Shun, in an upcoming tournament in order to earn Yin-Yin's hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAjzLe7ORkw

Last Hurrah For Chivalry

Last Hurrah for Chivalry is a story about two killers for hire. The two assassins are master swordsmen with no allegiance. They decide to help out a local merchant, seeking revenge against a kungfu master. The plot contains multiple twists of deception, leaving characters wondering who to really trust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHliqlsig90

Boinks
Nov 24, 2003





I finally finished my Dragon Dynasty collection! It's going to be weird not looking for the little number on the spine when I browse used DVDs.

Gwyrgyn Blood
Dec 17, 2002

Probably a long shot, but does anyone know if there actually exists decent Bluray transfers of Once Upon a Time in China 1&2, or Police Story? The DVD versions I saw were horrible quality, looked like they were probably bad VHS transfers. I've seen them for sale on Bluray, but I'm pretty skeptical of the quality.

Boinks
Nov 24, 2003



I can vouch for the Dragon Dynasty Police Story DVD transfer being good but I have no idea about Blurays, sorry.

Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry
I have the Columbia/Tristar DVDs of OUaTiC 1 and 2 and they look great.

Al Cu Ad Solte
Nov 30, 2005
Searching for
a righteous cause

SlipUp posted:

Last Hurrah For Chivalry

Last Hurrah for Chivalry is a story about two killers for hire. The two assassins are master swordsmen with no allegiance. They decide to help out a local merchant, seeking revenge against a kungfu master. The plot contains multiple twists of deception, leaving characters wondering who to really trust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHliqlsig90

This was one of John Woo's early films! And one of my fav kung fu movies as well. It was cool to see Woo go back to his roots with Reign of Assassins from a few years ago, which was a really great wuxia flick with some fantastic choreography.

Gwyrgyn Blood
Dec 17, 2002

Boinks posted:

I can vouch for the Dragon Dynasty Police Story DVD transfer being good but I have no idea about Blurays, sorry.

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

I have the Columbia/Tristar DVDs of OUaTiC 1 and 2 and they look great.

I will give those a shot then, a good DVD transfer is better than nothing at all. Whatever versions I got from Netflix rental were nearly unwatchable.

Boinks
Nov 24, 2003



I've actually been considering getting a tube tv just so I can watch my lovely kung fu dvds again.

You know the ones. Copy of a copy of a damaged vhs tape.

fenix down
Jan 12, 2005

Watched Invincible Armour for the first time yesterday. Great fight choreography, great soundtrack, plenty of strange comic relief. A stone cold classic imo.

It's on youtube, so you've got no excuse if you haven't seen it.

Oracle
Oct 9, 2004

Not a classic, but an homage to the classics:

Donnie Yen has a new movie coming out Kung Fu Killers

Guess it came out in October in Hong Kong under the title Kung Fu Jungle.

quote:

Fans of Hong Kong martial arts will delight at the number of stars from past and present who litter the screen during Kung Fu Jungle. From contemporary fighting performers like Xing Yu and Fan Siu Wong, to past masters including Yuen Cheung Yan and even Lau Kar Leung (albeit on TV). But the film's desire to acknowledge and pay respect to the accomplished artists of Hong Kong Cinema extends way beyond martial artists, with everyone from Andrew Lau and Soi Cheang to Bruce Law and Derek Kwok popping up in blink-and-you'll-miss-em cameos throughout the film. And don't worry if you don't spot them all, as they are all name-checked - even those who failed to make the final cut - in the film's closing credits.

G-III
Mar 4, 2001

It looks like Donnie's physical appearance is finally catching up to his actual chronological age. Took him long enough.

Man Dancer
Apr 22, 2008
He is trying to play way too young in Special ID, but I actually really enjoyed his goofball performance in that. The couple of scenes where he is pounding on one guy while taunting a bunch of other guys are just delightful.

G-III
Mar 4, 2001

Man Dancer posted:

He is trying to play way too young in Special ID, but I actually really enjoyed his goofball performance in that. The couple of scenes where he is pounding on one guy while taunting a bunch of other guys are just delightful.

The most ridiculous example of Donnie playing too young for his age was Dragon Tiger Gate. Well... to be fair that whole movie was ridiculous.

Oracle
Oct 9, 2004

G-III posted:

The most ridiculous example of Donnie playing too young for his age was Dragon Tiger Gate. Well... to be fair that whole movie was ridiculous.
Amazingly so. The whole movie I was like 'who is his aesthetician? What is his skincare regimen? His skin is FLAWLESS.'

Jimbot
Jul 22, 2008

Ah, Dragon Tiger Gate is such delightful shlock.

G-III posted:

It looks like Donnie's physical appearance is finally catching up to his actual chronological age. Took him long enough.

I tell you, with these martial artists the death knell of their young looks is getting that buzzed short hair style. Same thing happened with Jackie Chan. Jet Li, on the other hand, had it most of his career and is forever 40 years old, even when he was younger.

fenix down
Jan 12, 2005

I like new faces as much as anyone, but Protector 3 was such a huge waste of them. :(

Snowman_McK
Jan 31, 2010

fenix down posted:

I like new faces as much as anyone, but Protector 3 was such a huge waste of them. :(

Do you mean 2? The dreadful Tony Jaa movie? With RZA as a villain for some inexplicable reason?

fenix down
Jan 12, 2005

Snowman_McK posted:

Do you mean 2? The dreadful Tony Jaa movie? With RZA as a villain for some inexplicable reason?
Correct, my brain got the 3 from Ong-bak 3 apparently. But Protector 2 had Tony Jaa, RZA, and Jeeja Yanin (from Chocolate), it should have been great!!

Currently catching up on some classics that are on youtube: Magnificent Butcher, One-Armed Swordsman, Shaolin Temple, Deadly Duo, and Seven Blows of the Dragon.

fenix down fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Mar 29, 2015

Snowman_McK
Jan 31, 2010

fenix down posted:

Correct, my brain got the 3 from Ong-bak 3 apparently. But Protector 2 had Tony Jaa, RZA, and Jeeja Yanin (from Chocolate), it should have been great!!

Currently catching up on some classics that are on youtube: Magnificent Butcher, One-Armed Swordsman, Shaolin Temple, Deadly Duo, and Seven Blows of the Dragon.

Tony Jaa's career path has been one of the sadder things in the film industry, how he went from such a bright young talent to a burnout so quickly. And we barely got one good movie out of it. (lots of good fights though)

Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry
Watch New Dragon Inn too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw0YEfb-m2w

Yaws
Oct 23, 2013

Snowman_McK posted:

Tony Jaa's career path has been one of the sadder things in the film industry, how he went from such a bright young talent to a burnout so quickly. And we barely got one good movie out of it. (lots of good fights though)

What are you talking about? Is his career over or something?

Oracle
Oct 9, 2004

Yaws posted:

What are you talking about? Is his career over or something?
iirc he went afoul of the mob and had to hide out in a monastery for awhile. I realize this sounds like a plot to a movie. I don't remember what happened after that, I think he went a little nuts, or pretended to, or something. You can read more detailed speculation here.

In Thai buddhism, lots of guys will basically go on a pilgrimage of sorts and become a monk for some period of time, from two weeks to years, as a sort of penance/sabbatical/religious obligation type thing. Its not necessary but its considered good luck and auspicious and marks you as a good person to sacrifice like that, even temporarily. You have to shave your head, wear what they give you, go out asking for food from strangers, meditate, clean the temple, etc etc.

In Tony Jaa's case I think he was kind of waiting for the heat to die down and using the monk thing as a way to do so without attracting undue speculation, which is also not exactly unheard of.

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth
Yea Jaa's life for a little bit became a Tony Jaa movie pitch, but without the kung fu. He did some poo poo, pissed a couple guys off, bailed to a temple to wait for poo poo to die down. Either he pissed off some flavor of Asian mob or he pissed off his bosses in the film industry depending who you ask, but it boils down to "Jaa hosed up, got some folks mad, became a monk".

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moller
Jan 10, 2007

Swan stole my music and framed me!
In the version of the story I read at the time, he rode off on an elephant after pissing off said bosses. I hope that part is true.

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