Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
true.spoon
Jun 7, 2012

And More posted:

Which one is your favourite, then? These appeal to me massively (it basically is what I wanted Only God Forgives to be), but I can only afford so many fancy imported dvds.
It has to be Seeding of a Ghost then!

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

And More
Jun 19, 2013

How far, Doctor?
How long have you lived?

true.spoon posted:

It has to be Seeding of a Ghost then!

Done.

What are your thoughts on Hex? It stands out to me for some reason:

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

true.spoon
Jun 7, 2012

And More posted:

Done.

What are your thoughts on Hex? It stands out to me for some reason:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twWoqZoPotE
Great, tell us what you thought of it after watching!

Yeah, I saw Hex but it is much closer to traditional Chinese period ghost movies (which I also like a lot) than those other films. Though the final exorcism is awesome and really sets it apart! Btw the the body-writing-ear-ripping part is an homage (well rip-off but that doesn't take anything away) to the classic Japanese ghost movie Kwaidan, which makes it even more charming for me.

I won't spoil it but Seeding of a Ghost rips-off another famous horror movie in its finale in a highly entertaining way.

true.spoon fucked around with this message at 10:47 on Sep 2, 2019

And More
Jun 19, 2013

How far, Doctor?
How long have you lived?

true.spoon posted:

Great, tell us what you thought of it after watching!

I won't spoil it but Seeding of a Ghost rips-off another famous horror movie in its finale in a highly entertaining way.

So, I decided to get Bewitched along with Seeding of a Ghost, mainly because I wanted to know if the Boxer's Omen would make more sense afterwards. It does not.

Bewitched is pretty cool in its own right for having so many different rituals and curses (all with their own Inglorious Basterds title card). Many scenes are pretty stylish, with sudden red and blue tinting, lens flares and overlapping transition effects. The premise of a father killing his child initially reminded me of The Wailing, which is a good thing. Imo, having two protagonists was a little too ambitious, though. The movie couldn't really get me to care about the cop.

Seeding of a Ghost definitely takes the cake, though. When that pregnant woman explodes and her placenta gets lodged in the doctor's face, melting it in the process :barf: The entire finale ripping off the Thing is also incredibly well done. Technically, the puppets look worse, but they are so terrible that they loop around to being pretty nightmarish, imo. It also really differentiates itself by making you root for the taxi driver and his awful demon baby. You want these people to die, and for once that's actually intentional.

Of course, fight scenes aren't really the focus of these films, but I still enjoyed the two fights in Seeding of a Ghost. They had kind of a gritty inventiveness to them. The Boxer's Omen also was massively improved by having the boxing matches as a framing device. Maybe they're onto something with that combination.

I like how both movies have this weird combination of gratuitous nudity and absolutely grody body horror. Bewitched's final title card is particularly funny in that regard: "Please don't do voodoo, and also stop having casual sex."

The quality of these 88-Films Blu-rays is outstanding, by the way. Just really solid image quality for something that seems like it should only exist as a VHS. Might check out the audio commentary later on.

And More fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Sep 19, 2019

And More
Jun 19, 2013

How far, Doctor?
How long have you lived?

By the way, Netflix has apparently uploaded tens of Kung-Fu movies in my country, so I got to finally watch:

Five Element Ninjas: I love all the different weapons and the absolute mayhem of the first half. Kind of lost me emotionally in the second half, probably when he stabs that ninja lady and gets a bunch of new friends with no personality.

Legendary Weapons of China: Surprisingly funny in parts. The extended con artist scene was a bit much, though. Kara Wai is awesome.

The Five Deadly Venoms: Aesthetically, this one is unbeatable. The masks, and the general difference of physicality between the venoms just make this movie stand out. I'm not massively into all these outlandish skills, but it's still quite entertaining.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 6 hours!
Black Magic 2 is so much better than Black Magic. I did not expect that.

Gaunab
Feb 13, 2012
LUFTHANSA YOU FUCKING DICKWEASEL
I watched the 36 Chambers trilogy a while back. The second one is my favorite but I really love the training in the first one.

Lobok
Jul 13, 2006

Say Watt?

Gaunab posted:

I watched the 36 Chambers trilogy a while back. The second one is my favorite but I really love the training in the first one.

One of the best sequel reversals, up there with Terminator 2. And that scaffolding-fu, just so inventive and awesome to watch.

Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

And More posted:

By the way, Netflix has apparently uploaded tens of Kung-Fu movies in my country, so I got to finally watch:

I recently [re]watched these too!

Five Elements Ninjas is one of my favorites. It's Chang Cheh near the latter part of his career, just diving headfirst into a really absurd and fun movie. As far as the subplot with the girl ninja, the thing is I don't really watch Shaw Bros films for their plot or characters, yet at the same time It's kind of refreshing how little they care about traditional screenwriting formulas. You don't really know which of the martial arts clan will be the protagonist for quite a while into the film, for instance, and they're always cavalier when it comes to just, like, killing every single character at the drop of a hat. I also love all the weird setups the ninjas have, like the fake trees that only work as traps if you happen to stand next to them, or the giant staplers that they use to lock the clan chief's door.

If you want another film about Chinese kung fu taking on ninja treachery, check out Heroes in the East. If you want something similar to Venoms, watch Crippled Avengers.

Anyways, something new I watched and is also on Netflix is The Grandmaster, from 2011. It's Wong Kar-Wei's take on the Ip Man legend. While it's technically a better made film than the Donnie Yen one (it was nominated for Best Cinematography) it's not quite as entertaining. The two halves of the film don't quite gel well enough for me - if you're wanting kung fu action the action sequences are well done but broken up by long, ponderous character drama. And if you want a good drama then, sorry, the Weinsteins cut out 30 minutes of the movie for the Western audience and all character arcs are explained in text. It was also an odd choice to give the climax to an invented character while Ip Man himself doesn't do much in the last half hour of the film.

true.spoon
Jun 7, 2012

And More posted:

So, I decided to get Bewitched along with Seeding of a Ghost, mainly because I wanted to know if the Boxer's Omen would make more sense afterwards. It does not.

Bewitched is pretty cool in its own right for having so many different rituals and curses (all with their own Inglorious Basterds title card). Many scenes are pretty stylish, with sudden red and blue tinting, lens flares and overlapping transition effects. The premise of a father killing his child initially reminded me of The Wailing, which is a good thing. Imo, having two protagonists was a little too ambitious, though. The movie couldn't really get me to care about the cop.

Seeding of a Ghost definitely takes the cake, though. When that pregnant woman explodes and her placenta gets lodged in the doctor's face, melting it in the process :barf: The entire finale ripping off the Thing is also incredibly well done. Technically, the puppets look worse, but they are so terrible that they loop around to being pretty nightmarish, imo. It also really differentiates itself by making you root for the taxi driver and his awful demon baby. You want these people to die, and for once that's actually intentional.

Of course, fight scenes aren't really the focus of these films, but I still enjoyed the two fights in Seeding of a Ghost. They had kind of a gritty inventiveness to them. The Boxer's Omen also was massively improved by having the boxing matches as a framing device. Maybe they're onto something with that combination.

I like how both movies have this weird combination of gratuitous nudity and absolutely grody body horror. Bewitched's final title card is particularly funny in that regard: "Please don't do voodoo, and also stop having casual sex."

The quality of these 88-Films Blu-rays is outstanding, by the way. Just really solid image quality for something that seems like it should only exist as a VHS. Might check out the audio commentary later on.
Glad you liked Seeding of a Ghost! To be honest I thought more of Alien than of The Thing regarding the ending but I can definitely see that as well.
To be honest, when the title card came up in Bewitched I literally laughed out loud. Though tagging on the pretension of some moral is very much in the tradition of exploitation films. I also love the catalogue of super creative spells in the movie, like the Lemon Curse where needles are put in a Lemon which is the put into the street and the target suffers whenever someone steps on that spot.

@Halloween Jack: Somehow the movies are completely mixed up in my memories. Probably time to rewatch at least Black Magic 2.

I wanted to check out Centipede Horror (full movie on youtube) for a while though I wonder whether it's just centipede related gross out stuff, which I don't really need in my life, or if there are any awesome rituals to be found.

Btw does anybody know if there are more movies in the vein of The Mystical Fighters, Shaolin Drunkard and Taoism Drunkard?

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
What Sammo Hung movies should I watch?

I wish Martial Law was easily viewable online :(

brocked
Oct 25, 2005

All shall love me and despair!
Martial Law was so weird. By the end of the first season, that show was great-they'd figured out a cast and a tone and had a fun cliffhanger ending, then the second season starts with no mention of the ending (Sammo falling from a helicopter) and a whole new (terrible) supporting cast...

I love Pedicab Driver, Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind, and Millionaire's Express is one of my favorite kung Fu movies of all time. Lately, he's also had a couple decent turns in My Beloved Bodyguard and Ip Man 2.b

Samuel Clemens
Oct 4, 2013

I think we should call the Avengers.

Empress Brosephine posted:

What Sammo Hung movies should I watch?

Wheels on Meals is kung fu perfection and mostly free of the questionable stereotypes he employs in some of his other films. Really, anything co-starring Jackie Chan or Yuen Biao is a safe bet, aside from maybe Heart of Dragon.

Lobok
Jul 13, 2006

Say Watt?

Wheels on Meals is a fantastic kung fu film if only because the piazza scene shares so much in common with the Ninja Turtles, which weren't a thing yet.

Remulak
Jun 8, 2001
I can't count to four.
Yams Fan
Pedicab Driver x100.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 6 hours!

true.spoon posted:

@Halloween Jack: Somehow the movies are completely mixed up in my memories. Probably time to rewatch at least Black Magic 2.
Black Magic 1 is Extremely Normal. It's a movie about Extremely Normal people having a Normal One.

And More
Jun 19, 2013

How far, Doctor?
How long have you lived?

Mantis42 posted:

I recently [re]watched these too!

Five Elements Ninjas is one of my favorites. It's Chang Cheh near the latter part of his career, just diving headfirst into a really absurd and fun movie. As far as the subplot with the girl ninja, the thing is I don't really watch Shaw Bros films for their plot or characters, yet at the same time It's kind of refreshing how little they care about traditional screenwriting formulas. You don't really know which of the martial arts clan will be the protagonist for quite a while into the film, for instance, and they're always cavalier when it comes to just, like, killing every single character at the drop of a hat. I also love all the weird setups the ninjas have, like the fake trees that only work as traps if you happen to stand next to them, or the giant staplers that they use to lock the clan chief's door.

I'm slowly discovering Chang Cheh's filmography. It's amazing how different in tone this movie is from what I'd seen before. The super gritty Vengeance (1970) and Boxer from Shantung (1972) are really great, but nothing like this.

It definitely threw me for a loop when most of the clan got wiped out in one scene. You just run the risk of having no characters left after a while, which kind of happened here. The staplers seemed genuinely like a really effective weapon. My favourite moment is when the ninja lady walks on screen with a hat, and you get a caption for it. It becomes kind of a tense Hitchcock scenario for a minute before you find out how the hat works.

quote:

If you want another film about Chinese kung fu taking on ninja treachery, check out Heroes in the East. If you want something similar to Venoms, watch Crippled Avengers.

This film sounds pretty good. Sadly, I can't seem to find a decent release of it.


true.spoon posted:

Glad you liked Seeding of a Ghost! To be honest I thought more of Alien than of The Thing regarding the ending but I can definitely see that as well.
To be honest, when the title card came up in Bewitched I literally laughed out loud. Though tagging on the pretension of some moral is very much in the tradition of exploitation films. I also love the catalogue of super creative spells in the movie, like the Lemon Curse where needles are put in a Lemon which is the put into the street and the target suffers whenever someone steps on that spot.

It's certainly got a little bit of both in there.

Funnily enough, the catalogue aesthetic puts this movie in line with something like Five Element Ninjas. It's a promise of authenticity, in a way. Not that either film seems particularly believable.

Daryl Surat
Apr 6, 2002

I don't care what you say about this post, but if anyone steps on my bunion, I'll kill them!
Heroes of the East, which is a common pick of mine for "favorite martial arts movie of all time," is quite readily available digitally in its Celestial Pictures widescreen restoration format. You can buy it off iTunes/YouTube/Google Play etc. and it's streaming on Amazon Prime, though I think only the English dub is on Prime. That can slightly confuse you a bit since there are bits in the story where people are supposed to be speaking different languages and so they don't understand what the other person is trying to say to them.

Empress Brosephine posted:

What Sammo Hung movies should I watch?

I wish Martial Law was easily viewable online :(

The top Sammo movies for me are generally his 80s works where he could count on Yuen Biao to do some absolutely life-threatening stuntwork: Millionaire's Express (the all-time top one, where he made Yuen do a flip off the top of a building that was on fire, land flat on his back, then get up and deliver a line in one continuous shot), and the assorted "Three Musketeers" stuff like Dragons Forever (my personal favorite of the bunch despite the cornball romance bit in the middle that slows it down; discussed a fair bit on the last page of this thread), My Lucky Stars (and its sequel Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars), Wheels on Meals (aka "Spartan X" in Japan; this is where the late pro wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa got his entrance theme music from and is also the basis for the old arcade game Kung-Fu Master whose original title is "Spartan X") and so on. Prior to those, Sammo made his name on comedies like Enter the Fat Dragon and Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind (the original jiangshi "hopping vampire" action comedy).

Note that I say these are all "comedies," and while I normally try not to dwell TOO heavily on the storylines for kung fu movies, I should as a public service point out that "comedies" directed by and starring Sammo Hung tend to have this structure of "wacky hijinks, wacky hijinks, BRUTAL RAPE/MURDER, wacky hijinks, wacky hijinks" like he just doesn't realize the Rubicon has been crossed. Like Wong Jing's comedies, Sammo's humor doesn't always age so well since they're the sorts of movies where the funniest thing in the world is a pretty girl getting punched in the face. Just making sure everyone is aware of this up front. Some other good ones are Magnificent Butcher (which Sammo co-directed with Yuen Woo-Ping and definitely is of the "wacky hijinks->rape/murder->wacky hijinks" mold; RIP Simon Yuen who died during filming) and The Odd Couple directed by the great but perennially overshadowed Lau Kar Wing. Odd Couple definitely has the others beat as far as weapons choreography goes.

Once you have some base idea of who Sammo Hung is after seeing these, you can better appreciate his renewed lease on cinematic life playing dastardly old men for Wilson Yip in stuff like SPL: Kill Zone and Ip Man 2.

Daryl Surat fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Oct 14, 2019

Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

Well in addition to the Shaw Bros library being online, if you have cable and live in the US then the El Ray Network marathons Shaw films on weekends. It's how I first got into these movies.

And More
Jun 19, 2013

How far, Doctor?
How long have you lived?

Daryl Surat posted:

Heroes of the East, which is a common pick of mine for "favorite martial arts movie of all time," is quite readily available digitally in its Celestial Pictures widescreen restoration format. You can buy it off iTunes/YouTube/Google Play etc. and it's streaming on Amazon Prime, though I think only the English dub is on Prime. That can slightly confuse you a bit since there are bits in the story where people are supposed to be speaking different languages and so they don't understand what the other person is trying to say to them.


Mantis42 posted:

Well in addition to the Shaw Bros library being online, if you have cable and live in the US then the El Ray Network marathons Shaw films on weekends. It's how I first got into these movies.

Unfortunately, I live in Germany. It's quite easy to import Blu-rays from the UK, but I'm not sure whether I can actually set up a UK Itunes/Amazon account that way without jumping through hoops.

I actually started doing Kung-Fu irl, and that's what got me back into watching way more talented people do it (y'know, as "research"). Which is why I recommend Knockabout as a Sammo Hung film with some great monkey style fighting in it. It's amazing to see him really embody the monkey persona. That part's mostly restricted to the last half hour, but it's worth it, imo.

And More fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Oct 14, 2019

moller
Jan 10, 2007

Swan stole my music and framed me!
Really enjoyed the Black Magic subgenre discussion. We've been binging on those and Taiwanese kid's wuxia lately.

Also on the topic of vaguely spooky HK things, this is your regular reminder that The Untold Story: Human Meat Roast Pork Buns is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Stairmaster
Jun 8, 2012

Samuel Clemens posted:

Wheels on Meals is kung fu perfection and mostly free of the questionable stereotypes he employs in some of his other films. Really, anything co-starring Jackie Chan or Yuen Biao is a safe bet, aside from maybe Heart of Dragon.

you need to see that film tho

Empress Brosephine
Mar 31, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Daryl Surat posted:

Heroes of the East, which is a common pick of mine for "favorite martial arts movie of all time," is quite readily available digitally in its Celestial Pictures widescreen restoration format. You can buy it off iTunes/YouTube/Google Play etc. and it's streaming on Amazon Prime, though I think only the English dub is on Prime. That can slightly confuse you a bit since there are bits in the story where people are supposed to be speaking different languages and so they don't understand what the other person is trying to say to them.


The top Sammo movies for me are generally his 80s works where he could count on Yuen Biao to do some absolutely life-threatening stuntwork: Millionaire's Express (the all-time top one, where he made Yuen do a flip off the top of a building that was on fire, land flat on his back, then get up and deliver a line in one continuous shot), and the assorted "Three Musketeers" stuff like Dragons Forever (my personal favorite of the bunch despite the cornball romance bit in the middle that slows it down; discussed a fair bit on the last page of this thread), My Lucky Stars (and its sequel Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars), Wheels on Meals (aka "Spartan X" in Japan; this is where the late pro wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa got his entrance theme music from and is also the basis for the old arcade game Kung-Fu Master whose original title is "Spartan X") and so on. Prior to those, Sammo made his name on comedies like Enter the Fat Dragon and Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind (the original jiangshi "hopping vampire" action comedy).

Note that I say these are all "comedies," and while I normally try not to dwell TOO heavily on the storylines for kung fu movies, I should as a public service point out that "comedies" directed by and starring Sammo Hung tend to have this structure of "wacky hijinks, wacky hijinks, BRUTAL RAPE/MURDER, wacky hijinks, wacky hijinks" like he just doesn't realize the Rubicon has been crossed. Like Wong Jing's comedies, Sammo's humor doesn't always age so well since they're the sorts of movies where the funniest thing in the world is a pretty girl getting punched in the face. Just making sure everyone is aware of this up front. Some other good ones are Magnificent Butcher (which Sammo co-directed with Yuen Woo-Ping and definitely is of the "wacky hijinks->rape/murder->wacky hijinks" mold; RIP Simon Yuen who died during filming) and The Odd Couple directed by the great but perennially overshadowed Lau Kar Wing. Odd Couple definitely has the others beat as far as weapons choreography goes.

Once you have some base idea of who Sammo Hung is after seeing these, you can better appreciate his renewed lease on cinematic life playing dastardly old men for Wilson Yip in stuff like SPL: Kill Zone and Ip Man 2.

Thank you so much for this, I got my next few weeks planned out!!

meefistopheles
Nov 11, 2013

Daryl Surat posted:


The top Sammo movies for me are generally his 80s works where he could count on Yuen Biao to do some absolutely life-threatening stuntwork: Millionaire's Express

Thanks so much, just watched this movie and it was absolutely great. I don't often find Sammo's movies funny(or Jackie Chan's for that matter), but this one got me good. If anyone's on the fence, check it out.

brocked
Oct 25, 2005

All shall love me and despair!
I'll always signal boost this flick, it is funny, insanely action-packed, and chock full of stars. Even Cynthia Rothrock gets to kick rear end!

El Gallinero Gros
Mar 17, 2010
Magnificent Butcher is also pretty funny, although kinda dark in parts

Eastern Condors isn't funny but it is a pretty good Dirty Dozen pastiche

I love me some Sammo Hung. If only Pecicab Driver was commonly available. Had a chance to buy a bootleg for 5 bucks once and didn't, wish I had

Also:

quote:

George Lucas originally wanted him to be the lightsaber fight choreographer for the Star Wars prequels.

Pretty sure Bob from Tekken is based on him, too.

El Gallinero Gros fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Nov 13, 2019

Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

El Ray airing a Shaw Bros marathon over the next few days.

El Gallinero Gros
Mar 17, 2010
Prime just added some classic Jackie, Drunken Master II, and the Prisoner

moller
Jan 10, 2007

Swan stole my music and framed me!


I could really use that Mo rerelease right about now. It would be awesome to have Bewitched on Blu too.

In other extremely expensive disc news, apparently a label called Unearthed got the rights to Untold Story and will be releasing a Blu



In vaguely on-topic Amazon Prime news, looks like Miike's Happiness of the Katakuris is on prime streaming. As well, as, uh, Ninja III: The Domination.

Prime does have a bunch of early-mid 70s HK/Taiwan stuff with names like Little Mad Guy and Fearless Fighters but I have no idea what if any hidden gems are in there. Did notice the Yuen Biao flick Prodigal Son when I was scrolling through the dozens of vaguely titled chopsockies.

e. Oh, hey, Thundering Mantis is on Prime.

moller fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Jan 27, 2020

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer
Cross-posting in this dead thread cuz gently caress it:

I watched Best of the Best this weekend. While it's not a great movie, I enjoyed it a lot. Something about the chemistry of the cast, the fight choreography, James Earl Jones as the coach, and the actual fight tournament really balances out the nonsensical choices for characters (Travis is a martial artist from Miami who wears a cowboy hat and talks like he's from Texas? He's excellent at martial arts but is racist against Asian people?), and the pandering for the PG-13 rating, and how none of the plots ever actually add up to anything?

I also love how the badguys are this sinister cabal of Korean martial arts experts, and the end reveals them to be sweethearts who are dedicated to their craft and they actually hold zero animosity towards their rival competitors.

Kinda surprised this movie isn't as easily available as other movies of it's ilk. It has a couple of sequels that sound insane.

As for the actual martial arts? The movie says they are doing Tae Kwon Do, but Eric Roberts mainly does regular kickboxing, you barely see two of the other characters fight, and then Chris Penn does actual Tae Kwon Do? I'm pretty bad at picking up on actual fighting styles in films, and this movie isn't rigorous on knowing what it's doing either.

And More
Jun 19, 2013

How far, Doctor?
How long have you lived?

Well, since you're posting, I want to share that The Champion (1973) has been released in Germany on blu-ray. They have done a pretty solid job. There are three different versions of the film included, with the longest cut having some moments in vhs quality that don't exist in the theatrical cuts. Sadly, there are no english subtitles.

The film is also not all that memorable. There is a false promise of Russian miners getting in on the fighting action early on, and the protagonist isn't good at kicking (which he does a lot). The highlight of the film is a scene in which Shih Szu defeats an entire karate dojo, and then fights a female samurai. It's quite a fun 10-minute sequence.

Neo Rasa
Mar 8, 2007
Everyone should play DUKE games.

:dukedog:

Franchescanado posted:

Cross-posting in this dead thread cuz gently caress it:

I watched Best of the Best this weekend. While it's not a great movie, I enjoyed it a lot. Something about the chemistry of the cast, the fight choreography, James Earl Jones as the coach, and the actual fight tournament really balances out the nonsensical choices for characters (Travis is a martial artist from Miami who wears a cowboy hat and talks like he's from Texas? He's excellent at martial arts but is racist against Asian people?), and the pandering for the PG-13 rating, and how none of the plots ever actually add up to anything?

I also love how the badguys are this sinister cabal of Korean martial arts experts, and the end reveals them to be sweethearts who are dedicated to their craft and they actually hold zero animosity towards their rival competitors.

Kinda surprised this movie isn't as easily available as other movies of it's ilk. It has a couple of sequels that sound insane.

As for the actual martial arts? The movie says they are doing Tae Kwon Do, but Eric Roberts mainly does regular kickboxing, you barely see two of the other characters fight, and then Chris Penn does actual Tae Kwon Do? I'm pretty bad at picking up on actual fighting styles in films, and this movie isn't rigorous on knowing what it's doing either.

I absolutely love this movie. I completely realize why it's not necessarily great but it just works for me. I really love the amount of emotion they get out of having the flashbacks stylized like old timey sports footage and paralleling that with Daniel Rhee's training and conflict of wanting to cold murder said cabal leader in the ring or not. The choreography really is great to me, not "realistic" or accurate all the way per se but they do a good job having it on a line between watching a sports broadcast and watching a movie and I appreciate that a lot.

I still have the VHS to this day. I really do like the ~~~MAXIMUM HONOR~~~ ending too instead of the "bad guys" actually being bad, and also everyone on the US team despairing as they for the most part just get clowned on.

Best of the Best 2 is pretty mean in comparison oddly, with them not giving a gently caress and killing whoever. 3 is the one where the enemy is white supremacists so I like it. Stuff like that, Stone Cold, I give any movie a pass if it's about how white supremacy is a disease and how beating the poo poo out of constantly or/and murdering white supremacists is the way to go.

Neo Rasa
Mar 8, 2007
Everyone should play DUKE games.

:dukedog:

moller posted:

As well, as, uh, Ninja III: The Domination.

I believe most of the Sho Kusugi Canon Films stuff is on Prime now. Revenge of the Ninja fuckin' rules to this day, just super fun and worth a watch for anyone that even remotely enjoys 80s cheese or like NES Double Dragon and stuff like that, but the cast in it is awesome and having a blast with it which really holds it together.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Neo Rasa posted:

I absolutely love this movie. I completely realize why it's not necessarily great but it just works for me. I really love the amount of emotion they get out of having the flashbacks stylized like old timey sports footage and paralleling that with Daniel Rhee's training and conflict of wanting to cold murder said cabal leader in the ring or not. The choreography really is great to me, not "realistic" or accurate all the way per se but they do a good job having it on a line between watching a sports broadcast and watching a movie and I appreciate that a lot.

I still have the VHS to this day. I really do like the ~~~MAXIMUM HONOR~~~ ending too instead of the "bad guys" actually being bad, and also everyone on the US team despairing as they for the most part just get clowned on.

Best of the Best 2 is pretty mean in comparison oddly, with them not giving a gently caress and killing whoever. 3 is the one where the enemy is white supremacists so I like it. Stuff like that, Stone Cold, I give any movie a pass if it's about how white supremacy is a disease and how beating the poo poo out of constantly or/and murdering white supremacists is the way to go.

There's something about the reveal that all of the villains are actually huge fans of these seemingly no-names and that the Main Badguy has secretly been crushed by the weight of accidentally killing Tommy's brother in the ring since it happened. It's like the emotion somehow come through and override the logic of it all.

Eric Roberts is also really charming, somehow, despite being kind of an idiot?

And More
Jun 19, 2013

How far, Doctor?
How long have you lived?

Neo Rasa posted:

I believe most of the Sho Kusugi Canon Films stuff is on Prime now. Revenge of the Ninja fuckin' rules to this day, just super fun and worth a watch for anyone that even remotely enjoys 80s cheese or like NES Double Dragon and stuff like that, but the cast in it is awesome and having a blast with it which really holds it together.

Revenge of the Ninja is the best. I like that it's got Sho Kosugi as the protagonist for once instead of as a bad guy. Also, his kid is equal parts adorable and a complete martial arts badass. The only thing that never works for me is the whole finale including hot tub murder followed immediately by an awkward tennis court battle. What were they thinking?

Neo Rasa
Mar 8, 2007
Everyone should play DUKE games.

:dukedog:

And More posted:

Revenge of the Ninja is the best. I like that it's got Sho Kosugi as the protagonist for once instead of as a bad guy. Also, his kid is equal parts adorable and a complete martial arts badass. The only thing that never works for me is the whole finale including hot tub murder followed immediately by an awkward tennis court battle. What were they thinking?

Ahahaha I love and hate it at the same time. It's so absurd and stupid but it's like, the most 80s as gently caress setting ever so it's aged really well in that respect. The meditation voice overs before they run towards the net :perfect:

His kid, Kane Kosugi, I mean the movie is crap but he played RYU HAYABUSA in the Dead or Alive live action film which is pretty cool.

Ninja III takes it to the next level though with the massively long golf course struggle lol

Gwyrgyn Blood
Dec 17, 2002

What up

Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits

quote:

4K digital restorations of The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Game of Death, and The Way of the Dragon, with uncompressed original monaural soundtracks
New 2K digital restoration of the rarely-seen 99-minute 1973 theatrical version of Enter the Dragon, with uncompressed original monaural soundtrack
2K digital restoration of the 102-minute “special-edition” version of Enter the Dragon
Alternate audio soundtracks for the films, including original English-dubbed tracks and a 5.1 surround soundtrack for the special-edition version of Enter the Dragon
etc etc etc

Gonna be wild to see The Big Boss in quality better looking than "bootleg VHS transfer."

KidDynamite
Feb 11, 2005

Gwyrgyn Blood posted:

What up

Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits


Gonna be wild to see The Big Boss in quality better looking than "bootleg VHS transfer."

Oh gently caress yes.


Also the RZA did a livestream of Shaolin vs Wutang with live commentary and they're re-streaming it friday.

https://cinema.36chambers.com/

KidDynamite fucked around with this message at 19:59 on May 14, 2020

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 6 hours!
I was really befuddled at how Ninja III had the money for all those special effects, but the magic ninja sword looks like cardboard.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

sean10mm
Jun 29, 2005

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

Gwyrgyn Blood posted:

What up

Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits


Gonna be wild to see The Big Boss in quality better looking than "bootleg VHS transfer."

:drat:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply