What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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saltysam
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

Post by saltysam »

Bruce Li The Invincible 1.5/5 better than it's stablemate New Guinea,aided by having Chan Wai Man as the baddie up against Chen Sing and Li...it's fairly normal until the return of the fighting gorilla/s in monkey suits.The custom widescreen version i watched was certainly better than the shitty p&s versions knocking about.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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saltysam wrote:Bruce Li The Invincible 1.5/5 better than it's stablemate New Guinea,aided by having Chan Wai Man as the baddie up against Chen Sing and Li...it's fairly normal until the return of the fighting gorilla/s in monkey suits.The custom widescreen version i watched was certainly better than the shitty p&s versions knocking about.
Chen Sing is playing Ho Yuen-Chia, who seems to have teleported to the '70s. The whole Shaolin Disguise thing with Mars is hilarious!
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Post by saltysam »

it's a genius film made by visionaries nearly 40 years ahead of their time :)
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"Let's attack him whilst he's making love to your wife. Then he can't use his kung fu on us!"
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:lol:
Ivan Drago wrote:"Let's attack him whilst he's making love to your wife. Then he can't use his kung fu on us!"
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Ivan Drago wrote:"Let's attack him whilst he's making love to your wife. Then he can't use his kung fu on us!"
That is genius. :lol:
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

Post by Masterofoneinchpunch »

Ivan Drago wrote:"Let's attack him whilst he's making love to your wife. Then he can't use his kung fu on us!"
Just don't attack Nicolas Cage or Clive Owen when they are making love.
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Bruce & Shaolin Kung Fu 2.5/5 Solid Bruce Le effort is the best i've seen of his so far.good production values,cast and a reasonably coherent plot.German dvd i watched was widescreen but there's numerous full screen inserts where the german print was censored.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Truck Yaro (Japan, 1975) [35mm] - 3.5/5
The first film in the series director Norifumi Suzuki is best known for in Japan. Bunta Sugawara and Kinya Aikawa star as two truckers, the former an eternal bachelor who always falls in love with the wrong girl, and the latter a family man with an authority problem. The first film establishes the formula: an almost schizophrenic mix of silly comedy, fast action and tender drama, with locations playing a major supporting role. The series would see the two truckers ride all around Japan, stop by at local festivals, race rival truckers (Junko Natsu in the first film, Sonny Chiba, Tomisaburo Wakayama etc. in the later ones), and always get in trouble with the police who would try to stop them in the climatic final chase. Although the first film isn't the best, it's still a very enjoyable action/comedy/drama. The series also serves as cinematic documentation of the now-extinct dekotora (decorated truck) culture which saw lone truckers decorating their vehicles in the most imaginable ways.

Violent Panic: The Big Crash (Japan, 1976) [DVD] - 4/5
An utterly insane action film that is one of Kinji Fukasaku's lesser known movies, despite featuring one of the greatest car chases of all time. Tsunehiko Watase is a bank robber trying to escape the country with his girlfriend while being chased by the police and his dead partner's maniac brother (Hideo Murota) who wants his share of the cash. Fort the first 60 min it's an enjoyable heist drama set to Toshiaki Tsushima's (Battle without Honor and Humanity) terrific score and with excellent turns by Watase and Sugimoto (her best performance was in the previous year's ATG film Preparation for a Festival), followed by an incredible 20 minute demolition derby car chase. Imagine The Blues Brothers directed by Fukasaku as an ultraviolent crime film and you'll get the idea. Also features a hilarious Takuza Kawatani performance as policeman whose girlfriend (Yayoi Watanabe) has constant trouble remaining faithful.

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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Five Superfighters 2/5 light,lesser Shaw brothers effort is an enjoyable watch with pretty much non stop fighting. The IVL disc i have has the english subtitles cropped at the bottom of the screen making them very annoying to try and read.
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The Anonymous Heroes (1971: Chang Cheh):

I liked the beginning and the end much more than the stagnant middle. There is a nice impish byplay between Ti Lung and David Chiang throughout the film. One of the highlights for me was the fight between the two in there “how long will it last” house. I thought overall the fighting was more interesting than the gun battles.

This is a Republic era film (critic Po Fung states it is around 1926 and 1927 which would mean this takes place during KMT’s Northern Expedition; interesting that KMT is the good guys here) so you expect that there will be warlords vying for weapons like Cheh apprentice’s John Woo’s The Young Dragons (1974). But the main plot is the comradery between Chiang and Lung and hanger-on Pepper (Ching Li) as they plot to steal arms and bring them south to the unifying movement while inadvertently becoming heroes. There is an interesting sub-angle on what happens to her dad because of her actions.

This has been noted as probably being the first Hong Kong production with horses chasing a train. It reminded me somewhat of Buster Keaton’s The General (1926) though Keaton used a real train that plummeted instead of the obvious set here, yes Keaton destroyed a real train by dropping it off the tracks where it stayed until World War II (used for metal.) Not the best or worst miniatures I have seen, but the worst effects were the horrible rolling painted trees that were seen quite often on the train ride (you have to check out the one’s in Shaw Brothers The Golden Buddha (1966) which are worse.) The chase was a good idea, it just did not come off well, and especially when you see how slow the train was going (though this was explained in the plot.)

The ending (not the coda which is interesting in itself) was influenced by The Wild Bunch (1969) a film Chang Cheh was quite fond of. Cheh was also influenced by Arthur Penn, especially Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and one reviewer on IMDB noted that some of the soundtrack came from Penn’s The Chase (1966, John Barry did the music) but I cannot currently corroborate that. Some of the logic during this battle maybe a little farfetched, but it fits well within Cheh’s themes throughout many of his films.

The IVL R3 disc is not anamorphic, but has a surprising amount of extras. There are three interviews (strangely enough the cover says Bey Logan though he is not heard in the interviews) with David Chiang, Lo Meng (Tubo Law), and Po Fung. Only Po Fung had anything to do with talking about the film itself (though it was sometimes edifying.) I have no idea why they put Lo Meng on there, but still glad to have it. There is actually a commentary with Jude Poyer and Miles Wood which I have not listened to yet except for about 10 minutes of it.)
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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I still haven't seen Anonymous Heroes; is it a bad remix or passable?
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Anonymous Heroes was in the very first batch of ivl Shaws if i remember rightly so can't see it being great.need to rewatch it,i remember liking it.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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I wouldn't mind tracking down the IVL Heroic Ones for the Bey Logan commentary - the German dvd is currently the best.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

Post by Masterofoneinchpunch »

Ivan Drago wrote:I still haven't seen Anonymous Heroes; is it a bad remix or passable?
It does not say on the cover other than Mandarin and Dolby Digital (says only Mandarin on the menu). Because of the region I played it on my computer, but does not sound like mono.

The picture is not anamorphic though and interlaced.

Lots of extras on this which is good.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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On the same subject, are Chang Cheh's memoirs still avaliable to buy anywhere?
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Ivan Drago wrote:I wouldn't mind tracking down the IVL Heroic Ones for the Bey Logan commentary - the German dvd is currently the best.
The subs are badly out of sync.
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Ivan Drago wrote:On the same subject, are Chang Cheh's memoirs still avaliable to buy anywhere?
I know it is mostly OOP. There was a thread on this at KFC, but I got a PM that talked about this:

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.a ... o%3D141882 (can you check to see if this link still works it did at one time, it was not going through for me)

I spent a bit too much on my copy, but I am glad I have it. I did wish that he would have been more detailed on so many different issues, but it is a fun read. He actually is quite knowledgable about MA cinema and has many salient things to say, I just wish he talked more about his career (though he does talk early career, does not talk much about childhood, talks about perceived issue with Lau Kar-leung and about several actors, I wish he was not as dismissive of his later films.)

If you have any questions about the book I can post here.
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From memory, Linn Hayes said that Chang was hurt by criticism of his later pictures, and thus didn't talk much about them.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Markgway wrote:
Ivan Drago wrote:I wouldn't mind tracking down the IVL Heroic Ones for the Bey Logan commentary - the German dvd is currently the best.
The subs are badly out of sync.
I'll have to check it, not seen it for years. I remember the subs on the German Shadow Whip were hopelessly out of sync.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

Post by grim_tales »

Wasnt the German Heroic Ones apparently blown up from a letterbox transfer?
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Ivan Drago wrote:From memory, Linn Hayes said that Chang was hurt by criticism of his later pictures, and thus didn't talk much about them.
I heard that as well. This quote is interesting:

"The five years of my second spell at Shaws warrant little mention: the lack of new genres and recycling of tired, worn-out wuxia and fist-and-kick action films. While the low-ebb of Hong Kong cinema didn't help, I had also failed to see the spark in another actor (within the Shaw studio) since the death of Alexander Fu Sheng.

He does not go over the Venom films much at all in the book.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

Post by Killer Meteor »

Sounds like my view on the films too! I'd argue Chiang Sheng and Kwok Choi could have had bigger careers, but they were too pigeon-holed by Chang's formula pictures.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

Post by saltysam »

Gold Snatchers 2.5/5 Basher legend Chen Sing heads this entertaining effort along with Lung Fei as his traitorous brother. Yasuaki Kurata shows up late for another cracking scrap with Chen.

Black Panther 2.5/5 Poor Chen Sing can't catch a break, framed for drug smuggling he's about to finish his sentence when events transpire to lead him to break out and go hunting for the peeps who stitched him up.
. I doubt anyone will be surprised that Lung Fei's involved :lol: Yasuaki Kurata appears again,some good fights here including what looks like a lunatic one in a high rise apartment block.
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Re: What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of

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Born to Defense (1988: Jet Li: Hong Kong/Mainland):

I just watched this for the first time after wanting to see it for years. Other than rewatching it for a couple of fights I cannot see myself seeing it again. But I was not expecting much so I was not that disappointed. This is Jet Li’s one and only directorial film.* I know he was not overly happy with it and I remember an interview where he stated it was done during an “angry period” in his life, but right now I cannot find that source. Seriously if anyone has an interview with him about this film please post.

Jet Li is a returning solider fresh from the front line against the Japanese. He returns to find American’s running amok, a capitulating government and his war buddy’s estranged from his prostitute daughter – whom he falls in love with. As one might expect there is a vast load of pathos that can get downright annoying with an ending that somewhat reminded me of Pedicab Driver. But the other cast of antagonists are downright annoying with the Americans being the worst. No humans there and they are portrayed as the Japanese have often been portrayed in Hong Kong cinema.**

The main baddie Kurt Roland Petersson, who looks a little like a very tall Ben Affleck in Argo with his sunglasses, is a Captain who loves to fight, one of the few somewhat moderate characters in the film. There are three main types of characters here: victims (Jet’s friend, his friend’s daughter), antagonists (the KMT Chinese, the Americans, bar owner), and hero (only Jet Li.) He confronts Li a few times and is mostly successful. You can tell the multitude of times he is doubled and that there is sometimes lack of coordination between the two because of the vast amount of wild swings that are completely missed, sometimes from a far distance. But the bar fight scene in the middle of the film is the most fun especially as it erupts into a wild west brawl that would have been at home in a John Wayne Republic western. That scene and the ending fight are worth watching though one may wonder why chase a guy who just threw a Molotov cocktail at you into an unknown factory. Not particularly bright military men, especially the one played by Paulo Tocha (one of those hey he’s in Bloodsport moments.) Of course one might wonder why Jet Li tangles with the Captain when he should be trying to save his friends. One also might wonder why the Captain had just happened to be there at the end.

I wonder if the escaping from jail scene in Shanghai Noon came from this. Surprisingly without urine here.

While the fights are decent-to-good used with little wirework (some is used), some nice stunts there is unfortunately not enough of them and this movie is stuck in a propagandistic plot that panders in a prevalence of pathos and predictability. I still would like to see Li direct again with a more mature work.

I saw the edited Dragon Dynasty version. Not too much is edited out, mainly a nude scene and Li’s fascination with urine. It is detailed here. The Dragon Dynasty release is anamorphic (at 1:78:1), looks decent and has a Cantonese dub (and the old English one and a Spanish one.) It also has Spanish subtitles like most (or all) of their releases.

* The best of one and done actor turned filmmakers has to be Charles Laughton whose The Night of the Hunter has one of Robert Mitchum’s best roles. I do wonder if Keanu Reeves will direct a second film?

** Of course the military would not allow the horrible facial hair and haircuts shown in this movie. As soon as the war against the Japanese was ended, there was the boiling issue with KMT and the Communists. Being that this was a Mainland co-production I would not imagine the Americans or the KMT as being portrayed well. Interestingly enough the American armed forces was not integrated until 1948. The dubbing for the African-American characters is pretty bad bordering on racist. Of course this film was not made with historical integrity in mind but the simple concept of Jet Li good everyone else stupid or bad.
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