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

[luckystars]

Or Jackie vs. Benny

Lovely slow-mo face punches. Something 'The Fighter' was totally missing. Mark Walberg looked great in training but 'flowery' when fighting (off topic)

Or Enter The Dragon. Some of the most brutal hard 'hits' on film. It has me wincing every time I watch it.

[Markgway]

Well, I do think that fight scene is quite excellent.

It's got that killing taste that I was talking about, rather than slapping taste. You get the (fictional) feeling that every single one of their kicks and hits could break your skull, and that is exactly what they are trying to do. That's why every move counts and could be fatal, and makes the fight so exciting. Plus Chiba's bigger than Mt. Fuji badass charisma helps also.

Chiba looks incredibly cumbersome with the posture of a hunchback. He spends more time exhaling (hhheeeehhhhhhhhhhhh) and mugging (constipation, perhaps?) than actually hitting people. The blows are brutal - but that doesn't make it a good fight or anything close.

[luckystars]

Chiba looks incredibly cumbersome with the posture of a hunchback. He spends more time exhaling (hhheeeehhhhhhhhhhhh) and mugging (constipation, perhaps?) than actually hitting people. The blows are brutal - but that doesn't make it a good fight or anything close.

Great storytelling in the fight, great dramatic action. Chiba uses his physical persona to intimidate the other fighters. Good punctuation in the choreography, and leaving the more explosive moves til the end to let the viewers excitement rise. I love how he pulls himself up to full height to tower over the last opponent, then skulks down low..."damn, where is he going?"

[grim_tales]

Well, I do think that fight scene is quite excellent.

It's got that killing taste that I was talking about, rather than slapping taste. You get the (fictional) feeling that every single one of their kicks and hits could break your skull, and that is exactly what they are trying to do. That's why every move counts and could be fatal, and makes the fight so exciting. Plus Chiba's bigger than Mt. Fuji badass charisma helps also.

Chiba looks incredibly cumbersome with the posture of a hunchback. He spends more time exhaling (hhheeeehhhhhhhhhhhh) and mugging (constipation, perhaps?) than actually hitting people. The blows are brutal - but that doesn't make it a good fight or anything close.

That was something that took me a bit of time to get used to when watching The Street Fighter etc. But once he actually gets going I had a blast

[Markgway]

That was something that took me a bit of time to get used to when watching The Street Fighter etc. But once he actually gets going I had a blast

I couldn't get past it. Just not my cup of tea. It's the only Chiba film I've seen so I'm not judging his whole career.

[grim_tales]

I havent seen many either - just the Street Fighter films.

[thelostdragon]

When you got hit by Musashi Miyamoto's katana... well, you were in two pieces after that, game over.

Or katanas, plural, for that matter since he was the guy who kinda invented fighting with two swords after watching a drummer with his two drumsticks. God, I love 'Musashi' by Eiji Yoshikawa. Wonderful book.

[Yi-Long]

When you got hit by Musashi Miyamoto's katana... well, you were in two pieces after that, game over.

Or katanas, plural, for that matter since he was the guy who kinda invented fighting with two swords after watching a drummer with his two drumsticks. God, I love 'Musashi' by Eiji Yoshikawa. Wonderful book.

I want to watch the movies, and I might like to read the book as well...

I do have the first volume of the manga Vagabond, which is supposedly based on Musashi...

[thelostdragon]

I do have the first volume of the manga Vagabond, which is supposedly based on Musashi...

I have them all up until 30 or 31. 32 was released last month over here in Germany. I have to get that. Inoue's take on the Musashi saga is quite interesting. It starts steering away from Yoshikawa's way of telling the story, for example by making Kojiro a deaf-mute. But still great manga!

[HungFist]

I bought the 5 film set by Animeigo recently...
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Samurai- ... 752&sr=1-1

Haven't watched them yet

[Yi-Long]

I do have the first volume of the manga Vagabond, which is supposedly based on Musashi...

I have them all up until 30 or 31. 32 was released last month over here in Germany. I have to get that. Inoue's take on the Musashi saga is quite interesting. It starts steering away from Yoshikawa's way of telling the story, for example by making Kojiro a deaf-mute. But still great manga!

I bought the first volume when I was in HK on vacation, and I liked it but didn't LOVE it. Also, I think my first volume might have had the last pages orso missing, cause it ends rather abruptly.

I think I prefer the Blade of the Immortal manga over Vagabond, although I've only bought the first 3 volumes so far. I've got Naruto complete, Dr. Slump almost complete, Dragon Ball about half complete (Not Z)

[HungFist]

Teketeke (Japan, 2009) – 2/5
Koji Shiraishi’s standard horror film released in theaters as double feature. This first half is an idol driven film follows high school girls attacked by a supernatural killer who lost her legs in an accident. Shot cheap and quick, with some CG-enhanced SFX and gore, there’s little on offer that hasn’t been done better before. Considering Shiraishi’s recent track record it’s certainly a lazy effort.

Outlaw Killers: Three Mad Dog Brothers (Japan, 1972) – 3/5
Fukasaku’s follow up to Street Mobster, shot in very similar fashion. Bunta Sugawara stars as yet another crazy street punk who goes to prison for 6 years for killing enemy gang member. When things don’t go as planned after the release, he decides to “fuck the world” and make his own fortune on the streets. Not a sophisticated film by any means, Three Mad Dog Brothers is much like Sugawara’s performance: almost comically over the top, full of rage, and violent as hell. No one makes films like this anymore (except maybe V-Cinema), with even gangster movies getting all clean and polished these days.

[gasteropod]

Flash Point: 2/5

Modern martial arts films just have nothing on the ones from the '80s, and this one spent too much time trying to be a Johnnie To film when it should have been blowing my mind with fight scenes.

[Markgway]

The Founding of a Republic **

Chairman Mao is a warm, fuzzy fellow who loves children, wants peace, and saved China from those nasty nationalists..... Fact.

[Shingster]

Sonny Chiba was a poor man's Bruce Lee wannabe who never had the skills to match the best of the HK action industry. To get round this he invented a badass screen persona and embraced ultraviolence so effectively it compensated for his lack of "screenfighting" talent, although many directors in HK made films that were "harder impact" than Chiba (as luckystars rightly pointed out, Sammo's films make Karate martial arts films look like tickling contests).

[HungFist]

Sonny Chiba was a poor man's Bruce Lee wannabe who never had the skills to match the best of the HK action industry. To get round this he invented a badass screen persona and embraced ultraviolence so effectively it compensated for his lack of "screenfighting" talent, although many directors in HK made films that were "harder impact" than Chiba (as luckystars rightly pointed out, Sammo's films make Karate martial arts films look like tickling contests).

Are you serious or just making fun of internet dumbasses?

[Heka]

Sonny Chiba was a poor man's Bruce Lee wannabe who never had the skills to match the best of the HK action industry. To get round this he invented a badass screen persona and embraced ultraviolence so effectively it compensated for his lack of "screenfighting" talent, although many directors in HK made films that were "harder impact" than Chiba (as luckystars rightly pointed out, Sammo's films make Karate martial arts films look like tickling contests).

Disclaimer: If this message was intended as a joke I apologize for not regocnizing it.

I think it's very ignorant to say Chiba lacked skill. The JP and HK action were done to different audiences by different people. If you checked out the Sonny Chiba interview I posted on this thread a few days ago you saw some of the difficulties in making action scenes in Japan. In JP you could not hit the face and you could only make light contact. On the other hand the HK stuntmen and extras were insane and they really put their body on the line to make the film spectacular.

[Keung]

Flash Point: 2/5

Modern martial arts films just have nothing on the ones from the '80s, and this one spent too much time trying to be a Johnnie To film when it should have been blowing my mind with fight scenes.

I was quite bored throughout. The end fight was worth it, though.

[HungFist]

Well, the level of ignorance does suggest Shing was actually poking fun of Brad. Although I don’t recall his sense of humor being on such advanced level…

In any case, this "poor man Chiba" did equally good films as Bruce Lee, and even with his limited acting capacity was a better and more charismatic actor that Bruce IMO. Of course, as a martial artist Chiba was not as remarkable as Lee, but that’s a different story. As an actor and filmmaker he achieved much more than Lee did. Chiba was considered the hottest action star in Japan already back in the 1960’s. He was also well known in Hong Kong, too.

For a “wannabe” I also find it odd that his films are completely different from those of Lee. Maybe that’s because in terms of karate cinema Chiba was heavily influenced by the yakuza films which he had been doing since the early 60’s, which served as basis for his new karate anti-heroes as well (new, as opposed to the “old heroes” which he had been playing in martial arts movies and TV shows in the 60’s). The directors of his most famous 70’s martial arts films like The Street Fighter, Karate Bullfighter and The Killing Machine were all yakuza film directors.

Chiba’s karate isn’t “dancing” like what you saw in many other movies, probably because Chiba’s sensei was the legendary bull killer and brute Masutatsu Oyama. Chiba studied karate under Oyama’s instruction in the mid 60’s. Oyama’s karate, Kyokushin karate, is known as the hardest full contact karate out there. Head kicks and being hit by baseball bat is normal training in this karate. In Japanese movies, like Heka said, you couldn't quite do that, but Chiba succesfully brought the mean attitude to the screen and made several of the most entertaining action films of the 70's.

Of course, Kyokushin karate isn’t the only martial art Chiba practiced, as Wikipedia tells us:

Chiba holds black belts in the following martial arts:

Ninjutsu - 4th Dan
Goju-ryu karate - 2nd Dan
Judo - 2nd Dan
Kendo - 1st Dan
Shorinji Kempo - 1st Dan
Kyokushin karate - 4th Dan

As the founder of Japan Action Club (in 1969) and as the person who made Hiroyuki Sanada and Etsuko Shihomi world’s top action stars, Chiba’s importance isn’t exactly to be under-estimated. Clearly he is the most remarkable Japanese action film star of all time. Not to mention a legendary actor with more than 150 movie roles in karate, yakuza, gidai geki, sci-fi etc. movies...

But getting back to Lee, even from a Chiba fan's point of view it’s really a shame he died so early, as the film he was set to make next was Stoner, starring Lee and Chiba together. But as the sad story goes, Chiba travelled to Hong Kong only to find out Bruce had just died. So Chiba cancelled his participation in the project. George Lazenby, however, had signed his contract just before Lee’s death. So what was left from the original super-cast was the only man who couldn’t fight…

[Markgway]

Lol... Lazenby's skills in OHMSS are superior to Chiba's in The Street Fighter.

[Heka]

Lol... Lazenby's skills in OHMSS are superior to Chiba's in The Street Fighter.

Say you're serious so I can proceed to mock and insult you.

[luckystars]

George Lazenby, however, had signed his contract just before Lee’s death. So what was left from the original super-cast was the only man who couldn’t fight…

I actually felt sorry for Lazenby losing a bigger shot at stardom. Having said that, if Stoner as it was originally conceived was anywhere nearly as bad as it turned out...certainly Lee would've lost his flawless cult movie status he 'enjoys' today.

[HungFist]

I actually felt sorry for Lazenby losing a bigger shot at stardom. Having said that, if Stoner as it was originally conceived was anywhere nearly as bad as it turned out...certainly Lee would've lost his flawless cult movie status he 'enjoys' today.

[HungFist]

Oh my god





I don't know if there was something in Heka's beer, but this too much


Gotta check this again in the morning to see if I'm still laughing my ass off...

[Markgway]

Say you're serious so I can proceed to mock and insult you.

Skip to 3:34

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3hsgh ... shortfilms

Better than any fight in The Street Fighter.