Bullets 'n' Babes

I have two questions:

1. Are Moon Warriors and Swordsman any good or HK pap?
2. Should I get Swordsman HKL or IVL? Normally I'd get the IVL/Fox for the FS HD remaster but in this case they don't look to different. I'm not keen on the yellow tinge though:

http://web12.dvd2web.de/swordsman/swordsman.htm

I really like Swordsman. It's a wonderful film - but most people don't seem to like it that much.

The HKL picture is OK but the IVL is more satisfactory. The HKL has the usual good extras - Bey Logan commentary, Yuen Wah interview.

It boils down to

HKL: Good extras
IVL: Better picture, mono sound - not sure about sync

The IVL has some extras for a change (2 interviews). So it's not all bad on the IVLs side.

Thanks. I figured the IVL "may" be better.

What about Moon Warriors?

Moon Warriors is great, thats all you need to know, well worth seeing. the HKL dvd is the best from what I know.

I will avoid Swordsman like the plague, just look at the star he has the talent of a potatoe.

My "Moon Warriors" review:
http://www.hongkonglegends.net/modules. ... =0&thold=0

Moon Warriors is cheapish at Play its 7.49p cheapest I have seen it.

Never really cared much for Moon Warriors. I picked it up on VHS 10 years orso ago after the BRILLIANT MIHK trailer, and was very dissapointed. It also shows a pretty wrong-casted Andy Lau, who very mediocre in the lead-role, to put it gently...

bradavon wrote:Are Moon Warriors and Swordsman any good or HK pap?

Moon Warriors is very good, get the HKL.

Swordsman is merely OK, but probably worth trying if you're a particular fan of new wave martial arts. I saw the HKL, but can't really remember what it was like.

Please clarify what you mean by "new wave martial arts"?

Thanks guys. I'll have to pick up Moon Warriors.

bradavon wrote:Please clarify what you mean by "new wave martial arts"?

Films of the Post-Shaw Bros era maybe?

New-wave, when we're talking about the early 90's period, is usually asociated with Wire-Fu... which was the big trend back then.
I'm personally not too fond of it. There are a few good wire-fu flicks, but they're only good in-between the wire-fu shit... like Iron Monkey and some other...

OMG you don't like Iron Monkey?

I figured Mark meant that but early 90s is hardly "new" wave???

bradavon wrote:I figured Mark meant that but early 90s is hardly "new" wave???

That's how it's referred to in order to distinguish it from old-school (1965-1985). The "new" isn't literal. The NW genre ran from circa 1990-1994, though some would argue that works such as Duel to the Death and Zu are NW. Thus these definitions and time parimeters are loose, but still fairly apt.

IMO The New Wave started in 1990 with Swordsman and ended either in 1994 with Sammo's Blade of Fury or in 1995 with Tsui Hark's The Blade.

This is how I differenciate the different eras of HK cinema:
1949 -> 1960: Wong Fei Hung era.
1960 -> 1971: The Chang Cheh era.
1971 -> 1974: The Bruce Lee era.
1976 -> 1982: The Kung-Fu comedy era.
1982 -> 1989: The Ghost Kung-Fu comedy era.
1983 -> 1988: The Sammo/Jackie Action Comedy era.
1986 -> 1992: The John Woo Police Movie era.
1990 -> 1994: The Neo Wu-Xia-Pian era (or Wire-Fu New Wave).
1996 : The Exodus (Tsui Hark, Jackie, Jet Li, Sammo all went to the U.S).
1998 : The Re-Birth of Korean cinema.
2003 -> ???? : The era of the Twins.

Nice summation Tom. Though you're a bit early with Chang Cheh. His first martial arts movie wasn't released until 1966.

You're right. But with Chang Cheh I'm also counting Chor Yuen and Li Han-Hsian who were already making movies in 1960.

Hey Chang Cheh still made wonderfull films later than that, so his section needs expanding anyway but I try not to think of timelines like them, they all matter in there own way and overlap so much.


you missed

2004+ people moan about the state of HK films a lot.

Romero, yeah eg "5 Venoms" (1978) is great IMO

bradavon wrote:OMG you don't like Iron Monkey?

I figured Mark meant that but early 90s is hardly "new" wave???

I thought I said Iron Monkey was one of the few I DID like!?!?

Yi-Long wrote:I thought I said Iron Monkey was one of the few I DID like!?!?

NO you said the opposite but thanks for clearing it up:

"but they're only good in-between the wire-fu shit... like Iron Monkey and some other..."

i.e - Wire-fu shit like Iron Monkey

Markgway wrote:That's how it's referred to in order to distinguish it from old-school (1965-1985). The "new" isn't literal. The NW genre ran from circa 1990-1994, though some would argue that works such as Duel to the Death and Zu are NW. Thus these definitions and time parimeters are loose, but still fairly apt.

What are films after that called? What made it stop in 1994? Did the films completely change?

Yes I like new wave then and dislike old wave/school. Personally I like wire-fu (much more than old school anyway).

Tom2681 wrote:1998 : The Re-Birth of Korean cinema.

Huh you're jumping countries?

What are films after that called? What made it stop in 1994? Did the films completely change?

1. There hasn't been any wave of martial arts films since then.

2. Audiences got bored. Ideas run out.

3. Yes. Action films are much less prominant in the last decade than they were before 1994. Action and martial arts used to be the staple of HK cinema. Now you get the odd film here and there. Jackie still does the business. But mostly it's now thrillers with some Hollywood-style action in them.

bradavon wrote:

Yi-Long wrote:I thought I said Iron Monkey was one of the few I DID like!?!?

NO you said the opposite but thanks for clearing it up:

"but they're only good in-between the wire-fu shit... like Iron Monkey and some other..."

i.e - Wire-fu shit like Iron Monkey

No, I said there ARE some good ones, where the movie IS goed, IN-BETWEEN the wire-fu shit ... Like Iron Monkey. Iron Monkey is a very good movie. The only bad thing about it is the wire-fu, but the fight-scenes that are 'grounded' are very good...

You're right Mark it's a pity martial arts films from the country which founded and encapsulated them are almost dying out.

Shaw Brother need to start pumping out more films I say sadly they just aint doing it sonce they came back

romerojpg wrote:Shaw Brother need to start pumping out more films I say sadly they just aint doing it sonce they came back

Nope they really aren't They could have saved crap like "Drunken Monkey" for themselves.