Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray set for the Chuck Norris Total Attack Pack. This 3 disc collection includes three of Chuck Norris’ (Yellow Faced Tiger) most acclaimed films, including an early one by filmmaker Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Under Siege):
1983’s Lone Wolf McQuade, starring David Carradine; 1985’s Code of Silence (read our review), starring Henry Silva; and 1986’s The Delta Force, starring Lee Marvin (The Dirty Dozen), Robert Forster (Jackie Brown) and Steve James (American Ninja).
“Keep Calm and Be a Superstar” Chinese Theatrical Poster
Director: Vincent Kok Cast: Eason Chan Yick-shun, Li Rong-Hao, Cui Zhi-Jia, Li Yi-Tong, Zheng Ji-Feng, Danny Chan Kwok-kwan, Wilfred Lau Ho-Lung, Hui Siu-Hung, Chris Collins, Vincent Kok Tak-chiu , Edward Ma, Lam Tze-Chung, Steven Fung Running Time: 98 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Most fans of Hong Kong cinema will be familiar with Jackie Chan and Wong Jing’s reported inability to get along while making City Hunter in 1993. As a director, Jing’s hurried production style didn’t sit well with Chan’s perfectionist tendencies, and the pair have never worked together again since. Jing apparently had such a miserable time making his own movie, that 2 years later, seemingly out of nothing else but spite, he made High Risk. Casting Jacky Cheung as a world famous action star, renowned for doing his own stunts, in reality he’s always doubled by his bodyguard (played by Jet Li, who later apologised to Chan for starring), and is as cowardly as he is vain. An obvious send-up of Chan’s own persona, one that was being heavily cultivated at the time through the release of Rumble in the Bronx (and its famous tagline – ‘No Fear. No Stuntman. No Equal.‘), High Risk remains a guilty pleasure.
Skip forward to the present day, and director Vincent Kok is another filmmaker that’s worked with Chan, when he helmed the stars 1999 production Gorgeous. There was certainly never any coverage at the time, or even in the almost 20 years that have passed since, of director and star having similar issues, but nevertheless Kok’s latest undeniably feels like a spiritual companion piece to High Risk. Billed as a riotous sendup of Hong Kong’s golden age of action, KCABAS (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) feels like it’s at least 20 years late in terms of the movies its jokes riff on, however it’s also for this exact reason that many HK film fans will have such a good time with it.
Chinese singer-songwriter Li Rong-Hao makes his big screen debut playing a private detective, one with a penchant for classic Hong Kong action movies, who finds himself recruited by the cops to go undercover and investigate a famous action stars links to a Thai drug kingpin. The star in question, amusingly named Yuen Bao, is played by one of the most familiar faces of the 00’s HK cinema scene, Eason Chan (Heat Team). Posing as film crew on the set of Chan’s latest movie, The Time Adventurer (a nod to Yuen Biao’s own Iceman Cometh), Rong-Hao soon finds an opportunity to get close to Chan when he saves him from an on-set accident. The question is, can he complete his mission when faced with such distractions as studying the action choreographers at work, falling for one of the extras (Li Yi-Tong), and dealing with Chan’s shady manager, played by Danny Chan Kwok-Kwan (Bruce Lee from Ip Man 3).
The answer of course is yes, however just like many of the Hong Kong movies its spoofing, KCABAS is less concerned with the plot, and more about how many skits it can fit into its lean 95 minute runtime. In many ways Kok’s latest feels like a Hong Kong incarnation of The Naked Gun, with a bombardment of jokes constantly assaulting the screen, regardless of how many of them hit the mark. Rong-Hao makes for a likeable lead, and essentially acts as a proxy for the audience, as the wonder he shares at being part of a Hong Kong action movie is one that likely many of us have fantasised about as well (along with, let’s admit it, Shu Qi). However the show really belongs to Eason Chan, who hams things up to eleven and is visibly having a great time. His role latches on to many of the ‘too good to be true’ elements of Jackie Chan’s persona, and annihilates them to shreds in frequently hilarious ways.
From his complaints on only ever receiving awards for his action, but never his acting, to at its most blatant a sendup of the well circulated rumour that one of the outtakes from Armour of God II: Operation Condor was in fact performed by a stuntman, but the aftermath was staged to make it look like it was Chan. These scenes work so well because of their basis in reality, and could well be considered more on the nose than anything found in High Risk. However the fact that KCABAS has been made as a good natured romp, rather than a slap in the face, most likely allowed Kok to get away with a lot.
Outside of the constant skits, there’s an underlying theme that speaks of the need to be true to oneself, with both Chan and Rong-Hao sharing a love of the rousing ‘Police Story’ score, which is used as a motif throughout. It’s ironic that one of Jackie Chan’s most instantly recognizable songs is utilized more effectively in a movie in which he doesn’t feature, than it is when he recently re-recorded it in Mandarin for the God awful Bleeding Steel, but as this point in his career its perhaps to be expected. Much like George Lucas and Star Wars, movies like KCABAS show a greater understanding of why Jackie Chan is so popular than Chan himself does based on his recent output.
Kok doesn’t just limit the spoofing to the golden era of the aging actions stars career, with plenty of Hong Kong cinema references being joyously thrown in along the way. Similar in style to Xu Zheng’s Lost in Hong Kong (a movie which remains criminally under-watched by fans of HK cinema), KCABAS throws in plenty of meta-references, with recreations of scenes in Infernal Affairs, to jabs at Cold War, to namedropping the likes of Stephen Chow and Maggie Cheung (who has an acting style hilariously named after her). While pokes at more recent Mainland fare may be conspicuous in their absence (a franchise like Wolf Warrior seems ripe for spoofing), the resulting risk of being blacklisted makes it understandable, and if anything only serves to make KCABAS feel exclusively Hong Kong.
Of course any movie about Hong Kong action, send-up or not, should feature some, and here it’s choreographed by Sammo Hung’s son Jimmy Hung (the one who looks like Sammo spent a night of passion with Andy Lau). KCABAS marks the younger Hung’s sophomore venture into action directing, with his only other credit being the 2014 Taiwanese movie Lion Dancing. Thankfully though action choreography seems to be in the Hung families DNA, and the handful of exchanges interspersed throughout make for entertaining viewing. We get to witness Chan unleashing everything from drunken fist to snake style, while the likes of Chris Collins (Paradox) shows up as the villain of The Time Adventurer. Being a comedy, I was expecting Danny Chan to break out the Bruce Lee shtick, but to everyone’s credit he plays it straight throughout, removing any chance of a Jackie and Bruce to the Rescue redux.
As a director Kok has largely become associated with making the obligatory star-studded Lunar New Years comedies in recent years, with the likes of All’s Well Ends Well 2009 and Hello Babies. While this isn’t the first time for him to dabble directly in the spoof genre, with the lamentable superhero send-up Mr. and Mrs. Incredible from 2011 being more miss than hit, KCABAS does mark the first time to get it so right. While it’s a fair criticism to say that the Jackie Chan it’s spoofing is indeed the same era Jackie Chan being targeted in High Risk, when so many of the stars movies have such a timeless quality to them, somehow the jokes still manage to come across as relevant and fresh. But then, I’m a shameless fan of that glorious 80’s era of Hong Kong action, so perhaps for an audience more in tune with current trends KCABAS could well be a miss.
For the rest of us though, there should be much to enjoy. Appearances from the likes of Hui Siu-Hung and Lam Tze-Chung only add to the nostalgia, and in an industry which has strived to be taken more seriously, it’s kind of nice to watch a production that feels like it’s a product of that bygone ‘make things up as we go’ era. Featuring a distinct lack of Mainland influence, not a Japanese bad guy in sight, and a cast who are clearly game for a laugh, KCABAS is that rare breath of fresh air that makes you remember why you got into Hong Kong cinema in the first place.
Felix Chong, co-director of Donnie Yen’s The Lost Bladesman, teams up with frequent collaborator Alan Mak (Infernal Affairs) for an upcoming Hong Kong action film titled Project Gutenberg (read our review). The film is directed by Chong, based on a script co-written by Mak.
According to Variety, the story sees Hong Kong police hunting a gang of exceptional currency counterfeiters. Through a gang member (Kwok) whom they extradite from Thailand, the police find themselves on the trail of the gang’s shadowy mastermind (Chow). The film also stars Zhang Jingchu (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation), Liu Kai Chi (Z Storm) and Catherine Chau (Heaven in the Dark).
Project Gutenberg is getting a domestic release on September 30, 2018.
Updates: Another New Poster has arrived (via AFS). CYF with a gun is always a good thing.
Director: Jimmy Nam Writer: Jimmy Shaw Cast: James Nam, Shao-Hung Chan, Kuen Cheung, Nan Chiang, Shao-Lin Chiang, Chi Chu Chin, Chun Erh, Yi Feng, Tsan-Hsiung Ku, Hok Nin Lau, Ke Ming Lin, John Patton, Travador Ramos, Fui-On Shing Running Time: 86 min.
Revenge plots are classic tropes that we see in martial arts movies all the time. Heck, even Western Action movies maintain that notion of revenge. Something bad happens to someone’s family member, and someone has to seek out justice, at all costs. Well, that’s what we are supposed to get with the movie Gambling for Head, and while the unfortunate title suggests that we are going to get an epic assault of the senses, and the poster makes it seem like there will be a fighter with a cool claw hand, we actually get a slow moving, boring, and somewhat formulaic kung fu movie.
This 1975 action film stars a variety of actors that you may or may not know, and the film has not been updated or remastered, however, it has been dubbed in English. As you progress through the movie, the plot unravels in an unconventional method. At only 86 minutes, you should be able to gather the story quickly, but unfortunately, the edit that came to the west seems to be missing something, or has been edited into a framework that just doesn’t make sense at times.
To that effect, you are going to have to sit through over an hour of story, with minimal action to see what is going on. If you aren’t paying a lot of attention, or you aren’t 100% committed to the action that is going on, you will miss small plot points that explain the reasons for progressing through the story.
As you meander through the plot, you are introduced to several kung fu body guards that are sent out to the countryside to find and beat up gamblers that didn’t pay their debt. After this has. Been sourced, we get introduced to a couple of brothers that are struggling to make ends meet, and are taking care of a young child. When one brother goes out to get a job, refusing to become a bodyguard for the gambling hall that is sending out their bouncers, he leaves the other at home. With no money, that brother goes out to try and get medicine, but is thwarted when he only has one dollar, and the medicine costs two. He then gets the bright idea to go and gamble for the dollar, and upon losing, is so distraught he comes back and says, “I’ll Bet My Head!”, which is why the title is what it is. This doesn’t go well, and the bouncers, the murder crew, or whatever gang name you want to give them attacks him as he doesn’t want to die or give up his head, and they do a number on him. While the movie doesn’t show a decapitation, it’s eluded that he is murdered by the gang for his foolish bet.
Fast forward to the young girl, now dead, and the brother arrives. He see the child dead, and finds out about his brother, all of course is not told on screen in this edit. Instead, you have to make assumptions, and assume that’s what happened, because he immediately shows up at the gambling hall with a sack of heads. You see, he killed all the bouncers, and now wants revenge. All of this is not explained in the movie, it is subtly told to you in one liners, and doesn’t show you how he fought them, or how he knew all the bouncers etc.
By the time you settle in for this final showdown, you have given up more than an hour of your life to inconsistent story telling and minimal fighting. I almost gave up on this movie. Then in the final quadrant, the movie goes all out, and our main hero seeks revenge and takes on all comers. He takes out all the gambling hall’s employees, and after that is done, he takes on the final master. The final master puts on fight that includes multiple weapons, multiple kung fu styles, and a lot of back and forth. I could not identify the exact style of kung fu portrayed, but there were several rods used, and a claw chain used at one point.
Gambling for Head is not a stellar movie. It can be very boring to sit through, but if you’re a fan of kung fu movies, you’ll enjoy the final sequence most. I’m not sure if the original edit has more story to it, but the Western released dubbed option has bad editing, and a rushed final set of sequences, that lead to a great final fight. For a throwaway kung fu movie, I can truly say that the final fight scene is worth checking out, even if it is only on Youtube.
I must admit though, I like the title, it reminds me of a terrible adult movie I might or might not have dreamed up. If the end fight didn’t have so much back and forth, with a focus on length, different kung fu styles, and weapons, I would say this was a passable movie, and yet, it’s got some charm. It is almost as though the director knew he was putting together something boring, so he put all his effort into the final sequence, and that saves this from getting a lower rating than it does.
Note: The edition of the movie used for this review was part of a kung fu movie box set. It was only 86 minutes long. There is an edition floating around online that is 102 minutes long, but I didn’t get that version at the time of this review. Also, due to the limited nature of information, and misinformation on the dvd cases, imbd, and other pages, the information presented is accurate to what is available at the time.
After a drinking contest with some questionable local spirits, five friends wake naked on a beach to discover one of them is handcuffed to a locked suitcase, one has a strange new tattoo, and none of them have any clue what happened the night before. When they soon find themselves pursued by local gangsters, their only shot at making it home – and to the altar – is to piece together the previous night’s events while on the run.
On October 2, 2018, Universal Pictures is releasing the Blu-ray & DVD for Charles Martin’s British-Chinese actioner S.M.A.R.T. Chase.
S.M.A.R.T. Chase (aka Smart Chase: Fire & Earth or The Shanghai Job) features an all-star, international cast that includes Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean), Lynn Hung (Ip Man 3), Simon Yam (Mrs K) and Xing Yu (Kung Fu Jungle).
The film involves a washed-up private security agent has to escort a valuable Chinese antique out of Shanghai but is ambushed en route.
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)
Director: Jung Bum-Sik Writer: Jung Bum-Sik, Park Sang-Min Cast: Wi Ha-Joon, Park Ji-Hyun, Oh Ah-Yeon, Moon Ye-Won, Park Sung-Hoon, Lee Seung-Wook Running Time: 94 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The found footage horror film could be said to have started with Italian filmmaker Ruggero Deodato’s notorious 1980 jungle nightmare Cannibal Holocaust, but for many viewers it will arguably be a movie that came almost 20 years later, in the form of The Blair Witch Project, that introduced them to the genre. Filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez were ahead of their time in utilising the internet to market their movie, in a way which blurred the line around if what we were going to be watching was in fact real, and the result became a global phenomenon. Sure, it was just a bunch of unknown actors running around in the woods at night with camcorders, but no doubt for those that watched The Blair Witch Project at the time of its release (I was one of them), it was terrifying for all the right reasons.
Soon the found footage technique became the new trend, with the likes of Paranormal Activity and [REC] continuing its use in the horror genre, while the likes of Cloverfield and Chronicle put it to use within the sci-fi realm. The Korean film industry has found itself frequently revisiting the found footage horror, with the recurring theme being that they all tend to fail miserably. From the likes of 2010’s Deserted House, to the more recent Hide-and-Never-Seek. However while Hollywood horror looks to make social media the new found footage (with titles like Unfriended and Friend Request already exposing the limited scope of the concept) Korea has just unleashed a new found footage horror that’s become the 2nd most successful local horror flick of all time.
With only Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters being more successful, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum appears to have hit the spot that other found footage horror flicks have been repeatedly missing. So what’s the deal? Helmed by Jeong Beom-sik, the director responsible for the underrated 2007 horror Epitaph, his latest effort has provided him with the success that’s proved to be so elusive up until now. Beom-sik is an aficionado of the horror genre, and contributed segments to both 2012’s Horror Stories and its 2013 follow-up, Horror Stories 2. But when neither of them set the box office alight, he appeared to turn his back on horror, and made a raunchy adult comedy as his sophomore full length feature in the form of 2014’s Casa Amor, Exclusive for Ladies.
Thankfully his third feature sees him returning to the genre he loves, although it hit a few bumps in the road on the way to the screen, even if some of those bumps can also be contributed to its success. First of all, Gonjiam is in fact a real psychiatric hospital which was abandoned in 1995, the reasons for which are surrounded in urban myths (various blogs site everything from ghosts to financial problems). It frequently turns up on ‘Creepiest Places on Earth’ type lists, so if anything it’s a surprise a horror movie has never been filmed there before. Of course, understandably the owner of the hospital, who’s been trying to sell it ever since, didn’t feel that a movie about it being haunted would help attract any potential buyers, so filed a lawsuit against Beom-sik and the production company to prevent it from being released. Luckily, the authorities saw sense, and in March 2018 a Seoul court ruled in favour of it being released.
The plot of Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is, as expected, little more than a rudimentary framework on which to hang off various scares. A popular vlogger (played by Wi Ha-joon) who runs a site dedicated to covering unexplained happenings, usually of the gruesome variety, decides the best way to increase his views is to broadcast a live stream special event of a group of young paranormal enthusiasts exploring Gonjiam at night. With each of the group fitted with GoPro’s and various other camera equipment, soon they’re on their way, with Ha-joon coordinating everything via headsets to his two regular staff that are accompanying them, while he runs the show from a nearby tent. While Ha-joon and his crew have set up various staged scares to ensure they get the views they’re after, soon events begin to happen which aren’t in the script, and an increasing sense of real terror and panic creeps in as Gonjiam begins to reveal its secrets.
Beom-sik has made a bold move reverting to a genre that many would consider ran out of gas several years earlier, however his back-to-basics approach for the large part pays off. Just like in The Blair Witch Project, most of the cast in Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum are not well known actors, with perhaps the most recognizable face being former frequent Kim Ki-duk collaborator Park Ji-ah, who has a small but meaningful role. The rest are either regular supporting actors (Park Ji-hyun, Oh Ah-yeon, and Park Sung-hoon) or are making their debut (Moon Ye-won and Lee Seung-wook). Just like any horror movie of this nature, the strange events also spilled into real life, with Seung-wook announcing his departure from the entertainment industry just days after its release, marking him as noticeably absent from the promotional activities the cast were taking part in.
The real question of course is the only one that matters for any horror movie – is it scary? To which the answer is, yes, in varying degrees. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is a lean movie, running for just over 90 minutes (a small miracle for any Korean movie in recent years), and as such it has to get the sense of dread instilled almost from the word go. Instead of choosing this approach though, Beom-sik plays with the audience just as much as he does the characters exploring the asylum. Some of the scares seem too obvious – loud noises, dolls that suddenly show up in different locations, and alike. Just as it seems the latest found footage horror isn’t going to bring anything different to the table than any of the other failed attempts, that’s when it’s revealed that most of the scares so far have in fact been staged. It’s a smart move, and one which speaks to the cynical mind-set modern audiences have to such setups.
The benefit of this is, once the real scares do come, we’ve been lulled into a false sense of security, which helps to make even the most basic bump in the night that much more terrifying. With that being said, the real scares also don’t last as long as they should, with proceedings abruptly ending just as it begins to feel we’re ramping up to something truly terrifying. It could easily be argued that Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum delivers its scares just as effectively as The Blair Witch Project, and to a point I’d agree. However the difference is, in The Blair Witch Project the terror is sustained, whereas Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum cuts out at a point when you still want to be scared more. It feels a bit like if The Shining ended just as Jack Nicholson was about to enter room 237 in the Overlook Hotel.
What we do get though is a few effectively drawn out scenes of terror, with the U.S. educated character (played by Moon Ye-won) earning the title of scream queen with aplomb. Korean’s have always had somewhat of an awkward relationship with their fellow countrymen who weren’t raised on Korean soil, so it seems somewhat fitting that in the horror genre, being educated overseas marks you as the equivalent of a character having pre-marital sex in a slasher movie. You know they’re going to die first. The dimly lit surroundings are also utilised to maximum effect when it comes to wringing out the tension, with the face-facing cameras allowing us to witness the terror up close and personal. Indeed it’s the stripped down realism that works so much in Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum’s favour, with no unnecessary CGI or booming soundtrack, we’re simply left to be absorbed in the dark recesses of the hospital, and what lurks in them.
Does Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum reinvent the Korean horror genre? No, not by a longshot, and purveyors of the horror genre will no doubt note its similarities to the 2011 Canadian found footage flick, Grave Encounters. However Beom-sik has approached the material with a refreshing lack of pretentiousness, seemingly with no further ambition than to creep the audience out and give them a few jumps along the way, and sometimes in a horror movie that’s all that’s needed. My only wish is that he dedicated as much time delivering on the expectation to be jumping out of our seats every few minutes, as he did on subverting them. As it is though, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is a horror movie which deserves to be seen, and for anyone that’s planning to visit Korea at some point, it at least gives you one more place to add to your itinerary.
Brotherhood of Blades 2 | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Lu Yang’s Brotherhood of Blades 2, the follow up to the filmmaker’s 2014 wuxia actioner, Brotherhood of Blades.
The original Brotherhood of Blades (read our review) told the story of three guards who are sent to hunt down a eunuch politician, only to find themselves in the middle of a deadly conspiracy.
On October 16, 2018, Well Go USA will be releasing the Blu-ray & DVD for Erik Matti’s BuyBust (read our review). This acclaimed action/martial arts film stars MMA sensation, Brandon Vera (Kamandag), Anne Curtis (Blood Ransom) and Victor Neri (Citizen Jake).
Matti hit the nail right on its head with his 2013 contract killer-themed thriller On the Job. His recent film, Honor Thy Father, has met with similar praise. Now, Matti takes a stab at the martial arts genre with BuyBust, which tells the story of cop who finds herself trapped inside a dangerous slum area in Manila after a poorly planned buy-bust operation goes awry.
Arrow Video presents the Blu-ray for Orgies of Edo. Legendary Toei director Teruo Ishii tells three stories of moral sickness set during Japan’s prosperous Genroku era in this bloody follow-up to his sexploitation classic Shogun’s Joy of Torture, and the fourth entry in Toei’s ‘abnormal love’ film series. Ishii’s politically incorrect moral lessons paint a trio of tales of tragic heroines caught up in violence, sadomasochism, incest and torture.
Told in anthology style by an impassive physician (Teruo Yoshida), the first story follows Oito (Masumi Tachibana), an innocent young girl deceived by a handsome yakuza and sold into prostitution who finds herself in a doomed love affair with the man who brought her to ruin. The tale of Ochise (Mitsuko Aoi) is about the daughter of a rich merchant whose insatiable appetite for filth and perversion draws her deeper into violence, darkness and betrayal. Finally, the story of Omitsu (Miki Obana) follows a sadistic lord (Asao Koike) whose eye is caught one day by a beautiful member of his harem who shares his strange taste for pain and blood, but who holds a secret of her own that will destroy his entire household.
A stylistic about-face from the director’s prior work for Toei on the successful Abashiri Prison action series starring Ken Takakura, Ishii’s erotic films grew increasingly shocking, violent and strange, and Orgies of Edo finds him combining period film detail with carnivalesque grotesquerie to create his own particular vision of love and sex. This landmark ‘ero-guro’ film allowed Ishii to experiment with elements that would later show up in his masterpieces Horrors of Malformed Men and Blind Woman’s Curse, including the participation of sideshow performers and butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
The Orgies of Ishii – an exclusive, newly filmed interview with author Patrick Maccias
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
First pressing only: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author Tom Mes
My childhood in the leafy suburb of Linlithgow, near the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, could not have been more idyllic and beautiful. On Saturdays the family would head through to Edinburgh, a place I remember as a kid being labyrinthine with great Victorian atmosphere, with winding streets that connect up in weird ways. In the evening we would regularly go to my Grandparents house, just outside of the city. My Grandad loved Westerns, Horror and Schwarzenegger films; my father always turned them off, afraid that my young mind would be disturbed – this must be one of the reasons I love mature violent cinema as an adult. One day, Grandad popped in a VHS of Enter the Dragon, when I was about 11. When it reached that most famous fight scene Bruce vs. the guards, I can still remember it like yesterday. My eyes widened in awe, and a feeling deep within me awoke that still hasn’t left – one I still experience when I see this great fight scene. I describe it as awestruck consciousness… these are the only words that work.
As we all know, Enter the Dragon is an American production; the aforementioned fight scene being perhaps the greatest in all of American cinema. This article is about the film that introduced me to Hong Kong cinema, and it wasn’t long before that life-changing experience occurred. A couple of months after watching Enter the Dragon, my Grandad and I paid a visit to the local video shop. I looked through the titles until one stuck out, a big box VHS with nice artwork with the tagline “a rip roaring adventure on the old China Coast’. The film was Project A. I told my Grandad I wanted it, so he looked at the rating, PG, and consented. We got home and I eagerly stuck the VHS in. Nothing could have prepared me for the wealth of entertainment I was about to experience… my introduction to Hong Kong Cinema, and to the Three Dragons: Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Baio.
“Project A” International Poster
To this day, Project A holds up as one of the greatest action comedies ever produced, and for me the ultimate three Dragons film (although there were not many!). Take a look at the action. From the first barroom brawl to the magnificent three on one ending, it’s up there with the best of all time. And let’s not forget how game changing the action is. Previously most Hong Kong movies were period pieces with shapes or basher action; Project A updated this style to incorporate kickboxing, which was all the rage at the time, and a dynamic editing style that favours clear presentation and seamless flow between shots. Sammo’s classic Wing Chun film Prodigal Son was the first to update the action style of Hong Kong movies, and on in to films such as the all star action comedy Winners and Sinners, but Project A consolidated and made it the trend of the mid-80’s.
The “young me” adored the characters in the film, and the actors who played them, and the older me agrees. In fact, Sammo’s character and performance made the biggest impact; and to this day he remains my ultimate hero. Meeting and interviewing him 2 years ago is sincerely one of the high points of my life. His hilarious demeanour, amusing dialogue and expert martial arts skills blazed image after image in to my mind, most vividly when throwing a slow motion flying kick to villain Dick Wei’s back in that end fight. Wei’s dastardly pirate Sanpao is easily his best role, tattooed up and iconic, throwing those amazing kicks. Jackie really cuts loose with his performance, when his buffoonish but morally upstanding character was in its infancy. The mid film chase and stunt work section is one of the greatest in any film, with moment after moment of jaw dropping ingenuity, the ultimate being the fall from the clocktower, which I rewind every time even though it’s a double take. Yuen Baio plays against type as a cocky officer, but his acrobatics and kicking throughout are extraordinary. The chemistry between the three is electric, in comedic and action terms. I can only imagine what it was like to see this film in 1984, seeing before your eyes the game being changed.
The signature 80’s action comedy style for all three Dragons was bourne in by the film, and set the precedent for what was to come. The success of Project A across the board in Asia and international markets such as the UK paved the way for a new type of kung fu movie, one which embraced new settings and styles.
“Project A” Japanese Theatrical Poster
For me this opened up a treasure trove of wonders; next I rented the action masterpiece Above the Law (aka Righting Wrongs) with Yuen Baio, and it became the first VHS I ever bought, when I was 13. It still holds pride of place in my collection as the only VHS, surrounded by DVDs and Blu-rays, and is one of my prized possessions. From then, it was classic Jackie such as the Police Story trilogy, of which the first is in my top 5 favourite Hong Kong movies.
Despite watching these movies in the mid-90’s and most of them being made in the 80’s, the atmosphere crawled under my skin and affected me like nothing had before. They became my private obsession, as I watched more and more, on in to the time of the video labels Made In Hong Kong and Eastern Heroes. I savoured such delights as the prime of classic kung fu like Invincible Armour and Drunken Master, and on into Heroic Bloodshed masterpieces by my favourite director John Woo, such as A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled… I could keep going. Now in my mid-thirties, I look back on that time with immense nostalgia and child-like wonder, but realise I must pay attention to the present. It chills my bones to think of the terrible state of HK cinema at the moment, apart from a few gems, so I now look to Korea for class A Asian cinema.
I could watch Project A another 50 times, as it is a timeless action masterpiece, a cinematic ride so potent it would blow me away every time. I envy the kid who comes across the film, his eyes widening and world changing as mine did, ready for for a lifetimes worth of Hong Kong cinema.
Windtalkers: Ultimate Edition | Blu-ray (MVD Marquee)
RELEASE DATE: October 9, 2018
On October 9, 2018, MVD Marquee Collection will be releasing a 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Blu-ray for the World War II actioner, Windtalkers, from acclaimed Hong Kong director, John Woo (Manhunt, The Killer).
In the brutal World War II Battle of Saipan, Sergeant Joe Enders (Academy Award® Winner* Nicolas Cage, Face/Off, Leaving Las Vegas) guards – and ultimately befriends – Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach, Suicide Squad), a young Navajo trained in the one wartime code never broken by the enemy, the Navajo Code. But if Yahzee should fall into Japanese hands, how far will Enders go to save the military’s most powerful secret?
John Woo directs this ”exciting” (Premiere) ”against-all-odds battle adventure” (The Toronto Star) co-starring Peter Stormare (Fargo), Noah Emmerich (The Americans), Mark Ruffalo (Avengers: Infinity War) and Christian Slater (Broken Arrow) and written by John Rice and Joe Batteer (Blown Away) and inspired by the true story of the Navajo soldiers whose courage and sacrifices helped win the war in the Pacific.
Here’s a list of the set’s Special Features:
Includes both the 134 minute Theatrical Version and the 153 minute Director s Cut
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p, 2.40:1) presentations of both versions of the film
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French 5.1 Surround, Spanish 5.1 Surround
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Audio Commentary with Director John Woo and Producer Terence Chang
Audio Commentary with Christian Slater and Nicolas Cage
Audio Commentary with actor Roger Willie and real-life Navajo code talker consultant Albert Smith
”The Code Talkers — A Secret Code of Honor” (23:12)
WWII Tribute Piece ”American Heroes: A Tribute to Navajo Code Talkers” (9:00)
”The Music of Windtalkers” (4:30)
Four Fly-on-the-Set Scene Diaries (23:37)
”Actors Boot Camp” Featurette (15:05)
Behind The Scenes Photo Gallery
Windtalkers Theatrical Teaser and Original Theatrical Trailer
Ha Chae-Yoon (Son) is a crisis negotiator for the Seoul Police Agency. She carries herself with a calm and cool-headed attitude. Min Tae-Koo (Hyun) is a weapons smuggler for a crime organization. He stages a terrifying hostage situation and Ha Chae-Yoon only has 12 hours to save the hostages (via AW).
While the original Predator may have its share of cheesy one-liners, it’s regarded by most as a modern action classic. It’s a movie that many consider Arnold Schwarzenneger’s strongest effort, a movie that would most likely be called John McTiernan’s finest hour if it wasn’t for a little film called Die Hard.
Still, even more surprising than the fact that Hollywood would touch the sacred cow of Predator is the news that none other than Shane Black will be directing the film. Before he made headlines for writing and directing Iron Man 3, Black was a talented writer who rose to fame on the strength of scripts like Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout.
Alongside his meteoric rise as a screenwriter in the late Eighties, Black actually had a small supporting role in the original Predator as the character Hawkins; this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it part was apparently a way for the producers to try and coax Black into polishing the script for Predator, a task which he repeatedly refused. All these years later, the Predator story appears to be coming full circle, as Black has co-written – along with Fred Dekker (Iron Man 3) – the treatment for the new Predator, which he has also directed.
Black has confirmed that the new Predator film, titled The Predator, is actually an “inventive sequel” and not a reboot. Here’s the official plot: From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black’s explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe’s most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves with DNA from other species. When a young boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.
The Predator stars Boyd Holbrook (Gone Girl), Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Jacob Tremblay (Room), Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse), Sterling K. Brown (The People vs. O.J. Simpson), Alfie Allen (John Wick), Thomas Jane (The Punisher), Jake Busey (Starship Troopers), and Yvonne Strahovski (Killer Elite).
The Predator hits theaters on September 14th, 2018.
Updates: Check out the film’s Final Trailer below:
This gritty cop flick is highly regarded as one of Norris’ best. The film’s climax is noted for its menacing crime-fighting robot, “Prowler” (hey, it was the 80’s).
Eddie Cusack (Norris) is a Chicago detective who plays by his own rules – a dangerous habit, especially when he breaks the “code of silence” to blow the lid off a deadly police cover-up. Now an outcast, he receives little help from his embittered fellow officers when he’s hurled into a blistering battle against rival drug kingpins.
Code of Silencealso stars Henry Silva (Ocean’s 11), Dennis Farina (Midnight Run), Ron Dean (The Fugitive) and Molly Hagen (Navy Seals vs. Zombies).
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