Female Convict Scorpion DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Posted on February 22, 2011 by JJ Bona

RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2011

In the wake of a shocking crime, an ordinary worman is transformed into a fighting machine in this action-drama straight from Japan. Matsu, known to the prisoners as Scorpion, is locked away in the bowels of the prison as revenge for her disfiguring attack on the warden. Granted a one-day reprieve, she attacks the warden again, which leads to more brutal punishment and humiliation. But her punishment provides an opportunity to escape, along with six other prisoners. Their surreal flight from prison pits the convicts against the guards, the warden, and each other.

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases |

Drug Addict, The (1973) Review

Posted on February 22, 2011 by JJ Bona
"The Drug Addicts" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“The Drug Addicts” Chinese Theatrical Poster

AKA: The Drug Addicts
Director: David Chiang
Cast: Ti Lung, Wong Chung (Wang Chung), Louise Lee (Si Kei), Paul Chun Pui (Paul Chin Pei), David Chiang, Lo Dik, Kong Do, Lee Hoi Sang, Tino Wong Cheung
Running Time: 94 min.

By Mighty Peking Man

So why were Chang Cheh, David Chiang and Ti Lung given the pseudonym “The Iron Triangle”?

Was it because of their long list of badass films that dominated the early 70’s, despite heavy competition with some dude named Bruce?; Was it because they were like an unbreakable bond of blood brothers (no pun intended) who tackled a number of totally different projects, as if they were a bunch of gutsy little school kids?

Whatever it was, the iron was held together tightly from all three directions.

Chang Cheh dug his two boys so much that he jump-started both of their first directorial features. Not only did David Chiang and Ti Lung had a genuine respect for one another, they also looked no further in finding leading men for each of their films. Ti Lung directed David Chiang in The Young Rebel and David Chiang directed Ti Lung in The Drug Addict, with Chang Cheh producing and co-directing both titles under his very own production company. Talk about a group effort.

In The Drug Addict, Kuan Cheng-chun (Ti Lung) is a kung fu teacher turned who turned into a heroin addict while Tseng Chien (Wang Chung) is a drug dealer with a conscious. The film opens with a penniless Ti Lung, strung out on heroin, begging for a free fix from Tseng. Feeling responsible for Kuan’s state, Tseng refuses his request for his own good. Later that day, the two bump heads once again. At this point, Tseng is still feeling bad for him, he decides to make Kuan kick his habit by locking him into an abandoned cabin overnight. After endless hours of hysterical desperation for heroin, Kuan wakes up to a new day to find that he has just been given the favor of a lifetime.

Thankful for Tseng’s help, Kuan is back on top form and training again at his kung fu school. Meanwhile, a cop (Paul Chin Pei) is hot on his trail. Aware of Kuan’s addiction, the cop questions him about his drug transactions with Tseng. Kuan explains that Tseng’s indeed a dealer, but an “different” one that helped him kick his drug habit. The cop assures Kuan that if he helps the system, he’d also be helping Tseng break free from the dangerous cult-like drug ring he’s employed with.

Things start to get ugly when Tseng’s drug bosses (headed be veteran bad guys Lo Dik, Kong Do aka “The Human Testicle,” and Lee Hoi Sang) start to inspect him because of his shady “nice guy” actions. To test his loyalty, they give him an odd job of murdering a certain someone, and that someone is Kuan.

I give David Chiang props for trying something dark and unique with The Drug Addict. However, the movie is just as dull as its title.

The mixture of martial arts action and rat-like heroin addicts is just plain ridiculous. I’m not sure if I can explain my self correctly, but let’s just say the two don’t go together. Maybe if it was more fun-filled (like Jackie Chan’s consumption of alcohol in The Drunken Master) and didn’t take itself so seriously, it could have worked. Watching Ti Lung in dirty clothes, all sweaty and implying that he’d suck dick for drugs just didn’t do anything for me. Thanks to Wang Chung, this portion of the film is tolerable.

The film slightly redeems itself once Ti Lung’s characters gets off the dope. At this point, The Drug Addict turns into a decent action film with some sweet brawls from both Ti Lung and Wang Chung (who sports the exact same long-sleeved shirt we wore in Police Force). However, the earlier, over-dramatic drug-themes have already taken their toll and clouds the possibility of making this a noteworthy flick.

Oh, and by the way, who does Ti Lung think he is, Bruce Lee? The clothes, the sunglasses, the hair and even some of his mannerisms reflect “The Little Dragon.” Should I even mention the “borrowed” snippets of Lalo Schifrin’s Enter The Dragon soundtrack? I mean, it was 1973, Bruce Lee had just died and opportunity was knocking for whoever wanted to try and capture the intensity of Hong Kong’s biggest star. I say this with some tongue and cheek, but The Drug Addict is pretty close to being a Bruceploitation flick.

To sum it all up, The Drug Addict is worth watching just to see David Chiang’s work behind the camera. Technically, he does a fine job, it’s just the story could have used some heavy re-writing. If you want to see a better “Iron Triangle” side-project, check out the remarkable The Young Rebel.

Mighty Peking Man’s Rating: 4/10

Posted in Chinese, Reviews, Shaw Brothers | Tagged , , , , |

Psycho Gothic Lolita DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
Psycho Gothic Lolita DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Psycho Gothic Lolita DVD (Tokyo Shock)

RELEASE DATE: May 24, 2011

A new Japanese action/gore film “Psycho Gothic Lolita” (aka Gothic & Lolita Psycho) will be released by Tokyo Shock. Directed by Go Ohara (Geisha vs Ninjas) and tarring Rina Akiyama, Ruito Aoyagi, Minami Tsukui, and Yourei Yanagi. Makeup/gore effects were handled by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl).

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

Kung Fu Dunk DVD/Blu-ray (Well Go USA)

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
Kung Fu Dunk DVD/Blu-ray (Well Go USA)

Kung Fu Dunk DVD/Blu-ray (Well Go USA)

RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2011

Starring Green Hornet’s Jay Chou, Eric Tsang and Charlene Choi.

Kung Fu Dunk, also known by its former title Slam Dunk, is a 2008 Chinese-language live-action film. It was directed by Taiwanese director Chu Yin-Ping. The film was previously titled Slam Dunk, but later the title has been changed to avoid confusion with the Slam Dunk manga and anime series[1] which it was roughly based on despite the film itself having no association whatsoever. The filming, however, conveyed a strong flavour of Hong Kong films, reminiscent of movies like Shaolin Soccer.

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

Struggle Through Death | aka Dragon Fighter (1979) Review

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
"Struggle Through Death" US DVD Cover

“Struggle Through Death” US DVD Cover

Director: Cheung San Yee
Cast: John Liu (Chung Liang), Ma Chiu-Ku, Wei Ping-Ao, Chui Chung Hei, Ma Cheung, Chin Lung, Yue Hang, Ma Yue Fung, Chai Hau Keung
Running Time: 96 min.

By Joseph Kuby

A classic example of a Chinese Opera-seria. For those not familiar with this term, here is the meaning…

Opera-seria: (esp. 18th-c. Italian) opera on a serious, usually classical or mythological theme.

Thus the classical or mythological theme in this film is how far coarse people withstand (ignore, manipulate or abuse) those with humane qualities.

Granted, there’s no singing but there’s a certain extravagance with the way the film depicts pathos and the action contains a rhythmic sense of motion which, when combined with the score, gives us an alternative kind of Opera where ballet is replaced by combat and singing is replaced by the vocal sounds made when people fight.

I should point out that the title of this 1979 film is more fitting than the typically bland Dragon Fighter. The original title has more depth as it reflects the film’s theme of perseverance. If you were to ask me what’s the film’s most original asset then I would say that the originality in question comes from this being a prison movie set in period China.

The film begins with some nice symbolism that would make John Woo proud (if he directed it, we surely would have been subjected to his juxtaposition techniques). Heck, you could say that the director for Kiss of the Dragon may have been inspired by the film’s opening sequence and with Hong Kong/martial arts cinema being popular in France (Fist of Legend was a huge hit over there), it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

With the tense and grim atmosphere notwithstanding, there are some nice comic moments to ease the tension.

There are some well-conceived training sequences, unique camera angles, good one-liners, effective music, very good action and John Liu giving a performance which shows that he’s a good actor and not as stiff as some have falsely pointed out.

Unlike a lot of kung fu films, this one had a message and then some. It possessed a sense of warmth and humanity that’s usually not seen in these films. But beware, this film desensitizes you with its scenes of violence almost like a kung fu version of Bullet In The Head i.e. three friends stuck in a prisoner camp that go through endless ordeal.

By the end of it you feel just as abused as they are and the experience is emotionally numbing, optically draining and cerebrally exhausting. Just like in John Woo’s films, the violence is done to show you how meaningless it is and why we should stop it. Struggle Through Death plays like a 15 rated version of Story of Ricky with the prisoners being tortured in various inventive ways.

The acting is solid to the point that the dubbing doesn’t misguide interpretations of an actor’s performance. Although this is a well-crafted kung fu prison movie, you’re not going to mistake it for the Prison on Fire movies made by Ringo Lam. Then again, Lam’s own period martial arts prison movie, Burning Paradise, is fairly dramatized with a stylized take on realism. Struggle Through Death is essentially The Big Boss infused with Papillon. Like The Big Boss, you have to wait for quite a while before you see the protagonist strut his stuff. When he does, it has more impact than if we just see him fight his way through both ends of the running time.

The film strikes a fine thin line between crass and class as, quality-wise, it lies somewhere between Story of Ricky and Shawshank Redemption (or for another analogy: Island of Fire and Stalag 17).

For those who’ve seen the documentary Top Fighter, this was the film where Liu takes on those thugs near that staircase with the girl standing behind him. But unlike the invincible Tae Kwon Do virtuoso he’s portrayed as in that scene, his character is someone who’s invulnerable only in spirit as his character is constantly abused which makes him more human and gives the film a stronger sense of reality. The characterization is fully fleshed out in this film so when a character dies, it has impact unlike in most of these flicks where characters are interchangeable cattle waiting to be slaughtered.

But rest assured, there’s plenty of martial arts action; though for the first half of the film it’s more of a street brawl variety before becoming “chop-socky” in manner. Liu’s leg holding ability is impressive though it would be more impressive if he could kick just as good with his left leg as he clearly can with his right – it would give the action more variety and thus make it awe-inspiring. His kicking instructor, Dorian Tan Tao Liang, was the opposite to Liu, to the extent that they should have done a film together called Yin and Yang Legs (perhaps with a storyline involving two men who make a partnership after sustaining injuries in one of their legs).

What does impress without fail or flaw is the middle-aged actor called Chui Chung-hei (who plays the sympathetic if punch-drunk foreman) whose displays of kicks and acrobatics seem miraculous considering his initially harmless demeanor.

As a guilty treat, the main villain (or at least the one who runs the whole gold smuggling scheme) looks like James Hong (Chinese actor usually seen in American films like Big Trouble In Little China).

Though to be honest, my motives for purchasing this film weren’t for the morality issues, political parallels or deep symbolism. It was more to do with the cool DVD cover (painted picture) which (besides featuring the likable tagline “He worked in Hell now he must fight like the devil”) exaggerates the prison camp in the film. On the UK DVD cover, it’s shown as a massive fortress on the edge of this canyon whilst John Liu takes on the James Hong lookalike underneath a red sky backdrop where the sun is blazing – playing up the “fighting the devil in hell” factor.

The Chinese translator from Fist of Fury, Paul Wei, is in this too.

On a final note, the translators working on this film thought it would be amusing to translate one of the actor’s names as F*ck.

Joseph Kuby’s Rating: 9/10

Posted in Chinese, Reviews | Tagged , |

Dragon the Master (2003) Review

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
"Dragon The Master" UK DVD Cover

"Dragon The Master" UK DVD Cover

Director: Ray Woo
Writer: Ray Woo
Producer: Joseph Lai, Ricky Wong, George Lai
Cast: Dragon Sek, Karen Cheung, Roy Cheung, Edward So, Billy Chow Bei-Lei, Lily Chung, Huang Yang
Running Time: 89 min.

By Joseph Kuby

OK but no point!

Just to save you from watching this movie with no obvious preconception of what this movie is about, I’ll tell you the plot in a nutshell.

I know it’s called spoiling the plot but really this is the sort of film in which understanding the plot prior to watching it is essential – not because it’s a martial arts/action movie but because the plot is convoluted junk (not because having a complicated plot is automatically junk but because the film’s plot is convoluted and it’s of the junk variety).

I only read Jeff’s review and the one over at the “Bruceploitation is a crime” site so naturally watching this film didn’t prove to be too taxing (i.e. a chore).

The plot is that this woman called Shelly (played by an actress whose lack of experience as a screen actress {as stated in the DVD extras} shows as she looks at the camera sometimes, though this could be faulted due to the lack of direction and an inproper script than lack of thespian judgement) has invented this computer game which is supported by a fellow colleague called Ko Wei (played by Roy Cheung – who doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself, wishing for better material) though the company would rather bootleg her material than sell it earnestly (perhaps this is a metaphor of the Hong Kong film industry itself and media moguls everywhere to a certain extent).

Her game gets stolen by these two ninjas (supposedly the later mentioned female assassins) and then she enlists the help of her best friend Sherwood (a disco socialite junkie who’s in over her head and a bit ditzy, as well as being something of a clutz) and her brother, Bruce Lee lookalike, Ti Lung (named after the famous martial arts actor who appeared in John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow) who, for no other reason other than the fact that this is a Bruceploitation movie, first shows up dressed in a yellow catsuit akin to Bruce Lee from Game Of Death (the suit most people {outside of Asian cinema fan circles} associate with Uma Thurman in Kill Bill).

A sub-plot is introduced (which could have been handled with some depth as it merely alludes to such depth waiting to be explored) which involves a wayward kickboxer who hails from the countryside looking for a way to enter the local tournament (an event which is alluded to in the film but never happens – again, not due to unpredictable storytelling mechanics but due to lack of budget….in case you can’t tell, this isn’t a big budget movie in the Hong Kong sense nor in the general sense).

He gets taken in by the schools of Jackie Cheng and Dragon Sek but is eventually forced to leave both subsequently due to lack of discipline to tolerate the bullying antics of the students. His wife abandoned him due to his martial arts-oriented ways, now he’s looking for her, finds that she’s in hospital and needs a lot of money to save her for a life-threatening operation.

Money which is only partially provided by Ko Wei, who happens to be a long-time friend of the kickboxer and forces him to do stuff in order to get what he wants via emotional blackmail but Billy is so happy to see his friend and so relieved yet distraught to find his wife that he barely notices the seedy undertones of the whole shebang.

Shelly and Dragon’s brother get kidnapped as the game that was being sold to the bootleggers was false so Dragon is coerced to team up with unlikely assistants to get them back whilst Ko Wei constantly threatens Shelly to hand over the format of the game.

Sometimes, Billy Chow’s character is more sympathetic than Dragon Sek’s and this isn’t some kind of cleverly written irony or a three dimensional way to highlight and flesh out characterization as a way of saying everyone is good and bad, but it’s just simply bad screenwriting (i.e. inconsistent character portrayals).

Speaking of characterization, I wasn’t sure as to whether Shelly was a shy character or if it was due to the cluelessness (or shy/embarrassed) appearance of the actress playing her (but again, it’s probably down to the direction and scripting).

The Bruceploitation era ended years ago and they still haven’t improved much with their budgets & overall production finesse, so why did they bother NOW?

It’s an okay film in that it’s technically well made, a mildly competent film if not a good one.

There were continuity errors that I spotted in regards to the way a person looked during a transition from shot to shot. Also, there’s an error I found in which the boyfriend of one of the female protagonists (the female martial artist called Sherwood as played by Karen Cheng) has spotted the two females (who are looking for the bootleggers in this building) and is trying to hide from them yet the positioning of all three could never allow for him to spot them without himself being spotted (especially as he tries to run away).

The fight scenes could have been shot much better which is a shame as the choreography was almost on a Yuen Woo Ping level. At the very worst, the fight scenes are a poor man’s version of the stuff headed by Corey Yuen Kwai’s stunt team. At the very best, the fight scenes feel like Corey had a hand in them.

On the behind the scenes featurette, the fight scenes looked so much better, not just because they’re shot from a stationary camera where you can see the choreography reveal in front of your eyes without lots of close-up camera angles and too much fast editing, but because some of the footage that was shown was taken from the widescreen print of the film making you wish that the Western distributors had released the film in widescreen. Also, the film looks like something from the early 90s (due to quality of print) despite being made in 2003!

The best fight scenes are the ones which involved Dragon taking on the kart-driving assassins and the assassins on the first floor of the pagoda he enters at the very end of the film.

There’s only four other fight scenes which constitute as being the best leaving the others to look slightly average or poor in comparison: the introductory fight to the film which contains a nicely filmed stand-off beween two female opponents (for mainstreamers, this may recall the fight between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang ZiYi in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), the fight between Dragon Sek and the drunken boxer (unashamedly called Jackie Cheng), the final fight at Dragon’s dojo (which sees Dragon, Karen and Jackie take on a duo of blackly-clad female assassins) and when Jackie takes on one of the main villains outside the pagoda.

In fact, whenever Billy Chow showed up on screen (the kickboxer from the countryside) the screen was set alight and his appearance raises this out of its B movie leanings in the same way Dorian Tan Tao Liang’s and Jim Kelly’s appearances lifted Black Belt Jones 2: The Tattoo Connection out of B movie limbo (Dorian’s presence for artistic reasons and Jim’s presence for commercial reasons); so naturally when Billy shows up the fight scenes are worth their salt.

Critically acclaimed actor Roy Cheung (who was in Johnnie To’s The Mission) was in this movie as well playing the love interest of Dragon’s sister (called Shelly) who originally sticks up for her idea of a computer game but who is really a shady entrepreneur trying to rip her off by selling the computer game to shifty bootleggers.

His appearance also lifts this from its B movie leanings though he’s wasted (like what he said on the behind the scenes featurette, there wasn’t much psychology written for the character).

It could have been left uncut too as there’s a scene featured in the making of documentary (though shot from a behind the scenes perspective) that involves the female martial artist and our Bruce Lee lookalike jogging with the latter’s students.

The guy who’s the Bruce Lee lookalike looks like a muscular and taller version of Teddy Robin Kwan (who played Boomer in Jackie Chan’s Twin Dragons) than Bruce Lee. Also, our Jackie Chan wannabe looks more like Manfred Wong (producer/screenwriter of The Duel, of whom can be seen on the UK DVD release of said film) than Jackie Chan (the only similarities are the hair and a big nose) and he’s incredibly dopey looking to boot.

Word has it that Disney wants Yuen Woo Ping to remake Seven Dwarfs & Snow White except with Shaolin monks in the leading roles, so this dopey JC wannabe is a pure candidate for the dopey monk!

It’s interesting how the story reflects Bruce’s original plans (and rewrites) for Game Of Death. Both of these movies (minus the 1978 version of Game Of Death) are about a retired martial arts champion whose sister and brother are kidnapped by the Korean mafia, thus forcing our hero to team up with unlikely assistants to battle opponents associated with a pagoda.

The idea, originally (i.e. before Bruce began shooting) was that on each floor there would be a group of martial artists of a particular style, in the case of the first floor – it is guarded by a group of staff-wielding thugs.

I wonder if these inspirations were intentional (no sarcastic pun intended) though I think with Bruce’s popularity in the East, it’s fair to say that the screenwriters are huge Bruce Lee fans and did their research (either casually as fans or formally as filmmakers looking for ideas).

In fact, I’d go so far to say that the film tries too hard to capture the essence of Bruce Lee’s films that it barely has its own identity (only a select few things from this film make it memorable, but only just); and by this I mean the contrived attempts to reference Bruce Lee’s classics i.e. Way Of The Dragon (the way Dragon dresses at the very end) and Enter The Dragon (the hideously contrived yet hilariously laughable attempt at revisiting Bruce Lee’s battle scars from the showdown of that film, as well as the idea of him fighting in an environment that threatens to overwhelm him).

The ending is really corny with Dragon doing a jump kick to stop the two main villains (who aren’t martial artists) in a slow motion one-take deal – he jumps really high in the air complete with cheesy facial expressions and a typical Bruce Lee-style war cry.

We never really find out if they rescued the siblings or not, though the assumption is that they did (something that could be down to leaving things left to the imagination or simply, yet once more again, lack of budget or lazy screenwriting).

Dragon The Master is really a bad film (regardless of the bad dubbing which makes this movie terrible) but one that remains to be essentially a guilty pleasure.

Needless to say, I had a fun time watching the Bruceploitation genre being revamped for the millennium for mainstream audiences to savour. The movie isn’t so bad that I won’t check out Dragon Sek’s future work as the guy has potential (plus his appearance in Big Boss Untouchable {a shot on video remake of Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss} sounds intriguing and looks cool, so nonetheless I’ll check that out sometime soon) but it’s still bad.

Joseph Kuby’s Rating: 5/10

Posted in Bruceploitation, Chinese, Reviews | Tagged , , |

Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind | aka Don’t Play With Fire (1980) Review

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
"Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Director: Tsui Hark
Cast: Lin Chen Chi, Lo Lieh, Tse Bo-law, Lung Tin-sang, Ray Lui, Bruce Barron, Ronny Yu Yan-Tai
Running Time: 91 min.

By Mighty Peking Man

Okay, I’m not sure what was running through Tsui Hark’s mind when when he made this flick, but it takes a twisted, LCD-induced individual to pump out something so bizarre, yet so entertaining.

The best thing about Don’t Play With Fire is all the characters are pieces of shit:

The main female character (Lin Chen Chi), who apparently gets off on sticking needles through the heads of her pet mice, is a mental case who is very capable of pulling a Columbine. The main cop (Lo Lei), is no Riggs or Murtaugh, unless you can picture those guys slapping a family member around before a stakeout. Another pack of characters consist of trouble-making, nerdy school boys who go about their day after running down a pedestrian.

Mesh all of the above with gangsters, weirdos, mercenaries and Rambo-like killers (they basically look like the white bad guys from a Godfrey Ho ninja flick… wait a minute… one of them actually IS from a Godfrey Ho ninja flick: Bruce Baron!) and what you get is one of the most unexplainable, off the hook, ultra-violent Hong Kong flicks I have ever seen – and every single minute of it is a guilty pleasure that will leave you begging for more. Even the so-bad-it’s-good english dubbing is amusing.

Despite it’s 80’s exterior (an the fact that it looks like it was filmed where they serve fresh Adobo), Dont Play With Fire is ahead of its time in more ways than one. Tsui Hark’s flashy camera work is present; in fact, think of it as Time & Tide, minus the budget, but with more balls, and a lot less late-90’s flash.

The soundtrack, which features original tracks stolen (and I really think Tsui Hark wanted you to think it was stolen) from Fist of Fury, Star Trek: The Movie and some of that moody synth from Dawn of the Dead.

It’s titles like this that put the Hong Kong action film on the map. And believe me, my opinion counts. Back then, I watched them all. It was all about Tsui Hark, John Woo and Don “The Dragon” Wilson.

P.S. I just sent a DVD copy of this movie to peta.org. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the Anamorphic Widescreen.

Mighty Peking Man’s Rating: 8/10

By Vic Nguyen

In the late 1970’s, an aspiring filmmaker named Tsui Hark returned to Hong Kong fresh from his experiences in the United States (from film school in Texas to documentary filmmaking in New York City). After a brief stay in the television industry, Tsui was given the opportunity to direct his first feature film, The Butterfly Murders (a wonderful film which is unfortunately only available in horribly cropped editions on VCD and VHS), which ultimately turned out to be a failure at the box office. His follow up film, the deliciously weird We’re Going to Eat You, was another dud in terms of ticket sales. With his filmmaking future in doubt, Tsui decided to lay it all on the line, and forego any semblance of commercialism for his next film. What would result is Dangerous Encounters, a sick and twisted masterpiece, guaranteed to shock even the most jaded gorehounds.

For those of you who still question Tsui Hark’s abilities as a storyteller/filmmaker, I highly suggest hunting down this unforgettably disturbing piece, which is dark and nihilistic to the utmost extreme. From the horrific opening images (containing a scene of animal cruelty which would undoubtebly incite protests from animal rights activists in the states) to the carnage-filled finale, it is quite obvious that Dangerous Encounters was extracted from the mind of an angry individual.

According to Dangerous Encounters, the world is a festering shithole deprived of any modicum of goodness and humanity. This barren wasteland is clearly represented by the characters of the story, who are distanced from any positive traits whatsoever. The 3 teenagers are foolish creatins who show no regard for anyone but themselves. This is effectively conveyed in a scene in which they casually dismiss a child’s gravestone. The American mercenaries, in the mean time, are blood thirsty savages who are willing to spill buckets of blood in order to get what they want. And let’s not forget the main character (effectively portrayed by cute actress Lin Ching-chi, who is anything but in this film); a mentally disturbed teenage girl who spends her leisure time driving needles into the brains of helpless mice, among other sadistic shortcomings to numerous to detail in a single film review.

With a seemingly unlimited amount of stage blood, Tsui and action director Ching Siu-tung (who collaborated for the first time on this project) utilize experimental camera angles, expert editing, gloomy lighting techniques, and old fashioned ingenuity to craft some impressive action/suspense sequences. The finale, pitting the heavily armed American mercenaries versus the hapless teenagers in a cemetary, is one of the most intense setpieces Tsui has ever committed to film.

Not surprisingly, Dangerous Encounters ran into trouble with the Hong Kong censors (but mostly for political content). After extensive editing, the film was released, and predictably failed at the box office. Tsui Hark followed up Dangerous Encounters with the commercially successful All the Wrong Clues….For the Right Solutions, which is the antithesis of Dangerous Encounters in every sense of the word.

Tsui Hark has built quite a prolific filmography in the years to come, but it is unlikely that he would have the balls to make a film like this ever again.

Notes of interest: Finding a decent copy of Dangerous Encounters can be quite the task. Mei Ah did issue a laserdisc edition a while back, but it is of course out of print and nearly impossible to find. A European VHS edition (the version I saw) is more readily accessible, but it is cropped, dubbed in English, and subtitled in what appears to be German. Although it obviously isn’t an ideal release, the film itself still packs quite a punch. Finally, a letterboxed DVD was released in Japan, but it has no English subtitles.

– Political activist/prolific producer/Lucky Star John Sham Kin-fun has a minor role in the film as a cop. Also worth noting is actor Ray Lui (most famous for his role opposite Chow Yun-fat in the Shanghai Beach (aka The Bund) TV series), who also appears as a cop. Tsui Hark himself makes a brief appearance (still boasting the trademark goatee) as a men’s room attendant.

-The music in Dangerous Encounters consists entirely of cues from stolen sources. According to John Charles in his book, The Hong Kong Filmography (p 203), the music is derived from sources such as Dawn of the Dead and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (!?). In addition, I recognized bits and pieces stolen from the soundtrack to Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury.

Vic Nguyen’s Rating: 10/10

Posted in Chinese, Reviews | Tagged , , , |

Delinquent, The (1973) Review

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
"The Delinquent" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“The Delinquent” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Director: Chang Cheh
Co-director: Kuei Chih-Hung
Cast: Wong Chung (Wang Chung), Lily Li Li-Li, Booi Dai (Betty Pei Ti), Fan Mei Sheng, Dean Shek, Lo Dik, Fung Hak On, Tung Lam, Wong Kwong Yue, Yen Shi Kwan
Running Time: 101 min.

By Joe909

I was a little hard on this movie, because I felt that Chang Cheh’s handling of the (mostly) same story, four years later in Chinatown Kid, was more entertaining. In fact, I like Chinatown Kid a lot (glad I hung onto my Ocean Shores video release, as I hear the Celestial DVD features the Asian region-only “happy” ending), because it handles a tragic story with the Shaw Brothers vibe you love and expect. The Delinquent instead attempts to head down the “serious movie” route, but unfortunately veers into melodrama.

Wang Chung is our unlikable hero John, who’s near to bursting with rage. He lives with his dad, a burly warehouse security guard who is basically penniless. John’s just a misunderstood kid, given to actually shaking with rage (looks as stupid as it sounds) and fighting with his dad. Apparently the old bastard used to beat his mother around, and now she’s flown the coop, but John stays loyal to his father.

Things meander for a bit, with John getting into the occasional scrape with a group of thugs. Turns out these thugs are part of a larger organization, which has its goals set on a certain key ring that just happens to be locked up in a certain safe in a certain warehouse, which is guarded by a certain father of a certain young delinquent, who happens to be our certain hero John.

The thugs want John to get the lock combination from his dad, so they can get the key ring. First they try to persuade John with sex (lots of full-frontal here, but the way it’s filmed, I have a feeling we aren’t seeing our main actresses’ skin; you never see her face in any of the body shots), then violence, then with friendly persuasion, a new girl, and a fast car. The latter combination is the charm. John gets them the combo, but after a tragic twist of fate, his father ends up going to work the night the gang plans to break in.

The film’s previous fights were mostly down and dirty scuffles (save for a bit where John is impaled by a hook and dragged around by thugs, though I must mention that after this happens, it isn’t mentioned again, and John appears unharmed!), but here John’s dad engages in a bloodthirsty fight to the death with several punks. You can imagine how this fight ends.

Now John wants vengeance. He gets it, in several hectic and violent fight scenes. Lots of props are used as weapons, and Shaws blood spurts freely. It’s not as violent as Vengeance or Chinese Super Ninjas, but it’s not as tame as Disney, either. In fact, the fights in The Delinquent leave you feeling more disturbed than enthralled, and I assume this was the directors’ intent.

Chang Cheh co-directs this one, and I wonder what the level of his involvement was. The first half of the film comes off more as a drama, with the latter half morphing into your usual Chang bloodfest, so maybe that’s the part he took the biggest role in directing. Regardless, I still felt that the movie was a bit too melodramatic for its own good, and that you could see where the story was going from a mile away. The ending however saves the film, and elevates it above similar sob-story movies about troubled youth.

Joe909’s Rating: 6/10

By Mighty Peking Man

Fans of Chang Cheh’s later film, Chinatown Kid (1977), may get an equal kick out of The Delinquent, starring Wang Chung as John, a rebellious teenager who can hold his own during the toughest street brawls. The story, though not as complex, is a similar tale of poverty, struggle and one teenager’s careless decision to get involved with the violent underworld. Showered with sex, convertible sports cars, and thousand-dollar suits; The gangsters corrupt his mind and blackmail him into releasing secret information for a profitable transaction. Of course, his negligent actions come back to haunt him. Not only does it put him in danger, but also puts his hard-working father in a life-threatening fiasco.

Chang Cheh must have been pissed off at something during production of the film. The opening credits — which have Wang Chung’s character in a deep rage, smashing through boards of what appear to be past and modern illustrations of urban Hong Kong — hint that the movie is extremely dark and will not have a happy ending. Even the music is scratchy and distorted, releasing the sense of “a living hell.” It’s easily one of the most in-your-face credit sequences I’ve ever seen, and also one of the coolest (even surpassing Five Element Ninja’s “blood ring” opening).

The Delinquent is drama ridden, but obviously has enough action to be tagged a straight kung fu flick. It’s filled with crisp fights (courtesy of Lau Kar Leung), neat motorbike chases, and a bloody finale that only Chang Cheh is capable of; And of course, we get the eye-candy of modern day Hong Kong in the early 70’s; so expect lots of funky clothing, psychedelic sets and lots of Mascara on those call-girl babes.

It’s films like these that set the ground for movies years later like Brian De Palma’s Scarface and Benny Chan’s Moment of Romance. Considering the time it was made, it’s gutsy, and the true-to-life characterization, The Delinquent proves that Chang Cheh is the real deal when it comes to the genre of ultra-violence.

Mighty Peking Man’s Rating: 9/10

Posted in Chinese, Reviews, Shaw Brothers | Tagged , , , , , , , |

Avenging Eagle | aka Shaolin Hero (1978) Review

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
"Avenging Eagle" Chinese Theatrical Poster

"Avenging Eagle" Chinese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Shaolin Hero
Director: Sun Chung
Producer: Run Run Shaw, Mona Fong
Cast: Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Guk Fung, Si Si, Yue Wing, Johnny Wang, Dick Wei, Eddy Ko Hung, Peter Chan Lung, Yuen Bun, Yeung Chi Hing, Bruce Tong
Running Time: 100 min.

By Joe909

Sun Chung isn’t as well known as fellow Shaw Brothers kung-fu directors Chang Cheh and Liu Chia-Liang, but his films are equal to their best. In some ways, he combines the styles of the two directors, with Liu’s mature sense of pacing and Chang’s love of bloodshed and exotic weaponry. Sun also injects a little experimentation into the film, using still-shots and slow-motion to accentuate the action. This experimentation doesn’t always work, but it’s still nice to see someone pushing the envelope, even back in the old-school days.

Another unusual aspect of the film is the post-modern, out-of-order narrative. Like latter-day movies such as Ashes of Time and Legend of the Wolf, Avenging Eagle jumps from the present to the past in a free spirit, as Ti Lung tells Fu Sheng about the various missions he and his fellow Eagles were sent on. The Eagles themselves each specialize in a different style or bizarre weapon, giving the movie an all-around comic-book vibe, which is all a guy could want from an old-school film.

Fu Sheng has the best weapon: he wears a pair of metal bracelets, which he can place along the soles of his boots. Hidden inside the soles are a pair of wicked blades, which attach to the bracelets, giving his character the nickname “Double Blade.” Ti Lung fights with a three-section staff, which he uses to clobber just about anyone. Main villain Ku Feng, as the evil leader of the Eagles, fights with a pair of claw-like metal gloves.

Sun Chung adds some suspense into the film by clouding Fu Sheng’s character in mystery. It isn’t that big of a shock when we find out who he really is in the end, but I’m still not going to ruin it for the first-time viewer. Fu Sheng gets the best role, joking with his opponents right before he kills them. Ti Lung plays it more straight-laced as a guy trying to come to grips with the emotionless, cold-blooded killer he’s been raised to become, and trying to start a new life for himself. And Ku Feng, as usual, takes it over the top (in a good way) as the maniacal master of the Eagle clan. There’s a great scene at the end where he tries to turn Ti Lung against Fu Sheng.

Like most Shaw movies, there’s more of a concentration on weapons-fighting than actual kung-fu combat. But the ferocity on display and the bloody deaths more than make up for any lack of martial arts. The fighting isn’t as intricate as that of a Venoms movie, but Ti Lung’s an old pro, and can hold his own. Fu Sheng throws some good moves too, but doesn’t get to show off as much as he did in the superior Chinatown Kid.

Just as good as the Venoms’s best , Avenging Eagle proves that the Shaw Brothers were still at the top of their game, even toward the end of their movie-making empire. With its charismatic leading actors, witty rapport, hateful villains, and out-of-this-world weaponry, this one is a definite source of delight for the old-school kung-fu fan.

And if that isn’t enough of an incentive to pick up a copy, I’ve even read that the DVD release is in pretty good quality, albeit full-frame and slightly cut (roughly 8 minutes have been excised from the DVD release, I’ve read, but I’m not sure what parts have been cut out, as I have an uncut, letterboxed copy of the movie on video. Don’t get too jealous, though; the picture quality on my version sucks, and the audio’s all out of whack).

Joe909’s Rating: 9/10

Posted in Chinese, Reviews, Shaw Brothers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , |

Memoirs of a Lady Ninja DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
Memoirs of a Lady Ninja DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Memoirs of a Lady Ninja DVD (Tokyo Shock)

RELEASE DATE: May 17, 2011

Ninja are assassins with remarkable abilities, and that remains true for their female subset, the kunoichi. When one particular blue-eyed lady ninja discovers a secret scroll of immortality, she finds herself succumbing to the tragic fate of all those who work from the shadows. Memoirs of a Lady Ninja (Onmitsu Kunoichi Retsuden Himerareta Onna Shinobi) is a Japanese original video release written and directed by Jiro Ishikawa.

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases |

Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines DVD/Blu-ray (Image)

Posted on February 21, 2011 by JJ Bona
Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines DVD/Blu-ray (Image)

Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines DVD/Blu-ray (Image)

RELEASE DATE: August 9, 2011

Directed by Yusry Kru, The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines (released in Malaysia as “Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa”) is an adventure feature film set against the backdrop of ancient Malay, Roman and Chinese civilizations. It tells the tale of the journey of Merong Mahawangsa escorting a Roman prince to wed a beautiful Chinese princess during the 2nd century. Featuring an international cast, The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines combines elements of romance, adventure, coupled with a strong dose of hand-to-hand combat & martial arts.

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles, Other Notable Titles |

Pale Flower DVD/Blu-ray (Criterion)

Posted on February 20, 2011 by JJ Bona

RELEASE DATE: May 17, 2011

In this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, a yakuza, fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful yet enigmatic gambling addict; what at first seems a redemptive relationship ends up leading him further down the criminal path. Bewitchingly shot and edited and laced with a fever-dream-like score by Toru Takemitsu (Woman in the Dunes, Ran), this breakthrough gangster romance from Masahiro Shinoda (Samurai Spy, Double Suicide) announced an idiosyncratic major filmmaking talent. The pitch-black Pale Flower (Kawaita hana) is an unforgettable excursion into the underworld.

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases |

Evolution of Collecting Kung Fu & Asian Film

Posted on February 20, 2011 by JJ Bona

Evolution of Collecting Kung Fu & Asian VideoWith the infinite amount of websites, eBay, and other online retailers; Asian/kung fu movie fanatics have it really good these days. Especially for the crowd who take advantage of bootlegs, DVD-R swapping and those sneaky forms of file sharing.

This wasn’t exactly the case in the 1980s and throughout most of the 1990s; back then, Asian movies were obtainable, but they weren’t a click away.

The Early-Mid 1980s: Rent it. Watch it. Record it.

I’m not old enough to have experienced the Grindhouse movie houses of the 1970s, but I can only imagine how awesome it was watching Five Fingers of Death in an actual theater. My first taste of the dubbed kung fu movie actually started in the early 1980s, when I was introduced to one in the form of a VHS cassette tape.

Video Grindhouse Ads

There was a time when you had to go to a theater to catch a kung fu flick. Watch out for sticky floors, because most-likely, a porno was playing the night before.

Mom and Pop Video Rental Store VHS Betamax

Now you can enjoy kung fu flicks in the comfort of your own home. Unfortunately, the days of “mom and pop” video rental stores like this are over.

Video VHS logos

The cheesier the logo, the better the movie.

It was the peak of the VCR (or Betamax, if you were a sucker) and my love for kung fu movies started to blossom. I had my share of renting movies from my local video rental store, then recording 4 or 5 movies onto 1 tape in EP mode. I absolutely loved walking into “mom and pop” video stores (90% of them were family owned in the 80s), mostly because there was always an extensive martial arts genre section, and every individual store always had certain titles that the others didn’t.

Video VHS Box Art

Artist Kung Fu Bob doesn’t mess around. His old collection consists of one movie per tape; back in the day, that was equivalent to Hi-Def 1080P. VHS labels never looked so cool.

My other option was recording Black Belt Theater (or Kung Fu Theater), a TV program that aired a different kung fu flick every Saturday afternoon. It was all about the anticipation, so it didn’t make a difference whether or not the movies were good; all that mattered was that it had funny dubbing, crazy sound effects and Asian guys fucking each other up.

It was a pain the ass to make sure you didn’t record the commercials, but that’s what the rewind button was for. Keep in mind, there was a time when VCRs didn’t have remote controls, so you literally had to get your ass up and run to the device to stop it.

Video VCR Bruce Lee Box

Don’t forget to adjust the tracking. As far as Laserdisc players? I never owned one. Not then. Not in the 1990s. Not ever. So, let’s pretend those don’t exist.

The Late 1980s/Early 1990s: High Prices and Bootlegs

We all slipped a Black Belt or Inside Kung Fu Magazine in our mom’s grocery shopping cart at one point in our lives. We never thoroughly read the damn things. We mostly just looked at the pictures and drooled over the ninja weapon advertisements – or – we browsed the the ads that were selling kung fu videos.

Ninja Black Belt Kung Fu Magazine Video Ads

Inside Kung-Fu and Black Belt Magazines had cool advertisments in them. The Ninja Magazine always had a cool poster pull-out.

There were two video advertisements that always caught my attention:

Unique’s Action Video Library, which sold titles by “All Season’s Entertainment” (in really big Porn-like boxes). Basically, they were a collection of Jackie Chan’s pre-stardom Lo Wei produced/directed films, like Fearless Hyena, Dragon Fist, To Kill With Intrigue, Spiritual Kung Fu, etc. Each tape was $34.95 plus shipping & handling. The same company also offered the short-lived Cinema Group label (each box tagged “The Reel Thing”), which featured Golden Harvest titles, such as Dragon Lord, Police Force (aka Police story), Dreadnaught, Game of Death II, The Association and The Invincible Sword. These were a lot more expensive at $59.95 a pop, and $79.95 for Police Force — lucky for me, my local video store had this one for rent.

Unique Video Library Jackie Chan VHS Sale Advertisement

$35 to $80 per tape, plus shipping and handling AND you had to wait 6-8 weeks? Fuck that.

The other advertisement I remember was Dragon Video, a New York-based bootleg company (supposedly owned and operated by George Tan, the notorious Bruce Lee historian) which carried everything you normally couldn’t find in America: Chinese language versions of uncut Bruce Lee films, Shaw Brother films; as well as titles by Jackie Chan (Police Story II, Armor of God, Project A, Dragons Forever), Sammo Hung (Shanghai Express, Eastern Condors, Enter the Fat Dragon) and Cynthia Rothrock (Righting Wrongs, Magic Crystal). They had everything you wanted for about $34.95 a tape. It’s important to keep in mind that this was the late 1980s/early 1990s, so a lot of these titles weren’t legitimately available until years later. As long as you could put up with sketchy PAL transfers, grainy video quality and cut-off subtitles, this place was a dream come true.

Dragon Video Black Belt Magazine Advertisement

Dragon Video advertisement.

Depending on where you lived, you could have probably found these titles at your local Chinatown or Chinese video rental stores. However, it was a hit or miss when it came to knowing if they had English subtitles or not. More importantly, I’m a non-Chinese, so it was always interesting to see how the clerks reacted to my presence. They would get nervous and most of them wouldn’t even want to deal with me. I’ve been there, trust me. It’s a good thing I had a lot of Chinese friends.

Dragon video advertisement bruce lee

2nd Dragon Video advertisement.

Footnote about Dragon Video: When I was a kid I used to call my orders in (remember CODs?), that way I wouldn’t have to wait an extra week for my payment to get there. To make a long story short, whoever was answering the phone was an asshole. They basically acted like you were bothering them every time you made a purchase, and they always took me for an idiot and tried to sell me the lamest titles: “You should get Killer Meteors. It’s one of Jackie Chan’s best. It’s the only film where he fights Wang Yu. A must have. You want it? No? You’re dumb. You don’t know what you’re talking about, kid!”…

By the way, don’t ask me where I got all my money to order these tapes. That’s a whole other story. Damn, I was a horrible kid.

Dragon Video Black Belt Magazine Shaw Brothers

3rd Dragon Video advertisement.

Jars Video Advertisement

Jars Video Collectibles advertised in many martial arts magazines as well; they also did direct mail pieces like this. Note the very high prices for some lesser known movies from Unicorn Video, Inc. and Magnum.

Another option was if you walked into your local Kmart or drugstore, you always had the option of picking up titles put out by low-budget companies like Goodtimes Home Video, Video Treasures and Best Film Co., who were notorious for putting out various Bruce Li and Bruce Le movies like Bruce vs. Bill and Legend of Bruce Lee. These usually went for about $6-$9 per tape, and they were always recorded in EP, so the quality would be worse than bad.

VHS Video Martial Arts Goodtime

What did Kmart, Savon and Walgreens have in common? They all carried these bullshit EP-mode titles. Don

VHS Bootleg Shaw Brothers Clam Shell

VHS Bootlegs often come in clam shell plastic cases, with xeroxed paper inserts of ameteur designs. At the time, this was the only way to watch some of these classics.

Video VHS Legit Shaw Brothers Southgate

Southgate, Forum, and Vista were some of the few companies that released legitimate Shaw Brothers titles in the 1980s. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox also bought rights to a few films, such as Seven Blows of the Dragon.

The Late 1990s/Early 2000s: U.S. Release of Rumble in the Bronx changes everything.

While watching the 1995 MTV Movie Awards, something unexpected happened that would change everything: Jackie Chan was honored with a MTV Lifetime Achievement Award (which was presented by Quentin Tarantino, hot off his Pulp Fiction success), and viewers were treated to film clips featuring his breathtaking stunts and martial arts skill. All-of-the-sudden, Jackie Chan was the talk of the town. A few months later, Rumble in the Bronx was released theatrically, and before you knew it, Jackie Chan was everywhere.

Rumble in the Bronx new line poster vhs

After failed attempts with The Big Brawl (1980) and The Protector (1985), Jackie Chan finally did it his way with 1995’s Rumble in the Bronx. From this point on, Van Damme and Seagal were looked down upon, and the first Asian star (since Bruce Lee), takes America by storm.

Exploitative video companies like Simitar and Xenon decided to cash in on the Jackie Chan phenomenon, so they began to release obscure (and very awful) Jackie Chan films like 1973’s Police Woman (re-titled to Rumble in Hong Kong). More titles followed, mostly with ‘new’ images of him sporting his black tank top from Rumble in the Bronx, which are then slapped on to older movies boxes to fool people into thinking they were fairly new titles. They even started putting his name and image on films like Pink Force Commando (re-titled to Jackie Chan’s Crime Force), a 1982 film that he doesn’t even appear in.

Video Xenon Jackie Chan VHS

Low budget companies like Simitar and Xenon packaged older Jackie Chan movies to make them look like recent hits.

This exploitative practice was actually nothing new. After Bruce Lee’s death in 1973, greedy movie producers started churning out Bruce Lee imposter movies (aka Bruceploitation) with names like Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee and Bruce Lai. The films were titled using combinations of the words “Dragon”, “Fury”, “Boss”, “Enter”, “Game” and “Fists” (ie Enter Three Dragons, Big Boss of Hong Kong, Edge of Fury, The Iron Dragon Strikes Back), to mesh with with Bruce Lee’s real films: Fists of Fury, The Big Boss, Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon and Game of Death.

Similar situations happened when both John Woo and Chow Yun Fat gained popularity in Hollywood with hit films like Face/Off, Replacement Killers and The Corruptor — again, third rate companies got their slimy hands on their older, below average films, and they were re-titled Hong Kong Face-Off, Hong Kong Corruptor, etc.

Video VHS Xenon John Woo Chow Yun Fat

Xenon is at it again, this time using any words that contain Killer, Face-Off or Corruptor on 3rd rate films from John Woo and Chow Yun Fat’s early years.

Another company called Tai Seng has been importing legit Chinese releases for years; Oddly, they would sell titles that would be spread out on 2 VHS tapes, even though they could have easily fit the film on a single cassette. Maybe they thought that justified their expensive price tag of about $60 per double tape.

During the “Rumble in the Bronx” era, Tai Seng finally started releasing dubbed versions of Jackie Chan movies like Young Master, Heart of Dragon and Wheels on Meals; not to mention other popular titles like Untold Story, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain and Organized Crime and Triad Bureau – at about $20 a tape, I say Tai Seng redeemed themselves.

Video VHS Tai Seng Young Master Prodigal Son

Tai Seng was one of the few legitimate importers for Chinese films; however, they thought it was funny to sell us a 90 minute movie on two VHS tapes for over $70. They redeemed themselves in the late 90’s when they started to release widescreen, dubbed versions of films like The Prodigal Son and Young Master.

Somewhere between 1996 and 1998, the Internet became one of the biggest spectacles since radio and TV — hence advertising, hence retail, hence “I can now order anything from anywhere at any time…”

You want to see what else Michelle Yoeh did before she was a Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies? You want to purchase more of Jet Li’s movies after seeing him kick ass in Lethal Weapon 4? You want to see more of Yuen Woo-ping’s work after watching The Matrix? Go on to the internet, do some research, and order some shit.

During the late 90s, the DVD (Digital Video Disc) Player emerged and within a couple of years, the new format replaced the VCR (and whatever was left of the Laserdisc). With multi-language tracks, subtitle options, super clear picture quality and compact disc size; it became one of the most satisfying pieces of technology, convincing Asian film fanatics that their possibilities of film choices are limitless.

Video Laser Disc DVD

Video killed the radio star. But video’s kung fu was no match for the digital discs.

DVD players also play VCDs (Video Compact Discs), which was a format very popular in all of Asia (with the exception of Japan). The bad thing about VCDs is that the movies were usually spread out on two discs, picture quality was blocky due to poor video compression; in fact, they were probably worse quality than VHS tapes. The good thing about VCDs was they were ultra cheap (usually about $5 a pop) and there were a lot of titles to choose from – and bootlegs were EVERYWHERE.

There is a slight downside to buying import DVDs. Every once in a while you’ll run into a Region coding problem, but it can easily be fixed with a $50 All Region DVD player. If you’re lucky, you may able to hack your current one – it’s as simple as typing your model number onto a google search.

2000-Current: It’s a small world after all…

Since then, Asian film culture in America has multiplied; and it’s not just Chinese films, it’s Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Korean filmmakers as well. They’ve all pumped out their share of memorable titles and undisputed classics. Many have been re-released (Legend of the Drunken Master, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, Zatoichi), some have been re-made (The Departed, The Grudge, The Ring) and a lot of them have simply influenced Hollywood’s most creative talents (Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2; Wachowski Bros.’ The Matrix Trilogy).

From Bruce Lee To Ninjas, Hong Kong Action Cinema, Martial Arts Movies

The many books and magazines dedicated to Kong Kong and martial arts film. The market for martial arts film is still going strong.

Whether you’re watching them, buying them, or even just reading about them; Asian film is a hard subject to keep up with. Hong Kong companies like Universe, Joy Sales, IVL and Mega Star are not only releasing current titles every day, but old ones as well; with more new features, improved image and sound quality.

Even U.S.-based companies, like Well Go USA, Image, FUNimation, Discotek Media, Vivendi (Dragon Dynasty), Tokyo Shock, Kino, Criterion, Magnolia, and First Look; all released everything from Shaw Brothers titles (from the same Celestial masters the HK editions use) to just about every popular Asian movie out there. Even some of the heavies like Columbia/Tri-Star and Fox have had their wave of releasing numerous favorites – new and old.

Since the average kung fu title isn’t as demanding as say a more mainstream title like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, expect many out-of-print issues with all these companies, but nothing that can’t be solved by visiting ebay or amazon.com, where you can find new and used copies of DVDs that are no longer in circulation.

Of course, every era has its “Dragon Video”. With today’s computer technology, graphic design software, and commercial DVD duplication machines, you bet your ass bootleggers are running more rampant than ever before. Unlike the VHS days, there’s no decline in picture quality since every byte is getting transferred flawlessly.

Video Asia Exploitation DVD

Companies like VideoAsia are following the footsteps of Xenon by exploiting popular films like Kick-Ass (Kick Ass Heroes), Jackie Chan

Gone are the days of having to mail-order bulky VHS tapes of your favorite Asian films, and waiting “4-6 weeks” for their arrival. Now you can walk into a retail store – or better yet – find more of them online with the quick delivery of today’s parcel services. As far as super-rare titles go, just visit a Asian film forum, make some friends, and they next thing you know, you’ll have DVD-R copies of these titles for a few bucks — or trade. There’s also the option of downloading torrents (which I’m not condoning, but sometimes it’s the only way) or even watching what you can on youtube, which offers endless rare clips and trailers.

But let’s not get too excited just yet…

There are still countless titles that haven’t seen the light of day since their VHS or theatrical release dates. Take for instance, The Big Boss Part II (not to be confused with anything you’ll find on the net, trust me…), starring Lo Lieh and Bruce Le; or even some of the current alternate cuts of existing films, like Bruce Lee’s infamous saw-in-the-head scene from the original The Big Boss. Even if some of these films do turn up, there’s always the same issues: Is it widescreen? Is it cut? Was it cropped? How’s the quality? Is it dubbed? Are the subtitled legible? Of course you always get that one guy who ‘owns it’. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t? If he does, it’s ashame that we may never see it, due to pride or greed issues. Bastards. What’s even worse is the fact that many of these movies are sitting somewhere collecting dust in some basement. Just ask Bey Logan (Hong Kong film historian), if it wasn’t for this guy roaming around the gritty film archives of Golden Harvest’s backrooms, that raw Game of Death ’73 footage would still be shit mats for rodents.

For the most part, the best of the best is obtainable.

DVD Video Blu-ray

Welcome to the future.

We now have High Definition TVs, Blu-ray players, and updated 3D technology; it’ll be interesting to see where this all takes us. LCD and LED TVs will probably continue to get bigger and thinner; but bersonally, I think we hit a brick wall. Currently, the modern TV displays are a lot clearer than my eyes can handle. As far as this new wave of 3D, I could give a shit about it. It’s a cool novelty for about 10 seconds, but as a whole it adds nothing to the experience of what a good movie is all about.

So, what’s next? See you in 30 years… (if you don’t want to wait 30 years, click here to read Part II of this article).

Special thanks to Dan Jackson, ThunderScore, Kung Fu Bob and CoolAssCinema.com for supplying me with videotape artwork and magazine covers and advertisement scans.

Posted in Features |

Prodigal Son, The (1982) Review

Posted on February 20, 2011 by JJ Bona
"The Prodigal Son" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“The Prodigal Son” Chinese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Pull No Punches
Director: Sammo Hung
Cast: Yuen Biao, Frankie Chan, Lam Ching-Ying, Sammo Hung, Wei Pei, Peter Chan, Dick Wei, Wei Pei, Wu Ma, James Tien, Pang Yun-Cheung, Yuen Miu
Running Time: 100 min.

By Joe909

In my “Invincible Shaolin” review, I wrote that I’d never seen a New Wave Hong Kong movie that could hold a candle to a Shaw Brothers film. Well, I finally have, and it’s called Prodigal Son.

This movie has it all: great action, story, acting, drama, comedy, and most importantly, some kick-ass martial arts that (I hate to admit) actually makes Shaw Brothers fighting look tame in comparison. Whereas Shaw Brothers movies starring the Venoms belie their Peking Opera training, with plenty of flips, acrobatics, and precisely-timed choreography, the actors in Prodigal Son go at it with ferocity, and really look like they’re beating the shit out of each other.

Yuen Biao plays Chang, a spoiled punk who thinks he’s a kung-fu genius. Traveling Peking actor Lam Ching-Ying shows him otherwise, and Yuen forces himself into Lam’s life, begging to become his pupil. When Lam’s challenged by Ching official Ngai into a “friendly match,” tragedy catches up with Lam’s opera troupe, as they’re attacked in the night by ninja-like assassins. This scene is probably the best in the film, as Lam and Yuen Biao take on these ninjas in a burning theater. Lam and Biao retreat to Sammo Hung’s home, where Lam finally relents and teaches Biao wing chun. Now ready to take on anyone, Biao ends the film with a magnificent “friendly match” with Ngai that has to be one of the most hard-hitting, fast-paced, brutal kung-fu matches ever seen on film.

There’s comedy interspersed throughout the film, which in truth comes off a bit jarring, especially when placed directly after a disturbing scene of people being murdered cold-blooded in the night. Sammo though is very funny, and his braggart character is one of the film’s most memorable. He has a great scene where he attempts to master calligraphy, and also instructs Biao on the more offense-based aspects of wing chun. But whereas the comedy in “Dreadnaught” totally derailed the movie, the humor in Prodigal Son is less slapstick and doesn’t get in the way of the action.

Some familiar faces pop up in smaller roles: Wei Pai (the “Snake” Venom) plays one of the opera actors, but he doesn’t do any kung-fu. James Tien (who appeared in all of Bruce Lee’s Hong Kong movies except for “Way of the Dragon”) shows up in a cameo as a guy looking for a rematch with Ngai. But Biao is the true star, excellent in his role as the spoiled brat who eventually becomes a kung-fu master.

Bey Logan put Prodigal Son in the number one spot in the “Top Ten Kung-Fu Movies” list he published in Stefan Hammond’s book “Hollywood East.” I don’t know if it’s the best ever, but it’s up there for sure. If I had to lodge any complaints against the movie, it would be that the way in which the murderers of Lam Ching Ying’s opera troupe are dealt with is anticlimactic, and the meshing of comedy and drama is off-setting at times. But that doesn’t detract from what is otherwise a near-perfect film. It’s certainly a classic, and I recommend it even to those who don’t like martial arts movies.

Joe909’s Rating: 9.5/10

By Numskull

Prodigal Son is clearly a cut above your average Saturday morning revenge-based chop-socky adventure, but the size of that cut is relative to what you like to see in a kung fu flick.

You like fighting? Of course you do. What kind of insipid, braind-dead dolt doesn’t want to see fighting in a martial arts movie? Certainly not I. There’s combat here, and there’s a fair amount of it, and Sammo Hung is the captain of this ship so you can be sure it’s good (he makes an appearance as a guy who has only one good arm to do battle with). Don’t expect modernized “action fighting”, though…this is strictly a martial arts movie.

You like comedy? Then go watch The Simpsons or fall off a cliff or something. Prodigal Son makes a few stabs at being humorous, but it isn’t often successful. Yuen Biao gets knocked into a river a couple of times, a guy gets his face painted while attacking an opera performer, and “Pork Pie” gets over-zealous while practicing calligraphy. Maybe you’ll think it’s hysterical, but personally, when I want to laugh I’ll take my car out for a spin on Friday nights and stampede drunk teenagers into telephone poles.

You like stunts? Well, the money-grabbing shot here is Lam Ching-Ying doing a backflip over a burning flag with which Yuen Biao is fending off a pair of assassins. And when I say “burning flag”, I don’t mean like in those street demonstrations held by people whose social lives make mine look exciting by comparison, where the fire in question would barely set off a smoke alarm. I mean BURNING burning, with nary a patch of cloth visible and a great big swath of flame left behind to mark its path through the air. Fuckin’ cool. You won’t see any car chases or leaps from atop mile-high skyscrapers, though…this ain’t one of those Fantasy Mission Farce-style time warp movies.

You like drama? Look somewhere else. Lam Ching-Ying doesn’t have eyelashes, but if he did, he wouldn’t bat a single one of them at the sight of his entire opera troupe butchered in their beds. Yuen Biao’s character gives us little reason to wish hiim well in his seemingly endless crusade to acquire some decent kung fu training. And the big baddie who just loves to fightt really ain’t such a baddie at all.

You like gorgeous women? Sorry, no dice there either. Pork Pie’s daughter is a rather bulbous young woman named Twiggy (Ah…irony. Is there anything so bitter yet so sweet at one and the same time?) and the actress who plays her seems to have abandoned all sense of shame in accepting the role. The only other…ah…um…er…”woman” of prominence in this movie is an opera performer who, after fighting off the unwanted attentions of a lusty young nogoodnik, turns out to be a man. If you haven’t seen it and you’re now bitching me out for that little spoiler, don’t, because, unless you possess the intellect of a gnat, you would have seen it coming a mile away even if I hadn’t told you. So shaddap!

Last but certainly not least, do you like climactic, exciting endings? Really? Me, too. But here’s where the movie kind of half-succeeds and fizzles instead of exploding in your face. There’s a great, expertly-choreographed, hard-hitting, one-on-one fight to finish things off, but, getting back to that “drama” bit, it won’t exactly have you jumping out of your seat, cheering the hero on. In fact, his opponent isn’t even a real villain…he’s just a poor shmoe in a predicament quite similar to the one our boy Yuen found himself in not long ago. At least in a cookie cutter revenge movie there’s good reason the for the good guy to beat the shit out of the bad guy, no matter how trite it may be. Here, it’s just two guys fighting because they can. They do a damned good job of it, but it just doesn’t have the impact it could’ve had if the story had taken a slightly different direction.

But hey…don’t let ME stop you.

You never have before…right?

Numskull’s Rating: 6/10

By Perkele

Sammo’s sequel [or actually prequel] to his ground-braking masterwork “Warriors Two” comes off as another near-perfect kung fu film. While not quite as good as it’s predecessor, “The Prodigal Son” is considered to be his finest directing work [at least he things so himself]. I also got my hands on the subtitled version and think that the film’s surprisingly clever dialogue definitely suffers when dubbed.

All the performers are in top form: Yuen Biao, Lam Ching-Ying, Frankie Chan, everybody. Fights are realistic, imaginative and delightful. The highly praised end fight is worth all the hype, but why Biao had to beat the poor Frankie up SO badly? The ignorant Frankie wasn’t even an evil guy, just a misled prodigal son just like Biao himself! That was rude! And for everybody who think that this is the best Wing Chun movie of all time: check out “Warriors Two”, it’s even better.

Perkele’s Rating: 9.5/10

By Vic Nguyen

Considered to be the finest Wing Chun movie ever made, this Golden Harvest production remains a firm classic with martial arts fans worldwide. Although Yuen Biao and Frankie Chan star and deliver worthy performances of their own, it is the late, great Lam Ching-ying who totally steals the show. His performance as the asthmatic Peking Opera performer is incredible, and is one of the best roles he’s ever taken in his long and illustrious career. Hung again delivers fantastic martial arts to the mix, and the final reel, pitting Yuen Biao against Frankie Chan is considered by many to be one of the best fight finales ever filmed. It takes no genius to figure out that I highly recommend this gem, which deserves all the recognition it gets.

Vic Nguyen’s Rating: 9.5/10

By S!DM

Arguably Sammo’s finest directorial effort, The Prodigal Son tells the tale of Leung Jarn (Biao), a self-absorbed and over-protected martial artist who boasts an incredible record of over 300 fights, without a single loss. Unbeknownst to him, his moneyed parents and servant (Peter Chan Lung) have been “fixing” his fights, and literally paying off his opponents. With a head filled with over-confidence, and no real skills to match, Jarn challenges a traveling opera performer (Lam Ching-Ying) to a duel, and promptly loses, thus beginning Sammo’s masterpiece! Unerringly, Sammo and the cast seamlessly blend the best Wing Chun fights seen on film with comedy and dramaÉAll culminating into a truly spectacular battle between Yuen Biao and Frankie Chan – It’s safe to say that this is one of the greatest kung fu battles of all time. Don’t miss “The Prodigal Son.”

S!DM’S Rating: 10/10

Posted in Chinese, Golden Harvest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , |

Righting Wrongs | aka Above the Law (1986) Review

Posted on February 20, 2011 by JJ Bona
"Righting Wrongs" Theatrical Poster

“Righting Wrongs” Theatrical Poster

Director: Corey Yuen
Producer: Leonard Ho
Cast: Yuen Biao, Cynthia Rothrock, Melvin Wong, Corey Yuen, Wu Ma, Fan Siu Wong, James Tien, Sandy Chan, Karen Sheperd, Lau Siu Ming, Baan Yun Sang, Stephen Chan, Cheng Siu Ping, Roy Chiao, Chin Yuet Sang, Peter Cunningham
Running Time: 100 min.

By Numskull

I don’t know what to say.

Did you know…

DID, YOU, KNOW that the legal system protects the guilty, rather than the innocent? That it allows criminals to escape the consequences of their actions due to some trifling little thing called “lack of evidence”, rather than condemning them based on the testimony of a smelly old bum who washed the windshield of somebody whose next-door neighbor is good friends with a girl whose boyfriend thinks he saw them breaking the law? That it writes murderers, rapists, and thieves a ticket to roam the streets with impunity, rather than locking them up in a dank little 10’x12′ cell with a 300 lb. convict named Tiny whose favorite game is “Pack the Fudge”?

It’s true, my friends. Sad but true.

This movie changed me, oh yes it did. I used to be foolish and naive. I used to believe that Bill Clinton dropped bombs on Iraq when he did to protect our national interests and not to draw the public’s attention away from his affair with Monica Lewinsky. I used to believe that O.J. Simpson was innocent of any wrongdoing and that he was tracking down the real killer by searching every golf course in the country. I used to believe that Britney Spears was so successful because she has tremendous musical talent and not because some corporate executive reached the brilliant conclusion that millions of zit-faced teenage males with their hands permanently wrapped around their penises like to ogle girls with big tits.

But no more.

NO

MORE!

I have seen the light. I have seen the world for the sham it really is.

And I owe it all to this movie.

Here, let me tell you about it.

Yuen Biao is a prosecutor who doesn’t like it when criminals slip through the cracks in the justice system (“justice”, indeed! Hmph!). Cynthia Rothrock is a cop who doesn’t like it when guys like our boy Yuen take the law into their own hands. So when he starts dishing out HIS law to a group of murderous drug lords and the uppity Cynthia gets assigned to the case, sparks fly, people die and plans go awry. There’s impressive fighting, a high body count, an eye-popping stunt finale, and a plot that’s a little more complex than you may have come to expect from mid ’80s HK action films.

Mind you, that complexity isn’t always a good thing. While not devoid of cool surprises and some involving non-action scenes, Righting Wrongs is laughably overwritten in some ways and bafflingly underwritten in others. The diatribes about the true effectiveness of the Law (always capitalized) and the relative advisability, or lack thereof, of taking it into your own hands just eat up the time and trigger a “Well, DUH!” reaction from the viewer. At the same time, the movie suffers from a couple of really big-ass plot holes…but so what. Too much chatter gets in the way of the ass-kicking, and that is one respect in which Righting Wrongs is beyond reproach.

The fight scenes are all good, and they’re well spaced-out throughout the film. Yuen and Cynthia have a great outing against each other but, sadly, don’t do any team-up fighting. Also noteworthy is Cynthia’s duel with Karen Shephard. Interesting to see two Caucasian women given such a great showcase for their talents in a Hong Kong movie. A stunt double is used for some of Cynthia’s spots, but this isn’t as big a problem as it was in YES MADAM, another Corey Yuen flick in which she appeared (check out her miraculous color-changing hair in the chandelier bit).

The climax has a great bout between Yuen Biao and Melvin Wong, who I think makes a pretty good villain. It’s followed by one of the most impressive stunts I’ve yet seen, since we all know that HK movies from the 1980s don’t use computer effects to fill in for real people.

(SPOILER ALERT: skip this paragraph if you don’t want to find out what happens at the end.) Ah, that ending…what a kick in the nuts. Yes, I know there are TWO endings, and I’m actually talking about both of them. In the original, everybody dies. In the revised one, Cynthia lives but looks ready for eight weeks of physical therapy, and Yuen gets fucked over by the system he once served (although there’s no question that he brazenly violated the law…oops, I mean the Law…no matter how justified his actions were). I think a synthesis of the two endings would have worked best of all; I would have had Cynthia survive (but only just), and had Yuen sacrifice himself in his kamikaze-like quest to bring down the bad guy. If the audience finds it “too shocking”, I say fuck ’em.

It’s a very good action movie…maybe a little too harsh for some, but such is life. If nothing else, it proves that Yuen Biao is capable of carrying the lead role instead of playing second or third fiddle to Sammo Hung and/or Jackie Chan. RW is well deserving of a recommendation.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, there are some wrongs that need righting.

Britney Spears, I’m comin’ for YOU (no, not THAT kind of comin’).

Numskull’s Rating: 8/10

Posted in Chinese, Golden Harvest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , |
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