recent purchases

[Jimbo]

I watched Shinobi No Mono and The Heroic Ones so far. Here are some thoughts:

Shinobi No Mono (SNM) is a good film. It is not an action film, so anyone expecting lots of fights and fancy choreography may be disappointed. Luckily, I wasn't expecting that, so enjoyed it. It deals mostly with the intrigue in the world of the ninja. The ninja portrayals are realistic, as is the violence, which might have been a bit of a shock to any Westerners had they seen this movie in the early '60s (which I doubt many Westerners saw it then). Though by today's standards it's not shocking. None of the fights are 'great' by today's standards, but they're certainly closer to what probably really happened. And the ninjas moved with stealth and agility. Compare that with the bumbling id!ots called ninjas in Norris's The Octagon.

It's clear that this movie was an inspiration, or at least was very much known to Hong Kong filmmakers. Some of the music used during the early fights was lifted from SNM and used in some '60s-era Shaw Bros wuxia films. Also, a scene with a sleeping man, a wire through a ceiling, and poison brushed down that wire, was copied in Yuen Woo-Ping's Miracle Fighters. Many of Chang Cheh's David Chiang/Ti Lung-era films have scenes that seem inspired by the final battle.

I had seen part 2 on sale but wanted to see if I liked the first one. So at some point I may pick that up, too.

The Heroic Ones looks to have been made around the same time as The Deadly Duo. It starts off like it'll be a good movie. It's actually pretty boring. David Chiang has the best role, as the youngest of 13 brothers under their "father/king" Ku Feng. The movie becomes monotonous, and scenes begin to look alike after awhile. At 2 hours, it's about 35 minutes longer than it should have been. Others in the cast include Ti Lung, Wang Chung, Nan Kung-Hsun (Korean actor James Nam), Chen Hsing, and a bit part by Bolo Yeung (Yang Sze). The sets are great, they employed a lot of extras for a big-movie feel. But IMO Chang's movies really improved a bit later (around 1973). However, even in many of his Venom films, he still had a tendency, esp. around the beginnings of films, to expect his audience to remember who's who as the names of countless characters are mentioned. Mostly a good buy if you like collecting Shaw titles.

So far, I've only watched about 10 minutes of Journey of the Doomed, and it has a feel that's different from other Shaws. For one, I haven't noticed any of the familiar stock music used by Shaws in the '80s. I'll be curious to see how it plays out.

[jethro]

Wow I'm surprised you didn't think Heroic Ones was that great. I thought it was almost as good as The Blood Brothers, but Blood Brothers just barely edges out. I loved every minute of it, except for the final fight between the brothers, I thought that could have been handled a little better. But other than that I would rate it a perfect 5/5.

And I look forward to seeing Shinobi. I'll probaby hold off for a couple years on buying them, and then maybe they will sell them as a set.

[TenTigers]

"A Chinese Ghost Story" vols I,II,III
quick question-someone mentioned a movie in which Fu Sheng was doing Hung-Ga and it focused on the short bridges. Anyone know which film?

[Jimbo]

I'm not sure about the emphasis of Fu Sheng's character on Hung Gar short bridges, but in the movie Shaolin Martial Arts, Fu Sheng is taught to combine crane with his tiger style, while his co-star, Chi Kuan-Chun, is taught the Wing Chun one-inch strike (though in this movie, it's made with the fingertips, not the fist). Chi Kuan-Chun (another real-life Hung Gar practitioner) had to learn the one-inch strike in order to counter a qigong master who is immune to long punches. Don't know if that answers your question, Ten Tigers, but that's the closest I can think of.

My thoughts on Journey of the Doomed:
First off, I'm glad I only paid seven-something for it. Quite simply, it was possibly the worst Shaw Brothers movie I have ever seen. The lead star is a young woman (girl?). She looks about like a 14 year-old and literally behaves and whines like a 3 year-old. She's supposed to be the illegitimate daughter of an emperor who was raised in a brothel. In a particularly callous scene, two female assassins, one played by Hui Ying-Hung, hack up an entire brothelful of half-nude young women, looking to kill the main girl. Unfortunately, that scene featured most of the best kung fu movements to be found in this film.

Tang Wei (Tung Wai) is the male co-star, and he's almost as annoying as the girl. Why he would fall in love with a dumb, spoiled brat is a mystery. You know a movie has truly failed when you hope beyond hope that SOMEONE will kill the lead protagonist(s). Tang Wei's character seems barely trained in m.a. Oddly enough, in the brief final fight, Max Mok (Mo Shao-Chung) looks far better than Tang Wei. This is a far cry from Tang's performance in The Killer Wears White, among others.

But even worse than all the above are:

An awful "romantic theme song".

The film has some sex scenes that appear as if staged by an adolescent virgin. They actually look like sexual spoofs. Plus, they mostly do nothing to advance the story. There's even a cheesey, slow-motion close-up of the main girl's face, eyes closed, mouth agape, with her fan-blown hair fluttering about. These scenes wasted screen time, mainly because, IMO, sex is something that is fun to do, but boring to watch.

I'm trying to warn others away from Journey of the Doomed, but a part of me hopes somebody else will buy and watch it, because I don't want to have suffered through it alone. I've been collecting virtuall every Celestial-remastered Shaw release, but this one has me re-thinking that. I'm a Shaw fan, but if that was the direction the company was going right before the end, then maybe it's best that they ceased film production when they did.

[kungpowmaster]

Hi,

Thanks for the Shaw recommendations. I saw the DVD of My Young Auntie, but it looked too goofy and I passed on it.

Anyway, today I bought online the Hanzo the Razor trilogy.
I have not seen these, but they seem like something I'd like.

Did I make a good choice? I love Zatoichi, and Lone Wolf.


Chosen One

[jethro]

lol Jimbo I don't think I've heard anyone say they liked Journey of the Doomed.

Kungpowmaster I have heard Hanzo isn't as good as Zatoichi. They sound pretty crazy. I'd like to see them myself.

Today I got this Rumble on the Rock 5 Event set. Actually, um, I got it awhile ago, and I forgot I had it. I was looking for some MMA to watch tonight, and I decided to look at the back of the DVD case to see if there were any names I recognized. The first event has Takanori Gomi vs B.J. Penn!! Not as good a fight as I was hoping for, but still pretty good! Also on these events are many other good fighters, like Butterbean, Cabbage, Dennis Hallman, Matt Lindland, Rodrigo Gracie, Shungo Oyama, Renato Verissimo, Kimo, Anderson Silva, Frank Trigg, Ronald Jhun, Jake Shields, Joe Riggs...

[Jimbo]

Shinobi No Mono 2: Vengeance
We're Goint to Eat You

After watching Shinobi No Mono 2 (SNM2), IMO this series (so far) is the best portrayal of ninja that I've seen in movies. They are portrayed as having great abilities, but are NOT superhuman. Most importantly, these movies show how ninja were a part of the larger picture of political intrigue. While not chock full of fights, these films are very much martial arts movies, for they portray the true environment in which the (Japanese) martial arts were developed and applied. On a sidenote, I just realized that the Tomisaburo Wakayama (of Lone Wolf and Cub series) is the actor who portrays Nobunaga Oda, the arch-villain of parts 1 and 2.

[jethro]

What what what what what what????!?!? I am going to hav to get those right away. does it get any better than Tomisaburo Wakayama? Every movie I see him in he is awesome. Have you seen the Mute Samurai series? I just saw that recently. Amazing. And just so you know, I hadn't quite finished watching We're Going to Eat you when I posted my thoughts on it. I didn't like the final fight at all. Really stupid. I have to change my rating to 2.5/5.

[Jimbo]

Yes, and though Wakayama does very little fighting (only a bit during part 2), he really plays an evil b@stard. He's plays a warlord who is trying to ultimately take control of Japan. His face is much more manic and expressive than as Lone Wolf. BTW, if I remember right, Wakayama also had a brief role as a Yakuza boss in Black Rain, with Michael Douglas.

I will have to find out about the Mute Samurai series!

I haven't watched my DVD of We're Goint to Eat You yet, but I do remember during the final fight, Eddie Ko ends up in a sitting position, and Norman Tsui says he looks like Lincoln. Haven't seen it in about 20 years, so I'll have to confirm that.

[Egg fu young]

Anyone seen this? Is it any good? http://www.beyondhollywood.com/throw...-movie-review/

[jethro]

I remember Jimbo saying he liked it. My memory is not good though Jimbo will probably chime in when he gets a chance. BTW nice avatar Egg Fu. That guy is a badass. I think even Eddie Murphy is afraid of him

[Jimbo]

Egg fu:

I have Throwdown. IMO it's a good film. It's a Hong Kong film, but it has the feel of a Japanese film, because it's an homage to Akira Kurosawa. I didn't read the article, but from my observation, it was very much inspired by Kurosawa's classic film from the late '40s called Judo Saga. There are scenes, esp. near the end, that seem to be an attempt to recreate the final fight in Judo Saga.

The fights consist mostly of shoulder throws, meaning not always the most variety of moves, but it's a good, quiet movie. If you can put up with the lead character, played by Louis Koo, being a messed-up drunk for about two-thirds of the film. IMO, one of the better and more thoughtful movies I've seen out of HK since Y2K.

[jethro]

Is Louis Koo pretty good in Throwdown Jimbo? I may have to check it out just for him. everything I see him in he's amazing. Bullets Over Summer, Flash Point, The Rules of the Game... Few can show the pain that he shows. I'm surprised he isn't doing Hollywood movies by now. Maybe he turned Hollywood down. he's definitely one of the best actors in the world right now.

[Jimbo]

To be honest, Jethro, his character is downright annoying for about 1/2 to 2/3 of the film. He plays a former judo prodigy who quit training, opened a club, and is an alcoholic. Not only an alki, but a particularly dense alki. A young judo guy, played by Aaron Kwok, knows about his past judo abilities and wants to challenge him to a match. For some reason, he wants this judo match so badly that he starts hanging around the club and I think he even takes a job there.

The first time I watched it, probably the during the first 20 minutes, I almost felt like I screwed up buying it. Luckily I kept watching it and ended up liking it more and more as it went on. As I mentioned, there really isn't much to the fight scenes, mostly repeated shoulder throws. Though there is a brief but nice dojo training sequence between Koo and Kwok near the end of the film.

Since the film is done in a very low-key style, I'm not sure it's a good representation of Louis Koo's acting potential, but his character finally snaps out of it and does become fairly likable later in the film. I also liked his character's interplay with his sensei's mentally challenged adult son. It's actually one of the more compassionate yet understated relationships I've seen in HK films. The world the characters live in is populated by people who all seem to know judo. I like the film's use of old-time Japanese movie music as well. It certainly does not feel like a HK movie. I was lucky to find it on sale 2 years ago at a Tower Records that was closing.

[jethro]

The world the characters live in is populated by people who all seem to know judo.

lol thanks for the info Jimbo. I did a trade with somebody on kfc.com and I got my package today. I've never seen a lot of these so I am very happy man right now.

Broken Oath
Boxer From Shantung
The Victim- eastern Heroes widescreen
The Killer- Hong Kong Legends
Demon Spies
Barefooted Kid
Hapkido- HKL
Lion vs Lion
Boxer From Shantung
Grandmaster of Death
A Bitter Sweet LIfe
One Arm Hero
Sam the Iron Bridge
Boxer from the Temple
Bells of Death
When Taekwondo Strikes
Bichunmo
Tai Chi 2

And I just pickd up Red Fists at the store today. It stars Rongguang Yu and Gai Chun Wa. I also got a ton of Pride DVDs lately, too many to list. I almost have every Pride event now. Yesterday I watched the 2000 GP. I had some friends over and were drinking. we had a lot of fun watching tha Sakuraba vs Royce Gracie match. That has to be the longest fight I've ever seen.