Man from Nowhere is a good one. Not quite great, but close. Good brutal action, good acting, decent enough story, dark tone... lots of good things about this one. I wouldn't rush out to get it but it's definitely worth a look.
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Man from Nowhere is a good one. Not quite great, but close. Good brutal action, good acting, decent enough story, dark tone... lots of good things about this one. I wouldn't rush out to get it but it's definitely worth a look.
"For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
"What, you're dead? You die easy!"
"Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
“I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
"When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
"I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."
Registered User
Blood Heat. (6.5/10).
It's a fairly decent movie. Nothing great. Kane Kosugi, Sho Aikawa, Ken Lo, etc. Kane Kosugi's onscreen MA stunts are excellent. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a lot of onscreen personality to go with the skills. When the fight scenes start, he appears right at home; but when he isn't fighting, he appears a bit lost or uncomfortable.
Ken Lo is good as an in-ring opponent who is hopped-up on an ability-enhancing drug called 'Blood Heat'. He isn't anywhere near as spectacular as he was in, say, Drunken Master II, which probably means that although he has excellent skills, he needs a top-notch choreographer/cinematographer to really bring out his best on film. Another of his post-Jackie appearances (Steven Seagal's Into The Sun) would confirm this.
Since this is a somewhat 'old' film (2002), I hope that Kane has had a chance to develop his onscreen presence since Blood Heat. It wasn't there yet when he appeared in DOA; was possibly a bit better in Godzilla: Final Wars; but maybe in the upcoming CLF movie (the one with Yuen Wah, Sammo Hung, etc.) he'll have fully arrived.
Last edited by Jimbo; 04-25-2011 at 03:30 PM.
Registered User
Fighter in the Wind.
Vanquisher,
Ip Man 2, 2-disc CE.
The Warlords.
First off, I could barely get through the first 30 minutes of Vanquisher. It's another Thai film "From the company behind the Ong Bak franchise, The Protector and Born to Fight." That should have been a tip-off right there; that and the fact that there aren't any critics' "comments of praise" on the cover. It's a study in really BAD acting, Bad choreography, BAD cinematography, and HORRIBLE editing/continuity.
The American CIA man looks like some businessman the filmmakers found in a hotel in Bangkok and is clearly no actor. One Kenyan character actually appears to move his eyes to a cue card repeatedly in one scene. I'm no filmmaker myself, but Vanquisher is a study in how NOT to film a movie, MA/action or otherwise. Needless to say, it cannot compare with the above-mentioned films of the same company.
It probably isn't fair to write about a movie when you've only watched one-third of it, but it's going to be hard to watch the rest of it.
Fighter in the Wind is a Korean production based on the life of Kyokushinkai karate founder Masutatsu Oyama, who was actually a Korean who moved to Japan. What's really unique about this film is that it actually has several Japanese actors in it instead of just Koreans playing Japanese; something that's rare in Korean movies. Yang Donggeun plays the lead; Aya Hirayama plays his love interest; Masaya Kato is the main antagonist (he's also the lead villain in Blood Heat); and Jung Taewoo (City of Violence) plays young Oyama's Korean Taekyon teacher.
The acting is very good. Most of the characters are interesting, with the exception of Mas Oyama's Korean best friend, who's supposed to be funny but is only annoying. The fight scenes aren't outstanding, but they definitely serve the story. At first, young Mas's (I forget his Korean name in the film) fighting style is very much of a Korean style; obviously, as the movie progresses, his style looks more and more Kyokushin. It glaringly omits mentioning that Oyama had also studied both Shotokan and Goju-ryu karate styles prior to formulating Kyokushin style. However, this movie is more about story and not only the fight/MA scenes.
The movie is also outstanding in that Mas's progression in life is not shown as a linear improvement; his life rises up and spirals back down several times in the film. This portrayal is the epitome of someone who 'eats bitter.' 8/10.
Ip Man 2 of course is excellent, though I've not watched the DVD yet. I'll comment on The Warlords after I've seen it, too.
Last edited by Jimbo; 04-27-2011 at 10:28 AM.
prime rib rocks hard!
was in china town boston this weekend.
picked up
legend of the fist return of chen zhen, its alright.
choyleefut with sammo hung
and the new shaolin movie.
havent watched the last 2. all 3 cost me 21 bucks!!!
Originally Posted by Psycho Mantis
Registered User
Ip Man 2.
I got the 2-disc collector's edition, and this sequel has better sound quality than the first Ip Man movie. Part one's sound is one of those where the music and some other things are loud, but the people's voices are sometimes barely audible. I had a similar issue with my Inception DVD. Ip Man 2's audio seems perfect. I also liked it better than I did when I saw it at the theater. I now feel it's a better movie than part one (I had originally felt the opposite).
Banned
I watched Ip Man 2 this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt the over racist boxer was a bit over the top but the action was very good. I enjoyed the story in part 1 better and would have no problem with watching these two again.
prime rib rocks hard!
fist of legend return of chen zhen was meh.
new choyleefut was meh.
not looking good for new shaolin.
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