recent purchases

[jethro]

oleg did beat Tank in the finals of UFC 6. He got killed, but he finally choked Tank out. It's the first time I've ever seen 2 guys lay on the ground like they were dead after the fight. I think it took Tank a few minutes to get up, but Oleg took a very long time to get up.

Chen Sing does do pretty good in KF Executioner. But I like the fights overall a lot more in SUn Dragon. after watching Chen Sing vs Billy CHong it makes me think more highly of the final fight in Sun Dragon.

I'll try to check Demon Spies out tonight or tomorrow and tell you how it is.

Django is the Takeshi Miike Western. The movie is in English and to me this ruins the movie. If you don't know English, it's pretty much impossible to deliver your lines correctly. I didn't finish it so I'll keep it in my collection and maybe watch it another time. If I watch it again maybe I'll turn the sound off and read the subtitles.


I watched Adventures of Ford Fairline. VEry fun movie. Robert Englund is great as this crazy assassin.


You could be right about KF TV series being inspired by Zatoichi. I' sure you've seen those pics of Bruce where he was trying on makeup and stuff for different characters. One of them was a blind character.

[Jimbo]

You're right; I forgot about that pic of Bruce with his eyes rolled up to resemble Zatoichi.

Yeah, the end fight in Sun Dragon is superior to anything in KF Executioner. For a guy who'd never done a movie before or since, Lou Neglia, a kickboxing champ who played the arch-villain, did his fights real well. His moves weren't pretty, but he wasn't lost following the choreo; no worse than Chen Sing, anyway. I remember an interview with him in Martial Arts Movies magazine, where he said he told Billy Chong to hit him as hard as he wanted, and that Billy had some difficulty with that.

I got a couple more movies:

The Lair of the White Worm. A decent '80s British horror film starring Hugh Grant and Amanda Donahoe; the latter plays a good, creepy snake woman.

Martial Club. Unfortunately, there are no interviews listed for this one. A shame, as I'd hoped for a Wang Lung-Wei interview (or by anyone).

[Jimbo]

I read on KFC.com that the English dub on Martial Club has some problems. I watched the Cantonese w/subtitles so I did not notice anything wrong. I never liked the English dub in MC anyway.

Having first seen this movie in 1982 or '83, I just noticed in the past couple years (from watching my Red Sun copy 2 years ago) that MC, though beautifully filmed, can be tiring to watch. More than most KF movies, MC is chock full of kung fu. Almost too much of a good thing, and so manic, that I almost begin to feel burned out after awhile. Almost like how John Woo's Hard Boiled can burn me out on shootings and explosions. Not to mention that Mai Te Lao is given more screen time than desirable. Lau Kar-Leung seemed to really like him and wanted to showcase him, but he can be annoying, esp. in large doses.

Not that I'm complaining. You really get what you pay for with MC. Besides LKL's amazing directing and choreo, and the performances of Gordon Liu, Hui Ying-Hung, Wang Lung-Wei, etc., a special acknowledgement should be given to the cinematographers. In this movie they were at the top of their game.

And that goes triple for the end fight in the zigzag alley; the camerawork does the best of capturing perfect angles and complex hand/body movements. It's a lost art now. Great fights scenes are still being filmed, but the complexity of stylized choreo and camerawork in this 6-minute scene has not been equalled since the very early '80s. I rate it above the final fight in Legendary Weapons of China, simply because MC's final fight includes only the 2 fighters in the scene w/out the distraction of onlookers and comedic effects. The only 3rd person was someone (Hsiao Hou??) who briefly doubles Wang Lung-Wei doing some acrobatic stretching and jump kicking in the alley.

[jethro]

I hope Martial Club shows up at Best Buy. I can't wait to see it.

Good info on Lou Neglia. I can understand why Billy didn't want to hit for real. He's so used to doing it choreographed, missing his mark in a way so the camera makes it look like a hit. It would throw his rythm off since he had perfected his screen fighting style by that time. PLus I'm sure Billy has some power and was probably afraid of hurting the guy, no matter how tough Lou Neglia is.

I watched Demon Spies. I'd say it's above average. The story is good. The fights aren't great, but still pretty good. It's very gory, but I didn't like the gore nearly as much as say Lone Wolf and Cub. Overall I found it enjoyable. The final 10 minues or so is really good.

And let me know if you find any special features on Martial Club. Hopefully there's something else besides the same old thing like trailers and stills.

[Jimbo]

The only special feature on Martial Club of any significance is a longer version of the opening sequence with Lau Kar-Leung narrating and demonstrating the traditions of the lion dance in a white studio background. MC was clearly released around the Chinese New Year of '81. Otherwise, no interviews at all.

I read an interview with Wang Lung-Wei in an Asian cinema magazine from a few years ago, but have never seen him interviewed on DVD. They missed a good opportunity for it; IMO, MC represented maybe his best work. Interviews with Gordon Liu and WLW would've been perfect.

When you get MC, take special note of the incredible camerawork and editing, as I mentioned in my last previous post. It's something I'm not sure I appreciated before to the extent that I do now.

When I checked Best Buy's website, I did not see MC listed at all. The next Shaw movie I saw for an upcoming release is Holy Flame of the Martial World. I actually saw that in 1983 and thought it was good, but it's a fantasy/FX type of film that may or may not have aged well since then. I was lucky to find MC on sale at Fry's, and it was the only copy there. I'd checked all over the place and nobody else had it yet.

[Zenshiite]

I have a Red Sun boot of Martial Club... the box says "Instructors of Death" and of course, the menu says Martial Club as does the credit in the movie. I watched it with the "original language" function selected but still the movie was subbed in English but would switch from Cantonese to the English dub. So weird.

I need to get the official release because that sucks balls.

[Jimbo]

On the kungfucinema site, someone was saying that the English dub on the new Martial Club has several instances of bleed-throughs where it switches to Cantonese and back, and I suspect that's the same or similar to the odd problems on the Red Sun release.

Which isn't a problem for me, as thankfully this legitimate release includes both Cantonese and Mandarin versions. The Cantonese version is fine; that's the only version I watched.

[jethro]

I think I read it's only a couple minutes of the English dub that's missing. I doubt it's the same as the Red Sun version. It's fine with me though. I'd rather have the extra footage and dialogue with subtitles rather than not have the extra footage at all. Hopefully this shows up at Best Buy. Seems like Brave Archer came a couple weeks late, and Life Gamble and Opium KF Master never showed up.

[Jimbo]

After the release of Brothers 5 and Heroic Ones, I haven't seen anymore single Wellgo USA Shaw releases at my area Best Buy. In fact, it's been VERY slow getting anything new in their tiny MA section. The only thing of slight interest to me is a Shaw 4-movie pack, which I think is by Wellgo, that has: Two Champions of Shaolin, Battle Wizard, Duel of the Century, and Heroic Ones. Well, I already have Two Champs and Heroic Ones and prefer not to buy them again just to get the other two. So far, Brave Archer never did come to BB; luckily I found it at Fry's Electronics.

And if not for the little Asian section at that one Wal-Mart, I wouldn't have found Opium/Kung Fu Master or Life Gamble. Haven't even seen them at FYE/Sam Goody. The legitimate Shaw releases don't seem to have an organized system of releasing. Still, it's worth it when you can find a new one.

I hope they release a region 1 version of The Kid From Kwangtung. I know you don't like it much, Jethro, but IMO it's one of Hwang Jang Lee's best performances, and certainly his best at Shaws. Better than Ghosts Galore, anyway. A friend of mine who's a fan of Jackie Chan but has never seen anything old-school before was in awe when I showed him KFK's end fight at work on youtube. He was saying, "Oh, ****! That guy's way better than Jackie Chan!" Though I'm sure he hasn't seen everything Jackie can do, it was interesting seeing his reaction. Anyway, that's been my favorite Hwang performance since the early '80s, even if it isn't his best movie in itself. It needs a full release.

[jethro]

You should just get Battle Wizard seperately. Crazy movie. Duel of the Century didn't really do anything for me. Chor Yuen has so many beter movies than that.

[Jimbo]

Hopefully Battle Wizard will come out separately around here. I think I've seen both that and Duel of the Century in the past, but didn't remember the titles.

Another film or films I'm surprised haven't been released or even talked about being released are The B@st@rd Swordsman and Return of the B@st@ard Swordsman. For some reason I loved those films. I hope the word "b@st@rd" in the title isn't the reason for this oversight (avoidance?).

[Jimbo]

Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection.

Blood Money.

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo.

I got the Bruce Lee collection because they are remastered, widescreen, and have original language options. IMO much better than the old Fox releases.

Blood Money (a.k.a., Stranger and the Gunfighter) with Lo Lieh and Lee Van Cleef. Although it's a Videoasia release, the quality is very good, and it's in widescreen. Filmed in Italy and at Shaw Bros studios. Not a big action-packed film, it's nonetheless a bit better than I remembered it. Though dubbed, Van Cleef's voice is his real voice. I don't know if Lo Lieh's voice is his real one, but his dialogue is funny. Something like, "I seek honorable uncle," or "Me no go in." The music whenever he fights is goofy as well. I recognized Yen Shi-Kuan as one of 5 fighters Lo beats up early in the movie.

Hopefully Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo is better than some on KFC have reported. It should be a fair watch, anyway.

[jethro]

I got that Bruce Lee Ultimate COllection too. When they dropped it to 14.99 at Best Buy is was a no brainer. Did you get Blood Money at BB? I was there today looking for it. MAybe it's in the action section instead of Western? Nice to here it's good quality. I wouldn't have expected that. I haven't seen Z meets Yojimbo. Those comments on the thread on KFC seemed to be split 50/50 on it.

[Jimbo]

I found Blood Money in the Western section at Fry's, and quite by accident. I wasn't looking for nor expecting it. Weird how that happens. I would expect it to eventually come to BB too. It only cost $6.99. On the cover it claims it's remastered, and it is pretty good...it may not be Mediablasters Shaw Bros quality, but it's quite clear and way better than you'd expect from Videoasia. At the top of the cover it says "Shaw Brothers Dynasty Collection". Definitely worth it, esp. for the novelty.

I found the BL Collection at Wal-Mart, which is right near the Fry's, also for $14.99, and like you said, at that price it was a no-brainer. That's $3 per movie.

[Jimbo]

I watched Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo and IMO it's a good film. Not my favorite in the series that I've seen so far, but it is entertaining, certainly not as bad as some opinions I have read on kfc.com. Although Katsu doesn't look at the top of his game in his fights. Zatoichi's style is unorthodox anyway, using an odd reverse-grip, but in this one he does relatively little fighting, and looks somewhat shaky and off-balance when he does. But compared to a LOT of movies it's still very good. I found the snarky humor shared between Zatoichi and Yojimbo to be the highlight of the film. I find Katsu's brand of humor is more subtle, realistic, and far funnier than the majority of 'kung fu comedy' hijinks.