Recommend Martial Arts Movies

yes that's the one!

xp Big fan of Martial Club - I think that's the only movie I've seen where Johnny Wang Lung-wei isn't a straight-up moustache twirling villain. Great character and final fight.

and yup, Holy Flame is super bonkers

On The Run (1988) is pretty good, much harsher than I imagined it would be, Yuen Biao's stab at more serious acting and I have to wonder if that's part of what moved Jackie Chan to do Crime Story? Yuen is good but Pat Ha really outshines him and I'm sad that I'm unlikely to see her in much else because she's really great in this. It's about people risking their lives to leave hong kong before the handover so it's at risk for being banned in hong kong now, maybe even deleted? I'm not entirely sure what the director was going for, he wanted more realism than most HK action at the time and he wanted black humor but he said he failed on the first count but I thought maybe it was still a little cartoony at times. Very much worth seeing though.

Amazingl, after the special edition of Tiger Cage Trilogy sold out so fast, the first printing of the standard edition has sold out and I've pre-ordered the second printing. I believe my order of the special edition has been lost in the mail.

Yes Madam bluray already a bestseller shortly within announcement.

I didn't know that 88 Films were doing Region A exclusives but here's a In The Line Of Duty box set
https://cityonfire.com/88-films-serves-its-duty-with-in-the-line-of-duty-iv-4k-uhd-88-films/
Eureka is doing the films individually for Region B. Yes Madam and Royal Warriors are already up for pre-order. Magnificent Warriors is not part of the series but has the same star and director.

I watched all the Tiger Cage films. It isn't a continuing story, the first and second film shares some actors but they aren't the same characters. The series is probably best remembered for the second film (?) with Yen and Kwan but the third one is an interesting change; the characters have ridiculous endurance. The whole series is surprisingly violent.

Righting Wrongs is fantastic, those plane stunts demand more respect. The multiple endings aren't that interesting, they mostly stop at different points.

I guess I really do prefer 80s to mid-90s HK martial arts. I've been having more fun with these recent releases.

Angelo Mao didn't get as much screentime as I expected in Lady Whirlwind and Hapkido, but she is the main character, her co-stars possibly get more fights.

Seen an interview with Yuen Biao where he said that Kid From Tibet was his greatest achievement, people ranked it high on the deceased imdb boards and it's been on my ebay watchlist for a long time but fingers crossed for a bluray.

Arrow's Xmas sale has the Shawscope Vol.1 box at £80

their Halloween sale only finished 3 weeks ago and it was the same then!

Haha, they can be pretty aggressive with emails, I've had several in the last week.

Vol2 is in our house, but as it is my Xmas present I'm not allowed to watch yet, but greatly looking forward to it.

I started it this week. My Young Auntie is daft even for Lau Kar-leung, it's officially supposed to be set in the 1930s but then it seems like the 60s or 70s in parts of the film.
Liked the essay about Ni Kuang. Didn't realise I was getting films as new as 1986 and 1993.
The video about actresses was pretty good, I doubt I'll ever see many of those operas or even want to see that many but the early 60s examples look so lavish, not sure I've ever heard it explained why their films got progressively shoddier looking in the 70s? I guess they just lost their monopoly and their stars demanded more money than the rest of the crew? Sadly the profiles don't go past Cheng Pei-pei and Tien Ni.
So far it seems like a much better box than the last. I'm keeping fingers crossed for Intimate Confessions Of A Chinese Courtesan and more high fantasy which hadn't really had a lookin yet on bluray (why? Buddha's Palm seems like an obvious choice).

I doubt I'll ever see many of those operas or even want to see that many

Would love it if these boxes eventually threw in one or two of those but I'm not holding my breath.

Feel a bit sad for anyone buying the Angela Mao double and Yes, Madam for the women starring because I feel like they are all sidelined to an extent. Same for Come Drink With Me, My Young Auntie and Lady Is The Boss. Perhaps in some cases it was just to keep the plot unpredictable and there was no true main character in the writers' minds, maybe nervousness about relying on new actors?
But Yes, Madam was intended by Sammo Hung to be led by two women (citing an old film with what looked like a chinese costumed superheroine, I must go back and find the name), I think the studio panicked about it being a potential flop and decided to make it a comedy, so it's not hard to argue that John Sham and Mang Hoi were made the true main characters of the story (a suprisingly fun Tsui Hark is their buddy. Mang Hoi said he brought in Hark as revenge for the torturous making of Zu Warriors).

I wonder if Lau Kar-leung ever had a genuine starring role because although he didn't have an obvious star actor's look, his ability and intensity should have been enough.

yeaaaaah with that face i kinda assumed that was why he rarely starred. legendary skills in his directing and choreography, of course

https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-mRQN6ov5Dfuq19Ws-zZTwFQ-t500x500.jpg

He can really steal a film in a very short appearance, his movement and energy is fantastic (that glimpse of him screaming and posing is my favorite part of Spiritual Boxer). So I hope there are some films where he's got plenty of time to himself.

Yeah, a lot of overreaching in the Girls With Guns advocacy I've found. With Yes, Madam it felt to me like the filmmakers could envision women being badass and violent but not women having an inner life that the viewer can relate to, thus the clownish thief protags.

Again, I think that was more about the studio losing confidence, Corey Yuen wanted to make a more serious film. And this is the start of a flood of Girls With Guns films, which I haven't seen yet

Lau Kar-leung is secondary in Mad Monkey Kung Fu but it must be one of his most prominent roles

Did anyone else see Bare-Footed Kid? What did Ti Lung mean when he said "I can only do this once" and proceeds to smash up the sides of buildings?

I generally don't pay attention to age ratings on films but what on earth did Yes Madam and Magnificent Warriors do to get an 18 when Mercenaries From Hong Kong gets a 15?! Magnificent Warriors is close to Spielberg violence and it's more clearly modelled on Indiana Jones than Armor Of God or Operation Condor. There's some very dangerous fire stunts and Michelle Yeoh swore it would be her last action film.

Mercenaries From Hong Kong looks like a mid 70s film a lot of the time but it's 1982. I recently heard someone point out that Five Element Ninjas and Duel To The Death came out the same year (though most databases say the latter is 1983) but they look like they could be a decade apart. Somebody should write a paper on why some Shaw Brothers films look way older than they actually are.

I don't think it's purely my personal fondness for Yuen Biao but he seems to be in generally better films than everybody else.

I mean... isn't it clearly the super cheap budgets and reused costumes and sets? (And I love Five Element Ninjas!)

I don't think it's just that. Mercenaries doesn't do either of those things and it must have had a much bigger budget

I also like Five Element Ninjas and Mercenaries From Hong Kong is pretty decent too. But I don't think I'll be getting the next Shawscope set, I'm reluctant unless they packed it with high wuxia, Intimate Confessions and some horror surprises. I'm burning out on them and I'm still 8 films to go on Shawscope 2.

Really happy about the announcement of Burning Paradise and cautiously hopeful about Mr Vampire sequels box. Fingers crossed for Swordsman 1-3, Fire Dragon, Tiger On The Beat 1-2, Executioners, Scorpion King, more girl group films and the Tsui Hark, Yuen Woo Ping, John Woo highlights that haven't been released yet and more goodies I haven't heard of.

Nhex - did you see this?
https://cityonfire.com/tiger-cage-trilogy-blu-ray-shout-factory/

Just heard! I was even thinking about importing the 88 Films Region B version (after getting a player...), which frankly had nicer cover art. But yeah, I'll probably get that. Someone told me only the first TC was really worthwhile, though.

Nonononono, the whole trilogy is solid, some of my favorite martial arts films of the last few years. I imagine the second film is the fan favorite.

In the booklet to Royal Warriors the writer points out how post Police Story the Hong Kong film industry had to adapt to new conditions practically overnight, including for instance things like car chases that previously had been pretty much not a thing. Makes perfect sense to me that relatively "underdog" studios would be able to ride these new conditions better than a big fish like Shaw that had an established system of how to make films focused mainly on studio sets.

I wonder if the dudes from Mercenaries From Hong Kong ever met the baddies from Royal Warriors.

Shawscope Vol2 is down to £100 at the moment.

I knew I was taking a risk with a Jackie Chan film after 1995 but Gorgeous is really terrible. The last fight is decent and Shu Qi has one of the greatest smiles of all time but it has almost nothing else going for it.

lol agreed about Shu Qi

Twin Dragons from the early 90s is coming soon and I haven't heard much about it, hope it's worth the time.

An odd trend I've noticed in the 80s and 90s films is for characters having the same first name as the actor, but some films have characters with the exact same full name as the actor: Donnie Yen plays a cop called Donnie Yen in In The Line Of Duty 4!

Michiko Nishiwaki plays a terrorist called Michiko Nishiwaki in In The Line Of Duty 3 and has a surprising fuck scene that is like something from a CAT III film. She had a small part in Everthing Everywhere All At Once but I never spotted her.

I believe Gorgeous is a Lunar New Year film and from what I've heard those work with a very different logic from your usual action fare - they are entirely meant for local audiences and as such make no concessions to foreign taste in terms of their comedy and sentimentality. Also meant for the whole family, so not as action-focused.

It really did feel like a kids movie

I had heard Mr Vampire 2 is awful and it mostly is despite all the talent involved. Not without merit but mostly bad.

Burning Paradise was great, was surprised to hear it was such a huge flop. Sleeve notes guess it was just too dark and violent (arguably a horror film) for such a big film even with the jokes quite jarringly lightening the tone. Might watch the commentary someday to find out more about this. I knew this was an all-timer for some HK action fans and I think it's fair to call it a must see if you like this kind of thing.

Duly noted! Was curious when VS put it out, but I have this in-built cynicism for post-'95 HK. Should give it a chance and some of the other titles they've put out over the last year.

It was 1994. I think it was mainland actors, I wonder if it was harder for them to make such an extreme film?

https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23745639/roundup-no-way-out-movie-review-ma-dong-seok-don-lee

I saw a poster advertising this outside a Korean restaurant the other day, doesn't often happen that you get this kind of grassroots advertising for Korean cinema, at least not in London.

it's playing at one of the theatres near me and it looks delicious

Oh I CANNOT wait for this to leave the festival circuit so I can see it.

https://gizmodo.com/enter-the-clones-of-bruce-lee-trailer-exclusive-debut-1850519638

My own favorite from this madness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YSu810hFA

yeahhh i don't get this subject

Not a movie, but season 3 of the TV show Warrior is coming at the end of the month and if you've never seen it, you should catch up now, because it rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89dEEKEzglw

yeahhh i don't get this subject

I dunno, it's a decent in for an analysis of the many fly by night independent operators out of Hong Kong in the 70's, you can tie in the beginning of Jackie Chan's career, etc. Bruce Li has actually made some pretty great films, I watched The Iron Dragon Strikes Back and that's a crazy downbeat 70's film with so much footage of Hong Kong previous to its shiny 80's iteration, really worth watching.

The Severin brucesploitation box set that'll come with it tho is, as far as I've heard, one to avoid. Very boring selection of films apparently.

No Way Out was ok. Didn't go as balls out as I wanted, leaned more into comedy. Really no martial arts though, mostly conventional boxing/fighting techniques. Movie is devoid of guns, though, like MA films

I had heard Mr Vampire 2 is awful and it mostly is despite all the talent involved. Not without merit but mostly bad.

Man, we have different criteria for what we want out of our hopping vampire comedies. This has so much amazing slapstick acrobatics! That insane prolonged fight with everyone affected by the slowing serum. An amazing DO YOU SEE scene about Hong Kong bureaucracy featuring the police, the morgue and a museum squabbling over who gets to keep the vampire corpses. Small kids mistaking a hopping vampire kid for a refugee and befriending him, complete with montage set to a musical number about how great it is to have a vampire friend! Vamps hopping in rhythm over police vehicles! Great film, pure cinema.

Mr Vampire III is slightly less stellar (also, zero vampires), but worth it if you like your gory Boxer's Omen type stuff.

Tsui Hark’s The Blade (1995) is one of the most transcendent pieces of filmic art that I have ever seen. Very fortunate to have experienced it in 35mm some years ago

i am definitely a fan of brucesploitation films... yes they can be terrible (the less said about _bruce lee vs. gay power_ the better), but as noted above, Ho Chung-tao, aka Bruce Li, was worth watching in his own right - _The Chinese Stuntman_, for which he was billed under his own name, is excellent. I've also heard good things about _Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth_, but I haven't seen it yet. and ok, it's maybe not great cinema, but some of the stranger brucesploitation films are...

Other films used his death as a plot element such as The Clones of Bruce Lee (where clones of Bruce Lee portrayed by some of the above actors are created by scientists) or The Dragon Lives Again (where Bruce Lee fights fictional characters such as James Bond, Clint Eastwood and Dracula in Hell and finds allies amongst others such as Popeye and Kwai Chang Caine).

it was interesting reading up on this to learn that brucesploitation started while bruce was still alive... it makes sense, just like the genre of "what if the nazis won world war ii" started, uh, during world war ii. a filipino man named Ramon Zamora was apparently the first bruce lee clone!

oh, also, the director of that brucesploitation film, david "WRONG DUDE" gregory seems like an interesting fellow:

David Gregory is one of the international DVD industry's most in-demand Bonus Features providers. He has produced and directed more than 130 "making of" documentaries on films as diverse as Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Wicker Man, The Deer Hunter, Faster Pussycat, Don't Look Now, Heathers and Repulsion. As co-founder of the UK/US DVD labels Blue Underground and Severin, he has produced many of the industry's most widely acclaimed discs and collections, including The Final Countdown, The Alan Clarke Collection and The Mondo Cane Collection, which includes his feature-length documentary The Godfathers of Mondo.

Mr Vampire III is slightly less stellar (also, zero vampires), but worth it if you like your gory Boxer's Omen type stuff.

― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 29 June 2023 11:23 (two days ago)

I liked this more, more of an action film and the shrieking warrior woman was good. Occasionally she reminded me of Chronicles Of The Ghost Cat/Haunted Castle, the Japanese film.

Magic Cop is pretty good. Very elaborate magic battle scenes, if you have some fatigue of those from 80s films, don't worry, this is a real step up. Michiko Nishikawa is very cool in it.