What ELSE (other than KUNG FU) has everyone been watching?

[nectarsis]

Black Dynamite

Gundam Unicorn

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Guiding Light (1953: Chun Kim: Hong Kong) **½/****:

This is one of the few early Cantonese language films available on DVD. Like The Kid (1950) it is most likely only available because one of its costars became the most famous martial artist of all-time -- Lee Siu-Lung. While Bruce Lee is only 13 at the time of this film he had already co-starred in several movies. While most think of Hong Kong as an action-oriented cinema at the time of this film socioeconomic (wenyi) melodramas were prevalent in many of their films. This was one of the early films produced by Union Film Enterprises (Chung-luen) which was built out of the South China Film Industry Workers Union.

The combination of drama and class concerns is quite evident in this plot. A young mother is spurned by her rich lover (Cheung Ying) after she has his son. She cannot pay her doctor bill so she leaves the kid in the Doctor’s care. The Doctor (Lee Ching) adopts this infant (played by several actors during this movie including Bruce Lee) whom he takes as his own, his previous wife is no longer alive, and names him San. However, when he remarries, the new wife Lucy (Yip Ping: The Kid) has an extreme hatred of the adopted son and when she gives birth to her own son; she forces the husband to give up the boy in one of the most moving scenes in the movie. Luckily the nanny (Wong Man-Lei) takes him in (the son goes from a rich environment to a poor one). However, her husband is a no-good gambler who takes a dislike to this intruder even though the kid does a lot of work for the lazy man.

The son San (neither IMDB nor HKMDB have complete credits on this film and they are missing this name as well as many others; HKFA has better information but is wrong on a couple of plot points and misses the English names used for several of the characters) befriends a blind girl (this becomes an important plot point later), is subservient to his new mother and father, but because the dad hits him this ultimately causes the nanny to care too much for him and she loses her job. She makes by with her sewing skills, but ultimately tensions rise because of the loss of money.

Issues go from bad to worse when the new mother (nanny) dies because of a blow from the new gambling dad. He soon gives away the boy to settle a debt on the urge from his even creepier brother. The family and his birth mother finally comes back to settle debts and see her son, but San is now gone.

The final act of the film is a bit silly, but quite similar to other Hong Kong films from this era. It even has a final moralizing message spoken to the camera (that reminds me of The Dictator) while every plot end is taken care of. Good things happen to the good characters, if they are still alive, and the bad characters get their comeuppance. While the message is noble the didactic browbeating is too much.

Not a great film, but the camera work was decent and the direction from Chun Kim was good. Most effective were some of the emotional situations San went through. I also really liked seeing many outdoor shots of Hong Kong interspersed throughout the film. I do wonder how much the Italian neorealist movement influenced this film. The use of classical music on the soundtrack seems too sporadic, but this use was not uncommon in several of the 1950 HK films I have seen.

The Guiding Light is probably only of interest to die-hard Bruce Lee fans or those interested in early Cantonese cinema. However, if you are specifically watching this film for Bruce Lee be warned that you will probably be disappointed since there is no action and the film is strictly a social melodrama. But while not recommending it to anyone here, I still found much to be gleaned from this movie. I think many would prefer to watch The Kid (1950) a bit more over this film since it has more Bruce Lee (even younger), a better print and is talked about more amongst Hong Kong cinema historians.

The Cinema Epoch R1 copy is pretty poor though. I suspect that nothing better exists than this and the copy is better than public domain. But is has such a plethora of scratches, cuts, poor night scenes, jumping of the reels and audio difficulties especially towards the end of the movie that make the viewing experience more tedious than it should be. I would have appreciated the cinematography much more with a better print. The scene selection on this DVD is one of the cheapest methods I have seen by only using numbers to get to a particular unknown scene. The producers of this disc populated this movie with another young Bruce Lee role in An Orphan’s Tragedy.

[StarDreamCan]

Cabin Fever 2. I remember seeing part 1 in theatres and enjoying myself so much that I dragged friends to go see it again intoxicated. I watched this film based off a review I read on a site and while it isnt a great movie if you are into gore comedies this film will be for you. The film seems pretty short but it was always entertaining to me. I was expecting to be disappointed but found myself enjoying it. Note, doesnt take much to impress me. Still had a good time

Jackass: The Lost Tapes. Its Jackass. I dig it.

A Serious Man I dug it. I did not read reviews about the film but I did rather enjoy myself. I do not know how others feel but It was sweet.

[LeRolls]

Just finished watching Isaac Florentine’s Ninja on Blu-Ray.

A decent amount of action scenes with above average fight choreography. The story was pretty average/cliche with almost no memorable lines of dialogue. Trying to pass off Bulgaria as New York was extremely laughable along with all the obviously European actors with their fake American accents. Overall though I don’t regret owning it and there was definitely some neat over-the-top ninja antics.

[LeRolls]

Dragon Hunters

Beautiful CG movie based off of the French cartoon series of the same name. Lots of eye candy and plenty of humor.

[AlbertV]

Bruno - I thought Borat was insane...Sacha Baron Cohen made Borat look like child's play compared to this. Half of the stuff that went on, I cannot even say here LOL

I Hate Valentine's Day - its a romantic comedy that stars Nia Vardalos and John Corbett, who starred together in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The chemistry was still there between the two as she plays a florist who has a "five dates" rule with guys and he plays a new bar owner who at first goes along with her "5 dates" rule but soon ends up falling for her. Is funny for rom-com fans for the most part IMO.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Beijing Bicycle (2001: Wang Xiao-shuai: China) **½/****:

Frustration can sometimes be a powerful force in cinema, but sometimes it can also mean obvious manipulation of characters and situations that leaves the viewer unsatisfied by what is shown on the screen. Beijing Bicycle is an uneven film with some brilliant scenes, yet remains a maddening muddled account of two young male teenagers’ life in Beijing.

Guei (Cui Lin) is a recent country immigrant (would literally be called a country bumpkin in Mandarin) to Beijing and he has landed a job as a bike courier. Most of his pay at first is used to pay off the bike (80 percent of what he takes in as a courier), but he almost pays it off within a month. Guei is a languid (not as bad as Han San-Ming in Still Life, but close), shy youth who we find out later is quite stubborn. The most effective scenes in the movie are of him dealing with a much different culture then what he is used to. In one incident he is supposed to pick up a package at an office for a Zhang, has to take a shower and get cleaned up to meet him, finds out it is the wrong Zhang and then almost gets arrested because he cannot pay for the shower (effective frustration used here). Luckily the right Zhang sees him (Zhang Yimou is mentioned as an in joke in this scene); however, chastises him for taking so long and sends him on his way.

After Guei almost gets arrested he comes out to find his bike is stolen. This leads him to be fired – not because he lost the bike, but he did not move the package over in time. However, he talks the manager into giving him his job back if he can get his bike back in a Quixotic quest since he marked the bike to signify it at his own. A question I had with the film was why his management never taught him to lock the bike. At this point you wonder how much the film will end up like Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. Other then the basic plot points and a neorealist tone it really does not have that much in common.

The bike ends up in the hand of Jian a slightly spoilt youth who has to hide the bike from his dad who keeps promising him to buy him one. Jian is a normal teenager who likes the girl down the street, has friends he hangs out with and wants to seem cool (which is why he had to get the bike). At this point I thought the film might be more episodic, but soon a friend of Guei spots the bike and tells him about it. Guei tries to steal the bike back (this scene does remind me of Bicycle Thieves) but is caught and beat up (this would happen a few more times). When the two finally have reconciliation the last act takes an idiotic turn.

The abuse Guei goes through with almost none of it being his fault makes you wonder what the point was. Guei is not given much background and could have been given more depth. I admired his determination, his monomania for the bike. There are also a lot of plot angles that really do not help the film and do not go anywhere. The movie works for me when it covers the alientation of a country person. When it tries to be a teen angst movie it fails. Beautiful photography though.

[Guest galakywicz]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

U2 Rattle and Hum

The Crazies

Game of Death

Marebito

[GWB]

Don't like this prequel, the first one is much better, in this one, there are too much CGI and slow motion ( copy paste from 300 ) that it becomes boring and irritating , I sometime play the advance button of the remote control just to have a feeling to see a "normal" movie . . . .

[LeRolls]

Hachi: A Dog's Tale

Had me all teary eyed by the end. Now I have to track down the original Japanese movie from '87.

[LeRolls]

Just finished watching Martial Club. Really good fight scenes and as usual Gordon Liu was awesome. Probably one of the longest SB movies I've seen though.

[AlbertV]

The Sensei - check out my review on the main site.

http://www.kungfucinema.com/review-the-sensei-2008-14144

[kingofkungfu2002]

The Sensei - check out my review on the main site.

http://www.kungfucinema.com/review-the-sensei-2008-14144

Diana Lee Inosanto just posted that link on her Facebook...She was very pleased with the review

[zeus]

bret"the hitman"hart dvd 1-2 of 3 ...starting dvd 3

[fiol]

Sparkling Red Star (闪闪的红星) (1974)

a political movie but a good one.. the acting was theatre like but i enjoyed it (it is my first chinese political movie ever)

[GWB]

An old but very good movie if you like the Win Chun style, with Samo Hung & Yuen Bao, I look at it again after seeing IP Man, I found that there is not much difference between the 2 movies, I mean the Win Chun "choregraphy" action of course ! ! !

[LeRolls]

Started watching The State recently. Forgot how funny this show was.

[sysifos]

Just finished watching Heroes of the East. Awesome movie, easily the best Lau Kar-Leung film I have seen since 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

[AlbertV]

The Blind Side - It is clear why Sandra Bullock won Best Actress. She needs to bring that thunder to Jesse James for what he did. LOL

Love on a Diet - Great performances by Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng as two overweight people who not only help each other but fall in love in the process. One of Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai's best non-action films IMO.

The Kid - Wonderful heartwarming tale about a down on his luck financier and the young boy he raises after finding him as a baby. Great performances by the late Leslie Cheung, Qi Qi (Mrs. Simon Yam) and one of Ti Lung's best dramatic performances.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel - pretty funny at times sequel with minimal Jason Lee time and replaced by Zachary "Chuck" Levi, who plays someone I would act like at times back in the good ol' days.

Tokyo Love Story - started watching this 1992 J-Drama. It has sentimental value because it was the very 1st J-Drama I watched at the age of 13. Great performances by Nariki Suzuki, Yuji Oda, and Yosuke Eguchi,

[masterofoneinchpunch]

...Love on a Diet - Great performances by Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng as two overweight people who not only help each other but fall in love in the process. One of Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai's best non-action films IMO.

...

Quite a fun film. I probably like this the best of the Cheng/Lau pairings though Yesterday Once More (2004: only To on this one) has grew on me (it works well as a precursor to Sparrow on a few attributes).

[AlbertV]

Flash Gordon - always loved this cult classic thanks to Max Von Sydow as Ming the Merciless

Clash of the Titans - not the remake, but the 1981 original with Ray Harryhausen's great SFX for its time. Always love to see it.

Spy Next Door - yep, the movie was family fare a la Pacifier, and my favorite line doesn't come from Jackie, but Billy Ray Cyrus on the escape of the villain: "He's gone like rum cake at an AA meeting". The few JC-style fight scenes by Wu Gang were okay, but not top notch.

Bastard Out of Carolina - one of the most f***ed up movies I ever watched. It was about a young girl in 1950's South Carolina who is constantly beaten by her stepdad and her mom has the absolute nerve to cover it up. The best part is when the girl's uncle and his wife find out about the abuse and they grab the stepdad and beat him virtually to a pulp. The girl finally gains the spirit to stand up for herself and tells her mom that she would not return home if she stays with the guy. Anjelica Huston (The Addams Family) directed this and did a great job of following in her father's footsteps.

[teako170]

Some stuff from the Teako files...

Star Trek (2009)

Loved it! Characters were dead-on. JJ Abrams did a phenomenal job.

Queen Boxer (1972)

Judy kicks some serious butt in that finale. Too bad the print is full-frame with choppy edits.

Atonement (2007)

Slow start but quite haunting. Incredible soundtrack. Dunkirk sequence was amazing.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

While its not the same without Ah-nuld, a decent popcorn flick.

The Long Chase (1971)

Solid wuxia from Ho Meng Hua. Gotta luv that Li Ching.

The Wrestler (2008)

Mickey is great in this one. Had a lot of heart (like the first Rocky film).

High Noon (1952)

Just not a big fan of Cooper. Seen better Westerns.

Mission Kiss And Kill (1979)

Lesser effort by Lee Tso Nam/ Lee I Min. Ok, I suppose.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Despite the critical acclaim, I just couldn't get into this one.

A Massacre Survivor (1979)

The hype for this flick was quite accurate. Very, very cool movie. Thank you....

[AlbertV]

Sherlock Holmes - loved this adaptation from Guy Ritchie. Loved the fight scenes with Robert Downey Jr., definitely has that Wing Chun influence in them thanks to his real-life teacher, Sifu Eric Oram, serving as fight consultant to Richard Ryan's fight choreography.

[Drunken Monk]

The Lovely Bones - A self indulgent mess by Mr. Jackson. Great performances, poor execution.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Found some movies at CD Tradepost in the cheap section.

Alex Rider Operation Stormbreaker- good kids type spy movie with 2 fights choreographed by Donnie Yen. Also a short interview with Donnie on the DVD. I expected this to be a bad bad movie, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Jawbreaker- good dark comedy about high school beeotches. I first watched this about 10 years ago. It’s even better than I remember it. No fight scenes unfortunately:tongue:

Death Sentence- great movie. It starts out a revenge story, and then, it turns into a revenge story again. After that, there’s more revenge. I feel like giving this a 10/10, but it’s just not quite there. 9.5/10.