What was the last classic martial-arts film you watched?

[Shaolivevil]

3 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

Deadly Life of a Ninja Not a good movie. This was rough to sit through. Terrible acting and fighting. You can tell they had no budget and trying make a quick buck. Even the Ninja stuff was lackluster. And i like good ninja stuff (like Duel to the Death). Even having Chen Kuan-tai and Yasuaki Kurata could not save it. Some of the worst wire work ever. 

I agree that Deadly Life Of A Ninja could've been a lot better. I actually wouldn't mind seeing it again if it got remastered and restored. I always had a crush on Elsa Yeung, she starred in Challenge Of The Lady Ninja, also directed by Lee Tso Nam and featured much of the same cast as Deadly Life Of A Ninja. If you have never seen it, it's another ninja cheese fest. It's not the best movie either but worth a view. Lots of weird and wacky stuff happening...

[Drunken Monk]

Ninja in the Deadly Trap - A surprisingly dull film. It neither has the fun and silliness of a Taiwanese ninja flick , nor the top notch production of previous Venoms efforts (granted, this is a non-Shaw film and only three of the Venoms appear). It just ultimately feels joyless and didn't hook me in the slightest. Unlike other reviewers of this film, I'd also say there's a distinct lack of action. It doesn't really get off the ground until about halfway in and even then it's nowhere nears Chiang Sheng, Philip Kwok and Lu Feng's best work.
The final fifteen minutes is worth a watch for flat out ninja action, eggs being thrown and umbrellas being used, but even then, there isn't an awful lot to love. It's basically a C grade Five Element Ninjas rip-off.

By no means is this the worst movie you'll ever watch. Far from it. But it's definitely not great. Nowhere close to being a classic (in this dude's eyes).

[DrNgor]

46 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

It's basically a C grade Five Element Ninjas rip-off.

Heh...If Five Element Ninjas is A grade and Ninja in the Deadly Trap is C grade, what would be the B grade film in the middle?

[Drunken Monk]

9 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

Heh...If Five Element Ninjas is A grade and Ninja in the Deadly Trap is C grade, what would be the B grade film in the middle?

Super Ninja, I think. Maybe Ninja Hunter.

[Drunken Monk]

Writing Kung Fu - Does anyone else feel like this movie just didn't translate at all? There seem to be a series of odd moments with our protagonist reciting poetry at unnecessary times. The whole film just seemed "off" in that way; as though there were themes or metaphors I just wasn't getting. However, I was on a Zoom meeting for about forty five minutes of it so I had to mute it here and there.

As for the fights....beautiful stuff. Crisp, wide-angled shapes. My only problem is that there aren't a lot of fight scenes and, sadly, Bolo feels a bit miscast as he's slower than everyone else. He still makes for a great villain though. Him and his killer flute. The last fight scene is particularly good. Does Bolo say "Start saying your prayers, pilgrim"??

I like John Cheung. The guy has charisma. He's just a bit overly poetic in this one for me. I'd like to check out more of his stuff though.

Side note: the fact this film's alias is Hot Dog Kung Fu is hilarious.

[ShawAngela]

2 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

I like John Cheung. The guy has charisma. He's just a bit overly poetic in this one for me. I'd like to check out more of his stuff though.

You can watch Super Dragon (with also Yueh Hua and Shan Kuan Ling Fung), Mantis fist and tiger claws of shaolin, Storming attacks and Two wondrous tigers to enjoy him.

[ShawAngela]

Today's movies :

Shaolin plot : I had bought a dvd subbed version from @JAMAL years ago and hadn't watch it as yet. I should have done it earlier !! What an EXCELLENT movie !!

One-armed swordsmen : Three one-armed swordsmen, a fourth one that has just a cameo and a fake one. A festival of one-armed swordsmen !! The plot is good, but the fights are too short...With David Chiang, Lo Lieh, Wang Yu and Chang Yi in it, this movie could have been better... Oh, and I almost didn't recognize Lung Fei as a monk !!

Edited June 11, 2020 by ShawAngela

[Duel to the Death]

The Lone Ninja Warrior aka Blade of Doom and more aka's after that.  Ever watch a movie where the dub is just so bad that it makes an already bad movie even worse? That's what we got here. The dub was so bad i could not even concentrate on this movie. It wasn't a good movie to begin with. But i bet if i could hear it in it's original language it would be a better movie. You can find this on Youtube in it's original language but it doesn't have subtitles. And i'm not sure if subtitles exist for it. 

[Duel to the Death]

5 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

One-armed swordsmen : Three one-armed swordsmen, a fourth one that has just a cameo and a fake one. A festival of one-armed swordsmen !! The plot is good, but the fights are too short...With David Chiang, Lo Lieh, Wang Yu and Chang Yi in it, this movie could have been better... Oh, and I almost didn't recognize Lung Fei as a monk !!

It's funny i have that movie open in a tab i forgot to shut. I was looking for the original One Armed Swordsman and i found that instead. 

[One Armed Boxer]

11 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

I like John Cheung. The guy has charisma. He's just a bit overly poetic in this one for me. I'd like to check out more of his stuff though.

Definitely check out 'Kung Fu Master Named Drunk Cat', he co-stars alongside Sharon Yeung Pan-Pan and features some solid kung-fu (plus, he learns all of his skills from watching kung-fu movies, very meta!).  I gave it a full review over at COF which you can check out here.

9 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

Shaolin plot : I had bought a dvd subbed version from @JAMAL years ago and hadn't watch it as yet. I should have done it earlier !! What an EXCELLENT movie !!

We're all waiting for @ShaOW!linDude to watch this one.

[Duel to the Death]

Shaolin Drunkard I had seen Taoism Drunkard before and i thought i had seen this before but nothing was looking familiar. But what  a wild and crazy movie. I love stuff like this. Words can't describe how zany it is. And this morning i find out that both of those movies are sequels to The Miracle Fighters. Now i'm going to have to watch that next. I guess i'll be watching this trilogy in reverse order. 

[DrNgor]

21 minutes ago, Duel to the Death said:

I guess i'll be watching this trilogy in reverse order. 

It's actually a tetralogy if you count Young Taoism Fighter (1986), which the Yuen's choreographed and Yuen Yat-Chor also stars in. You could even call it a pentalogy if you include Drunken Tai Chi, which is essentially a hybrid of the "Taoism" films and the late 70s Seasonal films that the Yuens did.

Edited June 12, 2020 by DrNgor

[Duel to the Death]

1 hour ago, DrNgor said:

It's actually a tetralogy if you count Young Taoism Fighter (1986), which the Yuen's choreographed and Yuen Yat-Chor also stars in. You could even call it a pentalogy if you include Drunken Tai Chi, which is essentially a hybrid of the "Taoism" films and the late 70s Seasonal films that the Yuens did.

Oh boy. Now i got even more movies to check out. 

 

[ShawAngela]

I watched Martial arts Master Wong Fei Hung today.

I almost didn't recognized Lam Chin Ying and I had to check the cast on hkmdb in order to be sure !

Chin Kar Lok is excellent, but I still think that Chin Siu Ho is more good looking than him...

[Duel to the Death]

The Miracle Fighters Just as crazy as the other 2. This one may be a tad more serious too. Tons of over the top humor in all 3 of them. I might as well watch Taoism Drunkard again since it's been 10 years or more since i seen it last. I don't remember all of it. Are any of these true sequels? because they don't feel like they are connected fully. 

Reviews online say Taoism Drunkard is the weakest of the 3 but it's the one i seen first and loved it. I'll watch it later but i might watch something else first. 

[ShawAngela]

I finally got a dvd of the English subbed Rarescope release of General Stone and I watched it today.

Nice movie, with good swordplay and Lung Fei as the evil king...

[ShawAngela]

I watched Iron punch contest today.

Great movie, with  some twists in the plot and good fights.

Surprisingly, it was in Cantonese (with English subtitles) !

[Duel to the Death]

Taoism Drunkard Watched this again some years later and i have to admit it isn't as good as the first 2 in the series. But still a great movie with good laughs. Banana monster is very memorable. But overall the movie isn't as focused as the other 2. The first 2 had a lot's of cool magic and this one really didn't have any. But the Old Devil is great as always. 

[One Armed Boxer]

On 3/10/2019 at 6:45 AM, saltysam said:

The Magnificent

Bad ass Chen Sing wants to overthrow the government and take power for himself, he kidnaps the elderly ching leader, desperately wanting his emblem off him. His daughter Doris Chen and Carter Wong as the righteous commissioner are on Chen's trail. Throw in Casanova Wong and you have a doozy of a cast. The final fight is a doozy, Chen Sing is on top form and seems unbeatable, what a presence he had in these movies. The Crash DVD is wide with burn in subs that are at times hard to read. Recommended.

I got through watching this one recently, however unlike @saltysam I saw it with the English dub thanks to the vintage Iron Fist Frenzy 50-pack from a few years back.  During lockdown I've discovered there's quite a few gems in this set!  (Yes, I'm one of those people who buy these 50-sets then never watch anything in them).  It warranted the full review treatment, so check it out via the link over at COF - 

https://cityonfire.com/the-magnificent-1978-review/

[Killer Meteor]

The Crash Cinema DVD of Magnificent was in Mandarin and OAR - I remember quite liking the film.

[ShawAngela]

Today and yesterday, I watched three movies that I had never watched since I had bought them years ago, and a movie that I had already watched but that I had totally forgotten.

The death duel : first watching. Almost non stop action with Chiang Nan (the young) ; I'm more used to see him in swordplay movies and it was a good surprise to see him in a "bare hands" movie, with a great plot.

Duel of the dragons : first watching. Non stop action movie with Tung Li, Ingrid Hu (I already said it, but I think that she really looks like Nancy Yen at moments !) and Hon Kwo Choi in a very serious role are the three heroes.

Shaolin vs black magic : first watching. Not as superb as the two above and the following one, but good fight  sequences, though.

The gallant knights aka The supreme order : second watching for this great movie with Wong Yung, another of my favorite actors...

All recommended movie.

[Drunken Monk]

Ring of Death - An 86 minute long film that doesn't deliver anything remotely good into 66 minutes in. And even then it's only 20 seconds long. I don't know why I chose thing one; Hwang Jang Lee I imagine. Unfortunately, it's another one of those films where HJL pops up at the end. The rest of the film is banal nonsense with a few training scenes here and there but all early "fights" played for comedy. Bad comedy at that.
At 70 minutes in we get a kung fu tournament. HJL has a shiny earring and, as expected, kicks the fuck out of every competitor. He also pisses on one once he's beaten him. Sounds great but it's not. Even the fight scenes with HJL aren't that great. They look powerful but it's mostly just a few hits before he boots someone unconscious (or dead).
At 74 minutes the real shapes begin and they're great. But it's too little, too late.

This one is a dud. Boring, uninspired and lacking any real action. I don't recommend this one unless you're a Hwang Jang Lee completist.
 

[saltysam]

Bruce's Last Battle

Retitled Bruce's Ninja Secret for the double feature blu ray, this a hodge podge of sequences from other Bruce Le films to make up a barely coherent storyline.Not very good.

Chinese Hercules

Great 70's basher, the blu ray is scratchy but clear grindhouse print. English dub only. Chan Wai Man escapes to the docks refusing to fight,he gets into numerous scrapes but won't fight back against the tyrannical bosses. Then Feng Yeh and his henchman Bolo show up. Some familar faces in this one, get the blu ray!

[ukrevrend]

33 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Ring of Death - An 86 minute long film that doesn't deliver anything remotely good into 66 minutes in. And even then it's only 20 seconds long. I don't know why I chose thing one; Hwang Jang Lee I imagine. Unfortunately, it's another one of those films where HJL pops up at the end. The rest of the film is banal nonsense with a few training scenes here and there but all early "fights" played for comedy. Bad comedy at that.
At 70 minutes in we get a kung fu tournament. HJL has a shiny earring and, as expected, kicks the fuck out of every competitor. He also pisses on one once he's beaten him. Sounds great but it's not. Even the fight scenes with HJL aren't that great. They look powerful but it's mostly just a few hits before he boots someone unconscious (or dead).
At 74 minutes the real shapes begin and they're great. But it's too little, too late.

This one is a dud. Boring, uninspired and lacking any real action. I don't recommend this one unless you're a Hwang Jang Lee completist.
 

I agree completely! And your right, Cliff Lok throws some bad 'shapes', but it wasn't long enough.

Bless

[Duel to the Death]

Drunken Master Classic movie, the end fight is fantastic. But overall i don't rate this as high as i used to. When it comes to Kung Fu comedy's, Knockabout is my favorite (in my top 3 of all time). I know Knockabout is not a drunken movie but it still has a similar feel and style to it so that is what i use as my benchmark. I'd rank Drunken Master just a little below it.