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

[Super Ninja]

On 4/14/2021 at 10:12 PM, ShawAngela said:

I finally got the German dvd of Duel of the seven tigers and I just finished to watch it.

If you don't mind me asking, why not wait for the VCI release?

[J.J. Hayden]

Here's a link for Fighting Ace on YT, it's got a transparent K in the middle of the screen, but it's free so can't complain too much. Always check YT before you decide to buy a DVD, there's a lot of decent stuff to be found.

 

[ShawAngela]

10 minutes ago, Super Ninja said:

If you don't mind me asking, why not wait for the VCI release?

I didn't even know about it !

I wonder if the German DVD is cut, because From time to time, the image jumps to something else...

[Super Ninja]

17 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

I didn't even know about it !

I wonder if the German DVD is cut, because From time to time, the image jumps to something else...

It's the next title in the Pearl River collection, a new 2K restoration of the original 35mm print with Worth's audio commentary and more. Date of release is unknown for the time being. 

[TheKungFuRobber]

To be honest, I'm not too happy with my custom of Hot Cool and Vicious I did. I deleted it ages ago actually. I will do a new one eventually, but for now I think that the German DVD is the most complete. it's an anamorphic conversion of the Eastern Heroes disc with subtitles added, which are rewritten from the Eastern Heroes VHS line-for-line.

If I did another custom I'd use the Eastern Heroes VHS tape and do a good quality rip of it, and also the NTSC US DVD for the opening credits since they would be in a wider ratio.

[DragonClaws]

22 hours ago, Duel to the Death said:

I see John Liu isn't in a lot of movies. I guess he didn't have the leading man type of looks. But boy can he fight. I have seen 2 of his movies so far, this one and Invincible Armour. Maybe i need to see the Secret Rival movies next. I see both John Liu and Jang Lee Hwang are in those as well. 

 

I recommend Death Duel of Kung Fu, The Dragon The Hero and Mars Villa, if you want to give more John Liu movies a try.

[ShawAngela]

5 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

I recommend Death Duel of Kung Fu, The Dragon The Hero and Mars Villa, if you want to give more John Liu movies a try.

And Incredible Kung fu mission.

[WangYu]

The Flying Dagger 1969

[saltysam]

I liked John Liu in Struggle Through Death, good movie.

The Prodigal Boxer

Meng Fei is Fong Sai Yuk who in the opening sequence has a disagreement over an insect fight and ends up killing his foe. Unfortunately for Meng Fei the victiim's teachers are bad ass and take revenge by killing his father. We then find Meng Fei trying to get revenge for his father and consistently being thrashed by badass Yusaki Kurata. The answer is to train and train hard. Solid 70's basher, quite bloody at times. The new blu ray is a big improvement on the old DVD, there's been some criticism of anamorphic squeezing but it looked good for my needs. Definitely a different source from the old DVD, this starts with the R Rating logo and carries the on screen title Kung Fu:The Punch Of Death.

[saltysam]

Awaken Punch

The Fists Of The Double K gang reunite to less effect in this enjoyable basher. The great Henry Yu vows to his dying father he won't fight again, it's not long before the village big boss and knife throwing expert Tien Feng wants his land and he'll do anything to get it,including murder. Henry vows revenge and heads out to wipe out the gang, which includes Fang Yeh minus his whip,Fung-Hark-On, Shan Kwai and the sly Sun Lan as a corrupt police commissioner. The blu ray from a usa theatrical print looks about as good as you'd expect.

[saltysam]

Dynasty

Tan Tao Liang teams up with Invincible Super Chan to try and take down the evil eunuch. A restrained Kam Kong is a general. Po Faced ming dynasty epic is a little boring . I tried to watch in 3D with the paper glasses, my eyes hurt so switched to 2D after 5 minutes. This would look good for anyone with a proper 3D tv.

[ShawAngela]

2 hours ago, saltysam said:

Dynasty

Tan Tao Liang teams up with Invincible Super Chan to try and take down the evil eunuch. A restrained Kam Kong is a general. Po Faced ming dynasty epic is a little boring . I tried to watch in 3D with the paper glasses, my eyes hurt so switched to 2D after 5 minutes. This would look good for anyone with a proper 3D tv.

I was wondering myself if it was watchable without using the 3D version, and you answered me. Is it region free, and when did it come out, please ?

[saltysam]

5 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

I was wondering myself if it was watchable without using the 3D version, and you answered me. Is it region free, and when did it come out, please ?

Unfortunately it's Region A locked. It was released in the USA last week.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

FOUR REAL FRIENDS - really enjoyed this, okay story, nice details and great action with many talents. I only realized Ko Fei was in it when looking at the HKMDB page, I had not recognized him! Those Japanese henchmen with the beehive-baskets over their heads, wonderful. At least they took them off for the end fight. 

[Yihetuan]

On 4/17/2021 at 9:16 AM, saltysam said:

Dynasty

Tan Tao Liang teams up with Invincible Super Chan to try and take down the evil eunuch. A restrained Kam Kong is a general. Po Faced ming dynasty epic is a little boring . I tried to watch in 3D with the paper glasses, my eyes hurt so switched to 2D after 5 minutes. This would look good for anyone with a proper 3D tv.

I caught this the other night. It's pretty neat in a retro-grindhouse way with the polarized version. I never tried the anaglyph or used the paper glasses, so can't comment on it. The flat 2-D version is okay (the best looking print we'll ever see that's for sure) but it's a shame to miss out on the 3-D effects even if they are pretty cheesy but that's part of the fun!

[TheKungFuRobber]

 

[Duel to the Death]

Fighting Ace 1979

It's your standard lackluster low budget kung fu movie. John Liu's unbelievable kicking skills are on display. But this movie is lacking in good choreography. Just about all the fights are sloppy.

After being taught by 4 different masters our hero doesn't seem to have any distinct skill except for about 10 seconds or less when he is doing some fancy footwork in a skill called Speedy Horse. The rest of it is John showing off his kicks, which i don't mind seeing. He's damn good. But since the choreography is bad it makes john look a little bad too. 

But it was a fun afternoon popcorn movie but i probably wouldn't watch it again. I like John though. 

[WangYu]

Fist of Fury part 2

I got bored quickly, very repetitive film that adds nothing to the first film.

[ukrevrend]

18 hours ago, WangYu said:

Fist of Fury part 2

I got bored quickly, very repetitive film that adds nothing to the first film.

My thoughts, exactly!

Bless

[Drunken Monk]

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow (1979) - I will never understand why this film is universally praised. It has an enjoyable - if standard - plot but the fights aren't good at all. They look so sloppy and nowhere near as crisp as other films around this time. Since this film is all about the fight scenes, it ends up that the majority of it is lackluster. I have no idea what Wilson Tong was going for with this one. Especially since only a year later he'd be choreographing beautiful action in the likes of Snake Deadly Act. 

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow isn't the worst old school kung fu movie. Far from it. But in my eyes, it really is one of the most overrated "classics." 
 

[paimeifist]

15 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow (1979) - I will never understand why this film is universally praised. It has an enjoyable - if standard - plot but the fights aren't good at all. They look so sloppy and nowhere near as crisp as other films around this time. Since this film is all about the fight scenes, it ends up that the majority of it is lackluster. I have no idea what Wilson Tong was going for with this one. Especially since only a year later he'd be choreographing beautiful action in the likes of Snake Deadly Act. 

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow isn't the worst old school kung fu movie. Far from it. But in my eyes, it really is one of the most overrated "classics." 
 

I pretty much agree with your opinion of this movie, although I'm not so sure it is really considered a great movie or anything. I don't recall seeing it among many favorite lists. I'm thinking maybe it gets viewed that way due to its namesake.

 

I haven't been watching as much Fu over the last few months. I often consider watching one, than end up being paralyzed by choice on streaming services without watching anything.

 

I did go for a random (and risky) pick yesterday though, in Gold Constables (aka Ninja Pirates).

 

A Taiwanese actioner directed by Wong Chung, with only two other films credited to him as director, featuring Carter Wong and Lo Lieh heading the bill - like I said, risky pick!

 

The movie opens with Lo Lieh conning a group of petty thieves into helping him rob some government-owned gold. He blackmails them with the corpses of a couple he murdered, telling them they're accomplices to murder if they don't help him get the gold. After they successfully make their heist with laughable ease, Lo Lieh's TRUE accomplice (Lung Fei) shows up to kill all of the small-time criminals and split the goods with Lo Lieh. Naturally, Lung Fei runs a casino in town, and this is the first place the police, "wandering do gooders" (Carter Wong), bandits, and the niece of the murdered couple (Nancy Yen) search for the gold and/or clues to the crime.

 

The plot was fairly generic, but there was one surprising twist, so that was cool. I went into this film with low expectations, given that no one in the cast is known for great on-screen martial arts talent. To my surprise, the action was pretty good. At times the fights were marred by poor editing, and the hand to hand combat does leave something to be desired. With that said, there is some nice weapons work, featuring a nice variety including swords, a guandao with a retractable handle, batons, and a roped iron-hand thing. 

 

A solid Taiwanese flick that surpassed my admittedly low expectations. A fairly engaging if unoriginal plot coupled with some fast paced weapons work made for an enjoyable viewing.

Edited April 23, 2021 by paimeifist

[Little Deer]

On 4/17/2021 at 12:16 PM, saltysam said:

Dynasty

Tan Tao Liang teams up with Invincible Super Chan to try and take down the evil eunuch. A restrained Kam Kong is a general. Po Faced ming dynasty epic is a little boring . I tried to watch in 3D with the paper glasses, my eyes hurt so switched to 2D after 5 minutes. This would look good for anyone with a proper 3D tv.

I was able to watch Dynasty on a 3D projector, and the effects are really great.  Better than a lot of recent cgi 3d effects.  When a sword would point at the camera or a flying guillotine would take a head off, it genuinely brought a smile to my face. It was lots of fun.

[Django]

22 hours ago, paimeifist said:

I don't recall seeing it among many favorite lists.

Is there a list thread here on the board for members to post their top favourite list?

[Django]

On 4/16/2021 at 12:10 AM, ShawAngela said:

I wonder if the German DVD is cut, because From time to time, the image jumps to something else

The "main" version on the disc is cut, but there is actually an uncut version featured as a "bonus" if you go to the extras section. The missing scenes have been inserted from a fullscreen VHS, all in English audio 👍

[ShawAngela]

17 minutes ago, Django said:

The "main" version on the disc is cut, but there is actually an uncut version featured as a "bonus" if you go to the extras section. The missing scenes have been inserted from a fullscreen VHS, all in English audio 👍

Ah, thanks !! Actually, the day I watched it, I hadn't enough time to chekc the extras, but I'll do it for sure !