5 Awful Things

[FieryReign]

I hate in kung fu films that make me want to turn them off. I've gotten so tired of seeing them over the years, it's just not charming anymore.

5. Annoying and unfunny cornball comedy. A 4 year-old would find it offensive to their tastes.

4. Entire scenes filmed completely in the dark. Worse if its fullscreen, you'll be staring at a completely black screen for minutes.

3. Horrendous dubbing and off-cue sound effects. It's like there were about 10 English voice actors available for every kung fu film ever. The worst is when they try and use an old-west cowboy accent, when they're obviously British.

2. Dean Shek. I don't know how a man could make a living being the most annoying person to ever grace film. Was it some kind of running gag within the industry?

1. Dean Shek. Combined with number 5, the flick can't be turned off fast enough. It will make you want to punch yourself in the crotch.

[reason108]

I really hated the comedy in kung fu trend. A little humor in spots is ok, but hated it when I would be watching a serious kung fu drama and then part-way in the movie, they would break into a comedy skit for no reason. Took me out of the movie, a bit, until I got use to it. But, a lot of HK films will try to include different genres all in the same film (horror, kung fu, drama, comedy, melodrama, etc). But, I actually like Dean Shek. He doesn't bother me like Jim Carrey does. But, yeah, guys like this go a long ways in small batches. Dean got type-cast with that fake mole on his face, and he was always twisting the hair that grew out of it. Certainly a long running in-joke through-out part of his career. No idea if he enjoyed doing that or that was what paid the bills. But, I think it was the Sammo films that made him so (in)famous. Not sure if he did the same act in other films or not.

Or, the type-casting of Fun Has On as the villain rapist. Though, I love him playing a bad guy, he certainly did a great job of it, it was the same part in so many different movies. The minute you saw him on screen you knew that he was a villain and that someone would probably get raped. 

[KenHashibe]

11 hours ago, FieryReign said:

5. Annoying and unfunny cornball comedy. A 4 year-old would find it offensive to their tastes.

4. Entire scenes filmed completely in the dark. Worse if its fullscreen, you'll be staring at a completely black screen for minutes.

3. Horrendous dubbing and off-cue sound effects. It's like there were about 10 English voice actors available for every kung fu film ever. The worst is when they try and use an old-west cowboy accent, when they're obviously British.

2. Dean Shek. I don't know how a man could make a living being the most annoying person to ever grace film. Was it some kind of running gag within the industry?

1. Dean Shek. Combined with number 5, the flick can't be turned off fast enough. It will make you want to punch yourself in the crotch.

I completely agree with number 5. Some of the humor in kung fu movies is just awful and a pain to watch. I think that's the reason why I don't care for The Odd Couple that much. Sure the fights are amazing and the concept is hilarious and clever, but the comedic scenes are just a pain. There are quite a few genuinely funny kung fu comedies though: Enter the Fat Dragon, Ninja in the Dragon's Den, Young Master and many others.

Number 4 is a big issue too, but I partially blame whoever does the transfers. I'm sure these scenes would be somewhat watchable in Blu-ray quality, but yeah, these kind of scenes suck.

I can live the English dubs. They don't bug as much as they should. I even find some enjoyment out them, both because they're often nostalgic or hilarious.

As for Dean Shek, he's good in some things, but terrible in others (*cough* The Odd Couple). I'll admit, sometimes when he's subdued and has little screentime, he can be a fun addition to a movie. But that's such a rare occurrence that I understand where you're coming from.

[DragonClaws]

7 minutes ago, KenHashibe said:

Number 4 is a big issue too, but I partially blame whoever does the transfers. I'm sure these scenes would be somewhat watchable in Blu-ray quality, but yeah, these kind of scenes suck.

You are right, a lot of this is down to poor quality prints. This would often be rectified if the films were restored in the right way.

The scene in Way Of The Dragon were Bruce Lee chases the gun man at night was un-wactchable on my old VHS video. The early Hong Kong Legends DVD version of the scene was like watching a different film, you could actually see wat was happening.