Unpopular opinion thread

[legendarycurry]

38 minutes ago, One Armed Boxer said:

You're not alone. I even went so far as to write a feature on this so I could articulate as to why, and got called a "degenerate that crawled out of a sewer" for my troubles (check the comments section ) - 

https://cityonfire.com/enter-the-dragon-the-most-overrated-kung-fu-movie-ever/

I'd always thought I was alone on this one!

lol I saw that comment just now and read your feature. My favorite part was the whole "written on a piece of filthy toilet paper" (paraphrasing) bit

Yeah I've always preferd Return to the 36th chamber over the original. Us fans of scaffolding kung fu need to stick together, I'm sure there are dozens of us!

 

[J.J. Hayden]

Hwang Jeong-ri is not the best kicker in movie history.

Edited December 29, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[DrNgor]

5 minutes ago, J.J. Hayden said:

Hwang Jeong-lee is not the best kicker in movie history.

It's Mr. Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee to you, buddy.

[Super Ninja]

1 hour ago, J.J. Hayden said:

Hwang Jeong-lee is not the best kicker in movie history.

I have a pretty good idea who you think is the best kicker in movie history.

On 3/23/2022 at 6:41 PM, legendarycurry said:

Return to the 36th Chamber (1980) is better than 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (1978)

Pretty sure I'll never agree with this for as long as I live.

On 3/23/2022 at 6:41 PM, legendarycurry said:

I prefer The finale in Paper Marriage (1986) over the Police Story (1985) finale

Sacrilege.

On 3/23/2022 at 6:41 PM, legendarycurry said:

Stephen Chow should have played Yip Man in the Wilson Yip directed films instead of Donnie.

This is interesting enough for me not to instantly say I could never agree, but I'm heavily leaning in that direction. Care to elaborate? 

[legendarycurry]

2 minutes ago, Super Ninja said:

I have a pretty good idea who you think is the best kicker in movie history.

Pretty sure I'll never agree with this for as long as I live.

Sacrilege.

This is interesting enough for me not to instantly say I could never agree, but I'm heavily leaning in that direction. Care to elaborate? 

I'll gladly elaborate a bit:

Stephen Chow's love for kung fu cinema and Bruce Lee have been an undercurrent in so many of his films, but it would take up until the release of Kung Fu Hustle for him to really make a movie with Kung Fu as the main focus of the film. Though I love Kung Fu Hustle, we still haven't gotten an outright classical martial arts film from Chow in the vein of say the Wong Fei Hung films or classics from Shaw Bros, GH and Seasonal films.

Stephen Chow makes for a great screen fighter as evident in action sequences he has been a part of ,but he hasn't let loose 100%. Chow himself was a Wing Chun practitioner who had studied under students of Yip Man. Donnie Yen however had to learn Wing Chun for the movie.

As someone who has seen many Donnie films and consider Yip Man a modern classic, I still feel like Donnie comes across at times like he is "performing" Wing Chun, like he desperately wants to let loose with some bootwork at times in the fights,

To see Chow in the role would both fulfill Chow's fans' (and probably Chow's own) desire to see him in a martial arts film, and it would in a way continue the Yip Man legacy, whilst also giving Chow a chance to show off his dramatic chops too.

Of course in a perfect world Sammo would still choreograph the movie since Sammo is the best, but given his past collab with Chow not ending too well (as far as I know) we might have gotten YWP or someone else doing the choreography instead, which would lead to a different approach most likely.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/stephen-chow-tencent-deal-1234968791/

 

 

 

[DrNgor]

21 minutes ago, legendarycurry said:

Donnie Yen however had to learn Wing Chun for the movie.

As someone who has seen many Donnie films and consider Yip Man a modern classic, I still feel like Donnie comes across at times like he is "performing" Wing Chun, like he desperately wants to let loose with some bootwork at times in the fights,

I always wonder about that. I've seen that article (or someone posting that) before, but if you watch his fight scenes in Shanghai Affairs (1998) and Iron Monkey 2 (1996), his handwork is very wing chun. Even in In the Line of Duty IV, some his handwork looks similar to wing chun.

[J.J. Hayden]

3 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

I have a pretty good idea who you think is the best kicker in movie history.

Lol, I know who you're thinking, but you might be surprised. It also depends if it comes down to who has the most real kicking skills, or who's had the best opportunities to display great kicking on screen and if that was done well.

4 hours ago, DrNgor said:

It's Mr. Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee to you, buddy.

Yes legendary superkicker, but certainly not the best, not the best in Hong Kong cinema or even Korea.

[legendarycurry]

4 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

I always wonder about that. I've seen that article (or someone posting that) before, but if you watch his fight scenes in Shanghai Affairs (1998) and Iron Monkey 2 (1996), his handwork is very wing chun. Even in In the Line of Duty IV, some his handwork looks similar to wing chun.

I haven't seen Iron Monkey 2 (should I?) and the only thing I remember about Shanghai Affairs really is that it had some joint-locking techniques in the fights.

I am not a Wing Chun practitioner myself, but I never felt that anything in ILOD4 felt very Wing Chun, at least not like specifically Wing Chun or the cinematic representation of it. But I am certainly no Wing Chun expert.

[J.J. Hayden]

3 minutes ago, legendarycurry said:

I haven't seen Iron Monkey 2 (should I?)

I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a big Yen fan (even then it might not be a good idea) and don't let the idea of a Yen vs Billy Chow fool you. It's not the worst thing in the world but for a Yen movie and alleged sequel to one of his best, it makes for some rough viewing.

[legendarycurry]

2 minutes ago, J.J. Hayden said:

I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a big Yen fan (even then it might not be a good idea) and don't let the idea of a Yen vs Billy Chow fool you. It's not the worst thing in the world but for a Yen movie and alleged sequel to one of his best, it makes for some rough viewing.

Ah I see, I appreciate the info. I consider Iron Monkey to be a decent film but not one of the best for that cast and crew. Yen vs Billy Chow does sound great in theory, but maybe I will only enjoy it somewhat if I lower my expectations a whole lot lol. I certainly won't be trying hard to seek it out when there are 88 films/Eureka releases to spend money on.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Iron Monkey 2 is a Wu Ma cash grab. According to Toby he would show up hammered (Wu Ma that is) and Donny was considered high maintenance at the time, so he had to take whatever work came his way. Sure, he did Iron Monkey, but then there were a bunch of clunkers.

Having done Tae Kwon Do since the 70's there are various ideas on what is a great kicker. You have to sort of split them up a few ways- Snappy machine gun kicks, Jump Kicks, Demo Kicks and Power Kicks. A Muay Thai champion won't be able to do elegant kicks, but he probably has the most effective kicks, period. I remember going to Fairtex when Alex Gong was running the place and he said that TKD guys would go to smokers and try to use their TKD kicks when they sort of fell apart in the ring. It did not go well for them. 

 

[DrNgor]

20 minutes ago, legendarycurry said:

I haven't seen Iron Monkey 2 (should I?) and the only thing I remember about Shanghai Affairs really is that it had some joint-locking techniques in the fights.

I am not a Wing Chun practitioner myself, but I never felt that anything in ILOD4 felt very Wing Chun, at least not like specifically Wing Chun or the cinematic representation of it. But I am certainly no Wing Chun expert.

 

[legendarycurry]

13 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

 

Appreciate the clips, especially the one from Iron Monkey 2, that is the first footage I've seen of that film.

I can definitely see some "Wing Chun-ness" in the Shanghai Affairs clip.

The Iron Monkey 2 fight just has (in my opinion) what I call "Donnie Yen hand flailing choreography" he would put that in a lot of his 90's stuff where he basically tries to do little poses with his hands that are no specific style but it is meant to look cool and then he under-cranks it But hey friend, if you feel it looks like Wing Chun to you then  I see no problem with that.

 

[Super Ninja]

1 hour ago, legendarycurry said:

I'll gladly elaborate a bit:

Stephen Chow's love for kung fu cinema and Bruce Lee have been an undercurrent in so many of his films, but it would take up until the release of Kung Fu Hustle for him to really make a movie with Kung Fu as the main focus of the film. Though I love Kung Fu Hustle, we still haven't gotten an outright classical martial arts film from Chow in the vein of say the Wong Fei Hung films or classics from Shaw Bros, GH and Seasonal films.

Stephen Chow makes for a great screen fighter as evident in action sequences he has been a part of ,but he hasn't let loose 100%. Chow himself was a Wing Chun practitioner who had studied under students of Yip Man. Donnie Yen however had to learn Wing Chun for the movie.

As someone who has seen many Donnie films and consider Yip Man a modern classic, I still feel like Donnie comes across at times like he is "performing" Wing Chun, like he desperately wants to let loose with some bootwork at times in the fights,

To see Chow in the role would both fulfill Chow's fans' (and probably Chow's own) desire to see him in a martial arts film, and it would in a way continue the Yip Man legacy, whilst also giving Chow a chance to show off his dramatic chops too.

Of course in a perfect world Sammo would still choreograph the movie since Sammo is the best, but given his past collab with Chow not ending too well (as far as I know) we might have gotten YWP or someone else doing the choreography instead, which would lead to a different approach most likely.

Interesting. Being obviously skilled enough but a comedian first and foremost, I guess the question is could or would Chow perform well in a serious MA movie? So either he pulls a foxcatcher on us (does anyone remember Carell's transformation in that one?) or he does Enter the Fat Dragon (old one ofc) to an Ip Man movie. More than ten Ip Man movies were made since 2008. and all were serious. If Wong Fei-hung wasn't sacred enough not to turn him into a drunk, would heads be rolling if the next Ip Man movie is a kung fu comedy? 

1 hour ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/stephen-chow-tencent-deal-1234968791/

 

 

 

Considering the percentage of good movies among Chinese streaming platforms' originals, I'm not excited to read this. 

43 minutes ago, J.J. Hayden said:

Lol, I know who you're thinking, but you might be surprised. It also depends if it comes down to who has the most real kicking skills, or who's had the best opportunities to display great kicking on screen and if that was done well.

Looks like the discussion over at the Best Superkicker thread is far from concluded. 

[legendarycurry]

1 hour ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

Iron Monkey 2 is a Wu Ma cash grab. According to Toby he would show up hammered (Wu Ma that is) and Donny was considered high maintenance at the time, so he had to take whatever work came his way. Sure, he did Iron Monkey, but then there were a bunch of clunkers.

Some people only know Donnie as a superstar with iconic roles or as someone with primarily classics or well-received films. These people have clearly never seen Holy Virgin vs Evil Dead (1991)

1 hour ago, Super Ninja said:

Interesting. Being obviously skilled enough but a comedian first and foremost, I guess the question is could or would Chow perform well in a serious MA movie? So either he pulls a foxcatcher on us (does anyone remember Carell's transformation in that one?) or he does Enter the Fat Dragon (old one ofc) to an Ip Man movie. More than ten Ip Man movies were made since 2008. and all were serious. If Wong Fei-hung wasn't sacred enough not to turn him into a drunk, would heads be rolling if the next Ip Man movie is a kung fu comedy?

I remember Carrell's transformation and I think Chow could pull of a serious Yip Man. Donnie actually played Yip Man in a film called Golden Chickensss ( Golden Chicken 3) It's a comedy I haven't seen but I am assuming he does some sort of parody. I guess what I'm trying to say is that nothing is off limits to make fun of, so long as those laughs are money in the bank for the studio ( at least I think that's how they reason).

[One Armed Boxer]

1 hour ago, legendarycurry said:

I haven't seen Iron Monkey 2 (should I?)

1 hour ago, legendarycurry said:

These people have clearly never seen Holy Virgin vs Evil Dead (1991)

Probably an unpopular opinion in itself, but I find both 'Iron Monkey 2' and 'The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead' to be fairly entertaining. (Click on the titles to be taken to my reviews)

 

[DrNgor]

2 hours ago, legendarycurry said:

But hey friend, if you feel it looks like Wing Chun to you then  I see no problem with that.

Watch again, especially 1:58 and 5:48. You can see the close quarters, closed-in handwork of wing chun, even just briefly. Obviously, anything with Donnie Yen is going to be a smorgasbord of tae kwon do, whatever styles he picked up at the Wushu Academy (Shaolin Longfist, Hsing-i, Bagua, Mantis, Eagle, etc.), taiqiquan, and probably a bunch of other things, too.

And the Martial Artist's Guide to Hong Kong Films was who pointed it out to me:

Quote

IRON MONKEY 2
Stars: Donnie Yen, Billy Chow, Ng Mah. MA rating: 5

This is not a sequel to the Yuen Woo Ping "Iron Monkey", but an entirely different story that takes place in Republic-era Shanghai with Donnie playing the Iron Monkey character. Good technique from all players. In addition to his usual excellent kickboxing, Donnie's wing chun is very pronounced. Co-hero is a very good wu shu stylist. Many scenes are sped up, in some places way too much. But what the players do is impressive.

 

[legendarycurry]

11 hours ago, DrNgor said:

Watch again, especially 1:58 and 5:48. You can see the close quarters, closed-in handwork of wing chun, even just briefly. Obviously, anything with Donnie Yen is going to be a smorgasbord of tae kwon do, whatever styles he picked up at the Wushu Academy (Shaolin Longfist, Hsing-i, Bagua, Mantis, Eagle, etc.), taiqiquan, and probably a bunch of other things, too.

And the Martial Artist's Guide to Hong Kong Films was who pointed it out to me:

 

Interesting, I must have missed it. I'll look again, guess I didn't pick it up the first time.

[FightingFool]

On 5/16/2021 at 10:20 PM, saltysam said:

I am not much of a Van Damme fan and only own 5-6 of his movies.

That is 4-5 more than I own. I like kickboxer, death warrant, hard target, bloodsport, double impact and some others but on br have only bothered to purchase Cyborg(88 films).

[legendarycurry]

12 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

Probably an unpopular opinion in itself, but I find both 'Iron Monkey 2' and 'The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead' to be fairly entertaining. (Click on the titles to be taken to my reviews)

 

 

12 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

Probably an unpopular opinion in itself, but I find both 'Iron Monkey 2' and 'The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead' to be fairly entertaining. (Click on the titles to be taken to my reviews)

 

What little I saw of Iron Monkey 2 didn't look too bad, but I remember not liking Holy Virgin at all.

[WaverBoy]

3 hours ago, legendarycurry said:

 

What little I saw of Iron Monkey 2 didn't look too bad, but I remember not liking Holy Virgin at all.

I haven’t seen it, but judging from this trailer, it looks like I need to own it yesterday.

 

[legendarycurry]

30 minutes ago, WaverBoy said:

I haven’t seen it, but judging from this trailer, it looks like I need to own it yesterday.

 

I say seek it out if you like what you see. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean you won't 

[Super Ninja]

23 hours ago, legendarycurry said:

Donnie actually played Yip Man in a film called Golden Chickensss ( Golden Chicken 3)

This I didn't know, gotta find that movie. 

Speaking of Ip Man, I just found another one. Ip Man: The Awakening Master (2021).

Edited March 25, 2022 by Super Ninja

[8DiagramAuntieFighter]

On 5/23/2020 at 11:42 AM, venom10463 said:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a snore fest. I can't believe it was the film that revitalized the kung fu genre.

Same. I mostly chalk it up to cinephiles hopping on a bandwagon to praise stuff that was already being done years before. Kinda like some Tarantino movies. Wouldn’t mind all that much if it was their entry into the genre, but seeing as they still refer to it as a groundbreaking masterpiece when there are better movies out there leads me to believe they haven’t.😭

 

On 7/7/2020 at 5:40 AM, DrNgor said:

I never found Kara Hui all that sexy, even in her prime. I kinda think that Pops traded up when he married Mary Jean Reimer.

 Shaking & Crying right now. Mods delete this!!