Member deathdunt Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 As according to my previous post states, I purchased a slew of double bill dvds at the dollar store. I just finished watching Mar's Villa, which was oddly paired up with a Godfrey Ho ninja flick Ninja Untouchables aka The American Force 2: Untouchable Glory aka The Untouchable Glory(which I'm yet torture myself with) Needless to say, Mar's Villa was one of the best kung fu movies I have ever seen. A bold statement, I know, but I felt as though this was an absolutely perfect kung fu film. The acting is very good (for a kung fu film,mind you), the fights are fantastic, I even really like the locations used, namely the shoddy man-made looking bridge. This is possibly John Liu's finest work as an actor, and in fact the movie has put him at the top of my favorite kung fu stars list. I haven't seen a bad movie from the guy yet...although I hear In the Claws of the CIA is rather rough. Needless to say, I got my dollar's worth and then some. The print was really scratchy and jumpy, but easily watchable. This needs a decent dvd release ASAP. Thoughts on John Liu/this film? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 I would say it ws a little bit above average, but not the classic I was expecting. I didn't really like the story, and I was extremely angry with the John Liu Steve Tung Wei fight. I expected that to be an epic fight, but it was crap. My favorite scene is the final fight. Chia Kai's role as Liu's loyal servant is brilliant. I love how he takes all of Phillip Ko's punches and kicks and does everything he can to help Liu win the fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chinatown Kid Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 Mar's Villa is ok but I don't think it was Liu's best, I think Incredible Kung Fu Mission was his best overall film and featured his talents to the utmost. Also check out the film Zenkwondo Strikes in Paris starring Liu, the story is ridiculous and all over the place but in the fights Liu has never looked better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venoms5 Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 I liked MAR'S VILLA quite a bit. Thought the story and action was tops. I haven't seen all of Liu's movies but of the 10 or so I've seen this is the best one, IMO. INCREDIBLE KUNG FU MISSION is good as well but the annoying comedy bits got in the way of the movie for me as the serious nature of VILLA takes precedence, IMO. ZEN KWON DO STRIKES IN PARIS is a terrible movie, one of the worst I've seen. The main plot is never even resolved but as CK said, the fights are ace. If you like so-bad-they're-good movies, then this will do the trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 Love Mar's Villa.... my favourite John liu movie, and NO comedy in sight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member deathdunt Posted May 19, 2008 Author Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 I guess that's another I liked about it. Considering it's era, it was comedy-free and nothing gets to me more than lame, LAME kung fu comedy(once you've seen one or two you've seen them all). Like I said what I've seen of Mr. Liu, I haven't hated any of it, The Dragon, The Hero was great in a Godfrey Ho way( but not so Godfrey Ho that it's unbearable, know what I mean?), Incredible Kung FU Mission is just...perfect besides the comedy. The Secret Rivals movies, just a tad overrated, but very good none the less. I have had Fighting Ace sitting around forever, but I'm nervous about watching it as I heard it does alot of the lame comedy stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venoms5 Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 I have had Fighting Ace sitting around forever, but I'm nervous about watching it as I heard it does alot of the lame comedy stuff. Oh, I completely forgot about FIGHTING ACE. Terrible movie that one. Probably the lamest bad guy I recall in a kung fu picture. Watch till Kwan Young Moon exits the film then shut it off...which I think is about 30 minutes in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member SamuraiDana Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 As according to my previous post states, I purchased a slew of double bill dvds at the dollar store. I just finished watching Mar's Villa, which was oddly paired up with a Godfrey Ho ninja flick Ninja Untouchables aka The American Force 2: Untouchable Glory aka The Untouchable Glory(which I'm yet torture myself with) This needs a decent dvd release ASAP. There IS a decent DVD release. Crash Cinema put out a 2-disc set with both the English dub and the Mandarin-language version. The Mandarin version is letter-boxed and is the better print. According to Amazon, it's still available. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Mars-Villa/dp/B0002OXUVA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1211218623&sr=1-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member deathdunt Posted May 19, 2008 Author Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 How decent is it? Are there any special features? It's funny because a few years ago Crash was the best thing going as far as kung fu releases go... But now with Dragon Dynasty, Rarescope, Celestial,etc giving TRULY legit releases to flicks, it just seems ridiculous to buy a "SPECIAL COLLECTORS EDITION" from a few years ago when "SPECIAL COLLECTORS EDITION" meant to kung fu fans simply that you COULD now collect it on some sort of legit format, as opposed to a 9th generation vhs dub traded on ALt.Asian-Movies. Imagine our surprise when it was that SAME 9th generation dub, just slapped on a glossy disc. All I'm saying, is ill keep my dollar store copy because chances are it's the same grainy print, maybe gleamed up a bit, in a cuter package. And I dont consider a homemade trailer for something else a company puts on dvd "extras". Maybe I've gotten spoiled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chinatown Kid Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 I actually liked the comedy in IKFM, especially when he was whipping the recruits into shape for the mission. Also, the comedy didn't get in the way of the awesome fights, especially Liu's. The fights in Mar's Villa just didn't seem to be as good to me and that part with Liu being driven mad in the cage seemed silly looking and unintentionally funny. It's definately not a bad flick though. I've liked about all of Liu's movies because I'm a fan of kicking, even John Liu in Mexico aka Dragon's Blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venoms5 Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 So is DRAGON'S BLOOD and NINJA IN THE CLAWS OF THE CIA in the so-bad-it's-good category like ZEN KWAN DO STRIKES IN PARIS or are they just bad? I have one Liu flick which I could not finish, TRINITY GOES EAST. The part with the pig in the Baby cart a la LONE WOLF was right funny though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chinatown Kid Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 Right venom, Dragon's Blood and Ninja in the Claws of the CIA are similiar to Zenkwondo Strikes in Paris in that the stories are ridiculous and the acting is horrible but you can count on Liu to dish out some great bootwork. Out of those I think Zenkwondo features Liu's best fights, perhaps even better than all his films. All imo of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted May 19, 2008 Member Share Posted May 19, 2008 I guess that's another I liked about it. Considering it's era, it was comedy-free and nothing gets to me more than lame, LAME kung fu comedy(once you've seen one or two you've seen them all). A-men to that! Oh, I completely forgot about FIGHTING ACE. Terrible movie that one. Probably the lamest bad guy I recall in a kung fu picture. Watch till Kwan Young Moon exits the film then shut it off...which I think is about 30 minutes in. Whaaaattt? Ha-ha. I actually enjoyed this one. Unrated, I feel. It was picked up by accident (think I was looking for Master of Death?) but found FIGHTING ACE to be worthy of a repeat look. Mar's Villa is ok but I don't think it was Liu's best, I think Incredible Kung Fu Mission was his best overall film and featured his talents to the utmost. This is on my short list to watch. Perhaps I'll even check it out tonight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 Yeah Fighting Ace rocks. I like it a lot more than Mar's Villa. Liu seems to be using his left leg a lot more than normal, and that finishing move on the villain is very nice. And I would have liked to have seen the villain Cliff Ching CHing in more movies. Guy was bad ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venoms5 Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 Yeah Fighting Ace rocks. I like it a lot more than Mar's Villa. Liu seems to be using his left leg a lot more than normal, and that finishing move on the villain is very nice. And I would have liked to have seen the villain Cliff Ching CHing in more movies. Guy was bad ass. The villain was one of the reasons I could barely make it through this one. I can see why he didn't do much if anything after this. A massive difference of opinion for this one. I couldn't even give this one away and threw it in the garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 What didnt you like about him? I thought he was a good actor and had powerful kung fu skills. Just watched King of Fists and Dollars today, and his fight against Chan Wai Man was my favorite part of that crappy movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venoms5 Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 What didnt you like about him? I thought he was a good actor and had powerful kung fu skills. Just watched King of Fists and Dollars today, and his fight against Chan Wai Man was my favorite part of that crappy movie. He didn't seem imposing enough nor was he very interesting, IMO. Wasn't there some camera trickery used to make him seem "powerful"? I watched it once and didn't really like it save for the first 30 minutes or so. I tried watching it again later and shut it off after Kwan Young Moon exited the film. I just couldn't get into this one. Liu's kicks were nice but it wasn't enough for me. Possibly if Kwan had remained in the film it would have made it more bearable for me. Never seen KING OF FISTS & DOLLARS but I have the poster. It looks good from all the actors but I heard from somebody else that it wasn't good at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 I don't remember it, but they probably did make him look more powerful with camera tricks. But that's what they do in most movies for villains... Maybe I am just a wimp, but if that guy wanted to fight me I would piss my pants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member vonhumboldtfleisher Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 He didn't seem imposing enough nor was he very interesting, IMO. Wasn't there some camera trickery used to make him seem "powerful"? There was a goofy optical effect, a kind of shimmering prism effect, which only made him look slower. I kind of liked FIGHTING ACE, but that might be because the tape I had of it had been recorded over and turned into a porno about fifty minutes in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member SamuraiDana Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 How decent is it? Are there any special features? It's funny because a few years ago Crash was the best thing going as far as kung fu releases go... But now with Dragon Dynasty, Rarescope, Celestial,etc giving TRULY legit releases to flicks, it just seems ridiculous to buy a "SPECIAL COLLECTORS EDITION" from a few years ago when "SPECIAL COLLECTORS EDITION" meant to kung fu fans simply that you COULD now collect it on some sort of legit format, as opposed to a 9th generation vhs dub traded on ALt.Asian-Movies. Imagine our surprise when it was that SAME 9th generation dub, just slapped on a glossy disc. All I'm saying, is ill keep my dollar store copy because chances are it's the same grainy print, maybe gleamed up a bit, in a cuter package. And I dont consider a homemade trailer for something else a company puts on dvd "extras". Maybe I've gotten spoiled. You evidently didn't read my post nor did you read the Amazon reviews I linked you to. I explained what was special about it, as does at least one of the reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member deathdunt Posted May 20, 2008 Author Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 Evidently, I didn't think that release was very special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 There was a goofy optical effect, a kind of shimmering prism effect, which only made him look slower. I kind of liked FIGHTING ACE, but that might be because the tape I had of it had been recorded over and turned into a porno about fifty minutes in. Haha, yeah, I remember that now. Really bad camera effect I thought. They should've left it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted May 20, 2008 Member Share Posted May 20, 2008 You evidently didn't read my post nor did you read the Amazon reviews I linked you to. I explained what was special about it, as does at least one of the reviews. Thanks for that link. I read my review and I must say, it's pretty good. It's one of the few reviews of mine I actually think is "good". You probably didn't mean to, but you gave me a nice little pick me up. Funny I didn't mention anything abotu the Crash release I have. I take pride in being lazy:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chinatown Kid Posted May 21, 2008 Member Share Posted May 21, 2008 The Dragon/The Hero starring Liu and Dragon Lee featured some weird villains like the pale faced dude that ate roaches and Bolo with that weird patch of hair on his back. And what about that old pervert that got his weenie bit off by the german shepard lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted May 21, 2008 Member Share Posted May 21, 2008 That pale faced guy is the same guy who gets his thing bitten off. Chan Lau. Pretty much the same character in every movie. Almost always plays a really stupid guy, and sometimes he's full on mentally retarded. Great performnce from him in Dragon on fire. I love how his face changes colors scene to scene. That movie was a top notch production:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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