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1983 was a helluva year for kung fu films.
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Jul 8, 2015 17:19
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Thanks to this thread I just went on an amazon spree and bought some movies: The Swordsman Trilogy boxset ('90s) One-Armed Swordsman ('67) Five Deadly Venoms ('78) Police Story I & II set I had already managed to talk some of my less-inclined friends into sitting down and watching the original Master Of The Flying Guillotine with me, so hopefully these will be an easier sell for a weekend marathon or something.
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Jul 8, 2015 19:00
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Moacher posted:Thanks to this thread I just went on an amazon spree and bought some movies: If you haven't bought these yet they're probably the best deals out there for kung fu DVDs (all single disc versions with fantastic transfers):  $8.72 http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Dynasty-Collection--Sheng-Fu/dp/B006JD48GY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436379264&sr=8-1&keywords=dragon+dynasty  $6.99 http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Dynastys-Ultimate-Kung-4pk/dp/B005E7SEZW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1436379264&sr=8-2&keywords=dragon+dynasty
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Jul 8, 2015 19:17
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Oh nice! Thanks for the suggestions. Are they good movies? I don't recognize any of the titles as the usual "big name must-see" ones that usually pop up on lists and such. Edit: Also, how does Return to the 36th Chamber compare to the original 36th Chamber? Moacher fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Jul 8, 2015 |
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Jul 8, 2015 19:22
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Moacher posted:Oh nice! Thanks for the suggestions. Are they good movies? I don't recognize any of the titles as the usual "big name must-see" ones that usually pop up on lists and such. 3 Chang Cheh films and 2 Lau Kar-leung films (top tier Kung Fu directors, if you see either of these names and a Shaw Brothers logo you're in for a treat). I'd say Executioners from Shaolin and Golden Swallow are top 20 classics.
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Jul 8, 2015 19:34
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I was watching The 36th Chamber of Shaolin last night and boy, I do like that film a whole heck of a lot. I always enjoyed the choreography from the Shaw Bros days. It's slower and more deliberate, almost like a dance, but the shots lasted a fair amount of time rather than the hyper kinetic Tsui Hark rapid cuts of the early 90's martial art films (Watch One-Armed Swordsman then watch The Blade). Anyway, I have a question. That film's backdrop is political. I know absolutely nothing about Chinese history other than the Three Kingdom stuff and that was because of Dynasty Warriors. Once Upon a Time in China was kind of easy to follow since it dealt with China slowly losing its culture from all these foreign powers taking over and stealing everything. But what was going on in 36th Chamber? I'd love some historical context, if anyone cares to elaborate on that period of Chinese history. Oh and has there any other companies that picked up the torch from Dragon Dynasty? I know that label has its detractors but I loved that they brought over all these films that otherwise wouldn't see a western US release.
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Jul 8, 2015 19:44
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Moacher posted:Oh nice! Thanks for the suggestions. Are they good movies? I don't recognize any of the titles as the usual "big name must-see" ones that usually pop up on lists and such. It's a comedy, so...pretty different. It's definitely not essential. However, Shaolin and Wu Tang (1983) is a spiritual sequel directed by Gordon Liu and it's loving awesome, even better than 1978 film in my opinion although not quite as influential. The story is that Liu went and made it after being frustrated by the comedic focus of Return. Mechafunkzilla fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Jul 8, 2015 |
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Jul 8, 2015 19:45
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Mechafunkzilla posted:Ip Man is fine, but I didn't love it. I didn't think there was a whole lot of story or imagination to the fights, and it's so self-serious. Sammo Hung's death in the second one is just so hilariously mean spirited it felt like it snuck in from a lifetime movie about cancer.
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Jul 9, 2015 00:53
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Snowman_McK posted:Sammo Hung's death in the second one is just so hilariously mean spirited it felt like it snuck in from a lifetime movie about cancer. What's a man without pride? One that leaves his wife a widow and children fatherless. Also probably penniless and homeless since their source of income just stopped. Sure showed that racist, arrogant prick though! Not really.
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Jul 9, 2015 01:18
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Jimbot posted:What's a man without pride? One that leaves his wife a widow and children fatherless. Also probably penniless and homeless since their source of income just stopped. The best part was he still only lost because he had a heart attack in the middle of the fight against a well prepared opponent half his age. They top that in the finale though. Donnie remembers advising him to attack the biceps, and Sammo replying that it wasn't that simple. Then Donnie attacks the biceps and wins almost immediately. Like, not only did lose and die and orphan his children, he also couldn't take correct advice. it's kind of an amazing movie
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Jul 9, 2015 05:26
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Are there any publishers who are generally trusted for movies like these? In a fit of nostalgia after my last post I bought a bunch of Tai Seng DVDs on eBay, but they are difficult to find. I know that even Dragon Dynasty was sort of hit and miss (especially on blu-ray), is YouTube the best way at this point?
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Jul 11, 2015 02:42
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Dragon Dynasty is decent at worst, from what I gather.
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Jul 11, 2015 07:21
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I own every Dragon Dynasty DVD and haven't seen anything bad about them. The latter releases are all barebones though. I have heard terrible things about their bluray releases.
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Jul 12, 2015 00:00
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I had heard rumblings about weird choices in their audio tracks and also generally using the shorter US cuts (which ranges from mattering a ton to not mattering at all). A lot of their earliest blu-rays were 1080i for some odd reason.
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Jul 12, 2015 18:58
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I wonder which ones they mattered a ton. I managed to see the original cut of Iron Monkey and what was cut really doesn't add a whole lot to the story. Fleshes out the setting a little more, sure, and makes some of the hits utterly brutal but beyond that the US cut is perfectly fine.
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Jul 13, 2015 04:21
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Jimbot posted:Anyway, I have a question. That film's backdrop is political. I know absolutely nothing about Chinese history other than the Three Kingdom stuff and that was because of Dynasty Warriors. Once Upon a Time in China was kind of easy to follow since it dealt with China slowly losing its culture from all these foreign powers taking over and stealing everything. But what was going on in 36th Chamber? I'd love some historical context, if anyone cares to elaborate on that period of Chinese history. The bad guys are the Qing dynasty Manchu overlords, the good guys are Chinese patriots trying to restore the Ming. Like many kung fu films, it's set in some kind of alternate reality 18th century where guns don't exist. Secret societies like the triads would frequently claim to have been founded by fugitive Shaolin monks establishing an underground resistance to the Qing, but that's probably mostly bullshit. Speaking of the Qing, I'm doing a series on the Taiping rebellion for the ask/tell military history thread, so if anyone knows of any movies set in that period let me know. The Warlords is the only one I can think of.
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Jul 16, 2015 01:58
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So, uh. I just, uh, just saw Holy Flame of the Martial World. I mean, I think I saw it. I may just have had some wild fever dream involving kung-fu. Either seem equally possible. All joking aside, that was a helluva ride. Out of curiosity, were Lady Omei/Ermei, Monster, Phantom, and most of the other sifu characters meant to be anyone in particular? Like, what I mean is, the way the film handled them and presented them, I got sort of the impression they were kind of archetypal kung-fu characters like Pai Mei in many films, and whatnot.
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Jul 17, 2015 14:25
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:So, uh. I just, uh, just saw Holy Flame of the Martial World. If you haven't seen Miracle Fighters, Shaolin Drunkard and Taoism Drunkard watch those next. They put Holy Flame of the Martial World to shame.
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Jul 17, 2015 14:38
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Boinks posted:If you haven't seen Miracle Fighters, Shaolin Drunkard and Taoism Drunkard watch those next. They put Holy Flame of the Martial World to shame.  Miracle Fighters... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Hn95iPofM
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Jul 17, 2015 16:22
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Wait, people are saying the Blu-Rays of certain films are no good compared to their DVD releases? My Blu-Ray copy of The 5 Deadly Venoms (this one) just arrived... did I gently caress up? 
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Jul 17, 2015 20:42
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you hosed pu by not buying crippled avengers instead
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Jul 18, 2015 01:06
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Boinks posted:If you haven't seen Miracle Fighters, Shaolin Drunkard and Taoism Drunkard watch those next. They put Holy Flame of the Martial World to shame. Thanks for the recommendations! I've actually been on a kung-fu flick binge lately, and those were already on the list, but I'll do those next because if they manage to out-crazy Holy Flame, then yeah.
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Jul 18, 2015 10:46
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Moacher posted:Wait, people are saying the Blu-Rays of certain films are no good compared to their DVD releases? I actually think this ended up being one of their better blu-rays. It's not a great-looking movie to start with but there don't seem to be any problems introduced by a lovely transfer. The audio's lossy and kind of crappy, but there's not much to be done about that.
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Jul 20, 2015 17:06
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The Miracle Fighters was loving bonkers. Loved it. 
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Jul 25, 2015 01:56
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:Out of curiosity, were Lady Omei/Ermei, Monster, Phantom, and most of the other sifu characters meant to be anyone in particular? Like, what I mean is, the way the film handled them and presented them, I got sort of the impression they were kind of archetypal kung-fu characters like Pai Mei in many films, and whatnot. Yeah, it reminded me a lot of the Soviet films based on Russian fairy tales, where a familiarity with the characters is expected and the film is very elliptical and cursory with how it introduces them. In particular, the necromancer guy and the Golden Snake Boy just kind of come from nowhere. edit: And if you enjoyed Holy Flame, I would recommend Jack Frost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw2DN4335hU
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Jul 25, 2015 02:41
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Dr.Caligari posted:The Miracle Fighters was loving bonkers. Loved it. 
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Jul 25, 2015 17:20
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Dr.Caligari posted:The Miracle Fighters was loving bonkers. Loved it. If there was ever a movie that deserved to be remastered and released in HD, it has to be The Miracle Fighters.
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Jul 26, 2015 14:03
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I've seen the Miracle Fighters. God, what a ride. I'm scouring about for a copy of Shaolin Drunkard, so in the meantime, anyone have any other similar insanely OTT kung-fu recommendations? I have Buddhist Palm on my list, and have already seen Holy Flame of the Martial World.
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Aug 3, 2015 01:08
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:I've seen the Miracle Fighters. God, what a ride. I'm scouring about for a copy of Shaolin Drunkard, so in the meantime, anyone have any other similar insanely OTT kung-fu recommendations? I have Buddhist Palm on my list, and have already seen Holy Flame of the Martial World. This is a repost but, The movie that Brigitte Lin tries to forget... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqJQK3ey_M4
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Aug 3, 2015 01:17
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:I've seen the Miracle Fighters. God, what a ride. I'm scouring about for a copy of Shaolin Drunkard, so in the meantime, anyone have any other similar insanely OTT kung-fu recommendations? I have Buddhist Palm on my list, and have already seen Holy Flame of the Martial World. I think the Wu Tang DVD is your only option unless there's an import copy I'm not aware of. I have the Wu Tang copy, they spell the name of the movie wrong on the side and nothing on either cover is in the movie. However it is in widescreen! It's also only a few bucks used on Amazon.
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Aug 3, 2015 02:16
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:I've seen the Miracle Fighters. God, what a ride. I'm scouring about for a copy of Shaolin Drunkard, so in the meantime, anyone have any other similar insanely OTT kung-fu recommendations? I have Buddhist Palm on my list, and have already seen Holy Flame of the Martial World. Kung Fu Cult Master aka The Evil Cult Mo: Boxer's Omen The Story of Rikki Holy Weapon The Seventh Curse Five Element Ninjas
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Aug 3, 2015 05:19
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moller posted:Kung Fu Cult Master aka The Evil Cult Every one of those is loving insane. Seventh Curse I think wins though just for the entire opening section. All the Wisely movies (Seventh Curse, Legend of Wisely, Bury Me High, A Tale from the East, The Cat, Young Wisely, Young Wisely 2, and The Wesley's Mysterious File) are nuts though.
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Aug 3, 2015 05:40
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:The Cat Just watched this after reading your post because I had it lying around. Holy moly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YCUYfwFaD4 The starkiller reminded me of Stewart Gordon movies. I almost feel like the filmmakers were influenced by From Beyond and Hausu. moller fucked around with this message at 08:15 on Aug 3, 2015 |
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Aug 3, 2015 08:10
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Can I use the collective knowledge here to help me find a particular movie. This was probably a late 70s film, as it was broadcast in the early 80s during the Martial Arts movie block that was shown on Saturday afternoons when I was growing up. The premise I recall was a revenge movie with the protagonist getting beat down early and then being taken under the wing of a sage old fighter who taught him how to just use his index/middle finger as a weapon. He spent a good portion of the training flicking these two fingers at a large bell in a courtyard until he could make it ring. The end fight then has him using this skill to kill the main bad guy. He had a buddy in the movie who helped him if I recall who declared any thing he could touch a weapon. And he used pieces of a chair to kick rear end during the final fight. This is now 30 years of memory I am drawing on so best I can do. I have looked for this for years but never have found out what it was called. Rex Deckard fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Aug 3, 2015 |
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Aug 3, 2015 11:32
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Also for odd movies how about Dr.Wai in The Scriptures With No Words? A Jet Li film about a pulp novelist with writer's block... Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3kZHzmZl68 Full Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoNR-awCC9w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slytqzJzsI8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=virFGrNstMk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEAhajyg-Bk
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Aug 3, 2015 15:27
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Rex Deckard posted:Can I use the collective knowledge here to help me find a particular movie. This was probably a late 70s film, as it was broadcast in the early 80s during the Martial Arts movie block that was shown on Saturday afternoons when I was growing up. I believe this is Five Fingers of Death AKA Shaolin Martial Arts from 1974. You can watch it for free on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071619/   Not to be confused with Five Fingers of Death AKA King Boxer from 1972, which was the first kung fu movie to come to the US and launched the whole 70's kung fu craze.
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Aug 3, 2015 17:33
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moller posted:Kung Fu Cult Master aka The Evil Cult Thanks for the recommendations! Already saw and loved Five Element Ninjas. And saw Rikki aaaages ago. Story of Rikki is kind of some sort of surreal genre all its own, really.
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Aug 6, 2015 12:31
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Isn't one of them called The Five Fingers of Death?
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Aug 6, 2015 15:39
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My girlfriend really likes this kind of movie, and we decided to watch at least one every week. She generally prefers light-hearted stuff, but her favorite one so far was Crippled Avengers, which was indeed amazing(great fights, great villain, great ending). I was thinking about watching a Hong Kong Jackie Chan film this week, but I have no clue which of his movies are actually any good. She has already seen and liked Legend of the Drunken Master. Any help?
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Aug 7, 2015 14:43
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Neurophage posted:I was thinking about watching a Hong Kong Jackie Chan film this week, but I have no clue which of his movies are actually any good. She has already seen and liked Legend of the Drunken Master. Any help?
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Aug 7, 2015 14:45
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