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holefoods posted:A great job is an understatement, IMO. He’s fantastic and I almost wish he had shown up sooner because he would have nailed so many of the more emotional moments they tried to get Duchovny to do. I can’t remember the episode title but there’s one where he’s not sure what’s real and what isn’t and he seems genuinely terrified. I think it might be Via Negativa? He was great working with Scully but I don’t think anyone could’ve come out of the Reyes partnership looking good. thats an odd example to use as a contrast beat because i think probably duchovnys best performance is s6 e21 when mulder and scully get pulled into chronic hallucinations by fungus it features one of my favorite structural twists for dream reality stories namely when a show uses simple cinematography tricks to imply the passage of time and unseen transitory scenes but it starts to fall apart when mulder gets aggressive about the implausibilities required in this specific case that were just skipped over as if they were irrelevant not enough writers have the balls to do stories like that anymore because its something that can only work if the writing has strong enough continuity that you dont get mad at fans for pointing out the logical errors that do show up
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Oct 21, 2022 07:04
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If you goons aren't watching Avenue 5 you are dumb and also wrong and also making me cry. The actual Best Show On Television right now.
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Oct 21, 2022 07:16
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Open Source Idiom posted:If you goons aren't watching Avenue 5 you are dumb and also wrong and also making me cry. i heard it sucked rear end and didn't live up to armando's previous efforts so i didn't start it
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Oct 21, 2022 07:21
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i say swears online posted:i heard it sucked rear end and didn't live up to armando's previous efforts so i didn't start it Oh man, the show genuinely owns. First episode or two (they're short episodes) don't show off the show's full potential, but it all stacks up. It's surprisingly densely plotted, with little jokes that end up being blown out into significant plot twists. None of them made it to the trailers, which also suck and don't represent the show. Light but significant spoilers: it was advertised as a light slapstick cruise ship comedy in the vein of Airplane, which is what the first episode definitely plays into, but it's actually a horror comedy about the collapse of the west under the strain of rampant capitalism, climate change denial and fascism. Edit: there's one scene, available on youtube, that everyone goes on about when they talk about the show, but it's also good enough that it's genuinely not worth spoiling for yourself. It owns, hard. Open Source Idiom has issued a correction as of 07:30 on Oct 21, 2022 |
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Oct 21, 2022 07:28
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Open Source Idiom posted:I need to watch more martial arts films. You guys know good stuff. Any reccs? Toph Bei Fong posted:This should keep you busy for a bit The Wu Tang Collection is mostly a c-list stuff, stuff in the public domain or made by the smaller studios. Not to say there isn't some good movies on there, just to keep that in mind. For a beginner into the genre I would suggest starting with the stuff by the larger studios or with the bigger stars rather than wading head first into the hundreds of VHS quality rips of low budget kung fu films. You could do worst than just following the Paste Magazine list of 100 Best Martial Arts films. I can't find posts I made in the past with my recommendations, so here is a new one. This post will focus on the 70s era of classic kung fu films. I want to cover more, up to the present day, but found that my list just kept getting longer. So consider this Part 1. Shaw Bros Shaw Bros. Studios was once the largest film studio in Hong Kong and the main production house for the kung fu movie boom of the 70s. It was eventually overshadowed by it's upstart rival Golden Harvest and television and went out of business in the 80s. It has a style more in keeping with theater - if you watch enough of these movies you will eventually recognize all the reused sets, props, costumes, etc. The fight scenes tend to be complex and spectacular, especially as the decade went on, but choreographed in a way where movies are punctuation marks, with a little pause after each strike, rather than the more fluid movement you might expect from post-Bruce Lee stuff. Mostly period pieces. In chronological order: One Armed Swordsman Trilogy - Before Jackie Chan, before Bruce Lee, there was Jimmy Wang Yu, the first martial arts superstar. One Armed Swordsman was his breakout hit and it serves as a transitional film between classic wuxia epics and the kung fu films of the 70s. Hand in sleeve, Wang Yu would make one armed characters his gimmick and even after being exiled from Hong Kong and forced to slum it in Taiwan he kept returning to variations on that role. Personally, when it comes to this series I actually think the third entry, a reboot with a recast main lead, is actually the best one. Come Drink With Me - A wuxia film directed by King Hu, this exists in the same vein as One Armed Swordsman as a transitional film. About a badass woman taking on a group of bandit outlaws. Unfortunately, in both this and the sequel, the male love interest gets to fight the climactic battle rather than actress Cheng Pei Pei, which is a little lame. At some point Tarantino wanted to remake this. The Chinese Boxer - Another Chang Cheh/Jimmy Wang Yu joint, this is often considered the first real kung fu film. This is about a Chinese martial artist who must defend his school from a group of rear end in a top hat Japanese karate guys. If that sounds familiar, that's probably because it's also the plot of a lot of other kung fu movies, including Fist of Fury and Ip Man. Vengeance! - David Chiang is so cool, dude. As you can guess, this is a revenge story, a bloody one at that. It's also where director Chang Cheh cemented his 'heroic bloodshed' style. That means characters who fight with a kind of berserker rage long after suffering mortal wounds, sometimes with an axe sticking out of them or with their guts hanging out etc. The final fight here is the perfect example. The Black Tavern - What if the Hateful Eight was a kung fu movie? Boxer From Shantung - The Axe Gang was a real life group of gangsters that purportedly ran the lawless streets of 1930s Shanghai. They're also a sign that whatever movie you're watching is going to be loving awesome. This film is no exception, essentially being a Scarface style story about a young man rising through the ranks of the criminal underworld. The final fight is the "man too angry to die" meme personified. Chang Cheh, man. Five Fingers of Death AKA King Boxer - The film that made kung fu films an international hit, gave Kill Bill a dope sample, and set the formula for a hundred similar films. Lo Lieh plays a young martial artists who gets trained by an old master, falls in love with his daughter and defeats some evil gangsters. Standard fare for the genre but iconic as hell. The Duel - A sort of crime thriller about two cool dudes who are set against each other by a wicked scheme. A reunion for David Chiang and Ti Lung, who were both in Vengeance! Like that movie, this is mostly knife fights. Contains the best use of Thus Spoke Zarathustra in film history. The Flying Guillotine 1 & 2 - The Flying Guillotine is a signifier, much like the Axe Gang or the word Shaolin, that the movie you're about to watch is legit. It's sort of a razor edged dome on a long chain, made even more deadly by a secret ability: if landed directly on the victim's head, like a hat, it extends itself with a secret beekeeper style netting and beheads them with a simple yank. The corrupt Qing court developed it as a way to assassinate political dissidents until one day one of their own assassins turns on them and helps develop a countermeasure. Part two serves as basically a direct continuation. The Shaolin Cycle - OK not a film so much as a loose series of movies telling the rise, fall and rebirth of the Shaolin Temple, using overlapping characters. It's not quite a true series in that events are repeated across films and also contradict each other. The basic gist is that the Shaolin monks served as focal point for Han loyalist rebels and the evil Qing retaliated by burning the Temple down, scattering the few surviving masters to various corners of the empire to teach a new generation how to resist. Super Inframan - the only good superhero movie Executioners of Shaolin - Much like the Shaolin Cycle, this is also about the destruction of Shaolin Temple, this time by the bastard Pai Mei. Yes, the guy from Kill Bill. In the old films, his super power was being able to move his weak point around his body by focusing his chi. This leads to the hilarious scene of people trying to kick him in the dick only to get trapped as he sucks it all up into his body. Who can beat such a demon of a man? Director Lau Kar Leung started out as a protege of Chang Cheh but as a martial artist in his own right he wanted to tell stories that focused more on the history of real world styles, and this film functions as a mythical take on the birth of Hung Gar, the fusion of tiger and crane styles. Clan of the White Lotus - Semi sequel to the above movie, this time the late Pai Mei is replaced by his identical relative played by the same actor with all of the same abilities. As the leader of the White Lotus Clan he just sort of hangs out at his temple in his jacuzzi while the hero character has to get in touch with his feminine side and learn women's kung fu in order to win the day. Pretty silly, which is why I love it. The Chinatown Kid - A rare Shaw film that isn't a period piece, this one has more of an exploitation feel as it's about a young Chinese immigrant to San Francisco that gets involved in Triad warfare. Alexander Fu Sheng stars in probably his best performance. Battle Wizard Just insane poo poo. Guys shooting lazers out of their fingers, a man in a gorilla suit, people being turned into skeletons. Does this even count as kung fu anymore? The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - Lau Kar Leung wanted to explore the philosophy behind the Shaolin way of life and popped out this all time banger. Gordon Liu is the definitive Shaolin monk, no one in cinema ever did it better than him. Less fight scenes here than a focus on mastering each of the temple's chambers, each dedicated to a different test of the body and mind. The first sequel is also pretty good, with a wildly creative climactic fight with one of the most unique 'styles' I've ever seen. The third film is forgettable. Five Deadly Venoms - A kung fu mystery crime film. An old master trained masked proteges in the style of different venomous animals and now they're out doing wicked things and after a hidden treasure. The master's new student, trained in a little bit of each style, is sent to uncover the hidden venoms and stop whatever plot they have cooking up. The actors in this became known as the Venom Mob and their movies became a subgenre in and of itself. Another Chang Cheh film, one of his most famous. Heroes of the East - My personal favorite Shaw film. Gordon Liu plays a Chinese martial artist who marries a Japanese martial artist in an arranged marriage. They develop a unique sort of chemistry based on their competitive spirit, fighting to show which culture has the better forms. Then the wife pulls out the ninjitsu stuff, which the husband finds dishonorable, they have a falling out, and in order to win her back he has to duel a bunch of Japanese masters of various forms, while learning to respect and overcome each. It's a cute story with creative fight scenes. Cripple Avengers - A plot that sounds like a Nick Mullen joke somehow is the best movie with "Avengers" in the title. A villain disables a group of good guys, blinding one, making another deaf, amputating another's legs, giving another brain damage, etc etc and they have to learn to overcome their disabilities by learning new styles under a friendly master. The second most famous Venom Mob movie, also directed by Chang Cheh. Dirty Ho - lol lmao, you said 'dirty ho'. An undercover prince (Gordon Liu) hides his proficiency with kung fu by hiring a con man as his fake body guard and doing kung fu 'through' him by puppeteering his body. Some creative fight scenes. Another Lau Kar Leung film. The Kid with the Golden Arm - Another Venom Mob movie. I've seen this one twice and can never remember the plot except that it involves a bunch of crazy characters fighting over gold. Good fight scenes though. Five Elements Ninja - Okay this one is pretty nuts. There are these evil ninjas that are themed by elements - ie wood ninjas disguised as trees, water ninjas that sneak up on you in the water, ground ninjas that burrow through the ground, etc. A martial arts clan must stop them and basically you should watch this movie. House of Traps - The final Venom Mob movie. There's a house with treasure and full of goofy booby traps, there are good guys and bad guys that want the treasure. Simple as. Weaker than the other Venom films so check those out first. 8 Diagram Pole Fighter - Another Gordon Liu goes to the Shaolin Temple story but also one of the best. The final fight scene is one of the best final fight scenes Shaw Bros ever did, and that's saying something. As the title implies, this is focused on polearm styles. Legendary Weapons of China - Set around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, several boxers are dispatched to take down an old master who abandoned the cause after releasing kung fu couldn't stop bullets. The focus on this movie is on showing every traditional martial arts weapon and it's use, just as the title implies. Each time one shows up on camera they get their own on screen title, too, like a character introduction. The story gets convoluted in the middle, but no one's here for that anyways. The Martial Club - Yet another story about rival martial arts schools. Eh whatever, the story's poo poo but the fight scenes are good. Boxer's Omen - okay this is another one that might be straying too far from being a pure kung fu film, being instead one of their supernatural focused films, but this is so bizarre and creative that I have to put it on here. Involves black daoist magic, ghosts, that sort of thing. Probably the spiciest sex scene Shaw ever made as well. This isn't comprehensive for Shaw Studios, they made an absurd number of movies. I tend to prefer the Chang Cheh stuff, with the over the top plotlines and bloody violence, so he dominates the list here, but even then he alone has almost 100 directing credits to his name. He might be the best action director of all time just by the number of good movies he made. Cuts had to be made and I definitely short changed some stuff such as the wuxia films of Chor Yuen or the final set of Shaolin films with a young Jet Li, which unfortunately aren't as good as that sounds. Classic Golden Harvest Golden Harvest was the upstart rival of Shaw Studios that got started in the 70s. While their output in kung fu movies wasn't as prolific, they did manage to some wise hiring decisions. This is where Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao got their breakout hits. Bruce Lee - Enough said. He only made 4 movies, the first one's kinda mid but otherwise they're all essential viewing. Also worth watching is the footage they shot for Game of Death before he passed away. The Fate of Lee Khan - King Hu showed up as a director under Shaw Bros and here he is again, with another wuxia epic. His filmography definitely contains the best stories of any on this list. This one involves anti-Mongol rebels, stolen battle plans, and an inn. The Magnificent Butcher - Sammo Hung was Jackie Chan's elder bro at the weird child abuse acting school they grew up at. At some point as a teenager he was injured and spent a lot of time in the hospital eating ice cream in bed until he become a little bit chubby. But he was still able to do all the crazy kung fu shtick so he just made it part of his gimmick. His entire shtick is doing what Jackie does but with fat jokes. This was his breakout role. Directed by Yuen Woo Ping, who went on to do the action choreography for every movie you thought was cool as a kid. The Valiant Ones - Also by King Hu. About a husband and wife duo that try to take down Japanese pirates. The Man From Hong Kong - A Bond knockoff that's better than most real Bond movies. Jimmy Wang Yu plays a hang gliding agent who must take down George Lazenby in this HK-Australian coproduction. The fight scenes are cool, the car chases are done by the stunt team that would later make Mad Max, this film is just great. Well, you can fast forward through the hang gliding. Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind - Sammo Hung deals with those wacky hopping Chinese vampires and his adulterous wife. The final 15 seconds are something else, man. Other golden era kung fu/martial arts films from independent studios or other countries. Master of the Flying Guillotine - When Jimmy Wang Yu was temporarily exiled from the Hong Kong studios, he slummed it in Taiwan for a while. He made yet another one armed movie, this time One-Armed Boxer, which is enjoyable in it's own right, but this is the much more famous sequel. See, two of the goons Jimmy killed in the first movie were actually the disciple of this evil blind Tibetan Lama, armed with a flying guillotine. The Lama, upon hearing about their deaths, leaps out of his straw hut and sets it on fire, then goes around China killing any one armed guy he runs into. Both he and the boxer end up at this martial arts tournament full of cartoonish characters. Fatal Flying Guillotine There's this evil guy who sits on a big platform meditating and if you try to get pass him he sicks his flying guillotines on you. These ones are like automated drones that seek out your head or something, pretty wild. Street Fighter - Sonny Chiba is a real bastard Yakuza type who fights even worst bastard Yakuza types. There are some sequels I haven't seen. Sister Street Fighter - Spinoff of the above in name only. Japanese woman goes on a roaring rampage of revenge. I remember liking this one more than the original. The Bodyguard - Sonny Chiba is Sonny Chiba, world renowned karate expert and film star. He goes on TV and issues a challenge to any would be drug dealer not to sell drugs to the community. A woman comes forward with witness testimony and he protects her. This is where Tarantino got fake Bible quote from, except here it's about Sonny Chiba instead of God. (watch the dub) A Touch of Zen and Dragon Gate Inn - More King Hu wuxia epics, absolute classics and Zen in particular helped put Chinese cinema on the map. Fight scenes are a little basic compared to stuff that would come later in the decade, but the production values are high and the stories grand. Lady Snowblood - Kill Bill before Kill Bill. Meiko Kaji is one of the baddest women in film history and here she gets bloody revenge in a Meiji era story tinged with social critique. The sequel, where she's tasked by the government to assassinate revolutionaries, is also good. This post is getting long and the day is getting late. If you found this helpful then I will continue with Part 2, which will focus on Jackie Chan and the revival of kung fu films in the 90s. Mantis42 has issued a correction as of 09:34 on Oct 21, 2022 |
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Oct 21, 2022 09:31
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:Yeah, you know if nothing else I admire such a popular show for trying to shake up the formula a little bit rather than just throwing Ryan Reynolds or whoever would have been the Duchovny analogue at that time into his spot Me when people claim that the X-Files never harnessed the star power of Ryan Reynolds: 
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Oct 21, 2022 09:44
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Turtle Watch posted:Me when people claim that the X-Files never harnessed the star power of Ryan Reynolds: drat that show really did have episodes with everyone
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Oct 21, 2022 13:14
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There's a lot of twin peaks actors in star trek TNG as well. And from other shows too obviously but I've just noticed twin peaks actors a lot
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Oct 21, 2022 13:20
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Excellent post
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Oct 21, 2022 13:23
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Mantis42 posted:
these are must watches. for b-c level shlock you can’t go wrong with monkey Kung fu and mystery of chess boxing.
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Oct 21, 2022 13:39
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Dr. Jerrold Coe posted:Excellent post
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Oct 21, 2022 13:46
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Substandard posted:This is from a few pages ago, but is this thing streaming anywhere? There is a copy I found on YouTube but it has no sound for like 1/2 of the movie. theres a copy on sigukanju.com if you can tolerate the chinese subtitles who subtitled it into chinese or why i have no idea
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Oct 21, 2022 14:14
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Avenue 5 sucks poo poo. huge letdown given the caliber of cast + Iannucci
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Oct 21, 2022 15:27
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indigi posted:Avenue 5 sucks poo poo. huge letdown given the caliber of cast + Iannucci i was on the fence before but now that indigi said it's bad i may have to check it out
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Oct 21, 2022 15:45
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I didn’t even know Avenue 5 started up again. First season was a bit uneven but there was enough extremely funny stuff that I really enjoyed it overall.
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Oct 21, 2022 15:51
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Pepe Silvia Browne posted:i was on the fence before but now that indigi said it's bad i may have to check it out
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Oct 21, 2022 15:53
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Goon standards for TV are wacc. I watch a lot of TV so I watch a lot of poo poo. I'm starting the west wing right now
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Oct 21, 2022 17:17
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holefoods posted:I didn’t even know Avenue 5 started up again. First season was a bit uneven but there was enough extremely funny stuff that I really enjoyed it overall. First episode of the new season is par for the course. I think there’s potential there but I wish it had a little more clarity of purpose.
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Oct 21, 2022 17:23
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https://twitter.com/switch1e_swoof/status/1582893028712230912 Lmfao
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Oct 21, 2022 17:25
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Mameluke posted:Goon standards for TV are wacc. I watch a lot of TV so I watch a lot of poo poo. I'm starting the west wing right now fair warning if you're posting in c-spam that show will make you pop an artery
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Oct 21, 2022 17:34
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A jury concluded Thursday that Kevin Spacey did not molest actor Anthony Rapp when Rapp was 14, while both were relatively unknown actors in Broadway plays in the 1980s. The verdict in federal court in Manhattan brings to a conclusion a civil trial that was an outgrowth of the #MeToo movement. The lawsuit, based on 2017 claims by Rapp, sought $40 million in damages.
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Oct 21, 2022 17:40
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Some Guy TT posted:A jury concluded Thursday that Kevin Spacey did not molest actor Anthony Rapp when Rapp was 14, while both were relatively unknown actors in Broadway plays in the 1980s. https://twitter.com/kattenbarge/status/1583193756819279872?t=AepuLe5dvf2CZlkviymNKQ&s=19
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Oct 21, 2022 17:53
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Some Guy TT posted:i have a question about this article quote:The (CIA) director’s cut
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Oct 21, 2022 17:58
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:drat that show really did have episodes with everyone Tyler Labine is Stoner Dude in 3 episodes lol
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Oct 21, 2022 18:20
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Oglethorpe posted:Tyler Labine is Stoner Dude in 3 episodes lol they should reboot Reaper lol e: there are so many shows with fun concepts from like pre-2010 that didn't get the run they should have because they had to have like 25 episodes per season instead of 10
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Oct 21, 2022 18:21
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Atrocious Joe posted:https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/hollywood-cia-washington-dc-films-fbi-24-intervening-close-relationship-a7918191.html lol
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Oct 21, 2022 18:21
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Questions about televisions. Since, Tv Prices are dropping, the only limitations are going to be house sizes. Like, what might be the most common tv size sold? (Tv sizes for living rooms. Bed rooms have smaller tvs...but even then?")
mazzi Chart Czar has issued a correction as of 18:29 on Oct 21, 2022 |
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Oct 21, 2022 18:25
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mazzi Chart Czar posted:Questions about televisions. Since, Tv Prices are dropping, the only limitations are going to be house sizes. Like, what might be going to be the most common tv size sold? From what I've seen, 43" seems to be the most common
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Oct 21, 2022 18:27
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Pepe Silvia Browne posted:they should reboot Reaper lol 
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Oct 21, 2022 18:30
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Mantis42 posted:
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Oct 21, 2022 18:35
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As I was hooking up our flatscreen TV a few years back, my wife worried that it was too big (as she does) and googled "how big should your TV be" (as she does) and the top result was literally "well how big is your wall? That big"
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Oct 21, 2022 18:42
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In the dying days of CRT, my dad paid like 5 grand for one of those monstrosities the size of an armoire you used to need if you wanted your TV to have a big screen back then, and it was smaller than my current TV which cost like a fifth as much in 2020 dollars
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Oct 21, 2022 18:43
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imo TVs mounted on the wall above fireplace mantels suck poo poo. why make your home viewing experience simulate being in the first row of a movie theater?
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Oct 21, 2022 18:43
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Pepe Silvia Browne posted:imo TVs mounted on the wall above fireplace mantels suck poo poo. why make your home viewing experience simulate being in the first row of a movie theater? hard agree, dunno why people's takeaway from the flatscreen era was to emulate "lovely bar TV"
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Oct 21, 2022 18:45
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Put the TV in the fireplace, play one of those youtube fireplace channels all the time, heighten the contradictions
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Oct 21, 2022 18:46
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it's an opinion I've caught a lot of poo poo from friends over the years for, but sooner or later, they all accept that placing a TV 2 inches from your ceiling isn't good for their neck health.
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Oct 21, 2022 18:46
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Mantis42 posted:An awesome list of reviews This rules, thank you for putting it together!
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Oct 21, 2022 18:51
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Pepe Silvia Browne posted:it's an opinion I've caught a lot of poo poo from friends over the years for, but sooner or later, they all accept that placing a TV 2 inches from your ceiling isn't good for their neck health. Ok but what about bunk beds.
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Oct 21, 2022 19:18
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Cpt_Obvious posted:Ok but what about bunk beds. you have bunk beds in your living room?
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Oct 21, 2022 19:20
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Don't judge me.
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Oct 21, 2022 19:21
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