Speaking of Stephen Chow, Kung-Fu Hustle is not exactly the traditional martial arts movie but oh boy is it great fun. Amazing directing, beautiful cinematography, typical Chow humor with tons of stupid gags and special effects, it's an absolute blast.
Wondering if anyone else here has seen Ong Bak 2 yet? I've watched it and it wasn't what I expected. The action scenes aren't as good, but this is a period film instead of being set in modern times, and the production values are amazing for a Thailand film.
I've seen the preview for Ong Bak, but I can only find the region 3 dvds. IMDB isn't any help, either.
Just watched Forbidden Kingdom. Jet Li as the Monkey King made me smile. The fact that it's a bedtime story that the screenwriter told to his son is cute, but I hate the main character. I have a hard time suspending belief in the context of a Westerner learning kung fu in a matter of days.
Here you go:Originally Posted by Cat Master
http://www.amazon.ca/Ong-Bak-Thai-Wa...7146786&sr=8-1
Don't be ridiculous. If there's one thing the movies have taught me, it's that Westerners can learn anything in the time it takes to play a montage set to Kenny Loggins.
Sorry, I meant Ong Bak 2.
One glaring omission is Zatoichi. The original 26 films in the series are charming and full of great, if unorthodox, swordplay. The 2003 remake is awful however.
Whoa, Douglas. Nobody told me we were getting into samurai cinema here, which I love even beyond my love of kung fu movies, and that's a whole lotta love. I'm thinking we might need a new topic for this line of discussion.
Isn't this the same movie that had an appearance by 'Dhalsim' from Street Fighter? (not really, I know but a stretchy dude. lol)
Absolutely. It featured a martial arts tournament between fighters of different disciplines....man, that sounds like it would be a fun video game...
For that topic, go Here.
Is "The Evil Cult" the same movie as "Kung Fu Cult Master"? Jet Li plays the son and heir to a martial arts gang/cult whose ability to learn martial arts was stunted when when he was hit with the "Jinx Palm" by the kung fu assassins, the Jinx brothers? He ends up getting cured by an exiled kung fu master strapped to a boulder, learns the "Solar Stance" and the "Magic Stance", and ends up kicking ass by flying around and shooting fireballs. I saw that awhile ago, but I just remember how insane and awesome it was.
now I have this strange mental image of Jet Morrisey beating attackers with roses.
Yup, all done in breakneck speed. It's based on half a Jongli book, all crammed together in 90 confusing minutes.
I just watched Tai Chi Master for the first time in YEARS last night. I don't recall ever noticing the actual harnesses and wires during a fight scene, but they kept popping up, entirely visible and easily noticed, on everyone's backs.
This is probably a pretty obscure one, but I picked up a movie called Fists and Guts on a lark one time, and it's one of my favorite martial arts movies now. It's an old Gordon Liu joint with some of the most amusing high-concept fights I've seen, including an encounter with leper-fu and a fight taking place under enforced silence.
There's no way in hell I'd call it "essential", but you know a martial arts movie I, for whatever perverse reason, can always watch if I catch it on cable or something? The Best of the Best. James Earl Jones, Eric Roberts, Chris Penn.
The scene in Hero where Jet Li and Donnie Yen fight it out in their minds (the movie takes place during the age of the First Emperor, hundreds of years before kung fu was invented). This is an amazing fight scene, despite the wireworks, because for once we see two real martial artists instead of actors with some martial arts training. You can tell the difference by the speed of their reflexes. The Chinese spear is such a beautiful weapon in the hands of a great fighter.
The fight scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were impressive but it was obvious that not all the action was done by the actresses (Ziyi Zhang is a dancer by training) when the camera pulls away for long shots for the more complicated and quicker moves, the body of the stunt doubles looked rather masculine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4poH...x=0&playnext=1
This is episode one, section 1 out of 5 of "Legend of the Condor Heroes". It isn't a movie, it's a serial. However, it is without question, essential; the writer (pen name Jin Yong) was awarded with an OBE for his literary achievements. This is beloved by virtually all Chinese who love wuxia. If anybody has seen Swordsman II or know about Invincible East, then you are familiar with his work, although none of those movies even scratches the surface of the serials made from his books. And there is no comparison to the books themselves. The above story is another book apart from the Swordsman that Jin Yong wrote about. This story is remade into television by Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and even Singapore every few years nowadays. This is an accurate adaptation and a good show. It's subtitled and I highly recommend it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WmSKrxM-Qo
This is from the Jin Yong's contemporary (Gu Long). Some people will argue whom is better. Although they are both wuxia writers, they write such different stories and characters, that there is no comparison beyond the fact that they are both great writers. Although, from my experience, Gu Long in the past (he died in the mid 1980's), had more pop culture application and would be quoted in movies. The above story that I linked is one of his most famous. I've never seen this series before, so I do not know how accurate it is; frankly, I'm just surprised that Dicky Cheung still has a career; he's probably in his mid to late forties and he's playing someone half his age.
Last edited by Dirt; 03-27-2009 at 12:39 AM.
I would call it an essential film, in light of the growing Japanese menace
Although I've seen it all the hell over the place, I've never actually gotten around to reading / watching Legend of Condor Heroes. Is there a translation that's worth reading? (or an adaptation that's considered definitive?).
legend of the condor heroes -- is this it?
I actually liked the Takashi - Zatoichi - But then I still have not had a chance to look into the originals. I love the idea behind the character.
Finally an excuse to link to one of my old threads.
Since I posted that, the Spcnet forums have also finished translating Jin Yong's Smiling Proud Wanderer and Heavenly Sword & Dragon Sabre into English. They've also done a good bit of work in translating Demi-Gods & Semi-Devils, which has martial artists probably as powerful as Marvel Comics superheroes.
Significant progress has been made in translating Huang Yi's A Step into the Past. This is wuxia without most of the wire-fu superheroics and tells the story of a present day HK policeman travelling back in time to Qin Shihuang's time. Not very good, in my opinion, but tons of historical detail (not to mention softcore porn).
Cool. Unfortunately, the link in the thread you posted shows the 1st book only about 2/3 translated, and since the last date was 2007, it looks like the project may have been abandoned. Oh well. Maybe there's a full translation somewhere else, guess its a place to start looking at least.
Just saw the new Blu-ray edition of Fearless (Jet Li as Huo Yuanjia) with the epic director's cut (140 minutes). I love that movie, one of the best martial arts epics ever with the wire-fu just this side of getting obvious and annoying. The director's cut adds tons of story details about those adorable wushu kids at the start, and the village centerpiece with the blind girl. Unfortunately, also a stupid bookend about China pitching wushu to the IOC but that's only a few minutes.
It's very strange that there doesn't appear to be a commercial release of the Condor Heroes in English, especially having been to Singapore or Hong Kong and seeing how ubiquitous it is in Chinese. It's a strange reminder of how even in the internet age, information isn't totally free to travel everywhere. I don't remember the last time I wanted a translation of something and couldn't find it.
I suppose I could try to read it in Chinese, that would be extraordinarily painful though (my Chinese reading comprehension is terrible). Maybe it'll be a good excuse to make myself practice though.
I assume you're talking about the novels. Yeah, I've long thought that it was borderline criminal that the Jin Yong novels never really got translated into English. Those translations that do exist (John Minford's "Deer & The Cauldron" for example) are crazy expensive and clearly meant for an academic audience, not for the general public.
If you're interested in reading "The Condor Heroes" in English, please do try reading the translation on Wuxiapedia that Dirt posted. It's a fan translation and might not work for everyone, but it was certainly good enough for me.
Link to complete translation compiled on Spcnet forums.
Last edited by deccan; 03-30-2009 at 05:54 PM.
a bit late, but here are my suggestions:
A Touch of Zen
The Valiant Ones
by King Hu
I was looking for those movies for the last 20 years, but finally I identified them... especially The Valiant Ones ... I still remember the fight scenes. I watched it as a kid on tv and did not remember the title... I had it on VHS. Today, I finally bought the DVD on Amazon and looking forward to revisit them. Will it hold up?
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