chinese movies ...

[mike c]

I just finished watching 3 chinese movies I bought from Hong Kong ...

God of Gamblers - heard a lot about this movie
Eastern Condors - I liked it when I was a kid
SPL - new movie with donnie yen and sammo hung

comments:

God of Gamblers
bloody hell! little gambling fancy moves ... minimal action
I dont know what the hell people liked in this one.

Eastern Condors
I must had low standards as a kid ... but I'm not asking for my time back.

SPL
this one had LOTS of action and violence and killing and stuff
I like it! and this one I only had a VCD (wish the 1st two movies were vcds and this one was a dvd)! go watch!

 

[The Chukker]

I don't know if this qualifies but I own "Kung Fu Hustle" (which is kinda corny but is just amazingly put together) with great humor and of all things great special effects and sound; I also love "Shaolin Soccer" which I believe is the same actors and director -- good sh!t. This is somewhat predictable but I really enjoy the Chinese language Jackie Chan flick "Supercop"; it seems like the Asian mainstream looks for different thrills in movies and me likes. Movies made for "mainstream" American tastes (especially action movies) are too formulaic and rely too much on "star" power to drive popularity. Maybe that's part of the reason why (even though they are Japanime) "Ghost in the Shell" and "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence" occupy such an important slot in my DVD collection...
Good topic btw Mike; this should IMO foster some good discussion...

 

[mike c]

Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle are two of my top 10 movies I can watch over and over again.

I agree that "hollywood targetted" movies are generally crappier because what the studios totally miss is that people actually WANT to watch jackie chan do some "death defying stunts". people WANT to see more violence.
sometimes people DONT want to see crappy plots ... they just WANT to see nonstop action.

but hey, we can review more chinese movies and share it with the others

people should also check out:
Jackie Chan's latest Police Story (title: ?New? police story?)
Infernal Affairs 1 (maybe 2 and 3 too)

 

[masak_aer]

I have:
Hero (Jet Lee) : Good action, good message
Crouching Tiger (Chow Yun Fat): Nice movie, good action...
Myth (Jackie Chan): Shallow message, not too good action

As for:
God of Gamblers: an old movie..may be 10 years ago?, so so movie
Shaolin Soccer (Stephen Chow): Hillarious, stupid but funny

Michelle Yeoh produces funny movies as well, i can remember on top of my head right now. She also has several movies with Stephen Chow).

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

What? Nobody else likes Iron Monkey!?!?!

Shaolin Soccer: huh-larious. If you've ever seen any underdog sports movie, its the same thing. The even go so far as to name the evil team 'Evil Team'.

Kung-Fu Hustle: I really didn't get it. It wasn't funny enough to be a comedy and too funny to be a straight action film.

Hero: Very good, the same story is retold 3 times in flashback. The underlying message is good if you're a fan of imperialist governments. (which may explain why it did so well in the PRC).

 

[mike c]

are there lots of iron monkey movies? is that guy donnie yen or jet li?

 

[masak_aer]

Hero: Very good, the same story is retold 3 times in flashback. The underlying message is good if you're a fan of imperialist governments. (which may explain why it did so well in the PRC).

It's not the underlying message i was talking about . It's their views on what hero means...that heroes exist on both sides of the battling groups. That people are willing to die for different reasons as well: for love, for the friend and for the country....What do i know anyway.. ..

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

are there lots of iron monkey movies? is that guy donnie yen or jet li?

The only good one is the first one. With Donnie Yen and Rongguang Yu.

The movie does feature a young Wong Fei-Hung (basically China's Robin Hood), who would be played later by Jet Li in the 'Once Upon A Time' films.

 

[mike c]

thanks. will look for this iron monkey movie

 

[Tom Andry]

Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2 blew me away in the 90's when I first saw it. If you want to see the movie that basically started all the wirework you come to expect you need to check out A Chinese Ghost Story (or something like that). Not the best movie but I understand it was pretty influential. Iron Monkey was OK but it had, without a doubt, the most misleading trailer I've ever seen. The Once Upon a Time In China series is also very good. If we are not just focusing on martial arts, don't leave out John Woo's early stuff, A Better Tomorrow I, and II (I don't think I saw III), Hard Boiled, and my personal favorite The Killer.

 

[mike c]

ooh! I bought the Killer but was so dismayed by God of Gamblers that I was dilly dallying watching the Killer. will watch it tonight!

 

[The Chukker]

Iron Monkey is in my collection as well but as Mr. Andry surmised, doesn't quite live up to the pedigree of the films discussed earlier. For what it's worth, a Hollywood produced film called "The Replacement Killers" is actually quite good and it stars Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino (purrrrrrr...) -- produced coincidentally by Hong Kong heavies John Woo and Terrence Chang...

 

[jeffsg4mac]

I really enjoyed House of Flying Daggers. Beautifully shot film with a hottie of an asian girl. I have a thing for asian girls anyway. It's probably why I married one

 

[mike c]

I finished the Killer last friday ... pretty much a great violent film! I just cant get over the "80's 'squids' movie magics" or sometimes lack of it.

 

[Ern Dog]

"Japanese Story" was an awesome DVD that came out a couple years ago. Great story line and an even better soundtrack.

 

[darien87]

Jackie Chan's latest Police Story (title: ?New? police story?)

I was just gonna mention that one. I just saw it recently and it reaffirmed my love for Jackie. His last few movies had been pretty lame. New Police Story even had decent acting on the part of Jackie.

 

[korgoth]

ive seen a ton of martial art movies.

for jet li.. his best are fist of legend. then twin warrior.

jackie chan.. drunken master 2, then 1,

stephen chow, shaolin soccor, then god of cookery

best martial art flick i think would be ong bak.. mui thai boxing.. incredible stunts.

 

[j_garcia]

If you like the Killer, then you need to see Hard Boiled. Just as good, IMO! Might throw in A Better Tomorrow too, though it is more story than action at times.

IMO, Ong Bak was great, but The Protector was actually better.

 

[korgoth]

protector was the english name.. it was actually just called ong bak 2.

i didnt really like ong bak two. it had some good scenes, but went a little too crazy for me. the fighting scenes were just ridiculous, with motorcycles and rollerbladers and bmx riders, quads.. all in one scene.

the first one actually had a pretty cool story

 

[j_garcia]

They both had the SAME freaking story....just like 99% of all martial arts movies: You wronged me or my family and I must get retribution. "You stole my elephant and now I have to fight a million guys who can't fight and a couple who can to get it back...."

I agree, the one scene with the bikes and bladers, etc... was relatively weak and overdone, but the final fight scene was worth the price of admission.

If you want story, watch the A Better Tomorrow series, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; House of Flying Daggers, Hero, Fearless, etc...