Ooooh how’d I forget shaolin soccer! awesome flick!
Ricky is great as well, just for sheer ‘who cares we have no budget’ balls.
Also, check out all the horror themed 70s-early 90s stuff. The Mr. Vampire series is awesome, spooky spooky spooky is awesome, basically everything that is supernatural themed and comedic. The series horror stuff I like as well, but the silly ones are just THE best silly horror comedies ever.
Lots of great suggestions here. Story Of Ricky and Shaolin Soccer in particular are absolutely not to be missed.
Add A Better Tomorrow 2 to the Chow Yun Fat list. It is so insanely over-the-top. And great.
Bruce Lee’s popularity probably means you’ve already seen all of these, but in case you haven’t, immediately check out: Enter The Dragon (holy shit is this not a given by now?), The Chinese Connection (the worse dubbing I have ever heard in my life, but I think it’s hilarious rather than annoying, plus the action is way-badass), and Return Of The Dragon (good fight with Chuck Norris in a fantastically-out-of-place coliseum, and maybe I was drunk or something when watching it but I vaguely remember laughing my ass off at how pathetic most of the bad guys were).
I can’t add to balut’s Jet Li list since the only other one I’ve seen is Romeo Must Die, which is okay but not too memorable. Anyway, Jet Li usually can be relied on for awesomeness. Same with the Jackie Chan stuff - I’ve not seen any of his Hong Kong movies aside from the Drunken Master series, although they make me want to see everything else he’s done because they’re damn good.
For old-school cheesy-yet-wonderful kungfu mayhem…
(note: these first four were part of a “Wu-Tang Forbidden Treasures” series - Best Buy was selling them for $9 a piece and I went to town on them as it’s hard to argue too much with that price)
The Massive - starring Chi Kwan Chun. Like 5DV, the actually good (by action movie standards) story almost overshadows the action. Unlike 5DV, instead of relying on ridiculously contrived “fighting styles”, it relies on ridiculously contrived weapons.
Golden Killah - again, Chi Kwan Chun. Another “Wu-Tang Treasure” deal here, and while the story isn’t as interesting, the action is almost as good. It suffers in one really bad sequence where a hidden bad guy dangles what look like flaming marshmellows from a stick and slowly moves them in the hero’s direction in what has to be the most pathetic assassination attempt ever, but in a way it’s kind of amusing. Apart from that, it’s a steady stream of punches and kicks, and then some more punches and kicks.
Iron Monkey 1 & 2 - starring Chen Kwan Tai. There’s another Iron Monkey series that’s much more recent, starring Donnie Yen, and it’s pretty good. But I have a soft spot for the original and totally unrelated ones from the 70s. The first is nothing special, but the second has a couple of great over-the-top fights and some wonderfully bad dubbing.
Return Of The 5 Deadly Venoms, aka Crippled Avengers - another Shaw Brothers flick that does not suck. In fact it’s honestly better than 5DV on almost every level. I have yet to find Destroyers Of The 5 Deadly Venoms, but I’m about to just break down and order it online because I’ve heard it’s even better.
Shaolin Master Killer - starring Gordon Liu. Best pure (that is, no wires) action I’ve seen in any kung-fu flick not starring Bruce Lee. Or maybe it uses wires - who knows, but at least it’s not incredibly obvious here.
Finally, GYMKATA! Kurt Thomas is a gymnast turned kung-fu master. Need I elaborate? It’s transcendently brilliant.
I don’t know a lot about kung-fu flicks, though I did catch something called Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior at the Toronto Film Festival last year and it’s one of the most amazing movies I’ve ever seen. Desslock dragged us to it at midnight, there was a 40 minute wait, but it was worth the hassle. The stunts–all done without wires–were absolutely unbelievable. I’ve never seen anybody pull off moves and acrobatics like the lead, Phanom Yeerum. The guy’s a walking comic book. Very funny movie, too.
It is phenomenal - definitely one of the best martial arts movies I’ve seen. I don’t think the movie is available on DVD however (although Luc Besson bought the rights, so it’s going to come out this year). You can get a Thai version online.
It is phenomenal - definitely one of the best martial arts movies I’ve seen. I don’t think the movie is available on DVD however (although Luc Besson bought the rights, so it’s going to come out this year). You can get a Thai version online.[/quote]
Sounds cool . I’ve been trying to follow the “New Wave” non Hong Kong martial arts films, but it’s been tough.
If you haven’t seen the MTV Rapper dub of Volcano High I highly recommend it. What was surprising is that there are a number of asian attitudes and phrasings that I though had no English equivalents, but the Rappers managed to catch that kind of growly, taunting bravado that get lost in translation.
"Same with the Jackie Chan stuff - I’ve not seen any of his Hong Kong movies aside from the Drunken Master series, although they make me want to see everything else he’s done because they’re damn good. "
He’s in some of the Bruce stuff too, usually you can barely see his face and he is of course, really young. Sammo too.
A good general rule on Jackie Chan stuff is it is all pretty good, but if it has Yuen Biao AND Jackie AND Sammo then it WILL be a. Hilarious and b. crazy kung fu fun.
Try Dragons forver, My Lucky Stars and Meals on Wheels.
Does anyone else have a hard time with stuff from the 80’s?
I love the old Shaw Bros. Bruce Lee era stuff, but there’s a real dead zone for me between that and the HardBoiled/Full Contact era.
I don’t have much of an issue with stuff from the 80s, so much, but I really don’t have much from that era. Most of the 80s flicks I do have revolve around modern-action and very little martial arts.
I thought Chow Yun-Fat’s 80s stuff was leagues better than anything since Hard Boiled (Better Tomorrow series sans part 3, City on Fire, etc.).
Though one movie that I picked up solely based on Yun-Fat’s name recognition was Triads: The Inside Story, which is much more thoughtful (with a healthy helping of gritty, realistic violence) and slower paced than any of his blood opera. Probably one of the best gangster movies I’ve seen in years.
Also: Comedy Sonny Chiba option.
Michelle Yoeh was also in Supercop 2 (or maybe 3?) with Jackie Chan. Definately a watcher.
-kentdog
No one’s mentioned Infernal Affairs. I and II are top-notch, though III is a big let-down.
How dare nobody recommend “Yin yang xie di zi”
aka “Master of the Flying Guillotines” / “The Fatal Flying Guillotine”
If you haven’t seen it, you just don’t know what you’re missing. Best thing that happened to 1977 - fuck starwars.
Shit, I knew I was forgetting something!
for kung fu movies, u have to go back in time, check out the Shaw Brothers Movies , they made many good kung fu movies, but along with other types too. there was too many so cant list them out
Chow Yun Fat:
Hard Boiled - everyone knows this one. also with Tony Leung Chiu Wai
A Better Tomorrow Triology was the definitive work between Chow and John Woo.
The Killer/ Bullet In The Head also with Tony Leung Chiu Wai, John Woo directed
Treasure Hunt ive never seen it but heard its good
An Autumn’s Tale is a good love story, pretty old tho
Tony Leung Chiu Wai (basically coincides with most if not all of Wong Ka Wai films):
Infernal Affairs Trilogy also with Andy Lau Tak Wa, I would only recommend the 1st two, the last one sucked. this is very very very big in HK. they said it resurrected the entire business here…
In The Mood For Love quite famous too
Ashes of Time the 2nd best movie (imho) from Wong Ka Wai (the director of In the Mood for Love) it has a lot of big stars in it, including the late and telented Leslie Cheung
Happy Together another film with Leslie and Wong Ka Wai… its about gay men tho, as u can see on the disc cover
The Longest Night with Sean Lau Ching Won, who i think is a very good actor, this is a kick ass film imo, must see
Leslie Cheung:
Inner Sense with the very lovely Karen Lam Ka Yan. a thriller but not so scary. i think this is his last movie before jumping off the hotel on april 1st
Days Of Being Wild another definitive of Wong Ka Wai. rumor has it that Tony Leung actually played the same character through this movie and In the Moode for Love
misc:
Running Out Of Time staring Sean Lau again and Andy Lau, good flick
Becareful of the early 90’s adaptations. Some are pretty bad.
I didn’t see Tai Chi master (twin warriors in US release) with Jet Li recommended, which I think is one of his very best fly by wire movies, the movie also features Michelle Yeoh. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108281/
Also, I want to thank those that recommended Story of Ricky, most fun I’ve had in quite a while.
Jet Li:
i believe u guys had mentioned Tai Chi Master, directed by Yuen Wo Ping, the kung fu advisor of Matrix2
Once upon a time in China series these films featured the same protagonist, the legendary Kung Fu Master Wong Fai Hung, who really existed.
many have portraited the master and none better than Kwan Tak Hing and most of his films stars his arch-nemesis Shek Kin. Kwan is gone now but Shek is still around tho retired a long while ago
Gordon Lau is also good. he starred in Kill Bill(the crazy 88 leader and paiwai) if u dont already know.
a bit of history here. the exact time i dunno i suppose end of Tsing Dynasty(did i spell that right), early 1900. there were 10 southern style kung fu masters and collectively called the Canton 10 Tigers, one of them was Wong Fai Hung, who had 3 students all very famous. and Fong Sai Yuk along with Hung Hay Kwun and others were students of Shaolin but they were not monks, just kung fu students.
edited: oops sorry double post
Also, I cant say I like many cat-3 HK films, but Eternal Evil of Asia is awesome.
Does Fulltime Killers count even though it’s more gun porn than kung fu porn?