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25 Sep
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Posted by Musashi
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Once again we welcome Theory From the Closet‘s Clyde Rhoer to the Guest Host chair – this week we discuss Clyde’s Gen Con exhibition plans, aka ClydeBooth and John Carpenter’s 1986 martial arts romp Big Trouble in Little China.
- New Style Episode 7 – John LeBoeuf-Little & Kit La Touche, Becoming Heroes
- Clyde Booth G+ Thread
- The Forge
- Gen Con
- 2011 Games on Demand: After-Action Report
- Big Trouble in Little China (IMDB)
- Big Trouble in Little China (Wikipedia)
- Is there a relationship between Big Trouble in Little China and Buckaroo Banzai? (from The Wing Kong Exchange)
- James Hong at Wikipedia
- Al Leong – Cinematic Legend
- Victor Wong at Wikipedia
- Jack Burton Adventures
- Yellow Peril (Wikipedia article)
- Primer (Time Machine in a storage container flick)
| Category: Podcast | Tag: big trouble in little china, clyde rhoer, film, Gen Con, indie rpg, martial arts, Podcast |
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30 Dec
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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Back in 1979, then-British prime minister Margaret Thatcher visited Japan. The Japanese government offered her an escort of bodyguards – twenty karate ladies to protect her.
She said no, thanks.
Who in their right mind says not to twenty ass-kicking karate ladies? Margaret Thatcher, that’s who.
It continued: “The prime minister would like to be treated in exactly the same manner as the other visiting Heads of Delegation; it is not the degree of protection that is in question but the particular means of carrying it out.
“If other delegation leaders, for example are each being assigned 20 karate gentlemen, the Prime Minister would have no objection to this; but she does not wish to be singled out. She has not had in the past, and does not have now, any female Special Branch officers.”
I can kind of see the point, but really, twenty karate ladies is just too cool to refuse.
| Category: Uncategorized | Tag: history, japan, margaret thatcher, martial arts |
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28 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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Invincible Tiger looks awesome. In case you haven’t heard, Invincible Tiger is a 2D martial arts beat-em-up that echoes classic 70′s kung-fu cinema. The game designers even went so far as to implement a film-grain filter that makes the flick look like cheesy grindhouse fare. I hope it plays better than Rag Doll Kung Fu, which hit the PS3 earlier this year. That game was all kinds of crap.
At any rate, Big Download is giving away the Invincible Tiger soundtrack free of charge. Just go here and click the big blue DOWNLOAD THIS FILE button. I haven’t given it a spin yet but based on what I’ve seen of the game so far it should be promising.
For those who want to know what Invincible Tiger looks like in action, here’s a gameplay clip.
| Category: Cool Links | Tag: free, martial arts, music, swag, video games |
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27 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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Fans of shitty martial arts flicks will want to check out three new offerings on Netflix’s Instant Watch service – the first two, Kickboxer 3 and 4, are probably not worth mentioning – but Yossi Wein’s Ninja-sploitation flick Lethal Ninja looks like an amazing piece of craptacular cheese. Ninjas on rollerskates? Hot damn!
Trailers and/or video clips below…
| Category: News, Video | Tag: Crap, film, martial arts, netflix, ninja, rollerskating |
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31 Jul
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Posted by Musashi
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Whodathunkit? The Ultimate Fighting Championship, once regarded as boxing’s retarded inbred cousin, is now raking in boatloads of cash.
“The first eight years of this thing were the hardest to get over the stigma that was attached to this thing at the beginning,” [UFC President Dana White] said. “And the next eight years are going to be a lot easier.”
The privately-held UFC says its revenues for 2008 were $275 million, up 37 percent from two years earlier. And the league signed its first Fortune 500 sponsors. In 2008, Bud Light became the official beer of the brand and Harley Davidson rides the league’s exploding popularity.
It says a lot about the growth of a brand that was once near extinction, a sport White himself has helped raise to new heights with a shrewd business sense and unique, self-assured style.
“I’m not the smartest guy you’re ever going to meet,” he said. “Not even close to it. But I know fighting. And I know for a fact there’s nobody in mixed martial arts that knows more about the business than I do.”
People can say what they want; the UFC has hosted some amazing fights in its’ short history. Here are a few highlights:
| Category: News | Tag: fighting, martial arts, sports, ufc |
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27 Jul
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Posted by Mazinga
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We don’t often get an opportunity to compare the US and Asian releases of a Hong Kong flick, but fortunately, we were able to snag an import copy of the all-region Tai Seng DVD of Johnny To’s 1993 The Heroic Trio before it went out of print (and before Miramax acquired the US rights to the film, rendering import purchases taboo). This female superhero tale has long been a favorite Hong Kong flick. Recently, we sized it up against a copy of the DVD Miramax released in the United States.
In a sad coincidence, we were preparing this review just as news reached us of the death of the film’s star, Anita Mui. Her untimely death from cervical cancer at the young age of 40 deprived fans in Hong Kong and around the world of a popular singer and talented actress.
| Category: DVD Reviews, Film Reviews, Reviews, Uncategorized | Tag: Anita Mui, film, Hong Kong, Maggie Cheung, martial arts, michelle yeoh |
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27 Jul
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Posted by Musashi
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Wow, the musical chairs casting call for Green Hornet’s sidekick Kato may finally have ended…! So – who did Seth Rogan choose to fill the departed Stephen Chow’s chauffeur shoes?
Asian news outlets are reporting that Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo is currently in talks to play the Green Hornet’s hyper-competent sidekick, alongside a bumbling Seth Rogen. Kwon is known largely as a heartthrob in Korea, having starred in many a romantic soap opera, but he’s also has a modest bit of on-screen martial arts experience, thanks to roles in the fantastical Volcano High and gangster-themed Once Upon a Time in High School.
You’d be forgiven for not knowing who the hell Kwon Sang-woo is – I’ve never heard of him either (hey, my knowledge of Korean beefcake actors is limted!).
But – here he is, demonstrating his vocal talents courtesy of YouTube…make of it what you will.
| Category: News | Tag: adaptations, film, green hornet, kato, korea, Live-Action, martial arts |
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27 Jul
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Posted by Musashi
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Legendary Hong Kong film studio Shaw Brothers has emerged from the grave with three new features under its’ belt, including ‘E.U.’ spinoff Turning Point, starring Infernal Affairs / Hard Boiled star Anthony Wong.
In addition to “Turning Point,” the studio is now developing three films, two of which will begin production this year. The first is the US$5 million ensemble comedy “House of 73 Tenants,” a sequel-of-sorts to a 1973 Shaw Brother blockbuster, executive produced by Hong Kong multi-hyphenate Eric Tsang and co-directed by Tsang and Riley Yip (“Elixir of Love”). “House” will also enlist Oscar-nominated costume designer Yee Chung-man (“Curse of the Golden Flower”) overseeing art direction.
The story revolves around the lessees of a Hong Kong market-styled shopping mall made up of tiny stores. Filming will commence in September at the Shaw Studios for a 2010 Chinese New Year release date. The studio is now in negotiation with an unnamed Chinese partner for a co-production release in the country.
Next in the works is a young adult urban romantic comedy tentatively titled “Love Expert,” to be executive produced by Paco Wong and directed by Patrick Kong (a.k.a Yip Lim-sum), the hit-making team of “L for Love, L for Lies” and “Marriage with a Fool.” A script has been developed, filming will take place later this year. The studio is now developing a period drama to be produced in 2010.
This is cool and all, but I’d really love to see them delve back into the wuxia genre that made them famous. I know it’s a little played-out right now, but hell – Gordon Liu’ is still in damn good shape…get him back in front of the camera and it’s on.
| Category: News | Tag: business, china, film, Hong Kong, martial arts, Movie, Shaw Brothers |
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9 Jul
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Posted by Musashi
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Oh, HELL yes.
Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir’s pulpy action hero The Destroyer (aka Remo Williams) will reportedly make a long-awaited return to the silver screen – so sayeth Aint It Cool News. The first Destroyer film, 1985′s Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (directed by Goldfinger helmer Guy Hamilton), was savaged by critics and filmgoers alike – undeservedly, in my opinion.
The Destroyer novels feature cop-turned-martial-arts-badass Remo Williams and his Korean mentor Chiun, master of the fictional martial art Sinanju as they take on a horde of nutty supervillains. The new flick will undoubtedly be Fred Ward-less, but I’m enthused to see what will emerge.
“The Dark Knight” producer Charles Roven and “Transporter” producer Steve Chasman are teaming up to produce “The Destroyer,” a franchise vehicle that brings back ’80s action hero Remo Williams. The pair have set up the project at Columbia.
Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, who are penning the action epic “War of Gods” for Relativity, are on board to write the screenplay.
Now…if someone would get off their ass and make a decent Mack Bolan movie, my inner 14-year-old would be eternally grateful.
| Category: News | Tag: adaptations, books, hollywood, korea, martial arts, Movie |
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29 Jun
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Posted by Musashi
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This classic Hammer / Shaw Brothers co-production is better known in the States as Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires and was a staple of many Saturday afternoon martial arts television matinees. Peter Cushing stars as Dr. Van Helsing, once again tracking down his arch nemesis Dracula. A change of scenery from Eastern Europe to China sees Van Helsing getting mixed up in some serious martial-arts action. Goofy, but fun.
| Category: Yellow Menace Theater | Tag: china, dracula, hammer film, horror, martial arts, Shaw Brothers, vampires |
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5 Jun
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Posted by Musashi
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Aint It Cool News points out that the martial arts film community lost two stars yesterday. Hong Kong actor Shek Kin, remembered largely for his portrayal of Mr. Han in Bruce Lee’s posthumous masterpiece Enter the Dragon, died at the age of 96. Thankfully his passing was a little more prosaic that Mr. Carradine’s – Kin reportedly succumbed to liver failure.
In addition to bringing a singular villainous flair to the screen, Kin was also an accomplished martial artist in his own right.
From his Wikipedia entry:
He is best known to Western audiences as the villainous Han in Bruce Lee’s 1973 martial arts classic Enter the Dragon. Shih Kien was a martial arts master[citation needed] who trained at the Chin Woo Association in Shanghai and received instructor in a number of styles, including Eagle Claw and Choy Lay Fut. Among his students was Lee Koon Hung, Grandmaster of Choy Lay Fut.
I think it’s fair to say that his fight scene with Bruce Lee is probably one of the best of Lee’s short career. Thought it’s arguable that some of Lee’s other fight scenes were more technically proficient (most of the scenes at the end of Game of Death come to mind), there’s no doubt that his bout with Kin is the most iconic.
Here’s the man himself in a demonstration of kung-fu prowess, from 1984.
And Mr. Han himself, speaking in Enter the Dragon:
It is difficult to associate these horrors with the proud civilizations that created them: Sparta, Rome, The Knights of Europe, the Samurai… They worshipped strength, because it is strength that makes all other values possible. Nothing survives without it. Who knows what delicate wonders have died out of the world, for want of the strength to survive.
Indeed.
| Category: News | Tag: bruce lee, enter the dragon, film, martial arts, obituary, sad, shek kiin |
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4 Jun
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Posted by Musashi
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Man, I wish this was a fucking joke – I really, really do. Unfortunately, it’s not. Kung-Fu and Kill Bill actor (and noted Tai Chi practitioner) David Carradine apparently hung himself sometime between Wednesday and Thursday in a Bangkok hotel room. I don’t have time for a proper sendoff at the moment, so I’ll just cop out and post this clip from Kill Bill 2 (my preferred film of the pair, actually – largely owing to Carradine’s performance.)
| Category: News | Tag: bangkok, boob tube, david carradine, film, kill bill, kung-fu, martial arts, obituary, sad |
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2 Jun
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Posted by Mazinga
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One of the unique creations of Hong Kong action cinema is the Chinese vampire flick. Beginning in 1985 with the wonderful Mr. Vampire, Hong Kong cinema enjoyed several years of cranking out genre horror-comedies featuring those dreaded manifestations of restless spirits, hopping corpses and walking vampires (with maybe the seductive female ghost thrown in for good measure).
Although this trend petered out some years ago under the burden of countless identical copycats – not to mention the death of stalwart actor Lam Ching Ying, who so often embodied the role of the One-Eyebrow Sifu – noted director/producer Tsui Hark (Zu Warriors, Once Upon a Time in China) returned to the well one more time with 2002’s The Era of Vampires, released on DVD in the United States as Tsui Hark’s Vampire Hunters. Although Tsui Hark wrote the screenplay and produced, director Wellson Chin (The Inspector Wears Skirts I-IV, Ghostly Vixen) helmed the picture. And just as the film’s title is a bit misleading, so is its billing: Though slated as a horror / comedy, it isn’t very funny, though it satisfies on the action front.
| Category: Print Reviews, Uncategorized | Tag: film, Hong Kong, horror, martial arts, vampire |
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19 May
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Posted by Mazinga
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Sometimes a movie is a lot like popcorn – light, fluffy, and not very filling, but tasty enough to be enjoyable. The 1999 Hong Kong action flick Gen-X Cops is one such film. While by no means a cinematic masterpiece, it provides plenty of attitude and action.
As might be expected from a film produced by Jackie Chan, Gen-X Cops combines action, thrills and comedy in a somewhat incoherent but still entertaining package. The film’s titular cops square off against a new breed of young Hong Kong gangsters in league with the Japanese mob, and a flurry of kung-fu and gunplay ensues.
| Category: DVD Reviews, Film Reviews, Reviews | Tag: film, Hong Kong, martial arts, Triads |
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19 Mar
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Posted by Mazinga
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Long-time readers will remember (and given the appalling scarcity of my reviews recently, only long-time readers are likely to remember anything of mine) my appreciation for both exploitation flicks and cheapo DVDs – preferably together. Happily, I recently obtained a couple of DVDs for less than $4 each. One, which I plan to review presently, is the awesome 1980s Chuck Norris ninja movie The Octagon. The other is 2008’s Ninja Cheerleaders, likely the most high-concept movie since Snakes on a Plane. (But amazingly, the concept isn’t entirely original; Cheerleader Ninjas got there first in 2002.)
A high-concept movie is one that can be summed up in a simple phrase, perhaps even in its title, and Ninja Cheerleaders fits the bill. Though far from a good movie, this action comedy, written and directed by David Presley, just manages to strike a pleasing chord with its unlikely assemblage of exploitation film elements, an appealing cast and gratuitous nudity. It’s sort of a low-rent version of the Charlie’s Angels movie.
| Category: DVD Reviews, Events, Film Reviews, Reviews | Tag: film, hollywood, martial arts, ninja |
