Martial Arts Films

Favorite Kung Fu Flick!

I really think for me right now that Fearless is my favorite. I really enjoy many of Jet Li's films (the ones I have seen). Fearless really had an excellent story, maybe because it was based on a real person, and (while I'm no movie expert) I get the feeling there were definitely shakespearian(sp?) elements to this martial arts epic.

What is your current favorite martial arts film? 

Re: Favorite Kung Fu Flick!

Fearless was awesome. I really need to pick that one up. Jet Li is always in at least 2 of my top 5 martial arts films. Once Upon A Time in China was epic, had so much more depth than most martial arts films. And then Fist Of Legend was brutal, totally bad ass. Jet Li has rarely been cooler than when he's beating down hordes of Japanese Karate students without breaking a sweat. The Myth, the new Jackie Chan film from China(not sure if it's available stateside yet) was a helluva lot better than anything he's done for the past few years.

 But, here are two of my all time favorites.

Master of the Flying Guillotine; Standard tournament style kung fu film, with a blind man hunting for a one-armed swordsman. This fits into the 'funniest' list, too, because the blind man will kill anyone he hears has only one arm, and will then ask the crowd 'did I get him?' Some crazy sh!t in here, like the yoga practitioner with stretchy arms.

Yellow River Fighter: Not a lot of people i know have seen this, but it's pretty damn good. Imagine a plot setup similar to Lone Wolf and Cub, with the hero coming back as his village is completely destroyed. You don't find too many good 'sword' martial arts films. And this one has DRUNKEN sword fighting! Frickin awesome! 

Re: Favorite Kung Fu Flick!

Thanks Working! I now have at least three new movies I want to see, four actually. I really enjoy watching Jackie Chan, usually because his stuff is really funny, even if it isn't very good in terms of acting etc.

Those other two you mentioned at the bottom sound really fascinating. Are they in Spout's list? I'll try and do a search for them and add them to movies I want to see. :)

Btw, what is Lone Wolf and Cub about? How old are these films, and are they in Chinese w/subs? Are the english dubs any good? Where do you rent them from? (Netflix? :)

Re: Favorite Kung Fu Flick!

I linked the movies I mentioned to my above post, so you should be able to search them in this thread now. I don't know if their on netflix, but they shouldn't be too hard to find. I bought them off the shelf at Suncoast a few years back. 

Jackie Chan is always fun, but he overacts a bit too much. He's perfect for his films, but when he tries to be more dramatic(like in Gorgeous) he doesnt fit very well. I wont say he's a bad actor, I just dont think he has much range.

Lone Wolf and Cub is a series of films, incredibly gory, about a man who comes home to find his village entirely destroyed, his family and neighbors dead. His toddler son is still alive, and he sets a toy and a blade on the ground, telling his son to choose one of them. If he chooses the ball, he will kill him because he's too childish to follow him on his path of revenge. But if he chooses the blade, he lives. VERY violent, as this guy pushes his son around in a baby cart(one of the films is, I believe, Baby Cart at the River Styx). The first two films were cut together and dubbed to make Shogun Assassin, which is still unbelievably awesome. It's the movie Bill turns on for his daughter near the end of Kill Bill.

Re: Favorite Kung Fu Flick!

Lone Wolf and Cub is Japanese and it's apparently an immensely popular manga.

I just watched the first one in the movie series, Sword of Vengeance a few months ago.  Yes you can get it on Netflix.  I'm excited to see the rest.

I remember there was an entry on IMDB for quite a while saying that Darren Aronofsky was working on a new movie of it, but now I just checked and it's no longer there.

Re: Favorite Kung Fu Flick!