Agreement:100% of 8 voters agree with Prayingmantis888's reviews Gender: Male Age: 38 Location: Taiwan Lists:WISH LIST (17)
Bio: I am an Alaskan living in Taiwan, teaching English in a university and studying Hung Gar. I used to study and later teach 7 Star Praying Mantis as well.
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Executioners From Shaolin (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure A necessary addition to any Shaw collection. Chen Kuan-Tai gives his usual solid performance with decent tiger style fight scenes. Gordon Liu Chia-Hui has a cameo with the MANLIEST death scene in Shaw history! The actor playing Hong Wei-Ding is annoying and way too effeminate to be taken seriously, but we can overlook him. This is the film that stuck Lo Lieh playing Pai Mei (Pak Mei) the White Browed priest for more than one movie.
Shaolin Challenges Ninja (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure A classic. One of the only Shaws where I actually think the comedy is funny, and the comic situations not totally absurd. The fighting is mostly top shelf, no one dies and yet it is still unhunged!
Legendary Weapons Of China (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure I have mixed feelings about this movie. The first two thirds are a write off, a combination of dreadful "humor" and uninspiring plot; but the last the last third is unhinged kung fu. Liu Jialiang gives his usual spectacular display, with a solid cast of fighting co-stars. I just wish the whole film was like that, not just the latter part.
Black Belt (product link) Martial Arts / Drama I heard the hype, I watched the film, and it was awesome! It is always nice to see real experts doing the fighting in a movie. It is even better to see how martial arts can be treated by people who respect them and understand what they are truly about. The morality and symbolism in the movie is as subtle as a brick to the head, but that only emphasizes the message. I am reccomending this to anyone who like martial arts, of any style.
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True words. This film will easily move to both cult and legendary status.
Descendant Of The Sun (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure I never would have imagined "Superman" remade as a Chinese kung fu hero movie, but here it is! Complete with secret identity that people can't figure out, super powers including flight and costume change, and vulnerabilities that make the hero weak and mortal. Lots of um...interesting special effects.
Fist Of The White Lotus (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Following up "Shaolin Executioners" both vaguely in plot and closely in narrative structure, this movie delivers some good fighting, and some odd plot devices. Gordon Liu Chia-Hui does his usual stand-up job of training for revenge, though Lo Lieh's millionth version of Pai-Mei the white browed priest gets a bit silly. His indestructibility and super powers get wilder every time they use the character. Some of the comedy is limp, but it is kept to a minimum. Also, the movie features Kara Hui Ying-Hung, and there is nothing wrong with that!
Iron Bodyguard (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Chen Kuan-Tai does a fine job holding up his end of this historical action piece. His character shows proper honor and virtue, and the necessary ability to beat the tar out of his enemies. Unfortunately, most of the history at that volatile time goes on off-camera, including Tan Si-Tong's famous attempt to free the jailed emperor by sword. This makes the plot sort of flat and dull, but by no means unwatchable.
The Magnificent Butcher (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Though featuring Kwan Tak-Hing and boasting some truly great fight scenes, this movie gets burdened down by slapstick "comedy." I appreciate any chance to see the mighty Kwan in action, but I have to fast forward to the action to avoid grinding my teeth to powder. "Dreadnaught" was superior!
Dreadnaught (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Any movie with the legendary Kwan Tak-Hing in it is worthy of owning. Though this movie suffers from the curse of so many Hong Kong movies--comedy that just doesn't translate well to western culture--the fight scenes are excellent. The plot is standard for a Huang Fei-Hong movie; and the lion dancing scene, though stretching the limits of credibility, is pure entertainment.
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Agreed, any movie with the legendary Kwan Tak-Hing is worth owning!
10 Tigers Of Shaolin (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Plot? Who needs plot? Hysterically bad dubbing? Check! Unhinged kung fu? Check! Random nudity for no reason whatsoever? Check!
This gem is a very random film with jaw-dropping kung fu sequences throughout. The final mass fight scene is 25 minutes long! Sit back, laugh at the "acting" and cheer for the butt kicking!
The Brave Archer (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure If you are unfamiliar with Jin Yong's epic kung fu stories, this movie is a good introduction. The plot is baffling and wide sweeping, so try and follow it at your own risk. On the plus side, "Brave Archer" has much better fight scenes than its sequels, and the sheer labyrinthine plot makes it an intriguing show!
Shaolin Mantis (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure David Chiang's finest hour. He was always more of an actor and stuntman than a kung fu man, but he gives it his all in this one. The fight scenes are great (especially the weapon scenes!!!), and Lily Li is a nice saucy romantic interest, but the plot slows way down after the introduction. Halfway through it gathers steam and goes full speed ahead towards the bloody eviscerating finale!
Shaolin Temple [1976] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This film defines star-studded, with a cast of most of the top kung fu actors in the Shaw stable. It has all the training and fight scenes we have come to expect, with enough plot and acting to hold them together. A truly epic fu flick!
Buddha's Palm [1982] (product link) Action/Adventure / Fantasy I saw this movie on video when I was very young and could hardly believe my eyes through the bizarre plot twists and off the wall special effects. Now that I have seen more of this kind of almost psychedelic wu xia movies, I can better appreciate it! If you just sit back and enjoy the ride, this roller-coaster can be highly entertaining. Just don't expect anything to make sense!
The Lady Assassin (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure I usually go more for meat and potatoes kung fu movies, but this sword epic made me sit up and take notice with a decent plot and very tight fight scenes. It didn't surprise me at all to find out this was directed by Liu Jia-Liang, of more standard kung fu movie fame. One of the best wu xia movies Shaw produced in my opinion.
The Lady Is The Boss (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure The good: Hui Ying-Hong having some fun and kicking butt and swearing in bad English. Wang Long-Wei being evil while wearing truly dreadful fashion. Liu Jia-Liang doing what he does best: old school Hung Gar. Liu Jia-Hui and Xiao Hou making fun of their earlier famous roles.
The bad: a lot of the movie is silly comedy which only occasionally makes you laugh.
The movie does a really good job of showing not only how kung fu schools were trying to cope with modernity in 80's Hong Kong, but also how the Shaw Studios were trying to catch up to Golden Harvest who had breezed past them with new styles of martial arts movies.
Heroes Two (product link) Action/Adventure / Martial Arts Chen Kuan-Tai's finest hour. There is almost no plot to speak of, but Chen really unleashes his power for solid fight scene after solid fight scene. Fu Sheng thankfully takes it easy on the comedy for a change and backs Chen up with some of the best fight scenes in his tragically short career. The only thing that makes me roll my eyes is the notion that a man can get stapled to a wall for a week and not only be sane and healthy, but actually could recover from a serious wound in the process!
The Iron Monkey [1977] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Chen Kuan-Tai's labor of love, "Iron Monkey" stands out as a solid independent fu flick. A monkey fist expert himself, Chen tries hard to demostrate all aspects of the style, rather than only focussing on monkey imitation, which gets old after awhile. A short while. The plot is standard training for revenge, but the fight scenes are plentiful and watchable.
Coward Bastard (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Not even the mighty Wan Long-Wei can save this stinker. There are a couple of fight scenes loosely inspired by Jackie Chan, but the rest of it was horrid comedy that just falls flat for Western viewers.
My Young Auntie (product link) Martial Arts / Comedy Any film with Hui Ying-Hong is worth watching, and this is one of her shining moments. There is good and effective comedy and comedy that is painful to watch here, but enough fight scenes to make up for it. Liu Jia-Liang does his usual spectacular job of making the rest of us Hung Gar men look slow, and his fight with Wang Long-Wei is worth watching again and again and again...
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I love your reviews, and I totally agree that Kara Hui is a stunner--as well as my favorite female onscreen martial artist.
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