Drunken Monkey (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure As one of the few modern Shaw Brothers movies I have seen, this one mostly delivers. The action is good, especially the old-school pole and ring fighting at the beginning. It also sports the most drunken style performers I have seen on screen at once, with a final battle that culminates with the master fighting alongside his three students.
The only problem I have with this movie in subsequent viewings are the many slow spots that are filled with weak comedy.
Contour (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure These guys have talent. Not necessarily acting talent - but they pull off brilliant fight choreography and have solid filmmaking skills.
Like "Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter" or Pat Bishow films, there are a lot of really funny lines and sight gags hidden under the amateur acting (the best lines are delivered in an infomercial: "You like soup? You like fight?"), but the action is where the Stunt People shine. The sparring and falls are far more creative than most Hollywood action movies, and are pulled off to perfection.
Really fun stuff if you can get by some amateur actors.
Black Belt Jones (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure You can't get much better than a Blaxploitation movie that contains decent kung fu and comedy. Unlike many of my other blaxploitation favorites, this movie doesn't drag much between action scenes. And some of Jim Kelly's lines are brilliant: "I'm Batman, mother#@#$%!"
The fight settings are unique, too, ranging from a car wash, to a train car, to a winery. Who else has used those locations?
This one manages to blend action, drama, and comedy without losing track of the story, which itself is excellent. Both the principal and supporting characters deliver the goods.
The two undercover cops slightly remind me of Spike and Jet from the anime Cowboy Bebop, which isn't a bad thing.
Bio-Zombie (product link) Dark Comedy / Horror Ranks up there with "Versus", "Shaun of the Dead", the original "Dawn of the Dead", and "Dead Alive" in my list of favorite zombie movies.
Woody Invincible and Crazy Bee are the perfect team of losers turned hero, and their girlfriend Rolls rocks a pair of hot pants triumphantly.
Despite this movie's silliness, Wilson Yip manages to include a few moments of genuine drama, and the viewer feels for these characters, something that cannot be said about recent craptacular Hollywood horror films.
Iron Monkey [1993] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This is the movie that got me interested in "modern" HK movies. Previously I had been a fan of 70s Shaw Brothers type martial arts films, but "Iron Monkey" showed me that big budget glossy martial arts could be just as much fun as the old movies and that there was a style coming out of HK that was not seen in Hollywood at the time.
Terrific wire-fu, excellent cast, perverted monks, and good storytelling.
The White Dragon [2004] (product link) Action/Adventure / Martial Arts Skip it. I bought this one for actor Francis Ng and director Wilson Yip, both of whom I usually enjoy; but it ended up being a movie that couldn't quite decide who its audience was. A bit too much dumb comedy, chick flick drama, and lame martial arts just make this movie a mess.
If you like silly zombie slapstick, this is worth a watch. You can't beat a movie that has zombie sword fighting, transvestite gang members, giant snakes, hot schoolgirls with axes, and a good amount of postmodern breaking of the fourth wall.
Not nearly as good as Bio-Zombie, but entertaining nonetheless.
The Host (product link) Horror / Thriller The Host takes a position in my list of favorite giant monster movies. It's got a startling and original fast-moving monster (courtesy of WETA workshop), some entertaining and moving Korean dramedy, and a cast of characters that you grow to like but that surprise you in the end.
Dragon Tiger Gate (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure The first half of the movie is classic. Tse and Yen play off each other well, and the action is big, silly, and fun.
The ending fight, which is about twenty minutes of the film, however, is boring and unwatchable.
Flash Point (product link) Action/Adventure / Martial Arts This is my favorite modern HK flick of recent years. Yen is a badass in it.
It's been a while since Donnie Yen and his mixed martial arts have been allowed to carry a movie completely without being overshadowed by effects or younger, more photogenic actors.
I liked 'Flash Point' more than 'SPL', which, while lots of fun, had several incomprehensibly sappy plot points and a bit too much flashy "style over substance" CGI elements. Plus, I like Yen more when he's less Superman (boyscout) and more Batman (vigilante).
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