mrcellophane

I saw that on your list! It made me want to watch a couple of those. I was fortunate enough to get the BD box set for a very good price. When I was a preteen, I had several of the films on VHS so Rathbone will always be Sherlock Holmes to me.

Dimension X

Ever listen to the Sherlock Holmes radio show he did with Nigel Bruce? Archive.org has a few of them if you haven't.

LorenzoL

I have the DD DVD and watched that interview with Sammo Hung. I liked the movie, its that is not your typical Martial Arts movie.

mrcellophane

I hadn't. Thanks for the recommendation! I listened to "The Bruce-Partington Plans" episode while making dinner and enjoyed it. I'll have to put these on my iPod for my commute.

Dimension X

Glad you liked it. The episodes with Nigel Bruce and Tom Conway are pretty good too, so don't give up when you run out of Rathbone episodes to listen to.

LJG765

Watched "Meet the Robinsons" tonight. I would have sworn I've watched it before, but it wasn't familiar at all. I enjoyed it, though the first 20-30 minutes weren't great but once it got going, it was a lot of fun.

Also popped in "Psycho" right after. I had watched that one for the first time about a year ago and thought it was just as good as the first time. I didn't feel like it dragged at all. Glad I picked it up last winter to own.

LorenzoL

Odd Couple (1979)
Lau Kar Wing and Sammo Hung have dual roles as King of Spears and King of Sabres respectively and their students, Sammo becoming expert on the spear and Lau Kar Wing becoming expert on the sabre.
It's sad that this movie has never been released in North America and I had to watch it on Youtube. I would love to add this one in my collection. One of the better Sammo Hung movies.

Knockabout (1979)
Another film directed by Sammo Hung and starring himself with Lau Kar Wing and Yuen Biao. One of my favourites and it deserves to be considered one of the greatest Martial Arts movie.

Dance of the Drunken Mantis (1979)
Another that I watched on Youtube. A so called sequel to Drunken Master, it follows Beggar So character back home. Not a great movie but contains some good fighting scenes.

Shaolin Soccer (2001)
Stephen Chow trying to combine soccer with Martial Arts. I watched the International Cut on Netflix and forgot that the Miramax DVD also contains the uncut movie. I don't think that this movie translate well to the Western audiences but for Miramax to cut movies to such extent is just wrong.

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
I considered this movie to be Chow's best movie. Yes, it uses a lot of CGI and wire but this is a great Kung Fu movie. The thing is that he's not even on the screen that much. For Chow to trust other actors to carry most of the movie, takes a great leap of faith but they rewarded him with great performances. Mind you, Chow is greatly "influenced" by other Martial Arts and non Martial Arts movies in this one, but is able to make it his own.

The Big Boss (1971)
Bruce Lee promises his Uncle to stay out of trouble and not use his Martial Arts skills. He breaks his promise once his cousins starts dying off because of the crooked Ice factory owner. Not really Bruce Lee's best movie effort.

Ash Ketchum

Good viewing!

I have ODD COUPLE in two editions. One was VHS, released by Xenon in an English-subbed, letter-boxed EP (Extended Play) edition in the year 2000. I then bought a Hong Kong import DVD a year later.

I have the HK import edition of SHAOLIN SOCCER, but I only watched it once. I didn't like it then and got a lot of crap from HK film fans on other boards back in 2001 for my disdain of the film's reliance on CGI. I do need to see it again.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

To be fair, if Bruce wasn't there at all, none of the cousins would have been killed. He was the one that broke the ice block in the first place. The cousins were dumb enough to not notice anything until it was out in the open. If they had just shut up and kept working, they would have been fine.

Minus the criminal activities, the only ice factory owner didn't do anything wrong.

LorenzoL

I think for the fact that it shows Bruce interested in a woman and having sex with her, there's not much to this movie. I didn't like it.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Unmarried sex leads to death in many films.

This is one of the Bruce Lee films that I have always end up seeing more than any of the others, for some reason.

shadokitty

While I no longer have a DVR, I've noticed that when you combine Blockbuster at Home channel package with the top basic package on Dish Network, you are never hurting to find eligible content to watch.

shadokitty

Since I watched a 60s Hercules movie last night, with Mark Forest as Hercules, I started to get into the mood for Kevin Sorbo's Hercules. So, I've started watching Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

BobO'Link

^Universal needs to finish their re-releases of Hercules: TLG and Xena - each needs only 1 season to complete. I own the entire AB run of Hercules but need the S6 release from Uni to finish Xena. Since I had problems with the AB S1 of Xena I opted for the Uni re-releases - they are far less expensive, take up less shelf space, plus they have sub-titles. I introduced my grandson to Xena last summer (he was 10 at the time) - he loved it (imagine that!).

shadokitty

I'll have to look into them. The reason I only got a couple sets of the original releases was the price. I eventually sold them, so don't have any other way than Netflix to watch them now.

Ash Ketchum

I watched police shows from 1967-74 over the weekend: Dragnet, Ironside and Police Story. It's funny how Dragnet and Ironside, both from 1967, were similarly themed shows with completely different relationships with the zeitgeist. Dragnet actively rejected the counterculture while Ironside dipped its toes into it and caught some of the waves of it. And Jack Webb and Raymond Burr were such completely different "types," even though their characters' philosophies and working methods weren't all that different from each other. But Burr brought a lot of personal charm to the role, something that Webb was noticeably lacking.

Police Story was the best of the lot. The episode I watched, "Chain of Command," from 1974, was about racial tensions in L.A. during a time of targeted shootings of police by black militants and how that affects everyday relations on the street between white cops and black citizens. It's remarkably timely given the situation in Ferguson right now. (It was timely back then also, believe me.) One element that gave me pause was the relationship between the white police captain (Stuart Whitman) pursuing the militants (on his own, since the Chief of Detectives refuses to recognize an organized "conspiracy") and a black female activist (Janet MacLachlan) whom he relies on for leads. The two clearly have some kind of romantic history, based on the way they talk to each other and their body language. Whitman puts his hands on her in an overly familiar way that seems somewhat unprofessional and a bit on the possessive side, even in public situations. I wonder if it was unconscious or something the director (Leo Penn, Sean's father) insisted on. If the latter, that's actually quite perceptive on his part, since it's something a character like that might actually do in such a situation.

BobO'Link

I finished Monk S7 over the weekend. I can't believe I bailed on that one during the original airings simply because "Sharona" left the series! I recall distinctly *not* liking the "Natalie Teeger" character the first season she was on the show. It *must* have been because remembered Traylor Howard from Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place and had some sort of bias against her in Monk. The seasons with her have been as good as, if not better, than the early seasons. My grandson even likes it. So... there *were* scheduling issues as well but I could have easily gotten around that with the VCR... I'm trying to decide if I want to try and finish this one before the month is out since all that's left is S8 with 16 episodes.

I *finally* got around to watching Sam Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia last night. It's a pretty odd film but I liked it quite a bit. Seeing Kris Kristofferson was a surprise (I'd not looked at the cast list prior to purchasing). I'm not sure how I feel about the ending but it works in its own weird way. This is one I can see Tarantino remaking.

After that it was a couple more of the Rathbone "Sherlock Holmes" films. Those are always enjoyable.

shadokitty

Since my depression is hitting hard today, to the point of at times being on the verge of tears, all I've been in the mood for is lay in bed watching TV. I know why I'm so depressed though. My mom has been in the hospital since Friday night, and I'm missing her worse than ever today. Maybe watching tv will help put me in a somewhat better mood at least.

BobO'Link

I've *got* to get more organized! At least the unwatched piles... I was looking for some recently purchased titles and stumbled across:

The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter
Once Upon a Time in China I, II, III
Let the Bullets Fly
and a Sonny Chiba set of which I've already watched a couple of the 4 films. It'll take a look back at other challenge lists to know exactly *which* of those I've already seen.

Sigh... Just when I thought I was paring down the selections, more pop up to take their place!

shadokitty

After a few hours of marathoning Destination Truth on SyFy, I switched gears and watched more peplum. It was the 2nd Mark Forest movie on the the set in a row, which was also one of the Son of Hercules movies. This was an entertaining flick called Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules.

LorenzoL

I'm on vacation this week and I'll be continuing with my mainly Asian films theme during this challenge in between taking a break to watch other things like I have been doing.

Bloodsport (1988)
I still think this is one of Van Damme's best film. His acting is ridiculous but the movie is fast paced and the use of humour throughout it, helps things move along. Forest Whitaker's early role as one of the comic relief characters.

Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill Volume 2 (2004)
Having watched some of the movies that "influenced" both films, is safe to say that QT did create something unique but he relied heavily using visuals, plot, dialogue and music to do so. Critics often have commented that QT cannot make a movie without relying on those "influences" and "Kill Bill" is a huge example of that. Other members have commented how violent and gory both movies are but I didn't think so. The severed limbs and flowing of the blood were common in the genre movies that Kill Bill was influenced on.

The Golden Child (1986)
Earlier in the challenge, I watched "Big Trouble in Little China", a homage by John Carpenter of the Shaw Brothers and HK movies and it was done right and with reverence. Now this one with Eddie Murphy, just left me cold. I don't know if this one Eddie Murphy's attempt to do a martial arts movie but he failed in all aspects and found it a bit offensive.

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Now this one, it's Eddie at his best. No wonder, he exploded and became a huge star after this one as the lines and action fits him perfectly.

Enter the Dragon (1973)
I purchased the WB 40th Anniversary version on Blu-ray and I have to say that the movie has never looked this good along with an awesome sound. Huge upgrade from the DVD!

House of the Flying Daggers (2004)
This movie holds a special place in my heart even though it falls short in an attempt to be a great movie. I attended the premiere of this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival that year and it was attended by Zhang Yimou and Zhang Ziyi. Plot twists galore and an open ending left me wanting more... However, it contains a beautiful soundtrack highlighted by "Beauty Song" and "Lovers".

My Young Auntie (1981)
In the interview on the Dragon Dynasty DVD, Kara Hui states that she was only 16 when she filmed this movie but doing the math, that seems wrong as she was born in 1960. Great performance nonetheless and a deserved win for her acting here. Lau Kar-leung, Hsio Ho and Gordon Liu play second to her in this movie. Great combination of action and humour with a great end fight.

Clan of the White Lotus (1980)
Lo Lieh plays the brother of Pai Mei, White Lotus, in this superior remake/sequel to "Executioners from Shaolin". Gordon Liu plays the hero this time with help from Kara Hui. It's easy to see why this movie has reached the cult status here in North America.

King Boxer (1973)
This movie is more commonly known here in NA as 5 Fingers of Death. I believe this movie is more highly regarded for its influence in ushering Martial Arts movies here than the movie itself. The movie is violent but the fighting sequences are not that great IMHO and the glowing of Lo Lieh hands with the "Ironside" theme music seems cheesy.

I watched 8 Diagram Pole Fighter and Once Upon a Time in China I already for the challenge. I will be watching Let the Bullets Fly and OUaTiC II later on...

davidh777

After bingeing on Buffy over two years' worth of challenges (TV, action, MYO, sci-fi/fantasy, and horror) and then taking a break, I finally decided to get back on the proverbial horse and resume my quest to finish the series. I thought I'd made it through four seasons, and I was able to check my list posts and confirm it! I took a year off from Buffy.

Ash Ketchum

You've got a real treat in store for you with those films. 8 DIAGRAM is, IMHO, the single greatest kung fu film ever made. ONCE UPON A TIME I & II are two of the best of the HK New Wave martial arts films of the late '80s/early '90s and the films that made Jet Li a star. Part III is most interesting from a film history angle for its use of an early film camera in the narrative, but it's a lesser film in every other respect.

LorenzoL

This challenge has made me realize the amount of Asian films (most of them of the Martial Arts variety) that I have bought over the years. It also illustrates how poorly they have been treated on DVD/Blu-ray in both Asia and North America. There's still countless movies that have never been released or have been edited for NA audiences that I wish I could purchase in its original form. I don't think Japanese and even Korean films suffer through this as much as the HK/Chinese films do. Also trying to find a properly remastered HK film on HD is similar to looking for the Holy Grail.

Bob, if you have the Columbia/Tri-Star DVD version of OUaTiC series, prepare yourself to be disappointed by its PQ and AQ. It made me want to buy the Blu-ray HK versions which according to reviews are only upscales but it couldn't be as bad as those DVDs.

shadokitty

For anyone who is interested re what I talked about yesterday, my mom came home from the hospital last night, and seems to be doing fine. She's on bed rest today per Dr's orders, and I'll probably be worried for the next couple days, as her health isn't that great.