$tarr

What is Groucho’s Movie Challenge? Its mission is simple: let us all, as a forum, work to seek out films that might otherwise slip our radar. Each week, anybody who wants to participate will see a film within the guidelines, and return back to the forum to report on the film they saw. It’s easy, it’s fun, and everybody can participate. It’s not a trivia contest…it’s not a game…it’s merely a way we can all be exposed to new avenues of film appreciation…or at the very least see a good flick or two.

Week 7: Martial Arts Films

I know i'm no Groucho, but he seems to be MIA this week so I figured i'd attempt to fill in for him on the movie challenge just for this week.

This weeks challenge is inspired by the recent release of Kill Bill Volume 2 in theatres. Just watch a Martial Arts/Kung Fu movie that you have not seen before and report back here and let us all know how it was.

This is your mission. Good luck.

Missed a previous version of the Movie Challenge? It’s never to late to play:

Week 1: Old Movie Week
Week 2: Foreign Film Week
Week 3: Silence is Golden
Week 4: The Truth is Stranger
Week 5: IMDB Top 250
Week 6: Unfamiliar Genres

Groucho

Thanks! I didn't have time to put this together this week, so I was going to wait until Monday to put up another challenge. This should be a good one.

Giles

oh thank god, a genre in which I have planned alreadly to see a film with some friends downtown:

Master of the Flying Guillotine

Rypro 525

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=358443
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=359250
see these 2 threads for the so called essentials in the kung fu genere. also, if you go to most stores, you can find them for under 10 bucks.

Giles

Also Hollywood Video has a great selection of Kung Fu films - the Tenleytown location here in DC is a treasure trove of movies of this genre.

Rypro 525

what section giles?

Giles

It's a whole entire section devouted to Asian cinema: contemporary, classics, comedy, horror, action (unfortnately all VHS):

shhh, there's even some Catagory III films...

sundog

ooh, this one's a blast, especially on the big screen. When I saw it there were maybe 10 people in the theater, everyone got into it. Great time.

Rypro 525

you mean there might be pornos there ? are any of the old shaw bros flicks there, and is it possible to get shogun assassin in vhs there.

devilshalo

What? No love for the International DVD forum?

Check out the thread for n00bs that Trigger did. Has a lot of useful information in it.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=202208

MrN

This is a tough challenge for me, but luckily I have a copy of Once upon a time in China 2 that's been sitting around a while.

$tarr

No problem just glad I could help out. I'd be lost without the weekly challenge.

I chose Return of the Dragon with Bruce Lee for my movie. I have never watched a Bruce Lee movie before and the closest i've got to watching a "Martial Arts" film was watching Kill Bill Volume 1. I'll be back with my report when it arrives in the mail from Netflix.

Damfino

I have a few unwatched DVDs to choose from and I'm going to watch The Magnificent Butcher starring Sammo Hung.

karnblack

I just watched Master of the Flying Guillotine. Finally.

It was so classic. You have to like this kind of film to be able to get into it, and my friend, whom I watched it with, was pleasantly surprised. Loved the sound effects, the "special effects," and the musical theme of the master.

If you love martial arts films you must at the very least rent this film.

Mondo Kane

Did you check out the commentary? Audio commentaries on martial arts films (ASIAN martial arts films, that is) tend to be highly informative on Chinese culture,history,mythology and you'll often hear stories about the Hong Kong cinema scene as well. Be sure to give one a listen.

Rypro 525

yojimbo from kurwosawa counts as a "martial arts movie" right? cause thats what i ended up picking

Giles

Master of the Flying Guillotine
'Ultimate - 93min 2002 restored edition'
April 24th 12am
Visions theatre
(35mm print)

short on plot, but who cares? The absence of plot gives a perfect excuse for the filmmakers to make a film based around a tournament and revenge tale for the sake of some fun envigorating fights. You can see that fights have become the basis and influence on the fights in "Kill Bill. Vol.1", "The Iron Monkey" and the Capcom 'Street Fighter' arcade games. Creative marks also go to the storyline that takes a risk and goes in a direction that I haven't seen in a traditional Hong Kong action flick. All in all, very entertained.

$tarr

It's not the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of a martial arts film, but i'd say it still counts. It's close enough for this challenge at least.

I watched Return of the Dragon today as my "martial arts film." While I had heard of Bruce Lee before, I didn't know that he also wrote and directed along with acting. I couldn't figure out if the movie's audio was really out of sync or if it just had a really bad dub until afterwards when I read on IMDB.com that Bruce Lee filmed almost all of his movies with no sound. It was a good action movie and it's too bad that Bruce Lee had to pass away at such a young age.

NavinJohnson

I picked up Jackie Chan's First Strike out of WalMart's bin o' DVDs. I haven't seen very many of his films, but I get a kick out of the humor + action; Buster Keaton on steroids!

Draven

I'm not a big fan of that one. The ladder fight is by far the highlight for me.

I don't know a lot of obscure ones. Most of my tastes run pretty mainstream.

I will say I was pleasantly surprised by the martial arts in Brotherhood of the Wolf. It really comes out of nowhere, but the look, sound and feel of the movie make it a blast to see.

Damfino

The Magnificent Butcher (1979 Hong Kong)

Director: Yuen Woo-ping (Iron Monkey; Action Director of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and The Matrix)

Cast:
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo (Martial Law, Encounters of the Spooky Kind, Prodigal Son)
Lee Hoi-San
Kwan Tak-hing
Yuen Biao

Pork butcher Lam Sai-Wing (Sammo Hung) is a student of the legendary Wong Fei-Hung (Kwan Tak-hing, who portrayed Wong Fei-Hung in over 75 movies!*). The butcher makes an enemy of rival kung fu Master Ko (Lee Hoi-San) and a familiar kung fu formula story starts to unfold. The first hour is mostly a series of well choreographed and very funny fights (including the two masters in a calligraphy battle using paint brushes as weapons!).

In the 2nd half of the movie the story takes a dark turn as the butcher is framed for the murder of Master Ko's God-daughter by Master Ko's son. The Butcher must now fight his way to the top of Master Ko's school to prove his innocence.

The movie is pure kung fu formula, but the formula works and the movie is both funny and entertaining. The funniest bit has Sammo fighting an opponent who fights like a cat complete with the snarling and scratching!

Even after starring in Martial Law, Sammo Hung still hasn't received the respect he deserves in the West. I chose one of his movies mainly to see if I would be the only one to watch one for this week's challenge. I hope someone proves me wrong.

The Bey Logan commentary on my R2 Hong Kong Legends DVD revealed that butcher Lam Sai-Wing was a real person and really was a student of Wong Fei-Hung. Lam Sai-Wing was also overweight so Sammo Hung was perfectly suited for this role. Like most martial arts movies, this is probably where the truth gave way to the legend.

*I have found conflicting information as to how many times Kwan Tak-hing played the role of Wong Fei-Hung. Some say the series ended after 99 movies because 99 is a lucky number while others say there were 76 movies in the series. He also played the role in 3 other movies after the original series ended.

Corvin

I watched Hero last night. Wow. I was definitely impressed. The imagery and photography was just breathtaking. Beautiful story. I loved it.

The version I had, though, didn't have English subs for the prologue or epilogue. Anyone know where I can find these? I'd be much obliged.

Damfino

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=277628

Corvin

Much grass, Damfino.

Nick Danger

I was going to pass on this challenge. I've watched all my martial arts movies, and the local rental stores don't have much of a selection.

Fortunately, Kill Bill Pt 1 came to the movie theater by the house. We watched it today and liked it enough that we want to see it again.

Everybody here knows the plot by now: Quentin Tarrintino watches lots of movies, and then puts all the good bits into one film. Sort of like Lucas doing Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I liked the yellow motorcycle outfit, the sound of Kaboom cereal crunching underfoot on the floor, the Bride picking out a sword using psychic skills, and the falling snow. I liked the spagetti western music. I liked Darryl Hannah's nurse's eye patch. I liked the emasculation of the boy-Yakuza, having his sword getting cut shorter and shorter by a Valkyrie. I liked the fighting silhouettes against a blue background.

The only negative is that the big fight scene against an army was dull. The fight choreography wasn't that great, and I'm rarely impressed by the hero defeating faceless minions.

A big thumbs up for a stupid, violent, over-the-top movie with a great sense of style.