Me too.

This'd be a treat to own on BD as well:

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And, yes, that's a young Andy Lau there.

Netflix was streaming Yes, Madam!, I was all geared up to watch it on my next day off, and they took it down quickly. Hear it's a must-see classic for HK fight fans.

Oh fuck yes it is. That ending is crazy as shit. ESPECIALLY cuz it's 2 women doing it. And one of them is American? Wow. Granted...the crazier stunts were men w/ wigs but..the action action is them.

I still say these three guys need to appear as part of Arnie's team if they ever make an EX3:

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how is Biao doing today btw? Seems like Hung and Chan are still fast as fuck but Yuen didn't look that fast compared to the other two...he sure as hell was the most athletic one. I'm always sad that he never got as popular as the other two sure as hell was better than them I'd say. They just had more personality I guess.

I'm still pissed we never saw his team. He mentions them in EX2 and nothing. It's like..."ok...well who the fuck is on your team?"

The last time I saw Yuen Biao was in an extended cameo (almost a supporting role) in Rob B Hood:

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Wanted to see more of him in the movie.

I think there is a BD from Fortune Star. Knowing Fortune Star, it's entirely possible that there're problems with, not the least of which would be that the so-called original mono sound is really a downmix, or even on the off-chance that it isn't, is probably out-of-sync, but I belive there is a BD version. It sucks liking Hong Kong action cinema, ill DVD treatment seams to be the norm regardless of the country of release.

Even doing mediocrities like The Transporter, Yuen Kwai's action is a sight to behold, I bet in his prime in HK with proper martial artists (No disrespect to the impressive physical skills of the Stath, mind you.), and with him directing himself or working with someone who knows how to shoot and edit properly, in his prime he was probably pretty amazing. Like I said, stuff is hard to come across (There's still no proper release of Fong Sai Yuk as far as I know...). Yeoh and Kwok were totally wasted in TND, it's a shame, so much potential in the post-Matrix days. She's a terrific actress too, as CTHD demonstrated. Shame most of them are getting up there, but I bet they could still do some impressive fighting with the right choreographer.

Yeah, the HK industry at its peak was like nothing else, simply all-out mayhem. Who needs CG?

Hung was of course in SPL and did some choreography work on the Ip Man films (I think he's in the second), but I don't remember him doing much stuff outside of Asia. I'm not entirely certain what it is, but apparently, Biao, Chan, and Hung had some sort of personal fallout, it's a shame, it'd be great to see him get back together. What a golden age, man. Now we have some good stuff-Jaa, Yanin, Uwais, Adkins-but that was quite an age before Hollywood mainstreamed it and sanded the edges down.

Hung is indeed in Ip Man 2 (he filmed his fight scenes shortly after undergoing heart surgery ) and he cameo'd as Wong Fei Hung in the 2004 comedy Around The World In 80 Days, starring Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan.

I believe he was one of the fight choreographers on both of them as well.

You are correct. Although I believe he was not just the fight choreographer but the action director as well.

I was under the impression those two job titles were the same, is an action director in HK like a second unit here?

Kind of. They literally direct the action scenes. At least the ones I've seen who have the title. They can be one and the same but from what I've seen the Action Directors take over directing...but just for the action.

As Snake said, an action director literally directs the action scenes. The fight choreographer designs the actual combat but doesn't necessarily have any say in how the scene will be shot or lit (though an action director worth his salt would inform the choreographer of such concerns).

Hmm, well that makes me as a number of different questions. I mean, it certainly explains why so many Hollywood directors make such hack jobs of some great Hong Kong choreographers. But what happens when the director is someone who's known for being an action director like Yuen Wo Ping or Corey Yuen Kwai or Liu Chia-Liang? Do they leave it to others just because directing takes so much out of them? I just can't see them directing without having some input. On some things, like Power Rangers, my assumption was always that the stunt team went off and shot a whole bunch of in-costume action scenes and then the actual episode was done by someone else, then everything was grafted together with the other footage from Japan. Of course, TV is a different thing, and a show like this which uses different source footage for some scenes is again different. Or do choreographers sometimes design fights and then leave it to the action director to integrate it with the actual blocking, filming, etc.? Yuen Kwai had a director's title on The Transporter,, and "action director" title on Kiss of the Dragon, and a "martial arts choreographer" credit on Transporter 2. I wonder what he does in each case? Plus, does the director have the final say in the the editing? Or does the action director direct things himself and kind of hand it over? When I first found out about second-unit director when I was young, I remember wondering how people like Spielberg wound up with such distinctive set pieces (Then again, the moral could be to focus more on the story and leaving blowing stuff up to those qualified .), where their input began and the other's ended. It sort of fascinates me when I watch someone on one my DVDs who has a shaky grasp of English (John Woo, Ronny Yu Yan-Tai on Freddy vs. Jason, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo on 28 Weeks Later, etc.) who's visions for their English-language films are so distinctive and clear.

Not every director deffers to the 2nd unit (or even hires an action director) to handle the action sequences. But there are many that do.

Although it isn't just a case of let someone else take over (though that has happened). It's more the director discusses with the 2nd unit/action unit director what he wants and then they sort of meet up in the middle.

The inverse is a dramatic director. For The Transporter, Corey Yuen was the director. But he didn't feel too comfortable directing the English and French speaking actors so Louise Letterier was hired as dramatic director. For the sequel, Letterier helmed the entire movie himself. Yuen merely served as choreographer for second movie and the craptacular third movie.

I think it's probably different in Hollywood films than HK stuff too.

It probably varies from film to film too.

I wonder if Yuen had any say in the editing? Chasman on the DVD basically says that Letterier also worked on directing the chases, etc. as well, as well as presumably the other stunt guys. Then again, lets face it, that's not a movie I or anyone else went to see for the plot .

I wonder if Yuen directed the fights in the second film, he and another guy are listed as second unit directors, perhaps he was off with Stath and his fight guys filming stuff while other where doing other things elsewhere. If that's the case, at least Leterrier had the sense to know how to edit things properly. And yes, Oliver Megaton takes irritating flash cutting to a whole new realm. It drives me nuts.