Paid Members John Matrix Posted August 1, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2014  Lots of words about films   Which Sammo Hung films would you recommend checking out? I used to love Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee as a young teen, but never delved into the genre much further than that.  There's some belters mate. CorpRobinson or Surf are probably better qualified than me to answer that, but at a start, you definately need to check out Pedicab Driver and The Victim. Two very different genres but Sammo's on top form in both.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted August 1, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2014 Saw the new Planet of the Apes this week though & thought is was tremendous. The effects work on the apes is practically flawless & I'm already looking forward to the next one. People in the cinema were applauding at the end. It's an impressive bit of work.  My only problem with it is I have to wait 2/3 years for the third film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Is it sadder than the last one? As cold and emotionless as I am ROTPOTA put me on a right downer, poor Cesar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted August 1, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2014 If it wasn't for my cold Nixonesque disposition I probably would have shed a tear or two during the film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 1, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2014 Dawn is absolutely fantastic. Best CG in film history by far in that not only is it seamless and realistic looking, it serves a real purpose rather than just being flashy wank. It adds to the characters and the story in a huge way. Also, it's the first blockbuster in quite a few years where the violence and action has real impact, where you spend the whole thing all tense knowing that it's coming but hoping it doesn't because it impresses on you early on that violence is ugly and nothing good comes from it...rather than the director just throwing a load of "cool shit" at the screen. Best film I've seen this year by a wide margin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted August 1, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2014  Lots of words about filmsWhich Sammo Hung films would you recommend checking out? I used to love Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee as a young teen, but never delved into the genre much further than that. If you've not seen them already, you need the three Jackie Chan films with Samo in (Wheels on Meals, Project A and Dragons Forever). Then there's the three Samo Hung films with Jackie in (Winners & Sinners, My Lucky Stars, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars)  Now, Jackie's films are a lot more internationally tailored than the average HK film, where they can jump between graphic brutality and infantile comedy in a single line of dialogue. Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars is a prime example of this, with some really, really lame comedy offsetting some of the best fight scenes of the decade. And Chong Fat has an absolute beauty of a fake moustache.  After that, there's the Samo Hung film that Jackie was supposed to have been in, Shanghai Express. Not a lot in the way of plot, but it features almost all the key players of 1980s HK cinema. Samo, Yuen Biu, Yuen Wah, Hwang Jan Lee, Yasuaki Kurata, Yukari Oshima, Richard Norton, Cynthia Rothrock, Phillip Ko, Bolo, Richard Ng, Lam Chin Ying, etc... Hsiao Hou's also in it, and - despite being one of the few guys who can match Yuen Biu with acrobatics - does barely anything in it.  One of the "essential" Samo films of the 80s was Easter Condors. It's another "who's who of HK movies" in terms of cast, but with much tighter direction and focus on the story. Yuen Wah (famous as Bruce Lee's acrobatic double in Enter The Dragon) hams it up as the bad guy, and it's a bit darker overall. Hsiao Hou's in it, and does fuck all, despite the potential for an amazing flips 'n' shit finale with him, Yuen Wah and Yuen Biu. Samo must hate him. Samo's actually pretty lean in this, and Yuen Biu's got some muscularity, and it benefits them both. Eddie Maher was hired to get them both into "main event shape", and would handcuff himself to Samo at night to stop him raiding the fridge.  Pedicab Driver's been recommended, and I'll second it. There's a few dodgy bits of comedy near the beginning that don't match the tone of the rest of the film, but after that it's a superb example of a martial arts film with a story. For my money, it has one of the greatest fight scenes ever, Samo vs Lau Kar Leung. It serves no purpose to the story, it's just a gratuitous excuse to get the two Gods of fight choreography on screen together. Probably one of my all time favourite HK movies.  For a traditional style film, I'd put The Odd Couple as Samo's greatest piece of work. The intricacy of the choreography is just incredible and it's pretty funny to boot.  One that has Samo in more of a supporting role is The Prodigal Son, but it's still on the essential viewing list. Yuen Biu's in the lead, and Lam Chin Ying puts in a showstealing performance as his mentor. Samo pretty much plays Ronnie Barker in it.  It's worth noting that Dragon's Forever, Eastern Condors and Pedicab Driver all have stellar performances from Billy Chow. Samo used him a fair bit and he always looked good. Somehow he dropped to making straight to video potboilers. Robotrix is a super-fun film, and Chow's great in it, but I'm under no pretentions that it's anything but a cheap, cheesey, channel 5-eque excuse for Amy Yip to not get her tits out again.  Some others that have just sprung to mind. Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon. Modern day action film with British bad guy Mark Houghton. Samo does his infamous Bruce Lee impression in this. Enter the Fat Dragon. Best watched whilst drinking, this is just nuts, with Lee Hoi San (the bald guy with man boobs who pops up in loads of films) blacking it up with an afro wig and terrible fake sideburns, pretending to be Jim Kelly. Bloody good fight scenes though, and Samo does his Bruce Lee impression again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Refused Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Bloody brilliant, thanks for that. I think the only film out of those I've seen is Project A, which I used to watch constantly. Shame the old Hing Kong Legends label is now defunct, but hopefully I can pick up a few of those on the cheap before I resort to downloading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members DEF Posted August 1, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2014 Just got back from Guardians of the Galaxy. I echo everybody else's sentiments. But wanted to mention there's a great fun brief post credits scene that was more surprising than the first Iron Man's post credits scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Just back from Guardians. Children should only be allowed in cinemas with muzzles on, or it should be legal to kick them in the face, or both. But what a film! Best superhero film I've ever seen, and my favourite film so far this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted August 1, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted August 1, 2014 (edited) Bloody brilliant, thanks for that. I think the only film out of those I've seen is Project A, which I used to watch constantly. Shame the old Hing Kong Legends label is now defunct, but hopefully I can pick up a few of those on the cheap before I resort to downloading. Some company brought Hong Kong Legends back a couple of years back. I'm glad because it meant the stupid prices CEX were asking for have now subsided. And if you haven't seen it, get yourself Game of Death II. Shameless cash-in on Bruce Lee's last film, but it's got plenty of typically mental fun going on, and Samo had a hand in certain scenes, so the action is top notch. Edited August 1, 2014 by Nostalgia Nonce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted August 1, 2014 Awards Moderator Share Posted August 1, 2014 Add me to the people who loved Guardians, what a great bunch of characters, all really well realised - I couldn't pick a favourite between the five of them. Great visuals as well - Karen Gillan's character in particular. Highly entertaining from start to finish and definitely a contender for one of my favourite films of the year. Between this and Winter Soldier, Marvel's having a pretty decent year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamaras-Tash Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Watched two films last night, 1st up was Starred Up which I thought was excellent. I'm a sucker for films set in jail anyway but this was the best of it's type I'd seen in ages. I'd not heard  of it before yesterday so not sure if it got a big release over here or not it's a Film4 production, the main actor is really good in it and I can't place where I recognise him from.  The 2nd was while I was lying in bed flicking channels I landed on the Horror channel and noticed Hard Candy was on. I'd heard of this one before so knew the main jist of the story so gave it a shot. I wish I hadn't bother staying up till half 2 to watch it now if I'm honest, I really wanted to see how it ended but wish I hadn't bothered now.  What's peoples thoughts on it? was pissed off that not a lot was actually explained although reading reviews this morning that's what people seem to like about it, I just thought Ellen Page's character was a cunt and was hoping she'd be killed  Never been a fan of her in anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 GOTG was as good as people said. Probably the most fun scifi film since the original Star Wars, which it reminded me of a lot. Proper entertainment, laughs and action, with some truly stunning visuals and 3d effects. Second only to Gravity in the 3D department. Â In contrast to the poster above, the experience was actually enhanced by the bunch of kids next to us who giggled at every swear word and jumped up and down in their seats at the exciting bits. Reminded me that these films are for kids, and the kids inside all of us adults. Â Marvel films are solo much better than Michael Bay's abortions that I'm surprised anyone even goes to Transformers any more. And the producers of the next Star Wars movies need to go through GOTG line by line and scene by scene to understand why it's so good. The bar is so much higher nowadays, any repeat of the godawful Ep 1, 2 and 3 would be suicide for the franchise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 2, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted August 2, 2014 Hard Candy is one of my least favorite films ever. It's an idiotic pile of shit with no redeeming features whatsoever. It's another one of those films where critics initially rave about it but in reality it's a load of crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadelineMccann Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Watched two films last night, 1st up was Starred Up which I thought was excellent. I'm a sucker for films set in jail anyway but this was the best of it's type I'd seen in ages. I'd not heard of it before yesterday so not sure if it got a big release over here or not it's a Film4 production, the main actor is really good in it and I can't place where I recognise him He is from Skins. Cook. Might want to look up his next big film Unbroken. Directed by Angelina Jolie. Looks amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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