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DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult


Devon Malcolm

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Talk about a misleading cover... this was utter shit, but entertainingly so. The cast - a bunch of ropey looking strippers and cardboard men - seem like they're under heavy sedation as never before have I seen a horror film where the characters are so unfazed by imminent death. The titular elves aren't even part of it - there's a doll that shows up a few times, but that's yer lot as far as mischievous homunculi go. The acting is so bad it's actually pretty funny and the story makes no sense at all: something about an enchanted "naughty list" that convinces the idiots to do bad things. Then, towards the end, a figure in a goat masks shows up and turns it into a generic slasher film, because the makers obviously couldn't be bothered with their attempt at mythology making. An absolute abortion of a film, which still amused for just how inept everything about it is. it's quite Wiseauian. 

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15 hours ago, zep81 said:

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I believe this was Jackie's big breakthrough and it's a very enjoyable one and one of his early best. Directed by the great Yuen Woo Ping, it features some great fight choreography and the usual humour of these early Chan Kung Fu movies. Chan is just so likeable and his skills are just impeccably tailored to any style he puts hi

I love that film - I love most of Jackie's early films. My absolute favourite's Project A but The Young Master, Drunken Master, all a load of fun. I even had a VHS copy of Hand Of Death where he's not the main role and

gets killed, which is an odd experience.

 

My friend, who is a massive kung fu movie fan, not so much - he went on a massive rant about how Yuen Woo Ping is a fraud and overrated, and how the Wachowskis got the wrong choreographer in with Yuen instead of Sammo Hung for The Matrix.

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7 hours ago, Carbomb said:

I love that film - I love most of Jackie's early films. My absolute favourite's Project A but The Young Master, Drunken Master, all a load of fun. I even had a VHS copy of Hand Of Death where he's not the main role and

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gets killed, which is an odd experience.

 

My friend, who is a massive kung fu movie fan, not so much - he went on a massive rant about how Yuen Woo Ping is a fraud and overrated, and how the Wachowskis got the wrong choreographer in with Yuen instead of Sammo Hung for The Matrix.

I only really got into Jackie Chan stuff last year as my mate is a big fan and introduced me to films like Project A, Dragons Forever, Wheels On Meals and Armour Of God. Previously, I'd only really seen mostly his American stuff like Rumble In The Bronx, Rush Hour and First Strike.

Now I've been on a collecting binge and picking up some of his classic stuff before the mid 90s. I didn't realise what a minefield it is in regards to Chan's movies and how mishandled some of the releases have been. Luckily, they have been some excellent recent blu ray releases of some of his best stuff. Esp as most of his early stuff is OOP on dvd.

The first Police Story is prob my current favourite and I can watch that final fight scene over and over again.

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I'm still annoyed that my VHS copy of Half A Loaf of Kung Fu got chewed up by a friends' player.

8 hours ago, Carbomb said:

 

My friend, who is a massive kung fu movie fan, not so much - he went on a massive rant about how Yuen Woo Ping is a fraud and overrated, and how the Wachowskis got the wrong choreographer in with Yuen instead of Sammo Hung for The Matrix.

Your mate is a bellend, if you want hyper-realistic stunts then Sammo is your man. If you want surreal floaty wire work, which is obviously what was called for, Yuen is the only choice.

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I’m 25 minutes into Holmes & Watson. Big Stepbrothers fan, but this is the worst “comedy” I’ve seen since A million ways to die in the west. Not laughed once.

‘Update’ I finished it and even an appearance from Braun Strowman couldn’t save it. Truly awful and I read after test scores were so bad that Sony tried to sell the film and even Netflix rejected it!

Edited by Hannibal Scorch
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2 hours ago, zep81 said:

I only really got into Jackie Chan stuff last year as my mate is a big fan and introduced me to films like Project A, Dragons Forever, Wheels On Meals and Armour Of God. Previously, I'd only really seen mostly his American stuff like Rumble In The Bronx, Rush Hour and First Strike.

Now I've been on a collecting binge and picking up some of his classic stuff before the mid 90s. I didn't realise what a minefield it is in regards to Chan's movies and how mishandled some of the releases have been. Luckily, they have been some excellent recent blu ray releases of some of his best stuff. Esp as most of his early stuff is OOP on dvd.

The first Police Story is prob my current favourite and I can watch that final fight scene over and over again.

Yeah, I need to watch more. The first Police Story is brill, and I must've re-watched it so many times. Particularly love the scene with the arranged assault/knocked-out mate.

1 hour ago, Rey_Piste said:

Your mate is a bellend, if you want hyper-realistic stunts then Sammo is your man. If you want surreal floaty wire work, which is obviously what was called for, Yuen is the only choice.

He's my mate, but you're right - he is a bellend when it comes to martial arts movies, gets rather sniffy. His rant was mainly based on the choreography in The Matrix, which was the first time I'd ever heard of Yuen Woo Ping, and I rather enjoyed his work on that. He was saying about how the choreography was boring and flat, which I didn't really see, but as I'm merely an enthusiastic viewer and not really an aficionado of kung fu movies, I took his word for it - not that it decreased my enjoyment, but it left me thinking maybe there was better out there to see from other choreographers. I do enjoy Sammo's stuff more, but that's probably more just a matter of volume.

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3 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

He's my mate, but you're right - he is a bellend when it comes to martial arts movies, gets rather sniffy. His rant was mainly based on the choreography in The Matrix, which was the first time I'd ever heard of Yuen Woo Ping, and I rather enjoyed his work on that. He was saying about how the choreography was boring and flat, which I didn't really see, but as I'm merely an enthusiastic viewer and not really an aficionado of kung fu movies, I took his word for it - not that it decreased my enjoyment, but it left me thinking maybe there was better out there to see from other choreographers. I do enjoy Sammo's stuff more, but that's probably more just a matter of volume.

Here's a great example between 2 different styles of fight choreography.

Jet Li in once Upon A Time In China.

 

Jackie Chan's First Strike.

Yuen has Jet Li floating and flying about using a lot of wire work, whilst Jackie Chan has lots of hard impactful hits with weight to them. You don't want Neo to be punching agents and crashing to the ground. You want people floating about like they're in a computer game, of course Keanu isn't anywhere near the level a physical performer as either Jet li or Jackie, so he yuen did have his hands tied about what he could actually do on film, even with the then new CGI techniques.

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Thanks for that, definitely see the difference in those. 

For all my mate's snobbery, he's pointed me in the direction of some awesomeness (The Blade's one that he recommended to me), and I've come to love me some Donnie Yen. You'll have seen this, I reckon, but this scene in Flashpoint is awesome. My mate showed me it as he knew I was getting into MMA at the time, and he said this was the first time someone had choreographed a sequence that incorporated MMA techniques into it (and there's a couple of pro-wrestling bits there too):

 

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Just checked out that scene, I've  not seen much Donnie Yen outside of the Ip Man Series, which is definitely worth checking out. As for MMA in martial arts films Flashpoint came out in 2008, Tony Jaa's Ong Bak came out 5 years prior in 03 and because of Jaa's Muay Thai background is a lot closer to MMA.

He definitely wears his influences on his sleeve, with a fighting style similr to Bruce Lee, but then also has stunts and action scenes which wouldn't look out of place in a Jackie Chan flick. Definitely check out Ong Bak and the sequels and The Protector, known for it's 15 minute single shot fight scene through a hotel.

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8 hours ago, Carbomb said:

Thanks for that, definitely see the difference in those. 

For all my mate's snobbery, he's pointed me in the direction of some awesomeness (The Blade's one that he recommended to me), and I've come to love me some Donnie Yen. You'll have seen this, I reckon, but this scene in Flashpoint is awesome. My mate showed me it as he knew I was getting into MMA at the time, and he said this was the first time someone had choreographed a sequence that incorporated MMA techniques into it (and there's a couple of pro-wrestling bits there too):

 

I only bought Flashpoint recently as I wanted to check out a bit of Donnie Yen. I've still got the IP Man trilogy to watch too and I've bought a film called Killzone and Killzone 2, which stars Tony Jaa. Jaa is another that is so great to watch, wish he was in more stuff. Warrior King is a favorite of mine.

There is a film out this year called Triple Threat, that looks insane and features some top tier fighters:

Funny you mention The Blade, as that's been on my 'shit to get off eBay" list for a while now.

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10 hours ago, Rey_Piste said:

Just checked out that scene, I've  not seen much Donnie Yen outside of the Ip Man Series, which is definitely worth checking out. As for MMA in martial arts films Flashpoint came out in 2008, Tony Jaa's Ong Bak came out 5 years prior in 03 and because of Jaa's Muay Thai background is a lot closer to MMA.

He definitely wears his influences on his sleeve, with a fighting style similr to Bruce Lee, but then also has stunts and action scenes which wouldn't look out of place in a Jackie Chan flick. Definitely check out Ong Bak and the sequels and The Protector, known for it's 15 minute single shot fight scene through a hotel.

I've seen Ong Bak, but looks like I'll have to re-watch, as I thought it was awesome with some amazing sequences, but wasn't particularly struck by any MMA influences. Will definitely pay closer attention next time I watch it.

2 hours ago, zep81 said:

I only bought Flashpoint recently as I wanted to check out a bit of Donnie Yen. I've still got the IP Man trilogy to watch too and I've bought a film called Killzone and Killzone 2, which stars Tony Jaa. Jaa is another that is so great to watch, wish he was in more stuff. Warrior King is a favorite of mine.

There is a film out this year called Triple Threat, that looks insane and features some top tier fighters:

Funny you mention The Blade, as that's been on my 'shit to get off eBay" list for a while now.

That Triple Threat trailer is particularly interesting to me at the moment, because Iko Uwais in it - his background is Pencak Silat, which is what I'm doing at the moment (admittedly, I'm doing a different style, but it's always fascinating to see variants).

Definitely get The Blade - I cannot recommend it enough. 

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23 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

I've seen Ong Bak, but looks like I'll have to re-watch, as I thought it was awesome with some amazing sequences, but wasn't particularly struck by any MMA influences. Will definitely pay closer attention next time I watch it.

That Triple Threat trailer is particularly interesting to me at the moment, because Iko Uwais in it - his background is Pencak Silat, which is what I'm doing at the moment (admittedly, I'm doing a different style, but it's always fascinating to see variants).

Definitely get The Blade - I cannot recommend it enough. 

Ong Bak is clearly very influenced by Muay Thai but I wouldn't say it was particularly influenced by MMA. Flashpoint is much more MMA inspired. Ong Bak is superb though so I highly recommend giving it another watch.

Ong Bak 2 is underated imo. Not as good but its definitely one of the best weapons martial arts films out there. Depends if that's what you're into though because I've watched it with people that really get frustrated by the lack of fisty cuffs.

Everyone should check out The Night Comes For Us on Netflix if you haven't already. It's awesome.

Edited by DEF
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13 minutes ago, DEF said:

Everyone should check out The Night Comes For Us on Netflix if you haven't already. It's awesome.

Ooh - sort of a lame claim to fame for me here.

Last Sunday was at silat class, and one of the instructors was a woman visiting from the home club in Jakarta, who was helping out with additional training for sports silat and weapons. She's the daughter of one of the gurus, so has pretty much grown up with it; she's only in her mid-20s and is already an instructor. 

She also does martial arts movies in Indonesia, and she was in The Night Comes For Us, so I now have to bump it up my watch list.

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26 minutes ago, DEF said:

Everyone should check out The Night Comes For Us on Netflix if you haven't already. It's awesome.

It is but don't say anything negative about it on Twitter because the director vanity searches and is a wanker.

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