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  • 47lab
    replied
    I caught Lee Chang-dong's latest Cannes and Academy Awards foreign film entry, BURNING which was "inspired" by Haruki Murakami's short story Barn Burning from his collection The Elephant Vanishes. I usually love Lee Chang-dong's films (OASIS & PEPPERMINT CANDY are classics) and he is one of my favorite South Korean directors but this movie left me cold. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I've never been a fan of Murakami or the miscasting of Steven Yeun. I've never really got into THE WALKING DEAD but he was okay from what little I saw of him and he was pretty good in MAYHEM but he's out of his element here. He's supposed to play this sinister, mysterious other worldly character whose true intentions are never revealed but he comes off as a goofball the majority of his screentime. Just something about this flick rubbed me the wrong way but I can't quite put my finger on it. It didn't help that long stretches of it were just plain boring! Perhaps a second viewing will give me a different perspective but not sure if I'm willing to take that chance.



    I got Hajime Anzai's ludicrous coming of age dramedy I AM A PERVERT on deck. Heard the ending of that one is a doozy. Hoping it'll be worthwhile.

    Leave a comment:

  • Killer Meteor
    Senior Member

  • Killer Meteor
    replied
    Here are some of my random Asian film reviews

    The Hero (1972)

    AKA Wang Yu The Destroyer AKA Rage of the Master


    "Our master wouldn't have thrown me out of the school, if you had not told a tale!"

    Jimmy Wang Yu remakes The Chinese Boxer replacing the Japanese villians with Thai boxers - said Thai boxers being Chinese actors in circus strong-man outfits and goofy wigs. Unoriginal, but very entertaining. For a 70s basher, the two female leads get a decent share of the action. The fights are clunky but furious, the wirework is naff, and Wang Yu only has one facial expression, but you should enjoy it.

    7/10

    PS Be warned, the dub job on this is hideous!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8NJpRZsO6E


    Death Duel of Mantis (1978)

    Unremarkable but fun Taiwanese flick, with some decent fights and a good performance from Lung Fei as the villian. Nothing really makes it stand out from the crowd, but you could do a lot worse

    6/10


    Bruce's Deadly Fingers (1976)

    Hysterical Bruceploitation with Bruce Le and Lo Lieh (and Chan Wei-Man and Cheung Nick) fighting to recover Bruce Lee's prized fighting manual. This is not the then contempoary bestseller Tao of Jeet Kune Do, but rather the Ching Wu Fighting Manual, or as the dub would call it "Kung Fu Finger Book", resulting in many hilariously awkward lines such as "All you ever think about is Finger Kung Fu...you don't care about me!"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg77kp4zUwQ


    Goofy in the extreme and lots of fun, with some decent fight scenes, Nora Miao hotter than ever, real life Wing Chun (or Ving Tsan as the sign on his school reads!) master Wang Sun-Liang playing himself, and a truly awkward tortune scene involving a snake going in a most unmentionable place!

    The Blu-Ray just released in the States finally restores the ending missing from the DVD, and has a great commentary and bonus trailers

    6/10


    Raging Rivals (1982) AKA Hard Bastard

    Hwang Jang Lee plays a trumpet player in a travelling medicine show...no seriously. Decent fights, but lame "comedy", tedious "drama" and an unconvincing period setting do little to help. Gam Kei-Chu, the formidable headbutting antagonist of Shaw's King Boxer, is wasted yet again as a fat bumbling oaf

    4/10



    The Dragon, The Hero (1979) AKA Dragon on Fire

    Godfrey Ho's head-on collision between the Secret Rivals flicks (John Liu and Tino Wong again playing rivals who team up to fight a greater threat) and Bruceplotiation (Dragon Lee is on the sidelines as Tino's brother) is far better then you'd expect, with some fantastic kung fu and truly bonkers moments, especially Chan Lau as a creepy pervert who looses his willy to a dog, and thus develops the "Mad Dog Technique!" Phillip Ko especially impresses.

    Definetlly reccomended

    7/10



    The Dragon's Snake Fist (1981)

    Dragon Lee is at it again, in a more restrained than usual outing. Although this is apparently about the clash between the Snake FIst School and the Crane Fist School, we don't really see much of either style, as the emphasis is more on tae kwon do style kicks, and later some outrageous fire breathing antics. Yuen Qiu of The Man With The Golden Gun and Kung Fu Hustle (not to mention Rumble in Hong Kong) fame co-stars. Incidentially, Toby Russell's interview with Dragon Lee, included on the DVD, is incredibly amateurish, even for him!

    4/10


    Killer Constable (1980)

    Effective Shaws film, with Chen Kuan-Tai as a police officer on the trail of looted royal treasure. The gorgeous Bava/Argento-ish photopgrahpy makes this feel a lot fresher then the films coming out from Chang Cheh at the same time, and the violence is for the most part gritty and painful - tip to action fim guys, mud is indeed thicker then blood! Well worth a watch

    7/10

    Leave a comment:

  • Killer Meteor
    Senior Member

  • Killer Meteor
    replied
    Here are some of my random Asian film reviews

    The Hero (1972)

    AKA Wang Yu The Destroyer AKA Rage of the Master

    "Our master wouldn't have thrown me out of the school, if you had not told a tale!"

    Jimmy Wang Yu remakes The Chinese Boxer replacing the Japanese villians with Thai boxers - said Thai boxers being Chinese actors in circus strong-man outfits and goofy wigs. Unoriginal, but very entertaining. For a 70s basher, the two female leads get a decent share of the action. The fights are clunky but furious, the wirework is naff, and Wang Yu only has one facial expression, but you should enjoy it.

    7/10

    PS Be warned, the dub job on this is hideous!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8NJpRZsO6E


    Death Duel of Mantis (1978)

    Unremarkable but fun Taiwanese flick, with some decent fights and a good performance from Lung Fei as the villian. Nothing really makes it stand out from the crowd, but you could do a lot worse

    6/10


    Bruce's Deadly Fingers (1976)

    Hysterical Bruceploitation with Bruce Le and Lo Lieh (and Chan Wei-Man and Cheung Nick) fighting to recover Bruce Lee's prized fighting manual. This is not the then contempoary bestseller Tao of Jeet Kune Do, but rather the Ching Wu Fighting Manual, or as the dub would call it "Kung Fu Finger Book", resulting in many hilariously awkward lines such as "All you ever think about is Finger Kung Fu...you don't care about me!"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg77kp4zUwQ


    Goofy in the extreme and lots of fun, with some decent fight scenes, Nora Miao hotter than ever, real life Wing Chun (or Ving Tsan as the sign on his school reads!) master Wang Sun-Liang playing himself, and a truly awkward tortune scene involving a snake going in a most unmentionable place!

    The Blu-Ray just released in the States finally restores the ending missing from the DVD, and has a great commentary and bonus trailers

    6/10


    aging Rivals (1982) AKA Hard Bastard

    Hwang Jang Lee plays a trumpet player in a travelling medicine show...no seriously. Decent fights, but lame "comedy", tedious "drama" and an unconvincing period setting do little to help. Gam Kei-Chu, the formidable headbutting antagonist of Shaw's King Boxer, is wasted yet again as a fat bumbling oaf

    4/10



    The Dragon, The Hero (1979) AKA Dragon on Fire

    Godfrey Ho's head-on collision between the Secret Rivals flicks (John Liu and Tino Wong again playing rivals who team up to fight a greater threat) and Bruceplotiation (Dragon Lee is on the sidelines as Tino's brother) is far better then you'd expect, with some fantastic kung fu and truly bonkers moments, especially Chan Lau as a creepy pervert who looses his willy to a dog, and thus develops the "Mad Dog Technique!" Phillip Ko especially impresses.

    Definetlly reccomended

    7/10

    The Dragon's Snake Fist (1981)

    Dragon Lee is at it again, in a more restrained than usual outing. Although this is apparently about the clash between the Snake FIst School and the Crane Fist School, we don't really see much of either style, as the emphasis is more on tae kwon do style kicks, and later some outrageous fire breathing antics. Yuen Qiu of The Man With The Golden Gun and Kung Fu Hustle (not to mention Rumble in Hong Kong) fame co-stars. Incidentially, Toby Russell's interview with Dragon Lee, included on the DVD, is incredibly amateurish, even for him!

    4/10


    Killer Constable (1980)

    Effective Shaws film, with Chen Kuan-Tai as a police officer on the trail of looted royal treasure. The gorgeous Bava/Argento-ish photopgrahpy makes this feel a lot fresher then the films coming out from Chang Cheh at the same time, and the violence is for the most part gritty and painful - tip to action fim guys, mud is indeed thicker then blood! Well worth a watch

    7/10

    Leave a comment:


  • 47lab
    replied
    I watched documentarian, Tatsuya Mori's latest FAKE about a cause celebre that made waves in Japan a couple years ago. He documents the main guy involved in the scandal, composer Mamoru Samuragochi, who was considered to be Japan's digital age "Beethoven" as he was also labeled a deaf musical genius. His world came tumbling down when his fellow composer & college music lecturer, Takashi Niigaki claimed he had ghost written all of Samuragochi's music for pay and also made the startling claim that Samuragochi's hearing impairment was an elaborate hoax foisted upon the public to gain sympathy and recognition. Samuragochi became persona non grata and lives a life in exile with his wife and pet cat who is prominently displayed on the cover of the dvd.

    Mori attempts to remain neutral in the process without a dog in the fight but one can't help but sympathize with Samuragochi as he comes across as a genuinely decent guy who perhaps just got caught up in the whirlwind of fame and prestige that was accorded him following an NHK story about his life. There was definitely a 'witch hunt' atmosphere that followed Niigaki's revelations and it doesn't seem if Samuragochi got a fair shake in the whole process. The one thing that stood out for me was his wife, Kaori & her behavior through the whole ordeal. Samuragochi may have lost in the realm of public opinion but he has won in life with such a steadfast and unwavering wife by his side.

    I hadn't followed Mori in a long time as the last documentaries I had watched by him were the excellent ones he did back in the late 90s on the Aum Shinryo cult, A & the sequel A2. I had no idea he had only made one other one during the intervening years about the Tohuko disaster. Then I read that he says he simply can't earn a living by making documentaries in Japan like one can in the US ala Errol Morris, Michael Moore, etc & had to turn to writing books to support himself. It definitely shows as this documentary is very low budget even by DIY documentary standards -- the technical aspects such as the lighting & sound leave a lot to be desired but it's still a shame that a talented documentarian like Mori is struggling to fund his own projects.



    Leave a comment:

  • Takuma
    Senior Member

  • Takuma
    replied
    Sadao Nakajima sex doc x3

    Nippon '69 Sexual Curiosity Seeking Zone (にっぽん69 セックス猟奇地帯) (Japan, 1969) [DVD] - 2/5
    Student demonstrations, plastic surgery, body painting, 8mm porn film shoot, strip joints, underground theatre groups and a man who wishes to be treated as a dog and wants to drink his mistress' pee (this may have been an inspiration to Teruo Ishii's Shameless: Abnormal and Abusive Love, 1969). A commercial shock documentary in the tradition of Italian mondo films, which had been remarkably popular in Japan based on the sheer amount of them that got released throughout the 60s in the land of the rising skirt. The disgusting plastic surgery footage aside this Sadao Nakajima film is quite tame, with sexual content limited to a fair few topless shots. It is a little more rewarding as late 60s time capsule featuring real underground figures and street footage, also the 60s student movement and street demonstrations prominently in presence.



    Pilgrimage to Japanese Baths (驚異のドキュメント 日本浴場物語) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] - 1.5/5
    A strange, semi-authentic documentary exploration of Japanese public baths and hot springs. The entirely fictional frame story features a man burdened by a mother complex journeying around Japan in search of a great bath. The Eiren synopsis speaks of nostalgia and tradition tied to spiritualism and health, contrasted to the modern era and captured with hidden cameras. It is questionable how much of that actually comes through in this 18 rated (by 1970 standards) film where half of the time you know the scenes are staged. That being said, its R18 labelling seems extremely dated by today's standards (toplessness, c-section, Turkish bath footage with no explicit sex). It's one of those cinematic oddities that don't exist anymore in the internet era.

    Twisted Sex (セックスドキュメント 性倒錯の世界) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] - 2/5
    "Modern Japan. Sex is everywhere. There we have a woman with a woman. Or is it a man after all? What is a man or a woman anyway?" The third and final in Sadao Nakajima's sex doc series covers transvestites, gay men, lesbians, tattoos and S&M. This one is actually interesting in parts, especially in its romantic portrayal of gay men, something which is greatly aided by Ichiro Araki's cool score that blesses the entire film. There's also some interesting footage with Nippon Irezumi Club needle masters creating sadistic full body tattoo art with the kind of visions of torture hell familiar to viewers from Teruo Ishii's ero guro films. The doc gets less interesting when it moves to S&M content (Oniroku Dan also appears here). Again, the film is perhaps more valuable as cinematic curiosity and time capsule than as informative doc, but it is cinematically more accomplished than the first two. Oh and the words quoted in the beginning? The voice belongs to narrator Ko Nishimura, probably best known to foreign audiences as the priest in Lady Snowblood (1973).

    King x 3

    King of the Widow-Killers (未亡人ごろしの帝王) (Japan, 1971) [VoD] - 1.5/5
    Part 3 in the King series (1970-1972). There were 5 films in total, all starring Tatsuo Umemiya as a young bloke who leaves his poor family and doctor dad behind to make fortunes in a big city with the help of his big slong. Yes, you read that right. There's also comedy, a bit of melodrama and some action when he runs afoul with gangsters. I have not seen the first two films, but considering the series theme song was called "Manhood's Symbol" and each of the three latter films followed the same formula, it's reasonable to assume the first two were in the same alley as well. This film features Umemiya becoming a gigolo. There's no nudity or good laughs, but it does feature the 'pop star about to go Roman Porno' Sally May as one of Umemiya's customers (Umemiya must have had a thing for blondes as he screwed a Caucasian girl in every other sexploitation flick he did, climaxing with the Oh Wonderful Utamaro (1974) where he claims to have had real sex with co-star Sharon Kelly). Other cinematic achievements are modest but there is the kind of technical basic quality to the film and direction that keeps it just about watchable.

    King of Porno (ポルノの帝王) (Japan, 1971) [VoD] - 1/5
    Dumb Tatsuo Umemiya / Shingo Yamashiro comedy about a young bloke whose dick grows to inhuman dimensions (obviously a role tailor made for star Umemiya's ego). He visits a doctor, impresses ladies and opens a porn shop before running afoul with yakuza... With few laughs, sparse nudity and one big slong that is little utilized and never seen, this is dull junk, as bad as some of director Makoto Naito's other films with Umemiya. The boredom gets to the point where watching a big fake dick would probably have been more fun than what the film has to offer. Well, it does at least have the subtly titled theme song "Manhood's Symbol" by Umemiya!

    Fun trivia: director by Makoto Naito would go on to helm Etsuko Shihomi's 13 Steps of Maki. Assistant director Yutaka Kohira would do Dragon Princess.

    King of Porno: Red God of the Turkish Bath (ポルノの帝王失神トルコ風呂) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 2/5
    This is a better than the previous film, with more naked girls, more outrageous scenarios and visually more stylish. There's an especially hilarious Umemiya's dick vs. brothel scene, as well as some fun stuff with Umemiya putting up a whorehouse with only foreign girls he's picked up from the street. Yumiko Katayama is in the film as well. Unfortunately the film keeps abandoning its own good ideas, even the Turkish bath theme is ultimately just a background elements. Also, opening and closing 20 minutes, in which absolutely nothing interesting happens, are excruciatingly boring.



    Kigeki / Comedy x 3

    The Master of The Turkish Bath (Kigeki toruko-buro osho-sen) (喜劇トルコ風呂王将戦) (Japan, 1971) [VoD] - 1/5
    Dull as dishwater Shingo Yamashiro comedy about a pig sound making silly man who finds success in brothel business with his equally silly male and female cohorts. Don't expect any naughtiness as this is essentially a family friendly affair (no graphic sex whatsoever, a tiny bit of nudity) despite the subject matter. Worse yet, there's not one interesting scene in the film. Ok, perhaps the "Mobile Toruko" at the back of a truck was a fun idea. And there's Bunta Sugawara cameo. They don't count to much. The humour is mainly based on people making funny faces or saying silly things. Yusuke Watanabe helmed this travesty. One of the films in Toei's related-in-name-only Kigeki/Comedy series, following Toho's similarly titled 60s series.

    Sex, Gamble And Big Money (Porno gamble kigeki: O ana, chu ana, heso no ana) (ポルノギャンブル喜劇 大穴中穴へ㠁ã®ç©´) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 1/5
    Panty stealing gambling addict becomes a gigolo but quits because the customers are too ugly. He then begins running various scams relating to prostitution and gambling with his associates. This is another Shingo Yamashiro / Yusuke Watanabe comedy. Watanabe was a capable drama director (e.g. the excellent, noirish Two Bitches, 1964) but awful with comedy, at least as far as these Yamashiro films go. This film's highlight is when Yamashiro snatches panties from a bathhouse and the owner turns out to be an old granny.

    Sex Up And Down (Kigeki sex kobo-sen) (喜劇セックス攻防戦) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 2.5/5
    Amusing Shingo Yamashiro sex comedy about a love doctor treating miscellaneous patients. Miki Sugimoto plays one of the three sukeban girls who barge into his clinic and demand to be hired (her role is small though). The supporting cast also includes Tooru Turi, Yukie Kagawa, Yoko Mihara, Yayoi Watanabe and Ryuhei Uchida as "pervert ninja". Unlike Master of the Turkish Bath, this film is absolutely packed with boobs - and gags dumb enough to get some laughs. Norifumi Suzuki's sex comedies like the two onsen geisha films make a good comparison as this resembles them. There's not much plot or exceptional qualities, but director Shin Takakuwa does acceptable job keeping things watchable and not overly goofy. He also directed one of the best Sonny Chiba films, the cop thriller A Narcotics Agent's Ballad (1972).

    Leave a comment:


  • 47lab
    replied
    I caught Yoon Jong-bin's spy thriller THE SPY GONE NORTH last night. This flick made my top 5 movies of 2018 & I was thoroughly engrossed during it. Loosely based on the autobiography of an ex-Korean intelligence agent, Park Chae-seo known as the "Black Venus" who operated in the mid to late 90s. He managed to infiltrate North Korea, become a liaison for North Korean intelligence & eventually got to meet Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il in person. Fascinating story and was surprised at the restraint shown by director Bin not to sensationalize it and even leave out some interesting tidbits such as Seo hiding a mini-recorder in his penis! Well that's probably a good thing for us male viewers haha. I think this restraint in addition to having the film more character driven is what made it so compelling even if it's relatively devoid of action.

    The cast was uniformly excellent -- I expect nothing less from Hwang Jung-min (one of Korea's finest actors) but Cho Jin-woong was also superb as Min's handler. He's another actor who has gone from strength to strength in recent years. I praised Lee Sung-min in my review of THE WITNESS and he again displayed his acting chops as Min's North Korean business contact and the two eventually develop a personal relationship. I'd be remiss if I failed to mention the excellent work by the makeup/effects department in turning veteran character actor Gi Ju-bong (if you see his face, you'll know who he is if you're a fan of Korean films/drama) into Kim Jong-il. Bong looks nothing like Kim Jong-il except his short stature but he looks like a spitting image of the late Supreme Leader here.

    There is interesting & dark side story about how hardline South Korean anti-communist forces & North Korean intelligence colluded to alter the results of two elections including that of Nobel Prize recipient Kim Dae-jung. That in itself would make a interesting main plot for a movie but it could get messy in the wrong hands but director, Bin weaves it effortlessly into the story.

    I also got a kick out of seeing pop icon Lee Hyori have a cameo recreating her historical meeting with North Korean dancer Jo Myung-ae. She still looks as youthful and beautiful as she did back in 2006!



    I'll definitely be picking this up on blu ray and worth watching more than once.

    Leave a comment:


  • 47lab
    replied
    I recently watched Karl Maka's 1981 HK Cinema City relationship comedy, CHASING GIRLS starring Dean Shek & Eric Tsang. Shek plays a womanizing playboy who returns from a brief sojourn in the States back to HK at the behest of his mother to settle down and marry. While he scouts potential suitors, he also proceeds to teach his socially inept awkward cousin (Tsang) how to be a ladies man & find a gf of his own. This shit was good for a few laughs and chuckles. First off, Shek is sporting a ridiculous looking cross between a Yakuza style punch perm & a full blown afro which is hilarious in itself but he & Tsang are put in totally absurd situations and both start acting a fool from the jump. Typical Maka inspired hijinks abound. I have to say Nancy Lau, who plays a waitress caught my eye here. I've seen her before in bit parts of various Shaw and independent martial arts flicks but she really stands out in this one. The entire last third is focused on her scheme with the help of her erhu playing dad on turning the tables on Shek (the player being played so to speak) and it was worthwhile viewing just for her screen time.

    Leave a comment:

  • Killer Meteor
    Senior Member

  • Killer Meteor
    replied
    Duel of Fists (1971)

    Director: Chang Cheh

    Starring: David Chiang, Ti Lung, Ching Li, Pawana Chanajit, Chen Sing, Ku Feng, Woo Wai

    The same month Bruce Lee's The Big Boss premiered, Shaw's Thailand & modern-day set "Chinese boxing" movie was released, though I have no idea whether the two movies were attempting to steal each other's thunder.

    David Chiang plays an architect/kung fu master who travels to Thailand to find his estranged half brother, who to no-one's surprise is Thai boxer Ti Lung. Gangsters led by Chen Sing watch slices of the action and pounds of flesh, so much mayhem ensues.

    As with later films like The King Boxer (the non-Shaw film) and The Tournament, and unlike The Big Boss, the action frequently stops for very protracted tourists views of Thailand's scenery and festivals. This may be more then you'd care for in your kung fu movie, but at least there's nothing as mind-numblingly tedious as the 7min elephant festival that The King Boxer opens with. The novelty of the Thai boxing rituals has probably worn off at this point, but one can hardly criticise the film for that.

    The genre's transition from swordplay to empty hand combat served to highlight how skilled Ti Lung was as a fighter on-screen, leaving David Chiang cruelly exposed as clumsy and lightweight. The film fails to acknowledge this, and expects us to accept Chiang as the superior fighter, literelly poking holes in people and holding off gangs with a few perfunctory taps. Jimmy Wang Yu had the thuggish nature to pull this off, but Chiang can't pull it off, and one can only imagine how eclipsed he must have looked in comparison to Bruce Lee. Someone thought it was a good idea to dress Chiang in some outrageous clothes that just scream 1971 in sequined neon - and look suspicously like he donated them in a hurry to a thrift shop, only to be picked up by Wei Ping-ao in time for Way of the Dragon.

    (For the record, I LIKE David Chiang - he's cute with a winning smile - but there's no way I'm buying him at this stage as a kung fu master)

    Chang Cheh's direction is much more laid back then usual, which means we lose out on his more outrageous touches. Surprisingly for him, he manages to create two charming hetero couples with believeable chemisity - Ti Lung and Ching Li, Chiang and Pawana Chanajit - - that hold the film together and make it a charming diversion for a studio and director who seemed to prefer bloody period dramas to campy vacations.

    7/10

    Leave a comment:


  • 47lab
    replied
    Danny Lee has been in a bunch of nondescript roles playing cops/detectives in HK movies but his self-directed 1984 flick, LAW WITH TWO PHASES isn't one of them. This is the flick that made him a household name playing these cop characters & won him some acting awards too. I re-watched this one after many years and it still provides a punch and is just a well directed & acted story of a police officer's personal redemption. It's got a gritty violent vibe but just enough touching melodrama without overdoing it. The entire cast put forth a great job from Eddie Chen (this is his best role ever) & Parkman Wong but Tai Bo steals the show as the junkie police informant. He's so over the top looking with his makeup and in his mannerisms as a druggie that it's pure hilarity every time he appears on screen.

    Leave a comment:

  • Keeth
    Senior Member

  • Keeth
    replied
    I watched I Saw the Devil last night. It's good as in very well made but it's too long & the plot is ridiculous. Same with Oldboy which I watched a couple weeks back.

    Also watched Sex Hunter: 1980 not too long ago. Quite a twisted blast!

    Leave a comment:

  • AngelGuts
    Senior Member

  • AngelGuts
    replied
    Excellent Waka film. He went back to this territory several times.

    Leave a comment:

  • AngelGuts
    Senior Member

  • AngelGuts
    replied
    I read that book a decade ago. Extremely good.

    Leave a comment:

  • mjeon
    Senior Member

  • mjeon
    replied
    "I recall the description on the back of the Joy Sales dvd was for a completely different movie too?!"

    That's true. Even the single review in HKMDB is off base because the fellow watched it without subtitles. This movie is cursed.

    Leave a comment:


  • 47lab
    replied
    Originally posted by Killer Meteor View Post
    yeah, Bandits is very minimalistic and threadbare. GH's early stuff is mostly rather flat, expecting the Bruce Lee films, Hapkido and One Armed Boxer. Mind you, I've heard good things about Comet Strikes.

    GH suddenly overtook Shaws in quality with a vengeance in 1978.
    Originally posted by mjeon View Post
    "Mind you, I've heard good things about Comet Strikes."

    I just watched Comet Strikes and it's superb. Nora Miao has incredible charisma. I can't imagine why this movie is not better known. The one user review in IMDB is for the wrong film. Again, the Fortune Star Legendary Collection DVD is excellent.
    I don't have the disc anymore as it's in storage but I recall the description on the back of the Joy Sales dvd was for a completely different movie too?! They really botched that one.

    But yeah, I agree THE COMET STRIKES was enjoyable viewing. Nora's whimsical portrayal of her swordswoman character in the beginning and the added supernatural horror elements (which isn't what it initially seemed) really elevated this one from the pack & I also liked how the mood turned much darker towards the end especially the final battle scene.

    Leave a comment:

  • mjeon
    Senior Member

  • mjeon
    replied
    "Mind you, I've heard good things about Comet Strikes."

    I just watched Comet Strikes and it's superb. Nora Miao has incredible charisma. I can't imagine why this movie is not better known. The one user review in IMDB is for the wrong film. Again, the Fortune Star Legendary Collection DVD is excellent.

    Leave a comment:

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