Month: May 2016

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The Best Martial Arts Movies: China

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We’re finally here.  This is where it all begins in the martial arts world.  The People’s Republic of China has a rich and diverse culture dating back to over 5,000 years.  The size of China’s Empire rivaled that of Rome.  With an epic and detailed history featuring some of the most amazing people in history including Confucius and Sun Tzu.  Over the centuries, China has developed hundreds of various fighting styles that have become collectively known as Kung Fu.  China’s influence in terms of martial arts and philosophy has spanned the entire world, with even Japan being influenced by the likes of Confucius.  With amazing styles like Bajiquan, Choi Li Fut, Hung Ga, and Wing Chun, China has become the center for all things martial arts-related.  In terms of movies, there aren’t many countries out there that do movies the way that Hong Kong does.  I’ve mentioned him before, but Bruce Lee has helped bring attention to not only the martial arts, but to Chinese culture as well.  Because of Lee’s influence, we began to really see the martial arts genre take off in China.  One of the most famous movie production companies in China, the Shaw Bros., we saw a lot of Kung Fu movies between 1965 and 1980.  China is also home to some of the most memorable martial arts actors in the world, including Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Louis Fan, and Vincent Zhao.  The martial arts film has evolved over the years to include amazing stunt-work, fight choreography and phenomenal story-telling.  For China, I will be doing multiple posts, because there are a TON of Kung Fu movies that I really love.  The real question:  Where do I begin?  This is The Best Martial Arts Movies: China Part 1.

Millionaire’s Express

 

Released in the States as Shanghai Express, the film is one of the more unique Kung Fu films of the 80s.  Why?  Because it crams so many different genres into one movie.  We have a Kung Fu movie, a comedy, an action flick and a Western all rolled into one glorious package.  Featuring the talents of Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Cynthia Rothrock, and Richard Norton, Millionaire’s Express is one that you have to see to believe.  The fight scenes, and the stunts are all top-notch.  The movie is also LOADED with some pretty laugh-out-loud moments.  It’s one of those movies that just incredible fun to watch.  I tell you, Sammo Hung can seriously move, despite his size.

Police Story

When it comes to stunt-work and comedy, few can do it as well as Jackie Chan.  Police Story, which is the first of many, features some of the most intense and insane action sequences put on screen.  Jackie Chan has made an entire career of putting his body through the grinder for our entertainment.  He’s pretty much broken every bone in his body more than once.  Yet, his entire effort in a lot of his movies from 1980 to 1999, are simply fantastic.  Police Story features one of the most brutal stunts that Jackie Chan has ever pulled off in his entire career, and it almost killed him.  While the sequel would certainly top this one as far as explosions and stunts go, the original Police Story remains one of the most amazing movies to come out of Hong Kong.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

Speaking of the Shaw Bros., 1978’s 36th Chamber of Shaolin is one of the most interesting, because it features Gordon Liu in one of his earlier and memorable roles.  He plays a student who ends up on the run from the Manchurian government.  He ends up at a Shaolin temple where he begins his martial arts training in order to take revenge on the government that murdered his friends and family.  While the choreography may seem dated by today’s standards, the fights in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin are really good for their time.  The film is highly regarded as one of the greatest Kung Fu movies ever made.

Once Upon A Time In China 2

While Jet Li isn’t the first actor to portray the legendary Wong Fei-Hung, his portrayals of the folk hero are some of the most memorable.  The Once Upon A Time In China series are some of the best modern Kung Fu movies and helped Jet Li really establish a presence as a martial arts actor.  The fights were choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping, the man behind The Matrix fight scenes.  Once Upon A Time In China 2 is awesome on a number of levels.  This fight scene with the White Lotus priest is pretty good.  But this movie is the first time that Jet Li and Donnie Yen would go toe-to-toe and that is one of the best fights I’ve ever seen.

Ip Man

As far modern martial arts films go, Ip Man is considered to be one of the best.  Featuring Donnie Yen in one of his most memorable roles as the man who taught Wing Chun to Bruce Lee, Ip Man(pronounced Yip Man)is loosely based on the life of the legendary Wing Chun Grandmaster.  Featuring stellar performances across the board, this film is actually what really got me into training in Wing Chun in the first place.  This fight scene with the ten black belts has become iconic, despite the film being released in 2008.  Because of Ip Man, Donnie Yen would become one of the most bankable stars in Hong Kong.  He’s not the only person to play Ip Man, but his performance is what people remember most.

Drunken Master II

Here’s another one with Jackie Chan.  While the guy is certainly known for his insane stunts, there is no doubt that he has some serious comedic chops as well.  Unlike most comedic actors, Jackie Chan uses his body to make people laugh.  This fight scene in Drunken Master II is a perfect example.  A lot of Jackie Chan’s physical comedy is greatly inspired by Buster Keaton in terms of self-deprecating humor.  He’s done it so well for so long, that people seem to forget that he is a great actor as well.

Fist Of Legend

When I said that Bruce Lee was very influential in not just the States, but China as well, I wasn’t kidding.  Fist Of Legend is Jet Li’s remake of Bruce Lee’s The Chinese Connection.  Which is the better film?  Ultimately, I can’t really decide.  They’re both really great films in their own right and both Bruce Lee and Jet Li did a fantastic job.  The fight choreography in Jet Li’s film is better, but that doesn’t mean that Bruce’s movie is any less spectacular.  Essentially, while the story is the same, the ending is different.  Fist Of Legend is definitely not one to miss.

I said in my introduction paragraph that China has a LOT of great martial arts movies, so it’s going to take a couple of more posts to get through them.  We have barely scratched the surface of what China has to offer, so stay tuned for further posts and I will bring you more fantastic fight scenes and films that you probably haven’t heard, but should take a look at.  This is Major Tom, signing off.

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Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie Snoozefest

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Director(s): David Winning and Shuki Levi

Release Date: March 1997

Rated PG

Run Time: 99 Minutes

Distributor: Fox Studios

Genre: Family, Action, Adventure

Cast:
Jason David Frank: Tommy
Johnny Yong Bosch: Adam
Steve Cardenas: Rocky
Catherine Sutherland: Kat
Nakia Burrise: Tanya
Blake Foster: Justin
Hilary Stewart: Divatox
Austin St. John: Jason
Amy Jo Johnson: Kimberly

When I published my review of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie a few days, an old friend of mine saw and read it, and requested that I review this one.  So….I took up the challenge.  But first, a little background on the Power Rangers:  By this point in 1997, the Rangers had undergone multiple changes in the first four seasons of the show.  About half-way through the second season, we saw a major shake-up in the cast, with Austin St. John, Thuy Trang, and Walter Jones being replaced by Johnny Yong Bosch, Steve Cardenas and Karen Ashley in the roles of the Red, Black and Yellow Rangers respectively.  The robots that the Rangers piloted, called Zords, kept changing too.  First there were the Dino Zords, Dragon Zords and finally, the Ninja Zords.  That was just the first three seasons.  When Power Rangers Zeo came out, the Rangers’ command center was destroyed.  I’ll be honest:  I checked out of the Power Rangers during the second season.  The first Power Rangers film came out in 1995 towards the end of the second season, but was really a stand-alone film.  You know what?  For what it was, it worked.  It was certainly silly in parts, and had some really bad CGI, but the fights were interesting, and you had a very unique and entertaining villain in Ivan Ooze.  The film wasn’t good, but it was a lot of fun.  I still have fun watching it as an adult.  Now, the second Power Rangers film came out in 1997.  This was supposed to be a kind of a bridge between Power Rangers Zeo and Power Rangers Turbo.  Oh, dear.  There was a reason why I never saw Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie when I was younger.  It didn’t last very long in theaters and it was torn to shreds as one of the worst movies of 1997.

The film opens on a distant planet that looks suspiciously like a cross between California and Hawaii, with an ugly little monkey-thing being chased by other ugly non-monkey things.  Using a magic crystal, the ugly monkey-thing is whisked away to our cozy little planet Earth.  Unbeknownst to Earth, but beknownst to us, the little ugly monkey-thing is being chased by a horrendously over-acted evil space pirate with massive cleavage: Divatox.  So, the Rangers’ leader, Zordon sends them to find the little ugly monkey-thing and bring him back to the command center.  Yet, unbeknownst to the Rangers…again, Divatox has taken Jason and Kimberly captive to be used as human sacrifices because….reasons.  So, the Rangers, with the exception of Rocky, who injured his back during some kind of training thing for a tournament is forced to sit/lay it out.  In his place is an irritating youngster by the name of Justin.  So…off they go to try and save the universe, because the universe is apparently inept at protecting itself.  Universe:  Get some bodyguards!  Oh…wait.  Yeah, the story is just….meh.  It doesn’t help that the writing is just god-awful, but that’s the least of the film’s problems.

Let’s start with that ugly little monkey-thing,  this:

Just look at those little fuckers.  They look like rejects from either Return Of The Jedi or Labyrinth.  They don’t even speak, they make these little purring sounds.  Secretly, I was hoping that the Rangers or Divatox at least, would throw them off a cliff.  Well, the least I can say is that there’s really not a ton of CGI in the movie.  What CGI there is, however, is…worse than Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.  Yeah, I said it.  Most of the creature effects really aren’t that good.  However, one of the FEW things that Turbo has over the previous film is in it’s final boss battle with the demon Maligore.  These are done in the style of the TV show, which is to say, men in suits.  As it should be.  It was actually not terrible.  The problem is that we had to slog through about 50 minutes of film just to get to the main action scenes.  It should NEVER take that long to get to an action sequence, especially in a Power Rangers movie.  This is really embarrassing.

What about the action?  Shuki Levi actually managed to screw this up.  The fights are mostly uninspired garbage.  Mortal Kombat: Annihilation had better fight scenes than this.  The most interesting fight scene is at the end of the movie, AFTER they beat the bad guy.  Yeah, the tournament scene at the end of the film was more interesting than the battle in the volcano.  How do you screw THAT up?  The acting, on the scale of “Oh, sweet Baby Jesus” To “Bleh!,” it ranks about, “Dogshit.”  I know that this is supposed to be a family film, but when you have a villain whose boobs are almost spilling out, you have to wonder who this movie is really marketed towards.

I did like the fact that we got to see Kimberly and Jason together again in a Power Rangers movie.  That was cool.  The new outfits and vehicles were also kinda cool.  Seeing Jason and Kimberly turn evil was rather unexpected and surprisingly fun to watch.  The scene in the volcano wasn’t horrible, but it was just…mediocre.  The theme song for the new series was pretty nifty:

Unfortunately, the good stuff is completely overshadowed by the bad.  This whole thing feels like a really, really bad extended episode of the TV series.  The first film had the benefit of being a stand-alone story, so it wouldn’t affect the series.  Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie IS canon, as it’s supposed to be the bridge between Zeo and Turbo.  It fails on nearly every level, though.  If you’re a fan of the series, and I still am to a certain extent, this is NOT a good way to get familiar with the characters and stories.  I get it, this supposed to sell toys, but it didn’t convince kids back then, and it certainly wouldn’t convince anybody now.  This one’s a complete train-wreck.  My final score is…….3/10.  This is really bad.

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Captain America: Civil War

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Released: May 2016

Director/s: Anthony and Joe Russo

Run Time: 147 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Distributor: Marvel/Disney

Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction

Cast:
Chris Evans: Steve Rogers/Captain America
Robert Downey, Jr.: Tony Stark/Iron Man
Scarlett Johansson: Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
Sebastian Stan: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
Anthony Mackie: Sam Wilson/Falcon
Don Cheadle: James Rhodes/War Machine
Jeremy Renner: Clint Barton/Hawkeye
Chadwick Boseman: T’Challa/Black Panther
Paul Bettany: Vision
Elizabeth Olsen: Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
Paul Rudd: Scott Lang/Ant-Man
Tom Holland: Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Daniel Bruhl: Zemo
William Hurt: General “Thunderbolt” Ross

The whole Marvel Cinematic Universe is quite an interesting entity.  The whole thing started with Iron Man back in 2008 and has since exploded into a world-wide phenomenon matched only by the likes of Star Wars.  There have been a few missteps along the way in films like Iron Man 2 and Avengers: Age of Ultron, but for all their faults, these are still really good movies.  I can’t honestly say I’ve ever seen a consistently strong line-up of films ever.  Not even Warner Bros./DC can say that.  That’s not to say that every film that bears the Marvel label is good.  Some of the X-Men films and the Fantastic Four films are…more than slightly questionable, but those properties are currently owned by Fox Studios, so any failing those movies have are going to be on Fox.  With Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, only one particular character has had movies just getting better and better.  Captain America: Civil War is the culmination of years of hard-work from actors like Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr, and producers like Kevin Feige.  The result is quite possibly the BEST MCU movie to date, and I don’t say that lightly.

Captain America: Civil War starts in the country of Logos as the Avengers are hunting down a mercenary by the name of Crossbones in order to prevent him from getting his hands on a lethal virus.  After a serious fight, the Avengers win, but the resolution of the battle ended up costing the lives of several innocent people in a nearby building.  The Avengers are called into a meeting with General/Secretary of State Ross at the behest of Tony Stark, who feel that because of recent and nearly global catastrophes, the Avengers need government oversight.  This basically splits the team down the middle with Steve Rogers disagreeing with Stark.  Because of recent events involving the Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes, Captain America essentially becomes an outlaw out to find and protect his friend.  When you have a movie that is loaded with superheroes and/or super-villains, it is really easy to get sidetracked and try to say, “Look at who we’ve got in this movie!”  The comic book movies that have tried that approach have failed miserably, notably Spider-Man 3, X-Men 3, and Joel Schumaker’s Batman films.  The problem is that they aren’t handled correctly.  When The Avengers was released, it showed that you can have your cake and eat it too.  Writing is extremely important in movies like this.  Captain America: Civil War is extremely well-written and balanced.  That’s the key word here: Balance.  There is no character here that feels out of place, no subplot that feels contrived or unimportant, and there’s still plenty of humor and fun to be had.

While there a LOT of superheroes in this movie, there are two that stand out the most for me.  The first is Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman.  This is the first live-action movie with Black Panther, and he’s handled extraordinarily well.  Boseman brings a level of gravitas and emotional heft to the character and is certainly physically capable as well.  The character was a suit made out of vibranium, which is from the character’s home country of Wakanda.  The character gets involved after his father is killed in a terrorist attack, and he gets a good amount of screen time.  I love it.

From the trailers, we knew that Spider-Man was going to be a part of the show, especially after Sony struck a deal with Disney to have Spider-Man appear in the MCU.  That was a really, really good move.  For the amount of screen time that he got, Spider-Man actually makes a hell of an impression.  Tom Holland is quite possibly the best Peter Parker/Spider-Man yet.  Not only does Holland bring the wise-cracks, but he also brings the physicality that’s required.  He IS Spider-Man.  So, I’m excited for both Spider-Man: Homecoming and the Black Panther stand-alone film which is coming in 2018.

Captain America: Civil War is incredibly well-written.  The story is complex without being overly confusing, the drama is tangible and it feels real.  One of the most important aspects of the movie is the motivations for the characters.  Each character has their own motivation for doing what they’re doing.  Because these motivations are legitimate, you find yourself questioning which side you support more.  For the first time in the MCU, there are consequences and they try to deal with them the best way they know how.  While Tony Stark is for government oversight, Steve Rogers is not and believes that the Avengers need to go where they are needed, not where they are told to go.  This sets up  a very contentious relationship between the two and it pretty much tears the Avengers apart.  While there is the subplot of a guy named Zemo who is apparently manipulating things, his presence is almost inconsequential.  This situation would have happened regardless, and we’ve seen tensions between Stark and Rogers rise over the course of several movies.  The other upside to the writing, is that the film isn’t grim-dark like Batman V. Superman.  You don’t need grim-darkness to provide a thought-provoking experience.

While there’s a lot more going on story-wise than I’ve just described, it’s best if you see it for yourself.  Now let’s move on to the action.  Wow.  They really turned up the heat here.  There are a lot of great action sequences.  Logos was phenomenal, even if the camera got a little shaky at times, but then it clears up and when Captain America and Bucky encounter Black Panther for the first time:  Holy shit.  It’s great.  While we have some really great chase sequences and epic one-on-one fights, the real centerpiece here is the fight between the Avengers at the airport.  Without spoiling things, that fight delivers on ALL counts.  Everybody from Ant-Man to Spider-Man brings their A-game and I think it will go down as one of the most memorable action sequences in movie history.  It’s THAT good.  The relationships between the characters really make this fight all the more organic.  The Russo Brothers have outdone themselves with Civil War.  This is one of the most epic movies that I’ve seen in a long time.  A lot of people have taken to calling this The Avengers 2.5.  I personally wouldn’t, because Steve Rogers is at the center of the film.  It is called Captain America, after all.

The film doesn’t feel like 2.5 hours, and that’s due to the fact that it keeps moving despite introducing new characters along the way.  When you have a movie this big, you really don’t want the film to stop at all just to introduce new characters.  That’s something that people behind the movie understand and the result is the best Marvel Cinematic Universe film to date.  I love The Avengers, Thor, and Iron Man, but this movie tops it all.  The overall reception of the movie so far, has been overwhelmingly positive.  Captain America: Civil War is a very strong start for the MCU’s Phase 3, which includes Black Panther, Spider-Man, Avengers: Infinity War, and concludes with The Inhumans.  There’s a lot of stuff coming up, including Doctor Strange, which is to be release at the end of the year, but the Russo Brothers are directing the next two Avengers films.  I can’t wait to see how they pull that off.  Anyone who is a fan of the MCU has already seen Captain America: Civil War, but if you haven’t, go see it.  I can’t recommend it enough.  It’s by far one of my favorite comic-book movies ever made.  I plan on seeing it again.

My final recommendation for Captain America: Civil War, is an enthusiastic 10/10.  I’m absolutely blown away by how awesome this movie is.  Like The Avengers, this one could have easily been wrecked, but it wasn’t and that’s what counts.  When this comes out on video, I’m definitely buying it.

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The Best Movie Moms: Happy Mother’s Day!

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This post is a shout out to all the awesome moms and moms-to-be out there.  This is your day, so hopefully it was very special for you.  For this special edition of The Best, I will be talking about the best mothers in film(that I’ve seen).  Some are good, some are evil, but they are moms.  You don’t mess with moms.  Ever.  This may be a short post, but it’s going to be a special one.  These are The Best Movie Moms.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

This one’s kind of obvious, I know, but still.  This is an important one, though.  Sarah Connor, the woman whose son would become the savior of mankind, starts out as a bit of a flake.  Not entirely sure of where she supposed to fit in the world, runs into The Terminator, a cybernetic killing machine from the future programmed to kill her.  Then she gets help from another visitor from the future, Kyle Reese who tries to protect her.  In Terminator 2, we see Sarah Connor again, this time as a bad-ass woman warrior out to protect her only son, John Connor from the T-1000.  Let me tell you:  This is a woman you don’t want to run into in a dark alley.  She will kick your ass so hard the next generation’s probably going to feel it.  Her transformation from weak to strong in the span of two films is extraordinary, and her devotion to her son is unquestionable.  She will literally walk through hell for John.  Few moms get as bad-ass as this.

Aliens

If you’ve seen the film, Aliens, you know that Ellen Ripley has a very strong maternal instinct towards Newt, who is an orphan when the Aliens attacked the colony.  In the extended version of Aliens, it was revealed the Ripley had a daughter, Amanda, who died while Ripley was in hypersleep.  That really helps flesh out the character a lot more and makes her connection with Newt all the more tangible.  Besides, how many moms do YOU know that would go toe-to-toe with the Alien Queen in a power loader?  Not many, I would imagine.  This one comes with a bonus:  The Alien Queen.  Yeah, she ain’t human, but she’s no less a bad-ass in her own right.

Kill Bill

WARNING: THIS ONE CONTAINS SOME….STRONG VIOLENCE.  IT IS A QUENTIN TARANTINO MOVIE AFTER ALL.

Beatrix Kiddo is the Angel of Death, essentially.  After being betrayed by her former lover, Bill, the then-pregnant Beatrix Kiddo was shot in the head and left for dead.  After waking from a coma and believing her child is dead, Beatrix hunts down each and every member of the assassin squad that betrayed her.  The best part?  She wields a bad-ass katana with which she unleashes her fury.  I would like to believe that every good mom would resort to something like this if something happened to her child.  Lesson to be learned?  Don’t try to kill a pregnant woman.  She may end up killing you instead.  With a sword.

As I said before, this was going to be a short post, but there is no doubt about it:  These moms are bad-ass.  So, once again:  To all the mothers and would-be-mothers out there in the world, this is for you.  Keep on kicking ass.  Happy Mother’s Day.