Dragon Dynasty News and Discussion (+ Celestial Pictures)

[pete]

it's just something I've been obsessed with since age 3.  I feel like I've always known good fighting from bad too - for example I never liked chuck norris or van damme, not even as a schoolboy.  I never really dug tai chi master though - the wired stuff really turned me off, and some real hoaky shots.  this was one of yuen woping's lesser works.  yuen woping loves tai chi - you can see it even in the first matrix, but this one wasn't so good, which was a shame 'cause you know, he just hung Jet Li on a wire for like 30 minutes.  The sequel to tai chi master, Tai Chi 2 (I think) starring Wu Jing (aka Jacky Wu) is not a very good movie, but the choreography is much better.

prodigal son was an amazing movie.  I'd seen it twice at the revival theaters.  both times started out the same way - people guffawing at the dated, hoaky stuff in the beginning, but, after that aforementioned sequence that began goofy, followed by a bloody murder and ended with one of the most beautiful slo-moed shots ever, everyone got serious.  it was a very good movie, where the revenge came real late because it spent 90 minutes building up the characters and the pay off came swift but not sadistic.  also, the story is real interesting, for once - two over-protected, privileged kungfu boys going through life and martial arts in radically different ways, I really haven't seen anything else like it.  it is one of the best movies about martial arts ever filmed.

I think a good DVD is Jackie Chan's "my stunts", a video seminar where he explains his craft.  I was very inspired after watching it and it was why I started making martial arts movies.  he had some great insights on how to incorporate filmmaking into his stuff.  either that or watch some bad fighting and compare it with old skool movies!  but it's a visceral thing, I knew kids with down syndrome who'll appreciate Jackie Chan but not Steven Segal...if you don't dig it, maybe it's just not you.

meanwhile rent my movie on netflix!

www.contourmovie.com

[Pas]

I'm surprised you didn't like Tai Chi at all ! I have really fond memories of it... then again appreciation of fighting sequences is secondary to me, I really dig asian movies more for the stories than the fighting, which I reckon is pretty weird.

What's this contourmovie ??? What did you do in it ?

[pete]

I did all sorts of micellaneous stuff that might otherwise fall under the producer credit but I only got a story editor credit just because there were too many "producers" over its three-year long production.  I planned the fights, worked on the otherwise non-existent script, found some actors and composers and just worked on the editing of the fights and shit like that.
it's got a shit ton of fighting!

I'd only seen tai chi master horribly dubbed on dimension vhs, and it was obvious that they'd cut stuff and changed up the dialogue to make it less boring for whoever the fuck they think is watching these movies.

if you like a good story, I think A Touch of Zen is pretty classic, a weird paranormal mystery that turns into a government conspiracy and shit.  or 95% of New Dragon Gate Inn, which is about a bunch of rival parties - corrupt officials, revolutionaries, and opportunists, all stuck in one inn in the middle of nowhere in ming dynasty china, and its sleazy sexy innskeeper who treads on the explosive tension.  it is really fun, but the ending contained one of the most laughable special effect ever, which ruined an otherwise pretty fun movie (it's still fun, just hoaky.)  Jet Li's movie "Fong Sai Yuk" aka "The Legend" (the awful Dimension dubbed release) is one of the best movies he'd done, where he was actually allowed to be charming and youthful, and it contained a very good coming of age (also revolutionary) story. 
I really really love tsui hark's movies, especially what he tries to do with the martial arts and action genre after his Jet Li epics (the Once Upon a Time in China series).  His movie "The Blade" - a Wong Kar-Wai-esque take on the one-armed swordsman story, almost like him trying to show up Ashes of Time, is a masterpiece - something that is totally frantic and handheld, but it accentuates the information, not hide it.  His two follow-ups, Time and Tide and Seven Swords, both all over the place and borderline incoherent, but in my view, completely satisfying with what he's trying to do with the action set pieces.

a training scene from the blade (bad compression and hard to watch, but you should get the idea)

[Pas]

I did all sorts of micellaneous stuff that might otherwise fall under the producer credit but I only got a story editor credit just because there were too many "producers" over its three-year long production.  I planned the fights, worked on the otherwise non-existent script, found some actors and composers and just worked on the editing of the fights and shit like that.
it's got a shit ton of fighting!

I'd only seen tai chi master horribly dubbed on dimension vhs, and it was obvious that they'd cut stuff and changed up the dialogue to make it less boring for whoever the fuck they think is watching these movies.

if you like a good story, I think A Touch of Zen is pretty classic, a weird paranormal mystery that turns into a government conspiracy and shit.  or 95% of New Dragon Gate Inn, which is about a bunch of rival parties - corrupt officials, revolutionaries, and opportunists, all stuck in one inn in the middle of nowhere in ming dynasty china, and its sleazy sexy innskeeper who treads on the explosive tension.  it is really fun, but the ending contained one of the most laughable special effect ever, which ruined an otherwise pretty fun movie (it's still fun, just hoaky.)  Jet Li's movie "Fong Sai Yuk" aka "The Legend" (the awful Dimension dubbed release) is one of the best movies he'd done, where he was actually allowed to be charming and youthful, and it contained a very good coming of age (also revolutionary) story. 
I really really love tsui hark's movies, especially what he tries to do with the martial arts and action genre after his Jet Li epics (the Once Upon a Time in China series).  His movie "The Blade" - a Wong Kar-Wai-esque take on the one-armed swordsman story, almost like him trying to show up Ashes of Time, is a masterpiece - something that is totally frantic and handheld, but it accentuates the information, not hide it.  His two follow-ups, Time and Tide and Seven Swords, both all over the place and borderline incoherent, but in my view, completely satisfying with what he's trying to do with the action set pieces.

a training scene from the blade (bad compression and hard to watch, but you should get the idea)

Very cool for Contour!

I'll check out these suggestions !! I own Dragon Inn and love it already, and even like the ending for it's utter crazyness !

I liked that scene....so many movies to watch, great !

[w/o horse]

Widely regarded as the greatest film of two legendary careers, Fist of Legend teams superstar Jet Li with martial arts choreographer Yuen Wo-ping (The Matrix) for "some of the best fight sequences you will ever see" (Dan Mitchell, IGN Movies). In this tribute to Bruce Lee's classic The Chinese Connection (aka Fists of Fury), Li radiates sheer power and coolness as a kung fu phenom living abroad who returns home to avenge the death of his master and save his martial arts school. Shifting effortlessly among diverse fighting styles, Li even fights blindfolded and wields his belt as a deadly weapon. Fist of Legend is essential viewing for any Jet Li fan and "the promised land for kung fu cinema" (HongKongCinema.com).

The biggest box office hit in Vietnamese history and one of the year's most talked-about films, The Rebel is a sweeping martial arts epic set in 1920's, French-occupied Vietnam. Johnny Nguyen (The Protector) stars as an elite double agent tasked with taking down his own country's freedom fighters. But when he meets a beautiful rebel (pop star Thanh Van Ngo), he rethinks his loyalty to the oppressive French regime and fights back against his sadistic captain (Dustin Nguyen, 21 Jump Street). Featuring an acrobatic fighting style little seen in the U.S. and an absolutely gripping story, The Rebel is "an entertaining mix of martial arts and historical drama" (Richard Kuipers, Variety).

[Pas]

When are these coming out friend ?

[w/o horse]

Fist of Legend Sep 2 and The Rebel Sep 30.

[pete]

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

Not to hijack the thread, but is this for discussing Chinese action cinema in general or just Dragon Dynasty related films?

This semester I started taking a Hong Kong Action Cinema class, mostly for the professor since I don't know a whole lot about Hong Kong Action Cinema specifically.  We meet once a week, so we've only had two classes so far, but holy hell.  So far, the features we've watched are Come Drink With Me and One Armed Swordsman. 

So far we've seen clips from a lot of the movies already discussed above, and the syllabus looks better and better.  Speaking of which, pete, if I post the syllabus (just the upcoming movies) would you take a look at it and suggest some movies that may be missing or just give your opinion on it?  Or anyone else who is well versed in the genre for that matter.

[pete]

haha I once hijacked a class on Chinese cinema for six weeks to focus on the action cinema, and gave the professor my curriculum.  I have to say though, I'm partial to the more technical breakthrough in the cinema, especially in terms of the martial arts choreography and filmmaking, and I might not have that much to say about the masterpieces because sometimes I stop watching things with mediocre fights (a bad habit I know!).  But before all, pick up my DVD contour from netflix or best buy or whatever!

[w/o horse]

Walrus post the syllabus.

Coming back from Orange County I stopped at a dvd store that had a bunch of Shaw Brothers films with the Celestial Pictures logo apparently distributed through Image.  So that's how I learned that Image also puts out Shaw Brothers films.

I bought this one:



This is a complete list of all the titles they've released:

Bells of Death, The (Shaw Brothers)     
Black Magic (Shaw Brothers)    
Boxer's Omen, The (Shaw Brothers)    
Cave of the Silken Web, The (Shaw Brothers)    
Corpse Mania (Shaw Brothers)
Deadly Breaking Sword, The (Shaw Brothers)    
Four Swords (Shaw Brothers Box Set)   
Heaven and Hell (Shaw Brothers)    
House of Traps (Shaw Brothers)
Human Lanterns (Shaw Brothers)
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (Shaw Brothers)
Killer Snakes, The (Shaw Brothers)    
Kiss of Death (Shaw Brothers)    
Legendary Weapons of China (Shaw Brothers)    
Seeding of a Ghost (Shaw Brothers)
Shadow Whip, The (Shaw Brothers)    
Shaolin Intruders, The (Shaw Brothers)    
Super Inframan (Shaw Brothers)    
Thunderbolt Fist (Shaw Brothers)    
Vengeance Is a Golden Blade (Shaw Brothers)    
Water Margin, The (Shaw Brothers)

Mine has original Mandarin soundtrack with English subtitles and English dubbed.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

We're watching about a dozen clips/trailers each class, other than the feature each class.  So rather than type those all out, I'll just list the features.

---------

Week 1: Come Drink With Me

Week 2: The One-Armed Swordsman

Week 3: King Boxer

Week 4: The Chinese Connection

Week 5: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

Week 6: Drunken Master

Week 7: My Young Auntie

Week 8: Encounters of the Spooky Kind

Week 9: Project A

Week 10: Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain

Week 11: Peking Opera Blues

Week 12: The Bride With White Hair

Week 13: Hard Boiled

Week 14: Tai-Chi Master

Week 15: Kung Fu Hustle

------

Apparently Kung Fu Hustle is tentative for the last day, it was just part of the arc of genres where it's like the primitive, the classical, the revisionist, and the parodic.

[w/o horse]

Nice.  I think that, besides The Chinese Connection, we've talked about those first seven in here. 

I'm going to watch your weeks 8-12.  Encounters of the Spooky Kind is another film from the filmmaker who made The Prodigal Son, a film I watched a little bit back and found amazing, the post in this thread previously.

Very excited.  Thanks.

[pete]

that's a pretty comprehensive list, but skipping over the new wave phase of the action cinema in the early 90s (when Jet Li made flying through the air popular again), or perhaps Bride with White Hair is supposed to be it? 

I'll recommend:
Police Story - this was when Jackie Chan really pioneered putting martial arts in contemporary settings - with heavy usage or props and mayhem and light on classical kungfu stances.
Flags of Iron - just a classic, fast and brutal Shaw Bros movie, with lotsa gut, blood, and machisimo.
Prodigal Son - this is martial arts film at its best - a film that showcases the specific philosophy of a style, but all the while telling a very original and engrossing story about two pampered kids crossing paths.  it starts off light, then gets impossibly dark.  a real deft mixture of tones and genres, in a way only Hong Kong can pull off.
Dragon Lord - Jackie Chan's weird experiment - a coming-of-age story, with some insane stunts and fights thrown in.  Nobody liked it at the time, but I love it.

a few movies they've missed from the 90's -
The Blade - Tsui Hark got mad at Wong KarWai's "Ashes of Time" and went out to make something that was infinitely better.  He created a gritty kung fu world and turned Wong KarWai's new wave-inspired monologues into foolish rants.  This is genre revision at its best.
The New Dragon Gate Inn - a movie that could've been perfect if it wasn't for the worst usage of special effects at the most pivotal moment.
Drunken Master 2 - in case you've somehow missed it, this has the best fighting ever!
Once Upon a Time in China 1, 2, and 3 - the handsome collaboration between Jet Li and Tsui Hark.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

We are watching/have watched clips from Police Story, Dragon Lord, The Blade, New Dragon Gate Inn, Once Upon A Time In China.

We just watched The Chinese Connection today.  I'd seen most of it before, but goddamn.  Pretty great.