The economy is REAL (2009)

This is a video done as a school project by Natalie Duran aka ndtitanlady from youtube.
Natalie is one talented young lady and I am sure she will be doing big things in the future.

King of Comedy (1999)

King of Comedy is a very special and charming comedy/drama starring Stephen Chow, Karen Mok, and Cecilia Cheung. Chow is as cute and sweet as ever. Karen Mok stands out even though she is third lead as a Hong Kong movie star. Ms. Mok also did the music. I didn't know much about her before. She is a very talented actress and singer.

This is Chow's early work as a director, but it stands out in his career because of its subtlety and earnestness.

Shanghai Affairs (1998)

Donnie Yen stars in this melodramatic, late 90's action flick. The movie is ok, but goes over the top often.

How Bruce Lee Changed the Wolrd (2009)

History Channel just aired a great new Bruce documentary. It is fantastic to see a modern documentary on him. This 2-hour film deals with how he influenced people from all walks of life. From musicians to comedians to athletes and actors.

Bruce Lee is more than just martial arts...he represents being the best or at least being the best you can possibly be.

The Leg Fighters aka Invincible Kung Fu Legs (1978)

The Leg Fighters is an independent released martial arts film directed by Lee Tso Nam, starring Dorian Tan Tao-Liang and Ha Kwong Li and it is an above average old-school fu film.

I was impressed with the athletic and acrobatic prowess of Dorian Tan and especially impressed with the beautiful Ha Kwong Li. I am not normally into chicks fighting but Ha Kwong Li is is extremely graceful and flexible.

Another thing that is impressive is The Leg Fighters is an independent film and it rivals The Sammo Hung films from the same period.

The Leg Fighters is a fun, old movie.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin aka The Master Killer (1978)

36th Chamber of Shaolin is widely considered to be one of the greatest kung fu films ever made but I am not sure why. It is pretty tame compared to the Sammo Hung-Yuen Biao films.

I just watched the Dragon Dynasty version. It was ok.

King of Beggars

King of Beggars tends to be too talkative for people that don't understand Chinese, especially in the first third of the movie. The middle of the film shows Chow using his charm and showcasing his acting skills as well as some decent tournament action. The last part of the film goes a little into crazy land so it is not as exciting or entertaining. Chow's movies typically get too crazy at the end.

Sharla Cheung is beautiful as always. She is retired from the movie business now and I hope she is doing well in life.

CJ7

Hot Asian dadday, Stephen Chow, follows up his masterpiece Kung Fu Hustle with CJ7. I am sad to say the this drama will disappoint most people. Chow is pretty subdued here and there is not much to laugh about or get excited about in this film. It's not a very commercial film.

Note: I saw the English dubbed version on cable.

Invisible Traget (2007)

Invisible Target is a typical HK action film about cops vs. bad guys starring Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, and Jaycee Chan (son of Jackie Chan) but the real star is Jacky Wu Jing as the cool as ice baddie.

The film doesn't break any new ground or show you anything that you haven't seen before but that doesn't mean that it isn't fun at moments. The action scenes are typical HK action scenes but that is a good thing. The film can be hard to watch at times, especially when they are doing melodramatic acting scenes. In the case of Jaycee Chan, the apple seems to have fallen far from the tree. He is not a fighter and is somewhat effeminate. In all fairness he shouldn't have to be like his father. I hope he will find happiness for being his own man.

I think Invisible Target was made to showcase cute young boys but you may want to take a look, especially if you are a fan of Wu Jing.

Love & Pop (1998)

I just saw the region 1 DVD of Love & Pop released by Kino. I rented this film because of the packaging which is very misleading. The DVD package art makes it appear to be an erotic film. It couldn't be further from the truth.

Love & Pop is an art film directed by anime director Hideaki Anno. He shot Love & Pop using little, consumer Sony mini DV cameras. He makes the most of them by creatively putting them in crazy places which is interesting but can get annoying after awhile. I have to wonder if the makers of the Crank films watched Love & Pop because they look pretty similar.

Anyway, Love & Pop is too long and is mainly just watching teenage girls hangout, not doing too much interesting stuff. I think the fancy camera work is trying to compensate for the lack of action being done by the actors. Also, the film is neither sexy nor shocking.

That being said, there are a few good things going on with Love & Pop. If nothing else, it was a good experiment with digital video.

On a side note there is a music video on the disc that looks like it has better video quality than the actual film. In the video, the girls go to a nice beach and have fun. On the DVD cover you see the girls in bikinis. That picture is taken from the music video. They don't really appear in bikinis in the movie.

The Iron-Fisted Monk (1977)

Sammo Hung makes his directorial debut in 1977's The Iron-Fisted Monk. If you like old-school fu, then you should check out this film. If you are looking for realistic fighting, look somewhere else.

Be warned, this film contains a pretty graphic rape scene that is pretty shocking.

Also, Chen Sing is really great as a shaolin monk.

If you want to see this film be sure to get the DVD released by Twentieth Century Fox. The picture quality is second to none and it has great audio with excellent English dubbing. It is another excellent job by Fox.

Rob-B-Hood aka Robin-B-Hood (2006)

Jackie Chan rehashes Three Men and a Baby and fails to impress in this Hong Kong-made effort.

I should note that I did not see the Dragon Dynasty release of this film. Instead I finally popped in a pirated DVD that I bought in Asia a couple years ago. It took me that long to get to the boredom level that I would actually watch a movie co-starring a baby.

Rob-B-Hood also stars Michael Hui who worked with Jackie in the Cannonball Run films and Louis Koo who's job is mainly to look cute which he accomplishes.

The few action scenes are ok but nothing special.
This movie can get disturbing at times, like when they put the baby in the washing machine and turn it on. This baby receives so much trauma in this movie over and over again that it would die in real life or have serious brain damage at the least.
Jackie and Louis have some funky style in this film and seem to like to wear bright colors, especially pink.

My Lucky Stars (1985)

If you like wacky Asian comedies, you'll love My Lucky Stars. If you want a Jackie Chan movie, you'll be hugely disappointed. Jackie is hardly in this film.

The few fight scenes in the film are decent but nothing really special. I think most Asians will really enjoy the humor in My Lucky Stars but most westerners will find it too silly.

Also, Bolo Yeung makes a cameo.

Sixty Million Dollar Man (1995)

Just finished watching Sixty Million Dollar Man. Not exactly sure what to make of it. It is pretty goofy and all over the place and I am pretty sure it is better if you understand Chinese. Maybe it would be better if Dragon Dynasty would release it and add an English dub.

Stephen Chow is young and good looking and plays his typical character and Ng-Man Tat plays his sidekick as usual. There are plenty of special effects that aren't really good but not too terrible either. This film may be worth a look to hardcore Stephen Chow fans but don't expect a masterpiece like Kung Fu Hustle.

Fight Back to School (1991)

Fight Back to School is one of Stephen Chow's early comedy hits. It still holds up pretty well for a film that is 18 years old and Chow is as charming as ever. He is joined by his usual cohorts Ng Man-Tat and the always lovely Sharla Cheung.

Heart of a Dragon aka First Mission (1985)

Heart of a Dragon is a unique film but not everyone is going to like it.

Sammo Hung directs Jackie Chan in this interesting drama. Sammo plays Jackie's retarded brother and Jackie's character wants to do his own thing but he is always being held back because he has to take care of his brother. There is no action in this film until the end. The finale is the typical excellent 80's HK action scene but what makes it different is we see Jackie Chan getting uncharacteristically violent.

There are some different versions of this film out there but the one I saw is the DVD released by 20th Century Fox. They remastered it and gave it a beautiful treatment. The picture and audio are terrific. I recommend this DVD if you are going to see this film.

If you want nothing but action you may want to skip Heart of a Dragon but if you want to see Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung doing something very different you may want to give it a look.

Here is music video for Heart of a Dragon.

Pedicab Driver (1989)

I can not review this film too well. I ordered it off of ebay and got a disc distributed by Bonzai Media Corporation. The picture and audio quality were terrible.
The film looked to be a pretty decent movie but the experience with this DVD was not a good one. There wasn't much action until the end and they had a pretty good action finale.

I did some research on Bonzai Media Corporation on the internet and every one that got a movie made by them was disappointed. Make sure you never buy a film made by Bonzai Media Corp.

Shamo (2007)

Shamo is the type of film that you are really going to like or dislike. I can't say I liked this stylish, comic book adaptation due to the fact that there are no likable characters. The "hero" of the film is a murderer and all around sleazy guy. I didn't exactly want to root for him.

However, I am sure that there are people that will like Shamo for its edginess, style, and karate action. Still, I would find a 1980's Van Damme flick more fun.

I bought the DVD because of the cool teaser trailer on youtube. Check it out.

Mismatched Couples

Starring Donnie Yen and Yuen Woo-Ping

Mismatched Couples is a slapstick comedy about breakdancing made in 1985 starring a young Donnie Yen in his second film. The film is fast paced with tons of stuff going on but it gets confusing.  There is only one martial arts scene in this film(that appears at the end) but it is pretty decent. 

You will probably enjoy the film a lot if you are into breakdancing but in 2009 I doubt many of you are.

On a side note, everyone in the film has a weird make-up job. They all look like transvestites, including Donnie Yen.