Favorite films of 2011

I didn't see as many movies in 2011 I have have in most years. I also went to see alot of old kungfu movies playing through Grindhouse film fest screenings at the Hollywood theater here in Portland. It's amazing thing to have here and thankfully the dude who runs grind house is bringing lots of movies. I tried to come up with the ten I thought were amazing or had a ton of fun watching my list is here with some trailers and reasons.

1. I Saw the Devil:



So a couple years back Korea unleashed one of the greatest revenge movies of all time by way of Director Park Chan Wook called Oldboy. Funny, brutal and heartbreaking I didn't think Korea would ever top Oldboy. Leave it to director Jee Woon kim (A Tale of Two sisters) to say I can out do that. With the help of the star of Oldboy this film is dark, unrelenting, hard to watch and filled with plot twists that actually work. I have been watching extreme horror and gore drenched films my whole life and this movie made me squirm. It honestly made Oldboy seem like a PG-13 movie. I know it was released in 2010 in Korea, but 2011 here.

Stars: 5 /5
Saw it with:Vince and Magik at the Hollywood theater.

2. Detective Dee and the mystery of the phantom flame



Another made in 2010 released in America in 2011. So Tusi Hark directed or produced probably more than 100 classic Hong Kong films. Since his 2000 action masterpiece Time and Tide has not had good luck with films. Zu warriors was pretty mess, and Black Mask 2 was MSTK worthy. While I enjoyed his film Seven Swords it wasn't until this film that audiences and critics agreed Hark was back. Based on a book in a wildly popular series of chinese detective novels( think Hong Kong's answer to Sherlock Holmes) Andy Lau is fastastic as the title character.But this is Hark making a goth looking cool as hell Wuxia mystery. Right up my alley. I think I might watch this again today, I have the novel it's based on as well. Looking forward to it.

Stars: 5/5
Saw it with: Ordered the DVD import from china, then Fox Tower on the big screen

3. Midnight in Paris



Yeah I know the director is a creep but every five movies or so he makes a gem. The last two I liked were Match Point (maybe his best in 20 years), and the Sweet and Lowdown. Midnight in Paris is a cute movie with a clever time travel theme. Is it Science fiction no, not really but it creates a great atmosphere. Thankfully Owen Wilson didn't go overboard trying to be Woody Allen. Why was it my number three movie. Because it did what movies do best transport you to a different time and place.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Cari at Cinemagic.

4. 13 Assassins



Takashi Miike Is known for making some of the weirdest and most brutal films to ever come from Japan. That is really saying something, I am personally hit or miss with the guy. This remake of a 50 samurai classic is long time coming for Miike who has mad elots of gangster and horror movies but never made a true samurai movie. If you watch this on video you might be tempted to quit after 45 minutes of slow carefully crafted character development. that would be a shame because it builds nicely into what might be the best cinematic battle of all time. That may sound like hyperbole but I stand by it.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Crazy Shawn and Vince at Cinema 21

5. Shame:



I never heard of this movie before we saw it. We went to see Melancholia, but because of a mistake on the Portland movie times website Shame was playing for the first time. It was a long bus ride and the movie sounded interesting so we stayed. What we got a was a powerfully written, directed and acted film. Shame is to sex addiction what Requiem for a Dream was to drugs. If Michel Fassbender doesn't get an oscar nod I'll be shocked.

Stars: 5/5
Saw it with: Cari at Cinema 21

6. Captain America

I don't think I need to post the trailer. I know it makes me a bad radical to love a movie called Captain America but it was awesome. A great near perfect comic book movie that captured the comic and as a near perfect action movie. George Lucas did you see this? Let Joe Johnston make the Bobba Fett movie he has been dying to make.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with: Opening day at the Loyd Center, who suppsed to go with Magik he couldn't make so I was big enough nerd not to wait and go by myself.

7. True Legend:



Yuen Woo Ping directs more than just the action for the first time in 15 years. I was super excited for this one. It was a shame it didn't get released in 3D here, it looks like it would have been amazing in 3D. The lack of 3D and the weird extra 20 minutes at the end really hurt this movie in my opinion. It was a perfect and over the top amazing Wuxia epic until they tacked on the 20 unneeded minutes at the end. I can only give it 3 out of 5 stars but I still loved seeing it on the big screen.

stars: 3/5
Saw it with: Vince at Fox Tower downtown.


8. Ip Man 2:



Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung fighting on screen is always a good thing, fighting each other even better. Great period kungfu epic about the man who trained Bruce Lee. Donnie Yen just rules what else can you say.

Stars: 4/5
Saw it with Vince and Magik Hollywood theater

9. Bridesmaids:

I don't think I need to post the trailer. I love Kristin Wiig, she is funny, smart and doesn't eat animals. So of course I totally love her. I don't understand people who didn't laugh at this movie. maybe I'm biased.

Stars: 3/5
Saw it with Cari at Cinemagic.

10. Legend of the Fist:The return of Chen Zhen



The character made famous by Bruce Lee, Jet Li and already Donnie Yen. thsi film creates great action pieces. It was super fun and worth seeing if your a kungfu, action or Donnie Yen Fan. I had a great time. I saw it for free because Vince and I won Tickets at a Dark Horse comics party by filming a "kungfu move" that involved me beating Vince with my backpack. Even though the movie was free Vince didn't stay for the movie because he missed the first two minutes. He has a a thing about that.

stars: 3/5
Saw with: myself at the Hollywood theater (See above)

The best time I had at the theater this year was the Hunting The Moon Tribe release party at the Hollywood theater. Captain Hyperole AKA the author of Gigantic Death Worm AKA Vince Krammer Superfan created a two horror kungfu and horror movie Trailer part that started with a Sammy Terry introduction! It was the greatest thing ever. Here was the promo we made for the event:

Donnie Yen! Bodyguards and Assassins!

Finally saw this...Wow. Great concept for a kungfu movie. Check it out. Donnie Yen gets to do a little more acting in this. I have heard people complain that it is slow to start, but in my mind they did a great job of building tension. the first hour is like a fuse burning down.

The Eleventh Son by Gu Long (Translated
365 pages
$19.95 Trade paperback

I have wanted to read this novel for years, but for one reason or another I just never got around to it. Wuxia films are some of my favorite movies of all time and I have always wanted to read more of fiction which many of my favorite kungfu movies were based on. Gu Long considered one along with Jin Yong (The Book and the Sword) and Liang Yushen (Bride with White Hair) as the "three legs of the tripod of wuxia". I have also published my own Wuxia horror crossover (Hunting The Moon Tribe) that was more influenced by film as until now I have only read Yong's The Book and the Sword and the Chinese literary classic Three Kingdoms.

So yeah, I was super overdue in reading this novel. It was written in the late 60's, and I am assuming it was published as a serial in newspapers like most Wuxia novels in the era. The chapters take on a serial feel, and it is hard to comment on the writing style because you always wonder how much is a product of translation.

The Eleventh Son is tangled story indeed as characters weave into and out of the story. Some even drop out of the story altogether. The main character Xiao is not even introduced until a few chapters in. It would seem at first that the novel is about Xiao battling for a famous sword called “The Deer Carver.” this maguffin is quickly forgotten as Xiao and a sinister female villian known as Little Mister battle over the Chinese countryside. The main story here is a messy love story between Xiao and a noble woman named Shen. Little Mister who is truly awesome villian frames Xiao for the murder of Shen's entire family. She knows better as Xiao is the one who saved her.

It is said that Long was more influenced by western writers than his competition and I only have Jin Young to compare him too. I can see a little more western influence in the structure of the novel, and the way he tells the story.

Some really cool and weird stuff happens along the way and you would expect in a Wuxia novel, there is a cool chapter where they encounter and battle gods of lightning and thunder. Perhaps my favorite part was a chapter called Doll manor, this super weird chapter finds Xiao and Shen tapped in a doll house worried that they have been shrunk and chaptered a kungfu magician. I was totally surprised by their escape and it was a super neat surprise. The coolest and most inventive part of the novel.

My biggest problem with the novel is that it ended with a set-up for sequel. That is not translated into English. Here is hoping the translator and publisher do this again. We need more Wuxia novels in print!

Donnie Yen plays a character that is in Hunting The Moon Tribe

The story of legendary Guan Yu crossing five passes & slaying six generals. He played a major role in the civil war that led to the collapse of Han Dynasty & the establishment of Shu Han of the 3 Kingdoms, making Liu Bei its first emperor.

Guan Yu is known in Chinese mythology as the god of Martial Power. In the final battle of my novel Hunting The Moon Tribe, the heroes go to the underworld to end the vampire bloodline and are aided by several Chinese mythological characters(He battles the god of thunder Lei Gong). One of them Guan Yu. It's cool to see Donnie Yen playing him in a origin story.

Hunting the Moon Tribe is of course available on Amazon.

New Jet Li Wuxia Pan movies

As the author of a Wuxia Pan novel (kungfu fantasy called Hunting the Moon Tribe)I am super excited about two new films starring Jet Li. One of my favorite movie stars I have not enjoyed his american movies as much so how rad is it that he has returned to making films in china with style. He is also working with the masters of Chinese cinema.

First up is a new film by Ching Siu Tung director of two of my favorite movies and the most profound influence on Hunting the Moon Tribe - those films were the Chinese Ghost story and his 1982 masterpiece Duel to Death. but now he returns with...



and next Jet Li worked with the Steven Spielberg of Hong Kong Tusi Hark. He is coming off a bad decade, with lots of films that were supposed to be his comeback movie. Well I enjoyed a few of those like Seven Swords, it wasn't until last year when he released Detective Dee and the phantom of the Holy Flame, that critics and fans agreed. Hark was back. To follow up he drafted Jet Li for a 3D remake of the 1967 King Hu classic Dragon gate Inn. (Hark produced a remake in the 90's with Bridgette Lin and Donnie Yen that was OK)



Time to order some import DVD's or hope the Hollywood theater here in Portland makes them happen.

Book Review: The Blood Bond by Bey Logan

The Blood Bond by Bey Logan
229 pages
B & E productions

Bey Logan is well known to kungfu movies nerds like me, we know his voice well. As the expert voice on the commentary tracks for Dragon Dynasty's line of DVDs. Believe me I have listened to everyone that has come into my hands. The man knows everything there is to know about kungfu movies, he has also worked as a screenwriter, producer and actor. So When I first heard about his novel I assumed it started life as a screenplay. The film was made, directed and starring cult movie star Michel Biehan(you know Corporal Hicks and Kyle Reese).

According to the authors forward Logan was happy with the film, but he enjoyed the story the way he wrote it before two other screenwriters got a hold of it. So he adapted his own screenplay into a novel.

It is the story of a woman Deva, who is a warrior given the job at birth to protect a Dali-lama like holy man named the Karmapata. When the holy leader is nearly killed on a diplomatic mission to Thailand on her watch they start a desperate search for anyone with a matching blood type. One by one the bizarre cult of zombie like warriors kill everyone in the country that provide the correct blood for a transfusion. Based on a vision Deva heads into the far north of Thailand and finds John Tremayne, who she later learns is a burnt out American former special ops solider who as luck would have it has the same type of blood needed for the transfusion. Together they have to battle strange cult warriors across the country, racing against the clock.

Logan is a screenwriter and it is no insult to say he speaks the language of the action film fluently. One of my favorite reads of last year was Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro’s Vampire Apocalypse novel The Fall, which also read like a movie. There is a pace and feeling with the quick cuts and no wasted words that filmmakers bring to novels. I really liked that about Blood Bond which felt in every way like a Hong Kong action that had to come in at 90 minutes exactly to have the most viewing possible in the day.

Blood Bond is a fun read, nothing super deep, but fans of Logan’s work and Asian action films will see it as a very clear movie in their heads. That is not to say that Logan did not give the novel some touches film cannot. The warrior Deva’s back story is nicely woven into action, and one brutal scene on page 74 to me painted a wonderful picture, and gave great depth to a side character in the narrative. Fans of Asian action film set in a contemporary setting will not want to miss this pot boiler novel. The bonus is before I got this book in the mail I had no idea Michael Biehn had directed and co-starred with Simon Yam in a movie...Got to see that.

10 Best Martial Arts movies of the decade!

Honorable mentions: House of Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower, Ashes of Time Redux, The Restless, Legend of the Black Scorpion, The Promise, Chocolate, Kiss of the Dragon, Ong Bak, Forbidden Kingdom.

The Rebel – Johnny Tri Nguyen got his start being a stunt double as the Green Goblin in spider-man. This movie cements his status as a star in the next generation of MA film stars. He not only starred in it but he co-wrote and directed this film too. Set in colonial 1922 Vietnam, this is the first action movie I've seen out of Nam. Dustin Nguyen (21 jump st) is also great as his boss in the police. Ngo Thanh Van is a love interest, but she has great MA scenes in the film as well. Great action, top notch.



The Protector – Thai actor Tony Jaa was excellent in Ong Bak, and it made him a star. If you are looking for pure fights that is your ticket. But this follow -up has more story, so it's a little cheezy with Jaa being the protector of an elephant. How can I not love martial arts ass whipping over a non human animal. The reason this makes the list is one scene which is worth the rental. A three story fight that was done in one building as Jaa climbs filmed in a single shot. Amazing.

Seven Swords: Master filmmaker Tusi Hark has had a rough decade after coming out strong with a fantastic off the hook action movie Time and Tide in 2000. Legend of Zu looked pretty but tanked and didn't make sense even after you read the back of the video box. Black Mask 2 sans Jet Li was embarrassing to watch. His big comeback film was supposed to be Seven Swords. It did alright, but not well enough to launch the sequel Hark had planned. He still insists he is making it. He also produced a TV show based on the same material.

Seven Swords is a Wuxia Pan kungfu fantasy based on the novel “Seven swordsmen of Mount Tian” by the same author who created the Bride with White Hair - Liang Yusheng. Hark tried to do some inserting things with the story, focused on the swords(title was changed for a reason) and shot the film different. I am in a minority who liked the film. The cheap-o sounding score is only thing I think hurts the movie. That may have in the 1993 hey day of HK cinema, but Wuxia Pan movies had graduated to have full scores with powerful takes on ancient Chinese music.

Donnie Yen is great, infact the whole cast is great, the fights are good and best of all is the crazy mohawked super goth villain with crazy wheat cutter sword. She is collecting the heads of suspected Martial Artists. The story takes place during the manchu take-over and is about the martial artist ban. Thumbs up here.



Brotherhood of the Wolf: Why is Mark Dacascos not a huge action movie star? With better career management he would have stayed out of the awful Cradle 2 tha Grave and would be a huge star now. This should have done it. He is amazing as a native american ass-kicker, Why this french man's native American Sidekick is martial artist is besides the point. This is weird arthouse french martial arts horror movie. Yes, werewolves and kungfu. It is not perfect, but boy is it fun. Actually I need to see this again.




Red Cliff: John Woo made a few amazing martial arts movies in his young career. Hand of Death with Sammo Hung and Jackie Chain and the amazing Shaw Brothers production “The Last Hurrah for Chivalry.” The rest is history he made genius action movies like Hard-Boiled and the Killer before crapping garbage like Paycheck and Mission Impossible II.

Yes Woo is back in china making an epic Wuxia Pan war movie based on the classical novel the Three Kingdoms. It has amazingly huge battles with seemless CGI and it has Woo's over the top action. What most impressed me is John Woo not doing his usual tricks. No slo-mo, and most all I was impressed that it didn't look like a John Woo movie. Impressive. Watch it on video so you can see the whole two part epic.

Fearless – Jet Li scared us all by saying this was his last Martial Arts movie. He was of course splitting hairs. None the less this is a passion project and epic MA movie. The Yuen Woo Ping fights are all amazing some of the best Li/Woo Ping fights since Fist of Legend. That is saying a lot since Fist is the best fights of Jet Li's career. This film is directed by Ronny Yu (Bride with White Hair/ Freddy Vs. Jason). Jet Li gives a fantastic performance that at times is heart breaking and uplifting.

The Warlords – After the stunning Wuxia Pan fantasy The Promise director Peter Chan (Which didn't make my list because I couldn't stand the looney tunes meets running of the bulls scene) followed it up with this bleak and realistic ancient china War drama. This has been an Asian film trend of late to do the bleak war movies. This is a remake of the Chang Cheh Shaw classic The Blood Brothers. Great cast with amazing performces by Andy Lau and Jet Li

As an actor Jet Li is more talented than he is given credit for. I first really began to notice it with his underrated performance in Kiss of the Dragon. Since this was Li's first film after Fearless much was made about Jet Li in an acting role. He does more acting than fighting but he does do his share of fighting in the movie. This is violent epic with more huge battles but it is the insanity of Jet Li's character that really carries this movie.



SPL - Released in the us under the cheezy title Killzone this Donnie Yen action drama is really badass. Sammo Hung is amazing a gangster who is a new father. Donnie Yen and Simon Yam are great as cops forced to work together As Simon Yam character is about to die from a terminal illness. His one regret is not jailing Sammo's character. Wilson Yip the director teases the auidence for the first forty minutes by showing the drama leading to the fights but not the fights.

When the fights come they are off the hook. You'll find it hard to believe Sammo at his age and girth can move like he does. Donnie Yen designed the fights and they are the best of his career. The last fight between Sammo and Donnie is worth a rental alone.



Hero: I was bothered by the nationalistic message of this film but the first Wuxia Pan epic by Zang Yimou was everything I hoped for. It stomps Crouching tiger for epic Wuxia Pan-ness. The cast from Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi are all outstanding. The best sound effects, special effects and scope ever attempted in a Wuxia Pan film. I was breath -less through most of my first viewing. When it was over I was ready to start it over.

Musa the Warrior: One of the stars of Iron Monkey and Zhang Ziyi is a Korean sword movie. That is all I knew when I rented this movie. This powerful brutal piece of kungfu movie is not exactly a kungfu fantasy, as it is grounded in mostly brutal realism. Outside of the title characters fight scenes which are a little over the top this movie is biggest Korean movie every to be made at the time. Mongol armies, Ming armies and Korean soldiers. All filmed speaking their native languages.

The main characters are Korean enoys who need to return in disgrace after the diplomats they were escorting are killed. They are offered a chance at redemption, Save a Ming Chinese Princess (Zhang Ziyi) from capture by a Mongol army. Brutal battles over the princess plays out over this Two and half hour epic. If you see one movie on this list, this is the one.

Heads For Sale! Strange chop socky

So I have not bought kung Fu movies in a awhile, outside of signed hardcover books and old Sci-fi pulp novels Kung Fu DVD’s are about the only thing I collect anymore. So for my birthday this year I bought myself three movies. I know big spender.

So I have access to renting great Kung Fu movies here in town at movie madness, so if I’m buying movies it’s because they are ones that are hard to find. First up was an old Shaw brothers classic from 1972 called ‘Heads for Sale.’

The director went on two years alter to make the classic film King Boxer(AKA Five Fingers of Death). I first heard of Heads for Sale on a commentary track for King Boxer. The commentators on the track were Quentin Tarintino and NY times Movie reviewer Elvis Mitchell. Both of whom have fantastic taste in martial arts cinema.

At one point they talked about what a strange Kung Fu movie Heads for Sale was. They compared it to Deadly China doll and Lady Snowblood which are women’s revenge films. This one stars Chiao Chiao who is best known for her role in the one armed swordsman (rare role for a woman in a Chang Cheh film).

While this is a great chop socky masterpiece for sure there was not as many decapitations as I expected. The plot is ultra strange and is best seen. It’s not exactly a revenge film. Chiao’s charter falls in love with a swordsmen but his family rejects hers. So she goes on sword wielding rampage. Her lover ends up getting arrested and she starts decapitating the people who jailed him.

Yep. That is the plot. Does it make a lot of sense. Not the point. Great movie check it out. Worth the $14 buck to buy from HK flix if you like chop socky.

Sammy Terry!!!

Perhaps one of the greatest influences on my first novel Hunting the Moon Tribe Was found on local TV in Indiana. We had Independent TV station WTTV channel 4. They ran sitcom re-runs(watched a lot of Different strokes on 4), IU basketball games and most important was on Friday nights.

Every Friday night at 11:30 Sammy Terry hosted horror movies on Channel four. He showed tons of hammer films like Dracula has risen from the grave and Twins of evil being the first two that come to mind. I used to take naps on Friday afternoons after school so I could stay awake and watch Sammy Terry.

It is so rad that Sammy videos are online, I think having him as a friend on myspace is about the best reason to be on myspace. Check out Sammy and have a Horrible evening…

More importantly was when I realized no matter how cool the movie was I was falling asleep I decided to start taping the shows on our BetaMax. When I started watching the end on Saturday mornings I discovered Black belt Theater came on channel 4 after ST. BBT was often old Shaw Brothers movies.

Master killer, five fingers of Death, Chinese super ninjas and the list goes on. So when My first novel comes out later this year from Afterbirth books you’ll understand the influences deep in my childhood.

Read Hunting the Moon Tribe and You’ll also find…

Vampires, Kung Fu masters, Red Guard Chinese agents, a sect of ancient Chinese vampire hunters, knife-throwing Chinese acrobats, giant winged mastodons, dragons, vampire wraiths, a two-headed sex slave who lives with the shape-shifting were-tiger warrior at Madme Yu’s house of freaks, headless giants, mountain spirits, demon- possessed swords and trees, Kung Fu zombie vampire warriors starved over a thousand years, and battles between the goddess of water and an ancient Chinese god of war under the command of the vampire master, Huwan-tun.

Best ninja training video ever.

Classic Wuxia Pan novelist passes away

Two of my favorite Wuxia pan(kung fu fantasy)films are Seven Swords and the Bride With Hair. So This makes me sad. As far as I know these novels have never been translated into English.

From Kung fu Cinema.com:
Liang Yusheng, a pioneer in modern wuxia (heroic Chinese martial arts) literature died in his home in Sydney, Australia on Jan. 22, as reported in the Australian edition of the Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao Daily. A contemporary of fellow wuxia novelist Louis Cha, Liang is known in the martial arts movie world for providing source material for a number of wuxia movies including Tsui Hark’s SEVEN SWORDS and Ronny Yu’s iconic classic, THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR.

Liang Yusheng was born as Chen Wuntong in 1924 to a prominent family in Mengshan, Guangxi. He studied classical Chinese literature, Chinese history and economics before joining Hong Kong’s Sin Wan Bao newspaper as an editor following graduation from the Lingnan University in Guangzhou.

In 1954, a rivalry in the martial arts world between White Crane and Wu-style Tai Chi schools led to a war of words in the newspaper which in turn sparked a famous fight between the heads of the two schools (see video). Capitalizing on the popularity of this fight, Lo Fu, the newspaper’s editor persuaded Liang to write a wuxia novel to be published in serialized form in the newspaper. THE DRAGON FIGHTS THE TIGER became the first work in a new era of wuxia fiction upon which many of the popular wuxia films of the 1960s and beyond have been based.

Liang wrote 36 novels over 30 years before retiring to relative seclusion in Sidney. THE WANDERING SWORDSMAN was turned into a feature film with the same title by director Chang Cheh for Shaw Brothers in 1970. Tsui Hark adapted SEVEN SWORDS OF MOUNT HEAVEN into the feature film SEVEN SWORDS in 2005 and a TV series with the same title the following year.


The most famous adaptation of a Liang Yusheng novel remains Ronny Yu’s THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR, a 1993 film loosely adapted from ROMANCE OF THE WHITE HAIRED MAIDEN. Liang’s description of a female bandit leader who becomes a “White-Haired Demoness” after being betrayed by her lover was popular enough to inspire two earlier film adaptations, WHITE HAIR DEVIL LADY (1980) and WOLF DEVIL WOMAN (1982). Two Chinese-language TV series based on the novel were aired in the 1990s. In 2008, Liang’s creation made its first appearance in a Hollywood film when Li Bingbing portrayed a white-haired villainess in THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM.


Source:
http://www.kungfucinema.com/?p=4811

Woo-Ping Wants Jet Li for Great wall of China!

Kungfu master and film director Yuen woo Ping hot on the heals of directing the action of Forbidden Kingdom is prepping two films as the director. Lets not forget he has directed classics like Iron Monkey and Jet Li in the fantastic Tai Chi Master. This is great news for Kungfu movie dorks like me.

Read about here!

John Woo's Battle of Red Cliff now two films!

Ok So while we should all be stoked for Jet and Jackie's team in Forbidden Kingdom(April 18th) this is not the only film based on an ancient Chinese novel set to be released. In July China will see two part epic based on one battle/chapter of the classic chinese novel the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Warlords with Jet Li is kinda based off of it as well.

This is exciting for geeks like me because this is the first non-hollywood Chinese language film John Woo has made since Hard Boiled. Nothing he has made in hollywood has compared so get stoked!

A shorter verison will be released everywhere but Asia, which means will have to order from HK flix to see the full thing.

http://www.kungfucinema.com/?p=1460

Jet Li returns in The Warlords

Jet Li continues to prove he can act. Lets forget about the embarrassing turn in last year's War. He has said he knew it wasn't working on the set. Anybody watching the movie knows he was phoning it and cashing the check. What did War buy him time to do? well he returned to china and made a little bad ass film co starring Andy Lau called The Warlords.

Much was made in the press about how this was not a fighting role for Li. It maybe true that he does less fighting than acting in this one, but it would be false to give the impression he didn't use his Wushu skills.

The Warlords is directed by Peter Chan. Last year saw the American release of his stylized overblown Wuxia pan fantasy film The Promise. I enjoyed this film that all the grand color and imagery of Hero but was muddled by an embarrassing loony tunes-ish scene with some of the worst CGI I've ever seen. Chan struck back with this film hard.

It is brutal war film that follows three blood brothers on several back breaking military campaigns in china around the time guns first appeared. It tells the same story as the Shaw brothers film Blood brothers but this movie has more in common with Saving Private Ryan. Jet Li has said he took this project because he was tired of seeing "killing made beautiful." Well Jet it's pretty ugly here.

The battles are well done, several cringe worthy scenes would've had a deeper impact on me if I hadn't seen the new Rambo recently. And there lies my only complainant. The DVD I rented at Movie madness seemed to be cropped just perfectly so several times the violence was hidden. I can't believe the filmmaker intended this.

Either way as a pure Kungfu movie fan I was thrilled. As a Jet Li fan even more so. Lets also not forget the gut wrenching performance of Andy Lau.

Also last week Randall, Bru-Dawg and I rented an amazing new Hong Kong gangsta film called Exiled. It was directed by Johnnie To and it was not as brutal as Election. That being said I enjoyed this one even more. It was heartfelt loving tribute to Italian westerns set in Hong Kong. How can you go wrong?