Have you ever wanted to see Bruce Lee battle the likes of James Bond, The Man with No Name and Dracula all in one epic movie. Well folks, you are in luck since the death of Bruce Lee spawned a subgenre of exploitation movies called Bruceploitation and the movie studios just couldn’t stop capitalizing off the fame of Bruce Lee. RIP Bruce, your legend will live on as will these horribly amazing movies. It’s time for The Dragon Lives Again.
Going back into the well for this kung-fu flick from The Rza baby. The Man with the Iron Fists got some big hype, mainly cause it was about time that the Rza made his kung-fu movie he was talking about for so long. Well with a jam packed cast (Russel Crowe and Lucy Lui) this is a movie that appeases the kung-fu fan in me, although there are some short comings in terms of the story, acting and pace of the film. My initial review wasn’t to the highest standard of praise, but I did end up enjoying the hell out of this all out action film. The soundtrack is stellar as well, which is to be expected from The Rza and his crew of musicians. The fight scenes are the stand out here, while some of the acting was wonderfully hammy, there was just something really missing from the cast and the rather convenient script/plot development. Oh well, it’s still a fun movie and you should give it a view.
Below is an excerpt from my original review and a link to the full thing. Enjoy!
There are moments of brilliance though in Iron Fists, namely coming from Russel Crowe and Lucy Liu. Hamming it up at every turn, their characters seem to truly embrace the wicked ways of this movie, reveling in the over the top nature of the movie. Crowe is really my favorite character, a brash poon hound of a man who is a skilled man with a knife. His Jack Knife spends more time between the legs of the fine females of the Tea House, giving us some humorous moments, but not without slicing men in half and being rather handy with a blade. Lucy Liu looks like she was channeling Oren Ishi, which was a welcome sight as well-being a deadly foe in the movie. Madame Blossom commands a bevy of killer ladies, all while smiling and wielding a deadly fan.
After going over Duel to the Death and that amazing ending battle between the two swordsmen, I decided to go back through my Netflix recommendations and past movies I have watched that were martial arts related and discovered a movie that I watched a few years ago. It was a movie that some might think of as forgettable or a one and done sort of movie. I instantly recalled this Chilean martial arts film from 2006 and was rather wowed by what I saw. Kiltro is a gem amongst the roughage of martial arts movies, coming from a country that we don’t even associate with martial arts or action films, that is of course if you are one of those people that consumer South American cinema. I am certainly not that sort of person, but hell, I will give it a shot if there are more flashy movies like Kiltro for the kung fu, martial arts movie enthusiasts.
I have not had the pleasure of reviewing a kung fu, martial arts movie in some time and today folks I bring you utter fucking gold. Duel to the Death is by far an away, an over the top slash fest of amazing proportions in that there is nothing but utter madness taking place in this movie. Let me give a quick rundown on the highlights of this movie: You got two master swordsmen battling one another to see who is the best, ninjas out the ass, kamikaze ninjas, ninjas that turn into voltron, ninjas who take the shape of one large ninja, ninjas who who fucking rain down an ungodly amount of ninja stars and oh yeah, did I mean one of the best sword battles ever. Ninja Ninja Ninja!
Time for a funky time with another blaxploitation flick and we are going to groove to the sounds of fury with Disco Godfather. Rudy fucking Ray Moore is back and kicking all sorts of ass while making sure the tunes are spinning folks. God I love this genre of film!
He learned every trick in the book and then he threw the book away! That trailer solidified my need to see this movie, so I am going to continue my martial arts posts by talking a bit about one of the first martial arts movie to come from Australia, which happens to feature the bad ass Jimmy Wang Yu, who just so happened to be the star of one of my favorite kung fu movies, The Master of the Flying Guillotine. He played the One-Armed Boxer in that movie, so go watch that.
I couldn’t tell you how excited I was when The Man With The Iron Fists was finally getting made. Long has it been teased by first time director, Robert “RZA” Diggs, his dream of making a Kung Fu film could only be a true labor of love. RZA being the myth-maker of The Wu-Tang Clan and collaborator on numerous film projects, all with a Kung Fu lean and most notably with Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, set out to make a throwback to the films that influenced his life. A mix of wuxia, Shaw Brothers Kung Fu films and a penchant for all things beautifully absurd about the films he grew up with, The Man With The Iron Fists is ambitious and grandiose, but there in lies the problem with the film.
Get ready for the reunion tour of a lifetime. Getting the band back together, the ass kicking, taekwondo orphans, mega rock band Dragon Sound, is being resurrected for a brand new audience for some of the best 80s music around. Synth playing, mullet rocking, guitar shredding, pop infectious lyrics will get you jumping out of your seats, right before you are jump kicked back from the stage as Dragon Sound not only rocks the stage, but also rocks the criminal underworld and their “bad” cocaine in the film Miami Connection.
The Son of God never seemed cooler until he started hunting vampires. I am pretty certain that my time in catholic school didn’t cover any of Jesus’ vampire hunting adolescence. I guess they just wanted to from his birth to his crucifixion in one school year, I would have probably done a lot better in religion class if they taught this. All I have to say to this is let the power of Christ IMPALE YOU!
This is a classic. Don’t let anyone ever tell you different about this movie. Take it from a guy who clearly has seen too many movies in his lifetime, Gymkata is one of the finest martial art movies to have graced the screen in a long time. A vehicle for gymnast Kurt Thomas, Gymkata is the deadly showcase of gymnastics inspired martial arts, which you can see displayed in such an awesome manner in the trailer. It’s a movie that cult classic and terrible movie lovers have to see if they haven’t and if they did see it, then they know true peace and balance in their life. Let’s vault over this shit pommel horse and check out the deadliest movie ever, Gymkata!
