Therefore, no one blames Hark for wanting to mine Dee for franchise potential. Unfortunately, the result is the kind of unfocused, overindulgent mess that saw the shine wear off his reputation in the first place. With Mark Chao taking over the part, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon is a prequel concerning the […]
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Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon
(2013) Tsui Hark struck gold with 2010’s Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, marking a return to form for the Hong Kong director following several lackluster, effects-driven flops. Therefore, no one blames Hark for wanting to mine Dee for franchise potential. Unfortunately, the result is the kind of unfocused, overindulgent mess that […]
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Europa Report
Among the six-member crew are a few recognizable faces who nonetheless disappear into their roles, including Elysium villain Sharlto Copley and Dragon Tattoo trilogy star Michael Nyqvist. Unfortunately, as with the case of so many found-footage films, there’s not much of a story here. It’s all build-up to a final image that leaves audiences asking, […]
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Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection
Yet those were DVDs — and no-frills editions at that — whereas the new Legacy Collection is filled primarily with Blu-rays and loads of extras — about as many as the Boss is Big. Having just reviewed The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon and Game of Death, I won’t rehash those […]
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Flying Fists of Kung Fu / Kickin’ It Shaolin Style
After about the third or fourth film I watched — either 5 Pattern Dragon Claws or 18 Fatal Strikes, I can’t be sure — I noticed how similar the movies were to another. I wasn’t exactly surprised, having digesting so many of these cheap chopsocky efforts over the years, but never in such close proximity. Basically, each […]
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Enter the Dragon: 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition
With this, director Robert Clouse made what is easily Bruce Lee’s finest film (and then proceeded to follow it up with a never-ending string of schlock). While Lee is technically one point of a heroic triangle — with A Nightmare on Elm Street’s John Saxon and blaxploitation icon Jim Kelly being the others — let’s […]
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The Big Boss / Fist of Fury / The Way of the Dragon / Game of Death
The first two, I forever have confused and will continue to confuse with one another. Both are directed by Lo Wei and boast cartoonish credit sequences. But only one includes flying dogs, and that’s The Big Boss (also known as Fists of Fury, plural, to further complicate things). That film has him uncovering a murderous […]
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Dragon
The reason? Science! As a friend put it, Dragon plays like CSI: Kung Fu. I’d add a dash of Rashomon. Set in 1917, it opens with kindly papermaker/family man (Donnie Yen, Ip Man) reluctantly thwarting the robbery of a general store, leaving the two criminals dead. But how, wonders the investigating detective (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Red […]
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Philo Vance Murder Case Collection
Perhaps one reason for the character’s comparative absence among pop culture’s top of mind is that no one actor “owned” the role. In fact, across the six examples in this three-DVD set, not a single actor plays the metrosexual man twice; it’s like a George Lazenby switcheroo each time. Furthermore, two of them are arguably […]
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I Am Bruce Lee
For example:• He was a child star in Hong Kong — the Macaulay Culkin of his day and place.• He was a 1957 cha-cha champion.• In college, he was obsessed with General Hospital.• He was quoted as saying, “My obsession is to make, pardon the expression, the fuckingest action motion picture ever made.” That film […]