Director Ang Lees return to Chinese cinema is an action packed and critically acclaimed epic tale of ancient China.
Direct from the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts cinema comes Shaolin Mantis another fast paced fight fest, from the mighty Shaw Brothers studio. When scholar Wei Fung (David Chiang) is hired by the Emperor to infiltrate a clan of rebellious Ming loyalists, his mission goes adrift when he falls in love the clan leader's granddaughter and his plans are discovered. From legendary director and star Lau Kar Leung (The Spiritual Boxer, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin) Shaolin Mantis is another superlative entry from the never ending showcase of 70s martial arts productions. An absolute must for collectors of classic Shaw Brothers movies. Special Features Audio Commentary by Asian Cinema Expert Frank Djeng Interview with David West
Collection of action films starring martial artist and actor Bruce Lee. In 'The Big Boss' (1971) Lee stars as immigrant worker Cheng Chao-an who takes a job with his cousins in an ice factory and discovers all manner of suspicious activities. When he begins to investigate a series of disappearances - the latest of which has seen his own cousin go missing - he can't help but display his formidable martial arts skills. Taking on one opponent after another, Cheng will not stop until he has fought his way to the truth and the inevitable confrontation with the man known only as The Big Boss (Han Ying Chieh). In 'Fist of Fury' (1972) Lee stars as martial arts student Chen Zhen whose mentor dies in suspicious circumstances. Whilst he is mourning his old friend, members of a rival school arrive and taunt Chen and his friends, who do not react at first. Chen later humiliates his adversaries by beating every single one of them, but this causes bloody repercussions and begins to uncover the real reasons behind his master's death. In 'The Way of the Dragon' (1973) Lee stars as martial arts expert Tang Lung who travels to Rome to protect a family friend's restaurant from a powerful Mafia man. A violent altercation between Tang and the mobster's heavies persuades the gang boss to call for reinforcements, an American martial arts assassin (Chuck Norris), who challenges Tang to a fight to the death within the walls of the Colosseum. In 'Enter the Dragon' (1973) Lee plays the role of a secret agent who is sent to infiltrate a martial arts tournament presided over by a one-handed supervillain. His mission: to destroy the villain's opium-smuggling racket. Finally, in 'Game of Death' (1978) a successful martial artist who refuses to join a crime syndicate has a contract to kill put out with his name on it. The assassination attempt fails but his death is broadcast to the world to throw the criminals off his trail. Unfortunately, the hoods do not believe the stories and make him face a series of adversaries in one-to-one fights to save the life of his girlfriend (Colleen Camp).
The American dream has rarely seemed so far away as in the raw, vérité Take Out, by SEAN BAKER (The Florida Project) and SHIH-CHING TSOU (producer, Tangerine), an immersion in the life of an undocumented Chinese immigrant struggling to get by on the margins of post9/11 New York City. Facing violent retaliation from a loan shark, restaurant deliveryman Ming Ding (CHARLES JANG) has until nightfall to pay back the money he owes, and he encounters both crushing setbacks and moments of unexpected humanity as he races against time to earn enough in tips over the course of a frantic day. From this simple setup, Baker and Tsou fashion a kind of neorealist survival thriller of the everyday, shedding compassionate light on the too often overlooked lives and labor that keep New York running. Product Features New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by directors Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack Audio commentary featuring Baker, Tsou, and actor Charles Jang New interviews with Baker, Tsou, Jang, and actors Wang-Thye Lee and Jeng-Hua Yu Program about the making of the film Deleted scenes Screen test Trailer New English subtitle translation PLUS: An essay by filmmaker and author J. J. Murphy
It's 1937 and China is on the brink of collapse. Nanking is under siege from the Japanese Imperial Army, the streets awash with violence, the civilians desperate. The protective walls of a western church provide the only haven from the vicious battles outside. Here, an American John Miller (Christian Bale) caught in the midst of the chaos, joins a small group trying escape the violence wrought by the Japanese army. Through one act of heroism, this group of disparate refugees fight back, risking their lives for the sake of others and the nation. Inspired by true events, Flowers Of War tells the incredible story of an unlikely group standing up against an unimaginable and overwhelming evil.
Set in modern Rome the only full length feature ever directed by Bruce Lee is a fast-moving Kung Fu story of how a country boy attempts to outsmart big-city gangsters. This digitally re-mastered and restored anamorphic version is now totally uncut after years of censorship with the legendary double nunchaku sequences now re-instated and the full length Colosseum fight between Bruce Lee and karate legend Chuck Norris.
Since the end of their pirate radio station, life has been quiet for the Kurupt FM boys, but everything is about to change. News reaches them that one of their songs has been used on a popular game show in Japan. They've made it! Their music is reaching hundreds of thousands of people! It's finally time for them to enjoy the fame and fortune that they've always known they deserved. Chabuddy G steps excitedly back into his management role as Grindah, Beats, Steves and Decoy begin their journey to international stardom... But is Japan really ready for Kurupt FM?
Ning Tsai-Shen a humble tax collector arrives in a small town to carry out his work. Unsurprisingly no-one is willing to give him shelter for the night so he ends up spending the night in the haunted Lan Ro temple. There he meets Taoist Swordsman Yen Che-Hsia who warns him to stay out of trouble and the beautiful Nieh Hsiao-Tsing with whom he falls in love. Unfortunately Hsiao-Tsing is a ghost bound for all eternity by a hideous tree spirit...
Mr Vampire is a multi -leveled kaleidoscopic action adventure which combines the supernatural elements of black comedy and award-winning action in one of the most successful Hong Kong pictures ever made. Now re-mastered enjoy the physical brilliance of leading-man Chin Siu-ho the stunning art design of Lam Sai-kan and the innovative direction of Ricky Lau. This flamboyant and thoroughly entertaining fable of the Chinese supernatural was so successful it spawned an entire sub-genre
The five heroes pose as gun dealers and acrobats in order to get close enough to exact a deadly revenge upon the criminals responsible for the death of one of their brothers...
In what many enthusiasts consider to be 'the ultimate martial arts movie' Bruce plays the fictional character of Chen Jun a student of legendary real-life martial artist Fok Yun Gap. In an epic tale of national rivalries Lee is a true force of nature as he battles against Japanese Imperialist forces determined to subjugate his people. In the most electrifying performance of his career Bruce Lee demonstrates complete mastery of his art in scene after scene of the most realistic and
The ultimate Bruce Lee collector's box set! Contains: The Big Boss: In an emotive rollercoaster storyline of friendship betrayal revenge and deadly confrontation Bruce Lee plays Cheng a migrant worker who travels to Thailand in search of work but finds and breaks open a drug trafficking ring with his fists of steel. In his quest for justice and revenge Lee is an unstoppable force of nature breaking down wave after wave of opponents with powerful Wing Chun hand combi
In the historically based Kung fu drama Legend of a Fighter director Yuen Woo Ping offers his version of the early life of martial artist Fok Yuen Gap (played by Leung Kar Yan). Set at the beginning of the 20th century, Fok is considered too weak to learn the family Kung fu style. Still, as his father can break eggs by growling, he probably considers most people weak. The teenager forms a bond with his humane Japanese tutor (Kurata Yusuaki), who secretly teaches martial arts. The story builds to a moving climax as 12 years later pupil and now ageing master are forced by honour into a deadly duel. The opening and closing acts are by far the strongest, the plentiful fight scenes being balanced by gentle humour and emotions torn between friendship and duty. Both lead actors are excellent, with Yusuaki being particularly fine as the noble warrior-teacher. The middle, a series of disconnected tableaux in which Fok establishes his stature as a Kung fu expert, goes on much too long to sustain interest. Nevertheless the story of Fok Yuen Gap, a genuine Chinese hero who was also the inspiration for Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (1972), is fine and Woo Ping delivers the one-on-one Kung fu action with the touch of a master.On the DVD: The 1.77:1 image doesn't benefit at all from its anamorphic enhancement, the entire film being presented slightly out of focus so that by the end eyes are likely to be aching. The opening 4:3 Academy ratio archive footage has been distorted to 1.77:1, while the original trailer shows Legend of a Fighter was shot in an extremely wide format--possibly the Hong Kong equivalent of early 2.66:1 CinemaScope, or even 2.74:1 Techniscope--which means that large amounts of the original image are missing. This is very obvious as characters constantly vanish off the sides of the screen or are cropped in half. Additionally, and again compared to the crisp, sharp trailer, colours are washed out, while the mono sound distorts whenever the music gets loud. The film is available in Mandarin with optional English subtitles, or in an awful English dub littered with inappropriate obscene language. There is a nine-minute interview with Leung Kar Yan, and a 23-minute interview with Yuen Woo Ping, which is a slightly longer version of the conversation presented on the Magnificent Butcher DVD: it's notable how he expresses his love of science fiction and indicates he would like to make a SF Kung-fu movie, something he achieved with The Matrix (1999). There is a Hong Kong Legends' promo for the film, together with seven further new trailers. The photo gallery is pointless, simply cropping some shots even further than the main presentation. --Gary S Dalkin
A stash of gold has been hidden in a forest and only six imperial guards know of its location - watch the masters battle it out! A host of Kung Fu stars take to the screen in this martial arts epic!
Sammo Hung plays Courageous Cheung a cuckolded husband who faces a series of supernatural challenges from his wife's wealthy lover. First Cheung must survive a night in a house haunted by a bloodthirsty vampire. From there things just get worse and more comical. For those unfamiliar with the Chinese horror genre the film is a wild ride through the supernatural mythology and folklore of China: hopping corpses supernatural possession by a monkey god the gratuitous sacrifice of a
A party to remember for the rest of their of lives... Ordinary young men and women often dream of the unreachable life of the world's idle rich. Wade Richard Hitomi Holly and Lin certainly do. They have all received an invitation to an exclusive party held by a group of rich & famous people obviously addressed to them by mistake. But all the same they attend. It is the best party ever a wishing game takes place where their deepest desires materialize. But when they find Richard's body brutally killed the wishing game turns into a killing game in which they are the tortured victims and a rich audience the sadistic spectators. To escape from the party and survive is now their only dream.
Evil vs. Good as the outlaw bandits try to destroy the only people able to protect a small village. However the young challengers use their abilities to fight bravely and keep their town from these brutal thieves.
Since bursting onto the martial arts film scene in 1973 Jackie Chan has become one of the world's most popular stars. His movies - in which he acts performs his own stunts for and often directs - have earned millions at the box office. In Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin he plays Hsu Yin Fung a young warrior falsely accused of killing the Shaolin Masters after they developed a new martial arts technique called Snake and Crane at Hua Mountain. After Hsu's fellow warriors ostracize him he tries to clear his name. To do this he receives aid from two women who are in love with him. After one of the brave ladies is killed and the other warriors realize that Hsu wasn't responsible for the murders they join him for a trip to the Shaolin Temple to find Master Tse Kung. And it's there that they find the real killer. In the film's thrilling climax Hsu having secretly mastered the deadly martial arts style of Snake and Crane faces the murderer one-on-one.
A showcase for the most rare and popular form of Kung Fu the Monkey style. The evil Snake Fist Master is searching for Ming Loyalists and only the amazing Monkey Fighters can stop him!
In The Black Sheep Affair special forces agent Yim Dong (Chiu Man Chuk--the brilliant wu shu marital artist star of 1995's The Blade) is transferred to the fictional ex-Soviet Republic of Lavernia, actually Hungary, where the explosive Now You're Dead (1998) was filmed. Soon he has arrested Mishima, played by Hoi Lin who delivers a chilling performance as a ruthless Japanese terrorist who believes he is Christ returned to bring bloody redemption. Before long Mishima's fanatical followers are causing mayhem, while in a bittersweet sub-plot Yim revives his relationship with the girl he loved in Beijing before the 1989 uprising. The comparatively low budget shows occasionally, and even in the Cantonese version all the Lavernians are dreadfully dubbed with American voices, one duplicitous official coming across like a camp Oliver Reed. Against that there is an attempt to offer some political substance, and the action--a mixture of martial arts and gunplay--is fast, furious and stunningly staged, so that even as it goes ludicrously OTT it remains exhilarating. The "shoot-the-hostages" finale reaches an emotional intensity and breaks rules no Hollywood action flick would dare, turning into a John Woo-like slaughterhouse which makes the likes of Die Hard (1988) look tame. On the DVD: The end titles carry the Dolby Digital logo, so why both the Cantonese subtitled and English dubbed versions of a 1998 film are presented in two-channel mono is a mystery. The anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 image is good but not exceptional, and exhibits some clear compression artefacts. The "music promo" is essentially one of Hong Kong Legends' own specially-made trailers, and is accompanied by more trailers for a further five films. The photo gallery is pointless but the text biographies of the two main stars are detailed enough to be interesting. Two minutes of poor quality video show Chiu Man Chuk demonstrating some wu shu moves, while a four-minute interview conducted at the same time via a translator for French television does little more than reveal the star as an amiable chap. Several of the features are also present on the DVD of Chiu Man Chuk's Body Weapon (1999). --Gary S Dalkin
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