Haven’t looked in a while.

As oldies, Shaolin Soccer is always a fun watch.

  • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝MA
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    4 months ago

    Kung-fu films:

    • Twilight of the Warriors: Walled in (2024) - one of my top films of the year. Just watch it.
    • Ip Man 3 (2015}, Ip Man 4 (2019) and Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018) - far better than late films in a franchise and a spin-off should be.
    • SPL 2 (2015) - the first film has some great seems but the rest of the film isn’t that exciting, the sequel feels a lot more rounded.
    • Kung Fu Killer (2015) - Interesting to see Donnie Yen switching styles to suit the character, this time using more of an MMA technique

    Martial arts:

    • Leo (2023) - heavily inspired by History of Violence if the Cronenberg film started with a man fighting a hyena (for no other reason than to demonstrate that the lead is a badass) and had a musical number in a drugs factory (it’s about how the lead is a badass).
    • Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - straight in as one of my favourite films: it’s funny, weird and has a tonne of heart as well as kick ass fights (thanks to the same team behind Shang-Chi).
    • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - a tonne of promise, this could have been one of the best MCU films but it was spoiled by the CGI slugfest in the final act.
    • Kung Fury (2015) - daft action comedy that is free to watch on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll wait while you go and watch it.
    • Yakuza Apocalypse (2015) - I’m still waiting… OK, this is a comedy horror about a vampire yakuza by Takashi Miike, so your mileage might vary depending on your feelings about his enormous output. I’m a fan and liked it but it might not be the best place to star in his filmography.
    • Tokyo Tribe (2015) - Sion Sono’s rap musical about gang warfare. His films tend to be out there and can be a bit hit and miss for me but this is a hit.
    • The Raid 2 (2014) - the sequel to the classic martial arts movie and it holds up. If you are a fan of the first one, then you’ll probably like this too.