What is the most recent Shaw Brothers film you've seen?

[Tex Killer]

Martial Arts of Shaolin – I watched the remastered Dragon Dynasty and the difference between this and my old DVD is like night and day! .

Was your old dvd ivl? I have that but not watched it for ages but do not remember it being that bad....

[blue_skies]

Was your old dvd ivl? I have that but not watched it for ages but do not remember it being that bad....

no it was a non celestial remaster previously

[blue_skies]

Continuing my LKL season of movies I watched the follow-up to the 36th Chambers Return to the 36th Chamber. I liked the movie as a whole but it doesn't feel like a fitting follow-up to the original classic. Once you get past some of the annoying comedy it's a pretty good movie but I did feel the kung fu at the end was a little disappointing. It didn't ruin my movie experience or anything like that but really should have been better in my honest opinion.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Continuing my LKL season of movies I watched the follow-up to the 36th Chambers Return to the 36th Chamber. I liked the movie as a whole but it doesn't feel like a fitting follow-up to the original classic. Once you get past some of the annoying comedy it's a pretty good movie but I did feel the kung fu at the end was a little disappointing. It didn't ruin my movie experience or anything like that but really should have been better in my honest opinion.

I'd second that opinion. I enjoyed it but felt that it didn't quite capture the magic of the 1st. Still, there was some cool choreography contained in the movie.

Recently watched Challenge of the Masters. I thought that film was fantastic!!! I especially loved the end which was a great duel depicting various styles of kung fu. Also, I thought it was refreshing that while it is initially steeped in a character's drive for revenge, ultimately he displays a tendency to show mercy when his moment for vengeance is finally achieved.

[blue_skies]

I'd second that opinion. I enjoyed it but felt that it didn't quite capture the magic of the 1st. Still, there was some cool choreography contained in the movie.

Recently watched Challenge of the Masters. I thought that film was fantastic!!! I especially loved the end which was a great duel depicting various styles of kung fu. Also, I thought it was refreshing that while it is initially steeped in a character's drive for revenge, ultimately he displays a tendency to show mercy when his moment for vengeance is finally achieved.

Dude spoiler LOL ! Hopefully that won't spoil the film for me.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Oops! Uh.....my bad. Yeah, you definitely need to find this one, b_s. More of the great Gordon Liu.

[blue_skies]

Oops! Uh.....my bad. Yeah, you definitely need to find this one, b_s. More of the great Gordon Liu.

No worries SD,I already found this one after somebody else on the forum already recommended it in the Shaw Bros section, I just haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Watched Executioners From Shaolin aka Executioners of Death aka Shaolin Executioners last night.

I wasn't as into this one as COTM. I'm not sure why it didn't work for me. The fu wasn't bad but the editing in places was awful. Maybe it was Wang Yu as the son whose mom has him sporting a girl's hairdo or him trying to be funny but failing. Supposedly this film was to have some really fascinating displays of of training techniques but what I saw was nothing to really write home about. Must've dozed through the good ones.

Gordon Liu is in this but briefly. Chen Kuan Tai is a good lead but he has never really impressed me in anything I've seen him in. Granted, he does shine in this, but he never really blows me away.

[Drunken Monk]

Recently watched Challenge of the Masters. I thought that film was fantastic!!! I especially loved the end which was a great duel depicting various styles of kung fu. Also, I thought it was refreshing that while it is initially steeped in a character's drive for revenge, ultimately he displays a tendency to show mercy when his moment for vengeance is finally achieved.

I bought this recently and haven't watch it since I had the old Pan Media bootleg. I've completely forgotten what it's even about!

You've given me the push I needed to throw it in the DVD player and give it a proper re-watch.

[blue_skies]

I watched Woman Avenger and while some of the editing/cutting mid-movie, particularly throwing the early part of the movie really took me out of the action. The film got better as it progressed and whoever the leading lady was was very good! Sorry I forgot her name, I did do a search on Hong Kong Cinemagic and she does seem to have a limited amount of movie credits, which is a shame. I really enjoyed this film!

Earlier I also watched another movie continuing my Lau Kar Leung season and I feel kind of bad saying this, in the light of the great masters sad passing. However I watched Legendary Weapons of China for the first time, having tried to watch the movie several times previous to this and found it not to be the classic Shaw Bros movie as I garnered from comments on this forum. Instead I have to say it's probably the worst LKL movie I have seen to date. I really disliked the story, didn't like the whole "black magic" crap and even seeing LKL facing off against his brother in the finale, after 90 min of rubbish didn't make up for all the time spent. Any great choreography was ruined by being under cranked to ridiculous levels but to be fair in my honest opinion, even if it had been the most fantastic finale… The rest of the movie was absolute crap. LKL is an absolute legend but this movie is dire. I can't believe anybody recommended this as one of the best Shaw Bros movies.

got a great deal on Mr. Vampire and Kung Fu Hustle over the weekend, couldnt get through either movie, think its time to give fu a break, still want to see the new Ip Man movies, well see if I ever see them.

I couldn't comment on Mr vampire but I also tried to watch Kung Fu Hustle(a while back) and really found it dire(and also didn't finish the movie). Maybe you need a break from kung fu movies, yet you need to remember that not all "classics" are truly classics!

[Tex Killer]

Earlier I also watched another movie continuing my Lau Kar Leung season and I feel kind of bad saying this, in the light of the great masters sad passing. However I watched Legendary Weapons of China for the first time, having tried to watch the movie several times previous to this and found it not to be the classic Shaw Bros movie as I garnered from comments on this forum. Instead I have to say it's probably the worst LKL movie I have seen to date. I really disliked the story, didn't like the whole "black magic" crap and even seeing LKL facing off against his brother in the finale, after 90 min of rubbish didn't make up for all the time spent. Any great choreography was ruined by being under cranked to ridiculous levels but to be fair in my honest opinion, even if it had been the most fantastic finale… The rest of the movie was absolute crap. LKL is an absolute legend but this movie is dire. I can't believe anybody recommended this as one of the best Shaw Bros movies.

I`m with you on "legendary weapons". It´s garbage, to say directly. It could have been great though if keep movie serious, no black magic or woman disguised as man. Or no slapstick. Movie actually did not benefict from appearance of Fu Sheng.

Kung Fu hustle though, I had great fun while watching it:bigsmile:, I would not call it martial arts movie though.

I have woman avenger you mentioned on vengeance video, try to watch it soon.

[peringaten]

As a film took a while for Legendary weapons to grow on me what with the chasmically wide mix of straight serious & silly; kung is top notch though.

[agentzuk]

Just got The Dragon Missle (IVL) - wow what an ending! Lo Lieh plays a real bastard. Loved it

[wongfeihung62]

COME DRINK WITH ME - With the Bey Logan and Cheng Pei Pei commentary on.

[kungfusamurai]

36th Chamber of Shaolin. They played it on the big screen a few months ago, it was awesome!

[ShaOW!linDude]

Okay, after a late night attempt Friday, I finally got through 5 Shaolin Masters last night. Friday I was pretty whipped. Having 2 days to catch up on my rest, I was still fighting the Zzzz Monster while watching this.I perked up a bit at the training sequences and end fights but even then I was zoning out.

The film has a top notch cast and is a smorgasbord of throwdowns, but honestly, I found the choreography to be a bit slow and commonplace. Still, I'll hang on to it for a while and watch it again in future, like as soon as I wake up one morning.

[blue_skies]

Executioners From Shaolin – a good film that I enjoyed the story, some decent kung fu and unfortunately only a very short cameo for Lau Kar Leung.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Last one I Caught was "the Vengeful Beauty", which, considering how often I would go to the Great Star in SF Chinatown, I never saw before, and did not even know existed. I had seen the other two Flying Guillotine movies at the time, so it was odd, looking back, that I missed it. Ho Meng Hua knew how to make an exploitation movie. The DVD is great, well restored with beautiful color throughout.

[DrNgor]

Avenging Eagle - Watched this for the first time in about 6 years. The action is even better than I remember it being and I liked how each of the Eagles wielded a different weapon, as opposed to this movie's remake, which had each Eagle wield the same meat cleaver/dadao weapon. The finale is classic stuff. This time around I noticed that most of the plot and characterization occurs during the flashback sequences, since most of the present-day scenes are just about killing the bad guys.

[QueMuchita]

i finally got around to watching Killer Clans, I've owned this movie for a long time, in fact I own two copies of it and only the other night got around to seeing it. I thought it was great and a lot better than I expected considering I had not heard that many great things about it.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

14 Amazons and Killer Constable. Killer Constable was good, 15 Amazons, not so much.

[DrNgor]

Shaolin Intruders - They should just rename this "Awesome Fight Scenes: The Movie." Probably the best work I've seen from Tong Gaai and his 80s crew (Yuen Bun, Yuen Wah, etc.).

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Just watched the Magnificent Swordsman- Did a review-

Magnificent Swordsman

1968 DIR Griffin Yueh Feng & Cheng Gong

80 min.

Magnificent Swordsman is obviously influenced by Japanese Chanbara films, whether Kurosawa or Zatoichi is a matter of opinion. One thing it has in common with Japanese films that were popular at the time is having a rather ugly star, Wong Chung Sun, (mostly recognized in the west as the treacherous uncle in Way of the Dragon, or the Cook/Japanese Spy in Fist of Fury.) as the leading man. Many Japanese films had stars such as Katsu and Wayakama (brothers, actually) who were pretty repellant by today’s standards, yet prowled the screen as manly men, irresistible to women, and extremely strong, despite basically a pear shape. Of course, there was a time when men were judged more on success or ability then appearance, so maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. Wong’s Jiang even carries a sword cane, like Zatoichi.

Wong made a career of playing heavies. Tall and rangy, he was fairly intimidating. This was one of the rare occasions that he played the good guy, like Tung Li’s turn in the Black Tavern. Sadly, the Magnificent Swordsman is no Black Tavern. Having two directors, you can tell there is a different pace in some of the scenes, as well as the meandering beginning. One of the things the film lack is an interesting villain. Black Tavern had Ku Feng, while this movie has Cheng Miu, who isn’t particularly threatening, even when he twirls his chain. Tien Feng appears late in the film as a hired assassin, but it is a little late. Top billing in the movie actually goes to Shu Pei Pei, as the damsel in distress. Considering she is the star, she actually has little to do. She doesn’t know martial arts and mostly runs around crying throughout the movie. Tien Fang comes in at the last 20 minutes to liven things up.

The Climax is well done, however, as Wong uses the landscape to offset the odds, docking and dodging through various structures and even some logs to overcome the bandits. This is one of the most obviously Japanese influenced Shaw Wu Xia movies I have seen. There is only one or two scenes of wire work, and that is a jump a top a roof at the end. The music seems to have been gleaned from Zatoichi as well as the ending.

Still, worth catching as a curiosity if only to see Wong play against type. I call it a do the chore or treadmill movie. Stuck at the gym for some dull cardio on the elliptical, fire this one up on Youtube and watch!

[Cold Bishop]

I agree that this is mostly a minor film, distinguished precisely by its borrowing from Chambara films (and less so, Spaghetti Westerns), which is more overt than you usually see. It's ultimately a footnote to both Cheng Kang and Yueh Feng, who would both go on to bigger and better things (and in Yueh Feng's case, had already done so). (see: Twelve Gold Medallions, Bells of Death)

Just got through the Black Enforcer, but I was underwhelmed. Just not a very well made movie, terrible continuity. Looked like one of those movies Shaw brothers would through together on the side, while making a bigger, better movie. Tany Ching looked like he was hung over. Anyway, only for completest.

This, however, I vehemently disagree with. This was easily the best film I've seen from Ho Meng-Hua. Undoubtedly rough around the edges: the film took something like three years to make, with part of the cast replaced (I'm pretty certain that the character betrayed in the opening is suppose to the same character as the completely different actor who attacks the kids later). But the thing is fantastically shot: Ho Meng-Hua could always frame his films impeccably, but he rarely had the visuals complemented by such a lean, stripped-down story.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

I think reviews are pretty subjective. I don't consider mine to be objective, but the fights with Tung Li, on both occasions were let downs, to ME, and the story seemed to drag. There were glimmers here and there, for me, but day and night shifts within minutes in more than one scene were just distracting, as well as I said, Tang looked beat in his scenes. But that's only my opinion, so don't sweat it. Right now my wife is binge watching Divinci's demons, so I am suffering enough.