I've been on a huge Jackie Chan kick lately and have been rewatching a lot of his movies. I'm not usually into celebrities, in fact most of the time I can't stand them, but I've always admired JC for his craft. Yeah, he's a CCP guy now but I can forgive him for that because it's not like he probably has any choice.
I'm in the US but I softmodded my PS3 and set my region to play the UK Eureka & 88 Films remasters of his old flicks. Great stuff but expensive to import! I haven't seen everything yet so I don't wanna post a top 10 or top 3. Maybe in a couple months after I've caught up.
I read one of his books, My Life In Action, back when I was in military academy. It was really interesting and got me through the experience as well as inspiring my bunkmate to become a lifelong MMA fighter afterwards. I picked up the newer one, Never Grow Up, and also loaded it onto my Kindle. It's pretty good so far but I'm only a couple chapters in.
I'll post some mini reviews as I go through the catalogue. Just got City Hunter in the mail and I've never seen it before.
The Jackie Chan thread
The Jackie Chan thread
Godzilla was an inside job
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BulletMagnet
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Re: The Jackie Chan thread
I know very little of Jackie Chan and his movies, but I'll always have a soft spot for him solely due to how many times I've rewatched That Scene from City Hunter on YouTube. Including a minute ago upon seeing this topic.JBC wrote:Just got City Hunter in the mail and I've never seen it before.
Re: The Jackie Chan thread
I liked his movies as a kid. He was certainly a very capable acrobat and martial artist and its cool to see someone who does his own stunts. I don't feel that interested in watching his old movies as an adult. His goofy humor, especially in the Hollywood produced movies, doesn't appeal to me much anymore.
Re: The Jackie Chan thread
I finally watched City Hunter and I'm sorry guys but this has to be the worst Jackie Chan movie. Cringe from beginning to end with very few redeeming qualities. I don't want to shit on it for three paragraphs so I'll just say the humor doesn't land. Like the ladies, like the sets and outfits. Interesting stick fight at the end but skip it.
Instead here's hot takes from the movies thread I'm reposting for consolidation:
Battle Creek Brawl: underrated American Jackie Chan film from 1980 that takes place in the 30's and features roller derby, street fighting, gangsters, and music by Lalo Schifrin of Mission: Impossible fame who would later go on to score Rush Hour. Really fun
Kung-Fu Yoga - Ridiculous fun. Quite a lot of nonsense and awful awful cgi animals. Some real cheese here but harmless. Great ending that's so bad it's good imo. All movies should end with everybody dancing.
Vanguard - Not a Jackie Chan movie, he's just in it and it's just bad. Very self-serious but unjustifiably so considering some of the outlandish elements. Really forgettable.
Forbidden Kingdom - This movie would be great if not for the cliche premise. It's filmed okay and has great sets, costumes, choreography, and music. Just do away with the target audience stand-in and you've got yourself a fun adventure.
Little Big Soldier - Wow. Great movie. There's something happening in every shot and it offers a dynamism to the whole experience. There's really minimal CGI here that's just used for scenery and some flavor, but animals and things are still real, including a bear and an ox. Very likeable and funny.
Shaolin - Not a Jackie Chan movie, he's just in it. It's very melodramatic but not too bad. Maybe a little too dark and sad for my taste. Good fights happen but the tone is so dour you won't be really enjoying the badassery, just worried for the safety of the elderly and children characters. It's just a bit too heavy and the antagonist's motives are pretty questionable.
Instead here's hot takes from the movies thread I'm reposting for consolidation:
Battle Creek Brawl: underrated American Jackie Chan film from 1980 that takes place in the 30's and features roller derby, street fighting, gangsters, and music by Lalo Schifrin of Mission: Impossible fame who would later go on to score Rush Hour. Really fun
Kung-Fu Yoga - Ridiculous fun. Quite a lot of nonsense and awful awful cgi animals. Some real cheese here but harmless. Great ending that's so bad it's good imo. All movies should end with everybody dancing.
Vanguard - Not a Jackie Chan movie, he's just in it and it's just bad. Very self-serious but unjustifiably so considering some of the outlandish elements. Really forgettable.
Forbidden Kingdom - This movie would be great if not for the cliche premise. It's filmed okay and has great sets, costumes, choreography, and music. Just do away with the target audience stand-in and you've got yourself a fun adventure.
Little Big Soldier - Wow. Great movie. There's something happening in every shot and it offers a dynamism to the whole experience. There's really minimal CGI here that's just used for scenery and some flavor, but animals and things are still real, including a bear and an ox. Very likeable and funny.
Shaolin - Not a Jackie Chan movie, he's just in it. It's very melodramatic but not too bad. Maybe a little too dark and sad for my taste. Good fights happen but the tone is so dour you won't be really enjoying the badassery, just worried for the safety of the elderly and children characters. It's just a bit too heavy and the antagonist's motives are pretty questionable.
Godzilla was an inside job
Re: The Jackie Chan thread
Magnificent Bodyguards - This movie is fucking awesome. Not everything he did with Lo Wei is bad, this was a really fun watch. I hope this ends up on BluRay soon. It's one of the classic chop socky types in ancient China and moves at just the right pace. There's a lot of good humor and chemistry between all the performers. The movie follows the characters on a journey through dangerous territory that always has surprises around the next corner. It's really great, smartly written, and has a satisfying finale. Highly recommended.
To Kill With Intrigue - This movie was filmed well for the time but that's about all I can say in it's favor. The characters are all kind of nasty and unlikable and it's a very melodramatic slog that relies on the viewer's empathy for jerks. Killer Bees sounds cool and their one scene is creepy but Wu-Tang oversold this flick.
Rob-B-Hood - This one was okay but kind of forgettable. Jackie is a lovable thief with two co-stars that were originally intended to be his old pals Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. That didn't pan out and neither did the movie really, but it's not bad. Lots of kinda funny moments and some great stuntwork featuring Jackie leaping down an apartment building using the air conditioning units, a tense scene on a rollercoaster track, and a great fight inside a frozen vault. This movie is a fun distraction and worth a watch.
Rumble In The Bronx - You all know this one is badass. I rewatched it for the first time in like 20 years and it's probably even better than I remembered. I was literally clapping and howling at the end. Oddly more bloody and violent than I remember but not in a bad way. Haha, if you haven't seen it check it out.
To Kill With Intrigue - This movie was filmed well for the time but that's about all I can say in it's favor. The characters are all kind of nasty and unlikable and it's a very melodramatic slog that relies on the viewer's empathy for jerks. Killer Bees sounds cool and their one scene is creepy but Wu-Tang oversold this flick.
Rob-B-Hood - This one was okay but kind of forgettable. Jackie is a lovable thief with two co-stars that were originally intended to be his old pals Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. That didn't pan out and neither did the movie really, but it's not bad. Lots of kinda funny moments and some great stuntwork featuring Jackie leaping down an apartment building using the air conditioning units, a tense scene on a rollercoaster track, and a great fight inside a frozen vault. This movie is a fun distraction and worth a watch.
Rumble In The Bronx - You all know this one is badass. I rewatched it for the first time in like 20 years and it's probably even better than I remembered. I was literally clapping and howling at the end. Oddly more bloody and violent than I remember but not in a bad way. Haha, if you haven't seen it check it out.
Godzilla was an inside job
Re: The Jackie Chan thread
Weird to think of Rumble as nostalgic, when it's so much newer than a lot of his iconic work, haha. I remember a couple scenes, good vibes... fuckin alleyway bottling, oof. Oh yeah, and the woodchipper/reveal ("Bleeeeurgh!"). I always imagined the smell. Due a rewatch, cheers bud.
Only vaguely familiar with Chan outside of Rumble but I'll always rep his final fight with Benny The Jet Urquidez from Wheels on Meals. Most of the film puts me to fuckin sleep tbh, but that scene is legendary. Fuckin Tekken shit goin on. Some live action Bryan Fury vs Lee Chaolan shit Benny looks like he's gonna start wavedashing when the music hits
On that note, esteemed VG fighting influence, with mahfuckin Takashi Nishiyama designing IREM's JP arcade tie-in SPARTAN X, then moving to Capcom and later SNK, working on SF, Garou and KOF. That's amazin! Bruce Lee gets all the tribute characters, but Jackie's the kung fu star closest to the genre's roots.
Only vaguely familiar with Chan outside of Rumble but I'll always rep his final fight with Benny The Jet Urquidez from Wheels on Meals. Most of the film puts me to fuckin sleep tbh, but that scene is legendary. Fuckin Tekken shit goin on. Some live action Bryan Fury vs Lee Chaolan shit Benny looks like he's gonna start wavedashing when the music hits
On that note, esteemed VG fighting influence, with mahfuckin Takashi Nishiyama designing IREM's JP arcade tie-in SPARTAN X, then moving to Capcom and later SNK, working on SF, Garou and KOF. That's amazin! Bruce Lee gets all the tribute characters, but Jackie's the kung fu star closest to the genre's roots.
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
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Re: The Jackie Chan thread
Although the prospect of an Harold Lloyd asian acrobat doing his own thing in cinema didn't really excite me initally, I must say that thanks to boutique label Eureka I could have a taste of these Hong Kong movie classics, and put them into context often thanks to the invaluable Tony Rayns introductions to each movie.JBC wrote:I've been on a huge Jackie Chan kick lately and have been rewatching a lot of his movies. I'm not usually into celebrities, in fact most of the time I can't stand them, but I've always admired JC for his craft. Yeah, he's a CCP guy now but I can forgive him for that because it's not like he probably has any choice.
Of course, my perspective is reversed: it's precisely because he's CCP friendly today that I could reevaluate the intelligence of the man. After a century of humiliation and tatcherism in a British colony, the fact that a renowned star embraced the new asian sovereignity was a very welcome turn of events. In this sense, although he only has a tiny cameo in it, my favorite movie with him in the cast is surely Jiàngúo Dà Yè / The Founding of a Republic.
So far I've only seen Drunken Master, Project A I & II, Wheels on Meals and City Hunter. Of course the late seventies - early eighties output is of another caliber. They're all quite entertaining romps, however, and I wouldn't mind seeing more. I suppose I should really see at least Snake in the Eagle's Shadow.
p.s the Sammo Hung trilogy box was also an interesting viewing, especially Eastern Condors, which should be mandatory stuff for videogame enthusiasts. There's more SFII there than in City Hunter
Re: The Jackie Chan thread
Used to like Jacke Chan a lot, and have seen most of his films. The FC (and PCE, but FC is better) game is a favorite too.
Now that he’s turned into a propaganda puppet of the Chinese communist party I can’t stand him.
Now that he’s turned into a propaganda puppet of the Chinese communist party I can’t stand him.