Interviewing my brother on Drunken Master

Yes this is a real interview from JAN 4 2024 I just stuttered too many times to show you the audio

O (me):Hello everybody, and welcome back to action movie review Mondays. As you can see, we have got a surprise guest, and who is that? My older brother. Umm.. so today I'm going to ask him some questions about the 1978 Jackie Cla- UGH. Jackie Chan classic "Drunken Master". So-

B (brother): 5 years old.

O: laughs Okay. So who was your favourite character?

 

B: Favourite character, Jackie Chan. (He was talking about Freddy Wong).

O: Really?

B: Yeah.

O: You REALLY just picked the main character?

B: Yeah.

O: Is-is that because you can't memorize anyone else? 

B: Yeah.

O: Okay. What was your favourite part of the movie.

B: Nothing.

O: What?? Be honest. 

B: My favourite part of the movie- wait, what's the story?

O: You don't remember DRUNKEN MASTER?

B: Oh, Drunken Master. My favourite part was when he (Freddy) got arse-whooped and then had character development.

 

O: Yeah. Uh, I wouldn't say that part is the favourite of many people. If there was a Drunken Master IV, would you watch it?

B: No.

O: Why?

B: Because that's a waste of time!

O: Really?!

B: Yeah.

O: But you watched Drunken Master II and I'm pret-

B: Because it was more fun with you. Yeah.

O: Wow. I cannot believe you just said that. So the next question is- Wow, I really need to start thinking these out. Umm-

B: No.

O: What was your first thought watching the fight scenes?

B: My first thought was.. uhh.. "Jackie Chan got arse-whooped!" laughs

O: Who was your least favourite character?

 

B:  My least favourite character was Thunderstorm, or whatever his name was.  

O: Why??

B: Cuz he's flipping annoying!

O: Wow. You cannot be more honest then that. Well, everybody thank you for listening (or reading in this case) to this so-called podcast which is only 1 minute and 50 something seconds. Well, today I'm gonna ask him some more questions about some more movies and we'll see his answers. Don't worry. You'll be hearing him a lot on this blog. Uh, thanks for listening, go get a life & touch some grass. 

 Thank you to Believe for accepting the request

Way of the Dragon: The Best of Bruce

 

  

Directed, written, produced by and starring Bruce Lee

Produced by   
    Raymond Chow

     Starring   
    Nora Miao
    Paul Wei
    Huang Chung-hsin
    Tony Liu
    Unicorn Chan
    Chuck Norris
    Malisa Longo
    Robert Wall
    Hwang In-shik
    Jon T. Benn

Cinematography by Tadashi Nishimoto
Edited by Peter Cheung
Music by  Joseph Koo
Distributed by Golden Harvest

Release date (Australia): October 1974

Synopsis

Tang Lung visits his relatives at their restaurant in Italy and has to help them defend against brutal gangsters harassing them. 

Review 

The Way of the Dragon. Hmmm. Not exactly his most popular, but definetly MY FAVOURITE!

 First of all, you can see this film was supposed to be a comedy. Tan Lung asks to use the bathroom in all the first 3 scenes in the movie after he is asked 'anything you'd like?' and I have no idea why but that is too funny to me.Secondly, the casting choice is amazing. All the young boys in the movie play restaurant workers who practice karate. Their line delivery and everything they say feels realistic and natural. This movie is all Lee. He produced it, wrote it, directed & starred in it all perfectly. His character is brave & heroic and that's why he is my favourite in this movie. Thirdly, the action in the movie is like no other. Forget Enter the Dragon, this is way better then this. This movie was the second to have Lee use nunchucks and he does it perfectly in this movie. The fight scenes are clearly choreographed, especially the one with Chuck Norris. Crazy how a man with only 3 words to say and a LOT of chest hair can be intimidating. Lee vs Norris was basically the 1970s alternative to Jackie vs. Urquidez in "Wheels on Meals", except this is less better. But we aren't talking about Wheels on Meals, we're reviewing Way of The Dragon! This film is the best Bruce Lee film I've watched. It might not be THAT realistic, but it ends goodly and doesn't disappoint.

If you have the time or the money, watch this movie ASAP!!

Edit February 2: while enter the Dragon is better, this comes in a close second

Rating: 10/10

 

 

WATCH

 THE WAY OF THE DRAGON

AT

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/way-of-the-dragon/489513539845

 

Burning Fists, Broken Hearts: A Review of Fist of Fury

 

Directed & written by Lo Wei

Uncredited co-writer: Ni Kuang

Composed by & starring Bruce Lee

Produced by Raymond Chow

Starring
Nora Miao
Riki Hashimoto
Cinematography  Chen Ching-chu
Edited by  Peter Cheung
Music by Joseph Koo
Distributed by Golden Harvest

Release date (Australia): July 1, 1973

Synopsis

 A young man seeks vengence for the death of his teacher.

Review 

All I ever hear action cinema fans talk about is how amazing either how good Lee was in Enter the Dragon or how good he was in this movie - Fist of Fury. And I have to say, they are right.

Bruce Lee plays Cheng Zhen, a Chinese Kung-fu student on a rampage to stop the racism in Japan. He kills many people during the process. One of the reasons I live this movie so much is because of how realistic it is. The Japanese in the 20th century were complete jerks. The world isn't all butterflies and toys. Behind the punches and yelling, there is a lesson behind it. The world should be united and not hating each-other no matter the race. The ending is also the most realistic part of the movie, with the main character dying. The good guy always wins right? Well, no. In this movie he kills & hangs at least 6 people, which is illegal, but it was for a good reason!! He gets shot down by the police which are also very unfair to the Chinese residents. And if you just think about 2020, that's pretty accurate to real life. Why is it a rule that in Hong Kong action cinema, the good guy has something bad happen to him at the end? Drunken Master 2, Fei-hung is blind and mentally stupid. The Young Master, Dragon is in a full-body cast. The Big Boss, Cheng-Chao an gets arrested. Urgh.

But enough the sad parts of this movie, can we talk about the action? This movie was one of the first to use the classic Nunchucks that Bruce Lee would go on to use in The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon & Game of Death. The action is cleanly choreographed, and it might be so fast, but you can see every hit, and it makes you grimace. Mission succeeded! The beginning fight is one of Lee's most iconic fights ever and I see why. Trust me. He beats up about 20 Japanese students all by himself and with little-to-no emotion.

Speaking of emotion, this is a pretty emotional movie, as Lee comes to marry a women but then dies at the end of the movie. This film is one of my highest recommendations, and I guarantee you, you NEED to watch it. 

Rating: 9.5/10

WATCH FIST OF FURY AT 

https://archive.org/details/bruce-lee-fist-of-fury-1972-eng-sub (Cantonese version)

https://archive.org/details/fist-of-fury-bruce-lee-full-movie-in-english-black-belt-movie-night (English dub)

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/fist-of-fury/493677123527 (Original version, Eng subs)

THE WAY OF THE DRAGON review coming soon.

The Big Boss: A Fistful of Reasons to Watch

 This review is the first one to be written in 2024, first written Jan 01.

Directed by 

Lo Wei
Wu Chia Hsiang
Produced by    Raymond Chow

STARRING

Bruce Lee
Maria Yi
James Tien
Han Ying-chieh
Cinematography  Chen Ching-chu
Edited by  Sung Ming
Music by  Wang Fu-ling
Distributed by  Golden Harvest
Release date (Australia): April 1974

 Synopsis

Cheng is a city boy who moves with his cousins to work at a ice factory. He does this with a family promise never to get involved in any fight. However, when members of his family begin disappearing after meeting the management of the factor, the resulting mystery and pressures forces him to break that vow and take on the villainy of the Big Boss.

 

Review 

This movie is unrealistic. Cheng Chao An gets arrested for defeating the Big Boss, police officers are beat up and nothing is done about it, Cheng gets drunk and sees a woman at a dinner as his crush, and one of the Big Boss' men are killed with a saw put in their head. 

Regardless this movie is awesome.

This movie has tons of violence, which is what I was looking for. Sometimes it's really really bloody and violent, but not enough to get it banned in May 1973, but too much to get an M rating.Cheng is a can of whup-butt the whole way through the movie. Thank god he broke the oath he sweared to his mother.  Before watching The Big Boss / Fists of Fury, I would defend Jackie Chan and say he was a million times better then Bruce Lee. And while Chan is still my favourite action star, Lee is amazing too and they both are in their both ways. I highly recommend this movie, no matter which version of it you have. 

Hopefully I get to see more Lo Wei films. I have a way of watching Fist of Fury, Shaolin Wooden Men and Fearless Hyena now!

Rating: 7/10 

 

 Watch the 1983 Cantonese dub of "The Big Boss" at SBS On Demand