OLIVER K'S TOP 8 BEST ACTION FILMS OF 2023

 This year was a reunion and introduction to many action movies. I WAS planning to watch Fearless Hyena, but decided not to - save it for next year (watching it + the review).

Anyways, the year ends in three days. Here are the best five action movies I have watched this year because ten would be too hard to decide.

Everyone's heard of Die Hard or Bruce Willis or Alan Rickman at least once. This was me for a long time, but then in February of this year after my family finally got a Disney+ subscription, I finally got to watch the movie, and it was amazing.

Full review: Jan 15, 2024 

 

Holy crap. I was missing out. Michelle Yeoh is amazing! The fight choreography is truly amazing and eye-catching like no other 'Girls With Guns' movie. The stunt co-ordination performed by Yeoh and Rothrock is truly epic. Makes you wonder, who choreographed the movie? And what the hell are their secrets?!

Full review - June 24, 2024.

Oh yeah. I love this movie. A LOT. But, it definetly isn't enough to be number 1.

 

First of all - this movie is VERY different from many Jackie Chan movies. This is an action-sport-comedy, not action-kungfu-comedy. This movie didn't do well in cinemas because of that (and probably because Jackie didn't start shooting the movie with a script), but this is an AMAZING movie. Not to mention the chemistry between Cheung wing-fat and Jackie Chan.

Full review - June 3, 2024

 

You call yourself a Jacky Chan fan? You've never watched Drunken Master? Bull-crap. The ultimate Jackie fan has definetly watched Drunken Master. It's good, but they're definetly missing out on DRUNKEN MASTER II.

Full review - February 12 2024

HONORABLE MENTION #3

While you might have to watch this film anywhere else BUT  a plane to feel comfortable, it's still a good flick nonetheless!

Full review  - January 29, 2024 

HONORABLE MENTION #2

The Young Master is one of the greatest 80s Chan films, despite it being his second directing role. I don't even know how to review this one.

The ten minute climatic fight is amazing, and it's just kinda cool to see Chan's character [Dragon] just act like a robot.

The fight choreography is amazing and definetly took many days to come up with.

Also, there is not too much comedy, but when there is, it is subtle and actually funny.

When I first watched the film I thought it was gonna be a boring film, but then I continued it and it was actually amazing.

 I bet that when Chan started directing, it was unusual to let a young man ( 26 year old) direct a film that he stars in and writes. But when you let him take charge, he might make a movie you don't want to end.

 However, Golden Harvest must have not felt like that, because the film was originally 2 hours longer.

Anyways, The Young Master is a great film to watch when you're bored with great choreography, great writing, and great Jackie Chan stunts.

Okay, kids, what have we learned from The Young Master?

A kung fu fighting man is one of the best men you can find.

 

You call yourself a film buff because you watch Willis and Lee and Stallone. But will you ever see them jump from the top floor of a mall to the bottom?

FULL REVIEW - JAN 1 2024

 

AND TEH OFFICIAL BEST ACTION MOVIE OF 2023 THAT I HAVE WATCHED IS:

SUPERCOP!

Supercop is easily the best work in the Police Story series. Jackie Chan and his stunt team went all out on this one. 

Full review - 26 February.

And with that - the 2023 season ends.

See ya Jan 1.

Just kidding.

No, they don't, you dummy. I'm doing a post on the top 8 fight scenes I've watched of 2023, and it's coming out on the 30th.

 

 

 

 

Wheels On Meals: One Knuckle Sandwhich, Please!

 Feliz Navidad, everybody. Sorry for not reviewing a Christmas movie like Die Hard or Police Story, but I'm reviewing every action movie I've ever watched in release date order.

 

Directed by and starring Sammo Kam-Bo Hung

Starring: Jackie Chan

Biao Yuen

Written by: Edward Tang

Johnny Lee

Produced by: Raymond Chow

Release date: August 18, 1984 (Hong Kong)

August 23, 2006 (Australia) 

 Synopsis

Cousins Thomas (Jackie Chan) and David (Biao Yuen), owners of a mobile restaurant, team up with their friend Moby (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung), a bumbling private detective, to save the beautiful Sylvia (Lola Forner), a pickpocket.

Review 

So, Wheels On Meals wasn't my taste at first, but was still a great Chan film.

The first complaint, is that the movie had no outtakes in the Hong Kong version, which I watched, unlike the Japanese version, which aaaaalways gets the better version of the movie. WHY, SBS ON DEMAND??

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's Muck47 from movie-censorship.com's comparison. 

The second complaint, is that there's too much scenes where the boys simp about Sylvia. Sure, she's cute and the plot is about saving her, BUT DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE HALF THE SCENES ABOUT HOW MUCH THOMAS AND DAVID WANT TO BE WITH SLYVIA?! NO, YOU DON'T, EDWARD AND JOHHNY. 

Most of those scenes are to keep the Jackie Chan tradition of making his action films funny as hell. And it worked, but only with the comedy scenes that weren't about Lola. The SBS-subtitled version has some funny jokes in the subtitles, specifically when Thomas tells Moby to climb a tree and then Moby asks.. "Can Elephants Climb Trees?"

The third complaint, is the ending theme song. It's used twice in the film, both with vocals, and might be my least favourite Jackie Chan song. The instrumental is unpleasent (some of the instruments don't go well) and the lyrics are pretty undeniably offtopic to the film from what I can remember. That's what I thought when I first watched the movie. Then I kept on listening to the song and liked it more! But Spartan X is a much better song

But the action parts of the movie (the unbelievable stunts and fights) did very well and were just amazing to watch. The final fight with The Jet might just have been one of the best fights of the 80s. 

Anyways, if you have nothing to do, and you like the three brothers - Jackie, Biao, and Sammo (which are the stars of Hong Kong action movies) then Wheels On Meals is the way to go.

Oh, and yes, there are actually wheels on meals in this movie.

Rating: 8/10 (Comedy, theme song, Benny vs Chan, stunts)

Watch Wheels on Meals on

Cantonese with English Subtitles - https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/wheels-on-meals/1464155203900

Project A: Project Awesome!

 How do you spell, amazing? That line, which was taken from Miramax's 1995 re-release trailer for Project A / Jackie Chan's Project A sums up the whole film and the title. But today we will be reviewing the original version, the one on the UK dvd.

 

Directed, written by and starring Jackie Chan 

Starring: Sammo Kam Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Dick Wei, Mars

Written by: Edward Tang
Produced by: Raymond Chow
Leonard Ho
Edward Tang

Release date: December 23, 1983 (Hong Kong)

August 8, 2007 (Australia)

 

Synopsis

 Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) is a lieutenant in the 19th-century Hong Kong marines. Pirates have been terrorizing local waters, with assistance from the corrupt authorities. Dragon Ma hopes to defeat the evil pirate clan led by Sanpao (Dick Wei), but his plan is short-circuited. Ma then teams with a navy admiral (Hak Suen Lau), a police captain Tzu (Biao Yuen) and a crafty thief (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo) in a new round of high-seas battles with Sanpao and his pirates.

Review

How can't you love Project A? I remember being six years old, bored on the weekends, nothing to do, then SBS On Demand was playing Project A. I never heard of Jackie Chan or his films before so I watched the clock tower stunt and then the rest of the film. Since I didn't know the plot, I didn't care about it. Jackie Chan grasped me and I went on to watch Drunken Master and The Karate Kid. 

 The comedy aspect of the film is the same with Drunken Master. The film has lots of comedy sometimes I wonder if it was promoted as a "Comedy-action" film. But that's okay, because the reason I loved the film was because of how funny it was. Not to mention Jackie, Biao and Sammo's amazing performances, and the fight choreography as well. 

However, what ticked me off about the Hong Kong release of the film (that I watched) has only 5 outtake clips in the credits, unlike the Japanese version, which only has about 3 or 4 clips from the film. One thing I love about Chan's films is the credits. They're the parts I look forward to the most. So it sucked knowing that the credits are took up by a 50 second long freeze frame, seen below.

 Anyways, despite the credits, Project A is an amazing movie to see, with undeniably one of Chan's best stunts, and probably fight scenes with the one in the restaurant.

 Yeah, sure the bar fight is amazing to, but that one was just the cops losing their temper. Everyone in that scene was a protagonist.

 Anyways, Project A is one of my biggest Chan recommendations and I forget how amazing it is until I rewatch it.

Rating: 9/10

Watch Project A on

Chinese with English subtitles (2019) - https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/project-a/1464154179755

 

EraCast Channel! What's next for this blog?

I've decided YouTube is boring. So view my EraCast channel.

Skip the section from 1:57-2:24. Dumb editing mistake I made.

new trailer

 

The Young Master: A Grimace with Every Hit

 

 Directed, written by and starring Jackie Chan

Starring:   Yuen Biao

Fung Fung
Shih Kien

Whang in Shik

Written by: Edward Tang
Lau Tin-chi
Tung Lu

Produced by: Raymond Chow, Leonard Ho

 

Synopsis

A kung-fu fighter (Jackie Chan) is mistaken for a fugitive while searching for his runaway brother.

 Review 

The Young Master is one of the greatest 80s Chan films, despite it being his second directing role. I don't even know how to review this one.

The ten minute climatic fight is amazing, and it's just kinda cool to see Chan's character [Dragon] just act like a robot.

The fight choreography is amazing and definetly took many days to come up with.

Also, there is not too much comedy, but when there is, it is subtle and actually funny.

When I first watched the film I thought it was gonna be a boring film, but then I continued it and it was actually amazing.

 I bet that when Chan started directing, it was unusual to let a young man ( 26 year old) direct a film that he stars in and writes. But when you let him take charge, he might make a movie you don't want to end.

However, Golden Harvest must have not felt like that, because the film was originally 2 hours longer.

Anyways, The Young Master is a great film to watch when you're bored with great choreography, great writing, and great Jackie Chan stunts.

Okay, kids, what have we learned from The Young Master?

A kung fu fighting man is one of the best men you can find.

Watch The Young Master at

Yue Chinese with English subtitles (from 1995) - https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/the-young-master/1464158275762

Rating: 9/10

Drunken Master: Must-See, Must Drink

Happy December, folks! 

Starring: Jackie Chan

Yuen Siu-tien

Jwang-lee Hwang

Director: Yuen Woo-ping

 Written by: Siao Lung

Ng See-yuen
   Produced by: Ng See-yuen

Release date: December 31, 2015 (Australia)

October 1, 1978 (Hong Kong) 

Synopsis:

Wong Fei-Hung (Jackie Chan) stars as the mischievous young son of a martial arts school master who is constantly clowning around when he should be learning kung fu. After his comic antics injure the son of a powerful local man, his father enlists the help of his sadistic uncle to teach his son a little self-discipline. This strange man, who has a reputation for crippling his students, tries to teach Fei-Hung a bizarre style of kung fu.

      

Review

I love this movie.

This movie has everything. A bad main character who turns into a pretty likeable one by the middle of the film, usual bad English 80s dubbing, Jackie Chan and his aerobics, and I love it so much.

No matter what version I watch the film I'll still love it.

Normally, I don't like when action-comedies have TOO MUCH comedy like Jackie Chan's First Strike, and Project A, but I don't like the lack of comedy in Die Hard.

 But I think this one stuck to me because the comedy was actually funny, and there was a lot of it.

I think my brain was programmed to love everything comedy.

The film has a lot of wacky moments, but what were you expecting from a film about fighting drunk?

Rating: 10/10

Watch Drunken Master at the 

 English - www.archive.org/details/TheDrunkenMaster1978