Kevin's Watch

Posted: **Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:47 pm**

Any time one of his movies (either Hong Kong or American made) comes on TV, I gotta watch it.
Waiting for his newest movie Dragon Blade coming out to theaters in September.
He is also a big Asian singer (quite popular) who has made several records.
Been watching his movies since about 1978 and loved his mixture of action and comedy.
Used to have a few VHS movies from Golden Harvest Films (Hong Kong) that were sub-titled.
Never understood a word, but could still follow the story and the fight scenes were great.
I could go on about trivia tid-bits and rants, but I won't.
Let's hear from the rest of you folks (good or bad) about Jackie Chan!

Posted: **Wed Jul 08, 2015 7:06 pm**

He's pretty awesome. Who Am I, Forbidden Kingdom, all of it. The guy's amazing.

Posted: **Thu Jul 09, 2015 3:20 pm**

Yea, I gotta say I almost always enjoy his films,
[[didn't always, they/he has grown on me over the years.]]
Not sure any of them would count as great film-making,
but a few come pretty close, and they're almost all a lot of fun.

Posted: **Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:26 pm**

If I recall, the first movie of his I ever saw was Drunk Master II back in 1989 or 1990. I had never seen action filmed like that--it was amazing. We quickly sought out his other stuff, including City Hunter (I am pretty certain that is one of his), Police Story, Armor of God (both of them--I think it was during the filming of Armor of God 2 that he had the accident that nearly killed him and caused him to have to receive the skull plate), and so on.

If you have never seen any of the "Three Dragon" films--Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Biao Yuen--then go find Wheels on Meals. The end fight is Jackie Chan against Benny "The Jet" Urquidez--good stuff.

One of the better fights is on the rooftop in Who Am I. When some guys sizes you up and confidently says "30 seconds" you know that you are in trouble.

Speaking of City Hunter, this movie features both a "conversation" between Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee (via footage from A Game of Death) when Jackie has to fight two really big black guys and characters from Street Fighter II. Jackie Chan as Chun Li for the win! *laugh*

Supercop was the first time I had ever seen Michelle Yeoh.

Incidentally, if you ever watched the old Cannonball Run or Cannonball Run II movies you will see Jackie Chan. His driving partner in CR II was Richard Kiel, whose most famous role was Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.

I liked some of his more recent stuff: Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, Mr. Nice Guy, Strike Force, etc. but I haven't kept up with anything he has done in the last few years.

Still....the history books of martial arts movies will accord him a spot similar to Bruce Lee's. There were martial arts movies before Bruce Lee then martial arts movies after Bruce lee; the two sets are completely different animals. Similarly, there are martial arts movies before Jackie Chan and martial arts movies after Jackie Chan and you can clearly see differences in the two sets.

Posted: **Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:04 am**

Had a rare oppertunity to see the not-released yet film, Dragon Blade.
It is more of a historical/moral movie than an action/comedy.
Still has some good fight scenes with Jackie and John Cusack.
(Adrien Brody plays the villian)
If you are looking for a "typical" Chan flick, this doesn't quite fill the bill.

And yes Hashi, City Hunter is a Jackie Chan movie, although I wasn't really impressed with it very much.
(Much like The Tuxedo and The Medallion.)
But then again, Mr. Chan is not as young as he used to be and toned down a bit in his action sequences.
Still love the guy though.

In my opinion, his better kung-fu movies were with Golden Harvest Films and Raymond Chow Productions.

Posted: **Fri Jul 10, 2015 2:07 pm**

Cheval wrote: In my opinion, his better kung-fu movies were with Golden Harvest Films and Raymond Chow Productions.

True classics from back in the day when people were still learning how to film martial arts movies.

These days "martial arts" movies are all wire-work, CGI, and slow-motion and I think that is really bad for the genre. It was okay for The Matrix--we expected everything to be computer-related for that world, obviously--but things have gone too far over the top and that is causing the genre to lose what should have been its human focus.

Posted: **Fri Jul 10, 2015 2:32 pm**

Hashi Lebwohl wrote: True classics from back in the day when people were still learning how to film martial arts movies.

These days "martial arts" movies are all wire-work, CGI, and slow-motion and I think that is really bad for the genre. It was okay for The Matrix

Agree...there is a coolness/envelope-pushing factor to the wire etc., and I enjoy them.

But the amazing-but-still-conceivably-mortal has a place, too---they're almost different genre at this point, or could/should be.

Posted: **Fri Jul 10, 2015 5:16 pm**

The "hot" forms in films these days are Muay Thai and Silat; the cutting edge films are coming out of Myanmar and Thailand via films like Ong Bak and The Raid. The Chinese-based films are too stylized--do we really need more films featuring Wong Fei-Hung or Ip Man?--but I don't count films like House of Flying Daggers or even Crouching Tiger in this genre--those are art films which just happen to have martial arts in them.

Speaking of Fei-Hung and Ip Man....the stories about their lives are starting to merge, almost to the point where you can hardly tell one from the other. China loves that era, though--the stirring of nationalistic feelings and the beginning of them getting away from British colonial influence are both designed to instill a sense of national pride and identity in the viewing audience (well, among Chinese movie-goers, that is)

In truth, I am wanting to see Dragon Blade--I don't think anyone has done a film from the time period during which Roman influence was at its greatest geographical extent and their empire was a relatively short distance away from China.

Posted: **Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:39 pm**

Jackie Chan & Johnny Knoxville together?
Watch for Skiptrace release this year.
Should be a riot wth those two working together.

Posted: **Sat Oct 10, 2015 12:25 am**

Compared to internet links, Jackie has released 4 films this year!
I don't know if all were released in the US or if some stayed in Asia, but either way, he's been a busy man!

Posted: **Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:30 pm**

Wow... Jackie Chan with John Cusack and Adrian Brody? I'm both tempted and afraid!

I love everything I've seen Jackie Chan in until about 2000... The post millenial movies are hit or miss for me. For instance, The Tuxedo was ridiculous but enjoyable; his team efforts with Chris Rock and Owen Wilson fell flat for me.

But Police Story, Supercop and anything Drunken are absolute gold

Posted: **Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:35 pm**

The Rush Hour movies were better than the Shanghai Noon ones. Didn't I see that a Police Story 4 had come out earlier this year or late last year? *shrug* Truthfully, I haven't watched any new Jackie Chan since...well, probably since Rush Hour 3. It seems that I have abandoned him for about a decade. No, wait--I saw Forbidden Kingdom (not a great movie but decent action sequences in it).

Kevin's Watch

Any Jackie Chan fans out there?

Any Jackie Chan fans out there?