Tag: kung fu

Geekscape 529: Talking Disney+ And Writing With Chris Mancini!

by Jonathan

Longtime Geekscape friend Chris Mancini of the Comedy Film Nerds returns to Geekscape to talk about his new graphic novel project ‘Rise of the Kung Fu Dragon Master’ and how you can be involved! Along the way, we espouse our love for artist Fernando Pinto, break down Disney+, The Mandalorian and all of its offerings and talk about writing! Chris is actively navigating the shifting landscape of creator owned, original content and it’s always interesting to talk to him about the best ways to write a book proposal, approaches on outlining your scripts and distribution methods. He’s so busy, in fact, that the weekly Comedy Film Nerds podcast and Comedy Film Nerds as you know it is coming to a close with a big live event on December 12th that we’ll be a part of! The world is changing, Geekscapists, but we can always rely on friends like Chris for an insightful and entertaining episode! Enjoy!

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Film Lovers Rejoice! ‘Kung Pow 2’ Is Moving Forward!

by Josh Jackson

Once every generation, a film will come along that’s so revolutionary, that it changes the way we view cinema. From Citizen Kane to The Godfather, Rocky to Forest Gump. But all of these surefire classics pale in comparison to Kung Pow: Enter The Fist. A film that was obviously far ahead of its time based on the unjust reviews of 2002, Steve Oedekerk’s overdub of the 1976 kung fu movie, Tiger and Crane Fists, film has since reached cult status across the Internet.

The only real flaw with this unforgettable movie going experience was that it teased a sequel that never came. Due to its initial negative reception, and Oedekerk’s shift in focus towards fully embracing his love of farm animals with Nickelodeon’s Barnyard, it was assumed that Kung Pow would live on in legend alone.

That is until Dragonfest in Burbank, California, where The Chosen One himself announced that he was indeed moving forward with Kung Pow 2, 13 years after he graced us with the original. Details outside of this confirmation that it’s still a thing have yet to surface, but we’re just excited to know that we’re going to get more of the poorly dubbed, awkwardly shrieking, one boobed brilliance that we fell in love with for some reason.

What’s your reaction to this Kung Pow revival? Will we see the likes of Ling, Master Betty and Wimp Lo join The Chosen One? Let us know what you want to see below, and check back as more information becomes available!

Source: worldfilmgeek.wordpress.com

 

Hey, New York: Subway Cinema & Anthology Archives Will Unleash Ninjas at OLD SCHOOL KUNG FU FEST 2015!

by Eric Francisco

Do you walk the streets of New York past coffee bars, vegan bakeries and craft beer pubs while thinking to yourself, “This city needs more ninjas”? You’re in luck. Subway Cinema, the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to the celebration and exhibition of Asian pop cinema, has just announced the full program of this year’s Old School Kung-Fu Fest with a deadly theme: NINJAS.

From April 16 to April 19 at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City, you can check out a slew of old school ninja movies from the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s! Best of all, most of the films will be screened in beautiful 35mm prints!

Old School Kung Fu Fest 2015 - Teaser Poster by Jerry Ma

From the press release:

New York, NY, March 24, 2015 – The Old School Kung Fu Fest, a four-day celebration of the rarest, wildest, and most incredible martial arts and action cinema from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s is back at the Anthology Film Archives for its 5th edition, which is dedicated to the deadliest fighter of them all…the ninja!

 

Since the dawn of time, man’s natural predator has been the ninja. Hiding in your shower, crouching behind your laptop, clinging to your back — the ninja is everywhere. What killed the dinosaurs? Ninja. What battles great white shark? Ninja. Who is buying flowers for your mom? Probably ninja. But ninja is not vampire! Ninja can be filmed! This year’s Old School Kung Fu Fest examines this crazy natural phenomena of ninja with 14 movies that show you this sneaky fighter in the only place where he cannot shoot throwing stars into your eyes: on the movie screen!

 

There are serious black-and-white ninjas in the original ninja films Shinobi No MonoParts 1 & 2 (1962 and 1963), super-noir ninjas in 1965’s Samurai Spy, party-colored crazy ninjas from the go-go 80s likeAmerican Ninja 1 & 2 and then be entered, revenged, and dominated by Cannon’s essential ninja trilogy: Enter the Ninja,Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III: The Domination. Watch brave Chinese people fight ninjas with their guts in Shaw Brothers movies like Five Element Ninjas! See ninjas fly on kites in Duel to the Death! You must see all the ninjas! Because to fight ninja, first you must understand ninja.

Forgive my French, but this is so fucking awesome. I am so there, so if any New York Geekscapists want to check this out with me, reach out to me on Twitter or on our Facebook.

You can check out the entire program here, but I’ve highlighted a few select choices below.

Enter the Ninja 002

ENTER THE NINJA (1981, USA, 100min, 35mm) Directed by Menahem Golan

Starring: Franco Nero, Susan George, Sho Kosugi, Christopher George.

This landmark Cannon Films production launched the ninja craze of the ‘80s and revitalized the martial arts film in America after it died in 1973 with Bruce Lee. When 20th Century Fox announced they were shooting a $20 million adaptation of best-selling novel, The Ninja, Cannon flipped out and bought their very own ninja script from martial artist Mike Stone and rushed this movie into production. Starring Frano Nero (the original Django) as a white ninja with a thick Maurizio Merli mustache, it’s shot in the Philippines where Nero helps an old buddy (and his old buddy’s hot girlfriend, Susan “Straw Dogs” George) take on evil real estate developer, Mr. Venarius (Christopher George). Only a ninja can defeat a ninja, so the bad guys hire Sho Kosugi, who got his start as an extra on this film before his martial arts abilities earned him the role of the evil ninja. Showtimes: Thu, April 16 at 6:15pm.

Revenge of the Ninja 001

REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983, USA, 90min, Digital projection) Directed by Sam Firstenberg

Starring: Sho Kosugi, Keith Vitali, Virgil Frye.

Cannon followed the box office success of Enter the Ninja with Revenge of the Ninja, the first American movie to give an Asian actor sole star billing (even Bruce Lee had to share billing with his co-stars in Enter the Dragon). Sho Kosugi (a ninja!) returns home from an afternoon stroll to find his family massacred by evil ninjas. With his mother and infant son in tow he flees Japan for Los Angeles, vowing to forsake the ninja life forever. With the help of his friend and business partner, Keith Vitali (a karate legend who fought onscreen in several 80s Hong Kong movies), he opens an art gallery, specializing in fancy Japanese dolls. What Sho doesn’t know is that his friend is actually an evil ninja who wears a silver demon mask and is smuggling heroin into the country inside the dolls! Sho is just trying to raise his ninja son (played by his real-life son, Kane Kosugi), but now he has to deal with a grindhouse full of dead bodies, fountains of blood, cheap 80s sex scenes, mafia stereotypes, and dueling ninjas!

Showtimes: Fri, April 17 at 6:00pm.

FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS, aka CHINESE SUPER NINJAS五遁忍術 (1982, Hong Kong, 103 minutes, 35mm, in Mandarin with English subtitles) Directed by Chang Cheh

Starring: Ricky Cheng Tien Chi, Lo Meng, Lung Tien-chiang

In the 80s, Shaw Brothers was losing audiences to TV, so it unleashed Chang Cheh (The One-Armed Swordsman, Five Deadly Venoms) to direct his most insane movie ever. A Chinese martial arts clan is fighting everyone and winning but then they fight ninjas. Ninjas who know Five Element Formation! So secret! So deadly! The only survivor learns that in order to beat ninja…he must become ninja! Ninja fights using Gold Powers, Wood Powers, Water Powers, Earth Powers, Fire Powers! Chinese martial artist fights using Hitting Ninjas in Face Power! Trees bleed. Crotches are stabbed. Guts are extracted. Every second of this movie is high-octane man-against-ninja action and it does not end until every inch of the screen is covered in dead ninja. Screening will be introduced by Dan Halsted, who will tell the story of how he unearthed a massive collection of extremely rare 35mm kung fu films in 2009, which included the print of Five Element Ninjas.  Showtimes: Sat, April 18 at 5:00pm.

Presented with the Hong Kong the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

SEVENTEEN NINJA (1963, Japan, 98min, 35mm, in Japanese with live English subtitles) Directed by Yasuto Hasegawa

Cast: Kotaro Satomi, Jushiro Konoe, Yuriko Mishima, Ryutaro Otomo.

Toei’s star-studded response to Daiei’s hugely successful 1960s franchise, Shinobi No Mono, this nocturnal, cynical game of chess between two master manipulators is an amazing and underseen ninja movie that we’re presenting with live subtitles since no English-subtitled version exists. As the ruling Shogun lies on his death futon, seventeen Iga clan ninja are trusted by theirmaster with an impossible mission: to infiltrate the impregnable fortress where his youngest son plans to take both Edo Castle and the supreme power by force. They have two options: to steal the scroll that will grant legitimacy to the usurper’s claim, or to assassinate him. Before they can even reach the stronghold, a vicious ninja hunter thwarts their every move. As the Iga ninja fall, the success of the mission falls in the hands of one young and inexperienced ninja. Showtimes: Sun, April 19 at 1:00pm.   

Note: Seventeen Ninja is a super hardcore rarity that very, very few human beings have watched!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (1990, USA/Hong Kong, 93min, 35mm) Directed by Steve Barron

Starring: Judith Hoag, Corey Feldman, Elias Koteas, Sam Rockwell

For years Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael have lived deep in the sewers of New York, learning the art of ninjitsu from their mentor, Splinter… ok, we all know the story by now about our favorite pizza-eating humanoid turtles, but the best way to forget about Michael Bay’s lazy and tedious franchise reboot is to come appreciate the first, and still the best, version. Produced by Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest studios (home of Jackie Chan), with the Turtles lovingly brought to life by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, edited by Sally Menke (the editor of every single Quentin Tarantino movie before her untimely death in 2010), and with a theme song by MC Hammer, it’s lean, green, and on the big screen – a CGI-free dose of ninja turtle power! Showtimes: Sun, April 19 at 3:15pm.

There are loads of history to be experienced in the full program, but I highlighted some that I’ll fight tooth and nail to attend. Yes, even Ninja Turtles, which has more merit than one would assume.

I’m so excited, and I am all about Subway Cinema. To celebrate bizarre cinema is my Kool-Aid, and I jumped for joy when this came in my email. From Sho Kosugi to Five Element Ninjas, a staple amongst my cousins and I growing up, I can’t wait for the festival to start. I’ll see you there. Ninja wanisu! [vanishes in thin air, reappears right in front of a moving truck]

White Man Can’t Kick: The Top 10 White Dudes in Martial Arts Stories

by Joe Starr

As long as there have been stories, there have been white people out to prove that they are better at doing whatever it is the people in those stories are doing. And as long as there have been white people that love martial arts, there have been white dudes hanging around the Asian dudes in martial arts stories. Sometimes they’re the hero. Sometimes they’re not. Sometimes they’re awesome at martial arts. Sometimes they’ve got no kung fu at all. And sometimes they’re white, but Hollywood wants you to think that they’re not because no one wanted to hire a Chinese guy for their Chinese guy story.

Here are the best, worst, and most memorable white dudes that the world of fictional martial arts has to offer.

Glacier (WCW)

Pro Wrestling has a long tradition of trying to pinpoint things that are cool in pop culture and incorporating them into the squared circle. Like when Robocop rescued Sting in WCW, or when the WWF pushed wearing leather fanny packs into the main event scene. In the late 90’s, WCW decided that the best way to keep winning the Monday Night Wars was to borrow heavily from the hit video game Mortal Kombat and debuted GLACIER, because nothing screams ‘future of the business’ like a guy in a Sub Zero costume doing sidekicks in the middle of Rupp Arena. WCW spent millions on this white ninja’s entrance, which included laser lights and and synthetic snow. Glacier makes the list because he is the ultimate worst example of white guy Martial Arts: a bunch of white southern guys with no real reference to what makes martial arts great outside of ‘my kid likes this immortal combat game’ trying to create a live action martial arts epic in Hulk Hogan’s backyard. It went GREAT.

Ninja Master Gordon (Cobra vs. Ninja)

The tale of actor Richard Harrison is an interesting one: he was known for his B movie spaghetti westerns when he signed on to do a ninja movie with director Godfrey Ho to cash in on the late 80’s ninja craze, AKA my defining years. Without his knowledge, his scenes were cut up and placed into more than a dozen terrible martial art movies like Cobra vs. Ninja and Ninja Avengers, all billing him as the star. In the IMDB age, I now know of the tragic scam that killed Harrison’s career. But when I was a kid, I only knew him as Ninja Master Gordon, the dude in the bad ass ninja costume that said ‘ninja’ on it that once visited a place called The Unicorn Village.

Billy and Jimmy Lee (Double Dragon)

Talk about handing everything kids in the late’s 80’s/early 90’s loved on a roundhouse kicking platter: punching dudes in the woods, sleeveless vests, and sweet double team moves. Double Dragon was total wish fulfillment for 10 year old boys: if a guy showed up with a weapon you didn’t own, you got to beat the crap out of him and steal it. If you beat the game in co-op mode, Billy and Jimmy fought each other to see who got to bang the chick they just rescued: just like most things involving ten year olds, the game devolves into an argument over who gets to play with the Turtle Blimp.

Also, if you can score 50,000 in Double Dragon, Fred Savage is going to think you’re a pretty big deal.

Roper (Enter the Dragon)

Unlike a lot of white dudes on this list, Roper got to pal around with Bruce Lee. He’s also a fun turncoat character, being tempted with a role in a massive drug trade, as opposed to just being a dude with no sleeves on his vest that’s like ‘you kidnapped my girlfriend! NUNCHUCKS!’ He chooses the Bruce Lee path and the two take an awesome stand in one of the best third act sequences in a martial arts film.

White guys can’t kick, but they can give the best damn thumbs up on the planet. MURICA!

Haggar (Final Fight)

I’ll let Wikipedia’s explanation speak for itself, because I can’t write anything nearly as good:

Chronologically set during the time of the original Street Fighter, Final Fight is set in the fictional American metropolis of Metro City, based on New York City. A former professional wrestler named Mike Haggar is elected as the new Mayor of the city, promising to handle the city’s criminal problem in his campaign. The Mad Gear gang, the dominant criminal organization of the city, plots to bring Haggar under their control by kidnapping his daughter Jessica and using her as leverage against him. Enlisting the help of Cody, Jessica’s boyfriend and an experienced brawler himself, as well as Cody’s sparring partner, a ninja named Guy, Haggar opts to fight the gang instead in order to save his daughter.

Look at this guy’s resume. Haggar may not be the most popular guy on the list but he’s the most accomplished. A pro wrestling champion turned POTUS turned shirtless vigilante? He’s Brock Lesner, Barack Obama, and Batman rolled into one guy. You kids work as hard as Haggar and you can eat all the hamhocks you can find.

Kwai Chang Kaine (Kung Fu)

White people love kung fu but they haven’t always loved Chinese people. The solution? Get David Carradine to kind of squint a little. Carradine was able to spin an entire career out of being the white guy in Martial Arts films. It’s not because he’s particularly good at kung fu. It’s because part of what white people love about martial arts is the mysticism, and what Dave lacked in being Chinese he more than made up for with beads, feathers, and fringy handmade jackets with dream catchers sewn into the collars. Also, a mysterious ninja death cult staged his death to look like he had died jerking off while strangling himself. MYSTICISM.

Joe Armstrong (American Ninja)

Does anyone even remember the origin story for Joe Armstrong? I sure as hell don’t. I know he’s a ninja and he’s in the army and do we really need to know anything else? Joe Armstrong makes the list for single handedly carrying video rental chains through the 80’s. A ninja concerned with the success of small business? HOW AMERICAN.

Ken Masters (Street Fighter)

The ultimate white guy in martial arts video games: Ken Masters is the standard bearer. He’s a white guy that grew up with and trained in martial arts with a Japanese guy and they were like brothers and then the white guy became a Hollywood star but he never forgot his roots and when his Japanese brother needed him he tore the sleeves right off his gi and brought his hadukens to the party. Johnny Cage fan? GTFO.

Remember the Chun Li shower scene in this movie? Remember your buddy that was convinced you could buy an x rated version at the flea market?

Danny Rand (Invincible Iron Fist)

Danny Rand is amazing. He’s like Batman, but he’s not an unlikable prick. And instead of all that crap about needing a symbol, he was just like ‘eh, the kung fu is enough.’ Also, whereas Batman was like ‘ughhh my parents are deeeeead’ Iron Fist punched an ancient and powerful dragon in the heart.

I love Iron Fist. He’s my favorite Marvel super hero. If you haven’t read Brubaker and Fraction’s run of Iron Fist with David Aja, you should, because it’s pretty much perfect. It’s a fantastic mix of martial arts, Kung Fu mysticism, steampunk, Shaft, and dragons. In fact, it should be #1 on this list. #1 only has a few edges over it, and the big one is this: at the end of the day, Iron Fist is a prime example of ‘the white guy is best at it.’ It’s a testament to how good a read Invincible Iron First was that you can ignore it, but it’s kind of hard to ignore when comparing him to…

Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China)

Big Trouble in Little China is the perfect ‘white guy involved with Asian stuff’ movie. Jack is cocky, arrogant, handsome, occasionally lucky, and otherwise worthless. He’s a truck driver. He’s got no connection to the mystic Chinese martial arts underworld: he just wants to help his Chinese buddy Wang out and hopefully get his truck back. Plus, let Wang die? Not when the guy owes him nothing or double.

Jack doesn’t suddenly become better at the Chinese at what they do. Aside from one amazingly lucky moment (it’s all in the reflexes), he’s completely worthless. And yet, he manages to be a hero out of sheer awesomeness and bravery, or stubbornness and being an idiot, if you’d prefer. Like Iron Fist, Big Trouble is a ridiculous tale of Chinese mysticism in the Western World, but instead of the heir of a billion dollar corporation trained since birth to be King of the Chinese Guys, it’s a story that spotlights a typical blue collar American with a mullet that suddenly has to deal with the implications of an ancient Chinese gang war. He is as awed by his good friend Wang Chi’s martial prowess and of Egg Chen’s sorcery as we are, and instead of a sudden mastery of another culture’s skill, only three things get him out alive: luck, crackerjack timing, and a six demon bag. It’s by doing his best to help the martial arts masters, not becoming one, that he and Wang Chi are able to beat the bad guys, and really shake the pillars of heaven.

Red Band Trailer For ‘The Man With The Iron Fists’

by Shawn Madden

Thanks to IGN we have the bed band trailer for ‘The Man With The Iron Fists’ an upcoming action martial arts film directed by RZA and written by RZA and Eli Roth. The film stars Russell Crowe, RZA, Dave Batista, Byron Mann, Rick Yune, Pam Grier and Lucy Liu.

Check Out The First Poster From RZA’s ‘The Man With The Iron Fists’

by Shawn Madden

‘The Man With The Iron Fists’ is an upcoming action martial arts film directed by RZA and starring Russell Crowe, RZA, Dave Batista, Byron Mann, Rick Yune, Pam Grier and Lucy Liu. The movie was written by RZA and Eli Roth and presented by Quentin Tarantino.

In feudal China, a blacksmith who makes weapons for a small village is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers.

With the trailer set to drop in two days we have the first official poster.

Source: Screen Rant

Geekscape’s Before First Class: What if a Thunderbolts Movie Had Been Made in the 70’s?!

by Joe Starr

With an announced sequel to X Men: First Class, and the rumors of a rebooted 1960’s Fantastic Four, retro Marvel is officially IN. This has led Geekscape to wonder: what if different Marvel franchises had actually been released in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s?

Or, maybe you think it’s stupid to cast a Marvel movie in a different decade, justify the lineup, and pitch a plot. Well, that’s why we at Geekscape consider ourselves to be heroes, in a way. We waste our time doing the stupid things the world is afraid to do. Last time, we shook the 90’s to their very core with a 1994 X Men film. And then people dared to believe that John Ritter had no place in an 80’s Avengers movie! Now it’s time to annoy the internet with the power of the 70’s!

The Pitch: The superheroes are all dead. In the distant future of 2009, masked vigilantes have been outlawed, and the government has tasked Norman Osborn, formerly the psychotic criminal Green Goblin, to lead a wetworks team of villains to track them down in exchange for full pardons. Only a few remain…Will the Thunderbolts silence these heroic outlaws, or can Power Man, Iron Fist, and Misty Knight make the nation believe in heroes once more?!

Justice…like 70’s grindhouse lightning!

I’ve got some NSFW video evidence for you.

I can’t even think of any jokes, really. Charles Napier is the god damn Goblin. Next.

Screw Fun With Dick and Jane and screw it’s eventual remake. Thunderbolts is Jane Fonda’s comeback film. Plus, the Moonstone Workout is going to sell like crazy. Since a lot of the feedback on these articles has been “special effects weren’t up to par to do these movies,” we’re going to adapt the characters for the grindhouse cult classic that we’re making. Even though that opinion is dumb and misses the point of the articles, which is to have fun and talk about John Ritter and watch Charles Napier murder someone. Anyway, 70’s Grindhouse Moonstone has the power of making herself intangible and being a manipulative bitch. And showing her boobs, probably.

If the 70’s taught us anything, it’s that David Carradine is the best Asian actor in the world. I can’t think of a better actor to represent China. 70’s Grindhouse Radioactive Man is radioactive. He probably melts people’s faces off. And since David Carradine is the greatest martial artist of the 70’s, he probably knows Kung Fu AND Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

A movie like this is all about getting credibility with the fans. We’ve got David Carradine on board, and he is the greatest martial arts star to grace the small and big screens. Some other folks are bringing the Hollywood cred, so now we need to play to the nerds with Songbird being played by Mara Jensen, AKA Athena on Battlestar Galactica! BONUS: She’s dating Don Henley, so keep your fingers crossed and we can get ‘Thunderbolts of Summer’ on the soundtrack. 70’s Grindhouse Songbird uses her sonic scream to reluctantly fight for the man.

In my yearbook, I got the senior superlative of ‘most likely to be an actor.’ Lame and way off the mark. Malcolm McDowell’s was ‘most likely to bind the skin of a dead loved one into the handle of a sword to retain her power’ so I feel like Andreas von Strucker is a good fit for him. Plus he may not have gotten the message across in Clockwork Orange. 70’s Grindhouse Swordsman bound the skin of his dead sister onto the handle of a sword and he’s a bad ass crazy swordsman. What’s the point of that? Would you want to mess with a guy that probably turned his parents into lamps? Hell, give me Superman’s powers. I’m still not going near this guy.

Sweet Christmas, its Black Caesar! Shaft may have been a bad mother, but he didn’t have the build for Power Man. There’s only one hero of blaxploitation that can wear the tiara: Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson! 70’s Grindhouse Luke Cage has bulletproof skin, dreamy eyes, and the ability to be the subject of fierce debate about movie racism in some film history class someday.

His grand return as a martial arts hero! The lead character and star of Enter of the Dragon, JOHN SAXON! He’s already got the kung fu credibility, AND Saxon can pull off the billionaire playboy side of Bruce Wayne Tony Stark Lamont Cranston Danny Rand. I wanted to put Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu in this movie too, but there weren’t any big Asian action stars at the time and David Carradine is already playing Radioactive Man. Is this joke old yet?

There’s no one else to play Misty Knight except for Pam Grier. Misty IS Pam. If Greg Land was drawing a Misty Knight book, he’d be tracing Pam Grier. And porn. Greg Land traces porn.

The man that can’t miss should also be the man with no punctuation: Christopher Walken. If Bullseye wasted time worrying about having a normal human sounding flow to his voice, he might start not hitting people with sharp things. Honestly, Walken already has a lot in common with Bullseye. He’s done the Russian roulette thing in Deer Hunter, he’s got crazy eyes and he’s killed a Greek woman.

The Director

It’s got to be Paul Bartel, the director of the most important landmark movie in the 70’s: DEATH RACE 2000! And some episodes of Clueless: The TV Series.

Watch the credits bump scene for a special appearance by THE DOBERMAN GANG!