Star Wars A New Hope in GIF

I found this great older animated GIF of Star Wars episode IV - created by a gentleman who's codename is Folds Five.  It's a fun way to capture the gist of Star Wars story without too much time spent or too much memory used.   This is not created by me, nor am I looking to make any monetary gains from it, and I post this to share with others to enjoy the Star Wars universe.  HAVE FUN & CIAO!

The (trash) Films that (the MONEY) Star Wars (made) inspired

George Lucas admitted that the original Flash Gordon films starring Buster Crabbe in the 30s is one of the main inspiration for his iconic Star Wars universe.  In turn, after Star Wars made a huge splash in 1977 - breaking all sorts of box office records and spawning a universe of merchandising bonanza never seen before and has not been equaled even today - it has since inspired the creation of many other motion pictures.  It is no surprise that many in the film industry try to jump on the bandwagon and unashamedly ride on Star Wars' coat tails, trying to make the same kind of crazy money that Star Wars did, but always falling short and pales in comparison due to inferior execution, unoriginal me-too vision and uninspired storytelling.  I can recall many of them, let's see if you remember any:

The Hoff projecting his inner
Luke Skywalker

a.  Star Crash (1979) - Italian B-movie rip off. 
Imagine David Hasselhoff as the laser blade wielding hero going against the evil Count Zarth Arn.  Oh, guess who played David Hasselhoff's father in this thing? (Gasp!) Christopher Plummer !! (I guess Shakesperean actors need money too).  Insipid and ridiculous.





Maximillian & V.I.N.CENT
The Blackhole Droids


b.  The Black Hole (1979) 
back then, this film wasn't so bad, but this Disney offering doesn't age very well.  Even some of the older 50s Sci-Fi flicks ages better than this.  Obvious Star Wars inspired things are everywhere in this film.  You check it out yourself - try to find analogues to R2D2, C3PO, Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Han Solo, Ben Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and more in this Disney offering! You'll have a lot more fun than actually following the story. Truth be told, I watched it again very recently with my 8 year old son, Alonzo.  He actually liked it (well, more like loved it - but I fast forwarded most of the uninspiring dialogue and go to the action scenes).  The first thing he said was "Is this like Star Wars, Papa?".  His best question for me was "So how come the Black Hole is all Red, Papa?" - out of the mouth of babes.

Harvey, Farah, Kirk & the giant
coffeemaker/killer droid Hector

c.  Saturn 3 (1980).
Imagine 64 year old Kirk Douglas boinking a hot 30 year old Farah Fawcett in space (yeah, I'd be pissed too).  Oh, there's Harvey Keitel as the bad guy in this flick too - can you imagine his thick Brooklyn accent in space? Weird, huh?  In a way, Saturn 3 is a combination of inspiration: part Star Wars - part Alien (1979), but accomplished none of the good of the two.  At least I saw Farah naked here (hey, she was hot then, OK!?)



Flash Gordon and
the always deadly NYC's Pigeons
errr....Hawkmen

d.  Flash Gordon (1980). 
George Lucas admitted that the original Flash Gordon is one of his inspirations in creating Star Wars, so why not a Star Wars inspired new Flash Gordon film then?  Too bad it was a bit too campy, because I thought the visuals are perfect representation of the original comic book series Flash Gordon.  The two American leads are simply awful: Sam Jones makes Keanu Reeves looks good and Melody Anderson's Dale Arden is also terrible.  FG's supporting cast is actually quite awesome with: Chaim Topol playing Zarkov, Max Von Sydow playing Ming, Timothy Dalton playing Barin and the great Brian Blessed playing Vulcan.  The end result is a bit too campy for me.  Pity - I'm still waiting for a great remake of Flash Gordon.  C'mon Hollywood!


Original art poster for BBtS

e.  Battle Beyond the Stars (1980). 
Ooh ooh - here's an idea, why not take the story of the great western The Magnificent Seven (which was already a repackaging of the great Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai) and drag it to outer space and make a space shoot out ala Star Wars?  Surely we'll make huge bucks and be legendary like Star Wars, right? WRONG! The only redeeming value on this waste of celluloid is the smoldering Sybil Danning in her hot whatever-it-is clothing. Bada-Bing!



Pick your Hottie - Jane or Dorothy

 f.  Galaxina (1980). 
Or how about this - a mix of Barbarella, Star Wars, Alien and Star Trek hodge podge starring the current Playboy Playmate of the Year - Dorothy Stratten in a space western adventure.  Surely this is a winner, right? NOT!!!  Oh, well - at least these guys didn't take themselves too seriously.  Last question: why and how is it that Jane Fonda was hotter in Barbarella than Dorothy Stratten in Galaxina? Hmmmm.


 

A Gunstar fighter and its long-lost uncle


g.  The Last Starfighter (1984). 
Ok, ok, this is some years after Star Wars - but one can draw the parallels, right? Anyway, it was still right after Return of the Jedi (1983).  Let's see if we can pick several things that particularly stood out as analogous between TLS and SW, shall we?
-  The hero: wide-eyed trailer trash Alex Rogan = wide eyed moisture farm boy Luke Skywalker.
-  The guide is a strange old man who was later killed while saving the hero: Centauri = Ben Kenobi. 
-  The hero is an acep pilot flying an awesome fighter craft: the Gunstar = X Wing Fighter.
-  There is a bumbling android in the story: Beta = C3PO
-  The Ko Dan Armada = The Imperial Navy
also: a Zando Zan looks like a Mon Calamari, Lord Xur of the KoDan Armada looks like a combination of the Emperor and Lobot of Cloud City and finally the most obvious: a Gunstar fighter looks very much like a mutant offspring of an X-Wing fighter.


The Italian Original Poster vs
The U.S. market Poster


h.  Star Odyssey (1979) Italian rip-off. 
This is so so bad that I don't want to comment much.  Basic storyline: Earth is sold in the future and the alien investors then came to Earth in order to pick up human slaves to sell to other alien investors.  Oh, by the way, you'll find:
-  Spaced out spacers sucking on their space bong;
-  Robots that looked like a CHEAP version of Teletubbies;
-  Space men that look like Gold Dust the pro wrestler;
-  Cheap, cheap, cheap looking bad masks
BLAH.  This stinker gives B-movies a bad reputation.  Maybe there should be a C-movies.

So there they are.  Some of the Star Wars inspired (is that a polite way to say rip-offs?) films which made it to the big screen which I saw (some of them regrettably so), have you seen any of them?  I'm sure you have and hope you enjoyed it then - because I don't think you would enjoy them now.

Ciao, Movie Fans!

My Favorite Jackie Chan Fight Scenes

Jackie Chan's 2011 - Shaolin Temple

 One of my favorite (martial arts) film actor is the one and only Jackie Chan.  He is also one of the most gifted fight coreographer and cinematographer.  His techniques are mostly intutitive but his instincts are dead-on for capturing the best out of any fight scenes that he's involved with.  I am so glad that I already have most of his films either on DVDs or on softcopy in my hard disks, because as he grows old - Jackie is more and more dependent on using wire works, special effects and (gasp!) stunt doubles.  As we keep hearing that Jackie is more and more interested in dramatic roles and films (say it isn't so, Jackie!), I will always treasure the films that he has made in the past, great fighting scenes that are often humorous and almost always incredible and as a tribute to the great Jackie Chan, here is my 10 favorite Jackie Chan's Fight Scenes.

10.  Gorgeous (1999) vs Brad Allan (Bradley James Allan).

Jackie & Brad Allan - Double Body Punch


I think this fight scene is one of the most overlooked gems in Jackie Chan's illustrious career.  To be honest, the film Gorgeous itself is a slow, mushy, HK romantic film in which Jackie spends most of his time woo-ing and romancing Shu-Qi, leaving only the one fight scene where Jackie and Brad Allan goes head to head.  The fight is a long long wait for Jackie's martial arts flicks fans, but it is worth it.  Brad Allan, an Australian martial artist and stuntman - and also the first ever non-asian member of the famed Sing-Ga-Ban stunt team in Hong Kong is Jackie's opponent in this one.  Jackie sure knows how to pick 'em: Brad's martial arts pedigree includes several years of Wu Shu, Aikido, Karate, Boxing and Kickboxing, along with gymnastics.  Martial art film fans should check out this great fight scene from Gorgeous.  There's one particular double spin kick move (probably by wire-fu) that Jackie pulled off that was just amazing.  Of particular interest in this film is that it also has the right kind of martial artist spirit, getting into fights without being vicious.

9.  Dragon Lord (1982) vs Wang In Shik, Korean Hapkido Master


Wang performing a double kick on Jackie

This film is a must have for true fans of Jackie Chan.  It will make you forget all these Hollywood nonsense that Jackie is now doing and truly appreciate the genious that is uniquely Jackie's.  The basic premise is young Jackie is smitten and tries to send a love letter with a kite to the girl of his dreams.  The kite got stuck on a roof of an old warehouse and while trying to retrieve it, Jackie stumbled into a gang of thugs who are planning to steal and smuggle out Chinese ancient artifacts.  The fight with Wang In Shik is funny and entertaining, with Jackie pulling off many unexpected moves - trying to counter Wang's Hapkido mastery.  Besides the grand finale fight, you will love the wild "Chinese Rugby" tournament and the crazy "Shuttlecock Football" tournament.  This film probably is one of Jackie's finest ever made in the first half of his career - creating the fighting comedy (with incredible stunts) genre all his own.

8.  Armour of God (1987) vs Evil Monks


Jackie vs the Amazon Black Female Monks

Unfortunately this film will always be famous as the film which almost claimed Jackie Chan's life.  Jackie fell off of a tree while shooting a scene and sustained serious head injuries requiring doctors to drill a hole on the side of his head.

As it is, the film came out in 1987, the same year as Project A part II which was a period piece, as a kind of tribute of the Hollywood's Indiana Jones series (which by this time has been covered by two films - Raider of the Lost Ark in 1981 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984).
The final fight scenes come during a rescue operation mounted by Jackie the Asian Hawk, relic hunter and thief extraordinaire - and is cut into 2 segments: a fight with about 20 male monks which subsequently followed by a fight against 4 black female fighters.

In one interview, Jackie said that the fight in Armour of God was correographed so that Jackie would constantly fight all opponents at the same time, as opposed to the traditional beat 'em up films where a gang of people fight 1. Usually there's the illogical nature of the fight scene where the protagonist will fight the opponents one by one while the others stand around off camera.  Jackie perfected his "one-man-against-the-world" fighting style in this film, battling outward in a spiral while using circular kicks to keep the cassock-wearing combatants at a distance. His final fight against the black amazons is spectacular and original.

7.  Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978) vs Hwang Jang Lee


Jackie Chan vs Hwang Jang Lee in
(1978) Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

This film was directed by Yuen Woo Ping and was one of the films (along with Drunken Master which came out later but in the same calendar year) which catapulted Jackie Chan into prominence in the HK film industry.

Like Drunken Master, the final fight scene in "Snake" was also between Jackie Chan and Hwang Jang Lee.  I rated the Drunken Master fight higher than "Snake's" because the fight in "Snake" is highly stylized in the classical sense - Jackie doing the snake style (for most of the film), while Lee is doing the eagle claw style.  I prefer something different from the other highly stylized period martial arts films or even modern.  Here, Lee is forced to suppress his original art and it shows - there were a few brilliant Tae Kwan Do moves which he pulls off but then he has to go back to the eagle claw nonsense.

The two martial artists/actors pulled off a very dynamic and entertaining fight with 24 year old Jackie's athleticism pairing well with 34 year old Hwang Jang Lee's incredible skills.  At this point of his life, Hwang Jang Lee already achieved 7th Dan in Tae Kwan Do and was the martial arts instructor for the Korean Army and the South Vietnamese Army in the mid to late 60s.

6.  Dragons Forever (1988) vs Benny Urquidez

Jackie Tackles Benny The Jet yet again in Dragons Forever

Dragons Forever had a thrilling 'rematch' fight between Jackie Chan and Benny The Jet Urquidez.  The two had tangled 4 years earlier in the film Spartan X (aka Wheels on Meals) and created cinematic magic with that classic fight.

Dragons Forever reunited the two actors to create another classic cinema fight scene - as well as being the final film (to this date) where the famous Three Brothers (Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao) appeared together in the same film.   Sammo Hung directed Dragons Forever and the way the fight between Jackie and the Jet was coreographed was also beautiful.  The combatants began slowly, sizing up each other while they take off their shirts and circle warily, and then building tremendous momentum into a whirlwind of kicks and punches. Great fight.

5.  The Young Master (1980) vs Wang In Shik, Korean Hapkido Master


Jackie tangled with Master Wang Inn Sik in the Young Master

In this epic, extended battle, Jackie fights hapkido expert Wang In Shik. Master Inn Sik was very impressive with his martial arts, and was determined to show the audience the power and beauty of this Korean fighting style. As a result, Jackie shot the entire scene at a wide angle with relatively few cuts.

To finally defeat the master, Jackie throws out all of his traditional techniques, and just goes at him like a madman, flailing his arms and smashing into him with his head, his fists, and every other part of his body after taking a sip of the water from an opium bong!  He does win in the end, but at a price: the last scene of the movie shows him in a complete body cast, waving goodbye with his fingers.  Do catch this fight scene, it is awesome and hilarious at the same time.

4.  Drunken Master (1978) vs Hwang Jang Lee, Korean Tae Kwan Do master

Jackie (with rice wine) vs Hwang Jang Lee

My first Jackie Chan film was this gem, the Drunken Master, which I watched in a cinema in Semarang in the late 70s with my father and after that - I was hooked on Jackie Chan's films and never failed to catch a new one coming out in the cinemas.  Thank God my father was also a HK film junkie.  In the 70s and early 80s we always go to either Glodok Plaza or Hayam Wuruk Plaza to catch a HK flick.

The final fight is between Jackie and Hwang Jang Lee and I prefer this fight scene over the more highly stylized fight of The Snake in the Eagle's Shadow because Jackie Chan perfected the inebriated fisticuffs here - which sparked a trend in the HK film industry and many copycats and wannabes started doing the Zui Quan (drunken fist style) after this film.  Hwang Jang Lee kept his incredible Tae Kwan Do skills and style mostly intact in this fight, which serves to add a lot more realism to the fight.  Lee eventually became a Tae Kwan Do grandmaster later on in life, but here he is already a 7th Dan and due to his incredible performance in this film, the name of his character sticks - and he is also known as Thunderfoot in real life.

3.  Who Am I? (1998) vs David Leung and Ron Smoorenburg

Jackie vs Kwan Yung & Ron Smoorenburg

Who Am I? is one of the last true Jackie Chan film in his unique genre.  The 2001's Accidental Spy I feel is the absolutely last of Jackie's films which is still "true" to the genre he has created.

As he is getting on in age, Jackie has to relent and increasingly rely on special effects and stunt doubles more and more - as the case with his Hollywood films. 

Who Am I? pits Jackie with 2 very able martial artists/actors: David Leung (an up and coming young HK actor who is also a very able martial artist) and Ron Smoorenburg, a 23 year old Dutch martial artist getting his first big break in films.  At this point in his life, Ron is a 4th degree black belt in the art of Freefight and  holds several records including highest kick (at 11 feet). 

The fight began with the 2 opponents taking turns fighting Jackie then after Jackie successfully countered each of them, they ganged up on Jackie - turning the fight into a whirling battle where Jackie's ingenuity and skills finally overcame the 2 opponents.  Jackie is already 44 at this point and so fans should really enjoy this fight as Jackie's body is progressively catching up with his shenanigans and injuries of his younger days. 

2.  Drunken Master II (1994) vs Ken Lo


Jackie's (on wire) flying kick vs Ken Lo

Jackie takes on his real life body guard Ken Lo. This scene took 2 months to film and has the Jackie Chan stamp of choreography, stuntwork and directing all over it. Jackie ends up drinking industrial alcohol (at a Steel Furnace), breathing fire balls, being set on fire twice and falling over hot coals - all during the fight - it also boasts a sensational example of how 'wire' Kung Fu is at its best when used to enhance rather than dominate the action.

Ken Lo is originally from South East Asia (born in Laos and living in Cambodia and Thailand until 1980 where he moved to HK).  He is a student of both Muay Thai and Tae Kwan Do and legend has it that he won a freestyle championships 7 times.  He met Jackie in a HK Disco where he worked as head of security and Jackie ends up hiring him as his bodyguard.  Believe it or not, Lo was not supposed to be Jackie's opponent in Drunken Master II - he stepped in when another actor was injured.

Ken Lo looks superb as a flash kicking bad guy and (on screen) is nearly, nearly, nearly as good as Jackie's foe in the original, Hwang Jang Lee.  In terms of realism, this fight scene perhaps fall a little short to some other in Jackie's career, but it is truly awesome in terms of choreography, tasteful use of wires, speed, intensity and filming.  The one thing that unites them all is that they display actors of great talent, grace and martial art skill and are all expertly performed.  I usually don't like wire-fu, but this fight shows how wires should be used to augment a fight scene rather than dominating it (Note to the Wachowski brothers!).

1.  Wheels on Meals (1984) vs Benny Urquidez

Jackie vs The Jet in Spartan X (aka Wheels on Meals)

This is one of the best fight scenes ever filmed.  For me personally, I enjoyed this fight scene better than even the Way of the Dragon's final fight at the Colloseum between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris.

In terms of realism and athleticism, this fight is clearly better.  The energy, choreography, precision of execution and the speed of the performance (without the usual HK camera speed trick nonsense, wire-fu, stunt doubles, etc) is as close to a real stand-up fight as can be.  Heck, there was even also a brief ground fighting/grappling work here.

This was Jackie's first face-off with American champion kickboxer Benny Urquidez - The Jet.  Benny is a great fighter and tested Jackie’s skills to the limit. In fact, throughout the filming of this scene, Jackie teased him that they should fight a real match, not just a movie brawl.  Benny's formal kickboxing record is at 49 wins (35 by KOs) with only 1 loss and 1 draw (2 were declared no contests - but Benny was winning) - and these fights are under many different sanctioning bodies/organizations in various countries.  On top of that, Benny is said to have fought 11 undocumented fights (street fights) - winning 10 and drawing 1.  Jackie, you are good but Benny's the real thing.
At one point in the final battle between the pair, a spin-kick performed by Urquidez is so quick that the resulting airflow extinguishes a row of candles. This is shown onscreen, with no cuts or trick photography.

Well, those are my 10 favorite Jackie Chan Fight Scenes - what do you think? let me know...

Me & the Art of Motion Pictures

I am a bit of a film nut, but not yet an aficionado.  I do read up on a bit of film history, I do follow some of the more famous directors, actors & writers, but I do not think I will have the propensity to recall every minute details of the film industry, nor do I consider myself having the acumen to properly critique it.  I am just a film fan who may be just paying a bit more attention, sometimes a tad too much, on things that I like.

My genre interests in motion pictures include: action, adventure, war, western, science fiction, martial arts, period films, anime, animation, comedy, tragedy, drama, thriller, horror and even erotica.  I would say my interest cover a whole gamut of genre and cross-genres.

My heroes include: Ray Harryhausen, George Lucas, John Wayne, Akira Kurosawa, Yuen Woo Ping, Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Steven Spielberg, Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone, Gary Oldman, Stellan Skarsgård and many many others too numerous to include. 

This humble Blog is intended to explore and present my fascination and fixation with films.  I welcome your opinions, critiques, inputs, advise, comments and whatever else you may throw my way.  This is part of letting the world know I exist - therefore I am.