5 comments about Forbidden Warrior.

1. This looked like a good idea at the time when I rented it. The story looked good replete with Asian actors and not animation. The proof of the pudding lies in the eating however, and in this case gave me some indigestion.
   
   Clearly of asian origin this is low budget hollywood at it's worst. Trying to mimic Martian Arts movies on the cheap is not the best idea anybody ever had and coming up with a lame storyline does not help either. The characters are mere cardboard replicas of their former selves and I found it infuriating that the wise sorcerer kept refering to the grown woman as my child.
   
   I found the movie to be over the top moralising painting dilemmas with spray paint rather than calligraphy brushes. While the output of Hong Kong can beat the world in silliness and stunts they do have the edge on the delicate treatment of their myths. This ham fisted treatment shot in the Hollywood foothills as as much finesse as a Terminator movie. It is too long, boring and predictable with such a lame ending, not to mention the silly boat which looks so fake.
   
   It was worth a try but I think the producers should have quit whilst they were still behind.



2. i rented this movie with the expectation of a great asian film: well-choreographed martial arts, beautifully shot scenes, and a good storyline
   boy, was i ever disappointed, maybe i was expecting too much, considering its a low budget independent film but nothing about the movie was good except for the summary in the back of dvd case!
   the acting was terrible! not one of the actors could act, which made the whole film laughable and the martial arts was slow, with a few (let me stress *few*) added wire scenes obviously trying to copy from other great asian films to try to make it look authentic
   halfway through the movie (after much discussion between my boyfriend and i to try to return the movie to the rental place but deciding it was too late), i put on the director's commentary, just to see why the directors actually thought their movie was even worth making; i was amazed to hear them actually saying good things about the movie!
   i watched a little bit of the "making of" in curiousity; when i got to the part of the main character, seiki, saying how she loved her character b/c it provided range for her acting, i finally turned off the movie in amusement, amazement, and yes, even pity, that she would even think that



3. 1. Bad acting
   2. Thin Plot
   3. Poor Scripts
   
   and the list goes on. Buy or rent it at your own peril.



4. Anytime the urge rises to be entertained with an escapist film the top of the list becomes one of the Asian martial arts films, films of stunning beauty, breathtaking choreography, handsome actors, and enough legend to make the storyline fascinating, e.g. 'The House of Flying Daggers'. This pathetic film is packaged like those wonder movies and so deludes the public into thinking it is in an equal category. Not even close!
   
   A child is born to a couple informed that their progeny will be a male warrior who has the secrets to read the codebook that contains the key to the power of the universe. The pregnant mother is stabbed by the evil adversaries but the baby lives, 'disappointingly' a girl! The girl Seki is transported via a leaf boat to a blind wise magician who cares for her and teaches her Taiji and Kung Fu, raising her to return to the world and discover life along with her gifts. A family who wants to maintain dominion over China sends two sons (one evil and the other kind) to capture the girl and steal the code to the sacred book. The evil son is accompanied by warriors: the kind son is accompanied by Caucasian Marx brothers. The rest of the story is too simple-minded to discuss.
   
   There are so many errors of judgment in the making of this film, not the least of which is a nebulous and silly script, that disrupt what might have been an honest attempt for Hollywood to make a martial arts film. But the acting is poor, combining Asian actors with non-Asian actors makes both look ridiculous, the special effects are clumsy, and the mood of ancient China is completely destroyed by the computer generated graphics superimposed on the real location of Griffith Park in Los Angeles! The three stooges added to the good warrior's team are so silly that they pass funny into absurd. There is no ending to the movie: instead it feels like the producers just ran out of money. A must miss. Grady Harp, August 06



5. it's beautifully shot.. the production design was great for the budget... but the film didn't hold my attention..

5 comments about Bruce Lee - The Master Collection Set.

1. This product was in great condition and arrived earlier that I had expected. Thank you.



2. Amazon has great customer service. The Bruce Lee Collection was new- still in its original packaging and still at a great price.



3. This is easily one of the best investments to my collection, I mean 4/5 of bruce lee's movies, and a documentary.
   
   Now fisrt of all, all of these movies are the original dub and very watchable picture.
   
   Fist of fury(Big Boss)----- very fun movie with bruce beating up a lot of people. The end fight is prettygood because it was so authentic. Pai ying is the man, he is also the action coordinator on this.
   
   Chinese Connection(Fist Of Fury)------ One of the best movies of all time. Great fight scenes(check it out when he takes on the whole gym), great score, great acting, hell, even Lo wei is an actor in this movie, and he is pretty freaking good.
   
   Return of the dragon(enter the dragon) directed by bruce lee, action directed by bruce lee, and starrign bruce lee. Come on bruce, you could have put your name as composer too. This movie kicks ass, better than big boss, but not as good as chinese connection. Everyone knows this is the one where bruce fights chuck norris at the end. And it is everythign it is made out to be, certainly not the best though.
   
   Game of death---this is your classic case of fastforwarding kungfu cinema. The fight scenes are pretty good, but a VERY FORGETTABLE story.
   
   Documentary-------very good doc. that talks a lot about what bruce was planning for game of death(sounds sweet), and what other characters he wa experimenting with for hsi future movies. Can you believe he had a blind swordsman idea in mind for himself. There is a lot of other important info also. 5/5 for the documentary, good for any bruce fan.
   
   So I have seen this at cd tradepost for 14.99, and 19.99 at Best buy, so I don't know where the hell that $38 price comes from.



4. i bought this set at a used dvd store for $15.00 and was very happy to find it. watching it i was struck by how much talent and energy this man had! had he lived he would have one of the most bankable stars in the world.to be sure these are low buget action movies, but mr. lee brought a style to them that no other actor could have brought, his every move was a graceful and well thought out move,even just walking down the street. these are all the films he made(except for enter the dragon which he made for warner bros.) and he shines in them all,(game of death the movie he was making when he died is very weak and only comes alive when they use the footage of him that was shot) and if you love lee or good kung-fu movies this is one to own



5. This is a fine collection of Bruce Lee classics!
   
   It's not the best thing since sliced bread...but it's close.

5 comments about Bruce Lee - A Warrior's Journey.

1. I'll keep it simple: If you're a fan, this is an absolute must to own. The recovered footage from Game of Death is so complete that I felt I was watching a Bruce Lee movie that I didn't know existed until now. The other parts of the DVD may be old hat for true fans, but the Game of Death footage will blow you away.



2. I bought this movie as a gift for my husband. He said it was awesome! Except for his ipod, it's the best gift I ever bought him. Considering some of the gifts I've bought, that's high praise.



3. Besides containing some really interesting points on Bruce Lee's personal philosophies, it also contains a lot of footage from his Game of Death movie. This footage is not only exciting action-wise, but contains the subtle humor that I've come to love in all Bruce Lee movies. The first half of the documentary is about his philosophies and how they came to change throughout his life. This half contains footage from interviews and his earlier movies, which interesting narration. As said earlier, the second half contains his Game of Death footage.
   
   Overall, a great documentary that you can watch over and over. Get this movie!!



4. 
   I own this DVD and I really enjoyed it. If you are a Bruce Lee fan you should buy this DVD.



5. Fifty bucks? Are these sellers kidding?
   
   Don't get me wrong. Of all the documentaries made about Bruce Lee over the past 30+ years, this one is by far the most essential. Not only is it an insightful look into Lee's life, it also (rather famously) offers rare footage of the scenes HE HIMSELF filmed for Game Of Death. All things considered, this documentary is every bit as essential as his four REAL films.
   
   That said, the reason this DVD went out of print is because it's now obsolete. It can be found in it's entirety on the Enter The Dragon 2-disc SE along with a few other documentaries. Pretty handy.

5 comments about Return of the Dragon.

1. This movie has bad quality it is dubed in they have deep voices and it sounds bad.If you want a good bruce Lee movie get Enter the Dragon I thought it would be a good movie but I was worng.It was not even a hollywood movie maybe if you were a big fan of Bruce Lee you could handle the bad quality.



2. The story isn't that good. The humour is awful. Some of the sets are a joke. But the action? Man, you just can't fault this baby. The twin nunchaku sequence is superb. The fight with Bob Wall is unbelievable. But the true triumph is the Chuck Norris fight. Has to be one of the greatest fight scenes ever filmed. Fantastic. The choreography (entirely Lee's work) is matched only by the final execution. This is a true lesson from a true master on how cinematic fight scenes should be built, performed and filmed. Stunning.



3. While I very much like this action/comedy, it isn't the best of Bruce's films. The story and comedy are very old hat but his fight scenes(especially with Norris at the Coliseum) are as good as ever put on screen! It shows that along with the footage shot for "Game Of Death" that Lee Would have made a gifted director and writer had he lived.



4. According to Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee pitched the idea of their climactic, gladiatorial duel in the Roman Colloseum to him over the telephone. Norris, who was World Karate Champion at the time, responded "So you want to beat the World Champion?", and without missing a beat, Lee replied, "No, I want to kill the World Champion."
   
   THE WAY OF THE DRAGON (the title Bruce gave his film, later titled RETURN OF THE DRAGON to link it to Bruce's signature piece) was Bruce's directorial debut, and features a cheesy story involving Bruce protecting a Chinese resturant from local Italian mafioso's, but the real sotry of the movie comes in the end.
   
   During his climactic face-off in the Colloseum against Chuck Norris, Bruce stubbornly clings to his traditionalist method of Kung fu, and ends up getting his butt kicked. He then realizes that he must embody the essence of water: flow. Constant, ceaseless, unending flow. With this principal in mind, Bruce rises to his feet and adopts a more bouyant approach, and before long, he is victorious in one of the silver screen's most amazing (and brutal) martial arts duels.
   
   Watch THE WAY OF THE DRAGON for this classic match up of two legends; even after thirty five years, the battle is as powerful as ever, and Bruce's philoshophy of flow has never been better represented.



5. 
   This movie is good to have if you are a Bruce Lee fan. I consider it a nice collectible.

1 comments about THE GREEN HORNET Vol. 2 FURY OF THE DRAGON.

1. If you are a die-hard Green Hornet fan and have to have them get the movie one. It is like 3 episodes cut together into a movie but very well done and very pleasant to the eyes and ears. Only get these if you must. By these I mean now that someone has sold all they can of the complete Green Hornet from the same Action Network cuts, it appears someone is repackaging them to look studio like. Still A.N. and poor in quality. If you read the new Batman 1966 release the same can be said for the Action Network release of the 66 batman series. Oh, and so no one thinks that I think Action Network released any dvds I simply mean the Action logo is on the playback as you get with most of the networks which broadcast shows today. So, as I said on another review let the buyer beware, It could be better than none as we do not know when the studio will release it, if ever.

3 comments about The Art of Action: Martial Arts in the Movies.

1. Presented by Samuel L. Jackson, THE ART OF ACTION is an enjoyable and entertaining look at the history of matial arts films from its origins in Peking Opera in China, which was performed by men in women's clothing. Strangely, the first kung fu features were made with the WOMEN doing all the fighting as film was then considered a lower medium in China, and it was "dishonorable" for men to stoop to that level!
   Of course, no film about martial arts could be made without Bruce Lee, "The James Bond Of Martial Arts". Here viewers are treated to footage from RETURN OF THE DRAGON where Lee beats the bejesus out of a young Chuck Norris, as well as hearing Lee's philosophies on kung fu, which remain intriguing and inspiring no matter how many times you hear them.
   THE ART OF ACTION also features appearances from Jackie Chan, recounting his experiences as part of a Peking Opera troupe at age 7, as well as ruminations by John Woo, Ang Lee and Steven Seagal. There's plenty here to educate and entertain viewers, though stranglely Hammer's martial arts/ horror film LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES is overlooked here... but Cynthia Rothrock's cruddy movies get some attention! I just don't get it! That remains my only quibble. Also features clips from more recent films like RUSH HOUR 2 and CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON.
   If you like this, you may want to check out the similar documentary CINEMA OF VENGEANCE which is about the history of martial arts and Hong Kong action films, though personally I found THE ART OF ACTION to be more entertaining. Both movies are highly recommended.



2. This in-depth documentary gives a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the martial arts films. It shows what the early pioneers of martial arts had to do to pass on the skills when the then rulers wanted to forbid the practice. The journey is one of rebellious beginnings to high flying stunts in movies today. It also features the work of Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan,Sammo Hung and others. This is a great documentary to watch if you want to learn more about the world of martial arts in films.



3. This movie does not show like many great clips but is a pretty good documentary. It starts out talking about the the first shaw movies and lau kar-leung, and also the origins of kung fu(briefly), women in the 20's making these movies, and of course kwan tak-hing. The only thing that I really had a problem with is that they just passed over the jimmy wang yu, lo lieh, chen kwan tai, hwang jang lee, etc. I don;t think it even mentions the venoms!! They show some good clips from one armed swordsman, but even though they show their dramatic scene, they don't even mention jimmy or lie's name. So it goes way to quickly into the new school stuff like crouching tiger but does not capitilize on the golden age of kung fu.

1 comments about The Green Hornet Vol.1.

1. It seems like Vol 1 and Vol 2 are nothing more than a two disc movie. Basically someone took the original footage and fit it togeter to make a movie. True fans don't spend your cash on this.

No comments about The Green Hornet 3 DVD Set Volumes 1,2,3.

5 comments about The Medallion.

1. I really like most Jackie Chan movies, but nothing could redeem this stinker. The less said about the plot, the better. The dialogue was awful. And the action scenes aren't even very good. The most enjoyment I got out of this movie was sitting around afterwards drinking to forget and hoping that in our drunken stupors, the movie would magically make sense and be entertaining.



2. Before I began to bash this film, its not because it is just a gosh awful film, but in comparison to most Chan films this is possibly his weakest entry. Sure, he is getting a little older these days, but he can still put out films like New Police Story, I just don't understand. If he was aiming for a kids movie with Medallion, then he has succeeded. And if there was anything I did enjoy most from this film, it didn't necassarily come from Chan himself.
   
   Bascially, this really did seem like something made for kids. The idea of The Medallion did not appeal to me at all, and seemed rather corny and cheesy. It is about a young boy who holds the power of life and death in a medallion, which he is the chosen protector of. There wasn't much exploration throughout the film about the medallion. We get to see it used twice, bringing the Chan character back to life early on and again briefly for the villain. Other than that, this is basically a back and forth chase movie, as bad guys and good guys try to claim the boy and medallion.
   
   Most Chan movies have lots of chases - by foot, bicycle, car and who knows what. In Medallion, the action sequences and chases are kind of boring for a Chan film. Lots of wirework and digital graphics are used, which means hardly any real stunts from Jackie. There is a foot chase early on that lasts for several minutes where Chan walks across a row of bicycles and does some other nice things, but thats about it. As far as fights go, I was also dissapointed. Chan fights the bad guy (Jullian Sands) twice, but both scenes are laughably bad. There was no skill involved, as everyhting was digital and bad camera work.
   
   In addition to a weak story, the characters were quite uninteresting and there was little development between them. The humor you expect from Chan films is a different kind of humor, provided mostly by the Lee Evans character, who is Chan's partner. For awhile I thought his humor was kind of stupid, but eventually it should give some laughs, and ends up being about the only enjoybale thing out of this film.
   
   Don't expect anything serious, anything great, or any teriffic action. This is a lousy film that is worth watching once and probably it. I definetly see this designed more for kids. It was just too cheesy and poor for my taste. Jackie Chan fans will most likely be dissapointed.



3. I usually like Jackie Chan movies, clean, funny, action, good stuff. And this one had Claire Forlani, awesome, and then Lee Evans. I think the story line didn't fit the acts and was just too much for people to take in. Acting was okay, but there was just too much far fetched and unanswered questions to make this believible or interesting. Really, skip this movie, don't watch, don't buy!



4. It's one of the worst movies starring Jackie Chan. It's not funny. The fighting scenes are not great either.
   
   I regret watching this movie in the theatre.



5. Aside from other reviewers who apparently have it in for this movie, I actually rather enjoyed it. Granted, I agree that the dub was pretty so-so and a bit corny. But, well, it's a Jackie Chan movie! Were we really expecting Citizen Kane?
   
   I thought the action was good, and generally enjoyed it. Sure, the villain was a bit over-the-top, and the plot premise was a bit hard to believe (not entirely unlike the premise of The Golden Child, with Eddie Murphy), but then again, when is that ever NOT the case in a Jackie Chan movie?
   
   In all, I like the movie. Perhaps not as much as The Forbidden Kingdom. The Myth or the Rush Hour series. But, I figure it's another decent Jackie Chan movie. Happy to have it in the collection.

5 comments about The Chinese Connection.

1. The voices are dubed in and it is in a deep voice but there a some great fight seens but if you want to see a really good Bruce Lee movie get Enter the Dragon.The Chinese Connection is still a good movie



2. I wanted to like this but in the behind the scenes interviews they show little respect for Bruce Lee and that got me started off on the wrong foot. Then I watch it and it just isn't that clever. I did laugh once or twice but i expected something more along the lines of What's Up Tiger Lilly. At least they could have had the actors play orientals. Too bad because this concept could have been funny.



3. I love this movie and still think its Lee at his best. Between the scene of him as a very awkward phone repairman, and the scene where he takes on a horde of bad guys with Nunchucks, this is his most complete performance on screen to me and showed his talent at its best. This transfer is of a much better quality than most of the releases out there of this movie. If you ever wanted to see just how good and talented Bruce was, just watch this one and find out.
   The story is standard for these movies but Lee bumps the action and the acting up to give this one it's true classic reputation.



4. 1972's "The Chinese Connection" features a young Bruce Lee as the leading student at a King Fu Academy in 1908 Shanghai. The storyline is a simple tale of revenge, but in the context of a Shanghai dominated by Japanese and other outsiders, in which the natives are treated as second-class citizens, it resonated deeply with its original Chinese audience.
   
   In the movie, Chen, played by Bruce Lee, returns to his academy to find that his beloved master, a famous martial artist, is dead. Chen is stricken with grief, but learns from his fellow students that his master's death may not have been an accident. Chen patiently but violently works his way back through the members of a rival Japanese school, looking for those responsible for the master's death. Highlights include a many-on-one fight at the school, which Chen wins decisively, and a confrontation with a Russian martial artist brought in to deal with Chen. Chen's willingness to stand up for his fellow Chinese forces the hand of the local authorities (including a police chief played by director Lo Wei), who are beholden to the Japanese. Cornered at the end, the gallant Chen will be left with only one option.
   
   The original Chinese is dubbed over in English, unfortunately resulting in dialogue that sounds like it was lifted from a high school drama. Fortunately, the non-verbal qualities of the acting, including a touching performance by Nora Miao as Chen's love interest and some nicely choreographed fight sequences, carry the movie. "Chinese Connection" is a Raymond Chow production, and a better than average representative of the early martial arts genre.
   
   This movie is highly recommended to fans of Bruce Lee and of the early martial arts movies.



5. This movie (called Fist Of Fury overseas) was made before Enter The Dragon and, in my opinion, ranks just behind ETD! While all of Bruce's films and fight scenes are legendary, if this one or ETD is on TV, everything stops! LOL!
   
   The plot, like ETD, is very basic. Bruce comes back to his martial arts school to find out his teacher was dead! Not only that, he suspects was murdered and goes on a rampage to avenge his death!
   
   What's interesting is that even though the film is fiction, the teacher was actually a real life person. That character was recently shown in a film by Jet Li called "Fearless."
   
   Back to the movie, what makes this special is Bruce himself. He was electrifying in every scene he was in. While I am still biased to Enter The Dragon, Chinese Connection ranks a close second in my view! Highly recommended!