1 comments about Wadokai Karate-Do kihon and Basic Kata.

1. On this DvD you will learn from Yoshiaki Ajari every possible stance, hand technique, kick and block, with all of the correct Japanese terminnology.

2 comments about Top Fighter/Second Strike.

1. TOP FIGHTER: An in-depth and action-packed look at the top stars in the field of martial combat. For the first time, the very best of the best clash in the arena where each can show his specialties to the fullest. Using rare and hard-hitting footage, Top Fighter goes where no other martial arts film has gone before - exploring the psychology of the combatant and how each has perfected his craft. Through exclusive interviews, the secrets of Bruce Lee's art (Jeet Kune Do) are shown; Jackie Chan explains the rigors of his training days in order to become the best; Van Damme describes his early years as a frail youth and how he became a mega-star in martial arts. The most outstanding masters in martial arts history stand together for the action extravaganza of the decade.
   SECOND STRIKE: World Kickboxing champion Saskia Van Rijswijk (China White) stars in this action-packed thriller set in Hong Kong's underworld. Sheila (Van Rijswijk) is a corrupt police lieutenant who leads a murderous gang of drug dealers. Peter, a man whose wife and son are brutally murdered by Sheila's gang, teams up with an honest policewoman to bring the gang to justice.



2. This DVD set with Jackie Chan's name all over it does not feature Jackie Chan. The first disc is a documentary about martial arts actors with some stuff about Jackie for about five minutes. It is ok if you like a PBS style documentary about actors.
   The second disc is called Jackie Chan's Second strike, but he is not in it at all. You might like the movie, but again if you bought it because of Jackie Chan on the cover, it is disappointing and I think even misleading. I bought the thing to see Jackie Chan and was very disappointed. There are some pretty good fight scenes and the lead bad woman cop is pretty good.

1 comments about The Shaolin Collection.

1. which is probably telling me that it is not. But if you are looking for the phillip ko, the infamous killer priest, then I would certainly recommend this, and all of it's chen singed goodness.
   
   SHAOLIN MONK-First off, the funky music is sweet! Sing chen is AWESOME as Tamo. At least I think he is Tamo. They don't really go over the whole evolution of kung fu at all, which he started. So not exacly an accurate representation, but sing chen plays the role that he is given PERFECTLY. Now I don't know if this is the original killer priest, but I am gonna go ahead and guess that it is . The levitating phone shoe thing is the the shiznit. It is honestly one of the coolest things that I can ever remember. And to be honest, the fu isn't all that great or nothing, but the end fight with Phillip Ko is ABSOLUTELY worth watching this flick. I seriously cannot reccomend this movie enough if you are tired of the same old my school is better than your school movies, check this out.
   
   Movie is full screened as always and sound is a bit muffled, but picture quality isn't really distracting at all, pretty good. Us fu fans know what to expect.
   
   SHAOLIN HERO-This one starts off with beardy(willow) saving a chick. And this girl likes beardy casue he saved her I guess. Well we find out this girl really loves mang fei, a master swordsman. Mang Fei(rocky) wandered off a while ago I guess. Now he has come back for his girl, even though we don't get a good explanation of why he left. So we find out there is a girl who has formed a secret society to destroy everything about willow(leung kar-yan). Why because when willow saved the girl at the start, she killed this one guys brother. Wait a minute, no, the girl just wants to destroy him. But phillip Ko comes on at the end to fight mang fei and willow becasue willow killed HIS brother. No set up to his character whatsoever, and only one kind of short scene(around 7 minute final fight), btu man I love phillip ko. I hd no idea he was so sweet with a sword. So obviously the story is non existant and too confusing for having a stupid freaking plot, but the fights are plentiful and GOOD. The death shots really suck but I think that a very competent choreographer must have done this movie. I can't remember the name of the guy who did hero, daggers, dragon inn, and the swordsman series, but he might at least of had a hand in this.
   
   So all in all I have to say that it was really a HORRIBLE movie, btu the fights are surprisingly good, especially the one at the end with ko fei and his AWESOME sword. So if you don't like sword movies, you probably won't like this, but if you are a real kung fu fan you will find this good for at least one watch.
   
   If anybody does actually know the real name of this, please tell me, I would really like to knwo who did the action choreography and the god awful directing job.
   
   And the picture is the worst of the 3 in this collection, but still very acceptable. Certainly not near as bad if you went with like groundzero, blackbelt theater, videoasia, or wu tang movies.
   
   SHAOLIN MONK FIGHTS BACK-This movie really caught me by surprised at the start and I thought it was going to be a classic. The soundtrack is pretty good and sounds like an original one.
   
   The movie starts out with this monk guy who reminds me a hell of a lot like david carradine;s character. Now this guy can actually fight. But just like everyone else in the film, he isn't any good at acrobatics. So when they do the yuen biao style tumble, it just sucks and is way too slow. EXCEPT THE KID. I loved the kid and if they could have thrown in a couple of more cool things like him, this would be a lost classic. So the kid tumbles all around and sadly has like the best fights in teh movie. The yin yang villian looks really cool, and is a good fighter. it's just that nobody here is superb and the choreographer does a lot of very tired stuff. The ending was a little surprising, only helped boost it to a 2. So if you wanna see david carradine in an actual kung fu movie, this is the closest thing you are going to get.
   
   Picture quality is actually pretty decent, fuzzy and a bit shaky of course. And the soundtrack I would also describe as a bit fuzzy but still pretty good music when they actually play it.
   
   So all in all, a decent addition to the collection.

2 comments about Taoism Drunkard.

1. Rather spend your money on a different version of this film. The film itself is great, provided that you enjoy the type of humor which is showcased .. but seriously how could you not love the watermelon monster (aka the banana monster).
   But the product is very flawed. My first complaint is the subtitles. I would have preferred the movie to be dubbed, as that is in the spirit of such old kung-fu movies to have them move their lips without the correct words coming out. But I can deal with subtitles, or at least properly executed subtitles, which these arent.
   First of, there is the lack of black background for the white subtitles so they become completely unreadable every time there is a white or other light color in the scene. Secondly, at times you have to be a very fast reader to be able to get everything, since the subtitles have a tendency to disappear very quickly. Third, not everything in this movie is subtitled, so at times people are talking without subtitles. Fourth, the english used for the subtitles arent exactly what you could call perfect english, as there's many times where flawed english is showcased.
   Now if all the problems with the subtitles wasnt enough, the sound is enough out of sync to irritate the hell out of you (or at least me). A good kung-fu fight isn't the same if you cant here the hits and kicks, which you can't on this DVD. In the kung-fu fights the sound of a hit is first heard directly after one of the people have been hit, and that tendency continues all through the movie.
   Throw in the lack of bonus material (as the only bonus material is trailers) and there is absolutely nothing to appease me.
   
   My verdict is that this DVD shouldnt be bought, and people who really want this movie (which I did) should rather look for other releases of this movie, since the movie it self is definately worth seeing.



2. Now first of all the picture quality is very good. Not remastered but the print was not damaged at all, just some scratches and speckling. The subtitles are actually ALL readable. After seeing the first person's review I was expecting not to be able to follow the story at all but I literally was able to read all of the subtitles except for the occasional word that was cut off by the sides. But since the movie is close to being perfectly letterboxed that issue only happens about 9 or 10 times.
   
   Now the movie is a super wierd taoist flick that was a series of 3 movies that Yuen Woo Ping did. This movie was actually directed by Yuen Cheung-Yan. I haven't seen 'Miracle Fighters' but I can say this movie is not quite as good as 'Shaolin Drunkard'. The action is actually better but the story drags a lot more than 'Shaolin Drunkard'. Yuen Chat-Yor once again plays the young Taoist master and lives with his Grandma in their trap filled house. The Old Devil(Yuen Shun Yi) is on the loose and Chat-Yor is going to become the head priest and take down Old Devil. Yuen Cheung-Yan again plays the Taoist Drunkard who has got all kinds of tricks up hsi sleeve. So basically the story does struggle quite a bit but manages to remain fun and clever throughout the movie. The final battle with Old Devil definitely tops it off well. Don't expect great kung fu, just great weirdness. And of course beware of the Watermelon monster or whatever that thing is.

5 comments about Kung Fu of 8 Drunkards.

1. I saw this movie in its original language, and I'm sure this was meant to be funny, and it sure is. Ancle Wu Ma, the director, much more mischievous than any other of his movies, and Meng Fei, the super star, not as HERO as always but still cute, the combination of the two is perfect. You may not believe this boy from China is the same person who played Fang Shi Yu in "The Secret Of The Shaolin Poles" or "The Young Hero Of Shaolin." It is rediculous to compare this one with Drunken Master only because it deals with the drunken style. I would way, it means a lot for a main actor to be good-looking in HK movies.



2. this movie has great actors Meng Fei and Chen Sing most naotably a young man learns the Drunken Gods style from a old Drunkard the bad guys see the young man using the style and try to use him to find the old master who was believed to have been killed by their master. be warned this movie tries to be funny and suceeds for the most part. but like most Wu Ma's movies it has a depressing feel with a sad ending.



3. This film was released before Jackie Chan's classic Drunken Master(in the U.S.).It's an action packed classic with the DVD giving alot of extras(loads of bonus clips and a really cool section called 8 Drunken Fights),and it's in 5.1 sound. A definite addition to the collection.I watched it back to back with Drunken Master!Check out Shaolin Drunkard too!



4. I had heard this was pretty good, but I expect more out of Johhny Wang. Mang Fei is obviously trying to copy Jackie, and doesn't do a bad job, but who can't act better than Jackie? This movie actually loses momentum during the fight scenes. I need to start a pole to see who is a better screen fighter, Cliff Lok, or Mang Fei. That would be one hell fo a long fight, but I think Mang Fei would pull it out by a hair.



5. Without saying much about Kung Fu of 8 Drunkards,,,,,,When I rate a flick, I usually rate it for the actual Kung fu, picture quality and plot. This movie had amazing old school kung fu, the plot was acceptable and easy to follow and the dvd picture and choreography was good. Therefore, I give this flick 4 stars overall,,,movies like 7 Grandmasters or Mystery of Checkers boxing get 5 stars in my book!

5 comments about The Karate of Chotoku Kyan.

1. This is Shotokan karate before it was taken to mainland Japan and changed to suit university and high school students. It is powerful, direct, includes take downs, holds, and, uniquely, a basic punch that develops significantly more power than its modern version by rotating only 90 degrees, instead of 180.
   This is a very professionally produced program that is enjoyable, packed with information, and something that you will watch again and again. Shimabukuro Sensei is technically excellent, the navigational menus make it really easy to use, and the historical section alone is worth the cost of the DVD



2. This DVD is amazing.The demonstrations of the Kata by Sensei Zenpo Shimabukuro is well worth the cost of the unit itself.His ability and strength resonate through every performance.The narrative gives insight into the life and times of the legendary Karate Master,Chotoku Kyan. I hate to nit pick for fear of being a nit wit,but there are a few things I would have liked to have seen included.First,while I understand that application(Bunkai)can vary,and is always open to interpretation.I would have liked it if some were offered.I have noticed this absent in other training modules.So you cant fault them too much.Maybe its a legal matter.I'd rather have a moving text of the systems kata,than risk the resulting lawsuit from some yahoo damaging somebody.Still,it is amazing to have this treasury of the kata of Seibukan Karate available. Second,The meaning of the names of the kata could have been included.I get a lot out the these,and while some were mentioned,others were not. When you consider that the names of these kata were changed for mostly P.C.reasons as they were absorbed by the later developing Japanese systems,you get a better sense of the history of these kata. If I may,and with the help of a couple of Karate text,(John Sells incredible;Unante and Corcoran and Farkis terrific,Martial Arts:Traditions,History,People),I would like to share these original name translations with the reader. The kata Wanshu,is the name of a Chinese Ambassador.This Kata is renamed as Empi,(Swallows wing),in most Japanese systems. The kata Ananku, refers to,light from the south or,Southern light.developed by Sensei Kyan,and Perhaps a reflection of his experiences in his travels. The kata Seisan,refers to the number,13.Sometimes thought to mean 13 techniques,or 13 steps.In systems such as Shotokan,the kata is known as Hangetsu,which means half-moon.A reference to the half-moon method of stepping between techniques. The kata Passai,is to "Penetrate a fortress" or,break a rock.Often known as Bassai-Dai in the Japanese systems,which basically means the same thing.
   The meaning of the name of the kata,Wanchin,developed by Sensei Zenryo Shimabukuro,has unfortunately been lost to the sands of time.However,it is said that the katas name,is a combination of the kanji of two other kata,Wanshu and Chinto.These two kata,and the techniques involved,were favorites of Sensei Zenryo Shimabukuro.Hence an inspiration for the name. The kata,Gojushiho,translates into 54 steps.Often also known as Useishi.Accounts vary,and either trace this kata back to formal exercises practiced in Fujian,China.Or,to a Okinawan royal court ritual dance. The kata Kusanku,is a reference to a Chinese attaches name.In the Shotokan system it has been changed to Kanku Dai,which refers to Sky viewing.In other Japanese systems its known as Kosokun.
   The kata Chinto,is facing or,fighting,to the East.At first thought to be the name of a Chinese seaman.The name is now believed to refer to a city in an eastern region.Its name is changed in most Japanese systems to Gankaku,which translates to Crane on a rock.
   Once again,let me state that I add these as something of interest to the reader of this humble review.In no way am I attempting to take anything from Sensei Zenpos training module or the production of this unit.Nor is there any way I could hope to instruct on a level anywhere near Sensei Zenpo Shimbukuro.I just felt that perhaps this could be found as entertaining to the reader.I would also like to thank Sensei Sells for his wonderful work on the Unante,and Mr.Corcoran and Mr.Farkas for their outstanding work on Martial Arts;Traditions History People.Both of these text added considerable insight into the translation of the names of these important kata.Just in case the point of all this has been forgotten...The Karate of Chotoku Kyan is an excellent DVD.Portraying not only the importance of these kata and the history of Sensei Kyan,but also,the amazing ability of Sensei Zenpo Shimabukuro in the demonstration of these kata.If your looking for something of great significance to add to your Karate library,you wont go far wrong with The Karate of Chotoku Kyan.



3. I had the pleasure of studying Seibukan karate from a second generation student of either Zenryo or Zenpo (the distinction was never made clear during my tenure) in the early 90's, and being the type who likes to write everything down, I was able to retain much of what I was taught including six of the kata on this tape (which I didn't write down, but learned). However, at that time none of my seniors knew Chinto or Kusanku, and I couldn't have learned it then anyway. Over the years I practiced the kata and basics of the style, considering it far superior to the numerous Japanese or Korean systems of college athletics masquerading as martial arts. I was fortunate in that my instructor, a convert from another Okinawan style, was far less autocratic than most Seibukan instructors. I was able to resume training in 2004, and was overjoyed to see this tape, which includes all the representative kata perfected by Chotoku Kyan and passed down to Zenryo Shimabukuro. The historical sections are interesting, and the kata are all presented from one direction only, once at normal speed and once in slow motion. While I remember one reviewer suggesting that it might be difficult to see certain moves because of the one angle shot, using the slow forward feature on the DVD player, you should be able to figure it out. I don't recommend learning kata off of a video by itself, but if you don't have a teacher (or don't want one, for whatever reasons), you should be able to learn something from this video. The production values are excellent, as most of Tsunami's tapes, which helps to somewhat alleviate their somewhat elitist and prejudiced focus on certain styles and instructors. I recommend this tape to anyone interested in the martial arts and Okinawan martial arts in particular.



4. Very impressive. I've always had an interest in the kata of Kyan Sensei and this dvd demonstrates them very well. I read another review on this dvd that referred to Shimabukuro Sensei as a "force of nature". I would have to whole heartedly agree. His performance of these kata is beyond excellent. The intense power and focus of his technique is almost scary. I would highly recommend this dvd to anyone who practices any form of Shorin Ryu karate. It is very informative and very well made. I can't find a single thing wrong with this production.



5. I thought this DVD was going to give some insight on strategy and execution for situations varied. All it turned out to be were some Kata and some history on the subject. That's good and all and don't get me wrong I'm going to keep the DVD because it is a very good depiction of all the kata I once knew but I thought it was going to be more that that. I guess I had my taste buds set on Chilly Dogs and I got a Hamburger, both are valid but I wanted Chilly Dogs. The video is grade "A" but it wasn't what I thought it was going to be from the advertisement. For those of you who need this information, the Kata on this DVD are "Passai, Chinto, Kusanku, Ananku, Wanshu, Gojushiho and Wanchin. Like I said, the quality of the video is excellent but kata are all you get.

1 comments about Duke Roufus Muay Thai Instructional DVDs, 8 Amazing Volumes for Full Contact Kickboxing, Muay Thai & Mixed Martial Arts Fighting.

1. This is an excellent teaching product for those who want to become better at muay thai/kickboxing. Duke explains in detail from all different angles each move. For those of you looking to get an excellent quality standup game, I'd highly reccommend this dvd! Easy to follow and very technique oriented.

1 comments about Extreme Fighting 2: Battlecade.

1. Get this one. Its the same as Battlecaed:Extreme fighting 2 but cheaper!

No comments about Rape Awareness and Prevention For Women.

No comments about Abraxas/Slipstream.