5 comments about The Real Bruce Lee.

1. See Bruce Lee in one of the world's most famous martial arts movies. Starring with Bruce is Dragon Lee from Korea. This very convincing look-a-like will have you on the edge of your seats. This movie was made in 1973 and is 118 minutes long.



2. The title is misleading. Less than 1/3 of this 'film' is about Bruce Lee, which features films made when he was a child actor, and a paltry amount of other photos. Then the shmucks who created this 'film' completely forget the 'real' Bruce Lee and show a wanna-be named Bruce Li whose martial arts are marginal at best. After that debacle, we get to watch a poorly made Kung Fu movie featuring another wanna-be named 'Dragon Lee', who, whilst he may physically resemble the real Bruce, is much slower, and his style of Kung Fu rather ornate and silly which the real Bruce thought was a waste. What's really a waste is any money spent on this fraud of a film. The hucksters who threw it together did so withthe obvious intent of duping the public looking for a quality documentary on the one and only late Bruce Lee. It's an insult to his legacy. The shysters who spliced this crap together should be flogged in public. Whatever you do, don't buy this film!



3. For all that is sacred and holy, do not spend money on this atrocity. I came across it because it was included in a budget-priced DVD collection that I picked up, full of old so-bad-they're-good kung fu flicks, but this item isn't even good enough for that crowd. Produced by some hack named Serafim Karalexis, this film is shameless enough to call itself "The Real Bruce Lee" even though it primarily features the look-alikes that movie producers trotted out after Bruce's sudden death in 1973, hoping to make money off a gullible public that was hungry for more of Bruce's incredible martial arts mastery. There were many inferior films (with equally inferior Bruce imitators) that tried to cash in, and this one is among the most brazen.
   
   This so-called "biopic" starts out with a basic life story of Bruce Lee, information that is freely available anywhere, and presents excerpts from some of the Hong Kong films that Bruce appeared in as a child actor in the '40s and '50s. This material might actually be of interest to collectors and historians, but there's not much of it and the video quality is horrendous. Next, the narrator tells us about Bruce's classic films, but accompanied only by still shots of movie posters, and with no actual footage. This means that the clowns behind this biopic couldn't get the rights. And then the ultimate shamelessness commences.
   
   The narrator tells us that Bruce was so great that he spawned many knock-offs, because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (Bring me a shovel.) After some brief footage of various useless wooden-faced imitators, this film then concludes with 63 minutes (that's right SIXTY-THREE minutes) of action scenes starring another look-alike named Dragon Lee, a crony of Karalexis. Concerning this Dragon Lee, he had some serious martial arts skills and could have been a legitimate star in his own right. But he will be forever remembered as a shallow wannabe who got mixed up with hucksters and charlatans, often imitating the real Bruce's menacing facial expressions but coming up woefully short on Bruce's complex charisma (just like all the other look-alikes). At the end of Dragon Lee's incredibly lengthy on-screen audition, the narrator says, "we all know there is only one Bruce Lee... his memory will live forever." You hear this while watching an imitator, and no image of Bruce himself has been seen since the still movie posters back near the beginning of this travesty. Shameless, pathetic, unforgivable. [~doomsdayer520~]



4. The title is misleading, the dvd cover synopsis is misleading, there is no rare footage of the REAL Bruce Lee to be found in the pic...only footage of the clones doing a poor job of exploiting the Little Dragon. A sad reminder of how Bruce's name and legacy was exploited by cold-hearted hustlers. GARBAGE!



5. It is like 2 hours long and it is freaking awesome.
   
   The first 90 minutes show Bruce Lee childhood movie clips and while all that is interesting, it gets really good when they start showing the Bruce Li clips. The we get like a full length Dragon Lee movie. I have to say that this has to be the best Dragon Lee movie I have ever seen. He actually does more than 1 kick in succession, cartwheels, and of course he is the closest looking Bruce Lee imitator(at least in facial expressions). His super kick has to be checked out for the special effects alone. If Dragon Lee wasn't a Bruce clone he may have actually been able to make it in the kung fu movie industry.
   
   I wouldn't really consider this a movie, but it does turn into a Dragon Lee movie that was almost watchable.

2 comments about Queen Boxer.

1. This DVD is in SUPER full-frame. Super here is not a good word. It's headache inducing how it's so zoomed in. The movie itself is supposed to be a classic, but you will have no opportunity to tell as it is impossible to see any of what's going on on this DVD print. Cross your fingers and hope somebody else puts it out in better form.



2. This movie was your standard revenge plot just that the genders are reversed. I don't mind Judy Lee, but there is no reason she should be given a starring role. She doesn't have near a strong enough screen presence to carry a movie. Her martial arts skills are average but she only has a couple of expressions and this really kills it. Not that the story was helPing her though.
   
   The first thing I have to comment on is how when the fighting starts you just hear all these blurred sounds of ehoes liek- eee-yaaa, ohhhh. Super pitiful, the dubbing isn't the worst but the echoing definitely means I will never put myself through this unpleasent experience again.
   
   The dvd is in super full frame and I have become too used to pan and scan jobs over all these years of watching these. If it was a good movie, I would have given it a good rating. The zooming was worse than normal though. So I will give the mvoei a 3 and the dvd a 1. It is just too cool watching Judy Lee spinning around killing everybody with her double knives in the final fight.
   
   SO DO NOT BUY THIS AND SEEK OUT A GOOD VERSION!!!!!!!!!!

1 comments about Bronson Lee, Champion.

1. Bronson Lee stars as a Japanese who somehow grew up on a farm in the midwest. He enters a karate tournament because he wants to prove his skills. He beats all the fighters, but there is a guy called Black Tiger who he draws with. A twist happens towards the end which I won't give away, and Bronson fights Black Tiger for a second time.
   
   I have only seen Bronson Lee in 2 movies prior to seeing this. He seems to imitate both Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba. He doesn't come close to matching either in skill, but his screen fighting skills are still a bit above average. But those are screen fighting skills. In terms of real fighting skills he looks extremely lethal. My favorite scene of the movie is watching him train. This guy has some serious power in his kicks and punches. The fight scenes are nothing special, but not bad. The problem is that all the fights feel the same. None of the fight scenes stand out above the rest. They are all equal.
   
   I wanted to see this movie because IMDB says Bolo Yeung is in the cast, but he isn't. I never look to IMDB for information on kung fu movies because half of the time they are wrong, but I couldn't find this movie on hkcinemagic. Probably because it isn't a Hong Kong movie. But with the karate style of fighting this movie uses, Bolo wouldn't have looked good anyway.
   
   2.5/5
   
   I saw this on netflix (the insta-watch thing), and the picture quality is amazing, especially for a movie from 1978.

5 comments about XMA - Xtreme Martial Arts.

1. I practice the martial arts and I bought this with the understanding that it will go into the science of many of the most common techniques. Unfortunately this was not the case. Instead the documentary wraps itself around a single martial artist (Matt Mullins), who looks like he is in his early 20's, has been retired from international competition for 2 years (go figure), and his attempt to make a comeback to the scene. Along the way, moments are taken to show 3D skeletal animation of the techniques and weapons used. Some of it was interesting but ultimately you really don't learn anything about the actual bio-mechanics and scientific principals of the techniques. So you learn that a well condition artist can deliver a kick at the speed of 35 mph and at a force that equates to 2 tons per square inch. Great but how about an in-depth analysis of how this can be humanely possible? I wanted them to talk about the principals of torque, relaxed muscles, use of the hips, proper stance, etc. The international competition that is the focus of this story is not one I ever heard of and takes place in a hotel conference room in Orlando. In my opinion this competition is all about acrobatics and flash and has more to do with gymnastics than martial arts. What I found odd was the entourage of teachers this guy had which I would imagine is very distracting for a world class competitor. I started to lose interest in this DVD early on when Matt goes back to work out with his first karate teacher who has the worst hairpiece I had ever seen. While that may seem crude to say, there was something in the lack of authenticity that got to me. Overall I found the entire DVD very disappointing, non-informative and a wasted opportunity.



2. Let's begin with the good. This DVD is full of flashy, cool scenes featuring various artists performing with and without weapons. CGI and complex motion-capture equipment is used to show movement and break down basic ideas behind what makes martial arts work. There are some very exciting and interesting scenes. . .
   
   However. . .
   
   While it touches briefly on basic principles behind martial arts ( for example, a scene visually displaying through CGI how force travels from grounded stance into an opponents body during a strike )it does only that. It briefly touches. It does not delve into WHY proper breathing is vital, what constitutes proper stance, or the bio-mechanical elements behind the immense power generated by well-conditioned martial artists.
   As well, too much emphasis is put on showmanship, in my opinion, and too little on training and traditional, effective arts.
   
   But still, this DVD broke some new ground. If someone were to pick up where Matt and Mike left off and make an effort to REALLY EXPLAIN the science behind these arts. . .
   Well, that would be worth seeing indeed.



3. Ignore the hater reviews below, or above, this one. They are judging the program on criteria it was never intended to have.
   
   First off, if your looking to learn the martial arts from a DVD, you may want to reconsider...something, anything, really just don't try to learn the martial arts from a DVD. A teacher, with extensive knowledge may cost more, but the martial arts are not something you can pick up in an hour-and-a-half for 20 dollars.
   
   Anywho, the this show was produced by THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, so is much safer to assume that the made the show with the intention of breaking down a complex subject so that all us plebeians can understand. And this is where the DVD succeeds. It explains the science of motion behind many famous (and maybe a few obscure) fighting styles, and showcases the greatest melee weapons in the hands of experts. Including my favorite, the Katana.
   
   While a regular martial artist might find some novelty in it, its meant for all us non, or psudo-martial artists (I am, of course, the latter) I know that when I first saw it, I got so pumped that I punched a nearby stone wall, and though I broke the skin on my hand, I was still happy.



4. I love XMA! Although XMA is not very practicle, it does demonstrate flexibility, power, diversity etc... of martial artist.



5. When I saw the commercials for this, I couldn't wait. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be, though. It said on the commercial there would be information on martial arts, but it didn't, and mostly follows the training and competition of Matt Mullins, and also some clips of the competition and other martial artists. Even my friend who takes a martial arts said he was disappointed about it. I agree with Luar, that it wasn't informational as it should have been, especially with all those computer graphics scenes. I would've given it a 3.5 stars if I could.
   
   Catch it if they ever show it on TV again, since it does have good entertainment value (that and Matt is good looking, if you're a girl), but I wouldn't recommend the dvd. Go watch Fight Science instead, if you have NG channel. If not, head over to youtube.

No comments about Grand Master Of Shaolin Kung Fu.

5 comments about Warrior Within.

1. I just got this DVD, I am re-selling it. What a wast of money. The quality of sound and picture is terrible. The Martial arts demonstration is OK, but not practical as it says. It is not very well organized, and has no focal point of the film. I am like WHAT IS THE POINT? Just a bunch of mixed up corny film to me....very disappointed.



2. The quality of a product should stand on its own without people manipulating user ratings. Almost all the user ratings are posted by someone anonymous or someone who only posted one time. Plus someone has made numerous multiple postings that are full of praise and little on actual critique. Seems fishy to me.



3. I'm not sure what the other reviewers are talking about. Maybe they are the film distributors as well. I just saw this recently and thought it was one the funniest things I've seen. But the comedy is totally unintentional.
   
   This was made in the 70s and documents nicely the delusional attitude to martial arts the western world had in that period.
   
   The 'enlightenment' aspect of martial arts tied in nicely with the hippie peace, love and understanding ideal, and together with Bruce Lee's all conquering 'Enter the Dragon' bringing in every tough guy wannabe - well how could it not have been huge !
   
   Speaking of Bruce Lee, his brother Robert Lee does some of the music here, adding to the hilarity. He wasn't hired for his talent, and him trying to croon a slow dreamy ballad 'The Warrior Within' will bring a smile to your face every time you watch.
   
   Many of the 'masters' interviewed are inner city african americans, and come across as wannabe enlighten ghetto gangsters. My favourite was the master who would spar 'full on' (which apparently means no contact at all) with his students - while wearing 70s style sunglasses. THAT IS BADASS !!
   
   This doco actually does feature someone talking about the dangers of attackers entering his 'circle of death'. Apparently anyone that enters his circle of death when he's in attack mode is going to get it - even his mother ! But apparently she wouldn't enter, 'because she knows better'. That right there is by far the best part of the movie, and possibly the greatest line ever committed to film.
   
   Also, watch out for the jiu jitsu master who has all his students talk about how graceful his rolling around is despite his large girth. Lots of slow motion shots follow of this large man doing forward rolls.
   
   Some of them have the noble idea that teaching inner city youths their martial arts will help decrease youth violence and gang activity. You can't argue with that idea, although judging from the 1980s it probably didn't work that well.
   
   There is too much comedy gold to list it all here. The only ones that seemed rational were Chuck Norris, Dan Inosanto and Mike Stone - 3 guys who were all actual friends of Bruce Lee and all engaged in fighting with actual contact... Mike Stone openly makes fun of some masters who are full of it.
   
   A DVD anniversary edition would be AWESOME. I'd love to see a 'where are they now?' feature showing all the masters. I wonder if the circle of death expanded or contracted with age ?
   
   In the end its a wonderful time capsule of the martial arts hysteria that took over the world in the early 70s and really continued into the 90s until the Gracie family and mixed martial arts cleared out the rubbish - which was Bruce Lee's goal in the first place...



4. First of all let me say that if you are looking for hardcore action, legs breaking, and fancy flips, and gymnastics. This isn't for you. This was made in the 70's so don't be surprised with the crappy picture and sound quality. However with that said, I have always loved this documentary. I first saw it 18 years ago at the age of ten. Once I saw it I joined my first martial arts dojo. And since then took a long hard and exciting journey in the martial arts world. Despite what some critics on here say, these are REAL masters and many are still alive and VERY WELL RESPECTED in the martial arts community. This documentary goes into brief descriptions of different arts such as Karate, Tiger Claw Gung Fu, Tai chi Chuan, Jujitsu and a few others. While interviewing respected masters in those styles. They speak about their personal experiences, views on life, and what it means being a martial arts master. It's a must for any serious martial artist who isn't in it for just hurting people.



5. This doesn't feature any footage of Bruce Lee apart from a few stills and some mention of his influence. However in all other respects the rest of the film is first class.
   
   Leading experts from various martial arts areas (Kendo, various forms of Karate, Jujitsu, Kung Fu, Tai Chi as well as weapons experts etc) are all shown demonstrating their skills with devastating effectiveness and discussing them with equal facility.
   
   Amongst the better known martial artists are:
   Chuck Norris
   Dan Inosanto
   Master Poi Chen
   Mike Stone
   Master Moses Powell
   
   Unlike one of the previous critical reviewers I actually found the Jujitsu master the most impressive of all the guys on display. The truth is they are, or at least were, amongst the very best at the time the film was made. Criticising from behind the keyboard 30 years after these guys were at their peak, is I think a little unfair!
   
   Highly recommended to anyone interested in martial arts.

1 comments about Yao's Young Warriors.

1. 'Yao's Young Warriors' is a mainland Chinese costume adventure that takes place towards the end of the Sung Dynasty. It tells the story of General Yao who would not yield to the Chin forces and holds out at a mountain. They are in a position where the Chin forces can't get to them without heavy loss. They plan to kidnap Yao's mother to get him and his small army to surrender. This is the set up given at the beginning at the movie. While the grandmother is a character in the movie, you will have to forget about General Yao. He does not appear again.
   
   The movie starts out with a dark skinned young man who comes to warn Yao's 5 sons of the attack on their father. They plan their own attack and this becomes the plot for the movie.
   
   The story is all kinds of fun with good light hearted comedy and some great fight scenes. The first fight involves fighting one to one on horses. It reminded me a bit of King Arthur and is a very unique fight scene but the action actually gets better from there. Whoever the director of this is does a great job of intertwining kung fu into the story. The story is engaging and helps make this a very good movie. It doesn't come to a close answering all the questions you might have but for a 90 minute movie, there is a ton of action and they do sacrifice giving you a more thorough story in order to show you all these action scenes. I don't want to explain the story because it is better for it to just unfold in front of you. It tries to be an epic movie and while it fails in that, it was great to see all of the colorful costumes and the attempt for it to be a true epic did add excitement.
   
   All of the actors are highly skilled Wushu performers and the action is very good. They save the best for last and the final fight is outstanding. The 5 brothers take on 3 cousins of the eldest prince and a son of a general who have come to support the Chin troops. The prince is the main villian but doesn't do a lot of fighting but these 4 all specialize in special skills like iron head technique, eagle claw, a pole, and a rope dart. The Yao sons all specialize in spear techniques and it makes for a suberb finale.
   
   I would recommend this movie to anyone who liked mainland movies like 'Undaunted Wudang', 'Ahrats in Fury', and 'Secret of Tai Chi'. I didn't find it quite as good as those but the difference is that while this movie has all the great action scenes you expect, 'Yao's Young Warriors' is a very extravagant project and really feels bigger than it is.
   
   The picture is presented in widescreen. Letterboxed! Picture quality is very good though it has some noticeable print damage. This is part of the Venom Mobs series but it has MUCH better picture quality and presentation than the other movies in the Venom Mobs Black Dragon Collection. I don't know what happened to Crash Cinema and why they would allow theselves to put out so many horrible presented kung fu movies but I have heard that they will be releasing many very rare movies in the near future. We will just have to wait and see what happens with them. Hopefully good things. I will keep my fingers crossed.

5 comments about Screaming Ninja.

1. This DVD is well worth it's price. Conventional plot. Chinese guy sets out on revenge against the Japanese who killed his family in China. If you like movies where one guy fights fifteen guys at once then this is the movie for you.



2. Jimmy Wang Yu(King of Boxing) rules in this 1973 film that was so rare that it incorporated the star's name in the title.One of the few such films was Screaming Tiger which was also known under other titles such as Screaming Ninja and several others.The Movie is set in early 1900's China.Essentially playing an extension of himself,Wang Yu spends much of his time defending himself against evil martial-arts masters.He also tries to make sense of a tragic incident from his past.The cast under the direction of Jian Lung includes Jimmy Wang Yu,Zhang Qing-Qing,Kang Hai,Zi Lan,Lung Fei,Lu Ping and Wei Chao-Rui which makes this an excellent Matial Arts Film that's very well worth watching!!



3. Wang Yu Rules rules in this martial arts movie set in early 1900's China.It's a must see with good style and good fights!!



4. After watching Jimmy Wang Yu in "Blood of the Dragon," I couldn't pass this one up.

   My chief gripe is that the transfer to (Platinum Disc) DVD is very poor: the film is very dark and, consequently, dim and often featureless. (I was misled by Platinum's claim on the cover case that the film was "Digitally Mastered," mistakenly thinking I would see a clean, clear, restored print. No such luck!)

   Wang's character has a real attitude, and rubs elbows with some other interesting supporting characters, adding some arresting twists to an otherwise "stock" revenge plot. The action sequences are frequent and, for the most part, worthwhile. Although I thought the final fight scene was a bit drawn out (like an old American western fight scene), repetitive and bordering on the tedious; and, frankly, not all that satisfying.

   I liked Jimmy Wang Yu in this film, but not as much as I liked him in Blood of the Dragon. I would award Screaming Ninja 4 stars, if the picture quality were better. As-is, however, second shelf status.




5. I got this movie as a four pack for $2. I definitely wasn't dissapointed, while snake crane secret is the only one I like in this, screaming ninja isn't the worst movie ever. This is kinda like wang yu's rage of the master(which is in the four-paCK), meaning they both costed about $10,000 to make. They actually could have costed $10 and I wouldn't have noticed the difference. Overall Screaming tiger has a ton of non-realistic fights, but the final fight did nothing special. The fact they were fighting on a moving train was cool, but they should have done some really cool stunts. The final fight is just sloppy and you start to wonder if you are gonna make it through to the end. Hard movie to watch, but if you are a HUGE, MonSTROUS Wang Yu fan, I think you will like it.

2 comments about Filipino Stick Fighting.

1. Lester "Surf Dog" Griffin is still stick fighting, as he was at the most recent June 2005 Dog Brothers Gathering. This tape is quite educational, as it shows the progression of protective equipment and weapons over all of the years of Marc Denny's Gathering of the Pack event. Griffin demonstrates some of the Dog Brother material from basic drill to harder contact. Every now and then, the otherwise serious-faced instructor injects some humor in his training, such as splattering a watermelon or training in the pool. I was waiting for the pool to be drained to make way for the skateboards ! Perhaps we'll see some surf or skateboard fighting in his next tape.
   
   The fellow is in great shape, and offers his training methods as well as some footage of Dog Brothers stickfighting. This tape fills a niche between the usual FMA video of tons of techniques and the excellent Dog Brother instructional tapes which use fight excerpts as illustrations.
   
   Overall, a good buy. There is one production issue with crackling audio when Griffin places a mask over his wireless microphone, but otherwise, this video is well-vtaped and produced. The video and audio quality are pristine, though the the picture used to sell this product implies an older product.
   Please update the picture to do your material justice !
   
   Gints



2. "Filipino Stick Fighting" taught by Lester Griffins is a good beginners DVD. Lester Griffins demonstrates basic blocks, strikes and combinations, as well as simple footwork to be used with these techniques.
   
   The DVD runs about 55 minutes; about 30 minutes of which is good instruction. There are several minutes of full-contact stick fighting shown at the end of the DVD (Dog Brothers stuff) which is worth seeing, but between these two segments is Griffins trying to demonstrate stick fighting drills in a swimming pool. Training in water is a useful technique, but I felt the swimming pool segment distracted from the quality of an otherwise decent instructional DVD.
   
   I have mixed feelings about this DVD. Lester Griffins clearly has skill in stick fighting, and one can learn some basic techniques from studying this DVD, but there is nothing that makes this DVD stand out from other stick fighting DVD / Videos on the market.

2 comments about Duel Of The Iron Fist.

1. for those of us older kung fu movie heads i had to say i saw this movie for the first time when i was about 13 and i can say the dvd i recieved sucked they sliced some serious plot scenes out of this movie and even the ending has been sliced out of this movie what gives!!!?



2. This movie with David Chan and Ti Lung is Fantastic but don't get the cheap version of this film its very poor look for the remastered version its excellent and a true Kung Fu Classic!