CHOP SOCKY!!! (Your favourites)

Cafe Society
1

Even though kung fu has been all the rage in hollywood for some time now, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a real decent martial arts flick.

I’ll admit to being no expert in the genre, but let me propose some of my favourites:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Not terribly original, I’ll readilly admit, but still has to be mentioned. First for the eye candy factor. Superb cinematography and an even better looking cast. Hell, I’m a straight guy and I had the hots for the male actors. The choreography and execution were decent but highly enhanced by what is usually lacking in inferior movies: emotional content.

Tai Chi Master
This was the first modern chop socky movie I saw. In a theater jam-packed with screaming fans. It rocked. Seriously. It’s story line, though hardly original, is pure refined hero epic: friendship, betrayal, defeat, learning, and kicking ass.

So, what are your faves?

2

Crouching Tiger as a chop socky film? Not in a million years.

In no particular order, films worth seeing are: Drunken Master II, the Monkey King films, and almost everything with Jet Li. For chop socky with a lot of laughs, you want to watch Delivery Boy with Stephen Chow.

3

I suppose it depends how you define “chop-socky”. I don’t have a problem putting CTHD and, say, Fist of Legend in the same genre.

Drunken Master II is by far my favourite Jackie Chan movie. The scene where his mother is throwing him booze bottles as he’s fighting is priceless.

4

I wanted to be the first to say Enter the Dragon.

Duel II the Death for the more modern era.

5

Rumble in the Bronx. A good cult flick from back when Jackie Chan was fast.

6

There’s a movie starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and some other guy who can climb walls. It’s good.

7

Super Ninjas, sometimes called Chinese Super Ninjas. The fighting is cool, and some of it is just so silly.

And I’m taping one right now off cable that I’ve been eagerly anticipating seeing: Master of the Flying Guillotine.