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Years since I first saw this movie. Very powerful. Peter Firth very good as the troubled boy.



Very good 2nd movie in the Dirty Harry series. And Harry got laid.



Excellent movie. Lead actor very good.
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Derek DelGaudio's in & of Itself (2020)

This is a stunning and unique "performance art" and magic show, taped at a small theater in NYC. DelGaudio is a Magician of the Year multiple time award winner, but the 90 minute show is much more than a magic show. He takes the audience on a journey of self awareness, and along the way dazzles with a number of illusions, magic tricks, and insights, causing the audience to become interwoven into the performance.

The show played for 72 weeks in NYC. It is seamless from start to finish, during which its path has DelGaudio personalizing his process of maturing since childhood while leading several audience members to surprising intuitive revelations. There are several celebrities in attendance, the most notable of which is Bill Gates.

DelGaudio's show is a new age performance and magic show experience, which sets a modernistic high bar for future magic experiences.

Available on Hulu and various streaming services.

Doc's rating: 9/10



I've seen all but 4 (Duel to the Death, Journey to the West, the Victim and Ten Tigers of Shaolin) but I like to love all the others. The format creates some extremely dubious omissions (Lau Kar Leung and Chang Cheh only having one entry each), along with some questionable additions (the Quest is only there because Q was a really hard letter, I'd imagine). It also skews more modern than I'd like (though the inclusion of Scott Adkins' Ninja 2 pleases me very much) but it's a fine list that would offer a lot of great martial arts action cinema.*

Hard to complain.

As long as you don't post the Every Frame A Painting video on Jackie Chan, I'll be alright.
What about your favorite Wuxias, then?



Especially The Dark Valley. Pahak introduced that to me via the western countdown we did last year. Austrian revenge western? Sure, I’m all in.
The Dark Valley is good stuff. I'm not sure it's great, but I have rewatched it in parts several times.

Phantasm (1979)

This will probably make some more people hate me, but why is this exactly considered a classic? It's below average B-horror of its era. .
I find it to be above average. There are some cringy moments with the acting and some of the humor, but it also generates a pretty strong emotional connection between the three leads. The villain is memorable. And the use of simple effects like those close-ups with the wind blowing are far more effective than they have any right to be.

I do think that it has a very distinct "vibe" to it. So while I really love it, I don't get out my dueling pistols when someone else doesn't.



I really like that still photo. It's composition is wonderful, and could be hung in a show.
Have you seen Roma? Because every other frame looks like it belongs in a museum.



Anything's fine by me.
Cool cool cool.

Here’s a smattering that I can’t rank so I’ll vaguely go in chronological order from memory:

Trail of the Broken Blade
Magnificent Trio
One Armed Swordsman
Return of the One Armed Swordsman
Come Drink With Me
Golden Swallow
Blood Brothers
Heroic Ones
Delightful Forest
Shaolin Whip
Have Sword Will Travel
Dragon Inn
Avenging Eagle
Flying Guillotine
Last Hurrah for Chivalry
Martial Arts of Shaolin
The Legend
Once Upon A Time in China 1&2
Tai Chi Master
Iron Monkey
Ashes of Time
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
The Grandmaster
Shadow





Pale Flower, 1964

Muraki (Ryo Ikebe) has just gotten out of prison, and immediately heads back to his old haunts and his old gang. Complicating his return is his fascination with a woman he meets in a gambling den, Saeko (Mariko Kaga), as well as some shifting power balances between the different gangs.

I am already looking forward to rewatching this film at some point. Between this and Roma, I am just swimming in luxurious black-and-white gorgeousness.

Whether it was just my mood or some quality of the film itself, I found myself only half paying attention to the story proper and mostly enjoying the absolutely beautiful look of the film and its general style. In the last 30 minutes there were two separate sequences that I immediately had to go back and watch a second time. In the first, Muraki is stalked down a lonely road and we watch his unease grow. The second sequence was an eerie scene in which Muraki tells another character about a dream he had---the dream itself shot in part in a very cool slow motion. (Was slow motion down with a different method in older films? Or does it just look better in black and white? I so often find that I really love something about slow motion in older films.)

The actors are very strong in their roles. I particularly enjoyed the look of a secondary character--a young man always dressed in black who in different scenes watches Saeko from the shadows. He is the kind of character who just allegorically seems to represent Death or something. His presences adds to a slightly dream-like mood that the whole film has.

The whole movie is involving, from beginning to end, but I especially have to mention the final scene, which is compelling both in its staging and its content. It was a bold way to end a film, and in the wrong hands it could have soured the whole film. Instead I thought that it was surprising and bracing.

When I saw Masahiro Shinoda's name in the credits I was sure I had seen other films from him, but I have not! This one makes me very excited to check out more of his work.

Highly recommended!






Pale Flower, 1964

Muraki (Ryo Ikebe) has just gotten out of prison, and immediately heads back to his old haunts and his old gang. Complicating his return is his fascination with a woman he meets in a gambling den, Saeko (Mariko Kaga), as well as some shifting power balances between the different gangs.

I am already looking forward to rewatching this film at some point. Between this and Roma, I am just swimming in luxurious black-and-white gorgeousness.

Whether it was just my mood or some quality of the film itself, I found myself only half paying attention to the story proper and mostly enjoying the absolutely beautiful look of the film and its general style. In the last 30 minutes there were two separate sequences that I immediately had to go back and watch a second time. In the first, Muraki is stalked down a lonely road and we watch his unease grow. The second sequence was an eerie scene in which Muraki tells another character about a dream he had---the dream itself shot in part in a very cool slow motion. (Was slow motion down with a different method in older films? Or does it just look better in black and white? I so often find that I really love something about slow motion in older films.)

The actors are very strong in their roles. I particularly enjoyed the look of a secondary character--a young man always dressed in black who in different scenes watches Saeko from the shadows. He is the kind of character who just allegorically seems to represent Death or something. His presences adds to a slightly dream-like mood that the whole film has.

The whole movie is involving, from beginning to end, but I especially have to mention the final scene, which is compelling both in its staging and its content. It was a bold way to end a film, and in the wrong hands it could have soured the whole film. Instead I thought that it was surprising and bracing.

When I saw Masahiro Shinoda's name in the credits I was sure I had seen other films from him, but I have not! This one makes me very excited to check out more of his work.

Highly recommended!

I watched that one a couple years ago and really loved it. Very great and underseen.
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Phantasm (1979)

This will probably make some more people hate me, but why is this exactly considered a classic? It's below average B-horror of its era. Acting, writing, pacing, cinematography, and everything else is bad here. It's also way too boring to provide some unintentional chuckles. What a disappointment.
I might not be quite a big a fan of this as Takoma, but I do think this movie benefits from letting sit in your mind for some time and returning to later. I found it somewhat clunky on my first viewing, but over the years a number of images had managed to burrow themselves in my mind. I also think for all its rough edges, it speaks pretty directly to certain adolescent anxieties.


I respond pretty strongly to horror movies that aim for a dreamlike effect, and I think this one checks the boxes in that respect.



Legend of Hell (2012)

This was my first Olaf Ittenbach movie, and boy, do I wish it was also my last. He seems like a combination of Uwe Boll and Andreas Schnaas, a description that doesn't hold much promise. I guess I have to give him credit for being ambitious, though, as the movie's odd mixture of Italian barbarian film, Lucio Fulci, and Terrence Malick were so high above his abilities. Most of the practical effects are decent, but that's the only technical aspect of the film that doesn't suck. Mind-numbingly bad piece of cinematic turd.
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The Wild Party (1929)
Directed by Dorothy Arzner
Starring: Clara Bow, Fredric March, Marceline Day, Joyce Compton

Well produced pre-code talkie from Paramount, set at an all female college where life is one great fun filled party and studies take second priority. Then one day Professor Gilmore (March), the new professor of anthropology arrives, and causes such a stir that anthropology becomes everyone's favourite new subject. Gilmore is emphatically unmoved by the widespread flirtations levelled towards him, being only dedicated to his academic prowess and rigid discipline. One student however, the most popular and raucously exuberant Stella Ames (Bow), recalls a prior incident where she accidentally shared a bed with him on a train! What could possibly go wrong from here? What follows is a fine mix of comedic goings on and sincere emotional drama. Clara Bow makes all this largely possible with a great and dynamic performance, ranging from mischievous and carefree party girl, to being humbled by her own mistakes and all the trials and passions of true love.

As her first sound picture, apparently she had difficulty adapting to the new microphones on set, being used to the freedom of movement she was accustomed to with silent pictures. It's alleged that when she delivered her first line the mic exploded. With the studio working to correct these problems, it directly led to the first implementation of what is now commonly known as a boom mic. They did a great job with it, and the sound quality comes off just about as good as any decent picture from the 1930's.

And Fredric March never ceases to amaze as an outstanding actor, looking and acting quite mature here as the stoic college professor, versus his very youthful appearance in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde some two years later.

8/10



Cool cool cool.

Here’s a smattering that I can’t rank so I’ll vaguely go in chronological order from memory:

Trail of the Broken Blade
Magnificent Trio
One Armed Swordsman
Return of the One Armed Swordsman
Come Drink With Me
Golden Swallow
Blood Brothers
Heroic Ones
Delightful Forest
Shaolin Whip
Have Sword Will Travel
Dragon Inn
Avenging Eagle
Flying Guillotine
Last Hurrah for Chivalry
Martial Arts of Shaolin
The Legend
Once Upon A Time in China 1&2
Tai Chi Master
Iron Monkey
Ashes of Time
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
The Grandmaster
Shadow
I'm kind of a Wuxia newb, so I can't comment on most of those picks, although Crouching Tiger was the first film that truly became my "favorite movie" when I saw it in theater when I was just 12, I was a pretty big fan of Hero & Flying Daggers, and I remember enjoying John Woo's Last Hurray For Chivalry the one time I saw it a long time ago. So, I haven't seen Come Drink With Me, although I remember Tom Breihan writing that if he started A History Of Violence with any movie earlier than Bullitt, he would've picked it, and while I haven't seen A Touch Of Zen, I've heard some very good things about it, so I'm surprised to see that it didn't make your list.