Tag: martial arts

Really Awful Movies: Ep 320 – Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! A new action movie book

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On this week’s episode of the podcast, a new book for action movie enthusiasts: Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies.

If you’re a fan of any of the following…Steven Seagal, Cannon Films, Chuck Norris, JCVD, Reb Brown, Brian Bosworth or the films Miami Connection, Dangerous Men, Road House or Gymkata, we have a Christmas gift for you.

On this episode of the podcast, how we came to our love of terrible action movies, genre clichés like the inevitable abandoned warehouse shoot-em-up, why goons always attack one at a time instead of all at once,  and how it is that Cameron Mitchell seems to appear in so many of these crappy efforts.

Also, how we came to work with Brian Trenchard-Smith, the Aussie director who wrote our book foreword and directed Strike of the Panther; the glacial, barrel-shaped Steven Seagal and his direct-to-video Euro-oeuvre and how it influenced this tome; and the Golden Era of the muscle-bound taciturn action hero.

Finally, we explore less-than-stellar super hero movies, and how the genre has come to particular prominence now, courtesy The Avengers, but how back in the day…all people had at multiplexes was the dismal Pumaman, but also a made-for-TV pile of dung Captain America II: Death Too Soon.

Grab your bandolier, your hunting knife, another pal (especially if you’re a cop as you need a cop buddy for many of these movies) and get ready for an incredibly restorative action movie training montage as you go head-to-head with an international heroin dealer holed up on an island. With choppers. And machine guns.

The book is available in physical retailers November 18, in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Australia (that we know of. Much like the action genre, it probably spans the globe with a particular presence in The Philippines for all we know).

 

 

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 273 – Mystery of Chessboxing

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On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, some 70s kung fu styles with this effort, Mystery of Chessboxing.

The film’s notoriety is twofold: 1) it inspired Wu Tang’s Da Mystery of Chessboxin, a great song by the Wu with RZA and ODB production and a Method Man chorus and 2) it introduced the world to The Ghost Face Killer, a massive eye-browed grey-maned old-timer ass-kicker with a martial arts style based on the Five Elements.

The film focuses on young Ah Pao, who wants to learn kung fu so that he can avenge his father’s death at the hands of the Ghost Faced Killer (Mark Long). He enrolls in a kung fu school, and becomes an apprentice, procuring rice for the faculty and students. And he’s tested, of course, and improves his skills (of course) but not in the way you might think. Genre fans will definitely get a kick out of (no pun intended) the appearance of Simon Yuen, chop-socky stalwart, in the role of a cook at the school (Yuen is known for Drunken Master and Story of Drunken Master).

Ah Pao is eventually booted from the school and eventually comes under the tutelage of a chess master, master Chi Sue Tin (played by Jack Long). Together, they figure out a way they can take out Ghost Face Killer and the film culminates in an outrageous battle to the death.

There’s board games, strategy, montages, and of course, an incredible amount of ass-kicking for which the Golden Era of kung fu films was known.

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 265 – Silent Rage

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On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we get back to our action roots with this, an oddball half action, half sci-fi horror flick, Silent Rage.

We get a prologue, that cheesy staple of 80s horror movies. In it, our antagonist Kirby, a pill-popping lunatic, grabs an axe and goes on a rampage.

Chuck Norris is a sheriff deputy in a small Texas town, who rushes in with backup, and singlehandedly stops the killer dead in his tracks. When Kirby gets loose, Norris’ deputy colleagues put a crap-load of lead into him. And the audience leaves him for dead. But where’s the body?

In this hick town, there’s a research hospital. And under its employ, some devious scientists who figure they’ve got someone who’s near-dead on whom they can test a mysterious serum. They inject Kirby and BAM! He springs back to life, mute (hence the “silent” part of the title). And he’s once again on the loose, murdering anyone in his path, and all this while wearing some weird jump suit.

Silent Rage is full of ass-kicking by Chuck, and of course this is a film with lots of slash and stalk horror elements. But what’s truly surprising is the biker element, the silly side-kick subplot, and also the ridiculous love montages. This is one cheesily enjoyable flick.

Tune in, as we certainly love our action movies. And this one has some whiz-bang bar fights and fisticuffs.