A sequel to the International smash hit “Ip Man”, Wilson Yip takes another turn in the directors chair and Donnie Yen reprises his role as the title character, Ip Man. Picking up right where the first film left off, the sequel centers on Ip’s life in Hong Kong, which is under British colonial rule. Newly arrived in Hong Kong, martial arts master Ip Man (Donnie Yen) encounters stiff opposition when he begins teaching the Wing Chun fighting style. This action packed sequel is a worthy heir apparent to the original film and Donnie Yen delights with another stunning performance.

Edmond Wong’s screenplay is tightly paced and focused like a laser, contemplating the deeper quest of one’s life, one’s heritage, integrity and morality. Life is a series of compromises and in the case of Ip Man, it’s also about getting serious about kicking some ass.

This is a great juxtaposition against the corrupt environment of Hong Kong at this time. Ultimately, Ip Man and his rivals unite to face their oppressors. Thankfully, this time out, Ip Man is matched against an opponent who is equally skilled and sparks fly as they duke it out.

Sammo Hung does an awesome job as the action choreographer, and the film is chock full of some of the best action sequences the genre has ever known. Sammo’s presence is strongly felt throughout the film.

The air of invincibility surrounding Ip Man dissipates a little, as other Wing Chun practitioners rise up and we discover the limits of Ip Man’s abilities. This only serves to rally us to cheer him on as he stands up for his ideals. This film is a worthy, must-see movie! Enjoy!

This is Donnie Yen’s breakout performance and one incredible Kung Fu movie. The plot, fight choreography, setting, cinematography, overall production value and performances are superb. When Ip Man’s son, Ip Chun, saw the movie for the first time he was exuberant, and it’s no wonder. Donnie Yen inhabits this movie like he was possessed by the soul of Ip Man, and as Ip Man himself states early in the film: “the key is the person”.

For those who don’t know: Ip Man is a biographical martial arts film based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and master of Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip’s life that took place in the city of Foshan during World War II when the Japanese occupied the city. The Japanese soldiers relentlessly torment Ip Man, goading him to spar with them. Eventually he consents and the action explodes across the screen.

The film was directed by Wilson Yip, with Wing Chun master Sammo Hung handling the martial arts choreography. Ip Man’s eldest son, along with martial arts master Leo Au-yeung and several other Wing Chun practitioners served as technical consultants for the film.

Ip Man premiered in Beijing in 2008, to resounding widespread acclaim from critics and audiences. Following its success, the film was nominated for 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, winning awards for Best Film and Best Action Choreography.

Here’s a little gem you may have overlooked, starring the venerable Bruce Li and the wonderful Angela Mao. Loosely classified as a Bruceploitation film and once promoted as the sequel to “Exit The Dragon, Enter the Tiger”, though it has absolutely nothing in common with the former film. Return of the Tiger centers around a vicious narcotics smuggling operation in Bangkok that is controlled by rival American and Chinese interests.

Team America is headed by the menacing hulk of a bearded nightclub owner, played by Paul Smith. He’s one mean unstoppable bad motor finger, hell bent on maintaining his iron grip on the trade. His bitter rival is played by Tse-Chan who goes to elaborate lengths to to try and have Mr. Smith “eliminated.”

Enter Bruce Li and his lovely assistant Ms. Angela Mao: Bruce Li is an undercover narcotics agent playing a high stakes game by pitting one side against the other. Mao plays his dutiful, high kicking assistant.

Bruce Li turns in one of his best performances and seems at his best when he isn’t trying too hard to emulate Bruce Lee. Angela Mao plays more of a supporting role, but she is still astounding to watch. This Kung Fu classic, is well worth your time and I highly recommend it.

This is the original “Bruceploitation” classic and arguably the grand daddy of them all. This film encapsulates all things good and bad about the post-Bruce Hong Kong cinematic era.

Our story centers on a former disciple of Lee (the inimitable Bruce Li) who launches a private investigation in an attempt to determine the circumstance surrounding Bruce’s death, and ends up avenging the brutal death of his own girlfriend.

The investigation into the death of Lee by his pupil, and supposed successor, is paper thin leaning heavily on innuendo and conjecture. We never really find out why Bruce Lee was killed, but Lee’s real death provides the basis for a purely fictional plot about a drug smuggling ring that wishes to use martial arts stars as couriers.

The cinematography, editing and overall directing is excellent. It’s good film technically and what Li lacks in presence and charisma he more than makes up for with some tasty fight sequences.

All of the positive elements of the film come together at one moment in the final sequence when Bruce Li is fighting the drug kingpin (named “The Baron”) who unsheathes a sword-stick and slashes away at our hero. Li’s shirt is cut off and bare chested and bleeding, he looks just the image of Bruce Lee in a famous scene from Enter the Dragon…go figure.

Overall, a solid film and a must see movie for all you die hard Kung Fu fanatics! Enjoy!

As Brandon Lee once said: “Game of Death has 40 minutes of footage and the rest is junk.” Before Bruce Lee died he worked on scripts for Game of Death and shot some 40 odd minutes of footage including test screenings and actual fight sequences. The central theme of the film is an illustration of Bruce Lee’s own personal martial arts philosophy, which ponders the superiority of martial arts styles, ultimately questioning the need for any style at all.

The film’s plot is a mishmash that was strung together posthumously. Bruce Lee portrays Billy Lo, a Hong Kong based movie actor who is a box office star much like Bruce Lee himself. Triad gangsters attempt to “convince” Billy Lo to join their management firm, but Billy knows they will only exploit him and turn him out like a $10 Ho, so he resists. After they attempt to assassinate Billy, the ass kicking commences.

Unfortunately, the film we know of today as “Game of Death” is simply a mash-up of stock footage, overwrought story lines and Lee stand-ins. Bruce Lee died before filming was completed. The footage that Bruce Lee did shoot, was far more intriguing than virtually anything else that this film’s creators cobbled together for release.

The film’s main plot was to be based in Korea. Bruce Lee would be forced into storming a 5 story Pagoda which is said to hold a infinite treasure within each level that is guarded by a master of a different martial arts style. The first floor is guarded by hundreds of Karate students (much like the ending of Enter the Dragon). The second level: Praying Mantis. The Third level is guarded by a Philippino style artist with escrima sticks. Level four: A Hapkido master. Level five contains the mind blowing appearance of Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Little survives today of the original footage and what is leftover has been slashed to bits by producer/director Robert Clouse. Though the original plot of the film has been distorted, some of it’s spirit remains. It is still a joy to watch Bruce fight, and his power and skills shine through, despite all of the distractions. Please enjoy the action packed 40 minutes of Bruce Lee clips from the original film.

This “Brucesploitation” classic was billed as starring the “3 Greatest Masters! Bruce Lee, Fred Williamson, Ron Van Clief”. This is Brucesploitation at its finest (cheesiest) moment and unabashedly pure exploitation schlock. Oh, and yes, it is hysterically, unintentionally funny. Despite what many purists would consider a “disgrace” to the name of Bruce Lee, this film serves as more of a campy action packed tribute, with footage of Bruce artfully spliced into the mix.

The plot you ask? Madison Square Garden is hosting a tournament to determine who will be Bruce’s successor. Enter Oscar-winner Adolph Caesar as the hokey announcer, Fred “The Hammer” Williamson and Ron Van Clief as the boxer. Through a series of flashbacks and cut scenes, a fictionalized tapestry of the Bruce Lee story is woven.

Clips from an old Chinese soap opera are re-dubbed to make Bruce’s “biography,” which then introduce a flashback-IN-a-flashback (got that?) about Bruce’s great-grandfather, who was apparently a samurai. The footage for this segment is taken from the “Invincible Super Chan” (a cult classic in its own right – wire tricks, a midget, and some guy with an abacus – yes, a true classic). Who knows what the writer was smoking when he wrote this, but if I had to guess, I would venture some of that golden triangle sticky icky icky (Thai Stick maybe?). No matter, the guy’s a B Movie genius.

Fist of Fear is a non-stop laugh fest, from Williamson’s girlfriend who insists on “making it a six-pack”, to Fred being mistaken for Harry Belafonte, to Bill Louie’s cameo as Green Hornet’s Kato (he kills a would-be rapist with shurikens!) to the special appearance of Grand Master Ron Van Clief (the Black Dragon!).

In the end, the tournament finale is fairly bland with Adolph Caesar’s final words about there being “no true successor to such a master” making all of this films slight offenses alright. I recommend you watch this film, then repent immediately by doing 5 flying eagle kata’s and 2 spinning axe kicks. Amen!

The real Bruce Lee is back in this mash up of early footage found in the Chinese archives. This feature also stars the sensational DRAGON LEE, and of course that master of all things “bruceploitation”: BRUCE LI.

This is really a half-hour documentary about Bruce, followed by a full-length Kung Fu feature called “The Ultimate Lee” that’s lays claim to being the  next scheduled movie Bruce was to have done before is untimely death.

The first half-hour is where this feature really shines as we see selected clips from Bruce’s first four films made while he was a youngster in China. We see clips from “The Little Dragon”, “The Bad Boy”, “Carnival” and “Orphan Sam”. Also included is the only scene Bruce ever did with his father. There are a few terrific cameos of Bruce behind the camera and casual. We also see scenes of Bruce’s funeral. This is a must see for any serious Bruce Lee aficionado.

This is an absolutely wonderful lost interview with none other than the master himself, Sifu Bruce Lee. This interview was conducted live from Hong Kong by for the Pierre Berton show, which interestingly, was filmed in a different international location each week. Here Bruce talks about everything from his Martial Arts philosophy to his Hollywood friends including Steve McQueen and James Coburn. This is a really great lost interview from the later part of Bruce’s career. This is absolutely great stuff: Bruce is very candid and humble. It’s easy to see why he is still revered and loved today, more than 30 years after his death. Please Enjoy!

“Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave” is a very misleading title from legendary grind-house distributor Aquarius. Run by the late Australian-born exploitation genius Terry Levene, Aquarius, renowned for their lowest-of-low budget Martial Arts Movies and Sonny Chiba re-edits, hobbled together this low budget gem with an extremely mild Bruce Lee impersonation for as yet another entry into the sub genre known as ‘Bruceploitation’. This was not Aquarius’s first foray into the murky pool of Bruceploitation films, Mr. Levene is also responsible for the film ‘Fist Of Fear, Touch Of Death (1980)’, a mash up of Bruce Lee films spliced and diced into an entirely fictitious documentary. Aquarius also released the Italian zombie cannibal shocker Zombie Holocaust as ‘Doctor Butcher MD (1980)’ which included a mock surgery performed on the back of a truck racing through the streets of New York City….excellent!
Levene’s poster for ‘Bruce Lee Fights Back’ promises a zombie Bruce Lee in a supernatural smack down with the Black Angel of Death. The credits even feature someone suspiciously Bruce-like leaping out of a polystyrene tomb like he was ready to kick the ass of every malevolent creep unlucky enough to cross his path.
We then cut to a film that has NO Bruce, NO Angel of Death, and is in fact a 3rd rate anesthetized Kung Fu filler starring someone claiming to be Bruce K.L. Lea. “Rip off,” Did you say? You may well feel so, but WAIT a moment, it turns out that this movie is a Bad B Movie Kung Fu classic!
“Bruce” plays Wong Han, a Korean immigrant who comes to LA to visit his dear old friend Go Hok Khan, whom he discovers has committed “suicide” and is now being cremated in the basement. Heartbroken, “Bruce” starts to wander the streets of LA at random, carrying his friend’s bones and a glossy 8×10 of him in a sling around his neck. Through a bizarre chain of coincidences he rescues a girl called Susan from a shirtless rapist who worked for Go Hok Khan, and remembers with photo-like clarity, the five strangers who visited Go Hok Khan right before his death: A black guy, a cowboy, a Mexican and a (insert your favorite member of the village people here). A piss-and-vinegar-filled Bruce decides to slay his way through the rest of the film Kill Bill style.
Bruce Lee Fights Back… is a real schizophrenic mess, filmed in America but dubbed in Hong Kong, with everyone voiced in the same petulant monotone. You can almost feel sorry for the American actors forced to exaggerate every motion, so that picking up the phone becomes a three-act Greek tragedy. The filmmakers break the cardinal Kung Fu Film rule by speeding up a fight in a wrecking yard into a Benny Hill-esque chase spectacular, but best of all is the howling, yelping, whimpering and robot noises in EVERY fight scene.
For years, horror fans thought it was a Kung Fu anti-classic directed by Italian cannibal maestro Umberto Lenzi purely because Levene switched credits with a Euro cop thriller and was too cheap to change the poster. Well, there’s no cannibals, no zombie Bruce Lee, just the sounds of R2D2 having a heart attack and the click clack of Go Hok Khan’s bones in a sack worn by none other than Mr. Bruce K.L. Lea as he chops a path through this funky ass Kung Fu Movie. Enjoy!

Yet another fine entry into the genre that is “Bruceploitation”. “Spirits of Bruce Lee” is an early ’70s martial arts thriller filmed in Thailand with a mostly Chinese cast and crew.
Michael Chan stars as a man who travels to Thailand to avenge the murder of his brother. Of course, Chan is more than suitably equipped to deal with the bad guys, as he just so happens to possess some serious supernatural bad ass martial arts mojo.
Chan is aided by an undercover cop and a Chinese family living in Thailand; together they raid the palatial estate of the lead villain, a fellow who mutters “Gol-damn” (that’s right: “gol-damn”, not “goddamn”) when he’s angry and spends most of the film clenching a cigarette holder between his pursed snarling spout and blotting his moist brow.
After Mr. Cigarette Holder has finally been dispatched, a couple of his henchmen show up (one of them who’s rail-thin and dressed as a cowboy sporting a whip – Fabulous!) and Chan has his way with them too. He works them into a lather, working them hard, until finally blowing them away. Yes!
“Spirits of Bruce Lee” suffers from all the usual deficiencies of the genre, of course: poor pacing, not-very-funny comic relief (provided by a heavyset young man known only as ‘Fatty’), ridiculous dubbing.
But it’s filled with hardcore martial arts action, and that’s the only thing you can reasonably expect from a Kung Fu Movie. Michael Chan is, as always, impressive in the fight scenes…and this is one of the few films in which he manages not to look too sinister. The soundtrack is a trippy HeeHaw sounding funktified Chinese mash-up. Weird. Enjoy! (Please disregard the innuendos. Not a bad flick overall.)