Random Thoughts on... The Matrix Resurrections

Well, it has been a two-year wait, but after this recent re-watch, it’s time to return The Matrix once again. When I heard that there was another Matrix coming, I was whelmed. The casting also got me excited though I was a little saddened to see that Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving weren’t returning. The hype for The Matrix Resurrections really didn’t hit me until the first trailer came, and I gotta say that was one awesome trailer. So, this film is either going to be a hit or a trainwreck. Knowing the Wachowskis (and we only have one with Lana), it could go either way. So, The Matrix Resurrections was released toward the end of 2021. Since we were still in the pandemic, the WB was releasing most of their newest movies in theatres and on HBO Max at the same time. By the way, that merger with Discovery sucked in all kinds of ways. 

Oh yeah… PAY YOUR WRITERS AND ACTORS! $*%&#!

"It's a Video Game!" - Ghost of Tsushima

Since Cyberpunk 2077 ended up being a bust for the PS4, I almost shelled out some money for Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. While perusing PSN, I did come across a game that piqued my interest sometime last year. Some said that it was more like Assassin’s Creed than the current AC games are. Being pretty curious, and seeing that I could get this for 40 bucks, I decided to check out Ghost of Tsushima and test that claim out. It took three weeks to do it, but I think I’m ready to go over my findings.

Ghost of Tsushima was released exclusively for Sony in 2020 by Sucker Punch. Sucker Punch is known for also developing the Infamous series and the Sly Cooper series. I’ve played the first two Infamous games, but I haven’t finished Infamous: Second Son yet… need to get back that one. Anyway, the game was pretty much lauded by folk. I started to play this during my quarantine. Now that I’ve finished, what do I think?

5 Pros/4 Cons - The Legend of Korra

Last night, I finally finished The Legend of Korra on Netflix. It took me a while to get through four seasons of it (season 2 was a drag, but I’ll touch on that below), but I finished this race. I never got to watch the show as it aired on Nickelodeon since we didn’t have cable at the time. Yeah, I could’ve found a way to watch it online, but I wasn’t really into getting a lot of streaming services at the time.

For those not in the know, The Legend of Korra was the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. I talked about Avatar here years ago, and my opinion on it hasn’t changed: it’s perfect. There aren’t many American animated series that I can say that about. Can I say the same about Korra? Well, this is 5 PROS/5 CONS, so that’s a no. I do think it was a pretty fun show, though. I know the show was kinda divisive with some fans of the franchise. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a perfect show, so trying to create that again would be tough.

TV Talk - Wu Assassins

Next up for the month is a bit of a late edition. Originally, I was going to look at some movies that featured actor Iko Uwais from The Raid movies. He’s done quite a bit since then. He and the director of the Raid movies also had a precursor to The Raid called Merantau. I was going to watch this and a couple of other movies, but I remembered that this show was on Netflix and decided to finish it out.

Wu Assassins is a pretty recent addition to Netflix. It was greenlit in 2018, and it eventually made it to Netflix on August 8^th, 2019. Uwais was brought in immediately as the main star, and he also served as a fight choreographer and coordinator on the show. I didn’t recognize too many faces from the show. I did recognize Lewis Tan from a couple of things. Bryan Mann was another recognizable face, but it took a while to remember what he was in. He’s appeared in quite a few things. The role I should’ve recognized him for was his time as Ryu in the 1990’s Street Fighter movie. Also, actors Mark Dascasos, Summer Glau, Tommy Flannagan, and Kevin Durand appear in roles.

Wu Assassins takes place in San Francisco and revolves around Kai Jin (Uwais), a Chinatown chef. He ends up being chosen as the next Wu Assassin by the spirit of the first Wu Assassin. Basically, his job is to take down the Wu Warlords. The Warlords have control of the elements like fire, water, wood, metal, and earth. What Kai doesn’t know at first is that Uncle Six, his adopted father and Chinese Triad boss, has control of the Fire Wu. He also has to deal undercover cops, shady friends, The Triad, other gangsters vying for power, an annoying friend who’s an addict, and a mentoring spirit who can kinda be grating at times. Oh yeah, there’s a whole lotta butt-kicking going on!

Movie Talk - The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Movies

Next up for the month is a look at a kung fu movie that’s critically acclaimed. Not many in the genre can say that, but this one can. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a movie I’ve heard things about but never saw it until this year. Yeah, I’m kinda lame like that. I think I may have said “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Negro” at some point in my life. I know one reason I didn’t watch it was because it wasn’t dubbed. Also, I know I wasn’t the biggest fan of the wuxia style of martial arts films. It took me a while to get there, folks. I think movies like Iron Monkey, Hero, and Fearless helped get me there.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released in 2000, and it was directed by Ang Lee. It was based on a novel of the same name. It ended up getting nominated for some major awards. It was even nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and it won four of them. The movie starred some big names like Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh. It also brought acclaim to actress Zhang Ziyi. A sequel was also released a couple of years ago called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. It wasn’t as critically acclaimed, but it did bring back Michelle Yeoh in her role. It also stars recognizable names like Donnie Yen and Jason Scott Lee.

Movie Talk - Michael Jai White

Next up for the month is a more modern martial arts actor: Michael Jai White. There ain’t too many of us brothers out there doing these things, so Michael Jai White is kind of a rarity. He was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1967. The dude really knows his stuff.  He first started training martial arts at age 7. He’s trained in styles like Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Wushu, and Jujitsu over the years. He’s been in action movies with guys like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, Scott Adkins, and a few others. He even played Mike Tyson in the HBO biopic, Tyson, in the 90’s.

He’s been in all sorts of movies over the years, so martial arts isn’t his only thing. He’s been in some Tyler Perry movies and TV shows. In the geek realm, he was the voice for Doomsday on Justice League, he was in The Dark Knight, he was Jax in Mortal Kombat Legacy, and he was Bronze Tiger on Arrow. Unfortunately, he was Spawn in 1997’s Spawn, a movie I was going to talk about today, but decided not to for obvious reasons. Besides, I’m not a Spawn fan anyway. He kind of hit it big with Black Dynamite, one movie I’ll be talking about today. I’ll also be talking about Blood and Bone and Falcon Rising. I was going to add Skin Trade to this, but I’ll skip that for now. Besides, I can only take so much on the subject of human trafficking.

Movie Talk - More Jackie Chan Movies

Next up is a return to Jackie Chan, the martial arts actor who by the grace of God is still alive. Seriously, look up some of the stunts that didn’t go well! The guy’s broken almost every bone in his body. I don’t know how he's still here!

Last year, I looked at a few movies from his career. This time, I’m going to do the same, but three of them are a part of a series. First up is the 1973 movie, Police Woman. Then, I got the Police Story movies. These movies were basically done in the same vein as 1985’s The Protector, one of the movies I talked about last year. Chan wasn’t happy with that movie and I can’t blame him because I wasn’t happy with it either. So, he decided to redo the concept with Police Story in 1985. It spawned a few sequels, but I’m only looking at Police Story 2 (1988) and Police Story 3: Supercop (1991/1996). He also directed the first two Police Story movies.

Movie Talk - Bolo Yeung

Next up for the month is a look at movies that featured a man by the name of Yang Sze. You would probably know him by another title: BOLO. That’s right, folks! The guy who I said was my favorite henchman years ago gets his own post. I thought why not devote a post to the guy since I’ve probably mentioned him a lot during these months.

While you can wiki this info, here’s a little information on him. Yang Sze, aka Bolo Yeung, was born in China in 1946. He began to train in martial arts at 10 years old. Later, he decided to  take up body-building and even had the Mr. Hong Kong championship title for a few years. Because of his muscle-bound stature, he went into the movie business and was the stereotypical henchman for years. The dude was in a lot of kung fu movies from the 70’s to the 90’s. He’s most remembered for the role of Bolo (that’s where the stage name came from) from Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. He’s also known for being in Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport.

I got five movies for today. Most of them range from decent to “what in the heck was that.” While Bolo (I’ll just call him by that) is usually a bright point in movies, the movies aren’t always the best. First up is Chinese Hercules from 1974. Next, we have Bloodspo--, I mean, Bloodfight from 1989. Then, there’s the all time “classic”, Ironheart, from 1992. Finally, I finish it off with the Shootfighter movies from 1993 and 1996. With all that said, I’ll get to it.

Movie Talk - Bruceploitation Part 6: Return to the Gauntlet of Imitation Movies!

This whole cover is a lie. There are no ninjas, no real Bruce Lee, and no AK-47's!

Well, it’s time for my favorite segment of this month: Bruceploitation! Heck, it was pretty much Bruceploitation week after work. I needed something to watch while exercising since these movies don’t require a lot of attention most of the times. For those who don’t know, Bruceploitation was a phenomenon that occurred after the death of martial arts star, Bruce Lee. Studios were trying to churn out kung-fu movies that had lookalikes in the place of Lee. You had stage names being thrown around like Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Leong, Dragon Lee, and others. Heck, even Jackie Chan was in one of these movies… and it actually wasn’t bad either.

While it is tacky and sometimes shameless, I kinda like this subgenre. You never know what you’ll find since these movies vary in terms of quality. You got some decent ones out there, and you have ones that make you wonder who got drunk that day. I found one last year (Bruce’s Fist of Vengeance) that took the cake in how laughably bad it was. This time, I got another variety of films. While I don’t have anything as weird as “Bruce Lee Fights Dracula and the Godfather along with Popeye,” I do have one with kung-fu little people, bronze Shaolin monks, and some crappy comedy…. I’m doing that one first, ain’t I?

Movie Talk - Jackie Chan

Next up, I’m looking at someone I’ve barely talked about here: Chan Kong-sang. For those who don’t know, his professional name is Jackie Chan. I think it’s safe to say that Chan’s one of the best actors to come from China. The guy’s done a lot in 50 years, so I obviously haven’t seen all of his filmography. The first I ever heard of him was a trailer for Rumble in The Bronx. Since then, I seen a lot more of his American-made and Chinese-made films.

I think one reason I’ve barely talked about him here is because there are so many movies. I’ve only mentioned him in a post and talked about his Bruceploitation movie, New Fist of Fury. So, I might as well continue from there since it did get better… I think. Today, I got five movies. I was planning on doing a movie from each decade, but it looks like I’m only making it to the 90’s today. Someone had gotten my dad a DVD set with some of Chan’s movies there. I also own The Legend of Drunken Master, so I tried to watch some over the last few days.

Movie Throwdown! - The Raid: Redemption vs. Dredd Part 2

Well, here is the rest of my match-up between The Raid: Redemption and Dredd.

SETTING

Next up is a small one: the setting. The Raid takes in present-day Jakarta. We’re pretty much stuck in a 15-story building. We don’t see much of the outside world other than a couple of stuff at the beginning. After Rama’s intro, we’re thrown right into the mission. We also find out that Jakarta has a pretty bad problem with corruption. As for Dredd, it takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States. It’s a wasteland (insert random Trump joke here) and all that’s left is Mega-City One on the Eastern Coast. Since it’s crap, the Judges are there to do what they can. We also got mutants and sometimes they don’t come out pretty like Judge Anderson.

The setting that appealed to me the most was Dredd’s. Even though we don’t get much, a lot of the city is detailed through dialogue. The city itself looks interesting since you got all of these large towers standing everywhere. Even Peach Trees had some interesting stuff in it. The Raid doesn’t get this since the mission is pretty much the thing in the movie. So, this point is going to Dredd.

The Raid – 1

Dredd – 2

Movie Throwdown! - The Raid: Redemption vs. Dredd Part 1

Today’s two post are about something I’ve had my mind on for a while now. In 2011, The Raid: Redemption was released. It’s about an Indonesian SWAT team that’s trapped in a building run by a dangerous gangster. Butts are kicked, shots are fired aplenty, and a lotta folk die. In 2012, Dredd, based off of 2000AD's Judge Dredd, was released in theatres. The movie is about how two law officers (Judges) get trapped in a district (Mega-Block) ran by a dangerous gangster. Shots are fired aplenty and a lotta folk die.

If these two movies sound familiar, then you’re not the only one who thinks that. It’s kind of unclear if the creators got ideas from each other or if it’s just a coincidence. It’s not like the plots for these movies are original, so it doesn’t really matter in the end. Just know that they are both good films in their respective rights. They’re up there with some of the best in their genres. Still, which one is better? I know there are some folk out there that have done this, but I think it’s time to add my voice to “The Raid vs. Dredd” debate.

Before I get to the match-ups, here is a general overview of both movies:

• The Raid: Redemption – The Raid takes place in Jakarta, Indonesia. It follows a Special Forces unit as they are tasked with conducting a raid on an apartment block. Their goal is to take out Tama, the head gangster over the block. Of course, things go bad when Tama finds out they’re coming and unleashes the whole block which is full of a lot of criminals. Rama, a rookie cop, and the rest of the team do their best to survive in the block and meet their objective. Rama also has a personal reason for being there since his brother is in Tama’s gang.
• Dredd – Dredd takes place in a dystopic, futuristic metropolis called Mega City-One. The Judges are the law of the town and enact swift justice on criminals. We end up following Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) and a rookie named Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirbly). They’re tasked to find out about a new drug that’s hit the street. When they make it to Peach Trees, a 30-story tower, they run into trouble. Gangster Madeline Mardgril, aka Ma-Ma (Lena Headey), finds out about them, locks down the tower, and sends the lowlifes after them. Dredd and Anderson must use their weapons and abilities (Anderson’s a mutant) in order to survive and enact justice on Ma-Ma.

TV Talk - Into The Badlands Season 1

Next up for the month is something that’s been in my Netflix Watch List for some time. In 2015, AMC aired Into The Badlands, a show that feels like a mix of Django Unchained, Mad Max, Game of Thrones, and The 36^th Chamber of Shaolin. The show was a bit of a hit and got a longer second season in 2017. It’s slated to release a third season this year. I had heard of the show but I never really got around to watching it until now. I wasn’t even sure if it was still airing on AMC. I was grateful to find the first season on Netflix.

The show was created by a couple of familiar guys: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the guys behind Smallville. Headlining (and serving as executive producer) the show is Daniel Wu, an actor I haven’t heard of until now. From what I’ve looked at online, he’s been pretty busy in a variety of movies. I didn’t recognize any of the other main cast, though. There were some guest stars I recognized. They were Stephen Lang, Lance Henrickson, Edi Gathegi, and Cung Le.

Into The Badlands takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. Over time, a feudalistic society rose up in this area known as the Badlands. Electricity and cars are still around but guns have been done away with. Barons control land and use manual labor to produce resources for the whole territory. They use soldiers called “Clippers” to carry out their orders. You’d also have wars, skirmishes, and all that sort between the barons. This ain’t even including the other bits of randomness in the Badlands.

Our main character is Sunny (Daniel Wu), the lead Clipper of Baron Quinn. We catch up with him as he finds M.K., a young man who has some weird abilities. Sunny, who is getting tired of the Clipper life, does what he can for the kid when he finds out that he’s not from the Badlands. Meanwhile, others are looking for M.K. especially a baroness called the Widow. While all of this is going on, we get a weird family drama with Baron Quinn and his family. Also, wushu theatrics get sprinkled in and it is awesome.

TV Talk - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) Season 1

Next up for the month is a return to the sewers. It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so it’s time get back on that mutated horse. Today, it’s Season 1 of the Nickelodeon series.

I actually wasn’t interested in this series when it came out. Since I barely watch regular TV, it just slipped by. I did look at some reviews of it on YouTube. Andre the Black Nerd would put reviews out on it. It wasn’t until just recently that I decided to watch it. All five seasons were on Hulu and I needed some TMNT love for this month. While I am still a self-professed TMNT fan, I didn’t know what to expect with it. Would be campy like the 80’s one or darker like the 2000’s one?

Season 1 started in Fall of 2012 and lasted 26 episodes. It’s pretty much the beginning point for the TMNT. Splinter (who was a man turned into a rat here) trained the Turtles for 15 years and decided it was time for them to see the surface world. When they make it there, they get right into trouble. They get two villain groups on their trail. We got the Kraang, aliens from another dimension who want to rule Earth. We also have the Foot Clan led by Ouruko Saki, the Shredder. The Shredder has a vendetta against Splinter, so you know stuff’s going to go down. It’s a staple of the franchise. Luckily, the Turtles have some help in the form of April O’Neil, a brave 16 year-old girl… yeah, they did that. Luckily, it works for this show.

Tales From the $3.99 Bin! - Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises #1

Next up for the month is a pretty modern comic. Back in 2016, an independent publisher called Darby Pop released a mini-series called Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises. It’s a book for all ages. I don’t remember when I first heard about it, but I was kind of interested in it. It lasted four issues and I own the first two. It’s been released in the trades since then. Today, I’ll just be talking about the first issue to the miniseries.

One of the biggest things about it is that Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee’s daughter, is actually involved in it. She and Jeff Kline wrote the story. Kline was a producer and writer on some of the recent Transformer shows and Jackie Chan Adventures. Finding that out helps me get this comic. The artwork is handled by Brandon McKinney, the colors are done by Zac Atkinson, and Troy Peteri does the letters. Reginald Hudlin is on here as a consulting producer which sounds weird. I guess that means he’s the editor? Oh well, on to the synopsis!

Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises #1

Writers: Shannon Lee and Jeff Kline

Art: Brandon McKinney

Colors: Zac Atkinson

Letters: Troy Peteri

Design: Steve Blackwell

Consulting Producer: Reginald Hudlin

Tales From the Magazine Bin! - The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #15

A few years ago, I looked at something different for the blog: a magazine. It wasn’t any ordinary magazine, though. The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu was a black-and-white comic magazine that Marvel published for 33 issues. The Kung Fu craze was at full force in the 70’s, so Marvel not only created characters like Shang-Chi and Iron Fist, they also had this magazine. The magazine contained reprints of comics, “how-to” articles, and reviews on stuff. After I looked at the one from a few years ago, I thought I'd watch out for these.

Today’s issue is #15 and it’s the magazine’s annual. It was released during the Summer of 1974. We actually get three regular-paged reprints in here this time. An artist named Nick Cardy handled the pretty cool cover of Shang-Chi and Iron Fist kicking butt. If only they had actually teamed up in the magazine.  "Midnight Brings Dark Death” was first printed in Special Marvel Edition #16."Heart of the Dragon" first came out in Marvel Premiere #16. Finally, "Retreat" originally came out in Master of Kung Fu #19.

Movie Talk - More Shaw Brothers Movies

Argh! My insides are falling out-- Ooo! I know! I'll use my clothes for a substitute spleen!

Wow, January went by fast. It only felt like it just started. So far, it’s been fine but not great. I do wish the world of politics was less “Grim Dark-Grim” though. I only hope my crap kickboxing moves can sway a coming storm… yes, I’m being somewhat sarcastic. My kickboxing moves are awesome!

The last post for the month is a return to the Shaw Brothers. If you don’t remember my post from last year, I’ll refresh your memory. Shaw Brothers Ltd. was a movie studio that produced a lot of movies in the 20th century. They were probably best known for cashing in on the kung fu craze of the 70’s as they churned out a ton of kung fu movies. I looked at some of their movies last year. They were quite a surprise and ranged from decent to pretty good. Since I had fun with them last year, here are three more movies from the studio: Five Elements Ninjas, Return Crippled Avengers, and Masked Avengers. Not only was I able to watch some of these on Netflix, but I was also able to find pretty crappy copies of a couple.

"It''s a Video Game!" - Jade Empire

Next up for the month is another video game from my Xbox adventure last year. Back in 2005, Jade Empire, an action RPG, was released on the Xbox. It eventually made its way to the PC. It’s even on mobile platforms too. I had heard about the game back then but couldn’t play it for the obvious reason of I didn’t own an Xbox. I know it’s on PC as well but I’m not much of a PC gamer. I’m more of a politically incorrect gamer anyway… yes, that was a joke. I’ll show my way out now.

Anyway, Bioware developed the game. I guess this was one of the reasons they didn’t develop KOTOR 2 back then. Since I’m pretty much a seeker of anything Bioware-related and kung fu-related, I sought the game out and bought it.  I’m replaying it now to re-familiarize myself with it. From what I’ve read, the game was viewed positively back in the day. Unfortunately, those positives vibes didn’t get a sequel made. Considering what Bioware ultimately went through with franchises like Mass Effect, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Dragon Age, it’s possible they just didn’t have the time. The game also might not had sold well.

Obviously, these guys don't look like me.

Inspired by Chinese culture, Jade Empire takes place in a fictional land in Ancient China. In the game, you play as an orphan (in my playthroughs, “Chan the Endless” and “Stone Cold Larry”) who was adopted and taught by a man named Sun Li. Master Li runs a school in a small village. One day, the village comes under attack by the land’s empire and Master Li is taken. You and another student end up going on a journey to save him. On your journey, you gain more followers to the cause. The land isn’t doing well these days with spirits at unrest and the empire’s Lotus Assassins being shiftier than ever. You also learn skills, take up new weapons, and get stronger. You also have to choose between following two ways: The Way of the Open Palm or the Way of the Closed Fist.

Yes, I had fun doing this sort of thing.

Tales From the Library! The Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 1: The Last Iron Fist Story

Next up for the month is a return to the character of Iron Fist. Last year, I covered an issue of Spider-Man where he made a guest appearance. Danny Rand’s not a character I’ve ever been too keen on. I don’t know what it is. I doubt it’s his background which now is apparently offensive to some. I didn’t know a white dude knowing kung fu could tick folk off. Maybe it’s the costume which isn’t bad but not exactly great either. I never really started to run into him until Brian Michael Bendis’s run on New Avengers. Back in 2007, Marvel got both Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction to write a title called The Immortal Iron Fist.

A few years ago (maybe 2012), I ran across the first few volumes to the series in the library. I was kind of in a Brubaker mode at that time, so I decided to give the first volume a try. Besides, it’s had kung fu in it! Since were in that month and we have a TV show with the guy coming up, I’m gonna talk about this. The trade has the first six issues of the run and a small 8-page side story that tied into Civil War. If you’re wondering why Danny was posing as Daredevil at the time, you’ll find out there. As I said before, Brubaker and Fraction share writing duties. David Aja, a penciller who had worked with Brubaker before, is the main penciller and cover artist. Travel Forman and other artists help with the art duties.

The Immortal Iron Fist: the Last Iron Fist Story

Writers: Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction

Pencils: David Aja, Travel Forman, Russ Heath, and Sal Buscema

Inks: Derek Fridolfs and Matt Palmer,

Colors: Matt Hollingsworth

Letters: Dave Lanphear and Chris Eliopoulos

Movie Talk -The Ip Man Trilogy

This is a lesson for you gun nuts: never point a loaded gun in someone's face especially if it's Donnie Yen.

Next up for the month is a look at a series of movies starring Donnie Yen. I have to admit one thing though: I wasn’t a fan of Yen really until recently. I had seen him in bit roles over the years in movies like Blade 2, Highlander: Endgame, and Shanghai Knights. Nothing really stood out to me but I did know he had nice moves. I didn’t really appreciate him until I saw his overseas work like Flashpoint, Iron Monkey, and the ones I’ll be talking about today. He has an even bigger reach now that he’s appeared in the recent Star Wars movie, Rogue One.

The Ip Man trilogy has been released over the last few years. I’ve seen them all on Netflix undubbed and dubbed. As the titles suggest, they are about Yip (also called “Ip”) Man. He was a master of the style, Wing Chun, and trained many students. One of these students was a lad by the name of Lee Jun-Fan, aka Bruce Lee. It comes back to him in one way or another, doesn’t it? Anyway, the teacher has been the subject of a lot of things in Chinese media recently. Not only are there Yen’s movies, but there are a few other movies about the man out there. So, let me see what these three movies have to offer.