As feuding warlords fight to expand their power, the noble monks of the Shaolin temple clean up the mess left behind, tending to the injured while trying their best to protect the poor and weak. The young general Hao Jie (Andy Lau from Warlords and Infernal Affairs) has caused much of this mess, with his violent and ruthless tactics that rarely discriminate between soldiers and civilians.

When Hao is betrayed by fellow general Cao Man (Nicolas Tse from The Promise and Shaolin Soccer), he is forced into hiding, and takes refuge with the monks (including Jackie Chan) at their hidden mountain temple. As the days pass, he finds himself more and more at ease, as he learns the ways of peace. But Cao is not far behind, and war soon reaches the temple, where the monks are ready to fight back with a fierce style that none of the warlords have ever seen- their unstoppable Shaolin Kung Fu.

Source: Coming Soon

The events take place in 1911. Huang Xin (Jackie Chan) and Sun Yat Sun (Winston Chao) are the leaders of the revolution, fighting for a better life for the people. They gathered together and formed an association (Tung Meng Hui) for the purpose of fighting against the deteriorated Qing Dynasty. There were 2 uprisings to fight against the royal troops. The first one was held in Quangzhou in April 1911. The revolutionists attacked the Governor’s Office but totally failed due to an inadequate supply of ammunition. A huge number of revolutionaries were sacrified. There are 72 corpses found and buried in the place of Huang Fa Gong.

In October of the same year, another uprising in Wu Cheong took place. The royal army rebelled, led by Zhang Zhen Wu (Jaycee Chan). They successfully occupied three towns in Hu Han, and seized control of Hu Bei province. At that time, the Empress appointed Yuan Shi Kai and his soldiers to fight back. Huang then commanded the Defending troops, resisted for one month then followed with success. 14 Provinces declared independence. Sun was back and appointed as the temporary President who alleged to give away the position to the one who convinced the Qing Royalty to surrender. Yuan has succeeded to do so and got the authority.

268 years of the Reign of the Qing Dynasty and 2000 years of monarchy had come to an end. The Republic was then founded.

Well Go USA is planning an American release the same day as the Chinese release of the film, which should be forthcoming.

Source: Twitch

Starring Chan and co-directed by the star and Zhang Li, 1911 tells the story of the founding of the Republic of China when Sun Yat-sen’s forces overthrew the Ming Dynasty. Sun is played by look-alike Chinese actor Zhao Wen Xuan. Li Bingbing and Joan Chen also star. The film started shooting in September 2010 and will be released in October 2011.

WellGo USA is handling the American release.

You can click on the poster to view the trailer.

Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom opens on May 26.

Angelina Jolie in Salt

During a gun/tumbling stun, the world’s most beautiful woman suffered a head injury – ultimately slicing her face. She is now permanently scarred from her work in this unexpected action masterpiece. Jolie shadowed a real spy, jumped off helicopters and kicked butt with absolutely no CGI assistance. Raw and aggressive, we believe Salt has elevated her to the next level of fast-paced action stardom.

Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity

Damon had never been in a physically demanding role up until he portrayed Jason Bourne. He ended up training for three months straight for this box office hit. He endured extensive weapons training, boxing, martial arts and crash simulations. On screen hand-to-hand combat and scaling walls ultimately changed his career forever, allowing him to be cast in more unrestrained scenarios.

Jackie Chan in everything!

Known for his amazing acrobatics and stunt work, Jackie Chan raised the bar by introducing a comedic approach in this well-loved movie. He holds the Guinness World Record for “Most Stunts By A Living Actor”, and his approach to physical humor helped create a modern-day sensation.

Bruce Willis in Die Hard

Who you argue with us if we called this film classic? No one would have thought that this was Willis’ first action flick at the time. The “hard” part was pretending that the movie was dangerous to film, when in all actuality – the possibility of liability issues kept everyone safe with harnesses and safety nets. Despite all the precautions, Mr. Willis wasn’t able to escape the nightmares about possible accidents happening on set.

Chris Pine in Unstoppable

Denzel Washington recommended Chris for the role of Will to director/producer Tony Scott. Fearless and resolute, Chris performed most of his own stunts in this high octane motion picture. That’s commendable considering that a train going 50 miles per hour would likely scare most people. If you don’t have any CGI, we guess you have to get down and dirty.

But wait…there’s more! Please comment and tell us some of your favorite actors and the films they performed real stunts in!

The Karate Kid remake, starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, has taken in about $68 Million so far. That’s a pretty nice number considering that the production budget was only $40 Million. Go on and check it out at your local movie theaters if you want to see what it’s all about. Or, if you have, what did you think of it and does it deserve a sequel?

And we thought Jackie Chan was washed up, old, and had “lost it”, a fair statement in his American output like A Spy Next Door, but his Mr. Han is one of his best roles he’s had in a decade, regardless of a film’s country of origin.

The film structurally follows the original’s but the new location of China really adds to the film’s meaning and flavor. Zwart must have been in love with China, because his cinematography and framing is beautiful, as we follow Dre (Jaden Smith) as a young, lost boy in a strange land because his mother took a job offer. The film has many new changes from the original, notably the character’s ethnicity switch, which works wonders for the film. The other switch is to China, far different instead of the original film’s California setting, is best the addition, notably for Mr. Han’s teachings of kung fu. It makes the believability that a young 12-year old boy could become who he becomes.

Sure the changes might seem superficial, and they possibly are, but they spice up a story that was originally used Rocky as a template. The underdog story again works, but the film does slightly suffer from a bloated running time. The film is bloated at its 140 minute running time, most noticeably in the second act. Meiying’s and Dre’s romance doesn’t work, mainly because of their age, and they don’t have the chemistry of Elisabeth Shue and Ralph Macchio. Her subplot of her strict parents and her need to get in the Beijing Academy of Music pokes itself up in the main storyline causing the film to wander. A better handling of this and more focus on the evil martial arts teacher could have really helped an already great film.

I know many are confused or annoyed over the title and the fact that Dre learns kung fu instead of karate, by claiming racial ignorance. Yet it isn’t racially ignorant, as the film is called The Kung Fu Kid in Asian markets, and by keeping the title of The Karate Kid, it’s instantly recognizable to us. Whatever, because the only real issue outside its bloated second half, is that you’ll be hard of hearing during the final minutes as audiences will once again be standing up and cheering. 2010′s The Karate Kid is its own thing, far better than the few sequels the original spawned, and sits nicely as a companion to the original classic.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Karate Kid is set to hit theaters on June 11, 2010.

12-year-old Dre Parker (Smith) could’ve been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother’s latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying – and the feeling is mutual – but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre’s feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts “the karate kid” on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han (Chan), who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.

The Spy Next Door, the latest Jackie Chan flick delivers exactly what I thought it would. A family film that comes complete with some pretty smooth moves from a seasoned martial arts veteran. Chan plays Bob Ho, a Chinese spy on loan to the CIA who is ready to hang up his license to kill for a marriage license. Only the girl of his dreams has three children. Three children that hate him. So Bob seizes the opportunity to watch them while his lady takes care of a sick relative. Of course goofy Russian masterminds with world domination on the brain get in the way of his plans, forcing him to come clean about what he does for a living.

I’ll admit that the flick’s plot isn’t anything new. I’ll even admit that it’s a little stale, but Jackie Chan brings enough charm with him onto the screen to make it enjoyable despite  its tired plot. I know that other critics are going to rant on about how Jackie isn’t as agile as he once was, but I’d like to see any critic, myself included rock as hard as Chan does at 56 years old. The action isn’t as plentiful as it has been  in some of his past flicks, but his stunts are still pretty impressive. Every time I see Chan in action I’m amazed at how talented the guy actually is.

Speaking of talent, Jackie is joined by a cast of young hopefuls as well as a handful of Disney channel regulars including Billy Ray Cyrus, George Lopez, Lucas Till, and Magnús Schevin. All of the actors were solid and delivered the performances expected of them for this type of flick.

My kids laughed for the entire runtime and got excited during every fight sequence. While it’s true that I didn’t share in their enthusiasm, I did have a good time with the flick. I got to sit in a theatre (I still find that in itself a magical experience) and enjoy some quality movie time with my family. The Spy Next Door may not excite most of the critics that populate the world wide web or even the cream of the crop that call the fading world of print their home, but I’m man enough to say that it excited me. The Spy next Door is a heaping serving of entertainment that should be experienced with the entire family, it is positively a killer film.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This version stars Jaden Smith as a boy who has to move with his mother all the way over to China where he gets into some trouble and is taught the ways of karate with the help of Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) just so he can completely decimate some kids in the ways of martial arts. The film, directed by Harald Zwart, will be coming out in theaters on June 11th, 2010. Here’s the official trailer from Yahoo! Movies.:

Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) is an undercover CIA superspy who gives up his career to settle down with his girlfriend Gillian (Amber Valletta) and win over the trust of her three kids. When one of her kids mistakenly downloads a top secret formula, Bob’s nemesis hunts them down so now he’ll have to juggle dealing with kids and making sure they live to see another day. The cast not only includes Jackie Chan but Amber Valletta, Madeline Carroll, William Shadley, with Billy Ray Cyrus and George Lopez.

The Spy Next Door sneaks it’s way into theaters on January 15th, 2010. Here’s the poster below.:

The Film:

Doesn’t everyone remember at least one of those foreign action flicks that are almost as infamous for the horrible voice over’s and Kung Fu grunts as they are for the fight scenes? 1994′s Legend of Drunken Master (October 20, 2000 in the USA) is one of those token movies. The film features a fairly young Jackie Chan (Wong Fei Hung) who is a young Kung Fu master in training searching for the opportunity to prove that both he and his bizarre “Drunken Boxing” fighting style are worthy of respect. The perfect opportunity is presented when he is caught in the middle of a Chinese antique smuggling ring that he must stop.

The film is a wonder to watch for the creativity, fluency, and brilliance of the fight scenes. They provide for some of Chan’s best work as a fighter, and martial artist. However, besides the excellent and numerous fight scenes, there is not much else offered to the viewer in terms of intriguing cinematic plot. On the other hand, that is expected of  an action movie that is as exciting as this one. Luckily there is just enough fighting to overshadow that one dark spot.

Blu Ray:

Audio/Video:

As we all know, Blu Ray will resurrect many movies that were released before their time. The Audio is excellent, and is given the right amount of usage with all the people that are sent flying through tables, chairs, doors, etc. The constant sound of the smashing objects keeps your eyes glued to the screen. Another plus is the removal of the infamous grunting and battle ready sounds that are found in most old movies such as this one. The Video is quite impressive as well. We all know how undeveloped technology was when the movie was first released; well this does justice to the contrast of colors that are usually found in Asian based movies. Also, the picture that is delivered enhances and compliments the vividness of the fight scenes.

Bonus Features:

The only track is an interview/ commentary with Jackie Chan. He discusses in great detail the story behind the Drunken Master and the art of the fighting styles used in the movie.  Overall the interview enlightened my point of view and opinion on some of the moments in the movie.

Conclusion:

Dimension Home Video’s Blu Ray of The Legend of Drunken Master is a definite hit. If an action movie is what you’re looking for, then this should be a definite joy to you.

Film: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Blu Ray: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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