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Young Master, a review by Jon

Young Master (Shi di chu ma)
2 out of 5



When two rival martial arts schools square off in an annual lion dance competition, the favourite, betrayed by their star pupil, Tiger (Wei Pei), exits in disgrace. When Tiger is expelled and joins with a notorious gang of criminals, led by feared kicking expert Master Kim (Wong In-sik), Dragon (Jackie Chan) embarks on a dangerous mission to bring his 'brother' back to the school. Unfortunately, the situation is further complicated when he is mistaken for his criminal brother, and must fight to clear his name, while continually on the run from both the local police and the criminal gang. Unknown to Dragon, the ultimate challenge awaits him: a deadly one-on-one encounter with the formidable Master Kim. Filled with intricate, masterfully choreographed action sequences, clever sight-gags and fluid camerawork, this timeless classic broke all Hong Kong box-office records on its original theatrical release, and is still, today, one of the top-grossing Jackie Chan movies of all time!

I've always enjoyed classic martial arts movies, especially those with the two masters, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. The plots of their films are usually similar, especially the earliest ones, but their styles very different. Chan is an acrobatic circus performer, so his films usually have a huge dose of slapstick comedy (he is definitely China's Chaplin) including the fights. You should watch his movies for fun and astonishing stunts.

Young Master, incorrectly thought of as Chan's debut as a director, is not a good place to start. It's worth seeing, but it is tedious. The comedy is just too silly, the dialogue horrendous (although that could be down to poor subtitling) and the fights just go on too long. And in these early films the emphasis was on a very structured style often using props that might be clever, but becomes annoying. Chan is amazing with a fan, long-time collaborator Yuen Baio equally so with a bench, but every one of them needs a kick up the arse, so to speak!

What especially annoyed me was the sequence in the middle where Master Kim (Wong In-Sik) is freed from custody. It is superb! Exciting and brutal. It's all Chan's work though and he does a couple of the harder stunts, so he proves he could have injected the rest of the film with a bit more vigour. The final one-on-one with In-Sik could have been a really good brawler. It was known for being one of the longest fight sequences filmed so far at about 15 minutes. That's 10 too long, sadly.

Ah, well. I'll have to have a marathon of proper Chan movies, like Project A or Dragon's Forever.

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 23rd, 2009)

The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, a review by addicted2dvd

The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021/United States) Studio Distribution Services (United States) Director: Michael Chaves Writing: David Leslie (Screenwriter), David Leslie (Story By), James Wan (Story By), Chad Hayes (Original Characters By), Carey W. Hayes (Original Characters By) Length: 112 min. Video: Widescreen 2.39:1 Audio: English: Dolby Atmos: 3D, English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Stars:
Patrick Wilson (1973) as Ed Warren
Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren
Ruairi O'Connor as Arne Cheyenne Johnson
Sarah Catherine Hook as Debbie Glatzel
Julian Hilliard as David Glatzel

Plot:
Based on a chilling true story: Paranormal investigators Ed and lorraine Warren risk their lives to prove the innocence of the accused and the existance of evil forces in the first U.S. murder trial where demonic possession is being used as a legal defence.

Extras:

• Featurettes
• Digital Copy
• The Conjuring: The Lover #1, a video comic

While it may be my least favorite of the 3... I enjoyed every second of it. I loved the effects of the possessed, I love the cast that plays Lorraine and Ed Warren. If you enjoy this franchise, it is a must see!



(From Horror/Halloween Marathon 2023 on September 16th, 2023)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

02. Dead Man's Party (1998-10-06)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Marti Noxon (Writer)
Director: James Whitmore Jr.
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Seth Green (Oz), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Nancy Lenehan (Pat), Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Jason Hall (Devon), Paul Morgan Stetler (Young Doctor), Chris Garnant (Stoner #1)

An episode I never really liked. Best bit was Giles' reaction in his kitchen after Buffy's return. The zombie story was rather dull.

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on February 22nd, 2009)