Review, buy Martial Arts: The Water Margin - A Concubine's Dowry / Liang Shan Po And The Millionaire, Shogun Assassin [1981], Fist Of Fury 2 [1980], Bruce Lee - Big Boss / Game Of Death / The Legend [1971], New Dragon Gate Inn [1992], Jet Li - The Kung Fu Years, Zatoichi [2004], Martial Combat - The Encyclopedia Of Martial Arts, The Water Margin - Knight Of The Long Sword / The Dynasty Of Kao, The Big Boss [1971], Bloodsport 2 [1995], Bruce Lee - The Legend [1983], Buddhist Fist, Fist Of Fury [1972], The Blacksheep Affair [1998], Flying Dagger, Babycart To Hades, The Flirting Scholar, Jackie Chan - The Kung Fu Years, The Blacksheep Affair [1998]

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Review The Water Margin / The Water Margin - A Concubine's Dowry / Liang Shan Po And The Millionaire

The Water Margin - A Concubine's Dowry / Liang Shan Po And The Millionaire (The Water Margin)

Release date: 1996-10-28
Run time: 90 min.
RRP: ~~£12.99~~
Price: £13.31

Review The Water Margin - A Concubine's Dowry / Liang Shan Po And The Millionaire / The Water Margin:

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Shogun Assassin [1981] (Vipco)

Actors & Directors

Kenji Misumi
Akiji Kobayashi
Kayo Matsuo
Shin Kishida
Tomisaburo Wakayama
Minoru Ohki
Robert Houston

Release date: 2000-02-21
Run time: 81 min.
Price: £12.99

Review Shogun Assassin [1981] / Vipco:

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Review 4 Front Video / Fist Of Fury 2 [1980]

Fist Of Fury 2 [1980] (4 Front Video)

Actors & Directors

Lo Leith
Bruce Li
Jimmy Shaw

Release date: 1997-03-17
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £1.99

Review Fist Of Fury 2 [1980] / 4 Front Video:

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Review 4 Front Video / Bruce Lee - Big Boss / Game Of Death / The Legend [1971]

Bruce Lee - Big Boss / Game Of Death / The Legend [1971] (4 Front Video)

Actors & Directors

Maria Yi
Colleen Camp
Bruce Lee
James Tein
Dean Jagger
Lo Wei
Robert Clouse

Release date: 2001-10-01
Run time: 272 min.
RRP: ~~£12.99~~
Price: £7.94

Review Bruce Lee - Big Boss / Game Of Death / The Legend [1971] / 4 Front Video:

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Review Contender Entertainment Group / New Dragon Gate Inn [1992]

New Dragon Gate Inn [1992] (Contender Entertainment Group)

Actors & Directors

Donnie Yen
Brigitte Lin
Siu-Tung Ching
Cheung-Yan Yuen
Maggie Cheung
Tony Leung Ka Fai
Raymond Lee (II)
Hark Tsui

Release date: 2000-03-20
Run time: 99 min.
RRP: ~~£13.99~~
Price: £1.40

Review New Dragon Gate Inn [1992] / Contender Entertainment Group:

New Dragon Gate Inn is the DVD title of the 1992 swordplay adventure Dragon Inn, producer Tsui Hark's follow-up to Once Upon a Time in China and Swordsman 2 (both 1991). In the wake of the huge success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it is a film ripe for rediscovery. A pair of warriors (Brigitte Lin and Tony Leung), who only admit their love when it is too late, have to rescue two children from the clutches of a corrupt warlord. Fleeing through the vast, highly pictorial desert, they seek shelter in the isolated Dragon Inn run by the man-eating Maggie Cheung (traveller's tip, don't try the "mixed meat"). The scene is set for intrigue, romance and exhilarating wirework, as our heroes wait for the enemy to arrive in what is essentially the classic High Noon scenario. The build-up isn't always coherent, though that may have something to do with the subtitles, which are unnecessarily crude. Despite this the production values and high-flying fights are first-rate and the two actresses make the film, particularly the devilishly sexy Maggie Cheung. The final showdown in a desert storm is breathtaking. On the DVD: In the cinemas this was an absolutely gorgeous 2. 35:1 widescreen film, which here has been reformatted to 16:9 TV ratio, sacrificing important visual information at either side and significantly damaging the stunning cinematography. [+]

Enough survives to indicate just how beautiful the complete images are, and the anamorphically enhanced 1. 77:1 transfer is sharp and clean on exterior shots, though some of the dimly lit interiors display considerable grain. Although only mono the sound is full and free from distortion, providing a good showcase for the atmospheric score. The film can be watched with the original Mandarin soundtrack and English subtitles, or dubbed. Included is an interview with Donnie Yen and detailed text biographies of the two female stars. The music promo is Hong Kong Legends' own trailer, included together with five further trailers for other releases. The original theatrical trailer is also present, and no matter what screen setting it is played at, everything looks vertically compressed. However, change the DVD player setting from widescreen to 4:3 letterbox and the trailer plays in the correct 2. 35:1 proportions, confirming how the film was really shot. Though the DVD packaging bills this edition of Dragon Inn as the full-length original version though there is no explanation of what footage has been restored from previous releases. -Gary S. Dalkin.

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Review Eastern Heroes Ltd. / Jet Li - The Kung Fu Years

Jet Li - The Kung Fu Years (Eastern Heroes Ltd.)

Actors & Directors

Jet Li

Release date: 2000-02-28
RRP: ~~£12.99~~
Price: £22.95

Review Jet Li - The Kung Fu Years / Eastern Heroes Ltd.:

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Zatoichi [2004] (Artificial Eye)

Actors & Directors

'Beat' Takeshi Kitano
'Beat' Takeshi Kitano

Release date: 2004-07-26
Run time: 111 min.
RRP: ~~£15.99~~
Price: £7.98

Review Zatoichi [2004] / Artificial Eye:

Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, the Japanese actor-director best known in the US for his quirky, ulraviolent gangster movies (Fireworks, Brother, Sonatine) and in the UK (among satellite and cable viewers, at least) for the bizarre It's a Knockout-meets-Endurance gameshow Takeshi's Castle, applies his off-kilter sensibility to the samurai genre in The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi. A blind masseur (Kitano with his hair dyed white) wanders into a small town divided up by rival gangs. Though hunched and shuffling, Zatoichi soon reveals his deadly skills as a swordsman. He befriends a pair of geisha girls with secrets of their own and helps them hunt down the bandits who killed their parents. But one of the gangs has just hired a ronin, a masterless samurai, whose fighting skill may equal the blind swordsman's. Zatoichi mixes a melodramatic storyline, deadpan comedy, and dazzling, CGI-enhanced swordfights into a supremely entertaining package. In Japan, Zatoichi is a recurring character in popular action movies, but Kitano places his own unique stamp on the series. -Bret Fetzer.

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Review Mia Video Entertainment Ltd / Martial Combat - The Encyclopedia Of Martial Arts

Martial Combat - The Encyclopedia Of Martial Arts (Mia Video Entertainment Ltd)

Actors & Directors

Cynthia Rothrock
Billy Blanks

Release date: 1996-06-10
Run time: 58 min.
Price: £12.99

Review Martial Combat - The Encyclopedia Of Martial Arts / Mia Video Entertainment Ltd:

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Review The Water Margin / The Water Margin - Knight Of The Long Sword / The Dynasty Of Kao

The Water Margin - Knight Of The Long Sword / The Dynasty Of Kao (The Water Margin)

Release date: 1996-11-25
Run time: 90 min.
RRP: ~~£12.99~~
Price: £4.95

Review The Water Margin - Knight Of The Long Sword / The Dynasty Of Kao / The Water Margin:

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Review 4 Front Video / The Big Boss [1971]

The Big Boss [1971] (4 Front Video)

Actors & Directors

Lo Wei
James Tein
Maria Yi
Bruce Lee

Release date: 1997-03-17
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £1.06

Review The Big Boss [1971] / 4 Front Video:

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Review Digital Video Distribution / Bloodsport 2 [1995]

Bloodsport 2 [1995] (Digital Video Distribution)

Actors & Directors

James Hong
Lori Lynn Dickerson
Pat Morita
Alan Mehrez
Daniel Bernhardt
Donald Gibb

Release date: 1997-09-22
Run time: 83 min.
Price: £6.99

Review Bloodsport 2 [1995] / Digital Video Distribution:

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Review 4 Front Video / Bruce Lee - The Legend [1983]

Bruce Lee - The Legend [1983] (4 Front Video)

Actors & Directors

James B. Nicholson

Release date: 1997-03-17
Run time: 82 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £4.86

Review Bruce Lee - The Legend [1983] / 4 Front Video:

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Review Made in Hong Kong / Buddhist Fist

Buddhist Fist (Made in Hong Kong)

Actors & Directors

Woo-ping Yuen
Siu Ming Tsui
Siu Tien Yuen
Mei Sheng Fan
Shun-Yee Yuen
Hoi San Lee

Release date: 1996-11-25
Run time: 83 min.
RRP: ~~£13.99~~
Price: £7.99

Review Buddhist Fist / Made in Hong Kong:

Director and martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping is best known to American audiences for transforming Laurence Fishburne and Keanu Reeves into kick-ass kung fu cyber-warriors in The Matrix, but this Hong Kong pro has been turning out some of the best fight scenes in Asian cinema since 1971. He directed Jackie Chan in his breakthrough hit Drunken Master and helped turn martial arts champion Jet Li into a screen legend by choreographing Once Upon a Time in China and Fist of Legend. By contrast his 1980 The Buddhist Fist is achingly old-fashioned, a familiar revenge film about a poor but stalwart small town orphan who returns home from the big city to find a tangled mystery involving oodles of assassins and a criminal Godfather known only as "big small feet". The plot is secondary to the spectacle, a tight series of precise strike-and-pose sequences that were all the rage in the 1970s, slick and practised but stiff compared to the fluid 1980s style. Stars Yuen Shunyi and Tsui Siu Ming have neither the charisma or grace of Jackie or Jet, but they do pull out some furious moves in flare-ups both grim and goofy, including a deadly dinner date that brings new meaning to the term "food fight" and an impressive climactic duel to the death. Chunks of the score were shamelessly ripped right out of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. -Sean Axmaker.

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