Inspiration, suggestions for movies?

[Roger Tyson]

I often find great motivation as well as good entertainement in watching a good martial arts movie. Problem is that I dont know that many and I would like to find some more movies (or series for that matter) to watch so I dont have to search in the dark and stumble upon the endless amounts of bad movies that is out there. So I was hoping for some tips..
Any suggestions? Any movies you think I should see? What is your favorite? It doesnt have to be classics, but it can be that too. I actually enjoy some of the new films that are more "hollywood" as well as the good old Bruce Lee movies. I saw a movie called tapped out, with Kristof Szoshinski (I know I dont spell that name right), Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva in it. It was actually pretty good.
I have seen all the Bruce Lee movies, and most of the more commercial chinese movies like "crouching tiger..", "Hero". Jackie Chan movies from earlier in his career until now, Van Damme movies, and "Ung Bak" with Tony Ja. And Jet Lee. I realy love all of these movies. But now I dont know what to search for anymore.
Please help? Give me some names so I can enjoy some more good martial arts films. What is your favorite? It can be movies with the artists that I mentioned above, as I am pretty sure I havent seen them all..


Thanks, hope I get some respons here..

 

[wingchun100]

IP MAN
BROKEN OATH (lots of cool, obscure weapons)
INFRA MAN (cheesy as hell, but such a fun flick!)
KILL BILL volume one (the restaurant kill fest is epic!)
36 CHAMBERS OF SHAOLIN
PERFECT WEAPON (where did Jeff Speakman go?)
RAPID FIRE (not a great movie, but the fights feature wing chun-like maneuvers)

 

[Roger Tyson]

Thanks! I have seen Ip man and Kill Bill, but the others are new to me. Thanks a lot!

 

[wingchun100]

No problem! If I think of more, I will come back to this list.

FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH is another. And of course the first MATRIX.

 

[Roger Tyson]

Five fingers of death, is that the old film with Jackie Chan? GREAT MOVIE. And as you say, off course there is the Matrix. But I seen them too many times. Five fingers of death on the other hand is worth watching again. Saw these films (think there is 2 of them) "Never back down" and enjoyed them too, but when I saw "Warrior" I realizes that there is a lot of potential in newer martial arts movies too.

 

[Roger Tyson]

But I have now 5 more movies to see. Please keep them coming. I am going away for a while and would like to have as many martial arts movies with me to keep me entertained.

 

[wingchun100]

Five fingers of death, is that the old film with Jackie Chan? GREAT MOVIE. And as you say, off course there is the Matrix. But I seen them too many times. Five fingers of death on the other hand is worth watching again. Saw these films (think there is 2 of them) "Never back down" and enjoyed them too, but when I saw "Warrior" I realizes that there is a lot of potential in newer martial arts movies too.

No FIVE FINGERS does not have Jackie Chan. DRUNKEN MASTER does though!

 

[Roger Tyson]

You are right. Five fingers of death is not with Jackie Chan. I looked up on IMBd and found lots of lists there, so I think I got all the help I needed. Unless anyone have some suggestions that I have to see. And Drunken master is a good example. I have that one..

 

[RTKDCMB]

Battle creek brawl (Jackie Chan), The Protector (Jackie Chan), The Best of the Best, An Eye for an eye, Forced vengeance, Double impact, Bloodsport 1 an2 2 (they get progressively worse after that), Kickboxer 1-5, Fire down below, Hard to kill, Hard target, Mortal Kombat 1 and 2, Mission of justice, Martial law 1 and 2, Nico above the law, Out for justice, Pray for death, The quest, One tough bastard, The transporter 1-3, Tekken, Under siege 1 and 2, Wrong bet, The octagon (Chuck Norris), The last dragon, Black eagle, Bounty tracker, Sudden death.

 

[Buka]

I find this documentary very inspirational. Budo:The Art of Killing. (The term "art of killing" was added for release in America.)

You can watch the whole film here -

 

[granfire]

American Ninja...



Sorry.
I like The Karate Kid, the sequels were surprisingly good.

I am afraid I am of no help, since I collect BAD MA movies...the ones you get in the dollar bin... :angel:

I would kill (not really) for the 'Three Little Ninja' movies...

As far as MA goes, Mulan had several highlights, The Last Airbender - Animated show, NOT the movie <shudder> (but Viacom got stupid, I hear it's no longer on Netflix ) - is really good.

I concede that animated shows are probably too exaggerated, but there are several (Samurai Champloo, if you like sword fighting)

Again, I am the colelctor of the BAD examples of the genre....

 

[wingchun100]

American Ninja...



Sorry.
I like The Karate Kid, the sequels were surprisingly good.

I am afraid I am of no help, since I collect BAD MA movies...the ones you get in the dollar bin... :angel:

I would kill (not really) for the 'Three Little Ninja' movies...

As far as MA goes, Mulan had several highlights, The Last Airbender - Animated show, NOT the movie <shudder> (but Viacom got stupid, I hear it's no longer on Netflix ) - is really good.

I concede that animated shows are probably too exaggerated, but there are several (Samurai Champloo, if you like sword fighting)

Again, I am the colelctor of the BAD examples of the genre....

NINJA SCROLL is another good one: great fight scenes and an interesting plot.

FIST OF THE NORTH STAR was a crappy feature length, but I think I heard the TV series was good.

 

[skribs]

The Transporter series, starring Jason Statham. 1 and 3 are my favorites.

Anything starring Scott Adkins, particularly Undisputed 2 and 3 where he plays Yuri Boyka. He is a beast. I also enjoyed other MMA movies like Never Back Down 1 &2 and Warrior on Netflix.

The Expendables. Seriously, you've got big guys (The Rock, Randy Coutoure) and smaller guys (like Jet Li and Jason Statham) doing all sorts of stuff. It's just one big testosterone fest.

This might sound silly, but Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers has some good martial arts, particularly the scenes that were shot in America. I think the guy who plays the green ranger was actually better than his Japanese counterpart (can't say the same for the others). I actually think this would be an interesting show to do a modern PG-13 Hollywood reboot for the people that grew up watching it.

ETA: There are also some good amateur movies on youtube. I enjoy the skits Ginger Ninja Trickster does, and there are some other good movies. You can also largely ignore plot and just watch the fighting! Or you can watch a web series like Mortal Kombat Legacy.

 

[granfire]

Under Siege.
Tommy Lee Jones was pretty good.

 

[skribs]

I just remembered a good list of TV shows...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has a lot of martial arts in it, with her usually beating the vampires to a bloody pulp before finishing them off.
While not a prominent feature of the show, some episodes of Dexter feature his quick reflexes and to-the-point submissions.
There was a show called Fight Quest on one of the "educational" channels that features MMA fighters learning arts from their countries of origin/prominence. I found it on Youtube.
There are some very good fight scenes in Dollhouse (I guess you see the Joss Whedon fandom bit in here from me)
Family Guy, while way over the top, has epic fight scenes.
Chuck. It even has the line "I know Kung Fu".

You could also look at superhero movies, particularly where the hero has limited or no powers. Batman, especially the Nolan trilogy; Spiderman to some extent, Kick *** (particularly the character Hit Girl), among others.

 

[Roger Tyson]

Ok. Now it seems like my friday night is set. After training off course. Very many good suggestions here.
And Granfire... you are just funny. No need to apologize, you have a special taste in ma movies. To you I might suggest a movie called "Teenage mutant ninja turtles" or something like that.
I think I`ll start with the documentary suggested by Buka.
And Skribs, the line "I know kung fu" is also in the Matrix. Makes me wish there was a way to learn like that. Only problem is that there would be a lot of kung fu experts everywhere. And they all seem to learn some kind of style that only works in movies so it would probably be a mess. And they would probably get knocked right out after trying a flying, spinning, triple, super kick and hit a simple uppercut or something. But yeah, it is fun to watch.
RTKDCMB also had some good suggestions so I think you guys saved my weekend. My girl is gone and I will end up watching martial art movies all weekend and have a great sparring session on monday.
So thanks a lot guys! Wish you all a great weekend and keep it coming. Let me know if you stumble upon something good. That means you too Granfire. Karate kid was actually pretty good, and Mr. Miagy (or how it is spelled is a true legend of karate). I am one of those who washed my fathers car and painted the fences in my younger days because he said so...