The surprise Asian cinema star on this month's poster is... Gojira AKA Godzilla! I'm a big fan of the big guy's original films and I've been derelict in my duty by not giving him his shot at the spotlight on Kung Fu Friday, that more than two-year-long tradition here at Siskoid's House of Lounging Around Being Geeky. Let's remedy that here and now. Here's what's on tap for the month of October:Terror of Mechagodzilla - Looked at my collection and I had only two Godzilla films in the unwatched pile. And one of those was All Monsters Attack and I simply can't do that to people. Luckily, Terror features Mechagodzilla and that's all kinds of awesome. Made in 1975, it's the last of the original cycle of Godzilla films, so is it possible Godzilla doesn't SURVIVE? You gotta come to my place this Friday to find out.
Golden Swallow - This unfortunately named follow-up to Come Drink with Me continues the adventures of Cheng Ping-Ping's character from that seminal swordplay film. If that title disagrees with you, might I suggest its American video release title, The Girl with the Thunderbolt Kick? It has little to do with the film, but it doesn't send your head directly to the gutter. And hey, a Chang Cheh film starring a WOMAN? Needs to be seen.
Who Am I? - My film-watching group has been obsessed with seeing this English-language Jackie Chan vehicle since we saw the trailer for it last year. Basically, Jackie's a martial arts master who gets amnesia so he's all surprised and stuff when he instinctively shows his moves. Unfortunately in full screen, but that's all I could score.
Five Shaolin Masters - How about a second Chang Cheh film this month? And this one's about his usual themes of brotherhood and getting stabbed in the gut. It's a best of both worlds situation, since the action choreography is from Lau Kar-Leung before he split off from director Chang to make less gory movies.
So there you have it. A month of swordplay, kickass kung fu, comedy, tragedy and, oh yeah, giant monsters! Free up your Fridays!
Comments
We basically watch what I have available on the shelf, trying to give each month some variety.
There are still some elusive classics that aren't available in the original Chinese, like Drunken Master 2. That's really driving me nuts.