Tonight, we sit down with Return of the Bastard Swordsman, and it will be EPIC. Next month though? I've decided to do a Kung Fu World Tour spanning 5 Fridays and 2 special Saturday events, and as many as 6 countries and 12 films. See for yourself:Mongol (Russia) - You know him as Hogun from Thor. If your cinema culture goes a bit wider, you might now him as Ichi the Killer. In June, Tadanobu Asano is Genghis Khan! And he rises! In Mongolian! I think that's enough to feature him on this month's poster.
Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (Thailand) - The movie that made an international star out of Tony Jaa! We've played Ong Baks 2 and 3, but I was having the hardest time getting my hands on a copy of the first movie with a Thai soundtrack (no dubs if we can avoid it, that's the rule). The wait is over.
El Mariach-a-thon (Mexico) - Don't try to tell me Hong Kong cinema wasn't a major influence on Robert Rodriguez' action aesthetic! I've been wanting to watch the Mariachi trilogy again, and this theme is the perfect excuse. It's a special KFF special event on a Saturday: Back to back presentations of El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
Black Dynamite (U.S.A.) - The plan was always this: Show a couple of Black Belt Jones pictures to set the table, then serve up Black Dynamite, Scott Sanders' tribute/pastiche of every Blaxploitation hit. Never seen it either.
Three Outlaw Samurai (Japan) - I've represented Japan with a black and white Hideo Gosha samurai picture, courtesy of the Criterion Collection. Been a good while since we've had a chambara film too.
Shaolin Hand Lock (Hong Kong) - "A Kung Fu technique so lethal they named the movie after it!" Flying Guillotine's director Ho Meng-Hua promises some crazy martial arts and motorcycle stunts (it says here).
Fighting Game-a-thon (U.S.A.) - A couple weeks ago, the boys suggested we spend an entire month on movies based on fighting games, I thought HELLS NO! First, I'm not spending that long a time away from Asia, which is the main focus of these little movie nights. Second, they're almost universally bad! BUT! Let it ever be said I am not a merciful and attentive host. We end the month with a day of fighting game movies AND the games that inspired them! That's right. Not only will we watch 4 such films - Mortal Kombat, Tekken, D.O.A. and Streetfighter: The Legend of Chun-Li - but we'll also be playing a tournament consisting of each of those games. We already know who wins. I'll be in the kitchen baking cookies with the girls after the first round.
It's a big month, and if you're not in the club, you can look forward to capsule reviews on each following This Week in Geek column.
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