Tiew 's seebeh bo liao Chinese Kungfu Film Review!

Quick Profile.....
Title: Duel of fists
Director:Chang Cheh
Starring:David Chiang(as Fan Ke), Ti lung(as Wenlie)

At a glance: A martial arts film done all the way back in our parent's era. 1971 to be exact. Backdrop mostly filmed in Thailand.

Martial Arts Skill

--If you are searching for a film to inspire you in chinese wushu, look elsewhere. Most of the fights are muay thai and even those look fake the way they fling their limp limps around. David Chiang's character does not bring out the 'seh' in whatever wushu he was using. In a particular scene where the bad guy is trashing Wenlie, you can even see his punches(all five of them) miss totally! Nuff' said!

Rating:

Direction/Choreography

--What they claim:.......'With action choreography by Liu Chia Liang, Duel of Fists was one of the megahits of 1971, second only to Bruce Lee's The Big Boss.'
What I say: Surprisingly this bold claim is not as fake as the fighting. The choreography by the legendary Liu Chia Liang is superb(for their time). His talent of constructing 'mass fights' where the hero gets to thrash the hell out of everyone even when outnumbered 21556:1 is what actually makes the fight scene bearable. But still, its not enough to bring the film out of mediocrity. The scenery, backgrounds n movie settings are totally bland!! At least they bring some contrast to the actors!
No matter how many times i see it, I just cannot stand the overused '70s n '80s "closed up to actors/actress face" camera effect when they are about to make a strong point or emotion. Moreover its usually followed by some ear grating dramatic score. What's worse is that the flow of the film is really laggy....wah must tahan........I'll add a extra shuriken for Liu Chia Liang's effort though.

Rating:

Storyline/Characterization

--Needless to say, for action(or lack of it) oriented films, the plot is as thick as the vcd its imprinted on. Here's a summary of the story: Heroes goes in search of long lost elder bro in Thailand in order to fulfill dead father's wish. Eventually found him and helped him kick a couple of villains' ass on the way. So there! The ending is quite rushed and leaves you with an empty feeling like"huh? that's the end of my 50 cents?" (or whatever it cost for a movie in those days). As for the characters in the film, the heroes are heroic and the villains villainous......not much there. But what really puzzled me is won't Wenlie have some sort of psychological denial and hatred of his half brother Fan Ke? After all, Wenlie's father left his mother all alone and impregnated in Thailand and never returned! As mentioned in the show, he led a hard life with his mother. If its in real life, think Fan Ke will have to hire a real good shrink with years of therapy sessions for Wenlie to accept him!!!

Rating:

Casts/Extras

--Not much qualms with the casting. David Chiang and Ti Lung comes naturally with "good guy's" faces(but how I wish I can wipe that annoying grin off David C's face!) and I guess the general audience of that time have already associated their faces with heroism after their countless action movies. The extras and 'calafares' were not bad too....the audience to the muay thai matches showed real enthusiasm and the 'extra' bad guys weren't too slow to be beaten up by our two heroes too....heh...I also notice there are an unusual number of people that are Chinese when they should be in Thailand! The only problem here is that the bad guys cannot make it....the sub-villain is not sly or despicable enough and his smile makes him look more like he's on the other side. The other thing is the Muay Thai Champ is waaayyyy too flabby to be even a Thai boxer!

Rating:

Then again.....one of the lead ladies was so damn ugly, I almost flipped off my chair when she made her first appearance.(and it was a close-up too!! AARGGHHH!!)

Revised rating:

Overall

--Ok the film don't really sucked that much....after all, it was a mega hit in the '70s! But there are still a few details to nick pick....My major gripe being that the beginning half of the show was more like a travel film, showing lots of mudane shots of the streets of Thailand dragging the whole show slow!!! Ok ok maybe I should cut it some slack, as was mentioned a thousand time before this flick is filmed a whole decade before I was born! Perhaps I should close one eye when judging the catagories. Shouldn't be a problem.....The show shut both of mine while I was halfway through it......

Rating:

Cheese factor!!

--Whooohooo......This film reeks of cheesiness man!! Dunno where to begin! I'll just state down a couple.....
Cannot tahan the way David Chang grins from ear to ear......even in a fight!!!
Not to mention his character kept on reminding people that he is an engineer! Especially after one of the fight scene he just casually reminded one of the lead ladies(the ugly one): I don't fight for a living, I'm an engineer!!! Wah lau!! Does he seriously ooze cheese!!
Another bueh tahan cheesy part is that he can actually be in a hostile condition and still continue to chee hong!!! Wah think even Ho*g Ru* also never that powerful!!
And beyond description is how they deliver their lines....those you have to see and hear for yourself!

Cheesiness Rating:

The margins are set.......
So tomorrow the first of the crappy film review starts! wif a film by the name of
"Duel of Fist". Its a '70s flick.....heh should be interesting.....

Ok so this is it, due to overwhelming boredom recuperating at home.......
Falconz Productions brings ya

Tiew 's seebeh bo liao Chinese Kungfu Film Review!

Here's wat will be scrutinized:

Martial Arts Skill

--Its always nice to see superhuman moves like the usual qing gong flight through the air or sending a group of baddies through three brick walls using a single punch. After all, we catch such movies partly for a sense of escapism. BUT still....over-exploitations of such effects will spoil the genre and lead to ridiculous stereo-typing of wushu. See what those ridiculous (but fun) '80s movies did to the Ninjas!! Just as important will be the 'seh' of the actors. Ang Mohs just don't cut it in wushu!! Look at Keanu Reeves do kung fu in the matrix.....*brrrrr*.....

Direction/Choreography

--Action sequences should be well timed and not have any lag. How the fight scene fare will also make or break the show for this genre. Film must have well balance of story/character building, while still maintaining the adrenalin rush!

Storyline/Characterization

--Speaking of story/character building, alot of kung fu movies is sorely in need of that. Especially those Gu Long or Jin Yong novels adaptations. When everything is squeezed into a 100+min film, the story will inevitably loose important details and the characterisation will be as deep as the acting skills of the actors themselves.

Casts/Extras

--Casting: while not that crucial a factor but still plays a part in the 'viewability' of the show. Can't imagine Wu2 Meng4 Da2 being a chivalrous and highly skilled lead. Nor Stephen Chow as a cruel and tyrannous warlord....... The 'extras' are just as important as they can either enhance the lead actor's presence or add unwanted cheesiness to the film.

Overall

--This is the section where i can add miscellaneous rants n raves about the film...

All these catagories will be given a rating of up to five 'shurikens'

....obviously the more the better lah!

n finally....

Cheese factor!!

--A rating of up to five 'cheese''

to show how the cheesy the film is!!!

Coming Soon: Tiew's personal old martial arts film review!!

Well its been some time since i last blogged. Think abit put off since Angelfire decided to kill off my account as i was only using it to store pics.....one of the nice surprises waiting for me after i was discharged from NUH...*humph*.... well have to make do wif no pics for the time being.

N speaking of NUH....except for physiotheraphy followups, hopefully I wouldn't have to see that place for a long loooonngggg time. Never ever if possible. Really sick n tired of hospitals liao.

Serious!

If I'm to be warded again soon think gonna sign up for a regular customer's privilege card at NUH or something like that liao.

"What did not kill me will only make me stronger!"

Think I've not been learning enuf lessons from my life's experiences.......or judging from the above line......I should be six feet tall n as broad as the incredible hulk by now.
Ok. Enuf of philosopher Tiew's rantings.....

Today was a good day. Got two shifts of visitors. One in the afternoon from my poly 'bros' n another from the wushu ppl in the evening! So glad to see them really cheered me up, esp when i know that I'll be quarantined at home longer than if I kanna SARS.

Already 'consumed' three Jet Li VCD n a few magazines liao.....dunno how long can my 'boredom prevention kit' ration last.....
At least can save lots of $$$ staying at home.

Alrite 12 hrs to go.....hope i can get the op this time.......

N hopefully i can recover fast enuf for wushu. Dunno wat to do without it!!!
Imagine 6 months of life without exertive exercise!!!!! ARGHHHH!!!!

So long guys!
But i'll be back b4 u all know it!

Ok....its official: My bike hates me!

Ok Ok so its my fault....never wash her for quite some time liao...come to think of it....two months liao! Whoops!

Yep it finally happened....I crashed while riding my scoot....Always thought that was unbuangable. The bike too stable liao. Well the Titanic was also said to be unsunkable.

Think it gave me a warning to clean her up two days ago....By dying on me at Bukit Panjang......Didn't take that seriously.....
So today she made me see her pt by doing a hari kiri on the rear tire........wah...wan to tong gui yi jing wif me siah!

Tried to gain control of it but end up all over the tarmac. Haiz.....my bike is totalled , my helmet's visor missing, scrapes n dirt all over my 'head, shoulders, knee n toes'....

Luckily this family of ppl owning the roadside restaurant came to my help......even drove me to the nearest clinic n back!
Can't express my gratitude enuf....
Must bring frens go there eat liao!!!

At least i ws not late for the ICN at ke. Been waiting for this all week. All i can say is that all the juniors' effort paid off....The performance was nothing short of splendid!
Well done Baby!!! Especially the sword/sabre taolu....finally learnt how to play along wif each other nicely huh?

Think tomorrow gonna pay a visit to the tie da liao despite busy schedule.
Neck starting to hurt from the fall liao.....darn.

Wah the ma bu at ke training yesterday.....shiok!
Today morning can feel the effects already!

Today was a superbly slack day......till evening came....slept all the way until i forgot there's this Singapore-indonesian Youth Cooperation Programme organised by NYC I had to attend wif Shamu at Rendevous Hotel.....Hmmm that place brings back memories of my poly graduation dinner n dance...

Its been a long time since I dressed so formally liao......Long sleeved shirt, pants, even have to put on tie....

But worse is that today then i realised even though i have footwear for every terrain....(trekking, adventure racing, leisure, wushu, etc...) I dun even have a leather shoe to wear to a formal event!!
Ended up wearing my bro's size 41 leather shoes....(mine's 45! Ouch!)

A minor setback........
Followed by.......

Was travelling along Bukit Panjang rd when my bike just decided that i needed more fun n just died on me without any warning in the middle of a three lane road......
Feels quite lame when u have to stand in the middle of the road n wait for all the vehicles to finish moving by before u can push it to the sidewalk.
Of all times to die on me!! Once on the pavement, immediately started my emergency CPR procedure(by trying to start the bike using the step starter). After much stepping, there's still no sign of pulse from the engine.....by then i was perspiring all over n my feet hurt from the cinderella sized shoes!! Even started 'surgery' changed the spark plug on the spot n chipped a small part of my teeth doing that!!!! Must have looked strange in formal dressing n fixing a bike in the middle of the pavement....

My scooter: Pronounced dead at 6.55 pm (gave up liao lah)

End up biah cab down n was late by 20 mins but at least my pespirations was dried by then....The uncle was quite chatty n even learnt a few life lessons from him! (.......its all a matter of perception....)
After clearing my hands of soot, went straight to the conference room. Wah so paiseh, heng the MP giving speech never tiao me for making such a late entrance!

At the buffet dinner, we got to socialise n exchange namecards wif the Indonesian Youth leaders from various organisations as well as local ones...
Actually intended to sit wif Shamu (since both of us representing ECO) n this girl from SAJC, haha can chee hong liao!!(if she wasn't that young!) But found that my seat was stolen when i returned wif my food.....haiz....
Ended up seating wif the organisers.......no problems adapting though since i've been intruding into alot of events since poly days.

The Indonesian reps are quite frenly but communications wif them does have some lag time since their basic language is malay after all. Got to tok wif some ah pehs from my table n only then do i realised they are actually big wigs from various orgs...

Since poly, one of the things i cannot tahan is politics.....all the fake faces, maneuvering......

Tonight is no diff.....cannot stand the fake laughters coming from the table behind me where the MP is seating.......bueh tahan manz....

Yeah !! N oh no....

That's two things i'll have to say for today.....

yeah as in i have virtually ORDied from ns.....will only go back camp during dec to sign clearance.....
oh no as in i'll be going for my knee operation next monday.....n this also means no more outdoor activities and WUSHU!!!

Whoa can already picture it.....totally immobile for a whole month slouching at home......
really not my kind of life!

Went to KE for training after work....trying to catch up wif as much wushu as possible before the big slice on mon...
Got to 'inspect' boi's room. Hmmm... not as messy as baby's rm (onli a tsunami can do that...) but not as cosy either.....kind of a tradeoff....

Yah continuing on the trip to Motogp.......

Took onli 3.5 hrs to reach Sepang from Second link wif a pee break in between. Not too bad but i wouldn't expect any less....since the group i went wif(Alvin Yeo, Bog Imp Chan, n Kelvin) r like racers in their own rights... Began pouring W.H.Y n dogs since setting off 6+in the morning till somewhere in Johore. Kinda pity those bikers(probably having the same destination in mind) that we saw at the second link.

Did a little shopping, at the various tentage stores set up at the track that were trying to cash in on the event. Bargained like true blue Singaporeans....even use the 'show hand method' to get better deals. Wah there's even this auntie trying to sell us a Max Biaggi cap for 60 Ringgits!!! Cos the racer will be at the autograph session later.....but guess wat? He was held up at a post qualifying meeting n didn't show up! Heng never buy ah! In fact, more then half the racers never turn up! Its either they got injured during qualifying or 'too busy'... made us wait in the line for almost 2 hrs!!! Luckily still got Jeremy McWilliams, Nobuatsu Aoki, Makoto Tamada n Ryuichi Kiyonari!! Tamada has a very friendly personality, n was pleasantly surprised when i gave him the Tetsuya Harada Pramac team t-shirt to autograph on.....

'Woh pramac!!'
'Oh Harada-san!'

That was the comments he exclaimed wif a jap accent.

Was awfully nice of the S'porean uncle we met at the carpark after the sat qualifyings.. Showed us where Mint Hotel(horrible place...more on that later) was n even brought us to places to have dinner. But was not so good in giving directions(n pronouncing the word 'Carrefour'). Got lost following his directions n circled outside m'sia national stadium for quite a while b4 finding our bearings...

Mint hotel........looks good from the outside......heh......
They ran outta small rooms so we were force to stay in their $250 Ringgit per night 'junior suite'....as they call it....
Suite my foot!!!

1) The bed was blood stained(got a good laugh cos of that..)
2)There is onli a small panel of "window" wif a view of ...the opp block.
3)There are loose wires coming out of the wall dangling above our heads
4) There is not a single drawer to place ur stuff
5)cobwebs everywhere(maybe that can keep the mosquitoes count down)
6)he bedsheet made Bog Imp n me itch like monkeys until we change it....(the room service to change the sheet came onli an hr after we called them)
7) The toilet cannot be flushed.
8) The TV onli have three channels!

n lots more other small niggles..... lucky we onli stayed in to sleep.
Went out during the night by taxi to various places in a pathetic attempt to shop......cos by that time....everywhere we went, the doors came shutting down liao.....
One of the cab drivers even sugg we go chun keat(approx spelling)....say got 24hrs of fun.....Lucky Alvin checked wif his KL fren......CK is a geylang equivalent.....n that is after Bog Imp already told the driver:"we wan shopping, not play co*k"!! Eventually ended up in petaling Street in KL to walk the pasar malam...Hmm.. petaling....this name reminded me of one of the forum topics in the KE forum....

Wah Guohua's fren Sze Chian was rite.....drivers in KL 'drives' u siao. The taxi ah chek must be a retired WRC racer....
Along the way also saw the petronas twin tower from a distance....looks majestic when its lighted up at night!!

Anyway even after we reached S'pore.....we are still driving at 140s! Must have been too used to it....Bog Imp term it as the 'KL Blood' effect.....

Yep...that's generally the weekend trip folks!! Hopefully i get to repeat thi trip next yr....

Now for little photos.....yea.....

Makoto Tamada autograph session
Me, Kevin, Alvin, Bog Imp n lots of motorcycles
Just b4 the race
Ready for blast off!
Spray the champagnes!

Just got back from our biker's 'pilgrimage' to Sepang yesterday....

Aiyoh!! Valentino Rossi got crowned world champ over the weekend at Sepang! No surprise though. Just hoping not that soon... He was on pole position to start wif, n once the race got under way, can see its all over. Was good effort on Gibernau's part to hold him off in the beginning though but can see Rossi was only 'playing' wif him in the first half of the race....

Missed the 125s(cos still slacking in hotel) only made it to the track to see the 250s n Motogp. N both the races were not that entertaining but still... nothing beats watching it live!
Yes we had to drive up 328 km, endure the crowd, the humidity, can't get to see the whole race cos some part of the track is blocked from view, n the racers looked like a trail of ants on some parts....etc...blah blah.....not to mention there's this guy in full Ducati getup kept poking my head from behind wif his cap like a woodpecker...Almost wan to 'chia 'it to him liao!

But the live atmosphere, the noise, getting to meet the racers live, n the NOISE!!!
Its worth all the trouble!!! There's really a world of diff when u watch it live in person compared to watching it live on sports city last time. Was really impressed when i see how the racers make a overtaking move at the corners!!
Slipstream the front rider....
comes out of the slipstream.....
out-break the opponent....
bank n overtake.....!!
Its incredible man....

N the NOISE!!!!!! Wow! the 125s n 250s r shrill enuf wif their two-stroke engine....but wif the 4-strokes from Motogp, Its like a jet flying pass at low altitude everytime one goes pass the straights! Resisted the urge to put on the exorbitantly priced(at 10 ringgit a pair!) ear plugs that i bought. Cos the only way of enjoying it on scene fully, u would also have to experience the complete unadulterated aura blast from the 'tuned-to-hell' machinery!!! Ears still have a slight ringing even now!

OK enuf on race...
the trip to KL was not too bad either!

But that....will be continued in my next posting...........! Plus pics too!

Yah can't believe Bog Imp bought a GSX-R 1000K3!
IF u r a bike enthusiast, ur jaws should be touching the ground now....
Too bad the second rider's name on his insurance is not mine this time round.....
But still.....gonna try making the century sprint in 3 seconds wif that bike....dunno how that will feel like.....whoa....mega adrenaline rush.....

Phew!! Just came back from a trip to Sepang in KL! Now too stoned to blog......will record the weekend's many happening stuff after I get some sleep. Stupid ears still ringing........Lucky tomorrow on leave....

Back to camp liao loh!!! But then again tomorrow on leave again anyway! :P
Not too bad a return to camp, since today is still 3DSMB's ICT week. Half the company's gone and only left a super bo chup warrant officer to take charge of wateva 'slaves' there are left. All in all, a boring day in camp.....so bored that i even took my scooter for a slow 'scenic' ride round Jurong camp....haiz...

things not much better at wushu training.....seriously lacking in ppl today.....
and had to bring 2 jians n 1 dao with me home today cos whoever got the keys to the weapon cupboard din come today...... 'sah1 qi4' level in my room increasing.....


YEAH YEAH!!!! Tomorrow finally going down Sepang in KL!!!!!
After anticipating this day for a year ...yes! Hope we dun get lost since no one in the group have made a trip there before. It's like a motogp's fan pilgrimage....Finally can get to see those world class GP racers live in action! Gonna see if those 4-stroke machines live up to their super-hyped up name! It's a sad thing Katoh died at Suzuka this earlier this yr. was my oh xiang in bike racing.....(his official website link is to the right of this page)

Yah... i hope Rossi crash on sun....so at least he wun get his third world title yet....(sorry folks, i tend to support the underdogs)

Oh no.....just realised:last day of my precious mc liao!
But its ok lah......Think I achieved enuf during this little 'holiday'.

Yesterday: Met up wif one of my bunk mates from tekong who, needless to say is also on mc....n yes....he also operated on his knee ligament..... Come to think of it...that's the 6th or 7th fren of mine who went for ligament reconstruction liao!!!! Wah I guess it's the 'IN' thing nowadays for NSF.

Today: bueh tahan liao!!! Dun wanna wait for my #@%T% doctor....went straight to NUH n forced him to give me a date for my operation or taste the sharp end of my katana!!!! HAHAHAHA....(evil laughter) erm...actually it was never that dramatic but nonetheless i finally got a confirmed date of operation!!! YEAH!!.....
Hmm...shouldn't be too happy either......not the first time i kanna 'aeroplaned' by doctors(or med students) liao!!!
Not to mention i'll have to stop wushu very soon.....

Ok medical stuff aside....
Had ECO meeting at citilink Pacific Coffee in the evening.......
~~in case if u r wondering wat ECO is....just click on the green coloured link on the right. Go on.....click lah!!~~
Wah loved the sofa at the coffee joint.....Wilson(another whale) n I almost fell asleep on them while the char bor side of the committee was bi*ching away!
Never liked night meetings.........day ones are bad enough but at night, my brain seems to switch itself off( n wif the help of the sofa---worse)

WoW, 3am....now no need PTI to keep me up liao.....just Blog will do

Couldn't find a suitable title for this blog so have to settle for the above one......
And in case if ur wondering how many days of NS (national slavery)
i have left:

84

n still counting.....

heh....

Yay.... finally got down to creating my very own blog space....! Kept putting it off but was finally instigated by 'whale' n 'baby' last night. Still using 'trial n error' method to try out this blog thing....which explains the first 2 posts......

was hesitating to have a blog due to a couple of reasons:
1) have comp phobia(dunno how to handle all the HTML crap)
2) As i'm still 'Awaiting ORD' doubt i'll have time for this....(but since now that i'm on long mc.....)

ah heck....gonna parasite myself onto ppl that's good at programming...(hello whale?) Learn something new everyday!!!

Hopefully i this blog thing can be an archive for my poor memory..... n something crappy to look back on someday.....

ok ... back to testing.......
(n slacking. Gotta enjoy wat's left of my mc after all u know..)

Still testing.....

testing....