Archive for March, 2023

Worse News: Bolo Yeung is back (in The Karate Weirdo)!

Posted: 20/03/2023 in Tribute, Worse News
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Legendary Hong Kong action movie bad guy Bolo Yeung is back from his temporary retirement, and officially a part of the Jonas Filho‘s The Karate Weirdo– now in production.

This film will be Bolo‘s first since his previous return for the Kazahstani’s Diamond Cartel (2017) where he was surrounded by other veteran actors and Martial Arts practitioners such as Peter O’Toole, Michael Madsen, Cary Tagawa, Armand Assante and Olivier Gruner & Don “The Dragon” Wilson. Decade before that he returned in another Kazahstani production- Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007), featuring professional fighter Cung Le in the lead role, but unfortunately that movie never got a proper distribution.

Movie will also feature a Karate Legend Fumio Demura (Karate Kid, Ninja) so it will surely be a treat for us old school Martial Arts movie fans. Producer/ Director is Jonas Filho, himself a Karate instructor at the Traditional Karate of Newark– so I’m sure we’ll see some authentic Martial Arts displayed in what looks to be a Karate Kid for the new generation:

Sofia Correia with the original Miyagi, Sensei Fumio Demura

Beside The Karate Weirdo (2023) this year we should finally see the long gestating documentary on his life Chinese Hercules: The Bolo Yeung story and hopefully there’s still chance for that third collaboration with Jean Claude Van Damme that we heard whispers about last year. All in all- it’s a good time to be a fan.

Worse News: Long lost Frank Dux (Bloodsport) War Movie is finally available! (also featuring Brian Thompson)

Posted: 06/03/2023 in Trash movies, Tribute, Worse News
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Most of us learned the legend of the international Man of Mystery and renowned Ninja Master Frank Dux from Cannon Films‘s cult Martial Art- tournament movie Bloodsport. The movie supposedly draws on a real life stranger-than-fiction story of the aforementioned Shidoshi Frank W. Dux, founder of the American Ninja system Dux Ryu Ninjutsu. (I now it all sounds insane but that was quite the norm in the 80s.)

But who is this mysterious man really when he is not being played by young Jean Claude Van Damme? Like a Ninja that he is he would pop in an out of movies, sometimes just for a moment like in this film by Macedonian Martial Artist/ Politician Jorgo Ognenoviski– Invitation to Die(1995).

But you can almost never see him actually in action. Well in this short film we finally have the opportunity to see Mr. Dux play- more of less- himself. In Firefight (1983) we see him commanding a squad in Vietnam (something that’s been debated since he was in the Military from 1975 to 1981) consisting of John Scott Calough, Neil Davis, Seth Kaufman and even a future genre movie staple Brian Thompson (Cobra, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation)!

It features a rag-tag group of soldiers on a hilltop attacked by a large force of Vietcong, unable to get Medivac helicopter to help their wounded comrade.

Movie itself is more comical than dramatic, with both sides looking completely lost and disorganized at times. But I have to admit some of the explosion and helicopter scenes are surprisingly well done. (Interestingly they ended up being reused in Stryker’s War aka Thoe Shalt Not Kill…Except (1985) staring Bruce Campbell among others.)

Also you have to get a kick out off seeing Phillip Rhee and Simon Rhee (of Best of the Best fame) kicking ass with their Taekwondo kicks. It makes you want to root for the Vietcong.

Conclusion: Dux is much more impressive when played by Van Damme, but let’s be honest- most of us would gladly have JCVD play us in our life story.And this movie does have a bit of a historical value too ’cause while editing Firefight Sheldon Lettich met Mark DiSalle and the two of them adapted Frank Dux‘s story of his exploits in a secret Martial Arts tournament Kumite to script, giving birth to Cannon Film classic Bloodsport (1988) in the process.