1983 1st entry to the Lucky Stars series starring Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, John Sham, and Cherie Chung.

1987 follow up to the original blockbuster with Dragon Ma taking on pirates and a corrupt police official starring Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, and Rosamund Kwan.

1984 action comedy pitting the Coast Guards against some nefarious pirates starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao.

Usually there are those who enjoy bad horror movies and those that enjoy bad kung-fu movies and few movies can be enjoyed by both, but Mafia vs. Ninja is immensely watchable (and laughable) even if you are amongst those that believe America has enough trash without foolish video distributors importing more. The movie is great because it takes the usual elements of the chop-suey genre and and makes them worse. For instance, the almost required anti-Japanese racism is present (the Chinese mafia are the good guys you see, sure they extort and allow gambling and prostitution, but they draw the line at opium unlike those godless Japanese mafia guys).
But not only do we get the anti-Japanese racism, we are treated to special bonus stereo-types in the form of a special all bad guy assassination team, including a black man (guess what kind of hair he has) and an Italian (guess where he has a scar?). The movie’s verve extends to the action where the normally unbelievable fight scenes are made even more so via film-reversals, insane editing, and (I kid you not) wires on jumping fighters and thrown knives. Then there are the contrived plot devices, I must admit my favorite part of the movie. Sure, other chop-suey movies might give you exploding fruit baskets (this one does), but can they claim to feature a hero who beats someone with a tree? Lots of flicks, chops, punches and of course that old staple feature invisible ninjas. This is raised into new level, when the Ninjas literally turn into bushes?
Mafia vs. Ninja could never be mistaken for a good movie, but it is a kind of bad that doesn’t take someone versed in ninja films to laugh at or enjoy. And for God’s sake people the American video release features a man with the name of Poon Hung prominently in the credits. I personally can’t think of a better reason to see a film.

2008 tale of martial artists and their quest to reach the Olympic Games in the 1930′s starring Dicky Cheung, Xie Miao, and Priscilla Wong

1985 2nd entry to the “Lucky Stars” series starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao

WAR OF THE SHAOLIN TEMPLE is among the many movies about the Shaolin temple made in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the golden age of Kung Fu Cinema. It seems that after Lau Kar-Leung’s fantastic 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN (available in its entirety on this website) everybody just threw up their hands and decided that the concept couldn’t be done any better. Thus, there are scads of second tier, bland, useless movies involving Shaolin monks, with only a few that really try to push the subject beyond training, fighting, and taking revenge.
WAR OF THE SHAOLIN TEMPLE is the exception. Its story is based on historical events, specifically the Sung dynasty’s conflict with the invading Jins. An army seeks to reclaim the northern lands from the occupying forces but is defeated. One of the soldiers (played by Cheng Tien-Chi) escapes to Shaolin, where he trains and tries to convince the other monks to get involved. His efforts are thwarted by the temple’s abbot, who has no desire to get involved in the conflict.
Out of frustration, Cheng Tien-Chi goes to train with a drunken style Kung Fu master who is outside of the abbot’s jurisdiction. At the same time, the Jin commander is moving into the area, and suspects the Shaolin temple of giving sanctuary to the soldiers who they’re pursuing. This eventually culminates in the Abbot deciding to let the monks fight and a massive fight scene ensues.
The thing that elevates this movie from the norm is the superb fight choreography, which is a step above usual thanks to the level of the performers involved. The acrobatics and weapons handling are top notch. There’s a few subtle points of wire work, and a couple of fights at the end which are on a larger scale than most independent Taiwanese productions. Overall this under-rated little gem is worth watching for the strength of its kung fu choreography.

Japan had its Bruce Lee craze just like everywhere else in the early seventies and Sonny Chiba was their answer to Bruce Lee. The action scenes are on par with anything Bruce lee has done, and perhaps have more of a grittier edge. Along with the vicious, fast and furious action scenes there are some typically Japanese acts of misogyny which may seem pretty bizarre to Western audiences when it’s the “hero” doing it (When was the last time you saw Chuck Norris or Jackie Chan sell a woman off to a slave ring because she couldn’t afford to pay for getting her brother out of jail?).
This entry into the Street Fighter series is somewhat tamer than the first films in the series. This time around Chiba is more of a James Bond kind of character, donning rubber masks and vampire fangs and manages to become embroiled in a plot involving cassettes with top secret information. There’s also some Gong Show-type freak (Who you see a lot of on Japanese TV) who can break chains (he actually uses a laser) who’s heard to kill Chiba (Yeah, right!). A must see for any self respecting fan of martial arts films.
Along with the awful dubbing there’s also the same black and white footage where Chiba, as a kid, sees his father executed to the Chinese which turns up in all the STREET FIGHTER movies.

1993 HK action chronicle of Wong Fei-Hong during his childhood starring Donnie Yen, Yu Rong-Guang, and Jean Wang.

2001 HK romantic comedy starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Shu Qi