#yuen woo wing

[boardsdonthitback]

Stephen Chow, Leung Siu Lung - Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Director - Stephen Chow

[roseillith]

WING CHUN (1994) dir. YUEN WOO-PING

[kaipanzero]

Wing Chun

詠春 (1994)

[michelle-yim]

Congrats to Michelle Yeoh for her Best Actress win at the 95th Academy Awards!

Gifs:

Wing Chun | 詠春 (1994), dir. Yuen Woo-ping

The Heroic Trio | 東方三俠 (1993), dir. Johnnie To

Yes, Madam! | 皇家師姐 (1985), dir. Corey Yuen

[chernobog13]

Michelle Yeoh as the founder of the martial arts style that bears her name.  This is about as biographically accurate as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), but that’s besides the point.  It’s a Michelle Yeoh film, which is all the reason I need to watch.

This is a fun, breezy film filled with wild action sequences, which is what one expects of director Yuen Woo-ping.  And it just added momentum to Michelle Yeoh’s comeback tour, which had started with 1992′s Police Story 3 (aka Supercop).

As an added bonus, we have a young Donnie Yen as Wing Chun’s goofy, semi-milquetoast boyfriend.  This was way back before Donnie got all super-serious and bad@$$ all the time. when he wasn’t afraid to be silly, which we see all too rarely these days.

Wing Chun 1994

[outlawvernofficial]

IRON MONKEY director Yuen Woo-ping and writer/producer Tsui Hark reteamed in 2017 for the haphazard but entertaining wuxia FX extravaganza THE THOUSAND FACES OF DUNJIA.

[cinemaronin]

Wing Chun (1994)

Wing Chun (1994)  directed by Yuen Woo-ping cinematography by  Mark Lee Ping-Bing

[fuforthought]

Today’s pickups: Knockabout (1979) and Dreadnaught (1981)

[paulo35lee]

[kungfutemple]

Master Z - Ip Man Legacy (2019)

[boardsdonthitback]

Michelle Yeoh - Wing Chun (1994)

[roseillith]

MICHELLE YEOH IN WING CHUN (1994) dir. YUEN WOO-PING

[silveremulsion]

Brotherhood (1976)

[shangchi]

Shang-Chi began to make a comeback in the 2000’s, escaping from the shadowy realms of C-tier superhero of the distant past and into increasing relevance. His look was all over the place as creators tried to pin down a more contemporary outfit than the old red-and-yellow Gi. A big reason for this was the revelatory success of The Matrix in 1999, a movie that tapped into Hong Kong action films and brought the action choreography of Woo Pin Yuen to mainstream audiences. Suddenly the corny old kung fu man was Cool again!

The Master of Kung Fu had a minor role in the Marvel Knights series, a comic that threw him in with a very loose affiliation of street-level heroes like Daredevil and Black Widow. He had a costume more in line with his contemporary appearances in Heroes for Hire; sleeveless, but now with more black in the outfit. I can’t say there’s a lot of great use of the character and its perhaps telling he only showed up in the background of the cover for issue #2. He’s on the periphery but rarely the focus of any of the stories.

Here's Shang-Chi looking very Matrix in sunglasses and black trench coat on the cover of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, a 2002 MAX limited series from Moench and Gulacy. Don’t get too excited by the Parental Advisory notice – the adventure is pretty boiler plate Spies Vs. Fu Manchu villainy, though it was nice to see the Master of Kung Fu come back.

There were also apparently some plans to have Shang-Chi pick up firearms as an implement in his arsenal. This is apparently thanks to the early 2000’s fascination with Gun Fu and every hero in multiple universes suddenly deciding lethal force was Cool. I’m personally very glad they didn’t go this direction, but it is interesting to consider as an artifact of the era.

Its fitting that Shang-Chi was a featured guest in Black Panther in 2006; black American audiences were big fans of the kung fu films of the Shaw Brothers and other Hong Kong studios in the ‘70s, and there’s a lot of overlap with the Blaxploitation era with martial arts cinema. That spirit of drive-in movie fun is captured in this cover of Black Panther #11 by Mike Deodato Jr. and Dean White.

Pretty awesome! I also think this period was around when they stopped using the name Fu Manchu for Shang-Chi’s nefarious father – it’s just the start of a long wrangle with the racist history of the character and the last vestiges of the Sax Rohmer elements of Shang-Chi’s backstory.

One of the better uses of Shang-Chi in this era was his role in Heroes for Hire from 2006-2007. This iteration of the mercenary team was led by the Daughters of the Dragon, Coleen Wing and Misty Knight, two female martial artists associated with Iron Fist and Power Man. While he was teamed up with the HFH, Shang-Chi got into a complicated romantic entanglement with Maria Valasquez (Tarantula) and later killed the sometime B-tier villain Humbug after he betrayed the team. Evidence of romance here:

It’s not a whole Hell of a lot but it’s still more character development than Shang-Chi had gotten in the entire ‘90s era. He had some agency, he had some issues to work through, and he impacted the world in a way he usually didn’t get to when popping up in guest roles. His look varied throughout the run, mostly sticking to no-shirt and bloused pants.

In 2009, Jonathan Hickman and Kody Chamberlain presented a one-shot team up between Deadpool and Shang-Chi. Its pretty wacky stuff but the Merc With the Mouth does give props to the Master of Kung Fu, who is presented as a more down-to-earth kind of guy, what with the sneakers and affection for hot dogs.

Hickman’s pretty key to Shang-Chi’s future, as we’ll see as we enter the 2010’s….

[ulkaralakbarova]

Ip Man’s peaceful life in Foshan changes after Gong Yutian seeks an heir for his family in Southern China. Ip Man then meets Gong Er who challenges him for the sake of regaining her family’s honor. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide for his family. In the mean time, Gong Er chooses the path of vengeance after her father was killed by Ma San. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Ip Man: Tony Leung Chiu-wai Gong Er: Zhang Ziyi Razor: Chang Chen Ding Lianshan: Zhao Benshan San Jiang Shui: Xiao Shenyang Zhang Yongcheng: Song Hye-kyo Master Gong Yutian: Wang Qingxiang Ma San: Jin Zhang Jiang: Shang Tielong Gong Er Di Zi: Song Tao Uncle Deng: Lo Hoi-pang Iron Shoes: Cung Le Gong Clan Elder: King Shih-Chieh Chan Wah-shun: Yuen Woo-ping Master Yong: Lau Ga-Yung Master Rui: Shun Lau Primo: Julian Cheung Sister San: Zhou Xiaofei Brother Sau: Berg Ng Dark Spirit: Lo Meng Gong Er Stand-in: Fang Chengcheng Women of the Gold Pavilion: Jeana Ho Young Gong Er: Wu Yixuan Gong Clan Elder: George Wang Mr. Hung: Elvis Tsui Kam-Kong Master Ba: Wang Man-Cheng Cho Man: Cho Man-Keung Brother Ping: Siu Ping-lam Foshan Martial Artist: Tony Ling Chi-Wah Peking Opera Singer: Li Jing Brother Shui: Water Hung Funeral Procession Leader: Tong Han Ma San’s Disciple: Ni Haifeng Gold Pavilion Client: Yuen Cheung-Yan Razor’s Disciple: Yin Chunxiong Zhang Yongcheng (voice): Charlie Yeung …: Benz Kong To-Hoi Film Crew: Screenplay: Wong Kar-wai Director of Photography: Philippe Le Sourd Original Music Composer: Shigeru Umebayashi Producer: Jacky Pang Music: Nathaniel Méchaly Compositors: Erik Classen Screenplay: Xu Haofeng Executive Producer: Dai Song Executive Producer: Chan Ye-cheng Martial Arts Choreographer: Yuen Woo-ping Executive Producer: Megan Ellison Co-Producer: Cheung Hong-Tat Co-Producer: Ng See-Yuen Story Consultant: Ip Chun Co-Producer: Ren Yue Music Consultant: Steve Macklam Co-Producer: Michael J. Werner Screenplay: Zou Jingzhi Makeup Artist: Kwan Lee-na Associate Producer: Johnnie Kong Art Direction: William Chang Suk-Ping Art Direction: Alfred Yau Wai-Ming Costume Design: Shandy Lui Fung-Shan Movie Reviews: CinemaSerf: I’m a fan of Wong Kar-Wai’s films but I reckon that I still prefer Wilson Yip’s 2008 version of the Ip Man story. Set amidst the turbulent times in China that saw the end of the rule of Manchu dynasty, the embryonic republic established and then the Japanese invasion, we meet a man (Tony Leung) who lives peacefully in the small town of Foshan until he meets Wing Chun grand master Gong Yutian (Qingxiang Wang) who is looking for a successor. That is the beginning of a journey that will see him become a grand master of the martial art himself, whilst meeting, marrying and surviving! It’s a superb looking film but for me just a little too over-stylised. The combat scenes are creatively choreographed but the use of the slowed-down visual effects didn’t always work. Leung and the director are clearly on the same wavelength, and the story itself is a fascinating look at the rise of one culture through the wreckage of an ancient one. It’s also clear that women too had their place in this society – and it wasn’t always where stereotype might assume. A strong contribution from the adept and nimble Ziyi Zhang (Gong Er) demonstrates that well as battle lines between the old and new, the powerful and the aspirational are drawn and a good old dose of ancient tribal warfare sets up a proud story of heritage, loyalty and skill. Though a little soporifically scored at times, this is an enjoyable mix of history with touch of romance and plenty of action, and is well worth a couple of hours.

[twilightronin]

Wing Chun 1994