War Of The Covers: Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails

We apologize for the length of time that we’ve had between posts, but we’re back with another one and hopefully you’ll find this one an interesting one. The last War Of The Covers we had, we saw that Dope was ultimately the winner of that fatal four way match making their version of Rebel Yell by Billy Idol the better one according to you. This week we have a match up that is definitely an interesting match up because it features two bands from two completely different walks of life in the music business covering a band that is the halfway point in the timeline of pop music culture between the two of them. In one corner, you have 80’s new wave legends Devo going up against post hardcore/rock band AFI as both bands attempted to cover the Nine Inch Nails track Head Like A Hole from their legendary album Pretty Hate Machine. In 1996, Devo would take a crack at the track for the 1996 soundtrack to the film Supercop that starred Jackie Chan and also featured eclectic mix of music from bands like No Doubt, the late Dimebag Darrell, and the late 2Pac. In 2006, AFI would record a version of the track for an edition of Decemberunderground that was only released in Europe, Australia, and Japan as well as the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Now only one version of the track can survive and as usual it’s up to you the fans to decide. You have until the next War Of The Covers to decide.

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Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: The Medallion (2003)

For today’s Ass Whoopin Wednesday film, I searched the internet far and wide to find a film that peaked my interest. I settled on a Jackie Chan (Rumble In The Bronx) film that I had never seen in The Medallion. In the film Chan plays a Hong Kong detective named Eddie who is hot on the trail of a criminal named Snakehead (Julian Sands). When he gets close to Snakehead, he finds out that Snakehead is after the chosen one Jai (Alex Bao) for a medallion. After an accident finds him dead, Jai uses the medallion to bring him back to life and it turns him into a super warrior. Now with the help of Interpol agents, he has to stop Snakehead from getting his hands on it. The film also stars Lee Evans (The Fifth Element) as Arthur Watson, Claire Forlani (Green Street Hooligans) as Nicole James, John Rhys-Davies (The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring) as Cmdr. Hammerstock-Smythe, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong (The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor) as Lester, Christy Chung (The Defender) as Charlotte Watson, Johann Myers (Black Hawk Down) as Giscard, and the film was directed by Gordon Chan (Fist Of Legend). Before we get into the review of the film, let’s check out some stats: 

As far as the stats are concerned, Jackie Chan has about 21 1/2 kills/knockouts in the film and he has a 1/2 because Watson finished off one of the guys. He doesn’t really have an origin story in the film even though you figure out he had a past relationship with someone and that person is ultimately his love interest. I put a question mark after whether anyone close got hurt because even I am unsure. The boy gets kidnapped, but he’s not really family even though he does save him and Watson’s family is targeted. So, I’ll leave it to all of you to be the judges on that one. The big boss is defeated in the film, but as always you have to watch it to figure out how. While some of the martial arts action in the film was decent, this was actually a pretty cheesy film from beginning to end. The villains were cheesy, the partnership with Lee Evans was cheesy, and some of the fight choreography was cheesy. I thought Jackie Chan was great, but the rest of the cast were kind of awful and awkward. Julian Sands isn’t a bad actor, just didn’t favor him in this film and his sidekick who does all his bidding is cheesy as well. The film was too over the top at times as far as the comedy was concerned which I think is what bothered me the most. I don’t know, I think it was worth at least one watch, but other than that I would say no. I am going to give the film 2.7 fists out of five for a final grade.

Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: Police Story: Lockdown (2013)

It’s has been way too long since the last Ass Whoopin Wednesday entry and so many movies I have spotted that I wanted to watch since then. Police Story: Lockdown is the name of the film that I chose for today that stars Jackie Chan (Police Story) as rugged police veteran Zhong Wen. Wen is going to meet his daughter at a club so she could introduce him to her boyfriend, but what Wen doesn’t expect is that he’s been a pawn in this new man’s game. The owner of the club Wu Jiang (Ye Liu) wants answers to an incident that happened some years back to someone close to him so he asks for the release of a prisoner and he holds Wen, his daughter, and many others with knowledge to the night hostage in his club. The film also stars Tian Jing (Special ID) as Wian Wian, Yiwei Liu (Finding Mr. Right) as General Manager Niu, Wei Na (Saving Mr. Wu) as Na Na, Xiaoou Zhou (The Unfortunate Car) as Wei Xiao Fu, Rongguang Yu (The Karate Kid) as Captain Wu, Hailong Liu (Kung Fu Fighter) as Pi Song, Zha Ka (The Taking Of Tiger Mountain) as Bin Ge, and the film was written and directed by Sheng Ding (Little Big Soldier). Before we look at the review of the film, let’s check out some stats:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not sure how connected this film is to the other Police Story films that are out there with Jackie Chan only because his character name differs in this film. So as far as the stats are concerned, he only has six knockouts/kills in the film because most of the time he is trying to save people then trying to harm them. He only attacks if he has to to try and save people. His origin story more or less that is shown in the film is just them going over past cases that he had been on in his career. He has no love interest because according to the film his wife is dead and as far as a Love interest, family member, or friend getting hurt is concerned, his daughter is being held hostage. Now as far as the big boss being defeated is concerned, it gets a little complicated and I don’t want to give it away so that you can see how it unfolds. The only thing that I will warn you about in this film that it kind of goes all over the place at times and it just tries too hard to be mysterious. There is not a lot of high octane martial arts sequences in this film, but believe me when you get one it is that damn good. I can’t remember the name of the actor, but one of the fight scenes with Jackie is intense and it doesn’t disappoint with the slow motion shots. This caught my eye when I saw it at Redbox and I couldn’t wait to check it out for this purpose. I am going to give the film 3.5 fists out of five for a final grade.

Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: Supercop (1992)

I wanted to go through some of my favorite Martial Artists before we started to repeat anyone once again for Ass Whoopin Wednesdays and this week we are looking at the 1992 Jackie Chan flick Supercop (or Police Story 3: Supercop as it was known in Asia). Inspector Chan (Chan) is just a regular cop in Hong Kong when he over hears his Uncle and superior talking about a dangerous mission where the Chinese government needs a supercop. Chan is immediately interested in the job not really knowing what it entails and he asks to take the job. So, he teams up with his Red Chinese counterpart Inspector Yang (Michelle Yeoh) and they go an undercover mission to try and stop a Chinese drug czar from breaking his wife out of a Malaysian prison. The film also stars Maggie Cheung (Hero) as May, Wah Yuen (Kung Fu Hustle) as Panther, Kenneth Tsang (Rush Hour 2) as Chaibat, Bill Tung (Rumble in The Bronx) as Uncle Bill, Phillip Chan (Bloodsport) as Inspector Chen, Kelvin Wong (Meltdown) as Peter, Lieh Lo (Five Fingers Of Death) as The General, Kim Penn (Knock Off) as Blonde Gun Woman, and the film was directed by Stanley Tong (Rumble In The Bronx). Before we get into the review, let’s check out some stats:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was one of the only Jackie Chan films on Netflix that caught my interest and so that is why I chose to watch Supercop. He only has 18 1/2 knockouts in the film which may be one of the lowest totals so far, but that is because his partner equally kicks ass in the film, but unfortunately I didn’t keep track of her stats at all. There is no origin story in the film as I know of besides his undercover personas background and he has a girlfriend in the film who ends up blowing his cover and gets kidnapped. The big boss ends up meeting his doom and all is happy in Hong Kong as Chan gets the job done. There is plenty of action in the film including the fact that you get to see Jackie Chan do all of his own stunts in the film and the wildest one is with the helicopter. It was cool to see Michelle Yeoh is one of Asia’s top female stars acting in this film and Maggie Cheung is also a familiar face in some Jackie Chan films as well in the awesome Hero film. Definitely check this film out if you are a fan of Jackie Chan films because Jackie really took the reigns for Chinese Martial Arts actors after the death of Bruce Lee. I am going to give this film four fists out of five for a final grade because the story is great and the action is pretty good too.

Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: The Big Boss (1971)

What kind of blog or even a segment like Ass Whoopin Wednesdays would we be without the master Bruce Lee and one of his amazing films. The man is the Godfather of modern Martial Arts films because he legitimized the genre and showed the world that you could make money with Martial Arts films. The film I chose for today I originally knew as Fists Of Fury, but I believe the original name of the film was The Big Boss. Bruce Lee (The Chinese Connection) stars as Cheng, he is travelling away from China and to Thailand to make a new start in his life after he promised Uncle (Chia-Cheng Tu) and his mother that he wouldn’t fight anymore. So, Cheng goes to live with is cousins and work his job at the local ice factory, but what he and his cousins don’t realize is that the factory is a front for distributing drugs inside the ice. One day, when one of the cousins finds the drugs inside, he disappears and soon all of the cousins start to disappear. So, now it’s up to Cheng to figure out exactly what is going on and to get himself some revenge. The movie also stars Maria Yi (Slash: Blade Of Death) as Chow Mei, Marilyn Bautista (Bloodfist) as Miss Wuman, Ying-Chieh Han (Lao hu sha xing ) as The Boss, Tony Liu (The Way Of The Dragon) as The Boss’s Son, James Tien (The Fearless Hyena) as Hsiu Chien, Shan Chin (The Chinese Connection) as Hua Sze, and the film was directed by Wei Lo (New Fist Of Fury). Now let’s check out some stats before we get into the review of the film:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bruce Lee is one of my all time favorite actors and I have to say that if it wasn’t for him I probably would have never liked or cared for the genre. If there was no Bruce Lee, there would be no Chuck Norris (He would still be there, but not as popular), Jean Claude Van Damme, Jackie Chan (would probably only be popular in Asia), Jet Li, and so on and so forth. This film was epic and it doesn’t even matter that in the first 30 minutes or so, Bruce Lee has only knocked out 2 guys because the story and the action is amazing right from the start. The film was filmed in Thailand and you can really notice the difference between the rich and the poor just through this film. I had to add something new to the stats because every once in a while in these action/martial arts films there is a sexual conquest and it’s with the beautiful Marilyn Bautista even though Bruce doesn’t realize it until the next day. Maria Yi is obviously a lot more beautiful in comparison, but she is more virtuous and delicate like a flower so a conquest with her is out of the picture. I definitely recommend watching this film if you want to learn more from the master. I am going to give this film 4.5 fists out of five for a final grade because it kicks major ass on Ass Whoopin Wednesdays.