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The Ultimate Ninja Boxset Unboxing

Ultimate Ninja Collection (Boxset) Venom Mob Read More Shaw Brothers Associated Press is reporting that Run Run Shaw has passed away at the age of 106 (the report lists 107, but he was born on November 23rd, 1907).…

You know that old say, "You get what you pay for?"

On my day off today, I went DVD hunting. I'm a pretty cheap guy, so I mostly stick with my goal of paying less than $5 for a Bluray and $1 for DVD. I own over 3,000 DVDs, so there really nothing that I am hurting to get. Sometime you run into some great finds, like my recent $5 giant zippo lighter which contains Mad Men Season 1.

Today, I found The Ultimate Ninja Boxset. Look, I already own all these movies (Venom of the Ninja and Ninja: The Final Duel), so what made me want to drop $3 on this? The fact that printed on the cover is "FREE NINJA STAR". It was too good that I couldn't pass it up.

Here is how the retailer describe this boxset:

Volume one of THE ULTIMATE NINJA COLLECTION features four ninja classics from the 1980s, including NINJA THE FINAL DUEL, and VENOM OF THE NINJA: VOLUMES I-III. Hardly your typical kung fu film, NINJA: THE FINAL DUEL is an idiosyncratic martial arts tale that features extreme violence, nudity, enormous rubber spiders, and even a monk from Harlem. When Shaolin priests kill a ninja's brother, he sets out for China on a revenge mission. As two monks join the Shaolin force, a relentless kung fu battle begins. This film is packed with kung fu action from the first shot to the last. The collection also includes all three volumes of the VENOM OF THE NINJA series. This classic kung-fu action saga is loaded with violence and martial arts fighting.

This four-disc set is from Crash Cinema under the Venom Mob umbrella. Typical of Crash Cinema, the source material seems to be transferred from old VHS tapes - resulting in terrible video and even worst audio. Trust me, you will want to avoid movies from this company ... unless you don't care about video quality.

Look, for $3, I'm not going to complain that much. Although... that's three dollars I could have saved.

So, let's watch the unboxing video for The Ultimate Ninja Boxset below:

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News: Run Run Shaw has died

Shaw Brothers logo Read More Shaw Brothers You know I love my Kung Fu movies, so when when I saw the trailer to RZA's "The Man With the Iron Fists" movie, I had mixed feelings about it. I knew RZA was a Shaw Brothers fan (having created the Wu-Tang …

Associated Press is reporting that Run Run Shaw has passed away at the age of 106 (the report lists 107, but he was born on November 23rd, 1907).

HK Movie Mogul Run Run Shaw Has Died at Age 107
January 7, 2014 by KELVIN CHAN Associated Press

Pioneering Hong Kong movie producer Run Run Shaw, whose studio popularized the kung fu genre that influenced Quentin Tarantino and other Hollywood directors, died on Tuesday.

He was 107.

No cause of death was given in a statement from Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), which Shaw helped found in 1967.

(excerpt)

His path to Asian moviemaking dominance began in earnest in 1961 when he opened Movie Town, a vast, state-of-the-art studio in Hong Kong's rural Clearwater Bay. With 1,500 staff working on 10 soundstages, Movie Town was reputed to be the most productive studio in the world. At its busiest, actors and directors churned out 40 movies a year, most of them featuring kung fu, sword fighting or Asian gangsters known as triads.

I love those classic kung fu movies, I own about fifty titles on DVD and a few on Bluray (see a photo below with my cat).

Unfortunately this type of movie genre is not very popular in America, so only some titles are available in Region 1. As a collector and fan, I had to import a ton of titles (mostly anything director Chang Cheh or Venoms-related). If you are new to the genre, I suggest reading my Venoms guide.

Vu and his cat's Shaw Brothers collection 01/06/14

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Shaolin Kung Fu

New to Shaw Brothers movies? These are my favorites: THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN (1978) March 2, 2010 Dragon Dynasty THE BELLS OF DEATH (1968) July 3, 2007 Image Entertainment FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS (1982) March 13, 2012 Tokyo Shock

THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS
www.ironfists.com

You know I love my Kung Fu movies, so when when I saw the trailer to RZA's "The Man With the Iron Fists" movie, I had mixed feelings about it. I knew RZA was a Shaw Brothers fan (having created the Wu-Tang Clan and naming all the rappers after characters from Kung Fu movies), but after finally watching his movie that I really respect the man for his love of the Kung Fu movie genre.

Is "The Man With the Iron Fists" a great movie? Well… it's not the best Kung Fu movie, but for what it is: I was entertained. I can see where RZA was inspired by old Shaw Brothers movies (in particular those Venoms movies, including "Crippled Avengers"). I wish RZA just stay true to the source period - which meant no rap music in the soundtrack (this was also another problem I had with Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" usage of hip hop and rap music in a western!) and no Americans (so sorry, but RZA's character shouldn't have existed in this world - along with Jack Knife).

I guess my advice to you is that you shouldn't spend any time analyzing the plot or wondered how a man can use his iron hands (surely you didn't ask those questions in those incredible Chang Cheh movies), then you'll have a really good time. It's a popcorn movie; just expect a lot of martial arts action.

Look, I'm just happy that more people are interested in Kung Fu movies, I am hoping to see more Shaw Brothers movies on Blu-Ray, as of this writing only 10 titles are available (and I own 7 of them!)

You can buy "The Man With the Iron Fists" on DVD and Blu-Ray on February 12th.

If you can't wait for the DVD, might I suggest checking out the soundtrack. You can stream the songs on Bandcamp, and if you're a massive fan - there is the deluxe edition with includes five CDs, vinyl and posters, etc.

I feel I should explain the 'monk' thing below. Legend has it that it was the Shaolin Monks who developed Kung Fu to defend themselves.

RARE MONK bandcamp.com Rare Monk is an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. They said that they like to mix sax and violin to "rock jams" to make danceable songs. Their full-length album, Sleep/Attack will be out February 26th. They actually didn't send me the cover artwork, so I'm using the cover of their previous EP, Death By Proxy.

OLD MONK freeoldmonk.com You remember Old Monk. Lara can't get enough of them. Turns out NME loved them, recently featured singer Josh Carrafa's "Music History in GIFs blog" on their website. Now that I have your attention, Old Monk will be playing at Pianos (with Maude, Tropical Ooze, Vulture Shit, Black Forest) in New York this Saturday (01/19/13).

MONKS OF MELLONWAH monksofmellonwah.com Sydney's Monks of Mellonwah recently won "Best International Rock Act" at the Los Angeles Music Awards last November. The band also recently wrapped up their first ever U.S. tour, ending last month (December), playing mostly along the west and east coast. Monks of Mellonwah's latest EP is called, Neurogenesis, and featured their single "Neverending Spirit" (the music video was picked up on MTV's network.)

MODULOKTOPUS facebook.com Ending this roundup is a band not called anything remotely monk-ish in name, Boston's Moduloktopus. I had to follow up on this band because they recently mixed Bruce Lee's philosophy in their latest song, "Formless" (in collaboration with Michael Gold.) I've heard Lee talk on various documentaries over the years, especially with the recent "I am Bruce Lee" still fresh in my mind.

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