Jackie Chan

City Hunter

  • Title: City Hunter (1993)
  • IMDb: link

City Hunter

Adapted from the manga of the same name, 1993’s City Hunter is an odd flick. Over-the-top, wacky, and more live-action cartoon than anything else, the closest comparison is probably 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. In a film more notable for its comedy, fight sequences, and stunts than plot, Jackie Chan stars as private eye Ryo Saeba. The womanizing star hits on every woman he meets except for his former partner’s younger sister (Joey Wang), now his partner, who he swore never to pursue.

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Supercop

  • Title: Supercop
  • IMDb: link

Supercop

Supercop, also known as Police Story 3: Supercop and Jackie Chan’s Supercop, is the third film of the Police Story franchise featuring Jackie Chan as “Kevin” Chan Ka-Kui who goes undercover alongside Michelle Yeoh to break up a drug smuggling ring. The film is most notable for its martial art fight sequence and some of the most memorable stunts for its time period as Kevin works to befriend one of the gang’s henchmen (Wah Yuen). Although things are initially successful, Kevin’s girlfriend (Maggie Cheung) accidentally breaks his cover leading to her kidnapping and the film’s final action sequence.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

  • Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
  • IMDb: link

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been rebooted so many times over the years it’s hard to keep track of the number of times they’ve changed since they first appeared on comic shelves in the mid-1980s. The latest iteration of the group found in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is neither the best nor worst version we’ve seen. Presenting a grungier animation, likely in hopes of pulling in comparisons to the Spider-Verse movies (it is not on that level), the script takes various aspects of the Turtles origins, altering and updating them slightly for a familiar and fresh feel for the foursome.

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The LEGO Ninjago Movie

  • Title: The LEGO Ninjago Movie
  • IMDb: link

The LEGO Ninjago Movie movie reviewFor years LEGO has released video games, television shows, and straight-to-video movies centered around LEGO characters. The successes of The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie at the box office seem to have emboldened the company to try their hands at more theatrical releases. Maybe they should have stopped with Batman.

For those unfamiliar, Ninjago is a LEGO line centered around a group of young ninja heroes protecting the realm of Ninjago and fighting off various enemies including the brother of their instructor Sensei Wu (Jackie Chan), the evil Garmadon (Justin Theroux).

There are several changes to the early seasons of the Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu which introduced these characters. Lloyd (Dave Franco), the youngest of the group and son of their arch-nemesis, has been aged to fit more closely with his peers. Meanwhile the rest of the ninjas have all be de-aged to put the entire group in high school. Everyone has also become far less ninja-like with none of our heroes having mastered the elements tied to their powers (something the show dealt with seven or so seasons ago).

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Kung Fu Panda 2

  • Title: Kung Fu Panda 2
  • IMDB: link

Three years ago DreamWorks Animation put out a little film called Kung Fu Panda about a Panda with a destiny to learn Kung Fu and save his village from a shadowy warrior. It turned out to be one of my favorite films of 2008. While it might not be as good as the original (a film which I love to no end), the sequel brings plenty of awesome back to the screen.

Kung Fu Panda 2 fills in Po’s (Jack Black) back story as an attack on his village will lead him on a quest to discover where he comes from. Also back for the sequel are Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Crane (David Cross), and Viper (Lucy Liu).

The film also gives us a deadly new enemy in a deranged peacock (played with malevolent glee by Gary Oldman) who wants to rule all of China by the force of a new deadly weapon which could mean the end of Kung Fu. We also get a few new characters voiced by the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme as a Kung Fu crocodile (admit it, that’s pretty awesome), and Michelle Yeoh as the Soothsayer who holds all the answers to both Po’s past and future.

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