Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
So Mr. Beaks just moved to LA.
If you don’t know who Beaks is, then run a search on the site (make sure you put “Mr. Beaks” in quotes in the search field) and bask in the glory of one of my favorite writers anywhere on the Web on the subject of film. He used to be our guy in NYC, but now circumstance has driven him west, and he got into town just in time to celebrate my birthday with some other friends. We all went to see WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? at the El Capitan in Hollywood. Since then, I’ve seen him a few other times, including a late show last week of MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, which we went to see with the one and only Neil Cumpston (whose BLADE 2 review here on AICN was some sort of masterpiece).
If you get a chance to see the film in the months ahead (check HERE to see if it’s going to be playing in your neighborhood anytime soon), prepare yourself. It’s a good ol’ fashioned double dose of ass-kickin’ martial arts madness that must be seen to be believed.
I loved seeing this film in a theater packed with people. They all got it, and they all seemed to have a great time. There was a lot of laughter, but it’s that sort of giddy disbelief, not derisive laughter because the film is bad. It’s not. It’s dated and crazy and tries some lunatic moves here and there, but it doesn’t matter. There’s energy to spare in the film, and you can’t help but realize just how many other films and video games have been obviously influenced by this one in the years since its initial release.
If you are lucky enough to see the film in the theater, take your friends. Make a night out of it. You’ll be happy you did. In the meantime, here’s the Drunken Monk with his take on things:
Came back from Cinema Village a little while ago, caught *Master of the Flying Guillotine*. *OMG!!!* That movie was great. Been a while since I've seen one of those 70's Kung Fu flicks. It was fucking hilarious, the tournament sequence with that crazy guy with the fan... The guy that obviously was the basis for Dhalsim from Street Fighter (Yes he did *FUCKING* stretch his arms and wack people around!), the guy that reminded me of the Lightning dude in *Big Trouble in Little China*...
Screw it, everyone from that tournament scene kicked ass... Even the guy who practiced "/Monkey-Boxing/".
Even with all of that... the *Master of the Flying Guillotine* was still the man... He fucking had a theme song, how come bad guys don't have theme songs anymore? Everytime he stepped out like the complete and total *BADASS* he was you got this random ass theme music, but it was damn cool cause that blind dude was the man. The *One-Armed Boxer* was pretty cool I guess too, but i mean shit I guess it's cause I wasn't chinese so none of the guys charisma went into the translation... You just don't understand, the *Master of the Flying Guillotine* is the man.
Alright since I know none of you guys are going to actually watch this I'll try to explain the empty ass story for you. The whole thing starts off with this guy seeking revenge on the *One-Armed Boxer* for killing two of his disciples. His weapon of choice is of course the /Flying Guillotine/ which was like a red hat with blades on the outside and inside connected to a metal chain. He'd throw the Flying Guillotine onto someones head, or a bamboo stick or practically anything... He'd pull the chain then the hat would spin, lop the guys head off and return to him with a little souvenir:). Did I mention he's blind? So bassically this guys on a man hunt looking for a One-Armed man, then stuff happens they goto a tournament theres a bunch of ass-kicking, then theres a sort of series of final battles between the Masters henchmen and the One-Armed Boxer, then of course the final battle. It's all good stuff if you like ghetto-ass old Kung Fu movies.
Man the movie just got so much cooler after the *Master of the Flying Guillotine* accidentally killed the wrong One-Armed man... cause after that you just saw how much of a *BADASS* he was, he didn't feel any remorse he just bassically decides to kill every One-Armed man he finds. It was fucking hilarious that's all I got to say.
I wont act like this is some great movie with a story or anything, or that it's a crystal clear presentation in a great theater with kickass sound. It's the same kind of movie that used to come on network TV in the 80's with every movement making the same exact wooshing sound, every so often you can see the films color change but you know what? IT DOESN'T MATTER!!! This movie kicks ass hard and if you think you like old-school Kung Fu don't miss this:)...
-- DrunkenMoNk
The official site says it's coming to Austin August 2nd to the Landmark Dobie, so I guess you got a long ways ahead of you to seeing it again:)...
