Klaus More on reddit.com

All quiet on the Western front More on reddit.com

The first thing you need to do is make friends with the SOUTHEAST ASIA section of streaming. BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT - this will MESS. YOU. UP. Panna Rittikrai (the guy who discovered Tony Jaa and is the number one fight chroegrapher in Thailand) takes his stunt kids, gives them a slim plot (they're forced to fight for some kind of rich person reality show), and locks them up in a warehouse where they proceed to punch each other with their elbows, knees, feet, heads, shovels, fire, cars, concrete blocks. It is off the hook. Panna himself shows up as an unstoppable beast with asthma. POWER KIDS - Panna Rittikrai again, this time making a version of DIE HARD, set in a hospital, where children take on terrorists. There's a lot of goofy comedy, so smoke a bowl before you watch it, or have some beers ready. But if you ever wanted to see a little girl go face-first through a plate-glass window...this is your film! DYNAMITE WARRIOR - ugh, this one is dubbed, so be warned. However, star Dan Chupong has all the charisma Tony Jaa lacks (he shows up as the bird mask warrior in ONG BAK 2) and this is a great showcase for him that feels like an excellent Hong Kong flick from the early 90's. But that dubbing....oy vey... BEAUTIFUL BOXER - based on the true story of a muay thai champion who was a male-to-female transsexual, this biopic is really good. The action is more like what you'd find in ROCKY than ONG BAK, but the acting, production, script...it's just excellent all around. And it's all true! Then, head over to INDONESIA for... MERANTAU - not as good as THE RAID, but starring Iko Uwais, and directed by the same director, choreographed by the same team. Not nearly as good, but you can see them really figuring out what's what and how to do some new, kickass action here. Why not cruise over to HONG KONG for some awesome sauce? SWORDSMAN II - it's a terrible-looking transfer, but this is one of Jet Li's and the flying swordsman movie to end all flying swordsmen movies. If you want more realistic Jet Li, try... FEARLESS - posh and sanctimonious, but it's got the action chops where it needs them. A lot like Jet Li's version of Donnie Yen's IP MAN, it tells the true (mostly) story of real-life martial artist Huo Yuan Jia, only with a lot more ass-kicking. If you want Hong Kong movies without Jet Li, they've got plenty. The best of which are... WING CHUN - Michelle Yeoh stars in this excellent early-90's martial arts movie directed by Yuen Woo-ping (THE MATRIX, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON). It's absolutely an amazing girls-kicking-ass thrill-ride, so why does Netflix have the wrong cover art on their site? DRAGON - what a crappy title. The title was originally WU XIA ("flying swordsman" roughly) and it is an excellent film. Made by Peter Chan, one of the biggest purveyors of classy cinema, it's sort of a Western. Takeshi Kaneshiro plays a government investigator who comes to a small town when two bandits are killed in a drunken brawl. As he looks into their deaths he realizes that whoever killed them knows some badass kung fu. Probably Donnie Yen, a martial arts master in hiding who is covering up his skills hard. This is just all-around excellent big screen entertainment. Plus: Cameo by Jimmy Wang Yu, the original One-Armed Swordsman. If you want to see what AMERICA has to offer.... UNDISPUTED III - no need to see the previous UNDISPUTED movies to enjoy the hell out of Scott Adkins in his best movie. Tons of pit fights in a Russian jail. And the bad guy is Marko Zaror. Who??? Marko Zaror! The stuntman from CHILE who should be lined up to be the next big thing. And Netflix has all his movies, too! KILTRO - decent martial arts flick with superior action starring Marko Zaror. MIRAGEMAN - but nothing prepares you for MIRAGEMAN. Holy crap! Zaror plays a bouncer at a club who decides to become a superhero. Dim-witted, not very smart, but refusing to lay down and die, this movie starts as a comedy, moves through a series of simple but excellent, unadorned, hand-to-hand scenes, then ends like TAXI DRIVER. Smarter and funnier and with better action than you would ever guess. More on reddit.com

Life of Pi. More on reddit.com