Bruce Lee is one of, if not the most, famous and influential martial arts actors to ever grace the silver screen. His untimely death at the age of 32 in 1973 was a huge blow to cinema and our culture.
Buy The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1 Blu-rayIt didn’t take the movie world long to start exploiting Lee’s death and fame. For years, numerous low-budget studios made increasingly oddball kung fu movies starring actors calling themselves Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, and Bruce Liang amongst others. The actors kind of looked like the star and often mimicked his fighting style while the films ripped off every aspect of the real films he made (and then took off in all sorts of ridiculous manners on their own).
Severin Films has put together 12 of these Brucesploitation films in one awesome-looking set. It comes with tons of extras including a documentary on the Brucespoitation phenomenon, a full-color booklet full of essays, audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes reels, and much more. I’ve never seen any of these films, but this set looks amazing and I’m happy to make it my Pick of the Week.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Monkey Man: Dev Patel co-wrote, directed, and stars in this revenge film about a young man who eeks out a meager existence getting the crap beat out of him at fight clubs.
Godzilla/Kong Monsterverse: 5-Film Collector’s Edition: I can’t believe there have been five of these films already. I actually had to double-check that number. But right it is, the films are: Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), Godzilla Vs Kong (2021), and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) so good on them. This set appears to bundle previously released sets of these individual films.
The Flash: The Original Series: This short-lived series ran from 1990-1991 on CBS. I’ve never seen any of it, and from the previews, it looks pretty cheesy, but I love that the Arrowverse brought in the lead actor John Wesley Shipp to play Grant Gustin’s Dad and eventually the Flash from a parallel universe.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941): My least favorite “talkie” film from Alfred Hitchcock is also his only foray into screwball comedy. Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery are an unhappy married couple who suddenly find out that due to a technicality, they aren’t married at all. Not particularly funny comedy ensues. Read Kent Conrad’s review.
Blue Velvet: Criterion is giving David Lynch’s dark masterpiece about the underbelly of suburbia a 4K UHD upgrade.
The New Adventures of Batman: Adam West and Burt Ward reprised their roles from the live-action Batman series for this animated series that ran for one season in 1977.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Guy Ritchie directed this WWII action film about a group of soldiers sent behind enemy lines to (what else?) kill Nazis.
The Boys in the Boat: George Clooney directed this film about the University of Wisconsin’s rowing team who went on to win Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Read Ron Ruhman’s review.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: Who you gonna call? These kids, I guess. Again.
Sympathy for the Underdog: Radiance Films brings us this film from Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku about a Yakuza gang driven out of Tokyo who must start over in Okinawa. Read Steve Geise’s review.
The Underground Railroad: The Criterion Collection is releasing Barry Jenkins’s acclaimed film a young woman trying to escape slavery in the deep south.
Beast Fighter: Sony Chiba stars in two films about famed karate master Masutatsu “Mas” Ōyama.
Macbeth (1948) Special Edition: Kino Lorber presents a new 4K version of Orson Welles’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s drama.
Act of Violence: Van Heflin and Robert Ryan star in this terrific film noir about a war hero who must confront a dark secret from his past. Read my review.
