Snacks Movie Reviews

errol morris does beautiful work--the camera work, the sound, and especially the editing are all top-notch. i have seen about six of his productions, and i really, really want to see all the rest. i would recommend this to any lover of documentaries.

Of note, however, is the censoring of a scene with a monkey fighting a cobra; probably removed at the behest of animal rights activists, I would be disgusted if the scene were filmed *today*, but hate to lose such a unique piece of film in a movie twenty years old. Tragically overzealous. The uncut original should be re-released.

White and Green are snake women, intent on becoming human. When White falls in love with a human man, Hsui Xian , White and Green go to extraordinary lengths to keep their true selves hidden. Hsui Xian , a teacher, loves his wife White, and eventually learns her secret despite her efforts.

White and Green are pursued by the vigilant Monk Fa Hai, who captures and punishes 'evil spirits' by confining them to his mystic 'alms bowl.' Fa Hai, a good man, has become self righteous in his pursuit of evil, overlooking the compassion and understanding that Buddha dictates and has become almost evil himself. (Partly, through the movie, he realizes this, and endeavors to change). Can Fa Hai overcome his pride to see the truth before its too late?

I really liked Green Snake. While the special affects are not 'high quality' the film manages to get its point across quite well, and the scenes where White and Green were 'slithering' bonelessly around the house as 'snakes' were both creepy and well-done!

Warning: Because of sexual scenes and overtones I would recommend this movie for mature audiences only.

I study both the snake and the crane styles of shaolin and I must say, aside form all the cartwheels and usuall razzle dazzle of movie kung fu, the coreography, (which Chan was highly involved in) was excellent and mostly true to the real styles of shaolin.

If you like alot of action, blood and childish swear words dubbed in to movie then buy this.

It's excellent

I've always liked this movie, but as I grow older, I come to realise just how rediculous the whole thing is. Some of the comedy situations are cheesy and dumb, detracting from the plot of the story. There are also quite a few plot holes (which I cannot discuss without including spoilers).

However, the action is excellent. Jackie Chan does some of his best work in this film. The fighting scenes have excellent choreography, and play out more like spectacular dances than fights. Yuen Woo-Ping wisely chose to use long cuts of the overall action, rather than resort to fast close-ups where the actual status of the fight is barely coherent.

Video: I used to rent an old VHS version of this film, and it contained a strange flaw: At various points in the film, the tint of the picture would suddenly change. It would start off normal, then switch to a yellow tint about half of the way through, and then switch to a red tint toward the end. Thankfully, the new DVD version contains no such error. However, I did notice one slight flaw: at two points in the film, I noticed small rainbow-colored lines running across the screen, as you might see on an old VHS tape. However, they weren't too much of a distraction, and only lasted a few seconds.

Audio: As with most old kung-fu movies, the English dubbing is very bad, but this actually adds to the enjoyment of the movie; it's so bad that it's good. You also have the option to watch the movie with its original Cantonese language track and English subtitles. Take note that the Cantonese track seems to have suffered some deterioration, because it is much quieter than the English track.

The sound effects are also laughably bad. They mostly resemble sounds that you could make by blowing into a microphone. You will either get used to them or hate them.

The music is interesting, but sometimes seems misplaced. Also. the "surprise" music cue is used, reused, and used again until you know every note by heart.

The recording quality of the music is poor; most of it sounds distorted.

Extras: The only extra feature on this DVD isn't even a real feature: three movie trailers (none of them having anything to do with Jackie Chan movies). Two of the trailers are for anime flicks, and the other one is for Jet Li's "The One."

Do not buy this DVD if you are expecting extras. Do not buy this movie if you can't handle loose plot and bad sound. BE SURE to buy this movie if you have any interest in excellent kung-fu fighting.

~Jake

The plot or story of this movie is typical, fairly simple like most other old kung-fu movies where the lead, whom is Jackie Chan, a janitor in a kung-fu school is taught by a beggar, who happen to be a Snake fist style master. The main villain of the movie is Hwang Jang Lee, an eagle claw master & wanted to eradicate every snake fist style & it's every masters.

What differentiates this kung-fu movie is the theme surrounding the movie- which is somewhat dramatical & extremely lonely & emotional story. It simply veers away from the usual kung- fu flick and instead emphasizes good quality & great storyline.The movie explore more on the human side and the humane characteristics of the casts, for example, the constant abuse and beatings receive by the lead (Jackie Chan) up to a point where not only his body refuse to received anymore pain from it, but also his mind & emotion telling him not to cooperate anymore. Also the instance, when Simon Yuen, the beggar & master of snake fist got hurt and wounded severely due to an unexpected attack from his opponents. Simon Yuen escapes and coincidentally met Jackie Chan along the way, and thus, Jackie bring him back to good health by taking care of him.The scenes where Simon gets hurt and escapes, and also, where Jackie take good care of him to health is heartbreaking, heartwarming and sincerely emotional. In fact, quality scenes like these encompasses the entire movie per se.

In terms of excellent action/kung-fu scenes, the movie also did not scrimped. Apparently, this film is made with a better budget thus resulted in a far more than better production quality or value, and this film, evidently, is made with great amount of planning & meticulous amount of preparations.

All in all, in my opinion, " Snake in the eagle's shadow " is the best old school kung-fu ever. Bar none. Highly recommended !

I've always liked this movie, but as I grow older, I come to realise just how rediculous the whole thing is. Some of the comedy situations are cheesy and dumb, detracting from the plot of the story. There are also quite a few plot holes (which I cannot discuss without including spoilers).

However, the action is excellent. Jackie Chan does some of his best work in this film. The fighting scenes have excellent choreography, and play out more like spectacular dances than fights. Yuen Woo-Ping wisely chose to use long cuts of the overall action, rather than resort to fast close-ups where the actual status of the fight is barely coherent.

Video: I used to rent an old VHS version of this film, and it contained a strange flaw: At various points in the film, the tint of the picture would suddenly change. It would start off normal, then switch to a yellow tint about half of the way through, and then switch to a red tint toward the end. Thankfully, the new DVD version contains no such error. However, I did notice one slight flaw: at two points in the film, I noticed small rainbow-colored lines running across the screen, as you might see on an old VHS tape. However, they weren't too much of a distraction, and only lasted a few seconds.

Audio: As with most old kung-fu movies, the English dubbing is very bad, but this actually adds to the enjoyment of the movie; it's so bad that it's good. You also have the option to watch the movie with its original Cantonese language track and English subtitles. Take note that the Cantonese track seems to have suffered some deterioration, because it is much quieter than the English track.

The sound effects are also laughably bad. They mostly resemble sounds that you could make by blowing into a microphone. You will either get used to them or hate them.

The music is interesting, but sometimes seems misplaced. Also. the "surprise" music cue is used, reused, and used again until you know every note by heart.

The recording quality of the music is poor; most of it sounds distorted.

Extras: The only extra feature on this DVD isn't even a real feature: three movie trailers (none of them having anything to do with Jackie Chan movies). Two of the trailers are for anime flicks, and the other one is for Jet Li's "The One."

Do not buy this DVD if you are expecting extras. Do not buy this movie if you can't handle loose plot and bad sound. BE SURE to buy this movie if you have any interest in excellent kung-fu fighting.

~Jake

The plot or story of this movie is typical, fairly simple like most other old kung-fu movies where the lead, whom is Jackie Chan, a janitor in a kung-fu school is taught by a beggar, who happen to be a Snake fist style master. The main villain of the movie is Hwang Jang Lee, an eagle claw master & wanted to eradicate every snake fist style & it's every masters.

What differentiates this kung-fu movie is the theme surrounding the movie- which is somewhat dramatical & extremely lonely & emotional story. It simply veers away from the usual kung- fu flick and instead emphasizes good quality & great storyline.The movie explore more on the human side and the humane characteristics of the casts, for example, the constant abuse and beatings receive by the lead (Jackie Chan) up to a point where not only his body refuse to received anymore pain from it, but also his mind & emotion telling him not to cooperate anymore. Also the instance, when Simon Yuen, the beggar & master of snake fist got hurt and wounded severely due to an unexpected attack from his opponents. Simon Yuen escapes and coincidentally met Jackie Chan along the way, and thus, Jackie bring him back to good health by taking care of him.The scenes where Simon gets hurt and escapes, and also, where Jackie take good care of him to health is heartbreaking, heartwarming and sincerely emotional. In fact, quality scenes like these encompasses the entire movie per se.

In terms of excellent action/kung-fu scenes, the movie also did not scrimped. Apparently, this film is made with a better budget thus resulted in a far more than better production quality or value, and this film, evidently, is made with great amount of planning & meticulous amount of preparations.

All in all, in my opinion, " Snake in the eagle's shadow " is the best old school kung-fu ever. Bar none. Highly recommended !