I run @forgottenpopcorn on Instagram. An account I started to post about movies that people weren’t talking about anymore, or not as much as I thought they should be.

They are so many movies out there now and remake, reboots and remakes of reboots. But there are older movies, or small independent movies that get pushed a side, still great movies and are well worth watching.

I’m not talking about the big movies, back to the future, Star Wars, Indiana jones, jaws etc. They won’t be forgotten.

I didn’t know which movie to start with for my first episode, for my new Podcast “ForgottenPopcorn” so many to choose from. So, I looked back at @forgottenpopcorn and one of the first few movies I posted about was Deadly Pursuit or in North America it was called Shoot to Kill. Which came out in 1988 starting Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Kirstie Alley and Clancy Brown.

Sidney Poitier plays FBI Agent Warren Stantin he is chasing a jewellery thief and Killer, Steve, Played by Clancy Brown. Who has killed and taken the identity of a man who was going on a fishing trip. With a group of people that don’t know each other.

The fishing party has a guide, Sarah, played by Kirstie Alley. They proceed up into the mountains. Sarah’s partner, Jonathon Knox played by Tom Berenger a wilderness expert. Has to join forces with Sidney Poitier to chase them into the mountains and save Sarah.

So, that’s the story. This is a great movie that I have watched again and again, it does come on TV a lot. Well it used to.

Greats actors, Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenger work really well together here. It’s a story about different worlds meeting, the FBI agent and Wilderness expert. Having to work together in each other’s world.

Starts off in the mountains and survival were Jonathan Knox is the expert. But then it goes back to the city and we are in the FBI’S world and this is where Warren is the expert. A great movie one of my favourites.

If you listen to my other podcast Its all in the reflexes where I talk about Big Trouble in Little China. You know I don’t like remakes or reboots. But with this film it’s different. I wouldn’t mind a remake and I’m not sure why they haven’t yet. There would have to be changes. But I can see Jason Momoa as the Mountain man that knows how to survive and maybe Tom Hardy playing the FBI agent.

That’s the main story by you also have great performances by Kirstie Alley and Clancy Brown. I had only really seen Kirstie Alley in Cheers but she plays the role of Sarah so well, beautiful but tough.

Clancy Brown is great as the bad guy really creepy. You’ll know him as Kurgan in Highlander or maybe as Mr Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants a great actor. If you haven’t seen this movie check it out.

The Alley fight scene between the Chang Sing and the Wing Kong from Big Trouble in Little China. This is a great scene with so many stand out moments. Jack and Wang are chasing the Lords of Death who have kidnapped Miao Yin, but lose them because of the Puma truck that cuts up the Pork Chop Express. But Wang knows where they go to sharpen their knives.

So, they drive down this alley and just happen to find the Chang Sing or Sing Dings as Jack calls them, and they are having a funeral parade for Lem Lee.

Lem Lee is the previous Godfather type of Little China, who got assassinated by the Wing Kong under orders from Lo Pan. The Wing Kong and the Chang Sing face each other and we see for the first time the legend that is Gerald Okamura the golden six shooter the man of many weapons.

The Wing Kong shots up Lem Lees coffin and make a mess. Jack watches all of this from his truck and gets ready to fight by just pulling out his knife which always makes me laugh. Then it all goes quiet and the Chang Sing come out from hiding clear the mess from the street and we have a Chinese standoff. Don’t make a sound. Wang tells jack.

The silence is broken by the Scream of another Legend Al Leong.  The bad guy from Die Hard who has the sweet tooth. All hell breaks out and the Wing Kong and Chang Sing run at each other. Jeff Imada and James Lew the stunt coordinators do a great job here with the fight scenes. Jeff also plays Needles one the Lords of Death trio. Here in these fight scenes he gets beaten up killed about 12 times playing different people. Sometimes Wing Kong sometimes Chang sing. The stunt guys would change what they were wearing eye patches head bands etc

 

This scene also intrudes the Three Storms, Thunder, Rain and Lightning that breaks up the fight. Jack and Wang try to escape by driving at Lo Pan knocking him over.

Jack gets out of his truck and Lo Pan blinds him with Light that comes out of his eyes and mouth. Later on, in the movie when Jack is on the phone to his insurance company, he describes this moment to Uncle Chu. and says With Light coming out of his mouth. Now people have called this a mistake because if Jack is blinded by the light that comes out of Lo Pans Eyes. He wouldn’t see the light coming out of his mouth. But when Jack gets out of the truck, he is lite up by blue light which must be from Lo Pans eyes and it’s the light from his mouth that blinds Jack.

 So, it’s just in the editing that was wrong kind of. I think it’s very nick picking for people to call it a mistake. Because I look it as the blue light could be from lighting and it is the light from Lo Pans Eyes that blinds Jack. Because there is a gap between when Wang and Jack escape the alley and then they are at the restaurant cleaning up and eating so enough time for Jack to have ask Wang about what happened with Lo Pan and Wang telling him that light came out of Lo Pans mouth. Anyway, I love the scene I would love to hear what you think.

Big Trouble in Little China Deleted Scenes

 

There are some interesting deleted scenes from Big Trouble in Little China that can be found on the Blu-Ray. The first scene I like is titled Airport. It starts at the airport with people waiting for passengers to get off the airplane, and it ends with Egg Shen’s tour bus almost hitting the Pork Chop Express.

This is a very interesting deleted scene, with more dialogue and small moments added here and there. Also, we get to hear Miao Yin speck a few more lines and we find out what her job is.

So, Jack and Wang walk into the airport. Wang sees that Miao Yin’s plane is on time and says that she is always punctual. Jack thinks she’s a pilot, but she is an accountant and she will get Wangs books in order.

Jack just says her first job is to subtract 1148 bucks’ times two. Which is very funny, because he still hasn’t bothered to the math, of how much Wang owes him. Then there is more dialogue between Gracie and Jack after The Lords of Death pushes past them. Gracie Law calls the ass holes, and wonders what they doing here?

Now we see Miao Yin at Passport control and we get to hear her speck a few more lines. She doesn’t get to say a lot in the movie. Jack fights with the Lords of Death. They take Miao Yin and they drive off. A few more different shots of the Pork Chop Express and the lords of Death’s car we see here.

Then we are with Jack and Wang in the Pork Chop Express. Jack is pleased when they caught up to the lords of Death. You can run, but you can’t hide. But then the puma truck cuts them up and they can’t see the car. It then moves out of the way which we don’t see in the film and the lords of death car has gone.

We then cut to Egg Shen’s tour bus and we get more dialogue from Egg Shen. He asks the tourist on the bus who has tried Shark fin soup before. Only one person has and raises their hand, and Egg can’t believe it and says okay we’ll go and get some Chinese cheese burgers then instead.

Another scene I like is from the six-demon bag, a montage of different scenes. But the one I like most, happens just after Thunder has blown up and Jack, Wang, Gracie and Miao Yin are escaping from Lightning and have to climb up through a hole in the ceiling. Egg Shen is above them with a grappling crossbow thing, not sure what to call it. It’s to pull them up to safety. Miao Yin and Gracie go up first, then in the film Jack goes up before Wang.

In the deleted part of the scene Wang says you should go first Jack. Jack’s reply is so funny he just says, absolutely and gets pulled up leaving Wang behind.

Another good one is from Gracie’s office. In the movie after escaping from the White Tiger they go to Gracie’s office or apartment. Jack falls back in the chair and Gracie gives him a drink, which looks like milk. But it’s not it’s a shake made up of lots of weird things one of them being ground up sea horses.

Also, on the extras the is an extended ending. It happens after they have escaped in the pork chop express and are waiting at the traffic lights. Wang and Miao Yin kiss. Jack then sees the Lords of Death car and they follow it. The lords of death park by the water to have a drink. Jack drives his truck right up behind them and pushes them into the water, and says that he fills a lot better now.

You then see more after Jack says his goodbyes at the restaurant to Wang and he gets back in his truck. He has another moment with Egg Shen which is nice. He also finds something on the back of his truck, looks like slime, it’s setting up the Wild Man, the hairy monster popping out of the back at the end of the movie.

So, some great extra moments here, if you haven’t watched the deleted scenes and you’re a fan of the movie. Give them a watch, it’s well worth it, you get to hear more dialogue from these characters which is great.

The Rock in Big Trouble

 There might be a possible remake, reboot, sequel to Big Trouble in Little China. Right my thoughts, there is only one Jack Burton and that’s Kurt Russell. DON’T REMAKE IT!!! Leave it alone you can’t remake a classic movie like Big Trouble in Little China. It just won’t work; you can’t catch lightning in a bottle twice.

I posted the question on my Instagram page @biggertroubleinlittlechina and the response was overwhelming a big no! Don’t do it! Leave it alone!

What I have found out online, so it must be true. There was going to be a straight up remake with the Rock playing Jack Burton and a script has been written, but I think the backlash from fans has been heard and they are not doing that now.

I have no problem with the Rock I’m watch his movies, but he is not Jack Burton. Jack Burton has not step foot inside a gym. So, what I have read online it sounds like they are continuing the universe of Big Trouble in Little China. Everything that happened in the original exists and is standalone. So, no remake. It is a continuation. Which is good.

Well what I mean by good is that every film is being remade at the moment all of John Carpenters movies are. So, it will happen with Big Trouble one day. So, if they continue the universe that should stop a remake being made for a while.

I wish they would stop remaking rebooting movies it never seems to work but they keep trying. I can’t think of one that has worked anyway. There is no need to remake it. They can even use the same title that seems to be ok now days.

I’m guessing that the Rock will just be playing another truck driver and maybe friends with Jack or has heard his stories over the CB radio. It would be great to see Kurt Russell play Jack Burton again and Dennis Dun to play Wang Chi. Seeing the characters now when they’ve gotten old if done right could be funny. Jack Burton still driving the Pork Chop Express. Wang Chi running the restaurant, Miao Yin probable has left him because of his gambling problems.

The gangs are still fighting Wing Kong and the Chang Sings and the Lords of Death new bad guys. Maybe the Daughters of the Storms, I’m sure the storms visited the white tiger often.

 

I don’t know if Jack and Wang will be in the sequel. There are many elements they are going to have to get right to make it work. The music is a big part of the movie. They need to get a director that can handle action and comedy. If John Carpenter doesn’t come back but I hope they can bring him onboard to play some part, and strong female characters. Gracie Law is strong character she doesn’t need Jack to save her I think she would have escaped by herself. She is not the damsel in distress and that’s why the relationship with Jack works so well and is so funny.

It has to be an adventure story, that we audience can feel like we could be part of this world, even though it’s a magical world with Monsters, Ghosts and Sorcery. If we walk down the wrong alley it’s a world that we could enter. These are just my thoughts and I would love to hear yours.

The Three Storms

The Three Storms from Big Trouble in Little China are; Thunder, Rain and Lightning. Thunder is the storm that blows up at the end of the movie, when he sees Lo Pan dead. He is played by the great Carter Wong, who has worked on so many martial art films. He was also the fighting instructor for Rambo 3 and the martial art instructor for the Royal Hong Kong Police Department. So, a really tough guy someone you won’t mess with even now when he’s in his seventies.

Rain is played by Peter Kwong, the storm with the long hair, which is a wig and was Peters idea. He came into mass audition, cattle call they it because he knew Martial Arts, he was so good John Carpenter said I think we are going to upgrade you to one of the storms.

He also played Tommy Tong in The Golden Child that came out the same year as Big Trouble. He has done so many other movies and TV shows. He also served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and many others boards. He also likes to dance you can see him in Ed Sheeran music video Sing, as the guy singing karaoke. A very talent guy who has liked a couple of my posts on Instagram, so that’s cool.

That brings us to Lightning played by James Pax. He always wins the vote when I ask who’s your favourite storm on my Instagram page @biggertroubleinlittlechina and is also my favourite storm. Every time I post about him someone will make the comment, Raiden from Mortal Kombat which the creators do claim they based it on Lightning.

James Pax is great as Lightning doesn’t get to say much but plays it so well. He has appeared on many TV shows and films. He also starred in documentary The First Emperor; The Man who made China which is funny because the first emperor is who cursed Lo Pan.

Egg Shen kills lightning and the last bit of lightning you see is a Chinese symbol meaning for Carpenter. So, who’s is your favourite storm?

Big Trouble for Funko Pops

 

 

I’m a collector of Funko Pops, action figures and comic books please check out @lukeactual on Instagram to see what I collect. Big Trouble in Little China is my favourite movie and there is a Funko Pop set of seven figures. Jack Burton, Gracie Law, the Three Storms; Thunder, Rain and Lightning. Lo Pan and a special edition Glow in the dark Lo Pan, these figures are amazing.

They are now vaulted which means they are not making them anymore. I got mine when they first came out, I walked into a shop selling Funko Pops not knowing that they had made ones for Big Trouble in Little China, so it was a nice surprise. They only had Lo Pan, so I bought it. My wife then bought the rest of the set online for my birthday, lucky she did because the price of them now is very high. You can still find them out there on eBay and other places and if you’re a fan of this movie, they a well worth having in your collection.

There is a great book by Boom studios. “The official Art of Big Trouble in Little China.” Which has great photos and drawings on how they designed these figures. On the page about Lo Pan’s figure the designer says that he wanted to add a small eyeball monster, he’s means the Guardian, to the pop figure but cost limitations didn’t allow it. I love these figures and think they look great and they have really worked hard to get the details right. But! But, one problem is with the Gracie Law’s figure, it doesn’t have green eyes.

Most Funko Pops come with black eyes, but not all of them, so they could have made them green. I know it’s a small detail, but it’s a big part of story. If there was cost limitations and they could only make six figures and a special edition, I think they choose the wrong characters to make. Jack Burton, Gracie Law and Lo Pan no problem it makes sense. The Three Storms figures are great, but I think they should have made a Wang Chi figure, wearing the flight suit and hold a sword. Also, an Egg Shen figure with his six-demon bag. I think a good idea for a figure which Big Trouble in Little China fans would have liked would have been Thunder, but where he’s really fat and about to explode.

If they could have made many figures, Henry Swanson would have been a fun one and the Guardian, the eye monster would have been great as well. Also, they make vehicle pops or pop rides. I have the Knight Rider Kitt car with Michael Knight’s head popping out of the roof, which I bought at London Comic con. So, they could have done the Pork Chop Express with the Wild man, the hairy monster coming out of the back.

A fun idea would be David Lo Pan, but in the wheelchair that lights up maybe. The Spirit Path Warriors the guards that are wearing the golden armour, that Jack fights with and gets his knife stuck in that would have been cool.

So many ideas, last one Jack Burton wearing the blue silk robe eating Chinese food would be a great pop. It’s all in the reflexes. What do you collect?

Jack Burton Hero or Sidekick?

 

 

So, is Jack Burton the hero or the sidekick in Big Trouble in Little China? I first saw Big Trouble in Little China when I was about 10 years old, 1988/89 on VHS. Over the years my favourite movie has changed many times, but I’m now at an age when I have seen so many movies, and I keep coming back to Big Trouble in Little China as my favourite, second favourite is Die Hard.

I had always thought of Jack Burton as the hero of the story. It wasn’t until the DVD came out, on the extras and the commentary this question comes up and I started to think about it.

On the DVD original extras Dennis Dun who plays Wang Chi describes, Jack and Wang are like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid they are both the heroes of the story. Which I agree with. There is a new release of the film with new extras and interviews which I haven’t seen yet, but on YouTube there is a short clip from a new interview with Dennis Dun and he says that John Carpenter kept tell him that he was the hero of the story.

If you check out my YouTube channel Bigger Trouble in Little China, I have put the video in my playlist which I have made public lots of other Big Trouble in Little China videos on the list.

I like this movie so much because it doesn’t follower the rules of which most movies do. This question doesn’t come up about other movies. If you take the end of the movie, where Jack doesn’t kiss Gracie Law goodbye. Which is fantastic and breaks many movie rules, getting the girl and riding off into the sunset. Jack could walk away at any time in the story but doesn’t, he says he’s there just to get his truck back, but he’s there to help his friend Wang Chi.

Jack Burton thinks he’s the hero of the story, but he isn’t, he is the sidekick which makes the movie so funny and fantastic! I do think everyone would think of themselves as the hero of their own story, no one thinks of themselves as the sidekick. If you take all the characters from the movie, they all probably think of themselves as the hero, Wang Chi, Egg Shen, Gracie Law, Eddie Lee, Uncle Chu and even Margo. I would love to hear your thoughts about this.