披荆斩棘的哥哥 - Call Me By Fire

披荆斩棘的哥哥 (Call Me By Fire) is a 2021 variety show out of Zhong Guo. The premise of the show is 33 "brothers" whom come from different walks of the entertainment industry come together to form a 17 member final group. In essence, it is a survival show format.

The show is a spin-off of the "sisters" show, Sisters Who Make Waves (乘风破浪的姐姐). But the format is vastly different. Instead of eliminations every week, elimations came more sporatic. The groups also had repeating "Captains" through the entire show.

The chatter online were that these folks were beyond their prime and trying to get attention. I love it. Get attention, get work again! I love some of these 33 folks and watched them for years. My favorite is Jerry Yan, whom they focused on a lot in week 1, but went more low key later on. Terry Lin started out as annoying to me, but ended up being one of my favorites at the end. The Canto group was so funny.

There were folks I was not as familiar with so I fast forwarded through their segments. That's the beauty of watching via Youtube. The ads sucked doe.

Youku did a similar show called Shine! Super Brothers (追光吧哥哥) with 21 brothers that was in a more dance and sing kind of way. I also liked that show. It's all about getting away from the real world for a brief moment every week and Call Me By Fire did it in spades.

Once Upon a Time in China IV - 黃飛鴻之四王者之風

Once Upon a Time in China IV (黃飛鴻之四王者之風) is an 1993 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Vincent Zhao as Wong Fei-hung. The supporting case include Jean Wang, Max Mok, Hung Yan-yan, Lau Shun, and Wang Jing Hua. This is the 4th installment of Tsui Hark's Wong Fei-hung movie series. And the first of two without Jet Li.

Wong Fei-hung Beijing for a tournment after the third film. Before they can go, they are convinced by a General to particpate in another tournament. They pass by a parade of Red Lantern Sect who end up attacking foreigners. Wong Fei-hung steps in to stop them and is captured and accused of being in cahots with the Red Lantern Sect. While waiting for his excustion, they make an escape but are too late to the tournament where the General dies. They are given another chance and go one to win, but the nation is lost. They set out to head back to Foshan.

I caught this in Cantonese on Amazon Prime Video. Took me a couple of weeks to finish this on and off. I was inspired after seeing it pop up on my recommendations and Vincent Zhao showing up as a GeGe in Call Me By Fire. Although the movie series has the same feel, the story in this one was all over the place. If you are a fan of these series, you can't miss it.