Continuing my notes on recently watched movies which I haven’t written about in depth …
Catching up, part two
Tag: Martial Arts
Recent Brit disks, part two
Recent viewing features stylized violence, classic martial arts, western noir and political Ozploitation on more disks from England
Year End 2018
Despite continuing rumblings about the demise of movies-on-disk, numerous companies continue to produce excellent editions on disk of a vast range of movies covering the entire history of cinema. Once again in 2018 there were far more releases than even an obsessive viewer could keep up with.
Brief comments, part two
More brief notes on recent random viewing choices; another mixed bag of classic fantasy, generic thrillers, dramas drawn form real life, spectacular martial arts and gritty war action, and a scattershot, off-the-wall satire by “the world’s worst living director”.
The wuxia epics of King Hu
Masters of Cinema have recently released two of director King Hu’s influential martial arts epics featuring excellent restorations commissioned by the Taiwanese government. The Blu-rays provide informative supplements to give context to Dragon Gate Inn (1967) and A Touch of Zen (1971/75).
Genre Viewing 2
Genre, of course, is not limited to the fantastic — science fiction, fantasy, horror. Contemporary and historical dramas can also fall within genre boundaries. Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve) Denis Villeneuve’s thriller was much-praised by critics and audiences alike, and yet it struck me as a genre movie desperate to convince its viewers that it was actually […]
Compulsive Viewing: A Personal Pathology Part 2
Continuing my survey of one month’s movie viewing: Red Dawn (Dan Bradley, 2012): As dumb as John Milius’ original about small town American kids fighting against vicious invaders. Milius had Nicaragua(!) taking over the States; here it’s North Korea backed by, for some reason, the Russians (aware of how much U.S. debt is held by […]
Pure Genre Pleasure: The Man With the Iron Fists
In film, the big difference between pastiche and homage is the underlying attitude towards an original source. Pastiche – often a lazy assemblage of genre elements – is aimed at mocking something the filmmaker feels superior to (like the recent Disco Exorcist). Homage, on the other hand, arises from admiration for the source, respect and […]
DVD Review: The Sword Identity (2011)
Sometime during the Ming Dynasty, two wandering soldiers arrive in the southern city of Guancheng. Armed with unusually long swords, they fight their way past the four martial arts schools which reign in the city. One of the pair is captured, while the other escapes and goes into hiding. He is Liang Henlu (Song Yang), […]
DVD of the week: War of the Arrows
In 17th Century Korea, two young children, a brother and sister, see their father killed and barely escape with their own lives. They seek shelter with the family of one of their father’s friends and grow up as outcasts, their father called a traitor. The boy, Nam-Yi (Park Hae-Il), grows up embittered, developing the skills […]
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