Solid Snake

I almost wish Donnie Yen could be a part of that.

Match

Does this count?

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Brian T

On. The. Nose.

I was about to weigh in with virtually the same thoughts, only minus the commie bastards bits, of course.

There should be loud and strong reminders about what the communists did to the Shaolin Temple in the 1950's before anyone goes and sees a Chinese-made motion picture glorifying the place. Hopefully, considering that cast and director, at least some of the funding comes from Hong Kong or elsewhere. Of course, who here thinks we'll see any acknowledgment from the Chinese regarding their disgusting treatment of the temple, it's practitioners and it's treasures in decades past, or any kind of representation of same in this new film? Why, that would rank up there with admitting the later Cultural Revolution was a bad thing and allowing modern artists and filmmakers to do more than just pussyfoot around the issue.

I just can't get jazzed about mainland Chinese movies. There are some good, even great, films being made in China today (with the best usually involving talent sired in Hong Kong, naturally), but there's also a lot of expensive, dire crap like SUPER TYPHOON and METALLIC ATTRACTION: KUNG FU CYBORG that should rightfully embarrass the country's proponents of cultural superiority. The latter film in particular is a joy to trash mainly because of director Jeff Lau's boast that the TRANSFORMERS movies made him laugh derisively because the robots didn't know how to fight! So he goes and gives us this, on behalf of his new paymasters:

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Mainland China seems all too content to bask in the various glories these days (many rightfully so, many not, as with just about any country, really), not the least of which is their strengthening film industry, which wouldn't earn half the accolades it does now if it weren't for all the Hong Kong talent all but forced to work there.

And to think, just 15-30 years ago they were still cranking out the most dire, poorly made "populist" propaganda films (and I'm NOT talking about the stuff made by interenational art house darlings like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige. I'm talking about zealously patriotic dramas/war movies/thrillers and even "comedies" that would make any progress-minded person's eyes bleed; and this as millions in the country were secretly--well, an open secret, really--illegally enjoying all the latest imports from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korean and the west all without paying the creators or distributors a single cent for their efforts. Hooray!

And now, because the Hong Kong film industry is indeed a shadow of its former self, its biggest meal tickets have to go where the money is, and that, unfortunately, is the mainland, where they make wannabe high concept pictures and endless period swordplay movies that STILL have to abide by the hypocritical leash laws[/i] of the one-party government. I realize Hong Kong does too, but they always produced enough of a variety of films that eliminating the occasional anti-China theme wasn't going to creatively bankrupt them.

While I do like to see my favourite HK creative types stay gainfully employed, I just wish it was more often in the city that made them who they are today. I know, I know, they'd probably fire back with "but I'm proud to be Chinese and work in China, all Chinese are the same, yak yak woof woof." But the fact remains that these are still two very different cultures, philosophically, economically, historically, you name it, despite obviously common roots, and China may have suddenly decided it was glorious to play dress-up and love money like those evil westerners (and evil Hong Kongers) a few decades back, but in all that time they've yet to come close to capturing the energy and spirit embodied by Hong Kong cinema to this day. There may not be much cinema coming out of Hong Kong these days, and the rules there are tighter too, but they ARE still producing films worth seeing). At the same time, we get a new mainland "blockbuster" every month, often featuring talent fostered in the Hong Kong industry—because those folks have wider acceptance across Asia and with the Chinese diaspora overseas—but the movies are (often) big soulless behemoths that, while not necessarily touting party ideology, certainly don't present any ideas that might run counter to it. Artistry aside, I just can't get jazzed about them, because I know they will continue to be made in a philosophical vacuum for a long time to come.

I still buy every new movie that comes out of Hong Kong, even the silliest, most pandering bubblegum teen fare, because there's just something (well, a whole bunch of things, really) that the Chinese in China will never be able to do as well as the Chinese in Hong Kong. Plus, there's Hong Kong itself, one of the most fantastic cities on the planet. Beijing and Shanghai are OK to look at (on film or off), but they're playing at being what Hong Kong has BEEN for the better part of a century (thanks in part to "evil" Western influence, no less). Hong Kong has infinitely more flavour, infinitely more colour, and infinitely more interesting people, and yes, I realize that may be a western bias rooted in the city's colonial history, for better AND worse.

I should point out that the Chinese-Chinese condescension demonstrated by your co-worker works both ways, as Hong Kong folks routinely view Mainlanders as rubes, posers, farmers and intellectual thieves. They used to paint them all shades of awful in Hong Kong movies (and sometimes they were absolutely right), but obviously they have to be mindful of their manners these days, which is a damned shame.

Herman Yau, Johnnie To and Wong Jing are Cinema Gods.

Brian T

I heard somewhere that Mark Dacascos was on Dancing With The Stars. That's just wrong.

Solid Snake

Wow that was a crappy movie trailer...

Brian T

Indeed. The movie's not as bad as that trailer would have you believe, but it's definitely an epic misfire. That attempt to market it "American style", presumably without involving people with actual experience marketing American movies, was just plain doomed . . .

DJariya

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Easily without a doubt Donnie Yen vs Wu Jing in SPL. Probably IMO one of the best chereographed fight scenes in the last 5 years. The hairs on my neck up everytime I see this.

Norm de Plume

He's the guy on "Iron Chef", isn't he?

LorenzoL

Yup.

LorenzoL

New One Armed Swordsman
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Brian T

Wow. TWO reality shows? I haven't seen Iron Chef in years (I loved it the first couple of seasons I saw it); Is it some kind of "celebrity" thing now? Oh well, I suppose Dacascos was never destined for A-list pictures anyways. He's a fine martial artist and a good actor, but not someone who was ever gonna be toplining your average summer blockbuster. It's a shame that they couldn't find more use for him in supporting roles in bigger pictures, instead of lead roles in the endless stream of DTV product he's been cranking out over the years. But that does pay the bills, I suppose.

Last thing of his that I recall seeing in an actual theatre was ONLY THE STRONG way back in the early 90's, and that certainly didn't overwhelm, despite the best intentions.

Brian T

I remember getting chills watching this scene (and the one that follows it) at its film festival debut here. Especially after a long dry spell in Hong Kong where truly innovative action choreography had sort of flatlined. They were still doing some fun, elaborate stuff, but mostly with non-martial artists being made to look good by the seasoned veterans behind the camera. Then Donnie and Jacky come along and give us a welcome reminder that all was OK with the world.

Solid Snake

agreed. The Yen vs. Jing fight was a fucking nice breath of fresh air.

Ky-Fi

Hard to beat the final fight of Millionaire's Express---talk about an all-star cast doing what they do best:

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Solid Snake

yeah...that's an amazing fight scene.

UAIOE

Sammo can choreograph some good fights.

I always liked the "House of Horrors" fight from "My Lucky Stars"




He was in "Brotherhood of the Wolf".

squidget

because I have had 5 deadly venoms long before then. I never got around to getting it replaced.

and speaking of mark dacascos. you know before he got all shitty and did dancing with the stars

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Groucho

arl978, I have almost completed your assignment. What font should I use for the screenplay of my roleplay?

Solid Snake

that was kinda boring actually. He did good on Brotherhood of The Wolf though.




Very short but ever ever soooo sweet
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on a more serious note. These HK films had some pretty good editing for sure. Really knowing when to let a scene flow and when to switch the view.

squidget

Indeed about the editing. I remember reading about how the early HK films really made popular "editing in the camera." They talk about it a little in This Is Kung Fu

Jet Li from Kids from Shaolin
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Solid Snake

I think for sure if anything HK has given us is the masterful editing in action cinema. From the martial arts flicks to even gunplay ala Hardboiled essentially the gunplay porn of action cinema in my eyes.

I remember having a thread on the contributions of some nations to cinema and while HK isn't a nation it very much so is a strong teaching force in action cinema.

Ky-Fi

I remember a few years ago my Tai Chi teacher (Taiwanese) was telling about visiting some big museum (British Museum, I think), and as he was looking at an exhibit of Chinese artifacts, a mainland Chinese guy was standing next to him. The guy said "Isn't that terrible, that all these things have been stolen from China to be on display here?" And my teacher replied "Well, at least they appreciate their value over here---if they had stayed in China they probably would have been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution."

DJariya

I wan't talking to you. Some poster named "arl978" created some some nonsensical post that he obviously deleted which was after your post.

Sorry if you misinterpreted my comment, I should have quoted him. Groucho's comment was in reference to what he posted.

Your comment was cool. I actually dig that fight scene.

This is the 2nd time that I got burned by a hit and run poster who I did not quote and later deleted their comment.

squidget

This is not HK but it does deserve an honerable mention.
Jeeja Yanin from Thai flick Chocolate
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picks up at around the 1:20 mark

To stay on track lets have some more Gordon Liu awesomeness
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devilshalo

Another favorite of mine is Shaolin Mantis (aka Deadly Mantis) with David Chiang.

Never saw this promo for it before....