As you can read on my other posts, I enjoyed Iron Man 3 and Star Trek into Darkness. And, as you can see from their box office returns and Rotten Tomatoes scores, I am not alone. But, as you can abundantly see elsewhere on the web, there are a vocal crew who did not. Naturally,
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Nowhere is the Chinese Government’s portentous effect on its artists more apparent than in the “Chinese cut” of Iron Man 3. In order to appease the gatekeepers who held the permission for the film to be shown in China, somebody had to create less than five minutes of China-centric footage, featuring Wang Xueqi (Reign of
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Star Trek into Darkness has brought into sharp focus that film series’ viewers can now be divided into four groups. In this case, fanatic Trekkers, geeky Trekkies, devoted Trek fans, and interested onlookers. The film is also a perfect compliment to Iron Man 3, in that, where once studios were slavishly interested in rabid nerds’
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The thing to remember about Shane Black, the director and co-writer of Iron Man 3, is that he not only wrote the Lethal Weapon film series, but also Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (co-starring Robert Downey Jr.), his homage to L.A. private eye film noir, named for what the Japanese called James Bond. So is it
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It’s holiday time, when Chinese producers’ thoughts turn to … hating the Japanese. No, it’s not holiday time now. It was holiday time when most of the following films were originally released, and their labored production histories are just another example of how trying Chinese filmmaking can be right now. Taking them chronologically, the blandly
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It’s post Chinese New Year celebration time, and the movie release schedule was amped up accordingly. And between Wong Kar-wai’s “official” Yip Man bio-action-pic The Grandmasters, and Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West, things are actually looking up for the first time in a long time. Serving as yin to this yang is the continuing
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Hey all. If you check in here on a (semi)regular basis, you may have noticed that my updates are getting few and far between. This happens every now and again, and is most often caused by a corresponding diminishing of my free time. In other words, when I get really busy in my professional life,
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Sigh. Pardon me for sighing. It’s just that when old film friends take the easy route, or create a great set-up then present a “just kidding” pay-off, it’s hard for me not to sigh. Sigh. After extensive consideration, let me say this. If you discovered and followed Jackie Chan after 1995’s Rumble in the Bronx
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So I was at the San Diego Comic Con, minding my own business, when two nice guys approached to talk film in general, and kung fu film in particular. Little did I know that months later they would get in touch to guest on their website’s podcast. They were/are Damon Gene and Matt Pelishek, and
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Well, Jackie Chan’s “last” kung fu film, Chinese Zodiac, AKA CZ12, came out in China in 12/12 (but don’t worry: he’s already announced a new Police Story and Rush Hour film). And, as its many coming attraction trailers and posters seemed to promise, it was essentially a remake of Operation Condor; complete with dithering, automatic-weapon-bungling
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