More resources about Martial Arts Cinema

Here are some more resources I came across while taking a break from facebook. Even more academic type papers about different aspects of martial arts movies involving choreography styles, and also some of the content of martial arts movies.

The first source is called "The Global Return of Wu Xia Pian (Chinese Sword-Fighting Movie): Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" As the descriptive title explains, the essay (written by Kenneth Chan) examines the internationally acclaimed film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in context of the Chinese Wu Xia Pian (武侠片), Chinese movies popular particularly in the 1960s and 70s concerning Chinese heroes in a historical setting, who often have inexplicable powers of flight. Chan's essay contrasts the historical Wu Xia of former decades with the newer, flashier Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon which brings a few twists to the genre, with mixed results. It is a good essay to help shed light on the changes martial arts films experience over the years: re-makes, revivals and re-imaginings. Many films of the current era are built upon the foundations of old ones. One only has to look as far as Quentin Tarantino to see blatant homages (or tasteless copies, depending on the opinion of the viewer). All these trends have a source, and in Chan's essay the source is exposed for what it is, to those who may not know, and contrasted with the current tastes.

The second article is entitled "Fighting Without Fighting: Film Action" and is written by Craig Reid, who is the self proclaimed

"only Chinese-trained American fight choreographer working in the United States today"

I find this statement kind of dubious and arrogant. Does this not count the many Asian choreographers in the states such as Koichi Sakamoto? I haven't really heard of most of Craig Reid's movies before. Plus, he looks kind of like Zac Efron on acid.

That's him on the right, pictured next to revolutionary Hong Kong action director Tsui Hark. Anyways, I always enjoy reading about fight choreography, and Reid has some interesting analysis of various choreography techniques against single opponents and multiple opponents, and how they are shot and edited different in the US and in China. He claims these techniques all have detailed acronyms such as MSSQUE (Many Shot, one Strike, QUick Edit) and the SAC (Striking At Camera). I wonder if he made these terms up himself. Perhaps not, but regardless he provides some interesting insight into how these techniques originated and - essentially - how he claims they are misused by American choreographers. Most agree that on a regular basis US fight scenes are inferior to most Chinese fight scenes, so this article provides some good tips for improving potential choreography.

A third source of interest is called "Kinesthesia in Martial Arts Films: Action in Motion" by Aaron Anderson. In this article, Anderson describes principles of movement (or kinesthetics as he refers to it as) and rhythmic sound editing to tell a story in a fight scene. He uses terms such as metakinesis (transferring aesthetic and emotional concepts) while describing fight scenes shot by shot. In particular, he analyses in detail a scene from the Steven Seagal tour de force "Out For Justice" in which Steven Seagal annhihilates numerous people in a bar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMu2xNBpyQc). This is also the scene that epitomizes the vague yet douchey threats of Seagal with the line "Who's hotdog is this eh, is this yours?" Anderson describes the crescendo of action mixed with on and offscreen synchronized sound to produce an effective fight scene (which he contrasts with the very different style of Jackie Chan). This is a very detailed article that provides good details on fight choreography and editing.

One more source I happened upon is a chapter from the book The Worldling Project edited by Rob Wilson and Christopher Leigh Connery. One chapter of the book is an article written by Meaghan Morris entitled "Learning from Bruce Lee: Pedagogy and Political Correctness in Martial Arts Cinema." This article takes a different look at martial arts cinema, stepping away from the physicality and choreographically analyses of the other articles and focusing on the storytelling methods of martial arts movies - many of which are admittedly not great works of art but still have specific and effective ways of conveying their messages. Focus is put on two movies in particular, the Hong Kong/ US co-production No Retreat No Surrender and the US biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. The article uses scholarly language and can be a little dense, but the author is definitely in touch with the genre and the films reviewed.

These are some diverse and quite interesting sources, if you are interested in learning more about martial arts movies and how they are made, check them out!

New Research materials

While looking for research materials about martial arts films, I found some really interesting resources. It turns out there are are more books and research papers on martial arts films than I thought, and many of them are quite interesting. Some good resources I have found to be useful are of course google scholar, and the USC library database.

The first book I saw which I was instantly drawn to is called "Fight Choreography: The Art of Non-Verbal Dialogue" by John Kreng. It is a comprehensive book detailing many different dimensions of fight choreography. Chapters include Definitions and Terminology, Physical Elements of a Fight Scene, Technical Elements of a Fight Scene and Narrative Structure of a Fight Scene, just to name a few. The book uses hypothetical real world examples of fighting, as well as listing recommended books and movies on the subject. The book even details differences between sport, self defense and screen performance in the martial arts, which any avid cinema fan will know is an important factor when choreographing captivating fight scenes. This book seems like an excellent resource for aspiring choreographers as well as those fans interested in gaining a more in depth knowledge of how screen fighting works.

A second resource I found very interesting is a lengthy essay called "Bruce Lee and the Anti-Imperialism of Kung Fu" by Vijay Prashad. In this paper, the author theorizes that martial arts films, and the martial arts in general are a common ground that facilitate cross-cultural activity and break down racial barriers. He cites the popularity of Bruce Lee among all during the 1970s - even in a scene of the film "Saturday Night Fever." This theory is an interesting one and with martial arts movies seeming to become more and more popular all the time, this seems like a very viable theory and an interesting and positive one to explore.

These sources are both very different, both in form and content, but this is what is so great about martial arts films: what many don't realize is that they are really so multi-dimensional, just like martial arts disciplines themselves. There are so many aspects that go into them, and the repercussions in popular culture, art, sports, etc are also huge. These resources, among others, help explore and deconstruct everything that goes into the modern martial arts film.

New discovery: "Bey's Blog"

Sometimes it seems as if in the hours upon hours spent on youtube and google - often at work or public places when other more productive things could be happening - the internet resources on martial arts have been exhausted. I am here to say this is not so. In my social bookmarking post the other day I came across a website discovered by someone who has possibly spent more time at work searching for these things than I, and that website is Bey Logan's blog.

Bey Logan is an expert on Hong Kong martial arts movies, and a veteran in the business. He has been a martial arts practitioner for years, and has been involved in production and distribution of several Hong Kong action movies, as well as appearing in a few with Donnie Yen. Due to his extensive knowledge and experience, he frequently contributes commentaries on new DVD releases of martial arts movies, both old and new.

"Bey's Blog" (http://www.dragondynasty.com/blog) as it is appropriately titled is a collection of history and behind the scenes info about kung fu movie classics and fighting legends that gives a new insight as to how the evolution of martial arts films has occurred. Through back stories given on revered staples of the genre such as "36th Chamber of Shaolin" the ripple effect created in this genre by one movie is evident. This is similar to the influence exerted by Hong Kong style choreography in the US today, and by Tony Jaa's choreography on the conception of Muay Thai and Thailand action movies.

"Bey's Blog" is one that I have never seen before, but that I am now quite interested in. This is a blog written by a real insider in the industry who has worked and even helped create some movies that are quite notable. It is a valuable and informative resource on youtube and proves that there is still many a blog as yet undiscovered by myself.

Use Diigo to find info about martial arts movies

There are many websites out there referred to as "social bookmarking" websites. Essentially, these are great ways to save interesting or funny websites to go back to later, show your friends, or view other people's saved websites, thus making for a great time wasting alternative to facebook and youtube, especially when at work! What really differentiates social bookmarking websites from simply adding a website to your favorites on your browser is the potential to save these bookmarks online and view them from any computer, as well as viewing the bookmarks of other people which may potentially be interesting to you.

There are many websites out there that perform this service, with slight differences. Some like Digg.com allow you to rate the newest bookmarks posted by others, whereas furl.net allows you to save bookmarks to a free online cache, so that even if the links become inactive or move, you will always be able to retrieve that information.

For the purposes of finding new websites about martial arts cinema, I have found that two similar sites, diigo and del.icio.us are very useful. For both of these websites, registration is not necessary, and one can instantly search for terms such as kung fu, martial arts, hong kong film, etc. and come up with websites others on the internet have found interesting. The way that you can search for various websites is through the tagging process; when bookmarking a site, it is possible to tag that bookmark as whatever you want, and when people search for those words in diigo or del.icio.us, your bookmark will come up as a result. A quick search on del.icio.us shows that the tag "martialarts" has 8,608 and "kungfu" has 4,251. What's great about these websites is that they are ones that may be hard to come by simply by a google search, but which someone out there nonetheless found interesting.

Registering with these sites is optional, and anyone can instantly look up bookmarks made by other users. However registering and creating a profile with diigo and del.icio.us enables you to not only save bookmarks of your own and contribute to this wonderful community of internet treasure seekers, but to save those bookmarks of other people an access them at any time. I would recommend checking these social bookmarking websites out in your spare time. You may come across a website new to you, which would never have happened unless you stalked someone else's diigo profile.

sources found through social bookmarking

Many people use the website del.iciou.us.com for the wealth of social bookmarking connections to be made there. Personally, I have never used it much before, preferring to just fend for myself on the internet, or stick to a few sites. But recently I have given it a try and found some really interesting and useful information.

One user who goes by "squeezebox" is an avid bookmarker who has many interesting and valuable websites saved which I have never seen until now. The user squeezebox tags very comprehensively. His 10 most popular tags are broad ones including "music," "technology," "video" and "film." Squeezebox also has a good number of martial arts related websites tagged. His method is to start off with very general tags such as "movies," "blog" and "asia," then move on to more specific ones for each website, such as "hongkong," "kungfu" or "brucelee." Most of the bookmarks have comments, some brief such as "Film Journal," some much more detailed summaries of the website. This helps give an impression of how pertinent and interesting the source is, even though it is not an exact or necessarily deliberate way to do so.

Several of the websites bookmarked are ones that I have never heard of, although they could be of great interest. One of the main ones that caught my eye is frequent kung fu movie actor and aficionado Bey Logan's blog, http://www.dragondynasty.com/blog. Bey's blog presents the reader with intimate knowledge of the inner workings and new happenings in the kung fu movie world. It is a blog I have never come across before, but now will plan to check regularly for unique news not found elsewhere.

Squeezebox's bookmarked pages about kung fu movies are not too numerous, but what is there is fairly unique and interesting. The pages bookmarked are good resources for those seeking out information and opinions about kung fu movies who have a handle on the subject, but haven't quite seen it all. I am very knowledgeable, but many of the websites bookmarked by Squeezebox were new even to me. Hopefully he will continue to update his bookmarks with more new resources on kung fu films in the future.

Blogorama!

Hey there, and welcome to the first post in “Asian Martial Arts Cinema Trends”! I am here to blog about the latest trends in Martial Arts/ Action cinema not only from East Asian countries such as China, Korea and Japan but also from Southeast Asian Countries such as Thailand and Vietnam which are gaining more and more ground in the international market every day.

The Martial Arts film genre is one that is widely established in Asia, and it is the style of Action and Choreography in these films which is widely imitated all over the world today. Asian influence can be seen in films like The Matrix and Transporter which are the result of Hong Kong choreographers working in the US. In reality these films are pale imitations of the innovative action coming out of Asia every year.

Right now is an especially exciting time for Martial Arts films. As the older stars of the genre including Jackie Chan and Jet Li begin to transition to less action-oriented roles as their bodies age and become more decrepit, there is a movement to find new stars to fill the gap left behind by legends of the past. This puts focus not only on young stars from Mainland China and Hong Kong, but to styles of Martial Arts from countries such as Vietnam and Thailand which are new to many moviegoers. Also, the ever growing popularity of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) – a style incorporating not only standing fighting but grappling as well – has begun to exert its influence on choreographers in the US and in Asian countries as well. This gives rise to a diverse output and also to a global search for new talent not seen since the death of Bruce Lee.

I have a deep love for martial arts films, that was generated purely out of a love for the many styles of martial arts found all over the world. I started about six years ago with Chinese Wushu and Shaolin Kung Fu, styles known on for their speed, athleticism and fluidity – qualities which all transfer well to the screen. As my love for martial arts grew, so did my love for film and how it is able to capture the dynamic movements of the human body in combat. I love watching action, from the slickest Hong Kong choreography, to the lowest budget direct to video American action. I now study Taekwondo and Mixed Martial Arts as well as Wushu, and I love integrating all the techniques I learn with my own personal style and flavor.

I am able to draw on my own experience in Martial Arts, as well as my knowledge of different Martial Arts from around the world and how they are utilized in film. As a former film student, I am able to apply a critical lens to the cinematic techniques used by Asian filmmakers and also to the developing trends in Martial Arts movies. Through personal experience making several bootleg-esque martial arts student films, I have been able to experience firsthand what works in martial arts movies, and the crushing agony of what doesn't work (there is nothing worse than seeing yourself flailing around onscreen while friends, family and also strangers watch, and all you're thinking is "it looked cool when I was filming it!"). I intend to use all my experience and pure love of martial arts and kung fu movies to the fullest in this blog.

The Martial arts and Action genre is an exciting one with a long tradition in Asia. This diverse continent has produced films that influence not only their onscreen counterparts but popular culture in general as well as the audiences who watch them across the world. In this blog I will not just include the latest Martial Arts movie news, but examine new trends in fighting and filmmaking out of Asia which will continue to influence not only Martial Arts but all genres of film today.

Profile of a Blog

In the wide world of the interweb, there are a lot of bad blogs out there. But every once in a while you run across a blog that is both entertaining and also informational, making it actually worth the 5 or so minutes wasted at work reading the latest post One such blog which I recently took notice of is "Kung fu Fridays" (http://kungfufridays.blogspot.com/), a funny and informative chronicle of Chinese cinema – with an emphasis on Kung Fu films – plus a healthy dose of general randomness thrown in for good measure. The writer is Colin, hailing from Canada, who is a fan of obscure movies – including but not limited to Kung Fu flicks. He is also a small business owner who runs an independent film distribution company specializing in offbeat titles. In many ways it is the type of position that gives great authority in a field such as Kung Fu movies: professional enough to know certain facets of the business, but independent enough to still be a diehard fan. Posts are made several per week, another aspect that shows the author’s dedication and a love of the genre.

The posts cover a wide range of topics, from new Kung Fu movies, to older ones and rare or obscure finds. There are also many posts which aren’t even about Kung Fu films – rather strange posters or memorabilia the blogger has picked up recently – but it serves to add to the quirky and alternative feel of the blog, keeping it from being a dry news source to one that is actually fun to read - sometimes providing one with updates on new movies, sometimes with obscure useless 80s references which nonetheless are entertaining. One of the more interesting posts is of an old ad for Kodak film prominently featuring Kung Fu. The post can be found at http://kungfufridays.blogspot.com/2009/01/slash-kick-chop-violence-galore.html, and the tagline is “Slash! Kick! Chop! Violence galore!” – which is, according to the ad is the type of action contained in the series Kung Fu with David Carradine. It is interesting to see this old representation of Chinese martial arts, prominently displayed even so long ago. It reiterates that in the film world, Kung Fu is seen as one of the most cinematic styles of the martial arts.

On the more modern side, there is another post compiling several semi-recent commercials called “Brand Name Punching” (http://kungfufridays.blogspot.com/2008/11/brand-name-punching.html). One commercial from Thailand features Muay Thai superstar Tony Jaa in a Mitsubishi ad, while two other ads show Donnie Yen – a martial artist who is nearing the latter portion of his film career, but is nonetheless reinvigorating Hong Kong choreography right now. What is interesting is that the ads highlighted here don’t feature the most famous current names in martial arts movies – arguably Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Tony Jaa is an unreal Muay Thai practitioner and gymnast from Thailand – a relative newcomer with only two watchable movies to his name (a third being released soon). Donnie Yen is a Hong Kong veteran whose style I would characterize as Chinese kickboxing with attitude, but nevertheless he has not reached stardom on par with Jet and Jackie. Yet these two are currently some of the most innovative in movie martial arts. What we get from Tony and Donnie is always an attempt to do something new and not seen before, and it translates well into the world of advertising. Ads can be a good way to get a sneak peak of something new and different. That is the best way to sell a product – and the simple thoughtfulness of combining different recent ads in this post gives us a clear impression of who the advertisers and public identify with for these qualities.

And here is one more post, exemplifying the unique spirit within the “Kung Fu Fridays” blog.

http://kungfufridays.blogspot.com/2009/01/sticky-stars-of-80s.html

A collection of amateurish photo stickers the author purchased in Chinatown for 79 cents. The whimsical caption reads

“Check out young Tony, who wishes you all, ‘Gong hei fat choi!’”

I can only imagine the hope felt by this sassy young fellow after his first “professional” photoshoot. Little did he know that 20 years later his stickers would end up on the blog of a middle aged Canadian man for the world to see. Good luck to you Tony. Does this post have anything to do with martial arts movies? No. Does it amuse me and add to the atmosphere of the blog? Yes.

The aforementioned posts about martial arts movies (sorry Tony) give us a sense of the past and present development of kung fu/ martial arts in the media – from the 70s “chop socky” to the current cutting edge martial artists presenting new concepts to the genre. The blog strikes a good balance between old and new in that it has updates about events in martial arts film world (an example being a post detailing new Criterion Collection DVDs of Hong Kong films), yet at the same time it also provides a background to what Kung Fu films were like in the 70s and 80s: zany and exploitative, and loads of fun. The blog has a personal touch (Tony), and the somewhat esoteric subject matter means the readership is comprised mostly of obscure or cult movie fans. Posts are not always long on writing, but usually graphic intensive – with many Youtube videos to boot.

It is basically a fan blog, but written by someone who has experience in the industry and is a lover of Kung Fu and retro movies, with good insight and a few good news stories. My blog will not be concentrated quite so much on the old school, retro Kung Fu films, but rather on the newest developments in the Asian martial arts styles on film. Many of the movies detailed in "Kung Fu Fridays" are the history, the backdrop to every martial arts movie made today. Yet at the same time the exciting fusion of modern martial arts concepts like dynamic Wushu, hard hitting Muay Thai and a new level of acrobatics is changing the field. Still the spirit of my blog and "Kung Fu Fridays" is the same: a love for martial arts and cinema, a love which grows even more when combined. An excellent quote that is on the main page of the blog exemplifies this point of view. The quote is one I have never heard before, but is by renowned director Werner Herzog and really demonstrates my feelings about martial arts movies as well. “Someone like Jean-Luc Godard is for me intellectual counterfeit money when compared to a good kung fu film”

“Someone like Jean-Luc Godard is for me intellectual counterfeit money when compared to a good kung fu film”

Blog Voice

Undoubtedly one of the most prominent blogs about martial arts movies on the internet today is “Kung Fu Cinema” (http://www.kungfucinema.com/). With a simple and straight to the point title, “Kung Fu Cinema” is one of the most authoritative blogs on the internet regarding breaking news about new releases out of Asia, as well as martial arts movies from other parts of the world and recent DVD releases. The blog - essentially the more popular and better looking older brother (who the parents secretly love more) to all other kung fu blogs on the internet - is comprehensive, not merely concerning Chinese martial arts styles (as implied by the title), but brimming with news relating to any and all upcoming martial arts films, big or small. The author Mark Pollard is clearly very knowledgeable about all different kinds of martial arts movies, as he casually references various trends and styles of films in his posts to illustrate various points or add insight.

One of Mark's most recent posts, regarding the upcoming US live-action adaptation of the G.I. Joe cartoons and toys (http://www.kungfucinema.com/?p=4991) is one that resembles the excited style of a fanboy while at the same time being very knowledgeable about the whole genre. He starts off what could be a routine news story by contextualizing the post as a reference to a TV spot for the upcoming film during the Superbowl, then adds

"I have to say, for a CGI-infested maelstrom of extreme gun-blasting, acrobatic,
sword-clanging, urban destruction by director Stephen Sommers, the guy who
brought us the turd that is VAN HELSING, I am pleasantly surprised to see what
looks to be a potentially fantastic popcorn flick."

Such a long, descriptive sentence draws in the reader and captures the nonstop barrage of action – highlighted by the furious word “maelstrom” – that the TV spot promises. He also throws in some casual humor by describing Steven Sommers as

"the guy who brought us the turd that is VAN HELSING"

That type of language is appropriate for the subject matter of the post: assessing the potential of a movie based off a Saturday morning cartoon. And after all, there is no need to take it easy on Van Helsing. At the end he comments on the various martial artists and choreographers who will be involved in the film, showing not only the fanboy side but a knowledge of various parts of the industry, including important people in front of and behind the camera. At the end of the post, he goes into the style of choreography in the film, a vital factor in the success of an action movie, and ties in the subject of trends of top choreographers working in videogames today. Balancing technical knowledge with “turds” is no easy feat, but here Mark Pollard pulls it off with ease.

The posts are very current, with the blog being updated several times a day. In another post, he shows skillful use of pop culture references regarding the new videogame based martial arts movie Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li (http://www.kungfucinema.com/?p=4983). In one passage, he assesses the screenwriter’s comparison to the previous Street Fighter movie, saying

“He has said that this film is to the Van Damme STREET FIGHTER movie what BATMAN BEGINS is to BATMAN FOREVER. It’s not too difficult to make something better
than the 1994 STREET FIGHTER but it’s a lot more difficult to get a genre film
up to BATMAN BEGINS territory. To me, THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI looks to have fallen somewhere in the middle but only time will tell.”

In going with this analogy and expanding on it, he demonstrates again a thorough knowledge of not only his subject matter but the ability to relate it to outside references which other readers might understand more readily. The quote comparing Joel Schumacher and Chris Nolan is somewhat nonsensical – I myself also doubt the new Street Fighter movie will be on par with a series reboot like Batman Begins. However the best way to respond to such a charge is to respond in kind, and Pollard gets his point across well.

Videos are used extensively in the posts, usually bracketed by text introductions and comments. This is a wise move considering the visual nature of the subject matter, and makes the blog a useful source for martial arts previews linked from many different websites. Many posts are mostly comprised of just videos, with text summaries and elaborations following. The amount of content is impressive, and for more detailed opinions there is also an extensive review section.

One of the best qualities of “Kung Fu Cinema” author Mark Pollard’s writing is the mixture of extensive knowledge about martial arts movies and what goes into making them, mixed with the attitude of a true fan of such films. I believe this kind of informal style can relate to the audience, many of whom presumably share the same love for those types of films. Yet by detailing many facets of the films production, he also demonstrates authority, which makes the blog one of the premier martial arts film web sites on the internet. This is a blog that is one of the most informative out there, but is also fun to read and come back to day after day.

Here's a comment I recently posted on review of Gary Daniels' 1992 direct to video martial arts film American Streetfighter (http://www.kungfucinema.com/?p=4788). Ironic how Gary Daniels, star of this film, is actually from England.


American Streetfighter is a funny little introduction to the talent of Gary Daniels, but not a great movie by any means of the imagination and contains no real show stopping action either. I think this was Gary Daniels' second or third starring role in the US, his first 4 being with no-budget film company Cine Excel (the makers of this film).

The two basic ways I gauge Gary's fighting are by speed, and the variety of kicks he displays. The fighting in the film is really not that great, with poor reactions and slow fighting (typical of American martial arts films from this time). In the final fight scene, Gary does display a few interesting aerial kicks (including his trademark helicopter kick, which rivals Van Damme's) that are nice, but don't make up for the film's overall sluggish and uninventive choreography, and the terrible storyline and high school theater department-quality acting (of which Ian Jacklin's is the worst). This film is probably only for Gary Daniels fans.

All his movies for Cine Excel, roughly in order are Capital Punishment (1991), American Streetfighter (1992), Full Impact (1992), Pocket Ninjas (1997 - although probably filmed around the same time as the others) and Reptilicant (2006). Daniels himself admits that the movies were so bad they probably hurt his career, but were fun to do.

One of the most prominent blogs about martial arts movies on the internet today is “Kung Fu Cinema” (http://www.kungfucinema.com/). With a simple and straight to the point title, “Kung Fu Cinema” is one of the most authoritative blogs on the internet regarding breaking news about new movies out of Asia, as well as martial arts movies from other parts of the world and recent DVD releases.

The author Mark Pollard is clearly very knowledgeable about all different kinds of martial arts movies, as he casually references various trends and styles of films in his posts to illustrate various points or add insight. One of his most recent posts, regarding the upcoming US live-action adaptation of the G.I. Joe cartoons and toys (http://www.kungfucinema.com/?p=4991) is one that particularly has glimpses of the excited style of a fanboy while at the same time being very knowledgeable about the whole genre.

He starts off by contextualizing the post as a reference to a TV spot for the upcoming film during the Superbowl, then adds

"I have to say, for a CGI-infested maelstrom of extreme gun-blasting, acrobatic,
sword-clanging, urban destruction by director Stephen Sommers, the guy who
brought us the turd that is VAN HELSING, I am pleasantly surprised to see what
looks to be a potentially fantastic popcorn flick."

This sentence, the second of the post, really draws the reader in to the spirit of the film. Such a long, descriptive sentence seems to capture the nonstop barrage of action – highlighted by the furious word “maelstrom” – that the TV spot promises. He also throws in some casual humor by describing Steven Sommers as

"the guy who brought us the turd that is VAN HELSING"

That type of language is appropriate for the subject matter: assessing the potential of a movie based off a Saturday morning cartoon. At the end of the relatively short post he comments on the various martial artists and choreographers who will be involved in the film, showing not only the fanboy side but a knowledge of various parts of the industry, including important people in front of and behind the camera.

The posts are very current, with the blog being updated several times each day. Another post where he shows skillful use of pop culture references is in a post regarding the new videogame based martial arts movie Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li (http://www.kungfucinema.com/?p=4983). In one passage, he assesses the screenwriter’s comparison to the previous Street Fighter movie, saying

“He has said that this film is to the Van Damme STREET FIGHTER movie what BATMAN BEGINS is to BATMAN FOREVER. It’s not too difficult to make something better
than the 1994 STREET FIGHTER but it’s a lot more difficult to get a genre film
up to BATMAN BEGINS territory. To me, THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI looks to have fallen somewhere in the middle but only time will tell.”

In going with this analogy and expanding on it, he demonstrates again a thorough knowledge of not only his subject matter but the ability to relate it to outside references which other readers might understand more readily.

Videos are used extensively in the posts, usually bracketed by text introductions and comments. This is a wise move considering the visual nature of the subject matter, and makes the blog a useful source for martial arts previews linked from many different websites.

One of the best qualities of “Kung Fu Cinema” author Mark Pollard’s writing is the mixture of extensive knowledge about martial arts movies and what goes into making them, mixed with the attitude of a true fan of such films. I believe this kind of informal style can relate to the audience, many of whom presumably share the same love for those types of films. Yet by detailing many facets of the films production, he also demonstrates authority, which makes the blog one of the premier martial arts film web sites on the internet.