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.
No comments:
Post a Comment