The Life of Sir Run Run Shaw

One night I was doing some random movie research, one thing led to another and somehow I ended up reading up on the life of Sir Run Run Shaw.

I'm a big fan of kung fu flicks, and those who love kung fu have to know about the Shaw Brothers Studios. You may remember it as the Chinese logo that showed up before Kill Bill starts.

Shaw Brothers studios is responsible most notably for all the great kung fu flicks out of Hong Kong from the 60's and 70's, and is headed by two men, Sir Run Run Shaw and his brother Dr. Runme Shaw. Both lead some amazing lives, but I'm gonna talk about Sir Run Run Shaw(yes that's really his name, get over it).

He was born in 1907, no one knows the date or month. And I might as well say this now, yes, he's still alive and kicking.

In the 1920's at the age of 19, he and his brother Runme traveled to Singapore and created a chain of cinemas still running to this day.

In the 1950's or so he and his brother create the famous Shaw Brothers Studios, which was the biggest power in movie making in Hong Kong through the 60's and 70's. His impact just here alone would have him marked in cinematic history forever.

Unfortunately he made two big mistakes, the first was passing on a young kid known as Bruce Lee, the second was missing out on Jackie Chan eight years later.

As a result, in the 1980's he focused on television, and created TVB, which is the biggest fucking channel for Chinese programming. Hell, my folks, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, 18th uncle twice removed, all living here in the states all watch that channel. That's a Hong Kong channel, not an American channel, or even something like BBC America. Huge.

In 1974 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1977.

He is a member of the way exclusive, way historic London Gentleman's Club White's, whose former members include so much European royalty from the 1600's till now that it boggles the mind.

Lest you think his impact never reached the States, without him a little movie called Blade Runner would not exist. Yeah, you're welcome planet earth.

His wife died at the very full age of 85 in 1987. In 1997, at 90 fucking years old, he traveled to Las Vegas to remarry.

In 2004, at the age of 97 he created The Shaw Prize which is known as the Nobel Prize of the East. The award is to scientists in the field of Astronomy, mathematics, and life and medical science and is for $1,000,000. That's US currency, not HK currency.

Literally less than 4 months ago, at the age of 104, he has finally decided to retire. Let me spell that out, ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR YEARS OLD, AND HE IS BARELY RETIRING.

He has donated hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars to charity and has a net worth of $3.5 billion.

If that isn't a very full life, then I just don't know what is.

The Best of Asian Action Cinema Part III: Ip Man

Let's just get this one out of the way.

Ip Man

Those who know me know I love Ip Man. In particular I love this scene. Anyone who has spent any time in my house has probably had to sit through this scene several times.

The flick is a sort of biographical film on the real life man who trained Bruce Lee. It's pretty ridiculous to assume the amount of crazy shit that happens in this flick happened in real life, but frankly, I just don't give a shit.

The fight is choreographed by Sammo Hung, who is one of the great living legends of modern kung fu flicks, and I think his greatest accomplishment here is being able to make a 1 vs. many fight not look like just of series of 1 vs. 1 fights. Let's face it, in any fight scene where it's one versus a bunch, everyone always just kind of stands in the background while the hero takes them out one by one. I don't think that's something that can really be avoided. This scene however, is the closest I've ever seen to how I imagine several fighting one would look like. It's pretty much the balls.

The Best of Asian Action Cinema Part II: Chocolate

I must admit, I get a certain amount of joy in seeing a skinny little girl somehow kick the living shit out of however many fucking thugs are in this scene. Especially if that skinny little girl has autism (in the movie, not in real life). Talk about a fucking handicap.

In typical Thai movie fashion, it has a completely ludicrous story involving a girl with autism who learns to fight from watching martial arts flicks. But if sitting through silly nonsense like this will reward me with action scenes like these, then I'm happy.

Chocolate

I remember when I was first watching the flick, for the first couple fights I had a hard time believing what was happening on screen. Obviously this is a ridiculous action flick, but it seemed forced at first. In my opinion this was probably because in the Thai flicks, they seem to follow this idea that everything is one or two big hits. Think Bruce Lee, or John Wayne I guess. It's just one big punch and that's that. So in the beginning, it was strange watching this little girl kick a guy twice her size in the stomach once and he was down for the count.

However, the flick seemed to build up to this final set piece. As it progressed the fights got more elaborate and more impressive, leading up the the Holy Shitness of this scene. If you watch the movie, the end credits has a Jackie Chan style blooper reel, and you see that when those guys fall, they have nothing more than a little wire slightly(and I really do mean slightly) slowing down their fall.

I think it's a great little piece of brutal ass kicking that's more impressive than anything you're ever gonna see The Rock or Bruce Willis perform.

Chocolate is on Netflix Instant for those who wanna check it out.

Note: I know it's kinda stupid to just link the video as opposed to posting it here, but I really don't wanna bother figuring out how to do it.

The Best of Asian Action Cinema Part I: The Introduction

I love Asian action movies. I find them to be just, so many times better than what gets put out here stateside. Sure we have the money to create amazing large scale shit going bam, which is fun, but the stuff that comes out of Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the rest of the continent is nothing short of art and pure cinema.

So here we are, I'm gonna post and talk about what are, in my opinion, some of the greatest action and fight scenes throughout Asia, past to present. A few biases first of all. Personally, I find the stuff out of Hong Kong and Mainland China to be the absolute best, but strong contenders are coming from all sides now, making it a great time to be a fan of action movies.

What's the main difference?

Well, the big one, we can see what the fuck is going on in an Asian fight scene, as opposed to how things look here, which is chopped to hell. Three reasons for this:

1) Directors here may simply prefer the look of shaky cam way up close action editing believing it to create a more intense and chaotic atmosphere, which it kind of does.

2) We just don't have actors who have spent their whole lives practicing and perfecting any of the martial arts, so we have to cut constantly to hide the stunt doubles required for much of the action.

3) Insurance! When you see someone fall off a roof and smack onto the ground 30 feet below in, let's say a Thai movie, that person is pretty much really falling off that roof at full speed and smashing into the ground. That type of shit won't fly here in the states.

Since we're talking about the quick cut, up close action style here in the states, we might as well go to the big source responsible for it's popularization, The Bourne movies, particularly those directed by Paul Greengrass.

The Bourne Supremacy

Now compare that to another 1 on 1 fight from Hong Kong. Try to ignore the complete absurdity of how far he throws that little girl.

Flash Point

Now I'm not saying that you have to like the second one better, you can like whatever the fuck you want, but one has to admit that Flash Point allows you to see what happens and keeps the intensity high. Whereas with Supremacy, yeah, you can tell what's basically happening but it just feels kind of fake. It's a fight scene that's the product of editing and tricky camera work, not true ability from the actors.

Therein lies another bias of mine. I truly believe that when it comes to action, the less aware the audience is of a camera the better. By this I mean that a fight scene is not the place for the director to show off his ability behind a camera.

There has been a slight resurgence lately here in the States of solid, comprehensible action in films like Kill Bill, some of Scott Pilgrim, some of Zack Snyder's work, Drive, and most notably Haywire.

Here

But that's enough of that. This is gonna be about Asian cinema, so get ready, cause it's gonna be one hell of a load of crazy.

Ghost Protocol

While most people spent New Year's Eve celebrating in some way, I actually pretty much holed up in my room and watched all six Rocky films, which was great as I haven't seen any of them aside from I and IV, so I got to see the whole story arc unfold over the course of a day. It was one hell of a journey and I intend to write a bit on each of the flicks.

However today is dedicated to Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol.

My viewing of the Mission films actually occurred pretty late, having not seen any of them until well after M:I 3 came out. At some point while digging around the house I saw that my dad actually owned the first two movies, and later that night I found the third one in a blowout bin for 3 bucks so I picked it up and began my journey into the M:I world.

I enjoyed the films very much, seeing them all as great pieces of popcorn entertainment. What I found more interesting however, were the filmmakers behind each of the flicks. The directors of each of the movies were, at least in my opinion, some of the greatest talents in their field. Just as the Alien movies have this amazing pedigree, so too does the Mission franchise. My absolute love for Brian De Palma is no secret, but then you throw in the greatest action director alive John Woo and modern day geek maestro J.J. Abrams and that's an impressive resume.

I always saw the Mission films as escapist fun, and I'm sure each of the director's knew and followed that form stepping in. However, each of the movies had their own strengths and weaknesses. The first Mission had a plot no one could follow, but also carried with it absolutely breathless suspense, as well as a classical spy feel. The second is almost cartoonishly goofy, but it had John Woo's amazing action direction. III finally had a story you could keep up with that made you care about the characters, as well as a great villain in Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but it lacked the, I guess elegance that the more experienced De Palma and Woo brought.

Finally, the fourth installment has released, Brad Bird was chosen to helm and he is yet another extremely talented and loved director. I really liked Mission I and III and liked certain aspects of II, but Ghost Protocol is the first film in the franchise to feel complete. It takes all the strong points and elements from the first 3 and combines them to create a film that is frankly leaps and bounds above the others.

If one were to study Bird's prior films, they would notice that his strengths in characterization and action are really among the best out there right now. So what if the movies were animated? Frankly it's ridiculous that in this day and age many still look at animation as an inferior art form, used only as children's entertainment, or as crude sitcoms. Regardless, he has always had strengths as a director that would lend themselves greatly to adventure or suspense films.

Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol has both. It is without question the best of the franchise and in my opinion, one of the best pieces of big screen entertainment I've seen in a long time.

*Note: Among other things, this movie has a sequence in which Ethan Hunt scales the world's tallest building. It is absolutely edge of your seat mind blowing and actually gave me a bit of vertigo. This scene alone is worth the added price of admission for an imax ticket.

Stream of Consciousness: John Carpenter

This is just copied over from my blog on Suicide Girls, cause I posted it there first. Also, shits acting weird and I'm too lazy to figure out how to fix it, so just highlight ever the area below to see the text.

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New post, still just rambling on about movies.

As a movie fan I'm often asked what's new that I've seen, and honestly, I never know how to answer that question. Well I mean, sure if I happened to just catch a flick in theaters then I'll answer with that, but now that I'm working full time, often with overtime on weekends, it's hard for me to find the time to get out to the cinemas to see something. Besides, as a movie geek I've always been the type who watches films in waves of directors. I'll go through a Hitchcock phase, or David Lynch, or Scorsese, or De Palma or whatever. Right now I'm going through a pretty hard John Carpenter binge.

As of this moment, the Carpenter flicks I've seen are Halloween, Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, Assault on Precinct 13, and Escape from L.A.

If I had to choose a favorite movie, I'd have to go with Big Trouble, it's just... the greatest movie ever made. It certainly helps if I'm in an altered state of mind. After that it's sort of the big jumble of the rest of his stuff. Although I have to ask, am I the only person who likes Escape from L.A.? I mean, sure it's campier and definitely stupider... and more poorly written, but it's just so much fun. And Snake's such a bad ass!

Anywhoo, no point to this blog, just rambling on. If you are reading this though, and you happen to be a fan of Master John Carpenter, then let me know what your favorites are.

Also since I'm still going through De Palma pretty badly, let me know what your favorite of l'incorruptible is.

Brian De Palma, Ranked

Bored, wanted to type something up about flicks but couldn't think of anything, here we are.

I've become even more obsessed with Brian De Palma since my initial post about the man way back when. So I decided to look at all of his films that I own and have seen and am going to list them in order of favorite to least favorite. There are still several of his flicks I haven't seen, mostly cause I don't want to, such as Wise Guys, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and Mission to Mars. There are also a few I really want to see but haven't yet. When I watch them I'll come back and add them to the list. They would be The Fury, Casualties of War, Redacted, and his early comedies with De Niro, Greetings and Hi, Mom!

Note: I've enjoyed all the films listed, just to varying degrees.

15. The Black Dahlia: This one comes in last mostly because it was massively disappointing. There are great things in the flick, but unfortunately it was cut down from De Palma's original director's cut by nearly an hour. Leaving us with a movie with way too many plot threads. Still, there's some great stuff on display here, I just wish I could get that director's cut.

14. Phantom of the Paradise: The Black Dahlia was the only film on this list I had any complaints about. Phantom is a great little rock musical, only this far back cause I like his other flicks more.

13. Snake Eyes: It's kind of weak in some of it's execution, but this flick has some of De Palma's most breathtaking shots and displays of visual excellence. Also, 14 minute tracking shot.

12. Obsession: Closest thing we'll ever get to a new Hitchcock flick.

11. Sisters: Maybe it's the low budget vibe, but this flick is creepy as hell. Also amazing use of split screen.

10. Carlito's Way: A somber, quieter gangster flick. And that end sequence in the train station? Probably one of the greatest things De Palma has ever done.

9. Mission: Impossible: No, I do not know what the story is. Some sort of spy stuff with betrayals and shit, but it is fucking entertaining.

8. The Untouchables: Great upbeat, exciting, popcorn crime flick. Makes you feel good don't it?

7. Raising Cain: The movies pretty much disliked, but I think it's a great little piece of De Palma fun. I guess it's like Diet De Palma, but Lithgow in this is wonderful.

6. Femme Fatale: Won't say anything other than it's definitely worth your time.

5. Body Double: I think this would be De Palma at his visual storytelling best. And shows that just cause you're dealing with trashy material doesn't mean it can't be great. Not everything needs to be Raging Bull

4. Scarface: I stupidly resented the film for a long time because 1) Everyone loved it and 2) It was nothing like either The Godfather or Goodfellas. I was stupid, how dare a film be it's own thing, and loved by many people.

3. Blow Out: Honestly, it may be his best film. It's certainly De Palma and everyone else at the height of their powers. I will saying nothing else so you can discover it for yourself.

2. Dressed to Kill: Soooo close to being my favorite De Palma flick. It actually might be, but at the moment it's number 2. As it stands this is still the only De Palma movie I've gotten to see in theaters, and I gotta tell you, it's just about the best slasher flick I've ever seen.

1. Carrie: Everyone has their own ideas of whats scary. I honestly think it's fucking stupid to be truly afraid of monsters and vampires. You show me a creepy as fuck mother with hair and a face like a porcelain doll walking towards you with a knife as her head bobs around like it's about to fall off? Add to that the fact that she's an insane religious person whose own fear of sexuality has led to the complete torment and destruction of her own child? Yeah, I find that fucking scary. And the flicks pretty damn great too.