THE IDES OF MARCH…Rome has much to teach us.

I wrote the attached for Trailers From Hell, but perhaps it may catch a few more readers here.

http://trailersfromhell.com/blog/2011/10/04/from-brians-desk-beware-the-ides-of-march/

CINERAMA… an unique way to see a movie.

 I am curious to see if anyone still tunes in here. So I am linking to my Trailers From Hell piece on Cinerama. Please comment here if you read it. Thanks.

http://trailersfromhell.com/blog/2011/08/07/week-206-cinerama-week-with-bts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=week-206-cinerama-week-with-bts

HEY, ARIZONA, DON’T FUCK WITH THIS MEXICAN. HE’S GOT SOME CINQUO DE MAYO WORDS FOR YOU!

If you haven’t seen it already, here’s a link to Harry Knowles exclusive post of a special MACHETE trailer. Utterly amazing! Thank you, Harry.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44943

The Seventies are back, if last night’s crowded screening of TURKEY SHOOT is any indication.  They totally got it. The New Beverly Cinema will also be bringing back my STUNT ROCK for a midnight show on June 11th. Mark your dance card…

 

SHE FLIES THROUGH THE AIR WITH THE GREATEST OF EASE,

THAT DARING YOUNG GIRL ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE…WIRE WORK, FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY, SWORD MOVIES, REIGN OF ASSASSINS -  GIFTS FROM ASIA.

Did you ever have those flying dreams as a teenager?  I still do, occasionally. It’s supposed to mean you want to escape from something. (I guess that’s low budgets in my case.) In my conscious life, I actually have a mild fear of flying ( In aircraft; I suppress it. ) but the one stunt I would love to add to my limited repertoire is wire work, for many years a Hong Kong technique which finally made an impact on western audiences in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. What fun it must be to swoop, soar and glide, under the control of skilled puppet masters. My friend Angeles Woo made her maiden flight on her father’s latest production REIGN OF ASSASSINS, starring Michelle Yeoh.  This is Michelle aloft on the blue screen stage.

Angeles plays a rival assassin, and in a preliminary trailer and you’ll see a cloaked and hooded Angeles fly through frame in an early shot.

 

 

When not working for her father’s company in several capacities, Angeles is an actress, and writer/director of experimental shorts. I look forward to her first feature one day. I know Angeles through fencing. We have fought many a foil and epee bout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here she is (on the left) winning the Vango Cup for Women’s Foil in Beijing in 2006, when her father was shooting RED CLIFF. She has now taken up Mixed Martial Arts, where I don’t intend to challenge her. I’ll stick to the blade. Fencing is gymnastic chess, a combat sport I try to practice at least once a week.  I do all three weapons to a standard of adequate mediocrity, and did once tie for bronze at the Southern California Veterans in a thin year.

The REIGN OF ASSASSINS promo reflects some of what I love about fencing. Look at the furious - but strategically complex - exchanges of parry and riposte in Michelle Yeoh’s fight scenes. Excellent camera placement maximizes impact.

I became hooked on Asian cinema in the early ’60’s. Initially Japanese, then when King Hu made his breakout hit A TOUCH OF ZEN, I broadened my taste to Hong Kong. Then I discovered Chang Cheh, with his sweepingly choreographed tracking shots propelling the hero through a line of adversaries, who spun their slashed bodies to the camera as it passed.

Assistant directors in HK in those days had wider responsibilities than western ADs, and Chang Cheh’s assistant for many years was John Woo. When I met Mr. Woo, I told him HARD BOILED was my favorite of his early work. He felt THE KILLER was his best. They are both great. Here’s that  amazing all-in-one-shot section of the HARD BOILED hospital gun battle.

I first went to Hong Kong in ‘73 to cover the Bruce Lee phenomenon for my quarterly magazine MOVIE , sold in Australian theaters and drive-ins (also to pitch THE MAN FROM HONG KONG to Raymond Chow of Golden Harvest, but that’s another story ). I came back talking of Hollywood East, but cultural differences prevented many of my colleagues from grasping the sophistication, efficiency and pure audience-pleasing power of Hong Kong film making. So I made a documentary - WORLD OF KUNG FU, and published a 2 issue  magazine to co-incide with the telecast across Australia. It rated well, and the magazine sold out.  After Bruce Lee’s death I made a follow up - KUNG FU KILLERS : Grant Page, Australia’s most famous stuntman goes to Hong Kong and investigates who will succeed Bruce Lee. ( We were told to ignore Jackie Chan..he was not going to last. Right…) Here’s one of my favorite DRUNKEN MASTER fights.

I watched Asian cinema develop to its present day level of style and innovative story telling. Now Hollywood remakes Asian hits, not just the other way round. The story of Hong Kong’s film industry and the progressive development of its unique visual style is available in an excellent on-line essay Anamorphic Adventures in Hong Kong by David Bordwell, PhD, a professor of film studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and an authority on a wide variety of cinema topics. Go to: www.davidbordwell.net/essays/shaw.php

His website in general is a treasure trove of information for cineastes.  This essay is meticulously researched, providing extensive background detail, and illuminating analysis of fight scene aesthetics. More importantly it reflects all the elements I found exciting when watching sword and fist movies in downtown backstreet theaters. So I look forward to REIGN OF ASSASSINS.

An epee bout with Michelle Yeoh would be fun too…