Tagged: Martial Arts

Mini-Review: Chocolate (2008) – The Story of a Kick-Ass Autistic Chick With a Passion for Smarties, M&M’s and Martial Arts

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Meds are expensive in Thailand. There’s no free health care in Thailand. People don’t like to pay debts in Thailand. So what do you do when your mother has cancer and can’t afford to pay for hospital bills? If you’re Zen (Yanin “Jeeja” Vismistananda) a young autistic girl with some sick martial arts skills you look up all the people who owe your mother money and go kick their asses with your chubby best friend Moom (Taphon Phopwandee). What about the mafia? That’s still the easy part, the real problem are the flies. Zen hates flies. Not to worry because Moom has an electric mosquito killer and he’s not afraid to use it!  Continue reading →

Second Trailer for Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster

The Grandmaster is still one of my favorite films of the year. This second American trailer shows more action and martial arts sequences. The Weinstein Company is clearly trying to market it as the next, I don’t know what’s the last really successful foreign martial arts film (does The Raid count)? Anyway, if you’ve seen the film or know anything about Wong Kar-wai, you know that his films have little to do with the words “action packed”.

Like I’ve already said in my review however, the film looks incredible (stunning cinematography by Philippe Le Sourd), the fight sequences are mind blowing (Yuen Woo-Ping of Kill Bill fame does a spectacular job) and the acting is top notch (especially Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi, who carry the film and look great). The story about Bruce Lee’s grand master Ip Man opens in US theaters August 23rd, 2013 and was already released in China.

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Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013)

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„In Martial Arts there is no right or wrong, only the last man standing.“

The Grandmaster chronicles the life of Ip Man Wing Chun (played by Tony Leung), in Foshan in the 1930s and his flight to Hong Kong after the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Ip Man’s peaceful life is threatened by Gong Yutian (Wang Qingxiang), a retiring martial arts master from the north, is doing anything but encouraging the friendship with the south. Meanwhile his newly appointed heir Ma San (Zhang Jin) turns out to be up to no good and kills this master. His daughter, the beautiful Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), is determined to avenge his father’s death, but of course to do so she’ll have to renounce a happy life with Ip Man.  Continue reading →