What if Kurt Russell had Landed the Han Solo Part?

Thanks to Geoff Boucher of the invaluable LA Times Hero Complex, I found this intriguing audition where Kurt Russell reads for the part of Han Solo opposite William Katt of Greatest American Hero fame.  Believe it or not, it is a real possibility that Kurt could have landed the Han role.  Thankfully he didn't.  He's a little too Dexter Riley in this reading, and too little Snake Plissken.  I would argue that Russell had so much of the residual fairy dust from his Disney live action films, that he may have made a great Luke.  He has the charm, he just lacks the ruggedness.

I'm a big fan of Russell's, but if I had seen this footage before watching Escape from New York or Tombstone even I would have had a hard time believing that Russell could emote "grimness."

I have also realized another thing after watching these, and other, auditions for Star Wars. I realized that had I been directing the films, the actors may have become frustrated with hearing a single piece of direction uttered by me. That phrase would have been, "FASTER...MORE INTENSE!" It's true of the Harrison Ford audition as much as it is of these. The actors just seem so calm when they are delivering these lines.

Ben Thompson Reminds Us How Badass History and Mythology Are

I love to read about history and mythology.  Heck, I love to read just about anything.  This is true despite the efforts of several teachers who assigned meaningless "coming of age" stories like A Separate Peace and history texts that were as dull as spoons.  To be fair, the history texts were likely the fault of administrators but I also had teachers who did little to make the words in those dull history texts come alive.

There were wonderful exceptions to be sure.  I had a Nevada History teacher who would lavishly illustrate the chalkboard with a glimpse into the past -- in colored chalk no less.  I can only imagine the hours of effort it took for her to create images that were overlooked by most of the students in the class.  She was a hard grader, but an engaging teacher.  She made John Fremont and the Donner Party vividly real for me.

Excepting this teacher -- and a couple of others -- I was lucky to come out of my early education with a love of reading.  Seriously...have you read A Separate Peace?


Lucky...except for one thing.  Role playing games existed and they fueled my reading passion.  Thanks to the many creators of the role playing games of my youth, my interest in the exciting playground that is world history was kindled.  I can thank people like Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Graeme Morris, and Greg Stafford for reminding me that the stories are what make history so exciting.

Today's young readers don't have something I didn't have.  They have the internet and Ben Thompson's excellent Badass of the Week website.

At the site -- and in his two books -- Thompson does the world a huge favor.  He makes history more than fun.  He makes it hard core.  His books and website are the DragonForce of history/mythology books.  They are "metal."  In short, he rocks.

Over the past few years Thompson has become my favorite historian.  Will his work be lauded ages from now as the quintessential history texts?  Will they become the text books of University Core Curriculum programs?  No.

They will inspire readers -- at that most cynical and needed age...the teen years -- to become interested in history.

Thompson recently gave a Google Talk where he did a reading from each of his two books.  He's unnecessarily nervous and self-deprecating.

Do yourself a couple of favors.  Buy his books on Amazon and visit his website weekly.
 

His biographical sketches -- like this one about Wolf the Quarrelsome whom Ben mentions in the Talk --  are engaging.  They also make for wonderful inspirational fare for D&D campaigns.

Here's hoping that Ben is able to get a TV deal out of this.

[Cinerati Cartoons] -- Nicnup: Exciting Employment Opportunity

Jody uploaded this strip today. Though she did it years ago, it still seems topical.

[Cinerati Cartoons] -- Nicnup: Gesundheit

My wife Jody has a wonderful and visual sense of humor. In this Nicnup strip, she manages to capture how I have felt almost every time I've had a loud sneeze. They do sometimes feel earth shattering.

Romance: Cinerati Style

My wife and I have a very comfortable romance.  We love date nights as much as any other couple, but we also enjoy a cozy night enjoying our favorite past times.  A couple of years ago, before the twins were born, my wife drew this image of what one of our typical evenings might look like.  The picture was a nice snapshot of our home at the time.  Jody is there, I'm there, tons of books are there, our two cats (Goose and Pumpkin) are there, and so is our dog Oreo. 

The image is of our home a few years ago, so if she were to draw it today Oreo and Pumpkin would be absent from the picture.  Both were quite old when she drew the image and neither are still with us today.  There would also be two tremendously energetic twin daughters in the image, and Jody and I would look a little more exhausted.  We would still look just as comfortable.  We have a comfortable romance.  There is no one I would rather spend every day of my life with.

Since my wife is a cartoonist, I'll put it in cartoon terms.  Linus has his blanket, and I have Jody.  I feel just as lost without her as Linus did without his blanket.  There is an emptiness in the small moments I am away from her, and her smile is all that can fill it.

Phoenix Wright, from Nintendo DS to the Big Screen

Those of you who have been reading this sight for a couple of years, know that I am a huge Phoenix Wright fan.  The game series is a splendid addition to the procedural/detective game genre.  A genre that includes many great video games, as well as some of the best table top games ever created. 

At first glance, the game might seem a little strange.  It is entirely narrative, requires keen observation and logic skills, but almost no coordination.  It requires a skill set that is typically used in board/card game play and when used in those it tends to be in an "abstract" fashion.  Most video games that use this skill set -- exclusively -- also tend to be abstract.  Think Chess, Solitaire, and Minesweeper for examples of the kinds of games that have historically been observational/logical in game play.  Very rarely are these games narratively exciting.

Somehow, the Phoenix Wright game manages to be exactly that -- exciting.  Sure, the random "OBJECTION!" from time to time wakes up the mind in a brute way, but it is the engaging stories and humor that really make these games worth playing -- and replaying.  It should be noted that game designer extraordinaire did work on a "Harvey Birdman" game for the Wii that is more humorous, but similarly entertaining. 

Engaging stories and humor...hmmm...that sounds like a good combination for a film, and low and behold there is a Phoenix Wright film in the works.  The official trailer should be released November 5th and the film will be released in Japan on February 11th.  The film will be directed by Takashi Miike of 13 Assassins, Ichi the Killer, and Audition fame.

One might think that Miike is an odd choice for a humorous attorney film based upon a video game, but players of the game are familiar with how gruesome some of the murders in the game actually are.  One can only hope that Miike is able to balance the gore, humor, and engaging narrative in the same manner as the games.

A Blacksmith's Macaroni and Cheese? Pure Cheese!

I don't know if I have ever posted a commercial video on this website before, but the new Velveeta ad campaign is incredible. I don't know who came up with the "Liquid Gooooold!" slogan, and the idea of using a blacksmith to sell Mac&Chee, but this is hilarious.
Here is the first ad I saw.

But it is the next ad that really brings the cheese!

 

Should I laugh at the absurdity of comparing cooking to blacksmithery?

Should I be offended at the sociological implications of the ad?

Should I wonder if the person who came up with the campaign plays D&D? Wait, they probably do. "Smite them with the liquid gold until there can be no more smiting!" Only a D&D player could write that.

What's next? Will the blacksmith fight hordes of fast food goblins?

Make Tonight a Vincent Price Night

On this day of Creepiness,
When rampant ghoulies run,
and kids go masked about,
Enjoying pagan fun...

Witches feast on human flesh,
While we recall a host,
(A haunt himself in living)
Recently turned ghost...

Scary movies [were] his thing,
(Theater gave '[i]m a try)
Whales of August I liked best.
My favorite was The Fly.

We do request a brief repose,
(A moment should suffice)
of silence just to say,
"So long" to Mr. Vincent Price.

Fine, Silence, and then we get the candy?!

SH!

Yow!

5-27-1911 to 10-25-1993

October 25th, 1993, Vincent Price, a horror film legend, left this mortal coil. The horror films that Vincent Price starred in were not the violent shockfests people so often imagine when they thing of the words "horror film." His films were not about gore, or quick cathartic release of tension, rather they were about fear. H.P. Lovecraft, a pioneer in American "Wierd Fiction", wrote in his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature :

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown...their admitted truth must establish for all time the geniuneness and dignity of the wierdly horrible tale as a literary form. Against it are discharged all the shafts of a materialistic sophistication which clings to frequently felt emotions and external events, and of a naively insipid idealism which deprecates the aesthetic motive and calls for a didactic literature to "uplift" the reader toward a suitable degree of smirking optimism...men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars...

This horror of the unknown is the kind of horror that permeated the films of Vincent Price. To be sure some like the Tingler had moments of visual shock, but most of the horror in Price's films was internal to the viewed characters. The audience felt the horror not as an immediate thing which passes when the musical sting chimes, but as a lingering afterthought which remained with the viewer long after the film had been viewed.

An image from The Tingler more akin to modern horror.

Vincent Price and Roger Corman's screen adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe tales are some of the best examples of this lingering kind of fear. With modern special effects making the imagery in The Pit and the Pendulum tame, possibly completely enervated of shock value, in comparison to the slaughter a Jason Voorhees is capable of committing. It is not the violence in Pit which horrifies, it is the thought of what man is capable of doing. This is the best kind of fear, the fear that reminds us as we look into the abyss that the abyss is looking back into us. True fear is horror at the possible meaninglessness of existence and the potential cruelty of man. How horrible is the realization in Fall of the House of Usher that Roderick Usher had accidently put his living sister prematurely into the tomb? The audience who watches this film can imagine both having to dig oneself free of an early grave and the terror of realization Roderick comes to when he realizes what he has done. There but for the grace of G-d go I.

When Price first died, I worried that the "lingering fear" horror tale was dead. I "feared" that all I would be able to watch were gorefests made purely for shock value, but I should have known better. There were already hints that filmmakers knew what kind of fear was most valuable. In John Carpenter's version of the Fog, the horror wasn't that the dead had come back for revenge. It was why they came back, and that it didn't matter who they killed to get the requisite number of victims in compensation. Even a child would have sated their lust for vengeance. There were other films as well, but I would like to focus on what has come since Price died.

The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, is a wonderful example of personal realization bringing horror. Sure there are moments of suspense, but what keeps you talking about the film is the moment of realization. The same goes for Sixth Sense, but I think that the Village with its demonstration of what people will do to create a "just" society is more horrifying. Even if you guess the "twist" in the Village the lengths the Elders go through to maintain the serenity of the village is frightening. Eric Kripke's story about the Boogeyman isn't about gore, it is about how we give power to our fears. The same can be said for the numerous Japanese horror films which have come our way over the past few years. They often contain shocking images, but it is the lingering thoughts of the spitefulness of the dead which have value in the long term. The most Lovecraftian of recent horror tales was The Forgotten in which humankind were naught but play pieces for aliens in a G-dless materialistic universe. Julianne Moore, and all the other characters, were truly helpless against the antagonists and the resolution that she was "okay" isn't cathartic because the threat remains for everyone else.

Sporatic Geek Update -- Battleship, D&D, and Donkey Kong

In the process of maintaining a blog about popular culture and Geek activities, I often find articles that would make for good blog posts.  I tend to leave these articles as open tabs on my web browser, intending to at some point come back to them and give them the full length discussion that they deserve.  Eventually, months pass and these topics go untouched.  Guilt ensures that the tabs stay open, but a busy life ensures that the full posts don't get written.  That's why I created the "Sporatic Geek Update" a couple of years ago.

The update isn't meant to be regular, hence the "sporatic" part of the name, but it is filled with things that I think are wonderful and worth checking out.  Here are some of the things that have happened over the past 3-5 months -- that's right months -- that I wanted to talk about, but haven't.

1. Jonathan Liu over at Geek Dad wrote a great article about the latest Battleship related boardgame Battleship: Galaxies.  The game is an exciting, if not well known, war game of the kind that I hope Hasbro continues to manufacture.  As the good folks at Heroscapers point out, the game was designed by Craig Van Ness who also designed the fantastic Heroscape board game.  The game is available at Amazon -- and at your friendly local game store -- and is a perfect holiday gift.
2. David Ewalt of Forbes Magazine has an interview with Shelly Mazzanoble about her latest book Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Dungeons and Dragons.  Shelly is an Associate Brand Manager at Wizards of the Coast who's first real encounters with D&D came as a Hasbro employee.  She is a wonderful writer and a great advocate for the hobby.
3. Robert Schwalb has written an excellent post about how "checking your ego at the door" can help you become a better game designer.  I would argue that this article is also a must read for managers and "authors" in any creative field.
4. Gamasutra covers the "Secret History of Donkey Kong."  Donkey Kong was one of the games that sparked the arcade revolution, and its legacy still echoes through the video game industry. 
5. Matthew D. Wilson, the Chief Creative Officer of Privateer Press, made a steampunk version of "Little Red Riding Hood" entitled Wolfsbane.

That's it for this "Sporadic Geek Update."  There's quite a bit of exciting stuff in it.  Let me know your thoughts.

Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula? Yes Please!

Bill Cunningham -- the mad pulp bastard -- and his crew over at Pulp 2.0 are releasing a string of exciting products over the next few months. This week, they announced the release (digitally and physically) of THE MIRACLE SQUAD, a comic series that was originally published by Fantagraphics in 1987.

This is the first time that THE MIRACLE SQUAD has been sold in a collected edition, and the book provides a nice glimpse into the halcyon age of independent comic books. During the 1980s, direct comic book stores were on the rise and so were quality independent titles. It was an exciting time to be a fan of comics, a time when the medium itself was in transition as it adapted to new business models (the "death" of newstand and the birth of "direct sales" which allowed greater access to customers and greater interaction with customers) and new technologies (more sophisticated printing techniques, better paper).

In many ways, it was a period like today. The market is once again becoming more consumer driven as creators become less dependent on retail stores to give them direct access to consumers, just as the direct market allowed companies to target a market more accurately than convenience stores, supermarkets, and newstands. Bill, and the folks at Pulp 2.0, understand this market change isn't "coming," it's here. There upcoming line of books seeks to demonstrate that not only is the new market capable of allowing companies to profit with new offerings, but that it allows a unique opportunity to make sure that no product ever goes out of print again. Let me say that one more time.  

The new publishing market provides a unique opportunity to make sure that no product ever goes out of print again!

This means that publishers big and small, and creators have opportunities to generate revenue that were before unimaginable. Enough about the market, how exciting it is, and how smart Bill is about this topic. Let's get to the real issue being discussed here, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes.

This December, Pulp 2.0 will be releasing a 25th anniversary collected edition of SCARLET IN GASLIGHT by Martin Powell and Seppo Makinen. The series collected in the 25th anniversary edition has been praised in the Washington Post -- of all places -- and is a highly entertaining read. Rumor has it that Bill has licensed additional books in the series as well. SCARLET IN GASLIGHT was published by the now defunct Eclipse Comics (publishers of MIRACLEMAN, THE ROCKETEER, and SCOUT) presents a confrontation between two of the most iconic figures in literature, Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula. In 2011, this is a pretty common mashup idea, but Powell and Makinen execute the idea very successfully. I cannot wait to see how the Pulp 2.0 crew have packaged this edition. I'm sure to buy it in print and digitally!

[Film Trailer] Justice League: Doom -- Looks Interesting

DC's theatrical releases have been hit or miss -- I'll be posting my Green Lantern film review soon -- but their animated projects have tended to be excellent.  Everything from Batman: The Brave and the Bold to All-Star Superman has been entertaining.  By the looks of this official preview, that trend is continuing.

[Film Trailer] VIRAL FACTOR -- Forget CONTAGION, Give Me Gunfights and Amnesia

Thanks to BeyondHollywood.com for pointing me to Daniel Lam's latest science-fiction suspense actioner. It looks like a combination of Hard Boiled, The Bourne Idenity, and Outbreak. The folks at Beyond Hollywood recommend that you familiarize yourself with the plot before you watch the video:

A mission to escort a witness from Jordan to the Netherlands leaves International Security Affairs agent Jon severely scarred: a bullet is lodged in his brain, his fiancée and fellow agent Rita is dead and their traitorous colleague Sean has nabbed their witness. While contemplating leaving the force, he finds out that his father and brother, Wan Yang, are still alive. In his search for them, he discovers that his brother is working as a mercenary for Sean, who has evil plans to force scientist Rachel to cultivate a mutating virus to unleash on the world. The brothers unite to stop Sean but finds out that he has an even bigger plan for international blackmail. The battle heads to a showdown in Hong Kong where Sean has decided to release the strain of deadly virus.

I am currently wondering how I could translate this film into a Night's Black Agents campaign.

[Film Trailer] MURAL: Strange and Inspiring Fantasy

As much genre influence as Hong Kong films have had on American cinema, there is one genre where Hong Kong's influence has yet to have significant impact on American film making. Every modern American action film has some touch of the gunfu and kung fu films of Hong Kong's heyday, but one rarely sees touches from amazing fantasy spectacles like The Bride with White Hair, Dragon Inn, or Warrior of Zu Magic Mountain in American productions.

When we do get film influenced by HK fantasy films -- with the exception of John Carpenter's magical Big Trouble in Little China -- the American adaptations/translations are mere shadows of what could be cinematically.  It's as if Western film makers are afraid to truly push the envelope regarding what a fantasy story can be.  The Forbidden Kingdom is a perfect example.  The film stars two of Hong Kong's greatest actors, yet the film makers decided to add an American protagonist and to mute the fantastic elements of Sun Wu Kung's tale.  The movie is an inelegant patchwork of a number of wonderful tales.  Even when talented Hong Kong directors make films with elements of HK fantasy, like Warriors of Virtue, the fantasy is targeted at young children and the warriors become kangaroo versions of Ninja Turtles.  In these fantasy translations, the "anything can happen" narrative and the "nothing is too extreme" attitude of HK fantasy is lost, only to be replaced with tamer shadows that hint at what could have been.  There are moments of The Forbidden Kingdom and Warriors of Virtue  that shine through, but they are only enough to make the film's moderately entertaining when they could have been spectacular.

Thankfully for fans of Hong Kong fantasy, and you should really be one, the HK film industry is still making fantasy spectaculars.  This September saw the release of Gordon Chan's latest film Mural.  The movie is an adaptation from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio a classic collection of Chinese fantasy stories of Vampires, Ghosts, and Magic.  Gordon Chan's Fist of Legend is one of the best martial arts films ever created, and if this trailer is any hint we might be in for something special with Mural.  Let's hope it gets released stateside soon.

 

[Film Review] THE TRIP: Commentary and Cuisine

In 2010, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon starred in an award winning BBC sit-com entitled The Trip. The show lasted for six critically acclaimed episodes. The show was nominated for a BAFTA for best situation comedy and Steve Coogan won a BAFTA for best male performance in a comedy role. In 2011, the television series was edited into a feature film distributed in the United States by IFC films.

The movie, like the television series, is a mockumentary about two comedic actors named Steve and Rob whose careers and lives bear a striking resemblance to those of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

The film opens with Steve calling Rob to ask if Rob would be available for a trip critiquing a number of high end restaurants in the north of England.  Steven has accepted a commission from The Observer newspaper to do a travelogue and review column of the locations along the trip.  When he had initially taken the commission Steven had planned to have his gourmand girlfriend Mischa accompany him, but their relationship has been put "on hold" as she has traveled to the United States in the hopes of getting some journalistic commissions of her own.  Steven has run out of options for companions, and so he asks his co-worker of 11 years Rob to join him on the trip.

The movie is a delightfully buddy comedy which takes advantage of the Steven's and Rob's comfortable friendship to create a touching and believable narrative.  While one can enjoy the film just for the buddy comedy that it is, it is also a film that works on two other distinct levels.

First, as a visual representation of the north of England it is beautiful.  The cinematographer captured the moors, mountains, and pastures magnificently and the picturesque representations of bucolic England are one of the best advertisements for a vacation to the country that one could imagine.  Add to the visual beauty food that ranges from the exquisite to the weird, and a nice touch of history, and you have a film that works as a proxy for the travelogue that the Steven character is supposed to be writing.  In making a film depicting a writer journeying to acquire material, the film has managed to visually tell the tale as the character might well be writing.

The second, and more profound, level of the film is the nature of the lives of Steven and Rob and the social commentary contained therein.  Steven represents the urban sophisticate and Rob the bourgeois. 

Steven is the more "internationally famous" actor who has starred in American films and who is seeking more work in America, and who tells his British agent that he doesn't want to do any more British television.  He wants to star in important independent films, and doesn't have time to star as the "baddie" in an upcoming episode of Doctor Who.  Steven is not content with his professional life, and seeks to do something "important." 

Rob's work has mostly been in British television where he is known for his uncanny impressions and for a particular vocal gimmick called "small man trapped in a box."  Before I continue describing Rob's life, you really must experience the small man bit.  It is remarkable, and I couldn't believe it wasn't done with post-production tricks -- but it is something very real.

Rob is portrayed as a working class actor who is quite content with his career and who deeply appreciates the respect and admiration he receives from his fans.  Where Steven is dour, Rob is cheerful -- infectiously so.

It isn't merely creatively that Steven is frustrated.  His personal life is also the shambles.  His girlfriend has just left him, though he is trying to keep a connection to her, and his divorce has had a predictable affect on his relationship with his son -- a son who is rebelling a bit and who is in need of a positive role model.  Steven can't maintain a long term relationship, and he cannot quite keep track of the one night stands he has had.  He is so caught up in the life of the "artiste" and trying to be a kind of tragic artist in personality, that it is hard for him to truly connect with another person.  There is a wonderful moment in the film where he is getting high in a room once used by Coleridge.  Steven is trying his best to affect a kind of moody poetic persona, that it creates a powerful yet muted comedic moment. 

The opposite is true of Rob's life.  He and his wife have only recently had a baby.  They have a strong and delightful relationship filled with laughs.  Where Steven's phone calls end in sighs and "I have to go nows," Rob's conversations don't end on screen.  One can imagine that the playful dialogue between Rob and his wife continues until either they both fall asleep or until the baby awakens in need of some care.  The moments where Rob converses and flirts with his wife on the phone are some of the most personal and magical in the film.

It should be noted that all of Steven's phone calls take place via cell phone, and that his quest for cell phone signals is a humorous sub-plot on its own, while all of Rob's phone calls are on land line.  The cell phone is presented as cold and distant and never really allows the people on either end of the phone to "connect," whereas the land line is portrayed intimately and conversations via land line are akin to cuddling.

Once more the "urban sophisticate" is contrasted to the simpler "bourgeois," a major theme of the film that is portrayed in a number of ways -- always with the "sophistication"/elitism being shown as failing or inappropriate.  Steven rents a Land Rover because "the north has hills," he has accepted a commission to write about food without any real knowledge of food, and so on.

Two of my favorite moments (displayed below) are the very much talked about "Dueling Michael Caines" scene and the "We Rise at Dawn" scene. The "We Rise" scene is maybe one of my favorite comic bits ever. It ranks with "Who's on First" in my mind.

Witty, subtle, beautiful, and rewatchable.  The Trip is one of those rare films that makes a short trip seem like an epic journey, all while never being anything other than a small trip.  It praises family over fame and friendship over facade.

What is "The Asphyx"?

For the past few days, I have been excitedly tweeting about a horror film I adored as a child.  I first saw the film on either Bob Wilkin's classic Creature Feature program on KTVU or on the Chiller Diller Matinee program.  I cannot remember which, but I vividly remember sitting in my grandfather's den watching the story of one man's pursuit for immortality and the high costs of his obsession.

It has been many years since I have seen the film.  In all honesty, I haven't seen it since I was a child.  But I have recently acquired a copy of the movie and plan to watch it as a part of my Halloween themed October viewing.

I hope it lives up to my memories and expectations. I might just have to try to adapt the tale to a CHILL or Call of Cthulhu adventure while I'm at it.

Adventures of Tintin -- Can Digitally Animated Fight Scenes and Stunts Satisfy?

The more I look at the advertising for the upcoming Adventures of Tintin animated film, the more it looks like the film will provide for a few hours of pleasant entertainment.  There is still one major question lurking in the back of my mind...How much more exciting would all of this be if it were a live action film?

The stunts look unbelievably exciting, check out the motorcycle stunt toward the end of the trailer, but I keep asking myself "what if Jackie Chan did the stunt coordination for a live action film?"  I understand that there are limits to what the human body can do, and there are very good safety reasons to use digital effects to supplement stunts, but this film seems so action packed and exciting that I want to see it as "real" and not animated.  It seems that the film makers would be pushing more of the medium's boundaries if they attempted to recreate some of these fight scenes and stunts with real people.

I hate video game to movie comparisons as much as the next guy, but isn't one of the major reasons people attend a Tomb Raider film, or desire to watch an Uncharted movie, specifically because they want to see exciting digital experiences translated into live action.

Isn't the fight scene between Donnie Yen and Collin Chou in Flashpoint  so amazing because it has real people and you can imagine the real physical effort required to create the action sequence?

But the new Tintin film uses "motion capture" so the actors are physically engaged you say?  Some stunts can only be created digitally?  I don't buy it, and can easily imagine Jackie Chan, Harold Lloyd, or Buster Keaton doing that final motorcycle stunt.

None of this takes away from the fact that the Tintin movie looks engaging and entertaining, I'm looking forward to it.  I'm just saying that it looks like it would be "AMAZING" if it were live action.

1911: Revolution (2011) -- Jackie Chan's 100th Film in Theaters October 7th

Jackie Chan's 100th film releases in American theaters this Friday.  It also marks the 100th anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising, the topic of Jackie Chan's latest film 1911: Revolution.

Unlike a majority of Chan's work, this film is not a martial arts or action comedy but like much of Chan's work the film is a patriotic one.  For example in Drunken Master II, the viewer gets a sense of Chan's deep patriotism as Wong Fei-hung battles a ring of antiquities smugglers.  In that film, Fei-hung battles for the preservation of China's history.

In 1911: Revolution, Jackie Chan stars as Huang Xing  who is fighting for the soul of China.  Huang Xing was one of the founders of the Kuomintang and one of the revolutionary leaders who fought against the Qing Dynasty in a series of uprisings.  These uprisings finally culminated with the defeat of the Dynasty in the Wuchang Uprising and establishment of the Republic of China.

From the trailer, one can see that director Zhang Li has lost none of the aesthetic talent that made Red Cliff such a beautiful visual experience.  His camera work captures broad strokes in a way that doesn't overwhelm the view, and he is a master of highlighting an emotive figure in a chaotic environment. 

Filmgoers in the Los Angeles area will be able to see the film at the following locations:

Alhambra -- Edwards Alhambra Rennaissance 14 

Monrovia -- Krikorian 12

Los Angeles -- Rave 18

Los Angeles -- Mann Chinese 6

City Under Siege (2010) -- Hong Kong Does Superheroes

When one asks the average film goer what kinds of films they think of when they hear the words "Hong Kong Cinema," the words "exciting superhero action" aren't the first words that one would expect to hear.  None the less, those words are an accurate statement about the HK film industry.  In addition to marvelously exciting police dramas, and the worlds best martial arts films, some very entertaining superhero movies have come to America from Hong Kong's creatively fertile film industry.

These superhero films -- like BLACK MASK, HEROIC TRIO, and LEGEND OF THE FIST -- also happen to contain some fantastic kung fu action, but their plot lines more closely follow a traditional American comic book plot than a Louis Cha novel or Kung Fu historical tale.  That isn't to say that the shadow of jiang hu doesn't loom over these films, it does.  These are still martial arts films that can contain traditional wuxia elements, but they are also superhero films.

This year's San Francisco Film Society's Hong Kong Cinema celebration (September 23 - 25) features a recent entry into the HK superhero film genre, and we can see the influence of shows like HEROES in the overarching narrative.  In CITY UNDER SIEGE, a group of circus performers find a cache of WWII gold that they expect will change their lives financially.  When they go to claim their prize there lives are changed in another way as they are exposed to a strange toxic chemical that transforms them into superhumanly powerful beings.  After the exposure these performers decide to use their new found powers to commit crime after crime...all except one of the group.

Collin Chou -- who starred in MATRIX REVOLUTIONS and who is Donnie Yen's foe in FLASH POINT where they exhibit one of the most exciting martial arts sequences ever film -- plays the main villain of the feature which bodes well for the action sequences.  The film is directed by Benny Chan who directed NEW POLICE STORY and SHAOLIN recently released on DVD.

By the looks of the preview CITY UNDER SIEGE the film combines superheroes, comedy, and martial arts excitement.  I wouldn't expect the serious drama of IP MAN or HERO from this film, but it does look like it might be a lot of fun.  Let's hope an American distributor picks this one up.

Jet Li is the Sorcerer in "The Sorcerer and the White Snake"

My old gaming group used to watch Jet Li's classic film Swordsman II at least once a month.  The film's combination of martial arts, magic, and just pure gonzo supernatural action (Sword Energy!) was the perfect inspiration for all of our D&D gaming experiences.  In the days before Peter Jackson tackled the challenge of making a genuinely entertaining and emotionally powerful fantasy film experience, Hong Kong films were the go to place for Fantasy that was light years beyond Krull when it came to engaging characters.

To this day, the Fantasy stories presented in Hong Kong and Chinese cinema define the lens through which I view the worlds of D&D campaigns.  Bride with White Hair would make a wonderful gaming campaign, and is an exquisitely beautiful film.  My love for these films prompted me to read first Barry Hughart's excellent  tales of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, and eventually led me to read translations of Louis Cha novels.  Trust me, if you are looking for an alternative to run of the mill American/British fantasy, you can do a lot worse than reading some Louis Cha.

To go back where this all began though...I think it can easily be said that Jet Li is my favorite of Hong Kong's many talented stars.   Any time he appears in a new film, it is guaranteed that I will hunt it down for viewing.  Insert Jet Li into a Fantasy epic and my eagerness knows no bounds.  It should be noted that I never fear whether the film will be good or not.  It's a Jet Li film, and his performance in Kung Fu Cult Master turned what could have been a campy and agonizing film into pure viewing pleasure.

After watching the preview for his upcoming film The Sorcerer and the White Snake, I don't have even the slightest tinge of worry regarding the quality of the film  It looks beautiful.  The story is based on a traditional Chinese tale called the "Legend of the White Snake" and by the looks of it, this film will take a tragic yet sentimental view of the legend.  Wonderful and tragic stuff.

What Every 40k Geek Needs: Warhammer 40k Lore in About a Minute

The Warhammer Universe is a rich environment that has provided millions of gamers with countless hours of entertainment.  The setting has been used as the background for role playing games, miniatures war games, board games, card games, video games, and a quite entertaining animated film written by Dan Abnett.  But a rich environment can be intimidating to neophytes.

For those of you wanting to know what this whole 40k thing is about, some wonderful chaps have created Warhammer 40k Lore in About a Minute.  Remember...in the Grim Dark Future of the 41st Millennium there is Only War.