Chinese Cinema
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Happy Birthday, Jackie Chan: A Look at His Career
It’s #AsianApril and Jackie Chan’s 65th birthday! I actually wrote out a whole giant Twitter thread about this to celebrate it all as an alternative to writing this article. But just as I clicked “Send,” it all disappeared. So, here I am. Back on my blog. Trying to not feel frustrated and just keep moving…
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Into the Badlands: Why a Brief Harold Lloyd Reference was the Most Amazing Thing Ever
It’s been criminally overdue, but I’m finally catching up on Season 2 of Into the Badlands, and – mark my words – I will never let another season go by to be caught up later! I feel like AMC developed a technology to go into my head, scour the depths of my psyche for everything…
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Iron Fist and the Lack of Stylistic Consistency
Since posting my last post on Iron Fist, I’ve completed the series and kept telling myself that I was done with it. As the show went on, I liked it less and less but wanted to write about it more and more. I still have some Iron Fist demons that need to be exorcized, because…
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Netflix’s Iron Fist and the Failed Expectations of Chinese Martial Arts Cinema
So I’m finally getting around to Iron Fist (I’m only 6 episodes in at the time of this writing) and I think I’ve come to certain realizations. Episode 6, in particular, helped crystallize a lot of the thoughts that were bubbling and percolating in my head throughout the first five episodes. Let’s start with the…
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An Appeal to Chinese Martial Arts Cinema
So I finally watched Yuen Woo Ping’s True Legend (2010) last night and had a thought. Well, I had many thoughts, most of them negative, but one main thought. Martial arts cinema – especially from Mainland China – seems to be adapting to the requirements of a globalized cinema audience in all the wrong ways…
Munib Rezaie, PhD 