Chinese Cinema
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Stunt-Centric vs Choreo-Centric Part 3: Application
I really tried, but apparently I’m not done thinking about these ideas. So here we go! My first Trilogy! Part 3: in which I discuss some of the ways that thinking about action aesthetics in terms of stunt-centric and choreo-centric could be helpful or useful. Application #1: Improving Personal Film Literacy The first way that…
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Into the Badlands S3E1 – Some Quick Thoughts
Season 3, Episode 1: Enter the Phoenix Wow. What a season opener! I was thinking of writing something after each episode, but don’t want to make it too long either, so here’s where I landed. My goal will be to post some hopefully-weekly quick thoughts about what stands out, no more than 2-3 days after each…
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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…
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A Few Thoughts on Storytelling in Chinese Cinema
Just a quick post to briefly share/develop some thoughts on the current state of entertainment cinema in the People’s Republic of China. This is a result of my own ongoing research interests in the mainstream film industry of Mainland China as well as what I’ve read in some articles recently. One of the things…
Munib Rezaie, PhD 