Still Rumbling: Jackie Chan’s American Breakthrough, 20 Years Later
Twenty years ago this month, Jackie Chain broke through to American audiences. How does his introduction look today?
Twenty years ago this month, Jackie Chain broke through to American audiences. How does his introduction look today?
For most people, Enter the Dragon is a quintessential action film. The first Chinese martial arts film co-produced in Hollywood, it launched the genre, not to mention its late leading man Bruce Lee, to Western audiences. Not only does it compass elements of a thriller and an action film, but it is also culturally relevant.
Robin-B-Hood (also known as Rob B Hood) Written by Jackie Chand, Alan Yuen, and Benny Chan Directed by Benny Chan Hong Kong, 2006 Thongs (Jackie Chan) and Octopus (Louis Koo) are thieves working under the auspices of their long standing mentor Landlord (Michael Hui), who also happens to be the actual landlord of the apartment …
As an introduction to Jackie Chan’s oeuvre, newcomers should look no further than The Legend of Drunken Master. It’s often quite funny and features some outrageous fight stunts. Does it drop the ball with regard to plot and story? Yes, in some ways it does. That being said, Jackie Chan vehicles rarely exist to tell deep, complex thematically mature tales. However perfunctory its story is, Drunken Master is obligatory viewing for the martial arts fan.
Not long ago, Sound on Sight’s editor Ricky D emailed myself and fellow contributor Michael Ryan for the purpose of compiling some of our individual favourite martial arts pictures to celebrate The Raid‘s theatrical release across North American this Easter weekend. I would never consider myself to be a scholar of the genre, but it …
The release of The Raid: Redemption has made us revisit our favourite martial arts flicks and pick five favourite films to suggest for Sound on Sight readers. Before I give my five picks though, I would like to turn the floor over to a man who has been a friend of mine since grade seven at Oxford …
With the release of The Raid: Redemption, I’ve asked Sound On Sight contributors Edgar Chaput and Michael Ryan to help me put together a list of 15 classic martial arts films that we consider essential viewing. Here are my five choices. 11- The Blade (Doa) Directed by Hark Tsui Inspired by the 1967 Shaw Brothers …
Horror, fantasy, Hong Kong action, animation, strange documentaries, gored-up science-fiction, Japanese Pink films and martial arts flicks are just among the many genres Fantasia has covered in its fourteen years of programming. Famous for being the largest genre film festival in North America, Fantasia is packed with Canadian, North American and worldwide feature-length premieres as …
Body Count: Volume 11 – Because of the nature of my website and the fact that a bulk of the writing is dedicated to the horror genre, it is often assumed that Cinema Suicide is all about horror. And you have no idea how much that bugs me. The original mission was a website in …