I haven’t written about the Grandmaster, the new movie about Ip Man directed by Wong Kar Wai. I watched it, I loved it, and I really want to see it again because I watched it on a seat-back monitor on the flight back to Canada from South Korea. Watching it at that size is absolutely sub-optimal – and that’s being generous.
Even on the tiny little monitor – I think it was smaller than the screen on my 10″ tablet – the beauty of the scene compositions was obvious. The cast – Tony Leung as Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi as Gong Er, the daughter of the “Northern Master,” were the two most notable – was great and the fight choreography was by Yuen Woo-ping, perhaps the greatest working fight choreographer on the planet. Excuse the hyperbole, but dude really is tight.
I was asked if this was as good as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, definitely the most famous wuxia movie worldwide. It gave me pause and led me to reflect on the strengths of the two movies and the two directors.
Yuen Woo-ping choreographed both movies, and I think the fight scenes were certainly comparable. The Grandmaster might have a slight leg up just because Yuen Woo-ping has had to bring something new to the table with each new movie, so I think he worked harder giving the Grandmaster action and moves not previously seen.
I think Ang Lee, the director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is a better director of actors, and I think the performances he directed are superior to those in the Grandmaster. Wong Kar Wai, in my opinion, is a better visualist, and I believe the Grandmaster is a much more beautiful movie than CT:HD. That is not to say that the Grandmaster has bad acting or that CT:HD isn’t beautiful, because both statements are provably wrong, however each movie has a strength and for the Grandmaster, that is the visuals.
If you dig kung-fu fighting and want to see a pretty moving, gorgeously wrought motion picture, I recommend the Grandmaster. I give it 4.5 fists in rain out of 5.
You can learn more about the Grandmaster here.
You can learn more about Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon here.
About the only good thing about Windows 8 in my opinion is the XBox Music app that is included with it. It basically allows one to search for music and listen to it as long as one is on-line. I’ve got a few playlists through XBox Music, and I even purchased the Man of Steel soundtrack through it, although I stopped purchasing songs through it as while I appreciate the ability to listen to music free, XBox Music is more expensive than iTunes, so that’s where I’m purchasing music. If XBox Music has competitive pricing, I’d be buying all my music through it.
During my trip, I’ve had a chance to view some movies I otherwise likely wouldn’t have. One of those was an old pilot from way back called the Archer: Fugitive from the Empire. It was an attempt to do a sword & sorcery TV series, but it failed mightily.
I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed Spartan before. I’ve watched it at least four times, most recently during my trip. It stars Val Kilmer as a shadowy special operator – so shadowy it’s never clear what branch of the services her’s from, though it’s strongly hinted that he’s a Marine, which is kind of odd for the kind of operator he portrays. The president’s daughter has disappeared, likely kidnapped, and Kilmer’s character will do anything (and allow the death of any number of secondary characters) to get her back.
I’m generally a good traveller. I’ve done a lot of it. Food is my problem. I’ve always disliked seafood. I’ll pass on anything that lives or grows in water. When I lived in Korea, at a time when my tastes had matured to include a lot of vegetables I wouldn’t eat as a child, I made an effort to try everything. I ate everything from cod to grilled silkworms. This experience verified that even with my tastebuds deadened with alcohol, I didn’t like seafood. I didn’t like the taste, I didn’t like the texture, I didn’t like the smell.
I can’t even remember if I ever saw Ghost Rider. I’m pretty sure I haven’t. I had no intention to see the sequel – Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance – but it was one of very few English language choices on the TV as I was butt in seat recently. I figured with Nicholas Cage headlining, it wouldn’t be boring.
I really enjoyed Dave Gross’ Master of Devils with its nod to Shaw Brother’s martial arts/wuxia movies of the 70s and 80s. The article in which I had read about Master of Devils also mentioned Prince of Wolves as a mix of fantasy-gaming fiction with the old 60s Hammer horror films. That certainly piqued my interest, considering how well Master of Devils tied wuxia and gaming fiction.