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GeneChing
09-15-2010, 09:31 AM
Might as well get this one rolling now. Doug got us started with his news on Noomi our Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56760&page=2) thread. Here's a redundant article to that from THR:

EXCLUSIVE: 'Dragon' star lands 'Sherlock 2' (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3iafc531ef3af052c787c41709867dd426)
First English-language role for Noomi Rapace
By Borys Kit
Sept 11, 2010, 09:24 AM ET

Noomi Rapace, the Swedish star of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," has booked her first English-language role: the plum part of the female lead in Warner Bros.'s "Sherlock Holmes 2."

The sequel reunites most of the team from the original: Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson. Guy Ritchie is back as director while Joel Silver, Susan Downey, Lionel Wigram and Dan Lin return as producers.

The logline is being kept under wraps, although it is known Holmes will face off against Moriarty. Also making an appearance will be Holmes' brother, Mycroft.

Rapace's role is shrouded in mystery although sources say the character may be a French Gypsy. It is unclear if the role is romantic in nature.

Warners is looking to start production later this year.

Off the strength of her breakthrough performance in the Swedish-language "Tattoo," Rapace snagged representation with UTA and Magnolia Entertainment. She made a well-publicized trip to LA mid-August, meeting with top producers and directors to discuss making an entry into the American film scene. "Holmes 2" is the first acting gig to come to fruition from those meetings.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/photos/stylus/151184-rapace_noomi-_341x182.jpg

For reference, here's the Sherlock Holmes (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51721) 1 thread.

GeneChing
09-27-2011, 09:35 AM
http://i55.tinypic.com/dcxfk.jpg

Slated for 12/16/11

GeneChing
10-13-2011, 09:00 AM
Owes it all to kung fu. I feel that.

Robert Downey, Jr. Kung Fu Kicks His Drug Habit On His Way Into Marriage! (http://globalgrind.com/style/robert-downey-jr-drug-habit-marriage-gq-style-magazine-interview-photos)
By GlobalGrind Staff 18 hours 32 min ago

According to a new cover story in the UK's GQ Style, Hollywood star Robert Downey, Jr owes it all to Kung Fu and his marriage to movie producer Susan Levan.

Downey was photographed for the magazine by Dutch photography duo Inez and Vinoodh. Mugler creative director Nicola Formichetti styled the editorial.

It's hard to believe that only a handful of years ago the Iron Man star was a pariah and a law breaker. Troubled with drugs and other personal demons, the actor looked like he was on his way out of the industry. Then all of sudden, Downey, Jr. is commanding top dollar at box offices. How did he do it? Kung Fu & getting hitched!

Robert met his wife while filming Gothika. After meeting her, the Sherlock Holmes actor cleaned up his ways.

Writes GQ Style: not long after they began dating, he walked out to the sea and tossed the last of his drug stash into the waves.

Downey also credits the martial arts for affecting his career in a big way.

I was never thought of as a leading man until Shane Black hired me to star in a film called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, where I got to shoot guns and hang from a bridge. I could not have pulled that part off without Kung Fu. And I think it was seeing that film which made Jon Favreau believe I could play Iron Man, that I could do action and that I could maybe, just maybe, be a leading man in that way. Without Kung Fu I don't know if I would have been in possession of that self possession that you need to be a leading man.

Get us to a Shaolin temple stat!


GQ Style Autumn/Winter 11 (http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/style/articles/2011-09/14/gq-style-news-gq-style-magazine-autumn-winter-robert-downey-jr)
By Oliver Franklin
http://cdni.condenast.co.uk/642x390/g_j/GQStyleAW_GQ_14Sep11_642.jpg

"Personally I think manhood is about self-awareness, about evolving, about keeping it together, really. Knowing where your car keys are..." As both Sherlock and Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr knows more than most about modern masculinity, making him the perfect choice to front the Autumn/Winter issue of GQ Style where he has been photographed by Inez-van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. Elsewhere in the issue, check out French rugby star Sebastian Chabal shot by Jurgen Teller, True Blood's Joe Manganiello in the rugged outdoors and Walter Van Beirendonck's latest collection as photographed by Nick Knight. As editor Ben Reardon says in the new issue: "If men are allowed to be men, they should be encouraged to dress like men too. The romantic hero, the Marlboro Man, the sports champion, the Hell's Angel, the bruised and scruffed adventurer..."

The Autumn/Winter 2011-2012 issue of GQ Style is out now, priced £6.

JamesC
10-13-2011, 09:12 AM
Writes GQ Style: not long after they began dating, he walked out to the sea and tossed the last of his drug stash into the waves.


WTF? Maybe i'm just being my hippy self, but the ocean? How about your toilet?

Also, he's the epitome of modern masulinity? Things are far worse than I thought... :(

Also, also, it's cool that he does kung fu. I know that was the main point of this post. Just being a *****. :D

sanjuro_ronin
10-13-2011, 10:33 AM
Strange...my time in wing chun almost DROVE me to drugs !
LOL !

Dragonzbane76
10-13-2011, 11:44 AM
Strange...my time in wing chun almost DROVE me to drugs !
LOL !

made me lol...:p

GeneChing
12-14-2011, 10:42 AM
'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' review (http://denver.metromix.com/movies/movie_review/sherlock-holmes-a-game/2950964/content)
Super sleuths Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are back in action
By Geoff Berkshire
Metromix
December 12, 2011

Running time: 129 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Cast:
Robert Downey - Sherlock Holmes
Jude Law - Dr. John Watson
Noomi Rapace - Madam Simza Heron
Rachel McAdams - Irene Adler
Jared Harris - Professor James Moriarty
Director: Guy Ritchie
Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery
Official Movie Web Site: http://sherlockholmes2.warnerbros.com/index.html

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) has never faced a challenge like Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris). A diabolical criminal mastermind masking his sinister intentions with a guise of genteel academia, Moriarty is plotting something very, very, naughty indeed. It’s up to Holmes and his faithful friend Dr. Watson (Jude Law) to figure out exactly what that plan entails, before it’s too late. They’re assisted in the investigation by a mysterious Gypsy fortune teller (Noomi Rapace), Watson’s wary wife Mary (Kelly Reilly) and Sherlock’s pompous brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry).

The buzz: Director Guy Ritchie’s 2009 reboot “Sherlock Holmes” introduced Downey as a scrappier, more physical Holmes—still possessing an incomparable intellect, but also a street fighter’s sensibility to properly support blockbuster-friendly action sequences. The result raked in over half a billion dollars in worldwide box office and earned Downey a Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy. A sequel was immediately fast tracked to reunite Ritchie, Downey, Law and the key creative team.

The verdict: Good news first: There’s a relaxed confidence to this “Holmes” that was desperately missing the first time around. Less good news: The action scenes are still overblown and out of place—though more inventive, memorable and thoughtfully staged—and the star-powered combination of Downey and Law remains a double-edged sword. They’ve settled into the characters and deliver the dialogue with flair, but the banter is rarely sharp enough to entirely justify their time and effort. Once again, the audience is invited to titter at the ways Holmes and Watson’s bromance winks at straight-up romance—Downey dons a dress (for one of the better action set pieces) and the pair bicker over Watson’s decision to tie the knot. Lest anyone get too wrong of an impression, there’s a welcome increase in screen time for Reilly’s Mrs. Watson. Along with Fry, she helps to shore up a supporting cast led by Harris and Rapace that gives the film a stronger human dimension than its predecessor. After the release of the first “Holmes,” BBC broadcast its own fresher, smarter reimagined “Sherlock” (airing on PBS in the U.S.), which brought the detective into contemporary times and found a divine chemistry between perfectly matched stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. The breezy ease of that competitively creative effort still shows up the expensive fireworks in Ritchie’s bombastic production. But as the continuation of a flashy fast-moving Hollywood franchise, “Game of Shadows” steps up its own game just enough to squeak by as disposable fun.

Did you know? Holmes’ martial arts skills come naturally for Downey, who has trained in Wing Chun Kung Fu for years with Eric Oram—a man Downey credits with helping to overcome the drug habit that nearly derailed his life and career.
I saw the screener on Monday and will have an official KFM review for you on Friday.

Fa Xing
12-14-2011, 10:50 AM
I saw the screener on Monday and will have an official KFM review for you on Friday.

Cool, my wife are forward to this after my finals are over.

mickey
12-16-2011, 09:05 AM
Greetings,

I would have believed him if he flushed his stuff down the toiler. When you throw stuff out in the tide, it is just a matter of time before the tide brings it back to you. I believe he waited.


mickey

GeneChing
12-16-2011, 11:07 AM
Meanwhile, here's some others (only martial ones, mind you)


December 16, 2011
Spelling counts in Sherlock Holmes bartitsu mystery (http://books.usatoday.com/bookbuzz/post/2011-12-16/spelling-counts-in-sherlock-holmes-bartitsu-mystery/586943/1)
By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/book-buzz/2011/12/bartitsux-inset-community.jpg
By the Keystone Academy of Dueling and Swordsmanship
Spelling counts.

Just ask Sherlock Holmes readers and scholars who have long puzzled over the difference between bartitsu and baritsu.

As members of The Bartitsu Club of New York City, who are staging a demonstration and lessons Sunday, can tell you, bartitsu is an all-but-forgotten mixed martial art, briefly popular more than a century ago.

It was invented in about 1898 by a British engineer, Edward Barton-Wright, who had lived in Japan. He created what he called a "new art of self defence" by combing elements of Japanese ju jutsu, British boxing and a French stick defense called "savate."

Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, apparently knew about it.

No one is sure why or how he dropped a "t."

In The Adventure of the Empty House, Doyle had Holmes explain how he had triumphed - by his knowledge "of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me."

For decades, the missing "t" stumped Holmes fans who thought that "baritsu" may have been something Doyle invented. Then scholars found articles written by Barton-Wright, who had named bartitsu out of a combination of Barton and jujitsu.

Mark Donnelly, 42, an author and TV producer with an interest in historic martial arts, came across a reference to bartitsu about 13 years ago, and now teaches what he calls a "gentlemanly art of self-defense."

In June, Rachel Klingberg, 39, a webmaster with a passion for the 19th century, organized The Bartitsu Club of New York. On Sunday, it's offering lessons at the Society for Martial Arts Instruction in Manhattan.

Klingberg, who thinks of Holmes as a "Victorian superhero," says she was pleased to see a version of bartitsu enacted in Sherlock Holmes, the 2009 movie staring Robert Downey Jr. The sequel, also with Downey, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, opens today.

Earlier movies, she notes, depicted Holmes as "less physical, more cerebral." But in Doyle's stories and novel, she adds, "his keen intellect was matched by manly athleticism and combative skill."


Sherlock Holmes more interested in martial arts than sleuthing in 'Game of Shadows' (http://www.lvrj.com/neon/sherlock-holmes-more-interested-in-martial-arts-than-sleuthing-in-game-of-shadows-135720903.html?ref=903)

129 minutes
PG-13; intense violence and action, drug material
Grade: C

By Carol Cling
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: Dec. 16, 2011 | 2:02 a.m.

What's in a name?

When the name is "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," the answer to that question is, not surprisingly, more of the same.

Fans of 2009's "Sherlock Holmes" will, no doubt, greet this sequel with jubilant hosannas.

Alas, I can't count myself among them.

You see, I have known, and loved, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes since my beloved Uncle Jody gave me "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" -- all four novels and 56 adventures -- for my 10th birthday. (I celebrated my 57th birthday last week, so you know how long I've been a devotee.)

And the smirky, insouciant Holmes who returns in "A Game of Shadows" -- embodied once again by Robert Downey Jr. -- bears frustratingly limited resemblance to Doyle's indelible literary creation.

Oh, he has his moments, to be sure. And many of those who know only Holmes' name, and fame, from these movies may find his action-packed adventures wildly diverting.

But it's as if somebody decided to make a Tarzan movie and outfitted the title character in a tutu before sending him tooling around the jungle on a Harley.

In short, I fail to see the point of making a movie about an established literary character that trashes its inspiration so thoroughly.

Perhaps if I liked the movie better, I wouldn't mind (so much) the liberties it takes with Sherlock Holmes or his Victorian-era environs. But I doubt it.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" folks had a much better approach: borrow the trappings of past pirate adventures, then create a new hero to romp about as he (and they) pleased.

Yet even those who adore Downey's Holmes may find the movie's cat-and-rat games too convoluted to bother following.

Which seems perfectly acceptable, considering how little interest the filmmakers have in constructing a coherent storyline in the first place.

At least they have a better villain this time around: that nefarious "Napoleon of Crime," Professor James Moriarty (smilingly arrogant Jared Harris), a distinguished Oxford mathematician whose mind is at least as facile as Holmes' own.

Having infiltrated high government circles, the well-connected Moriarty is busy behind the scenes, stirring up trouble all across Europe with the eager, if unwitting, assistance of assorted anarchists and revolutionaries.

Meanwhile, back in 1891 London, Holmes has a more pressing concern: distracting his faithful companion Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) from his rapidly approaching marriage to the fetching Mary (a feisty Kelly Reilly).

Indeed, the bromantic banter between Holmes and Watson -- and the lengths to which Holmes will go to drag Watson on one last adventure -- assume (too) much importance as director Guy Ritchie cranks "Game of Shadows" into gear.

Then again, that's what audiences have come to see.

Forget about tracking suspects or analyzing clues or any of that other deductive-reasoning detective nonsense that Doyle's Holmes used to practice so expertly; this Holmes prefers to demonstrate his martial-arts prowess, play master of disguise in a succession of humorously outlandish costumes and conduct avant-garde scientific experiments, at least one of which is destined to influence the denizens of "Pulp Fiction" a century later. (Such is life in the movie-centric universe this Holmes inhabits.)

Eventually, as it must, the game finally gets afoot, embroiling Holmes and Watson with enigmatic gypsy Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace , star of the original Swedish "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and its sequels), who's searching for her rabble-rousing revolutionary of a brother. Who just might be connected to Moriarty and his sharp-shooting chief enforcer, Col. Sebastian Moran (British TV veteran Paul Anderson).

Speaking of brothers, Holmes' brainy brother Mycroft (the delightfully deadpan Stephen Fry) reappears to advise the dynamic Holmes-Watson duo as they globe-trot from London to Paris and beyond, trading quips and dodging bullets (along with much higher-caliber weaponry) while Ritchie and screenwriters Kieran and Michele Mulroney put them through their paces.

True to form, Ritchie punctuates the proceedings with rapid-fire, slice-and-dice action, concentrating on deploying maximum special-effects firepower while Downey and Law trade rapid-fire ripostes en route to the final confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty.

That climax includes some at-long-last mental gymnastics that prove how well-matched these adversaries truly are -- or would be, if the rest of the movie had bothered to focus on their eventual clash-of-the-titans showdown.

But that would be too much like Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes for comfort.

As "Game of Shadows" makes all too clear, that Holmes isn't the guy this movie's about -- more's the pity.

Fa Xing
12-16-2011, 11:13 AM
French "stick" fighting is called Le Canne, not Savate, although traditional Savate guys do le canne techniques.

Savate means "old shoe" btw.

GeneChing
12-16-2011, 11:29 AM
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS: Elementary Wing Chun, Elementary (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1018)

We respect Downey for all he does for wing chun. As for this film...:(

doug maverick
12-16-2011, 09:34 PM
loved it...hands down better then the first, amazing action pieces...if you took, mission impossible, james bond, batman, and lethal weapon(or for this sites purposes rush hour) mixed them into a film and set in the late 1800s what you get is the wonderful world of sherlock holmes. i enjoyed it thoroughly... it even gives a nod to hero toward the end of the film. which i really liked and thought it was **** perfect for the characters involved.

Zenshiite
12-18-2011, 06:56 AM
Doug, it's cool that you mention Batman.... especially since Holmes was a major influence on Bob Kane creating Batman and the original purpose of Robin was to be Watson to Batman's Holmes(I'm sure they made him a kid so readers could put themselves in his shoes more readily). Personally, I want a Batman film that showcases his intellectual, detective side a bit and I'd love for it to have some of the Holmes-o-vision. Especially since that is something that happens in the comics so often.

Anyway, I can't wait to see this movie... and of course the added bonus of the theatrical trailer for The Dark Knight Rises with it. I'll be going to see it next week when the wife and I can relinquish the care of our kids to my parents for a couple hours.

I may be checking out Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in IMAX(the real deal, not digital) today primarily for the prologue to The Dark Knight Rises, but I hear that MI4 is actually really good.

doug maverick
12-18-2011, 11:11 AM
mi4 was shot in 70mm imax with actual imax camera the movie could be called tom cruise takes a **** and itll still be good, visually..lol

GeneChing
12-20-2011, 01:09 PM
hands down better then the first, amazing action pieces....
Really? I liked the first one better. The second one was too frantic for me.

doug maverick
12-21-2011, 02:08 AM
Really? I liked the first one better. The second one was too frantic for me.

i like frantic lol...let go somewhere and lets hurry up...film was over 2 hours and i didnt check the clock once...this film was rushed into production and to be honest i was expecting worse...wasnt expecting what i saw...they effectively made it action porn, but sophisticate action porn...this was 70s porn, action porn...lol. the comedy and the camaraderie (say bromance and its a beng chuan to the chest) between holmes and watson....and lets not forget how our girl noomi fit so easily into the action like she was born for it...she could have easily gotten lose between law and downey but she toughed it out. and then the "hero" moment between morarity and holmes made me think...how the **** else would that have gone down...however the chess game was a bit too cliche i hate seeing chess games in movies...i would have been much more happy if they would have thrown a rosh-omon (apparently kfm looks at ros ****n as a swear word..lol)moment in their where each mans scenerio played out in their heads, and they counter and check each others plans. that would have been much more gratifying...but i was satisfied...im just thanking the movie gods that a talent like guy ritchie wasnt lost. that him making rock n rolla got him back in the game. and cant wait to see what else he has coming down the pipeline.

GeneChing
12-22-2011, 10:42 AM
December 19, 2011, 1:01 PM ET
If Sherlock Holmes Can Come Back, Why Not Charlie Chan? (http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/12/19/if-sherlock-holmes-can-come-back-why-not-charlie-chan/?mod=google_news_blog)
Commentary By Jeff Yang

The next new “Sherlock Holmes” movie is out, and if you loved the first film, it’s more of what you loved — more slam-bang Victorian action, more whimsically anachronistic dialogue, more sly ****erotic innuendo and of course, more Robert Downey Jr. doing what he does best, which is to say, upend every convention of the action hero with Thorazine-smacked mania and tightrope-dancing wit. Also, Jude Law’s in it, doing his Jude Law thing, neither objectionable nor memorable — and rather eclipsed by more interesting turns from Jared Harris, Noomi Rapace and Stephen Fry (Stephen Fry!).

Of course, this isn’t a movie review column, so that’s as far as I’ll go in talking about the film, its plot and whether or not you should see it. (Maybe try Joe Morgenstern?) Instead, let me share a quick spoiler synopsis of the scene from “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” that precipitated my musings this week.

About ten minutes into the film, our hero Holmes, per his usual modus operandi, dons a disguise in order to freely observe and tail the object of his investigations, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams, briefly returning from the first film).

What’s startling here is the masquerade Holmes chooses — that of a pipe-puffing Chinese layabout, complete with long queue, Fu Manchu facial hair and pronounced squint. Though the costume isn’t presented as broad ethnic caricature, it’s still a bit of a blink-and-gulp moment for viewers aware of the long and uncomfortable tradition of racial mimicry in movies. Especially detective movies.

Because the most famous Asian gumshoe in the grand canon of Hollywood cinema is also the one most famously played by non-Asian actors: Charlie Chan, the rotund spouter of fortune-cookie wisdom portrayed onscreen in forty-odd feature films by the likes of Warner Oland, Sidney Toler and Roland Winters, all of them white guys wearing makeup very similar to Downey’s “Chinaman” outfit.

Now, to be clear, I don’t think the passing yellowface moment in “A Game of Shadows” is particularly offensive; there’s a context for it in the plot, and even if it’s played for laughs, well, so are all of Holmes’s fanciful disguises.

The reason I bring this up is because it actually raises an interesting question: If Sherlock Holmes can be resurrected and refreshed for a brand new generation…why not Charlie Chan?

You might think the comparison is laughable; Sherlock Holmes is a classic character, rooted in stories that stood the test of generations. Hollywood has produced dozens of film and television adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales. He’s a known quantity.

But Dan Lin, producer of the new Sherlock Holmes franchise, says that his idea to do a new take on the chronicles of 221-B Baker Street’s celebrated tenant initially met with broad skepticism. “We were pitching a period action film with actors speaking in British accents,” says Lin. “People didn’t think it would play with contemporary audiences.” Until, of course, they found out otherwise. The first Holmes film made half a billion dollars worldwide.

And believe it or not, Charlie Chan’s track record in Hollywood stands toe-to-toe with that of his British counterpart: Most of the 46 movies made in the ’30s and ’40s featuring the mild-mannered Hawaiian detective were huge box office successes. (According to New Yorker writer Jill Lepore, they were the primary engine keeping 20th Century Fox alive during the Great Depression.) Though Chan faded from the spotlight in the ’50s, two decades later, he was revived in the oddest of contexts: An animated Hanna-Barbera kids’ series called “The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan,” featuring a cartoon version of the detective and his ten crime-solving kids, which ran for two seasons on CBS in the early ’70s, and can still be seen in reruns today on the cable channel Boomerang.

So there’s no commercial reason to believe that Chan couldn’t make a comeback, given the right cast, director and revisionist reboot. The forces that have stopped prior attempts to reclaim this piece of Hollywood history aren’t economic, but political.

“There’s just one reason why Charlie Chan is still dead today, and that’s the history of yellowface,” says Yunte Huang, whose book “Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective” is a fascinating investigation into the history and real-life inspiration behind Earl Derr Biggers’s character. “Anyone who wants to bring him back hits that taboo. And that’s something that I argue with. I think we need an honest reckoning with America’s racist past, which is also very rich with creativity. Instead of suppressing it, you have to come to terms with it. How can we take these stories and do them in a better way today?”

The reinvention of Holmes offers a fascinating example of how that could happen.

“The thing we saw was that the original stories were really classic buddy-cop adventures that happened to be told in a period setting,” says Lin. “Holmes and Watson, [Lethal Weapon's] Riggs and Murtaugh, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That’s a classic setup for any generation — yin meets yang.”

Lin’s invocation of yin and yang calls out another interesting dimension in the new Holmes franchise: Its embrace of action choreography, visuals and even humor that have, well, a distinctively Asian flavor.

For example, Holmes is presented as an expert martial artist — and not in the quintessentially English “sweet science” of boxing, but in a distinctively Asian-inspired discipline, full of chops, kicks, throws and holds that wouldn’t be out of place in a dojo or octagon. There’s even a running device in the franchise that’s a direct homage to classic martial arts concepts, an artifice Lin refers to as “Holmes Vision,” in which Holmes imagines all of the options and consequences of a fight prior to it actually happening, mentally beating his opponent before the first move is made.

The antecedent to Holmes Vision can be seen onscreen in Zhang Yimou’s 2002 film “Hero,” in the incredible fight sequence between Jet Li’s Nameless and Donnie Yen’s Sky: The two masters stand motionless as they play out the eventual combat in their minds again and again, knowing that the first person forced to move has lost.

When these elements are called out, Lin is initially surprised. “I wouldn’t say that there’s been a conscious inspiration from Asian sources in the Holmes films,” he says. But then, on further consideration, he warms to the idea: “With [director] Guy Ritchie you have someone who’s immersed in pop culture, in graphic novels and in world cinema. And all of that is what shapes his work. The particular type of big action you see, the fighting styles he uses, you can definitely see that influence. And then there’s the theme behind the franchise, which is really brotherhood. That’s a fundamentally Asian theme: Fealty, fraternal loyalty, doing whatever you can to get your guy’s back. That’s right out of John Woo.”

Lin notes that even Holmes’s traditional characterization has some similarities to Asian stereotypes: “He’s depicted as being stoic, cerebral, emotionally reserved,” he says. “He’s intensely focused on his work, and he’s not interested in glory or credit, so his motivations are hard to understand.”

Huang goes one step further. “What makes Sherlock Holmes interesting — what makes any detective character interesting — is that he’s inscrutable,” he says. “That’s been a stigma for Asians, the idea that people don’t know what we’re thinking and that we’re impossible to understand. But for a movie sleuth, being mysterious and inscrutable is a strength, not a weakness.”

continued next post...

GeneChing
12-22-2011, 10:43 AM
So imagine a reinvented Charlie Chan — younger, leaner, rawer and primed for action; a Hawaiian Chinese cop shaped by the tradition and philosophy of his ancestors, but firmly embedded in American culture. Someone with humble beginnings (and the humility to remember them), who’s risen to his position as a top crimefighter through sheer wit, will and the ability to be tough when it counts and smooth when needed.

That’s a pretty fair description of the real-life “Charlie Chan” — Hawaiian police officer Chang Apana, whose career inspired Harvard-educated novelist Earl Derr Biggers to create his iconic P.I., although Biggers’s translation of Apana erased the original’s flamboyant personality and daredevil ways. (Apana often went out in disguise to root out drug dealers and gamblers, rode a stallion through town like a Wild West marshal, and wielded a mean rawhide bullwhip in his fight against the denizens of Honolulu’s dark underbelly.)

Huang says he’s fascinated by those contrasts, between the historical Chang and his fictional counterpart Chan — the hot-blooded real Asian and the mild-mannered faux one — and he’s found a like-minded collaborator in filmmaker Wayne Wang, who’s optioned Huang’s book for the silver screen.

“Wayne and I are co-writing the script,” says Huang. “We’ve been back and forth with a few drafts already. And what we want to do is tell the story of something that actually happened: The meeting between Chang Apana and Warner Oland, the Swedish-born actor who played Charlie Chan on the big screen.”

Huang and Wang are hoping to get Jack Nicholson for the role of Oland. “That’s our dream, and it’s a very real possibility,” says Huang. The film would reveal the real story of Apana, even as it revisited the history of the Hollywood version. But it wouldn’t be a biopic.

“There are documentary aspects, because we’re talking about real human beings here,” says Huang. “But really, we see it more as a buddy film.”

Making a film that people will actually want to see, as opposed to a dry historical document, is critical, he says. “We want to do this right, because we probably only get one chance. If we can’t do it right this time, Charlie Chan really will be completely dead.”

Huang points out that the film that launched Wayne Wang’s directorial career was titled “Chan Is Missing”: “So doing this movie is really a full circle for him. Forty years later, he wants to say, Chan Is Back.”

***

Though Charlie Chan is the most iconic Asian sleuth in the annals of detective fiction, he’s not the only one. The success of Biggers’s best-selling books spawned imitators, most notably John Marquand’s Japanese detective Mr. Moto and Hugh Wiley’s “gentlemanly Oriental” snoop Mr. Wong. Both of these characters were brought to the silver screen in successful film franchises, with white actors cast in the lead: Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto, and Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong.

Interestingly, the first three Charlie Chan films actually starred Asian actors — Japanese Americans George Kuwa and Kamayama Sojin played Chan in 1926’s “The House Without a Key” and 1927’s “The Chinese Parrot,” and Korean American E.L. Park played him in the third outing, 1929’s “Behind That Curtain.” All three did middling business.

It was only when Warner Oland debuted his eyelid-taped, fake-goateed Chan that the series became a box-office sensation, making Hollywood gun-shy of casting actual Asians to play Asian roles for the next three decades. Though the rapid growth of the Asian American population and the rise of the civil rights movement began to make the practice more rare by the Sixties, the last Charlie Chan film to see production — 1981’s “Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen” — starred Peter Ustinov.

Given that track record, it’s understandable that producers have wary about a reboot. “A Charlie Chan project has been in development at Fox for years,” says Dan Lin. Individuals rumored to be considered as a next-gen Chan have included Russell Wong of “Joy Luck Club” fame, and Lucy Liu (going from “Charlie’s Angels” to gender-flipped Charlie).

As for me, I’d like to see someone revive “The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan,” which I still have fond memories of from childhood. Chu-chu the dog! The Chan Clan Band! The Chan Clan Mystery Van! Smartass tomboy Anne Chan (who, bizarrely enough, was voiced by a young Jodie Foster)! Someone make it happen!

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972) - Intro (Opening) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DSLB2K3FPRw)

doug maverick
12-22-2011, 11:06 AM
why does he have to be hawaiian chinese? lol actually there was an idea of doing this with lucy liu but it got scrapped, this was just after kill bill 2.

mickey
12-22-2011, 12:26 PM
doug maverick,

You wrote that I was some kind of perve a few years ago and, yet, YOU ARRIVE, all by yourself, with the term "action porn"? What is wit dat my Brother? You even had to add the period, 1970's, to it. I was told that was the adult cinematic world of unshaved beava. Then, YES!! YESS!!!! I MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!

The first MA flick that paralleled porn for me and others in terms of pacing was Fist of Legend.


mickey

Hebrew Hammer
12-22-2011, 01:16 PM
why does he have to be hawaiian chinese? lol actually there was an idea of doing this with lucy liu but it got scrapped, this was just after kill bill 2.

I would LOVE to do it with Lucy Liu myself...she is soo freaking sexy.

Sorry, I digress...I think I just need some alone time.

Lucas
12-22-2011, 01:33 PM
I would LOVE to do it with Lucy Liu myself...she is soo freaking sexy.

Sorry, I digress...I think I just need some alone time.

bawang has tips for you

GeneChing
12-22-2011, 01:33 PM
Cung Le was telling me how he was supposed to fight Russell Crowe, but the scene was nixed. He was bummed until he was told he was to fight Lucy Liu instead. He says its a good fight. I think I'll be too envious to enjoy it. But I digress. This should really go on the MwtIF thread (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51430).

Hebrew Hammer
12-22-2011, 01:46 PM
This begs the question who's sexier? Michelle Yeoh or Lucy Liu? Hmmmmm

sanjuro_ronin
12-22-2011, 01:49 PM
This begs the question who's sexier? Michelle Yeoh or Lucy Liu? Hmmmmm

Only a taste test can answer that question.

Lucas
12-22-2011, 01:50 PM
lucy is. michelle would beat her ass though.

Lucas
12-22-2011, 01:50 PM
Only a taste test can answer that question.

lol thats probably the best way to find out for sure. we'd probably all have to convene after testing things out to hold it to a vote.

sanjuro_ronin
12-22-2011, 01:50 PM
lucy is. michelle would beat her ass though.

Now that's hot.

Lucas
12-22-2011, 01:51 PM
Now that's hot.

even hotter if they were fighting over 'me'! :eek:

Hebrew Hammer
12-22-2011, 01:52 PM
bawang has tips for you

Who do you think taught Bawang to scratch his balls in public? Me that's who.

Lucas
12-22-2011, 02:13 PM
I am bow down before you!!

sanjuro_ronin
12-22-2011, 02:20 PM
I am bow down before you!!

Not the position you wanna be in...

doug maverick
12-22-2011, 03:29 PM
http://www.cnet.com/i/bto/20080908/Thread-Offtopic-Derailed.jpg

mickey
12-22-2011, 03:49 PM
doug maverick,

You derailed this thread with that new phrase: Action Porn. You ain't innocent here. Just the mention of that "p" word starts hormones flying amongst the geriatric here. And you added their prime era: the 1970's.


mickey

Shaolinlueb
12-22-2011, 09:21 PM
some one say porn?

Hebrew Hammer
12-22-2011, 09:57 PM
some one say porn?

LOLOL...thanks I needed a laugh at work.

Hebrew Hammer
12-30-2011, 02:21 AM
I finally caught this film last weekend. It's actually only the second movie I saw in a theater this year. The first was the atrocious Conan, a movie I saw out of loyalty with low expectations that were actually exceeded.

For me, the first half of the movie had that same kind of charisma that the original had, witty, good banter, and some action...then the movie just kind of went into a doldrums...regaining some momentum towards the end. Overall enjoyable but second fiddle to Sherlock Holmes one.

My experience was probably also influenced by this lady sitting behind me who spent 20 mins fumbling with her candy wrappers and then kept leaning forward and blowing her nose through out the film, so close that it felt like she was gonna spray the back of my neck.

I used to be an avid movie goer for years...in the last couple of years I've only attended one or two films at the theater. The only real attraction is the IMAX 3D experience. American movies are just completely unimaginative, unoriginal, remakes and sequels. Everything is about special effects and cookie cutter success plans. The executives are afraid to be daring, bold, original. I've since become mostly a Foreign films fan and watch cable tv programs like Dexter, 6ft Under, The Shield, Game of Thrones, etc...they are the daring original programs that Hollywood should be. Great characters, dialogues and story lines.

Fa Xing
12-30-2011, 05:23 PM
My wife, brother, and I went to see it last night. We all liked it, my brother never saw the first one, but found it enjoyable after the beginning.

There was definitely more Wing Chun in this one than the first. I did wonder a little bit about the accuracy of the modern weaponry they showed for the time period, but I'm a little nerdy like that.

HH, we had this guy who was laughing at the stupidest moments, and would not sit back in his chair; it was a little irritating.

Yum Cha
01-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Anybody seen the two Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr?

I liked the fight choreography, thought it was an interesting and fresh approach.

Any word on Robert Downey Jr. having in real skills?

RonBlair
01-05-2012, 02:25 PM
Anybody seen the two Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr?

I liked the fight choreography, thought it was an interesting and fresh approach.

Any word on Robert Downey Jr. having in real skills?

You dont have to have skills to do movie fu. It's all done slow and then sped up in editing. Or in the case of the Sherlock Holmes movies it is slowed down. Do you think everyone in lord of the rings has skill wielding swords? No. It's acting.

MasterKiller
01-05-2012, 02:35 PM
RD Jr studies Wing Chun and has for a while.

Chadderz
01-05-2012, 02:35 PM
They are very cool! Up there with my favourites!I heard Downey practices JJJ.

RonBlair
01-05-2012, 02:38 PM
RD Jr studies Wing Chun and has for a while.

He did tan da while fighting for money in the first movie.

wenshu
01-05-2012, 02:42 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4R--Wlushc

http://www.lawingchun.com/oram.html

SPJ
01-05-2012, 06:33 PM
1. saw the second movie last saturday.

it was too fast in plots replay

over all a good movie.

2. I was more interested in the bomb blast to cover the sniper fire.

artillery from watson against sniper gun on the watch tower or light tower.

indeed not fair

3. SH camoflage as sofa was hilarious

4. the train splitted in half from the blast.

my point is that fighting against boxing from professor was a very small part in the movie.

5. like the umbrella as a staff against knife from the assasin

6. chargin that the girl friend died of instant TB

---

:)

Yum Cha
01-06-2012, 10:24 PM
He did tan da while fighting for money in the first movie.

Looked just like clipped together stills to me Ron, done slow and played fast. Where you some up with that idea??

doug maverick
01-07-2012, 12:53 PM
You dont have to have skills to do movie fu. It's all done slow and then sped up in editing. Or in the case of the Sherlock Holmes movies it is slowed down. Do you think everyone in lord of the rings has skill wielding swords? No. It's acting.

as someone who has worked in the movie industry for about 10 years, has done stunt work, directing editing etc...im gonna tell you right now that you are wrong....so wrong it hurts...first movements are not done slow and then sped up, they are done at normal speed so the camera can catch the movements properly. second bob anderson who was the fight choreagrapher trained the actors for nearly a year before going into production. not to mention all the stunt doubles involved...its not acting its actuality. the acting part is the reactions to getting hit etc. you need skill and talent to pull it off...and i dont mean being a great martial arts guy, because thats not always the case.

doug maverick
01-07-2012, 04:04 PM
Anybody seen the two Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr?

I liked the fight choreography, thought it was an interesting and fresh approach.

Any word on Robert Downey Jr. having in real skills?

he's trained wing chun for some years now.