Word: kung
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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James Wong, the director of Final Destination, demonstrates true artistic flair with his direction of The One. Additionally, he wisely eschews the usual clichés that seem to dog many American-made, Hong Kong-styled movies. The tired “kung-fu hip hop” of Rush Hour and Romeo Must Die is thankfully absent, with the actors essaying roles and not racial caricatures. There are no Ebonics or broken accents found here. Nor does he fall into the trap of simply repeating what came before. For example, countless other films from Reservoir Dogs to Kiss...
Ishii created the K-1 Grand Prix, an ultimate fighting tournament in which expert practitioners of such disciplines as karate, kick boxing, kung fu, kempo, kakutogi and tae kwon do duke it out to determine which "K" martial art reigns supreme. It's a lot like Iron Chef, with humans taking the pounding as opposed to the veal cutlets...
...office success of Chinese kung-fu movies has in turn revived kalarippayat. Indian filmmakers, hoping to mimic the high-kicking fights and gravity-defying leaps in Jet Li's Romeo Must Die and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, are hiring kalarippayat fighters and teachers like Kumar as stuntmen. They're even making sure Bollywood stars have basic training. "Even five years ago, Kerala martial arts had nearly died out," says Kumar, who with his two brothers runs C.V.N. Kalari Sangham in Calicut, among the best known schools in the country. "Now suddenly it is popular again...
...China's Ge You (known for To Live), Hong Kong's Rosamund Kwan (Once Upon a Time in China) and Hollywood's gravel-voiced perennial Donald Sutherland. Backed by the might of Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, Big Shot will try to do a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon without kung fu, swirling costumes or any of the standard chinoiserie?and on a measly $5 million budget...
...part, Columbia's intention is for Big Shot to appeal to even more than that massive audience, hoping that a Chinese film?even without fancy costumes or kung-fu kicks?will succeed overseas. "Modern China may have Starbucks, but it's still a fascinating place," says Sutherland, who plays a Western director coming to grips with the mysteries of the Middle Kingdom. Filmed in Beijing's august Forbidden City, Big Shot critiques the consumerism sweeping the capital today. "Xiaogang captures the hilarious and tragic contradictions of Chinese society," says his star, "like no one else...