Good Movie: Ip Man
So I've written a lot about movies lately, which is because of equal parts of "I'm lame" and "I watch a lot of movies." But here's another one:
Ip Man was a great movie. It is the not-quite-biographical story of the real-life Yip Man, the Chinese martial arts master who would go on to train Bruce Lee in Wing Chun. I say "not quite" because, as a modern legend, I'm sure there is a lot of myth and exaggerations that are played up in the film.
Nevertheless, a good story. And, unlike many martial arts movies that are just a string of fight scenes with a weak plot linking them together (not that I don't have a fondness for those, too), the story itself was solid and interesting. That said, it did have one of the best movie fight scenes I've ever seen. Maybe you can find it on Youtube or something; it's the one where Ip Man fights 10 Japanese men at once (ps - if you do find it, post the link here). We may have woken our neighbours with our involuntary squeals of shock and awe watching it last night.
And Donnie Yen, who has long established himself as a quality actor and martial artist, did wonderful. I think he was very well cast, for both the fights and the character. Of course the martial arts was excellent, but I was especially impressed with how, playing the part of a reserved man, he communicated so well in many scenes with his expressions and glances alone, where a lesser actor would have needed spoken lines or narration to be as clear. Such a subtle thing, but really great.
If you have even a mild interest in martial arts films, I recommend it.
Yip Man seems to be a bit popular right now, as I've noticed there is not only a sequal coming out this year (with Donnie Yen) but Wong Kar-Wai is also doing a movie on him starring Tony Leung. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I am a big fan of Wong Kar-Wai and have a celebrity-crush on Tony Leung but that just seems very bizarre to me. Leung doesn't seem like good casting to me. And Wong Kar-Wai for a historical drama? That strikes me as weird as if Michael Bay made a romance movie.
Edit: Video of the aforementioned fight scene. OHMYGODOHDANG.
Ip Man was a great movie. It is the not-quite-biographical story of the real-life Yip Man, the Chinese martial arts master who would go on to train Bruce Lee in Wing Chun. I say "not quite" because, as a modern legend, I'm sure there is a lot of myth and exaggerations that are played up in the film.
Nevertheless, a good story. And, unlike many martial arts movies that are just a string of fight scenes with a weak plot linking them together (not that I don't have a fondness for those, too), the story itself was solid and interesting. That said, it did have one of the best movie fight scenes I've ever seen. Maybe you can find it on Youtube or something; it's the one where Ip Man fights 10 Japanese men at once (ps - if you do find it, post the link here). We may have woken our neighbours with our involuntary squeals of shock and awe watching it last night.
And Donnie Yen, who has long established himself as a quality actor and martial artist, did wonderful. I think he was very well cast, for both the fights and the character. Of course the martial arts was excellent, but I was especially impressed with how, playing the part of a reserved man, he communicated so well in many scenes with his expressions and glances alone, where a lesser actor would have needed spoken lines or narration to be as clear. Such a subtle thing, but really great.
If you have even a mild interest in martial arts films, I recommend it.
Yip Man seems to be a bit popular right now, as I've noticed there is not only a sequal coming out this year (with Donnie Yen) but Wong Kar-Wai is also doing a movie on him starring Tony Leung. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I am a big fan of Wong Kar-Wai and have a celebrity-crush on Tony Leung but that just seems very bizarre to me. Leung doesn't seem like good casting to me. And Wong Kar-Wai for a historical drama? That strikes me as weird as if Michael Bay made a romance movie.
Edit: Video of the aforementioned fight scene. OHMYGODOHDANG.