The Dark Knight – 2008

Christopher Nolan is in a class with some of the greatest directors. His ability to do character studies on a large scale is nothing short of masterful. One of the best films he made is Thr Dark Knight, which blew all other Batman films out of the water. Nolan took one of the most famous […]

The Villainess – 2017

South Korea has turned out a lot of great action films, most recently a revenge thriller called The Villainess. The film follows a pregnant widow who, after taking out a building full of criminals, is recruited into a secret agency of assassins. The film makes a lot of turns and finds her being hunted by […]

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – 2017

There is a certain nostalgia attached to all Robin Williams films. The number of lives affected by him is innumerable and each film he made was unique, none more so than Jumanji. But as with all films, there has come the inevitable moment where Hollywood has felt compelled to make a sequel to a film […]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – 2000

It’s hard to know if Crouching Tiger is a tribute to the martial arts or an attempt to top them all. Either way, it succeeds. Ang Lee crafts a masterpiece here and it amplified an obscure genre of Asian cinema into the best film of the year. Fight scenes are like dances and they require […]

Subgenre: Wuxia Film

Wuxia As I explore San Francisco, home of the illustrious Chinatown, I consider the contributions of Hong Kong and Taiwan to world cinema. One of the most prominent film styles used by Chinese filmmakers is the Wuxia film. There is a lot to love and appreciate about these films and their place in cinema in […]

The Assassin – 2015

The Wuxia genre is fairly commonplace in Chinese cinema. The Assassin is a pretty standard martial arts film, but it offers some interesting filming techniques. Hou Hsiao-hsien uses minimal action and minimal dialogue, but his story tells an interesting tale nonetheless. He films through windows and entryways. He plants the camera and waits for the action […]