The Wolverines, 24 Years Later
John Plotz re-watches Red Dawn and sees a different movie: “Red Dawn did not conjure up the chest-swelling patriotism I felt as a 14-year-old. Instead, it turned out to be disturbing in an entirely unexpected way.”
Beggar So, Zhao Wen-Zhou and Chiu Man-Chuk
Chiu Man-Chuk aka Zhao Wen-Zhou is playing drunken Taoist folk hero Beggar So in Yuen Woo-Ping’s True Legend. Colin at Kung Fu Fridays has more, including some reminiscences about Chiu Man-Chuk and a very cool anti-poaching ad at the bottom.
Presidential Futurism
Slate surveys African-American presidents in tv and film–with clips! Salon looks at “Black Presidents We Have Known,” looking at DW Griffith, the year 2228, Sammy Davis, Jr. and 24 along the way. Meanwhile, Io9 urges you to choose Nixon as your dystopian president. (updated!)
Italian Spiderman
Italian Spiderman: now my new favorite thing ever, too. (Thanks, John!)
Missing the Point in Ashes of Time
Grady Hendrix writes about missing the point in martial arts and action movies, especially Ashes of Time: “Character, dialogue and subtext are important parts of the moviegoing experience, but there’s another more primal language that’s harder to parse and that’s the language of action.”
Another Asian (Stealth) Western
“I’ve been on the road so long. I want a home.” My favorite trailer for Johnnie To’s stealth Western, Exiled.
The Cultural Gutter 