March 2010

  • Tony Jaa: The Top Shelf of Martial Arts Cinema

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    I didn't really understand martial arts movies until I saw a "making of" feature of one of Jackie Chan's dazzling 1990's productions. In it, Chan boiled down his creative process to the kernels of individual fight sequences, explaining that he usually gets ideas for fight choreography before he comes up with a story to justify his set pieces. I firmly believe that this shouldn't be taken as a shallow, substance-free approach to film making. Honestly, it seems more genuine and focused to build a story around a cool fight than to try to shoehorn cool fights into an existing story. That in mind, the work of martial artist/stunt man Tony Jaa and his collaborator Prachya Pinkaew is essential to modern action cinema.



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  • The Bubble

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    More from MitchellMore from Mitchell
    Ooh, another BBC show starring David Mitchell. That's certainly something worth keeping an eye on, right? The show in question is The Bubble and it features the aforementioned comedian as the host of the show. It started its run on February 19th and is a four part show that will run until the 12th of March.

    The show itself is an interesting concept. You grab hold of three celebrities and keep them in an isolated spot for four days. Well, it's not so much isolated as cut off from any new sources. Thus, these guys will be blissfully unaware of what was happening in the world when they were holed up in that location. Hence, you know, the title 'The Bubble'. Boy, I'd hate to be these guys if there was a zombie take-over of the country and they were uninformed of evacuation notices.

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  • Russell Howard's Good News

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    Russell Howard's Good NewsRussell Howard's Good News
    If you are familiar with Mock the Week, then you're already familiar with Russell Howard, a comedian who is a regular on that show. Well, if you love his brand of humor, be sure to check out Russell Howard's Good News.

    RHGN is news satire show that started out in October 2009. Like other shows of the genre, this one examines various news that have been making headlines and, more often than not, makes you laugh about its (sometimes unintentionally) weird little aspects. Incidentally, the show is coming back for a second season later this year.

    The show itself is divided into several sections which include Sports, Politics and Law and Order. Other sections are usually feel-good stories from the news as well as cutesy ones about little kids.

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