European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 24, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 scene stars and stripes june 2007 Kung fun 101 an Intro with plenty of kick o 05 c in 0 j 5 go o d do the words Yuxia eyebrows mean anything to you no like youre a Kung fun neophyte who Doest know the difference Between Gordon Liu and Jimmy Wang and for whom the phrase Monkey style most emphatically does not conjure up images of fight then the quartet of classic martial arts films recently released might not be for then we might be exactly the target Audi ence for the on armed swordsman King Boxer five fingers of the 36th chamber of shaolin 1978 and my Young auntie taken this carefully chosen lineup of films from the Golden age of martial arts Cinema offers a crash course in the history of the Shaw the legendary production company formed by Hong Kong producers run run and Rune whose shield shaped so logo glimpsed at the beginning of Quentin Tiranti nos kill 1 As an insider homage is considered the hallmark of martial arts Yuxia by the refers to the elaborately up swept brow line forming a permanent if you whose roots can be traced to Chi Nese opera that is the trademark of Many charac ters in films of the Yuxia a subgenre of martial arts storytelling often involving dont look to these dds for that although film scholar David Chute drops the term in the commentary track for never the Otic Akmon Wordsman explicitly defines chutes fellow commentators in the series critics Andy Klein and Elvis the Zutang clans Ria and a delightfully profane Tarantino himself provide a mix of erudition and As it turns the crazy eyebrows Are but one of Many conventions on display in these each of which is paradigmatic in its own Way swordsman represents the influence of japanese Samurai culture on chinese Cinema Boxer was the first Hong Kong martial arts released widely in the United states shaolin introduced the culture of Kung fun monastic training that would ultimately become a extending even to to including the current Xiaolin and auntie is one of the not infrequent mixes of action and Broad whats perhaps most perplexing to us Kung fun nonbelievers is How beloved the idioms quirks some times seem to longtime from listening to the disks for i Learned that each of the following features any one of which might be considered a glitch in another film is viewed with great affection by diehard fans As in the Case of the aforementioned Wang a swimmer turned actor whose performance As the titular on armed swordsman is bluntly assessed by Chute and badly translated As in the following Exchange from in Hong Kong there Are you mean Mousy Are cheesy Gerald Mcboy ingoing sound effects in action sequences to use Mitchells colourful phrase not to mention All the music lifted wholesale from Hollywood the exaggerated arterial spew accompanying death scenes in such films As King Boxer created by breaking a condom filled with stage Taran Tino mistakes in As when a bowl of Rice carried by shaolin Star Liu turns from Sticky to soupy in one so Why the great love for this stuff to Tell you the the cinematography is often even when shot against whats obviously a Matte it looks Good because of rather than despite its studio born and the stories of righteous at least As evidenced by these four Are compellingly new on did Reno 911 Miami the demented Law upholders from Reno the spoof of the reality show take their Raunchy ways to the big the movie version sends the pistol packing uniformed gang to Miami for a police where a quarantine of the local cops puts our dubious heroes out of the Florida streets to serve and otherwise cause the movie is available in the rated theatrical release or in an unrated extras on both versions include commentary with director Robert Garant and the who also offer commentary for deleted the unrated version has More extended plus a series of mock Public service announcements and two More commentary tracks by some of the actors in miss Potter Renee Ewan 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