22nd Feb2012

Final Trailer for New Dragon Inn

by kmiller

February 24th is right around the corner, and one final trailer has been released to remind everyone of New Dragon Inn. For those that haven’t heard yet, New Dragon Inn is actually a remastered version of Dragon Inn, with new audio and visual treatment. If you want to know how good a 10 year old movie can look , check out this trailer below:

I gotta admit, a lot of attention was given to the transfer. While I was skeptical as to why they felt this was necessary, I remembered we do it in the states all the time. If movies like Titanic and Star Wars are getting re-released, why not a Wuxia classic?

It will be interesting to see how the public responds, as I’m sure it will be either very favorable or negative, and different markets have different trends.I’d love to see more remakes in theaters just so I can relive the magic and show younger generations what these movies used to look like (why do I sound old now?)

16th Feb2012

Martial Arts Classics Get Some New Attention

by kmiller

Sometimes I focus on new movies so much I forget about movies that helped shaped the genre into what it is today. You may remember me talking about the re-release of Dragon Inn last week, and now there are some retouched images as well as a new poster.

Now, these images look really good for a movie that came out back in 1992. I’m not sure how many people will flock to the theaters to see the same movie with better visuals and sound, but I guess Star Wars is doing it, so why not?

I’d also like to link this video that has been provided thanks to ReelEastHK, which is an alternate cut for Jet Li’s Hero. It is the fight between Jet and Donnie, but there are some extra angles and poses for those enthusiasts out there. I’m not sure how Bey Logan got ahold of this clip, but I’m really hoping he keeps putting out little snippets like this when he gets them.

Hero Alternate Fight

Sometimes these films get forgotten, so it’s nice to look back at some of these and remember how awesome they are. It’s been over 7 years since I’ve seen Hero myself, I think it’s due time I give it another watch!

08th Feb2012

Dragon Inn Gets Remastered and the Sword Identity Gets Posters (Plus a Game Trailer)

by kmiller

So I’ve come across a couple interesting bits of information today. The first one is that Dragon Inn is getting remastered. It’s getting brand new visuals and sound effects, but the movie itself is the same. For those that haven’t seen it, it stars Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, and Tony Leung.

You can see the promotional clip here:

New Dragon Gate will be out on Feb 24th.

Next up are some poster images for the Sword Identity. It’s been a while since I got to talk about this movie, so I’m glad to know it’s still alive and kicking. It’s also coming out on the 24th, so that looks like it will be a good day for action fans.

I’m not too sure what I think about this movie yet, but I know there are plenty of people getting excited for it. I’ll wait a little longer until a new trailer comes out to make my decision.

Lastly, I get to talk about video games! It’s pretty rare for me to get to do so, but I do find enjoyment in playing games from time to time. Those of you that play may remember a series called True Crime. Well, Square Enix decided to change the name to Sleeping Dogs, getting people talking with this trailer here:

Sleeping Dogs Trailer

So, what does this trailer have to do with martial arts (besides being awesome?) It was choreographed by Darren Shahlavi. You may know him as Kano from Mortal Kombat Rebirth or as Twister from Ip Man 2.

Either way, the fight is amazing and Square Enix did the right thing by asking him to work on the trailer. Now, if only the game can live up to the expectations that Darren created.