If you’re an action movie fan then you’ve probably seen or heard of Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. The Thai movie was a balls-to-the-wall action fest with some of the most inventive fighting choreography to be seen in such a long time. Ong Bak did not rely on the already established and very popular Chinese fighting or martial arts choreography. What it gave action movie fans are cool hand to hand combat scenes and acrobatics that didn’t rely on camera tricks, CGI or even wire-fu. This was the freshest looking action movie to come out in quite a long time. The movie would not have been successful though if not for the amazing fight skills and talents of its lead star Tony Jaa. [Read more…]
Greengrass walks away from fourth Bourne movie
The Bourne series of action movies is noteworthy for being one of the few intelligent products that have come out of Hollywood. It’s a cerebral series of action movies that pay close attention to plot and acting as much as to action setpieces. After a contentious production for Bourne Identity because star Matt Damon and director Doug Liman couldn’t see eye-to-eye, which still resulted in a quality movie, the series really began to hit its stride when Paul Greengrass assumed the director’s chair for Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum.
With plans for a fourth Bourne movie underway, everything was running smoothly, until news came out that Greengrass has reportedly “walked away” from the sequel. This will put the production of the fourth movie in jeopardy because Matt Damon is extremely close to Greengrass and this could make Damon decide to leave the production as well as a show of solidarity with his friend.
The problem seems to have originated from the producers’ decision to hire another writer to work on another script when the first script by George Nolfi (who wrote Bourne Ultimatum) was not universally liked. Greengrass seems to have taken exception for not being consulted in hiring the new new writer.
With the new Bourne movie looking like it’s in limbo, it will be a few more years before we see another intelligent action movie coming out of Hollywood. Believe me, Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables, one of the hotly anticipated action movies in production, won’t win any awards for cinematic intelligence.
The Playlist does add that walking away might be a “typical Paul move” and that he possibly could be back on the project in a few months.
Transformers BD, DVD due October 20
The most badly reviewed but one of the biggest earning movies of 2009 is Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. I think the movie is a piece of crap. But, weirdly enough, I am still looking forward to buying the Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen Blu-ray when it gets released on October 20 (blame my five year old son who absolutely loved the movie).
The Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen two-disc Blu-ray and DVD editions will have more than three hours of comprehensive special features that will give viewers a wonderful view of the world of Transformers. Aside from the by-now requisite commentary, expect a documentary of the making of the movie that covers all of its aspects — from conceptualization to special effects to coordination with the US military. There are also multi-angle breakdowns of pivotal scenes, which budding directors will surely appreciate.