Category: Action
Hong Kil Dong: The Ironic and the Indestructible
At a recent Melbourne International Film Festival screening of North Korea’s little seen gem, Hong Kil Dong (1986), one attendee enthusiastically declared to the entire cinema that it was the best film he’d ever seen. His statement was not delivered without irony, but he still meant it. The story, so far as it goes, is…
Shattered Masculinities: Muscular pulp and feminine tears
There is something incredibly fascinating about images of shattered masculinity on the big screen. The notion of testosterone fuelled hyper-men imploding into impotent puddles of muscular pulp and feminine tears seems to have fuelled the popular imagination of filmgoers since the medium’s earliest beginnings – most especially in the United States. It seems that, even…
Casino Royale(s): The Forgotten Bonds
Thought Sean Connery was the first James Bond? In honour of the recent release of Skyfall, here are a couple of Bond films that you may not know about. Casino Royal (1954) The first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel goes all the way back to 1954, when CBS decided to create a television…
Dirty Harry: The quiet apologies of Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood has always been a paradoxical guy. Throughout his entire life he has presented himself as a bizarre point of convergence for seemingly contradictory liberal and conservative ideals. He is a man whose cinematic endeavours have oscillated between almost fascistic or misogynistic perspectives (High Plains Drifter, The Beguiled) and seemingly progressive views on the…
Haiku Ode to Action Cinema: Poetry on Screen
Haiku gives respect Action films elevated Ten classic movies RoboCop Resurrected man Visions of a life now gone The name is Murphy Terminator Tech-noir nightmare art Hell arrives from the future Harlan Ellison Predator Invisible beast Screaming souls in the jungle Ugly mother-fu… Out for Justice Seagal talks Brooklish Anybody seen Richie? Excess violence…