Category — Martial Arts

It’s official (well, in the news anyway), Japanese women are hard, and give new emphasis to girl-power.

Italian soldiers are facing the embarrassment of being beaten up daily by a 77-year-old Japanese grandmother.

Martial arts expert Keiko Wakabayshi, nicknamed the “Samurai Granny“, has been hired by the country’s military to train recruits in hand-to-hand combat.

Miss Wakabayshi, who stands exactly 5ft tall, looks tiny compared to her charges who are mostly over 6ft.

But the pensioner is a trained master in an array of martial arts disciplines including jujitsu, jojitso, kenjitso, judo, kendo and karate.

More on the Telegraph

Via WeirdAsiaNews

Technorati Tags: Japan, Japanese woman, jojitso, judo, jujitsu, karate, Keiko Wakabayshi, kendo, kenjitso, martial arts, Samurai Granny

Here are a couple of trailers for a new film called “Wushu” due to be released in China this month. It’s produced by Jackie Chan and stars Sammo Hung among a young cast of unknown, but highly skilled real life martial artists.

Any fans of Wushu - particularly the competitive, modern variety, will recognise some routines from these trailers. But as a sport that focuses on the athlete’s visual technique, this might appeal to alot of people to watch.

From TwitchFilm.net:

Jackie Chan is on board as a producer for the picture, Sammo Hung starring in a key role, and both are no doubt perfectly aware that they are no longer young and that, with a couple of key exceptions, there simply is no younger generation ready to step in to the sorts of martial arts roles that the pair of them built their legendary careers on.  And so they are making Wushu, a film that celebrates actual martial arts while using their very famous names to leverage some attention for a young generation of very skilled fighters.

Shot in an actual martial arts school in mainland China using authentic fighters the film is a drama about a skilled fighter switching disciplines in hopes of catching the attention of a girl.  There’s no real flash here, no over the top brutality, instead the film is designed to showcase actual training techniques and actual fighting skills.  And no doubt about it, these guys are good.

TwitchFilm.net

Technorati Tags: China, film, Jackie Chan, martial arts, Sammo Hung, Wushu, wushu

Sumo wrestlers fight during the Berlin-Basho Sumo Open tournament in Berlin, Germany, on April 12, 2008.

Via Activate.us

Technorati Tags: Berlin-Basho Sumo Open tournament, sumo

I’ve only just noticed the official website for Jet Li and Jackie Chan’s new film Forbidden Kingdom.

The trailer is an updated one from the version we previously posted about and it now looks quite good! Check out the site for yourself at…

Visit the official Forbidden Kingdom website

Technorati Tags: film, Forbidden Kingdom, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, martial arts

We were lucky enough to get a preview copy of Donnie Yen’s latest film Flashpoint, which has just been released on DVD.

We mentioned it previously here and you can catch a trailer of it here.

This film is the third teaming of director Wilson Yip and action director, fight choreographer and star Donnie Yen (following their previous collaborations on Dragon Tiger Gate and S.P.L.).

Flashpoint brings the thrill of ‘back to basics‘ realism and full contact combat to the martial arts genre with Yen fully exploiting his recently developed interest in Mixed Martial Arts, the fighting style pioneered by the late, great Bruce Lee.

Its been awhile since I’ve seen a decent martial arts flick and this is one I can recommend. The pace seems to be enhanced by Wilson Yip’s camera direction which provides a bit more clarity and innovation than usually seen in films like this.

Used similarly in Dragon Tiger Gate for instance, is the overhead shot, beginning with the camera following the triads in a field full of tall grass, at ground level, and then suddenly shooting upwards to reveal their relative positions.

The rawness and energy also reminds me of Tony Jaa’s Ong Bak, albeit set in  almost modern Hong Kong.

The film is packed from the start with nail-biting tension, full-on contact Mixed Martial Arts fight sequences and plenty of cool John Woo-style gunplay.

Flashpoint builds to a breathtaking 20-minute hand-to-hand combat set piece involving Donnie Yen and Collin Chou (The Matrix Revolutions; The Matrix Reloaded; Jet Li’s Fearless). Lots of raw impact and dusty explosions!

Flashpoint (cert. 15) was released as a Special Collector’s Double Disc Edition (£16.99) by Showbox Home Entertainment/Cine Asia on 31st March 2008.

Special Features include: original language Cantonese version with English subtitles; Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio tracks; making of feature; interview gallery; shooting diary; Ultimate Fighters (Mixed Martial Arts) feature; Hong Kong Gala Premiere feature; deleted scenes; theatrical trailer and teaser; TV spots and including an exclusive extended interview with Donnie Yen.

Technorati Tags: Donnie Yen, film, Flash Point, martial arts, mixed martial arts, Wilson Yip

Japan’s champion Yutaka Niida reacts after defeating challenger Jose Luis Varela from Venezuela at the World Boxing Association (WBA) minimum-weight title bout in Tokyo, Japan on March 1, 2008.

Via Activate.us

Technorati Tags: boxing, Japan, martial arts, Tokyo

Here’s a nice little collection of clips from some of martial arts film star, Jet Li’s back catalogue. If you’ve seen most of these films, its good to see them again for a bit of nostalgia.

Via AsianPopcorn

Technorati Tags: China, film, Hong Kong, Jet Li, martial arts

Just came across this amusing trailer for a forthcoming animated film called Kung Fu Panda. It’s distinguishable angle is that it uses animals to depict animal kung fu styles.. No idea why this wasn’t done sooner!

Read on for the synopsis…

Enthusiastic, big and a little clumsy, Po is the biggest fan of Kung Fu around… which doesn’t exactly come in handy while working every day in his family’s noodle shop. Unexpectedly chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Po’s dreams become reality when he joins the world of Kung Fu and studies alongside his idols, the legendary Furious Five - Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey -under the leadership of their guru, Master Shifu.

Po puts his heart - and his girth - into the task, and the unlikely hero ultimately finds that his greatest weaknesses turn out to be his greatest strengths.

Voiced by Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Ian McShane, Lucy Liu

Via AsianPopcorn

Technorati Tags: entertainment, Jackie Chan, Kung Fu Panda, Lucy Liu, martial arts