IntraSting-1

This documentary uses the term "martial arts" very loosely, as the main focus is on the Chinese martial art kung fu (with only a small part dedicated to Japanese director Akira Kurosawa,) while some major stars from karate and muay thai movies (specifically, Sonny Chiba and Tony Jaa) are not mentioned whatsoever. However, kung fu has been the prevailing martial art in cinema, and the main point seems to be a historical progression from the origin of martial arts movies to their use in today's American films. So, because the emphasis is on telling the story of how The Matrix and Face/Off (and more ridiculously, Charlie's Angels and Exit Wounds) came to use "martial arts", the gaps in history are forgivable. This incidentally also makes Samuel Jackson a fairly perfect narrator. The documentary progresses mainly through segments on each major kung fu icon in the history of cinema, and gives a fairly basic overview. If you have any prior knowledge of the history, there may not be a lot of information you don't already know. Also, John Woo gets his own segment in which he is called a "serious filmmaker." Please ignore this. While John Woo movies can be fun, he has no business being talked about in a movie about martial arts. Basically, if you're an American who wants to understand the history of kung fu in movies, or if you're wondering if there's any job Samuel L. Jackson won't say yes to, this doc is definitely worth checking out.

This movie did nothing but fail to impress me. I went in expecting to see at least some good acting performances from Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson, but Le Divorce came up short even on that. The majority of the movie revolves around a painting and who would get possession of it in the middle of a divorce, but this aspect of the movie isn't even all that interesting since a painting can't project human emotions like the actors should have been. All the characters were boring and one-dimensional as well, and it depicted the French in the incredibly cliché manner of being rude and boorish. And after all that, the ending isn't even that satisfying and the problems that occurred through most of the movie are ignored. All in all, save yourself the two hours.