Based on the graphic novel by James O’Barr
Written by: David J. Schow
Directed by: Alex Proyas
Starring: Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott, Ernie Hudson, Bai Ling, Rochelle Davis, David Patrick Kelly, Angel David, Laurence Mason, Michael Massee
Movie Marathon: Romance
In Short: On the one year anniversary of his death, rock star Eric Draven returns from the dead to avenge his and his fiancée’s murder.
Recommended: Hell yes!!!
SARAH: People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a …

Written by: RZA, Eli Roth
Directed by: RZA
Starring: RZA, Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Cung Le, Byron Mann, Rick Yune, David Bautista, Jamie Chung.
US Release Date: Friday, November 2, 2012�
In Short: A Western Eastern flick that surprises and delights in the depths of its glorious awfulness.
Recommended: Yep.
MADAME BLOSSOM: If you damage my girls…
[grabs Jack Knife in a personal place]
MADAME BLOSSOM: I damage your boys.
This is a hard movie to classify. In many ways, it is a total parody, every bit as filled up with martial arts cinema cliché as Kung Pow! Enter …

Written by: Steve Oedekerk
Directed by: Steve Oedekerk
Starring: Steve Oedekerk, Jennifer Tung, Nasty Nes
(Tiger and Crane Fist written by Ni Kuang and starring Hui Lou Chen, Chia Yung Liu, Fei Lung , Ling Ling Tse)
Movie Marathon: Parodies
In Short: A hilarious parody of kung-fu movies that uses CGI and scene splicing from an old movie to make a really great new story.
Recommended: Yes!
MU SHU FASA: The answer you seek lies in the stars above.
CHOSEN ONE: I don’t understand.
MU SHU FASA: Of course you don’t. I’m speaking in riddles. That way, at the end …

From fighting for your life to fighting for a cool $10 mil to fighting for the respect of Cobra Kai, we pay tribute to all the underdogs who ended up champions…
by K. Burtt, Rachel Hyland, Jason Murdoch and Kim Sorensen
There’s just something about watching skilled exponents of a martial art going at it, mano-a-mano. And it’s even better when the battle is joined in some form of ring or cage scenario, in which there are at least a modicum of rules and where there is some form of prize up …

Many months – in fact, I would go so far as to say most months – our “Geek vs. Geek” has been privileged to offer you, the reader, some of the most passionate and thoughtful arguments to be found for or against a book series, a movie, a trend, a legal issue, or even a specific season of a cult television show. These remarkable documents often represent the culmination of years of feverish devotion to the cause and hours of deep meditation on the subject, as well as the distillation …

A Shaw Brothers classic, AVENGING EAGLE (1978)

Let it go on the record that I have a deep seated passion for movies from this particular genre. From early Shaw Brothers films, through to modern day blockbusters, nothing quite tickles my pickle like a good (or really bad) martial arts action film. Now, I understand that this particular style of cinema isn’t for everyone, that’s fine. But let’s not let an ignorance of the brilliance behind the scenes shape our distaste.
The thing is, if you look hard enough, there’s something here for …

From Bruce Lee to Crouching Tiger to the upcoming Man with the Iron Fists, a look at the history, and future, of martial arts in film.
by Kim Sorensen
Ever since Alexander the Great conquered much of central Asia, Westerners have had an obsession with the East; flash forward several millennia, and the obsession continues. Film is without a doubt the biggest form of entertainment worldwide, and for several decades there have been filmmakers, producers, writers, and actors who have tried to bring the success of Martial Arts Cinema to Hollywood.
Throughout Asia, …

Written by: Robert Martinez, Michael Hultquist
Directed by: Jonah Loop
Starring: Kellan Lutz, Samuel L. Jackson, Katia Winter, Daniel Dae Kim, Johnny Messner, Nina Dobrev, James Remar
In Short: It’s kill or be killed in The Deathgames.
Recommended: Not really… kind of… no… yes… I am very ambivalent about this one. I guess it largely depends on how you feel about Kellan Lutz’s abs.
COLLEGE DOUCHE: [watching a fight to the death] This makes me giddy in my underpants.
You will say that I should have known better. You will say that I should not have had …

Written by: Phillip Rhee, Paul Levine
Directed by: Robert Radler
Starring: Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones, Phillip Rhee, Christopher Penn
In Short: A martial arts movie that in many ways epitomizes the 80′s.
Recommended: Surprisingly, yes.
TRAVIS: You shouldn’t block with your face.
When I was a wee lad, I was infatuated with martial arts movies. They were, to use the vernacular of the era, rad. And in 1989, there was one movie that came out that I just had to see. Not in theaters, mind you, but rented on VHS tape (remember those?), ’cause I …

Based on the novel by Du Lu Wang
Written by: Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus, Kuo Jung Tsai
Directed by: Ang Lee
Starring: Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Cheng Pei-Pei
In Short: two great warriors are tasked with finding a stolen sword, along the way they encounter old enemies, young lovers and confront there true feelings for one another in this martial arts spectacular.
Recommended: Hell, yes!
SIR TE: A sword by itself rules nothing. It only comes alive in skilled hands.
An important breakthrough for the genre, Ang Lee’s martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden …