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The Legend of Kung Fu Cult Cinema
In the year before the turn of the century, 1999, there
was much despair and hopelessness in the world. The millennium
was dying, and soon, another would reign in its place. Over
the past few decades, a force was rising and slowly taking
over the hearts and minds of The People. There was no place
to run, no place to hide. There was no stopping this power
and if none would stand up to it, it would soon take over
without any direction or control. We would all be at its
will.
That
force was Asian Cinema… and it was unstoppable.
The
Gods threw down the gauntlet in the form of John Woo, Jet
Li, Beat Takeshi and Toshiro Mifune. An echo was heard across
the wasteland for those to heed the call of the almighty,
asking for one and all to leave their temples, gather their
weapons and face the enemy. Who would answer? Even yet,
who would survive?
As
the coming war followed, many suffered and even more lost.
At a time when everything and anything almost seemed abandoned,
a light shone at the end of the katana, foreshadowing two
great warriors who would change Asian Cinema forever.
Emerging
from the dusty and smoky mountain ranges of Montreal, Canada,
Janick Neveu and Peter Zsurka stood at the top of these
peaks, with the sun bouncing off of their backs; they held
their swords in their hands.
This
very moment, both raised their swords in the air, commanding
a power that drove the sun away, the moon into darkness
and changed the skies forever. An indescribable energy was
unsheathed and their blades burned with intensity and vigor.
Kung
Fu Cult Cinema was born. And the two became Samurai Journalists.
Though,
a never ending struggle, their love for Asian Cinema would
eventually tame the beast. Using their Shaolin Writing techniques,
they attempted to bring balance to the world and knowledge
to The People.
A
society of Asian Film warriors who loved their movies transpired.
As
Asian Cinema grew, Samurai Journalism would need more heroes
and champions to become guardians of this relentless entity.
Across the world, many would fulfill their destiny and come
onto the Kung Fu Cult Cinema battleship to partake in the
great efforts.
There
would be exclusive reports and news from the lands of China,
Japan and Korea. Even other countries that were infected
with the Asian Cinema addiction became known. Interviews
and articles were written about the stories and myths of
these adventurers and their epics journeys. Ultimately,
everything would become part the Samurai Journalists Legend.
This
is the beginning of the Kung Fu Cult Cinema Era
For
more info about the staff of KFC Cinema, please visit the
KFC Team page.
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Criterion of Reviews
The
reviews are based on a scale of a 1 to 5 rating. A mark
of 5 usually signifies the best there is and close to perfect,
while 1 characterizes the faults and failures of that particular
aspect of the film. While most of these evaluations are
impartial in origin, they may come off as subjective in
some cases because of the reviewer's personal background
and tastes. Therefore, all reviews are based on opinion.
Conditions
and Elements
Story:
This narrative element represents the backbone of the film
and the ultimate driving force of the movie. The more original
and interesting the plot is, the more likely the audience
will be fascinated and in tuned to its message and overall
meaning. Structure and flow also is important in terms having
an intuitive storyline that is comprehensible and intelligible.
Cast:The
ability of the actors and actresses to deliver lines and
perform physically in a fashion that keeps the audience
watching and engaged without breaking the rhythm and tide
of the film. From facial expressions to gesticulations,
acting not only sets the mood and overall impression of
the film, but works on instinct for the sake of the films
survival.
Entertainment:
Whether a film borders on fluff and mindless action or a
work of true cinematic art in terms of photography and direction,
the entertainment aspects of a film will always be the most
important. Usually, the saving graces of a low production
movie or cult classic film can be its entertainment value
and the enjoyment we walk away with.
Subtitles:
The translation and general composition of the subtitles
are important for the sole purpose of understanding and
the film and the culture it comes from. Even with top-notched,
highly acclaimed films, poor subtitles can sometimes ruin
the experience and pleasure of them. Quality subtitles are
highly encouraged for the home release market.
Overall:
The culmination of every single aspect and feature of a
film reviewed.
Award:
The General Tao Award represents the best in Asian Cinema
is the defining honor that the Kung Fu Cult Cinema staff
prides themselves on.
Rating
1:
Terrible Quality, usually try to avoid this.
2:
low quality.
3:
average to above average.
4: Very
good.
5: You
cant have better than that, usually it goes with a General
Tao Award. |
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General Glossary of Terms
VCD:
VCD stands for "Video Compact Disc" and basically
it is a CD that contains moving pictures and sound. If you're
familiar with regular audio / music CD's, then you will
know what a VCD looks like. A VCD has the capacity to hold
up to 74/80 minutes on 650MB / 700MB CD's respectively of
full-motion video along with quality stereo sound. VCD's
use a compression standard called MPEG to store the video
and audio. A VCD can be played on almost all standalone
DVD Players and of course on all computers with a DVD-ROM
or CD-ROM drive with the help of a software based decoder
/ player. It is also possible to use menus and chapters,
similiar to DVD's, on a VCD and also simple photo album
/ slide shows with background audio. The quality of a VCD
is about the same as VHS tape based movies.
For
more information on the VCD format: VCD
Help www.vcdhelp.com
DVD: DVD stands for
"Digital Versatile Disc." DVD is essentially a
bigger, faster CD that can hold cinema-like video, better-than-CD
audio, and computer data. DVD aims to encompass home entertainment,
computers, and business information with a single digital
format, eventually replacing audio CD, videotape, laserdisc,
CD-ROM, and video game cartridges. DVD has widespread support
from all major electronics companies, all major computer
hardware companies, and all major movie and music studios.
With this unprecedented support, DVD has become the most
successful consumer electronics product of all time in less
than three years of its introduction.
For
more information on the DVD format: DVD
Demystified http://www.dvddemystified.com
Dolby Digital: Dolby
Digital is an advanced form of digital audio coding that
makes it possible to store and transmit high-quality digital
sound far more efficiently than was previously possible.
First used in movie theaters in 1992, it is the result of
decades spent by Dolby Laboratories developing signal-processing
systems that exploit the characteristics of human hearing.
For
more information on Dolby Digital: Dolby
Digital www.dolbydigital.com
DTS: While Dolby uses
more compression, DTS delivers all the clarity and dynamics
of the original master soundtrack.
DTS
specializes in "Master Quality" 5.1 soundtracks.
While many DVD titles offer only have mono or stereo soundtrack,
they cannot really utilize the superior DTS 5.1 audio format.
And until recently, many studios were focused only on "Video"
extras, and were unaware of the strong consumer interest
in "Master Quality" sound. However, DTS 5.1 soundtracks
are becoming widely recognized as valuable "Audio"
extras and many new releases will offer this exciting value-added
feature.
For
more information on DTS: DTS
Online www.dtsonline.com
Anamorphic Widescreen:
A video image wider than the standard 4:3 aspect ratio.
When referring to DVD or HDTV, widescreen usually implies
a 16:9 aspect ratio.
For
more info on Anamorphic Widescreen: DVD
Deymystified www.dvddymestified.com
Letterbox: The process
or form of video where black horizontal mattes are added
to the top and bottom of the display area in order to create
a frame in which to display video using an aspect ratio
different than that of the display. The letterbox method
preserves the entire video picture, as opposed to pan &
scan. DVD-Video players can automatically letterbox a widescreen
picture for display on a standard 4:3 TV.
For
more information on Letterbox: DVD
Deymystified www.dvddymestified.com
Region Coding: DVD discs
contain Regional Codes which can be used to prevent the
playback of certain discs depending upon the geographical
area it is played in. The various studios and home video
companies lobbied to make sure this coding system was a
required part of the current DVD standards, because they
wish to control how their DVD titles are exported to other
countries. (For example, while a recent film may already
have played theatrically in the United States and been released
to the home video market, that same film may not yet have
opened in some European or Asian countries.) In most instances,
discs manufactured in one region will usually only play
on players that were manufactured in that same region -
this means that discs bought or imported from Japan will
not play on U.S. players, and vice versa. However, the regional
coding system is entirely optional, and discs without Regional
Codes will play on any player in any country.
For
more information on Region Coding: Laser
Rot www.laserrot.com
NTSC: National Television
Systems Committee. A committee organized by the Electronic
Industries Association (EIA) that developed commercial television
broadcast standards for the United States. The group first
established black-and-white TV standards in 1941, using
a scanning system of 525 lines at 60 fields per second.
The second committee standardized color enhancements using
525 lines at 59.94 fields per second. NTSC refers to the
composite color-encoding system. The 525/59.94 scanning
system (with a 3.58-MHz color subcarrier) is identified
by the letter M, and is often incorrectly referred to as
NTSC. The NTSC standard is also used in Canada, Japan, and
other parts of the world. NTSC is facetiously referred to
as meaning never the same color because of the system's
difficulty in maintaining color consistency.
For
more information on NTSC: DVD
Deymystified www.dvddymestified.com
PAL: Phase Alternate
Line. A video standard used in Europe and other parts of
the world for composite color encoding. Various version
of PAL use different scanning systems and color subcarrier
frequencies (identified with letters B, D, G, H, I, M, and
N), the most common being 625 lines at 50 fields per second,
with a color subcarrier of 4.43 MHz. PAL is also said to
mean "picture always lousy" or "perfect at
last," depending on which side of the ocean the speaker
comes from.
For
more information on NTSC: DVD
Deymystified www.dvddymestified.com
If
you have any other question that we didn't answer in our
FAQ page, you can Email us at : generaltao@kfccinema.com
