Sex and Zen & A Bullet in the Head

Sex and Zen & A Bullet in the Head
Author: Stefan Hammond
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 276
Release: 1996
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0684803410

Including reviews of 200 films, plus information about U.S. theaters, video stores, and mail-order sources that specialize in this white-hot, new genre, this is the first guide to an exploding popular culture phenomenon. Includes 75 photos.

More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets

More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets
Author: Stefan Hammond
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-06-11
Genre: Martial arts films
ISBN: 9781909394643

Hong Kong films tore up kung fu stereotypes in the 80s/90s. Here's the definitive tome on stunt hazards, pistol ballets, snarky gangsters and toothsome molls, hopping vampires, and Hong Kong noir. Start with John, Jacky and Michelle -- evolve to Johnnie To, Ringo Lam, the fantastic world of Tsui Hark, and the auteurdrome of Wong Kar-wai. How and why did films from Hong Kong--a British Crown Colony and map-speck--become so popular? It started in the 50s, when Chinese tycoons named Shaw decided to produce their own films as they felt quality was lacking. The Shaw Brothers owned cinemas in Southeast Asia, but creative freedom was lacking in those territories. The Shaws built their studios in Hong Kong and were soon cranking out high-quality features for distribution across much of Asia -- and Chinatowns worldwide. When the Shaws dropped almost all their film production to feed nouveau riche Hong Kongers via their TVB television channel, Hong Kong experienced a sudden wave of new filmmakers. Golden Harvest became the de facto number one studio with a cadre of filmmakers led by Sammo Hung. The most famous was Jackie Chan, who rocketed to stardom and created his own stunt team. In film after film, Jackie and Sammo co-starred in and/or competed for audience thrills with films that showcased their martial prowess and respective senses of humor. More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets explicates, amplifies, and just plain rips across genres and filmmakers in one of the world's most storied film industries. Become an afflictionado. More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets contains the best bits of Sex and Zen & A Bullet in the Head (1996) and Hollywood East (2000)--the two best known tomes on Hong Kong films of the twentieth century. Neither has ever been released in digital format, so author Stefan Hammond crashed together the two books and added more insight...and more film reviews. The result is the most comprehensive encyclopedia of Hong Kong film available anywhere.

More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets

More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets
Author: Stefan Hammond
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Total Pages: 899
Release: 2020-06-11
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1909394653

How and why did films from Hong Kong — a former British Crown Colony and map-speck — become so popular? Post-WWII, creative freedom was scarce in Asia, but Hong Kong was a safe space for filmmakers seeking to profit from overseas Chinese markets and Chinatowns worldwide. Both Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest set up massive operations in Hong Kong and let the celluloid slip. By the 1980s, Hong Kong's Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan were famous throughout Asia. Their winning formula of humour and martial arts prowess ripped through kung fu stereotypes, while filmmakers like Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam served up fantasy, horror and noir crime dramas for rabid cinemagoing hordes in the grindhouses of Kowloon. It was a glorious time. This book is the nonpareil true story of the Hong Kong film industry, one that doesn’t skimp on the good bits: the hyperkinetic films themselves. Included are intrepid firsthand accounts of the culture and international fanbases to have emerged around these movies. More Sex, Better Zen, Faster Bullets contains the best bits of Sex and Zen & A Bullet in the Head (1996) and Hollywood East (2000) — the two best known tomes on Hong Kong films of the twentieth century — revised and with the inclusion of new material. The result is the most comprehensive encyclopedia of Hong Kong film available anywhere.

Hollywood East

Hollywood East
Author: Stefan Hammond
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2000
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780809225811

The visually striking, lightning-fast action movies of Hong Kong used to be a favorite only of cult film enthusiasts -- these days, however, stars such as Sammo Hung, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan are household names. This book offers an inside look at the explosive Hong Kong film industry, its skyrocketing popularity, and its sometimes controversial relationship with Hollywood.

Incredibly Strange Films

Incredibly Strange Films
Author: V. Vale
Publisher: Re/Search
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-04-18
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9781889307114

Incredibly Strange Films is a functional guide to important territory neglected by the film-criticism establishment, spotlighting unhailed directors -- Hershell Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer, Larry Cohen, Ray Dennis Steckler, Ted V. Mikels and others -- who have been critically consigned to the ghettos of gore and sexploitation films. In-depth interviews focus on philosophy while anecdotes entertain as well as illuminate theory. The guide includes biographies, genre overviews, filmographies, bibliography, quotations, an A-Z of film personalities, lists of recommended films, sources, index, as well as 172 photos.

East Asian Cinemas

East Asian Cinemas
Author: Leon Hunt
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2010-10-18
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0857712276

Cinemas from East Asia are among the most exciting and influential in the world. They are attracting popular and critical attention on a global scale, with films from the region circulating as art house, cult, blockbuster and 'extreme' cinema, or as Hollywood remakes. This book explores developments in the global popularity of East Asian cinema, from Chinese martial arts, through Japanese horror, to the burgeoning new Korean cinema, with particular emphasis on crossovers, remakes, hybrids and co-productions. It examines changing cinematic traditions in Asia alongside the 'Asianisation' of western cinema. It explores the dialogue not only between 'East' and 'West', but between different cinemas in the Asia Pacific. What do these trends mean for global cinema? How are co-productions and crossover films changing the nature of Hollywood and East Asian cinemas? The book includes in-depth studies of Park Chan-wook, 'Infernal Affairs', 'Seven Samurai', and 'Princess Mononoke'.

A Deleuzian Century?

A Deleuzian Century?
Author: Ian Buchanan
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 1999
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780822323921

A critical engagement with the writings on Gilles Deleuze by scholars and translators of his work. Originally published as a special edition of SAQ, Summer, 1997, Vol. 96.3; it's both an introduction to and a critique of his work.

Masculinities and Hong Kong Cinema

Masculinities and Hong Kong Cinema
Author: Laikwan Pang
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2005-03-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9622097375

This collection of exciting essays explores how the representations and the ideologies of masculinities can be productively studied in the context of Hong Kong cinema. It has two objectives: first, to investigate the multiple meanings and manifestations of masculinities in Hong Kong cinema that compliment and contradict each other. Second, to analyze the social and cultural environments that make these representations possible and problematic. Masculinities and Hong Kong Cinema presents a comprehensive picture of how Hong Kong mainstream cinematic masculinities are produced within their own socio-cultural discourses, and how these masculinities are distributed, received, and transformed within the setting of the market place. This volume is divided into three interrelated parts: the local cinematic tradition; the transnational context and reverberations; and the larger production, reception, and mediation environments. The combination of these three perspectives will reveal the dynamics and tensions between the local and the transnational, between production and reception, and between text and context, in the gendered manifestations of Hong Kong cinema.

Ultraviolent Movies

Ultraviolent Movies
Author: Laurent Bouzereau
Publisher: Citadel Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2000
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780806520452

A history of extreme violence in movies analyzes the public response to this ever-growing phenomenon, tracing its beginnings in films such as Bonnie and Clyde and discussing how it fits into the artistic vision of filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorcese. Original.