BUDO SPIRIT

"I can only show you the door, you're the one that must walk through it.".......Morpheus

The Foot Fist Way

The Foot Fist Way
E! Reviews

by Alex Markerson

The Foot Fist Way

Review in a Hurry: This discomfiting low-budget comedy vérité can be painfully funny, but the emphasis is on the painful. This goes Way below the belt a little too long and too often.

The Bigger Picture: Ain't this a kick in the head? The Foot Fist Way documents the travails of deluded strip-mall Tae Kwon Do instructor Fred Simmons (Danny McBride), a paunchy, unlikable blowhard with a straying wife and a motley crew of emotionally stunted students.

When Fred's hero, karate champ Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best), turns out to be even more of a boor than Fred, Fred decides to reclaim his honor the old-fashioned way: a smackdown! Since Fred is a past-his-prime schlub, and Chuck is a nine-time world champion, it's not going to be easy.

The Foot Fist Way gets high marks for follow-through—the performers are so committed to their bits that it's easy to see why Will Ferrell's production company thought the film was a good bet.

But it's this dedication that makes the whole thing more admirable and less enjoyable. We're in Napoleon Dynamite territory here, the cruel sort of train-wreck comedy that relies on awkward silences and clueless, demented behavior.

It's funny, and when it's just this side of endurable it works. On the other side, though, The Foot Fist Way makes clear the distinction between watching someone get kicked in the groin and taking the blow yourself.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Fans of Napoleon Dynamite and The Office will find a lot to like here, and if you're writing a paper on schadenfreude, you can't afford to miss this.

The Forbidden Kingdom

  • Jet Li and Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom.
  • Jet Li and Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom.

Film review: The Forbidden Kingdom (2 stars)

Martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li have both made countless action films, but for whatever reason, their paths have never crossed onscreen until now.

While the two maintained a close friendship for years, they insisted over and over again that they were waiting for the right opportunity to collaborate - which makes it all the more bizarre that The Forbidden Kingdom finally brought them together.

Directed by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King), the story revolves around a dorky teenager (Michael Angarano) from South Boston who finds a magic bow in the back of a Chinese pawn shop, then gets sucked into a bucolic Asian dream world. There, he learns kung fu from a drunk immortal (Chan) and a snarky monk (Li), falls in love with a mandolin-strumming girl named Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu), kills a white-haired witch, grows a Chuck Norris mullet, conquers the Jade Warlord and returns the bow to its rightful owner, the Monkey King (also Li), so that peace can be restored once and for all.

Is your brow furrowing yet?

It should be, because this ends up feeling like a jarring mash-up of Enter the Dragon, The Karate Kid and Mortal Kombat, but with a sunshine-and-rainbows aesthetic. The story is at once predictable and utterly confusing, and it's sewn haphazardly together with a fraying thread of empty proverbs like, "It is said that music is a bridge between Earth and Heaven." (And yes, the next line is, "That's beautiful.")

While on its surface, the film appears to be targeting a family audience, there are more than a few morally questionable moments - some scenes involve a racially inappropriate costume or makeup decision, for instance, whereas others will feature lazy gender stereotypes. One particularly offensive scene shows Li's character urinating directly on Chan's face as he prays for rain in the desert.

Chan himself has said in interviews that he wasn't impressed with the screenplay of The Forbidden Kingdom - really, who would be impressed with a script including the direction, "Monk pees on Immortal's face"? - and only accepted the role for the chance to work with Li (why Li took on the project to begin with, though, is anyone's guess).

At 54, Chan, who first made it big in North America in the popular Rush Hour films, deserves some credit for a handful of decent fight sequences - these were choreographed by Woo-Ping Yuen of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame, as is evident by the glut of computer-generated aerial work. But compared with the intensely powerful work found in recent films like Ong-Bak and The Protector, a couple of speedy blocks, spinning-hook kicks and the token praying mantis pose is hardly impressive.

As these two action heroes get closer and closer to the 100-film career mark - Chan, at No. 95, is closest - they prove they've still got what it takes to throw entertaining punches. But if their standards keep slipping like this, they'll both be punching their way straight to video.

Kuro-Obi

 

JKA Instructor Tatsuya Naka on the Movie Show “Kuro-Obi”

JKA Instructor Tatsuya	Naka's Photo & Movie Title Logo


flyer(Front)

flyer(Back)


Movie Trailer

BLACK BELT

Authentic Karate Movie from Real Karate Masters!

Since the time of the Bruce Lee mania of the 70s, kung-fu movies have dominated the action movie genre throughout the world. The Thai kickboxing movie, Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, has become a huge international hit in 2003. Within all this, filmgoers throughout the world all ask the same question... “Given that Japan is well-known for martial arts such as karate, judo, aikido and kendo, why are there no such martial arts movies? ”

Meanwhile, the international audience is growing tired of the present action fare and longs for movies that are about the authentic Japanese martial arts. Accordingly, we have selected karate as the theme for the present work because it is the most internationally well-known of the Japanese martial arts, and we have made a real karate movie. We appointed real karate masters as the leading role in order to show a genuine karate. It is our hope that we have made a real Japanese karate movie that goes beyond the existing ‘action’ category, and which will show the people of the world the true technique and spirit of karate.

---Set in the early years of the Showa Era in Japan, this story revolves around three men who aspire to receive the ‘kuro-obi’ that can go only to the rightful successor. ---

The year is 1932. Three men are zealously engaged in karate training at the dojo of Eiken Shibahara. Their names are Taikan, Choei and Giryu. Eiken suddenly dies, but the ‘kuro-obi’ black belt that will designate his successor has not yet been passed on.
“Karate is not about fighting.” Who will be the one to heed Eiken’s words of wisdom and receive the coveted ‘kuro-obi’ to carry on as his successor? In a related development, the Military Police Headquarters takes note of the exceptional skill of these martial art practitioners, and the three men are commanded to join their forces.
Then, the three that have left the dojo are thrust into a terrible encounter with fate...

Director: SHUNICHI NAGASAKI

Born in Yokohama, Japan in 1956. Nagasaki started making 8mm and 16mm films while at university in the late 70s. He has been directing many films as the pioneer of Japanese independent movement since 80s. As his most recent accomplishment, he directed a thriller feature of Shi-koku (1999), an astonishing drama of A Tender Place (2001), and Christmas in August (2005). He is widely acclaimed both in Japan and internationally for his distain for the trendy, and his relentless pursuit of themes that illuminate the complexity of the heart with consummate perfection. His Heart, Beating in the Dark (original title: Yamiutsu shinzo) was based on his 8mm independent film of 23 years earlier, and in addition to being given a special invitation to the 2005 Vancouver International Film Festival, was also the opening film at the 2006 International Film Festival Rotterdam.

AKIHITO YAGI (Fifth Dan) TATSUYA NAKA (JKA Instructor, Sixth Dan) YUJI SUZUKI (First Dan)

The actors in these leading roles are all actual holders of karate Black Belt rank, and display this true masculine strength in a way that mere acting could not achieve. In the main cast, the role of Giryu is played by AKIHITO YAGI (Fifth Dan), instructor in International Meibukan Goju Ryu Karate. The role of Taikan is played by TATSUYA NAKA (Sixth Dan), instructor at the Japan Karate Association General Headquarters (Corp.), and Choei is played by YUJI SUZUKI, an actor who holds the rank of First Dan.


JKA Instructor Naka Sensei on the Movie Show, Kuri-Obi Black Belt Photo Gallery

  • photo 1
    Taikan (Naka Sensei) with his master (Eiken)
  • photo 2
    Taikan (Naka Sensei) kicks Togo’s Head
  • photo 3
    Taikan (Naka Sensei) with geisha girl
  • photo 4
    Taikan (Naka Sensei) performs the Meikyo Kata
  • photo 5
    Taikan (Naka Sensei) hits MP's (JKA Instructor, Okuma) jaw
  • photo 6
    Taikan (Naka Sensei) attacks with Shuto-Uchi, but Togo blocks his attack
  • photo 7
    Taikan (Naka Sensei) attacks with Ura-Mawashi-Geri against Giryu
  • photo 8
    Taikan (Naka Sensei) performs the Nijuushiho Kata