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David and Tora are out sick, but I’m joined by Tom Merritt (https://www.tommerritt.com/), to discuss the second season of Thunderbolt Fantasy!
Tag Archives: wuxia
Anime Explorations Episode 4: Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 1 + The Blade of Life & Death
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This month, David, Tora and I are taking a look at the first season & film of Thunderbolt Fantasy for Lunar New Year.
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Book Review: She Who Became The Sun
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It’s time to review the last of the Hugo Nominees that were on my shortlist – She Who Became The Sun By Shelly Parker-Chan
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This weekend is Worldcon, and several weeks before the convention (basically the week before I got COVID), I finished reading the last of the novels that were up for Hugo Awards that weren’t part of a series that I hadn’t already started reading – She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan – a novel inspired by wuxia fiction, inspired by the rise of the Hongwu Emperor. It’s an… interesting book, but one which had some points that I stumbled over.
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Raining In The Mountain: Film Review
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It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a King Hu movie, and since another of his Taiwanese films, Raining in the Mountain, has been available on the Criterion Channel, I figure it’s time to revisit this film – and it’s arguably a little more Buddhist than his other film of the same year (also shot in Korea), Legend of the Mountain.
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Legend of the Mountain: Film Review
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Legend of the Mountain is King Hu doing a ghost story. Not in the sense of a work of cover-to-cover overt horror, but more in the sense of a general vibe of dread, but never quite getting a heavy level of spookiness beyond a few moments.
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A Touch of Zen: Movie (Video) Review
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I’m continuing my look at the films of King Hu with his other film that the Criterion Collection has brought to the states – A Touch of Zen.
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Dragon Inn (1967): Movie Video Review
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This week I’m getting back into reviewing some Wuxia with one of King Hu’s first film after his move to Taiwan – Dragon Inn.
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Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 1: TV Series Review
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There have been varying attempts in the past to tell dramatic and mature stories with puppets. The works of Gerry Anderson are great examples of this. Well, it turns out there’s a tradition of these kind of stories in Taiwan and china, through glove puppetry. We got a real great example of this a few years ago with the Taiwanese and Japanese co-production, Thunderbolt Fantasy.
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A Touch of Zen: Film Review
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A Touch of Zen is the third King Hu film I’ve watched so far, and the second of his films after he left Hong Kong and Shaw Brothers for Taiwan. The first, Dragon Inn, kept some of the framework of the Wuxia Western while using Taiwan’s more diverse scenery for great visual effect. A Touch of Zen, on the other hand, leans more heavily into the Wuxia side.
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Dragon Inn (1967): Film Review
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When I reviewed Come Drink With Me on the blog, I described it as a “Wuxia Western,” as the initial plot of the film – with Golden Swallow going to rescue her brother from bandits holed up in a monastery – could easily be the plot of a western. It is only with the introduction of Drunken Cat’s plot that the wuxia elements come to the fore. Dragon Inn, by comparison, maintains a better balance of the concepts, melding them together to make a cohesive whole.
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Come Drink With Me: Film (Video) Review
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It’s been a while since I reviewed a Shaw Brothers film – so it’s time to take a look at one of King Hu’s films with the studio – Come Drink With Me.
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Come Drink With Me is a wuxia film that I’d describe as half of a conventional wuxia film, and then half a little more gonzo.
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