Indie Cine » Little Bit of This

Parkour, As Much a Part of Cinema Now as Ever

dwhitney — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:09:45 +0000

News has broken that a follow up is in the works to the 2004 French action movie “District B13″ or “Banlieue 13″. The origianl film was a vehicle to bring the French born technique of movement called Parkour to the big screen. Parkour is a recent sport that concentrates on maneuvering through environments in the quickest and most efficient way possible. The original film follows David Belle, the founder of Parkour, as he attempts to fight the gangsters who have overrun the housing projects in which he resides. He leaps, crawls, swings, runs, and ducks in a truly magnificent acrobatic way throughout the film.

The sequel, “District B14″ will start filming next month, and really marks a movement in film to capitalize on this very real stunt form. Parkour has been featured in chase sequences in “Casino Royale”, “Live Free or Die Hard”, and the “Incredible Hulk”. But this is not a brand new trend. Aruguably the first proponent of Parkour, before the word was ever minted, has to be Jackie Chan, who as performing all of his own Parkour stunts, without harnesses or special effects, for decades. In anticipation of “District B14″ and many more parkour sequences to come, I thought it would be interesting to contrast a scene from “District B13″ and a small compilation of Jackie’s many parkour themed moves.

“District B13″

Jackie Chan:

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Another Top Films List, Don’t Cringe Just Yet

dwhitney — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:58:02 +0000

You have seen them before. They are everywhere. I am talking about some magazine’s, organization’s, or celebrity’s top 10, 25, 50, or 100 films of all time. In fact, at this very moment, AFI is airing a TV special on their top 10 American films in various genres. Some people love these lists, some people hate them. But no matter in which group you fall, I have a list that at least deserves your attention.

Entertainment Weekly has debuted their list of the top 100 film classics of the last 25 years. This is important because never will AFI list “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut” on any of their lists, and this particular movie holds place number 100 in the brilliant eyes of Entertainment Weekly’s editors. Forget about “Citizen Cane”, “The African Queen”, or “The Maltese Falcon”, those films were made decades ago. This is a list for moviegoers who think something is wrong with their TV when a movie is in black and white. Entertainment Weekly only currently lists numbers 100-76, with more to come in the near future, so check back often.

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Film Junkie Anyone?

dwhitney — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:48:04 +0000

I found these amusing videos over at SlashFilm which were created by Scott Vincent, (who I believe was the director of many “Chappelle’s Show” episodes) for this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

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Where in the World is Sci-Fi Architecture?

dwhitney — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:58:10 +0000

This architectural wonder, or disaster if you will, is a 1963 Charles Deaton design titled “The Sculptured House” which sits high above I-70 on Genesse Mountain as you ascend into the Rockies just beyond Denver. As I live in this marvelous area, I have always made it a point to look out my window and gaze at the oddly mushroom shaped house while driving by. It is a living piece of cinematic history, most famous for playing a futuristic home in Woody Allen’s 1973 techno-comedy “Sleeper”. It is one of the many futuristic, bizzar, and archaic architectural wonders used as large props throughout the course of film history on Object.com’s “15 scifi movies 15 famous architectural locations”.

The list is amazing and shows the amazing creativity of our current and past architects and city planners. In the name of industry, housing, and science, they have produced some amazingly eerie structures, that look far better on in a sci-fi movie than a Hollywood Produced set. Take for instance the news today that an abandoned factory in Bethlehem PA will be the setting of some sort of Chinese industrial battle in “Transformers 2″.

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