Tim Allen tops Mamet's 'Redbelt'

[SifuAbel]

Its looking iffy. At least its not another "invincible hero" MA film.

I think they gave away too much in the trailer. You basically saw the cliff notes version of the whole film.

[MasterKiller]

The 'tieing the hand behind the back" gimmick is stupid.

This movie is bad for the sport.

[RAYNYSC]

Hey Guy's,

Anyone hear about this new MMA movie thats comming out call Redbelt?....

[jethro]

I think it's a David Mamet with BJJ. How weird does that sound?

[doug maverick]

Starring tim allen how weird is that

[MasterKiller]

STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID

But looks like the Godfather compared to "Never Back Down."

[GeneChing]

There's going to be two MMA/media crossover threads this year - this one for Red Belt and Never Back Down.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Kung fu panda is high brow thespianisim compared to these movies.

[GeneChing]

...it's not like martial arts cinema is that high brow to begin with. It can be high brow. I've spoken to two people who have seen it and endorsed it already. Both were surprised at their reactions. They wanted to hate it. I'm reserving my opinion until I see it (or at least hear a few more reviews). I think every martial arts film that's given a theatrical release is interesting, often more for the social commentary on how our community is perceived.

[sanjuro_ronin]

...it's not like martial arts cinema is that high brow to begin with. It can be high brow. I've spoken to two people who have seen it and endorsed it already. Both were surprised at their reactions. They wanted to hate it. I'm reserving my opinion until I see it (or at least hear a few more reviews). I think every martial arts film that's given a theatrical release is interesting, often more for the social commentary on how our community is perceived.

The issue I have is how the pretend to be about more than just the fights, at least with Animation you know its in good fun, and with straight off action you know its in good fun, movies that try to add a moral element to these things always come off pretencious.
This may not be the case, I mean, from the trailers it looks to be a "moral high road" movie, I just have my doubts.

Jaded and such.

[GeneChing]

Martial arts should teach morality first and foremost. Of course, most of the moral plays are like vengeance-over-organized-crime or don't-take-a-bribe-to-take-a-dive, which are only marginally applicable in the real day-to-day world.

I mean, if you just want to watch fights, watch MMA. A movie should entertain. A martial arts movie should teach some morals.

I have my doubts too. I hate Tim Allen. He just bugs me.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Martial arts should teach morality first and foremost. Of course, most of the moral plays are like vengeance-over-organized-crime or don't-take-a-bribe-to-take-a-dive, which are only marginally applicable in the real day-to-day world.

Exactly, like Lone wolf and Cub.

[GeneChing]

Hallelujah! Now you're quoting from the gospel, bro. Lone wolf and cub was a great morality play. Baby cart from HELL! You know your going to get some morals with a title like that. Why can't Tim Allen star in that?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Hallelujah! Now you're quoting from the gospel, bro. Lone wolf and cub was a great morality play. Baby cart from HELL! You know your oging to get some morals with a title like that. Why can't Tim Allen star in that?

Any movie that would have Tim Allen getting decapitated, I would pay to see !

[GeneChing]

We have threads going on Foot Fist Way, Never Back Down (including a review) and Flashpoint (nothing on Drillbit so far - I turned down a review offer on that one). I figured it was best placed here because it addresses MMA in film in general, which is why I've kept this thread here instead of on the media forum, at least for now.

Hollywood catches up to mixed martial arts trend
By GLENN WHIPP
Los Angeles Daily News

When Danny McBride appeared on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” a couple of weeks ago as clueless tae kwan do instructor Fred Simmons, he managed the neat trick of enraging martial arts buffs and Will Ferrell fans who didn’t quite get that his whole amateur-hour, board-crunching routine was an elaborate joke.

“The next day, there were 10 pages of hate mail on our MySpace page,” says Jody Hill, the writer and director of the upcoming McBride comedy “The Foot Fist Way.” “He was so natural. People really bought that Fred Simmons was this arrogant idiot.”

These days it seems everybody wants to be kung-fu fighting. Even CBS is getting into the act, partnering with ProElite for a Saturday night prime-time lineup on mixed martial arts bouts coming later this spring.

The film fight card started last weekend with “Never Back Down,” a “Karate Kid” for the YouTube generation. On Friday Owen Wilson plays a low-rent, foot-kicking bodyguard in “Drillbit Taylor.” For those looking for authentic Hong Kong mixed martial arts action, there’s the import “Flash Point.”

“Mixed martial arts is growing so fast because ... hey ... we all loved ‘Karate Kid,’ but karate is boring,” says “Never Back Down” star Sean Faris. “Now all the fighting techniques have been combined and anything can happen. It’s instant gratification. And that’s our world today.”

Mixed martial arts is the biggest growth spectator sport in America today. It’s full-contact fighting, using both striking techniques (kicks, punches, knees) and grappling moves (sweeps, take-downs, submission holds).

“People have always loved classic martial arts, such as boxing,” says Renato Magno, the head instructor at Street Sports Brazilian Jiu-jitsu academy in Santa Monica, Calif. “But mixed martial art reflects the kinds of fighting the public can relate to. It’s dynamic and exciting.”

Magno has been teaching David Mamet jiu-jitsu for seven years. “Redbelt” is Mamet’s valentine to the sport, a discipline that he says offers “a vision of the possibility of correct, moral behavior in all circumstances.”

In the film, Mike Terry, a jiu-jitsu teacher played by Chewitel Ejiofor, declines to compete on the fight circuit, believing “competition weakens the fighter.” “Redbelt” features several prominent mixed martial arts figures, including jiu-jitsu masters John Machado and Magno and UFC champion Randy Couture. Magno choreographed the fights and trained the actors.

“What I’m trying to do throughout the movie is show, fight by fight, the different ways in which today in Hollywood these actual guys use jiu-jitsu,” Mamet says. “The cops use it, the bouncers use it, the special forces use it. So there are different fights about how it would be applied in each of these situations.”

Even with all the attention to detail that Mamet and the makers of “Never Back Down” used to scrupulously make their films’ fights feel real, it might be the comic “Foot Fist Way” that gets to the reality of the modern-day fight club with a greater truth.

“I wanted to show the martial arts world that you never see in movies,” says Hill, a third-degree black belt who opened his own tae kwon doe club when he was a teenager in North Carolina.

“Usually, what you get in movies is this peaceful, ‘take the pebble from my hand’ kind of instructors or wacky Jackie Chan types,” Hill says. “But, from my experience, a lot of these guys aren’t peaceful, Zen creatures but rednecks getting in brawls at bars and going through divorces.”

Hill takes the fighting seriously but still sees the humor in it.

“I think mixed martial arts is good for everybody,” Hill says. “But the imperfections can be pretty funny.”