1. I came down with another cold this week and ended up staying home from yesterday. As I told a colleague the other day, my body is just not used to being around all these little germ factories all the time.

2. If I could work my will, there would be a moratorium on making any sequels, remakes, prequels, or remakes in any existing film series for at least ten years.

3. I was watching compilations of 90s films recently, and it struck me that the CGI in Titanic has not held up well at all. I have to wonder why they didn’t just use a model for the ship and then use computers to integrate it into the scene.

On that note, James Cameron used to make timeless classics. Ever since Titanic he instead makes ultra blockbusters with no shelf life.

4. A large chunk of modern thought involves presenting a question and then, because it can’t be answered adequately in a quick sound bite, assuming that you’ve made a point.

5. Looking at clips from some of the old Hong Kong kung fu films made me remember of the fact that some films can be just a vehicle for showing off someone’s talents. They’re basically like Vaudeville; we have this person who has incredible skills, now here’s a way to show them to you. In kung fu films, it’s amazing athleticism or death-defying stunts, often filmed in extended mid-range takes so that we can see that they’re actually doing it. Fred Astaire / Ginger Roger films are another example; the stories and scripts exist to provide a reason to show off their incredible dancing skills.

With few exceptions, it feels like this aspect of cinema has disappeared. A combination of being able to use computers to simulate anything and having gargantuan budgets to hire trainers to bring any actor up to semi-reasonable simulation of being skilled means that sheer talent exhibition is rare these days.

6. On that note, compare the following clips:

First the subway fight from The Matrix:

Now, this is actually a pretty good movie fight. It’s well paced, well choreographed, filmed so that you can actually see what’s happening (remember when films used to do that?), and done by competent actors. But you can tell that neither Keanu Reeves nor Hugo Weaving is a trained fighter. Their moves are generally stiff, slow, and there are parts where you can see them waiting for their turn. A large portion of their impressiveness is due to the special effects and wire-work.

Now look at this (much shorter) fight between Sammo Hung and Cynthia Rothrock from Millionaires Express:

It’s a lot goofier and lighter toned, but these are very clearly two trained and experienced martial artists. They move with lightning speed and incredible grace (just look at the bit at about 1:21 where Rothrock gets to her feet and delivers a spin kick all in one motion). Of course, it’s all the more impressive given how hefty Hung is (which was sort of his selling point: that he’s a heavyset guy who can move like he weighed nothing at all).

Again, the Matrix fight is a good fight, but you can tell the difference between actual martial artists and well-choreographed actors.

7. Miss Rothrock, by the way, was the inspiration for Sonya Blade in the original Mortal Kombat. She was a fixture of the classic era of Hong Kong kung-fu flicks, a novelty of a slender, blonde occidental woman who could keep pace with the top-drawer martial artists of the era (one of her first films was a buddy-cop flick with Michelle Yeoh).

You know, the trope of the wee female beating up men twice her size is usually obnoxious, but in her case you never doubt it.