I'd wondered about those "Jet Li's LAST martial arts movie!" promos. And googled to see if he died in August while I was getting almost no exposure to news.
Gabriel: Are you trying to destroy this family? Simon: I didn't realize it would be so easy.
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Matt the Bruins fan - Sep 22, 2006 1:45:58 pm PDT #4486 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Nutty - Sep 22, 2006 2:32:01 pm PDT #4487 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
I think the real story is that Jet Li has knees made of brie, and canna do the fighty-fight thing at full throttle any more, and would rather retire to some other role than be diminished gradually on celluloid.
He retired pretty early from competition for the same reason, IIRC.
(He is so charming, when he's not doing the fart-smelling acting thing. I don't know why he doesn't get romantic comedy roles. His English is pretty good too!)
§ ita § - Sep 22, 2006 2:38:51 pm PDT #4488 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
He retired pretty early from competition for the same reason, IIRC.
Not so much brie as a torn ligament, which can (and does) happen to the hardiest of us.
Nutty - Sep 22, 2006 6:35:22 pm PDT #4489 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
You mean ligaments are not made of brie? The point was, he's not the sort for a comeback tour.
(I'm kind of surprised that's all it was -- ACL or something? People do come back from that in other sports. Although, I don't really follow sports where knees are used as weapons.)
§ ita § - Sep 22, 2006 6:42:16 pm PDT #4490 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Wu shu's not about limbs as weapons--it's a non contact sport, more like floor gymnastics. A fighter could definitely come back from that--dancers and gymnasts I know less about.
But my point was that he didn't retire because he had creaky knees--he retired because he blew out a joint. As someone with creaky knees and no ligament damage who knows people who are quite the converse, it's a big gap between the two.
But it's apparent I misread brie to be something less catastrophic than I associate with blown knees.
Sean K - Sep 22, 2006 6:54:42 pm PDT #4491 of 10001
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
Seems like he's either giving up the genre as being irredeemably tainted, or conceding that he can't or doesn't want to fix it. Shame.
He was on the KROQ morning show the other day, and I heard the interview. He was adorable! They asked him about the LAST martial arts movie thing, and his answer was basically that this film ultimately expresses his philosophy about martial arts (specifically with regard to wu shu), and after this he has nothing left to say on the subject. He plans on continuing to act, and he's happy to make action movies, and even play characters who beat up other characters, but he's done with wu shu movies.
§ ita § - Sep 22, 2006 7:02:27 pm PDT #4492 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Done with wu shu...that's fascinating. And it makes sense. I did like his movie The One because it had symbolic fight choreography--and I think it used that to talk about wu shu too.
DavidS - Sep 22, 2006 7:39:39 pm PDT #4493 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
ACL or something? People do come back from that in other sports.
Yes, but it's more than a year out, and another year of being at less than full speed. Your lateral movement is severely impaired. I've mostly seen it with basketball players who have to make sharp cuts. But a blown ACL is fairly significant.
Tom Scola - Sep 23, 2006 1:27:37 am PDT #4494 of 10001
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Another dragon movie trailer: [link]
Nutty - Sep 23, 2006 5:17:08 am PDT #4495 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
But a blown ACL is fairly significant.
Right, but, people do come back from it. Come back to their former glory, even (or as much former glory as you can get out of Aaron Boone). (Who did it to himself in the offseason, playing basketball.)
he didn't retire because he had creaky knees--he retired because he blew out a joint.
I, uh, don't have any idea how these are different? "Knee(s) made of cheese" and "creaky knee(s)" and "blew out his knee(s)" all mean roughly the same thing to me: bum knee(s). There are bum knees you come back from, and bum knees you don't; but is there something in the elocution that makes that distinction, to you?