The only time I have upvoted for anything to do with nyan cat.

Probably because it isn't really nyan cat, it is the AWESOMENESS that is Bollywood.

As Nicolebee said in the lounge to someone who dissed this vid: "You're just jealous because you've never had a man and thirty of his thin fly dancer friends toss off a choreographed number just to profess his love to you."

>> ^HugeJerk:

Game of Thrones could use some better fight choreographers... too much smacking swords together instead of actually going for the opponent.


I agree. One of the first things I learned was to attack the person not the sword. That makes it look, more, real, even when it is fake.

>> ^luxury_pie:

And by the way: what the heck is wrong with that childs face at 1:52+ ???
That's a forced smile they have to put up otherwise their parents will be killed or sent off into prison camps
yes, those artificial smiles and fake-ly happy choreographed moves are kinda creepy.. and child-to-guitar proportions are really whacky.

Game of Thrones could use some better fight choreographers... too much smacking swords together instead of actually going for the opponent.

If you ask me, I don't think light saber battles look anything like kendo. Sure they're fast, but Olympic fencing is even faster.

That's one thing I've always wondered though: do light sabers (the "light" or blade part anyway) have any weight? Because they always use moves that incorporate the momentum of the blade. To me, light saber battles in the new movies look more like wushu than anything else. I used to have a book with a chapter about how Bob Anderson and Peter Diamond choreographed the fights for the original Star Wars movies but I can't find it now. Anyway, they based the styles off of older fencing styles. You can see that when you watch the movies how Luke's "Ready position" is with his feet well apart and his light saber off to the side, whereas Darth Vader has a more upright Kendo position with his blade always in front. But they also chose those styles because they looked good on camera, and they changed them further still so that they had a "wow" factor.

Either way, I think the fencing would look completely different if they were really using blades that only had mass in the handle. They would be able to change course instantly, making for a lot of very tricky (not to mention insanely fast) moves. But it would still probably look closer to European fencing. And the actors in the movies need something (which in Star Wars props I believe is a carbon fiber rod) that they can swing around and bang on another person's sword creating the illusion that the light sabers in the final product are actually touching. If they represented it accurately though (which no movie ever does) then a person who new nothing about fencing would probably have a very hard time seeing what was actually going on. And there would probably be a lot more missing hands and fingers like Luke's in Empire. The actual techniques of any fighting style usually need some sort of introduction before anyone can really tell what's going on though.

That said, I can see Xaieleo's point about how the older movies seem more realistic. Although I think "more determined" is a much more accurate way of describing them than "slower". So I can see your point as well Sheppp. As time goes on, everyone has just gotten used to the Chinese "fling your blade around like crazy style" that is taught in wushu, which is really more of an exercise anyway but looks WAY cooler on camera than most "realistic" combat moves.

And another thing...
The Darth Maul dual-ended staff thing has always bugged me. I can't think of any reason that one double-sided staff like that would ever be more effective than just using a light saber in each hand. It would be much more adaptable and the dual-staff thing just seems way too dangerous to the wielder.

One thing that I would love to have seen instead of the "dual-staff-thing", which I think is a cop out, are new types of light sabers, like Count Dooku's french-handled light saber. I would have loved a little more creativity. I don't get paid to come up with new ideas but I'm sure if I spent a little time, I could come up with a variation that was more impressive than just: "LOOK! This guy uses TWO light sabers glued together!!11!" I don't know, maybe a light-saber-parrying implement or something. I for one was not impressed.

There, I said it. Now you know what kind of things I think about when I'm sitting at home alone and the internet goes out.

>> ^Shepppard:

@<a rel="nofollow" href="http://videosift.com/member/Xaielao" title="member since March 13th, 2009" class="profilelink">Xaielao
Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who thinks the old battles were better. The old battles were slow.. and that MADE them unrealistic.
In a typical swordfight, I'm pretty sure you're not gonna hit 3 times in 5 seconds and stop. And I can probably back the rest of that up with Lore.
Despite being "The Chosen One", Luke was only trained when he was older. Yoda came close to showing off a jedi's true potential by lifting the X-wing out of the marsh, but at that point he was old, and likely hadn't used the force for ages since Luke had appeared.
The Jedi we see in the prequel trilogy had been raised since they were insanely young (Younger then the 9 year old Anakin, because someone even says "He's too old.") and whenever you see someone fighting they're not just a run-of-the-mill jedi, it's typically someone from the council, essentially, the cream of the crop.
And.. just on a last little rant about the swordplay.. they're Jedi. Again, people trained since they were extremely young to use the force as a guide. Qui gon Jin at one point even says something about "He can see glimpses of the future, it's a jedi trait." which again, is something that happens in battle making the fights faster and more epic. Jedi are essentially a partial ripoff of samurai anyway.. and if you don't think sword fighting can be that fast and action packed, watch a couple good Kendo matches.



I may be the only one (though I sometimes doubt that hehe, but I must disagree about the saber battles in the original. They were choreographed by Bob Anderson, one of the greatest holywood sword trainers ever. The guy is behind literally every major action movie with sword fighting in them from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings, and Pirates of the Caribbean to Highlander. The saber fights are slow I'll give you that, but they were slow for a reason. As I said they were choreographed in such a way that you could almost feel the battle of wills behind the sabers themselves.

@bareboards2: The warning the officer issues as the video starts is that they are not allowed to dance in the memorial. If they had been doing something else, something worse, I imagine he would have said so. The evidence suggests to me that dancing was all they did.

@d3n4l1: Inappropriate is not the same as illegal. We don't need to imprison everyone we disagree with; sometimes we can just think they're assholes and move on. I wouldn't have any problem at all with people slow dancing as the one couple was shown doing. If they were to break out in choreographed line dancing, Backstreet Boys style, that might be a little irritating. It's hard to even say it would be inappropriate at a Jefferson memorial. Let's keep it in perspective; we're talking about a member of the Hellfire Club here.

@Shepppard: How would you suggest I go about protesting protest permits?

Yes, this piece of music is called "The Swan." "The Dying Swan" is a dance choreographed by Anna Pavlova and is set to "The Swan."

Never trust a woman wearing shorts that say "It's A Blast" across her butt. Were they trying to make an IBS PSA? And where in the name of christ is their choreographer?

(Press ESC to exit full screen)

Awesome. Mick Foley's books are great and even though it's choreographed fighting, his wrestling personas were hilarious. I wonder how much money is enough money for him to mow my lawn...

>> ^boblobblaw:

Please direct us to a few of those movies with quality fights scenes in your opnion. Thank you in advance...>> ^swedishfriend:
Funny, the fight scenes are some of the worst out there. reminds me of the super slow exaggerated stunt fighting from the 80's. I liked Serenity in spite of the fight scenes not because of them. There have been so many films with good fight scenes at any budget level that I am amazed how once in a while films still get made with such lame feeling action. Being flexible and acrobatic is not as important as having an intelligent use of the forces you throw around to at least look like you are putting some force into each hit VS I am touching you gently now and then you fly backwards as if a much greater force hit you. The dissonance between cause and effect is so great that it looses any impact.



Three off the top of my head:

Luke and Vader's fight at the end of Empire Strikes back, particularly the final scene on the gantry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-DeI3ohVbY
It's inelegant, rough and psychological; Vader is toying with Luke, who is clearly inferior, in an attempt to break his will. Way better than any of the fancy choreographed rubbish fights of the prequels.

Total Recall, the fight with Quaid and his mate from the quarry, along with his goons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KtHhIePpZg
For an action movie it does well, not too cheesy (though they sorta come at him one at a time, I guess) and he just kills them quickly any way he can. It establishes that the character possibly has latent abilities he didn't know about, as even he is surprised/shocked.

And although I generally view Kung-Fu as largely aesthetic, at least the way films depict it, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon's style nicely blended in a mythical aspect to their abilities (gliding across roofs and treetops).
For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OxQ-2gR1DU

I agree with @swedishfriend, that even if it's all pure fantasy, if it doesn't *look* like someone actually delivered any force with their fancy legwork, then it doesn't hold water for me. It's fine to film it that way if they want to, but it's just that there have been other fantasy films that have depicted combat better. Kung-Fu seems to be a sort of crutch that Hollywood leans on for making their fight scenes look more genuine. But I just really wonder how well all that twisting of arms and balancing on toes would really stand up against a kick-boxer, or other more practical style.

Ohh, also the needless twirling of swords... How I grit my teeth when I see that.

American "football" is rugby-with-autism played in body-fenders. It's more like some homoerotic Broadway choreographed over-production of a divorce litigation done up by Elton John than any sport.

papercut, this looks like he may have installed a obsolete motherboard within the colony as a base, since the real electronics would need to be pristine to function.

That said, there are some effects like the "moving bar backlighting" that not only need to be planned and carried out over several days in a time lapse, but to synch it to music ques? sounds more like a guy planned out months of time lapse to an already choreographed music video.

^Perhaps a choreographed diversion from all of the embarrassing republican tea party racism of the present?

I kept waiting for a non-action part. When are people going to realize that action is boring without reason...without tension? It's like the new Star Wars movies...you never think anyone's going to die, so there's no tension. The only people that are in danger are people you just don't give a crap about, and all the main characters are just running around in perfectly choreographed action scenes.

Here you have a trailer full of faceless protagonist, faceless enemies. Empty lifeless city. The protagonist is basically omniscient with perfect timing....

Don't get me wrong, it LOOKS great, but that doesn't mean it'll be worth a shit. If I were a producer, I'd want proof there's a story, not that you had a cool idea for an action scene. Still, it gets an upvote for possibly being cool at some point.