What are the best martial arts to do?

What movie best showcases what is best about your martial arts style and why?

• I'm looking for recommendations: are the boxing scenes better in 'Cinderella Man' or 'Rocky'?  Is the wing chun better showcased by 'Enter the Dragon' or 'Ip Man'?  Please note that I'm not looking for 'better in a street fight' realism here- I suppose I'm asking about best movies for martial arts choreography.

• Answer:

  My core style is wing chun kung fu. In recent years, a number of movies have depicted the life of Ip Man, probably the best-known proponent of the style. The art has also been featured in a number of entertainments about the mythical Yim Wing Chun, which popular legend says created the style. (There's no proof that this is true, or even that such an individual existed.) The best portrayal of the art in action has been by Donnie Yen in the first "Ip Man" movie. The best explanation of the art was seen in the classic movie, "The Prodigal Son." My only objection to the subtitles here is in the beginning. The one word that the master says it crucial to understanding wing chun is not "enemy," It translates more accurately as something between "vendetta" and "hatred" -- in other words, wing chun makes no claims to being an art for "self defense" and in application, the proper mindset of a wing chun fighter is the focused intention to kill the man in front of you without hesitation. Other scenes in the movie correctly make it clear that the proper attitude afterward is to add "fuck you, asshole" as you leave for good measure. (In fact, that's exactly the final scene -- the protagonist flipping off his maimed opponent before he walks away.) The wing chun view is that either you've decided to be murderously violent in your response to a conflict, or not violent at all. There is no in-between. The finest choreographed fight scene involving Baguazhang (my secondary art) to date comes from the Wong Kar Wai film "The Grandmaster": I'm not saying it's realistic. But it's beautiful and it does accurately show possible applications from actual moves in the forms. The opponent does Xingyiquan and the scene is faithful to that art, too. (Both arts, incidentally, feature in the mostly forgettable Jet Li sci fi flick, "The One.")