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SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Swings Online With The First Official Trailer

2017-01-11T02:39:00.001-08:00

I grew pretty fatigued in the months before and after Sony's 2014 attempt at a summer sequel with Marvel wall crawler, Spider-Man, and before I go any further, I still am, sort of. All of the tedious energy it takes to cover comic book movies - from micro updates on images to casting announcements and confirmations is why I largely don't cover comic book movies as much as I'd like to, and especially with all of the developments there were at the time for actor Andrew Garfield's succession into battling the Sinister Six along with the studio's further push for a possible female Spider-man project in the works.

Thus, and in the spirit of togetherness following last year's post Sony e-mail hacking updates, we've mostly scratched all of that for the time being and largely in part due to the spotlight now on actor Tom Holland who has been more than enthusiastic on social about his place in the current Marvel universe as the friendly neighborhood web-flinger prior to his debut in this year's Captain America: Civil War. He proved himself then, though now as a solo act (with the exception of Robert Downey Jr. further setting the table as billionaire Avenger Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man), Holland now takes the stage in director Jon Watt's Spider-Man: Homecoming, as our hero tries to balance out life as a high school student in Queens, New York City, and as a superhero in the making opposite. Actor Michael Keaton trades in the wings of Batman and Birdman for that of supervillain, Vulture, among the film's other antagonists.

The beautiful Marissa Tomei also returns as Aunt May from Civil War, joining a cast that rounds out with Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Tyne Daly and Bokeem Woodbine. Spider-Man: Homecoming, which premiered its first official trailer late Thursday evening on Jimmy Kimmel's late night show on ABC is online ahead of its July 7 release.

Check it out!

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES: Matt Reeves's Continuing Allegory On Mankind's Destructive Devolution Wages On In The First Official Trailer

2017-01-11T02:39:00.000-08:00

Folks observant of 20th Century Fox's recent efforts to revamp the Apes franchise have been a mostly positive grouping of fans, proven thusly by fresh Rotten Tomato ratings and a box office score of well over $1.1 billion dollars among other factors. It's obviously good news for the studio and good enough that a third be in order to cap off this latest endeavor stemming from director Matt Reeves, here and now with War For The Planet Of The Apes.

SYNOPSIS:

In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

Actor and mo-cap impressario Andy Serkis stakes his claim once more as Caesar opposite Woody Harrelson as the aforementioned Colonel - a.k.a. that one human asshole in an Apes movie who can't leave well enough alone. Also starring are Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval, Amiah Miller, and Terry Notary for the film's July 14 release next year.

Watch the new trailer in the player below and check out the poster!

Universal Announces THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS As The Official Title Of Upcoming Fast Saga Installment

2017-01-10T05:47:00.001-08:00

Plotting the continuing course that lies ahead of the "open road" for The Fast And The Furious franchise hasn't been an easy feat to achieve in the last few years. Thankfully we've seen Universal Pictures deliver on this tenfold in 2015 having endured the trauma of real life tragedy a few years earlier and the production challenges that ensued thereafter for its seventh installation, Furious Seven.

And so it begins once again - the journey to explore what remains of a story to tell centered on our group of gearheads, racers, hackers and special ops agents as they continue to take on the residual swarm of villains stemming from Furious 6 joining the likes of Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Michelle Rodriguez and Elsa Pataky once again with Jason Statham, Nathalie Emmanuel and Kurt Russell along with Scott Eastwood and actresses Charlize Theron and Dame Helen Mirren. Universal Pictures is officially announcing the title of the film as The Fate Of The Furious, and the plot goes a little something like this, via Deadline:

Now that Dom and Letty are on their honeymoon and Brian and Mia have retired from the game — and the rest of the crew has been exonerated — the globetrotting team has found a semblance of a normal life. But when a mysterious woman (Theron) seduces Dom into the world of crime he can’t seem to escape and a betrayal of those closest to him, they will face trials that will test them as never before.

The Fate Of The Furious is directed by The Italian Job and Straight Outta Compton helmer F. Gary Gray and is slated for theatrical release on April 14, 2017 with two more titles to round out the Fast saga in whole by April 2, 2021. The studio has also posted a quick first look via social media which you can view below following this Sunday's live trailer event at 4:40pm PST, 7:40pm EST.

UNCOMPROMISED Sees Jose Manuel Taking On The Mafia In The First Offical Trailer For Upcoming MA Action Pilot

2017-01-10T05:47:00.000-08:00

Having spawned from online shortfilm success, Puerto Rico's own, actor and martial artist Jose Manuel has landed himself and the good folks over at North Compass quite an accumulating profile over the last several years. For me, it wasn't until the top of 2015 when I began covering Manuel's incredible work as Puerto Rico's answer to Eric Jacobus, and most prolifically since his lead acting debut in the groundbreaking, award-winning 2011 feature actioner, Andres Ramírez's El Testigo.

Yes, it's been rewarding work ever since, and until otherwise, we are now met once again by the reunion of the film's star and director for the latest production of a pilot for a hopeful action crime series going into the new year. Uncompromised is the name of the show and while we await to see where things stand with the pilot, the first official trailer is now online and it's as every bit of promising as I enthuse in quote at the :40 mark about Manuel from an earlier piece I wrote last year, and I humbly stand by it.

After an event causing his family to separate and his life to turn around, Raul a Former MAFIA enforcer straightens his life by working as a security adviser for clubs and businesses. While Looking for quietness in his personal life he receives news that his brother is in trouble with the underworld and his narc family in grave danger. He must then decide to go back and help them, or let them deal with their brought on destiny.

This one sounds like it belongs right up in my Netflix queue. Check out the trailer below and let's hope the cameras get rolling on season one before long!

Top Ten Korean Movies of 2016 (Sort of)

2017-01-10T05:46:00.000-08:00

Zombies on the loose. Backstabbing lesbian lovers. Amoral cops. A young man with a disease that causes him to wake up each morning in a different body. 2016 was a lousy years in some respects (job, politics, family) but at least it gave me what I needed in terms of Korean movies. Below are my ten favorite movies all viewed within the last twelve months in alphabetical order. It was easy to pick 'em; impossible to rank 'em.
1. Alive: In Park Jung-bum's grimly naturalistic epic, poverty is one helluva oppressor and tenderness the sweetest, most unexpected thing life has to offer.
2. A Barefoot Dream: Kim Tae-gyun's ripped-from-the-sports-pages tearjerker is about an East Timor soccer team coached by a middling, former pro soccer player (Park Hee-soon) from South Korea.
3. The Beauty Inside: This wondrous sci-fi pic from Baek Jong-yeol asks how would our relationship to our soulmate change (or even survivor) if the exterior appearance kept changing every day?
4. Cyrano Agency: Imagine a future in which a matchmaking agency "scripts" your first encounter, subsequent dates, and wedding proposal. Now make it a rom-com.
5. The Handmaiden: Park Chan-wook's always made fascinating female characters but never more so than here in this lesbian erotic thriller based on Sarah Waters' novel Fingersmith.
6. A Hard Day: How often do narrative and character shortcomings make you reflect? This sleazy cop procedural, starring Lee Sun-kyun, pleases by disappointing in interesting ways.
7. Kundo: The Age of the Rampant: The better of two martial arts flicks I really enjoyed this year, the other being The Kick, has the advantage of Ma Dong-seok in a major role.
8. Miss Granny: The central performance from Shim Eun-kyung, as an old woman miraculously gifted her young body again, is deliriously good. Plus, she can sign.
9. The Scarlet Letter:
Is this the most harrowing love triangle in Korean film? It's certainly in the running. I first saw it over ten years ago and it's lost none of its power.
10. Train to Busan: Although it falls tenth on this alphabetical list, this zombie flick with a great ensemble cast was the most thrilling movie of the year. In short, number 10 is number 1.

Death Is Not An Option In The First Official Teaser For Martial Arts Action Comedy, JAILBREAK

2017-01-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

Four years in writing here at my blog have seen quite a bit of upscaling for many people that I've covered. English martial artist and stuntman Jean-Paul Ly is certainly someone I haven't left out of my purview in the time since he welcomed me into his social circle, and especially as rewarding as it continues to be through his progression as a stunt and fight coordinator and actor with several credits including Lucy, Jon M. Chu's Now You See Me 2, TV drama Cuckoo, and Colin Emerson's 2015 action short, Dead End.

He's got a few other roles now upcoming aside from that of what now looks to be another major step forward for the Cambodian film industry by way of filmmaker Jimmy Henderson with the new action comedy, Jailbreak from Puprom Entertainment and Kongchak Pictures. Ly joins Henderson's Hanuman (2015) cast - Bokator exponent Dara Ours and actor Savin Phillip in a story centered on several members of an outnumbered tactical unit forced to fight off an army of Koh Kla island prison inmates in escort of a high-profile criminal with sensitive information on the deadly Butterfly gang and its leader now out for his head.

Former AV star Celine Tran, fresh off of several years of training and demonstrating her commitment to more serious film roles now stakes her claim as the sword-wielding avowed leader of the Butterfly gang, the Madame. Also starring are actor Siriwudd Sisowath, veteran Bokator fighter Tara Vy, actor and martial artist Law Plancel and MMA League female premiere, actress Tharoth Sam who also makes her foray into the action genre some here, and there's no doubt about it that all those aforementioned will each have their moment to shine in this latest jewel opening locally on January 31, 2017.

Character posters have already gone viral but the first official trailer has finally arrived and offers good and plenty of what you crave from a quality action production thusfar. Give it a look below!

JAILBREAK: Character Posters

THE HIT LIST: December 12, 2016

2017-01-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

Well...here's the skinny if you're just tuning in. I'm fighting a bad cold and so I'll be dialing back on the writing a bit until I get back on my feet.

Until then, this may possibly be the final Hit List of the year while I've gathered plenty of content to share and for you to enjoy from here on. As always, first up are the stunt reels of the past week with some great selections, starting with David Zuckerman, Robert Steven Brown, Canada's own Kyle Wong, and stuntwoman C.C. Ice whose latest stunt reel went viral back in August but only came in my purview just as of late last week.

Rounding out the playlist are reels by Alexei Minaev, Meili Carpenter, Ellette Craddock, Nick Kraweic, Lance Herota, and the one and only Eric Jacobus with a kick ass new Tekken movielist for fighting character, Anna Williams. Click here or enjoy below!

There's only one trailer that matters right now for this week's installment of The Hit List and it regards a project I've covered briefly in recent weeks called Crows, inspired by the hit manga of the same name. Performers Steven Chan and Hayden Lam are behind the project which is expected to release early next year (maybe sooner) while they have been teasing the web with clips from the upcoming shortfilm, including the one you're about to see in the following playlist which pits Lam, armed with a bat and pure bloodlust against a gang of men out to meet him at his violent ends.

It's a one-take slice of pure, bone-breaking joy and you can check it out before playing the trailer which explains the narrative and plot details a bit more clearly. Beyond that, this whole thing looks exciting from top to bottom and I'm certain martial arts fans are going to love this when it releases.

Check out both videos here or in the playlist below!

Now it's off to the fight action to finish things out, and first up is another minute-long chapter from Ronin's Action before we rekindle our familiarity with actress Miguelina Olivares in filmmaker Andrew Kim's latest bounty hunter scrap, Dine Out. From there, we head into a supercharged pistol-juggling mix of fisticuffs between Kevin Barile and Narayana Cabral, followed by filmmaker Emmanuel Manzanares with a thrilling new duel between Amy Sturdivant and Thekla Hutyrova in Blind Date.

Ensuing in further calamity is what happens when superhero transformations are sabotaged by lint and choco pies in actor and filmmaker Fernando Jay Huerto's newest Four Points Film Project entry, Codex Hero Excel, before we head over to Martial Club's channel to catch up with David Cheung and actress Yolanda Lynes for their latest kung fu comedy short collab, Case Closed, which you can learn a little bit more about the premise of that shortfilm HERE. Following that is what happens when the Brothers Schoenke and the gang over at Bat In The Sun keep the idea chamber flowing with ways to pit superhero against superhero. Thus, meet the ill-fated end for one of our newest combatants in Wolverine Vs. Wonder Woman, with key performances by Jonathan Caroll and Tatiana DeKhytar, and be sure to tune into Bat In The Sun for its alternate ending this week and much more.

Capping off the playlist is a brand new Star Wars fan film wherein I can imagine it's not easy to find an actor who is able to reproduce the similar persona of a specific and well-known film character of legend. For this, we turn to director Keith Allen and the good, shared fortune of having actor Jamie Costa on hand to take point in the new short, Han Solo: A Smuggler's Tale, pitting our anti-hero against some of the universe's most wretched scum an villainy in order to save an old friend. Also starring are Krystine Gerolaga, Doug Jones and Cory Daniels.

Last and far from least and available only on Vimeo is Charlie Dennis's crowdfunded and just-released exploration into martial arts action and drama with the new shortfilm, Deep Pan Fury. It's been more than two years since I began covering this project which stars actor Andrew Koji as a troubled ex-street fighter forced to reclench his fists when when the 9th Shade gang kidnaps his grandfather after an earlier scuffle.

Packaged with all of twenty-minutes, this one gets my stamp of approval, telling an even-paced story that focuses equally on the metaphysical story at hand as it does on the surface. It's well-acted in its drama, and in turn, offers some solid action and fight sequencing friendly to the average moviegoer's eye, proving thusly that action directors like Jean-Paul Ly and Deep Pan Fury co-star Law Plancel are two of the growing best at what they do in this generation.

Finish the playlist above and watch Deep Pan Fury by clicking here or below. You won't regret it!

I might be back with the Hit List next week, although as far as I'm concerned, that is it for me until I get better from this sick stint I'm going through right now. I'll be posting every now and then but hopefully when regular posting resumes on January 9, I'll be feeling phlegm-free and ready to throw some more amazing content in your faces.

Be sure to sub to the channels and make sure you catch last week's entries... and more importantly, if you're out there and creating some of the best movies out there on the web and you want an audience, send us what you made and email us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com.

I'll be writing a more profound piece about this year before December finishes. Stay tuned!

Arrow Video Announces Miike Takashi's DEAD OR ALIVE Trilogy For March 2017

2017-01-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

Miike Takashi's Dead Or Alive trilogy is one I've been after for a while now and I'm glad that the good folks at Arrow Video are on top of it going into the new year. Two pre-order links are available in the announcement below for the U.S. and U.K. releases which ought to be an easy steal.

Read on:

NEW UK/US TITLE: Dead or Alive Trilogy Blu-ray/DVD releases

Pre-order Dead or Alive Trilogy UK Blu-ray: http://bit.ly/2hderBo

Pre-order Dead or Alive Trilogy UK DVD: http://bit.ly/2hcZXBM

Release Dates: 13th/14th March

Beginning with an explosive, six-minute montage of sex, drugs and violence, and ending with a phallus-headed battle robot taking flight, Takashi Miike's unforgettable Dead or Alive Trilogy features many of the director's most outrageous moments set alongside some of his most dramatically moving scenes. Made between 1999 and 2002, the Dead or Alive films cemented Miike's reputation overseas as one of the most provocative enfants terrible of Japanese cinema, yet also one of its most talented and innovative filmmakers.

In Dead or Alive, tough gangster Ryuichi (Riki Takeuchi) and his ethnically Chinese gang make a play to take over the drug trade in Tokyo's Shinjuku district by massacring the competition. But he meets his match in detective Jojima (Show Aikawa), who will do everything to stop them. Dead or Alive 2: Birds casts Aikawa and Takeuchi together again, but as new characters, a pair of rival yakuza assassins who turn out to be childhood friends; after a botched hit, they flee together to the island where they grew up, and decide to devote their deadly skills to a more humanitarian cause. And in Dead or Alive: Final, Takeuchi and Aikawa are catapulted into a future Yokohama ruled by multilingual gangs and cyborg soldiers, where they once again butt heads in the action-packed and cyberpunk-tinged finale to the trilogy.

Each of them unique in theme and tone, the Dead or Alive films showcase Miike at the peak of his strengths, creating three very distinct movies connected only by their two popular main actors, each film a separate yet superb example of crime drama, character study, and action filmmaking.

(Blu-ray Special Features)

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
• High Definition digital transfers of all three films
• Original uncompressed stereo audio
• Optional English subtitles for all three films
• New interview with actor Riki Takeuchi
• New interview with actor Sho Aikawa
• New interview with producer and screenwriter Toshiki Kimura
• New audio commentary for Dead or Alive by Miike biographer Tom Mes
• Archive interviews with cast and crew
• Archive making-of featurettes for DOA2: Birds and DOA: Final
• Original theatrical trailers for all three films
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando Arocena

(DVD Special Features)

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• High Definition digital transfers of all three films
• Original stereo audio
• Optional English subtitles for all three films
• New interview with actor Riki Takeuchi
• New interview with actor Sho Aikawa
• New interview with producer and screenwriter Toshiki Kimura
• New audio commentary for Dead or Alive by Miike biographer Tom Mes
• Archive interviews with cast and crew
• Archive making-of featurettes for DOA2: Birds and DOA: Final
• Original theatrical trailers for all three films
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando Arocena

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Kat Ellinger

THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS: Family Falls Apart In The First Official Trailer

2017-01-09T05:55:00.000-08:00

Ask anyone up until now if you thought the ever-loyal Toretto family wasn't going to have its share of trials and tribulations, and they'd probably tell you you were up your own ass for even asking that. Well, leave it to A Man Apart and Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray and his band of miscreants at Universal Pictures to turn things upside down for those naysayers who have been in for a huge surprise during the trailer launch on Sunday night for the new film, The Fate Of The Furious which now puts the famed love story between Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) in sheer jeopardy, leaving a lot of people asking a series of WTFs online and such.

It's great dialogue for Universal though as I expect it may be, further driven by whatever past updates from the film's other major star, Dwayne Johnson, may have intended to spark within the framework of the rivalry we now see between Johnson's lawman role, Hobbs, and producer Diesel who stars in the longstanding saga in the five years since they stood opposite one another in Fast Five. Mind you, we'll have at least another four or five years to have our questions answered with at least two more films in tow about how or why things have curtailed the way they have among our on-screen family, and especially with Dom lip-locking with the film's new techno villain played by Furiosa herself, actress Charlize Theron. At any rate, the first official trailer is online, extensive, and otherwise hugely compelling and further welcoming into the next chapter of The Fast And The Furious saga that lives on the legacy of its stars, alive in this life or the next.

Now that Dom and Letty are on their honeymoon and Brian and Mia have retired from the game—and the rest of the crew has been exonerated—the globetrotting team has found a semblance of a normal life. But when a mysterious woman (Oscar® winner Charlize Theron) seduces Dom into the world of crime he can’t seem to escape and a betrayal of those closest to him, they will face trials that will test them as never before.

From the shores of Cuba and the streets of New York City to the icy plains off the arctic Barents Sea, our elite force will crisscross the globe to stop an anarchist from unleashing chaos on the world’s stage…and to bring home the man who made them a family.

Also returning are Elsa Pataky, Christopher Bridges, Tyrese Gibson, Furious Seven co-stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham with Scott Eastwood and Dame Helen Mirren also starring. Watch the official trailer now!

Review: KILL RATIO (2016) Is A Bygone Actioner With A Promising New Star

2017-01-08T20:50:00.000-08:00

It’s easy to take for granted the golden age of DTV action we live in with filmmakers like Isaac Florentine and John Hyams bringing genuine inspiration to their films. Kill Ratio is a throwback to an earlier era; a time that most of us would like to forget... The DTV dark age of the early 2000s.

British actor Tom Hopper (Doctor Who) plays James Henderson, an ex-CIA bad-ass who now works for a telecommunications company. His boss, Gabrielle (Amy Huberman), is trying to secure a major contract in a vaguely Eastern European nation (we’ll call it Movieslovakia) making its first steps toward democracy. This boils down to entertaining local dignitaries in a hotel and shoving brochures in their faces. Things take a turn for the Die Hard when a coup breaks out and their hotel is overtaken by militants, and now Henderson has to use his kick-ass skillset to keep people safe and eventually wage a one-man war on the generic militants who threaten democracy.

First and foremost, this is a star vehicle for Tom Hopper. It’s always interesting to see American bravado as translated by a non-American (in this case British) actor. Hopper has a great screen presence and nails the action star thing like a champ. He projects the kind of wry charm that some of the best action heroes of the past have possessed. Without a doubt, Hopper shines from start to finish and is the best thing about this film.

They say the best way to elevate a hero is to challenge them with a great villain... unfortunately no one told that to the writers of this film. The villains aren’t so much comically inept as they just aren’t threatening. It feels like they're going out of their way not to be too mean to our heroes for fear of causing an international incident (though they ARE complete dicks to the hotel staff). One of the biggest conflicts early in the film is whether or not someone can step outside for a quick smoke... seriously. The neutered threat makes even the most “tense” of scenes fall flat. About the only thing they get right is the obligatory “how bad-ass is he?” speech about Henderson right before the third act (spoiler: he's suuuuper bad-ass and deadly and stuff).

One of the most important things in a Die Hard clone is the location where the action takes place. Nakatomi Plaza became character unto itself and dictated a lot of the film’s feel. The battleship in Under Siege (one of Die Hard’s best clones) served the same purpose. By comparison, Kill Ratio’s hotel setting is just plain bland; looking about as interesting as a Ramada Inn. The film’s workmanlike cinematography does the film no favors either and much of the film is confined to boring hotel rooms and the lobby.

None of these things are deal breakers as long as the action delivers…. Yeah, about that. The action in this film is the definition of pedestrian. The fight scenes are hacked to pieces and the choreography is uninspired. The gunfights are ruined by amateurish CG squibs and muzzle flashes. There's so little ambition or creativity on display, you begin to wonder why they even bothered. The closest thing to a standout fight scene is a sword duel between Henderson and the evil General Lazar (Nick Dunning) at the end of the movie. It’s an entertainingly campy scene that, unfortunately, takes place AFTER the villains have been defeated. The film’s best action scene has zero stakes and feels like they just had to tie up a loose end.

Despite its promising star, Kill Ratio is a movie that’s hard to recommend. It’s not good enough to sincerely enjoy but also not bad enough to enjoy ironically. There are better, more creative actioners available on YouTube.

New Threats Loom In The Newest Poster For TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT

2017-01-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

There are definitely a few films coming in 2017 with notable lead characters appearing to share a similar theme. One of them happens to be The Fate Of The Furious over at Universal Pictures and the other, at Paramount Pictures brings us to Michael Bay's Transformers: The Last Knight, which now immerses us in a world more desolate and dystopian, riddled and damaged from battle after battle as seen in the first trailer which premiered last week.

And at the center of the carnage lies Optimus Prime who last soared into space to seek out the depth and mystery behind the events of Age Of Extinction back in 2014. A lot more appears to have happened since then and you can see it all in the trailer while the pieces slowly start to come together ahead of the film's release on June 23, 2017, with actors Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Tuturro starring among the principle cast.

Also starring are Isabelle Moner, Laura Haddock and Sir Anthony Hopkins to round out the human end of the cast where our named Autobot and Decepticons will line-up accordingly, and with the one and only Prime making his presence known with a new threat now lingering over our planet in the backdrop of the film's newest poster. Take a look below!

Action Movie World: DELETED SCENES is Here!

2017-01-08T20:47:00.001-08:00

Hey, everybody! Long time no talk! Our group hasn't been playing a lot of Action Movie World lately, so I haven't had a ton to say. But you should know that the first supplement, DELETED SCENES, is out right now, and it looks rad as hell.

The supplement includes two new actor playbooks (the Child Star and the Old Codger), and a great selection of new movie scripts: The Comic Book Movie, The Disaster Movie, The Trucker Movie, and The Vigilante Movie.

THAT'S RIGHT, YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT SYLVESTER STALLONE IN "OVER THE TOP' ACTION MOVIE WORLD PASTICHE TO HAPPEN AND YOUR HOUR HAS COME ROUND AT LAST.

More thorough reviews coming soon, and play recaps as soon as we get to 'em! In the meantime, pick up your copy!

Robbie, Ayer Reunite For GOTHAM CITY SIRENS Adaptation

2017-01-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

In the months leading up to the stellar performing release of box office hit, Suicide Squad, it was already being reported that Warner Bros. was well on the way with developing a feature spin-off focusing on a female-centric narrative primed with heroines and villainesses from the DC Universe. Three months later, Suicide Squad, in the weeks proceeding director David Ayer's bold "F**k Marvel" commentary which he eventually recanted, the film went on to gross well over $745 million dollars worldwide, flying in the faces of critics who struck the comic book adaptation with perpetually negative reviews overwhelming some positive ones.

Evidently, the film's success only meant the discussions surrounding the future of Suicide Squad on the big screen wouldn't be going away anytime soon, and with Robbie now on deck to produce, the word now from THR is that Ayer himself, once he wraps with Netflix-bound sci-fi fantasy cop actioner, Bright, is back and on board in the director's chair for what the studio is now aiming as an advancement of the 2009 comic book series, Gotham City Sirens. Paul Dini, Tony Bedard and Peter Calloway wrote all 26 issues through 2011 with stories that centered on Batman Universe characters such as Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and the Joker's part-time girlfriend, Harley Quinn, which Robbie herself will reprise in the new film as well while producing along with Ayer.

The studio has since tapped Geneva Robertson-Dworet to pen the script following her work on Roar Uthaug's Tomb Raider reboot in addition to the studio's pending Sherlock Holmes threequel. Geoff Johns and Jon Berg from DC's film arm will also serve in a producer capacity while other plans may be underway to spin-off other characters from Suicide Squad in addition to a sequel. As for how they'll manage to keep up with the rest of the DC universe as it holds itself together between now, crewing up a new director for The Flash and filming Aquaman, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corps and Justice League movies is...well... but a mystery.

Heavy stuff! Details ahead.

NBC's New TAKEN Series Steals Your Appeal In The First Teaser

2017-01-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

Ask me any day of the week and I'll be the first to tell you that Pierre Morel's Taken is the best of the titular trilogy from EuropaCorp and 20th Century Fox. Thus, in the wake of last year's completion of the film series starring Liam Neeson, news broke later on of a television show in the works.

That said, I had my doubts, but the teaser for the new NBC action thriller series finally arrived and it looks like something I could warm up to for its February premiere. Vikings actor Clive Standen takes the reigns as our hero, Bryan Mills, under showrunner Alexander Cary, who, if we are so lucky, kept to a team of people who actually know how to shoot and edit the kind of signature "shaky-cam" action that adds meat to these kinds of shows.

For this, we also get what looks to be an ample glimpse into the life of a hero who ultimately learns how to sharpen instinct to protect people, ultimately becoming the hunter, survivalist and espionage expert we've all come to know in the films, all portrayed by an actor who doesn't seem to disappoint thusfar. This teaser sells. Check it out below the info!

From Executive Producer Luc Besson ("Taken," "The Fifth Element") comes a thrilling new addition to his iconic blockbuster action-film franchise. This new, modern-day, edge-of-your-seat thriller follows the origin story of younger, hungrier, former Green Beret Bryan Mills (Clive Standen, "Vikings") as he deals with a personal tragedy that shakes his world. As he fights to overcome the incident and exact revenge, Mills is pulled into a career as a deadly CIA operative, a job that awakens his very particular, and very dangerous, set of skills.

The cast includes Clive Standen, Jennifer Beals, Brooklyn Sudano, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Gaius Charles, Michael Irby, James Landry Hébert and Jose Pablo Cantillo.

Alexander Cary serves as writer and executive producer. Luc Besson, Matthew Gross, Edouard de Vésinne, Thomas Anargyros and Director Alex Graves also executive produce. "Taken" is produced by EuropaCorp TV and Universal Television.

H/T: NBC

GINTAMA: Oguri Shun Slashes And Thrashes In The First Teaser For The Live-Action Movie

2017-01-07T15:45:00.000-08:00

The prospects of manga author Sorachi Hideaki's longstanding manga success, Gintama, sure feel pretty exciting these days. A new anime series is on the horizon following a hiatus back in March and since then, we've also had a live-action feature adaptation of the film now headed for a July release.

For this, we now get our first teaser for the film directed by none other than Hentai Kamen helmer Fukuda Yuichi. More details are pending while previous news hints at the likely story details surrounding the Benizakura Arc where certain characters go "missing" in the wake of a mysterious killer running loose in Edo with a stolen mystical demon sword consuming him.

Oguri Shun (Museum) leads the cast as wayward Samurai-turned-Odd Jobs entrepreneur Sakata Gintoki along with Suda Masaki as Shimura Shinpachi and Kashimoto Hanna as Kagura - all of whom are visible in the teaser; Tonewise, you get none of the light-hearted comedic antics normally seen in the anime...nope, this one goes straight for a micro-tease of action and peril in a mere 30-second glimpse you can now view below.

Review: BLACK SCAR BLUES (2017) Heals Its Wounds With Indie Triumph

2017-01-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

Looking at most shortfilms, many prove to be workable concepts that, if handled with care and granted the right amount of money and production muscle, could turn out to be something of a worthy feat. Most times though, especially with independent filmmakers, achieving that sort of thing with little to no money at all and a small crew with extenuating circumstances in between can ultimately prove to be quite an endeavor, which is exactly what filmmaker Leroy Nguyen endured considering the well-over five years it took to make his feature-length debut, Black Scar Blues, a reality.

With an online resume on their YouTube channel that dates back as far as 2006, Nguyen's production banner, Rising Tiger Films, rose with the growth of an arm of the online film scene geared toward making action movies. Since then and for the last five years to date, Nguyen and his team have become an award-winning company with a slew accolades, including those recently earned for the 2015 shortfilm, Black Scar Blues, starring Nguyen and actor Edmond Shum which I had the opportunity to screen for myself early last year.

Clocked in at about 45 minutes, it was Nguyen's biggest project by then, and a very different film as well with themes focused on love, jealousy and the dissolve loyality between two best friends who run drugs for their employer. Fast forward through 2016 and following a number of those extenuating circumstances I mentioned earlier, Black Scar Blues has taken somewhat of a new life whilst not straying too far from a few of those aforementioned themes, and partly due to the prospects of a hopeful wider release as a feature film as of last October.

For this, we have an almost entirely new movie with a number of changes and augmentations that help the story progress much more than it could have in previous iterations, despite a few stumbles. Nguyen and Shum are still the center of the premise, however, as characters Roy and Eddie, two closely-knit drug runners trying to work their way up Baltimore's criminal ladder under the tutelage of their employer, Uncle Sammy, played by Donald Williams. In the span of a year Roy's own ambition ensues an ideological falling-out with Eddie, along with a series of gruesome events, and a brutal, climatic fight between two former friends at the end of their rope.

The film becomes a bit of a balancing act between certain scenes as the narrative tries to hold together. Thankfully, Nguyen's decision to narrate the film helps lend some much needed support along the way as we meet some of the supporting and supplemental characters that aren't hugely explained in the dialogue. It also helps accumulate the kind of depth and substance that a character study like this requires, and interestingly with the use of second-person references throughout, which I found intriguing.

Nguyen and Shum present an enjoyable chemistry at the top of the film with flashes of omenous shots that are suggestive of what awaits in the third act. On that note, much of the acting is good as the film moves forward, but it is Nguyen who proves to be one of the film's few, strongest actors, hands down, wearing a pompadour that coincides with his gangster persona, modeled inspiringly from iconic movie crimebosses with exemplary nods to Brian de Palma's Scarface and Martin Scorsese's The Departed. He shows great range in acting, as well as his skill as a physical actor next to fellow choreographer and co-star Shum whose acting isn't hugely up to par, but makes his role work with a level of gravitas and bravura to some of the more intense moments, including the film's brutal fight choreography and stunt work. The same goes for Daniel Sim who plays Eddie's cousin, Sonny. Sim only recently became part of Rising Tiger Films in the last few years, and in his short time, still manages to impress on screen with some doable acting, as well as accustoming to the style of action that Nguyen and Shum bring to the table.

Actress Jen Barnard plays a call-girl named Tracey, the on-again-off-again pseudo-romantic ell of Roy's life as he deals with his own downward spiral; it's an arc of the film that leaves you guessing as there isn't a lot of dialogue between the two, but is insisted through moments where she shows caring and concern for Roy who often comes to her place battered and bloodied. In one scene, she hands him a beer moments before sitting next to him on a couch before slapping him twice. Next to Nguyen's audible chronicling, it was all you needed to know of the timbre of their relationship and it's something you can relate to, even if the dialogue is minimal.

The fight choreography is a solid tether to a lot of things fans want when they go to the movies to see a Hollywood flick or an independent film. The action sequences are intense and full of electricity, but the camerawork here is a true winner as well with a distinct balance between Michael Mann/Paul Greengrass-style cinematography that lends the kind of intensity and realism to fast-paced action, but doesn't cast logic by the wayside and go full-blown retard to the extent of trying to make the likes of Olivier Megaton proud; Let that be a lesson to anyone who wants to make action movies, because cinematography and lensing is important, and if you're too busy trying to shake the camera and chop scenes up to sell your action, simply put - you are doing it all wrong and you should reconsider your profession immediately.

You see though, that's what you get when you observe the work of Rising Tiger Films. You get the results of people among the likes of Zero Gravity, The Stunt People, Jabronie Pictures, Whirlwind and Dardrex who have all taught themselves and learned from others on how to shoot action to make their projects work. Rising Tiger is no exception, and, thus, have equally proven themselves to be messengers in their own right, nonetheless continuing in their journey to learn what it takes to be better filmmakers each time. And for all that and more, you get to see a feature film that rewards you with a little bit of everything and more in its delivery, even if it falls short in some areas of overall production quality as an indie picture.

The film also presents changes in scoring and certain areas of editing; There's one particular scene in which characters Roy and Eddie are sitting in a car and discussing the importance of instinct, and the camera zooms in on Eddie's face just enough to hint at the internal struggle his character is quietly dealing with while stay measured and balanced. It's a glimmering moment in the film for Shum and hugely conducive to Nguyen's script as the film progresses without coming off as an excessive feature with filler in-between.

Granted, if you're overly technical and looking to nitpick about the film's shortfalls, you might be at it for a while. The film is probably not meant for everyone, although I do challenge everyone who loves movies to watch it...especially for the sake of ones' own measure of appreciation for independent cinema. In my view, get a story that is darkly lit, shrouded in an archaic style and vision with a good cast, and a director that fleshes out the best of his story to make it work, and compared to anything it was before in its evolution, this works.

Love it or hate it, Black Scar Blues makes for an albeit terrific coming-out party for Rising Tiger Films. With more to come, they are emboldened by their successes in delivering fine-crafted action and drama to the screen...all in representation of a community that has proven itself time and time again that it can do ten times better what most Hollywood films fail at. As such, I carry some high hopes for Rising Tiger Films in the months and years to come, and for all the successes this beast has yet to sink its teeth into.

ARSENAL Locks And Loads In The New Trailer

2017-01-07T14:43:00.000-08:00

Marauders helmer Steven C. Miller is back on the big screen this January following his latest crime pic, Arsenal. Formerly titled Philly Fury and with a cast that adds Nicolas Cage opposite Jonathan Schaech, Adrian Grenier and John Cusack, the first trailer for the upcoming Grindstone/Lionsgate release has finally arrived.

SYNOPSIS:

A powerful action thriller, ARSENAL tells the intertwining stories of the Lindel brothers, Mikey (Johnathon Schaech) and JP (Adrian Grenier), who had only each other to rely on growing up. As adults, JP found success as the owner of a construction company, while Mikey became a small-time mobster, mired in a life of petty crime.

When Mikey is kidnapped and held for a ransom by ruthless crime boss Eddie King (Nicolas Cage), JP turns to the brothers’ old pal Sal (John Cusack), a plain clothes detective for help. In order to rescue his brother, JP must risk everything and unleash his vengeance against King’s relentless army of gangsters.

Check out the goods below and mark January 6, 2017 on your calendars for theatrical or Digital HD viewing.

Check Out A Teaser Trailer For VIY Sequel, JOURNEY TO CHINA: THE MYSTERY OF THE IRON MASK

2017-01-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

Oleg Stepchenko's long-awaited, albeit loose adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's 19th century horror novella, Viy, has seen quite an evolution. And a lengthy one at that with years of production hurdles until it finally released in 2014 in Russia; The film released in the U.S. as Forbidden Empire and as the first of a trilogy at that, a sequel was in tow the following year upon its announcement.

Thus, we have Stepchenko back in the director's chair and continuing the story of cartographer Jonathan Green, played by Jason Flemyng and Rutger Hauer, and after a small stir of big named circling the film, are officially seeing action legends Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Neither of the latter two are visble in the most recent teaser for the film which now titles itself as Journey To China: The Mystery Of The Iron Mask, which arrived over the summer with no subs, but nevertheless boasts some pretty neat visuals along with some sweeping action to boot - per the addition of Chan and his stunt team.

The English traveler Jonathan Green receives from Peter the Great an order to map the Russian Far East. Once again he sets out for a long journey full of incredible adventures that will eventually lead him to China.

The cartographer will unexpectedly face a lot of breathtaking discoveries, encounter bizarre creatures, meet with Chinese princesses, and confront deadly martial arts masters and even the king of all dragons - the Dragon King. What could be more dangerous than meeting eye to eye with Viy, except doing it again? What would be stronger this time - a staunch skepticism of the scientist or the old black magic that has seized power of Eastern lands?

To be honest, I still need to see the first film to know where this one stands, but, for what it's worth, this sequel looks pretty nice so far, even as a loose telling of an old fable. We'll see how it delivers though.

H/T: ScreenAnarchy

Big Match (Movie)

2017-01-06T01:07:00.002-08:00

Watch : Big Match (Movie)

Drama Titles:
Big Match 2014, Big Match Movie, Bigmaechi, 빅매치

Description:
Choi Ik-Ho (Lee Jung-Jae) is a martial arts star with talent for action and humor. But one day, he is framed for murder. Ace (Shin Ha-Kyun) is a game planner, who makes a game for the Korean upper class. He is a villain who makes a city into a big gameboard through technology. Ace and Choi Ik-Ho become adversaries as Choi Ik-Ho jumps into the game to save his brother.

Released: 2014

Genres: Action, Death Game

Drama Stars:

Lee Jung Jae

Shin Ha Kyun

Lee Sung Min (1968)

Ra Mi Ran

BoA

Bluebird's House (KBS2)

2017-01-06T01:07:00.001-08:00

Watch : Bluebird's House (KBS2)

Drama Titles:
Bluebird's Nest

Description:
A drama that tells the story of strong bond between the members of a family even though they are not blood-related. This drama also portrays the hope of parents toward their children's success and how difficult for fresh university graduates to get respectable and well-paid jobs.

Released: 2015

Genres: Comedy, Family, Human, Romance

Drama Stars:

Lee Joon Hyuk

Chun Ho Jin

Choi Myung Gil

Jung Jae Soon

Kyung Soo Jin

Unkind Women (KBS2)

2017-01-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

Watch : Unkind Women (KBS2)

Drama Titles:
Chakhaji Anheun Yeojadeul

Description:
This drama features the women of three generations and people around them. Ma Ri grows up as a good teacher of this generation where there is no true mentor. Hyun Sook, who has been a troublemaker, realizes the love and support of her family. Kang Soon Ok regards herself as unlucky, but later on realizes how happy she has been. How can you hold up when your life gets tough? You will figure it out by holding up day by day, just like these women in the drama.

Released: 2015

Genres: drama, Family, romance

Drama Stars:

Lee Ha Na

Chae Si Ra

Do Ji Won

Kim Hye ja

DVD Review: THE LOST BLADESMAN Wields A Dull Cinematic Gamble

2017-01-06T01:05:00.001-08:00

The Lost Bladesman.

You know, I really wanted to like this movie. I'm a secret Three Kingdoms fanatic and we're talking about Guan Yu here; the all-revered, OG badass of the East. Not only that, Donnie Yen was to play this kung fu deity; it really seemed like this was a film to really look forward to.

But just like the title, it felt a bit....well, lost.

For those that might not be versed in the Three Kingdoms history, Guan Yu served under Liu Bei until he was captured by Wei General, Cao Cao. By using Guan Yu's strict adherence to his own personal ideals of righteousness, Cao Cao was able to have him slay Yan Liang at the Battle of Boma. Despite knowing that Guan Yu plans to leave his service to return to Liu Bei, Cao Cao admires him because of his strong sense of honor. Though he lets Guan Yu go, Cao Cao's generals refuse to let him go back to his lord so easily and this makes up the plot of the film. Directed by Felix Chong and Alan Mak, this was supposed to be an epic retelling of a hero's journey back while facing insurmountable odds, but it fell flat to where it wanted to be.

The problem is that Guan Yu is really a one-sided character, so to speak. He's a heroic figure, through and through. No amount of trials and tribulations would change him because he's heroic to a fault. He faces every situation with the steel will of his code of honor. Essentially, he's kind of a boring character to really write about and casting Donnie Yen to this kind of exudes that fact as well. Donnie plays the "every man" part really well, we have seen this in the Ip Man series and even in Kung Fu Jungle; which gives his performance for a drab script like this to be too much of a bore. The character really had only two modes of emotion, angry and confused.

That's it. And for a movie about the Chinese God of War to be so boring...it really was a let down.

Even the fights weren't anything amazing in the ability of what Donnie Yen can do. The action was too little with too much in between. Now, I'm not saying that I wanted the whole movie to be an action extravaganza but when there is a movie with Donnie Yen playing as Guan Yu...I expected more. I mean, there was an implied action scene where the fight begins behind closed doors, then you hear sound effects, then the door opens and everyone is dead while Guan Yu stands in the aftermath.

No.

I wanna see Donnie Yen fight.
That scene was a cop out.

Overall, I think Chong's and Mak's execution of this film from fell a bit short from its intended target, I believe. You have such a fantastical character in one of the most epic lore ever told with such colorful characters, events, and plot twists...but the script wanted to tell it in such a melodramatic, drab way that everything lost its magic.

Still, if you're interested, there are a few fight scenes in here worth watching as you don't see much quality weapon choreography nowadays. Then again, we know that Donnie can do so much better (ahem*herofightsceneoronceuponatimeinchina2*ahem)

Kiss Me, Kill Me: Hired Killer, Suicidal Dame

2017-01-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm on the fence about Shin Hyeon-jun. Sure, he's handsome as hell and charming to boot but can he act? I'm beginning to doubt it. So what if he's likable in the Married to the Mafia movies? Big deal if he can hold his own in the Son of a General series. Kudos to him for picking scripts that lead to franchises and no doubt his bank is well stocked but damn him for never going deep, especially now when deep is just what Kiss Me, Kill Me needs. Don't brush me off with the retort that this is an absurdist comedy about a hired assassin who falls for a klutzy young client (Kang Hye-jeong) who initially wants him to kill her because she doesn't have the wherewithal to off herself. Since writer-director Yang Jong-Hyun's movie occasionally lurches into places where a little gravity would go a long way.
The despair that comes when you find out that the love of your life still pines for another, the fear that accompanies aging out of your career while lacking other marketable skills, the longing which struggles to come to the surface when you're hemorrhaging from a gunshot wound and your girlfriend is holding you in her arms... These are all situations that another actor might've run with but Shin tends to flatten out at such moments, at best transitioning from a blank stare to a sly smile that admittedly wins you over but at what cost? Must Shin always revert to summoning up the appeal of a puppy?
I don't mean to undersell Shin. He's a deft light comedian, a master of the side-eye, the double-take and deadpan in general. Without him, Kiss Me, Kill Me wouldn't be worth watching at all. But there are some actors you really, really like that you wish that you could love. For that to happen with Shin, we'd need to get serious. He's made over two dozen movies. Perhaps our cinematic romance lies ahead. Until then, we're not really on speaking terms, as friends.

Rise of the Miniskirt: Nora Noh: Dressed for Success

2017-01-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

Many major questions remain unanswered at the end of the "fashion icon" documentary Rise of the Miniskirt: Nora Noh. How could the young dressmaker afford to go to the U.S. to study, following her divorce at age 19? Whatever happened to her Japanese ex-husband? Were there other loves in her life? How did she get to be the first Korean designer to take over the ground-floor windows at Macy's flagship in NYC and what was the reaction from the American press at that time? (Same for her covers on Vogue and Harper's Bazaar!) Who are her fashion progeny? What stores carry her clothes today? Whose wearing her today? But even with these omissions, Rise of the Miniskirt is a pretty informative portrait of the groundbreaking ready-to-wear clothing designer, who lived through the Japanese occupation and the military coup in Korea; a symbol of female liberation who was bringing Western ideas about stylish and pragmatic women's wear to a culture and workplace that was redefining itself after WWII and the Korean War.
Rich with archival footage of and contemporary interviews with longtime clients such as pop singer Yoon Bok-hee and movie stars Eom Aeng-ran and Choi Ji-hee all wearing Noh's designs both then and now, the film makes you ache to see more from Korea's mid-century culture, like the movies Horse-Year Bride and A Sister's Garden (which used Noh's shop as one of its locations). Some of the clothes are still quite stylish a long sliced coat in white; pretty much anything Noh wears now in her 80s! Other outfits look dated, even clumpy. (Well, who doesn't have misfires in their past?) But Noh, ever-confident, curious, and questioning, always feels worthy of investigation and celebration. It's easy to see why the stylist Suh Eun-young was inspired to organize a retrospective of Noh's work and why that would, in turn, inspire this documentary. She lives up to her Ibsen namesake well.

Traffickers: Ship of Fools

2017-01-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine wanted me to give him an introduction to Korean movies and rather than showing him one of the great ones like Oldboy, The Host or Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring I decided to screen a movie that I'd watched earlier this week: Kim Hong-seon's Traffickers, a pulpy noir about low-level smugglers who switch from dealing in black market organ donations to illegal drugs then back again. To me, Traffickers, more than the three earlier films cited, reflects what's kept me so engrossed in Korean cinema for a decade. What's good is very good.
Yet, on second viewing, I realized that much of what I liked about Traffickers may be kind of insider-y: the casting of Lim Chang-jung, an actor best known for comedies, as a gang leader, the cultural commentary about China, the scarcity of gunfire... Even the way Choi Daniel plays his role as a nerdy insurance agent like a pretty boy K-pop star looking to break into film. Which isn't to say Traffickers was totally lost on my friend here. He dug the Keyzer Sose plot twist, the DePalma-esque filming of violence, the ludicrous conceit of a cruise line that harvests its poor clientele for kidneys and livers, the doomed chorus of losers unlucky in love and money, the seediness, the perversion. I don't know that I made a final convert at my home theater but he did say afterwards that he'd like me to show him a Korean rom-com next time so I probably will need to pull out the big guns: Attack the Gas Station 2, Jeon Woochi: The Taoist Wizard, Le Grand Chef.
Come to think of it, I doubt that I'd be a Korean movie addict if all I'd seen were enjoyable but less-than-mind-blowing thrillers like Traffickers, Confession of Murder and No Fears for the Dead. These movies have sustained me in between masterpieces like Peppermint Candy and The King and the Clown. As sustenance, they're delicious. As I said to my friend beforehand, this is a B-movie that makes you realize just how good B really is in Korean cinema. B means "better than most" not "below A." So what if it doesn't mean "brilliant."