Fist of B-List

Low Blow (1986)

2012-04-29T15:33:00.001-04:00

PLOT: A religious nutjob has just accepted the latest confused member into his isolated cult. However, her rich father is willing to pay any price for her safe return (within reason). Before long, a martial artist private investigator is in hot pursuit, racking up parking tickets, moving violations, and mangled fenders along the way. Director: Frank Harris Writer: Leo Fong Cast: Leo Fong,

The Dynamite Brothers (1974)

2012-04-09T23:50:00.001-04:00

PLOT: For the first ten minutes, it's like that movie Fled where two dudes on the run are chained together. For the next seventy minutes, it's like that blaxploitation movie where all the white cops are racist and the heroes just can't catch a break. For the final ten minutes, it's like that martial arts movie where EVERYBODY FUCKING DIES. Director: Al Adamson Writers: John D'Amato, Marvin

TC 2000 (1993)

2012-03-11T15:27:00.000-04:00

PLOT: The earth is dying a slow and terrible atmospheric death. The elite have retreated underground, leaving the rest of us to choke on the aftermath. The inconvenient truth is that this is the straight-to-video martial arts movie Al Gore wishes he had invented. Director: T.J. Scott Writers: J. Stephen Maunder, Richard M. Samuels, T.J. Scott Cast: Billy Blanks, Bolo Yeung, Bobbie Phillips,

Ninja Demon's Massacre (1988)

2011-12-27T10:13:00.001-05:00

PLOT: This is a Godfrey Ho ninja movie from 1988. That is the plot. Director: Godfrey Ho (as Tommy Cheung) Writers: Sally Nichols (dialogue), Harold Owen Cast: Edmund Morris, Ken Ashley, Ted Brooke, James Lear, Stuart Smith PLOT THICKENER: Now for something slightly different. We’re getting into the holiday spirit by reviewing a film sent by Kevin from Wtf-Film.com as part of the inaugural

Knights (1993)

2011-12-02T09:08:00.000-05:00

PLOT: Humanity’s last hope for survival against a horde of blood-sucking cyborgs is an orphaned kickboxer with long, kinky hair and ample quadriceps. Surprisingly, that kickboxer is NOT Gary Daniels! Director: Albert Pyun Writer: Albert Pyun Cast: Kathy Long, Kris Kristofferson, Lance Henriksen, Gary Daniels, Scott Paulsin, Vincent Klyn PLOT THICKENER: So, your funding just came through and

Fist of Further Reading: Super Marcey's Super Website

2011-11-21T23:24:00.000-05:00

My freakish and borderline obsessive enthusiasm for the No Retreat, No Surrender trilogy is perhaps eclipsed by only one other film reviewer: the excellence of Oceania, Super Marcey of supermarcey.com. In addition to her Strandbergian leanings, she puts together podcasts, audio commentaries, and even did a rare audio interview with FoBL favorite Loren Avedon. Her website is a great source for

Fist of Further Reading: Direct to Video Connoisseur

2011-11-12T08:51:00.000-05:00

Direct to Video Connoisseur I sometimes marvel at the fact we've been able to churn out so many reviews on such a narrow niche genre like Western chopsocky films. Then I look at the Direct to Video Connoisseur blog and his several hundred posts and I feel like a slack-jawed waster. He's well on his way to over a thousand posts; those are Rice/Ripken/Abdul-Jabbar numbers. Active for nearly four

Capital Punishment (1991)

2011-11-04T06:38:00.000-04:00

PLOT: There’s a new and dangerous drug in town, and a secret group of government agents needs the help of a kickboxer to bring down the trafficking ring. See? The road towards a sound federal drug policy is not paved with large-scale crackdowns or even legalization, but with guys like Gary Daniels. Director: David Huey Writer: David Huey Cast: Gary Daniels, David Carradine, Mel Novak, Tadashi

Honor and Glory (1993)

2011-10-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

PLOT: A team of sisters, one an FBI agent, the other a television news reporter, attempts to bring down an insane kickboxing bank executive before he can acquire a nuclear arms trigger. Wait, is this a bio-pic about disgraced former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis? Director: Godfrey Ho Writer: Herb Borkland Cast: Cynthia Rothrock, Donna Jason, John Miller, Chuck Jeffreys, Robin Shou, Gerald Klein,

Fist of Further Reading: Comeuppance Reviews

2011-10-16T10:54:00.001-04:00

Comeuppance Reviews Brett and Ty, the guys at Comeuppance Reviews, stick almost exclusively to direct-to-video action movies, a net obviously wide enough to include a ton of martial arts film. They’re pioneers of sorts, having coined the term “punchfighter” to tidily describe “movies about underground bare-knuckle fighting that spectators bet on.” They use a star system (0-4) and their reviews

Rage and Honor (1992)

2011-10-08T10:00:00.002-04:00

PLOT: An Australian cop and a public school teacher team up to bring down an amazing mullet with a ruthless criminal mastermind. Yes, his misdeeds are, in fact, secondary to the crime against nature that is his hair. Director: Terence H. Winkless Writer: Terence H. Winkless Cast: Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton, Brian Thompson, Terri Treas, Stephen Davies, Patrick Malone, Peter Cunningham,

Fist of Further Reading: The Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema

2011-09-29T10:00:00.002-04:00

The Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema This is the rare podcast for which I'll delay all other music and podcast listening when their episodes drop. Hosted by Big Willie and The Samurai, the GGtMC has a high degree of relistenability and you'll want to keep a notepad nearby to jot down the various names and titles referenced throughout the runtime of each episode. It's a special kind of

American Ninja (1985)

2011-09-19T19:07:00.000-04:00

PLOT: Long before haughty military leaders were up in arms about gays serving openly in the military, they were up in arms about amnesic American ninjas serving openly in the military. Director: Sam Firstenberg Writers: Paul De Mielche, Avi Kleinberger, Gideon Amir, James R. Silke Cast: Michael Dudikoff, Steve James, Tadashi Yamashita, Judie Aronson, Guich Koock, Don Stewart, Nick Nicholson

Fist of Further Reading: Exiled from Contentment

2011-09-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

Exiled from Contentment Unlike a lot of sites I like to highlight, I have very little content overlap with Exiled from Contentment. I call him out almost solely because he's one of my favorite film writers to read, whether he's covering Michael Bay movies or a sizzling chop of 1970s genre cinema like Prime Cut. Memories are hazy, but I think I came across EFC initially while performing drunken

Blood Hands (1990)

2011-09-04T18:53:00.001-04:00

PLOT: When his loving parents are murdered by a gang of kickboxers, a young fighter must choose between avenging their deaths or listening to his girlfriend and allowing police to handle the investigation. Will he take matters into his own hands or continue to walk around with his balls in his girl’s purse, nestled somewhere amongst her Burt’s Bees chapstick, a paperback copy of The Hunger Games,

Sakura Killers (1987)

2011-08-26T10:07:00.001-04:00

PLOT: Two Americans are tasked with recovering a highly sensitive tape stolen by a secretive sect of ninjas. This is very unfortunate for the ninjas. Not because the Americans are a big threat, but because people who carry secrets tend to have higher rates of influenza and hypertension. When will ninjas learn to take better care of themselves? Directors: Dusty Nelson, Wang Yu (as Richard Ward)

Fist of Further Reading: One-Armed Liebster Meets the Five Deadly Blogs

2011-08-17T10:35:00.000-04:00

For the past several weeks, I’ve been mulling over ways I might be able to more actively promote blog and site content that I dig. Blogrolls, while succinct, don’t really put recommended reading into context. My efforts to champion the great and relevant work of others who share similar cinematic interests will be a running feature going forward, but a recent development has given me a starting

To Be the Best (1993)

2011-08-14T15:32:00.000-04:00

PLOT: A disgraced family of fighters is put to the ultimate test during a world championship kickboxing tournament in Las Vegas. No, not the MCAT. I mean, sure, it’s a difficult test, but why would you make a kickboxing movie set in Vegas and base the central conflict around the MCAT? That’s stupid. Director: Joseph Merhi Writer: Michael January Cast: Michael Worth, Phillip Troy Lingers, Martin

Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel (1993)

2011-08-04T08:30:00.004-04:00

PLOT: A doctor’s fiancee is kidnapped by a ruthless gang and taken to a hide-out deep below Los Angeles. Can he and his friends battle through various underworld gangs to save her, or will they pass out after a massive lunch order of Double-Doubles from In-N-Out Burger? Director: Richard W. Munchkin Writers: Richard W. Munchkin, Steve Tymon, Paul Maslak Cast: Don Wilson, Ian Jacklin, Sy

Operation Golden Phoenix (1994)

2011-07-25T06:00:00.002-04:00

PLOT: A security expert transporting a rare medallion is violently betrayed by his partner and set up to take the fall for the theft of this and other Middle Eastern treasures. Looks pretty dire, but it’s nothing that a clever disguise of a hat and moustache can’t fix. Director: Jalal Merhi Writers: J. Stephen Maunder Cast: Jalal Merhi, Loren Avedon, James Hong, Karen Sheperd, Gary Foo PLOT

L.A. Streetfighters (1985)

2011-07-19T06:00:00.005-04:00

PLOT: Rival teenage gangs of martial arts street toughs rumble over territory and bragging rights. When one gang tries to go legitimate as a private security team, and one gang member starts dating the sister of a rival gang member, and someone steals drug money, and another guy comes from a broken home, things get really convoluted. And awesome. Director: Woo-sang Park Writer: Ji-Woon Hong,

Heatseeker (1995)

2011-07-15T23:34:00.000-04:00

PLOT: A human kickboxing champion is forced to participate in a cyborg fighting tournament when his girlfriend and trainer are kidnapped by the evil corporation organizing the event. That is to say, his girlfriend and trainer are the same person. Why is that weird? Weren't Little Mac and Doc like ... together? Director: Albert Pyun Writers: Albert Pyun, Christopher Borkgen Cast: Keith Cooke,

When B-List Goes Hollywood: Ten Random Appearances by Martial Arts Actors in Mainstream Media

2011-07-11T06:00:00.016-04:00

Partly because I have too much free time, but mostly because of this blog (which was more or less born out of having too much free time), I often pore over the filmographies of martial arts b-movie actors to track down films to review. Because of the niche skill-sets that these actors brandish, many of them have done little else but martial arts or action film and television work. Thus, most of

Expert Weapon (1993)

2011-07-05T10:00:00.028-04:00

PLOT: An illiterate convict is sprung from death row and undergoes training to become an assassin. As it turns out, learning the finer details of killing people covertly is a hell of a lot easier than those prison GED programs. Director: Steven Austin Writer: Steven Austin, David Huey Cast: Ian Jacklin, Sam J. Jones, Mel Novak, Joe Estevez, Julie Merrill, David Loo, Judy Landers PLOT

Last Man Standing (1996)

2011-06-29T07:28:00.001-04:00

PLOT: A network of criminals and crooked cops make life miserable for the arresting officer in a high-profile case... and by "make life miserable" I really mean "ruin all of his sports jackets during outstanding stunt sequences." Director: Joseph Merhi Writer: Joseph Merhi Cast: Jeff Wincott, Jonathan Fuller, Jillian McWhirter, Steve Eastin, Robert LaSardo, Johnathan Banks, Michael Green, Ava