Thousand Faces of Dunjia, The (2017) Review

"Thousand Faces of Dunjia" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Thousand Faces of Dunjia” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Director: Yuen Woo-ping
Writer: Tsui Hark
Cast: Da Peng, Ni Ni, Aarif Lee Chi-Ting, Zhou Dong-Yu, Wu Bai, Ada Liu Yan, Tiger Xu, Yang Yiwei, Mo Tse, Xu Ming-Hu, Sun Mingming, Zhang Yiqian
Running Time: 110 min.

By Paul Bramhall

In 2015 it was announced that master choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping would be teaming up with visionary auteur Tsui Hark to remake The Miracle Fighters, Woo-Ping’s madcap fantasy from 1982, that featured most of the Yuen Clan either in-front or behind the camera. Understandably, the reaction was mixed. Most of the charm of The Miracle Fighters came from the low-brow, but always creative, special effects, an element which many feared would be drowned out by CGI if it was to be remade for a modern audience. Then you have the collaboration itself. While both Woo-Ping and Hark are instantly recognizable names, both in Hong Kong cinema and the action genre overall, the fact is that the last time they worked with each other was on Black Mask 2: City of Masks. I’ll just leave that there.

While their previous collaboration saw Hark in the director’s chair and Woo-Ping on action choreography duties, when the remake finally hit screens in 2017, their roles were somewhat reversed. Going under the title The Thousand Faces of Dunjia, Woo-Ping maintains his director role from the original, while Hark is credited as writing and producing. Perhaps most tellingly though, it’s oddly Hark’s name that gets splattered across the screen during the opening of TTFOD (as I’ll refer to it from here on in), with Woo-Ping’s director credit receiving second billing. The reasoning behind this becomes increasingly clear as proceedings progress, as the influence of Hark is far more prominent than that of Woo-Ping. Those who felt Woo-Ping’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny lacked his distinctive style, will likely feel it’s disappeared all-together in his latest directorial effort.

If anything, TTFOD feels like Hark is revisiting the world he created in his seminal Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain, or more specifically, its more recent sequel The Legend of Zu. We have an embattled clan, called Wuyin, who have been defending the earth from aliens (because, you know, creatures from Chinese folklore are off the cards in today’s Mainland friendly climate), one of which has been kept prisoner in a heavily chained piece of rock within a mountain. The aliens are after a device called the Destroyer of Worlds, the only defence against which is to activate the Dunjia, a kind of astrological force which is believed to be dormant in a frail young girl (Zhou Dong-yu) with a unique birthmark on her arm, one which indicates her as the Wuyin clans destined leader.

When the imprisoned alien is set free by a red tentacled alien (you’re going to have to bear with me here), and events are further confounded by five power greedy clan heads activating the Destroyer of Worlds, the good guys realise they’ll need to fight back. The Wuyin clan, headed by Taiwanese rocker Wu Bai (the lead from Hark’s Time and Tide) and consisting of, amongst others, a fiery tempered Ni Ni (The Warriors Gate) and noble hearted Da Peng (Jian Bing Man), ultimately end up joined by a fresh-faced constable in the form of Aarif Lee (Kung Fu Yoga), essentially playing Yuen Biao’s character from Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain. Can our heroes keep the constable safe, activate the Dunjia, convince their new leader to accept their destiny, fight the evil clan heads, stop the Destroyer of Worlds, and defeat the aliens!? Perhaps a more appropriate question to ask is, will you care? To which I can safely say, probably not. 

Despite structuring itself into 6 chapters, TTFOD quickly turns into an unwieldy mess of a movie, with so much going on that audiences are likely to need a reminder of exactly what’s at stake more than once. It’s also guilty of being completely derivative of more recent (and more entertaining) blockbusters. The opening scene is practically identical to that of Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, as Aarif Lee attempts to chase down an oversized fish demon through a village. While I confess that it’s the first time to witness a rooftop chase sequence involving Lee, a three-eyed fish, and a sheet (don’t ask), it’s such a blatant rip-off that it’s impossible to enjoy. The chase is eventually interrupted by Ni Ni, who captures the demon and stomps the living daylights out of it, as Lee looks on, wide eyed at how Woo-Ping could so unashamedly cast her as an exact clone of Shu Qi’s character in Chow’s 2013 hit. 

The biggest issue with TTFOD though is that it’s an eyesore. A garish, incredibly messy eyesore. What exactly the level of collaboration was between Woo-Ping and Hark would be interesting to understand, as the highly creative CGI action found in the latter’s Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back and Detective Dee series, is here nowhere to be found. Instead, there’s an almost tireless bombardment of sub-par CGI bursting out of the screen every few moments. The main alien looks like a mix of a low budget 90’s PC fantasy game, and Sulley from Monsters, Inc. (not to mention its dialogue fails to match its mouth movements), characters frequently stare past the CGI rather than at it, and there wasn’t one scene when it felt integrated with its surroundings. Oh, and the hero of TTFOD is actually a gigantic fluorescent peacock thing which looks like it swallowed a bunch of glow sticks. I wish I was kidding.

In fact the only real trace of Woo-Ping could be said to come from the characters. The clan members appearances could well have seen them just walk off the set of the 1982 original, with hunchbacks, one-eyed warriors, buck-toothed swordsmen, and wild-haired bandits all populating TTFOD’s scenery. The evil clan heads also show traces of Woo-Ping’s influence, with names like the Eight Armed Ape and Lord of Hell, they resemble distant relatives of some of the Shaolin Drunkard cast. While the hark (pardon the pun) back to the period of Yuen Clan craziness was nice to see, they’re too often drowned out in the swathes of CGI nonsense that accompany the majority of scenes. In particular, the water effects are so bad they drew a wince out of me.

However with any Yuen Woo-Ping movie, there should be at least some saving grace in the form of the action. Here his fellow Yuen Clan luminaries Yuen Cheung-Yan (the director of Taoism Drunkard) and Yuen Shun-Yi are on action duties, and what little on display is sadly an embarrassment to their legacy. Indeed, apart from a brief showdown at the 80 minute mark, there is in-fact no action at all involving the cast themselves squaring off against each other. We get aliens flapping about and causing mildly engaging chaos, there’s plenty of jumping around, and there’s even some heroic posing, but actual choreographed action scenes? Forget it. Regardless of all the above criticisms, having practically zero choreographed action scenes, in a production with 3 members of the Yuen Clan at the helm, is TTFOD’s most heinous crime.

I can only guess that having 2 creative forces as stylistically distinctive as Woo-Ping and Hark come together, in this case resulted in them cancelling each other out. It wouldn’t be the first time. Sammo Hung and Ringo Lam came together for Touch and Go in 1991 with similar results, and who can forget Wong Jing and Jackie Chan’s differences on 1993’s City Hunter (though I have to confess, I kind of like that one). Sometimes when a filmmaker has such a defined style, mixing it with another filmmaker with a similar disposition doesn’t always create the dream results that everyone expects. This seems to very much be the case here, but still I can’t help but feel that if Hark was in the director’s chair, and Woo-Ping on action choreography duty, we would have at least got a slightly better end product than what we’re left with here.

With a surprising absence of humor (and what there is of it in Hark’s script, is painfully misinterpreted for the screen), zero characterisation, and one of the most anticlimactic cliff-hanger endings ever committed to film, TTFOD is a tragic waste of talent for all involved. 25 years later, we’re still waiting for a sequel to Jet Li’s Kung Fu Cult Master, hopefully in the case of Woo-Ping’s latest, we’ll have to wait even longer.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 2/10

Posted in All, Chinese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , |

Deal on Fire! League of Gods | Blu-ray | Only $9.48 – Expires soon!

League of Gods | Blu-ray & DVD (Sony)

League of Gods | Blu-ray & DVD (Sony)

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for the fantasy/martial arts epic, League of Gods (aka Feng Shen Bang 3D).

League of Gods (read our review) is directed by both Koan Hui (Snow Blossom) and newcomer, Vernie Yeung. The film is based on the 16th-century Chinese novel by Xu Zhonglin titled Investiture of Gods.

League of Gods stars Jet Li (High Risk), Louis Koo (Flash Point), Huang Xiaoming (Ip Man 2), AngelaBaby (Mojin), Tony Leung (A Better Tomorrow III), Fan Bingbing (Flash Point), Wen Zhang (The Mermaid) and Jacky Heung (From Vegas to Macau III).

Order League of Gods from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

At the Movies

The movies are fun. They are even more fun when the cast is made up almost entirely of 8 fabulous women. By now you have to know that we are talking about one of the most awesome chick flicks ever. That is if it even qualifies as a chick flick. Ocean’s Eight, this is one of the movies released at the end of the first half of 2018.

About the Movie

The movie is a remake of the classic online casino real money heist movie Ocean’s Eleven. However, this is not a simple copy and paste of the original. This movie has the ability to stand on its own feet. Although too many times the director of the movie forced it to crunch on the successful trilogy featuring George Clooney.

This movie is propped up out of this big pitfall by magnificent performances by the leading ladies. All of the 8 women who had the starring roles in the movie gave special performances. From the heist leader Sandra Bullock who plays Danny Ocean’s sister Debbie Ocean right through to Rihanna who plays Nine Ball, a genius hacker.

Just like the original, the gang leader Ocean goes around recruiting thieves to help her with her heist. The mark in this movie is Anne Hathaway who gives an outstanding performance. The target of the heist is a set of diamonds that is worth over $150 million dollars.

What to Love about the Movie

Well as mentioned earlier it is an All-Star cast. So there are bound to be memorable performances from the artists. The movie has a few notable one-liners, it would just be rude to share any of them here. And of course, the heist itself.

There have been a lot of heist movies lately. Most of them have been very good while a few have been exceptional. The pressure of having to live up to the original Ocean’s movies has had a good impact on this flick. You will not be pulling out your phone to play canadian online casino games during this movie, that is how good it is.

Posted in News |

Deal on Fire! Crime Story/Protector | Blu-ray | Only $8 – Expires soon!

"Jackie Chan Double Feature" Blu-ray Cover

“Jackie Chan Double Feature” Blu-ray Cover

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Shout! Factory’s Jackie Chan Double Feature, which includes 1993’s Crime Story and 1985’s The Protector.

What makes this Bu-ray special (other than Crime Story being a great, early-serious JC film) is that it contains both versions of The Protector: The U.S. Theatical release and the HK cut. The difference between the two is so dramatic that it feels like two, totally different movies (in a nutshell, JC was so displeased with James Glickenhaus’ vision that he re-edited, re-shot, added a sub-plot, and inserted new fight sequences for the HK crowd). In the end, both versions have their pros and cons (i.e. the U.S. version has T&A, the HK version has better fight scenes).

Order the Jackie Chan Double Feature from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

Enter the Dragon: The Most Overrated Kung Fu Movie Ever?

EnterI get it, Enter the Dragon is an iconic movie. Ever seen a t-shirt of Bruce Lee? Chances are the image on it is one of him poised in a kung fu stance, three bloody scratches adorning his chest, his face alive with intensity. It’s an image from the finale of said title, and even today, 45 years on, it’s one that endures. It’s also a landmark movie, for its casting of an Asian lead in a co-produced Hollywood production, made at a time when it was practically unheard of.

Photo of "Enter the Dragon" at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, starting August 24, 1973, for a page on graumanschinese.org discussing the various marquees and other signs used over the years to advertise what is playing at Grauman's Chinese. films depicted on this page include: Why Worry? (1923)

Enter the Dragon premier at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on August 24, 1973.

However, is it a good movie? Hell no. In fact if someone was to tell me I had a choice of watching Enter the Dragon or Iron Monkey 2, guess what, I’d watch Iron Monkey 2. It’s a hard fact to swallow that Lee postponed filming of his sophomore directorial feature, Game of Death, to make Enter the Dragon. A decision which, due to his untimely passing, would mean the former would never be completed (at least, not the way he intended). To put it into context, such a decision is the hypothetical equivalent of Jackie Chan placing Police Story on hold half way through filming, to head off and make The Spy Next Door instead. Frankly, it was the wrong call.

"Enter the Dragon" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Enter the Dragon” Chinese Theatrical Poster

So naturally I find myself being the target of much derision whenever a discussion pops up about Enter the Dragon, and I pipe up with my opinions on how it’s the most overrated kung fu movie ever made. You want me to watch a 1973 kung fu flick? Give me The Blood Brothers, give me When Taekwondo Strikes, for that matter, give me Knight Errant. I’d re-watch these endlessly before having to inflict myself with the plodding pace, overlong runtime, and one-sided fight scenes that so many seem to believe reflect Bruce Lee’s crowning achievement.

But let me put some structure to my ranting. If anyone was in any doubt as to why Enter the Dragon is to Bruce Lee what Millennium Dragon is to Yuen Biao, then here’s 10 points clarifying exactly that –

It’s directed by Robert Clouse

Robert Clouse

Robert Clouse

Warner Brothers provided an A-list star with a B-movie director, which is a crime in itself. Amidst the many visionary directors that came out of America in the 70’s, Robert Clouse could not be said to be one of them, with perhaps his biggest claim to fame before Enter the Dragon being that he directed an episode of Ironside. His affiliation with Bruce Lee would continue to dictate the rest of his career – he’s the guy we can thank for the eventual release of Game of Death, attempted to introduce Jackie Chan to American audiences with Battle Creek Brawl, and helmed cult B-movies like Force: Five and Gymkata. As a sidenote, Clouse was also deaf, which likely explains a lot of the horrendous line delivery that so many cast members get away with in Enter the Dragon.

It stars John Saxon as a martial arts master

John Saxon vs. Lau Wing.

John Saxon vs. Lau Wing.

Saxon was already almost 40 by the time of Enter the Dragon, and was most likely cast thanks to having a black belt in karate and featuring in an episode of Kung Fu. While he’s a solid journey man actor and has built an impressive career in the world of B-movies, the decision to make him a co-star next to Bruce Lee is a lamentable one. Whenever Lee isn’t onscreen and we have to spend time with Saxon’s character, Roper, we’re immediately transported into the world of uninspired (and now terribly dated) 70’s kitsch. When he’s not frolicking with the ladies, we’re subjected to his fight scenes. Yes, his fight scenes, here we have a movie which could have given us a face-off between Bruce Lee and Bolo, but what do we get? Bolo versus John freaking Saxon. Words fail me.

No Bolo versus Bruce Lee fight

John Saxon vs. Yang Sze (before he was known as "Bolo")

John Saxon vs. Yang Sze (before he was known as “Bolo”)

While it’s true that it was Enter the Dragon that cemented Yeung Sze’s bulking frame into popular consciousness (he’d even take on his character’s name for the rest of his career!), there can be no denying that his talents are wasted. Essentially there to flex muscles and throw people around, before succumbing (of all things) to a bite on the leg and a kick in the balls, the fact that Enter the Dragon squanders an opportunity for the big man to face off against the Little Dragon is insufferable. Bolo has one of the coolest looking onscreen fighting styles to grace the silver screen, the so called ‘no looking kung fu style’, in which he fights while not actually looking at his opponent. Said style could have provided Enter the Dragon with some much needed variety to its action scenes, but alas it wasn’t to be.

Sammo Hung could have choreographed the action

Sammo Hung taps out of choreographing.

Sammo Hung taps out of choreographing.

By 1973 Sammo already had over 10 choreography credits to his name, and was gradually starting to develop his own distinctive style. While he does get to appear in the opening scene of Enter the Dragon, as Bruce Lee’s sparring partner (providing the best fight of the whole movie), the rest of the action would have benefitted greatly from Sammo’s touch. Instead, what we’re left with is Lee decimating whoever gets in his way with minimal effort, and lacklustre fights when he’s not directly involved. Lee’s strength lay in choreographing himself, with a style that rarely worked well when choreographing others (see his work on The Wrecking Crew for further proof of this). With Sammo at the helm, at least we would have gotten some worthy exchanges, and not just a one-man army with no sense of danger or risk.

Bruce Lee is invincible

"Bruce Lee the Invincible" Theatrical Poster

“Bruce Lee the Invincible” Theatrical Poster

Not to be confused with the more entertaining Bruce Lee the Invincible (featuring Chan Wai-Man versus gorillas), Bruce Lee’s seeming immunity to having anyone land a hit on him is one of the biggest detractors of Enter the Dragon. For the people that complain about Steven Seagal not being hit in his movies, man, they should check this one out! One of the most well-known lines has Lee declare “Boards don’t hit back.” But apparently, that also applies to most of his opponents. When he finally does have some damage inflicted in the finale, it’s nothing more than aesthetically pleasing scratches, there to make him look cool rather than bruised and battered. In fact the only person who even gets close to Lee is a leg grabbing Bob Wall, which if you wanted to get technical doesn’t count, because it’s actually Yuen Wah. Go figure.

Bob Wall is the most unintimidating villain ever

Billy Zabka ("The Karate Kid") and Bob Wall (reprising his O'Hara character) on the set of a commerical for TwinLab.

Billy Zabka (The Karate Kid) and Bob Wall (reprising his O’Hara character) on the set of a commerical for TwinLab.

When Bruce Lee decided to bring in karate champion Chuck Norris for the finale of Way of the Dragon, he probably thought he could recreate the intensity of their confrontation by bringing in another one, this time in the shape of Bob Wall. Wrong. Unlike the Little Dragon’s evenly matched showdown in the colosseum, there’s never any doubt he’s going to beat the living daylights out of Wall. With the scarred villain resorting to a pair of smashed bottles, Lee channels the audiences rage at Angela Mao being given so little screentime by making quick work of his opponent, which in a more merciful world would have signalled the end credits. While Wall’s time in Enter the Dragon was short, the career he built off it was quite the opposite, and he still gives interviews to this day discussing the lame fight scene in question.

Angela Mao is wasted

Angela Mao is featured in a flashback of a flashback of a flashback.

Angela Mao is featured in a flashback of a flashback of a flashback.

You may have noticed the recurring trend of martial artists that Enter the Dragon wastes the talents of, and so it continues with the inclusion of Angela Mao. Hot off the heels of starring in the likes of Lady Whirlwind and Hapkido from the year prior, Mao had it all – the intense stare, a furious energy to her fight scenes, and an onscreen charm that was impossible to deny. To hear she was going to feature alongside Bruce Lee must have been pretty exciting news. But what do we get? A pitiful few minutes of screentime, which consist of her being little more than a damsel in distress, one which doesn’t get to show off any of the many talents that made her the icon that she was. Instead, we had to wait for the following year to see her team up with a legitimate thespian, in the form of “the other fellow”, George Lazenby.

Sek Kin acts like a useless old man

Listen to Sek Kin's grunts as a he fights. He sounds old and scared.

Listen to Sek Kin’s battle cries. He sounds old and scared.

Legendary HK villain Sek Kin may have already been 60 by the time he appeared in Enter the Dragon, but it still doesn’t justify the way he’s reduced to a rather lame Asian hybrid of Dr. No and Blofeld from the 007 franchise. Kin still had the moves, just check out the shapes he pulls in 1985’s Hong Kong Godfather, made 12 years later! However for whatever reason his extensive kung fu repertoire was decided to not be utilized, so instead we have him running around in a hall of mirrors, a role which practically anyone could have played. For anyone watching Enter the Dragon for the first time, Kin comes across as one of the least threatening villains in the history of cinema, which is a huge disservice to the man and his talents. You want to see Kin facing off against a Bruce? Watch the classic Bruce – The King of Kung Fu.

It’s a James Bond rip-off

"Asia-Pol" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Asia-Pol” Chinese Theatrical Poster

The influence of Bond drifts in and out of Enter the Dragon like spliced footage in a Godfrey Ho movie, making it come across as shoehorned in rather than a natural part of the narrative. Look, if you want to see an Asian version of 007, check out Jimmy Wang Yu in Asia-Pol from 1967 to see how it’s done. Released the same year as Roger Moore’s debut as Ian Fleming’s most famous creation, the secret agent styled shenanigans on display in Enter the Dragon were dated even before it hit cinema screens. Casting Geoffrey Weeks as a poor man’s M, and a head scratching plot of a rogue Shaolin student using a martial arts tournament as a front to his opium smuggling operation, Robert Clouse and co. should have taken a page out of the ‘less is more’ manual of filmmaking.

It’s boring

Just short of 100 minutes, Enter the Dragon is at least 15 minutes too long. To think there’s people out there who are looking for additional footage is, quite frankly, unfathomable. The plot should have been simple – Bruce Lee partakes in a martial arts tournament to avenge the death of his sister. Chaos ensues. Instead, we’re subjected to some nonsense about him being a hired secret agent from Shaolin, Saxon’s completely uninspired backstory involving gambling debts, and Jim Kelly acting like he’s in a completely different movie all together. Considering Lee’s co-stars have little to nothing to do in terms of contributing to the finale, the amount of time we have to spend with them leading up to it provides more padding than his punchbag.

Posted in Features, News |

Black Water | Blu-ray & DVD (Lionsgate)

Black Water | Blu-ray (Lionsgate)

Black Water | Blu-ray (Lionsgate)

RELEASE DATE: August 21, 2018

Jean-Claude Van Damme (CyborgKill ’em All) and Dolph Lundgren (Skin Trade) – the action duo known for their team up in the popular Universal Soldier franchise – join forces once again for Black Water (read our review), which will be getting a Blu-ray and DVD release on August 21, 2018 from Lionsgate (the film is currently available via VOD, if that’s your preference).

Black Water is the story of a CIA operative (Van Damme) who is imprisoned in a CIA black site on a nuclear submarine after being framed as a traitor. He has to prove his innocence with the help of fellow inmate (Lundgren) and clear his name before he disappears forever…

The film also stars Patrick Kilpatrick (Death Warrant), Al Sapienza (Sopranos), Jasmine Waltz (Poker Run) and Kristopher Van Varenberg (Assassination Games).

Black Water is written by Chad Law (Close Range) from a story by Tyler W. Konney (Blue Line), and is produced by Richard Switzer (Altitude).

Pre-order Black Water from Amazon.com today! 

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles, News |

Dating Your Ex Again: Yes or No?

A lot has been said about dating your ex partners. It rarely works. Moreover, former partners often even have troubles maintaining some kind of friendship, not to say romantic relationships. Nevertheless, for some couples breaking up feels more like a temporary separation, though nobody plans breaking up and getting back together. Things usually happen spontaneously and are way too complex to allow full understanding. Perhaps, it is possible to get back together and start anew. Perhaps, not and its better to forget ordering yourself online brides and being done with it all. It’s all subjective and depends on an individual. Read the following to know all about getting back to your ex.

Same Issues All Over Again

The most obvious thing is that you broke up with your ex for a reason. You might not know the reasons but it is certain that there is something that caused your breakup. A breakup usually happens when there is a problem that cannot be handled otherwise. Getting back together after a breakup means facing the same problem again, though, now in hope of dealing with it. Nevertheless, a problem that caused breakup should be handled. Otherwise, you risk of going through the same breakup again. It may be better not to start a relationship with your ex again with the unresolved issues and no solution. It’d be a waste of your emotional energy and time.

Baggage

There always will be a memory of your breakup. A new relationship cannot undo the old relationship. And people find it easier to avoid each other afterwards for a reason. The image of a person, not to say real physical presence nearby, causes painful memories that depress you. Thus, dating your ex means constantly trying to ignore the fact that you’re with the same person who caused you pain or to whom you have caused pain. Because, essentially, most of the failed relationship have the offended side and the side that offends. Similarly, there’s always the one who initiates breakup and the one who has no other choice but to agree. 

One and Only

The most common and widely used argument for getting back to your ex is that your ex is (or may be) “the one and only” meaning single eternal love of your life. Though it might sound naïve, one cannot possibly have anything against this notion. This is a beautiful dream even if it is too sentimental. There are many great couple who work hard on their relationship and stay together despite struggles. For some a relationship can become a cage but for others being together despite anything is better than a break up caused by problems, even serious ones. Those who get back to their ex-lovers are, perhaps, romantics by nature because they have faith. All rational thinking arguments suggest to not repeat the same mistake twice but a failed relationship is not a mistake as long as it provides the experience. And those who have faith are lucky ones because they sustain the notion of romantic love.

Taking the Chance

Try it even if it’s not going to work. At least you’re going to be able to say that you tried. An attempt is never a mistake. If you have enough faith, it’s going to work. With no faith you wouldn’t want to do it yourself. There’s always a chance and because another person is involved you should consider every possibility. People get together for a reason. But they part ways for a reason as well. Get back if you have something to get back to, have something to fight for. Leave if there’s no such thing. And make your partner understand. 

Well, now you know the pros and cons of getting back together. It will bring back the old problems that can make you mad. It also comes with emotional baggage that is going to slow you down. But it is worth the risk if your partner is the one and only. 

Posted in News |

Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018) Review

"Escape Plan 2: Hades" Theatrical Poster

“Escape Plan 2: Hades” Theatrical Poster

Director: Steven C. Miller
Writer: Miles Chapman
Cast: Huang Xiaoming, Sylvester Stallone, Dave Bautista, Jesse Metcalfe, Wes Chatham, Chen Tang, Titus Welliver, Jaime King, Curtis Jackson
Running Time: 94 min.

By Kelly Warner

I enjoyed the first Escape Plan (2013). It’s nothing particularly memorable, but it’s good popcorn entertainment, and Arnold and Sly appeared to be having a good time. Though I was not against the idea of a sequel, one didn’t seem likely considering the movie’s weak domestic box office. But 2018 is weird and so now we have an Escape Plan 2 on our hands and a third film already on the way. Thank China, I guess. For while the original Escape Plan performed better almost everywhere but here, it did its best work in China, earning almost double what it made in the US. Right from the get-go, Escape Plan 2: Hades reveals itself as eager to tap into that unexpected market with a cast and story designed to appeal to its foreign audience. This is not a sin. It’s good business sense. But it is also the first clue that what we’re watching is less an artistic endeavor and more a cynically engineered product.

Sylvester Stallone returns as Escape Plan’s Ray Breslin. The cover art tagline promises “HE’S BACK” like it’s one of his more iconic roles. Or maybe it’s a tease about Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is not back, but we all know about his love for using the phrase? Or maybe I’m overanalyzing an incredibly dull tagline. This is a movie that thought adding “Hades” to its title was cool, after all. Whatever. We’re getting off to a bad start here. Let me try again… Stallone is back as Ray Breslin, the guy who makes a living busting out of prisons to show the architects/wardens/department of corrections the weak links in their security. In the previous film, Ray got locked up in The Tomb, a state-of-the-art super prison with clear prison cells so nothing went unnoticed by the guards. This time, Ray is less of a man of action and more of a teacher.

We open the film with Ray’s three protégés narrowly escaping a hostage situation. There’s the kung fu guy Shu (Huang Xiaoming) who follows Ray’s teachings like a student learning from his master, the eager to please Luke (Jesse Metcalfe), and the mathematically minded Kimbral (Wes Chatham). From there, Shu goes off to protect his tech billionaire cousin (Chen Tang) and they are both subsequently abducted. Shu wakes up in Hades (H.A.D.E.S. stands for High Asset DEtention Service), a black site prison designed by a prison architect who really liked TRON: Legacy.

Regardless of what the marketing might tell you, it’s Xiaoming’s Shu that’s the main character here. Stallone gets to participate as a voice in Shu’s head talking him through the situation (which we’re told is Shu’s ‘intuition’) while Shu tries to figure out a way to escape before the prison breaks his genius cousin into divulging all his tech secrets. On the outside, Ray and his crew try to locate Hades so that they can rescue Shu, and the more they learn about Hades the more it seems like this is all about Ray and the shame he brought upon the people who built The Tomb.

The movie is way too complicated and filled with way too many characters. At some point, Ray has to reach out to an old rival named Derosa (Dave Bautista) for help. But Derosa feels more like a need to acquire another recognizable face on the poster, because he actually does very little that other cast members (Stallone, Metcalfe, 50 Cent, Jaime King, etc) couldn’t have done themselves. And I like Bautista. One could argue his career is in a better place than Stallone’s at the moment. But he’s unnecessary.

So much of the movie is unnecessary. The prisoners of Hades actually seem like well-behaved chaps. But the AI robot program called Galileo which oversees the facility forces them to fight Mortal Kombat style every day – with the promise of visiting a brightly lit art room which dangles above the prison if they win. It is forced conflict and thus dull conflict. There are three different villains each essentially serving the roles of prison warden, which makes each of them less interesting as a result. There’s the AI Galileo, a top-secret villain, and a guy played by a very bored Titus Welliver (Bosch). Welliver’s character is named Faust but he prefers to be called the Zookeeper, because the writer is desperate to make you understand that he’s evil without wasting time on things like character development. The Zookeeper calls all his prisoners ‘Animals’ and the prison yard the ‘Zoo.’ Oookay? It looks like a cheap TRON sequel but we can call it the Zoo if you like. Zoo, Hades, Neon Nightclub Prison, whatever, we’re not really sticking with a theme here.

Throw in some unnecessary backstory for Shu (tragic childhood!), hints about a grand sci-fi conspiracy that’s spending millions constructing prisons just to get back at Ray Breslin, all that business with Shu’s cousin’s doomsday machine tech, and a subplot involving skinhead hackers who call themselves Legion and you have a very busy fucking movie. And as a result of trying to do a million different things, the movie forgets to do any of them particularly well.

Escape Plan 2: Hades is directed by Steven C. Miller (Marauders, First Kill, Arsenal, Extraction), who seems to have made a career out of coaxing aging movie stars through DTV action films. His work on this film is full of dull fights, repetitive action, boring performances, and wait-what’s-happening-now editing. The fight between Huang Xiaoming and Titus Welliver is the film’s action highlight. Writer Miles Chapman (who also wrote the original) provides some lame dialogue with too much reliance on exposition. Cinematography by Brandon Cox (The Collector) is a clumsy mix of shakycam action and shakycam close-ups. The production team does a decent job of stretching the relatively tight budget as far as it can go, but nobody brought their A-game to this movie.

Stallone is not only a supporting role this time around, he’s also clearly not as into the movie. Like Welliver, he appears noticeably bored. Xiaoming (Mission Milano) is a convincing action lead but it’s clear that English is not his first language as many of his line readings really could’ve used some work. To be fair, other actors who speak English more regularly than Xiaoming also deliver poor line readings, so it’s also just that kind of movie. I found Wes Chatham (The Expanse) annoying but I honestly don’t know if it’s because of how his character is written or if it’s the performance… and also it’s probably partly because he and Jesse Metcalfe (Dallas) sometimes look like the same damn person with their YA I-may-look-gruff-but-I-damn-it-I’m-trying-to-say-I-love-you-Jennifer good looks. Dave Bautista (Enter the Warrior’s Gate) is clearly into the movie but there’s not a whole lot for him to do other than play dress up and make big guns look small in his arms. Jaime King (Sin City) is a recast Abigail, previously played by Amy Ryan, the main lady on Ray’s crew. King ain’t slacking it here and makes even the weakest scenes better, like that strange part where Ray seems to come onto her at the workplace and then the movie cuts away before we have to think about how that would look—oh God, no, it’s in my head now. Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson (Power) is back as Ray’s hacker partner, Hush, and maybe it says something about a movie when the rapper leaves a better impression with the audience than his Oscar-nominated co-star.

Escape Plan 2: Hades ends so abruptly that Stallone has barely gotten the last word out of his mouth before the credits begin to roll, so desperate are the producers to just move on and get to the sequel. Whether or not the audience will turn up for more is an interesting question, because Escape Plan 3: Devil’s Station is coming regardless of how well this movie does. For myself, I guess I’ll watch it…? John Herzfeld directs the next one, and I liked his film 2 Days in the Valley, so at least there’s that.

This is a bad movie that only gets worse the more you think about it. Arnold is missed, but not more so than a decent script and capable hands behind the camera. The fact that it is noticeably cheaper than its predecessor is so far down the list of reasons why the movie is inferior to the original it’s not even funny. Escape Plan 2: Hades has to rank among the worst films of Stallone’s long, up and down career. By the end of it, the idea of a third film feels less like a promise and more like a threat.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 3/10

Posted in All, Asian Related, News, Reviews | Tagged , , |

How to Study Design and Stay in a Relationship

There are a lot of articles about business and education on the Internet, but there is always the question of where to study better, how to find courses that will really teach you useful things and guide you on the right path and stay in a relationship because studying takes a lot of time. If we are talking about web-designing, then the problems are the same in this field: many resources don’t have enough information and most of them don’t provide quality education. Therefore, it is necessary to approach the selection of such resources with the utmost attention: it should be convenient, at a reasonable price, and, most importantly, people, who will teach you, should themselves have experience in this field. You can often face the fact that you are being taught dubious personalities and if you question their competence, they will start showing their certificates that say only about passing the theory, but not about the real practice of doing business or one of its directions.

Also, if you don’t have a permanent partner, then try video dating apps and find a girlfriend. But if you have a relationship, then tell your loved one that you are going to study and get a new profession. You will have to devote less time to a relationship since you will have to study in the evening and on weekends. You can’t miss lectures and homework takes a lot of time, it must also be taken into account.

Study online

Nowadays, there are many online business training platforms that deserve your attention. As we already mentioned, you can study online, which means that you will be able to study at any convenient time and wherever you are. However, some courses have start and end dates so you will still have to follow the schedule but everything is not as strict as in offline schools. In addition to online classes, such courses include live meetings and classes. If you can’t physically attend them, you can watch online broadcasts or videos.

How does it work?

The main areas of subjects are management, marketing, PR, HR, design, start-ups and entrepreneurship. First of all, it should be noted that both paid courses and free materials are available on sites. Free ones allow you to obtain basic knowledge of various disciplines or directions. For example, you can learn the basics of web design, content and email marketing, the basics of copywriting and gaming or the basics of business English. All this is for free and it’s a sin to refuse to study these disciplines – they will be useful to you in the future and perhaps right now. Paid courses provide more in-depth knowledge. For example, “Design of websites” will introduce you to the topic of designing. After completing a course, you will learn the main points and evaluate your results. The course will be conducted by a person who has experience in large Western companies.

Also, you will need to perform tests and practical assignments from a lecturer to effectively master a seminar. For the duration of paid courses, you will have feedback from a lecturer. By the way, usually, in this case, it will be necessary to attend a course personally or attend some online training, seminars and master classes if they are provided by the course program. A feature of such a training is that platforms don’t publish the courses of third-party authors. Thus, the maximum efficiency in training is achieved. Upon completion, you will have specific skills and correct ideas about the direction you are studying so that you can immediately apply them in practice. Also, these services have blogs that are regularly updated and in which you can find a lot of useful information.

Posted in News |

The Era of Dating on Facebook: What to Expect from a New Feature?

Are you single and you have a Facebook account? Very soon, you’ll be able to use it as a
platform for finding your soul mate. Facebook is about to launch a dating feature that will make it a kind of dating site. Perhaps, this idea came to your mind earlier when you contacted some nice eastern European brides, whose profiles caught your eye, and thought to yourself whether it was appropriate. Guys behind Facebook analyzed the marital statuses of their users and found out that there are 200 million singles. Moreover, it’s customary today to look for love online. It’s quite an obvious assumption that Facebook folks might be interested in finding love within their social network.

Are you a potential user of a new dating service run by Facebook? Read about its main features to decide for yourself.

The aim: serious dating

The dating industry is quite diverse. It offers services for finding flings, friendships, serious relationships, casual relationships, etc. At Facebook, they want you to find a partner for a solid and long-term relationship using this feature.

Privacy and transparency

If you want to date through Facebook, you’ll need to create an additional dating profile. Your friends will not see whether you have one or not. Also, your friends will not be on the list of potential matches. The feature will translate only first names, which means you’ll see the real names of people. Also, you’ll send and receive messages from strangers not through Messenger, but through a separate chat that supports only text messages. This will ensure a solid first chat free from images and links.

The choice of mature people

It’s expected that the majority of users will be people in their 50s and divorcees. This can be explained by the fact that older people want to use dependable and traditional services. While young people widely use different sites and apps, trying new services that keep popping up, mature people want to use something they are already somehow familiar with. Facebook is a familiar environment for them, so they are expected to be actively using its dating feature.

No longer an intermediary

Such services as Tinder or Bumble ask you to register using your Facebook account. It means that if you get interested in someone’s dating profile, you can check out their Facebook page to get a better idea of what kind of person they are. Since Facebook is getting its own dating service, it becomes self-sufficient.

Free or paid?

We know that most of the popular dating services operate on a subscription basis or charge fees for premium services. It’s still unknown whether Facebook’s dating feature will be free or paid, and if paid, what the rate will be.

Opponents

Although the idea of finding a romantic match within your social network seems quite
tempting, there are some people who don’t fancy such a perspective. You’ll be matched with people based on the attended events, liked posts, and common groups. However, you may not be interested in dating people who simply share your interests. Your online community is not the same as the pool of potential dates.

Posted in News |

‘Plan B’ and ‘Kill Order’ talent collide with ‘On the Ropes’

"On the Ropes" Theatrical Poster

“On the Ropes” Theatrical Poster

Stunt coordinator-turned-director, James Mark (filmmaker behind 2017’s Kill Order aka Meza), is back in action with On the Ropes, an upcoming thriller that’s finding its way to DVD from Screen Media Entertainment.

On the Ropes stars Can Aydin (Plan B, Kung Fu Yoga), Phong Giang (Plan B, One Million Klicks), Cha-Lee Yoon (Plan B, One Million Klicks).

On the Ropes follows a young man (Aydin) who starts watching over his family’s criminal business after the death of his father and must face off against his brother, who presents a threat.

On the Ropes hits DVD on July 3, 2018 (or you can stream it right now). Watch the film’s Trailer below:

Posted in News |

‘Final Master’ helmer Xu Haofeng returns with ‘The Weary Poet’

"The Weary Poet" Teaser Poster

“The Weary Poet” Teaser Poster

Xu Haofeng (The Final Master) – a filmmaker known for presenting martial arts in a less stylized and more realistic manner – made a name for himself by penning the screenplay for Wong Kar-Wai’s The GrandmasterBut it was 2011’s The Sword Identity, his directorial debut, which showed Xu’s true talent.

Now Xu is back with The Weary Poet, a upcoming wuxia actioner starring Zhou Xun (The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate) and Chen Kun (Mojin: The Lost Legend).

Here’s what you can expect from the film’s plot: Swordsman Wen Sanchun (Zhou Xun) is on the run from assassins, and is saved by wandering hero Ye Motian (Chen Kun). Together, they escape to the armoury, the stronghold of Anda, a Yuan rebel commander and Ye Motian’s foster father. It is later revealed that Wen Sanchun is a trusted subordinate of the crown prince, and is here to persuade the rebels to surrender. Now a wanted criminal, Ye Motian and Wen Sanchun engage in a deadly struggle (via cfensi).

Expect a Trailer for The Weary Poet to hit soon. Until then, here’s the Trailer for The Final Master:

Posted in News |

Incoming (2018) Review

"Incoming" Theatrical Poster

“Incoming” Theatrical Poster

Director: Eric Zaragoza
Cast: Scott Adkins, Aaron McCusker, Michelle Lahane, Vahidin Prelic, Lukas Loughran, Alaa Safi, Milan Kovacevic, Arkie Reece, James MacCallum, Vladan Dujovic
Running Time: 89 min.

By Kyle Warner

SCOTT… ADKINS… IN… SPACE! For a certain group of movie viewers, that’s hand over the money, give it to me now sort of entertainment. Me, I like Adkins. Though he hasn’t reached the popularity of the high kicking stars of yesteryear (the mainstream action movie landscape has changed a lot since then), he is a more than capable lead for action-packed B-movies. Viewer expectations for these sorts of movies aren’t exactly high; all we really want is to be entertained. Sad to say, Scott Adkins’ space movie Incoming does not meet even the lowest of expectations.

Incoming begins with the bombing of London’s Big Ben. A terrorist group known as the Wolf Pack claims responsibility. We’re told that the Wolf Pack is responsible for other terrorist attacks all across the globe. Many of the Wolf Pack terrorists have been captured alive and are questioned in relation to whereabouts of their leader, known only as Alpha. Instead of executing the captured terrorists, the nations of the world work together to lock them up in a top secret black site prison, the International Space Station codenamed Hammer. The Hammer orbits the Earth with a staff of only one man who tortures, questions, and tends to the needs of his dozen or so prisoners from an automated control room. We enter the story as an inspection is scheduled that will take the American agent (Scott Adkins), a doctor (Michelle Lahane), and a pilot (Aaron McCusker) to the space station in order to assess its progress in finding Alpha and also the condition of its prisoners.

There is something like political commentary in the movie about what is, essentially, Guantanamo in outer space. Michelle Lahane’s doctor has strong objections to the treatment of the prisoners. They are burned with hot steam, forced to endure death metal at ear-shattering decibels, never allowed to speak to anyone, barely fed, and so on. The doctor questions how any of this can be legal under the Geneva Convention, to which Adkins replies with what might be my favorite line in the movie, “The Geneva Convention doesn’t apply in space.” The film doesn’t seem to know where to go with the conversation about torture, though. It seems to suggest that torture is a necessary evil in fighting a war for humanity, while also making clear that torture doesn’t actually work.

Of course, things go wrong during the assessment of the facility. The doctor comes to the cell of one of the prisoners who she believes has evidence of torture, only to be taken hostage by that prisoner, thus resulting in a riot that frees all terrorists from their cells. From there it’s up to Adkins and co. to fight in order to retake the space station before the terrorists use it to crash into one of Earth’s metropolitan cities. That sounds like a pretty cool set up for a sci-fi actioner but Incoming drops the ball almost immediately.

The sci-fi is only setting. The movie doesn’t embrace the possibilities of the concept by any means. Some of this is due to a tight budget. Too many sets are just dark rooms with big LED monitors displaying snazzy technological whatever, hoping you ignore the fact that that’s all it is; a dark room with wobbly chairs and a bunch of TVs. And the prerequisite sci-fi doors that swish open horizontally to recycled sound effects. So many recycled sound effects. It’s cheap but that’s not the real problem. With exception to the final act, the rest of the movie could’ve been set in almost any isolated location. It’s strange that the movie’s genre hook – Scott Adkins in space! – begins to feel like an afterthought before long.

So, it’s not much of a science fiction movie. But sadly it’s not a very good action movie either. The fights are very choppy and the cramped corridors of the space station are not used to the film’s benefit. The action scenes—which are all different variations of ‘run at each other with makeshift weapons and try not to die’—have a few cool beats but the script betrays any momentum that the onscreen talent tries to create.

Incoming has zero flow. It sputters to life then stops itself whenever things start to get exciting. After every confrontation between the crew and the terrorists, the two groups retreat to their opposite corners of the Hammer to collect themselves and plan the next move. While the terrorists plot to destroy a city to make a point (their actual beliefs are never explored, they’re just very bad people), Adkins’ group talks about how to retake the station. “We need a plan,” says McCusker’s pilot. “There’s no time for a plan!” says Adkins. And so they clash with the terrorists and then retreat again. You can overlook a movie for being cheap and simple, but you can’t overlook boring.

I did kind of enjoy the film’s finale, though. Here Incoming commits to a cynical worldview as it invites us to question our heroes and our governments as things get bloody. It’s also the only part of the movie where Incoming isn’t just playing for time. At long last, it’s do or die, and there is no time to retreat. Plus, the heroes make bombs out of bottles filled with urine, so there’s that.

There’s a kernel of a good idea in Incoming, but the film didn’t explore its themes deep enough, didn’t have enough money to pull off its vision, and, worst of all, it forgot to have some fun.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 4/10

Posted in All, Asian Related, News, Other Movies, Reviews | Tagged |

Horrors of Malformed Men | Blu-ray (Arrow Video)

Horrors of Malformed | Blu-ray (Arrow Video)

Horrors of Malformed | Blu-ray (Arrow Video)

RELEASE DATE: September 18, 2018

On September 18, 2018, Arrow Video will be releasing the Blu-ray for 1969’s pre, from Teruo Ishii (Blind Woman’s Curse). Read on for the official release details below:

Cult director Teruo Ishii (Shogun’s Joy of Torture) presents a nightmarish, hallucinogenic tale drawn from the fevered imagination of Japan’s celebrated pioneer ofero-guro (“erotic grotesque”) literature, Edogawa Rampo.

Medical student Hirosuke Hitomi slips out of the asylum in which he has been wrongfully confined and stealthily assumes the identity of a recently deceased nobleman with whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. Hirosuke eases his way into the nobleman’s household and his dead double’s marital bed. But as long-repressed memories begin to bubble to the surface, he soon finds himself drawn to a remote isle where he is confronted by a mad scientist and his malformed men, and discovers the key that will unlock some long-suppressed mysteries of his own.

A dark labyrinth of the monstrous and perverse that fuses mystery and horror while incorporating motifs from a myriad of Rampo’s tales, Horrors of Malformed Men boasts astonishing carnivalesque art design and haunting performances. Withdrawn from cinemas by its own studio after its original scandalous release nearly fifty years ago, the film is among the very best screen interpretations of the author’s macabre brand of horror-fantasy fiction, and a unique oddity of Japanese cult cinema.

Special Edition Contents:

  • BRAND NEW 2K RESTORATION of the film from the original negative
  • Uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audio
  • Newly translated optional English subtitles
  • Two audio commentaries by Japanese cinema experts Tom Mes and Mark Schilling
  • Malformed Movies: a new video interview with Toei exploitation movie screenwriter Masahiro Kakefuda
  • Malformed Memories: Filmmakers Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo the Iron Man) and Minoru Kawasaki (The Calamari Wrestler) on the career of director Teruo Ishii
  • Ishii in Italia: Ishii and Mark Schilling visit the Far East Film Festival
  • Image Gallery
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford
  • First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Jasper Sharp, Tom Mes and Grady Hendrix

Pre-order Horrors of Malformed Men from Amazon.com today! 

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, News |

Deal on Fire! Die Fighting | Blu-ray | Only $9.99 – Expires soon!

Die Fighting | Blu-ray & DVD (Z Team Films)

Die Fighting | Blu-ray & DVD (Z Team Films)

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Die Fighting (read our review), starring Fabien Garcia (Merantau), Laurent Buson (Silver Hawk), Didier Buson and Jess Allen.

When a team of Shaolin-trained kung fu actors is about to get their break in Hollywood, a mysterious and sadistic director forces them to run a gauntlet through Los Angeles. The director films their every move as they prove their prowess by provoking a rogues’ gallery of underworld thugs and martial artists.

The premise is similar to the Thai movie BKO, in which highly trained fighters wake up after being drugged and are forced to fight each other for the whims of madman.

Order Die Fighting from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |